The Banks are still run by Criminals

Today I met two old friends for lunch. Liam and Mary are a happily married couple, have children and belong to the small portion of Irish people who did not go crazy during the time of the 'Celtic Tiger'.
They both have a good job and are reasonably well-off. Nevertheless they are now struggling to pay their mortgage, as they told me.
"We still can manage the monthly payments," Liam said, "but in order to do so we have to cut back on other things. No more second holidays, and less sweets for the children, for example."
I listened with interest, and I know they will manage somehow. They are both resourceful people.
But then I was very surprised when Mary told something else. Her bank had just rang her and asked if she wanted an extra loan. Liam, who has a small business, had a similar call from a different bank a few days earlier.
"They must know that we have a mortgage," Mary said, "and when they look at our account details, they can see that we are not big spenders. So why are they trying to push loans into our face, even after the big disaster they got themselves into and nearly busted the banks?"
"Yes," Liam agreed, "they nearly went down, if the state had not bailed them out with the taxpayers' money."

I am as baffled as Liam and Mary. But what they told me is not an exception, it is rather the rule. Over the past couple of weeks I had several people telling me the same. Their bank rang them and asked if they wanted an extra loan.
What is going on? Do the banks not have enough trouble? All of the Irish banks are vastly under-capitalised, badly managed and at the brink of collapse. You would expect them to be tight now and lend less than before. But that's not the case. They seem to carry on as before, and in some cases even more aggressively.

Makes no sense, unless you see behind the scenes. Now, that the state has guaranteed the banks' eternal existence with our money, they are save and have no more worries at all. If they recover from the crisis - great. And if not - well, the state will pick up the tab, which means you and me.

By pushing ever more loans onto people, they also hope to make more money from interest and - in case the borrower gets into arrears - nice extra fees they are so quick to add in such cases to the amount owed. The other day I read about a widow who had borrowed a small sum from her bank to make repairs on her house. Then she got sick, could not continue with the agreed repayments, and now the amount the bank demands from her has risen astronomically. They are looking for more than five times the sum she had borrowed from them!

That's criminal behaviour, and should not happen at all. And now, that the state and we - the people - are guaranteeing the banks' existence with our money, the banks should change their behaviour, and do it quickly.
If they don't do that, the day will come when the people will tear them apart and applaud when they go down. They are playing with fire very close to the fuel tank. They have learned nothing from the crisis. And they are still run by the same old criminals who caused the crisis in the first place.

Heads need to roll, especially the heads of the top bankers and their fancy 'traders' who do nothing else but gamble our money away in big international casinos, called 'stock exchanges' and 'financial markets'. These people never produce anything, never buy or sell anything real, and don't give a hoot for the rest of us. They award themselves with huge 'bonuses' for their criminal gambling, and we all are supposed to pick up the tab when they mess up.

It is ever more clear to me that all this crisis can only be overcome in one way: With a big revolution!

Turning in their Graves...

"The leaders of 1916 must be turning in their graves
over the mess Fianna Fail has made of Ireland..."
Joe Behan, TD (from Co. Wicklow)
who resigned from Fianna Fail over the 2009 Budget

Failing Fianna Fail is heading for China

Taoiseach Brian Cowen was due to leave for China today, heading a large delegation of politicians and businessmen from Ireland.

But the crisis he and his Finance Minister Brian Lenihan caused with the 2009 Budget made him to stay home for another while. And at lunchtime he appeared on This Week, a Sunday current affairs programme on RTE Radio 1, trying to defend his policies and the budget.

He did a bad job, defending the indefensible, and demonstrated once again that he does not derseve the title Taoiseach, which is the Irish word for leader.

Meanwhile the delegation left for China without Cowen and is now headed by his Education Minister Batt O'Keeffe.

It is rumoured that the happy Corkman and former teacher will not only negotiate with the Chinese about trade issues, which is the main purpose of the trip. O'Keeffe may also explore if China is willing to give political asylum to leading Fianna Fail politicians in case they are losing power in Ireland, a possibility ever more likely now.

Republicans - the Sick Party

Sarah Palin - just one heartbeat away from
the man who will never be US President...

