The controlling forces of increased aggregate demand, a predictor of consumer spending, include government expenditure increase, interest rate cut, tax cut, increase in quantity of money, increased investment due to expected future profits among others. Subsequently, the major economies of the world have decided to keep interest rates (government rate, short-term rate) at very low levels so as to increase the quantity of money and supply of loanable funds. Ultimately, this would make money available for people to spend. Additionally, such policies are expected to produce an incremental geometric effect on aggregate demand, consumption expenditure and investment expenditure. Generally, the keeping of government interest rate (called fed fund rate in the U.S) low has a ripple effect in the short run and in the long run. In the short run, it lowers the short-term rates (that is rates on short-term securities like treasury bills, short-term loans from banks, e.t.c) with consequential fall in exchange rates, increases in net export (because of cheaper exports goods compared to imports) and quantity of money or loanable funds in circulation. All these are projections towards boosting aggregate expenditure or demand in the economy.

A boost in aggregate demand is expected to amplify the real GDP with subsequent price increases and the likelihood of inflation. Similarly, in the long run, long-term interest rate (such as rates on bonds issued by banks or corporation, rates on loans for financing new capital e.t.c), which is also a function of the current and future short-term rates, falls producing a positive chain effect also on consumption expenditure, investment and net exports. Also it perpetuates aggregate expenditure increase thereafter facilitating increased real GDP growth, price and inflation. On the other hand, when government rates increase, short-term and long-term rates all increase with a reduction in consumption expenditure, investments and net exports, real GDP and expected inflation. Contrarily, exchange rate is expected to increase in spite of the fact that exchange rates can also be affected by factors other than interest rate. In summary, changes brought about by the short and long run activities all constitute economic indicators of growth emanating from the scrupulous application of monetary and fiscal policies.

Experience suggests that, the time frame for the realization of these economic indicators of growth due to the impact of fiscal and monetary policies are deterministic (conservative, biased) and not stochastic (random, unbiased). However, in the current recession, these economic indicators are tending to be more stochastic than deterministic. If such trend should continue it would be very difficult for the world to predict when the recession would totally be over for economic or employment boost to return. The assumption of stochastic trend by these indicators is the driving force behind the reason why the huge government spending (the stimulus), the tax & interest rate cuts which are strategies based on economic growth models (Keynesian model and the likes) are failing to yield the expected conspicuous impact. The fact is the economic models on which these policies are made are based on deterministic assumptions of impact which does not allow for much economic contingency.

It is conclusive that the outcome of the models namely the economic indicators are becoming stochastic in nature. Obviously, this calls for optimization of the models using deterministic input (fiscal and monetary policies) producing a stochastic output namely the economic indicators. Otherwise, the impact of government spending, interest rate and tax cuts may not be feasible as expected (both short term and long term) because of the stochastic characteristics of the outcome. Again, the predictability of the economic growth models would continue to present a myopic view of the state of the future economy until the world seeks for optimized economic models with the potential for stochastic outcome. The optimized models should have an appreciable degree of sensitivity to change behaving more like Monte Carlo simulation models. In the absence of such kind of models, there is the tendency for people to continue to blame governments and those in authority and even economists for inaccurate decisions and predictions. Optimist may argue that the outcome of the application of the fiscal and monetary policies is indeterminate with regards to time and this supports the stochastic characteristic assumption of these economic indicators.

Strangely enough, the governments of the major economies in the world currently are torn between recession and inflation. They are more interested in keeping short-term interest rate low primarily to keep their economies from going into deeper recession. The low interest rate puts “breaks” on the economy somehow slowing down the recession. In addition, low interest rate is to create more employment (through increased aggregate expenditure) so as to lower the unemployment rate whilst placing less emphasis on possible inflation rise. Like was said before, these policies have failed to produce the expected gratifying positive outcome.

Unfortunately, countries with lower interest rate present a business environment that turns away foreign investors from investing in their economy producing a substantial net outflow of funds from the country and also exerting a downward pressure on the value of their currency. That is to say a lower interest rate apart from increasing employment produces a weak currency which puts an upward pressure on the country’s inflation which in turn puts further downward pressure on the currency. Conversely, high interest rate puts downward pressure on inflation which in turn puts further upward pressure on the currency’s value. This substantiates the interdependency between interest rate, inflation and currency rates. The truth is that increased confidence in the world economy has not been persuasive as expected and the world is also witnessing stagnancy in employment and increasing unemployment rates. Nevertheless, if a country’s unemployment rate is rising, the demand for imports would decrease which in turn puts upward pressure on the value of its currency. All in all the preceding reflections on the world economy are known economic facts which should create a world of mixed feelings as the predictive models are no longer piquant as expected.

Now, increasing government spending (stimulus, bailout e.t.c) and reducing taxes on income all targeted towards increased aggregate expenditure, real GDP and employment also immensely adds to the budget deficit. The government can pursue conventional measures such as using bonds sale to raise funds to reduce the budget deficit and also unconventional measures namely international borrowing to meet its socio-economic obligations or goals. However, bonds sale calls for future interest payments and principal at maturity and all these combined with international borrowing compounds a government’s financial problems and its country’s economic problems. Some argue that governments cannot and must not default on its obligations. But a country in serious deficit problems may be compelled to succumb to default in the long run due to mounting socio-economic obligations and debt cum interest payments. Deficits may be passed from one generation to another but that is not sustainable as more “cracks” would be created in the economic ceiling with possible future collapse. Such a state of government would deteriorate the country’s credit rating and make it difficult in future to raise funds from bonds sale, domestic and international loan sources.

Next, when these sources of funding are exhausted, the options available for the government would be to increase taxes (predominantly income tax, corporate tax and social security tax), reduce spending and as a last resort print money to pay its creditors. If this action plan is not pursued, the budget deficit would continue to grow with consequences of devaluation of the currencies, reduced investment because of “crowding” effect on loanable funds. Again, this gradually slows down GDP growth and increases unemployment. Rationally, a continued increase in budget deficit must stimulate the interim application of painstaking, austerity measures and fiscal discretionary policies including but not limited to reduction of government spending on goods and services and tax hikes. This should be followed by the monetary policy of an increase in interest rate. The double effect of decreased aggregate demand and the reduction of any threatening inflationary pressure reflected in improved price stability is the expected result. Additionally, it will induce an increase in private savings because of public expectation of higher taxes in future. However, it would certainly lead to increased unemployment rate.

Meanwhile, default of the application of these discretional fiscal and monetary policies could produce devastating consequences. First, to be added to the rising unemployment would be rising inflation predominantly cost-pushed from the rising oil prices culminating in higher raw material prices. Demand-pulled inflation is also possible because of increased quantity of money due to low interest rate. Second, the net effect of the rising unemployment and rising inflation would be stagflation – an unpleasant condition that occurs when an economy experiences high unemployment rate and rising inflation. Economies such as that of the U.S experienced stagflation in late 1970s and early 1980s and this is a sign that no country is exempted from a possible inflation. Furthermore, a high degree of expectation of future immense acceleration in inflation causing inflation “fever” combined with a government’s deliberate decision to increase a country’s money supply by printing money to pay its bills can create a “sister” inflation called hyperinflation – technically an inflation rate of more than 100% per year. The economic state of Zimbabwe is an example of hyperinflation where people have to carry large sums of money just to buy a roll of bath tissue.

Technically, the major economies in the world system today can conclude that inflation is under control now. However, what the world is witnessing now is an inflation uncertainty “fever” causing people to invest in assets like gold, diamond as a means of hedging against high losses of purchasing power from possible inflation (predominantly stagflation). Gold prices are up now and is likely to go up should the oil price continue to go up. The current world economic situation has created a model of positive correlation between gold and oil prices and it is expected that investments into these commodities would increase in the short run. Logically, the investor diversification into gold and oil securities may be right. Why? Because the rising oil prices and any possible uncertainty rise in tensions in the Middle East & Oil regions besides climatic threats may even escalate the prices of oil to the extreme. The resultant could be stagflation. Real wage rates would be severely affected as inflation rate would greatly exceed nominal wage rate. Under these conditions, the working population would be worse-off even in the midst of increases in wage rate. Presently, the other potential defect of the current gold securities rush is the reduction in funds for the acquisition of physical capital (machinery, factories and technological research) needed for productivity and GDP growth of the economy. That is to say funds which could have been used to increase capital assets for productivity and economic growth or expansion are now being diverted into gold and mineral assets.

