Sunday 31 March 2013

Golden Jackass: USD Ring-fenced and Check mate

Whilst it is rare that I disagree with the Golden Jackass on this occasion I think he has it wrong, he underestimates the fascist nature of the United States of America.

Whilst his warning, "The sunset of the US Dollar has a blueprint. As a personal embroidery, let me state that this article is the most important the Jackass has ever written. Let it be taken seriously for its grave somber message." Should not be ignored there is no discussion of the one thing that the US does have, which is the biggest stick.

Will the US be tempted to starting hitting out? Wallerstein's theory of Global Economic Hegemony maintains that the hegemon can only change as a result of 30 years of 'war' (but this does include counting the period 1914 to 1945 as one long war rather than two with a break in the middle, which is arguably true).

The US is currently engaged in multiple wars and some would say including upon its own citizens who they are now trying to disarm; perhaps to pave the way for a sharp decline in living standards?

Anyhow, enough from me, the Jackass continues.....

An unstoppable sequence of events has been put into motion finally. The pressure has been building for months. Some themes are plainly evident, except to those who wear rose colored glasses in the US Dome of Perception. 

The US Treasury Bond will be brought home to the US and British banks, where it will choke its bankers, then be devalued for survival reasons, after a painful isolation.

The Chinese and Russians will conspire to finance the Eurasian Trade Zone corridor foundation with US Treasury Bonds, held in reserve, put to usage. The British will play a very unusual role, selling out the United States in order to be squires to the Eastern Duo.

The process has begun; it cannot be stopped. 

The events are already being grossly misinterpreted and minimized in the US press, where devoted lapdogs, artistic swindlers, and creative writers prevail. The Paradigm Shift eastward is showing its next face, with a truly massive trade zone for cooperation and reduced cost overhead as the giant foundation. The United States for all of its past hegemony and devious manipulations and vicious attacks, will be excluded. 

The British will assist in the exclusion in order to avoid the Third World themselves. The following blueprint is the result of years of planning, with steady information and hints and confirmations by at least two Hat Trick Letter sources. 

EURASIAN TRADE ZONE

The crowning blow is the financial centerpiece to the trade zone, which draws upon the critical mass bulk of the BRICS nations as nucleus. Together Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa have begun to form an alliance built upon trade and economic development, forged by investment in infrastructure and its construction. Include Iran and Indonesia to welcome the new BRIIICS nations for a larger Eastern representation. 

The arterial system of the trade zone will be energy supply, the life blood of commerce. The Eurasian Trade Zone is being formed, with an energy foundation. Important bilateral pacts were made concrete in the last week. Supply of crude oil, natural gas, including LNG, will come from a vast system of pipelines from Russia to Central Europe and from Russia to China. Completed pipelines will flow. Other pipelines will be completed. Crucial pacts have been made final, with more to come. Additional important pipelines along the periphery will be completed also, like the Iran-Pakistan Pipeline, despite the USGovt obstruction and intimidation. New LNG ports will be constructed. 

Logistics for rail traffic will be agreed upon, for commodity supply. Many features of the trade zone will be worked out, like reduced tariffs, like border inspection methods, like payment systems including barter, like environmental concerns, like regional cooperation.

BRICS DEVELOPMENT BANK

Consider the BRICS Development Bank. It is so much more than a fund to build railroads in remote African locations, as the delusional US press reports. It will form the giant credit line for countless projects upon which trade will be conducted, often called infrastructure, but so much more. 

It will gradually reveal itself to provide a second function, a core bank for trade payments outside the USDollar sphere. Steps are being made, extremely important steps, that will shape the next chapter. The United States will not play a role. With a trade zone and financial payment structure, the USDollar is to be rendered an outsider looking in, soon to be deemed obsolete. 

The many emerging nations are coming of age, flexing their muscles, banding together. Their critical mass in trade volume, in industrial output, and in product development, including patent registration, are impressive. In the last two years, they have demonstrated that the G-20 Meeting of finance ministers has totally eclipsed the G-7 Meeting that had dominated for two decades. They are making the next critical step in creating a bank, a global bank whose role will grow and expand. It will operate under the golden glow.

EXCLUSION OF UNITED STATES

The many years of abusive control of the FOREX currency markets, intervention in the sovereign bond markets, manipulation in the important commodity markets, devious propaganda in the communications networks, with support role played by the aggressive USMilitary and nefarious activity by its security agencies have guaranteed exclusion of the United States. The unspeakable abuse of the US$ credit card will end, as the global reserve currency is dismissed from its throne.

The US leader crew, led by fascist bankers, can print money and counterfeit bonds all they wish, but the currency will be required to submit to grand devaluation if they wish to purchase supplies for the massively lopsided and imbalanced USEconomy, the greatest travesty in marketplace history. 

While the Keystone Pipeline is corrupted by the USGovt with hidden beneficiaries such as Halliburton and Burlington Northern, essentially divvying up the gangrenous paunch of the exhausted bloated American torso, the vast pipelines of the European and Asian continents are merging. 

