The press in America has been touting the losses of the
Labour Party in the UK and the reelection of David Cameron as a lesson for
Democrats. Cameron campaigned on a
platform of protecting billionaires’ largess and exacting crippling austerity for
working people while slashing pensions, childcare and education.
We in America are told, that the people in the UK have
spoken loud and clear, they want more pain and less gain. The people in the UK love unfettered
capitalism, corporations raping and polluting their natural resources and depleting
their treasury.
But what has been omitted from the conversation is the
overwhelming rejection of those same bankrupt ideologies in the right-wing,
most polluted Province in Canada, Alberta.
I guess the seismic shift that took place in Alberta, is hardly worth a
mention in the press.
In the UK and US there is no free press to question dubious
elections that are conducted on behalf of central banks and unregulated Wall
Street capitalists. For instance, this
is the headline in America from Politico,
a “news” organization founded by Wall Street after the collapse of actual news
organizations following the coup.
Excerpt:
Wall Street warns Hillary Don’t be like Ed Miliband
In British election, bashing
bonuses and hedge funds didn’t work for Labour leader.
Senior financial executives say the
Labour leader’s anti-bank, soak the rich rhetoric helped sink his party in the
United Kingdom elections and assure a surprisingly
big reelection win for Prime Minister David Cameron and his
Conservative Party last week…
“Cameron embraced the role of the
financial sector in growing the U.K. economy and creating jobs, never
once criticizing hedge funds, banks or the wealthy,” said a top
executive at one of Wall Street’s largest firms. “Miliband ran against hedge funds and
bankers, promising bonus and mansion taxes and lost big. Is that a lesson for
Hillary as well?”
Just like in the reelection of George W. Bush in 2004, although
all the polls showed a resounding defeat for Bush, he like Cameron managed to
rack up a “huge” win. My, my I wonder
how that happened.
Bush’s Rasputin, Karl Rove used the mail system to
disenfranchise voters, especially military voters fighting abroad, ensuring a
Bush victory and it looks like Cameron
is using the Rove Playbook.
According to the Daily Mail, the fix was in before the
election:
Excerpt:
Postal voting is ‘wide open to fraud’
and should be scrapped in its current form, a top judge warned last night. Judge Richard Mawrey, who sits in judgment on
election fraud cases, said ballot-rigging was now a ‘probability’ in some parts
of Britain due to the extension of postal voting.
Mr. Mawrey, a deputy high court
judge, said the introduction of ‘on demand’ postal voting had failed to boost
turnout. But he warned it had made Britain’s
electoral system vulnerable to fraud on ‘an industrial scale’….
Mr. Mawrey presided over a notorious
2004 ballot-rigging case in Birmingham
which uncovered evidence of abuse he said would ‘disgrace a banana republic’.
Oh yes, a “made in America sham election” has taken place in
the U.K. But Cameron had to call in the
big guns of voting fraud, American Republicans and staffers from the Obama
campaign. From CNN:
Excerpt:
(CNN)A group of Republicans visited
the UK during its recent election campaign to work for the Conservative Party….
The victory of the Conservative
Party in this week's British elections came as a surprise to all of us. I was at a right-wing dinner in London just
before the results came out and we found ourselves slipping into talk of what to do after the Conservatives
had lost….
So when the results came in and showed
Prime Minister David Cameron winning handsomely, we suddenly had to think
about what went right rather than what went wrong.
Oooh, oooh, I know, it was the mail fraud election that was
responsible for Cameron winning handsomely.
That and Obama’s henchmen sabotaging the campaign of labour.
Labour's hapless campaign was run
by David Axelrod, the genius who helped bring the world President Barack Obama
(Jim Messina, another Obama man, helped out the Conservatives).
Yes, the biggest of crooks in American elections ensured
that working people would get the shaft in the UK election, pensions would be
slashed and the UK’s natural resources opened up to exploitation.
So now, let’s look at the election that took place in
Alberta, Canada during the same timeframe, without the help of election crooks
from America. According to the Guardian,
the election of the New Democratic Party was a “seismic shift.”
Excerpt:
Canada's political landscape undergoes seismic shift with election in
Alberta
Canada’s rockbound political
landscape has undergone a seismic shift with
the election of a leftwing government in oil-rich Alberta, the country’s
wealthiest and – until now – most
conservative province.
The once-marginal New Democratic
Party swept to victory in the western province on Tuesday night, humiliating the Progressive Conservative
party that has ruled the province since the first term of US president
Richard Nixon.
The result marks the latest and
most surprising setback to Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s signature diplomatic effort to transport bitumen from
Alberta’s tar sands to world markets through the controversial Keystone XL pipeline.
Huh, where’s Politico’s admonitions to Republicans and
Democrats to abandon the Keystone XL Pipeline or suffer the same defeat as
Harper in Canada? Seems like the New
Democratic Party in Canada rejected the polluting, filthy dirty platform shoved
down America’s throat by the corrupt parties that control America’s elections.
Notley led her party from a four-seat toehold in the
provincial legislature to a commanding
majority of 54….
