Bungling Gordon Brown and his ‘spend our way out of recession’ disaster theory

Gordon Brown is inviting people to spend their hard earned money to help him and his pathetic government get out of this recession, hoping the people will be stupid enough to get into more debt so he can prance around on the world stage claiming his remedy is working.

Thanks to Gordon, this country is sinking into horrendous debt, which will be a millstone round the necks of future generations for a long time to come.

The silly 2½% VAT cut is the most ludicrous idea yet, prompting the German Finance Minister to make fun of the stunt, saying to Newsweek, “Are you really going to buy a DVD player because it now costs £39.10 instead of £39.90?” There is NO sense of propriety or prudence in this shambles of a Labour government.

Gordon even brought that fart Peter Mandelson back to bolster his team—reminding people how much spin and corruption permeates his government. Roll on the next election.

A Thought for Christmas

I Give You My Heart for Solstice--Xmas

Mi Corazon

In Sympathy With the People of Mumbai

Operation success-

A National Security Guard commando shows the victory sign from a window of the Taj Mahal Hotel in Mumbai on Saturday, moments after the siege of the hotel ended.

We Must Reject Islam Whenever We Can!
It is a nasty filthy pseudo religion with no respect for life.
The World must force Muslims to deal with their terrorists if they want respect from the World community. Muslims---Clean your House Up!

From an online post by an Indian Muslim, saying that the only way to avoid Islam being condemned, “is for the Muslims in India to police their own? All too often, it’s an ‘open secret’ in our communities as to which elements among us support such things, and unless we clamp down on our own extremists, I think it’s awfully hard to cry foul when the backlash begins.”

Yet whilst the Koran contains such outrageous invocations as below, to the faithful, I can’t see any accommodation with Islam, nor any change in their approach to others.

From the Koran:

“Make war upon such of those to whom the Scriptures have been given as believe not in God, or in the last day, and who forbid not that which God and His Apostle have forbidden, and who profess not the profession of the truth, until they pay tribute out of hand, and they be humbled.” Sura 9:29

From the Koran:

“Say to the infidels: If they desist from their unbelief, what is now past shall be forgiven them, but if they return to it, they have already before them the doom of the ancients! Fight then against them till strife be at an end, and the religion be all of it God’s. If they desist, verily God beholdeth what they do:” - Sura 8:39-40

Gordon Brown Encouraging a Spending Madness to Get Out of Deflation????

A disgusting cynical ploy by Darling and Brown is going to add £180 billion of debt to the UK economy by trying to con people, who are already over consuming, to spend more money—they don’t have. Has Brown or Darling ever heard of the word—savings? That’s what people should be doing in a recession—not worrying about deflation or saving this Labour government’s arse.

“You can’t spend your way out of a recession,” was something James Callaghan, a previous Labour Prime Minister seemed to have taken to heart, and it was even a mantra Brown used to put out in his sane days—under Blair. Now suddenly the ex-Trotskyite Chancellor Darling, and the dim-witted spinner, Gordon Brown, are pushing for the population’s approval by seemingly giving away money—hoping no one will notice that this incontinent spending spree will have to be paid for later on with a whopping big tax hike.

The US Government officially owes $10 trillion (real figure is $53 trillion) in public debt and still seems to be spending as if there were no tomorrow. Who is going to pay for it? Iceland has gone bankrupt—and the US is going the same way. Fiscally canny China owns a huge chunk of the US Government debt and so do the Arabs. They will want paying.

Now this fiscally irresponsible UK Government is hiking up UK public debt to fantasy levels—while someone is going to have to pay for this irresponsible behaviour. Officially, the UK debt is £536.5 billion—but unofficially it is £1,847.5 billion when the PFI, public sector pensions, and all the other debts are added. Guess who is going to pick up the bill—yep, the taxpaying population. As a Scot, Gordon Brown is the worst example of fiscal probity that it is possible to come across—and he is giving the Scots a bad name. Roll on the next General Election.

African Aid

A comment overheard from an African Aid Worker.
Question:- “When will Africa learn to live without ‘Aid’?”
Answer:- When Africa learns to live without corruption—and pigs learn to fly.

Westfield in Shepherd’s Bush win “Cretins of the Year” award

Shepherds bush has over the last 20 years become a sleazy mix of cheap restaurants and Middle East £1 per item shops, until now.

Suddenly Westfield opened up at the end of October 2008, and there is a new Bond St. atmosphere inside this huge Mall.

De Beers, Tiffany & Co., Dior, Mulberry, Zadig & Voltaire, Myla, Montblanc, Kurt Geiger, and a host of other overpriced stores have been conned into setting up shop in Shepherds Bush thanks to The Westfield Group’s Australian owners brilliant marketing. To add to the fantasy, all of this can be washed down in Searcys Champagne Bar with your Platinum Credit Card, parked within easy access of the Shepherds Bush sleaze. You can sit and stare at the marble floors and crystal chandeliers while pondering the Ski slopes, before you climb into your Ferrari and exit into the Shepherds Bush traffic.

Bear in mind, this is in a time of a deepening recession and the Credit Crunch.I keep moaning that people are disappearing into a fantasy world of Avatars, Dungeons & Dragons and other computer games—but here we have serious upmarket stores who have joined this fantasy trek.

I simply cannot imagine anyone going to buy a £500,000 diamond from the De Beers cartel in Shepherds Bush.

The sheer arrogance of Westfield’s Australian owners who thought they could impose a Mayfair into the Shepherds Bush environs and expect to make a profit. Even without the recessionary downturn, it was an idiotic placing, but now it merits the “Cretins of the Year” award.

I always understood that market research was de rigueur before one opened a business in a location—but clearly; no one has bothered in this case.

I’m watching for the “Closed” signs to appear sometime next year.

Amnesty International — "Self Righteous Toss Pots"

Headlines in The Australian:—
“Amnesty International Slams Aussie Government for not Intervening to Save Lives of Bali Bombers”

On the execution of the Bali Terrorist Bombers Amnesty International put this statement out:—
“We oppose the death penalty for absolutely everyone, be it Saddam Hussein or be it a 13 year-old Somali girl who is stoned to death for allegedly committing adultery. We oppose it for all cases, for all nationalities, for all kinds.”

Rex Hump of Australia posted this on the internet 9/11/ 2008 at 12:14 am
“Would Amnesty International still be acting like a pack of "Self Righteous Toss Pots" if The Bali Bombers had bombed and killed 202 Amnesty International staff members at their headquarters?”

