The Occupy Wall Street Protests One Year On

Billed as the stance of the 99% against the richest 1% out to financially ruin everyone’s lives, does the Occupy Wall Street Movement and similar ones like it elsewhere across the world established a lasting legacy?

By: Ringo Bones

A year or so ago, a line was drawn in the sand where 99% of the world’s poverty stricken working class finally had enough with their lives being financially manipulated by the richest 1% with impunity. The moral hazard of this “business arrangement” is bound to explode thus began the Occupy Movement – which the most famous of which is the Occupy Wall Street out to make the richest 1% of the world’s financial center to be more accountable to the welfare of the poverty stricken 99% that was enslaved by their scheming and dealing; But is there a lasting legacy being established of the global Occupy Movement as it celebrates its first anniversary?

Well, it took the Anti Nuclear Movement 30 years to finally get unsafe nuclear power plants to be shut down so each and every member of the occupy movement has a lot to be hopeful about. Although sometimes I wonder if any of them had something to do with the recent outing of HSBC and Standard Chartered as prime money laundering go to banks for rogue states like Iran or criminal organizations like the various Mexican Drug Cartels. Nonetheless, everyone at the Occupy Movement still sticks by their core mission of ending the global financial status quo that is increasing the disparity between the financially enslaved 99% and the richest 1% who seem to operate their businesses outside of the rule of law. The more the financial world goes on operating the way it has done before, the more reason will Occupy Wall Street and similar movements have to go out and protest.

QE-3: A 21st Century “New Deal”?

Recently given the green light by FED Chairman Ben Bernanke, will QE-3 – or Quantitative Easing part 3 finally trigger a healthy American economic recovery?

By: Ringo Bones

With a slated budget of 40 billion US dollars a month, the latest QE-3 or Quantitative Easing part 3 recently given the green light by US Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke is now seen as the 21^st Century equivalent of the Great Depression era New Deal that could finally trigger a healthy American economic recovery and create much needed jobs. Unfortunately, the US Republican Party, who are still obsessed with their obstructionist policies who collectively voted to kill-off President Obama’s latest job stimulus bill, sees such “unconventional” or Keynesian style economic bailout as nothing more than a mere “ploy” to get President Obama reelected. But is there really a “dark side” to large-scale “money from nothing” quantitative easing?

Even though the previous two quantitative easing programs are not as ambitious as the new one, one of the Obama administration’s success stories is now the renewed economic health of the insurance firm AIG – which a few years ago was seen as an “economic black hole” insatiably devouring stimulus money. Proof that Keynesian Economics still works – as opposed to fiscal austerity? The 40 billion US dollar a month QE-3 is primarily aimed at purchasing “bad mortgages” that triggered America’s economic crisis in the first place during the tenure of George W. Bush. Unfortunately, prolonged quantitative easing for the purpose of economic stimulus could further trigger inflationary pressures and could further devalue the US dollar and it is still uncertain whether the latest round of this “money from nothing” quantitative easing could finally lower the unemployment rate in the United States from the 8% mark.   

Will Mainland China’s Economic Hard Landing Trigger A Deeper Global Recession?

As the Chinese Premier reassured us in his keynote speech in the World Economic Forum in Tianjin that Mainland China can still maintain a stable economic growth for years to come, but will an economic hard landing deepen the current global recession?

By: Ringo Bones

As the Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao reassures every globalization savvy entrepreneur that his country – currently the second largest economy in the world – can still maintain stable economic growth for years to come in a keynote speech at the World Economic Forum in Tianjin, many top tenured economists are somewhat worried that a Mainland Chinese “economic hard landing”, that is a sudden downturn in domestic demand and production, could trigger a deeper global economic recession. But are fears of the global consequences of a Mainland Chinese economic hard landing exacerbating the Eurozone crisis and the still fragile American economic recovery truly justified?

Well, the numbers don’t lie. Back in September 10, 2012, Mainland Chinese economic data shows weaker than expected trade where the Mainland’s imports dropped 2.6% - fuelling the fears that the projected 7.5% economic growth for 2012 might not be met. Despite of the pessimistic economic data, the Chinese Premier in his keynote speech at the Tianjin World Economic Forum calls for fresh economic stimulus via tax cuts and boosting domestic consumption to hit the projected 7.5% economic growth for 2012. The said measures could also prevent a dreaded economic hard landing for the Mainland Chinese economy, although neither the Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao nor the top economists around the world assume that such measures could return Mainland China’s double-digit annual economic growth back before the global credit crunch. In the very least, this rather “stopgap” measure only maintains the preexisting foreign investor confidence levels for Mainland China.