Thursday, October 16, 2008

Thought for the Day

and today's Thought for the Day comes from Harry Lime





...actually, 500 years of democracy, peace and brotherly love produced the cuckoo clock
and a great big fuck-off bill

Just in case any fellow Loons still aren't up to speed with this thing, this is what's going on

  • Banks engaged in billions/ trillions/ quadrillions of of nonsense paper trades amongst each other
  • Our governments are now in the process of honouring the debts and liabilities arising from those nonsense trades
  • Governments are underwriting the debts and liabilities of those trades with the income that will be extracted from our future labours. Those fuckers are mortgaging and swopping all our futures like casino chips
  • Because the bank trades weren't based on anything real, the resulting debts and liabilities potentially exceed the value of everything in the known universe, plus interest
  • The current system is fucked
  • It will not die easy or voluntarily

None of the above is LoonTalk
©, a Loon would add...

  • This was all encouraged and manufactured deliberately


Here's the link to the full version of Harry's timeless soliloquy, featuring my personal favourite line...

"You know, I never feel comfortable on these sort of things. Victims? Don't be melodramatic. Look down there. Tell me. Would you really feel any pity if one of those dots stopped moving forever? If I offered you twenty thousand pounds for every dot that stopped, would you really, old man, tell me to keep my money, or would you calculate how many dots you could afford to spare? Free of income tax, old man. Free of income tax - the only way you can save money nowadays."





Best British film ever? 'course it is

.

23 comments:

Anonymous said...

how Ironic that Brown is now viewed as some kind of hero,,,valiantly rescuing peoples savings.
Just off the phone to the old man who was telling me that Brown is gaining rapidly in popularity.

Anonymous said...

you know,I would not be surprised if Iceland was some kind of economic experiment to see how quickly a very small country can be brought to it´s knees,

REYKJAVIK, Oct 15 (Reuters) - Iceland has food stocks for about 3 to 5 weeks, but needs quickly to restore a proper foreign exchange market so importers can get back to normal business and avoid shortages, importers said on Wednesday.

Since crisis broke out on the north Atlantic island of 300,000 people, involving the government taking over the top three banks, suppliers to Iceland have cut credit to importers. Some have also demanded pre-payment for goods.

http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSLF28291820081015

Anonymous said...

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/retailandconsumer/3209641/Violence-breaks-out-at-Currys-as-shoppers-fight-over-bargains.html

Welcome to the future! Let's hope that food never becomes the bargain in question...

Anonymous said...

* The current system is fucked
* It will not die easy or voluntarily


I disagree.

We are fucked.
The current system will never die.

The parasite will just find another host.

Apart fom that, I think whoever designed the current Maestro Cash Has Retired ad campaign on the tube is a visionary genius.

As was pointed out many times, fiat currency is thin air.
The cash in your pocket is like a printout of a leveraged derivative. It is nonsense paper, but it will soon be the last thing before physical gold to retain a relative value that is accessible to the little guy. It is also an obstacle to the 100% thin air solution governments are currently applying.

So they will make it increasingly extremely painful for people to keep and use cash.

So my scenario is a 100% cashless economy, with all sorts of strings attached like a police state and things.

Stef said...

Which I would say would be part of a new system

But I'd be splitting hairs, we're thinking along the same lines

It's not an inevitable outcome though

Anonymous said...

A new system whereby a ruling minority controlling governments works hand in hand with a ruling minority controlling the economy?

Bah, it's only speculation, no pun intended.

Stef said...

I'm thinking along the lines of something like this but with bacofoil jumpsuits

Anonymous said...

anon 22:41 said...

The wormed grasshopper reminds me of this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ba7Po0ByX-g

Wondered what happened to Richar Perle.

Anonymous said...

"Memory, brainwashing and the Cold War:

Mind Hacks, saying, "I've just watched part two of Adam Curtis' series on the relationship between memory and the history of the 20th century where he explores the link between brain washing, the emergence of cognitive science and the politics of the cold war."