They will not include the Americans, whose pathetic gambit fell on its face, the Trans-Pacific Partnership pushed by the Obama Admin. It actually attempted to form a trade zone with Asia, on condition that the lead nations Japan and South Korea excluded China. How incredibly moronic and amateurish! What a pathetic return on the dime for votes for this leader in the new police state.

BRITISH BROKER ROLE & INTRIGUE

The British have an historical knack to remain on top of the bank center heap. Earlier this year, when they announced the launch of a Chinese Yuan Swap Facility in London City, they stepped on the New York neck. Never in a million years would South Manhattan serve as the site of a Yuan Swap functionary post, not during a trade war that has a secret hot military war element being played out in Southern African near the horn (see Djibouti). 

The embattled British Petroleum will retain a 19.75% stake in Rosneft, which is to acquire the significant BP-TBK energy firm in Russia. Both Bank of America and Citigroup are brokering a $55 billion deal that will enable Rosneft to become the world's largest oil company. 

Several hidden messages are laden within the blockbuster global changing deal by Rosneft. 

By dissecting the flow, it is clear the BP executive staff is selling out, since not paying dividends. The collateral for the deal toward the loans will come from US Treasury Bonds. The Anglo-American bank complex will in effect be forced to swallow its own high volume of toxic paper. The tainted BP oil giant still reels from the tarnish of the Gulf of Mexico incident. Worse, BP is finally pushed out following its dubious role in the Yeltsin years of Russia. 

That difficult transition period in the 1990 decade saw a failed attempt by the Western Oil Giants to control Russia and its vast energy wealth. Putin from the KGB said no, and it did not happen on his watch. He assumed the Kremlin top post. 

Witness a potentially crucial London role in helping the Eurasian Trade Zone, perhaps buying favor to avoid the Third World. The broad exclusion of the United States guarantees a Third World flavor and stench for the North American core, with a Mad Max overtone and a Dachau closet.

DEVIOUS CYPRUS HIDDEN ANGLE

A piece of the financing for the Rosneft deal came from GazpromBank, which operates out of Cyprus. China has posted $30 billion in USTBonds as collateral within the massive deal, in return for ample future crude oil supply. Since Russia will receive a steady flow of payments from China from diverse energy pipeline supply, in the form of USTBond fund flow, the big debt to the London banks will be paid off by USTBonds.

The payoff will be in the same terms of the huge collateral. Conclude that the Eurasian Trade Zone will have an energy pipeline and delivery system with loaded supply whose foundation is built upon USTBonds, sent back to the Anglo-American bankers to digest. The USTBonds are going home to die. As Lenin said, the rope to hang themselves will be bought by the capitalists. As footnote, some important toes were stepped on in Cyprus. Expect more entries to the morgue. The event opened the door to dangerous games of brinksmanship.

The timing of the Cyprus bank account tax and confiscation is curious, exactly when the extremely significant summit meeting took place between Russian President Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping, where several big pacts were signed. One is left to wonder if the Cyprus fire was lit by the Europeans in order to attempt to disrupt the Moscow Energy Summit with heavy smoke. 

It bears repeating. The summit received almost zero Western press coverage, even though its details outline a sunset of the USDollar. Maybe because its details outline a sunset of the USDollar. 

The Jackass is left to wonder if the next important energy pact with the Eurasian Leader Duo (Russia & China) will involve Saudi Arabia, with a whiff of sunset for the Petro-Dollar defacto standard. Cyprus might indeed have been all about trying to save the Petro-Dollar, more than the European banks. Perhaps the Moscow Summit dictated the Cyprus timetable. 

The Italian elections to depose Monti, Spanish high level corruption and bankruptcies, and the French backtrack on massive spending cuts, these three nations point to urgency in disaster control. The bank account tax was thrust forward, unmasking the fascist bankers.

USDOLLAR HEGEMONY ENDING

The alternative system to conducting trade outside the USDollar system has had formative stages since the Lehman Brothers and Fannie Mae collapse. The Eastern trade leaders have been very busy quietly constructing a new system, with almost zero press coverage. They prefer to work in the background. Recent events indicate they have chosen the formal public stages and forums with wider visibility, starting with the February G-20 Meeting in Moscow. 

The true agenda for G-20 finance ministers was to hatch finally the USDollar alternative. The sleepy West appears not to be paying much attention. The initiatives to construct alternative platforms were given a major thrust in the last year since the Iran sanctions led by the USGovt banker and their henchmen in London. For the last 20 years at least, trade has followed banking. 

Nations of the world have been coerced for three decades into holding USGovt debt securities in order to make payment in trade, most notably in crude oil. With the Grand Arab Recycling accord struck by the 1970 decade leaders, the Petro-Dollar was born in return for a fantastic higher oil price. 

The oil-rich Arab royalty supported the USDollar by recycling trade surplus into USTreasury Bonds. The conventional practice dictated that global banking systems be dominated by USTBonds in reserves, serving as the banking foundation of debt.

