Category Archives: Economics

Democracy is saved

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And the irony is that it was Donald Trump who saved it. He won the presidential election fair and square by appealing to the majority on matters that concerned them (cost of living and uncontrolled immigration). He showed that elite minority interests have no appeal to the masses – and democracy is about the majority of the people, and not about elites.

Didn’t anybody learn from the French Revolution (Egalite/Fraternity etc.), or the American Revolution, or the Russian? We should be grateful that the overthrow of the new aristocracy of celebrity and show business was overthrown by peaceful means. And we should hope that Australia, where I now reside, will absorb the lessons.

Kamala Harris was never going to win. African Americans comprise about 10% of the US population, while almost 70% are nominally Caucasian. And the next biggest voting block, Latinos, are Catholic and conservative, who, once they have a good job or successful business, tend to become Republicans. It did not help Harris’s cause by appearing on stage with celebrities flaunting their affluence at a time when most people are doing it tough.

It should be remembered that the First Peoples’ here comprise about 2% of the population, and stressing minority issues, and supporting uninhibited immigration, will have no appeal while the vast majority who are struggling to cope with day to day life, and living standards are going backwards – and, surprisingly, so is life expectancy.

I look forward to the will of the people, one man one vote, prevailing here as it did in the USA.

Plus ca change …………..

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.. . . plus c’est la meme chose.” ” the more things change . . . the more they stay the same.” Or as Karl Marx said, “History repeats itself . . . first time tragedy, second time farce.”

But while events in the Middle East are certainly a tragedy of epic proportions, with so many thousands of innocents being slaughtered without pity or compassion, it is certainly beyond farce. What to me is most sickening is the hypocrisy of the American government (President/State Department/CIA) who piously slap Israel’s wrists and threaten to withdraw their support, while continuing to provide the means to wage war.

In my mind they are the enablers of this conflict. They are using the Israeli’s as their spear carriers to enable them to promote a proxy war against Iran. And there are precedents in my 40 years experience working in the Arabian/Persian Gulf.

The very first story in my book THE GULF “Reaping the Whirlwind”, concerns events around the Buraimi Oasis in The Emirates.in the 1950s. At that time the Emirates were a British Protectorate, and Saudi Arabia lay within the American sphere of influence. ARAMCO, the Arabian American Oil Company, armed the Saudi Police and encouraged them to invade the Buraimi Oasis in order to move the border in their favour (and many years later that proved fruitful because a giant oilfield was discovered in the disputed territory). This whole crisis was later characterised as “A neat little war between the USA and The Limies.”

Perhaps more relevant was the Americans backing the Shah of Iran to overthrow a democratically elected government so that they could usurp British interests in oil rich Persia.

With the the overwhelming tragedy now unfolding in the Middle East my book is more relevant than ever. While not dealing directly with the Palestine/Israeli conflict, that is the background against which my stories of the expatriate experience of life in the oilfields of the Persian/Arabian oilfields are told. If nothing else they are authentic, based on events I witnessed myself, or were told to me by a reliable source.

I have no wish to profit from human misery, so I am offering my book as a 5 day free download on Amazon’s Kindle starting on Wednesday 23 October. I do this in the hope that many people will read it and gain some insight into the mentality that drives this atavistic Israeli/Palestinian conflict. As Uncle Tom says in my book:

“We understand the problem . . . we don’t understand the people.”

Or as another character, Ray says,

“They write backwards . . . they read backwards . . . and they think backwards.”

So much time spent looking in the rear view mirror and not the road ahead.

Does Jeff Bezos need my US$100?

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Jeff Bezos is the world’s richest man, so why does he need my $100?

My book THE GULF “Reaping the Whirlwind” has had about 50 downloads on Jeff’s Amazon KINDLE. That should have earned me between about US$120-150 crossing the threshold of US$100 when I am supposed to receive a cheque. But Jeff splits my account between US downloads, UK downloads, and a few German and Spanish downloads and I haven’t crossed the magic threshold in any single market – so I don’t get a cheque.

Of course my $100 is insignificant in Jeff’s 112 Billion dollar fortune – but he has 2.8 million authors on the US site, and 1.4 million on the UK site. Making the generous assumption that 50% of authors actually earn enough to get cheques, then Jeff is withholding around US$150,000,000 of author’s royalties – and realistically, probably a lot more.

So I am asking you to talk to your friends and get them to download about 10 copies of my book from amazon.com Kindle site so that I can cross the threshold at least in the US, and get a US$100 cheque.

To be honest US$100 I not really significant to me either, but why should Jeff have it? I promise you if I get the cheque it will go in full to charity. My reward will be knowing that a few more people will read my book which will give them authentic insights into the Mid-East between the 1960s and 2001 – and the events that led to 9/11.

