'Scary! You sound like the prophets warning us about the THE WRITING ON THE WALL. Is the new digital currency the new god created by the 1% to sell and buy things'?
No, it is simply a stage of removing 99% of US citizens from a monetary economy-----the global 1% and their 2% will of course have physical money----it is simply that 99% black, white, and brown citizens having no access to anything monetary------again, this is how it worked thousands of years ago.
If we look back to colonial America and its creation of national banking as a precursor to US Federal Reserve Bank installed early 1900s----we see today what was happening back then only it is Foreign Economic Zones globally selling stock in what will become that ONE WORLD WORLD CENTRAL BANK.
This is what global 1% CLINTON/BUSH/OBAMA are building in each state ---and it will have nothing to do with American sovereign banking. Above we see one of our 5% to the 1% freemason/Greeks thinking this is a game------and as we say above----the goals of digital currencies is simply to take 99% of US and global citizens out of having hard currency.
So, as in US controlled by global banking 1%------this SWISS bank is the same as the PAKISTAN Public Bank ----is the same as the MALAYSIAN PUBLIC BANK----THEY ARE NOT 99% LOCAL PUBLIC BANKS.
THE CLASSIC WALL STREET MAIN STREET DIVIDE----those 46% of Americans not attached to the market are losing-------NOT REALLY! As we see our US stock market Wall Street is simply on its way out----all those soaring numbers ----mean the big investment firms are buying ONE WORLD ONE CENTRAL BANK----leaving US stock market behind. So, what happens to those 5% to the 1% living off of stock dividends? They are thrown under the bus.
One of the world's hottest stocks is a ... central bank
by Charles Riley @CRrileyCNN August 30, 2017: 10:54 AM ET
Investors are going nuts over one of the world's strangest stocks.
Shares in Swiss National Bank are trading at record highs after skyrocketing as much as 45% in August. A single share is now worth more than 3,000 Swiss francs ($3,125).
The stock's performance has flummoxed analysts, many of whom fail to see the rationale for buying obscure, thinly-traded shares that offer a miniscule dividend.
That's to say nothing of the unorthodoxy of investing in a central bank, which is obligated to put the interests of the country above those of shareholders.
"The volume is so low that no institutional investor would look at buying," said Andreas Venditti, senior analyst at Bank Vontobel. "You won't even find anyone who covers that stock."
Swiss National Bank is one of a handful of central banks that sell shares to the public. (The central banks of Belgium, South Africa and Japan are among the others).
It has issued only 100,000 shares, a majority of which are owned by Swiss cantons (states), cantonal banks and other public institutions. According to the central bank's annual report, its top private shareholder is German businessman Theo Siegert.
The central bank has built a huge war chest of foreign assets in recent years as part of its efforts to weaken the Swiss franc. It has total assets worth 750 billion Swiss francs ($780 billion), and turned a profit of 1.2 billion Swiss francs ($1.3 billion) in the first half of 2017.
Dividends, however, are legally capped at 15 Swiss francs ($15.60) per share no matter how much the central bank makes.
Venditti said that one possible explanation for the stock's performance is that trading volumes are so low that even a tiny number of purchases can result in major price movement.
Another theory is that investors view the central bank as a risk-free investment, an idea that dovetails with the Swiss franc's reputation as a safe haven during times of market volatility. Plus, it's not like a central bank can run out of money.
"It is a very safe investment in the sense that you would not expect the Swiss National Bank to go bankrupt," Venditti said.
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Most of these articles by national media show photos of US citizens holding signs looking helpless and heart-broken as all their wealth and quality of life is being attacked. The global 1% LOVE these photos-----and yet, our US 99% black, white, and brown citizens have TREMENDOUS POWER-----
As we shout-----all the tens of trillions of dollars in global banking 1% frauds occurred in US cities deemed Foreign Economic Zones by institutions like global Wall Street Baltimore Development ----Greater Baltimore Committee-------Baltimore Urban League and Baltimore Urban Institute-----along with the NGOs pretending to be 'LABOR AND JUSTICE' organizations. OAKLAND CA ----as BALTIMORE MD -----PHILA PA as NYC NY------Houston TX as Miami FL ------each of these US cities is from where ROBBER BARON CLINTON/BUSH/OBAMA looted our US Treasuries, state and local treasuries------tied to those dastardly global hedge fund IVY LEAGUES under the umbrella of global investment firms like CARLYLE GROUP-----we have offices right here in Baltimore.
Our US 99% of WE THE PEOPLE have not lost our wealth or assets---they still exist in these US cities bound by global corporations tied to each US city public agency.
EACH YEAR BALTIMORE CITY LOSES A FEW BILLION DOLLARS IN TAX REVENUE TO GLOBAL BALTIMORE DEVELOPMENT/GLOBAL HEDGE FUND IVY LEAGUE JOHNS HOPKINS IN ILLEGAL CRIMINAL FRAUD.
A local public bank would be one that takes all Baltimore tax revenue and Federal, state, and local program funding AWAY FROM THOSE GLOBAL WALL STREET BALTIMORE DEVELOPMENT agencies----and gets that money to each Baltimore community.
Oh, look---there is a public bank just as they are building in OAKLAND CA----SAN DIEGO CA----BALTIMORE MD-------it looks like a global banking 1% to us!
Here is to where global investment firms are investing----and PUBLIC BANK MALAYSIA expanding into VIETNAM both being FOREIGN ECONOMIC ZONES----are the same as PUBLIC BANK OAKLAND CA----SAN DIEGO---BALTIMORE MD------they will merge and consolidate into ONE WORLD ONE WORLD CENTRAL BANK.
March 26, 2015 12:10 am JST
Public Bank
Malaysian bank expands in Vietnam
CK TAN, Nikkei staff writer
KUALA LUMPUR -- Public Bank announced on Wednesday that it has been granted permission to acquire the other half of VID Public Bank, its subsidiary in Vietnam, for $76.6 million.
The State Bank of Vietnam, the central bank, is allowing VID Public Bank to become 100% foreign owned, according to a stock exchange filing in Kuala Lumpur. The bank has operated since 1992 and has seven branches.
Public Bank, Malaysia's third largest by assets, announced in July that it intended to acquire the other 50% of the bank from its joint venture partner, the Bank of Investment and Development of Vietnam -- a leading state-owned commercial bank with an extensive nationwide network.
The Malaysian buyout sits well with official Vietnamese policy on restructuring the financial sector. Local reports suggest that as many as eight bank mergers are likely in 2015 in an effort to halve the number of commercial banks by the end of 2017 from over 30 at present.
Vietnam's financial authorities have been openly soliciting foreign investors to assist with liquidity problems precipitated by currency instability and ballooning non-performing loans.
"The State Bank of Vietnam will push measures to deal drastically with weak banks that have no chance of recovery," the central bank warned on its website.
Vu Viet Ngoan, chairman of Vietnam's National Financial Supervisory Commission, meanwhile told reporters in January that the government would not rule out foreign involvement in eliminating distortions in the banking sector.
Apart from Vietnam, Public Bank operates in Cambodia and Hong Kong. Its overseas operations contributed about 7% to group operating revenue in 2013.
The Malaysian bank's move comes as Southeast Asian policymakers conclude a banking integration framework that will enable banks in the region to operate in neighboring markets. Within the new framework, any two ASEAN countries can enter a bilateral arrangement allowing qualified banks to operate in the other signatory's market.
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We just posted CNN----financial news which is the same as YAHOO NEWS-----telling us the US stock market is soaring -----almost 50% of US stock holders are winners and those poor LOSERS------toiling away in a global 1% neo-liberal US city deemed Foreign Economic Zone are getting more and more impoverished----while those 5% to the 1% are WINNING.
Lehigh Valley
The stock market is soaring
By: Posted: Feb 20, 2017 10:54 PM EST
Updated: Feb 20, 2017 10:54 PM EST
Absolutely none of that is happening. As this article makes clear-----the only thing happening is a REPEAT OF ROARING 20s------of 2007 before the economic crash of 2008. It is all movement of stock by global investment firms out of our US economy.
We watch as well on CNN------Delaware's global 1% banking neo-liberal COON pretending to be fighting the same global banking 1% neo-liberal TRUMP over government shutdown. COON is fighting for that DACA that does absolutely nothing for our 99% of global labor pool except assure they come to work in US global enslaving factories. COON AND DELAWARE are the global banking/global corporate state acting to offshore all those tens of trillions of dollars stolen these few decades.
The answer---who is this possible----is that it is NOT POSSIBLE and it is not happening. This is simply as in the crash of 1930s a few of the biggest investment firms creating the boom before the bust.
'So why are stocks still going up?
If your guess is “central bank intervention”, you are right on the nose'.
'What the update reveals is “a surge in net global central bank asset purchases to their highest since 2013.”'
All of the movement of US stock and bond dividends have these few decades been controlled by the US FED and after 2008 economic crash that US FED control has directed all stock gains to the 1%.
The Dow And The S&P 500 Soar To Brand New All-Time Record Highs – How Is This Possible?
The Dow and the S&P 500 both closed at all-time record highs on Tuesday, and that is very good news. You might think that is an odd statement coming from the publisher of The Economic Collapse Blog, but the truth is that I am not at all eager to see the financial system crash and burn. We all saw what took place when it happened in 2008 – millions of people lost their jobs, millions of people lost their homes, and economic suffering was off the charts. So no, I don’t want to see that happen again any time soon. All of our lives will be a lot more comfortable if the financial markets are stable and stocks continue to go up. If the Dow and the S&P 500 can keep on soaring, that will suit me just fine. Unfortunately, I don’t think that is going to be what happens.
Of course I never imagined we would be talking about new record highs for the stock market in mid-July 2016. We have seen some crazy ups and downs for the financial markets over the last 12 months, and the downs were pretty severe. Last August, we witnessed the greatest financial shaking since the historic financial crisis of 2008, and that was followed by an even worse shaking in January and February. Then in June everyone was concerned that the surprising result of the Brexit vote would cause global markets to tank, and that did happen briefly, but since then we have seen an unprecedented rally.
So what is causing this sudden surge?
We’ll get to that in a moment, but first let’s review some of the numbers from Tuesday. The following comes from USA Today…
All three major indexes gained 0.7% apiece, as the Dow jumped 121 points to a new all-time closing high and the S&P 500 built upon its record close notched Monday. The blue chips now stand at 18,347.67, about 35 points above the previous record set May 19, 2015.
The new mark for the S&P 500 is 2,152.14, a 15-point improvement on its Monday close.
