It is hard to miss nowadays what the effects are from the credit crunch that we currently see around the world.
The new US president, Barack Obama, has said in his inauguration speech that he will work hard to change the status of the economy into something better. But what needs to be done to change a global crisis like this?

Most important is to find what caused the situation to become the way it is.

I have a few points that I think play an important role which would need to be changed in order to get things back to “normal” again, which I like to highlight here.

First is the US Central bank. This is the only bank that can decide to create money (ie. print new banknotes).
Why is this so important that it has to change?
In order to print banknotes, there should be something with the same value (usually gold) available that covers the value of these banknotes. This is also what used to be the case with the US Central Bank, before it came into private banker’s hands.
The US government has no or limited visibility of the amount of money being created and nobody knows whether there is enough gold to cover the value of the banknotes.
If there is not enough gold to cover the value of all the money that has been produced, this will cause a huge inflation and will probably lead to bankruptcy of the USA and many companies and countries who are depending on the dollar, which is still the main currency for international trade, so it will heavily affect the whole world.
Because of this it is vital that the US Central Bank becomes State owned again.

A second thing, not less important, is the greed of higher management nowadays in Businesses.
The managers make millions of dollars (or whatever currency is used in the country of the business), and even if they fail in their job and are dismissed, they still get several millions with them.
Instead this money should be used for the benefit of the business instead of for the benefit of one or a few managers who’s wages are already so high that it is hard to spend all the money.
Also we have seen businesses make huge profits in the past decades, which meant good times for management and shareholders, but now that times are turning we see the same businesses get into troubles over losses that are not even near 10% of the profits they have made before.
This makes them close businesses, and fire hundreds or thousands of people, which means these people lose most of their income, and in some cases even end up in poverty, while the managers of these companies can still live in luxury by only the interest they receive over the money they put in their private accounts from the earlier profits.
If these managers cared about their business more than about their own bank account they would have used the money to cover for a period when it all goes less well.
Because working businesses is what is needed to keep the economy going. People who are out of work cannot keep the economy at a healthy level, huge bank accounts for a very limited group of people also have no positive affect (apart from that it would be funny to see them if the inflation makes their money completely worthless).
So there should come a limit to how much someone can earn, and although I would prefer to say everyone should earn the same, that will not be possible to achieve fast enough, so I would say just keep allowing the people in higher positions to make more money, but keep it reasonable and create a limit for the top, just like there is a limit for minimum wages.

…To be continued

THE GRANDCHILDREN OF HOLOCAUST SURVIVORS FROM WORLD WAR II ARE DOING TO THE PALESTINIANS EXACTLY WHAT WAS DONE TO THEM BY NAZI GERMANY …
BUILDING WALLS & FENCES TO KEEP PEOPLE IN PRISONS

Les sionistes (Israel) font la même chose que les Nazis avaient fait aux juifs, mais aux palestiniens! Tous les colons et fachos du monde face au mur!

CHECK POINTS NOT TO ALLOW PEOPLE BASIC FREEDOM OF MOVEMENT

ARRESTS & HARASSMENTS

DESTROYING HOMES & LIVELIHOODS

GIFTS (WITH LOVE) FROM THE CHILDREN OF PEACE-LOVING & CIVILIZED COUNTRIES

THE CLASSIC PROPAGANDA MACHINE - YOU WILL FIND THE PICTURE IN BLACK & WHITE IN ALL AMERICAN AND SOME OTHER WESTERN COUNTRIES HISTORY BOOKS, ENCYCLOPAEDIAS, LIBRARIES, MUSEUMS… THAT DEPICTS A YOUNG JEWISH BOY WITH HIS HANDS UP WHILE NAZI TROOPS POINT THEIR GUNS AT HIM AND HIS FAMILY IN ORDER TO EXPEL THEM FROM THEIR HOMES… (IT’S SUPPOSED TO MAKE YOU SYMPATHIZE WITH THE VICTIMS & TO SUPPORT THEIR CAUSE FOR JUSTICE & A HOMELAND)

THE ISRAELIS PRACTICE THE SAME TACTICS

UN NUREMBERG POUR ISRAEL !!

BERLIN (Reuters) - Three German children aged five, six and seven who said they were fed up with cold weather at home set off on a voyage to Africa but only got as far as the local train station, police said on Monday.

The boy and the older girl were planning to get married in Africa and brought the girl's five-year-old sister along as a witness. They left their home in the city of Hanover, which they shared with the boy's father and the girls' mother, early on New Year's Day as their parents slept.

