The Economic debate of our time? FT.com

Rising government bond rates prove policy works, The Financial Times Online
June 3, 2009 12:33am
by Martin Wolf

Is the US (and a number of other high-income countries) on the road to fiscal Armageddon? Are recent jumps in government bond rates proof that investors are worried about fiscal prospects? My answers to these questions are: No and No. This does not mean there is no reason for worry. It is rather that there are powerful arguments against fiscal retrenchment right now and strong reasons for welcoming recent moves in the bond markets.

Last week, the Financial Times carried two columns arguing that the US fiscal path was unsustainable, one by Stanford University’s John Taylor and the other by the Harvard historian Niall Ferguson. The latter, in turn, was a comment on a debate with, among others, the New York Times columnist and Nobel laureate Paul Krugman at the end of April.
On one point all serious analysts agree: public debt cannot rise, relative to gross domestic product, without limit. To embark on fiscal stimulus in the short run, one must be credible in the long run.

So what is the disagreement? Prof Ferguson made three propositions: first, the recent rise in US government bond rates shows that the bond market is “quailing” before the government’s huge issuance; second, huge fiscal deficits are both unnecessary and counterproductive; and, finally, there is reason to fear an inflationary outcome. These are widely held views. Are they right?
The first point is, on the evidence, wrong. The jump in bond rates is a desirable normalisation after a panic. Investors rushed into the dollar and government bonds. Now they are rushing out again. Welcome to the giddy world of financial markets.

At the end of December 2008, US 10-year Treasury yields fell to the frighteningly low level of 2.1 per cent from close to 4 per cent in October (see chart). Partly as a result of this fall and partly because of a surprising rise in the yield on inflation-protected bonds (Tips), implied expected inflation reached a low of close to zero. The deflation scare had become all too real.
What has happened is a sudden return to normality: after some turmoil, the yield on conventional US government bonds closed at 3.5 per cent last week, while the yield on Tips fell to 1.9 per cent. So expected inflation went to a level in keeping with Federal Reserve objectives, at close to 1.6 per cent. Much the same has happened in the UK, with a rise in expected inflation from a low of 1.3 per cent in March to 2.3 per cent. Fear of deflationary meltdown has gone. Hurrah!

It is true that spreads between conventional US bonds and bonds issued by Germany and the UK have narrowed (see chart). But US yields were extraordinarily depressed during the panic.

Normality returns.
If inflation expectations are not worth worrying about, so far, what about the other concern caused by huge bond issuance: crowding out of private borrowers? This would show itself in rising real interest rates. Again, the evidence is overwhelmingly to the contrary.
The most recent yield on Tips is below 2 per cent, while that on UK index-linked securities is close to 1 per cent. Meanwhile, as confidence has grown, spreads between corporate bonds and Treasuries have fallen (see chart). One can also use estimates of expected inflation derived from government bonds to estimate real rates of interest on corporate bonds. These have also fallen sharply (see chart). While riskier bonds are yielding more than they were two years ago, they are yielding far less than in late 2008. This, too, is very good news indeed.
Now turn to the fiscal policy. The argument advanced by opponents is either that fiscal policy is always unnecessary and ineffective or, as Prof Ferguson suggests, redundant, because this is not a “Great Depression”. Monetarists argue fiscal policy is always unnecessary, since monetary expansion does the trick. Economists who believe in “Ricardian equivalence” – after the early-19th-century economist David Ricardo – argue fiscal policy is ineffective, because households will offset any government dis-saving with their own higher savings.

Economists disagree fiercely on these points. My approach is “Keynesian”: in extreme moments, the excess of desired savings over investment soars. Again, monetary policy, while important, becomes less effective when interest rates are zero. It is then wise to wear both monetary belt and fiscal braces.

A deep recession proves there is a huge rise in excess desired savings at full employment, as Prof Krugman argues. At present, therefore, fiscal deficits are not crowding the private sector out. They are crowding it in, instead, by supporting demand, which sustains jobs and profits.
Prof Ferguson argues that fiscal expansion was unnecessary because this is only a mild recession. The question, however, is why it is only a mild recession, since precursors of a depression were surely present.

The answer, in part, is the aggressive monetary policies of central banks and the rescue of the financial system. But is that all? What would have happened if governments had decided to cut spending and raise taxes? One might disagree on how much deliberate fiscal loosening was needed. But one of the most important reasons this is not the Great Depression is that we have learnt a lesson from experience then, and in Japan in the 1990s: do not tighten fiscal policy too soon. Moreover, historically well-run economies are certainly able to support higher levels of public indebtedness very comfortably.