Overall, we have seen stocks shoot up more than eight percent over the last two weeks. Normally, a rise of 10 percent for an entire year is considered to be quite healthy…
Interior Minister Theresa May is set to become the U.K.’s prime minister on Wednesday. Stock markets across the globe have risen sharply, after a steep sell-off, following the United Kingdom’s decision to leave the European Union.
“In the past two weeks, post Brexit, the S&P 500 has vaulted over 8 percent,” said Adam Sarhan, CEO at Sarhan Capital. “Typically, a 10 percent move for the entire year is considered normal.”
What makes all of this even stranger is the fact that investors have been pulling money out of stocks as if it was 2008 all over again. In fact, Zero Hedge tells us that on balance investors have been taking money out of equity funds for 17 weeks in a row.
So why are stocks still going up?
If your guess is “central bank intervention”, you are right on the nose.
Across the Pacific, the Bank of Japan has been voraciously gobbling up assets, and the architect of “Abenomics” just won a major electoral victory which has fueled a huge market rally over there…
Meanwhile, in Japan, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe ordered new stimulus after his coalition won an election in Japan’s upper chamber by a landslide. Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose nearly 2.5 percent overnight, while the yen erased all of its post-Brexit gains against the dollar.
“In the short term, I think it’s going to help, but in the long term, we’ll see,” said JJ Kinahan, chief strategist at TD Ameritrade. “I feel like a lot of people are getting themselves into situations that they can’t get out of.”
In Europe, the ECB has feverishly been pumping money into the financial system, and the result of the Brexit vote seems to have lit a renewed fire under the central bankers in Europe. Collectively, intervention by the Japanese and the Europeans has created “a surge in net global central bank asset purchases to their highest since 2013”…
Fast forward six months when Matt King reports that “many clients have been asking for an update of our usual central bank liquidity metrics.”
What the update reveals is “a surge in net global central bank asset purchases to their highest since 2013.”
And just like that the mystery of who has been buying stocks as everyone else has been selling has been revealed.
So now you know the rest of the story.
The economic fundamentals have not changed. China is still slowing down. Japan is still mired in a multi-year economic crisis. Much of Europe is still dealing with a full-blown banking crisis. Much of South America is still experiencing a full-blown depression.
Here in the United States, just about every indicator that you can think of says that the economy is slowing down. If you doubt this, please see my previous article entitled “15 Facts About The Imploding U.S. Economy That The Mainstream Media Doesn’t Want You To See“.
The artificially-induced rally that we are witnessing right now can be compared to a “last gasp” of a dying patient.
But my hope is that this “last gasp” can last for as long as possible. Because as much as I warn people about it, I am not actually eager to see what comes next.
The economic and financial suffering that are coming are inevitable, but they are not going to be pleasant for any of us. So let us all hope that we still have a little bit more time before the party is over and it is time to turn out the lights.
________________________________________________
National media are simply pretending there is a functioning US economy and stock market activity when in fact all these soaring gains are being shared between global central banks.
THIS is how a US FED was used to kill our domestic monetary system-------and this is why throughout OBAMA'S terms only the global 1% and their 2% received any wealth from all of stock market activity. This is soaring today because the installation of TRUMP is MOVING FORWARD ONE WORLD ONE WORLD CENTRAL BANK faster then ever. As 5% FAKE ALT RIGHT ALT LEFT pretend to be fighting these banks----they are installing that ONE WORLD CENTRAL BANK telling 99% WE THE PEOPLE they are fighting WALL STREET.
Each Foreign Economic Zone around the world is attached to a CENTRAL BANK ---while GREENSPAN used the US FED to fleece US Treasury and 99% of people's pockets-----BERNANKE staged the US FED for replacing US Wall Street to create the separate monetary system for only the global 1 %and their 2%.
Remember, our US TREASURY BOND and STATE MUNICIPAL BOND FRAUDS during OBAMA AND BERNANKE tied $20 trillion to GLOBAL CORPORATE CAMPUS BUILDING-----sucking it away from our US public trusts. It is those hundreds of trillions of dollars in US public trusts and personal wealth tied to stocks and bonds that are bringing massive profits to those global 1% investment firms.
We have stated that ZERO HEDGE ----a right wing financial blog is generally good about concerns of ROBBER BARON Wall Street and US FED--------but they are right wing-----they are not left 99% of WE THE PEOPLE-----so is this media outlet. So, we do not believe all these outlets state-----as we said about the ZERO HEDGE article on HOW MUCH GOLD EXISTS--------------but this article is correct in saying the HAMILTON US FED has taken our US assets and plays a monetary game for only the global 1%
'About WND
WND, formerly WorldNetDaily, can best be explained by its mission statement: “WND is an independent news company dedicated to uncompromising journalism, seeking truth and justice and revitalizing the role of the free press as a guardian of liberty. We remain faithful to the traditional and central role of a free press in a free society – as a light exposing wrongdoing, corruption and abuse of power'.
Thursday, 19 June 2014
Central Banks Now Dominate Stock Market, Study Finds
Written by Alex Newman
Central banks and government entities around the world are now dominant players in the stock market with some $30 trillion invested in equities and other assets, according to a new survey released this week offering the first comprehensive analysis of public-sector investments. About half of that is from central banks. In other words, monetary authorities, which conjure fiat currency into existence out of thin air, are using much of that “funny money” to gobble up real assets — propping up stock prices but eroding the value of people’s savings through inflation of the currency supply. The significance of the findings is monumental.
By far the largest overall central bank-controlled investor is the Communist Chinese dictatorship’s “State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE),” which is part of the regime’s central bank known as the “People’s Bank of China.” According to the survey, SAFE has almost $4 trillion under management, including massive stakes in publicly traded European companies. Beyond SAFE, Beijing’s central bank has also been directly scooping up minority positions in key European companies and industries. Other Asian central banks are becoming giant players in equities, too.
While the privately owned U.S. Federal Reserve System has apparently been sticking with government bonds and mortgage-backed securities, its own massive role in distorting markets and central planning has been documented extensively by this magazine and countless analysts. Among other radical measures, the U.S. central bank has showered trillions of dollars on crony megabanks around the world. Since the economic crisis, the Fed has also engaged in currency printing on an unprecedented scale, euphemistically referred to as “quantitative easing,” or QE. Its balance sheet is now over $4 trillion and still growing.
The shocking data on central banks’ activities in the market, released on June 17, came from a survey compiled by the global research and advisory organization known as the Official Monetary and Financial Institutions Forum (OMFIF). The Global Public Investor (GPI) 2014 publication, for the first time, takes a broad look at some $29.1 trillion in investments held by hundreds of public-sector institutions in more than 160 countries. Among those entities are 157 central banks, 156 government pension funds, and almost 90 sovereign-wealth funds.
“In the aftermath of the financial crisis different forms of ‘state capitalism’ have come to the fore,” the report authors said in a statement about their findings, referring to the sort of pseudo-“capitalism” run by the Communist Party regime in Beijing and like-minded governments around the world. “Whether or not this trend is a good thing may be open to question. What is incontestable is that it has happened.” In all, the survey suggests public entities now own assets equivalent to about 40 percent of global output — a staggering number suggesting that governments and central banks literally control the supposedly “free” markets.
Commentators, though, said the findings merely confirmed long-held suspicions. “Another conspiracy ‘theory’ becomes conspiracy ‘fact’,” observed financial analyst Tyler Durden at the finance-oriented ZeroHedge site, noting that central-banking gimmicks distorting and inflating markets has long been suspected. “To summarize, the global equity market is now one massive Ponzi scheme in which the dumb money are central banks themselves, the same banks who inject the liquidity to begin with.... That said, good luck with ‘exiting’ the unconventional monetary policy. You'll need it.”
According to the GPI, one of the reasons that central banks have been shoveling currency into stock markets is to compensate for the loss of income on bonds brought about by record-low interest rates. Of course, those low rates — one key European Central Bank (ECB) rate even turned negative this month — were set by discredited central-planning committees in those same central banks. Supposedly, the absurdly low rates set by the central planners were supposed to help stimulate an “economic recovery” sparked largely by the wild policies of those same central banks. In reality, they just fleeced humanity, caused massive malinvestment, and prolonged the inevitable day of reckoning.
David Marsh, managing director of the Forum that produced the study, argued that the huge role of supposedly public institutions in the markets was all a surprising but perhaps unintended result of monetary authorities’ efforts to keep the economy afloat. “The buildup of central banking interest in equities is one of the unexpected consequences of the last few years' fall in interest rates, which has depressed the returns on central banks’ foreign exchange reserves and driven them to find alternative investment targets,” he wrote in a column at MarketWatch.
Other central banks with major investments in the stock market included the Swiss National Bank, which has nearly $500 billion under management and about $72 billion in equities. “We are now invested in large-, mid-, and small-cap stocks in developed markets worldwide,” SNB chief Thomas Jordan is quoted as saying the report. “The decision to introduce new asset classes should always be taken with the aim of improving the long-term position, and with the awareness that a change should be sustainable, even in more difficult times.”
The Danish central bank, meanwhile, holds about $0.5 billion in stocks as it, like the SNB, has sought to keep the value of its currency down amid massive capital inflows seeking a safe haven. The Bank of Japan and Japan’s Government Pension Investment Fund (GPIF) each have an estimated $1.3 trillion invested in the markets. Oil-rich Norway’s Norges Bank Investment Management (NBIM) has close to a trillion under management, with over 60 percent of that in equities, amounting to an average ownership of 1.3% of every company listed around the world.
“Rather than invest in failing infrastructure, central banks and governments are acting like hedge funds, betting on the stock market and [over-the-counter] OTC derivatives, using fiat credits that are borrowed or printed,” explained Stewart Thomson with the Graceland Updates newsletter for investors. “The bottom line: While global citizens are told to ‘grin and bear’ austerity, their leaders are having a ‘good ‘ole time’ spending trillions of dollars, at the stock market casino.”
Some critics of the revelations about central banks and public institutions called for more “transparency” in how they were investing. “Reforms are urgently needed to enhance the domestic and international transparency and accountability for this activity — in the interests of a better-functioning world economy,” said Peterson Institute for International Economics senior fellow Ted Truman, a former high-level official at the Federal Reserve. “Changes, real or rumored, in the asset or currency composition of foreign exchange reserves have the potential to destabilize exchange rate and financial markets.”
The authors of the study, meanwhile, warned that central banks’ stock-buying bonanza could lead to “overheated asset prices” and other financial developments with troubling implications. The real problems, though, go far beyond a simple lack of information available to the public or artificially boosted asset prices driven up by central planners with their printing presses and public funds. Indeed, the entire central-banking system is the problem, according to economists with far better track records than central banking officials.