The election of the NDP is
“completely devastating”, declared financier Rafi Tahmazian of Canoe Financial
LP in Calgary, Canada’s oil capital….
Among other effects, Alberta’s unexpected revolution casts a
shadow over the federal government’s imminent proclamation of sweeping new
anti-terrorism legislation, which has provoked opposition from all corners
of the political landscape.
How sweet it is. But
it doesn’t stop with the election, let’s take a look at how Cameron interprets
his “sweeping election mandate” compared to Notely’s overwhelmingly seismic
election mandate. Cameron has kicked off
his victory with payback for his “constituents” fox hunters and billionaire
bankers. But what do ordinary people
get? Slashed pensions and pay cuts.
So, let’s take a look at who Cameron is lining his cabinet
with, according to the Guardian it’s the first Tory-only government in 18 years
and they are going after the press, just like Obama has in America.
Excerpt:
The BBC was given warning that it faced a tough fight in the
negotiations over the renewal of the licence fee and its royal charter when the
Thatcherite veteran MP John Whittingdale was appointed culture secretary.
Whittingdale, a former political secretary to Margaret Thatcher, and chairman of
the Commons culture select committee
since 2005, has described the
£145.50 licence fee as “worse than poll tax” and unsustainable in the long
term. He replaces Sajid Javid, who takes over as business secretary, one of
five cabinet posts held by the Liberal Democrats in the coalition….
So, this Whittingdale guy has been chairman of the Commons
“culture” select committee since 2005.
That’s interesting since the 2004 UK ballot-rigging in the election was
called by deputy high court judge, Mr. Mawrey “fraud on an industrial scale
that would disgrace a banana republic.”
The prime minister also said the Tories needed to show they were the party
of compassion by pressing ahead with reforms to welfare and education….
Well that’s good, Cameron wants the Tories to show they are
a party of “compassion”, like George W. Bush’s Republican party of
“compassionate conservatives” that destroyed America. So who else is in the cabinet of
compassionate Tories?
George Osborne, who has been given
the additional title of first secretary of state, said after the meeting:
“There was a very serious message. There
is an opportunity for the Conservative party now to deliver the manifesto upon we
stood…
Amber Rudd, the modernising and pro-European minister for climate
change, is promoted in her department to the post of secretary of state with a
seat in cabinet.
Priti Patel, the Treasury minister, is promoted to replace Esther McVey as minister for employment at the
Department for Work and Pensions….
My, my my. Well we in
America know what compassionate conservatives look like so let’s take a look at
these British “compassionate conservatives” starting with Amber Rudd. What’s old Amber got up her compassionate
sleeve for the people of the UK?
According to DeSmogBlog:
Excerpt:
Fracking Industry Celebrates Amber Rudd Promotion to Energy Secretary
Fracking wells will be popping like champagne corks across Britain during
the next five years following the
promotion of shale gas supporter Amber Rudd to secretary of state for the
Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC)….
The shale gas industry has been eagerly awaiting the post-election
fracking go-ahead…
With a majority government, the
Conservative party has enthusiastically embraced the prospects for shale gas to
provide a domestic source of energy. Following
last week’s election outcome, shares in Centrica – which has stakes in
North Sea oil as well as UK shale gas exploration – jumped 9 percent.
Look at the bright side Britain, you can heat your home by
lighting a match to the drinking water coming out of your faucet, how
compassionate is that? And since Cameron
has been in office since 2004 what is the shape of the pension system in the UK
as part of the European Union? According
to the Economic Times of India:
Excerpt:
LONDON: The European Union's pensions and insurance watchdog aims to
complete stress tests on pension funds by the end of 2015, its chairman said,
in one of the world's first examinations of how the funds can cope with market
dislocations….
The tests on the EU's 3 trillion euro ($3.4 trillion) pension fund sector follow the first stress tests on insurers…
In the low interest rate environment of the past few years, pension funds have found it difficult
to earn sufficient returns on bond
investments to pay their pensioners, encouraging
a move into riskier assets such as equities or real estate.
The situation has got worse this year,
with some bonds posting negative yields,
as the European Central Bank started a 1 trillion euro bond buying programme.
Hmmm, it sounds like the Wall Street Banks and Central Bank
of Europe have unloaded their worthless mortgage backed derivatives into the $3
trillion dollar EU pensions, like a sack of worthless magic beans.
So how does Cameron’s astounding reelection affect the $3
trillion dollar EU pensions? According
to the Guardian, the voters of the UK voted to forfeit their pensions for bank
profits. How nice of them.
Excerpt:
Bank of England holds interest rates at record low
First announcement from the Bank under the new Conservative government
leaves interest rates at 0.5%....
The bank rate has been at a record
low of 0.5% since March 2009. For the previous coalition government that meant
it was the first administration in more than half a century to enjoy unchanged
borrowing costs for its entire term.
Well no relief for working people there, but maybe Patel can
take a page out of the “compassionate” playbook of the Obama Administration
that helped vault Cameron over the finish line.
Maybe try some pension smoothing to make up for the losses.
In America Barack Obama and his Republican supporters have
used “pension smoothing” to line the pockets of Wall Street. From the Wall Street Journal:
Except:
A government accounting maneuver to
pay for road repairs, subways and buses will allow many U.S. businesses to
delay billions of dollars in pension contributions for retirees.