McCain's fake Plumber

A few days ago a previously unknown man approached Senator Barack Obama while he was out campaigning in Toledo, in the crucial 'swing' state of Ohio.

This man introduced himself as "Joe Wurzelbacher" (now this is some name to remember, coming second probably only to Arnold Schwarzenegger), told Obama that he was a local plumber and not happy with the proposed taxation policies of the Democratic candidate for the US presidency. Like any man who wants to win votes, the Illinois Senator listened for a while and argued with the man who had a shaven head and looked very 'Germanic' in a threatening kind of way.

While the conversation went on, "Joe the Plumber" - as he is apparently known to his friends - told Senator Obama that he was planning to buy the business for which he currently works, but if the Democrats would pass Obama's proposed changes to the tax system, he would not be able to do that.

As Barack Obama proposes to reduce the tax burden for the vast majority of US citizens - except the super-rich - this was a strange line of argument and no-one remembered much of it after a few minutes.

But then a strange succession of events began to make "Joe Wurzelbacher" a famous man in the USA, at least famous for fifteen minutes.
First he appeared in the campaign reports of Fox News, the most odious right-wing propaganda TV channel in the USA, which is owned by the Australian-born US citizen Rupert Murdoch, the billionaire media mogul and sleaze merchant who also owns many UK newspapers (including The Times, the Sun and the News of the World) and has the controlling stake in Sky TV.

And then - surprise, surprise - John McCain brought "Joe the Plumber" up towards the end of his third live TV debate with Barack Obama. How did he know about him? Or did he actually know him? That looked fishy even to the most gullible people, and soon some journalists were on their way to find out more about the Ohio plumber with the strange Austrian name. They soon found a lot about him, but - surprise, surprise - it does not in any way tally with the story he told about himself.

1. His name is not "Joe" but "Sam" - short for Samuel Wurzelbacher.
2. He is not a plumber. At least he does not have a licence, which all qualified plumbers in his area are required to have. So either he is no plumber at all, or not a qualified one.
3. The firm he says he is working for - and which he wanted to buy and take over - does not have a plumbing licence either. So either they are fly-by-night cowboy plumbers, working illegally, or not in that line of business at all.
4. According to his tax returns, Mr. Wurzelbacher earns about $ 40,000 per annum. On that basis he would not be in a financial position to buy his employer's business, which is currently valued at around $ 250,000.
5. And - again according to tax records - Mr. Wurzelbacher still has an unpaid tax bill of $ 1200 outstanding. So he is already in trouble with his taxes now, after nearly eight years under the Republican Bush administration.

So it appears that Mr. Wurzelbacher, whom John McCain publically hailed as "an ordinary Joe" and "the typical middle-class American", is either a fantasist, a liar, or a mix of both. He might also be working illegally, without qualifications, and be employed by an unlicenced company.

But there is another possibility. He could simply be a stooge, a Republican propagandist, who was deliberately planted into the meeting with Obama to stir up trouble. Why else was he - of all the people present - filmed and interviewed by the right-wing Fox News? And why was McCain so quick to use him as an example?
The whole affair looks to me very much like the handwriting of Karl Rove (real name Karl Röver and named after his grandfather, a senior official in Hitler's Nazi party) who was George W. Bush closest adviser and campaign manager. He organised several stunts like this during the 2004 presidential election campaign, especially in the 'swing' state Ohio, which Bush narrowly won eventually.
Officially Rove is now in the background, but he still controls the strings of the Republican party propaganda machine. And one of his closest associates - a man called Steve Schmidt - is John McCain's chief campaign manager. The links are obvious, and "Joe the Plumber" is as bogus as the whole hate and smear campaign Karl Rove, Steve Schmidt, Sarah Palin and John McCain are running against Barack Obama. Let's hope that the Americans as a whole are not as stpuid as the Republicans think they are...

Shooting from the Lip

Willie O'Dea, TD, Ireland's Minister for Defence,
has now got a new job, defending the indefensible fiscal
atrocities inflicted on the Irish people by the 2009 Budget.
While Finance Minister Brian Lenihan is hiding behind a
'huge workload' in his department, Willie is sent out into the
media as new government spokesman, shooting from the lip
and thus adding insult to the injuries Fianna Fail is inflicting
on us. Often seen as the comedian in the Cabinet, Willie O'Dea
is anything but funny when he tries to tell us that we all have
to bear the extra taxes a wasteful and ignorant government
is settling us with now, ten years after they squandered all the
wealth of the 'Celtic Tiger'. We won't forget this, Willie!