New chapter to turn. The ongoing endless QE to Infinity has hastened Eastern trade leaders. The near 0% return from USTBond yields has motivated them to seek alternatives. They are horrified by the debasement of their hard-earned reserves, filled to the gills with USTBonds of shrinking value and low yield. 

The new trade settlement system based in Gold finance will turn the tables, as once more trade is to dictate banking. The combination of central bank hyper monetary inflation, big US bank fraud, security agency $100 bill counterfeit, and rampant criminality in the US financial system has motivated the Eastern nations to act. 

They have acted. The clear outcome is that the Western banking system will topple, since the East will be shoving the USTBonds back to Anglo-American shores for cemetery treatment. Trade should always dictate banking. The major trade partners no longer want US$-based trade settlement. Watch for the crowning blow in the Saudi response soon, since they always follow the winners.

THE CENTERPIECE PLAN

The new BRICS development bank will surely be supplied with USTreasury Bonds at first. The primary seeding is obvious. The emerging nations have collected huge reserves from successful trade over the last decade, primarily held in USTBonds. They do not wish to hold them, since undermined and debased by their own steward at the US Federal Reserve. 

The big Eastern nations have committed $100 billion for the fund, whose liquidity lies in USTBonds. On a gradual ramp, the USTBonds will be converted to Gold bars for the core bank asset in the development fund. Some of the 6000 metric tons of Gold bullion removed from London banks by the Eastern entities from March to July 2012 might find their way into the BRICS Fund core. 

The initial role of funding critical important projects like pipelines, communication networks, railroads, shipping ports, ships & trucks, perhaps even energy transfer ports, will become clear. The more overarching role of forming a (Eastern) global core central bank clearing house for payment transactions will be its second dual role. 

The emerging nations have had their fill of the USDollar control mechanisms with the SWIFT bank structure, the Intl Monetary Fund steering committee, and others. Finally, Gold Trade Notes would be used in trade settlement. Witness the new Eastern Fed for trade settlement in Gold bullion. Better to call it the BRICS Development Fund, since a major Trojan Horse for excreting USTBonds through its rectum, the London Boyz busily catching it.

The Gold core will facilitate the purchase of Gold Trade Notes much like the common letters of credit used widely in commerce nowadays. Like the Eurasian Russian-Chinese energy foundation, the development fund will be built on the back of USTBonds in toxic discharge. 

In the process, expect extreme hardball, shoving the toxic USTBonds back into US and British banks, as collateral for huge loans, as funds for repayment of huge loans, as funds to purchase Gold. In the process, the COMEX with LBMA appendage will be drained of its Gold, a future default assured. 

The Western gold marts will be unmasked as corrupt dens of empty inventory shelves. What comes is a BRICS Development Fund which will serve as a quasi global gold central bank for the expressed purpose of facilitating trade settlement in Gold. This is hardly just a fund to finance African rail projects.

THE CHECKMATE

A checkmate is in progress. It has four important elements.

1) The established Eurasian Trade Zone joins the massive Asian continent with a significant portion of the European continent, where three quarters of the world population resides. The trade zone has no visible presence or participation by either the United States or United Kingdom.

2) The BRICS Development Fund will control a giant sum of $100 billion. It will eclipse the role of the Intl Monetary Fund. The fund will facilitate numerous infrastructure projects. However, its other feature will be the shocker, as its core is transformed into Gold bullion. The conversion of USTBonds to Gold will nail the coffin in the isolated USDollar, a topic of Jackass scribbles for the last full year.

3) The flow of USTBonds will be from China to London, for financing the foundation of the Eurasian Trade Zone on its energy backbone with brisk energy flow. The collateral for large loans is to be USTBonds, as is repayment for loans to be USTBonds.

4) The transition from Yuan-based trade settlement via the numerous Swap Facilities in barter trade with key nations, toward Gold trade settlement via the BRICS fund that will feature a gold core, will launch the new Gold Trade Standard. It will not be a banker dominated currency type of Gold Standard. It will instead be a trade settlement Gold Standard that bypasses the hegemony of the Anglo-American banking system, the SWIFT rules, the FOREX gaming, and the IMF/World Bank harlots that harbor insects.

ZINGERS AS COFFIN NAILS

Many are the big signals and signposts with deep meaning. They line the path to the Third World. They are many, diverse, and unmistakable in importance. The gradual discard of the USDollar as global reserve currency, the gradual discard of the USTreasury Bond as primary banking system reserve asset, these events are in progress with a speed not seen in past months or past years, not since 2008. 

The level of intrigue matches the level of deception. Cyprus is not a one-off event, an isolated insignificant beer fart. It is a flash point event. The tipping point events could be bank runs across Southern Europe extending to Britain and the United States, including Canada. Numerous potential tipping point events can be identified, each powerful and ominous for the US Fascists in power. 

The USDollar is coming home to be buried and devalued. The USTBond is coming home to be buried and downgraded. The ring fence has been clearly laid out. The checkmate with the Eurasian Trade Zone and BRICS Fund is evident for the trained analyst eye. The devaluation will cause severe price inflation and supply shortages for the USEconomy. 

