De-cashing: IMF’s Roadmap for a Cashless World Economy

In March 2017, the IMF released what it calls a ‘Working Paper’. But we can call it for what it really is – a ‘Trial Balloon’. (Google the term, if you need to.) The following are salient excerpts - and my own interpretation of what they actually mean ...in a calling-a-spade-a-spade sort of way.



The wet dream of the IMF satraps and their fellow ‘monetary policy makers’ is the prospect of sucking out the life savings of people – by threatening them, in essence, with a “spend it or lose it” ultimatum.

It does not matter that the Cashless Economy does not seem to have a positive impact on governments’ financial health. Annoying, but not enough rationale to keep them from doing it anyway. It is obvious here, that the driving factor towards the Cashless Economy is beyond national interests – and perhaps above the pay-grade of national governments and "public servants", literally!

It’s not just national governments; even the propensity of the little people to squirrel away a few hard assets for hard times is just an inconvenience to be bulldozed away in their noble adventure. For the ivory tower dwellers and their paymasters, nothing is more important than having their way. Consequences be damned.



They’ve got it all planned out too. And much of the financial coercion is already in place across geographies as diverse as the socialist utopia of the EU, the nationalist BJP-ruled India, the capitalistic Goldman Sachs/Trump-led USA, and even in sundry monarchies of the Middle East.



Of course, the most important thing is to never allow the hoi polloi suspect that serfdom is afoot. The tools are new – but the plot is age-old: to keep them fearful of barbarians and war drums beating in distant lands – and to keep them distracted with bread and media circuses at home!



If you still believe the self-righteous hand-wringing of the elites over caviar and Dom Pérignon at Davos on the subject of “financial inclusion” – I think you might deserve what is coming. The billionaire may even talk about the Cashless Economy being able to “plug leakages” in the current system through Direct Benefit Transfers or Universal Basic Income. The system they desire is a Privatized Monetary System where you pay the rentiers – telecom companies, fintech companies, payment banks, settlement banks, database owners, and ID authenticators – between 1 and 2% per transaction.



And the final push – or shove – towards a Cashless Economy will be coordinated globally. It has to be; because it will be such an unpopular situation that entire commercial and demographic trends may shift to amenable domains unpolluted by the elitist thinking. They simply can’t have the sheep leaving their farms.



But how long will the implementation of this psychopathic policy will take? I suspect it will depend on when you and I are ready to acquiesce.

If you have the time and inclination to educate yourself, read the entire IMF trial balloon masquerading as a working paper here… http://www.imf.org/external/ns/search.aspx?NewQuery=wp1771

I suggest you download it even if you don't want to read it. The more people access it, the more likely are the wolves to break a little bead of perspiration, wondering: “Dammit, did we wake the sheep?”

The New World Order: One Vast and Ecumenical Holding Company

The movie 'Network' (1976) is an experience not unlike applying a defibrillator to side of one's head.

Out of the many epic scenes in an epic movie with epic talent on full display, the scene below stands out, at least for me, as particularly prescient... It is very intellectual. Very lucid. Very convincing. Very scary.

Besides all that, I also like it for protraying how, quite contrary to what many believe (as did I, at one point), the New World Order will overwhelm the current (seemingly) disorderly world not with suddenness and chaos -- but much like hypothermia: Pain and helplessness slowly, fuzzily transforming into the warm embrace of death.

Now watch -- and be forewarned...

Are you a mason? Or an architect?

In virtually every industry, there is a clear differentiation in the type of work expectation and cost implication between high-value strategic thinkers and the volume-dependent execution specialists.

Let’s consider the differences between an architect and a mason.

The architect and the mason come with their own knowledge & skill sets. The mason is expected to follow the rules – but the architect is expected to experiment within the bounds of safety and function. And clients are usually smart enough to understand and appreciate that while the mason makes a building, the architect aims to create a landmark!

An architect is brought in when appropriate time and resources are available – and the potential returns (tangible and intangible) are proportionately significant. Like the design of a large and prestigious public building.

Or an architect may be brought in when the assignment has complex limitations – and only a clever architect could actually maximise the impact by working around the shortcomings. Like a millionaire’s pad in Manhattan where floor space is a stubborn constraint.

