The east coast rail franchise is just the latest acquisition by the government since the financial crisis, which has also seen the state nationalise a number of the UK's largest banks.The French seem to put it best: "deja vu" or "plus ca change..." All changed yet little has changed at all. Passengers arriving at King's Cross station for Saturday's inaugural East Coast service from London to York were bemused at the sight of TV cameramen chasing Transport Secretary Lord Adonis along the platform. They almost certainly missed the new company logo adorning the train they were about to board. Peeled off was the National Express sticker and in its place was the imaginatively titled East Coast logo, which took over the running of the east coast rail line from midnight. For the rest though, it's much the same. Same timetable, same prices, routes, same staff and same food.
The east coast rail franchise is just the latest acquisition by the government since the financial crisis, which has also seen the state nationalise a number of the UK's largest banks.
The French seem to put it best: "deja vu" or "plus ca change..."
All changed yet little has changed at all.
Passengers arriving at King's Cross station for Saturday's inaugural East Coast service from London to York were bemused at the sight of TV cameramen chasing Transport Secretary Lord Adonis along the platform.
They almost certainly missed the new company logo adorning the train they were about to board.
Peeled off was the National Express sticker and in its place was the imaginatively titled East Coast logo, which took over the running of the east coast rail line from midnight.
For the rest though, it's much the same. Same timetable, same prices, routes, same staff and same food.
Can't you feel yout thrusting free market entrepreneurial spirit wilting as drab socialist colours replace innovative world class graphic design?
Also:
BBC NEWS | UK | East Coast becomes nationalised express
The government has to tread a difficult line in how this re-nationalised east coast line is to be run. If it's too good, there will be strong calls for the rest of the rail network to be operated by the state.
The government has to tread a difficult line in how this re-nationalised east coast line is to be run.
If it's too good, there will be strong calls for the rest of the rail network to be operated by the state.
So if the service improves it might show up the serious people - which must not be allowed to happen, by definition.
LONDON (Reuters) - The Cayman Islands hope more hedge fund managers and their families will move to the off-shore centre as it seeks to boost tax revenues, the Caribbean territory's prime minister told Reuters. The British overseas territory -- legal home to most of the world's hedge funds, but with less than 50 managers actually based there -- wants to attract more financial firms as it struggles with a budget deficit. "It's what I encourage, it's a new drive. You bring your children," premier McKeeva Bush said in an interview on Monday. Politicians have demanded tighter regulation of financial havens across the globe, and the Cayman islands in August joined the global "white list" of countries using internationally recognised tax standards, as defined by the OECD. Nearly 10,000 funds are based in the Cayman Islands, a group of three islands to the south of Cuba, attracted by its light-touch regulatory framework, and financial services account for up to 70 percent of its economy.
LONDON (Reuters) - The Cayman Islands hope more hedge fund managers and their families will move to the off-shore centre as it seeks to boost tax revenues, the Caribbean territory's prime minister told Reuters.
The British overseas territory -- legal home to most of the world's hedge funds, but with less than 50 managers actually based there -- wants to attract more financial firms as it struggles with a budget deficit.
"It's what I encourage, it's a new drive. You bring your children," premier McKeeva Bush said in an interview on Monday.
Politicians have demanded tighter regulation of financial havens across the globe, and the Cayman islands in August joined the global "white list" of countries using internationally recognised tax standards, as defined by the OECD.
Nearly 10,000 funds are based in the Cayman Islands, a group of three islands to the south of Cuba, attracted by its light-touch regulatory framework, and financial services account for up to 70 percent of its economy.
