Category: Other

Source: Heritage Foundation (2012)

The Heritage Foundation measures ten components of economic freedom, assigning a grade in each using a scale from 0 to 100, where 100 represents the maximum freedom. The 10 economic freedoms are grouped into four broad categories or pillars of economic freedom:

1. Rule of Law (property rights, freedom from corruption);
2. Limited Government (fiscal freedom, government spending);
3. Regulatory Efficiency (business freedom, labor freedom, monetary freedom); and
4. Open Markets (trade freedom, investment freedom, financial freedom).

Each of the freedoms within these four broad categories is individually scored on a scale of 0 to 100. A country’s overall economic freedom score is a simple average of its scores on the 10 individual freedoms.

Top 10 Countries

Country	Rank
Hong Kong	1
Singapore	2
Australia	3
New Zealand	4
Switzerland	5
Canada	6
Chile	7
Mauritius	8
Ireland	9
United States	10

The following are 20 quotes from European leaders that prove that they know that the financial system in Europe is doomed….

#1 Polish finance minister Jacek Rostowski: “European elites, including German elites, must decide if they want the euro to survive – even at a high price – or not. If not, we should prepare for a controlled dismantling of the currency zone.”

#2 Stephane Deo, Paul Donovan, and Larry Hatheway of Swiss banking giant UBS: “Under the current structure and with the current membership, the euro does not work. Either the current structure will have to change, or the current membership will have to change.”

#3 EU President Herman Van Rompuy: “The euro has never had the infrastructure that it requires.”

#4 German President Christian Wulff: “I regard the huge buy-up of bonds of individual states by the ECB as legally and politically questionable. Article 123 of the Treaty on the EUs workings prohibits the ECB from directly purchasing debt instruments, in order to safeguard the central banks independence”

#5 Deutsche Bank CEO Josef Ackerman: “It is an open secret that numerous European banks would not survive having to revalue sovereign debt held on the banking book at market levels.”

#6 ECB President Jean-Claude Trichet: “We are experiencing very demanding times”

#7 International Monetary Fund Managing Director Christine Lagarde: “Developments this summer have indicated we are in a dangerous new phase”

#8 Prince Hermann Otto zu Solms-Hohensolms-Lich, the Bundestag’s Deputy President: “We must consider whether it would not be better for the currency union and for Greece itself to go for debt restructuring and an exit from the euro”

#9 Alastair Newton, a strategist for Nomura Securities in London: “We believe that we are just about to enter a critical period for the eurozone and that the threat of some sort of break-up between now and year-end is greater than it has been at any time since the start of the crisis”

#10 Former German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder: “The current crisis makes it relentlessly clear that we cannot have a common currency zone without a common fiscal, economic and social policy”

#11 Bank of England Governor Mervyn King: “Dealing with a banking crisis was difficult enough, but at least there were public-sector balance sheets on to which the problems could be moved. Once you move into sovereign debt, there is no answer; there’s no backstop.”

#12 George Soros: “We are on the verge of an economic collapse which starts, let’s say, in Greece. The financial system remains extremely vulnerable.”

#13 German Chancellor Angela Merkel: “The current crisis facing the euro is the biggest test Europe has faced for decades, even since the Treaty of Rome was signed in 1957.”

#14 Stephane Deo, Paul Donovan, and Larry Hatheway of Swiss banking giant UBS: “Member states would be economically better off if they had never joined. European monetary union was generally mis-sold to the population of the Europe.”

#15 Professor Giacomo Vaciago of Milan’s Catholic University: “It’s clear that the euro has virtually failed over the last ten years, even if you are not supposed to say that.”

#16 EU President Herman Van Rompuy: “Were in a survival crisis. We all have to work together in order to survive with the euro zone, because if we dont survive with the euro zone we will not survive with the European Union.”

#17 German Chancellor Angela Merkel: “If the euro fails, then Europe fails.”

#18 Deutsche Bank CEO Josef Ackerman: “All this reminds one of the autumn of 2008”

#19 International Monetary Fund Managing Director Christine Lagarde: “There has been a clear crisis of confidence that has seriously aggravated the situation. Measures need to be taken to ensure that this vicious circle is broken”

#20 German Chancellor Angela Merkel: “The euro is in danger … If we don’t deal with this danger, then the consequences for us in Europe are incalculable.”

By ZedgeHero (with due apologies to Don Maclean’s American Pie)

A long, long time ago
I can still remember
How that money used to make me smile.
And I knew if I had my choice
That I could hear those peoples voice
And, maybe, they’d be happy for a while.
But September 08 made me shiver
And I began collecting Silver
Bad news on the doorstep;
I couldn’t take one more step.
I can’t remember if I cried
When I read about the housing slide,
But something touched me deep inside
The day the money died.