Bertie's Book?

This front cover design of Bertie Ahern's up-coming book
has been obtained from a well-known Irish publisher.
The graphic similarities to the chick lit novels
of his daughter Celia are obvious and intentional.

President in waiting?

Remember Bertie Ahern?

It's been very quiet lately around the backbench TD from Drumcondra, Bass drinker, chancer, constant witness (at the Mahon Tribunal), happy father of a novelist and relaxed grandfather, since he resigned as Taoiseach and handed the office, as well as the leadership of Fianna Fail, over to Brian Cowen.

He is seen in Leinster House now and then - but not very often - and only attends sessions of the Dail occassionally. What else he is doing is a bit of a mystery.

Some say that he is writing his memoires. Well, given all the things he cannot remember in front of the tribunal, this might turn out to be a very small and short book...

But insiders have another piece of information, and that sounds really interesting and very, very alarming. Apparently Bertie is deliberately keeping a low profile to make us forget what he did during his years as Taoiseach, and - more important - what he failed to do while at the helm, such as preparing the state for a recession (that many analysts predicted correctly for years).

He is - they say - quietly preparing a come-back. Not at Leinster House though. There he has truly and thoroughly burned his ships for good. No, Bertie is aiming higher.
Since the chance to become the first permanent President of the EU was shattered by the Irish NO to the Lisbon Treaty, Bertie Ahern has now set his eyes on Phoenix Park. There is a lot of evidence that he wants to become the next President of Ireland, when President Mary McAleese (left) comes to the end of her second seven-year term in 2011 and cannot stand again.

Well, Bertie is obviously hoping that the Irish people have a very short memory, or even suffer from the same kind of partial amnesia he has claimed for himself so many times at the Mahon Tribunal. If his ploy works, we will become a real laughing stock around the world and could as well elect Micky Mouse as our next President. I think that the Irish nation deserves a lot better.

Ireland's new national Symbol

The Laughing Banana
(laughing all the way to the bank)
Ireland's new national symbol that will replace
the traditional Shamrock on 1 January 2009

Expensive Bananas

The European Commission has fined the banana importers Dole, Del Monte and Weichert a total of € 60.3 million for price fixing in violation of the EU's strict antitrust laws.

The infringement covered the period from January 2000 to January 2002.

California-based Dole was fined € 45.6 million, with Del Monte (USA) and Weichert (Germany, but now controlled by Irish banana giant Fyffe) jointly accountable for € 14.7 million of the fine.

I always knew that Ireland is really a banana republic...

The Highwayman comes riding...

Fianna Fail's Chief Highwayman Brian Lenihan
"In the name of the Taoiseach, myself
and the unholy spirit of Fianna Fail:
I order you to stand and deliver!"

Lenihan robs the Poor and spares the Rich

What do you expect from a lawyer?
- To be taken to the cleaners.

And what do you expect from a lawyer who is Minister for Finance?
- To be taken to the cleaners even more.

So today's Budget should not really surprise you.

We are in recession and the economy is shrinking, thanks to ten years of clueless government that was too busy with filling its own pockets and those of their millionaire cronies. They simply had no time to look after the people and the country, or prepare for the rainy days that inevitably come in Ireland after a period of sunshine.

But now that it not just rains, but pours, Brian Lenihan - a Dublin lawyer, TD and Minister for Finance - has to deliver the bad news to everybody, except Fianna Fail's millionaire cronies of course.
They are getting away with the loot from the 'Celtic Tiger' scot free, laughing all the way to the bank, if they can still find one that is trustworthy.

So, after the government, that was still swimming in extra billions only two years ago, has lost all credibility and squandered all the money, we - the people of Ireland - will have to pay for it.

Well, that's only fair, isn't it? After all, we elected the scoundrels, and kept electing them, since we were too blind, too drunk or both to see what was happening around us.