While the latest news was hardly a surprise to analysts tracking the shadowy activities of the central-banking establishment, it confirmed yet again that despite claims made by powerful anti-market zealots, the global economy can hardly be described as anything even resembling a free-market system. Georgetown University historian and Professor Carroll Quigley, who served as President Bill Clinton’s mentor, wrote about the schemes now coming to light in his 1966 book Tragedy And Hope: A History Of The World In Our Time.
“The powers of financial capitalism had a far-reaching aim, nothing less than to create a world system of financial control in private hands able to dominate the political system of each country and the economy of the world as a whole,” wrote Prof. Quigley, a heavyweight academic who was allowed to review documents of the global establishment’s top echelon and agreed with the goals but not the secrecy. As the Forum’s study shows, that world system they envisioned is quickly coming into view when considering the real ownership of the central banks.
“This system was to be controlled in a feudalist fashion by the central banks of the world acting in concert by secret agreements arrived at in frequent private meetings and conferences,” Quigley continued in his massive book. “The apex of the system was to be the Bank for International Settlements in Basel, Switzerland, a private bank owned and controlled by the world's central banks which were themselves private corporations.” (Emphasis added.)
If humanity hopes to restore liberty, prosperity, national sovereignty, and genuine free markets, urgent action is required. Abolishing central banks, their monopoly over currency and credit, and their interest rate-setting central-planning committees would be a good start. Ending fiat currency is also key, along with the impossible-to-pay interest attached to it. Without honest money, there is no way to have an honest or free economy. As the latest report confirms yet again, though, the central-banking establishment is getting more and more out of control. If it continues unchallenged, the most recent financial crisis may end up looking like a minor speed bump by comparison.
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Every US citizen remembers all the national media hype over the SS Trust and its ever-decreasing dates of going broke. We discussed back in 2010 that our SS Trust due to REAGAN-ERA TRIPLING of payroll taxes is fully funded through 21st century---both SS and Medicare Trusts ARE NOT DEPLETED. Baby boomers paid not only for their own retirement and health care savings----they paid enough for our next few generations. No matter what global banking 1% national media and 5% ALT RIGHT ALT LEFT players tied to 'labor and justice' organizations say-------
US CITIZENS HAVE THAT SOCIAL SECURITY AND MEDICARE TRUST.
'While the latest news was hardly a surprise to analysts tracking the shadowy activities of the central-banking establishment, it confirmed yet again that despite claims made by powerful anti-market zealots, the global economy can hardly be described as anything even resembling a free-market system'.
What we don't have are government officials having any intentions that 99% WE THE PEOPLE receive those public trust savings accounts. The problem is not the national debt ----all fraudulent and all NOT REAL -----getting rid of CLINTON/BUSH/OBAMA NOW TRUMP brings the ability to build all needed structures and claw-back control of our FEDERAL, STATE, and LOCAL revenue management------AND THOSE SOCIAL SAFETY NET FUNDS WILL BE THERE.
In 2009 we were told there was a few trillion in shortfall---now it is $11 trillion which is the majority of OBAMA'S US TREASURY BOND FRAUD-----tied to US FED now circulating in global CENTRAL BANK MONETARY MARKETS.
Global 1% banking pols and players will keep playing this game in US media------and if 99% WE THE PEOPLE do not act they will deny US citizens these vital public trusts. The trusts are not gone---the national debt does not exist------it is only those global banking CLINTON/BUSH/OBAMA pols and players playing games.
MERCATUS CENTER is global 1% banking so their analysis is not real information for 99% of US citizens. THIS IS A FAR-RIGHT WING LIBERTARIAN THINK TANK not interested in reforms helping to save our US SS and MEDICARE Trusts----
"The politics of Social Security reform is not getting any easier."
-Charles Blahous, a senior research fellow at George Mason University's Mercatus Center'
'The Mercatus Center at George Mason University is an American non-profit free-market-oriented research, education, and outreach think tank directed by Tyler Cowen. It works with policy experts, lobbyists, and government officials to connect academic learning and real-world practice. Taking its name from the Latin word for "market", the Center advocates free-market approaches to public policy. During the George W. Bush administration's campaign to reduce government regulation, the Wall Street Journal reported, "14 of the 23 rules the White House chose for its "hit list" to eliminate or modify were Mercatus entries."
According to the 2014 Global Go To Think Tank Index Report (Think Tanks and Civil Societies Program, University of Pennsylvania), Mercatus is number 44 (of 60) in the "Top Think Tanks in the United States" and number 19 (of 45) of the "Best University Affiliated Think Tanks".[3] Some critics have noted the center's association with the Koch brothers[4][5][6] and its founder Richard Fink, headed the Koch Industries’ lobbying in Washington as of 2010'.
Social Security has a looming $11 trillion shortfall
Tom Anderson | @bytomanderson
Published 8:34 AM ET Tue, 17 Jan 2017
President-elect Donald Trump has said he will preserve Social Security, though if he and Congress do nothing to fix the funding, the financial reckoning will be huge -- as much as $11.4 trillion down the road.
The last time Congress changed Social Security in a significant way with a series of benefit cuts and payroll tax increases was in 1983 under President Ronald Reagan.
Back then, the federal government needed to fill a funding gap of about 1 percent of taxable workers' wages. By the time Social Security's trust funds are projected to run out in the early 2030s, the federal government will have to plug a hole of more than 3 percent, according to estimates by Charles Blahous, a senior research fellow at George Mason University's Mercatus Center.
"Just to keep the system afloat from year to year at that point they would have to inflict near-term pain over three times as severe as was the case in 1983," Blahous said.
A GOP blueprint for reform
Though the Trump transition team has yet to make any proposals about Social Security, one Republican lawmaker has detailed how he would change it.
Congressman Sam Johnson, an 86-year-old Texan who represents the Dallas suburbs and is chairman of the House Ways and Means Social Security Subcommittee, unveiled a bill in December in the last Congress that aims to fix the program without raising payroll taxes.
Johnson's proposal would increase the age to receive full retirement benefits from 67 to 69, slow the growth of benefits by using a different measure of inflation for cost-of-living adjustments and cap payouts to high-income workers.
"I urge my colleagues to also put pen to paper and offer their ideas about how they would save Social Security for generations to come. Americans want, need and deserve for us to finally come up with a solution to saving this important program," Johnson said in a statement.
Social Security Administration officials said Johnson's plan would fix the funding situation, at least until 2091, without raising payroll taxes. Typically, Congress has shored up the finances of Social Security with a series of benefit cuts and tax increases.
Under current law, just 79 percent of scheduled benefits are projected to be payable to each recipient in 2034, once the trust fund reserves are depleted. Under Johnson's proposal, Social Security trust funds would remain solvent and be able to pay out 100 percent of benefits to retirees under the SSA's 75-year projections.
"The politics of Social Security reform is not getting any easier." -Charles Blahous, a senior research fellow at George Mason University's Mercatus Center
Advocates for increasing Social Security retirement benefits, which provide about 34 percent of the income for elderly Americans, oppose Johnson's plan because of its cuts.
For example, under Johnson's plan, average middle-income workers would see their annual benefits, calculated in 2015 dollars, drop from $18,576 now to $17,076 in 2030, based on an SSA analysis.
"Not only does the Johnson plan deeply cut benefits, it radically transforms the program so that it would, when fully phased in, no longer be a pension plan replacing wages but rather operate in the manner of a flat, subsistence-level [grant,] which would provide recipients with an amount unrelated to earnings and contributions," said Nancy Altman, co-director of Social Security Works, which advocates to increase Social Security.
Raising the age to receive full retirement benefits from 67 to 69, as Johnson proposes, also would affect many retirees since most people claim benefits before full retirement age, typically at 62, the earliest age possible. (See chart below.)
Johnson's plan has not gained much traction in Congress. The bill did not have any co-sponsors last year and Johnson has yet to introduce it in the new Congress.
The clock is ticking. Social Security's income is projected to exceed its cost through 2019, but then the program will start tapping its reserves, according to the Social Security and Medicare Boards of Trustees' annual report.
"The politics of Social Security reform is not getting any easier," Blahous said. "When the trust funds run out, it will be too late."
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Our students at GEORGE MASON once a very ordinary state university in Virginia have to protest these FAR-RIGHT LIBERTARIAN think tanks just as here in Baltimore we have Clinton Initiative and global Johns Hopkins needing 99% of WE THE PEOPLE protesting---they are the ones TAKING OUR PUBLIC TRUSTS AND RUNNING.
Below we see GRISWOLD from the same LIBERTARIAN MERCUTUS-----telling 99% of WE THE PEOPLE why America is being taken to colonial status and all our US assets and individual wealth AND RIGHTS AS CITIZENS are being killed-------that $11 trillion in SS TRUST shortfall is building foreign global corporate campuses in US cities deemed Foreign Economic Zones like OAKLAND CA and Baltimore MD.
'Daniel "Dan" T. Griswold (born 1958) is a senior research Fellow and co-director of the Program on the American Economy and Globalization at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University. He was previously the president of the National Association of Foreign-Trade Zones, an organization based in Washington DC. Prior to NAFTZ, he served as the director of the Cato Institute's Center for Trade Policy Studies'
Every public agency in Baltimore is operated and/or owned by global corporations which of course are openly fleecing that few billion each year from our Baltimore tax revenue and all our social program funding. Global 1% CLINTON/BUSH/OBAMA used this status of US FOREIGN ECONOMIC ZONE to openly fleece and systemically fill each government with corruption and fraud----here in Baltimore the top economy is sitting down to EMBEZZLE-----our US and state treasuries.
While national media and KABUKI CONGRESS keep creating CRISES and TALKING POINTS having nothing to do with reality----NO, women's equal pay, parent's left, sick pay, DO NOT EXIST IN FOREIGN ECONOMIC ZONES.......we educate every day to make sure our US 99% and our global 99% immigrants KNOW what is important policy. We cannot be afraid of losing our PUBLIC TRUST SAVINGS ACCOUNTS---we need to GET RID OF ALL GLOBAL WALL STREET POLS AND PLAYERS.
The people in far-right THINK TANKS are almost always my 5% to the 1% white players----and almost all of them---living for today will take their families under the bus.
Inward Investment Guides | Location USA
U.S. Foreign-Trade Zones Attract FDI to United States
With their streamlined regulations and many advantages, U.S. foreign-trade zones have become home to the successful operations of many foreign-owned affiliates.