So bye-bye, to the American lie..
Drove my stock to the top,
And the market went dry.
And them Wall Street boys were thinking risky with lies
Saying’, “this’ll be the day that we die.
“this’ll be the day that we die.”

Did you write loans for the Bank,
And do you have faith in Ben Bernank,
For if the Government tells you so?
Do you believe in too big to fail,
Is you house now finally up for Sale?
And can you teach me how to refinance real slow?
Well, I know that you’re still in love with this
cause I see it in your complete abyss
We really both can choose
Man, I hate those derivatives too.
I was a lonely disgruntled American buck
With a sick sensation that started to suck
But I knew I was out of luck
The day the money died.

(Refrain)

Now for three years we’ve been on our own
While Bank’s got fat on a rollin’ loan,
But that’s not how it used to be.
When Geithner says live within our means,
As a puppet from the powers that be
But a silence came from you and me,
Oh, and while the US was looking down,
China is stealing it’s thorny crown.
Europe Union was adjourned;
Another bailout was returned.
And while Obama read a book on Marx,
The people protested in the park,
And we sold gold in the dark
The day the money died.

(Refrain)

Bets, and debts in a summer sweat.
The stock fell off cause of Euorpean debt,
World Markets high and falling faaaast.
It’s still too high for the price of gas.
The politicians debt bill did pass,
With downgrade rating in a flash
Now the European air was filled with fumes
All the riots were just starting to exhume.
We all got up to fight,
Oh, but we never got the right
`cause the FED tried to print some more
The money they added was making us poor.
Do you recall the horror
The day the money died?

(Refrain)

Oh, and there we were all in one place,
401k’s all lost in space
With no time left to start again.
So come on: Ben be nimble, Ben be quick!
The Federal Reserve and that magic stick
Cause the printing press is the devil’s only friend.
Oh, and as I watched him on the stage
My hands were clenched in fists of rage.
No angel born in hell
Could break that Chairman’s spell.
And as the Gold climbed high into the night
To light the path that was actually right,
I saw Bernanke laughing with delight
The day the money died

(Refrain)

I bought some gold and sang the blues
Hoping for some happy news
Banks got tired and burned away.
I went down to the old coin store
Where I’d bought silver years before,
But the man there said my money wouldn’t pay.
And in Wall street: the brokers screamed,
The CEO’s cried, and oil creamed.
But not a word was spoken;
The global markets all were broken.
And the two men I admire most:
Ron Paul and Thomas Jefferson’s ghost,
They caught the last train for the coast
The day the money died.

(Refrain x2)

by Michael Adams

I want my bailout money
Keep the bills coming
Sweet green cash just drippin like honey
I’m a new kind of thug with a Washington buzz ’cause
Dealing debt pays better than dealing drugs

What do you think will happen when they double the money supply?
The falling dollar makes it harder for you to survive
They take those billions and trillions and give it to their own kind
Hope you don’t mind bein robbed blind

How do you think we got runaway credit?
Ain’t nothin goin down unless the crooks in Washington let it
Now they regret it but they still don’t get it
Cause the economy is crashin so bad it needs a paramedic

I want my bailout money
Sweet green cash just dripping with honey
Gotta keep this economy running
I need another hit of my bailout money

Look at the stash, it’s like a mad dash for the cash
They got the taxpayer takin it in the ass
the CEOs they are havin a blast
While the workin poor trying to make the paycheck last

The bailout money is created with new debt
While they rollin in their limos and private jets
All the workers on the street drippin sweat
While collar hustlers are takin everything they can get

They put the nation on a hyperinflation track
No Presidential administration can take it back
And now the taxpayers pickin up the slack
Like they put a high dollar Big Brother monkey on your back

I want my bailout money
Sweet green cash just dripping with honey
Gotta keep this economy running
I need another hit of my bailout money

The prisons are filled with brothers caught on a fifty-dollar jack
But when Whitey takin trillions, the cops they turn their back
The incompetent bankers, they get their jobs back
Cause those crankers smoking money like it was crack

They take your car, your home, everything that you own
And when you’re jobless and broke, you still gotta pay the loan
If you’re thinkin of stealin some food, please don’t
Just go to Washington and you can steal everything you want

How we gonna solve this, dissolve the big scam
We resolve we won’t let ’em steal from a fellow man
Raise our hands and ask “What is this?”
Then we put the Federal Reserve out of business!