This, then, brings us to the last concern: the fear of inflation. This is essentially the question of how to exit from current extreme policies. People need to believe that the extraordinarily aggressive monetary and fiscal policies of today will be reversed. If they do not believe this, there could well be a big upsurge in inflationary expectations long before the world economy has recovered. If that were to happen, policymakers would be caught in a painful squeeze and the world might indeed end up in 1970s-style stagflation.

The exceptional policies used to deal with extreme circumstances are working. Now, as a result, policymakers are walking a tightrope: on one side are premature withdrawal and a return to deep recession; on the other side are soaring inflationary expectations and stagflation. It is irresponsible to insist either on immediate tightening or on persistently loose policies. Both the US and the UK now risk the latter. But their critics risk making an equal and opposite mistake. The answer is both clear and tricky: choose sharp tightening, but not yet.

Write to martin.wolf@ft.comMore columns at www.ft.com/martinwolf

Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2009

OF EU ELECTIONS AND BRITISH LIFE.

I followed the arrows. I walked through the open south transept door, glancing around like a stranger usually does into the St Peters church hall crossing converted into a polling station; I felt some huge dissapointment at the scene unfolding before me, I had expected the sophistication of 'Europe', technical gadgets etceteras but there before my eyes was a basic electoral scene not dissimilar to that of my African home country, facing me were 5 makeshift open ended wood booths, to my immediate left sat three English ladies on a lone table with three heaps of differently coloured paper, the 25 years young silent one was far younger than the other two. The wall clock said 11 am UK time, yet I was the lone voter and undeservedly got more than the attention I needed; I looked the smiling one in the eye, smiled back and handed in my poll certificate, I confirmed my name as Kapito and my address of abode, was rewarded with a long voting card folded into three, with which I pranced on my black loafers silently to the first left wood booth.

I fished out a pen from my shirt pocket, unfurled the voting card, and heard the two ladies yell to my back 'you have to open it up to see all your options', I thought 'I have already sodding done that mai!' but mouthed a respectful 'thank you' instead, my eyes caressed the 10 or so parties listed on the firm black and white thin board paper and settled for a choice with an 'X' mark before walking to the right facing the church chancel, alter and sacristy, where just before the step stood a middle aged Englishman busy with something in his hands, he glanced at me briefly as I stuffed my vote into an opening in the black 'toolbox' like container atop a metal table and muttered something friendly, I muttered back. I had voted for my choice of a UK member of EU parliament (fondly called MEP's by mainstream media).

Like me millions across the UK partook a similar ritual, millions less than elections years before, the Sky News election results of this morning mention the historic low turnout of a mere 37.5% of registered voters. The economy, parliamentarian expenses scandals have taken their toll, the population has voted with their backsides, they sat the elections out, stayed home or pretended them away. How did the UK get here? now thats a long long story.

For me though the first answer was the top deck window seat ride of route 279 towards Enfield Borough, Zone 4, London. Not a single of the loud conversations around were in English, I wondered, perhaps aloud if I was really in London, the advertising boards that slowly flashed by as the bus motored ahead confirmed I was in London, so I thought instead about how the indigineous Englanders felt about this sustained 'invasion' of economic and academic migrants, it must be uncomfortable I thought, and indeed it was, since then I have seen the Home office push forward unprecedented reforms in immigration, strikes by British workers over immigrants 'taking' their jobs, have heard countless stories of people being deported ( 'ali mmanja mwa Boma'), visas refused, scandals of asian forgers of academic certificates at £4000 pounds, British driving licences, British passports caught and brought to book, I have seen the quiet tide turning against 'foreigners'. This is not the UK my father lived in way back in 1975, it is under siege mental or otherwise; anti EU sentiment, centuries of immigration and the opening up of the EU migration are taking its toll and the ordinary British fear for their way of life.

The UK has offered qualitative education for a long while now, on a comparative scale British education ranks better than other 'developed' nations. The reality on the ground though indicates that society is grappling with the realities of opening its borders to the outside world. The biggest issue affecting the UK now is immigration asides from the state of the economy, the guilt trip the UK took for colonising, harvesting and shipping all the goodies out of the colonies and then more by taxing the colonised locals is biting back. The indigenous UK population has spoken through this 2009 election, by voting in the far right party BNP and such parties into the European Parliament for the first time, some say its a protest vote against the main parties for their abuse of the system, I say its a real vote and a sign of things to come. Some non-UK visitors have long abused the system, illegally claiming benefits, working full time on student visas, falsifying documents, perpetuating various crimes, terrorising and bombing innocent people, all culminating in higher costs (security, social welfare, health etc) for the state, a deepening mistrust and now a xenophobic culture albeit in its infancy.