My response to Rex:-
Yes Rex, they would, because we have a new dogma out there that is as fixated as any religious fanatic could ever be—the dogma of lefty supported liberalism.
● In this Liberalist dogma we fight the Death Penalty for all crimes yet carelessly kill the unborn—and abortion is as casual as was the sex.
● We play brutal violent computer games where killing and rape are
de rigueur.
● We are permissive and shag happy despite HIV, AIDS, Chlamydia,
Gonorrhoea, Genital herpes, Hepatitis B, Syphilis, and girls are victimized for wearing chastity rings.
● The above is caused by indulgent permissive parenting.
● The above encourages immaturity, leaving many European females with tocophobia.
● Instead of advancing equality between the sexes, we encourage women to behave like men—and call that equality.
● We promote all other races above our own.
● We don’t support our cultural heritage as not worth defending.
● We are forgiving to illegal immigrants lest we be thought racist—instead of evicting them.
● We embrace the Muslim crap, but turn against our own Christianity, unless they are the church run by Gays.
● Our legal system is full of Human Rights crap.
● We have no respect for ourselves—or others.
● We think drugs and booze are synonymous with having a good time.
● We listen to moron music and think we’re hip
● We actually have been brainwashed into believing that Damien Hirst and Tracy Ermine are Artists.

The world’s population is bursting at the seams and dogma driven drivel is pumped out by this self serving Amnesty International NGO, staffed by permissive liberal fanatics peddling heart bleeding nonsense—somewhat reminiscent of that French NGO, Arche de Zoe, who kidnapped black kids from Chad (pretending they were from Darfur) to “rescue” them to Europe. Did nobody stop and ask if we wanted more Africans in Europe?

So, yes Rex, Amnesty International would still be acting like a pack of "Self Righteous Toss Pots" if the Bali Bombers had bombed and killed 202 Amnesty International staff, because they are lost to reason and driven exclusively by liberalist dogma.

Artistic Retribution in Formaldehyde

Without further comment!

Boss Brown hands down friendly advice to his pet Chancellor
Brown’s backside magic suits his lefty cronies like the communist Harriet Harman
Two politicians trying to shaft each other

Ridiculous STUPID Human Rights laws in Europe prevent EU Navies from prosecuting Somali pirates

Are the EU politicians so engrossed in swindling their expenses that they ignore the real world? Left and Right are BUSY aggrandising themselves so that laws are passed without regard as to the effect it has in general. The adoption of Universal Declaration of Human Rights into EU law was a matter of principle, dogma. While it has a principled role to play in the UN, its implementation by the EU was a huge mistake. OK if the whole world played by the same rules—obviously this is not the case.

The manipulation of this law by the unscrupulous is undermining the rule of Law itself. Criminals, terrorists, and now the pirates—when are the lawmakers going to see sense? All three latter categories can only misuse this law while it is in force—and thus I argue; it needs to be suspended for these latter categories.

The precursor to the current Human Rights laws was by the French National Assembly when it drafted the Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen (Déclaration des droits de l'Homme et du citoyen): Adopted in 1789. The latter laws were constructed to prevent the despicable abuses of the Aristocracy perpetrated against the poor. The Declaration was a step in the transition of France from an absolute monarchy to a constitutional state.

Following WWII the UN invited Eleanor Roosevelt to head a UN commission which wrote and adopted in 1948, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights that has become the moral backbone of the UN and an aspiration for the world.

There are now more than two hundred human rights instruments that are now a part of the laws of various countries of the world, however, these two hundred human rights instruments have now been themselves abused by terrorists, criminals, and now pirates, aided by the legal vultures, to make a mockery of the original principles. Loopholes, tricks, prevarications and wide scale misuse of these laws are an industry for the legal vultures out to make money. I say again; for the convicted criminals, terrorists and pirates, these laws MUST be suspended so that the law enforcers can do their job effectively.

Why waste Taxpayers money to send an Anti Pirate Task Force to Somalia and then shackle their hands with prissy Human Rights?

PSEUDO SOCIALIST LIBERTARIANS DESTROYING EUROPE

With the lefty wimps currently in power in the EU—how long before
Using Human Rights, Multiculturalism, PC, Communist Equality and second hand guilt, these lefties want to make the Europeans second class citizens on their own continent. Al Gathafi (Muamar el Gadafi) says 50 years before the current Muslim invasion turns Europe Islamic green. Brussels is already 65% Muslim, Köln’s iconic cathedral soon to be replaced by a mosque. What’s the point of uniting Europe simply to hand it over to the Muslims? When do the Europeans say STOP—NO MORE. Where is the modern day Charles Martel?

How have we Europeans become so self-destructive that we hand over our European house to Muslim invaders?

On a balancing note: I welcome the Hindu Indians and the Chinese—they are not blowing us up and don’t want to take over Europe!

Out of Control BBC Management—Privatise This Public Burden

These bloated overpaid Civil Servants who run the BBC with taxpayers money think they are a law on to themselves—but that is what successive Governments have encouraged.

Nobody seems to have the guts to put a stop to their infantile lefty PC behaviour, which has now degenerated to obscene phone calls by their overstuffed juvenile druggy Presenters.

Who said that they were allowed to hand over £6 million per year of taxpayer’s money to a smarmy failed actor?

Surely its time to grasp the nettle and dismantle this useless Corporation—privatise it so that their stupid pranks impact on BBC shareholders and not the long suffering taxpayer.

Who is to blame for the credit crunch?

1. The Bankers
2. Real Estate Agents
3. Credit Rating Agencies

Most Bankers are now putting a lot of effort into shifting the blame onto the Governments for relaxing the rules on lending. What they don’t mention is that is was the Bankers themselves who were screaming at the Government to relax the rules. Ideally, they wanted NO rules so they could do what they pleased. Bankers take pleasure in taking their bonuses (the bigger the better) but detest taking the blame for anything. As you may have experienced, they love overcharging (stealing) their customers but simply despise having to give the money back. So, NO moral or ethical points for Bankers. Come on lads—show you’re grown up and say you’re sorry!

The Real Estate Agents couldn't’t have pulled it off without the Bankers, but the property bubble is at the heart of the matter. It is the Estate Agents greed for their commissions that pumped air into the bubble. The higher the house price, the higher the commission. What did you expect from an unregulated industry? At every sale, the house price went higher and higher—until we reached fantasy prices for bricks and mortar. Their imbedded mortgage sales personnel encouraged buyers to lie about their circumstances, and to take out mortgages they had no hope of repaying. Thus the toxic mortgage was born.

