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[LARGE][LINK=/index.php/imotion/1768-2012-10-30-10-11-58]जेएनयू में मनाया गया महिषासुर का शहादत दिवस [/LINK] [/LARGE]
Written by News Desk Category: [LINK=/index.php/imotion]पर्यटन-स्वास्थ्य-धर्म-अध्यात्म-संवेदना-सोच-विचार[/LINK] Published on 30 October 2012 [LINK=/index.php/component/mailto/?tmpl=component&template=youmagazine&link=16b1ffefb8221ce091b8148fbf074d087f4667a1][IMG]/templates/youmagazine/images/system/emailButton.png[/IMG][/LINK] [LINK=/index.php/imotion/1768-2012-10-30-10-11-58?tmpl=component&print=1&layout=default&page=][IMG]/templates/youmagazine/images/system/printButton.png[/IMG][/LINK]
: [B]अगले सप्ताह 'महिषासुर-दुर्गाः एक मिथक का पुनर्पाठ' विषय पर पुस्तिका जारी की जाएगी : इतिहास में जो छल करते रहे उन्हीं को देवत्व का तमगा मिल गया है और जिन्होंने अपनी सारी उर्जा समाज सुधार और वंचित तबकों के उत्थान के लिए झोंक दी, उन्हें असुर या राक्षस करार दे दिया गया[/B] : जेएनयू 30 अक्टूबर 2012 : विवादित विषयों पर बहस की अपनी पुरानी परंपरा को बरकरार रखते हुए जेएनयू के पिछडे समुदाय के छात्रों के संगठन ऑल इंडिया बैकवर्ड स्टूडेंट् फोरम (एआईबीएसएफ) के बैनर तले सोमावार (29 अक्टूबर) रात को महिषासुर का शहादत दिवस मनाया गया. देर रात तक चले इस समारोह में देश भर से आए विद्वानों ने महिषासुर पर अपने विचार रखे. इस अवसर पर प्रसिद्ध चित्रकार लाल रत्नाकर द्वारा बनाये गये महिषासुर के तैलचित्र पर माल्यार्पण किया गया.
समारोह को संबोधित करते हुए आदिवासी मामलों की विशेषज्ञ और 'युद्धरत आम आदमी' की संपादक रमणिका गुप्ता ने कहा कि 'इतिहास में जेा छल करते रहे उन्हीं को देवत्व का तमगा मिल गया है और जिन्होंने अपनी सारी उर्जा समाज सुधार और वंचित तबकों के उत्थान के लिए झोंक दी उन्हें राक्षस करार दे दिया गया. ब्रह्मणवादी पुराणकारों/ इतिहासकारों ने अपने लेखन में इनके प्रति नफरत का इजहार का भ्रम का वातावरण रच दिया है. आखिर समुद्र मंथन में जो नाग की मुंह की तरफ थे और जिन्हें विष मिला वे राक्षस कैसे हो गए? कामधेनु से लेकर अमृत के घडों को लेकर भाग जाने वाले लोग किस आधार पर देवता हो सकते हैं? ' उन्होंने कहा कि 'वंचित तबका इन मिथकों का, अगर पुर्नपाठ कर रहा है तो किसी को दिक्कत क्यों हो रही है?'
जेएनयू की प्रो. सोना झरिया मिंज ने कहा कि हिन्दू धर्मग्रंथों में वर्णित कहानियों के समानांतर आदिवासी समाज में कई कहानियां प्रचलित हैं. इन कहानियों के नायक तथाकथित असुर या राक्षस कहे जाने वाले लोग ही हैं जिन्हें कलमबद्ध करने की जरूरत है. प्रसिद्ध समाजशास्त्री प्रो. विवेक कुमार ने कहा कि मिथकों की राजनीति और राजनीति का मिथक पर बहस बहुत जरूरी है. हमारे नायकों को आज भी महिषासुर की भांति बदनाम करने की साजिश चल रही है. इतिहास-आलोचक ब्रजरंजन मणि ने कहा कि शास्त्रीय मिथकों से कहीं ज्याजदा खतरनाक आधुनिक विद्वानों द्वारा गढे जा रहे मिथक हैं. पौराणिक मिथकों के साथ-साथ हमें आधुनिक मिथकों का भी पुर्नपाठ करना होगा.