The future will see less students from african countries study in the UK, as student number intakes by approved educational institutions are closely monitored by the Home Office, scholarship numbers reduce, and the 'fees upfront' immigation policy weeds out undesirables before they reach the British shores, it will only serve to make British education more attractive, good old supply and demand laws at work, scarcity breeds value. So what next for UK Educational Institutions? Franchising? Supply the students in their home countries?

So whats my rant about? Its about voting, its about rising xenophobic tendencies, its about a closing door to access of education on British soil by non-EU citizens, its about private thoughts about immigrants now being made public. Alarmists are at play, in the media, in the dailies, everywhere and even on youtube, sample this if you may as an example of whipping up of the anti-immigration frenzy or rationalising depending on which side of the railtrack you are on:

OBAMA CAIRO, EGYPT SPEECH IN FULL.

THE MISSING HUMAN LINK

10:16pm UK, Wednesday May 20, 2009

Alex Watts, Sky News Online
Scientists have unveiled a 47-million-year-old fossilised skeleton of a monkey hailed as the missing link in human evolution.

Fossil

This 95%-complete 'lemur monkey' is described as the "eighth wonder of the world"

The search for a direct connection between humans and the rest of the animal kingdom has taken 200 years - but it was presented to the world today at a special news conference in New York.

The discovery of the 95%-complete 'lemur monkey' - dubbed Ida - is described by experts as the "eighth wonder of the world".

They say its impact on the world of palaeontology will be "somewhat like an asteroid falling down to Earth".

Researchers say proof of this transitional species finally confirms Charles Darwin's theory of evolution, and the then radical, outlandish ideas he came up with during his time aboard the Beagle.

Sir David Attenborough said Darwin "would have been thrilled" to have seen the fossil - and says it tells us who we are and where we came from.

Pictures From Atlantic Productions



"This little creature is going to show us our connection with the rest of the mammals," he said.

"This is the one that connects us directly with them.

"Now people can say 'okay we are primates, show us the link'.

"The link they would have said up to now is missing - well it's no longer missing."

A team of the world's leading fossil experts, led by Professor Jorn Hurum, of Norway's National History Museum, have been secretly researching the 1ft 9in-tall young female monkey for the past two years.

And now it has been transported to New York under high security and unveiled to the world during the bicentenary of Darwin's birth.

Darwin caused storm with his theory

Later this month, it will be exhibited for one day only at the Natural History Museum in London before being returned to Oslo.

Scientists say Ida - squashed to the thickness of a beer mat by the immense passage of time - is the most complete primate fossil ever found.

With her human-like nails instead of claws, and opposable big toes, she is placed at the very root of human evolution when early primates first developed features that would eventually develop into our own.

Another important discovery is the shape of the talus bone in her foot, which humans still have in their feet millions of lifetimes later.

Ida was unearthed by an amateur fossil-hunter some 25 years ago in Messel pit, an ancient crater lake near Frankfurt, Germany, famous for its fossils.


She was cleaned and set in polyester resin - and incredibly, was hung on a mystery German collector's wall for 20 years.

Sky News sources say the owner had no idea of the unique fossil's significance and simply admired it like a cherished Van Gogh or Picasso painting.

But in 2006, Ida came into the hands of private dealer Thomas Perner, who presented her to Prof Hurum at the annual Hamburg Fossil and Mineral Fair in Germany - a centre for the murky world of fossil-trading.

Prof Hurum said when he first saw the blueprint for evolution - the "most beautiful fossil worldwide" - he could not sleep for two days.

A home movie records the dramatic moment.

"This is really something that the world has never seen before, this is a unique specimen, totally unique," he says, clearly emotional.

The missing link fossil

He says he knew she should be saved for science rather than end up hidden from the world in a wealthy private collector's vault.

But the dealer's asking price was more than $1 million (£660,000) - ten times the amount even the rarest of fossils fetch on the black market.

Eventually, after six months of negotiations, he managed to raise the cash in Norway and brought Ida to Oslo.
Attenborough: The Link Is No Longer Missing


Prof Hurum - who last summer dug up the fossil remains of a 50ft marine monster called Predator X from the permafrost on Svalbard, a Norwegian island close to the North Pole - then assembled a "dream team" of experts who worked in secret for two years.

They included palaeontologist Dr Jens Franzen, Dr Holly Smith, of the University of Michigan, and Philip Gingerich, president-elect of the US Paleontological Society.

Researchers could prove the fossil was genuine through X-rays, knowing it is impossible to fake the inner structure of a bone.