The Credit Rating Agencies like Standard & Poor, Fitch Rating, and Moody seem not to have been able to tell the difference between a diamond and a turd. They kept rating the toxic papers as AAA, meaning Alt-A, whereas they were Alt-B and even Alt-C, and with such criminal dyslexia they really shouldn't’t be in the business they are in. Giving the USELESS mortgage papers a AAA rating allowed them to be sold on as if they were worth gold. If I were running a business, I would totally ignore the Credit Rating Agencies as not being fit for purpose.

The Death Knell of Western Values by Viral Permissiveness

I fundamentally dislike Imperial Russia, which held sway since the 16th Century, even under so-called Russian communism. Moscow forcibly spread its language in the Caucasus, Baltic States, Ukraine and Belarus so that even in today’s independent Belarus, Russian is preferred to Belarusian—and the same holds for eastern Ukraine. Throughout the former Warsaw Pact countries, Russian was seen as the lingua franca, much in the way English is seen in the west—which is what the Russians were emulating. It’s a way of robbing people of their heritage—a way of killing a nation—a form of genocide. Looking after your own interests is all well and good, but casting predatory eyes on your neighbours, I find repulsive and menacing. It’s like having a nest of crocodiles as your neighbours. You never know when they are likely to have you for lunch.

However, US English is as guilty of imperialism, even more so than Russian. Canada has succumbed and is now merely a US cultural clone. Various other parts of the globe have taken on the nasty consumerism of the US, with its ubiquitous unhealthy McDonalds and KFCs—not to mention the wall to wall advertising that goes with it. Coca rotten Cola, acidic Pepsi, toxic mortgages. This rampant consumerism is at the heart of the Credit Crunch misery currently raging throughout the financial markets. The immature, “I want it now!” runs through the veins of the permissive West to a horrendous extent, distorting culture and giving us conceptual PR art (Ermine’s Dirty Bed; Hearst’s formaldehyde Cows and Sharks) in place of art based on a smattering of talent. The notion of delayed gratification, a purely human concept, has been cast aside—lust is pervasive, spreading AIDS. The permissive West is heading to oblivion—even the Arabs have the scent of the corpse, encouraging a creeping invasion of the West by their religious zealots disguised as economic migrants.

I mentioned a predatory Russia at the outset, to show that I’m no Russophile, yet what Putin and his KGB pals have installed in their Imperial fiefdom is the old Soviet contempt for Western permissive values. The Simpsons trashy cartoon has been banned on Russian TV. National pride is being reinstalled via the Nashi young people’s movement (akin to the old Pioneers). There is a sense of revival of an old Russian pride in themselves, which is designed to outlast the collapse of the West. Europe is weak under its own style of socialist permissiveness and slavish attendance to the Human Rights dogma. The question for the future is—will Europe pull itself together or sink within the permissive sycophantic Political Correctness it now pursues. Time will tell.

Köln is replacing its cathedral with a mosque, the Pope keeps apologising to the Muslims, Hollywood’s porn industry expands and increases its reach into schools, drugs are pervasive, MP’s busy themselves devising Bills to outlaw parents smacking their kids, gays march annually through the major cities (why?), and Human Rights are used by terrorists to outmanoeuvre a countries laws. It may be too early to bury the Western corpse, but unless someone revives it, the rotting stink will become pervasive—and predators love such a scent.

What Led to the Wall St Crash of 2008--Here is a chronology of major events

Part of the problem lies with the Cato Institute and its deregulation dogma—laissez-faire free market zap, as subscribed to by Christopher Cox, Chair of SEC. The latter led the charge to use taxpayers money to bailout the Banks. If people are using their brains then this deregulated crash should put an end to the Cato Institute crap.

1983: CMO (Collateralized Mortgage Obligation) was invented by Freddie Mac. This CMO tool allowed mortgages to be turned into securities and made local lending markets more liquid. Mortgages were transferred to a trust, then sliced into three segments, with different bonds for each segment. The CMO was a genuine invention and had a profound impact on the mortgage industry. Traditionally, mortgage lenders were one-stop shops. The CMO turned the U.S. industry into highly focused sub-sectors–raising risk and lowering accountability.

1994: The CMO market crashed when the U.S. Federal Reserve raised interest rates. However, banks embraced securitization and started packaging up mortgages and other loans as collateralized debt obligations (CDOs). They could still collect hefty fees while encumbering little if any of their capital. Lending, in other words, was becoming costless. When money is free, and lending is costless and riskless, the rational lender will keep on lending until there is no one else to lend to.

2003: U.S. mortgage lenders were running out of people they could plausibly lend to and started going after prospects with little hope of repaying their loans. NINJAs. That was the start of a boom in subprime lending.

28 April 2004: Five members of the Securities and Exchange Commission met in a basement hearing room to consider an urgent plea by the big investment banks. The banks wanted an exemption for their brokerage units from an old regulation that limited the amount of debt they could take on. The exemption would unshackle billions of dollars held in reserve as a cushion against losses on their investments. Those funds could then flow up to the parent company, enabling it to invest in the fast-growing but opaque world of mortgage-backed securities; credit derivatives, a form of insurance for bond holders; and other exotic instruments. The five investment banks led the charge, including Goldman Sachs, which was headed by Henry M. Paulson Jr. Two years later, he left to become Treasury secretary. One commissioner, Harvey Goldschmid, questioned the staff about the consequences of the proposed exemption. It would only be available for the largest firms, he was reassuringly told—those with assets greater than $5 billion. “We’ve said these are the big guys,” Goldschmid said, provoking nervous laughter, “but that means if anything goes wrong, it’s going to be an awfully big mess.” The then-chairman of SEC, William Donaldson, a veteran Wall Street executive, called for a vote. It was unanimous. The decision, changing what was known as the net capital rule, was completed and published in The Federal Register a few months later. With that, the five big independent investment firms were unleashed to cause the biggest Wall St crash since the 1930’s. Over the following months and years, each of the firms would take advantage of the looser rules. At Bear Stearns, the leverage ratio—a measurement of how much the firm was borrowing compared to its total assets—rose sharply, to 33 to 1. In other words, for every dollar in equity, it had $33 of debt. The ratios at the other firms also rose significantly. Since Christopher Cox became chair of SEC he has judiciously pushed for further deregulation measures, in the manner of the Cato Institute dogma, and has consistently refused to oversee complaints against company misdemeanours. The commission’s decision effectively to outsource its oversight to the firms themselves fit squarely in the broader Washington culture of the last eight years under President George W. Bush. A similar closeness to industry and laissez-faire philosophy has driven a push for deregulation throughout the government, from the Consumer Product Safety Commission and the Environmental Protection Agency to worker safety and transportation agencies. “It’s a fair criticism of the Bush administration that regulators have relied on many voluntary regulatory programs,” said Roderick Hills, a Republican who was chairman of the SEC under President Gerald Ford. “The problem with such voluntary programs is that, as we’ve seen throughout history, they often don’t work.” [because they’re ignored as inconvenient rules]

2005: More than a third of subprime loans were for more than a home’s value. “Light-documentation mortgages transmuted into ‘NINJA’ loans–No Income, No Job, or Assets.”

