More News, Rumors and Opinions Late Wednesday Morning 6-1-16

KTFA:

Aggiedad77:  So goes the give and take of international politics.....sure we can scratch your back today....but it comes with a price.....a price you must be willing to abide by....

Abadi....and the GOI....cut some salaries.....tax a few things.....like income, ration card usage.....you know....it's the stuff you've been wanting and trying to do...but failed.....

We are here to help says the IMF.....our money with OUR strings at your service. 
Aloha   Randy

Walkingstick:  The government cut the salaries of staff allocations and charge fees for "ration"

06/01/2016

BAGHDAD / tomorrow Press: MP for the National Reform bloc, Zaher al - Abadi, said onWednesday that the Iraqi government will resort to reduce the salaries of staff allocations and make some drawings on the ration card in order to pay off IMF loan.
....

Ebadi said in a statement for "tomorrow 's Press," that " the IMF has the criteria followed in the loans granted by the states according to the calibrator, the fund obliges states toabide by, including the imposition of certain fees on income and expenses, including a ration card or fuels and some provisions which grant to the employee. "

He pointed out that" most of the general budget are operational and more attributed to the salaries of thestaff, it should be the reduction in those aspects to repay borrowed government. " He added that" the imposition of taxes and fees on salaries ration card from the jurisdiction of the government and does not require a parliamentary vote . " , pointing out that " thegovernment is an urgent need to finance the continuation of the war with the amounts Daash and provide salaries and operation of the private sector."

http://ift.tt/1UexgMW
 
************

Walkingstick:  Russia and China will save the world from the slavery of the dollar - expert

Yesterday at 09:36
 
Against the background of the meeting of the "Big Seven", which is excluded from its ranks Russia, he became involved mainly policy and economic war with China in the vast Pacific Ocean. Against the background of the Western powers in consolidating Sanctions confrontation with Russia and conspiracy theories about US collusion with the oil of Saudi Arabia, Russia beat the Saudis in the struggle for the Chinese oil market . In April, China increased its oil imports from Russia by 52%, while imports from Saudi Arabia fell by 22%.
 
Record high volumes of imports from Russia, most likely due to the calculations in yuan, which has agreed to Russia.
This, perhaps, is the main achievement of the Russian-Chinese Economic Partnership. We outline the tectonic shifts in the global economy, which will allow countries to refuse green, unsecured bills.
 
For comments on the situation to Pravda.Ru asked the director of the Institute for Advanced Studies named Schiffers, professor of the British School of Social and Economic Research Yuri Gromyko.
 
"The process of de-dollarization is by leaps and bounds, and is, a key position at the Central Bank of China. Because China has long started to move to swap 1 , a mutual currency exchange rates," Gromyko said.
 
However, Russia is still much to be done to work with China to achieve tangible results.
 
"This win is made at the expense of hydrocarbon supplies. What Russia needs to develop the aviation industry, space and even, in the end, the same" neftanku ", there is no doubt. The main thing is underestimated in Russia, this project science, and China waiting for an opportunity to enter into contact and work with Russia on the creation of fundamentally new technologies.
 
Creating innovative collaboration industry - key to move beyond the dollar system ", - said the source of PRAVDA.Ru.
 
He also noted that Russia already has experience of the transition to settlements in national currencies and swaps with Vietnam (cvop - trade and financial exchange operation in the form of exchange of a variety of assets in which the deal to buy (sell) securities, currencies, accompanied by the opinion kontrsdelki , transaction reverse repurchase (purchase) of the same product after a certain period on the same or other circumstances).
 
"Through the organization" Shanghai Cooperation "we begin to actively offer swaps a number of countries in principle, ready for these negotiations and India cooperation will be possible to try to drag and Malaysia..", - The expert said.
 
Yuri Gromyko also highlighted the fruitful results of the ASEAN forum in Sochi . According to him, the Association of South-East Asia could become a platform for equal cooperation between Russia and China, as opposed to the Trans-Pacific Partnership .
 
Recall that Pacific Partnership is moving US economic containment of China in the Pacific region.
 
