The Financial Jigsaw – Issue No. 91

My unpublished (100,000 word) book “The Financial Jigsaw”, is being serialised here weekly in 100 Issues by Peter J Underwood, author

Quote of the Week: “Those who have knowledge don’t predict. Those who predict don’t have knowledge.”  – Lao Tzu, 6th Century BC Chinese Poet

 NOTE – If anyone would like a free updated, 4th edition, electronic copy of the complete book, I should be pleased to email a free PDF on request to: [email protected].  The book has many footnotes linking to relevant and explanatory Appendices, websites and videos.

This video is 3 mins long and is by the famed, late George Carlin explaining how to enjoy the American Dream – you need to be asleep – and everyone in America is being screwed by the owners of Uncle Sam – a must watch:

https://videos.files.wordpress.com/BNsoKKAu/george-carlin-the-american-dream-best-3-minutes-of-his-career_dvd.mp4

             Here my friend Gerry has a great article about the Coronavirus and its effect on trade as well as some good comments of our current financial situation – worth a few minutes of your time: https://boomfinanceandeconomics.wordpress.com/2020/02/09/boom-as-at-9th-february-2020/ 

            America – we have a problem. So, realistically, now: Who can say that America hasn’t become a mega-corporate dictatorship?  The billionaires work through agents, whom they pay, is how it comes to be that America is now scientifically proven to be “one dollar one vote” instead of one person one vote:

https://www.strategic-culture.org/news/2020/02/08/who-can-now-say-america-hasnt-become-mega-corporate-dictatorship/

            “In a 1969 interview, Jim Garrison, the District Attorney of New Orleans and the only person to ever bring to trial a case involving the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, said that as a result of the CIA’s murderous coup d’état on behalf of the military-industrial-financial-media-intelligence complex that rules the country to this day, the American people have been subjected to a fabricated reality that has rendered them a nation of passive Eichmanns, who sit in their living rooms, popping pills and watching television as their country’s military machine mows down people by the millions and the announcers tell them all the things they should be afraid of, such as bacteria on cutting boards and Russian spies infiltrating their hair salons.”

https://off-guardian.org/2020/02/09/the-usas-doll-house-a-vast-tapestry-of-lies-and-illusions/

            “Later this month we’ve got the beginning of Julian Assange’s extradition trial, we’ve got the OPCW narrative managing its own scandal by smearing the whistleblowers who revealed that the US, UK and France almost certainly bombed Syria in 2018 under false pretences, we’ve got continuing revelations that pretty much everything the Trump administration told the world to justify the assassination of Qassem Soleimani was a lie, we’ve got an escalating new cold war between the US and Russia, increasing establishment attempts to censor the internet, an increasing propaganda war against China, the general militaristic belligerence of the US-centralized empire, and God knows what else.”

https://medium.com/@caityjohnstone/2020-is-going-to-get-much-crazier-prioritize-your-mental-health-7334d7ca38a0

 Here is the link to last week: Issue 90

 I will continue to provide weekly updates as Brexit negotiations with the EU progress over the coming months:

“……Furthermore, the EU’s trade covers physical goods affecting only 8% of Britain’s GDP, with services a separate issue negotiated on a case-by-case basis. Being predominantly wholesale, most trade in financial services is excluded (though the EU is trying to claim it is not), and those at the retail level are delivered through British-owned subsidiaries based in Luxembourg and Dublin. Attempts to force EU standards on British financial services have a long history of failure, and the most recent suggestion, that the EU will seek to maintain access to British fishing waters in exchange for continued access for financial services to the EU, is an empty bargain.   Before Brexit and Boris, with the all-powerful establishment controlling the post-referendum agenda this could never be admitted, until now. Parliament specifically legislated to remove the no-deal option, not just to emasculate British negotiators and thus for Britain to remain within the EU’s customs union, but because the Westminster and Whitehall establishments did not understand trade, let alone free trade, and are subjugated by their socialising instincts.”

            “In truth its bureaucratic, undemocratic model is outdated and inflexible. Its ethos has become a paralysing mixture of big business cronyism and socialism. Free markets are a threat and despised. Its central bank, the ECB, has got the inflation bug, financing spendthrift member governments and undercapitalised big banks. And its new head, Christine Lagarde wants to fund climate change, all by printing euros.  More nations are bound to abandon this out of date political project. Ordinary Germans have had their hard-earned savings trashed, most recently with negative interest rates. The mittelstand, the backbone of Germany’s engineering and technology is being sacrificed on the altar of climate change. The Mediterranean nations have their hands out for more subsidies. As Mrs Thatcher once said, the problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people’s money, a truth which hapless EU residents will learn the hard way. It’s a lucky escape for Britain.”

https://www.goldmoney.com/research/goldmoney-insights/independence-and-its-consequences

 Parliament continues its work this week.  Details of Parliament’s deliberations can be found here:

https://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/business-papers/commons/votes-and-proceedings/#session=35&year=2020&month=1&day=6

 UK has now left EUROPE so I will continue to comment on relevant EU – UK events:

This has come from my South African contacts – pity BBC has missed it: “However, EU chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier said London should be “under no illusion” on financial services as there would be “no general, global, permanent equivalence” with Britain. “There will be no common management,” Barnier told the European Parliament in Strasbourg.  Equivalence only covers some financial activities, basic banking is excluded, and Brussels can in theory scrap access with just 30 days’ notice in some cases.  Britain and the EU have agreed to make such an assessment by the end of June, but Brussels says actual financial market access will be linked to broader trade issues such as fishing rights.”

https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2020-02-11-britain-and-eu-split-over-financial-market-access/

AND – “The key question is, of course, whether Europe has genuinely turned the corner or not. I’d argue that it is way too early to give the all-clear signal. First of all, despite the recent green shoots, economic growth in Europe remains anaemic and fragile. In fact, Q4 2019 marks with only 0.1% real GDP growth the weakest quarter in the euro area since Q1 2013. The economies of France (-0.1%) and Italy (-0.3%) outright contracted. In addition, recession risks around Germany have resurfaced with a vengeance. On a year-on-year basis, German industrial production dropped by 6.8% in December 2019, the strongest decline since the global financial crisis. So, things may well get worse before they get better in Europe.”