2004—2006: After a two year period between 2004 and 2006 when US interest rates rose from 1% to 5.35%, the US housing market bubble begins to deflate, with prices falling and a rise in homeowners defaulting on their mortgages. Default rates on sub-prime loans—high risk loans to clients with poor or no credit histories—rise to record levels.

The US banking sector packaged sub-prime home loans into mortgage-backed securities known as CDOs (collateralised debt obligations). These were sold on to hedge funds and investment banks who decided they were a great way to generate high returns (and big bonuses for the oh-so-clever bankers that bought them).

Fannie and Freddie were the inventors of the mortgage-backed security, the principal cause of the housing bubble and its subsequent deflation. They won plaudits for it. For years, the unbundling and reselling of mortgages was deemed a good thing, the secret of the US housing market’s successful rise. Alan Greenspan, former Fed chairman, praised it ceaselessly as a breakthrough that did much to widen home ownership (a la Thatcher). But it weakened mortgage originators’ oversight of loan quality–without securitisation and the backing of Fannie and Freddie, could there ever have been “NINJA” mortgages (No Income, No Job or Assets)? When securitised loans go bad, they are much harder to restructure.

Fannie and Freddie did well for decades with CMOs (collateralised mortgage obligations) or CDOs (collateralised debt obligations). But until the repeal of *Glass-Steagall, the commercial and investment banks couldn’t get in on the game. When they did, they did whatever it took to “buy” market share and make lots of money in the short run.

*The Glass-Steagall Act of 1933 established the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) in the United States and included banking reforms, some of which were designed to control speculation. Provisions that prohibit a bank holding company from owning other financial companies were repealed on November 12, 1999, by the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, which passed in Congress with a 343-86 vote in the House of Representatives, before being sent to conference committee; the final bipartisan bill (Senate: 90-8-1, House: 362-57-15) was signed by President Bill Clinton.

March/April 2007: New Century Financial corporation stops making new loans as the practice of giving high risk mortgage loans to people with bad credit histories becomes a problem. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) warns of risks to global financial markets from weakened US home mortgage market.

June 2007: Alarm bells ring on Wall Street as two hedge funds of New York investment bank Bear Stearns lurch to the brink of collapse because of their extensive investments in mortgage-backed securities.

July/August 2007: German banks with bad investments in the US real estate market are caught up in the crisis, including IKB Deutsche Industriebank, Sachsen LB (Saxony State Bank) and Bayern LB (Bavaria State Bank).

US President George W Bush rejects government intervention to ease the crisis in the home mortgage market and says he wants the market to work. He later pledges help for struggling homeowners to help ease the mortgage crisis.
Foreclosures of US homes in July were up 93 percent from a year earlier, to 180,000 owners.

9 August 2007: Investment bank BNP Paribas tells investors they will not be able to take money out of two of its funds because it cannot value the assets in them, owing to a “complete evaporation of liquidity” in the market. It is the clearest sign yet that banks are refusing to do business with each other.

The European Central Bank pumps 95bn euros (£63bn) into the banking market to try to improve liquidity. It adds a further 108.7bn euros over the next few days.

The US Federal Reserve, the Bank of Canada and the Bank of Japan also begin to intervene.

17 August 2007: The Fed cuts the rate at which it lends to banks by half of a percentage point to 5.75%, warning the credit crunch could be a risk to economic growth.

21 August 2007: UK sub-prime lenders begin to withdraw mortgages or put up the cost of borrowing for UK homeowners with poor credit histories.

28 August 2007: German regional bank Sachsen Landesbank faces collapse after investing in the sub-prime market; it is sold to larger rival Landesbank Baden-Wuerttemberg.

3 September 2007: German corporate lender IKB announces a $1bn loss on investments linked to the US sub-prime market.

4 September 2007: The rate at which banks lend to each other rises to its highest level since December 1998. The so-called Libor rate is 6.7975%, way above the Bank of England’s 5.75% base rate; banks either worry whether other banks will survive, or urgently need the money themselves.

September 2007: Worried savers besiege British bank Northern Rock. British government and Bank of England guarantee the deposits; the bank is nationalised. The US Federal Reserve (Fed) starts series of interest rate drops to ease impact of housing slump and mortgage crisis.

October 2007: Profits at US financial giant Citigroup drop sharply. IMF lowers 2008 growth forecast for the euro area to 2.1 percent from 2.5 percent, in part because of spill over from the US subprime mortgage crisis and credit market crunch.

December 2007: Bush unveils plan to help up to 1.2 million homeowners pay their loans.

January 2008: Swiss banking giant UBS reports more than $18bn in write-down due to exposure to US real estate market. In the US, Bank of America acquires Countrywide Financial, the country’s biggest mortgage lender. Fed slashes interest rate by three quarters of a percentage point to 3.5 percent following sell-off on global markets. Another cut at month’s end lowers it to 3 percent.

February 2008: Fannie Mae, the largest source of money for US home loans, reports a $3.55bn loss for the fourth quarter of 2007, three times what had been expected.

March 2008: On the verge of collapse and under pressure by the Fed, Bear Stearns is forced to accept a buyout by US investment bank JP Morgan Chase. The deal is backed by Fed loans of $30bn.

In Germany, Deutsche Bank reports a loss of 141 million euros for the first quarter of 2008, its first quarterly loss in five years. Fed spearheads coordinated push by world central banks to bolster global economic confidence by announcing moves to pump $200-billion liquidity into markets.

Carlyle Capital falls victim to US credit crisis as it defaults on $16.6bn of indebtedness. US frees up another $200 billion to back troubled Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

April 2008: IMF projects $945bn losses from financial crisis. G7 ministers agree to new wave of financial regulation to combat protracted financial crisis.

June 2008: Home repossessions more than double as US housing crisis deepens. Bear Stearns execs join 400 charged with mortgage fraud.