Again and interestingly, some proponents may argue that the recent growth in GDP of countries is the resultant of the low interest rate, the multiplier effect of government spending (on goods and services) and tax cuts on aggregate demand. First, the assertions are based on known historical evaluations of these policies. Second, the assertions are true if the economic models on which they are based can be precise in prediction of the magnitude of the aggregate demand increase based on a given magnitude of increased government spending and tax cuts. Now, like it has been said already, the setbacks of these models in this time of recession are their inability to determine when and whether the needed impact of the discretionary polices has been achieved. As a matter of fact, impact assessment of the model-based policies show no convincing results. So the euphoria created by the sentiments of the world’s economic rebound may be deceptive judging from the current world economy and the uncertainty that lies ahead. That means recent reports from credible sources like OECD organization about world’s economy rebound should be received with caution.

Another dimension very disturbing is the politicizing of fiscal and monetary policies used in running of an economy. This is in particular reference to the incumbent and the opposition party in charge of the affairs of a country. The application of fiscal and monetary policies based on political ideology and not on requisite, sound economic principles can lead to untimely application, wastage of resources and economic failure in the long run. Regrettably, such schisms are still prevalent not only in the socialists and communists world today but in some capitalist as well. The danger here in the case of capitalism is when the economic policy makers (called the Fed in the U.S) come under the control of the incumbent or the opposition inadvertently stripping the economic decision makers of their autonomy. The effect of this is three fold. First, it impedes decision making leading to the production of ad hoc decisions which can hurt the economy. Second, it downplays the ability of the decision makers. Third, it obstructs continuity in policies that gradually leads to the restoration of health to the economy. Realistically, the decision makers may be subject to censoring in terms of their deliberations but anything further than that can lead to manipulation of their policies by the incumbent or the powers that be. So it is necessary that the powers that be desist from seeking much influence and rather work with the decision makers for the common good of the masses.

The Center Cannot Hold

In spite of all these expected developments, currently it is unemployment which is on the minds of people. Though people are concerned about rising budget deficit and possible future inflationary pressures after the current recessionary pressures are over, it is the rising unemployment rate or increased joblessness that is on the minds of people. Unemployment is at the center and unfortunately it is degenerating although the progress of the other economic indicators has been mixed. Factually, governments cannot predict the trend of unemployment in the years ahead. The status quo of the world’s economy is that most countries have achieved appreciable GDP growth after several macro-economic policy changes but unemployment rate continues to rise. For example the recent announcement by the federal government of 3.5% GDP growth in the U.S was welcome good news yet unemployment rate now stands at 10.2% and is expected to increase.

The challenge facing world governments is to pursue appropriate strategies that stimulate the business and investments environments for increased employment so as to get unemployment to bottom out with subsequent reduction of unemployment rate from double digits to single digits. For example the U.S government would have to come up with strategies that reduce the unemployment rate from 10.20% to single digits such as 4.5% (almost halving it) without increasing significantly the budget deficit which is a grave threat to economic growth. Interestingly, the strategies by world governments would call for investments to be focused on some virgin sectors of the world economy. The virgin sectors of the world economic system include energy, cleaner or green technology, education, biotechnology, medical field research among others. They are called virgin sectors not because they are new or undiscovered but that there is greater room for research, development and rejuvenation for sustainable economic growth. Pragmatically, the virgin sectors are highly technology-oriented and are likely to yield greater returns besides capital (physical and human) accumulation and productivity increase. Hypothetically, the virgin sectors are likely to be the backbone for an upcoming new green world economy. Though investment in this sector of the new world economy may not yield the expected impact in the short term, it will be the pioneering force for the greening of the world economy and its sustainability. One also should not forget the fact that mankind’s continued existence on this earth depends to a greater extent on the greening of the world economy and its sustainability. Propaganda by environmentalist is an attestation to that effect.

In fact, the awareness by the masses of this distinctive sector should spark a new era of career change or professional development pursuits. In the short term, the search for these educational or career changes could spiral frictional and most importantly structural unemployment rates which are inherent components of unemployment. Nevertheless, in the long term, it would lead to the production of the required expertise for the greening of the new world economy. The current unemployment rate even though very unpleasant can be a blessing if the victims of unemployment can take advantage of it to educate, re-train and acquire new skills and expertise in the virgin sectors for the new green world economy. Also, mass pursuits of credentials in the virgin sectors would in turn expand the investment climate helping to reduce unemployment in the long run. The fact is that the new world economic system is heading for a labor force with multi-skill characteristics. The unemployed cannot continue to lament over their situation. They should seek deployment into the virgin sectors by acquiring the requisite skills and education in preparation for entry into the new green world economy. Unemployed people with certain original skills and backgrounds can take advantage of their predicaments to turn their tragedy into triumph.

They can train, educate in the virgin sectors which may or may not be different from their original education or skills so as to become multi-skilled. An engineer who has been laid off can become multi-skilled by training or educating as a business analyst, economist, accountant e.t.c. Experience and statistical data has shown that multi-skilled workers are more productive and it is expedient that companies create incentives for their employees to acquire the needed skills and education to become multi-skilled. A construction worker who has been laid off can educate and re-train ready for the new green economy. According to the U.S Bureau of Labor Statistics occupational outlook, the virgin sectors are expected to grow at least faster than average for all others sectors of the economy [U.S labor Statistics website]. That is why more multi-skilled personnel would be needed in the green sector. Professions such as geoscientist, environmental engineers & scientist, biotechnologist, researchers, ecologists are few examples of few occupations in the virgin sectors. Also, governments should come up with strategies that encourage training and education in the virgin sectors as it seeks to supports the sector by encouraging privatization and liberalization of the sector market.

In conclusion, the world economic system has fallen apart in the last few years in spite of the radical changes in discretional fiscal and monetary policies. The economic models are not yielding results as expected as evidenced from their impact assessment. This is also substantiated by the economic indicators assumption of stochastic characteristics instead of the presumed deterministic nature. Meanwhile, at the center of these economic uncertainty and inconsistencies is the unemployed who have been impacted greatly by the detrimental outcome. Fortunately, there is still hope if they can be undaunting enough to enter the virgin sectors of the economy through the acquisition of the appropriate training and educational credentials. Apparently, the virgin sectors are the driving force for the greening of the new world economy and for its sustainability and the world cannot wait to see this revolution.

Charles Horace Ampong [MSc(Eng), MBA(Finance)]

GLG Councils Consultant

Author: Charles Ampong
Article Source: EzineArticles.com

Charles Ampong

Holder of masters degrees in engineering and business management - professional strengths in engineering, management, finance, economics accounting and marketing having worked as an engineer and analyst and currently a consultant for GLG Councils.

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Traffic Wardens are by far some of the most hated people in Britain according to recent reports. But have you ever wondered what it takes to be one? Meet the ‘bleached blonde black babe’ who patrols the streets of West London’s Notting Hill Gate.

Underneath Portobello Roads flyover lingers the stench of years of damp posters plastered on walls despite the signs proclaiming bill posters will be prosecuted. Excrements from homeless drunks, boxes to keep them warm overnight and empty beer cans are normally the only remains around 8am on a rainy Friday morning. The traffic is heavy and nobody pays much attention to the drunk still sitting beneath the bridge watching the world drive by. His appearance is dirty and his hair hangs wild. He tries to hide his grimy face with a pair of dark sunglasses that have an eyepiece missing.

Shiniel Cornwall laughs out loud. Her lip ring slightly pulls down the corner of her mouth to reveal her tongue piercing. The latest tattoo on her back has been itching like mad, she explains. Her short, tight, Afro curls are bleached blond and the light complexion of her fine boned face would stand out anywhere. But it also helps that she is a traffic warden controlling the busy streets in the royal borough of Kensington and Chelsea. “That’s the guy I was talking about. He thinks all cars belong to him.”

Her navy blue uniform made of cheap Teflon polyester consists of a hat, trousers, a jumper and black shoes. The trousers are baggy and a size too big for her. “I have a big, black girls butt and don’t like being approached for that reason in the streets.” Her hat is the same colour and material as the trousers and does not look very fashionable with its sky blue band around it. The band bears an emblem in the middle that reminds of something taken of a Royal Post van. A white short-sleeve shirt under the navy jacket has the words Kensington & Chelsea Parking Attendant printed in navy in a size not bigger then 15mm. Steel toe capped shoes provided by the senior officers at the base in Earls Court complete the uniform.

“People don’t know me but would still love to knock me down in their cars or drive over my toes. The officials know that, hence steel capped shoes.”

