This article first appeared on my blog ‘En Passant with John Passant’ (http://enpassant.com.au)

The Rudd Labor Government’s next budget in May will take a meat axe to vital public services and public servants.

As Finance Minister Lindsay Tanner said recently: "We have got further efficiency work (sic) under way – the second phase of the razor gang." (Danielle Cronin and David McLennan ‘PS pain not over as China hits the wall’ The Canberra Times Friday January 23 2009 page 1.)

He went on to say: "It’s all about squeezing more out of the lemon, cutting out waste, getting greater efficiency, but time will tell how successful we are."

Ominously, Tanner said that the number of public service positions had grown from 212,000 to 247,000 under John Howard in his final years in office.

Remember 1996 when Howard and Costello sacked 25,000 public servants and axed a large number of programs?

Tanner is softening us up for the HowRudd Government’s version of 1996. Given the benchmark Tanner is using – 212,000 compared to 247,000, could this rotten Labor Government be tempted to go further than Howard and Costello and sack 35,000 public services and axe vital programs across the board?

The CPSU – the public servants’ union – has condemned the comments, saying you can’t get blood out of a stone. The CPSU accepted the 1996 attacks. It should take a stand now. Instead of being an acolyte of Labor, it should defend its members.

If you are a public servant, and not a union member, now would be a good time to join.  But don’t imagine that somehow the "union" will save you without you doing anything. The union leadership is essentially a conservatising force, afraid of industrial action and wedded to the ALP and the fear of upsetting it.  So if you do join, join prepared to argue and agitate for mass meetings, demonstrations, bans and strikes to defend public services, jobs, wages and conditions. Join and fight!

These meetings, bans and strikes should be on the union agenda now to force the Government to back down before their attacks become a debilitating and confidence destroying fait accompli. The added bonus is that such action would help rebuild the union, tainted from years of collaboration with the employer and class enemy – Hawke, Keating, Howard and Rudd.

This looks unlikely from the CPSU leadership. Instead the Union is affiliating with ALP branches around the country. In Canberra these moves are just beginning. The talk is of influencing the ALP from the inside. The union may as well join the Liberals for all the good it will do.

This entryism is doomed to failure because managing capitalism for the bosses demands attack on workers. That’s the essence of the ALP in times of economic crisis, and no amount of "influence" is going to change that. In fact the end result is more likely to be the host ALP taking over the parasite CPSU.

This affiliation nonsense is the consequence of the CPSU limply rolling over to governments for 25 years. The alternatives are affiliation or action to defend jobs. I’m in favour of action instead of passing do nothing resolutions through the ALP and getting do nothing officials on to the backbenches.

Strike to defend vital public programs, jobs, wages and conditions.

Global Research, January 20, 2009

Across the land, an atmosphere of hope and optimism prevails. The Bush regime has gone. A new president is in the White House. While America had its eyes riveted on the live TV broadcast of Barack Obama’s presidential inauguration, financial markets were sliding. A major “market correction” had occurred. Removed from the public eye, virtually unnoticed, a new stage of the financial crisis has unfolded. Immediately following the inauguration, the Dow Jones plummeted, largely affecting the share prices of major financial institutions.

The quoted stock values of major Wall Street banks plummeted. Citigroup fell by 20 percent, Bank of America by 29 percent and JP Morgan Chase by 20 percent. The Royal Bank of Scotland fell by 69 percent in New York trading.

Related Quotes
Symbol Price Change
BAC 5.10 -2.08
BK 19.00 -3.96
C 2.80 -0.70
FITB 4.22 -1.21
JPM 18.09 -4.73
Source: Yahoo

The difficulties and book value losses of major banks were known well in advance of the inauguration of President Obama.

So why now?
The inauguration of a president Obama was expected to provide confidence to financial markets. Exactly the opposite occurred. There was nothing spontaneous and accidental in this collapse of the stock values of amjor financial institutions. Obama’s speech outside the Capitol, had been drafted well in advance. Its contents was carefully prepared.