July 2008: California mortgage lender IndyMac collapses. Troubles for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac continue to grow. US Treasury and Fed move to guarantee debts of Fannie, Freddie. Bush defends move, telling Americans to take a “deep breath” and have “confidence in the mortgage markets.”
US Congress gives final passage to multi-billion-dollar program to address mortgage and foreclosure crisis. Spain’s largest property developer, Martinsa-Fadesa, declares insolvency.

7 September 2008: US government seizes control of Fannie, Freddie in $200bn bailout.

15 September 2008: Lehman Brothers investment bank declares $600bn bankruptcy. Merrill Lynch acquired by Bank of America.

17 September 2008: US bailout of AIG insurance giant for $85 billion.

19 September 2008: White House requests $700-billion bailout plan from Congress for all financial firms with bad mortgage securities to free up tightening credit flow.

22 September 2008: Last two standing investment banks, Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs, convert to bank holding companies.

26 September 2008: Fed seizes Washington Mutual in largest ever US bank failure.

29 September 2008: US House of Representatives rejects mammoth $700-billion bailout plan.

29 September 2008: Governmental bailouts announced for key banks in Britain, the Benelux and Germany as well as a state takeover of a bank in Iceland. British government intervenes to save major mortgage lender Bradford & Bingley. Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg to take over substantial parts of Belgian-Dutch banking and insurance company Fortis.

German Finance Ministry announces that government and top banks were moving to inject billions of euros into troubled mortgage lender Hypo Real Estate. Iceland government and Glitnir bank announce state takeover of 75-percent stake in Glitnir.

30 September 2008: Wachovia Bank teeters on collapse, starts negotiating with Citigroup for takeover deal.

1 October 2008: US Senate adopts massive bailout plan, adding sweeteners to get House acceptance.

3 October 2008: Wells Fargo bank and the fourth-largest US bank Wachovia Corp announce merger.

The largest government intervention in capital markets in US history clears the US House of Representatives, becoming law with signature by President Bush.

5 October 2008: German bank Hypo Real Estate (HRE) bailout collapses.

Court prevents Wells Fargo buying Wachovia.

6 October 2008: BNP Paribas, the French bank, agreed this morning to pay €14.5 billion (£11.2 billion) in cash and shares to take control of stricken bank Fortis. France’s biggest bank will gain control of Fortis’s banking businesses in Belgium and Luxembourg for €9 billion.

Fortis' capital base was hit by its acquisition last year of part of ABN Amro in a deal with the Royal Bank of Scotland and Santander, of Spain. Fortis shares have fallen by 70 per cent this year.

Iceland’s Banking system is in meltdown and looking to be rescued. Global Stock Markets continue to drop like a stone. Global recession looming.

Cato Institute and the Viking Utopia of Edward H. Crane

I’m fed up of listening to the US Cato Institute mantra, “pull Government out of Government,” and “free market—free market,” repeated by the US and UK Conservatives and other so-called Libertarian capitalists throughout the Western financial circles. It’s an invitation to anarchism where hooligan Bankers thrive, discarding the shackles of normal regulatory controls and then risking other people’s money in a Cavalier manner. Laissez-faire economics is economics Viking style: bash, grab and run—eminently suitable for the NINJA Mortgage Bankers who then fob off their toxic waste onto others less prudent and financially aware, backed by useless unregulated Credit Rating Agencies.

In a civilised society, we have police to prevent hooligans on the streets from mugging the innocents, and in financial circles, we need the same sort of police to regulate the hoodlum Banker from mugging the innocents with worthless toxic papers. The only policeman the Bankers will listen to is Government regulators. That is why we elect a Government—to put order into society—to regulate and prevent anarchy. Minimising Government suits those with money—not society as a whole.

The “free market” mantra is espoused by those who really want to loosen all Government controls and be allowed to do what they can get away with on the financial stage. Edward H. Crane hid behind Cato the Younger’s venerable name in imitation of John Trenchard and Thomas Gordon, who had good reason to hide their identity from the Hanging Judges of the day—but Edward H. Crane hid for PR reasons, judging that Cato’s name would give his modern Viking ambitions, respectability. This so called “libertarian think tank” wishes to limit government [regulation], promote individual liberty [to buy more guns and set up survivalist camps], encourage [Viking style] free markets, and sponsor peace [a piece of the action]. The devious Institute advocates diminished government intervention in domestic, social, and economic policies and decreased military and political intervention worldwide.

Before WWII, the latter was called “isolationism,” and made this Ostrich stance highly unpalatable at home and to the rest of Europe. It created Pearl Harbour because the Japanese didn’t think the US would react. Head-in-the-sand means you get your arse kicked without knowing who’s doing the kicking. With the current TEN super aircraft carriers, the US is a worldwide power, and withdrawing into isolation, as the Cato Institute advocates, means others will fill the void at the US’s expense. THE CLOCK CANNOT BE TURNED BACK—or don’t they know that? You can’t go back to 50BC or 1755. Grow up and live with the present day complexities! Stop trying to look for “idealised” solutions.

Libertarian dogma is just as bad as Liberal dogma. Both suck! Both are bipolar rigid forms of thinking and counter survivalist. Survival of the fittest, Darwinian style, means you get stuck in and battle it out—not become an isolationist idealist. Cato Institute “expert scholars” blame “Government” again-and-again in differing tedious language promising that if only Governments would stop being Governments, all would be well in the “libertarian free market.” Don’t they understand that each problem has its individual solution and in a complex world, the solutions are complex? So live with it! Stop looking for nonsense ideals and the easy ways out.
That Penn & Teller are also Fellows of the Cato Institute, may give an indicator as to where its libertarian policies originate—in illusionism? Another “honoured” follower is Thomas Szasz, whose views on special treatments follow from classical “liberal roots” based on the principles that each person has the “right to bodily and mental self-ownership.” Szasz believes that suicide, the practice of medicine, use and sale of drugs and sexual relations should be private, contractual, and outside of state jurisdiction. [Doctor Kevorkian for President? Mass murdering GPs? Quacks? Heroine? Cocaine? Paedophilia? Rape? All out of state control? Is he totally irresponsible?] Szasz also thought schizophrenics were just normal people and should be accepted as such. He claimed that “mental illness was a myth.” 99.5% of Psychiatrists disagree.
Worse than the above and most damning of all, for me, is the Institutes constant harping back to 1787, as if they were incapable of moving on, or living in the present. In David Boaz’s Libertarianism: a primer (1977), Boaz ends his “primer” with the paragraph heading: “Toward a Framework for Utopia,” with the following crass sentence: “I'm pretty sure we will be freer 100 years from now, and I'm confident that our descendants 1000 years from now will live in a freer world. The third millennium will be the millennium of the free individual.” I’ve rarely come across such awful drivel as claiming to predict what we will be like in a 1000 years, and another Utopia at that. Look back a 1000 years and compare it to now—would anyone have predicted in 1000 AD what we have now? Predictions of such a time scale are sheer nonsense—which condemns the “primer” as no better than that French apothecary, Nostradamus's Les Propheties.