You take a look at a dollar bill, you see that eye above the pyramid lookin back at you
That eye is laughin at you suckers!

I want my bailout money
Keep the con running
Sweet green cash just dripping with honey
Gotta keep this economy running
I need another hit of my bailout money

Aren’t you tired of payin for that? Tired of breakin your back for that?
Bein oppressed and suppressed while you keep payin your tax for that?
We gotta get out of this financial trap
And it’s never gonna stop until you take your country back

The politicians are useless, don’t you know that they used us
And the bankers refused us while the media schooled us
The authorities knew this was happening to us
Cause they make more money every time that they screw us

You didn’t think they’re printing all that funny money just for you, did ya?

Drownin’ in debt but the Fed isn’t done yet
What are we gonna get?
Gonna print funny money
Budget’s in the red, economy nearly dead
Politician’s said that we
Gonna print funny money
Hangin’ by a thread, the people are bein’ bled
But get it through your head that we
Gonna print funny money
The bankers gotta stay ahead, gotta make more bread
That’s when they said, “Print more money!”

By Rod Fitzsimmons Frey (To the tune of Cole Porter’s “I’m Always True to You, In My Fashion“)

If my screen shows its a buy,
Or it just catches my eye
As oft as not, the thing gets bought that day!

But I’m always true to you, Galt’n, in my fashion
Yes, I’m always true to you, Galt’n, in my way.

I’ve a dear but clueless friend
Likes to hop aboard a trend,
As my friend gets rich, I watch my finger twitch — it’s judgement day!

But I’m always true to you, Galt’n, in my fashion
Yes, I’m always true to you, Galt’n, in my way.

There’s a list of plutocrats
Who like to give some diamonds back
I must concentrate, but that sell looks great — and now I pay!

But I’m always true to you, Galt’n, in my fashion
Yes, I’m always true to you, Galt’n, in my way.

Some that sell their market dross
Counting makes them mad and cross
When their math shows cracks, there’s always Amazon hacks — One star, they say!

Still I’m always true to you, Galt’n, in my fashion
Yes, I’m always true to you, Galt’n, in my way.

I can count the S&P
And the bumps of corn and beans
And if oil’s a bore, and the west’s a chore — Nikkei!

But I’m always true to you, Galt’n, in my fashion
Yes, I’m always true to you, Galt’n, in my way.

We all love to count and sum
And I trust those meals will come
And when the meals roll in, I’ll thank you, Galton — Hurray!

‘Cause I’m always true to you, Galt’n, in my fashion
Yes, I’m always true to you, Galt’n, in my way.

by Dr. Kim Zussman

If I had a Wiener
I’d filter in the morning
I’d filter in the evening
All over this land
I’d filter out zygotes
I’d filter out virons
I’d filter out love between the brothers and brothers
All over San Francisco

If I had a bell
I’d ring it at the Nasdaq
I’d ring it at the NYSE
All over this land
I’d wring out declines
I’d ring out vol spikes
I’d ring out love between my brokers and my traders
All over this land

If I were short
I’d sell it in the morning
I’d sell it in the evening
All over this land
I’d sell out danger
I’d sell global warming
I’d sell out love between Bernanke and Maria
All over C-SPAN

by Dr Kim Zussman

All the old chartings on the tombs
They do the sand dance don’t you know
If they move too slow (oh whey oh)
They’re falling down like dominos

All the bazaar men by the Pit
They got their money on a bet
Gold crocodiles slip on the crude (oh whey oh)
They snap their teeth your margin’s hit

Foreign types with hookah pipes say
Ay oh whey oh, light and sweet ohh
Kount like a Korean

The blonde mistresses take their tips
They spin across the trading floor
They’ve got the moves (oh whey oh)
You drop your stake and they take more

All the B-school kids are tricked by books
Mistaking Paradigm for Pair o’ dice
When the bell rings (oh whey oh)
They kount like Koreans

All the kids in the marketplace say
Ay oh whey oh, Oy, oy veh-oh
Kount like a Korean

Slide your position through the $treet and hunch your back
Offer just a bit and then you pull it back
Alpha is hard to get you know (you don’t say, oh?)

So strike a pose with a big finance rag
If you want to find all the tops
The Wiz is at the donut shop
They sing and dance (oh whey oh)

Spin the wheel lay on the trade
All the Japanese with all their yen
The party boys now stiff the Krem-a-lin
And the Chinese know just how the wind does blow (oh whey oh) They take the bait just like Koreans

All the flops at the quant shop say
Delta thet-oh, gamma vegg-oh
Kount like a Korean
Kount like a Korean