President Obama made explicit reference to the global economy’s woes, while emphasizing that: “without a watchful eye, the market can spin out of control.” “Obama warned the economic recovery would be difficult and that the nation must choose “hope over fear, unity of purpose over conflict and discord” to overcome the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression.” (Associated Press, January 20, 2009)

There were “high expectations” on Wall Street. Many Wall Street brokers, who were not privy to the contents of Obama’s speech, were “betting” President Obama’s statements would help stabilize financial markets. Those who drafted Obama’s speech were fully aware of its possible financial repercussions. “High expectations for details on how the new administration would address the growing banking crisis and faltering economy were dampened after the inauguration speech.”(Reuters, Jan 20, 2009)

Coincidentally, the chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, Christopher Cox, appointed by Bush in 2005, resigned on the very same day of the presidential inauguration, leading to vacuum in the adoption of crucial financial regulatory decisions. His successor, Mary Shapiro, will only take office following lengthy Senate confirmation hearings.

Those who had advanced knowledge and/or inside information regarding the text of Obama’s speech and who had the ability to “move the market” at the right time and the right place, stood to gain in the conduct of major speculative transactions on stock markets and currency exchanges. Were these speculative transactions planned in advance of January 20th? Was there a concerted and deliberate effort to “short the market” on the very same day as the presidential inauguration?

On currency markets, the movement was in reverse, the US dollar was rising, the Euro, the British Pound and the Canadian dollar were plummeting. Canada’s Central Bank Governor chose the date of the presidential inauguration to announce a cut in the interest rate in an apparent “bid to stimulate the economy and boost lending to consumers and businesses”. The impact: the Canadian dollar declined dramatically in relation to Greenback.

Were have All the Creditors Gone?
The largest financial institutions are said to be in troubled waters, indebted to unnamed creditors. Since the onslaught of the financial meltdown, the identity of the creditors remains a mystery. Over the years, the financial establishment has set up private hedge funds invariably registered in the name of wealthy individuals. Large amounts of wealth have been transferred from the large financial institutions to these privately owned hedge funds, which largely escape government regulation.

Why are the banks indebted? To whom? Are they the victims or the recipients? Are they the debtors or the creditors? America’s largest banks have, over the years, sifted off part of their surplus profits to various proxy financial outfits, hedge funds, accounts registered in tropical offshore banking havens, etc.

While these billion dollar transfers are conducted electronically from one financial entity to another, the identity of the creditors is never mentioned. Who is collecting these multibillion debts which are in large part the consequence of financial manipulation? The collapse in bank stock market values was in all likelihood known in advance. The banks had already moved their loot to a safe financial haven.

The banks are in troubled water after having received hundred of billions of dollars of bailout money.
Where is the bailout money going? Who is cashing in on the multibillion dollar government bailout money? This process is contributing to an unprecedented concentration of private wealth. The financial press acknowledges the existence of billions of dollars of “inter bank debt”. But not a word is mentioned about the creditors.

For every debtor, there is a creditor. Is this not money which the financial elites owe to themselves?
Whoever holds these trillions will eventually pick up the pieces. They will transform their enormous paper wealth into the acquisition of real assets.

Waking up the Day After
And the day after the hopes and promises of the presidential inauguration, Middle Class Americans who had invested in “safe” bank shares, will come to realize that part of their lifelong savings have once again been confiscated.

Global Research Articles by Michel Chossudovsky

The Snowy Hydro SouthCare Helicopter Base will open its hangar doors and welcome the community behind the scenes to learn more about this life-changing Service while enjoying free or gold coin activities, displays, live entertainment and refreshment. Snowy Hydro SouthCare Base Open Day is an annual and free to enter event and is sponsored this year by Robbo’s Motorcycles.

Base Open Day 2009 will feature emergency vehicles from all of the ACT’s Emergency Services as well as ACT Policing and Kenny Koala not to mention our own Bell 412 rescue helicopter. Families will also enjoy the FARM petting paddock, air-brush face-painting and tattooing, Harley Davidson rides, helicopter joy flights, classic Holdens and Fords, a jumping castle and much, much more. Inside the hangar will be the Snowy Hydro SouthCare display, raffle and merchandise sales plus aviation related displays, models and activities for the littlies.

Enjoy a barbecue or some pancakes with a cold drink in the shade while listening to the wonderful music of the Canberra City Band, Sing Australia Choir, Canberra City Pipes and Drums and Elvis. Most activities are either free or gold coin so bring the kids, a pocket full of change and enjoy this wonderful day out for all of the family while supporting the Snowy Hydro SouthCare Helicopter Service.