For a company looking to locate an affiliate in the United States, the Foreign-Trade Zones (FTZs) program, established in 1934, can provide a secure, efficient, and profitable platform to compete effectively in domestic and global markets. U.S. foreign-trade zones are currently home to 2,800 companies across the United States and Puerto Rico, among them such brand-name global producers as AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals, BAE Systems, LG Electronics, Michelin, Ricoh, Samsung, Sony, ThyssenKrupp, and Yamaha. New streamlined regulations implemented in 2012 have made the program more attractive than ever to companies large and small, foreign and domestic.
Companies operating in foreign-trade zones have become a thriving sector of the U.S. economy. According to the most recent report from the Foreign-Trade Zones Board in Washington, D.C., firms operating in FTZs in 2011 employed 340,000 U.S. workers in more than 170 active zone projects across the nation. Exports from FTZs reached a record $54.3 billion in 2011, growing at a pace in recent years that is far faster than overall U.S. goods exports.
Major users of the program include such industries as electronics, automotive, pharmaceuticals, petrochemicals, machinery, equipment, apparel, and footwear. The program is open to U.S.-based companies and affiliates, whether the parent company is located domestically or abroad. Automotive companies using the program include such well-known international nameplates as BMW, Honda, Hyundai, Mercedes-Benz, Nissan, Subaru, and Toyota. Locating in a U.S. foreign-trade zone allows affiliates to continue to source materials and components from international suppliers at globally competitive prices, while employing productive U.S. workers creating products for the world’s largest domestic market as well as for export. For example, STIHL USA, an affiliate of the German chainsaw manufacturer, produces a range of power tools in a foreign-trade zone in Virginia Beach, Virginia. The company has enjoyed robust growth in production, sales, and employment at its facility. And BMW Manufacturing Co. in Greer, South Carolina, announced in 2012 that it would invest an additional $900 million in its four-million-square-foot facility. The plant now employs 7,000 workers able to produce more than 300,000 vehicles per year. The company exports more than $5 billion in motor vehicles from its foreign-trade sub-zone, 70 percent of total production.
Many Benefits
The concept behind FTZs is simple and the benefits are many. FTZs are zones located at or near U.S. ports of entry that are considered outside U.S. Customs territory. That means that Customs inspections and duty collection only apply when goods leave the zone for domestic U.S. commerce, rather than when first admitted to the zone from abroad. This can result in tremendous savings for companies that rely on imported materials, components, and machinery for final production.
The benefits can be especially appealing for a globally connected, multinational company locating an affiliate in the United States. For a producer located in a foreign-trade zone, duties can be eliminated entirely on imported materials and components that are then re-exported as part of a final product. Foreign-owned companies can use the FTZ as a “land bridge” to export to North and South American markets as well as those of Asia and Europe. Duties are also eliminated on inputs that are scrapped or destroyed in the production process.
For products shipped from a foreign-trade zone into the $15 trillion domestic U.S. market, duties can be reduced through the flexibility of choosing the lower tariff rate on either the final product or the imported components. Those global automakers, for example, are able to source parts from their home country and other foreign suppliers that can face significant duties if imported into U.S. commerce, but because the company is located in a foreign-trade zone, the parts face the same relatively low duty of 2.5 percent imposed on the final automobile when it is shipped from the zone to U.S. consumers. The FTZ environment can also deliver large cash-flow savings because the payment of duties is deferred on foreign goods admitted to a zone until they are actually shipped into U.S. commerce for final sale. FTZ users can also consolidate weekly entry forms that can reduce payments for the Merchandise Processing Fee. And inventory stored in an FTZ is exempt from state and local ad valorem taxes.
Beyond the Costs Savings
Beyond the direct duty savings, locating in an FTZ can speed supply-chain velocity by reducing the need to file numerous forms with U.S. Customs. FTZ users can plug into a thriving support network offering sophisticated inventory-management software, third-party logistics, and experienced grantees that manage overall zone administration.
By operating in a zone, companies can also build “trusted-trader” relationships with Customs officials. Other agencies that regulate import compliance, such as the Food and Drug Administration, can offer additional flexibility in the production, labeling, and packaging of goods within a zone. In general, import regulations, like Customs duties, are only applied when goods leave the zone for U.S. commerce, not when they are first admitted to the zone.
Although more than 100 countries offer some kind of special trade-zone status, the U.S. Foreign-Trade Zones program has proven to be one of the most successful in the world. The security and reporting requirements imposed on U.S. zones minimize any incentives for illegal activities. Unlike in special economic zones elsewhere, companies operating in a U.S. foreign-trade zone are subject to all domestic tax, health, labor, and other laws. Additionally, in contrast to other countries, zone users in the United States are not required to export all or a minimum share of their output, nor are they required to locate in certain limited regions of the country.
A User-Friendly Program
The program has become more user-friendly than ever because of an overhaul of the FTZ Board regulations in April 2012. The new rules allow expedited approval of applications for new zones and for companies seeking to operate in an existing zone, while the amount of information required for application has been sharply reduced. Approval times have dropped from 12 months or more to less than 30 days for most users. Approvals for production activities, including manufacturing, now take 120 days or less in most cases.
The program’s usefulness has been enhanced by the introduction and wide adoption of the Alternative Site Framework (ASF) since 2009. ASF allows a foreign-trade zone grantee — typically a local port authority or other nonprofit administrator — to offer FTZ status to companies operating anywhere in a multi-county “service area,” rather than requiring the user to locate in a specific General Purpose Zone near a port of entry. Combined with the new FTZ Board regulations, the ASF has opened the program to a wider range of users, including small and medium-size companies.
The FTZ program enjoys bi-partisan support in Washington that has remained unaffected by the recent U.S. election. In February 2012, the Obama White House lauded the program in a statement that said the new regulations will advance administration goals of attracting foreign investment, stimulating manufacturing in the United States, and promoting exports through the National Export Initiative. Members of both parties in Congress understand that the FTZs located in their states help to attract and keep productive activity in the United States and thus create sustainable, well-paying jobs for their constituents.
Any company interested in locating in a U.S. foreign-trade zone should seek information from the U.S. Commercial Service as well as state and local development officials in the United States. Foreign-trade zones have become an important tool for enhancing the attractiveness of the United States as a destination for foreign investment. The grantees that administer each zone project are required by law to be nonprofit entities that operate as a public utility, which means reasonable and transparent fees and uniform treatment for all user companies.
The success of so many foreign-owned affiliates in the FTZ program testifies to its usefulness and availability to all U.S.-based producers, whatever the nationality of their parent companies.
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A PUBLIC OPTION says NYT--------The Bank of North Dakota is simply where TAR SANDS OIL FIELD AND FRACKING ENERGY CORPORATIONS place their money and it is then invested for global 1% and their 2% in what has become global central bank stock and bond markets----there is absolutely NOTHING public about BANK OF NORTH DAKOTA.
We have shouted ELLEN BROWN AND PUBLIC BANKING INSTITUTE is that 5% ALT RIGHT ALT LEFT player----she says good things but she knows the goals MOVING FORWARD using this TALKING POINT is ONE WORLD WORLD CENTRAL BANK.
The 99% of citizens in Baltimore can rebuild the entire public water and sewage system that has been third world these few decades by simply ending that few billion each year illegal looting of our city tax dollars. THIS IS THE SOLUTION---WE MUST BRING PEACEFUL ROLLING PROTESTS TO ALL US CITIES DEEMED FOREIGN ECONOMIC ZONES demanding all global banking 1% pols and players get out of our 99% PEOPLE'S GOVERNMENT.
It is our FAKE ALT RIGHT ALT LEFT 5% pols and players SANDERS, STEIN, TURNER, ELLISON, WARREN pretending this is left social progressive----they pretend because they are far-right wing global banking 1% LIBERTARIAN MARXISTS working for ONE WORLD WORLD CENTRAL BANK.
Public Banks Are Essential to CapitalismEllen Brown, a lawyer, is the president of the Public Banking Institute and the author, most recently, of "The Public Bank Solution."
Updated October 2, 2013, 5:01 PM
To ask whether public banks would interfere with free markets assumes that we have free markets, which we don’t. Banking is heavily subsidized and is monopolized by Wall Street, which has effectively “bought” Congress. Banks have been bailed out by the government, when in a free market they would have gone bankrupt. The Federal Reserve blatantly manipulates interest rates in a way that serves Wall Street, lending trillions at near-zero interest and pushing rates so artificially low that local governments have lost billions in interest-rate swaps.
Banking, money and credit are not market goods but are economic infrastructure, just as roads and bridges are physical infrastructure.
State and municipal governments already have public lending programs, which are generally not seen as distortions of the free market. They exist because private banks are not lending in some sectors that need financing. Montana finances first-time ranchers and farmers; Sonoma County has its Energy Independence Program; and San Francisco has half a dozen mortgage lending and small business programs. Globally, public banks lend countercyclically, providing credit when and where other banks won’t. This does not crowd out private banks. Germany and Taiwan, which have strong public banking sectors, are among the most competitive banking markets in the world.
In North Dakota, the only state with its own “mini-Fed,” the state-owned Bank of North Dakota routes its public lending programs through community banks. The Bank of North Dakota cooperates rather than competes with local banks, aiding with capital and liquidity requirements. Its deposit base is almost entirely composed of the revenue of the state and state agencies. North Dakota has more banks per capita than any other state, because they have not been forced to sell to their Wall Street competitors. The North Dakota Bankers’ Association endorses the Bank of North Dakota, which has a mandate to support the local economy.
The Bank of North Dakota takes almost no individual deposits, but a national postal bank would, just as postal banks have done routinely in other countries without destabilizing free markets. One-fourth of American families are unbanked or underbanked. With $3 trillion in excess deposits, Wall Street doesn’t want these small depositors.
We actually need publicly owned banks for a capitalist market economy to run properly. Banking, money and credit are not market goods but are economic infrastructure, just as roads and bridges are physical infrastructure. By providing inexpensive, accessible financing to the free enterprise sector of the economy, public banks make commerce more vital and stable. Public banking is not a radical idea but has been practiced in the U.S. with excellent results for decades, and around the world for centuries.
No, it is simply a stage of removing 99% of US citizens from a monetary economy-----the global 1% and their 2% will of course have physical money----it is simply that 99% black, white, and brown citizens having no access to anything monetary------again, this is how it worked thousands of years ago.
If we look back to colonial America and its creation of national banking as a precursor to US Federal Reserve Bank installed early 1900s----we see today what was happening back then only it is Foreign Economic Zones globally selling stock in what will become that ONE WORLD WORLD CENTRAL BANK.