NEW YORK, Nov 14 (IPS) - To end poverty, you have to know how it began - with globalisation. No, not the 20th century variety engendered by multinationals and their friends at the IMF, World Bank and WTO. They just codified practices that kept developing countries poor.French Filmmaker Philippe Diaz, in an illuminating documentary opening in New York Friday, traces globalisation back 500 years to the Spanish and Portuguese conquests of the Americas. Diaz shows how the colonial North used the South's resources to build its industrial base and how its continued control over resources, global trade and debt rules prevents developing countries from ending poverty. Diaz had produced French feature films such as "Bad Blood" and "The Man Inside" before turning to documentaries. He made "The Empire in Africa" about Sierra Leone. The drama of the new film, "The End of Poverty?", is as startling as anything he could invent. The title is a play on a book by economist Jeffrey Sachs - without the question mark - who, Diaz told IPS, "runs all around the world with Bono and these guys claiming that if we bring mosquito nets and fertilisers, it will end poverty." For example, Diaz is incredulous that Sachs's book ascribes Bolivia's economic failure to high altitude. He points out that 30 years ago, Sachs advised the Bolivian government to privatise everything, and today the country is essentially owned by foreign corporations. Abel Mamani, Bolivia's water minister, says in the film, "In the case of railroads, they have practically disappeared since they were privatised. In the east we don't have trains anymore. They have been entirely dismantled."
For example, Diaz is incredulous that Sachs's book ascribes Bolivia's economic failure to high altitude. He points out that 30 years ago, Sachs advised the Bolivian government to privatise everything, and today the country is essentially owned by foreign corporations.
Abel Mamani, Bolivia's water minister, says in the film, "In the case of railroads, they have practically disappeared since they were privatised. In the east we don't have trains anymore. They have been entirely dismantled."
EU competition authorities say extra aid to German bank necessitates larger investigation. The European Commission said today that it has extended the scope of its investigation into state aid given to the German bank Hypo Real Estate in order to take account of extra support Hypo has received since the Commission began its investigation. A spokesman for Neelie Kroes, the European commissioner for competition, said the investigation also needed to be extended because the German authorities had amended a restructuring plan for the bank.
The European Commission said today that it has extended the scope of its investigation into state aid given to the German bank Hypo Real Estate in order to take account of extra support Hypo has received since the Commission began its investigation.
A spokesman for Neelie Kroes, the European commissioner for competition, said the investigation also needed to be extended because the German authorities had amended a restructuring plan for the bank.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Leading U.S. bank regulator Sheila Bair said on Friday that the government's capital injections into the largest banks was "probably not a good thing." Bair, the chairman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp, said the billions of dollars of capital infusions last year had a terrible impact on public perception of the financial industry and government regulators. "I think at the time it sounded like the right thing to do and, again, it was part of an international effort, but I just see all the problems it's created," Bair said during an interview with PBS NewsHour. "I think we would have tried to dissuade Treasury from making these capital investments." .... "It's had a terrible, terrible impact on public attitudes toward the financial system, toward the regulatory community," Bair said. "It's created all sorts of issues about government ownership of these institutions, what happens if they get in trouble again." .... Bair said during the interview that no one should be held accountable for the government's decision to inject capital into the largest banks, but noted that complications are still lingering. She said the government, as partial owners of some banks, are put in the difficult position of determining how to manage compensation and executive changes at these firms.
"I think at the time it sounded like the right thing to do and, again, it was part of an international effort, but I just see all the problems it's created," Bair said during an interview with PBS NewsHour. "I think we would have tried to dissuade Treasury from making these capital investments."
....
"It's had a terrible, terrible impact on public attitudes toward the financial system, toward the regulatory community," Bair said. "It's created all sorts of issues about government ownership of these institutions, what happens if they get in trouble again."
Bair said during the interview that no one should be held accountable for the government's decision to inject capital into the largest banks, but noted that complications are still lingering. She said the government, as partial owners of some banks, are put in the difficult position of determining how to manage compensation and executive changes at these firms.
