Fractional Banking System

"A banking system in which only a fraction of bank deposits are backed by actual cash-on-hand and are available for withdrawal. This is done to expand the economy by freeing up capital that can be loaned out to other parties. Most countries operate under this type of system."

Bank Run

"A situation in which numerous bank customers try to withdraw their bank deposits simultaneously and the bank's reserves are not sufficient to cover the withdrawals. Bank runs are a result of panic"

To say the markets and the Economy at large is in a state of panic would be a huge understatement at best. The LIBOR or the rate at which banks lend to each other on overnight and longer term loans has increased as distrust has spread within the Financial sector. Banks are basically afraid to lend to each other and thus increases liquidity problems for the everyone. Banks are hoarding cash and not lending to each other or consumers. This is having a serious consequence for Economies where cash flow grinds to a halt and tips many businesses over the edge as financing is no longer available. The resultant set of dominos falling are increased layoffs, further share price deterioration, devaluation of the stock market,reduced tax base and an increased welfare bill for Government. Are you starting to panic yet ? Feel like withdrawing your savings and stashing them under your bed ?

So we have a situation right now where Governments are running to Guarantee Bank deposits.. Ireland said it would guarantee them up to a value of 400 Billion Euros, I began to wonder..Well Brian, where are you going to find a sum like this in Eire ? Has he seen the pot of gold over the rainbow or has he totally lost his faculties ?

Let's take Ireland as an example as it's my Birthplace, to see what kind of numbers we are talking about..

2008 Total estimated Tax revenue for 2008: 48.9 Billion Euros

2008 Total estimated non Tax revenue for 2008: 684 Million

2008 Total estimated Revenue: 49.594 Billion Euros

2008 Irish Exchequer Balance: -4.8 Billion Euros

So Brian, where does the 400 Billion come from ? The country already has a net negative balance of 4.8 billion euros.
This is Deposit guarantee scheme in Microcosm and the same situation can be said for other countries as well. The announcement is meant to "Shore up confidence" in the banking system. Sorry the banking system got themselves and the rest of us IN this mess because of highly imaginative accounting practices and the above seems from the same mold to me.

The reality of the situation is that Investors ARE panicking right now. The UK branch of the Icelandic bank Landsbanki, Icesave, an Internet based subsidiary, had to freeze withdrawals from customers on Tuesday. From a fractional banking standpoint, this chicken came home to roost with a reality check. There will be many more of these instances as this drama unfolds which has already claimed so many victims.

Another shoe on the way down..
Adjustable rate mortgages are being reset very soon which will see millions of homeowners around the world who are on the brink of going broke actually go broke and default on their mortgages. Another addition to the housing inventory and another addition to the Food Stamp Q and unemploymets line, all of which means less money and more government debt.

There comes a time when , even Politicians and stockbrokers have to face the music. Money does not grow on trees, it requires people who have jobs, pay taxes, buy houses, groceries, cars etc etc.. Once you take the rug out from under a functioning economy it just keels over ..how hard we wait and see.

Paulson's upcoming purchase of Equity Shares in the last major banks standing in the financial OK Corral has convinced me once and for all that what we are looking at here is either idiocy on a monumental scale or the execution of an already established game plan.

The purchase involves NON VOTING shares ! So after already giving away $2.3 trillion of US taxpayers' money to Insurance, Banking and Automotive interests with no strings attached, Paulson then avoids the last opportunity to leverage some demands from the Financial Industry who, through their already well established chicanery, have brought the World to it's knees.

The one thing that, besides paralytic shock, this event behooves of us is some critical thinking about WHAT'S REALLY GOING ON HERE ALREADY !!!!

If anyone truly believes that what is unfolding and has been unfolding for the last 10 years is just a free market which didn't anticipate the results of it's greed, then you truly need some time out to reflect a little. Once Alan Greenspan unleashed the debt bubble by lowering interest rates and encouraging everyone to feast on what they could not afford by using credit cards and mortgage equity, then the beast had truly been unleashed and we all fell for it , let's admit it. It seemed really good to get that Car you really liked or that house you really liked without having to have saved anything up at all; Yep, just swipe that little thingie and all will be just fine ! The trap had been set and Bernanke took over the mantle with flying colors and lowered interest rates again as the economy started to falter. The attitude here was that, in a free market environment, you can always spend your way out of a bad situation. This is the kernel of the nuts we have been fed in recent times.

With an ever yawning trade deficit, current account balance, foreign debt ( to a level that it is mathematically impossible to ever pay it back) a manufacturing economy replaced with one where citizens serve each other coffee and burgers and call it an economy, the situation rapidly goes from bad to worse and the eventual bill after we stop gorging ourselves will necessitate rather a lot of dish washing for several millenia.