"The children wanted to do something really special for the New Year," said police spokesman Holger Jureczko. "They had it all planned out. They had three suitcases, filled with food, swimming costumes, a lilo and even sunglasses."

He said they took a tram to the central station and were about to board a train to the airport when police stopped them.

"They said they wanted to go to Africa 'because it's so nice and warm there'," Jureczko said. The boy had once been to Italy and convinced the girl that Africa would be even warmer, he said.

The police told the trio that it would be difficult to get to Africa without money or tickets and instead gave them a tour of the police station before handing them over to their parents.

The last year was reasonably save for air traffic. According to NLR-ATSI that keeps track of these figures, 504 people lost their live in airplane accidents in 2008, while the average is at 840.
The safest was to fly in the United States, but also in Europe there were relatively few accidents. Still Europe had the biggest crash of the year. In August 154 lost their lives in a crash with a Spanair plane in Madrid.
Worldwide there were 127 accidents with large commercial flights, of which 22 ended in fatalities for passengers.

BERLIN (Reuters) - A busy intersection in the German city of Kassel turned into a lake of frozen beer on Tuesday when some 1,600 bottles smashed after poorly secured crates flew off a delivery truck, police said.

The truck, carrying 12 tonnes of freshly brewed beer, lost most of its load on a sharp left-hand turn at the bottom of a hill, according to Kassel police inspector Wolfgang Jungnitsch.

Nearly 80 crates carrying about 800 litres flew off the truck, most of the bottles smashed, and their contents quickly froze in the chilly temperature of about -4 degrees Celsius (25 Fahrenheit), he said.

"A sheet of ice quickly formed and the air was filled with beer fumes," Jungnitsch said.

It took an hour to clear the intersection, and police said the trucker faced a fine for not securing his load properly.

Angry journalist throws shoes at Bush' head


President Bush got a pair of shoes thrown at his head in Bagdad, an expression of contempt in Iraq. Bush avoided them and both shoes missed their target.

LONDON (Reuters) - A rubbish collector in central England could have a very good Christmas if he can solve one of the biggest jigsaw puzzles going -- 10,000 pounds-worth of torn up bank notes.

Graham Hill found the large bundle of cut up 10- and 20-pound notes while emptying bins in Lincoln last May, according to the Lincolnshire Echo newspaper.

He handed the package to police, but after six months no one had claimed the notes and investigators could find no evidence that it was stolen or linked to criminal activity.

The Bank of England said it would exchange the notes for new ones if Hill could piece the money back together again.

"Providing the bank notes meet the evidence requirements, then an application for reimbursement should be successful," a central bank spokeswoman said. "In particular we look at the two serial numbers on the front of the notes."

Colleagues of Hill's are hoping he gets to work quickly.

"I just hope he pieces enough of the notes back together to get a round of drinks in at the works Christmas do," a co-worker was quoted as saying. "Christmas is only around the corner, so any bonus will be welcome."

De Marokkaanse pieten kunnen lastige straatjongeren in hun eigen taal aanspreken als ze vervelend doen. "Het leukste voor die jongelui is bijvoorbeeld om de baard van sint af te trekken." De maatregel is ongeveer vier jaar geleden ingesteld. "Sinterklaas werd toen gemolesteerd in een winkelcentrum in Osdorp", zegt Nassy. "Dat was voor ons de druppel."

Om een probleemgebied te bezoeken zijn nogal wat maatregelen nodig. "Bepaalde sinterklazen zijn goed geoefend in bepaalde wijken. We gaan niet als er geen beveiligingsmedewerkers worden geregeld. Verder nemen we minimaal vijf pieten mee, en dan zitten er vaak grote jongens tussen." Een chauffeur waakt bij de wagen van de goedheiligman om te voorkomen dat de ramen worden ingeslagen of de lak wordt bekrast. Ook agenten zijn werkzaam als piet. "En die kunnen 24 uur per dag optreden", benadrukt Nassy. "Het is eigenlijk schandalig dat dit nodig is, maar het is niet anders."

Sinds de inzet van de 16- of 17-jarige Marokkanen zijn er volgens Nassy nauwelijks problemen. "De jongeren schrikken zich lam als hun in hun eigen taal wordt verteld dat ze moeten ophoepelen. Dat verwachten ze niet."

Van een regelrechte strijd tussen Marokkanen en Sinterklaas is geen sprake. Vaak zijn het Marokkanen zelf die willen dat de sint op bezoek komt. Ook kinderdagverblijven met veel Marokkaanse klanten willen graag dat de sint langskomt."