Most structures need a mason to build it – but not all structures need Frank Gehry to design it.

Here’s my postulation… In Advertising, there are genuine creative thinkers and really good execution specialists. Judging based on designation would be terribly misleading – but judging by the result of individual work should reveal who’s writing, desiging or servicing - and who’s building brands.

You will find that while the execution specialist is busy churning out prodigious quantities of ads, brochures, posters, flyers, rollups, backdrops and PowerPoint slides… the creative thinker is quietly working on an idea to make the brand stand out like a dramatic landmark against an otherwise dreary advertising skyline.

One keeps the agency bean-counters happy. The other gets frantic calls about a client’s looming travel plan.

Can You Imagine Ad Agencies Without Creatives?

Well, the ad agency without creatives just might be the future... Even Sir Martin Sorrell says he thinks the industry needs "Math men not Mad Men".

For an ad agency, profits on retainer fees and media commissions are wafer thin. Bigger budgets and fatter profit margins are on production work (print, digital or activation) that are typically done externally by 'specialists'.

Naturally, agency bean-counters will increasingly focus on pushing for expensive external productions, rather than internal creatives. And it'll be the slick salesmen (the "suits") who'll become the 'profit-centres', rather than the creative teams. This will have a knock-on effect on recruitment, incentives, promotions, and retention.

Agencies may end up with a rump creative dept. (a glorified studio set-up) that churns out the relatively 'low value' stuff that keeps retainer-paying clients "happy" -- while increasingly relying on freelancers for big ideas on pitches and big campaigns.

Eventually, ad agencies will turn to Plug 'n' Play Creative specialists. (I'd touched on this possibility in a post in March 2010.)

Ultimately, we must remember that 'creatives' is NOT the ad agency's raison d'etre... Ad agencies began as boring media commission agents -- the enterprising ones merely threw in good copywriting and impactful visualising as a 'value add' or differentiator. The crest of this 'creative is king' wave was Bill Bernbach and the 'Mad Men' era.

Like it or not, that wave is ebbing... simply, because it is no longer the most profitable business model.

Is the Nestlé Group Chairman a fascist or a fool?

I think the individual in the video below is a prime representative of just about all that is wrong with the mindset in the upper echelons of the corporate world today!

He is Peter Brabeck, the Chairman and former CEO of Nestlé Group... And poor Peter snugly ensconced in his ivory tower cannot comprehend a worldview beyond the techno-panacea which he is part of.

In the Nestlé corporate video (below) condescendingly titled: 'We feed the world', he is telling us quite candidly -- with not a tinge of irony in his voice -- that the time has come for mankind to subjugate nature... That GMO foods are good - and organic food is actually not good... That workers must work much harder to ensure that more people can get employment (only to later beam with admiration for a robotised factory with "almost no people")... And that "water is just a raw material" which must be given a "market value".

On the surface, it might seem he is merely suggesting the world's food and freshwater supply (the raw material) be "sold" by the public (via governemtn representatives) to corporate giants like Nestlé who will process / package / bottle it and sell it (the finished product) back to the public for a nice multi million-dollar profit margin.

By awarding exclusive charters for owning and trading food and water, the ruling class is, in effect, forcing the public into near total dependence on and submission to the oligarchs. In essence, this legal-corporate union is called Fascism!

So Peter Brabeck is either knowingly advocating Fascism - or is too naive and dumb to realise the import of what he is saying...



ADDENDUM:
Leave aside for one minute the downstream choke-hold on seeds and farming by the likes of Monsanto, Bayer and Dow. Or the monopolistic hold on supply chains by entities like Cargill. Or the upstream control by retail cartels like Walmart - and take a look at the chart below...

THIS IS THE REALITY AT THE TOP END OF THE CONSUMERIST CHAIN!



I believe it was that shining paradigm of humanitarian compassion, Henry Kissinger, who once said: "Control oil, and you control nations... Control food, and you control the people." Consider yourself warned!

Jean-Claude van Damme, a tightrope-walker, a hamster, and a presidential stunt

There are the usual boring product feature demos... And there are truly EPIC product feature demos!