According to the expert of PRAVDA.Ru, here in Russia is great potential for economic cooperation.

http://ift.tt/1soZDl4

************

Walkingstick:  Currency Manipulation By The United States Is Alive And Well

Jun. 1, 2016  By Tommy Behnke

Last month, central bankers and finance leaders from the Group of 7 (G-7) advanced economies met in Sendai to discuss the global economy at large. As expected, the United States cautioned Japan, a US currency watchlist country, to refrain from taking further steps to manipulate its currency. This warning came as a result of finance minister Taro Aso hinting that his country was "prepared to undertake intervention" in the foreign exchange market in order to weaken the yen.

The hypocrisy of US Treasury Secretary Lew's injunction is laughable. He might as well have told Japan, "We're America, we're powerful, and we're allowed to make rules that we're allowed to break," because that was certainly the implication of his words.
Historically, the US has been the world's leading cheerleader for currency manipulation. Not only has the US encouraged and aided Japan in its quest to keep the yen's value low, but it has also mimicked Japan's own export-friendly monetary policy in times of panic.
What Is Currency Manipulation?

Currency manipulation is essentially when a country artificially weakens the value of its currency to increase its net exports. This can be done in one of two ways:
A.) By purchasing foreign currencies in the exchange market to increase their buying power.
B.) By using dovish monetary policy to increase inflation, cut interest rates, and reduce domestic purchasing power.

Suppose it takes 100 Japanese yen to purchase 1 dollar. Also suppose that the Japanese government is unhappy with export totals and wants to sell more goods to the United States. The Japanese opt to "fix" this through Path A: they purchase billions of dollars with their currency, increasing the supply of yen on the market and decreasing the supply of dollars.

As a result, the yen depreciates in value, moving the US-Japan exchange rate to 110:1.
Translation: Americans can now purchase Japanese goods for fewer dollars, while US goods have become increasingly expensive for the average Japanese citizen.
 
Alternatively, the Japanese could have chosen Path B and simply printed more yen. The increased supply of yen would have led skeptical investors to sell Japanese bonds and stocks and purchase foreign ones, hence shrinking the yen's buying power.
In either case, the underlying objective is achieved - US consumers begin purchasing more Japanese goods because they can afford more for less.

The Effects of Devaluation

Is currency manipulation a sound economic policy? Absolutely not. The Japanese are essentially subsidizing cheap goods to the United States. It is true that the wealthier owners of the Japanese export industries may profit from the increase in sales, but the cut in purchasing power has to affect someone. In this case, it harms the Japanese workers, who, in the absence of a pay raise, are subjected to declining real incomes.

Of course, currency manipulation also distorts the structure of production, and meddling with the labor market is never a good thing. Exchange rate intervention has caused Japan to gain a disproportionate amount of manufacturing jobs and the US to gain a disproportionate amount of service industry jobs. These market distortions are troubling for both sides, because comparative advantage in the global economy would certainly be higher overall in the absence of government intervention.

From a holistic standpoint, currency manipulation isn't great for either side. But it is hypocritical for the United States to rail against Japan for considering further exchange rate interventions when the US itself has been a leading participant in the global currency wars.

Japan Has Helped the US Devalue

Historically, the US - a sucker for cheap imports - has encouraged the yen's devaluation and has even helped in financing its decline.

For example, from September to October 2003, Japan sold 2.7 trillion yen in order to devalue its currency. Japan's Ministry of Finance confirmed that much of it was purchased by the United States through the New York Federal Reserve.
 
In some cases, however, the US has found its own currency to be too strong. In such cases, it has intervened in the foreign exchange market to devalue the dollar, even receiving assistance from countries like Japan in doing so.

This occurred in 1997-1998, when the dollar's purchasing power increased against the yen by nearly 15 percent. In an effort to combat its rapid appreciation, the New York Fed purchased over $800 million worth of yen. As you can see in the chart below, from December 1997 to June 1998, Japan was not the one artificially lowering its currency. The country was actually strengthening the value of the yen by selling tens of billions of dollars in order to help the US devalue its currency:

And so, if the US government wants to continue dishing out anti-currency manipulation rhetoric, it best explain why it's had its own hands in the foreign exchange market.
The US's Huge Quantitative Easing Devaluation

But the US doesn't just manipulate its currency through Path A. It does so through increasing its money supply far more often. The most memorable example of this in recent memory came during the heat of the 2008 financial crisis. With millions of lost American jobs, Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke and Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson were desperate to boost US GDP in any way possible. They did so by manipulating the currency through dovish monetary policy, cutting the Federal Funds rate and then immediately beginning the infamous Quantitative Easing program.

