Nationalization: Romania, the USA, Financial Panic and Politics

"Waiter, There a Banker in My Soup..."
Babba Zee
Outraged Spleen of Zion

IT'S A COOKBOOK!!!!

El Predicto Sez: Next thing to be Nationalized? Oil & Energy Companies

After that? Railroads, Airlines, Aerospace Corps, Tech Co's, Auto & Steel Manufacturers & Farms

It ain't rocket science, it's history ... NATIONALIZATION

JUNE 2008: Another Democrat calls for Nationalizing Oil Refinery Industry

2005: Automakers Are Lining Up Aid, But Just Don't Call It a Bailout

SEPTEMBER 7, 2008: Detroit's sputtering Big Three turn to Washington for help

AUGUST 2008: The Great American Bailout: Costs, Repercussions and the End of U.S. Financial Domination

AUDIO: The long history of federal and corporate bailouts

Creative Destruction

Bank of America, Merrill Bailout Disguised as Buyout?

PLEASE, FORGIVE HIS ENGLISH:

After World War Two, under the soviet army occupation and a large collaborationism from the impoverished and free stated people, Romania became Republic of the People and the National Bank of Romania was nationalized, becoming Bank of the State. On the mean time, the whole banking system was nationalized were interrupted the links with western capitalist countries. In Romania under soviet influence became to be put on practice the economy and social organization from the Soviet Union.

From World War Two to 1990 the Bank of the State had absolute control on the financial flow and accumulated all of the banking operation. In ‘70s and ‘80s, for more than two decades, in the multilateral developed socialist society, in Romania existed yet, only 4 banks, like The Romanian Bank of Foreign Trade, The Bank of Agriculture and Food Industry , The Investment Bank and the House of Savings and Securities(CEC), all of them public companies, strictly controlled by the Bank of the State.

The activity in this commercial banks was one of routine, predictable planned, without too much thrills. Only one of this ones, the House of Savings and Securities assumed the savings of the people, the offer of financial products being really low, rudimentary, the period of time to make a deposit was initially win for one year long, later for win six months, and the interest rate was symbolic, somewhere between( 0.5-3%) without much fluctuation.

The Lonely Shepherd ~ Traditional Romanian Song
Gheorghe Zamfir**, Pan Flute ~ Arrangement: James Last

The other commercial banks were working with public companies only, companies from industry , agriculture, only the Romanian Bank of Foreign Trade was involved in import-export financial activities. For the people, at the time, a so called crediting was possible only by the mean of the Reciprocal Aid Houses, organized on economic activity branches. The reform begins at the end of 1990, one year after the December 1989 revolution, being projected a banking system on two levels:

- on the first level, the Bank of State was been reorganized, being renamed the National Bank of Romania , and for commercial activities of the ex-Bank of the State till that moment, was been established the Romanian Commercial Bank (BCR).

- on the second level, by Government Decision, the former 3 public banks: the Romanian Bank of Foreign Trade, the Bank of Agriculture and Food Industry, the Investment Bank were transformed in commercial banks with public capital, diversifying its activities.
On the mean time from 1990 till 1992 were been established new private commercial banks, on the 31/1990 law basis, a special banking law wasn’t yet available.

Only at the end of 1991, the law 33/1991 regulates the banking activities for commercial banks, and the law 34/1991 approves an status for the NBR, about two years after the December ’89 revolution. The declared objectives of the NBR were mostly:
1- the stability of the Romanian currency LEU
and
2- the stability of the staple products and services.

Soon in ‘90s by speculating the legislative and authority emptiness, the corruption of the state administration and the lack of experience of the majority of people concerning the market economy, almost everything was possible for the unscrupulous.

The passing from the socialist society with predictable and planified economy and banking to the western open market economy made evident soon after 1990s, the lack of strategy in the NBR management and in the Romanian banking system, mostly from 1990 to 2000, comparing with the west-European or American banking, towards we were heading for, in words but thanks to the competitive market economy, this countries were evolving continuously, after World War Two and they’re still advanced now.

**Zamfir is a rabid proponent of the fascistic nationalist-communist ideology of "protochronism" developed during the Ceausescu period. According to "protochronism", Romania is the cradle, the origin of all world civilisation, and Romanian is the language from which all other languages in the world derive (Latin, for example, derives from Romanian, not the other way around!). According to the protochronists, Romanians invented everything from writing to the wheel. Protochronism (and Zamfir) is closely linked to the recently deceased billionaire Romanian emigre businessman Iosif Constantin Dragan, who was deeply involved in the anti-Semitic Iron Guard movement. Dragan's nationalism also led him to collaborate with the Ceausescu regime.