This is what global 1% CLINTON/BUSH/OBAMA are building in each state ---and it will have nothing to do with American sovereign banking. Above we see one of our 5% to the 1% freemason/Greeks thinking this is a game------and as we say above----the goals of digital currencies is simply to take 99% of US and global citizens out of having hard currency.
So, as in US controlled by global banking 1%------this SWISS bank is the same as the PAKISTAN Public Bank ----is the same as the MALAYSIAN PUBLIC BANK----THEY ARE NOT 99% LOCAL PUBLIC BANKS.
THE CLASSIC WALL STREET MAIN STREET DIVIDE----those 46% of Americans not attached to the market are losing-------NOT REALLY! As we see our US stock market Wall Street is simply on its way out----all those soaring numbers ----mean the big investment firms are buying ONE WORLD ONE CENTRAL BANK----leaving US stock market behind. So, what happens to those 5% to the 1% living off of stock dividends? They are thrown under the bus.
One of the world's hottest stocks is a ... central bank
by Charles Riley @CRrileyCNN August 30, 2017: 10:54 AM ET
Investors are going nuts over one of the world's strangest stocks.
Shares in Swiss National Bank are trading at record highs after skyrocketing as much as 45% in August. A single share is now worth more than 3,000 Swiss francs ($3,125).
The stock's performance has flummoxed analysts, many of whom fail to see the rationale for buying obscure, thinly-traded shares that offer a miniscule dividend.
That's to say nothing of the unorthodoxy of investing in a central bank, which is obligated to put the interests of the country above those of shareholders.
"The volume is so low that no institutional investor would look at buying," said Andreas Venditti, senior analyst at Bank Vontobel. "You won't even find anyone who covers that stock."
Swiss National Bank is one of a handful of central banks that sell shares to the public. (The central banks of Belgium, South Africa and Japan are among the others).
It has issued only 100,000 shares, a majority of which are owned by Swiss cantons (states), cantonal banks and other public institutions. According to the central bank's annual report, its top private shareholder is German businessman Theo Siegert.
The central bank has built a huge war chest of foreign assets in recent years as part of its efforts to weaken the Swiss franc. It has total assets worth 750 billion Swiss francs ($780 billion), and turned a profit of 1.2 billion Swiss francs ($1.3 billion) in the first half of 2017.
Dividends, however, are legally capped at 15 Swiss francs ($15.60) per share no matter how much the central bank makes.
Venditti said that one possible explanation for the stock's performance is that trading volumes are so low that even a tiny number of purchases can result in major price movement.
Another theory is that investors view the central bank as a risk-free investment, an idea that dovetails with the Swiss franc's reputation as a safe haven during times of market volatility. Plus, it's not like a central bank can run out of money.
"It is a very safe investment in the sense that you would not expect the Swiss National Bank to go bankrupt," Venditti said.
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Most of these articles by national media show photos of US citizens holding signs looking helpless and heart-broken as all their wealth and quality of life is being attacked. The global 1% LOVE these photos-----and yet, our US 99% black, white, and brown citizens have TREMENDOUS POWER-----
As we shout-----all the tens of trillions of dollars in global banking 1% frauds occurred in US cities deemed Foreign Economic Zones by institutions like global Wall Street Baltimore Development ----Greater Baltimore Committee-------Baltimore Urban League and Baltimore Urban Institute-----along with the NGOs pretending to be 'LABOR AND JUSTICE' organizations. OAKLAND CA ----as BALTIMORE MD -----PHILA PA as NYC NY------Houston TX as Miami FL ------each of these US cities is from where ROBBER BARON CLINTON/BUSH/OBAMA looted our US Treasuries, state and local treasuries------tied to those dastardly global hedge fund IVY LEAGUES under the umbrella of global investment firms like CARLYLE GROUP-----we have offices right here in Baltimore.
Our US 99% of WE THE PEOPLE have not lost our wealth or assets---they still exist in these US cities bound by global corporations tied to each US city public agency.
EACH YEAR BALTIMORE CITY LOSES A FEW BILLION DOLLARS IN TAX REVENUE TO GLOBAL BALTIMORE DEVELOPMENT/GLOBAL HEDGE FUND IVY LEAGUE JOHNS HOPKINS IN ILLEGAL CRIMINAL FRAUD.
A local public bank would be one that takes all Baltimore tax revenue and Federal, state, and local program funding AWAY FROM THOSE GLOBAL WALL STREET BALTIMORE DEVELOPMENT agencies----and gets that money to each Baltimore community.
Oh, look---there is a public bank just as they are building in OAKLAND CA----SAN DIEGO CA----BALTIMORE MD-------it looks like a global banking 1% to us!
Here is to where global investment firms are investing----and PUBLIC BANK MALAYSIA expanding into VIETNAM both being FOREIGN ECONOMIC ZONES----are the same as PUBLIC BANK OAKLAND CA----SAN DIEGO---BALTIMORE MD------they will merge and consolidate into ONE WORLD ONE WORLD CENTRAL BANK.
March 26, 2015 12:10 am JST
Public Bank
Malaysian bank expands in Vietnam
CK TAN, Nikkei staff writer
KUALA LUMPUR -- Public Bank announced on Wednesday that it has been granted permission to acquire the other half of VID Public Bank, its subsidiary in Vietnam, for $76.6 million.
The State Bank of Vietnam, the central bank, is allowing VID Public Bank to become 100% foreign owned, according to a stock exchange filing in Kuala Lumpur. The bank has operated since 1992 and has seven branches.
Public Bank, Malaysia's third largest by assets, announced in July that it intended to acquire the other 50% of the bank from its joint venture partner, the Bank of Investment and Development of Vietnam -- a leading state-owned commercial bank with an extensive nationwide network.
The Malaysian buyout sits well with official Vietnamese policy on restructuring the financial sector. Local reports suggest that as many as eight bank mergers are likely in 2015 in an effort to halve the number of commercial banks by the end of 2017 from over 30 at present.
Vietnam's financial authorities have been openly soliciting foreign investors to assist with liquidity problems precipitated by currency instability and ballooning non-performing loans.
"The State Bank of Vietnam will push measures to deal drastically with weak banks that have no chance of recovery," the central bank warned on its website.
Vu Viet Ngoan, chairman of Vietnam's National Financial Supervisory Commission, meanwhile told reporters in January that the government would not rule out foreign involvement in eliminating distortions in the banking sector.
Apart from Vietnam, Public Bank operates in Cambodia and Hong Kong. Its overseas operations contributed about 7% to group operating revenue in 2013.
The Malaysian bank's move comes as Southeast Asian policymakers conclude a banking integration framework that will enable banks in the region to operate in neighboring markets. Within the new framework, any two ASEAN countries can enter a bilateral arrangement allowing qualified banks to operate in the other signatory's market.
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We just posted CNN----financial news which is the same as YAHOO NEWS-----telling us the US stock market is soaring -----almost 50% of US stock holders are winners and those poor LOSERS------toiling away in a global 1% neo-liberal US city deemed Foreign Economic Zone are getting more and more impoverished----while those 5% to the 1% are WINNING.
Lehigh Valley
The stock market is soaring
By: Posted: Feb 20, 2017 10:54 PM EST
Updated: Feb 20, 2017 10:54 PM EST
Absolutely none of that is happening. As this article makes clear-----the only thing happening is a REPEAT OF ROARING 20s------of 2007 before the economic crash of 2008. It is all movement of stock by global investment firms out of our US economy.
We watch as well on CNN------Delaware's global 1% banking neo-liberal COON pretending to be fighting the same global banking 1% neo-liberal TRUMP over government shutdown. COON is fighting for that DACA that does absolutely nothing for our 99% of global labor pool except assure they come to work in US global enslaving factories. COON AND DELAWARE are the global banking/global corporate state acting to offshore all those tens of trillions of dollars stolen these few decades.
The answer---who is this possible----is that it is NOT POSSIBLE and it is not happening. This is simply as in the crash of 1930s a few of the biggest investment firms creating the boom before the bust.
'So why are stocks still going up?
If your guess is “central bank intervention”, you are right on the nose'.
'What the update reveals is “a surge in net global central bank asset purchases to their highest since 2013.”'
All of the movement of US stock and bond dividends have these few decades been controlled by the US FED and after 2008 economic crash that US FED control has directed all stock gains to the 1%.
The Dow And The S&P 500 Soar To Brand New All-Time Record Highs – How Is This Possible?
The Dow and the S&P 500 both closed at all-time record highs on Tuesday, and that is very good news. You might think that is an odd statement coming from the publisher of The Economic Collapse Blog, but the truth is that I am not at all eager to see the financial system crash and burn. We all saw what took place when it happened in 2008 – millions of people lost their jobs, millions of people lost their homes, and economic suffering was off the charts. So no, I don’t want to see that happen again any time soon. All of our lives will be a lot more comfortable if the financial markets are stable and stocks continue to go up. If the Dow and the S&P 500 can keep on soaring, that will suit me just fine. Unfortunately, I don’t think that is going to be what happens.
Of course I never imagined we would be talking about new record highs for the stock market in mid-July 2016. We have seen some crazy ups and downs for the financial markets over the last 12 months, and the downs were pretty severe. Last August, we witnessed the greatest financial shaking since the historic financial crisis of 2008, and that was followed by an even worse shaking in January and February. Then in June everyone was concerned that the surprising result of the Brexit vote would cause global markets to tank, and that did happen briefly, but since then we have seen an unprecedented rally.
So what is causing this sudden surge?
We’ll get to that in a moment, but first let’s review some of the numbers from Tuesday. The following comes from USA Today…
All three major indexes gained 0.7% apiece, as the Dow jumped 121 points to a new all-time closing high and the S&P 500 built upon its record close notched Monday. The blue chips now stand at 18,347.67, about 35 points above the previous record set May 19, 2015.
The new mark for the S&P 500 is 2,152.14, a 15-point improvement on its Monday close.
Overall, we have seen stocks shoot up more than eight percent over the last two weeks. Normally, a rise of 10 percent for an entire year is considered to be quite healthy…
Interior Minister Theresa May is set to become the U.K.’s prime minister on Wednesday. Stock markets across the globe have risen sharply, after a steep sell-off, following the United Kingdom’s decision to leave the European Union.
“In the past two weeks, post Brexit, the S&P 500 has vaulted over 8 percent,” said Adam Sarhan, CEO at Sarhan Capital. “Typically, a 10 percent move for the entire year is considered normal.”
