Ovi magazine; Saturday May 13th, 2023

The articles, the opinions, the stories, the poems, the thoughts, the reviews, the photos, the paintings and the cartoons Ovi magazine covers for Saturday May 13th, 2023

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A Certain Form of Thieving: The US Banksters Strike Again by Dr. Binoy Kampmark

It looks like 2008 all over again.  Economic and financial mismanagement feature in scorching, consuming brilliance.  The culpable, bungling banksters, have returned with their customary, venal incompetence.  In the customary script, theyhabitually seek the role of the public purse to socialise their losses.  Along the way, they will avoid richly deserved prison sentences, lie low, and return to repeat their sins.

A number of big ships in the banking industry have already sunk into oblivion, sold off and made footnotes in financial folklore.  Silicon Valley Bank, Signature Bank and most recently, First Republic Bank, have begotten their own tombstones.These big three held, in total, $532 billion.  When adjusted for inflation, it edges out the total of $526 billion held by the 25 banks that collapsed in 2008.

First Republic Bank was particularly execrable in its practices, offering non-guaranteed mortgages at fixed rates for vast sums of money.  When chills started running down the spines of depositors in the first quarter of this year, bleeding withdrawals totalling $102 billion made.

The US Federal Reserve’s review of SVB’s collapsepicked up on a number of issues specific to the bank’s actions, while also offering a meaculpa for not only its own failings, but for those of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporate and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.  Afterall, what were these supposedly eagle-eyed supervisors, the stewards tasked with overseeing the system, doing during all this time? 

Continue reading HERE!

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Hope #poem by Dr. Lawrence Nannery

“A thousand years ago: bound by belief
That they were in the hands of God,
Celtic monks, bearing relics and saintly trinkets,
Loaves of bread, perhaps fish, perhaps an offered coverlet,
Boarded dedicated curraghs,
To send off into the fogbound sea,
Where the grey of the waters and the grey of the sky
Meet and mix.”

Continue reading HERE!

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Mika Toxica #54 #cartoon by Thanos Kalamidas

For more Mika Toxica HERE!

For more Ovi Cartoons, HERE!

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Ovi magazine; Saturday March 18th, 2023

The articles, the opinions, the stories, the poems and the cartoons Ovi magazine covers for Saturday March 18th, 2023

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Disastrous Harvest: Silicon Valley Bank and the Anti-Regulation Bank Lobby by Dr. Binoy Kampmark

Before the financial collapse come the aggressive anti-regulation lobbyists.  These are often of the same ilk: loathing anything resembling oversight, restriction, reporting and monitoring.  They are incarnations of the frontier, symbolically toting guns and slaying the natives, seeking wealth beyond paper jottings, compliance and bureaucratic tedium. 

The collapse of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB), for a period of time the preferred bank for start-ups, is the bitter fruit of that harvest.  Three days prior to the second-largest failure of a US financial institution since the implosion of Washington Mutual (Wamu) in 2008, lobbyists for the banking sector had reason to gloat.  They had the ears of a number of GOP lawmakers and were pressing the case that Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell had little reason to sharpen regulations in the industry.

As a matter of fact, the converse case was put: the financial environment was proving too stringent, and needed easing up.  This effort built on gains made during the Trump administration, which saw the passing of the Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief, and Consumer Protection Act.  Then House majority leader Kevin McCarthy was particularly keen on winding back elements of the Dodd-Frank banking measures introduced in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis.  In 2018, he got much of what he wished for.

Continue reading HERE!

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Translations from the Cinema – Ballad of a Soldier #poem by Dr. Lawrence Nannery

“The boy is young, but with his country invaded, he is first of all a soldier.
He performs such an unexpected heroism that he is given leave to visit his home.
He has ten days.
There are chaotic conditions, there are many adventures, many diversions,
Many frustrations, but who cares about all that?”

Continue reading HERE!

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Mika Toxica #50 #cartoon by Thanos Kalamidas

For more Mika Toxica HERE!

For more Ovi Cartoons, HERE!

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Ovi magazine; Tuesday November 16th, 2021

 

The articles, the opinions, the stories, the poems and the cartoons Ovi magazine covers for Tuesday November 16th, 2021

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The Dark Forces Changing Malaysian Society by Murray Hunter

Malaysia was once a harmonious society, where the different ethnic groups coexisted with a sense of community, and each ethnic group once openly celebrated festivals together. All the ethnic groups were free to express their cultures, and practice their religions without interference. Malaysia had a strong and stable government with a working multi-racial coalition. All of the nation’s citizens were once proud to be Malaysian.

Malaysia once lived up to the tourist slogan ‘Malaysia, Truly Asia’.

There are many forces that have dramatically changed Malaysian society over the last 50 years. Tanah Melayu has changed from a rich multi-cultural society, that was appreciated by all, towards an insular narrow thinking one, where minority groups have become disconnected from the cultural, political, and social directions the country is now headed.

The product of this changing Malaysia is the current budget delivered by the new Ismail Sabri Yakoob government just recently. This budget has been criticised from many quarters. The budget is being charged as being unfair to all citizens, and totally lacking empathy towards the suffering Rakyat during this Covid crisis. Former minister Zaid Ibrahim said that Malaysia is the only country in the world that has a race specific budget.

The rest of this article will look at the factors that have brought Malaysia to this point.

Continue reading HERE!

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In a new room #poem by Bohdan Yuri

“Shadows dancing, lost and found,
stars above, make no sounds; 
from the moon, ghostly abstractions
fill my room with playful distractions.”

Continue reading HERE!

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Subsidies and soft loans: facts and fallacies by Joseph Gatt

In many countries, notably France and former French colonies, I hear a lot of businesses saying things like “we need the government to help us” or “our business needs subsidies” or “our businesses needs soft loans.”

So here are the facts and fallacies.

Fallacy: subsidies help increase production

Fact: a lot of the subsidies go to new technologies but also training in the new technologies, hiring new staff, and other expenses.

In the case of agriculture, production depends on many factors, including weather factors and the overall economic health of the nation.

In the case of industry, production depends widely on the necessity of the product and the overall consumer demand of the product.

So subsidies won’t always increase production. And even if subsidies do increase production that does not guarantee the product will sell.

Fallacy: the government should build electricity, water, gas and transportation facilities for farmers and small industries.

Fact: the government should connect cities and provide citizens access to electricity and gas and water.

Continue reading HERE!

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UNESCO founded

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations established on 16 November 1945. Its stated purpose is to contribute to peace and security by promoting international collaboration through education, science, and culture in order to further universal respect for justice, the rule of law, and the human rights along with fundamental freedoms proclaimed in the UN Charter. It is the heir of the League of Nations’ International Commission on Intellectual Cooperation.

UNESCO has 193 Member States and seven Associate Members. The organization is based in Paris, with over 50 field offices and many specialized institutes and centres throughout the world. Most of the field offices are “cluster” offices covering three or more countries; there are also national and regional offices. UNESCO pursues its objectives through five major programs: education, natural sciences, social and human sciences, culture, and communication and information. Projects sponsored by UNESCO include literacy, technical, and teacher-training programmes; international science programmes; the promotion of independent media and freedom of the press; regional and cultural history projects; the promotion of cultural diversity; international cooperation agreements to secure the world cultural and natural heritage (World Heritage Sites) and to preserve human rights, and attempts to bridge the worldwide digital divide.

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Tang & Ram 21#21 #cartoon by Thanos Kalamidas

for more Tang & Ram, HERE!

For more Ovi Cartoons, HERE!

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