Tom Waits
Brother Can You Spare a Dime?

Consequently, the "battle for the mind" must be a central feature of future NATO actions

PSYOP links
do not think for one second that none of this applies to "us", or that we are exempt or immune to these tactics.

Today, Psychological Operations are a vital part of the broad range of U.S. political, military, economic and ideological activities used by the U.S. government to secure national objectives. The mission of providing Psychological Operations for the U.S. Military today rests with the U.S. Army's Civil Affairs and Psychological Operations Command at Fort Bragg, North Carolina.







57 Ways To Weave Your Cover!

WANT more Babba Zee and the Outraged Spleen of Zion? Try these recent posts: * Sherab Zangpo: Liberator of Kidnapped Peace * WFRL: No Sanctuary!

by Babba Zee
images: Outraged Spleen of Zion
Source: Waiter, There's a Banker in my Soup...

Army Develops RoboCop Super Soldier Exoskeleton Suit

Super Soldiers Coming to a War Near You



Super Soldiers may not be something only seen in sci-fi movies.

The U.S. Army is developing--in conjunction with a Salt Lake City robotics company, Sarkos--technology to turn a 98-pound weakling into a Superman. "The future is now" was the motto of George Allen, of LA Rams and Washington Redskins fame. It might just as well be the motto of the U.S. Army.

Rex Jameson bikes and swims regularly, and plays tennis and skis when time allows. But the 5-foot-11, 180-pound software engineer is lucky if he presses 200 pounds—that is, until he steps into an "exoskeleton" of aluminum and electronics that multiplies his strength and endurance as many as 20 times.

With the outfit's claw-like metal hand extensions, he gripped a weight set's bar at a recent demonstration and knocked off hundreds of repetitions. Once, he did 500.

"Everyone gets bored much more quickly than I get tired," Jameson said.

Jameson—who works for robotics firm Sarcos Inc. in Salt Lake City, which is under contract with the U.S. Army—is helping assess the 150-pound suit's viability for the soldiers of tomorrow. The suit works by sensing every movement the wearer makes and almost instantly amplifying it.

The video below gives a demonstration of the latest offerings from Sarkos.




The Army is planning for the day that soldiers wear the robotic exoskeletons into combat, but for now is putting its emphasis on developing more mundane applications, such as loading heavy equipment or cargo into trucks or repairing heavily-armored vehicles.

Sarkos' two-year contract with the Army may be worth as much as $10 million.

Field tests by the Army are expected to begin sometime in 2009.

The biggest barrier to developing the exoskeletons into a practical combat weapon is one that very much resides in the here-and-now: cost. But, like any new high-tech products, price usually drops rapidly after others jump into the market and develop competing applications.

"We see the value being realized when these suits can be built in great numbers for both military and commercial uses, and they start coming down in cost to within the range of the price of a small car," said Jacobsen. He declined to estimate how much the suit might cost in mass production.

Battery life is also an issue at present: current battery life is just a little over a half hour.

But cost isn't the only obstacle. For example, developers eventually hope to lengthen the suit's backpack battery's life and tinker with the suit's design to use less energy. Meanwhile, the suit can draw power from a generator, a tank or helicopter. And there are gas engines that, while noisy, small enough to fit into the suit's backpack.

"The power issue is probably the No. 1 challenge standing in the way of getting this thing in the field," Obusek said.

The U.S. Army's foray into robotic soldiers (1995) isn't much older than a couple of famous Hollywood movies featuring an exoskeleton-clad hero: Robo-Cop (1987) and Robo-Cop 2 (1990). Robo-cop was a cyborg--part man, part machine--but the idea of a human enhanced by robotic features--is the same.

The U.S. Army program is all about expanding human capabilities using robotics.

But the technology already offers evidence that robotics can amplify human muscle power in reality—not just in the realm of comic books and movies like the recently debuted "Iron Man," about a wealthy weapons designer who builds a high-tech suit to battle bad guys.

Robo-Cop

"Everybody likes the idea of being a superhero, and this is all about expanding the capabilities of a human," said Stephen Jacobsen, chief designer of the Sarcos suit.

The Army's exoskeleton research dates to 1995, but has yet to yield practical suits. Sarcos' technology sufficiently impressed Raytheon Co., however, that the Waltham, Mass.-based defense contractor bought Sarcos' robotics business last November. Sarcos also has developed robotic dinosaurs for a Universal Studios' "Jurassic Park" theme park ride.

What's this mean--in practical terms--for the future of Super Soldiers?