मंच का संचालन करते हुए एआईबीएसएफ के अध्यीक्ष जितेंद्र यादव ने कहा कि पिछडा तबका जैसे-जैसे ज्ञान पर अपना अधिकार जमाता जाएगा वैसे-वैसे अपने नायकों को पहचानते जाएगा. महिषासुर की शहादत दिवस इसी कडी में है. संगठन महिषासुर शहादत दिवस को पूरे देश में मनाने के लिए प्रयत्नशील है. संगठन के जेएनयू प्रभारी विनय कुमार ने कहा कि अगले सप्ताह 'महिषासुर-दुर्गा:एक मिथक का पुनर्पाठ' विषय पर पुस्तिका जारी की जाएगी, जिसका संपादन अकादमिक जगत में लोकप्रिय पत्रिका 'फारवर्ड प्रेस' के संपादक प्रमोद रंजन ने किया है।
गौरतलब है कि 'फारवर्ड प्रेस' में ही पहली बार वे महत्वपूर्ण शोध प्रकाशित हुए थे, जिससे यह साबित होता है 'असुर' एक (आदिवासी) जनजाति है, जिसका अस्तित्व अब भी झारखंड व छत्तीसगढ में और महिषासुर राक्षस नहीं थे बल्कि इस देश के बहुजन तबके के पराक्रमी राजा थे। उन्होंने कहा कि पुस्तिका में महिषासुर और असुर जाति के संबंध में हुए नये शोधों को प्रकाशित किया जाएगा तथा इसे विचार-विमर्श के लिए उत्तर भारत की सभी प्रमुख युनिवसिटियों में वितरित किया जाएगा। इस मौके पर 'इन साइट फाउंडेशन' द्वारा महिषासुर पर बनाई गई डाक्युशमेंट्री भी दिखाई गई. समारोह को एआईबीएसएफ कार्यकर्ता रामएकबाल कुशवाहा, आकाश कुमार, मनीष पटेल, मुकेश भारती, संतोष यादव, श्री भगवान ठाकुर आदि ने भी संबोधित किया.
प्रेषक :
[B]विनय कुमार[/B]
जेएनयू अध्यक्ष
एआईबीएसएफ
158, साबरतमी जेएनयू
मोबाइल – 09871387326
[B]अन्य फोन नंबर...[/B]
प्रोफेसर विवेक कुमार (समाजशास्त्री, जेएनयू्) – 09871674955
प्रमोद रंजन (संपादक, फारवर्ड प्रेस) – 09810300255
रमणिका गुप्ता (संपादक, युद्धरत आम आदमी) – 09312239505
ब्रजरंजन मणि (इतिहास- आलोचक) – 09818832311
जितेंद्र यादव, अध्यक्ष, राष्ट्रीय एआईबीएसएफ- 08459439496
Wednesday, October 31, 2012
Fwd: [New post] विचार : लूट-तंत्र में बदलता लोकतंत्र
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Date: 2012/10/30
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Fwd: [initiative-india] NAPM's Letter to Shri Sharad Pawar on New Land Acquisition Bill
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From: napm india <napmindia@napm-india.org>
Date: Tue, Oct 30, 2012 at 1:40 PM
Subject: [initiative-india] NAPM's Letter to Shri Sharad Pawar on New Land Acquisition Bill
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From: napm india <napmindia@napm-india.org>
Date: Tue, Oct 30, 2012 at 1:40 PM
Subject: [initiative-india] NAPM's Letter to Shri Sharad Pawar on New Land Acquisition Bill
To:
October 30, 2012
To,
Shri Sharad Pawar,
Chairperson, Group of Ministers
Minister of Agriculture
Government of India
CC : Prime Minister; Chairperson, NAC; Members, Group of Ministers on the Bill; Leader of Opposition and other Political Parties; Members of the Parliamentary Standing Committee.
Sub : With respect to the Right to Fair Compensation, Resettlement, Rehabilitation and Transparency in Land Acquisition 2012
Dear Shri Sharad Pawar Ji,
We have been closely following the media reports on the Group of Ministers deliberations on the above mentioned legislation. National Alliance of People's Movements have been struggling for repeal of the colonial Land Acquisition Act, 1894 and enactment of a Development Planning, Land Use Management, No Enforced Displacement, and Just Resettlement and Rehabilitation Act. An earlier draft of the Bill was adopted by the National Advisory Council in January 2006.
It is unfortunate that the provisions of the Bill has been further diluted to accommodate the concerns of the industries. It will be a historic opportunity lost to democratise development planning in the country. The government must stand with the people. A government of the people can't acquire land from them for the profiteering of the private corporations in the name of public purpose. The key strategic infrastructure and natural resources are being handed out to corporations, which are influencing the governance and hurting the national interest, as witnessed in the recent case of Reliance industries willfully stopping production in KG basin and avoiding any audit from CAG. THIS MUST STOP ! The enactment of an important legislation like this provides us an opportunity. Let us not loose this opportunity also to provide relief to nearly 10 crore people who have been displaced by various infrastructure projects since independence.
Let the historic injustices committed in the name of development and public purpose be rectified. Let justice be done to them.
We do have many points of concern on the current draft of the Bill under discussion but we would like to bring your attention to some of the key provisions, with a hope that group of ministers will take those in account.
Our sincere request to you as members of the UPA government is to respect the recommendations of the all political party Parliamentary Standing Committee, which heard all stake holders including the people's movements like ours as well as the corporate bodies and others. They recommended that :
No agricultural land, whether single crop or multiple crops, should be forcibly acquired keeping in view the food security of the country.
In the name of Public Purpose, the State should not be forcibly acquiring any land for the private corporation or their PPP project.
Consent by majority of Gram Sabha members (or equivalent body in urban areas where these have been constituted) should be obtained in all matters pertaining to the Bill.
There is no need to exempt any of the Central Acts used for land acquisition from the purview of the Bill and to bring those at par with the Bill, Government should carry required amendments.
Any unutilsied land shall return to the land owners. 'Land Bank of un-fertile, waste-lands' for use by the industry or infrastructure projects should be prepared by the government not with the land remaining unutilised.