Through radiometric dating of Messel's volcanic rocks, they discovered Ida lived 47 million years ago in the Eocene period.

This was when tropical forests stretched right to the poles, and South America was still drifting and had yet to make contact with North America.

During that period, the first whales, horses, bats and monkeys emerged, and the early primates branched into two groups - one group lived on mainly as lemurs, and the second developed into monkeys, apes and humans.

The experts concluded Ida was not simply a lemur but a 'lemur monkey', displaying a mixture of both groups, and therefore putting her at the very branch of the human line.

This little creature is going to show us our connection with the rest of the mammals. This is the one that connects us directly with them.

Sir David Attenborough

"When Darwin published his On the Origin of Species in 1859, he said a lot about transitional species," said Prof Hurum

"...and he said that will never be found, a transitional species, and his whole theory will be wrong, so he would be really happy to live today when we publish Ida.

"This fossil is really a part of our history; this is part of our evolution, deep, deep back into the aeons of time, 47 million years ago.

"It's part of our evolution that's been hidden so far, it's been hidden because all the other specimens are so incomplete.

"They are so broken there's almost nothing to study and now this wonderful fossil appears and it makes the story so much easier to tell, so it's really a dream come true."

Up until now, the most famous fossil primate in the world has been Lucy, a 3.18-million-year-old hominid found in Ethiopia in 1974.

She was then our earliest known ancestor, and only 40% complete.


But at 95% complete, Ida was so well preserved in the mud at the bottom of the volcanic lake, there is even evidence of her fur shadow and remains of her last meal.

From this they concluded she was a leaf and fruit eater, and probably lived in the trees around the lake.

The absence of a bacculum (penis bone) confirmed she was female, and her milk teeth put her age at about nine-months-old - in maturity, equivalent to a six-year-old human child.

This was the same age as Prof Hurum's daughter Ida, and he named the fossil after her.

The study is being published and put online by the Public Library of Science, a leading academic journal with offices in Britain and the US.

Dr Hurum also found Predator X

Co-author of the scientific paper, Prof Gingerich, likens its importance to the discovery of the Rosetta Stone, an ancient Egyptian artefact found in 1799, which allowed us to decipher hieroglyphic writing.

One clue to Ida's fate - and her remarkable preservation as our oldest ancestor - was her badly fractured left wrist.

The team believes this stopped her from climbing and she had to emerge from the trees to drink water from the 250-metre-deep lake.

They think she was overcome by carbon dioxide gas from the crater, and sunk to the bottom where she was preserved in the mud as a time capsule - and a snapshot of evolution.

But amazingly this final piece of Darwin's jigsaw was almost lost to science when German authorities tried to turn Messel into a massive landfill rubbish dump.

Eventually, after campaigning by Dr Franzen, the plans were rejected and the fossil-rich lake was designated a World Heritage Site.

But no doubt there would have been one person happy for the missing link to have remained hidden.

When Darwin famously told the Bishop of Worcester's wife about his theory of evolution, she remarked: "Descended from the apes! My dear, let us hope that it is not true, but if it is, let us pray that it will not become generally known."

Now, it certainly is.

:: Ida's discovery has been made into an Atlantic Productions' documentary, presented by Sir David Attenborough. See more at www.revealingthelink.com/.

Did Martin Luther King know about Gandhi’s racism?

Did ML King know about Gandhi’s racism? Excerpt from: http://www.zimbio.com/Ghandi%2Bquotes/articles/23/ML%2BKing%2Bknow%2BGandhi%2Bracism
Written by moinansari
From: rupeenews.com

We think that Martin Luther King was one of the greatest heros of our time. He accomplished more than any of his contemporaries. Martin Luther King lived during troubled times. He was in search of turth and find a mentor in Thoreau. He was a Christian minister so he did believe in Jesus Christ.

Martin wanted to keep up the family tradition, so he decided to become a minister. He graduated from Morehouse College in 1948 and then went to Crozer Seminary to become a minister. It was at Crozer that Martin learned about the Disneyland version of Gandhi. He must have learned that Gandhi was an important leader in India. It is very doubtful if Dr. King did any depth study of Gandhi’s action in South Africa.

It is doubtful if The Reverend Martin Luther ever heard about Gandhi’s support for all the British wars, and that Gandhi was the self-proclaimed “Recruiter in Chief” for the Empire sending thousands to be used as connon fodder.