For more information log onto our website www.snowyhydrosouthcare.com.au 

or email [email protected]

Two diverse films

By Rama Gaind

ADAPTED from a stage drama by playwright/screenwriter/director John Patrick Shanley, Doubt is set in a working-class Catholic parish and parochial school in New York City in 1964.
Meryl Streep plays the strict Sister Aloysius Beauvier, Mother Superior at a Catholic school in the Bronx, who suspects improper behaviour by Father Flynn (Philip Seymour Hoffman) towards a 12-year-old student, Donald Miller (Joseph Foster II).
Miller is the school’s only African-American student and altar boy.
It is Sister James (Amy Adams), a young, inexprienced teacher, who observes the closeness between the boy and Father Flynn.
The film’s overall success is due to the fine acting by the cast – particularly Streep, Hoffman and Adams – and the remarkable ascetic cinematography by Roger Deakins.
CLEVER performances by Frank Langella and Michael Sheen, who play disgraced former US President Richard Nixon and British TV host David Frost, unfold in the lightweight film Frost/Nixon directed by Ron Howard.
Talking about Nixon’s time in office and the Watergate scandal, the two met for four historic interviews in 1977.
Howard’s entertaining adaptation of a play by Peter Morgan is an enlightening reflection on compelling political events.

“The Eurobodalla Walking Together Group was formed in 1993 from a Reconciliation Council Study Circle and acts as a support group for social justice in the Eurobodalla community.
From the start there have been indigenous and non-indigenous members and meetings and other functions have been held in co-operation with one of the local aboriginal land councils as well as at the Eurobodalla Shire Council and other indoor sites and at camping and picnic sites.
The group has also been the local focus for Australians for Native Title and Reconciliation (ANTaR) and for the Sorry Day and the Journey of Healing.
On 3 June 2000 a Bridge Walk in Moruya was organized in which more than one thousand supporters participated.
The Sea of Hands has been installed at Batemans Bay, Moruya, Narooma and Bermagui.
Monthly meetings and special events have focussed on topics of key importance in attaining social justice and reconciliation in the community.
The group has collaborated with and receives on-going support from the Shire Council which flies the Koori flag daily from a specially-installed flagpole.
Members have taken part in many activities supporting social justice including as invited observers at Yuin Elders Council Conferences, the Round Australia Sea of Hands Tour, and as participants in Corroboree 2000.”
For more information please contact:
Georgina Parsons
Phone: 02 4474 2321, 02 4474 3123
Address: 11 Woodbridge Avenue Moruya NSW 2537

“The Eurobodalla Walking Together Group was formed in 1993 from a Reconciliation Council Study Circle and acts as a support group for social justice in the Eurobodalla community.
From the start there have been indigenous and non-indigenous members and meetings and other functions have been held in co-operation with one of the local aboriginal land councils as well as at the Eurobodalla Shire Council and other indoor sites and at camping and picnic sites.
The group has also been the local focus for Australians for Native Title and Reconciliation (ANTaR) and for the Sorry Day and the Journey of Healing.
On 3 June 2000 a Bridge Walk in Moruya was organized in which more than one thousand supporters participated.
The Sea of Hands has been installed at Batemans Bay, Moruya, Narooma and Bermagui.
Monthly meetings and special events have focussed on topics of key importance in attaining social justice and reconciliation in the community.
The group has collaborated with and receives on-going support from the Shire Council which flies the Koori flag daily from a specially-installed flagpole.
Members have taken part in many activities supporting social justice including as invited observers at Yuin Elders Council Conferences, the Round Australia Sea of Hands Tour, and as participants in Corroboree 2000.”
For more information please contact:
Georgina Parsons
Phone: 02 4474 2321, 02 4474 3123
Address: 11 Woodbridge Avenue Moruya NSW 2537

The Nina Vox debut album is a collection of Torch, Tangos, Bossa and Blues titled The Shape of You.

Standouts include the title track written by acclaimed Australian songwriter Tony King and covers of The Very Thought of You and Don McLean’s poignant Vincent.

