Interview 990 – Geneva Business Insider with David L. Smith
Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed
This month on the Geneva Business Insider James and David discuss: the unfolding deflationary cycle in the commodities markets and its long-term effects; the suspiciously convenient timing of Obama’s new cybersecurity proposal; and the continuing hypocrisy of the Paris Hebdo circus.
SHOW NOTES
Iron Ore Imports by China Advance to Record as Price Collapses
Copper Carnage Continues – Bloodbath At China Open
China HSBC PMI slips, offering fresh sign of slowdown
Game Over Japan: Real Wages Crash Most In 21st Century, Savings Rate Turns Negative
BoE Governor warns deflation is now ‘possible’
Eurozone sees negative inflation of 0.2% in December
FACT SHEET: Broadband That Works
Of Course Obama Appointed a Former Telecom Lobbyist to Run the FCC
President Obama’s New Cybersecurity Proposal Is Already Facing Skepticism
Filed in: Interviews
Subscribe
If you enjoyed this article, subscribe to receive more just like it.
Bet on them to find a solution which will look awesome on the surface yet not so great if you look in the details if deflation of other commodities start to hit. Despite loving the fact that gas prices have returned to a normal rate (at least for my area of Canada, remote regions were always supposed (by law) to have lower than major cities prices. Except right now I think the difference between 138.4 to 102.4 followed the same in the closest large city to me (Montreal) where gas was at 147.2/L and now down to 105/L or so…
Food and other materials haven’t dropped in price and I don’t think they will, it’s a way for the whole system itself to keep making some supplementary money. Of course when gas was going up everything ele was…though.
As for Nazi Charlie, not surprise Netanyahu is using that as political capital and being able to appeal to Europe easier when in cases of mass genocides on their stolen land (Europe, even Western has never been very afraid of criticizing Israel’s seemingly de facto Likud party….
If only Labour would take control there (a possibility in the next elections, so I guess that’s why he’s doing this too. But I am told the left is totally disorganized in Israel, not like in the 70’s and 80’s where it was in control. Labour was against this new Berling Wall around Gaza.
My other solution would be for surrounding arab countries, especially Egypt and Jordan to start accepting refugees (Lebanon’s too small to do that, even more so with all the Syrians there) and just naturalize all these palestinian refugees who have nowhere to go and no real country. I miss Arafat. But yes, Gaza used to belong to Egypt right? Why not have it join in Egypt and the West Bank join the East Bank (Jordan). The 2 party state solution, or even one party state solutions are an apparent failure, despite Kerry spending a whole year (where he visibly couldn’t take anymore when he abandoned, he’s got more chances of getting a deal out of Iran than from Israel and knows it).
Negative Inflation, wow that is definitely Newspeak from 1984 if I ever heard it. Just think of the efficiency of language you have got rid of a whole word. Also its appears we will not see hyper inflation ever again, no, double plus inflation perhaps but not hyper inflation.
Interesting timing this episode, it must have been mere hours after your conversation the Swiss National Bank (SNB) removed something called the EURCHF Floor. If I understand this correctly this limited it to 1.2 Swiss francs to get a Euro. Now it appears to be approximately 1 to 1, so more Euros for you Swiss franc. Apparently this caused issues for the markets, I noticed something in the gold price, it was going up quite a lot, and then went to Zerohedge to find the SNB EURCHF Floor article.
“It’s Carnage” – Swiss Franc Soars Most Ever After SNB Abandons EURCHF Floor; Macro Hedge Funds Crushed – http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-01-15/its-tsunami-swiss-franc-soars-most-ever-after-snb-abandons-eurchf-floor-macro-hedge-
This line from the article sounds interesting “…the Swiss National Bank took on virtually every single macro hedge fund, the vast majority of which were short the Swiss Franc and crushed them ..â€
Here how that scrapping of the rate looks on a graph;
http://www.xe.com/currencycharts/?from=CHF&to=EUR&view=1W
Something perhaps for James and David to discuss next month 🙂 oh and interesting of James to mention Swiss government and business man in Washington. Did they get orders, or did Washington laugh in there faces so they went home and plotted a response.
Thanks for the comment, Simon. Exactly right, the SNB announcement came just after we recorded. Obviously it’s the biggest story in the economic world this week so I’ll be covering it in this weekend’s newsletter.