As she moves over to a Volkswagen Golf GTI parked on a single yellow closer to the flyover the drunk calls out in his hoarse voice: “Oi you, that’s my car there” he starts laughing. She knows he just wants a bit of fun and replies: “Well, where are your keys? Get in and drive off fast, before I book you.” She now enters the make of the car and the time into her timer and notes the same details into her little book. “Every five minutes I need to write something into my book to show my base manager, Duncan, the dick-head, that I am not skiving. Duncan can be quite reasonable at times, I must say. He took off five hours of my 47 hour week so that I can drop and pick my daughter Sapphire up from her school in Lewisham every day.”

The tax details get checked on the car, including the expiry date and serial number. She kneels down to have a look at the valve position and explains: “The valves are covered so I can’t really inspect them and also the tax has expired. This means a total of two offences I could give a ticket for.”

After entering the details into her timer she waits for five minutes before she can proceed writing out the ticket. “Offences 01, for the parking on the single yellow line, the no tax offence and a 12/12 for incorrect valve position have been entered. I can’t give the ticket quite yet though, as I need to wait for the full five minutes in case the owner shows up,” she explains.

She writes out the ticket, places it underneath the windscreen wiper and says: “If they pay the ticket within two weeks it will cost £40 but if they don’t the amount will double.”

Whilst walking on towards Ladbroke Grove passing drivers can be heard shouting obscenities: “Get a decent job, bitch” and “nice way to earn money Blondie.” “I hate it when people call me Blondie that really pisses me off. But what’s more annoying is when black people approach me to tell me I shouldn’t give tickets to my own people. That’s just hilarious. I remind them that they don’t pay my wages or feed me but my job does and I do want to keep it.”

She is now standing by a packed bus stop and says: “This is the place I saw Davina McCall, the big brother woman, stop to make a phone call. I told her that she couldn’t stop at the bus stop as this is an instant offence.” She just said: “I just stopped to answer my phone.” With a smirk on her face she explains: “She was a bit ratty and I let her get on with it. When I turned around to check she was already gone.”

As an attractive, striking, young woman with a small but curvy physique, which still shows through her baggy uniform, she does not seem to get that much hassle from men. “If you believe it or not women are worse when dealing with me. There was that woman two weeks ago who was parked at a double yellow. During my five-minute wait she returned to her car mumbling foolishness. I turned away to leave and she spat at me. I just told her that she should have choked on it.”

Traffic Wardens are by far some of the most hated people in Britain.

Shiniel shakes her head and rolls her eyes in disbelief: “No, wait for the joke now. She actually wrote a letter to the council complaining about me, saying how I caused her a lot of grief and distress by telling her to choke on her spit when her son had plastic surgery on the same day. She was quite lucky I didn’t spit back but that’s not really my jobs worth.”

She takes a sheet of paper out of her pocket and explains: “This is a beat sheet, which states all the roads to be visited by me at least once today. Some of the roads on it are quite small so I don’t bother with them sometimes but to keep the traffic going I need to stick to this plan.”

A black Bentley with the private registration plate BNM1 is parked at a pay and display slot but has no ticket displayed. “This is a 06 offence, which means no ticket is displayed therefore it can be assumed there was no ticket bought.” As Shiniel is about to write out the ticket, a guy in his early forties who looks like his wife is about to give birth is running to the car from across the road shouting: “Please take it back just pretend you never gave it to me. Come on, I was only away for a minute.” She looks at her timer, which displays the truth and says: “Five minutes 29, 30, 31 seconds and counting. But you are lucky as I haven’t written anything yet.”

On Acton Road off Portobello Road another drunk in his forties sits around idle. Shiniel knows him and grins even before she walks past him. He is medium build, white, with grubby short hair. “Where has my wife been? I will never divorce her,” he shouts out loud. “You wish mate,” she responds still laughing. Shiniel is very confident in her dealings with the people around the neighbourhood. “I made a couple of friends in the area who always joke about how they will run me down. Imagine risking your life for just over £200 a week and no bonus. Sometimes, if my book is neat, I might get the odd extra pound from the senior officers who do all the paperwork.”

The way Shiniel goes about her job seems quite honest and reasonable. “Not because you commit an offence, I will book you. I’m not like that. I can listen.” She talks about some of her colleagues who are sneaky. “They would log in the car and hide so the drivers don’t suspect a thing. After the time is up they return to the vehicle and book it straight away. I don’t do that.”

When a guy pulls up in his dark green Peugeot to ask for her number in exchange for a ticket Shiniel says, whilst scratching the tattoo on her back: “That’s funny because this is how I met my current boyfriend Elliot. I gave him a ticket but took his number. He paid the £40 the next day.”

To touch the sensitive topic of bribery is not a problem for Shiniel. “I have never had anyone offer me bribes. But it probably happens all the time. It’s so tempting to make some quick money. If it is happening, I am sure my colleagues would like to keep it a secret.”

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Jack Dee

I've been an IT consultant for over 15 years. Strange to get paid for doing what you love. May be in danger of being called a geek... but who cares? I actually enjoy every opportunity to drive through the concepts, design, and creative framework on even personal web-based projects. My other passion is travel: 72 cities in 35 countries at the last count.

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“This is an attack on the Euro-zone by certain other interests, political or financial.” – Greek Prime Minister Papandreou.

When it comes to the crisis in Greece, it seems as if everyone has an opinion. The burgeoning Grecian debt crisis has been used as the final scapegoat for a thousand-point drop in the stock market, while Greece itself has been proclaimed a ‘plague of bad debt,’ which unless dealt with swiftly, threatens to over run the European market. Probe a little deeper under this mess, however, and you will find an aggressive and fixated media, credit and investment fraud, as well as shady attempts to destroy the Euro. But before we can delve into the seedier side of this murky issue, we must first understand what caused the Grecian crisis, and just how international banking and debtor nations work, if only on a basic level.

Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou (center) arriving for an EU summit in Brussels

Cracks in the Greek economy began to appear in 2009, as growth turned negative for the first time since 1993. Although Greece managed to remain above the Euro level, it suffered from over-lending, a corrupt government, and bureaucracy stifling growth. In the early part of 2009, the loans to savings ratio topped 100%. By the end of 2009, the greater global crisis coupled with uncontrolled spending at local levels, due largely in part to the 2008 election, left Greece faced with its most severe economic crisis since 1993. Greece claimed the infamous position of having the second highest budget deficit after Ireland, and the second highest debt to GDP ratio in the European Union. The budget deficit stood at 13.6% of GDP; coupled with rising debt levels of 115% of GDP in 2009, led to increased borrowing to pay off debts, resulting in a severe economic crisis.

Most governments are currently relying on the greatest of economic opiates; paper money. Debtor economies of the Western world require more and more paper money to survive, which in turn is made increasingly more worthless by inflation. International bankers who create money without foundation, and loan it to the nations of the world, have made immense fortunes from the interest on such loans. When the interest grows too much to pay off, then the nation borrows even more money to feed their addiction to debt repayment. This of course means that more loans are given in ever higher amounts as the currency they are issued in is worth less and less.

Even the most powerful of nations cannot escape the debt-trap. The United States, for example, will now find it mathematically impossible to pay off her debt. Among other nations caught in the trap of spiralling debt, are Italy, Germany, Australia, and Spain. Greece was no exception in following the well tried and tested formula above; the country ran into trouble and it borrowed money in an attempt to extricate itself from rising debt. Simple. But as the country sought to borrow more-and-more cash, however, tough ‘austerity measures’ were put into place. Now why would that be?

But instead of letting the Grecian market collapse, the international banks who loaned it money preformed a quick dialysis. They would jump-started the Greek economy with funding, and in that way they (the bankers) could continue to profit from the suffering of a nation. To this end, a 750 billion Euro ‘bail-out’ was orchestrated, between the IMF and the European Union. Olli Rehn, the European Commissioner for Economic and Financial affairs went as far as to say that ““We will defend the Euro, no matter what it takes.” What he neglected to mention was the 5% interest rate attached to the bailout. An unrealistically high rate of interest by all assessments.

Shortly after Rehn’s announcement, ECB stated that they would begin a process of ‘Quantitative Easing‘–the purchase of large amounts of corporate debt and loans via Grecian bonds. What confounded me at the time is just why ECB were attempting to ‘stabilize’ a region using a method that had proved unsuccessful for the Japanese years before during their very well-documented economic crisis.

The funds given to Greece would keep the country afloat in the short-term, but the eventual collapse would be that much worse, for no matter where you look for news of the Grecian crisis, talks of a ‘domino effect’ are never far behind. Those countries currently most affected by the crisis are extremely concerned about the picture that the American and British media have been painting. In Spain, President José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero launched an investigation using his nation’s intelligence agency, and while the measure was considered ‘over the top,’ and a ‘laughable’ disguise of insecurity in the anglo-media, Zapatero’s choice showed more than a glimmer of reason.