The end game has never been more clear. Follow the numerous highly important factors at work, each of which could produce a tipping point event. The dominos are aligned and ready. Inside the US Dome of Perception, they are less visible, yet still at work for extreme consequences. Some severe disorder comes this way. Expect some quantum leaps upward in the Gold price and Silver price, each controlled by unprecedented criminal activity in the financial markets.

The BRICS Development Fund is the main event, to build a railway to a dark place for the United States, ring fenced for its toxic USDollar. Gone will be the corrupted motivated tools like the IMF and World Bank, with even Western central banks of lesser importance. 

The BRICS Fund could be the Trojan Horse (much like ObamaCare) that permits a vast conduit to be built, a seemingly innocuous let permitted entrance through the door, which permits USTBonds to be dumped like the trash.
The upcoming Gold purchases by the BRICS Fund might be coordinated with the Shanghai Metals Exchange, to exploit the artificial low London Gold price. A COMEX bust can be foreseen.
The BRICS should be careful about the new undersea global communication cable system. In 2007, foul play resulted in the Iranian cable being cut, the result of cooperative action by the USGovt and the little ally on the Southern Med that looks northwest to Italy.
The tipping nation is Germany, which has had its fill supporting the slower wasteful debt-ridden Southern European nations. After cutting the cord, they will embrace the Eurasian Trade Zone. Evidence is the numerous heavy rail facilities that begin in Russia and end in Germany for commodity supply. There are two Germanys, one with old corrupt ties to the West, another with traditional reliable ties to the East. The Western camp is given light by the press, while the Eastern camp works behind closed doors shaping the next chapter.
The Eastern Alliance (often discussed in past Hat Trick Letters) is slowly coming into view. The Russian and Chinese corridor will serve as the commercial foundation. The BRICS Development Fund will serve as the backbone. When Germany joins in more overt manner, the Alliance will be clear on the geopolitical stage. Then comes the Saudis to join, complete with protectorate role already offered by the Eastern Duo giants, who together will announce the end to the Petro-Dollar defacto standard.
The political rebellion movement inside Germany is slowly coming into view. 

They wish to return to the D-Mark currency and to discard the Euro, an experiment in disaster, waste, fraud, and ruin. The movement is gaining traction. Discussion of the Nordic Euro (aka Teutonic Euro) has been heard on an increasing basis among its tribal cousins. Germany will side with Russia & China, and join the next chapter, after shedding its PIIGS pen trash.
Both Russia and China purchase all their domestic gold mining output. If truth be told, their gold reserves are multiples higher than the official data indicates. Neither nation has any desire to cooperate with such critical disclosure, much like national trade secrets. Both nations are ready for the next chapter, with a few years of preparation in new modern systems, platforms, wiring, and gold held in reserve as core wealth.

The ABN Amro news of halted gold delivery speaks volumes to the absent inventory linked to the corrupted London gold market. They have no Gold in inventory. They control the Gold price with paper leverage and suppressive techniques. This news halt out of the Netherlands should be viewed in context of the Germans, Dutch, and Austrians demanding their gold in repatriation. London has none. What gold bullion they do obtain comes from urgent shipments from the Roman Catacombs and the Basel hills of Switzerland.

The nations across the entire West have citizens deeply worried about their savings wealth stored in the banks. They are beginning to realize their accounts are legally considered as bank liabilities subject to heavy loss upon bank failures. They will begin to remove the money from bank accounts in droves, but with capital controls imposed.

The Cyprus bank account tax is the latest ignored shock wave warning to the West. It is described as a small tax to assure bank solvency, but it is a vicious transfer from sovereign source to depositor private source in funded bailouts. It is confiscation. 

The 2005 Bankruptcy Law in the US gave away the plan, with savings deposits subordinated under derivatives. The MF-Global episode has not resulted in much learned. It was the first test ride of the subordination rules in the new law. 

The Jackass warned in early 2012 of an MF-Global event for bank accounts and stock accounts. The event is coming very soon, but the public is very sleepy distracted and dulled.

Friday 29 March 2013

Cyprus: The Penultimate Death Rattle of Fractional Reserve Banking

Roll on April 3rd and I shall be heading of to Limassol with the sole aim of laying down a tan for the summer. My destination was chosen at the last minute and I managed to get quite a deal on a trip to Cyprus.

After two weeks the banks in Cyprus have re-opened their doors; the Russian Oligarchs having moved their money from the Cyprus bank to the Russian subsidiary prevented Russian intervention in the situation and protecting deposits under EUR100,000 will allow the politicians a fair shot at getting re-elected so no harm done?

The Circle Bastiat blog on the contrary believes that this is the penultimate act in the end of fractional reserve banking, paving the way for a return to 'the gold standard'.