GANDHI ON BLACKS AND RACE RELATIONS (Zulus and Kaffirs were African tribes in South Africa)

• “A general belief seems to prevail in the colony that the Indians are little better, if at all, than the savages or natives of Africa. Even the children are taught to believe in that manner, with the result that the Indian is being dragged down to the position of a raw Kaffir.” (Reference: The Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi, Government of India (CWMG), Vol I, p. 150)
• Regarding forcible registration with the state of blacks: “One can understand the necessity for registration of Kaffirs who will not work.” (Reference: CWMG, Vol I, p. 105)
• “Why, of all places in Johannesburg, the Indian Location should be chosen for dumping down all the Kaffirs of the town passes my comprehension…the Town Council must withdraw the Kaffirs from the Location.” (Reference: CWMG, Vol I, pp. 244-245)
• His description of black inmates: “Only a degree removed from the animal.” Also, “Kaffirs are as a rule uncivilized - the convicts even more so. They are troublesome, very dirty and live almost like animals.” - Mar. 7, 1908 (Reference: CWMG, Vol VIII, pp. 135-136)
• The Durban Post Office: One of Gandhi’s major “achievements” in South Africa was to promote racial segregation by refusing to share a post office door with the black natives.
• Sergeant Major Gandhi: Learn how Gandhi became a Sgt. Major in the British Army and eagerly participated in the 1906 British war against the black Zulus.
• Gandhi and South African Blacks: Gandhi wrote extensively about his experiences with the blacks of South Africa. He always termed them “Kaffirs” and his writings reveal a deep-seated disdain for these African natives.

If Dr. King had known about about the Zulus (African tribe) and the Kaffirs (African tribe), he surely would have voiced his concern.Gandhi condones Zulu massacres and defends the British. Aug 4 1906

Dr. King may not have read Time Magazine and the explosive stories about Mr. Gandhi’s personal life. The sex life of Mr. Gandhi, and his failures as a politician

Dr. King probably knew only about the propoganda clips of Mr. Gandhi and never really knew the man. The myth of Mohandas K. Gandhi debunked. He gets an “F” on South Africa, Salt Match, Non-Violence, and independence

Dr. King on moral high ground condemned wars. He would have been shocked to find out that Gandhi supported the British wars extending the British empire. Which war did Mohandas Gandhi support. All of them. There wasn’t a war that the prophet of Non-Violence did not support. He was Sergeant Major in the British Army and won a medal for his war duties

Dr. King was probably unaware about Gandhi’s open racism.Gandhi’s racism. The truth behind the mask. Behold Sergeant Major Gandhi who supported the British during the Boer war, Zulu rebellion. Behold the prophet of peace who worked to stratify the South African society.

Dr. King did not know that Gandhi did not bring the British Empire down.

Dr. King would have been appalled if he knew that Gandhi insisted on calling Hitler his “friend” and that his advice to the Jews was horribe piece of Anti-Semitism Gandhi’s letter to his friend Hitler.

!! Shocking!! Astonishing!! The more I read, the more this world turns out to be a different place altogether.......

Quotations from the inimitable Oscar Wilde.

I have nothing to declare except my genuis.

The only difference between a saint and a sinner is that every saint has a past, and every sinner has a future.

In all matters of opinion, our adversaries are insane.

Those whom the gods love grow young.

Keep love in your heart. A life without it is like a sunless garden when the flowers are dead.

The good ended happily, and the bad unhappily. That is what fiction means.

Ordinary riches can be stolen; real riches cannot. In your soul are infinitely precious things that cannot be taken from you.

There is only one class in the community that thinks more about money than the rich, and that is the poor. The poor can think of nothing else.

There are many things that we would throw away if we were not afraid that others might pick them up.

Always forgive your enemies; nothing annoys them as much.

Talk to every woman as if you loved her, and to every man as if he bored you, and at the end of your first season, you will have the reputation of possessing the most perfect social tact.

It is only shallow people who require years to get rid of an emotion. A man who is master of himself can end a sorrow as easily as he can invent a pleasure.

Education is an admirable thing, but it is well to remember from time to time that nothing that is worth knowing can be taught.

The English have a miraculous power of turning wine into water.

Man is least himself when he talks in his own person. Give him a mask, and he will tell you the truth.

I always pass on good advice. It is the only thing to do with it. It is never of any use to oneself.

Fashion is a form of ugliness so intolerable that we have to alter it every six months.

Fathers should be neither seen nor heard. That is the only proper basis for family life.

The English country gentleman galloping after a fox - the unspeakable in full pursuit of the uneatable.

ORIGINS of THE TERM EASTER

According to the English monastic historian BEDE, Easter comes from the word "EOSTRE" after the Anglo-Saxon Godess Esostre whose godly focus was on new beginnings, symbolized by the Easter Egg, and fertility, which is symbolized by the hare or Easter Bunny.

