Death of a warrior in Singapore.

JB Jeyaretnam fondly known as JBJ died suddenly today of heart failure at the age of 82. A warrior has fallen in his fight for civil rights in a PAP run Singapore. The ruling party impoverished the man by using a law for slander which put a heavy financial burden on JBJ, ruined him, but never extinguished his flame nor his passion for justice. For those outside the Merlion City with longer memories, they many remember him as the 'man from Anson' who upset Lee Kwong Yew's tightly run election, who won a seat in the parliament. JBJ so frightened then prime minister LKY that knowing the measure of his 'enemy' had to shed his high tone of 'impartiality' by descending into the well of parliament to debate sharp tongued JBJ who could with a razor sharp phrase cut through the wooden language of the PAP younger guard who grew up in a city state run by one party. Not happy to parry and thrust with JBJ, LKY & his minions sought the courts to slander the man. They succeed, challenged, too, his credentials at the bar, and brought the mighty warrior to the point of ruin, but they never humbled nor defeated the man, only death could. The LKY's party the PAP were so frightened of JBJ's success at the polls, they re drew electoral circumscriptions and the rebellious Anson was incorporated, defanged, and turned into a PAP safe seat. JBJ represented, in spite of oft time fraction behaviour with smaller parties, a voice that spoke truth to power, and one man did make power fret, sweat, worry, and lose many a night's sleep. For those who saw the man at the exit of the MRT at City Hall, hawking a book of his speeches, can never forget this elder statesman, and who 'in petto' thanks the lucky stars, that he was there to defend civil society and civil rights in Singapore. The old warrior is now gone, but let's hope his spirit lives and has inspired younger and yes older Singaporeans to carry on the fight for truth and justice and a more open society. Fair thee well, oh warrior!

The Wall Street bailout, is it socialism? or national socialism?

Herr Bush in his usual state of irrational exuberence has hailed the dodgey Wall Street bailout plan a major success. He would, wouldn't he? He's hailed his Iraq war a success, too, and we all know that is a crock of night soil! Everyone is hoisting the old hoary petard that with the bailout the free marketeers are taking a leaf out of the socialist handbook. Well, old darlings, is it the Socialist handbook influenced by Marx or the Nationalist Socialist handbook written by Mussolini? If you look at the huge emergency spending bill the houses of Congress signed off the other day, what do we find? The largest share of the pie goes to defence, homeland security, and veterans affairs. So the road to socialism to drag US capitalism out a mess of its own making, tilts towards il Duce's national socialist model, and history buffs, remember that under il Signor Mussolini and Herr Hitler the banks made out like the bandits they are and the country was set on a permanent war footing. Ring a bell?

The more you scratch McCain's image the filty the dirt uncovered!

The Sunday edition of the 'New York Times' online has a revealing and long and well researched and documented article on John McCain's ties to the gambling mafia of the US, and the role his advisors beginning with the suspect Rick Davis of the Fannie Mae & Freddie Mac subsidies in his own personal bank account till the two semi private entities were on the verge of government takeover, and now we find his greedy fingers in the casino honey jar! [Remember the convicted felon Jack Abrams funded his fraud by using casino money till he was brought down by a jury of his peers! and sent to prison where he turned on his own mates. No honour among thieves there...!]. The laundry list of McCain handlers and bundlers grow more and more interesting since they are the scum on the pond of skimming off the government through tax favours and loopholes, and campaign on the fraudulent claims that no one else but them should feed off the public treasury. Throw the rascals in gaol where they really belong. Basta ya! Enough is enough. McCain as president is a laughing job, but seriously speaking should he become Mr. 44, the US is heading for a disaster which would make 9/11 seem like child's play!

Why did anal hair stylist & self styled Mussolini of finance Paulson let Lehman fail?

The answer to this question is in Gertrude Morgenstern's article in the Sunday 'New York Times' online. Morgenstern is the newspaper's financial senior reporter, and what she says should confirm what 18Brumaire has always contended that anal hair stylist & self styled Mussolini of finance & US secretary of the Treasury is part and parcel of the subprime meltdown, and not of its solution. Morgenstern's article details why Lehman got thrown overboard by il Signor Paulson & his gang of 4, and AIG got a government loan of us$80bn. It seems that Paulson's old outfit Goldman Sachs where he was CEO and had walked away with a cool us$500m in the pocket as he ascended to the post of Herr Bush's cabinet, had a us$20bn exposure with AIG's Financial Product London subsidiary, and that relatively small sum if we are to believe the thick India black ink of Goldman's balance sheet, would have sunk the mighty house of Goldman & Sachs as though it were a stealth torpedo. Morgenstern also says that Goldman Sachs was AIG's leading trading partner, and as such made much dinero from that suspect relationship. AID's downgrading by the equally complacent rating agencies of Moody's & S&P & Fitch, threatened Goldman's standing, and so with Paulson's successor Blankfein also at the secret confab which let Lehman go down the tub, these panicky big swollen heads of world finance snatched AIG from the jaws of failure, and as such brought some confidence back to the markets but not for long, and yet, it saved Goldman from rumour and loss of shareholders confidence. So, when it comes down to it, it looks as though il Signor Paulson acted out of very narrow, selfish motives, in order to save 85 Broad Street, Goldman's headquarters from ruin, and cushion his own class of pirating free wheeling, free dealing, free marketeers at rate or taxpayer expense. And what a bill, the poor slogs are going to chew and gulp down as a whole, whilst these arse holes of the rich and the mighty get off scot free! Anal hair stylist says that the pain is worth it, but not for him, he remains a solid billionaire; tell that the man who faces foreclosure, or the mother who has health assurance to pay for her child's sickness, or to the unemployed worker whose job is in China where Paulson made big bucks for Goldman Sachs! If anyone deserves to be in the dock, it's Paulson for his crime against the American working class, and for his big part in devising and fashioning the subprime Ponzi meltdown!