Here Jean-Claude van Damme demonstrates the Dynamic Steering on the new Volvo FH truck.


Here a tightrope-walker demonstrates the precision and control of the Volvo FH series.


Here, a hamster demonstrates how to steer a 15-tonne using nothing but a fresh carrot!


And finally, the President of Volvo Trucks shows us how to make a successful Youtube video.


Well done, Volvo!

Does Ryanair's CEO actually insult his customers?

Michael O'Leary, CEO of Ryanair recently went on-air for a live Q&A chat on Twitter. Irate Ryanair fliers made known their dissatisfaction - and true to form, Mr O'Leary offended and insulted a large number of them!

So how does he manage to run an airline without having any respect or consideration for air-passengers?

You may have a point if you think that people are psychologically prepared to endure hardship and insults as long as they can fly cheap. But I think the real answer is simpler still. After reading the many smart and well meaning comments on a related Linkedin article gives me the feeling that people misunderstand the meaning of "customer" in this case.

MICHAEL O'LEARY KNOWS THAT THE PASSENGERS ON RYANAIR ARE NOT HIS "CUSTOMERS"!

Allow me to explain... The Ryanair business model is almost entirely based on financial engineering.

According to this unoffical September 2013 analysis, "Ryanair flies on (government) subsidies and tax discounts." The brand's belligerant stance hides a highly complex financial structure that is designed to handle legal battles and maximise tax benefits.

In fact Ryanair, based in Ireland, paid zero net tax in 2009.

Ryanair's real revenue, and the multi-millions that Michael O'Leary rakes-in annually, come from Europe's political and bureaucratic setup. The air tickets, in-flight sales and on-ground charges paid by fliers are simply a means to reduce operating costs.

Now it's easy to see why O'Leary can insult passengers (end user) with impunity, isn't it? The passenger is not the real "customer" - and he does not matter in the grand scheme of profit-making. Ryanair's real benefactors are the ones that make the civil aviation laws and the giant tax-funded loopholes that O'Leary and his accountants fly their airplanes through.

This is the exact same thing with people who think they are "customers" of social networking sites. Sorry, you are only the end user. And in a way, you are the product being sold to actual paying customers - the advertisers.

The Biggest Scam In The History of Mankind

"Currency" or what we term "money" is a fake construct.

IT DOES NOT EXIST!

Our financial system is actually a giant mechanism that is designed to channellise the wealth created by human effort to the ruling class and their cronies.

This 30-minute video explains the truth (and lies) behind the scam of currency creation in any nation with a central bank.

See it. Share it.

Sailing across the world's largest sewer: The Pacific Ocean

"The Ocean is broken" is a must-read article in the Newcastle Herald. (Just make sure it's not during mealtime.)

The article recounts the experiences of Ivan Macfadyen, a yachtsman from Newcastle, Australia. Ten years ago, in 2003, Ivan had sailed from Melbourne to Osaka. Earlier this year, he set sail on exactly the same course - sailing the Pacific Ocean from Melbourne to Osaka - and then on to San Francisco.

The following is what he said about what he saw in the Pacific Ocean.

"I've done a lot of miles on the ocean in my life and I'm used to seeing turtles, dolphins, sharks and big flurries of feeding birds. But this time, for 3000 nautical miles there was nothing alive to be seen.

"We hardly saw any living things. We saw one whale, sort of rolling helplessly on the surface with what looked like a big tumour on its head. It was pretty sickening.

"[...] it felt as if the ocean itself was dead."

More than 2 years ago, I had posted about the giant floating continents of festering garbage in the Pacific Ocean...

Giant "plastic soups" of garbage stretch over hundreds, if not thousands, of square kilometres of open ocean. The largest of these is the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. Estimates on size range from 700,000 square kilometres to more than 15,000,000 square kilometres, i.e. ranging from 0.41% to 8.1% of the size of the Pacific Ocean - a body of water that makes up nearly 50% of the 'blue' in the 'blue planet'.

There is a floating 'plastic continent' in the Indian Ocean and another one in the North Atlantic too.

From the very beginning, human civilization has thrived on the banks of rivers and the shores of oceans - which are presently bubbling with chemicals, carcinogens and worse. Well, at least, we have the land...