Not Washington this time.
The Swiss were spending a bundle keeping the peg @1.2 (we now see where the real level is)
If the Euro starts QE (printing money) the Swiss would go down the plughole buying Euros to keep the 1.2 peg with the huge new supply of Euros in the market.
They had no choice.
Next step will be the anti-extremism summit to be held in DC by Obama the 18th of February, the goal being to draft international laws against “anti-extremism”…
Thanks Jame for remembering that Charlie Hebdo was no longer an anti-establishment outlet nowadays, they even fired their last free-thinker cartoonist in 2008 because of alleged antisemitism (not in 2009 like the article says).
Le Canard Enchaîné mentioned by David isn’t an real alternative outlet, it’s a mix between The New Yorker & Democracy Now, at the very best.
Days after the Charlie Hebdo attack the humorist Dieudonné was arrested because of a tweet, the entire French establishment is against Dieudonné since 2004, Charlie Hebdo included (not to say in front-line). Glenn Greenwald and Jon Stewart defended him, which is absolutely unthinkable in France, many of my friends who see themselves as “alter-progressists” (while believing the 9/11 official story, voting for elections, not knowing who creates money, and believing that Dieudonné is an antisemitic ugly beast) are having headaches seeing their heros (Greenwald & Stewart) defending him, I hope it will wake them up. Yesterday the authorities tried to ban his show in Metz (without success that time) after a declaration of the Prime Minister calling for his ban in the Parliament.
For more about the Fabius-Gayssot law (for once Chomsky is being honest): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QRCQZUDED8g&index=10&list=PLzHtFW-mC6vGvXNqFcGU2cxa_1pieWOvh
Related videos:
РJacob Cohen explains who is Dieudonn̩ and how his troubles started
– What is the quenelle gesture? (misinterpreted by Greenwald).
– The establishment’s anti-Dieudonné methods from 2003 to 2013
– Zionists order the Police to sabotage Dieudonné’s show on stage in Brussels
РJacob Cohen: how Manuel Valls (Prime Minister) declared war to Dieudonn̩ & Soral
РHow the Zionist lobby brute forced the ban of Dieudonn̩ in 2014
РFrench establishment tries to catch Dieudonn̩ as FBI catched Al Capone
РDieudonn̩ v.s. the new government of Manuel Valls
– European Police State muzzles the European Dissidence Congress
– Dieudonné’s lawyer saved from illegal struck off thanks to popular sousveillance
РDieudonn̩: a pretext to censor the Internet?
– How Zionists launch punitive raids on French Dissidents
About the Front National, it used to be a anti-immigration and anti-zionist party during the time of Jean-Marie Le Pen (father of Marine Le Pen), since Marine is in charge it’s becoming an anti-islamic and pro-zionist party. She bends her knee to be invited to the rally, while her father states that the attack has “the signature of the secret services”. I never liked the Front National, even less now, it’s being integrated to the system.
Isn’t it just so convenient that someone as reviled as Jean-Marie Le Pen should be associated with this ever so plausible “conspiracy theory”?
I also noticed that in the article I linked you to on the Guerilla Gardening site the offending “enseignante” was made out to seem anti-muslim; The only offensive “quote” supposedly taken off her student’s recording was:
“La religion musulmane autorise de tuer pour défendre (sa) religion” (“the muslim religion authorizes killing to defend its religion”)
which is totally incoherent with her other alleged statements:
“flic soit disant mort” (cop who was supposedly dead”)
“C’est un business, un coup d’État pour supprimer la religion musulmane (…) ils ont eu le temps de monter un sketch”
(it’s a business, a coup d’Etat to do away with the muslim religion (…) they had the time to create a sketch)
The first alleged quote is in total contradiction with these last two.
It’s pretty obvious she said something like:
“pour vous faire croire que … “la religion musulmane autorise de tuer pour défendre (sa) religion”
(to make you believe that…”the muslim religion authorizes killing to defend its religion”)
To fire up widespread indignation her statements were made to appear “racist” and in total contradiction with what she was really saying.
It’s the probable and total misrepresentation of her statements that is truly frightening.
And I imagine the most infuriatingly hellish thing for her to have to bear.