Jaime Dimon to the rescue of WaMu

Jaime Dimon is Herr Bush's fair haired boy. He served up cheaply Bear Stearns on a platter, and at a bargain basement price. Now Herr Bush's put the largest commercial banking failure in US history Washington Mutual, better known as WaMu, into JPMorgan Chase's basket, and at a greatly reduced price. Why? Well with the government snapping up failed Wall Street toxic bonds and rescuing Fannie Mae & Freddie Mac, and throwing a life line to AIG, taking over WaMu would cause a larger rebellion among the moss back Republicans who are sabotaging il Signor Paulson's package to quiet jittery financial markets at home and abroad. JPM can well afford it, for he's paying less than us$2bn on the cheap, a sum which what Bear Stearns brought him almost pays for the deal. More, JPM has space to expand on the US west coast where it is under represented. So, like the cat that ate not one but two fat canaries, Jaime Dimon is sitting pretty. And, for WaMu's subprime mortgage debt, he does give a flying fig! Why? Well the government's rescue plan will take them over, and Dimon will simply dip his white bread into the gravy that's left. Ain't that a kick in the head!

Lame duck Herr Bush cannot whip his party into shape!

Herr Bush is showing the wear of time. He's incapable of cracking the whip to discipline his rebellious Republican troops in the house of Representatives, to back the Wall Street bailout. My have the mighty have fallen! Newt Gingrich tried shutting down the government he failed; now Herr Bush is failing as always has, to show his mettle. Oy vey!

Tug boat captain McCain dithers in a financial storm

Well if further proof there be as to tug boat captain McCain's ability to make decisions, to lead forwards on to battle to slay the economic crisis dragon...do not expect miracles. He dithers; he flip flops; he's the jerky movements of a puppet. But one thing is sure, he ain't got a single idea in his wooden head. He's a know nothing who tries slipping and sliding and shucking. He ain't a natural born leader; in fact, he ain't a leader at all. Let's call him a political summer soldier. He basks in the glory of media sunshine, but when the dark clouds gather, like now during the financial crisis, he's taken heels to his shoulders and run away. And he wants to be president of the US. If there is a sign of the decadence of the American empire, he's the perfect example. And what's more, 'I'm a leader; I've the experience; I've this or that', but he cannot shape his moss back Republicans in the house who are playing spoilt spot and offering reckless solutions, like doing away the capital gains and inheritance tax! to solve a capitalism in crisis. And what does this erstwhile hero do, smile, sit on the fence, and waffle. A sure fire formula for failure. With a man like tug boat captain McCain America doesn't need enemies!

Herr Bush fails to tame his party in the houses of Congress

Herr Bush's very short speech to his fellow Americans last evening [24 Sep 08] fell flatter than a pancake. It looks as though the Democrats would sign on to a stiff bailout but not members of Herr Bush's Republicans in the houses of Congress. Herr Bush is not only a failure but a has been.

Tub boat captain John McCain runs around like a chicken with his head cut off!

Tub boat captain and Republican presidental hopeful John McCain is running around like a chicken with its head cut off! Hither & thither & yon he strikes out. Now, for the sake of the nation, he's 'suspending' his campaign. Why? The subprime meltdown crisis is sinking his ratings, and to stop, Obama from gaining footage, he's asking him to stop campaigning too. What a transparent fraud! He's proving what common wisdom said about Gerry Ford: 'He cannot walk and chew gum at the same time!' Now this man who poses himself as leader looks as though he cannot look at one crisis but at one time, and this man wants to leader of the 'free world'. Give us a break, old cock! And then passing up a chance to chitchat on David Letterman's late night programme, he backs out to have a dalliance with Katie Couric who as it turns out made Sarah Palin look as raw and inexperienced and ill knowledgeable that she is to be a heart beat away from the Oval Office. Why the switcheroo? Well, the financial crisis, old darlings. What a transparent fraud to get publicity. And if his spinning like a top out of control, he won't debate Obama at Oxford, Mississippi until the bailout package is resolved and decided upon in Congress. Now speaking of cowards who run in the heat of battle, well, old dear, what do you have to say for yourself? Yep, here's a man who headed the Senate commerce committee and understood less then about economics and still less today about economics on his own admission. And this tub boat captain wants to be president of the US? Heavens preserve the American people and the world. Headless McCain has made his footprint of indecisiveness, flip flopping, and taking bad advice from his handlers.

Herr Bush meets Wall Street expectations...and as usual is late for the prom!

Herr Bush is never on time for a crisis which he hasn't committed. Last evening he interrupted prime time television viewing to deliver a do or die 7 minute speech of utter eyewash! Even his own Republicans aren't buying his baloney! The subprime meltdown and the infection it's spread in the corpus economicus has around deep seated anger among the electorate, for him or his anal hair stylist & treasury secretary & of late il signor Paulson who thinks of himself as an heir to Mussolini, and lest we forget a prime mover when at Goldman Sachs of the subprime mortgage Ponzi scheme, to ask the electorate to swallow whole the us$700bn on their word alone! Neither Congress nor the electorate are going to be snookered in another warlike debacle that is Iraq! The electorate is looking for blood, and it will get some before a package is hammered out. Herr Bush has proven once again, he ain't a leader but the tail his class of plutocrats wag in the face of a storm!