Unsurprisingly, many ‘financial experts’ aligned themselves with hedge-fund managers and their cronies, including Jeffery Frankel, a Harvard University economist who said, “What we have seen is that contagion has gone global.” According to Rintaro Tamaki, “All the financial markets are now in turmoil … The impact of the Greek crisis has gone beyond the Euro area.” Anders Borg, the Financial Minister of Sweden was on board the financial-apocalypse boat, adding “We now see herd behavior in the markets that are really pack behavior, wolfpack behavior.” Even more shocking, however, an article in The Guardian stated how “Riots and strikes in Greece could be repeated in other countries which have yet to adopt their own austerity packages.” Other countries which have yet to adopt their own austerity packages? With this sort of spin on the issue being given by the Anglo-media, it is no small wonder that Spain feels as if it stands on shaky ground. But this doesn’t have to be so. Greece doesn’t have to be the all destroying harbinger of financial apocalypse, unless they want it to be. I’ll repeat myself here; Greece is not the first domino unless the international bankers say it is.

The hedge-fund managers said ‘it is’ back on February 8^th. An ‘idea-dinner’ held at the Manhattan town house of Monness, Crespi, Hardt & Co, a boutique investment bank. Among those attending were George Soros (Soros Fund Management), SAC advisors, David Einhorn of Greenlight Capital and Donald Morgan of Brigade Capital. During the course of the meeting, they saw fit to bet against the Euro, Greece and other southern European countries now afflicted by the crisis at hand. Donald Morgan in particular was certain that Greek debt could ‘infect’ the rest of the world. Merril-Lynch, Bank of America, Barclays, Goldman-Sachs, and other banks that still exist only because of public funds taken from taxpayers, are at the core of the financial melt-down in Greece.

The consequences of a second, bigger melt-down in Greece, and the destruction of the Euro by large financial concerns would be enormous; as would be the profits for a few select individuals. Investors are betting up to twenty times their holdings, in a market that dwarfs the daily trading volume of the British pound, which itself suffered underneath similar ‘bearish’ moves. George Soros led the charge that devastated the British Pound in 1992, and wouldn’t think twice about destroying the Euro via Greece.  Do you think they wouldn’t do such a thing? The U.S. Department of Justice has already warned them not to destroy any documents pertaining to the meeting. Soros hasn’t been too shy of the media circuit spotlight, stating that the ‘euro could fall apart’ mere days after the secretive dinner meeting. I don’t believe that Attorney General Eric Holder will pursue the issue with much vigor, as he assisted in the pardoning of both Marc Rich and Pincus Green. What does come with some level of reassurance is that those Spanish and Italian judges who have seen their countries so terribly afflicted by the current situation may pursue legal recourse.

Speaking of austerity packages, Mervyn King, governor of the Bank of England went as far to say that “….whoever wins this election will be out of power for a whole generation because of how tough the fiscal austerity will have to be.” In the United States, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke spoke along similar lines. Bernanke claimed last April that “To avoid large and ultimately unsustainable budget deficits, the nation will ultimately have to choose among higher taxes, modifications to entitlement programs such as Social Security and Medicare, less spending on everything else from education to defence, or some combination of the above.” Of course, the American contribution to the Grecian bailout comes a year after a statement Bernanke made concerning cutting retirement and healthcare funds ‘That’s where the money is.’ Money that couldn’t be spent. So apparently America must cut social funding, yet there is enough money lying around to go ahead and assist in the Grecian bailout caused by investors from America? We have so far spent 6.8 billion dollars. Those are funds that were considered ‘unspendable’ for social programs but perfectly fine to assist in driving a country further into a hole, absolute madness.

While hedge-fund managers carry much of the blame, credit rating agencies don’t have their hands clean of the matter either. Without the role they played, it is entirely possible that some of the deals made would not have been accepted. Credit rating agencies such as Moody’s, S&P, and Fitch have each played a critical role in the crisis. It is important to note that out of those three companies, S&P and Moody’s are solely based in America. Fitch is based in both New York and London. Similar to how credit rating agencies gave toxic assets and loans packages triple-A ratings here in the United States; credit rating fraud was no different in Greece. Triple-A ratings are the highest possible ratings, which are only supposed to be given to loans with minimal risk. When we look at some of the packages given, we can see a web of fraud. This fraud was an attempt to deliberately mislead Greece and further damage the Euro. As if this wasn’t enough, further damage to the Euro was incurred when Greek stocks and bonds were being traded at junk-level weeks before earning that designation.

The credit rating agencies can easily explain how investment banking managed to do so much damage to Greece. Goldman-Sachs in particular has had a high level of involvement in the Grecian crisis. Beginning in 2002, Goldman-Sachs was one of the many banks that offered cross-currency swaps. During these cross-currency swaps, Grecian debt was swapped from Euro to dollars and yen, and would then be changed back to the original currencies at a later date. If all these institutions wanted to do was to hurt the Euro, it wouldn’t be difficult. The acquiring of Grecian debt, switching it to a stable currency and then changing it back would be devastating. It would not only damage the value of the Euro, but would deliver a blow to the infrastructure of the Greek nation.

While cross-currency swaps are common for nations, Goldman-Sachs set the exchange rates at fake levels. As a result, Greece got a much higher sum than the actual market value of $10 billion dollars or yen. Goldman-Sachs managed to add an astounding amount of credit, up to $1 billion dollars for the Greeks without the Greeks knowing about it. The best part is that while the trade took place, it isn’t on any books. Due to the deals made during the Grecian government’s deals with Goldman-Sachs, Goldman now also owns the rights to airport fees and lottery proceeds in Greece for years. Furthermore, Goldman-Sachs as well other banks speculating in the Greek market used credit default swaps as a way to bet on the Grecian collapse. The purpose of credit default swaps is a method for a large investor such as Goldman-Sachs to obtain financial protection in case its investments go bad, in theory at least.

Amazingly, credit swaps are unregulated. Coupling this with the fact that there are no limits as to how many can be created and issued, the market can surge rapidly several times over compared to the original assets being insured. The final nail in the coffin of integrity being that investors whom are arranging the swap don’t actually need to have the ownership they are arranging the swap to cover. Therefore, it becomes profitable to bet on the lendee defaulting as you receive even more funds for a failed venture. It’s similar to everyone else on a street buying fire protection on someone’s house and then collecting when it gets burned down. Something that would be illegal in the insurance racket is perfectly legal in investment banking and Wall Street.

Even that wimpiest of Wall Street critics, Ben Bernanke, managed to get the guts to say something about the mess. “Using these instruments in a way that intentionally destabilizes a company or a country is — is counter-productive, and I’m sure the S.E.C. will be looking into that.” Even though Bernanke managed to give a mild protest, I have next to no faith that Goldman will get much more than a wag of the finger for this or any other ‘questionable’ business it has conducted. A lack of punishment will of course only reinforce this behaviour. As Marshall Auerback, a professor of economics at the University of Missouri-Kansas City stated “As [credit default swap] prices rise and Greece’s credit rating collapses, the interest rate it must pay on bonds rises–fuelling a death spiral because it cannot cut spending or raise taxes sufficiently to reduce its deficit.”

While the forces that acted to worsen the Greek crisis get away, the Grecian working class is brutalized. The measures implemented to slow the inevitable are quite familiar. Lower wages, reduced workforce in the public sector, cuts in benefits, rising gas prices, tax increases, bonus cuts….out of all those affected, the real losers are working people of Greece. The VAT is already being increased for a second time, now up to 23%. Whatever your take on the Grecian crisis is, the fact that ‘austerity’ measures in other nations are being called for is worrisome to say the least. Nothing has been fixed. The rich have gotten richer, the poorer have gotten poorer, and the inevitable collapse will be that much more catastrophic. The bond maturities for Greece range between 10-15 years, I believe that this will have an astronomical impact on its deficit when the debt comes to fruition, and without another round of emergency funds, Greece may very well default under the pressure. Certainly, now after Greece owes the world $300 Billion, a Grecian collapse a decade down the road would certainly be felt. More so than if it happened before the bailouts, back-room deals and slough of chicanery Greece has bumbled through. The EU Chief stated that ‘democracy could disappear’ in those countries most afflicted by the crisis. Greece may be the very tip of a particularly troublesome iceberg, a floating sepulcher in a sea of greed, guile, and corruption.

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Evan Arnold

The Chartered Institute of Building (CIOB) has urged Britain’s new coalition government to invest in the construction industry.