“…the Holocaust was the most extreme atrocity in human history, and we lose our humanity if we are even willing to enter the arena of debate with those who seek to deny or underplay Nazi crimes.” -Noam Chomsky
http://www.chomsky.info/letters/19920331.htm
He reformulates ever so slightly this same statement at 9 minutes and 6 seconds into this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zz6Vbl-TWgI
So I’ll defend your right to “free speech” while calling you sub-human and make sure everyone will remember only that.
I don’t think Chomsky ever just tells the truth. He cleverly managed to cement the idea that Faurisson was nought but an anti-semitic “lunatic”. (like stewart has now done to M’Bala)
Chomsky uses “universally accepted truths and ideals” to rile emotions and manipulate perceptions destroying peoples and reputations while being commended for defending them and “telling the truth”.
He’s got Palestinian, Historian’s and “Truthers'” blood on his hands.
And having encouraged everyone to “vote for the lesser of two evils” and elect Obama we could extend this list to include Afghans, Irakis,Libyans and Syrians as well. This doesn’t stop him from adding extra butter to his spinach by now tearing down the very same president he told everyone to vote for in the first place. And, alas, all of this was perfectly predictable.
mammique: In my not so humble opinion Jon Stewart did NOT defend Dieudonné. I’m copy/pasting a message I just sent to an ex-student of mine who’s also an active member of Egalité et Réconciliation:
“This piece is an ultra classic case of gatekeeping: In a tragically appropriate fashion this sketch is a Chomsky text book example of formidably slick gatekeeping (all the more so as Chomsky was, as you know, embroiled in a very similar “free speech” polemic à la Faurisson):
Under the guise of saying the opposite of the message he’s really delivering, under the misleading guise of fairness, Jon Stewart has now cemented into people’s minds the world over, not only that Dieudonné is an anti-semitic lunatic but that free speech is not really a good thing. You have to read between the lines. Indeed, while Stewart seems be saying essentially “free speech should be equally applicable to charlie hebdo and Dieudonné, he’s stated things in such a way that the message delivered, resounding in people’s hearts and minds is “free speech YES! Hate speech NO!”
(And of course no mention was made of the Gayssot law.)
Jon Stewart is NOT a nice guy. He is today what Chomsky was yesterday: THE gatekeeping opinion former of the politically correct left-wing majority. This video is not a friend. It’s a poisoned gift.
He also manages to sell the idea that free speech exists in the U.S. with people voting with their pocket book which is of course a ludicrous idea in light (or rather in the darkness) of the patriot act.
An example of the man’s true colours here:
http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2010/11/09/restoring-sanity-jon-stewarts-producer-punches-911-truther/
I know we can never agree with everybody but some people, like Chomsky, use truth to candy-coat deception and are truly working for the “powers that shouldn’t be”. And Jon Stewart’s another one of them in my opinion.
Do people really know what Faurisson wrote or have they only retained thanks to the chomsy polemic that he is an anti-semitic negationist?
Yes, making some ideas look bad because Jean-Marie Le Pen said it is a typical trick of French press, it’s obvious in this case. If it wasn’t someone portrayed as evil for decades like Le Pen saying this, the newspaper would never mention it!
The teacher story is weird, I agree with you that they may have altered the quote about Muslims having the right to kill. I’d doesn’t add up with the rest, and is interpretation of the text that is made by opponents to Islam or Takfirists. The most shocking part is the student recording and denounce her. Despicable.
When I say that Stewart defends Dieudonné, I mean compared to the French politically correct guidelines. No one in France would even dare to say what Stewart said, on TV, radio or newspaper. They would immediately be accused of defending Dieudonné and fear for their jobs. But sure, you are right, he doesn’t defend him, even Greenwald doesn’t really defend him aftermath. But it is enough to create some cognitive dissonance to some people, I hope it will help. I totally agree with you about Stewart, I was a big fan of him and Colbert, I attended to both shows in NYC, they are definitely gatekeepers. They flatter the ego of libertarian intellectuals to prevent them from stepping out of the matrix. They mock the system to make their public feel good (their public is smart enough to see that the system sucks, but they don’t really understand what it’s about), in order to make them feel more clever than the masses, thus keeping them inside the system. I think Colbert is more sincere than Stewart (IIRC he supports Ron Paul, he might know that the FED is a problem, unlike Chomsky!). I didn’t know the We Are Change video, shocking, but not surprising :-/
Here is the point of view of Faurisson on Charlie’s case: http://www.veteranstoday.com/2015/01/15/robert-faurisson-on-the-charlie-hebdo-debacle/ (M’Bala refers to Dieudonné). He remembers that the Fabius-Gayssot law was passed following the profanation of a Jewish cemetery in Carpentras (possibly a false flag) that had a wide psychological and emotional impact. This law was specifically designed for Faurisson.