What makes all of this even stranger is the fact that investors have been pulling money out of stocks as if it was 2008 all over again. In fact, Zero Hedge tells us that on balance investors have been taking money out of equity funds for 17 weeks in a row.
So why are stocks still going up?
If your guess is “central bank intervention”, you are right on the nose.
Across the Pacific, the Bank of Japan has been voraciously gobbling up assets, and the architect of “Abenomics” just won a major electoral victory which has fueled a huge market rally over there…
Meanwhile, in Japan, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe ordered new stimulus after his coalition won an election in Japan’s upper chamber by a landslide. Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose nearly 2.5 percent overnight, while the yen erased all of its post-Brexit gains against the dollar.
“In the short term, I think it’s going to help, but in the long term, we’ll see,” said JJ Kinahan, chief strategist at TD Ameritrade. “I feel like a lot of people are getting themselves into situations that they can’t get out of.”
In Europe, the ECB has feverishly been pumping money into the financial system, and the result of the Brexit vote seems to have lit a renewed fire under the central bankers in Europe. Collectively, intervention by the Japanese and the Europeans has created “a surge in net global central bank asset purchases to their highest since 2013”…
Fast forward six months when Matt King reports that “many clients have been asking for an update of our usual central bank liquidity metrics.”
What the update reveals is “a surge in net global central bank asset purchases to their highest since 2013.”
And just like that the mystery of who has been buying stocks as everyone else has been selling has been revealed.
So now you know the rest of the story.
The economic fundamentals have not changed. China is still slowing down. Japan is still mired in a multi-year economic crisis. Much of Europe is still dealing with a full-blown banking crisis. Much of South America is still experiencing a full-blown depression.
Here in the United States, just about every indicator that you can think of says that the economy is slowing down. If you doubt this, please see my previous article entitled “15 Facts About The Imploding U.S. Economy That The Mainstream Media Doesn’t Want You To See“.
The artificially-induced rally that we are witnessing right now can be compared to a “last gasp” of a dying patient.
But my hope is that this “last gasp” can last for as long as possible. Because as much as I warn people about it, I am not actually eager to see what comes next.
The economic and financial suffering that are coming are inevitable, but they are not going to be pleasant for any of us. So let us all hope that we still have a little bit more time before the party is over and it is time to turn out the lights.
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National media are simply pretending there is a functioning US economy and stock market activity when in fact all these soaring gains are being shared between global central banks.
THIS is how a US FED was used to kill our domestic monetary system-------and this is why throughout OBAMA'S terms only the global 1% and their 2% received any wealth from all of stock market activity. This is soaring today because the installation of TRUMP is MOVING FORWARD ONE WORLD ONE WORLD CENTRAL BANK faster then ever. As 5% FAKE ALT RIGHT ALT LEFT pretend to be fighting these banks----they are installing that ONE WORLD CENTRAL BANK telling 99% WE THE PEOPLE they are fighting WALL STREET.
Each Foreign Economic Zone around the world is attached to a CENTRAL BANK ---while GREENSPAN used the US FED to fleece US Treasury and 99% of people's pockets-----BERNANKE staged the US FED for replacing US Wall Street to create the separate monetary system for only the global 1 %and their 2%.
Remember, our US TREASURY BOND and STATE MUNICIPAL BOND FRAUDS during OBAMA AND BERNANKE tied $20 trillion to GLOBAL CORPORATE CAMPUS BUILDING-----sucking it away from our US public trusts. It is those hundreds of trillions of dollars in US public trusts and personal wealth tied to stocks and bonds that are bringing massive profits to those global 1% investment firms.
We have stated that ZERO HEDGE ----a right wing financial blog is generally good about concerns of ROBBER BARON Wall Street and US FED--------but they are right wing-----they are not left 99% of WE THE PEOPLE-----so is this media outlet. So, we do not believe all these outlets state-----as we said about the ZERO HEDGE article on HOW MUCH GOLD EXISTS--------------but this article is correct in saying the HAMILTON US FED has taken our US assets and plays a monetary game for only the global 1%
'About WND
WND, formerly WorldNetDaily, can best be explained by its mission statement: “WND is an independent news company dedicated to uncompromising journalism, seeking truth and justice and revitalizing the role of the free press as a guardian of liberty. We remain faithful to the traditional and central role of a free press in a free society – as a light exposing wrongdoing, corruption and abuse of power'.
Thursday, 19 June 2014
Central Banks Now Dominate Stock Market, Study Finds
Written by Alex Newman
Central banks and government entities around the world are now dominant players in the stock market with some $30 trillion invested in equities and other assets, according to a new survey released this week offering the first comprehensive analysis of public-sector investments. About half of that is from central banks. In other words, monetary authorities, which conjure fiat currency into existence out of thin air, are using much of that “funny money” to gobble up real assets — propping up stock prices but eroding the value of people’s savings through inflation of the currency supply. The significance of the findings is monumental.
By far the largest overall central bank-controlled investor is the Communist Chinese dictatorship’s “State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE),” which is part of the regime’s central bank known as the “People’s Bank of China.” According to the survey, SAFE has almost $4 trillion under management, including massive stakes in publicly traded European companies. Beyond SAFE, Beijing’s central bank has also been directly scooping up minority positions in key European companies and industries. Other Asian central banks are becoming giant players in equities, too.
While the privately owned U.S. Federal Reserve System has apparently been sticking with government bonds and mortgage-backed securities, its own massive role in distorting markets and central planning has been documented extensively by this magazine and countless analysts. Among other radical measures, the U.S. central bank has showered trillions of dollars on crony megabanks around the world. Since the economic crisis, the Fed has also engaged in currency printing on an unprecedented scale, euphemistically referred to as “quantitative easing,” or QE. Its balance sheet is now over $4 trillion and still growing.
The shocking data on central banks’ activities in the market, released on June 17, came from a survey compiled by the global research and advisory organization known as the Official Monetary and Financial Institutions Forum (OMFIF). The Global Public Investor (GPI) 2014 publication, for the first time, takes a broad look at some $29.1 trillion in investments held by hundreds of public-sector institutions in more than 160 countries. Among those entities are 157 central banks, 156 government pension funds, and almost 90 sovereign-wealth funds.
“In the aftermath of the financial crisis different forms of ‘state capitalism’ have come to the fore,” the report authors said in a statement about their findings, referring to the sort of pseudo-“capitalism” run by the Communist Party regime in Beijing and like-minded governments around the world. “Whether or not this trend is a good thing may be open to question. What is incontestable is that it has happened.” In all, the survey suggests public entities now own assets equivalent to about 40 percent of global output — a staggering number suggesting that governments and central banks literally control the supposedly “free” markets.
Commentators, though, said the findings merely confirmed long-held suspicions. “Another conspiracy ‘theory’ becomes conspiracy ‘fact’,” observed financial analyst Tyler Durden at the finance-oriented ZeroHedge site, noting that central-banking gimmicks distorting and inflating markets has long been suspected. “To summarize, the global equity market is now one massive Ponzi scheme in which the dumb money are central banks themselves, the same banks who inject the liquidity to begin with.... That said, good luck with ‘exiting’ the unconventional monetary policy. You'll need it.”
According to the GPI, one of the reasons that central banks have been shoveling currency into stock markets is to compensate for the loss of income on bonds brought about by record-low interest rates. Of course, those low rates — one key European Central Bank (ECB) rate even turned negative this month — were set by discredited central-planning committees in those same central banks. Supposedly, the absurdly low rates set by the central planners were supposed to help stimulate an “economic recovery” sparked largely by the wild policies of those same central banks. In reality, they just fleeced humanity, caused massive malinvestment, and prolonged the inevitable day of reckoning.
David Marsh, managing director of the Forum that produced the study, argued that the huge role of supposedly public institutions in the markets was all a surprising but perhaps unintended result of monetary authorities’ efforts to keep the economy afloat. “The buildup of central banking interest in equities is one of the unexpected consequences of the last few years' fall in interest rates, which has depressed the returns on central banks’ foreign exchange reserves and driven them to find alternative investment targets,” he wrote in a column at MarketWatch.
Other central banks with major investments in the stock market included the Swiss National Bank, which has nearly $500 billion under management and about $72 billion in equities. “We are now invested in large-, mid-, and small-cap stocks in developed markets worldwide,” SNB chief Thomas Jordan is quoted as saying the report. “The decision to introduce new asset classes should always be taken with the aim of improving the long-term position, and with the awareness that a change should be sustainable, even in more difficult times.”
The Danish central bank, meanwhile, holds about $0.5 billion in stocks as it, like the SNB, has sought to keep the value of its currency down amid massive capital inflows seeking a safe haven. The Bank of Japan and Japan’s Government Pension Investment Fund (GPIF) each have an estimated $1.3 trillion invested in the markets. Oil-rich Norway’s Norges Bank Investment Management (NBIM) has close to a trillion under management, with over 60 percent of that in equities, amounting to an average ownership of 1.3% of every company listed around the world.
“Rather than invest in failing infrastructure, central banks and governments are acting like hedge funds, betting on the stock market and [over-the-counter] OTC derivatives, using fiat credits that are borrowed or printed,” explained Stewart Thomson with the Graceland Updates newsletter for investors. “The bottom line: While global citizens are told to ‘grin and bear’ austerity, their leaders are having a ‘good ‘ole time’ spending trillions of dollars, at the stock market casino.”
Some critics of the revelations about central banks and public institutions called for more “transparency” in how they were investing. “Reforms are urgently needed to enhance the domestic and international transparency and accountability for this activity — in the interests of a better-functioning world economy,” said Peterson Institute for International Economics senior fellow Ted Truman, a former high-level official at the Federal Reserve. “Changes, real or rumored, in the asset or currency composition of foreign exchange reserves have the potential to destabilize exchange rate and financial markets.”
The authors of the study, meanwhile, warned that central banks’ stock-buying bonanza could lead to “overheated asset prices” and other financial developments with troubling implications. The real problems, though, go far beyond a simple lack of information available to the public or artificially boosted asset prices driven up by central planners with their printing presses and public funds. Indeed, the entire central-banking system is the problem, according to economists with far better track records than central banking officials.
While the latest news was hardly a surprise to analysts tracking the shadowy activities of the central-banking establishment, it confirmed yet again that despite claims made by powerful anti-market zealots, the global economy can hardly be described as anything even resembling a free-market system. Georgetown University historian and Professor Carroll Quigley, who served as President Bill Clinton’s mentor, wrote about the schemes now coming to light in his 1966 book Tragedy And Hope: A History Of The World In Our Time.