The “Cyprus deal” as it has been widely referred to in the media may mark the next to last act in the the slow motion collapse of fractional-reserve banking that began with the implosion of the savings-and-loan industry in the U.S. in the late 1980s. This trend continued with the currency crises in Russia, Mexico, East Asia and Argentina in the 1990s in which fractional-reserve banking played a decisive role. The unraveling of fractional-reserve banking became visible even to the average depositor during the financial meltdown of 2008 that ignited bank runs on some of the largest and most venerable financial institutions in the world. The final collapse was only averted by the multi-trillion dollar bailout of U.S. and foreign banks by the Federal Reserve.

Even more than the unprecedented financial crisis of 2008, however, recent events in Cyprus may have struck the mortal blow to fractional-reserve banking. For fractional reserve banking can only exist for as long as the depositors have complete confidence that regardless of the financial woes that befall the bank entrusted with their “deposits,” they will always be able to withdraw them on demand at par in currency, the ultimate cash of any banking system. Ever since World War Two governmental deposit insurance, backed up by the money-creating powers of the central bank, was seen as the unshakable guarantee that warranted such confidence. In effect, fractional-reserve banking was perceived as 100-percent banking by depositors, who acted as if their money was always “in the bank” thanks to the ability of central banks to conjure up money out of thin air (or in cyberspace). Perversely the various crises involving fractional-reserve banking that struck time and again since the late 1980s only reinforced this belief among depositors, because troubled banks and thrift institutions were always bailed out with alacrity–especially the largest and least stable.

Thus arose the “too-big-to-fail doctrine.” Under this doctrine, uninsured bank depositors and bondholders were generally made whole when large banks failed, because it was widely understood that the confidence in the entire banking system was a frail and evanescent thing that would break and completely dissipate as a result of the failure of even a single large institution.

Getting back to the Cyprus deal, admittedly it is hardly ideal from a free-market point of view. The solution in accord with free markets would not involve restricting deposit withdrawals, imposing fascistic capital controls on domestic residents and foreign investors, and dragooning taxpayers in the rest of the Eurozone into contributing to the bailout to the tune of 10 billion euros. Nonetheless, the deal does convey a salutary message to bank depositors and creditors the world over. It does so by forcing previously untouchable senior bondholders and uninsured depositors in the Cypriot banks to bear part of the cost of the bailout. The bondholders of the two largest banks will be wiped out and it is reported that large depositors (i.e. those holding uninsured accounts exceeding 100,000 euros) at the Laiki Bank may also be completely wiped out, losing up to 4.2 billion euros, while large depositors at the Bank of Cyprus will lose between 30 and 60 percent of their deposits. Small depositors in both banks, who hold insured accounts of up to 100,000 euros, would retain the full value of their deposits.

The happy result will be that depositors, both insured and uninsured, in Europe and throughout the world will become much more cautious or even suspicious in dealing with fractional-reserve banks. They will be poised to grab their money and run at the slightest sign or rumor of instability. This will induce banks to radically alter the sources of the funds they raise to finance loans and investments, moving away from deposit and toward equity and bond financing. As was reported yesterday, this is already expected by many analysts:
One potential spillover from yesterday’s agreement is the knock-on effects for bank funding, analysts said. Banks typically fund themselves with some combination of deposits, equity, senior and subordinate notes and covered bonds, which are backed by a pool of high-quality assets that stay on the lender’s balance sheet. 
The consequences of the Cyprus bailout could be that banks will be more likely to use contingent convertible bonds — known as CoCos — to raise money as their ability to encumber assets by issuing covered bonds reaches regulatory limits, said Chris Bowie at Ignis Asset Management Ltd. in London. 
“We’d expect to see some deposit flight and a shift in funding towards a combination of covered bonds, real equity and quasi-equity,” said Bowie, who is head of credit portfolio management at Ignis, which oversees about $110 billion.
If this indeed occurs it will be a significant move toward a free-market financial system in which the radical mismatching of the maturities of assets and liabilities in the case of demand deposits is eliminated once and for all. A few more banking crises in the Eurozone– especially one in which insured depositors are made to participate in the so-called “bail-in”–will likely cause the faith in government deposit insurance to completely evaporate and with it confidence in fractional-reserve banking system.

There may then naturally arise on the market a system in which equity, bonds, and genuine time deposits that cannot be redeemed before maturity become the exclusive sources of finance for bank loans and investments. Demand deposits, whether checkable or not, would be segregated in actual deposit banks which maintain 100 percent reserves and provide a range of payments systems from ATMs to debit cards. While this conjecture may we overly optimistic, we are certainly a good deal closer to such an outcome today than we were before the “Cyprus deal” was struck.

Of course we would be closer still if there were no bailout and the full brunt of the bank failures were borne solely by the creditors and depositors of the failed banks rather than partly by taxpayers. The latter solution would have completely and definitively exposed the true nature of fractional-reserve banking for all to see.

As reported several months ago on this blog the alternative to the US/GB world banking system has been in development for some but now has been publicly announced.


Friday 22 March 2013

Appeals from the Ecclesiastical Court of Jersey

I have been intrigued by the recent discussion of the legal framework for matters bought before the Ecclesiastical Court of Jersey.