We appreciate the decision of the government to repeal the Land Acquisition Act, 1984, of British Legacy. However, we would hasten to add that the present bill continues to follow the principle of eminent domain which is questioned by people across the country. If we really want the ongoing conflicts to come to an end, then this must be dropped. In addition to endorsing the recommendations of the PSC we would like to bring to your notice the following :
No forced acquisition should not only be considered as an execution of the special measures in Schedule V, but it is necessary and justifiable for all communities under Article 243, in letter and spirit.
No forcible acquisition will not mean no change in land use. On the other hand, it will/should lead to bottom-up development planning. This process should include-
A decision on whether a proposed project is of Public Purpose, i.e. serving public good, through public sector.
What the impact will be, on land and other sources of livelihood including common property resources, on how many families, of which disadvantaged sections (such as SC/ST, marginal and small farmers, other vulnerable communities living on natural resources, or labour.)
Alternatives and best options to avoid or minimise displacement and impact.
A rehabilitation plan with due alternative sources of livelihood, house / habitat as a colony, compensation, as each can have inputs and consent from the affected communities.
Public purpose, redefined in the bill, is unacceptable since categories (i) to (v) are such that they include all water, power, infrastructure etc. projects, even if private, which is a misinterpretation or an ill-definition. No acquisition or procurement of land for private or PPP projects, even if with the consent of 80% of land owning families, should be conceived or approved. Let the consent of all the affected people, including livelihood losers be taken even for Public Purpose projects.
We would like only government projects to come under the purview of 'Land use change' (no acquisition of agricultural land) through this act, not those of the private corporations, with no urgency except in exceptional warlike situations and calamities.
The Act should be applicable with retrospective effect in the cases where in spite of possession having been taken substantial and / or irreversible work has not been done on the land, or where claims of R&R are still pending and remain incomplete or farmers have not accepted the compensation awarded to them.
It is completely unacceptable that Land Acquisition (change in land use) has now been delinked with the Resettlement and Rehabilitation completion, what is the point of then having a single Act ?
In the name of federal structure, the Ministry has now removed the ceiling on the land to bring in Rehabilitation and Resettlement entitlements in case of the projects where land is to be purchased by the corporate / private agencies. This is perfectly unjustifiable when on one hand government is saying that most of the land is being acquired for the private corporations only. Then what about the rights of those affected ?
We admit that introducing a Social Impact Assessment is a progressive step considering the large scale displacement and deprivation caused to natural resources and agriculture based communities due to the unlimited transfer of land. We have suggested some important changes in structure, composition and communities and a process to make it more people-oriented and consensual.
Again, in the name of the federal principles, the decision to decide the limit on agricultural land acquisition has been left to the States. Going with the PSC recommendations complete moratorium on acquiring any agricultural land for Industries which would also include single crop agriculture, horticulture, pisciculture or common property resources is a much needed step.
9. A Social Impact Assessment should go hand in hand with an Environment Impact Assessment and multiple public hearings will not be necessary when Gram Sabha and Basti Sabhas have the proposals, impact assessments, options of R&Rand final repeal considered and approved.
Rehabilitation follows resettlement and is a long process. However, no impact on land/ livelihood/ property or deprivation/ displacement should be permitted to occur as a result of any project work unless a family and community receives all its entitlements. Cash entitlements should be paid after, not before in kind entitlements and any violation should be penalised in the case of SC-ST, BPL families.
The R&R provisions of the Act should be applicable to any kind of land acquisition done by any other existing Act, since none of those have any provisions for a just R&R.
Rehabilitation should ensure an alternative livelihood in the case of severely affected and disadvantaged socio economical families. Therefore, we suggest 5 acres of alternate land for these families and fisheries rights etc. to ensure livelihood as the first option. The market value should equal the highest registered deed value in the district enhance the probability of purchasing alternate land for the people.
14. We observe that the Bill at every point suggested that most of the rehabilitation entitlements will be at family level whereas it should be per person and for all of those living in the area when displacement occurs.
15. Rehabilitation should be prioritised for those who were affected in the past. The National R&R Commission should be created to address their concerns and entitlements. Rehabilitation and forcible displacement / deprivation in a large way should be avoided through the new Act, since in any case it would be a voluntary investment in lieu of development benefits.
16. Shares / debentures in profit should be over and above compensation and not out of the latter. Part of the dividend should go to the community and the rest should be divided. Similarly compensation for land should be for the loss of employment and should be additional to shares in development benefits. Employment or shares may be exclusive, i.e. either of the two should be given to a family.
We are deeply concerned by the dilution of the provisions of the Bill which was originally brought in August 2011. We were hoping from there on it will be strengthened but then it has been further diluted. As a Minister of Rural Development you should have been more concerned about our welfare than worry for the investors sentiment, urbanisation and industrialisation. We do hope you will act even now on some of the demands we have made.