Chief executive of the CIOB Chris Blythe said that there needs to be a sustained programme of national investment in the construction industry if Britain is to return to a pattern of consistent economic growth.

Mr Blythe claimed that for every pound spent on construction output, £2.84 is generated in total economic activity and 92 pence of every pound spent on construction is retained in the UK.

“The physical infrastructure of this country underpins the entire economic and social infrastructure. Investment in the built environment can spread the benefits of an economic stimulus to all parts of the UK,” he added.

Mr Blythe went on to say that it is crucial that the coalition government encourages people to enrol in electrical courses, plumbing courses and commercial gas courses as this will assist economic recovery.

“The last recession taught us that if we neglect training and educating our workforces we will suffer in the long-term; and hinder our ability to react to any upturn in the economy,” he said.

As environmental technologies increase in popularity more people may be required to take green energy courses in order to understand how to install of energy efficient forms of heating and lighting, according to Chris Blythe.

“There is also a huge opportunity to develop the low carbon skills that the industry needs to meet the green agenda,” he added.

The CIOB joined forces with the Construction Industry Council and released a manifesto for the built environment which highlights the importance of the construction industry to the economy.

The ‘Building the Future Economy’ document also looks at the construction industry’s role in developing a low carbon economy, whether through the refurbishment of the existing building stock or the development of new buildings and infrastructure.

Goals of the manifesto included the promotion of future job creation and skills development in the workforce by sustaining training and apprenticeships during the economic downturn.

The organisations would also like the government to appoint a full-time Minister of Construction and promote access to construction jobs to all sections of society in order to achieve a diverse vibrant industry.

The National Inspection Council for Electrical Installation Contracting has also said that more women should be encouraged to take electrical courses as it would benefit the sector and the construction industry as a whole.

Able Skills provides electrical courses and plumbing courses at its dedicated training centre. Able Skills is an accredited centre securing approval to deliver qualification training from City & Guilds, Construction Awards Alliance, EAL, NICEIC and CITB for gas training and assessment.

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Jack Dee

I've been an IT consultant for over 15 years. Strange to get paid for doing what you love. May be in danger of being called a geek... but who cares? I actually enjoy every opportunity to drive through the concepts, design, and creative framework on even personal web-based projects. My other passion is travel: 72 cities in 35 countries at the last count.

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In the first two buildings that Ralph Swimer Limited occupied, no white person would work, not even those without qualifications. The Swimer family lived above the first shop at 22 Whitechurch Lane and their living quarters were as disgusting as the business premises below.

Ralph Swimer had advertised in the Hackney Gazette for a Bookkeeper to Trial Balance but each applicant who turned up for interview bluntly refused the job when offered. He was glad, finally, to sneer me, a well-qualified young woman in her early thirties. At last, old man Swimer must have thought, I have found in this Mrs Pettigrew a dedicated and conscientious workhorse who would stay the course.

Not me, but my lookalike, model Naomi Sims (1960s)

I was a pretty young-thing then: well groomed, educated and elegant, if a little too proud for my own good. But he would handle that pride with typical Romanian kid gloves, at least, until he had endeared himself to me. Since I was recently separated from my husband and a single-mother, too, that also would earn him some mileage. He would generously offer to pay me partly off the records and under the table–untaxed–cunningly disguised as a little more in my hand each week as well as a sincere attempt to help me make ends meet. In that way, he would not only avoid some national insurance contributions from his struggling business, but he would also not have to reveal exactly how much he had reluctantly agreed to pay this schvartze woman, whom he naturally assumed could not get a job anywhere else.

I had driven a hard bargain, and it would not do to upset his future English employees with revelations on the books about how much more than them I was earning. He knew that he would have to employ some English staff, and soon. The British would be far more successful at selling to the good old English public than he could ever be with his Jewish background and Eastern European accent, and he might as well start preparing his business for them from now. “After all, you’re here now, Rona,” – he had started calling me ‘Rona’ instead of Verona almost immediately – and it was my job now to cut costs, and help him expand his business, exponentially.

John Hazel, a boxer; Harold Wilmot; and John Richards, a carpenter, arriving at Tilbury aboard the Empire Windrush, 22 June 1948.

Unknown to Ralph Swimer, I had been offered another job nearby, and Mr Abrahams of Davis and Field was a real gent. His sole female employee, however, was a proper nasty piece of work. She did not think that I was the sort of person whom she wanted to use the same toilet that she sat on. And while Mr Davis did everything reasonably in his power to provide alternative facilities for me, I had objected to this English woman’s attitude, stating, “If I am good enough to do the firms’ books of accounts, then I am good enough to use the same lavatory used by the likes of you.” Davis, of course, would not sack his own relative and long-time employee, and so I walked out.

That was why it had taken me a whole week before I could pluck up enough courage to start working at 22 Whitechurch Lane. I had given Swimer some sorry story about being too sick to come in to work, but in reality, I did not want to be employed in such a rundown environment. My husband’s car, just a year before in 1965, had been far superior to Swimer’s Austin Cambridge and my former home at 32 Hartley Road had been a dwelling of which anyone would have been proud. Now with my marriage in tatters, and a young mouth to feed, I was forced to accept any old foolish job these people had to offer.

At Whitechurch Lane and Goulston Street, I had to hide from anyone I knew just to use the public toilets at Aldgate East station because there were no staff facilities at the office. Later, when I was going into Goulston Street in Whitechapel, then in the centre of the Jewish East End, if I met anybody I knew, I walked around the block to lose them, then walked back into the dilapidated shop front, hopefully, without being spotted. Like any other employee, I thought that as the company grew, I would grow with it. From a turnover of fifty-six thousand in 1965; seventy thousand in 1966; it went to seven hundred and fifty thousand in 1973; and I was the only office staff, apart from an invoice clerk. Whoever would have thought that there was so much money to be made in trimmers and trimmings, buttons and zips?

Goulston Street from Brunswick Buildings, 1960s.

They did not start out well-to-do of course. Ralph Swimer’s father was a Rabbi, I believe, and his mother, whom I met, looked like some kind of peasant woman. We had an advert out for a cleaner and she just happened to choose that time to visit her son. Mr Grant came to my office and told me that there was someone in the lobby for the cleaning job, but that she looked too old, and I simply dismissed it. Shortly afterwards, Mr Swimer brought this woman round and said, “Mrs P, this is my mother,” and with mouth wide opened, I looked at the woman and somehow managed to stutter, “Very…p-p-pleased to meet you.” She was indeed a surprise. I had heard about her from Bright, the chap who did odd jobs for them in Highgate, and on seeing her, I could believe the things he had said. And just to imagine that she was Sue and Peter’s grandmother. The difference, you see, between a black worker and a ‘white highflyer’ is the fact that we would never have allowed our mother to go about looking impoverished in that way.

When I left for two years after the son, Peter, took over and was invited back part-time in 1975, they had still not done what I had suggested they do to improve the accounting system years before. They would not listen. As long as they had workhorses like me, they used them mercilessly. I was dealing with six hundred invoices each month without the aid of a computer, most of them for one “special” firm, J. H. Smith & Company (Leyton) Limited. Their director, a Mr Sydney Caplan, used to own the company but sold it to a larger business. Caplan still did all the buying and had the Swimers jumping to his beck and call. In one month, he could have three hundred invoices. As he paid fifty times more than anyone else did, everyone was dancing to his tune and jumping at the sound of his voice.

Of course, I ended up with the unnecessarily heavy workload that meant I often had to take work home—depraving my two children of their mother’s attention because, by then, I had sent for my young son and brought him back to England—and now had an extra mouth to feed. But all Swimers had to do was use delivery notes each time Caplan phoned in with an order and then copy them onto an invoice later. In that way, they would have double records, but they did not like double records. If records were to be kept, then records would have to be checked, and some records would simply have to disappear–there was nothing anyone could do about it. False fires occurred. And the Government, run by some of their own people, did not seem to have the common sense to insist on back up records to ensure that revenues could be collected to keep much-needed public services running. That was why people like them built their businesses in areas around where they lived, and then moved out, leaving the buildings to rot for tax purposes.

They were the sort of people that Margaret Thatcher worshipped. She thought that because people got rich by trade that they made their money honestly. That may have been the case when her father had his shop in Grantham, but Mr Roberts must have been the honourable type. Thatcher may have been tapping into the aspirations of ordinary people when in 1979, she made her ‘St Francis of Assisi speech,’ but her first mistake as prime minister was to reduce the 85% tax rate to sixty per cent and the lower rate by five pence. A bold move would have been to reduce the lower rate to twenty pence thus honouring her pledge to enable ordinary people to keep more of what they earned. I did the wages and salaries at the time, and I saw the difference between the bosses rebate and that of the ordinary workers. I got a couple of pounds and was a ‘high earner’ compared to some folks.