Let's say there are 100,000 barrels of oil in the world and 10 are sold each day and they are shipped from various places in various amounts but generally there are, at any given time, 30 days of oil at sea (300 barrels). If I am taking straight delivery, I would contract with the producers to deliver me 1 barrel of oil per day for a year or 5 years or whatever for $50 a barrel. My interest is to have a steady supply and the producers interest is to have a steady demand. He wants to charge as much as possible, I want to pay as little as possible. Enter the speculators. Rather than me (the actual user) haggling with the producer directly (as is done in most business transactions), the speculator steps in and offers to buy as much oil as the guy can produce for $40. I can't do that because I only need one barrel a day but if the guy can make 1.3 or 1.6 barrels a day or he can add a new pump and make 2 barrels a day, knowing he has a buyer at $40, he will be thrilled (assuming the profits work selling 2Bpd at $80 vs 1Bpd at $50). .... But then the speculators get greedy. They know I NEED 1 barrel per day and perhaps there was some seasonality to pricing or natural fluctuation but all the speculator has to do is wait for the price to rise and then hold it there. If supply is uneven, they can divert some to storage. They are still buying it, creating demand but they are not delivering it so there is suddenly a "shortage" where none existed before. As they accumulate more barrels in storage (say 100) they realize that getting the price up to $60 makes them not only $10 a day more per barrel they sell me, but it increases their "wealth" by 20% as the 100 barrels they have in storage are now valued at $60 - even though they are actually unwanted barrels that have been manipulated out of circulation. .... On top of all that, you can manipulate the contracts on the "free" market. All you have to do is get a friend (me) to agree to jack up the price with you. You and I have 100 barrels of oil in storage and another 30 barrels in ships on the way and contracts for more years at $40 a barrel (say 750 barrels). We have a few stories printed in the news about peak oil and demand and whatever nonsense and then I offer a barrel (1 of 10 sold that day) for $61 on the open market and you buy it. Then you offer a barrel (10% of a normal day's trading) at $62 and I buy it. Then I offer the barrel for $63 and you buy it and then you offer the barrel for $64 and I buy it. What has happened? You and I have spiked the volume of trading by 40% for the day and ramped the price up 6.5% by trading the same barrel back and forth 4 times.
Enter the speculators. Rather than me (the actual user) haggling with the producer directly (as is done in most business transactions), the speculator steps in and offers to buy as much oil as the guy can produce for $40. I can't do that because I only need one barrel a day but if the guy can make 1.3 or 1.6 barrels a day or he can add a new pump and make 2 barrels a day, knowing he has a buyer at $40, he will be thrilled (assuming the profits work selling 2Bpd at $80 vs 1Bpd at $50).
But then the speculators get greedy. They know I NEED 1 barrel per day and perhaps there was some seasonality to pricing or natural fluctuation but all the speculator has to do is wait for the price to rise and then hold it there. If supply is uneven, they can divert some to storage. They are still buying it, creating demand but they are not delivering it so there is suddenly a "shortage" where none existed before. As they accumulate more barrels in storage (say 100) they realize that getting the price up to $60 makes them not only $10 a day more per barrel they sell me, but it increases their "wealth" by 20% as the 100 barrels they have in storage are now valued at $60 - even though they are actually unwanted barrels that have been manipulated out of circulation.
On top of all that, you can manipulate the contracts on the "free" market. All you have to do is get a friend (me) to agree to jack up the price with you. You and I have 100 barrels of oil in storage and another 30 barrels in ships on the way and contracts for more years at $40 a barrel (say 750 barrels). We have a few stories printed in the news about peak oil and demand and whatever nonsense and then I offer a barrel (1 of 10 sold that day) for $61 on the open market and you buy it. Then you offer a barrel (10% of a normal day's trading) at $62 and I buy it. Then I offer the barrel for $63 and you buy it and then you offer the barrel for $64 and I buy it. What has happened? You and I have spiked the volume of trading by 40% for the day and ramped the price up 6.5% by trading the same barrel back and forth 4 times.
The Dubai air show has opened with hopes that military sales will to continue to prop up a slowing civilian industry. The four-day, bi-annual exhibition began on Sunday in the United Arab Emirates with advance orders and exhibitor numbers up on previous years, according to organisers. With aviation being one of the industry's worst hit by the global recession, unrest in the Middle Eastern is said to have kept military orders up and the sector partially afloat.
The Dubai air show has opened with hopes that military sales will to continue to prop up a slowing civilian industry.
The four-day, bi-annual exhibition began on Sunday in the United Arab Emirates with advance orders and exhibitor numbers up on previous years, according to organisers.
With aviation being one of the industry's worst hit by the global recession, unrest in the Middle Eastern is said to have kept military orders up and the sector partially afloat.