And perhaps somebody should start a movement to clear a lot of other marginal authors from Kindle and send the money to charity, and deplete Jeff’s nice little cash cow.

To help you and others make the decision about my book here is the Foreword to THE GULF; “Reaping the Whirlwind.”

Foreword: Reaping the Whirlwind

Oil is the ultimate prize, equated with world mastery.
Winston Churchill

In a time of deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act.
George Orwell

Dazzled by the imperial splendours of exotic India—the Jewel in the Crown—and distracted by Byzantine political intrigues in Cairo, Damascus and Baghdad, the Arabian/Persian Gulf became a neglected backwater of the British Empire that allowed America to establish a dominant presence in Saudi Arabia and usurp British interests in Iran.

After WW2 America’s thirst for cheap oil developed the region rapidly from a collection of feudal Emirates into independent nation states of international significance ruled by ruthless despots. And when in 1972 they seized control of their crude oil supplies, and imposed a five-fold increase in price, it became a glittering modern arena of Western hedonism in conflict with austere Wahhabi and mystical Sufi Islam.

A world as it is, not as we wish it to be.

Reaping the Whirlwind spans 40 years and is journalistic: a collection of stories highlighting dramatic events featuring strong but damaged characters—expatriates washed up in The Gulf trying to survive in a rapidly changing world.

It is a classic hero’s journey.

The narrator is an idealistic young journalist sent from the UK to The Gulf in the early 60s by his Editor—his mentor. He encounters an atavistic society more corrupt than he had ever imagined. And he finds that the world of the foreign correspondent is more like show business than a serious profession trying to write as honestly as possible the first rough draft of history.

So he begins a lifelong private war.

He meets with Woman as Temptress—but fails to find love—and enters the Belly of the Whale, confronting corruption and hypocrisy no matter what the personal cost. He recalls the suffering and sacrifices of previous generations that built Western civilization—something that has been forgotten by adultlescent Baby Boomers living in their affluent bubble. He returns to the UK armed with a boon that will burst that bubble and change society for the better. But he is too late.

A Merry Christmas to my follower, and thanks for your support

Whatever happened to The Global Village

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A few years ago it was the orthodoxy – the body of ideas that all right thinking people should adopt without question – to talk about the world as one big global village. Globalization a.k.a. Americanization would bring peace and prosperity, and universal Happyness.

Then came 9/11 – and then the GFC of 2008.

Nobody talks much about the Global Village any more, and DAVOS – the Olympus of the Gods of Globalization – was poorly attended this year.

When you reach your 80s, with a mind reasonably intact, then Karl Marx’s “History repeats itself, first time tragedy second time farce,” or the more elegant French saying, “Plus ca change, plus c’est la meme chose,” resonate ever more strongly.

Do people remember these financial scandals of recent times?

– LOHNRO
– Investors Overseas Services
– Slater Walker
– BICC
– Icelandic Banks
– Societe General
– Barings Bank
– Northern Rock
– Lehman Brothers
– Bernie Madof
– Fanny Mae and Freddie Mac

And all the other nefarious dealings – and at times sheer incompetence – of the financial community? The unacceptable face of capitalism.

Or further back in time:

– The Great Depression of the 1930s

And even further back:

– The South Sea Bubble of 1720
– The Dutch Tulip Mania Bubble of 1636

And yet we continue to try and build a global society based on get-rich-quick speculative bubbles (a.k.a. financial derivatives and hedge funds) so that the filthy rich can get even filthier. There is currently about 8 times more out in paper than actual assets exist in the world. And if I have sparked your interest read Loretta Napoleoni’s excellent book ROGUE ECONOMICS for a more detailed and informed analysis.

Last year the wealth of the top 1% in the world increased by 18%, and the wealth of the bottom 50% decreased by 10%. I guess you could call that balance? Does anybody wonder why Trump, and BREXIT – and even ISIS (DAESH). These represent the backlash to the ruthless greed of the people who contribute nothing, merely seeking to make money from money, and ruin the lives of normal people. And of course they will fight endlessly to maintain their supremacy. Hence the howls of rage against Trump and Brexit.

My book, THE GULF “Reaping the Whirlwind” concerns the flotsam and jetsam that washes up in The Arabian/Persian Gulf. Expatriate American and British workers who are victims of the West’s ruthless and heartless financial system. And my work in progress, GULF II “The Beginning of Sorrows” concerns one man ruined and brought to the end of his tether by the GFC, the Global Financial Crash of 2008.

You can review and buy my book, THE GULF “Reaping the Whirlwind” and its fictionalizations of real events in the Middle East at:

amazon.com

Or on my publisher’s website:

feedaread.com