The problem with J. H. Smith (Leyton) Limited was discovered when “the workhorse” left and their new recruit, our white former toilet and office cleaner, Joyce, had chased away the red-haired Jewish woman who did the sales ledger. By the time I was asked to return part-time, they had to get someone to help me because I had to deal with far too many invoices, and they still would not use delivery notes. Even the goods sold for cash were put on invoices.

With no accounts background, Joyce could not cope as a bookkeeper, even with a newly introduced computerised system (for which I had to pay my own training), she made so many mistakes that the accountants had to send their qualified staff to do the work that I used to do alone by hand. It was then that one Indian accountant told them what “Mrs Pettigrew has been trying to get you to do for years. If you separate cash sales from invoice sales, and use delivery notes, you will reduce the workload considerably.” The accountants, Morley and Scot, had used my accuracy to their advantage. They came twice a year to audit the books, and after the first week there was usually nothing for them to do, but they earned more in two weeks than I earned all year.

They all knew that my accounts were always 100% accurate. I checked the invoices we sent out, and the ones sent to us, and had no communications with my opposite numbers at all because there were never any discrepancies, unless of course, there was an invoice or cheque lost in the post. I was grossly underpaid, but they used the fact that the British were prejudice on racial grounds to employ me, and others like me, partly under the table and off the records at the lower end of the scale.

Brixton Riots (1981).

Most drivers who drove for firms at that time took the vans home but the black chap who worked at Swimers had to leave the van and walk or take the bus home. He got a job twice his pay and the use of the van, which was worth another forty pounds per week to him in those days. Talk about they were not racists because they employed blacks, but blacks had to work and they were usually the only employees at the lowest ends of the business, so their subsistence wages was barely enough to keep body and soul together.

My niece, Maureen, started working at Swimers at £35 a week. It was a lot more than Sainsbury’s but five years later, she was not earning much more. Joyce hated Maureen, and I knew that she would be out as soon as they had managed to get rid of me. Joyce encouraged her daughter, Lesley, to slim down to take on the new receptionist job. So, when I asked Peter for the job for Maureen, Joyce was hoping mad. She used to take note of every minute that Maureen was late getting to work. She complained about the fact that Peter gave Maureen a lift in the evenings, and after Maureen met her Greek chap, Joyce was even more jealous. She said that Maureen didn’t need the job any more, but still Maureen was taken in by her and told Joyce all of her business. She told me about Mehmet, too, but I just left them to it. Then afterwards, I bullied her into leaving, and she got a job at £75 per week, twenty or twenty-five pounds more than she was earning at Swimers.

They were supposed to have trained her by law, but they only collected the grant from the government saying that Joyce had trained her – the very idea! Joyce did not come anywhere near Maureen in intelligence. All she could do was turn around and say, “Well, I did offer to train Maureen, in office practice, filing, typing, and how to use the computer, and she had a good little handwriting and could do quite well with figures, but they claimed she wasn’t bright enough.” Her daughter, Lesley, the cleaner was bright enough though. I was furious, but Maureen did not cling to me, she clung to the white people, thinking somehow that that would elevate her. I was on my own, so I kept quiet. I could have told her that Memet would never marry her.

Maureen was just another example of how the black staff were never promoted. You were in charge as long as you were on your own. Once someone white came along, you became his or her assistant, or you had no job title but all the responsibility without the corresponding pay. All the clients and auditors knew that I was the one in charge of the accounts department at Ralph Swimer Limited throughout my twenty-odd years with the company, but I was without a name, without a title, and without sufficient remuneration. Yet I knew all that there was to know about how the business operated and how they all became multi-millionaires.

I wanted all that exposed at the industrial tribunal but I could not sell my flat to get the money to employ a lawyer to sue the bastards. Margaret Thatcher’s government had decreed that employees must not get legal aid for cases against their employers. One had to go through the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (ACAS) and that was a SACA organisation run by, you know whom, for the benefit of ‘you know who.’ One entered the process and got nowhere.

As I said to them at the industrial tribunal—following my unfair dismal after two decades of devoted service to a company now managed by the son for whom I completed his university application because the family couldn’t write English well enough, and to whom my children donated their cast-offs:

“A country’s duty is to its citizens and vice versa. A country’s leaders collect taxes from the rich to run services on behalf of its entire people. Taxes are not a new thing. Joseph was on his way to pay his taxes when Mary gave birth to Jesus – and maybe there is a moral and an irony in that for everyone here today. But how can people live in a country and make their money in that country but expect their taxes to be used only in the areas in which they live? It doesn’t work that way at all. Joseph was on his way to Bethlehem to pay his taxes. He did not live there. He had to travel a long way to get there. It is obvious, therefore, that even back then; all taxes were collected at some central head office and distributed according to the needs of the various communities. Not just for the benefit and concerns of the rich folks and the areas in which they live.”

I represented myself at the hearing and that kind of feisty talk, I know now, would never get a claimant far or endear her to the panel. It was well beyond the jurisdiction of this employment tribunal and far beyond the interest of the imminent and well-appointed lawyers, barristers and judges representing the Swimers.

This is my experience, the honest to God truth of my working life in Britain, and the loss of my claim for unfair dismissal without recourse or recompense for the many years of service given to my Eastern European employers in the East End of London. It is ironic that had I received any compensation based upon my long years of service or level of pay at the time of dismissal, it would have been at a fraction of my actual earnings (or worth) over the years, since my wages were still being paid under the table and off the records—a mistake for which I take full responsibility, but it seemed like a good idea in 1966.

Now you may think that times have changed, and stories like this could never happen again in modern Britain, but ask yourself how far we have come in the labour market since the 1950s and 60s. Why are black people still at the bottom of the economic pile after all these years in England? The experience of recent African and Caribbean migrants, or even that of my British-born children/grandchildren¹ and yours, would have you know that the more things change is the more they stay the same.

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Verona Bennett

1. Recent research shows that almost half of young black people are unemployed, well over twice the rate for young white people.

Failure is not a fundamental option. The blooming of a rose. The intricate structure of a spider web. The trillions of cells operating simultaneously in your body. Intelligence. The entire cosmos operates through an implicit, supreme Intelligence, which is why you do not have to fail at anything.

Free: Click to Find Jobs at $80,000 to $500,000+

Undeniably, we do fall short of many a goal, dream, aspiration, desire. However to repeat the last part of the last sentence in the above paragraph, we “do not have to fail at anything.” There is nothing about us that – fundamentally – even knows how to fail! Essentially, we learn to fail. Yes, indeed it is laudable to “learn” from our so-called failures and setbacks, however the fact remains that we learn to fail by default because we “drink the kool-aid.”

Early on in our life, we begin to follow the status quo of systemic ignorance. The use of the word ignorance in this context is not derisive or insulting in the least but rather ignorance as defined as unaware. By drinking the kool-aid of our conditioning, we ignore the true, fundamental magnificent and supreme intelligence implicit in our nature. Because of the pervasiveness of this ignorance, there is a tremendous tendency to believe that the paradigm from which we live is actually the true and only paradigm of expression and possibility. Limitation must unfold in its various guises when it is from a limited paradigm. Crudely put, “garbage in, garbage out.” We don’t see what we’re looking at (in terms of the circumstances in our lives); we see what we’re looking from. In other words, if our vantage point is skewed in the first place we’re going to see (experience) things from the disadvantage of the skewed perspective.

If we are not aware of our implicit, supreme Intelligence then we doubt our capacity, doubt our ability, and doubt our possibility. Doubt is actually the culprit hiding within many of our so-called failings, fears and perceived limitations. It is not that succeeding (in love, affairs and life) is difficult so much as it is that our pursuits are so – consciously or unconsciously – informed with doubt that it undermines our capacity to successfully fulfil our intentions and aspirations.

How often are the perceived risk we take (investing retirement money in that start-up) accompanied with a sizeable dose of fear? It is not the risk itself that backfires – it is the potential-choking fear accompanying our intentions that render our actions impotent or arduous. Now, combine that doubt with a skewed perception of who you really are in the first place and you have a pretty good recipe for chronic challenge, struggle, lack or limitation. Hmmm, let’s see here, a cup of doubt, a dollop of pessimism, a half a package of ignorance of my real nature, a dash of fear (be careful with the fear – it’s a very potent ingredient!) mix well and viola! In thirty minutes, you have a fresh dish of Failure! Chef’s Note: If you let past failures bake in your mind, they become the bases for your next dish of Failure! How great is that?!