With Regards,
Medha Patkar - Narmada Bachao Andolan and the National Alliance of People's Movements (NAPM); Prafulla Samantara - Lok Shakti Abhiyan, NAPM, Odisha; Gautam Bandopadhyay – Nadi Ghati Morcha, NAPM, Chhattisgarh; Suniti SR, Prasad Bagwe - SEZ Virodhi Manch and NAPM, Maharashtra; Gabriel Dietrich, Geetha Ramakrishnan – Unorganised Sector Workers Federation, NAPM, TN; Bhupendra Rawat, Rajendra Ravi, Anita Kapoor – Jan Sangharsh Vahini and NAPM, Delhi; Aradhna Bhargava - Kisan Sangharsh Samiti, NAPM, MP; Sumit Banjale, Madhuri Shivkar, Simpreet Singh – Ghar Bachao, Ghar Banao Andolan, NAPM, Mumbai; Dr.Rupesh Verma - Kisan Sangharsh Samiti, NAPM, UP; Vimal Bhai - Matu Jan sangathan, NAPM, Uttarakhand; Vilas Bhongade - Gosikhurd Prakalpgrast Sangharsh Samiti, NAPM, Maharashtra; Ramashray Singh - Ghatwar Adivasi Mahasabha, Jharkhand; Anand Mazhgaonkar, Paryavaran Suraksh Samiti, NAPM Gujarat
For details Contact : Madhuresh Kumar, 981905316 napmindia@gmail.com
National Alliance of People's Movements
National Office : 29-30, A Wing, First Floor, Haji Habib Building, Naigaon Cross Road Dadar (E), Mumbai – 400 014. Phone – 022 2415 0529 | 9969363065;
Delhi Office : 6/6 Jangpura B, New Delhi – 110 014 . Phone : 011 2437 4535 | 9818905316
email : napmindia@gmail.com | Web : www.napm-india.org
| Latest tweet: 24 #farmers killed in Multai in 1998. No policemen punished but ex MLA and farmers leader @sunilam_swp punished with life term, justice? Follow @napmindia |
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Fwd: [New post] साक्षात्कार : ‘ मेरे लिए कला का सचेत-सृजन कला नहीं है ’
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Date: 2012/10/31
Subject: [New post] साक्षात्कार : ' मेरे लिए कला का सचेत-सृजन कला नहीं है '
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Date: 2012/10/31
Subject: [New post] साक्षात्कार : ' मेरे लिए कला का सचेत-सृजन कला नहीं है '
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Fwd: (हस्तक्षेप.कॉम) शेखर जोशी को मिले श्रीलाल शुक्ल सम्मान की त्रासदी
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Date: 2012/10/31
Subject: (हस्तक्षेप.कॉम) शेखर जोशी को मिले श्रीलाल शुक्ल सम्मान की त्रासदी
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From: Amalendu Upadhyaya <amalendu.upadhyay@gmail.com>
Date: 2012/10/31
Subject: (हस्तक्षेप.कॉम) शेखर जोशी को मिले श्रीलाल शुक्ल सम्मान की त्रासदी
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शेखर जोशी को मिले श्रीलाल शुक्ल सम्मान की त्रासदी
October 31, 2012 at 9:45 am
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इस तरह पैदा किये आतंकवादी बहन जी की पुलिस ने
October 31, 2012 at 8:58 am
-
कारपोरेट नियंत्रित धनतंत्र में बदलता जा रहा है भारतीय जनतंत्र
October 30, 2012 at 10:53 pm
-
अपने ही सजा देंगे हिमाचल में
October 30, 2012 at 10:21 pm
-
कितने नैतिक नैतिकता के नाम पर इस्तीफ़ा माँगने वाले?
October 30, 2012 at 9:46 pm
-
एफडीआई के खिलाफ जुटेंगे लाखों किसान
October 30, 2012 at 9:28 pm
-
इतने अधिक जिम्मेदार गृह मंत्री थे चिदम्बरम !
October 30, 2012 at 7:48 pm
-
अर्थ का अनर्थ करने और विषयान्तर करने में सिद्धहस्त होता है फेसबुकिया हेकड़ीबाज
October 30, 2012 at 7:36 pm
-
भारतीय समाजवाद के पितामह आचार्य नरेंद्र देव
October 30, 2012 at 7:24 pm
-
सुनीलम को सज़ा : न्यायपालिका और कॉरपोरेट घरानों की मिलीभगत ?
October 30, 2012 at 6:27 pm
-
सामाजिक चेतना पर भारी बाजार!
October 30, 2012 at 5:55 pm
-
बकवास बंद, बेशर्म जनरल वी के सिंह
October 30, 2012 at 5:20 pm
-
PCI will enquire attack on "Aap ki Taaqat" at Faizabad
October 30, 2012 at 4:56 pm
-
इरोम शर्मिला : सेना नहीं जनतंत्र चाहिए
October 30, 2012 at 12:50 pm
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तो कम उम्र में विवाह से रुक जाएँगे बलात्कार ?
October 30, 2012 at 12:10 pm
http://www.facebook.com/amalendu.a
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Fwd: Paul Craig Roberts: The Virtual Economic Recovery
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From: Global Research E-Newsletter <newsletter@globalresearch.ca>
Date: Wed, Oct 31, 2012 at 4:32 PM
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The Virtual Economic Recovery
By Dr. Paul Craig Roberts
Global Research, October 30, 2012
Url of this article:
http://www.globalresearch.ca/the-virtual-economic-recovery/5310073
Since mid-2009 the US has been enjoying a virtual recovery courtesy of a rigged inflation measure that understates inflation. The financial Presstitutes spoon out the government's propaganda that prices are rising less than 2%. But anyone who purchases food, fuel, medical care or anything else knows that low inflation is no more real that Saddam Hussein's weapons of mass destruction or Gadhafi's alleged attacks on Libyan protesters or Iran's nuclear weapons. Everything is a lie to serve the power-brokers.