Jack Obusek, a former colonel now with the Army's Soldier Research Development and Engineering Center in the Boston suburb of Natick, foresees robot-suited soldiers unloading heavy ammunition boxes from helicopters, lugging hundreds of pounds of gear over rough terrain or even relying on the suit's strength-enhancing capabilities to make repairs to tanks that break down in inconvenient locations.

Sarcos' Jacobsen envisions factory workers someday using the technology to perform manual labor more easily, and firefighters more quickly carrying heavy gear up stairwells of burning buildings. Disabled people also may find uses for the technology, he said.

Super Soldiers aren't going to be showing up on battlefields in Iraq in the next few months--or probably in the next few years--but their day is fast approaching.

While it's a great innovation for U.S. soldiers, expect to see the exoskeletons filter down soon afterwards--like paramilitary tactics and military gear--to big city police departments, and eventually as the price comes down, smaller cities and villages police.

Then the sci-fi idea will become that oldest of military analogies: the double-edge sword.

by Mondoreb
hat tip: Ernest Hancock, Freedom's Phoenix
images:
* 800hightech
* lpmpjogja
* geekofalltrades
* amazon.com
Source:
* Brietbart

Ft. Bliss Soldier's Children Laid to Rest

by Mondoreb & Little Baby Ginn

A soldier wounded, his family then involved in a car accident. A tragic story, one that makes your heart go out to the survivors. More on this from Albuquerque News:

Army Spc. John Austin Johnson, a Fort Bliss cavalry soldier who has survived five IED attacks in Iraq, and his wife Monalisa were at funeral services in Arkansas Tuesday for their two youngest children, killed Oct. 13 in a single-vehicle rollover on Interstate 10, the El Paso Times reported.

The couple's oldest child, 9-year-old Tyler Johnson, suffered severe head injuries in the accident and remains in critical but stable condition at Children's Medical Center in Dallas, the Times reported. The mother received minor injuries in the crash, the paper has said.

The family had been on their way to visit Johnson at Brooke Army Medical Center Hospital in San Antonio, Texas, where he was recovering from wounds he received in his latest brush with an improvised explosive device, the Times has said.

Johnson is a member of Fort Bliss' 4-1 Cavalry and has survived five brushes with improvised explosive devices during his two years in combat in Iraq, Army Sgt. 1st Class Eugene Schmidt told the Dallas Morning News.

His latest brush with an IED left him with a traumatic brain injury that has him speaking with a stutter, Schmidt said.

"He said, `Two of my children are dead?'" said Schmidt, who broke the news to Johnson. "And we started crying."

According to Schmidt, Johnson's wife Lisa overcorrected her sports utility vehicle after getting hit with a gust of wind on the drive from El Paso.

The youngest children -- 2-year-old Logan and 5-year-old Ashley -- died at the scene, and 9-year-old Tyler Johnson suffered massive head injuries and was on life support at Children's Medical Center in Dallas, the Times reported.

An account to help Johnson, who is with Fort Bliss' 4-1 Cavalry, and his family has been set up at FirstLight Federal Credit Union, which has seven branches in El Paso and Las Cruces, the Times reported.

Contributions to the Johnson Family Memorial Fund may be made by calling 1-800-351-1670.

Regardless of whatever god you pray to, a family to include in your prayers.

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Iran Names CIA "Terrorist Organization"A NEW PLAYER IN THE WAR on TERROR

by Mondoreb

The Terrorist Designation market is getting crowded. With its economy in shambles, Iran has sought to muscle it's way into a domain usually reserved for the United States, the country which had 3000 of its citizens murdered in one incident. From the AP

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) - Iran's parliament on Saturday approved a nonbinding resolution labeling the CIA and the U.S. Army "terrorist organizations," in apparent response to a Senate resolution seeking to give a similar designation to Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

The hard-line dominated parliament cited U.S. involvement in dropping nuclear bombs in Japan in World War II, using depleted uranium munitions in the Balkans, Afghanistan and Iraq, supporting the killings of Palestinians by Israel, bombing and killing Iraqi civilians, and torturing terror suspects in prisons.

Iran's parliment, taking their cue from TheDailyKOS and the American Left, is interested in scrutinizing past American history through the eyes of the present and condemning the United States.

"The aggressor U.S. Army and the Central Intelligence Agency are terrorists and also nurture terror," said a statement by the 215 lawmakers who signed the resolution at an open session of the Iranian parliament. The session was broadcast live on state-run radio.

It isn't known yet Iran's position on the storming of another country's embassy, taking foreign diplomats hostage, threatening nuclear annihilation and advocating extermination of particular religious groups. A good guess would be that no statements on these activites are planned.
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