For those of you not so interested in religion as I there are one or two points which are worth noting; firstly the Church of England is largely a 'Catholic' church and not a 'Protestant' or 'Dissenter' church and therefore the overarching law is Canonical Law.

Cases normally originate in the tribunal of the particular church (i.e. the diocese or eparchy) of the parties to the case. This tribunal in canon law is called the tribunal of first instance. The bishop of the church possesses the power to judge for his church; however, since the bishop has many different duties in his diocese, most cases are handled by judges whom he appoints, led by a priest known as the judicial vicar or officials.

The appellate tribunal is known as the tribunal of second instance. Normally the second instance tribunal is the tribunal of the metropolitan bishop. It has been suggested that if the Dean is the subject of a complaint then the Bailiff takes over as judge, however this is not the case, the appeal is heard directly by the appellate tribunal.

So where does Jersey fit into this? The Channel Islands were previously part of the Diocese of Coutances. Following an unsuccessful attempt to transfer the Islands to the Diocese of Salisbury, Pope Alexander VI transferred them to Winchester by a Bull dated 20th January 1499/1500. However, the Bishops of Coutances continued to exercise de facto jurisdiction and it was not until an Order in Council of 11th March 1569 (during the reign of Elizabeth I) that the Channel Islands were finally placed under the Episcopal jurisdiction of the Bishop of Winchester.

Unlike the Isle of Man the Church in Jersey does not set out its legislative stall, nor does the States of Jersey pass legislation as does the Tynwald regarding the operation of the church.

However even in the Isle of Man the suzerainty of the General Synod and the English Law is acknowledged, it appears that the Attorney General in offering the advice that the Church in Jersey is not subject to regulation from the higher authority of the bishop, Archbishop of Canterbury and the Queen is making a serious challenge to some 2000 years of precedent.

To suggest that the Church in Jersey can walk out of step with the rest of the world appears to be illogical, contrary to the discoveries of law to date and thus one would suggest an argument made solely for the sake of making an argument. To suggest that there is no avenue for appeal from the Ecclesiastical Court of Jersey to a higher Ecclesiastical Court is not a suggestion that one would expect to come from a trained lawyer, there are several levels of appeal beyond Jersey.

To suggest that the Dean of Jersey once appointed is on a par with either the Archbishop of Canterbury or the Pope and is the ultimate spiritual authority on earth is clearly ludicrous. But such are the arguments which have been forthcoming from Jersey's Crown Officers in recent days.

Far better to let justice take its course and in future the JEP and the Jersey Establishment will do well to remember that a person is innocent until proven guilty and not guilty until exonerated (as the Dean describes our mindset in the diocese report) a mindset which has been proliferated by the establishment and the JEP which induces us to never question whether the Police or Courts have made a mistake, because the truth is that invariably they do.

Sunday 17 March 2013

RIP OFF STATES OF JERSEY

I have been investigating RIP OFF STATES OF JERSEY quite closely by applying the following formula to the financial results of companies in similar industrial sectors.

Profit Margin (Profit after tax/Turnover)

This formula applied to British Telecoms 2011 financial results reveals profit margin of (£1.5 billion/£20 billion) or 7.5%. When we apply this formula to the results for Jersey Telecoms 2011 profit margin of (£12.25 million/£108 million) or 11.3%

Jersey Water 2011 makes for more interesting reading with a profit margin of (£4.6 million/£14.8 million) or 31%. By contrast Yorkshire Water which you may be interested to note is owned by a company registered in Jersey made a loss every year since 2009.

Jersey Electricity 2011 had a profit margin of (£8.6 million/£100.5 million) or 8.55% whilst Scottish and Southern Electricity had a 2011 profit margin of (£1.5 billion/£28.3 billion) or 5.3%

The question then is why does the JCRA allow these monopolies to make such supra-normal profits? Who do they work for, the people of Jersey to ensure good value for money of the States of Jersey to ensure high levels of dividends. Our utilities are ripping us off, this is tax by stealth.

Saturday 16 March 2013

Don't get a lawyer appoint a Guardian Ad Litem instead

One of the greatest problems in the modern age is that many people are simply not capable of representing themselves before a Court, a Civil Service department or tribunal.

The Legal Definition for a 'guardian ad litem' is a guardian appointed by the court to represent the interests of infants, the unborn, or incompetent persons in legal actions. Incompetent is 'not having the necessary skills to do something successfully'.

Ad Litem means for the purposes of a Court action and therefore distinguishes from a guardian as the Guardian Ad Litem has no control over the person or property of the person they are appointed to represent in Court.

Therefore any person who lacks the skills necessary to properly adduce a case before a Court or to speak before the Court is entitled to appoint a Guardian Ad Litem of their choosing who will as far as the Court is concerned be them in any proceeding. Appointing a Guardian on the grounds of mental health [2006]JCR116. To be a Guardian Ad Litem is not without its own risk (see 1999 JLR111).