The Anglo-Saxon word for the month April was "Eostre-monath" (The month of openings).
Christians celebrated the resurrection long before the word Easter was used, however the word used for the celebrations was "Pascha" which derives from the Jewish festival of Passover.

Religions all mixed up, ain't it? worshipping through a blend of religions, pagan traditions and cultures then?

There Is A Time for Everything

Ecclesiastes 3 (New International Version)
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=25&chapter=3

1 There is a time for everything,
and a season for every activity under heaven:

2 a time to be born and a time to die,
a time to plant and a time to uproot,

3 a time to kill and a time to heal,
a time to tear down and a time to build,

4 a time to weep and a time to laugh,
a time to mourn and a time to dance,

5 a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
a time to embrace and a time to refrain,

6 a time to search and a time to give up,
a time to keep and a time to throw away,

7 a time to tear and a time to mend,
a time to be silent and a time to speak,

8 a time to love and a time to hate,
a time for war and a time for peace.

¹⁵ Whatever is has already been,
and what will be has been before;
and God will call the past to account.^a]">[a]

¹⁸ I also thought, "As for men, God tests them so that they may see that they are like the animals. ¹⁹ Man's fate is like that of the animals; the same fate awaits them both: As one dies, so dies the other. All have the same breath ^b]">[b] ; man has no advantage over the animal. Everything is meaningless. ²⁰ All go to the same place; all come from dust, and to dust all return. ²¹ Who knows if the spirit of man rises upward and if the spirit of the animal ^c]">[c] goes down into the earth?"

Footnotes:

1. Ecclesiastes 3:15 Or God calls back the past
2. Ecclesiastes 3:19 Or spirit
3. Ecclesiastes 3:21 Or Who knows the spirit of man, which rises upward, or the spirit of the animal, which

Channel 4 Alternative Christmas message.

Translation of the Alternative Christmas Message- President of Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

http://www.channel4.com/programmes/alternative-christmas-message/articles/translation-of-the-alternative-christmas-message

Features

Wednesday 24 December 2008

Read the translation of the Alternative Christmas Message, delivered by the President of Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

"In the Name of God the Compassionate, the Merciful.

Upon the anniversary of the birth of Jesus, Son of Mary, the Word of God, the Messenger of mercy, I would like to congratulate the followers of Abrahamic faiths, especially the followers of Jesus Christ, and the people of Britain.

The Almighty created the universe for human beings and human beings for Himself.

He created every human being with the ability to reach the heights of perfection. He called on man to make every effort to live a good life in this world and to work to achieve his everlasting life.

On this difficult and challenging journey of man from dust to the divine, He did not leave humanity to its own devices. He chose from those He created the most excellent as His Prophets to guide humanity.

All Prophets called for the worship of God, for love and brotherhood, for the establishment of justice and for love in human society. Jesus, the Son of Mary, is the standard-bearer of justice, of love for our fellow human beings, of the fight against tyranny, discrimination and injustice.

All the problems that have bedevilled humanity throughout the ages came about because humanity followed an evil path and disregarded the message of the Prophets.

Now as human society faces a myriad of problems and a succession of complex crises, the root causes can be found in humanity's rejection of that message, in particular the indifference of some governments and powers towards the teachings of the divine Prophets, especially those of Jesus Christ.

The crises in society, the family, morality, politics, security and the economy which have made life hard for humanity and continue to put great pressure on all nations have come about because the Prophets have been forgotten, the Almighty has been forgotten and some leaders are estranged from God.

If Christ were on earth today, undoubtedly He would stand with the people in opposition to bullying, ill-tempered and expansionist powers.

If Christ were on earth today, undoubtedly He would hoist the banner of justice and love for humanity to oppose warmongers, occupiers, terrorists and bullies the world over.

If Christ were on earth today, undoubtedly He would fight against the tyrannical policies of prevailing global economic and political systems, as He did in His lifetime. The solution to today's problems is a return to the call of the divine Prophets. The solution to these crises is to follow the Prophets - they were sent by the Almighty for the good of humanity.

Today, the general will of nations is calling for fundamental change. This is now taking place. Demands for change, demands for transformation, demands for a return to human values are fast becoming the foremost demands of the nations of the world. The response to these demands must be real and true. The prerequisite to this change is a change in goals, intentions and directions. If tyrannical goals are repackaged in an attractive and deceptive package and imposed on nations again, the people, awakened, will stand up against them.

Fortunately, today, as crises and despair multiply, a wave of hope is gathering momentum. Hope for a brighter future and hope for the establishment of justice, hope for real peace, hope for finding virtuous and pious rulers who love the people and want to serve them – and this is what the Almighty has promised.