In all seriousness, you can readily create new “entrees” of fulfilment, success, prosperity, love and well-being if you use a different recipe. A recipe of ingredients that can only be found and procured in the rare regions of your fundamental magnificence and supremely intelligent nature. Let’s face it: If you don’t know what you’re (truly) working with you won’t know what you can do with it!

You are a magnificent, supremely intelligent expression of life. That statement is not in reference to what is termed your IQ or education or learned knowledge. It is in reference to the intelligence that is coordinating all the cells and functions of your body right now unconsciously, mind you – as you read this very article! Right now, no matter what may be ailing you health-wise, the implicit genius within you is still orchestrating and synchronizing trillions of cells in your body without you having even so much as a conscious idea that your body is doing so! If “you” can do this without even thinking about it, how much more difficult should something be for you to manifest that you do think about?! If, that is, when thinking about your desires you are NOT DRINKING THE KOOL-AID of consensus thinking – which must yield evidence that reflects its nature:  Worst recession in 70 years! Banks aren’t lending! Nobody’s hiring! Highest unemployment in decades! “I’m just not an outgoing person.” “I’m not smart enough.” “I wasn’t born with a silver spoon.” “I’m too old now.” “It’s not the right time.” And on and on.

So what do you do if you’re ready to put down the glass (or pitcher for some) of kool-aid? You begin the deprogramming process by understanding your true nature. You begin trading the unconsciously cherished limiting ideas of who you think you are and how you think the world operates for ideas that are akin to the essential nature of your nature, which is full of possibility. You begin not to ignore, but to deny all evidence contrary to the fundamental reality of possibility, fulfilment and true success. See all contrary evidence not as a “fact of how it is” but as a reflection of the limited license given to possibility. In other words what you deem failure or limitation is really just a very limited expression of success. You begin to understand that the limiting facts you witness in your life are nothing more than an indication of how embedded erroneous perceptions have become. The limitation you experience is the siphoning of the flow of success that erroneous perception causes and nothing more.

This understanding strips you of the hypnotic spell of lack and becomes an opportunity to mine the rich awareness of your authentic self. This is done by returning to those deceptively simple realities that, while taken for granted, are the very indications that you are more than any limited perception. Even a tree is more than a “tree”; something is causing it to grow – something is animating it, just as something is animating your body-mind right now. And, obviously, this something that is animating your body right now is supremely intelligent, creative and powerful as you consider yet again that there are trillions of cells functioning in your body presently, each carrying out specific functions simultaneously without even so much as a conscious directive or thought! The You that is animating your body-mind is an incredible force! Left up to its own devices it can ingeniously create and manifest any manner of expression that is in harmony with the essence of Nature. You are a wonder to behold!

This is the deprogramming process. This is what begins to make a way out of no way! You can begin right now to trade a conditioned idea of yourself – whatever the conditioning has been – for an authentic idea of yourself. Authentic simply means true to the real thing as can possibly be!

You are not a product of your history. You can indeed be a product of your belief that you are a product of your history, but in truth, you are not a product of what you’ve been through. You are a product of the authentic creative force that caused you to come into being as it synchronized all of the circumstances and conditions necessary for your existence! Your journey may be the means of your life but it is certainly not the essence of it.

The bottom line is that there is an incredible, transcendent Intelligence that is the locus (essence) of your identity and being. Recognize that it IS incredible. Recognize that it IS transcendent. Recognize that it is supremely intelligent and most of all recognize that it is YOU! You then default to this point of reference for every endeavour, desire, seeming problem and vision that you deign to carry out. Stand up and be your own salvation. You are the success you’ve been waiting for.

Isaiah McGee

Hypnotherapist and Empowerment Coach Isaiah McGee is director of A Conscious Life Enterprises. Through his practice, Isaiah employs effective modalities and techniques such as therapeutic hypnosis to get the subconscious on board with the conscious intentions of one’s heart and soul. “My work is transforming not because of how good I am, but because I know how good YOU are.”

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If you are like most of us, you are constantly wondering how time went so fast. How the day ended and you were hardly started. Leonardo Da Vinci, the master artist, once said “Time stays long enough for anyone who will use it.”

How many times do you find yourself with as long a To-Do list at the end of the day as you started with in the morning–and yet you have been busy all day?

Time management is closely related to attainment of goals – in fact, goals are sometimes defined as dreams with timelines. Goals can be either short or long term, so how you use your time determines how well you achieve them.

Here, I will share with you three simple tips you can use to better manage your time. By applying these tips, you will be able to get through your To-Do lists more efficiently, and therefore get to your long term goals faster.

1. Know Where You Are Losing Time

To know how to better manage your time, it’s imperative that you know where you are losing it. Map out your daily activities. Where do you lose the most time? It may be in your commute, your meetings, your meal options or even just socializing. If there is an activity you can cut back on without compromising on quality, do it. Use the time that you have freed up to do something that you enjoy and that contributes directly to your goals e.g. have a shorter lunch break and focus on sending out applications for your dream job or build on a specific skill.

2. Prioritize Tasks

Sometimes, in the rush of things, we realize that we have spent more time on things that are urgent at the cost of things that are important. Learn how to tell apart the urgent from the important. Most of the things you have to do are urgent but how many are important? Ideally, you should spend more and more time focusing on important issues as compared to urgent issues.

3. Delegate When You Can

It is human nature to feel that if we do something ourselves, we have done it better or faster. This may or may not be true, but people who are the most efficient in using their time have also learnt to let go and delegate. Can you let someone else make breakfast while you learn a new language for your next job? Delegating not only frees up time, but allows those you delegate to build their skills and eventually, you can rely on them more and more.

Managing your time well is a process; you cannot master it in one day, but with these 3 tips to guide you, you are well on your way!

Mutuo Mbilla

Article by Mutuo Mbilla - www.goodarticlewriter.com Mutuo is a professional article writer and IMer who likes to occasionally emerge from her work and catch up with the rest of the world. Her articles here are mainly from what she sees when she sticks her neck out :-).

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It’s come to me slowly, a revelation of sorts: I went to the Yale they promised me. I went to the school of the catalogue quote-box, a “hotbed” of aspirant genius. Perhaps it’s nostalgia (or epiphany, some three years late?) but it seems now you laureates were everywhere.

I remember. Senior year I watched you rally, heard you singing, saw your plays — and wondered how you artists, bards, and activists were faring. I saw you at the Career Services office, working your ways through massive grant guides. I met you at the Q&A on P&G then on TFA. I heard you with the law school adviser, balking when she asked, “Why law?” (I was waiting outside). Three years on, I fear for your (our) kind.

The trouble it seemed/it seems is this: we don’t know where we’re going. Our personal passions, as potent as they are, do not give rise to prepared professions. Our myriad talents do not seem to converge upon one — or more importantly: one lucrative — career. As such, we’ve lapsed into months-long lamentations about our accursed lack of direction.

It hasn’t always been this way. We used to be mechanically motivated — overachievers of the surest sort. Our four-point program, The Plan, was this: to graduate college, work for a year, get a professional degree, ascend to World Dominance. Never we mind the obvious: that we never defined what World Dominance entails. “Rule the world” (or save it) was a perfect answer for all who asked:

What do you want to do after you graduate?

The question has become more of an accusation than an inquiry of late. For, in a startling, unsettling turn of events, we don’t have any plans. Somewhere between our first day at college and our last corporate interview things fell apart. The goals we finished high school with (First Lady-President! Next Michael Jordan! Find cancer’s cure!) are fading away. In their absence we must decide what we truly want to do – and are discovering that we don’t (that we never did?) know.

The I-bank/Law school/Med school Model of Success presents three options:

1) To make lots of money now.
2) To go to professional school now and make lots of money later.
3) To make lots of money now then go to school and make even more money sooner.

In desperation almost, we’ve begun to subscribe to this Triumvirate Version of success. We artists and actors have begun to think that maybe banking is not so bad. Consulting has become a seductive lesser of evils, second only to the catholicon that is Law School.

It’s the validation sticker we’ve worn for years to explain (or excuse) our interests. When people ask, “What are you studying?” our answer has always been two-fold. First, the program (“History,” “Theater”) and then the plan: “But I’m going to law school.” How quickly the confusion (“American Studies?!”) gives way to “Aha!”’s of comprehension.

Of course, now that the day is upon us we must appraise the master plan. The most fickle among us (myself included) seek solace in the Apply and Defer Approach. Gifted scholars, dancers, teachers, poets — we know we don’t want to be lawyers. But in the name of appeasing parents, perceptions, and Pell Grants, we log onto LSAC.