Under Bill Risby’s arrangement, some of Australia’s finest musicians joined forces on the album including George Washingmachine on violin, Paul Furniss on sax and clarinet, Hamish Stuart on drums, Brett Hirst on double bass, Tony King on guitar and Fabian Hevia on percussion..

The Shape of You is an eclectic mix, from Tom Waits’ A Little Drop of Poison and Temptation to Don McLean’s Vincent to Duke Ellington’s Solitude, Leonard Cohen’s Dance Me to the End of Love, Consuelo Velazquez’s Besame Mucho and King’s originals The Shape of You and So Sue Me.

Purchase the CD for $27.50 at www.ninavox.com.
 

Animated selection

By Rama Gaind

STORYTELLING at its best, Bolt is a Disney 3-D animated adventure which sees a cute canine with special powers who stars on a weekly television series, but thinks he’s really a superhero.
Voiced by John Travolta, Bolt works alongside his owner Penny (Miley Cyrus) to save the world from the evil Dr Calico (Malcolm McDowell).
A series of accidents sets him loose on the real world and he embarks from New York on a journey back to Hollywood, aided by a cynical alley cat named Mittens (voiced by Susie Essman). When they find themselves in a park begging for food they meet a TV-addicted hamster named Rhino (brilliantly voiced by a Disney animator named Mark Walton).
The hamster recognises Bolt from his show and convinces the pair to let him join them on their travels.
While each twist and turn of this animated road adventure might be predictable, the action sequences are well created, graphic detail is spot-on and the story’s quick tempo make for enjoyable viewing.
THAT lovable group of escaped New York City Zoo animals in the original, return for an animated, musical tale in the colourful Madagascar – Escape 2 Africa.
A bungled escape from Madagascar lands them on the plains of Africa where the opportunity is rife for most of them to meet their relatives.
Ben Stiller is the voice of Alex the lion, David Schwimmer is Melman the giraffe, Chris Rock is Marty the zebra and Jada Pinkett Smith is Gloria the hippo.
This will be a treat for the young ones.
TALE of Despereaux is one animated film that appears to be overly cluttered, but it features a surplus of celebrity voices: Matthew Broderick, Robbie Coltrane, Dustin Hoffman, Richard Jenkins, Emma Watson and Tracey Ullman.
It tells the story of a brave and courteous mouse who befriends a human princess.
Borrowing from other celluloid works including Ratatouille and Flushed Away are obvious traits.

BRIDE WARS erupt when best friends Emma (Anne Hathaway) and Liv (Kate Hudson) find out that both their weddings have been accidentally booked on the same day. Both had dreamt of getting married at New York’s Plaza Hotel ever since they were children. Now they can’t attend each other’s wedding.
Neither is willing to change the date and get to the stage when they refuse to talk to each other. As a result, they go to great lengths to sabotage the other’s wedding.
Even the wedding planner Marion St. Claire (Candice Bergen) is unable to get the girls to make up.
Even though the general mayhem could so easily have been avoided, the storyline lacks selling power.
A LUKEWARM, badly directed fantasy-comedy, Bedtime Stories with Adam Sandler leaves a lot to be desired.
As Skeeter, Sandler is a hotel handyman whose life changes after he becomes babysitter to his niece and nephew. The bedtime stories he tells them begin to magically come true, but it takes him a while to realise that it’s the children who actually dictate the outcome.
Even though Sandler adopts his usual tactics which includes making immature jokes, there’s nothing special about his acting. However, Russell Brand, who plays his dim-witted friend, shows more promise.

Global Research, January 16, 2009

The upcoming Financial Stimulus package courtesy of the new Economic dream team has left numerous economists and analysts quaking in their boots. We are seeing predictions of hyperinflation, the destruction of the dollar, the flight of U.S. creditors, the prospect of widespread civil unrest and a descent in to a Greater Depression.

Small business owners have stood up and discredited the tax incentives that were meant to convince them to ignore market reality and open the door to new employees. The measures that supposedly address the enormous foreclosure problem seem to change from day to day and only work to the advantage of the banks. Obama and Bush have just signed off on an additional $20 Billion in cash and $118 Billion in asset guarantees for Bank of America which already received $25 Billion last year and is now choking on Merrill Lynch’s losses. The President Elect and his new Stimulus Czars are not paying attention and are proceeding to continue the same destructive formula adopted by Paulson.