We all will pay more income tax, which is fine with me. In a crisis we all have to pull together and make a contribution. But what is not correct is that we all have to pay 1% extra, while those with an annual income over € 100,000 pay only 2% extra. They could easily afford 3% or even 5% as a contribution. Or Lenihan could have made a sliding scale: 1% for everyone; 2% for those with more than € 100,000; 3% for those over € 200,000; 4% for those with € 300,000 or more; and 5% for those over € 500,000.
But no, the rich and super-rich are still untouchable in Ireland, at least as long as Fianna Fail is in government.

Instead the over 70-year-olds will be robbed of their medical card, which Fianna Fail gave them seven years ago to buy the grey vote. This - so Lenihan says - will save € 100 million a year. It's a very bad joke. While we are bailing out the corrupt and incompetent banks with up to € 400 billion of state (= taxpayers' money) guarantee, we now have to scrap the barrel for an extra € 100 million from the old age pensioners.

This is not only scandalous, it is declaring war on the old and sick! Almost a kind of state-educed fiscal euthenasia.

There is a lot more, but I won't bore you with the details, as you can read them all in tomorrow's newspapers. As usual cigarettes, wine and petrol will get dearer, and the farmers and millionaires will keep their perks.

Thanks a lot, Brian! You had the chance to make a real mark with your first budget, and you had the opportunity to be seen as a man who cares and can handle money well. Sadly you missed the golden opportunity to unite the people and make the rich pay their share to the national recovery funds. You have not. Instead you prefare to run down the same lane all your shabby predecessors - from Haughey over Bertie to Biffo - have chosen: rob the poor, the old and the young, squeeze the hard-working middle classes, but leave your fat cat cronies in joy and luxury.

It might take another while, but after this budget - on top of all the other bad decisions Fianna Fail made over the past ten years - you will have your come-uppence in good time. Anyone who will still vote Fianna Fail in future deserves to be stripped and robbed of everything and left by the wayside. That's also the place where you will find yourself, after the Irish voters are finished with you and your ilk.

Is the World going nuts?

What would you expect to find in a packet of Nuts?

Fifth Incarnation of the Prince of Darkness

When government ministers in Ireland make a mess of things, nothing happens to them. They just carry on as usual. Such is our green Banana Republic (without bananas).

When the same happens in Britain, the minister who misbehaved, mislead parliament or was found with his pants down in one way or another has to resign, and usually quite quickly.

To Peter Mandelson this happened not once, but twice. And he is still one of the most hated men in the UK and in his own party.
Some might say this is strange, and that the British Labour Party is ungrateful to a man who was for years part of the team that made it electable again, after nearly 18 years in opposition. But in politics thanks is the last thing anyone should expect, regardless what he does.

Mandelson is a very bright man, there is no doubt about it. But he is also devious and a true schemer if there ever was one. Since his appointment as Labour's director of communications in 1985 he has done plenty to earn his nickname "The Prince of Darkness".

Together with Tony Blair, Gordon Brown and Alistair Campbell (Blair's devious press secretary and communications director) Mandelson was part of the quartet that changed the Labour Party and turned it into "New Labour".
He was also the first of the many Labour "spin doctors". In fact he was the father of all spin and creator of the black art of political shape-shifting which brought "New Labour" to power in 1997 and is still widely practised throughout the British government.

His ministerial career looked at first very promising. After Blair's election victory, Mandelson became his special troubleshooter as "Minister without Portfolio" in the Cabinet Office.
A year later he was promoted to Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, but soon after he was forced to resign. Newspapers discovered and published details of a dodgy deal he did a few years earlier when buying a house way above his income level.

For ten months he was in "the wilderness" (as UK politicians call a state of disgrace), but nine years ago, in October 1999, Tony Blair brought him back as Secretary of State for Northern Ireland. This time he lasted 16 months, during which he oversaw the creation of the power-sharing agreement between unionists and nationalists. But he was never very popular with either side. There was great suspicion about him and his intensions, not least after he began the job with a strange gaffe. In his very first speech he referred to himself as the "Secretary of State for Ireland." Not the kind of thing Irish people like to hear, especially not if they are nationalists.