“The powers of financial capitalism had a far-reaching aim, nothing less than to create a world system of financial control in private hands able to dominate the political system of each country and the economy of the world as a whole,” wrote Prof. Quigley, a heavyweight academic who was allowed to review documents of the global establishment’s top echelon and agreed with the goals but not the secrecy. As the Forum’s study shows, that world system they envisioned is quickly coming into view when considering the real ownership of the central banks.
“This system was to be controlled in a feudalist fashion by the central banks of the world acting in concert by secret agreements arrived at in frequent private meetings and conferences,” Quigley continued in his massive book. “The apex of the system was to be the Bank for International Settlements in Basel, Switzerland, a private bank owned and controlled by the world's central banks which were themselves private corporations.” (Emphasis added.)
If humanity hopes to restore liberty, prosperity, national sovereignty, and genuine free markets, urgent action is required. Abolishing central banks, their monopoly over currency and credit, and their interest rate-setting central-planning committees would be a good start. Ending fiat currency is also key, along with the impossible-to-pay interest attached to it. Without honest money, there is no way to have an honest or free economy. As the latest report confirms yet again, though, the central-banking establishment is getting more and more out of control. If it continues unchallenged, the most recent financial crisis may end up looking like a minor speed bump by comparison.
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Every US citizen remembers all the national media hype over the SS Trust and its ever-decreasing dates of going broke. We discussed back in 2010 that our SS Trust due to REAGAN-ERA TRIPLING of payroll taxes is fully funded through 21st century---both SS and Medicare Trusts ARE NOT DEPLETED. Baby boomers paid not only for their own retirement and health care savings----they paid enough for our next few generations. No matter what global banking 1% national media and 5% ALT RIGHT ALT LEFT players tied to 'labor and justice' organizations say-------
US CITIZENS HAVE THAT SOCIAL SECURITY AND MEDICARE TRUST.
'While the latest news was hardly a surprise to analysts tracking the shadowy activities of the central-banking establishment, it confirmed yet again that despite claims made by powerful anti-market zealots, the global economy can hardly be described as anything even resembling a free-market system'.
What we don't have are government officials having any intentions that 99% WE THE PEOPLE receive those public trust savings accounts. The problem is not the national debt ----all fraudulent and all NOT REAL -----getting rid of CLINTON/BUSH/OBAMA NOW TRUMP brings the ability to build all needed structures and claw-back control of our FEDERAL, STATE, and LOCAL revenue management------AND THOSE SOCIAL SAFETY NET FUNDS WILL BE THERE.
In 2009 we were told there was a few trillion in shortfall---now it is $11 trillion which is the majority of OBAMA'S US TREASURY BOND FRAUD-----tied to US FED now circulating in global CENTRAL BANK MONETARY MARKETS.
Global 1% banking pols and players will keep playing this game in US media------and if 99% WE THE PEOPLE do not act they will deny US citizens these vital public trusts. The trusts are not gone---the national debt does not exist------it is only those global banking CLINTON/BUSH/OBAMA pols and players playing games.
MERCATUS CENTER is global 1% banking so their analysis is not real information for 99% of US citizens. THIS IS A FAR-RIGHT WING LIBERTARIAN THINK TANK not interested in reforms helping to save our US SS and MEDICARE Trusts----
"The politics of Social Security reform is not getting any easier."
-Charles Blahous, a senior research fellow at George Mason University's Mercatus Center'
'The Mercatus Center at George Mason University is an American non-profit free-market-oriented research, education, and outreach think tank directed by Tyler Cowen. It works with policy experts, lobbyists, and government officials to connect academic learning and real-world practice. Taking its name from the Latin word for "market", the Center advocates free-market approaches to public policy. During the George W. Bush administration's campaign to reduce government regulation, the Wall Street Journal reported, "14 of the 23 rules the White House chose for its "hit list" to eliminate or modify were Mercatus entries."
According to the 2014 Global Go To Think Tank Index Report (Think Tanks and Civil Societies Program, University of Pennsylvania), Mercatus is number 44 (of 60) in the "Top Think Tanks in the United States" and number 19 (of 45) of the "Best University Affiliated Think Tanks".[3] Some critics have noted the center's association with the Koch brothers[4][5][6] and its founder Richard Fink, headed the Koch Industries’ lobbying in Washington as of 2010'.
Social Security has a looming $11 trillion shortfall
Tom Anderson | @bytomanderson
Published 8:34 AM ET Tue, 17 Jan 2017
President-elect Donald Trump has said he will preserve Social Security, though if he and Congress do nothing to fix the funding, the financial reckoning will be huge -- as much as $11.4 trillion down the road.
The last time Congress changed Social Security in a significant way with a series of benefit cuts and payroll tax increases was in 1983 under President Ronald Reagan.
Back then, the federal government needed to fill a funding gap of about 1 percent of taxable workers' wages. By the time Social Security's trust funds are projected to run out in the early 2030s, the federal government will have to plug a hole of more than 3 percent, according to estimates by Charles Blahous, a senior research fellow at George Mason University's Mercatus Center.
"Just to keep the system afloat from year to year at that point they would have to inflict near-term pain over three times as severe as was the case in 1983," Blahous said.
A GOP blueprint for reform
Though the Trump transition team has yet to make any proposals about Social Security, one Republican lawmaker has detailed how he would change it.
Congressman Sam Johnson, an 86-year-old Texan who represents the Dallas suburbs and is chairman of the House Ways and Means Social Security Subcommittee, unveiled a bill in December in the last Congress that aims to fix the program without raising payroll taxes.
Johnson's proposal would increase the age to receive full retirement benefits from 67 to 69, slow the growth of benefits by using a different measure of inflation for cost-of-living adjustments and cap payouts to high-income workers.
"I urge my colleagues to also put pen to paper and offer their ideas about how they would save Social Security for generations to come. Americans want, need and deserve for us to finally come up with a solution to saving this important program," Johnson said in a statement.
Social Security Administration officials said Johnson's plan would fix the funding situation, at least until 2091, without raising payroll taxes. Typically, Congress has shored up the finances of Social Security with a series of benefit cuts and tax increases.
Under current law, just 79 percent of scheduled benefits are projected to be payable to each recipient in 2034, once the trust fund reserves are depleted. Under Johnson's proposal, Social Security trust funds would remain solvent and be able to pay out 100 percent of benefits to retirees under the SSA's 75-year projections.
"The politics of Social Security reform is not getting any easier." -Charles Blahous, a senior research fellow at George Mason University's Mercatus Center
Advocates for increasing Social Security retirement benefits, which provide about 34 percent of the income for elderly Americans, oppose Johnson's plan because of its cuts.
For example, under Johnson's plan, average middle-income workers would see their annual benefits, calculated in 2015 dollars, drop from $18,576 now to $17,076 in 2030, based on an SSA analysis.
"Not only does the Johnson plan deeply cut benefits, it radically transforms the program so that it would, when fully phased in, no longer be a pension plan replacing wages but rather operate in the manner of a flat, subsistence-level [grant,] which would provide recipients with an amount unrelated to earnings and contributions," said Nancy Altman, co-director of Social Security Works, which advocates to increase Social Security.
Raising the age to receive full retirement benefits from 67 to 69, as Johnson proposes, also would affect many retirees since most people claim benefits before full retirement age, typically at 62, the earliest age possible. (See chart below.)
Johnson's plan has not gained much traction in Congress. The bill did not have any co-sponsors last year and Johnson has yet to introduce it in the new Congress.
The clock is ticking. Social Security's income is projected to exceed its cost through 2019, but then the program will start tapping its reserves, according to the Social Security and Medicare Boards of Trustees' annual report.
"The politics of Social Security reform is not getting any easier," Blahous said. "When the trust funds run out, it will be too late."
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Our students at GEORGE MASON once a very ordinary state university in Virginia have to protest these FAR-RIGHT LIBERTARIAN think tanks just as here in Baltimore we have Clinton Initiative and global Johns Hopkins needing 99% of WE THE PEOPLE protesting---they are the ones TAKING OUR PUBLIC TRUSTS AND RUNNING.
Below we see GRISWOLD from the same LIBERTARIAN MERCUTUS-----telling 99% of WE THE PEOPLE why America is being taken to colonial status and all our US assets and individual wealth AND RIGHTS AS CITIZENS are being killed-------that $11 trillion in SS TRUST shortfall is building foreign global corporate campuses in US cities deemed Foreign Economic Zones like OAKLAND CA and Baltimore MD.
'Daniel "Dan" T. Griswold (born 1958) is a senior research Fellow and co-director of the Program on the American Economy and Globalization at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University. He was previously the president of the National Association of Foreign-Trade Zones, an organization based in Washington DC. Prior to NAFTZ, he served as the director of the Cato Institute's Center for Trade Policy Studies'
Every public agency in Baltimore is operated and/or owned by global corporations which of course are openly fleecing that few billion each year from our Baltimore tax revenue and all our social program funding. Global 1% CLINTON/BUSH/OBAMA used this status of US FOREIGN ECONOMIC ZONE to openly fleece and systemically fill each government with corruption and fraud----here in Baltimore the top economy is sitting down to EMBEZZLE-----our US and state treasuries.
While national media and KABUKI CONGRESS keep creating CRISES and TALKING POINTS having nothing to do with reality----NO, women's equal pay, parent's left, sick pay, DO NOT EXIST IN FOREIGN ECONOMIC ZONES.......we educate every day to make sure our US 99% and our global 99% immigrants KNOW what is important policy. We cannot be afraid of losing our PUBLIC TRUST SAVINGS ACCOUNTS---we need to GET RID OF ALL GLOBAL WALL STREET POLS AND PLAYERS.
The people in far-right THINK TANKS are almost always my 5% to the 1% white players----and almost all of them---living for today will take their families under the bus.
Inward Investment Guides | Location USA
U.S. Foreign-Trade Zones Attract FDI to United States
With their streamlined regulations and many advantages, U.S. foreign-trade zones have become home to the successful operations of many foreign-owned affiliates.
- Daniel Griswold, President, National Association of Foreign-Trade Zones (NAFTZ)
For a company looking to locate an affiliate in the United States, the Foreign-Trade Zones (FTZs) program, established in 1934, can provide a secure, efficient, and profitable platform to compete effectively in domestic and global markets. U.S. foreign-trade zones are currently home to 2,800 companies across the United States and Puerto Rico, among them such brand-name global producers as AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals, BAE Systems, LG Electronics, Michelin, Ricoh, Samsung, Sony, ThyssenKrupp, and Yamaha. New streamlined regulations implemented in 2012 have made the program more attractive than ever to companies large and small, foreign and domestic.