Oh, wait! We've f-ed that up as well.

I hope Sir Richard Branson will spare me a one-way second-class ticket to one of the moons of Jupiter.

Join the dots...

This is a 34 min video. As you watch it, you can distinctly hear the sound of wagons circling...

Don Draper is not my yardstick of a good Creative Director

I like to read stuff written online. When I find an interesting point-of-view that I'd have never thought of on my own, I sometimes use it as the starting point for further thinking or reading. However, I have learned from (many a) firsthand experience to never believe any point-of-view as the absolute truth.

That's why I try to avoid articles that are thick (yes, pun) on meaningless jargon and cliches.... You know, the type I mean: "5 Ways Brand Conversations are overtaking Brand Advertising" or "10 Reasons Why Traditional Advertising is Dead".

Today I came across this two-part article from early-2009 titled "What Makes A Good Creative Director?" - Part 1 & Part 2. It is a very well-considered and well-written piece. It isn't blatant self-promotion, or hero-worship of the latest creative demi-god. In fact, it is genuinely grounded, with lots of anecdotes from the real Advertising world - and hardly any 'Mad Men' cliches.

The article had another more important, and rather unintended, effect. It challenged me to accept the points that I find myself nodding in agreement with as well as the one I didn't agree totally with. Why? Because I understood that I may be unconsciously agreeing only with qualities that I believed I had, and disagreeing with the ones I didn't possess. It's called Confirmation Bias, where we accept as true only that information which conforms to or affirms our existing beliefs.

In other words, this article had information I could interpret in two dfferent ways:
1. I could parse the article for points that I agree with and dismiss the others as mere opinion - and bask in the ego-warming view of myself as a "Good" Creative Director, or
2. I could accept that the author had better experience and insight - and that there are areas that I genuinely need to work on to become a "Good" Creative Director.

I am choosing a daunting new yardstick to measure myself by.

I have 'cut & past' excerpts from the original article to summarise (woefully imperfectly) the qualities that a "Good Creative Director" must possess. (For the real deal, please click the article's links above. It's a must-read for any ambitious person in Advertising Creative.)

Here are the 24 qualities that make a "Good" Creative Director:

1. The creative director is the last line of defense.
When no one else in the creative department knows where to take a job, or how to crack a brief, the CD can do it. They have the experience, the savvy and the ability to produce the work when no one else can.

2. The creative director doesn’t play politics with creatives.
Yes, the CD can play office politics and be a shrewd player of the game within the agency itself, but not with the team they oversee.

3. The creative director gives specific feedback.
A good creative director gives specific feedback, not vague platitudes. Their direction will be considered, constructive, smart and intelligible.

4. The creative director is well-versed in all crafts.
Great CDs are chameleons who understand the balance between concepts & strategy, and copy & design.

5. The creative director is a selfless creative.
A good CD will let you flex your creative muscles and allow your own work to shine.

6. The creative director is not your best buddy.
If you want friends, don’t look to the CD. (Read the article to find out why.)

7. The creative director knows the latest trends.
If your CD has no idea what Facebook is, or looks puzzled when you talk about Twitter or social networking, they aren’t doing their duty, as an advertiser, to understand the modern consumer.

8. The creative director will hire great creatives.
Several giants in the industry, including the late, great David Ogilvy, talked about hiring people more talented than themselves.

9. The creative director is well-read.
By reading a wide variety of books, periodicals and websites, the CD is furnished with a mind that can think outside of the annuals, and guide work that other agencies will follow.

10. The creative director produces work.
Good creative directors never lose that passion, that drive and that hunger for doing great work. It’s in the blood.

11. The creative director knows every creative brief intimately.
When the creative director guides the account team to get the brief ready, expect good things. When the CD shouts “I’m not quite understanding point four” in the briefing, expect long nights and short tempers.

12. The creative director is an idea catalyst.
Creative directors, good ones, are an encyclopedia of advertising and design. They’ve seen a lot, they’ve created a lot, they’ve tasted success and failure a million times. In effect, they are armed with a tool kit that helps them plant seeds at every stage of the job.