De sinterklaascentrale gebruikt de inkomsten van andere bezoeken om gratis op bezoek te komen in armere buurten. Vaak zijn dat ook de buurten die de meeste overlast en de hoogste kosten met zich meebrengen, bevestigt Nassy. "Arme kinderen hebben ook recht op een leuk sinterklaasfeest."

Maar niet iedereen neemt de traditie over. De Marokkanen die lastig doen, zijn volgens Nassy jaloers op degenen die wel cadeaus van de kindervriend krijgen.

Niet alleen Marokkanen kunnen trouwens voor overlast zorgen. "In het verleden zijn pieten door donkere mensen in het water gegooid. Ze voelden zich beledigd, terwijl de zwarte kleur gewoon door de roet van de schoorsteen komt, onbegrijpelijk", vindt Nassy, zelf van Joods-Surinaamse afkomst.

BERLIN (Reuters) - The French say they need the largest condoms in Europe while Greeks get by on smaller ones, according to a Europe-wide study by a German consultancy that provides advice on condoms.

The study by the Singen-based Institute of Condom Consultancy was done by asking 10,500 men in 25 countries to measure their penis and enter the number into a database.

The results show Frenchmen on average claim to need 15.48-cm (6.09-inch) long condoms, about 3 cm longer than Greeks, whose condom-size requirement was the most modest.

Jan Vinzenz Krause, the institute's director, told Reuters Friday the data was collected over a period of eight months.

He did not want to comment on how honest he thought the Frenchmen had been in reporting the data.

The survey was aimed at educating youngsters about the importance of effective contraception.

The institute also offers online condom-size advice and hosts "Pimp Your Condom" -- an annual fair organised in cooperation with the national Aids Trust -- with the aim of educating teens about sexually transmitted diseases.

Krause was in the spotlight in the past when he produced a prototype of the "spray-on condom" -- an aerosol can which contains latex that creates a perfectly fitting condom. But the idea was not developed further.

BEIJING (Reuters) - A panda at a zoo in southern China attacked a student who snuck into its pen hoping for a cuddle with the endangered bear, state media said on Saturday.

The 20-year-old male student surnamed Liu jumped over the fence at the zoo in the tourist city of Guilin, ignoring warning signs not to, Xinhua news agency said.

"The panda, named Yangyang, was wide awake. Apparently scared by the intruder, he bit at Liu's arms and legs," it quoted an unnamed worker as saying after zoo keepers managed to calm the bear and rescue Liu, the report said.

"Yangyang was so cute and I just wanted to cuddle him," Liu was quoted as saying from his hospital bed. "I didn't expect he would attack."

Scientists believe fewer than 2,000 giant pandas live in the wild in China.

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - A Dutch couple on a visit to the eastern Indian state of Bihar paid 10,000 rupees (136 pounds) for four samosas, a spicy deep-fried snack that usually doesn't cost more than a few rupees, a newspaper reported on Monday.

After the tourists ate the snacks, a stall owner at the Sonepur cattle fair last week told them his "special" samosas cost more because they were made of herbs and had aphrodisiac qualities, the Hindustan Times said.

After an argument, the couple paid the shopkeeper. But they later complained to a policeman.

Police forced the shopkeeper to return the change -- 9,990 rupees.

BEIJING (Reuters) - Two Chinese wedding banquets held on successive nights at the same restaurant put at least 60 guests into hospital with food poisoning, the latest in a series of village dinner upsets.

Of around 250 villagers who attended the banquets on Friday and Saturday in a rural suburb of Beijing, at least 60 were rushed to hospital in the following days.

"It was embarrassing to have to tell others that I vomited and had diarrhoea at a wedding banquet," the Beijing News quoted one villager as saying.

Earlier this month, 170 guests were poisoned at a wedding banquet in the neighbouring province of Hebei when powdered rust remover was added to the pot instead of salt.

A day earlier, 61 wedding guests suffered food poisoning at a banquet in impoverished Gansu province in the northwest.

China has been hit by a series of food safety scares in recent years, most recently when thousands of infants fell sick from contaminated milk powder that also killed four babies.

De duif vloog in het Waalse Genappe in de propellor van een vliegtuigje. De reparatie kostte twee- tot drieduizend euro. De duif kwam op tragische wijze om het leven.

Ringetje

Via een ringetje om de poot van de duif werd de eigenaar opgespoord en aansprakelijk gesteld. Het is nu afhankelijk van de vraag of zijn aansprakelijkheidsverzekering de duif al dan niet als huisdier erkent en of de man de schade daar kan verhalen.

Volgens de voorzitter van Koninklijke Belgische Duivenliefhebbersbond is het de eerste keer dat de kosten van een vliegtuigongeval worden afgewenteld op een duivenliefhebber.