In January 2001 Peter Mandelson had to resign again over an interference at the Home Office, where he had intervened on behalf of the billionaire Hinduja brothers, Indian businessmen who had obtained British citizenship with his help. It did not help that the brothers were investigated by the Indian government over an arms selling scandal.

In the 2001 general election he retained his seat, but stayed on the backbenches and kept fairly quiet. It came as a bit of a surprise to many when Tony Blair gave him a forth incarnation in the Autumn of 2004 - just four years ago - and appointed him as the British EU Commissioner. He was given the Trade portfolio and soon made himself a lot of new enemies throughout Europe and around the world over his attitudes in the World Trade negotiations.

Especially angry were the Irish farmers, who even staged one of their rare mass protests over Mandelson's policies in Dublin earlier this year.

After four years in Brussels it was an even bigger surprise that Gordon Brown, Blairs successor as British Prime Minister, called him back into the Cabinet in his recent reshuffle.
Mandelson is once again heading the Department of Trade & Industry, now renamed Department of Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform, and is also President of the Board of Trade.

But since Mandelson is no longer an MP and Labour does not want to risk yet another by-election - having lost the recent ones spectacularly and facing another one soon in Scotland - Mandelson was made a Lord instead. This is the first time for ages that a Secretary of State sits in the House of Lords instead of the House of Commons. And for Mandelson - now The Right Hon. Baron Mandelson of Foy and Hartlepool (which is his former constituency) - it is the fifth political incarnation.

They say that cats have nine lives. I wonder how many the "Prince of Darkness" has...

Looking for the frozen Assets of ICEBANK

After ICEBANK's assets were frozen last week,
the British government has now sent experts
to Iceland to find a solution for the problem.

What a Difference 18 Months make...

Last week everyone - from bankers over politicians to ordinary folk - were shocked by the sudden and total collapse of the Icelandic banking group ICEBANK.

For years that bank had grown and grown, out of all proportions, and no-one seemed to have realised that Iceland is a small country with only 300,000 people, no heavy industry and - apart from fishing and whaling - not much industry at all. So why was this tiny country with very few resources suddenly so attractive as a banking place?

The answer is risk. ICEBANK was willing to take more and higher risks than most other banks, and in exchange they offered higher interest rates to their customers. Many of the small deposits are safeguarded by various national guarantee schemes. But no-one has any idea what is going to happen to larger investors, including 'Transport for London' (which deposited over £ 40 million), more than 100 UK county councils and - wait for it - also several UK police authorities.

You wonder why all these official British institutions did not trust British banks and put their money into off-shore accounts in Iseland?

I just came across an ICEBANK press release, less than 18 months old. Read it for yourself, and you will undertstand why we are in a crisis. (The original text was set in plain type. Emboldened parts and those set in red are my way of highlighting important points. Green text is added by me.)

Hint: Pay special attention to the list of other banks that are involved in the interconnected and multi-nationally entangled financial transaction. If you have any money left in any of the banks listed, then take it out as soon as you can.

Largest syndicated loan facility
in Icebank’s history

Reykjavík, 26 April 2007

ICEBANK today signed a syndicated term loan facility for € 217,000,000 - which is equivalent to ISK 19 billion - provided by 34 European banks. Owing to heavy oversubscription and the number of investors who showed interest, the final figure is more than twice what Icebank originally sought. This is indicative of the high level of confidence that Icebank enjoys abroad, and is seen by its management as an encouragement to further expansion both in Iceland and abroad.

The signing of the loan facility took place in Berchtesgaden, Germany. [Why? Was Reykjavík not good or posh enough? No, that's not it. Icebank combined the signing of the new scheme with a happy day-out of food, fun and games for its staff, visiting the world-famous Berchtesgaden salt mines in passing as well. (see photos below)]

The loan facility, which is for a term of three years, was launched for general syndication on 8 March this year, and the response was immediately strong. The interest premium, 0.46%, is in line with the terms that Iceland’s banks currently enjoy. The loan will be used to refinance older loans and to finance Icebank’s further expansion.

“This high level of oversubscription by European investors reflects the high level of confidence they have in the bank,” says Finnur Sveinbjörnsson, CEO of Icebank.

“Their response is an encouragement to us, and opens up a lot of interesting possibilities in accordance with our strategy. Last year saw the best performance in Icebank’s history, and it is well prepared for further expansion.”