During the Clinton administration, Republican economists pushed through a change in the way the CPI is measured in order to save money by depriving Social Security retirees of their cost-of-living adjustment. Previously, the CPI measured the change in the cost of a constant standard of living. The new measure assumes that consumers adjust to price increases by lowering their standard of living by substituting lower quality, lower priced items. If the price, for example, of New York strip steak goes up, consumers are assumed to substitute the lower quality round steak. In other words, the new measure of inflation keeps inflation down by reflecting a lowered standard of living.
Statistician John Williams (shadowstats.com), who closely follows the collecting and reporting of official US economic statistics, reports that consumer inflation, as measured by the 1990 official government methodology has been running at about 5%. If the 1980 official methodology for measuring the CPI is used, John Williams reports that the current rate of US inflation is about 9%.
The 9% figure is more consistent with people's experience in grocery stores.
Officially the recession that began in 2007 ended in June 2009 after 18 months, making the Bush Recession the longest recession since World War II. However, John Williams says that the recession has not ended. He says that only the GDP reporting, distorted by an erroneous measurement of inflation, shows a recovery. Other, more reliable measures of economic activity, show no recovery.
Williams reports that the economy began turning down in 2006, falling lower in 2008 and 2009, and bottom-bouncing ever since. Not only is there no sign of any recovery, but "the economic downturn now is intensifying once again." The absence of an economic recovery "is evident in the [official] reporting of nearly all major economic series. Not one of these series shows a pattern of activity that confirms the recovery [shown] in the GDP series."
Williams concludes that "the official recovery simply is a statistical illusion created by the government's use of understated inflation in deflating the GDP." In other words, the reported gains in GDP are accounted for by price increases, not increases in real output.
The result of the US government's economic deception is the same as the deception Washington has used to start wars all over the Middle East. The government propaganda produces a make-believe virtual reality that bears no relationship to real reality. In history there have been many governments who have prevailed by deceiving the people, but Washington has moved this success to a new peak. As long as Americans believe anything Washington says, they are doomed.
It is easy to see why there is no economic recovery and cannot be an economic recovery. Look at the chart below (courtesy of John Williams, shadowstats.com).
Real median household income at the end of 2011 is back where it was in 1967-68. Moreover, Williams has deflated household income to get its real value by using the official inflation measure, which substantially understates inflation. If Williams had used the 1990 or 1980 official government methodology for calculating the consumer price index, the real median incomes of households would show a larger decline.
Moreover, the low 2011 real median household income is the summation, in most cases, of two household earners, whereas in 1967-68 one earner could produce the same real income. As Nobel economist Gary Becker, my former colleague as Business Week columnist, pointed out, when both husband and wife have to work in order to maintain the same purchasing power, household income from the wife's in-kind household services is eliminated. Therefore, the monetary measure of the dual household income overstates income, because it is not adjusted for the lost benefits formerly provided by the wife who at home managed the household.
Americans are far more oppressed by the power brokers in Washington than statistics display. Moreover, the young are born into the oppressive, exploitative American system and do not know any different. They are fed by the Presstitute media with endless propaganda about how fortunate they are and how indispensable their wonderful country is. Americans are kept in a constant state of amusement, and many never grasp the loss of their civil liberties, job and career opportunities, and respect that the US won during the decades-long cold war with Soviet Communism.
On September 13, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben "Helicopter" Bernanke announced Quantitative Easing 3. Bernanke said that the recovery is weak and needs more Fed stimulus. He said the Fed will purchase $40 billion of mortgage bonds per month in order to drive interest rates further below the rate of inflation and help to sell more houses.
But how do you sell houses to households who are getting by with 1967-68 levels of real income and who have absolutely no job security? Their company can be taken over and offshored tomorrow or they can be replaced by foreign workers on H-1B visas. Housing prices have dropped, but not to 1967-68 levels.
Bernanke's announcement that the Fed's purchase of mortgage bonds is to spur housing and the economy is disinformation. Bernanke is purchasing the bonds in order to boost the values of the derivatives and debt instruments in the banks' portfolios. Lower interest rates raise the value of the debt instruments on the banks' balance sheets. By depriving American savers of a real interest rate on their savings, Bernanke makes the busted banks look solvent.
This is what is happening in "freedom and democracy" America. The vast majority of Americans, especially the retired, are forced to consume their savings and draw down their capital because they can get no real interest on their savings. The beneficiaries are the banksters, who can borrow at near zero interest rates, charge consumers 16% on their credit cards, and use the Federal Reserve's largess to speculate on interest rate swaps and credit default swaps. The American taxpayers hold the bag for the banksters' uncovered gambles.
Would you not gamble if the American taxpayers had to cover your bets, but your winnings were yours alone?
The future of the American political order is in doubt. The Bush and Obama regimes have so badly abused the Constitution and statutory law, that the America that Ronald Reagan left to us no longer exists. America is on the path to collapse or tyranny.