Haven't watched the links myself but thought that you may be interested.

Bridget said...

For the optimists amongst us:

Capitalism Hits the Fan - a Marxian View

The last half gives some practical solutions to this mess.

Anonymous said...

marxist analysis, wow, that's some cutting edge shit right there. does he really believe that socialism can be "bottom up"? something besides centralized government next time around, please, i don't care what you call it.

Stef said...

something besides centralized government next time around, please

yes, that would be nice

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the video mrs/miss Dunne,

I liked his beginning and middle explanations of how the US got to be the be numero uno,,the ending was weak however,,,he also forgot to mention that the US was self sufficient in Oil up till the early 70s afterwhich it had to import the black blood,,,a major fuckin omission in the equation.Infact he never mentioned oil which is a vital commodity for the healthy of the shaky dollar.

Bridget said...

Some interesting responses:

does he really believe that socialism can be "bottom up"?

Isn't that precisely what Communism is? The workers taking the 'means of production' into their own hands? He gives the example of workers taking over from their boards of directors.

he also forgot to mention that the US was self sufficient in Oil

It was only a 40 minute talk and there was much he left out. Being a 'good' Marxist though, he concentrated on examining Capital from a workers perspective.

After all, its the workers who'll get shafted and forced to pay for this crisis of Capitalism. Alternatively, we can see the present crisis as an opportunity to create a different world.

Stef said...

Isn't that precisely what Communism is? The workers taking the 'means of production' into their own hands? He gives the example of workers taking over from their boards of directors.

Maybe in theory, but the argument goes that's not how it has worked out in practice

The reason why I included a link to mutualism is that mistrust of centralised government comes fitted as standard with most strains anarchical thinking

I'm quite fond of mutualism...

Stef said...

First and foremost, the concern uppermost in people's minds when discussing Capitalism vs. Marxism/ Communism is the nature of the government they would live under

Rightly or wrong, people associate Marxism with coercive government, centralised control, compulsory re-education and the like. They believe that there is no scope for free will under a Communist system

Whereas, whilst not claiming it to be perfect, they believe that under a capitalistic system there is at least some scope for individual expression and freedom

Personally, I believe that there isn't a fag paper separating the worst manifestations of both systems

Any system which separates you further than punching distance from any fucker responsible for things which affect your life will be open to some form of exploitation

Stef said...

actually, maybe longbow distance

Stef said...

...fans of mounted nobility getting cut down in swathes will understand

Stef said...

The last half gives some practical solutions to this mess

have just watched the talk and can't fault what is said

quite a lot is, of course, left unsaid

and I do believe that I detect the faintest whiff of a transitional demand at the end of the talk

Stef said...

Haven't watched the links myself but thought that you may be interested.

I was, ta

Anonymous said...

say it ain't so,jo please, say it ain't so
thats not what I want to hear Joe
ain't I got a right to know
say it ain't so, jo please, say it ain't so
i'm sure they're telling us lies jo
please tell us it ain't so

they told us our hero has played his trump card
he doesn't know how to go on
we're clinging to his charm and determined smile
but the good old days are gone,

the image and the empire may be falling apart
the money has goten scarce
one mans word held the country together
but the truth is getting fierce

say it ain't so,joe please, say it ain't so
we pinned our hopes on you joe
and they're ruining our show

Anonymous said...

what are the lyrics about??

"Say It Ain't So, Joe" was provoked by a seventies documentary on Richard Nixon prior to his resignation. The presenter was asking the editor of a small town newspaper outside Washington, how, in the face of conclusive evidence and proof, his readers could still show such undying support for the president they elected. The editor likens the situation to a scandal in the twenties, when Joe Jackson, the famous baseball player, was rumoured to have taken a bribe to sink his team in the final of the World series. His fans hung around the stadium chanting "Say it ain't so Joe".

DE said...

Basic as it is, some simple journalism that remembers Brown praising the city to the skies.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/oct/19/gordonbrown-davidcameron-economic-policy