13. The creative director has a broad range of experience.
Most good CDs are armed with a huge range of experiences, be they copywriters, art directors or designers. They will have attended photoshoots and film productions. They will know what the inside of a recording studio looks like. They will have direct mail experience, print and web knowledge, and will know a thing or two about outdoor, PR and guerrilla.

14. The creative director steers the whole ship in the right direction.
The work that comes out of the creative department is the agency’s product. The agency lives and dies by its creative work, and that ultimately comes down on the creative director.

15. The creative director understands strategy and planning.
A CD may not agree with the strategy, but he or she should understand it and adhere to it. And if it’s wrong, they should speak up before the brief ever gets on a creative team’s desk.

16. The creative director is a shepherd.
The CD should set the standard for how the creatives are treated within the agency. If he or she lets account directors walk all over creative teams, changing copy and art direction at will, then the morale in the department will hit rock bottom. The CD who is a good shepherd will keep the creatives in line, but also keep the wolves from bringing them and their work down.

17. The creative director can sell or present anything, and do it well.
Selling and presenting is a skill; by the time you’re elevated to the dizzy heights of CD, you should be damned good at it.

18. The creative director has balls.
A creative director should have the authority and confidence to make some big decisions, and should also take some firm stands against feedback that will either ruin the creative or demoralize the department.

19. The creative director knows how to motivate.
Good creative directors will want you to do well for you, not for them. They will instill in you the kind of passion and drive that makes an eight-hour day become a 13-hour day. They will get you so charged and excited about a project that you will set your alarm clock for six A.M., battle traffic and eat a cold hot dog for breakfast, because you know you’re on a mission to do some great work.

20. The creative director wants honest opinions, not nodding dogs.
(A good) CD is open to every opinion and critique. It’s an essential skill to have, to know how to fight for your ideas intelligently, and good creative directors will happily take your opinion with both respect and consideration.

21. The creative director doesn’t play the second-guessing game.
A CD needs to have real confidence in the ideas, and will not spend hours umming and ahhing over work that everyone knows is solid and ready to present.

22. The creative director doesn’t care about being popular.
If a CD is going to stand up for creative work and make tough decisions, he or she is also going to make a few enemies. This is the nature of the business.

23. The creative director doesn’t micromanage.
A confident CD will realize that they only need to see the bigger picture. The details can be handled by less senior members of the department.

24. Finally, the creative director improves the work.
In summation of the good CD over the mediocre CD; the proof of the pudding, so to speak. A good CD will improve the work. Period.

Excuse me, while I wash my mouth out with Dove

In my previous post, I'd fawned over Dove's brand positioning and their latest 'Beauty Sketches' video on youtube.

Yesterday, I was randomly flipping through the Idiot Box trying to find a programme that was not logically-twisted propaganda or mind-numbingly superficial. I didn't find any, but I did happen to see a Dove ad - and I knew then and there, that I'd been HAD!

The Dove 'Beauty Sketch' is a brilliant example of how two-faced Advertising can become. The creative team (in North America) works on a brief where the brand, Dove, is described in terms of unicorns and rainbows. But in the real world - in local markets - the expediency to turn a fat profit makes their true colours quite obvious.

Dove wants you to believe that their brand is unlike the rest of the "beauty" industry which assaults the minds and self-image of little girls with a never-ending deluge of self-loathing.


Buuut, if you want silky smooth skin... You need Dove.


Aaand, if you want beautiful hair... You need Dove.


Sometimes I think Advertising is just a horrible, horrible way to make a living.

Being duplicitous is one thing - but being a Unilever brand means that Dove comes from the same Augean Stable that peddles chemical panaceas for everything you lack physically - including skin colour! Here's an ad that can make your skin crawl...
And many, many others like it.


I just wish I'd seen this guy's video before shooting my mouth off about Dove's despicable scam.

How advertising (too) can be beautiful

You'll remember the Dove 'Evolution' TVC. At the time it had impressed me as a sort of 'Anti-advertising Ad'. Well, at the very least it was a singularly bold move by a cosmetics brand. Especially since most multinational brands had been, for some time, content with tip-toeing cautiously around "safe" ideas.



Dove has now gone ahead and done something truly, incredibly brilliant! In all honesty, the 6-odd-minute spot below has revived my somewhat flagging hope of seeing intelligent advertising based on real insights and the ever-elusive "human truths".