President Barack Obama on Friday signed a $10.8 billion transportation
bill that extends a "pension-smoothing" provision for another 10
months. In short: companies can delay making mandatory pension contributions,
but because those payments are tax-deductible some businesses will pay slightly
higher tax bills, which will help pay for the legislation.
Companies with 100 of the country's largest pensions were expected to
contribute $44 billion to their plans this year, but that could be slashed by
30% next year, estimated John Ehrhardt, an actuary at consulting firm
Milliman.
International Paper Co., for example, had planned to set aside $1 billion by 2016 to fund its $12.5 billion
U.S. defined benefit plan.
The paper company says it now expects to funnel that money into other projects,
including share buybacks or
investments in new plants.
"It means more cash for us," says Chief Financial Officer
Carol Roberts.
See, you don’t have to raise taxes on the rich billionaires
to pay for roads and construction, you just steal it from the pension system
through accounting gimmicks. And don’t
stop there, there’s some compassionate union busting according to the Mirror:
Excerpt:
Strike on David Cameron's doorstep as No10 gardeners announce first
walkout in 37 years
What?? Why are the British striking? They overwhelmingly voted for more pain and
no gain didn’t they?
Staff will walk out for 12 hours for the first time since 1978 over
a pay wrangle - and they claim some
aren't earning the London living wage…
The famous garden's maintenance contract was handed over to a private
firm a year ago, and groundsmen are
now angry at the company's pay plans….
And it comes shortly before the government pushes through a new crackdown
on unions by making it harder to take industrial action….
All the staff are GMB union members
employed by the Royal Parks, who maintain Hyde Park, St James's Park and Green
Park in central London.
Regional organiser Gary Carter told
Mirror Online: "I hope the Prime Minister now he's supporting 'working
people' will support the strike. But that may be too much to ask."
Ha, ha ha. They think
the Prime Minister will support working people on strike, that’s a good
one. Remember, Obama said he put on a
pair of comfortable shoes and stand with working people on strike, then when
Scott Walker busted the unions in Wisconsin Obama was nowhere to be found.
The union says OCS is paying two week’s pay as a 'loan' which will be 'recovered' over
12 months.
A spokesman said: "This will put staff into debt and
wipe out any pay award. The two weeks' pay will only be paid when staff
leave."
The GMB claims OCS won its contract
a year ago by offering to run the parks for less money than competitors and is
now trying to 'claw it back'.
Mr. Carter said: "The taxpayer
will foot the bill if they try and get money out of the Royal Parks. It'll be
the same if our members are claiming extra tax credits…
"New starters are getting £35
less a week than current staff. Some people are being paid less than the London
living wage. They're earning about £7 an hour."
Meanwhile in Alberta, Canada things are looking up for the
people after their election that was untainted by the stench of Obama and
Republicans. According to DeSmogBlog, it
is all woe is me, in the oil industry.
Excerpt:
While Jim Prentice and his
Progressive Conservative cadre lick their wounds after last night’s landslide victory by the New Democratic
Party and leader Rachel Notley, punditry about the oil industry’s place in
the transformed province is in full force.
Even before the results were in,
Canadians were being warned new leadership in Canada’s oilpatch will mean very
scary things for the economy: fleeing investors, abandoned projects, market
uncertainty….
Yet many other onlookers are saying
fresh leadership in Alberta could bring
long-overdue policy changes that not
only benefit a broader cross-section of society, but industry itself, by
remedying systemic imbalances that have
granted an unhealthy amount of power to oil interests for far too long….
Notley, who has promised to review
the royalty regime around oil and gas production, raise corporate taxes, ban
corporate political donations and stop pushing for the Keystone XL and Northern
Gateway pipelines, is poking an exposed nerve for companies already feeling on
the outs after the oil economy’s dramatic downturn.
Yes and not only that, looks like the Bank of Canada may be
nationalized and debt free.
There is a very interesting legal
case that is playing out in Canada at the moment. William Krehm, Anne Emmett,
and COMER (The Committee for Monetary and Economic Reform:
http://www.comer.org/) filed a lawsuit
on December 12th, 2011, in Federal Court to try to force a restoration of the
Bank of Canada to its mandated purposes.
In essence, they want the Bank of
Canada to provide interest-free loans to the federal, provincial, and municipal
governments, as provided for in the Bank of Canada Act.
This money would be used to finance
public expenditures whenever there is a budgetary deficit.
“Two Canadians and a Canadian
economic think tank confront the global financial powers in the Canadian
federal court. The Canadians plead for declarations that would restore the use
of the Bank of Canada for the benefit of Canadians and remove it from the
control of international private entities whose interests and directives are
placed above the interest of Canadians and the primacy of the constitution of Canada…”
Well yes Virginia, there is a Santa Claus. So while the UK slides down the poop chute to
the status of “Banana Republic” run by compassionate conservatives, Canada is
becoming a modern day Democracy.
Bravo, good for the Canadians, one giant step for mankind.
By Patricia Baeten
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