Suppose that a miracle produces an economic recovery. What becomes of the enormous excess bank reserves that the Federal Reserve has provided the banks?
If these bank reserves are used for expanding loans, the money supply will outstrip the production of goods and services, and inflation will rise.
If the Fed tries to take the excess reserves out of the banking system by selling bonds, interest rates will rise, thus destroying the wealth of bond holders and draining liquidity from the stock market. In other words, another depression that wipes out the remaining American wealth.
The Federal Reserve's announcement of QE3 shows that the Fed will continue to create new money in order to protect the values of the insolvent banks' questionable assets. The Federal Reserve represents the banksters, not the American public. Like every other American government institution, the Federal Reserve is far removed from concerns about American citizens.
In my opinion, the Federal Reserve's purchase of bonds in order to drive down interest rates has produced a bond market bubble that is larger than the real estate and derivative bubbles. Economically, it is nonsensical for a bond to carry a negative real interest rate, especially when the government issuing the bond is running large budget deficits that it seems unable to reduce and when the central bank is monetizing the debt.
The bubble has been protected by the euro "crisis," which possibly is more of a virtual crisis than a real one. The euro crisis has caused money to seek refuge in dollars, thus supporting the dollar's value even while the Federal Reserve prints money with which to purchase the never-ending flow of the governments' bonds to finance trillion dollar plus annual budget deficits–about 5 times the "Reagan deficits" that Wall Street alleged would wreck the US economy.
Indeed, the US dollar's exchange value is itself a bubble waiting to pop. The sharp rise in the dollar price of gold and silver since 2003 indicates a flight from the US dollar. (The chart is courtesy of John Williams, shadowstats.com.)
The bond market bubble will pop if the dollar bubble pops. The Federal Reserve can sustain the bond market bubble by purchasing bonds, and there are no limits on the Federal Reserve's ability to purchase bonds. However, the endless monetization of debt, even if the new money is stuck in the banks and does not find its way into the economy, can spook foreign holders of dollar-denominated assets.
Foreign central banks can decide that they want to hold fewer dollars and more precious metals as their reserves. Other countries, sensing the US dollar's demise,
are organizing to conduct their trade without the use of the world's reserve currency. Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa intend to conduct their trade with one another in their own currencies. China and Japan have also negotiated to settle their trade balances with one another in their own currencies.
These agreements substantially reduce the use of the US dollar in international trade and, thus, the demand for dollars. When demand falls, so does price, unless the supply shrinks. But the Federal Reserve has announced, essentially, unlimited supply of US dollars. So we are faced with a paradox. The US dollar is supposed to remain valuable despite its enormous increase in supply.
In addition, China, America's largest creditor and in the past a reliable purchaser of US Treasury bonds, holds some two trillion in dollar-denominated assets, primarily Treasury bonds. How is Washington treating its largest foreign creditor? Not with appreciation or deference. Washington is surrounding China with naval and air bases, interfering in China's disputes with other countries, and bringing contrived actions against China in the World Trade Organization. Washington claims that US corporations are deserting the US not because of the lower cost of labor in China, but because of Chinese "subsidies" to the relocated US firms.
In my April 30 column, "Brewing a Conflict with China," I wrote that Washington would like to substitute a cold war with China for the hot wars in the Middle East. The problem with the hot wars is the loss of superpower face from Washington's inability to prevail after eleven years, and although the hot wars are profitable for the military/security complex, the wars don't generate the level of profits that would flow from a high-tech arms race with China. Moreover, Washington believes that diverting Chinese investment from the economy into a military buildup would slow the rate at which the Chinese economy is overtaking the US economy.
What if instead of taking the bait from Washington, China targets Washington's Archilles heel–the dollar's role as reserve currency–and decides it is cheaper to dump one trillion dollars of US Treasury debt on the bond market than to commit to a 30 year arms race? To keep the price of Treasuries from collapsing, the Federal Reserve could print the money to buy the bonds. But if China then dumps the printed one trillion dollars in the foreign exchange markets, Washington cannot print euros, British pounds, Russian rubles, Swiss francs, and other currencies in order to buy up the dollars.
Frantic, Washington would try to arrange currency swaps with foreign countries in order to acquire the foreign exchange with which to buy up the dollars that, otherwise, will drive down the dollar exchange rate and destroy the Federal Reserve's control over interest rates.
But if the Chinese don't want the dollars, will other countries want to swap their currencies for the abandoned US dollar?
Some of Washington's puppet states will comply, but the wider world will rejoice in the termination of Washington's financial hegemony and refuse the offer.
Sooner or later the dollar will collapse from Washington's abuse of the dollar's role as reserve currency, and the dollar will lose its "safe haven" status. US inflation will rise, and US political stability, along with America's hegemonic power, will wane.
The rest of the world will sigh with relief. And China will have defeated the superpower without an arms race or firing a shot.
Copyright © 2012 Global Research
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From: Global Research E-Newsletter <newsletter@globalresearch.ca>
Date: Wed, Oct 31, 2012 at 4:32 PM
Subject: Paul Craig Roberts: The Virtual Economic Recovery
To: palashbiswaskl@gmail.com
Having trouble viewing this email?
