More News, Rumors and Opinions Saturday Night 11-19-2022
TNT:
Tishwash: Al-Sudani issues a package of decisions affecting high-ranking positions in Iraq
The Iraqi Prime Minister, Muhammad Shia'a al-Sudani, announced the withdrawal of the protections of former presidents and ministers who assumed their duties after 2003.
The decision also included canceling the allocations for the three presidencies for President Abdel Latif Rashid and Speaker of Parliament Muhammad al-Halbousi, in addition to al-Sudani himself.
He also withdrew protections from the former presidents of the republic, Fuad Masum and Barham Salih, and the protections of former prime ministers Iyad Allawi, Ibrahim al-Jaafari, Nuri al-Maliki, Haider al-Abadi, Adel Abdul-Mahdi and Mustafa al-Kazemi.
These decisions, which seemed shocking to senior Iraqi officials, come in an attempt by the prime minister to restructure state institutions and pressure government spending.
As is the norm in post-2003 Iraq, former senior officials usually maintain several government protection regiments, even years after leaving office.
The Prime Minister's decisions also included the deduction of two and a half million dinars from the salaries of members of his government, and the reduction of exaggerated government spending in Iraq.
According to the decisions, the Iraqi Prime Minister canceled the allocations for hospitality, treatment, and renting private planes for the three presidencies, including his office.
Earlier, Al-Sudani decided to cancel 20 Iraqi embassies abroad due to the lack of Iraqi expatriates there, in addition to the huge funds allocated from the annual budget for them and their diplomatic staff.
During the past week, the force assigned to protect the former Prime Minister, Mustafa Al-Kadhimi, numbering about 100, received orders to withdraw and leave its location near his house in the Green Zone.
Muhammad Shia al-Sudani assumed the position of prime minister on the 27th of last October, after the Iraqi parliament approved, by an absolute majority, his cabinet. link
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Courtesy of Dinar Guru
Nader From The Mid East Don't be surprised if the rate is not in the budget. If they don't pass the budget from here to December it's gonna take them 2 or 3 months to try again...I'm 99% sure they're going to pass the budget before 2023
Bruce [via WiserNow] ...we are hearing from two or three different sources that the weekend should be good for us - in terms of notifications...Saturday and Sunday, which makes Monday /Tuesday look good for exchanges...one of our sources has said regarding our exchanges, Monday and Tuesday will be magical days for us... I'm excited about what should happen this weekend and I hope you guys are too.
The Mechanics of Fiat Money Destruction | Alasdair Macleod, Quinton Hennigh & Jay Taylor
Liberty and Finance: 11-17-2022
Human beings have been capable of believing, ever since Eve ate the forbidden fruit in the Garden of Eden, that they could be like God simply by obeying, without limit, their hedonistic instincts.
The big lie most relevant to this week’s show is the one told by Lord John Maynard Keynes in 1935 when he suggested that societies could become rich by consuming more than they produce. To lend credence to that lie, Keynes required honest, market-driven money, gold, to be replaced by fiat money that is manufactured by debt.
What Keynes didn’t reveal (and politicians chose not to know) was that at some point in time, as debt outgrows income, those units of currency become worthless through either the fires of hyperinflation or via national insolvency.
Most vulnerable of all, during either an inflationary or deflationary outcome, are banks that have loaded up their balance sheets with the very debt from which fiat money was created.
Alasdair points out the market mechanics which have brought the western world to the precipice of self-destruction. To stay in business these banks have no choice but to unwind debt from their balance sheets resulting in a national collapse of business activity.
Judging the history of nations, that will likely result in a reset of our monetary system.
We can only hope any new monetary system will be based on gold and/or silver than can lead once again to honest and stable growth.
Despite the decline in stocks and bonds this year, gold has held up reasonably well. There are many new gold discoveries from which investors may anticipate major gains over the coming months.