Oh, the Faurisson text is… jolting.
It reminds me that this whole defense of what’s known as “negationism” and “revisionism” in the name of free speech is a terrible honey trap that can sabotage your credibility on all other topics immeasurably, perhaps even definitively…
Especially when your statements are taken out of context…
@nosoapradio: Here is a video that just came out, Gilad Atzmon interviewing Faurisson (didn’t watch yet) http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2e7359_gilad-atzmon-rencontre-robert-faurisson-10-juin-2014_school
BTW, do you have a twitter account?
It says something that Stewart-Leibowitz defended Dieudonné considering he is Jewish. He is certainly not a malicious person, nevermind his brother…he’s probably not very liked inside his own family, his mom (classic NY jews moms you see in movies are not so far from reality in their extreme nagging while the father takes a very removed role in the family).
What I am still unclear on is Dieudonne antisemitic or antizionist. I find it difficult to see for sure. And why has he befriended papa LePen or am I to believe I have misunderstood him too?
I believe he’s not antisemitic, but his way to express himself is sometimes very provocative, crude, shocking, insulting or lewd that any quote of him talking about Judaism taken out of context can make it sound like antisemitic. I’ve make an Open Source documentary covering the topic (among other things): https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLzHtFW-mC6vGh07g8RK7sUITTYsQYBlN0
In the 90’s Dieudonné was candidate against the Front National, but after realizing the lies of the system, and being himself portrayed as evil, he started to enter in contact with other “evil” figures or entities (Thierry Meyssan, Hezbollah & Hamas, Carlos the Jackal, Alain Soral, Ahmadinejad, Chavez, etc.) including Le Pen. They are not best friends since they entered in contact (Dieudonné asked him to be the godfather of his latest kid, we don’t know if it’s true or if it’s just to piss off the press), but they have mutual respect I guess.
He’s a free speech kamikazi.
Definately not anti-semitic.
Definately anti-zionist.
He often makes me wince as his zealous provocation makes his core principles largely inaccessible to any potential new anti-establishment skeptics… (The older ones,that is, of my ilk)
Impossible for me to be credible let alone persuasive with Dieudo as ambassador…
Haven’t really followed his recent deboires though…
Free speech exists if Le Pen can speak…
Having said that, I’ve always believed that Le Pen was a witting or unwitting scarecrow-puppet of the status quo (like the labor party’s endearing camarade Arlette Laguiller also used to be) in that like a barking dog or an electric fence he single-handedly kept the French electorate herded between the increasingly right-leaning socialist movement and the decidedly right wing UMP party. The French are avid, even fanatical believers in the “middle-ground” The tyranny of “le juste milieu”.
Incidentally I quite agree with mammique that like Charlie Hebdo, the Front National with its change in leader seems to have undergone some insidious and inexplicable pro-zionist mutation.
Thanks to both of you. It is not always easy when you are on first language terms so when nuance is everything and its a translation its almost impossible.
You are the interviewer then Mammique. I had already watched about 30 mins and I will now watch more. I had confused the two Cohen’s, (like a lazy Buddhist if you can forgive the pun) after reading this on his wiki page: In December, while performing onstage, Dieudonné was recorded saying about prominent French Jewish radio journalist Patrick Cohen: “Me, you see, when I hear Patrick Cohen speak, I think to myself: ‘Gas chambers… too bad.
Given such context and his universal persecution his Je suis Charlie Coulibali is actually that shade of obvious that strays into genius.
@candideschmyles No I’m not the interviewer, he’s a friend of mine, can you notice the difference between French and Romanian accent? :-p The Patrick Cohen case with Dieudonné is explain in details in the documentary.