Click here
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The Virtual Economic Recovery
By Dr. Paul Craig Roberts
Global Research, October 30, 2012
Url of this article:
http://www.globalresearch.ca/the-virtual-economic-recovery/5310073
Since mid-2009 the US has been enjoying a virtual recovery courtesy of a rigged inflation measure that understates inflation. The financial Presstitutes spoon out the government's propaganda that prices are rising less than 2%. But anyone who purchases food, fuel, medical care or anything else knows that low inflation is no more real that Saddam Hussein's weapons of mass destruction or Gadhafi's alleged attacks on Libyan protesters or Iran's nuclear weapons. Everything is a lie to serve the power-brokers.
During the Clinton administration, Republican economists pushed through a change in the way the CPI is measured in order to save money by depriving Social Security retirees of their cost-of-living adjustment. Previously, the CPI measured the change in the cost of a constant standard of living. The new measure assumes that consumers adjust to price increases by lowering their standard of living by substituting lower quality, lower priced items. If the price, for example, of New York strip steak goes up, consumers are assumed to substitute the lower quality round steak. In other words, the new measure of inflation keeps inflation down by reflecting a lowered standard of living.
Statistician John Williams (shadowstats.com), who closely follows the collecting and reporting of official US economic statistics, reports that consumer inflation, as measured by the 1990 official government methodology has been running at about 5%. If the 1980 official methodology for measuring the CPI is used, John Williams reports that the current rate of US inflation is about 9%.
The 9% figure is more consistent with people's experience in grocery stores.
Officially the recession that began in 2007 ended in June 2009 after 18 months, making the Bush Recession the longest recession since World War II. However, John Williams says that the recession has not ended. He says that only the GDP reporting, distorted by an erroneous measurement of inflation, shows a recovery. Other, more reliable measures of economic activity, show no recovery.
Williams reports that the economy began turning down in 2006, falling lower in 2008 and 2009, and bottom-bouncing ever since. Not only is there no sign of any recovery, but "the economic downturn now is intensifying once again." The absence of an economic recovery "is evident in the [official] reporting of nearly all major economic series. Not one of these series shows a pattern of activity that confirms the recovery [shown] in the GDP series."
Williams concludes that "the official recovery simply is a statistical illusion created by the government's use of understated inflation in deflating the GDP." In other words, the reported gains in GDP are accounted for by price increases, not increases in real output.
The result of the US government's economic deception is the same as the deception Washington has used to start wars all over the Middle East. The government propaganda produces a make-believe virtual reality that bears no relationship to real reality. In history there have been many governments who have prevailed by deceiving the people, but Washington has moved this success to a new peak. As long as Americans believe anything Washington says, they are doomed.
It is easy to see why there is no economic recovery and cannot be an economic recovery. Look at the chart below (courtesy of John Williams, shadowstats.com).
Real median household income at the end of 2011 is back where it was in 1967-68. Moreover, Williams has deflated household income to get its real value by using the official inflation measure, which substantially understates inflation. If Williams had used the 1990 or 1980 official government methodology for calculating the consumer price index, the real median incomes of households would show a larger decline.
Moreover, the low 2011 real median household income is the summation, in most cases, of two household earners, whereas in 1967-68 one earner could produce the same real income. As Nobel economist Gary Becker, my former colleague as Business Week columnist, pointed out, when both husband and wife have to work in order to maintain the same purchasing power, household income from the wife's in-kind household services is eliminated. Therefore, the monetary measure of the dual household income overstates income, because it is not adjusted for the lost benefits formerly provided by the wife who at home managed the household.
Americans are far more oppressed by the power brokers in Washington than statistics display. Moreover, the young are born into the oppressive, exploitative American system and do not know any different. They are fed by the Presstitute media with endless propaganda about how fortunate they are and how indispensable their wonderful country is. Americans are kept in a constant state of amusement, and many never grasp the loss of their civil liberties, job and career opportunities, and respect that the US won during the decades-long cold war with Soviet Communism.
On September 13, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben "Helicopter" Bernanke announced Quantitative Easing 3. Bernanke said that the recovery is weak and needs more Fed stimulus. He said the Fed will purchase $40 billion of mortgage bonds per month in order to drive interest rates further below the rate of inflation and help to sell more houses.
But how do you sell houses to households who are getting by with 1967-68 levels of real income and who have absolutely no job security? Their company can be taken over and offshored tomorrow or they can be replaced by foreign workers on H-1B visas. Housing prices have dropped, but not to 1967-68 levels.
Bernanke's announcement that the Fed's purchase of mortgage bonds is to spur housing and the economy is disinformation. Bernanke is purchasing the bonds in order to boost the values of the derivatives and debt instruments in the banks' portfolios. Lower interest rates raise the value of the debt instruments on the banks' balance sheets. By depriving American savers of a real interest rate on their savings, Bernanke makes the busted banks look solvent.
This is what is happening in "freedom and democracy" America. The vast majority of Americans, especially the retired, are forced to consume their savings and draw down their capital because they can get no real interest on their savings. The beneficiaries are the banksters, who can borrow at near zero interest rates, charge consumers 16% on their credit cards, and use the Federal Reserve's largess to speculate on interest rate swaps and credit default swaps. The American taxpayers hold the bag for the banksters' uncovered gambles.