Furthermore, the type of people the Cato Institute attracts is people who want to do as they please without any interference from societal norms. Anarchism by another name while hiding behind Cato the Younger (95–46 B.C.), who may have championed liberty and republican principles, but that was TWO THOUSAND YEARS AGO, when slavery was the norm. Maybe Edward H. Crane hopes to be installed as a new magister populi if he can convince the US to reinstall the old Roman Republican ethos? I suggest Crane has more in common with Julius Caesar than Cato the Younger! What about renaming his baby, the “Caesar Institute?”

Stop Taxpayer Bail-out of Fat-Cat Bankers—NO $700bn for Bankers

Last Friday, 19/9/08, President George W. Bush, flanked by Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, Federal Reserve Board Chairman Ben Bernanke and Exchange Commission Chairman Christopher Cox, called for a government bailout of Wall Street in the name of “our system of free enterprise,” to the tune of $700bn of taxpayers money. Once again, Bush shows his aphasia by using “bailout” and “free enterprise” in the same sentence. A bailout is anathema to free enterprise—or has his Haliburton experience totally undermined that notion.
The American people are totally against this bailout. Citizen taxpayers of America are emailing their Congressmen to put a stop to this handout—so much so, that the email servers in Congress crashed with the amount of traffic. They are outraged that bankers, of all people, NEED a bailout. They certainly do if they are to keep their ill gotten gains after splashing around the toxic mortgages—but why should each taxpayer in the US be forced to hand them $2,000 per person just so the bankers don’t suffer. "Tax Payers Against a Wall Street and Mortgage Bailout"
If we go into a recession then that is the price that’s paid for artificially pushing up the stock market for over 20 years. It may even encourage a little fiscal probity and belt tightening, instead of media encouraged unfettered spending. The bull needs castrating. A new financial world order with proper fiscal regulation to stop short selling, among other things, needs to be put in place, and Banks need to be properly regulated (Holding Co’s) and the regulations enforced.

If Bankers don’t suffer for their manufactured fiasco—then how are they to learn that they too can get burned? If we go into a recession, we will know whom to blame and maybe the merry bull market will be finally corrected. Want to blame somebody—blame the Mortgage Bankers and Mortgage Brokers wherever mortgage mis-selling has occurred. Oh—and don’t buy what you can’t afford!

The Ambulance Chasing Media in the Soft West is Out of Control

It is with a profound deep regret that I find myself denouncing the Western media’s addiction to negative calamity reporting. It seems clear to me that every facet of our media industry is dedicated to finding the nastiest story, uncovering the most banal concoctions, purveying the worst dirt and determinedly undermining the beleaguered institutions of our society. “That is what sells the papers,” used to be their excuse for trawling through the sewers. The fact is that the media is “Out of Control.”

The consequences of decades of pounding the public with their inane drivel, is a harassed nervous population who are undoubtedly impressionable to their message. The constant pointless “news” barrages online and on TV to justify their fat-cat media jobs, backed up by the oft-repeated supplication: “You must have an opinion on ………..” whatever they are pushing at that moment, must be declared as simply brainwashing. People who ignore or dismiss their mouldy sensationalist news are implied to be somehow stupid or not with it. This type of continual indoctrination in the name of freedom of speech and liberalism is obviously supported by the Advertising Industry for whom a malleable public is a bonanza—and by the sordid politicians who employ the media and advertising industry at election time. Not only have the media brainwashed the public, but even themselves into believing they are doing a worthwhile job. Out of Control.

If an example was needed, then the current US Presidential elections are apt. The only message “donkey” Obama has for his campaign is: “change,” and what kind of silly message is that? McCain’s message isn’t much better—both contenders relying heavily on their financial support to buy the media coverage (Plutocracy not Democracy). Another example was the Western media’s single-handed destruction of the US war effort in Vietnam, supported by the lefty loons. Look at Vietnam now—corrupt and poor. Compare it with the situation where the media behaved impeccably in support of it armed forces and the US won the war in 1953 in Korea. Look at South Korea and compare it with North Korea. These are hard examples of cause and effect. A third example was where the media unquestionably was the single cause of death of Princess Diana. The pros and cons of her behaviour is not the point—the cause of her death is. Not only do they report tatty news, but also they chase the tat in the most aggressive and intrusive way. What was the point of such reckless paparazzi behaviour? A few lousy pictures and a column in a scandal sheet. Out of Control.

I’m certainly no supporter of Putin or his KGB Government, but I do applaud his suppression of an out-of-control media and it has my support. The Russian media was even worse that the Western media with its continual outrageous gossip on non-existent “conspiracy theories.” The Russians and other ex-communist state populations are more susceptible to media brainwashing and consequently their media should have been more sensitive to what it published—yet it wasn’t; they dived into imitating the worst of the Western media. They were entirely Out of Control.

Were the media more responsible, I would be writing in support of their “freedom” to “publish and be damned.” However, it must be pointed out that the current liberalist-publishing regime is corrupting and destroying the West. Most of Asia, Africa, and the Middle East rigidly control their media, knowing the power the media has at its command.

Our media acts as a propaganda tool for Al Qaeda, every time Bin Dustbin (Laden) issues a pronouncement, our media rushes to inform us of what he says. Out of Control. It acts as a voice of the illegal immigrant, taking their side as opposed to the law-abiding majority in the country. BBC pushes the gays, C4 and ITV push the Muslims, and most of the rags lean to the left, some more reluctant than others. All the Media Department in Britain are staffed by left leaning lecturers—producing lefty journalists. (From personal experience). The ordinary person in the street is portrayed as being Asian or black, at least the camera searches that particular type out to interview—marginalising the majority White Anglo Saxon Protestant for PC dogma. The Western media is Out of Control. Unless governments begin to clamp down—and I can hear the phoney outraged screams already—the West is going to go down to the new Muslim and immigrant invasion and they will impose Sharia and the like on our Out of Control media. Gadaffi got rid of his programme of Weapons of Mass Destruction in anticipation of this future outcome—with this sneaky takeover attempt, he didn’t need them.