Four prominent European banks acted as mandated lead arrangers: BayernLB (which had its own scandal already earlier and is now deeply affected by the collapse of Hypo Real Estate) in Germany, Fortis Bank (which collapsed a few days ago and had to be rescued by the governments of France, Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg) in Belgium, HSH Nordbank in Germany and the Austrian bank Raiffeisen Zentralbank. A list of other providers is appended below.

For further information please contact:
Finnur Sveinbjörnsson, CEO of Icebank, tel. 540 4000.
Agnar Hansson, Managing Director, Treasury and Capital Markets, tel. 540 4000.

ICEBANK is a commercial bank, focusing on wholesale and investment banking services to savings banks, Icelandic and foreign financial institutions and other large customers. It is owned by the savings banks in Iceland (a miniscule country of only 300,000 people).

Other providers:

Lead Arrangers:

• Commerzbank International S.A.
• Landesbank Baden-Württemberg, London Branch
• Natixis
• Norddeutsche Landesbank Luxembourg S.A.
• The Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ, Ltd.
• Zürcher Kantonalbank

Arranger: Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation Europe Ltd.

Lead Manager:

• Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena SpA, London Branch
• Banque et Caisse d'Epargne de l'Etat, Luxembourg
• Bayerische Hypo- und Vereinsbank AG
• Chang Hwa Commercial Bank, Ltd., London Branch
• Geral de Depósitos, S.A. – Sucursal Financeira Exterior
• DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral-Genossenschaftsbank, Frankfurt am Main
• Landesbank Saar
• WGZ Bank AG Westdeutsche Genossenschafts-Zentralbank

Manager:

• American Express Bank GmbH
• Arbejdernes Landsbank
• BRE Bank SA
• Dresdner Bank AG
• Erste Bank der österreichischen Sparkassen AG
• Mega International Commercial Bank Co. Ltd. Offshore Banking Branch
• National Bank of Egypt (UK) Limited
• Oberbank AG
• Raiffeisenlandesbank Burgenland und Revisionsverband (registrierte Genossenschaft mit beschränkter Haftung)
• Salzburger Landes-Hypothekenbank Aktiengesellschaft
• Sparebanken Øst
• Raiffeisenlandesbank Kärnten
  
• Banco Popolare di Verona e Novara S.c.r.l., London Branch
• Raiffeisenlandesbank Niederösterreich-Wien AG

Sarah Palin's Track Record

I love to kill. I'm ideal for the White House!

Sarah Palin is a Bitch

Well, we should not really be surprised about Sarah Palin. In her first public speech - at the Republican convention which made her the 'running mate' (a strange word with more than one meaning) of John 'Oldie' McCain - she said it herself, for all the world to hear: she is a bitch, a pit-bull with lipstick.

Now the independent inquiry into her less than two years of gubernatorial experience in Alaska has found that "Sarah Palin abused her authority by pressuring subordinates to fire a state trooper involved in a feud with her family".

Why am I not surprised...?

The story is that her sister had married a 'state trooper' (policeman), the marriage didn't work (as so many others) and broke up (as so many others). After the divorce there was some dispute over access rights to the child (also quite common) and some harsh words were exchanged (happens here all the time).

But then governor Palin demanded from the public safety commissioner (who is in charge of the state troopers), a man named Walt Monegan (sound oirish), that he should fire Trooper Wootten who had been stupid enough to marry Palin's sister. Not because he was a bad policeman. Oh no!
Trooper Wootten's only crime was that he had fallen out with a member of the Palin family.

When Commissioner Monegan refused to break and bend the law in order to please his governor, she sacked him instead of Trooper Wootten. That's the kind of woman Sarah Palin is. A bitch.

She wouldn't know what fairness is, if it came along the road and hugged her... She is just an evil and meanspirited bitch, badly educated, biased, prejudist, creationist, reationary and - most of all - power-hungry.

Sarah the hunter... she needs to find and kill her prey, and the more the better. No other creature has any rights or chances in her world. It's a dog's world. Dog bites dog. And bitch bites everyone else...

Beware Ye, people of the United States...
though hast a beast at the gates of the White House!

Thanks George, you've fucked us all!