I love it more because it is consistent with Dove's concept of shining the light on unattainable standards of beauty (projected by conventional advertising). But here, the concept has somehow been lifted-up and turned inward... A powerful beam of light is shone not just at the faux advertising-inspired misconceptions of beauty - but also at a woman's own perception of her looks.

And it is simply beautiful.



I do wish we'll see a lot more use of simple "human truths" in advertising.

(In fact it's about time we do something similar for RealFood as opposed to the toxin-laced, sugar/salt/slime/chemical-laden junk in colourful plastic packets meant to attract little children - that passes for "food" on supermarket shelves.)

It's not called TV "programming" for nothing

Conan O'brien has done it again!

Watch the mindless mainstream media puppets, called news anchors, breathlessly yelling (note the loud modulation) the point-of-view that YOU urgently need to believe.

RT has added the very crucial point here that beyond the sheer airheadedness, this shrill tone and parroting could well be misleading coverage of a serious event tomorrow!

This uni-dimensional coverage is present in mainstream news media across the world, right down to the voice modulation. It would seem that some secretive cabal somewhere decides what constitutes "news" - and more importantly, how it is presented to you and me.

It's not called TV "programming" for nothing.



Seriously, I am beginning to feel a little afraid for Conan.

Who's In-charge: Man or Machine?

The answer is more or less clear: The machines are increasingly in-charge of the most important facets of human society!

In a world of Big Data, number-crunching machines have a "natural" advantage. Automation is slowly, but surely, replacing many sensitive human activities for political, economic and practical reasons. (Read this.)

But in the economy, algorithm-based HFT (high frequency trading) supercomputers literally control the flow of trillions of dollars in the world's largest stock markets, forex markets and commodities exchanges. Essentially, machines control (or distort) the basic "price discovery" mechanism of the markets. Since HFTs make money on price movements, they both cause and profit from market volatility. (See this.)

Speaking of "money"... Less than 10% of the "currency" in circulation is printed physical cash and coins. More than 90% of what we call money (about 97% in places like Sweden) is just digital ones and zeros - created, transacted and tracked by banking software. In a "cashless society", we'll have a 100% machine-generated medium-of-exchange! (See this.)

That's not all... The ruling powers in most nations are using vast digital dragnets to troll for electronic pre-crime evidence. Algorithms that sift through "yottabytes" of data to analyse and identify the potential "bad guys" (and their sympathisers) among us. And it's not easy to hide or escape because your smartphone works for "them"! (See this.)

Most alarmingly, militaries in countries (developed and emerging) around the world are plunging blindly into an era of fully-automated robotic weapons. These can be in the form of autonomous drones using algorithms to track, target - and yes, kill humans - without the oversight of other human beings! (See this.)

Skynet doesn't really need to become "self-aware" and send out the Terminator... A rouge 'algo' could simply delete an economic database - or misinterpret a military one... In the resultant chaos, human beings will probably fight each other to extinction! (Sorry to ruin your day.)

How bankers and Big Brother make great bedfellows

A few weeks ago, my bank sent me the following by email.



Apparently, the Government of India has "declared" that henceforth citizen services like subsidies, welfare payments, pensions, etc. will be routed through aadhaar-enabled bank accounts.

I am certain that the official reasoning is to help the Indian banking and "national security" apparatus keep an eye on transactions by the "bad guys". Of course the corollary is that all customers / citizens are guilty until proven otherwise by a government database.

But the government babus and the banks are innocent angels -- except when they are caught with their pants around their ankles!

For example... In October 2012, ICICI Bank (a foreign-owned "Indian" bank) was fined Rs5,500,000 by the RBI for unspecified money-laundering activities. What is interesting about the paltry amount is that the MAXIMUM penalty for violation of guidelines is only Rs 500,000. But the RBI can chose to REPEAT the fine for REPEATED violations. Thus, ICICI was fined 500,000 ...11 times!

Surely, ICICI has learnt a bitter lesson.

This week - just 5 months later - ICICI has merrily presented India's ever-diligent banking regulator with yet another opportunity fine them in multiples of Rs500,000!