Wake up people of the West—you and your values are about to become extinct with your soft “oh!” PC mentality. Get off your couches. Toughen up—bring your kids under control and think for yourselves. Lobby your politicians to impose a restraint on the media. Save Western values. They are worth fighting for.

Prime and Subprime Explained

Prime (ordinary) loan/mortgage—this is the standard type loan usually presented by lenders and brokers to any borrower with the usual standards of probity and security with a standard market interest rate, known on the market as Alt-A bonds and rated as AAA by the credit rating agencies.

Subprime (sub ordinary) loan/mortgage—this is the dodgy loan because of the lack of probity and security thus bearing a higher risk to the lender and attracting a higher (crippling) interest rate, known on the markets as Alt-B, Alt-C or even Alt-D such as the NINJA mortgages (see below for explanation). It was these that were mis-rated as AAA and should have been rated from C to D by the corrupt credit rating agencies. These are the papers being held by many financial institutions and are now considered worthless. “The US Government to buy distressed mortgages at deep discounts from banks and other institutions.” With this announcement on Friday Sept. 2008 Bush et al declared the Fed (taxpayers) was going to buy up these toxic worthless papers and recycle them as toilet paper.

Silly Capitalism and Corrupt Greedy Bankers

My carer is really hot under the collar over this.

What kind of “silly” Capitalism are the Americans running? Is it “adaptive” capitalism or “make-it-up-as-you-go-along” capitalism? I need an adjective to describe this new version they’ve come up with. Any suggestions?
Bush announcing America is abandoning capitalism

I’ve been brought up on “survival of the fittest” capitalism, where if a company does something stupid, the Market punishes the infringement and the Corporation goes under. It imposes a survivalist discipline and obliges a steep but lasting learning curve on the rest. This way, Corporations do behave—or go under. Now, we’ve had some twenty years of an outrageous Bull Market with speculators egging on the Market Makers to push the indexes ever higher, with little hint of a apposite correction—yet when the timely adjustment is in sight, the Fed, spurred on by the fat-cat Mortgage Bankers who have caused the Credit Crunch in the first place, piles in tax-payers money to buy up the toxic mortgages. They correctly allowed Bear Stearns, the second-largest underwriter of U.S. mortgage bonds, and Lehmans, to go to the wall, but seem unable to let the Markets do their job of punishing the corrupt mortgage bankers. The Fed nationalised Freddy and Fannie and AIG, and have now bailed out the other banks holding the worthless subprime papers by underwriting these valueless documents. The greedy have learned that it pays to be greedy and can thus continue on their merry way until the next time.

The question I began to look into was—who was responsible for this Credit Crunch—who invented subprime? There clearly was Congress collusion when it deregulated the financial sector in the mid-1970s leading eventually to the collapsing $1.3 trillion "subprime" mortgage business. I’ve had pathetic US FT journalists trying to blame those bloody French (in 1719) for their current subprime debacle.

A study argues that the considerable 2003 pullback of government-sponsored financial service corporations Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac from the mortgage credit market and their subsequent replacement by aggressive, private mortgage securities issuers in late 2003 had a significant impact on home prices and was more responsible than subprime lending for the drastic price run-up that peaked in early 2006. The researchers found that rising home prices up to 2003 could be explained by economic fundamentals, such as low unemployment rates, expanding household incomes and population growth. These factors fuelled housing demand and, in turn, increased U.S. home prices. During this time, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac actively issued and purchased conventional, prime mortgage-backed securities. But in 2003, political, regulatory and economic factors–including accounting irregularities that led to Fannie’s and Freddie’s senior officers’ resignations and the capping of their retained loan portfolios–forced the two entities to significantly slow their lending volume. Private funding in the form of asset-backed securities and residential mortgage-backed securities replaced conventional, conforming mortgage-backed securities as the prevalent source of mortgage capital. The new looser credit environment allowed looser underwriting standards and increased tolerance for riskier, high-yield loan products, the study’s authors said. It also generated a borrowing climate that sought to provide previously marginal borrowers with additional access to credit — a movement that was heartily endorsed by the Bush Administration, who actively pushed its vision of “the Ownership Society” at that time, as well. The spend now pay later attitude worked in the retail sector and bounced out to the housing sector. The credit market bonanza led to a record increase in total mortgage volume, and pushed up home prices even more with a momentum characteristic of a bubble.

To increase business, Mortgage Bankers and the Mortgage Brokers colluded together to lend/sell the subprime mortgages to borrowers who had no business buying a home because they simply couldn’t afford it. The Bankers and Brokers made hundreds of millions out of this scam. Subprime lenders knew the risks they were taking, as did investors, such as hedge funds, who bought securities based on subprime loans. Subprime lenders often paid mortgage brokers commissions two or three times those on prime loans. These predatory lenders pushed high-risk loans on unsuspecting borrowers. The resultant chaos means that it is currently predicted that some two million Americans will lose their homes. Mind you, these same homeowners should never have been able to afford their own homes. Lefty PC style egalitarianism doesn’t sit well in a capitalist society—which is why PC should be dumped in the capitalist West.

Now, all the subprime lenders knew the risks they were taking, as did all the investors, such as the hedge funds that bought securities based on subprime loans. Subprime lenders often paid mortgage brokers commissions two or three times those on prime loans. These predatory lenders pushed high-risk loans on unsuspecting borrowers. Subprime loans, Alt-B, C, and D, were issued to borrowers who would not have qualified for ordinary Alt-A prime mortgages because of low incomes or a tarnished credit, and thus they carried special risks for all those involved. These subprime loans were even called Ninja Mortgages or NINJA loans—NINJA being an acronym standing for "No Income, No Job and No Assets." These bizarre loans required no down payment or proof of the borrower's income, and some even allowed borrowers to decide for themselves how much to pay each month. This is criminal irresponsibility and a recipe for the current disaster. To add to the problem, the credit rating agencies such as Fitch Ratings (e.g. A+), Standard & Poor's, and Moody's Investors Service (e.g. A1) consistently gave these worthless subprime loan bonds with 6 percent coupons backed by 30-year, fixed-rate “jumbo” an AAA rating. It’s like taking electroplated gold jewellery to an assessor and having them pronounced as pure gold—or a Zirconium declared a real diamond. We now know these subprime papers are as worthless as the credit rating agencies, who need to fold up business because they are no good.