The truth of this can be seen by looking at any graph on Prudentbear.com ; The M3 money supply, (over 1 year ago, the government STOPPED publishing this figure), the Current account deficit, the Trade Deficit, The rising outstanding household and commercial debt, the rise of the percentage of unemployed, the unemployment figures themselves, the huge drop in the licenses sought for new home construction, the rise in the number of citizens applying for emergency state aid, the huge rise in the number of American families now under the Poverty line, the Huge rise in Food Kitchen queues etc etc..

Now, there have been numerous economists and journalists who have stood up during this bubble and said, Hold up, there's a problem here ! They had seen that the game had been rigged and were shot down for even mentioning that the Free Market Planet just might not be flat. Galileo would know how they were to feel.

One example..

United States Congressional Record - March 17, 1993 - Vol. #33, page H-1303 - Speaker- Rep. James Traficant, Jr. (Ohio) addressing the House:

"Mr. Speaker, we are here now in chapter 11. Members of Congress are official trustees presiding over the greatest reorganization of any Bankrupt entity in world history, the U.S. Government. We are setting forth hopefully, a blueprint for our future. There are some who say it is a coroner's report that will lead to our demise."

Of course we all know that Traficant wasn't around for much longer after that gaffe. Educated observers have known for 2 decades where US monetary and economic policy were leading and finally the manure hit the ventilator. This all begs the question..Is the result we see today the desired outcome ? Well let's look at it from another angle. Governement and Finance are bolted together at the hip as anyone who looks at the careers of the Executive and legislative branches would know. Regulatory commissions for Wall St bankers are stacked with Wall St bankers, pharmaceutical advisory boards are stuffed with Big Pharma reps. The lobbying industry - yes blatant vote selling for profit is actually a legal activity - has driven US government decisions from starting wars to supervising financiers all in the "interest" of the public.

So if we know that Government is fundamentally corrupt beyond belief, then may we not assume that they do not have our interests at heart but those of their employers ie whoever pays them, through lobbying, to vote a certain way on upcoming legislation or vote to repeal existing legislation like those old thingies, what were they called, Oh Yeah Habeus Corpus and the 1st, 2nd, and 4th amendments of the US constitution. Fortunately for Congress they did not have to embarass themselves too much as the executive branch just assumed the power by executive order or "signing statements".

However, you can see what's at work here. The concentration of arbitrary power has been gradually assumed since 200 , the Patriot Act being the first act of treason. The Congress members who were to vote on it were given 5 mins to read over 300 pages of legislation. The sunset clause when it came up for enactment was met with Patriot Act 2 ! Alberto Gonzales, as Bush's AG, brought legal interpretation to dizzying heights when he declared that the Geneva Convention does not legally apply to captives in the bogus "War on Terror" more accurately called "The War on Freedom" Bush also got the buy in from Gonzales that spying on American citizens was perfectly constitutional as we are in a state of "War". The continuity of Government ststus has not been repealed after it's creation in 2001. This COG is just another term for martial Law with no involvement of the legislative branch.

This all follows a pattern of increasing concentration of ultimate power in very few hands, and, conspicuous by it's absense, not in those of the US Population. Recently we had the Bailout Bill..signed in to law by the House of Representatives only after they were threathened that Martial Law would be imposed unless they signed on the dotted line.

The net result firstly of the Legislative Power Grab is now that under LAW, The US President now has the power to declare martial law in the case of a dramatic emergency whether it be financial, terrorist etc but this definition will be interpreted by the President alone and Congress will just have to sit and take it. (See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Posse_Comitatus_Act ). We also have the deployment of US Infantry on American civilian neighbourhoods

The net result of the past 2 decades of deliberate destruction of the US manufacturing base (which was the actual real world engine of the US economy), the devaluing of the Dollar by the Federal Banking system, the accumulation of foreign debt that is totally impossible to ever pay back, and the wholesale transfer of US citizens' wealth to the Banking fraternity courtesy of the "Bailout" bill and now the purchase of non voting equity in those same financial entities has now left us with an "Emergency".

All the pieces are in place. The election is not far away and while the public have had their eye off the ball and lapping up every dumb reaction by Wall St marketeers , defying basic economic understanding, the Boys in the Back room are seeing the results of years of effort. They now can abolish the rule of law completely in a society that is more than halfway to becoming 100% dependant on their "Government" for survival. The imposition of Martial law, already on the public Legislative record, is, in my view, the goal that they have been working towards. And all for one reason and one reason only ...Power. Any cursory glance at the past 5000 years of human history illustrates that the evolution of society always leads to an Oligarchy, excessive power, and is always followed by eventual self destruction.

So we need to look beyond the headlines and see what is really happening behind the scenes. Switch off your TV, stop buying newspapers and research your news sources..there are plenty of them out there where you will receive more than sound bites and feelgood "Journalism". The Players have played the game extremely well to achieve their ends; it is defintely time to realise that their game plan never had anything to do with OUR well being.