Would you not gamble if the American taxpayers had to cover your bets, but your winnings were yours alone?
The future of the American political order is in doubt. The Bush and Obama regimes have so badly abused the Constitution and statutory law, that the America that Ronald Reagan left to us no longer exists. America is on the path to collapse or tyranny.
Suppose that a miracle produces an economic recovery. What becomes of the enormous excess bank reserves that the Federal Reserve has provided the banks?
If these bank reserves are used for expanding loans, the money supply will outstrip the production of goods and services, and inflation will rise.
If the Fed tries to take the excess reserves out of the banking system by selling bonds, interest rates will rise, thus destroying the wealth of bond holders and draining liquidity from the stock market. In other words, another depression that wipes out the remaining American wealth.
The Federal Reserve's announcement of QE3 shows that the Fed will continue to create new money in order to protect the values of the insolvent banks' questionable assets. The Federal Reserve represents the banksters, not the American public. Like every other American government institution, the Federal Reserve is far removed from concerns about American citizens.
In my opinion, the Federal Reserve's purchase of bonds in order to drive down interest rates has produced a bond market bubble that is larger than the real estate and derivative bubbles. Economically, it is nonsensical for a bond to carry a negative real interest rate, especially when the government issuing the bond is running large budget deficits that it seems unable to reduce and when the central bank is monetizing the debt.
The bubble has been protected by the euro "crisis," which possibly is more of a virtual crisis than a real one. The euro crisis has caused money to seek refuge in dollars, thus supporting the dollar's value even while the Federal Reserve prints money with which to purchase the never-ending flow of the governments' bonds to finance trillion dollar plus annual budget deficits–about 5 times the "Reagan deficits" that Wall Street alleged would wreck the US economy.
Indeed, the US dollar's exchange value is itself a bubble waiting to pop. The sharp rise in the dollar price of gold and silver since 2003 indicates a flight from the US dollar. (The chart is courtesy of John Williams, shadowstats.com.)
The bond market bubble will pop if the dollar bubble pops. The Federal Reserve can sustain the bond market bubble by purchasing bonds, and there are no limits on the Federal Reserve's ability to purchase bonds. However, the endless monetization of debt, even if the new money is stuck in the banks and does not find its way into the economy, can spook foreign holders of dollar-denominated assets.
Foreign central banks can decide that they want to hold fewer dollars and more precious metals as their reserves. Other countries, sensing the US dollar's demise,
are organizing to conduct their trade without the use of the world's reserve currency. Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa intend to conduct their trade with one another in their own currencies. China and Japan have also negotiated to settle their trade balances with one another in their own currencies.
These agreements substantially reduce the use of the US dollar in international trade and, thus, the demand for dollars. When demand falls, so does price, unless the supply shrinks. But the Federal Reserve has announced, essentially, unlimited supply of US dollars. So we are faced with a paradox. The US dollar is supposed to remain valuable despite its enormous increase in supply.
In addition, China, America's largest creditor and in the past a reliable purchaser of US Treasury bonds, holds some two trillion in dollar-denominated assets, primarily Treasury bonds. How is Washington treating its largest foreign creditor? Not with appreciation or deference. Washington is surrounding China with naval and air bases, interfering in China's disputes with other countries, and bringing contrived actions against China in the World Trade Organization. Washington claims that US corporations are deserting the US not because of the lower cost of labor in China, but because of Chinese "subsidies" to the relocated US firms.
In my April 30 column, "Brewing a Conflict with China," I wrote that Washington would like to substitute a cold war with China for the hot wars in the Middle East. The problem with the hot wars is the loss of superpower face from Washington's inability to prevail after eleven years, and although the hot wars are profitable for the military/security complex, the wars don't generate the level of profits that would flow from a high-tech arms race with China. Moreover, Washington believes that diverting Chinese investment from the economy into a military buildup would slow the rate at which the Chinese economy is overtaking the US economy.
What if instead of taking the bait from Washington, China targets Washington's Archilles heel–the dollar's role as reserve currency–and decides it is cheaper to dump one trillion dollars of US Treasury debt on the bond market than to commit to a 30 year arms race? To keep the price of Treasuries from collapsing, the Federal Reserve could print the money to buy the bonds. But if China then dumps the printed one trillion dollars in the foreign exchange markets, Washington cannot print euros, British pounds, Russian rubles, Swiss francs, and other currencies in order to buy up the dollars.
Frantic, Washington would try to arrange currency swaps with foreign countries in order to acquire the foreign exchange with which to buy up the dollars that, otherwise, will drive down the dollar exchange rate and destroy the Federal Reserve's control over interest rates.
But if the Chinese don't want the dollars, will other countries want to swap their currencies for the abandoned US dollar?
Some of Washington's puppet states will comply, but the wider world will rejoice in the termination of Washington's financial hegemony and refuse the offer.
Sooner or later the dollar will collapse from Washington's abuse of the dollar's role as reserve currency, and the dollar will lose its "safe haven" status. US inflation will rise, and US political stability, along with America's hegemonic power, will wane.
The rest of the world will sigh with relief. And China will have defeated the superpower without an arms race or firing a shot.
Copyright © 2012 Global Research
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