Another culprit is Alan Greenspan, who actually encouraged the spread of homeownership during his tenure at the Fed—even when he knew that these homeowners couldn’t afford the mortgage because it was subprime. In a 2005 speech, which was called, “an insane, idiotic recommendation,” Greenspan endorsed subprime loans to help marginal borrowers get into houses. While the gravy was flowing, everybody in the US turned a blind eye to the scams they were participating in, actively or tacitly. However, now the blame game is in full flow.

John Robbins, Chairman of the Mortgage Bankers Association, says he is "mad as hell" at "a ‘few’ unethical actors" that have sullied his profession's reputation. Hang on mate, without your carefully crafted but shoddy mortgage “instruments” these “unethical actors” have nothing to sell—so give your false bluster a rest mate. Nobody believes the Mortgage Bankers are innocent. The Mortgage Bankers and the Brokers were in it together, and they made hundreds of millions out of this scam.

George Hanzimanolis, president of the Mortgage Brokers Group, complains that people are pointing at him and saying, 'It's the brokers. It's the brokers,' when they want someone to blame for the Credit Crunch. Wear it, if the hat fits, is what I say. You’re a big boy now and you knew what you were doing.

With today’s renouncement of capitalist principles, President Bush has effectively brought the Credit Crunch to an end by securitising the circulating worthless subprime paper bonds. This means the US taxpayer is to pick up the fallout from the subprime mortgage scam and the bailout will make Bankers and Brokers more reckless in the future. I’m frankly outraged. However, the worldwide recession isn’t over as Bankers belatedly tighten their lending criteria. The days of cheap credit are over and that will impact on our daily lives. The next two years will still require a tightening of belts and a lot more delayed gratification when it comes to buying those items online or in the shops.

“Respected” Media Adverts for Prostitution = Morality for Sale

Apart from the atrocious morality of dubious virgins offering to sell their questionable virginity to the highest bidder, there is also the sordid morality of presumed “respectable” online media rags publishing these Porn Adverts and pretending they are somehow presenting newsworthy items to the public.

I can accept The People and The Sun doing so because that is their stock in trade, but for The Telegraph, Daily Mail, The Observer and the BBC to get in on the act, and the latter using public funds to do so, is beyond the pale. So, these so-called “respected” online publishers seem to have taken it upon themselves to advertise prostitutes as part of their titillating offers. A further sign, if one was needed, that amorality abounds rampant in society and on the World Wide Web.

Here are just five of the prostitutes offering their questionable virginity up for sale in the online media:—
Virginity 4 Sale from Italy--Raffella Fico
—Italian model plans to sell her dubious virginity for €1 million. This Italian model who “swears” she has never had sex, hopes to sell her virginity for €1 million, or £792,000, to any idiot willing to waste the money.

Showgirl, and would be prostitute, men's magazine model Raffella Fico, 20, told an Italian magazine, "I can't wait to see who's going to pull out the money to have me." Miss Fico, who appeared in the Italian version of Big Brother earlier this year, said she would use the cash to buy a house in Rome and pay for acting classes.

That’s assuming she can convince the foolhardy punter that she is still a virgin. Any doctors in the house? If she’s a virgin, I’m a monkey’s uncle! By the way, would all the males in Italy who’ve had sex with her, please form an orderly queue. Reported by The Telegraph, Daily Mail, and The Sun.

Virginity 4 Sale from Peru--Graciela Yataco
—Peruvian model puts up her virginity for sale for $1.5m. Graciela Yataco, 18, said she offered to sell her virginity to the highest bidder, advertising herself in newspapers, on television and the internet. Some said her actions were nothing short of prostitution. Others said she needed psychological help.

Graciela earns around $60 a month acting or modelling in Lima, Peru’s capital. Her mother is too sick to work and she does not want her 12-year-old brother to miss school, and most important of all, she wants to improve her family's quality of life. (always some fatuitous excuse for immoral behaviour). In the event, a Canadian man offered her $1.5m (£780,000) for sex, but she finally turned him down when her outraged sick mother threatened to disown her.

At least someone in her family had the moral sense to rein in their stray offspring. Reported by The Observer in 2005.

Virginity 4 Sale from London--Rosie Reid
—This University of Bristol student was selling her virginity on the internet and said that she would go ahead, despite police interest. Rosie Reid, 18, a lesbian social policy student from Dulwich, London, said she wanted the cash to avoid graduating with too many debts.

According to her website, Rosie has closed the sale after receiving a £8,400 bid on Sunday 8/2/04.

That was four years ago—and this prostitute I actually believe, when she claims to be a virgin, because she is really someone that any self respecting man would kick out of bed. £8,400 to have sex with a cold lesbian—what was the bidder thinking of? Reported by the lesbian leaning BBC.

Virginity 4 Sale from California--"Natalie Dylan"
—This 22-year-old San Diego student has already earned her BA in women's studies at Sacramento State and now wants to fund a Masters with her virginity.

Natalie attempted to sell her virginity on eBay, but eBay refused. Now her virginity is up for sale online at the infamous Nevada Moonlight Bunny Ranch, the brothel where he sister works. This 22-year-old San Diego student, who goes by the alias "Natalie Dylan," claims she wants to pay for her college education. She says she's already earned her bachelor's degree in women's studies at Sacramento State and that in January 2009, she'll start her master's work in marriage and family therapy there (are you kidding?). She hopes to get a doctorate (in prostitution?). “Why shouldn't I be able to capitalize on my virginity?" Reported by City News, from California.

If this one’s a virgin, I repeat, I’m a monkey’s uncle.

Virginity 4 Sale from Manchester--“Carys Copestake”
— A baby-faced teen, who refuses to have her face photo published, is trying to sell her virginity for £10,000 so she can pay her way through university.

“Carys Copestake” hides behind a false name to advertise her body on a website favoured by prostitutes—and her parents, with whom she still lives in Denton, Manchester, have no idea. Using the come-on: "Virginity For Sale £10,000," she adds, "Hey, I think the title says it all. I'm an 18-year-old virgin with student funds to pay and I'm looking to sell my first time right here. I'm brunette, 34C, green eyes, all in proportion and good looking." She explained she was due to start a four-year physics course at Salford University in September. "I don't know how to prove to you that I'm a virgin. You'll have to trust me."

Is she that stupid or what? For £10,000 I would want proof of her virginity. But wait—what an innovative idea? Why don’t all the other female students do the same? Could it be that they still have some vestigial sense of morality. Reported by The People.