In November 2000 George W. Bush (better known as Dubya) was not elected President.

In December 2000 the US Supreme Court, most of whose members were appointed by Dubya's father George Herbert Walker Bush, decided with a 5:4 vote that Dubya should be President.

In January 2001 Dubya was inaugurated as President, and in his speech he said that he had to come to Washington to "demand a refund" for too much taxes he had paid apparently.

Until September 10th, 2001 Dubya was a 'lame duck' President, who could not get one single law he proposed passed in Congress.

On September 11th, 2001 he sat in a primary school in Florida, land of the 'hanging chads', to read simple sentences with real seven-year-olds. All leading members of his administration - except Dick Cheney, who sat in the bunker of the National Defense Center - were doing similar 'important' things outside Washington.
Meanwhile some nutters crashed two airliners into the World Trade Center in New York. Later that day Dubya declared that this was the work of one Osama bin Laden, whose name no-one else had ever heard before. But Dubya knew him well, as his family is doing business with the Laden family for more than 40 years. (It turned out that Osama bin Laden had been a CIA agent, organising radical Muslims in Pakistan, to fight against the Russians in Afghanistan.)

• On September 12th, 2001 Dubya declared war on 'terror'. Suddenly Congress became a flock of lame sheep, just bleating and nodding to everything Dubya wanted. And the US media became quaint as well, becoming the complacent unofficial propaganda instrument of a criminal regime.
• On October 7th, 2001 Dubya began the illegal invasion of Afghanistan, a country that had never done any harm to the USA.
• On March 20th, 2003 Dubya began the illegal invasion of Iraq, another country that had never done any harm to the USA.

Both countries are still occupied, with US and Allied forces waging a dirty war against the civilian population, under the lame excuse to "hunt down terrorists".

Both wars have cost the US taxpayers meanwhile more than $ 600 billion - and counting.

About $ 100 billion - including $ 20 billion in cash - have disappeared in Iraq without trace.

In November 2004 Dubya won the presidential election - yes, this time he actually was elected - with a majority of 50.7% (to 48.3% for John Kerry) after an odious campaign full of lies, scaremongering and religious hype.
Bush's campaign manager was the Nazi sympatiser Karl Rove, grandson of Karl Röver, one of Hitler's Gauleiters (party area governors).

In January 2005, at his second inauguration ceremony, Dubya declared that he had now gained "political credit" and that he was "going to spend it".
And spending he did, especially on his friends in Wall Street and political cronies, who pocketed billions.

During 2008 one by one the big Wall Street banks and finance houses crashed with huge debts, of a size never seen before in history. They all were bailed out - with the sole exception of Lehman Bros. - with hundreds of billions of US taxpayers' money. Their bosses walked away with a smile and large pay-offs or 'golden handshakes', between $ 15 million and $ 300 million per person.

Nevertheless the 'markets' remain in turmoil, share prices are in free-fall and the world is facing a total financial meltdown.

Today Dubya made another of his meaningless speeches. He said that "many of our citizens are worried about their savings and pensions". Oh yes, they are. But not he, of course, and none of his cronies. They have creamed off their millions and even billions already and are sitting pretty, no matter what will happen to the rest of us.

Offering no new remedies, he then said: "We are a prosperous nation with immense resources and a wide range of tools at our disposal. We are using these tools aggressively."

Indeed, aggressively is the only way America is using its 'tools' - and fools - since Dubya came to power. The people of Afghanistan and Iraq can vouch for that. More than a million civilians in Iraq are dead by now - with new killings happening every day.
In Afghanistan the number is now close to 100,000 - and counting.

But not only did Dubya attack and devastate Afghanistan and Iraq, he did the same to his own country, the world's financial system and the economies of all western countries.

In fact, the USA have declared war against the rest of the world!

And what is he offering now to get out of the crisis?
More aggressive tools.

Thank's a lot, George! You've managed to fuck us all!

In three months' time you will walk away from it all, with extra billions in your private pocket, a big smile on your face and another 'Mission accomplished' sign over your door.

Damn you, you spineless criminal! Damn you for all times!
And since you pretend to be a 'Christian', I hope you'll burn in Hell for all eternity!

The Fall of a fat Banker