Cobrapost.com, a small investigative team, did a undercover journalistic "sting" which show bankers eager to help them evade regulatory guidelines - ON VIDEO!

Of course, Nanadan Nilekeni would gallantly tell us that none of this would have happened if the bank accounts were in aadhaar's biometrically-sealed database. And Captain Raghu Raman would volunteer that India's other Orwellian project, NATGRID which links 11 government agencies and 21 databases, would certainly have prevented such situations.

Of course, both of them would be lying through their teeth.

Because, as Aniruddha Bahal, Editor-in-Chief of Cobrapost says, KYC guidelines, IDs (biometric or otherwise) and banking laws amount to squat if bankers KNOWINGLY wish to circumvent them... Especially, if they are certain that laundering millions or billions would land at best a feeble wrist-slap and chump-change in fines.

The Indians are just learning the ropes from the master at the game:
- In December 2012, HSBC pays a world-record $1.9 billion fine after being caught money-laundering for drug cartels... with ZERO legal implications.
- In February 2013, it is revealed that HSBC's CEO is awarded more than $3 million as bonus for his "strong leadership" in 2012.

The Indians still have a long way to go... but with the government and regulator's help, they'll get there eventually.

Here's something for all iSlaves to look forward to

There's more good news on the horizon -- Apple's full-HD iTV may be released sometime in 2013.

"Rumour" has it that will feature a built-in iSight camera with sophisticated face recognition and motion detection ability that can zoom-in on people's face and follow them as they walk around the room. Plus, Siri (with voice recognition) will be right there with you on the couch in your living-room.

Meanwhile, Apple's iSweatshops in China, Foxconn, will be replacing 1 million human workers with 1 million robots. Presumably, the one million unemployed workers will go home, watch TV and take as many 2-minute bathroom breaks as they want.

Turn on the TV and put on your blinkers

I get the feeling that Conan O'Brien is still upset with Big Media.

He seems to enjoy holding a mirror up to the duplicitous "channeling" of society's (precious little) thinking process. I've pointed this out before; I'll say it again: Just like in politics, we have an "illusion of choice" in news sources.

You can flip channels all you want - and you'll still hear the same point-of-view masquerading as the latest news.

The following SIX media behemoths control virtually all the news & entertainment (including newspapers, magazines, music, TV shows, etc.) on TV and in print:
- News Corporation
- Time Warner
- CBS
- GE/NBC Universal
- Disney-ABC
- Viacom

If you want unbiased opinion -- train yourself to distinguish between meaningless rhetoric and credible facts; look for the agenda/cause behind the symptom being reported (there is almost inevitably one) -- and then come up with your own opinion. Also never ever be too obstinate, afraid or embarrassed to alter your point-of-view if and when new facts come to light.

Conan O'Brien in Feb, 2013...


Conan O'Brien in Nov, 2011...

Why the machines will rule us eventually

In Jesse Ventura's famous "Conspiracy Theory" exposé on FEMA Camps, there was an interview with Mike German, an ex-FBI Terrorism Specialist. Jesse asked him about the vast homeland security apparatus in the United States: "Who is in-charge of all this?" Mike German took a second, and answered: "No-one!"

It is understandable that no single entity can with trusted with access to so much unaccountablity, sensitive information and power ...that too, on a global level. Thus, overall control of the increasingly omnipresent and omnipotent technological surveillence-control grid has to be diffused to prevent any one government agency gaining an unfair advantage; and its functioning must be highly automated in order to prevent bureaucratic turf-wars - or tyranny.

Also, given the incredible volume of information involved, most of the data capture, storage, analysis and assessment is probably already automated - and non-exceptional responses are also most likely determined by algorithms and supercomputers. Humans are really only required to affirm the action recommended by the software.

Everytime a government spokesperson says, "According to our intelligence data...", he is most likely refering to Artificial Intelligence (AI). Today, with the US leading the march, the world's "security" forces are becoming ever-more automated.

But the main reason for minimising human involvement in the decision-making equation is not because software and machines are better at highly subjective deductions... It is because there is a huge TRUST DEFICIT between the rulers and the ruled.