We believe, Jesus Christ will return, together with one of the children of the revered Messenger of Islam and will lead the world to love, brotherhood and justice. The responsibility of all followers of Christ and Abrahamic faiths is to prepare the way for the fulfilment of this divine promise and the arrival of that joyful, shining and wonderful age. I hope that the collective will of nations will unite in the not too distant future and with the grace of the Almighty Lord, that shining age will come to rule the earth.

Once again, I congratulate one and all on the anniversary of the birth of Jesus Christ. I pray for the New Year to be a year of happiness, prosperity, peace and brotherhood for humanity. I wish you every success and happiness."

Copied from www.channel4.com

Eglash on african fractuals

Obama's first economic lesson: blame Bush

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/william_rees_mogg/article5119348.ece

From The Times
November 10, 2008
Obama's first economic lesson: blame Bush
As in 1933, the President-elect faces a disaster not of his making. Today, however, he may be able to stabilise the depression
William Rees-Mogg

Next Saturday there will be a meeting of the leading economic nations, the G20, in Washington to review the world economic crisis. It is not clear how much Barack Obama, the President-elect of the United States, will be involved. He faces the same dilemma as Franklin Roosevelt, who was President-elect in 1933.

Herbert Hoover, the outgoing president, was engaged in negotiating the preliminaries for the World Economic and Monetary Conference that was to be held in London in July of the same year. By that time Roosevelt would be president.

Roosevelt blamed the slump on Hoover, and was determined to create his own policies to deal with the crisis. In his perceptive biography Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Conrad Black observes: “Roosevelt fundamentally thought that the focusing on foreign causes for the Depression was a scam and an evasion... He believed that efforts to lay great stress on the potential of international conferences to achieve much that would be useful were just attempts to shirk responsibility for the monstrous failure for which Herbert Hoover as President, and for eight years before that as Secretary of Commerce, was more personally responsible than anyone else.”
There is no reason to think that Senator Obama feels as angry about the economic policy failures of George W. Bush as Roosevelt felt about Hoover, but the political situation is the same. In 1933 the outgoing Republican Administration left the legacy of the Great Depression. By 1933 that had already cost them the presidential election of 1932; as the party of the slump they went on to lose the elections of 1936, 1940, 1944 and 1948. Any competent professional politician in Roosevelt's position would have wanted to nail the Republican Party with responsibility for the slump. Mr Obama is a highly competent politician. He will want to avoid sharing responsibility for the greatest economic catastrophe since the 1930s. To start with, he will want to make sure of his second term. He will put the blame on the Republican Administration, and reasonably so.
The economic policies of the new Administration have not yet been established. The President-elect has a number of first-class advisers, people of judgment, courage and experience; yet the administrative team has yet to be appointed. During the Washington conference, Senator Obama will be well advised to listen to the visiting statesmen, as no doubt he will, but he can hardly be ready to enter into policy commitments.

During the conference one could expect Senator Obama to listen more than he talks. Quite simply, he is not yet the president; he has huge influence but no official authority. Nor is he indeed an economist by training. He will take his own big economic decisions, but he will want first of all to receive the advice he will be given by an administration that has not yet been formed.

In any case, the leading figures of the G20 countries are not themselves agreed on the best policies to pursue. The President of France, Nicolas Sarkozy, seems to want a second Bretton Woods, the 1944 conference that created the postwar fixed-rate exchange system; the system lasted until 1971, when President Nixon ended the convertibility of the dollar into gold.
It is not clear which, if any, countries other than France now want to move back towards a fixed-rate system. Gordon Brown, as Chancellor, blocked British entry into the euro, which is itself a fixed-rate currency. Mr Brown seems to want a new structure for the main global institutions, the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. However, the Washington conference does not contemplate a new world monetary treaty. Nothing can be decided at this stage on structural reform, nor could it be be a cure for a depression.

In the meantime, the economic situation is continuing to deteriorate, just as it did in the early 1930s. The worst period of the Great Depression occurred between the election of Franklin Roosevelt in November 1932 and his inauguration in March 1933. That was when the largest number of American banks had to close. There is no reason to think we have yet reached the bottom of this depression.

We do now seem to have reached the stage when a financial crisis transmutes into a general crisis of the economy. It is no longer the banks that are causing the greatest worry, but the potential collapse of the American automobile industry. The two largest manufacturers, General Motors and Ford, are asking Washington for funds comparable in size to the bailout of the banks. European car manufacturers are also suffering a disastrous slump in sales.

