"“We have lent a huge amount of money to the U.S. Of course we are concerned about the safety of our assets. To be honest, I am definitely a little worried.” "


Chinese premier Wen Jiabao 12th March 2009


""We have a financial system that is run by private shareholders, managed by private institutions, and we'd like to do our best to preserve that system."


Timothy Geithner US Secretary of the Treasury, previously President of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.1/3/2009

Sunday, March 08, 2009

Lady Dame Jane Baroness Pauline Neville Jones - 1st rate analysis of global problems in view

The Conservative's Shadow Security Minister Dame Lady Jane Baroness Neville Jones ("Out Pauline") has been missing in the House - she was in sunny Jakarta delivering an excellent speech in the swanky Ritz Hotel , to the World Islamic Economic Forum,1,557 people, including 1,395 delegates, 85 speakers and 70 heads of state from 38 countries were present. The theme was "Food and Energy Security and Stemming the Tide of Global Financial Crisis"

Her JIC analysis of the effects of the current banking / financial / insurance / comodity crisis can be found at Conservative Home. eg and is well worth reading. Text

We could see a reversal of progress on international poverty: “According to the World Bank, from 1981 to 2001, the number of people living on less than $1 a day went down from 1.5 billion to 1 billion. Improvements in global literacy went hand-in-hand with this. This favourable trend could now go into reverse. Just one indicator of what is at stake.”

Private capital flows to emerging economies are set to collapse: “In 2007, net private capital flows to emerging economies were $898 billion… The Institute of International Finance estimates that net private capital flows to emerging and developing countries will be just $165 billion in 2009 – a decline of 82 per cent from 2007.”

Read this along with The Indepedent story yesterday 'Run on UK' sees foreign investors pull $1 trillion out of the City

A silent $1 trillion "Run on Britain" by foreign investors was revealed yesterday in the latest statistical releases from the Bank of England. The external liabilities of banks operating in the UK – that is monies held in the UK on behalf of foreign investors – fell by $1 trillion (£700bn) between the spring and the end of 2008, representing a huge loss of funds and of confidence in the City of London.


Some $597.5bn was lost to the banks in the last quarter of last year alone, after a modest positive inflow in the summer, but a massive $682.5bn haemorrhaged in the second quarter of 2008 – a record. About 15 per cent of the monies held by foreigners in the UK were withdrawn over the period, leaving about $6 trillion. This is by far the largest withdrawal of foreign funds from the UK in recent decades – about 10 times what might flow out during a "normal" quarter.
Some more headings .

The early stages of the world recession have already caused low level political instability:
One third of the world’s nations may struggle to cope with the economic challenge:
Under-pressure governments may become repressive and protectionist:
Extremists and terrorists may exploit the economic downturn:

The importance of increasing food supply in the years ahead: Food prices are likely to be driven up by autarky.” In response PNJ suggests reform of the Common Agricultural Policy, a greater proportion of aid spending to be devoted to food security and, possibly, “a more internationally organized system of storage for certain basic food stuffs.”

In the speech Dame Lady Jane warns against cartelisation of the energy market and against protectionism. She says that the G20 may now be a more appropriately diverse group of nations to manage the scale of international economic challenges we face:

My protected market is your closed factory and angry workforce… Maintaining the open system – requires possibly unpopular decisions about keeping markets open and thus putting some local jobs at risk and is a much bigger immediate challenge to political leaderships."

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

I think the UK is about to be "set adrift" by the rest of the world on the economic front anyway. Brown and a few others are making to many comments, speeches saying the same thing..."we are all in this together"..."we must work this out together"..."come together to solve our problems"..."It is time the international financial institutions were reformed and along with them the UN Security Council enlarged"..."The G7 is no longer inclusive enough and it is right that the G20, despite being somewhat unwieldy as a steering mechanism, is at last - some might say rather late - taking primacy. The forthcoming meeting in London in a month's time will be important"

They are in total...PANIC MODE.

We know one of the reasons...

7 March 2009

"'Run on UK' sees foreign investors pull $1 trillion out of the City"...

http://tinyurl.com/bzdezo

And this is also a clue...

08th March 2009

"Apologise for the recession? Brown's credit crunch tantrum at 30,000ft"..."tantrum"...Last thing you would expect of Brown.A man under immense pressure...me thinks...

http://tinyurl.com/dfbl6g


Hmmm...why would Obama do this...trying to tell Brown something?...I think so...

07 Mar 2009

"Barack Obama 'too tired' to give proper welcome to Gordon Brown"...

http://tinyurl.com/adh8jv

Time will tell.

Anonymous said...

Wonder what the bookies are given on Brown being PM come Autumn? or before?.

Anonymous said...

It is pleasing to see Lord Patel acknowledge the sagacity of one of the Governors of the Ditchley Foundation. He has not always been so flattering.

Perhaps he might review his opinions and consider attending an event. I'm sure his views would be stimulating to other attendees.
"Society's resilience in withstanding disaster" sounds like his sort of thing. It may be possible to book even at this late time.

ziz said...

Edward you sligtly mi the point ."Her JIC analysis of the effects of the current banking / financial / insurance / comodity crisis "

I don't doubt that Dame Jane had help - RUSI / I5 etc.etc., - one cannot fault the analysis -it is the policy that this leads to that is offensive.

Her role at present is of course to limit the argument not advamce it.

Would that I could share the delights of Ditchley - the charms of the slinky Lady Amos on NIgeria look exciting.

However there is little prospect unless the old whiteblood cells perk up and the chemo works.

Glad to see you keep up with things at Patel acres.

Anonymous said...

This goes with the first post.

"In fact it is probable that the G20 will find it more and more difficult to simply meet, as the growing trend is one of « every man for himself »."...

http://tinyurl.com/b3n8kb

(C) Very Seriously Disorganised Criminals 2002/3/4/5/6/7/8/9 - copy anything you wish