The media bombardment is in overdrive to convince the public that herein lies the path to salvation. First we had the guarantee that three million jobs would be created out of thin air only to be bumped up to four million. These are nice round media friendly numbers which have no basis in reality. With each passing day the sands are shifting on exactly how the money will be spent.

Ben Bernancke’ s speech at the London School of Economics on January 13, confirmed that the emphasis has now shifted to bailing out the banks one more time by buying more toxic assets to clean up their collapsing balance sheets. After seeing $8.2 Trillion vanish in to Insurance, Banking and a moribund auto industry with absolutely no concrete result except for the tightening of credit, the increasing losses of Big Banking and the GM chairman having to queue for his airline ticket, the Fed, backed by Obama, continues to beat the dead horse.

The scariest aspect of this is the speed at which this 18 wheeler disaster is being driven toward the rabbits in the headlights. We haven’t yet seen any senators or reps being threatened with the imposition of martial law, but we have seen Obama treathen to veto his own fellow democrats if they do not rubber stamp the proposals he has been instructed to deliver. Nobody has even taken a vote yet and already the gloves are off. Bailout Bill One and the Patriot Act were pushed just as hard.

The only legislation that gets the hard sell seems to involve either stealing the taxpayer’s money or their rights. Judging by his actions so far, Obama has done absolutely nothing but continue the transfer of wealth from the American taxpayer to his Wall St. campaign contributors.

There has been absolutely zero positive impact on the real economy as the increasingly horrific indicators continue to mount and the prospect of an unprecedented Depression continues to rise over the horizon. Economic reality was left on the back burner and the capital that could have paid for Obama’s fantastical “stimulus” plan 5 times over has been wasted on the imploding financial sector, who no doubt will be back for more

Andrew Hughes is a frequent contributor to Global Research. Global Research Articles by Andrew Hughes

Winners of the 2009 Golden Globes
By Rama Gaind

IT was no surprise when Australia’s Heath Ledger was honoured posthumously with a Golden Globe, but the shock of winning two awards astonished Kate Winslet at the 66th Golden Globe Awards ceremony on January 11.
However, accolades were heaped on Danny Boyle’s ‘Slumdog Millionaire’ which won four awards including best drama and best director. ‘Slumdog’ has now emerged as the potential film to beat at the Academy Awards next month.
This is an unpredicted situation for a film with a cast of unknowns and a story set among orphans and criminals on the streets of Mumbai. Not only that, but central to that is the story of an orphan boy who grows up through hardships, reunites with his childhood sweetheart and becomes a champion on India’s version of ‘Who Wants to Be A Millionaire’.
Proving to be a solid box-office success, ‘Slumdog Millionaire’ was favoured over best-drama nominees that included Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio’s ‘Revolutionary Road, Ron Howard’s ‘Frost/Nixon’ and Brad Pitt’s ‘The Curious Case of Benjamin Button’.
Tying for the lead with five nominations – ‘Frost/Nixon’, ‘Benjamin Button’ and Meryl Streep’s ‘Doubt’ – went away with nothing.
Woody Allen’s Spanish romance ‘Vicky Cristina Barcelona’ won for best musical or comedy film.
Winslet, previously nominated five times without winning at both the Globes and Oscars, won for her role as a woman in a crumbling marriage in ‘Revolutionary Road’, which was directed by her husband Sam Mendes, and as a former Nazi concentration camp guard in ‘The Reader’.
British actress Sally Hawkins was chosen best actress in a comedy or musical as an eternal optimist in ‘Happy-Go-Lucky’. Among the stars Hawkins beat was Streep, who had a nomination for musical or comedy actress for ‘Mamma Mia!’
Colin Farrell took the comedy or musical actor prize as a hit man in ‘In Bruges’ and Mickey Rourke returned from the wilderness to earn the Globe for best dramatic actor in ‘The Wrestler’ which also won the best-song Globe for Bruce Springsteen, who wrote the film’s title tune.
Heath Ledger won the prize for his role as the Joker in the Batman blockbuster ‘The Dark Knight’.