The recession is already spreading into the wider world of business, with large businesses having to lay off an increasing number of workers, and smaller ones shutting down. There are now foreclosures in almost every street. It is a time of many domestic financial tragedies in the US and in Britain.

In 1932 one of Roosevelt's advisers, the great American economist Irving Fisher, described the critical tipping point of a depression. “There may be equilibrium which, though stable, is so delicately poised that, after departure from it beyond certain limits, instability ensues... Such a disaster is somewhat like the ‘capsizing' of the ship which, under ordinary conditions, is always near stable equilibrium but which, after being tipped beyond a certain angle, has no longer the tendency to return to equilibrium, but, instead, a tendency to depart further from it.”
Senator Obama's first task is to stabilise the depression before it passes the tipping point, as it did in the 1930s. He rightly recognises how urgent this is. Yet he has one great advantage. He is genuinely a charismatic leader whom people will follow. The economic crisis calls out for a renewal of confidence. The whole world needs to believe that “Yes, we can”.

T D Jakes on God, War and Sarah Palin (The Rachel Maddow Road)

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/26631789#26615289

Obama Germany Speech- MSNBC TV

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/25835684#25835684

Martin Luther King Jr. Last Public Speech/ I Have a Dream Speech

"Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that. The beauty of nonviolence is that in its own way and in its own time it seeks to break the chain reaction of evil."

MLK on History.com: http://www.history.com/minisites/king

The last wish of Dr Martin Luther King
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/06/opinion/06branch.html?ref=opinion

Worshipping God

'Let us pray to whatever God we worship, remembering as my dad taught me throughout my childhood, that Christ was not a Christian, Mohammed was not a Mohammedan, Buddha was not a Buddhist and Krishna was not a Hindu'

Gotham Chopra's foreword in Deepak Chopra's THE DEEPER WOUND.

Newtons Third Law of Motion

Just a passing thought this, silly one yes but a passing thought all the same, I do not remember the substance of the discussion with a secondary school 'puppy love' who went on to say to me 'to every action there was a reaction', and in the heat of that discussion that at the time, I remember fairly well did seem like my life depended on it.... Au contrare, with the benefit of hindsight, autumn leaves.... a quick retort won the moment, thanks to an old mate Isaac Newton, Yes the fellow who 'witnessed' an apple fall in the year 1666 and thought up the theory of 'universal gravitation' and who said in his third law of motion 'to every action there is an equal and opposite reaction', he was talking of forces and motion of course but who's to say how you apply science laws and theories in real life and during that 'life and death' situation Mr Isaac Newton saved my life and the other party's ommission of the critical 'equal and opposite reaction' part of the law.....talk of science coming to the rescue of a domestic crisis....just a passing thought all the same on how errors and omissions even in business presentations, propositions, contracts can be quite costly.

By the way there is available on most markets now insurance cover called Directors and Officers Liability and in the case of those calling themselves 'proffessionals' the cover is proffessional liability insurance cover, both these covers are in cognizance of two main aspects the first that as human beings we are prone to err with costs consequently arising therefrom no matter how well trained we are, plus off-course the public is more liability conscious these days and will 'bay for blood' if a 'professional' costs them some of or the whole value of an investment or business enterprise. Now there's Newtons third law of motion again, rearing its head.

Charles Dickens

"Reflect upon your present blessings, of which every man has plenty; not on your past misfortunes, of which all men have some."

Charles Dickens
1812-1870, Novelist

Tolstoy

"Happiness does not depend on outward things, but on the way we see them."

Leo Tolstoy 1828-1910, Novelist and Philosopher

Galileo

I do not feel obliged to believe that the same God who has endowed us with sense, reason, and intellect has intended us to forgo their use - Galileo Galilei.

MUGABE- All good things must come to an end

All good things must come to an end, I must admit that more times than less I have championed Comrade Mugabes constructive efforts, but....... that was then and this is now, the sufferation of the local people is heartbreaking, there say your 'pops' was from Nyasaland, if thats so then come home Sir and let it all go, its way overdue, you need some rest, yes you do.

I remember visiting Harare in the late 90's and these big meat eating Zim fellows asked with rude undertones 'hows the old man?' that was during the Banda days, yes Good old 'Ngwazi' of the 'Kwacha' good feeling, well a few years ago I happened to be in Harare again and it was my turn to ask 'hows the old man?', after a few mumbles here and there the discussion went cold, the big meat eating Zims were afraid to speak openly. How things change!

We need a strong Zim back, we salute you Comrade Bob, but its time to go, all things must come to an end. Another sad sight of great men overtaken by events, Like the Ngwazi's political demise, your time has come or is it has gone?