However if you find yourself in Court and wish to be properly represented and do not wish to have a lawyer speak for you, but do not believe that you are capable of acting on your own behalf, you are free to seek the appointment of a Guardian Ad Litem to speak on your behalf,




Wednesday 13 March 2013

Is Jersey ready to get back into shape?

Recently having decided that my physical condition had deteriorated too far I decided to take up yoga. It is so easy in the busy life we lead to neglect physical fitness and obviously the effects will not be felt straight away, the gradual deterioration of physical fitness creeps in numerous small stages which often pass unnoticed.

Our States members do not develop those guts overnight it is only through a long succession of free lunches. But three years later when they come to stand again and they look at those election posters from the last campaign well then the physical decline really hits home.

Now a few weeks in to my new training program I can almost make it through the ninety minutes, a couple of the poses are just too hard still so I sit a few seconds out of each one. My flexibilty, strength and balance are all improving. I know where I want to be but at the moment it is just too much, but lots of small steps will get me there eventually. I am already feeling the benefit, it is almost as if my body knows where it should be and now having received the necessary instruction from my brain is re-configuring itself to adjust to the new reality.

It's easy to forget that keeping physically fit is important for maintaining mental health so I am concerned by the number of States Members who let themselves go. I mean its not like any of them have any excuse as they have no work to do and plenty of free time.

But progress in yoga is a definite gradual thing, each time your body puts up opposition the idea is to breathe in, and then push a little harder on the exhale. It works, what seems like an insurmountable task requires just a single deep breath and you can go a little further.

In many ways that is similar to how the implementation of public policy in Jersey works; the Civil Service pushes a little until it meets resistance, then rests, takes a deep breath (holds a consultation or something) and then finds that the resistance point has moved and it can progress a little further down the road it is on. A perfect example of this is the removal of mortgage interest relief, this was first tried around 2000 but given the level of public emnity it was withdrawn only to be re-hashed as '20 means 20' one of the steps necessary to avert the 'black hole' in public finances (a black hole which was only caused by the government increasing the amount of money they spent).

Conversely when opposition erupts the Civil Service draw a line of resistance and see how deep the breath is before giving in to the resistance a little. A perfect example of this is the recent pay dispute; the 1% pay rise for all met with significant resistance and the Civil Service have given in a little - Nurses will get 4%, they will probably settle with the fire service and some other unions but for the poor manual workers there is no give.

The lack of an organised political resistance to the growth of bureaucracy, the lack of a political party in Jersey to work in the interests of the people and prevent the expansion of government and taxation has meant that the States of Jersey Inc. have readily and rapidly progressed along the path of impoverishment of the people of Jersey.

Jersey knows that it is not in the condition that it should be but all it may take to sort things out is for everyone to realize that they have to adjust to the new configuration. There will be some resistance If sometimes it seems that no progress can be made on an issue, sometimes the better action is to stop, take a deep breath, pause for through, and then push again.

Taking that first yoga class requires the most effort; re-organising schedules, planning the trip, feeling the stiffness and discomfort of having let things go too far but you come away feeling good and each successive class is just that bit more enjoyable.

The question is then how does one persuade Jersey that it is time to start getting back into shape?

Tuesday 12 March 2013

Taking the auspices - Rand Paul 2016 and Option A


Regular readers will by now know that I quite happily walk not quite in step with the rest of the world; to question quite literally every assumption that most people are happy not to consider at all and to accept some things as true which most would reject without any consideration whatsoever.

My working hypothesis on astrology is that as we all exist in a gravity plane and as that gravity plane is distorted by the motion of major masses it is entirely possible that the orbits of the planets by acting on the gravitational plane on which we reside can have definite but as yet undetermined consequences for our daily lives. Now this may or may not be true, but as a hypothesis it will remain my working theory, until such time as it is proven to be incorrect. (And yes I did read some astrophysics at university and none of the 'science' contradicts the hypothesis).

This reading for the forthcoming month particularly piqued my curiosity so I am posting so I can come back and look at it in a month's time and see how accurate it is or isn't.

What intrigues me is of course that it portends the rise of Libertarianism and the break down of the Organised State (or at least acceptance by its high priests that business cannot proceed as normal). We have already seen this this month. Not least the 13 hour filibuster by Rand Paul and a general change in the coverage of Libertarianism by the US mainstream media, whilst they were talking about Ron Paul as a kook and an extremist, they have lavished glowing accolades upon his son and the official Rand Paul 2016 presidential exploration committee has now started rolling.

With the firm base of his father's fanatical following who managed to pull crowds as large as 23,000 people to a political meeting and a network of supporters and activists many of whom would have walked through fire to get their man elected (and many of whom will never fly on an aeroplane in the US again).

And right here in Jersey we get to see this played out in the form of the forthcoming referendum on Electoral reform; will this be the moment when the States of Jersey learn that the people of Jersey are not simply sheep to be herded into the right pen, but free thinking individuals capable of reaching their own conclusions no matter how much effort is put in to persuade us to vote against out conscience?

Will matters such as the suspension of the Dean and the Committee of Inquiry finally make people realise that if you place your trust in an organisation where individuals can avoid personal responsibility by hiding behind the institution then you are just asking for that trust to be abused?