From November 2008 (the beginning of QE1) to June 2011 (the end of QE2), the M2 money stock increased by over 1 trillion. Not surprisingly, this expansion of the money supply contributed to the dollar-yen spot rate plummeting from 96.89 to 80.49 during that time frame:

And what came with a declining US-Japan spot rate? Skyrocketing US exports of goods to Japan, of course:

While the spot rate began to increase shortly after QE2 as a result of Japan's own extensive monetary easing, the point remains clear: the US used the power of the printing press to manipulate its currency downward in a clear attempt to artificially increase net exports.

The Yen Rallies

Thankfully, countries can't manipulate their currencies forever. The jig has to stop sometime, and Japan's economy is a case in point to this fact. The Japanese economy isn't doing so well these days. The country, which is dependent on exports, can't seem to weaken the yen with respect to the dollar. In fact, the yen recently reached its strongest position against the dollar since October 2014.

Japan is running out of options. Its interest rate is currently sitting at -0.1 percent, so it would be hard-pressed to weaken itself through a further expansion of the money supply. Its only other recourse is to intervene in the foreign exchange market for the first time since 2014, which is why finance minister Taro Aso recently insinuated that his country may soon look to do so.

Although further currency manipulation is far from ideal, the US is in no place to criticize Japan for doing it. With the dollar as the de facto world reserve currency, the US shouldn't govern like a playground bully, nor should it lead with a "Do as I say, not as I do" mantra. It should either lead by example or sit down and shut up. But the sooner it chooses the former, the sooner the practice of currency manipulation will stop completely, and the sooner some degree of fiscal sanity will be restored to the global economy.

http://ift.tt/1UexBz4

Dinar Updates:

firefly   Article quote:  "Iraq's new funds from the International Monetary Fund, a step in the right direction to make Iraq is under international economic standards." 

"Iraq borrow from the International Monetary Fund makes Iraq abide by international standards and conditions, namely that Iraq abide by mandatory." 

It is essential that something happens VERY VERY soon.

*****************************

WSOMN:

One11Freedom:  The United States has lost its world’s most competitive economy stat​us to China Hong Kong and Switzerland, a report by the IMD World Compe​titiveness Center research group revealed. Read more: http://ift.tt/1t1pP5S

******************************

WingIt:

LifeisArt:  I UNDERSTAND YOUR FRUSTRATIONS OVER CREATING PLANS.

FOR MYSELF, I BEGAN WITH THE BASE LINE PLANS OUTLINED BY IRAQS INEVITABLE REVALUATION, OF $3.41 + 20%. AND N THE ZIM, I RECALL CONVERSATIONS IN THE .04 AND THE .11 CENTS RANGES. THEN, THE .67CENTS, AND $1.00

REMEMBER WHEN THIS WHOLE COMMUNITY WAS TALKING ABOUT STREET / MARKET / INT'L RATES?

THEN, WE JUMPED OFF THE RAFTERS WITH SOVEREIGN RATES BEFORE WE FIGURED OUT THOSE PREVIOUS RATES.

MAKE A PLAN ACCOMMODATING ALL OF IT.

A BASELINE 'WHAT DO AND HOW DO I WANT TO LIVE MY PERSONAL LIFE' FINANCIAL PLAN.

THEN DO A MIDDLE OF THE ROAD PLAN, BY BUMPING UP THOSE FINANCIALS. AND, AS A TOPPING ON YOUR CAKE, DO A PLAN THAT WILL ACCOMMODATE YOUR PROJECTS.

BE OUTRAGEOUS, HOLD ONTO YOUR COMMON SENSE, PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS.

IT'S WHAT GERRY ALWAYS SAYS: BE FLEXIBLE.

via Dinar Recaps - Our Blog http://ift.tt/1t1pGzo