The Ruling Class (governments) cannot trust their subjects (soldiers) to uphold their interests (retain power and privilege) - and the subjects (public) cannot trust the Ruling Class (politicians) to cater to their interests (social mobility).

There is a very tiny number of individuals (perhaps in their 1000s) who are responsible for society being divided on a scale and level that is truly unprecedented in history. But we now trust each other LESS than we are willing to trust machines. Think about it: You are less likely to re-count cash received from a Bank ATM than a Bank Teller.

Humanity is a house divided - and you know what they say happens to a house that is divided...

Are the elites circling their wagons?

Zbigniew Brzezinski is an insider, advisor and spokesman for the world's elites and their intellectual innner-circles. For more than two years, he has been expounding among other things, a rather unwelcome view that an external global hegemony or uni-polar world is increasingly impossible today because real time information sharing (especially, the Internet) has enabled common people (read, the middle class) to become aware of the duplicity of the ONE entity that had the potential to become this "benevolent hegemon" - the United States. His view has been more or less confirmed since the outbreak of Wikileaks and the internal uprisings of 2011 in the Middle East.

The US, in his very weighty words, has lost its moral legitimacy for world domination and leadership because people around the world are able - like never before in history - to discern the true intentions behind the words from Washington DC. This is despite the heavy duty smoke & mirrors 'reportage' employed by the elite-controlled mainstream media.

This development may have prompted the hurried creation of the United Nations' Responsibility-to-Protect (R2P) concept. This move too has backfired in recent conflicts (because of the non-cooperation of Russia and China), leaving the "responsibility" to interve to another illegitimate geo-political actor, NATO.

I am sure the world's ruling class did not sit back after the shocking realisation that their "subjects" (the middle class) - the ones that gave them the legitimacy to rule via the ballot box - now see through the lies, deception, manipulation, hypocrisy, and conflicting interests of the ruling class.

This hugely significant 'Legitimacy Deficit' between the Rulers and the Ruled threatens to break the dialectic relationship that is absolutely vital to an orderly world. THERE CAN BE NO RULING CLASS IF THERE ISN'T A WILLING CLASS OF SUBJECTS! The circumstance of there being no rulers or overlords is called the State of Anarchy!

A nation's "subject" is one who is willing to "subject" himself to another provided their interests are concurrent or parallel (not necessarily the exactly same) -- but voluntary submission would DEFINITELY NOT be possible if the interests are contradictory! And that is what the middle class is coming to realise: The ruling class' interests are in fact CONTRARY to their interests.

The timing of this realisation by Zbigniew Brzezinski is significant. It was in the aftermath of the 2008 Financial/Economic Crisis that the public got to see the nakedly self-serving manner in which the elites' interests were contrary to theirs. A crisis that was obviously facilitated by the ruling class and precipitated by their crony oligarchs, ended up hurting the middle class and ACTUALLY BENEFITTING the oligarchs and rulers!!!

I think he made his concern clear, in privately, to the global ruling class before he came out and said publicly that the "global political awakening threatens the world order" two years ago. Around 2008, there was a profound shift in the concept of "national security". THE GUN SIGHTS OF VARIOUS "NATIONAL SECURITY FORCES" WERE BEGINNING TO TURN INWARD!

Even India - under the UPA government, and largely (as far as I can deduce) under the direction of P. Chidambaram and Manmohan Singh - began to REDEFINE the potential theatre of conflict. It was no longer Kashmir or northeast India or even the southern coast of Tamilnadu. FOR INDIA'S RULERS, THE NEW THEATRE OF CONFLICT WAS INSIDE INDIA ITSELF!!!

The Mumbai attack, as well as the sudden and massive escalation of the class war being fought over nearly one-third of the area of the country under the umbrella rubric, "Maoist insurgency" occured during this period. And officials of India's Home Ministry even identified the nation's young people as a potentially significant security "challenge"!

Yes, I think the elites are circling their wagons, so to speak.

Watch this very informative video to know Zbigniew Brzezinski better. (The details of sources for the report are here.)


Also see this document which was apparently circulated during the recently concluded global elite-fest called the World Economic Forum at Davos. It is titled: "Vulnerability Of The Elites"

Vulnerability Of The Elites by abcabc123123xyz