Comments on: A moment of silence, please

By: John Schembri

John Schembri — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 15:59:02 +0000

Mario , are you sure you have a place to go” down into the depths of mother earth”. By the time people our age start to die there wouldn’t be a place for us for a burial into a grave.So it will be burial at sea or incineration ;-)

By: Mario Debono

Mario Debono — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 01:36:24 +0000

John, yes the song is really good. I have left strict instructions for it to be played as my coffin is going down into the depths of Mother Earth. Hope the wife / offspring oblige me.

By: Kev

Kev — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 19:59:55 +0000

For anyone interested in a clean description of what’s going on, here’s Joseph Stiglitz saying it as it is (former chief economist, World Bank):

http://www.prisonplanet.com/nobel-prize-winning-economist-crisis-as-bad-as-great-depression-or-worse.html

(The interview is also on youtube/audio below the article – it starts at 02:03)

By: Kev

Kev — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 17:40:00 +0000

Good commentary on Glenn Beck (CNN, 15/09): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UMstcGRezhw

This was before the $85-billion Federal bail out of AIG. So far, the pattern is thus: the Fed is bailing out the mortgage industry (Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae) and the insurance industry (AIG). Lehman Brothers is a commercial bank – it was left to die. But Meryll Lynch, another commercial bank, was purchased by Bank of America, itself a faltering giant – perhaps hoping to be bailed out by their cronies in the Fed when its time comes. Some months ago, attempts to bail out Bear Stearns, an investment company, failed miserably and it was eventually bought by JP Morgan Chase.

Meanwhile the taxpaying citizens, already footing the bill for pre-emptive wars and over 750 military bases across the world, also pick up the bailout tab. And if the Fed runs out of money, as was the case time and time again, hey presto, it’s FIAT money, ‘printable’ by the tons (it’s digital money in fact). In this case the taxpayer suffers the ‘inflation tax’.

All is fine in the land of the free.

By: Corinne Vella

Corinne Vella — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 17:04:27 +0000

Kevin Ellul Bonici: “loaned money that does not exist?” What sort of money – loaned or otherwise – *does* exist?

By: Gerald

Gerald — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 07:12:39 +0000

Of course there is a time lapse – but government is already preparing everyone that at best, the surcharge will remain as it is.

By: John Schembri

John Schembri — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 21:41:00 +0000

@ Mario Debono : I like pink Floyd’s ” On the turning away” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2v240bYbbrM&feature=related
Their music and lyrics are great.

@ All : How can we ask that US pastor for some REAL rain here in Malta , all the wells are dry , I need to start planting some tomatoes . The land is bone dry , it hasn’t rained since March. Robins are already here and the countryside (what’s left of it) looks like the Sahara desert. Weather forecasts are predicting a storm for next Friday , I hope it will be a perfect storm with enough water (40mm please).
Economists are worried about AIG and Lehmann Brothers and country folk about the much needed rain.

By: P Shaw

P Shaw — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 21:11:54 +0000

@gerald , you must be obsessed with this government. You must hold a grudge. Poor gerald, were you passed over for an interview?

ANyway, the hedge worked for a very long time when oil prices were close to $140 a barrell. now they have gone down, and hopefully will go down further, BUT you need to know there is a time lapse and various factors in the formulae between actual price of oil and the current price per barrel. OPEC is already talking of cutting production.

In the US retail price is still above $3.50 a gallon, in Italy still above EUR 1.52 in the north.

I hope that the oil prices keep decreasing for our common good,especially to cut off the wind for countries like russia which use oil revenue to threaten their neighbours. So gerald do not fret. the market has not adjusted yet (god forbid you and JM were running this country)

By: Amy C

Amy C — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 19:55:33 +0000

and now AIG is going down…..

http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/banking_and_finance/article4767140.ece

By: John Schembri

John Schembri — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 18:27:42 +0000

“Mixtri” means that someone received money. “Laham mibjugh” is sort of there is a blind loyalty ,for which one cannot do much about it.The meat is already destined for the customer , there is no way one can buy it.
We also refer “laham mibjugh” to someone who does not have full control on his life due to his job conditions like for example a soldier or a policeman. Hope that I am more clear now . {;-)

(Daphne – Yes, it’s more clear now. I’m trying to think of the equivalent English expression, if there is one, but can’t yet.)