Companies operating in foreign-trade zones have become a thriving sector of the U.S. economy. According to the most recent report from the Foreign-Trade Zones Board in Washington, D.C., firms operating in FTZs in 2011 employed 340,000 U.S. workers in more than 170 active zone projects across the nation. Exports from FTZs reached a record $54.3 billion in 2011, growing at a pace in recent years that is far faster than overall U.S. goods exports.
Major users of the program include such industries as electronics, automotive, pharmaceuticals, petrochemicals, machinery, equipment, apparel, and footwear. The program is open to U.S.-based companies and affiliates, whether the parent company is located domestically or abroad. Automotive companies using the program include such well-known international nameplates as BMW, Honda, Hyundai, Mercedes-Benz, Nissan, Subaru, and Toyota. Locating in a U.S. foreign-trade zone allows affiliates to continue to source materials and components from international suppliers at globally competitive prices, while employing productive U.S. workers creating products for the world’s largest domestic market as well as for export. For example, STIHL USA, an affiliate of the German chainsaw manufacturer, produces a range of power tools in a foreign-trade zone in Virginia Beach, Virginia. The company has enjoyed robust growth in production, sales, and employment at its facility. And BMW Manufacturing Co. in Greer, South Carolina, announced in 2012 that it would invest an additional $900 million in its four-million-square-foot facility. The plant now employs 7,000 workers able to produce more than 300,000 vehicles per year. The company exports more than $5 billion in motor vehicles from its foreign-trade sub-zone, 70 percent of total production.
Many Benefits
The concept behind FTZs is simple and the benefits are many. FTZs are zones located at or near U.S. ports of entry that are considered outside U.S. Customs territory. That means that Customs inspections and duty collection only apply when goods leave the zone for domestic U.S. commerce, rather than when first admitted to the zone from abroad. This can result in tremendous savings for companies that rely on imported materials, components, and machinery for final production.
The benefits can be especially appealing for a globally connected, multinational company locating an affiliate in the United States. For a producer located in a foreign-trade zone, duties can be eliminated entirely on imported materials and components that are then re-exported as part of a final product. Foreign-owned companies can use the FTZ as a “land bridge” to export to North and South American markets as well as those of Asia and Europe. Duties are also eliminated on inputs that are scrapped or destroyed in the production process.
For products shipped from a foreign-trade zone into the $15 trillion domestic U.S. market, duties can be reduced through the flexibility of choosing the lower tariff rate on either the final product or the imported components. Those global automakers, for example, are able to source parts from their home country and other foreign suppliers that can face significant duties if imported into U.S. commerce, but because the company is located in a foreign-trade zone, the parts face the same relatively low duty of 2.5 percent imposed on the final automobile when it is shipped from the zone to U.S. consumers. The FTZ environment can also deliver large cash-flow savings because the payment of duties is deferred on foreign goods admitted to a zone until they are actually shipped into U.S. commerce for final sale. FTZ users can also consolidate weekly entry forms that can reduce payments for the Merchandise Processing Fee. And inventory stored in an FTZ is exempt from state and local ad valorem taxes.
Beyond the Costs Savings
Beyond the direct duty savings, locating in an FTZ can speed supply-chain velocity by reducing the need to file numerous forms with U.S. Customs. FTZ users can plug into a thriving support network offering sophisticated inventory-management software, third-party logistics, and experienced grantees that manage overall zone administration.
By operating in a zone, companies can also build “trusted-trader” relationships with Customs officials. Other agencies that regulate import compliance, such as the Food and Drug Administration, can offer additional flexibility in the production, labeling, and packaging of goods within a zone. In general, import regulations, like Customs duties, are only applied when goods leave the zone for U.S. commerce, not when they are first admitted to the zone.
Although more than 100 countries offer some kind of special trade-zone status, the U.S. Foreign-Trade Zones program has proven to be one of the most successful in the world. The security and reporting requirements imposed on U.S. zones minimize any incentives for illegal activities. Unlike in special economic zones elsewhere, companies operating in a U.S. foreign-trade zone are subject to all domestic tax, health, labor, and other laws. Additionally, in contrast to other countries, zone users in the United States are not required to export all or a minimum share of their output, nor are they required to locate in certain limited regions of the country.
A User-Friendly Program
The program has become more user-friendly than ever because of an overhaul of the FTZ Board regulations in April 2012. The new rules allow expedited approval of applications for new zones and for companies seeking to operate in an existing zone, while the amount of information required for application has been sharply reduced. Approval times have dropped from 12 months or more to less than 30 days for most users. Approvals for production activities, including manufacturing, now take 120 days or less in most cases.
The program’s usefulness has been enhanced by the introduction and wide adoption of the Alternative Site Framework (ASF) since 2009. ASF allows a foreign-trade zone grantee — typically a local port authority or other nonprofit administrator — to offer FTZ status to companies operating anywhere in a multi-county “service area,” rather than requiring the user to locate in a specific General Purpose Zone near a port of entry. Combined with the new FTZ Board regulations, the ASF has opened the program to a wider range of users, including small and medium-size companies.
The FTZ program enjoys bi-partisan support in Washington that has remained unaffected by the recent U.S. election. In February 2012, the Obama White House lauded the program in a statement that said the new regulations will advance administration goals of attracting foreign investment, stimulating manufacturing in the United States, and promoting exports through the National Export Initiative. Members of both parties in Congress understand that the FTZs located in their states help to attract and keep productive activity in the United States and thus create sustainable, well-paying jobs for their constituents.
Any company interested in locating in a U.S. foreign-trade zone should seek information from the U.S. Commercial Service as well as state and local development officials in the United States. Foreign-trade zones have become an important tool for enhancing the attractiveness of the United States as a destination for foreign investment. The grantees that administer each zone project are required by law to be nonprofit entities that operate as a public utility, which means reasonable and transparent fees and uniform treatment for all user companies.
The success of so many foreign-owned affiliates in the FTZ program testifies to its usefulness and availability to all U.S.-based producers, whatever the nationality of their parent companies.
Daniel Griswold joined the National Association of Foreign-Trade Zones (NAFTZ) as president in January 2012. From 1997 to 2012, he researched and wrote about U.S. trade and immigration policy at the respected Cato Institute in Washington, D.C., where he served as director of the institute’s Center for Trade Policy Studies. Griswold is the author of the 2009 Cato book, Mad about Trade: Why Main Street America Should Embrace Globalization. He has testified before congressional committees, commented frequently for TV and radio, authored articles for The Wall Street Journal and other national publications, and addressed business and trade groups across the country and around the world. Before joining Cato, he was editorial-page editor of the Colorado Springs (Colo.) Gazette, a daily newspaper, and a press secretary on Capitol Hill. Griswold holds a Bachelor’s degree in Journalism from the University of Wisconsin at Madison, and a diploma in Economics and an M.Sc. in the Politics of the World Economy from the London School of Economics. He and his wife Elizabeth live in Vienna, Va.
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A PUBLIC OPTION says NYT--------The Bank of North Dakota is simply where TAR SANDS OIL FIELD AND FRACKING ENERGY CORPORATIONS place their money and it is then invested for global 1% and their 2% in what has become global central bank stock and bond markets----there is absolutely NOTHING public about BANK OF NORTH DAKOTA.
We have shouted ELLEN BROWN AND PUBLIC BANKING INSTITUTE is that 5% ALT RIGHT ALT LEFT player----she says good things but she knows the goals MOVING FORWARD using this TALKING POINT is ONE WORLD WORLD CENTRAL BANK.
The 99% of citizens in Baltimore can rebuild the entire public water and sewage system that has been third world these few decades by simply ending that few billion each year illegal looting of our city tax dollars. THIS IS THE SOLUTION---WE MUST BRING PEACEFUL ROLLING PROTESTS TO ALL US CITIES DEEMED FOREIGN ECONOMIC ZONES demanding all global banking 1% pols and players get out of our 99% PEOPLE'S GOVERNMENT.
It is our FAKE ALT RIGHT ALT LEFT 5% pols and players SANDERS, STEIN, TURNER, ELLISON, WARREN pretending this is left social progressive----they pretend because they are far-right wing global banking 1% LIBERTARIAN MARXISTS working for ONE WORLD WORLD CENTRAL BANK.
Public Banks Are Essential to CapitalismEllen Brown, a lawyer, is the president of the Public Banking Institute and the author, most recently, of "The Public Bank Solution."
Updated October 2, 2013, 5:01 PM
To ask whether public banks would interfere with free markets assumes that we have free markets, which we don’t. Banking is heavily subsidized and is monopolized by Wall Street, which has effectively “bought” Congress. Banks have been bailed out by the government, when in a free market they would have gone bankrupt. The Federal Reserve blatantly manipulates interest rates in a way that serves Wall Street, lending trillions at near-zero interest and pushing rates so artificially low that local governments have lost billions in interest-rate swaps.
Banking, money and credit are not market goods but are economic infrastructure, just as roads and bridges are physical infrastructure.
State and municipal governments already have public lending programs, which are generally not seen as distortions of the free market. They exist because private banks are not lending in some sectors that need financing. Montana finances first-time ranchers and farmers; Sonoma County has its Energy Independence Program; and San Francisco has half a dozen mortgage lending and small business programs. Globally, public banks lend countercyclically, providing credit when and where other banks won’t. This does not crowd out private banks. Germany and Taiwan, which have strong public banking sectors, are among the most competitive banking markets in the world.
In North Dakota, the only state with its own “mini-Fed,” the state-owned Bank of North Dakota routes its public lending programs through community banks. The Bank of North Dakota cooperates rather than competes with local banks, aiding with capital and liquidity requirements. Its deposit base is almost entirely composed of the revenue of the state and state agencies. North Dakota has more banks per capita than any other state, because they have not been forced to sell to their Wall Street competitors. The North Dakota Bankers’ Association endorses the Bank of North Dakota, which has a mandate to support the local economy.
The Bank of North Dakota takes almost no individual deposits, but a national postal bank would, just as postal banks have done routinely in other countries without destabilizing free markets. One-fourth of American families are unbanked or underbanked. With $3 trillion in excess deposits, Wall Street doesn’t want these small depositors.
We actually need publicly owned banks for a capitalist market economy to run properly. Banking, money and credit are not market goods but are economic infrastructure, just as roads and bridges are physical infrastructure. By providing inexpensive, accessible financing to the free enterprise sector of the economy, public banks make commerce more vital and stable. Public banking is not a radical idea but has been practiced in the U.S. with excellent results for decades, and around the world for centuries.
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