A word. If you:

a) Are going to law school because you aren’t going to medical school,
b) Are going to law school because “it just comes next,” or
c) Imagine law school as an extension of your liberal arts education,

please do reconsider. Going to law school with no interest in legal practice is much like fulfilling all the pre-med requirements without any inclination to become a doctor. Unless you truly adore math and science you’d have worked too hard for too little. No less than Organic Chemistry, Civil Procedure is too dense to be done as an option-opening exercise. Misguided are we who envision a PoliSci playground for polymath and public servant alike. Like an amplified version of vocational training law school is designed to prepare professionals for their practice. The refinement of an English vocabulary is a side-effect not an objective of legal education. Consider: HLS “Second-year Basic Courses”1 are: Accounting, Constitutional Law, Corporations and Taxation. If two or more seem tedious, perhaps law’s not for you?

Or perhaps it’s the money that piques your interest, as it did mine; frankly, as it does mine. $100,000 would relieve my proud mother of my myriad loans in a matter of months. But those six-figure salaries are awarded primarily to starting associates in Corporate Law. If you are opposed on principle to the professional manipulation of money, your Benz is a long time coming. So it goes for those who seek reprieve in financial services. We (especially the “we” with debt) have grown weary in The Struggle. When everyone else was doing it, being broke seemed enlightened. But the recession has rubbed all the rugged charm off of structural unemployment. As the debts add up and our twenties wind down, temporary tedium seems worth the tender.

But I wonder. What is the difference between the investment banker and the twenty-first century sharecropper? Instead of other men’s land he tills other men’s money. He rises at the crack of dawn and works to the point of exhaustion, planting and growing the “crop” of those richer than he. At the end of the season he gives the landowner (not to mention the landlady) the bulk of the harvest, keeping a minute fraction for himself. It doesn’t seem right.

I understand that there are those of you whose motives transcend the money. Some of you find the thrill of the trade as appealing as the paycheck. Others find inspiration in the financing of dreams, in funding for your families. I’m thinking of a friend who truly enjoys economics, another who has promised to put cousins through college. For them a means-to-an-end mentality may render fulfilling the jobs they choose. But what of us, we seeming martyrs, whose real passions lie elsewhere? Can we compensate with 80K incomes what we lack in inspiration? Is happiness so cheap?

I am neither rich nor naïve and understand that recent grads must eat. I understand also that anything done solely for money will ultimately compromise the soul. I am speaking to you creative geniuses whose works adorn most college campuses. I am writing to you educated activists who want to open youth centers, create AIDS foundations, reform hometown schools, write books. Who told you that i-banking and law school are the only two paths to fulfilling your dreams? Have you asked yourselves, as confusing as it is: what do I want to do this fall? Can you ask yourselves, as hard as it is: am I in it for the money? Will you dare yourselves, as risky as it is, to do the work you’ve been called to?

I am talking to you — to you secret garden songbirds who sing in the bathrooms of your investment banks; to you poets and aspirant playwrights who write too well to stop to write the law; to you consultant-cum-clandestine thespians who will never know peace if you leave theatre alone: you say you don’t know what you want to do and maybe you don’t — but don’t you? There are only so many things you don’t mind getting up at 5 am to do. There are only so many talents that come to you as easily as breath. Understand this. There is something so challenging/exhilarating/promising about the possibility of experiencing/enjoying/employing your talents for all they’re worth. Even if it turns out that your writing is not worth $100,000/year; even if it turns out that your cooking is not worth $100 — perhaps it’ll turn out that your own sense of fulfillment is worth so much more?

Or perhaps I’m being idealistic? I offer no concrete alternatives to the professions I’ve critiqued, not least because I struggle each day to find them. It is a woman — young, poor, passionate — who pens these pearly things to you; who claims: your fulfillment has less to do with your career choice than with the (true) motive behind it. If you don’t know where you’re going, let your passions point the way. If you cannot answer: “what are you doing next year?” perhaps you might start with “what makes me happy?” Your apprehensions may become immaterial in the face of the fulfillment this answer can bring.

Last week I ended my marriage of convenience with Corporate Glory to pursue a long-term love affair with Art. A friend, apprised of the divorce, left Letters to a Young Poet outside my door. He inscribed the inside cover with this: “I know you have elected to create as most do not, and for such I know no truer lines.” Leaving off questions of age and entitlement (what, in the end, has one twenty-something-year-old to say to another?) I want to compel you young and drifting to pursue as professions your personal passions.

Rainer M. Rilke can tell you far more than I about living a life in the name of your forte. I’ve conjoined a few of his passages, replacing with brackets ([ ]) the words write and writer. Put in those brackets whatever it is you believe/fear to admit you are called to do. If it is acting, insert “act;” if it is “working with children,” add that. Then take these words (amended for you) and confront that weighty question.

What do you want to do after you graduate?

You may find, as it’s said, that you stand on the verge of great decisions — not easy ones.

Rilke writes:

I know no advice for you save this: to go into yourself and test the deeps in which your life takes rise; at its source you will find the answer to the question whether you must [ ]. Accept it, just as it sounds, without inquiring into it. Perhaps it will turn out that you are called to be a [ ]. Then take that destiny upon yourself and bear it, its burden and its greatness, without ever asking what recompense might come from the outside .

Nobody can counsel you, nobody. There is only one single way . . . Search for the reason that bid you [ ]. This above all – ask yourself in the stillest hour of your night: must I [ ]? Delve into yourself for a deep answer. And if the answer should be affirmative, if you may meet this earnest question with a strong and simple, “I must,” then build your life according to this necessity.

Taiye Wosornu

It was me what did it, your Honour. It was I who caused the global financial crash. Those masters of British satire, Johns–Bird and Fortune–spelt it out just good and proper. They are not the first to have said so. It was me on that porch in the string vest. Guilty as charged.

All my life I’ve hated them all. I’ve tried them all. I hate all banks. I hate bloody bankers. I hate banking with banks. Even though I used to be a bleeding banker myself, but that it seems was another lifetime ago. And you’d hardly believe it.

Safe as houses we used to say back then. Your money that was. My first job after leaving school was with one of the big four banks in the City of London.

They called themselves Midland Bank International Division at that time. These days, they are better known as HSBC; one of the largest banking and financial services organisations in the world. With over 9,500 offices in 85 countries, they are part of the global banking network of financial institutions falling prey to the so called “credit crunch,” You know, “toxic debt” syndrome.

If I had known what I know now, I might have stayed there these past twenty-odd years. At Midland Bank back in the day, we were jokingly known for lending money to anyone who could prove that they didn’t need it. How times have changed! Now greedy global banking networks hungry for increased profits and market share offer huge home loans and dodgy under-regulated derivatives to practically anyone. They take insufficient security on peoples’ homes based on the false assumption that property prices will always spiral out of control (and beyond the reach of most ordinary hard-working citizens).

Clearly, short-sightedness and irresponsible lending practices, to say the least. But still bankers get paid massive bonuses, anyway. And why worry about threats to the economy, jobs and other people’s livelihoods when your croonies in power will bail you out at the slightest sign of gremlins in the system you’ve treated? Once again, it’s another win-win situation for the rich folks.

Where I come from, lining your pockets with other people’s cash is the quickest way to get yourself banged up by police under maximum security. Yet George Bush and his money-hungry goons – not satisfied with the billions they’ve reaped from the war in Iraq – are now fleecing ordinary US taxpayers of $700 billion on their way out of the White House by instilling another bout of fear and confusion not just among the American people but right across the world. For as the popular saying goes, when America sneezes, the rest of us catch a cold. How can this be? Are we all so blindly naive and stupid?

This “rescue package” will not make it any less likely that American citizens will not lose their homes. This “bailout” will not reduce the price of gasoline globally or offer universal health care to those who may suddenly fall ill and cannot afford to work or meet their medical bills. What the buying up of Wall Street’s toxic debts will do is ensure that there is no correlation between greed, risk and reward; and that privately owned banks and bankers bear no consequence for their own irresponsible actions.

In other words, the rich get richer while the rest of us foot the bill.

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Paul Boakye

Writer, editor and marketing specialist who sat on The Power Inquiry. Former editor and CEO of the consumer lifestyle magazine, Drum (UK), and author of five plays published for an academic audience by Alexander Street Press, USA. Recipient of business and writing awards, including prestigious accolades such as advising British government, BBC radio and TV commentator, and invitation to meet Queen Elizabeth II in 2007. Currently works as a communications professional, creating contagious ideas to help great brands change the conversation to their advantage, across the entire Central and West African region.

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