            “Brexit: After the UK left the European Union on 31st January 2020, the 11-month transition period has begun. The clock is ticking and, if there is no extension, only very little time remains to negotiate a comprehensive trade deal between both parties. The risk for the EU is, of course, that from 1st January 2021 onwards trade with the UK will be conducted on WTO terms, which could disrupt supply chains and damped economic activity.”

https://www.bondvigilantes.com/blog/2020/02/10/has-europe-really-turned-the-corner/

            “This report [PAYWALL] exposes the reality behind the curtain. The entire design of the EU is to deliberately deny any right of the people to ever vote on their own future. The politicians have assumed that the people are TOO STUPID to know what is best for them. In fact, Germany, the foundation of the entire European economy, was NEVER given the right to vote to join the Euro. Chancellor Kohl admitted that he acted as a dictator because he said if he ever allowed the German people to vote, he would have lost 7 to 3.  This report is essential to understand the risks in Europe. Most people have no clue because the second reason this report is unique is that no European analyst working in any of big financial institutions are ever allowed to criticize the EU or speak negatively about the Euro.”

Those interested: https://www.armstrongeconomics.com/product/the-fate-of-europe-report/

AND ZeroHedge confirms Europe is in trouble: “On Wednesday morning, all hope for a recovery in Europe was abandoned when industrial production numbers missed estimates in December. https://www.zerohedge.com/economics/what-rebound-eurozone-industrial-production-plunges-december

 The 4^th edition of The Financial Jigsaw issued recently includes a Foreword, Preface, Epilogue and Appendices which I will publish here in advance.   Next come the Appendices:

 Appendix V is provided and acknowledged as an extract from the book of the same name authored by  A.J. J. Friedemann (Author)

APPENDIX V

WHEN TRUCKS STOP RUNNING

Here is an example of how important distribution is to our economy.  Best known for her book, When Trucks Stop Running, This is her forecast of what would happen should our trucking system shut down for lack of fuel:

Day 1 without trucks

• Manufacturers and assembly lines that use just-in-time delivery will shut down when parts run out or storage for finished products fills up.
• Hospitals will run out of supplies like syringes and catheters within hours.
• Milk and fresh bread will run out.

Day 2 without trucks

• Food shortages will escalate, especially in the face of hoarding and consumer panic. Supplies of essentials and perishable foods will disappear
• Restaurants and fast food outlets close
• ATMs will run out of cash
• Construction stops
• Pharmacies close
• Americans generate 685,000 tons of trash per day. Garbage will start piling up in urban and suburban areas creating a health hazard.

Day 3 without trucks

• Most service stations will run out of fuel
• Widespread lay-offs in the manufacturing sector
• Waste water sludge becomes a problem as tanks at treatment plants are now full
• Work on infrastructure stops as repairs can’t be undertaken
• Public transport, fire, police, ambulances, telecommunications, utilities, mail, and other essential services stop

Day 4 without trucks

• The repercussions start to reverberate globally, as 48,000 imported containers per day can’t be unloaded off of ships. Exports stop too.
• All fuel supplies are depleted from service stations. Many people can’t get to work
• With no fuel, airplanes and railroads shut down.
• Garbage is piling up and has become a sanitary problem
• Britain is out of beer

Day 5 without truck transport

• Drinking water is depleted. The delay of weekly deliveries of chemicals has meant that water treatment plants can no longer guarantee that water is fit to drink.
• Industrial production stops, a large proportion of the labor force is laid-off or unable to get to work, travel and recreation stop
• Healthcare is confined to emergency services
• Utilities have localized disruption of gas and electricity, and due to lack of fuel can’t pump water and gas, repair broken water and gas networks, etc
• Livestock begin to suffer from lack of feed deliveries, wastes accumulate, ranchers can’t transport animals to slaughterhouses,  meat production stops
• The Swedish Alcohol Retail Monopoly is out of alcohol

Within four weeks:

• The nation will exhaust its clean water supply and water will be safe for drinking only after boiling.
• If this happened at harvest time, many crops will rot in the fields
• The Department of Defense supply chain will break down, crippling the military “in ways no adversary has been able to achieve”.
• Global financial collapse. A halt of international trade would bring the financial system down, probably sooner than this.

This is just a partial list of what could occur. (Source)

 To be continued next Saturday

Click to visit the TBP Store for Great TBP Merchandise

Author: Austrian Peter

Peter J. Underwood is a retired international accountant and qualified humanistic counsellor living in Bruton, UK, with his wife, Yvonne. He pursued a career as an entrepreneur and business consultant, having founded several successful businesses in the UK and South Africa His latest Substack blog describes the African concept of Ubuntu - a system of localised community support using a gift economy model. View all posts by Austrian Peter