Will people finally remember that government is best which does the least?

Sunday 10 March 2013

JACS serves neither employee or employer but tyranny

So the Employment Tribunal has come and gone and having taken the advice of my legal friend I have been fleeced of some £487.50 by a highway-woman with the willing assistance of JACS and the Employment Tribunal.

Of course it has cost the taxpayer some £10,000 to rob me of £487.50 so I'm sure that that is your money well spent.

However the process did drag on for some eleven months, quite unnecessarily but I was dealing with an incompetent, not only an incompetent applicant but an incompetent JACS.

The standard procedure for resolving disputes, that would be the procedure adopted by a reasonable man is quite simple. You write a letter stating your grievance in full, as part of stating that grievance a sum expressed in terms of legal tender that is required to settle the matter should be included. The respondent (the person who is responding to your grievance) should then reply to you and state any areas of your grievance which he disagrees with, and which areas of your grievance he agrees with, make any counter grievances and offer any solutions, additional matters to consider and in all likelihood a counter-offer to your claim.

It should be in the interests of both parties to reach agreement without recourse to a tribunal.

This process is very much mirrored in the Court process and in all proceedings of natural justice.

The trouble is that it is not in the interests of anyone else for agreement to be reached to quickly - JACS need work to justify their existence, the Tribunal is on £2,000 per session. If you have lawyers of course then the £500 per hour for Court work or £350 per hour for out of Court work

The reason that this process dragged on for 11 months was because of the failure of the applicant to properly adduce their case and at no point was the value of the claim calculated.

It remains my assertion that this failure is a breach of natural justice.

This assertion was rejected by both the Employment Tribunal and the Royal Court but just in case the applicant did not accept the offer of a full settlement I submitted the following application to the tribunal


APPLICATION FOR DISMISSAL OF PROCEEDINGSThe non-compliance of the case before the tribunal with the demands of Natural Justice and Article 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights. 
When a case is submitted before judicial (or quasi-judicial) proceedings there are certain requirements in order that the proceedings comply with the demands of Natural Justice and therefore Article 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights. 
Natural Justice comprises three basic rules: 1.    The hearing rule demands that a decision maker must give an opportunity to a person whose interests may be adversely affected by their decision the opportunity to be heard.
 2.    The bias rule demands that the decision maker should be disinterested and/or unbiased in the matter to be decided. Justice should not only be done but be seen to be done. If fair minded people would reasonably apprehend/suspect the decision maker has prejudged the matter, the rule is breached (often referred to as ‘a reasonable apprehension of bias’).
 3.    The no evidence rule means, in essence, that the decision that is eventually made must be based on logical evidence (proven on the balance of probabilities - that is, the alleged behaviour is more likely to have occurred than not).
 It is also important that in making decisions, administrative decision makers: 
·   take into account relevant considerations;
·   do not take into account irrelevant considerations;
·   act for a proper purpose; and
·   that the decision is not unreasonable in the sense that no reasonable
decision maker could have reached such a decision. An administrative decision maker is under a dual duty; to take account of relevant considerations and not take into account irrelevant ones. 
The proceedings to date have contravened Rule 1 of those listed above in the following manners; firstly a case has never been fully disclosed by the Applicant I am still not clear what exactly the claim of the applicant is and the value of the claim has never been submitted forcing me to try and guess the value of the claim, additional evidence has been adduced by the Applicant in advance of the hearing scheduled for the 6th March in the form of a letter which clearly states that the employer was Nigel Pearce & Son, Jewellers and therefore not Darius Pearce as named in the application – had this evidence been adduced at previous hearings then the tribunal might have reached an alternative conclusion. There is still no case adduced to support the claim of the applicant that there was an instance of constructive dismissal, a claim should be adduced in full before the respondent can be expected to respond to it. 
Rule 2 of the list above has been contravened in that the tribunal has not expected the applicant to act in an honourable manner and respond to the advances of the respondent who has three times made offers of settlement to the applicant to which no response has been forthcoming, no discussion has been possible which might have assisted the tribunal to progress matter more swiftly as some points of disagreement might have been concluded outside of a hearing. That the applicant has been allowed to act dishonourably provides a reasonable apprehension of bias on the part of the respondent. 
Rule 3 of the above list has been breached in that the tribunal reached its conclusion solely based on the testimony of the applicant and in a manner that is contrary to all of the evidence adduced by the applicant to support her case. No account was taken of the cessation of Social Security payments, the letter on headed paper from a person other than the respondent, and now further letters from the Social Security department clearly stating the identity of the applicants employer for the period to 31st December 2011. 
On the grounds stated above I apply to the tribunal to dismiss the case.

For the record here is my submission to the tribunal in my 'defence' albeit one against a case which was not properly adduced and therefore one which could not be responded to.

1.    Despite my repeated insistence that I was not an employer, this tribunal found that in the application of Miss Garcia that I was. 
2.    The evidence upon which this finding was based is as follows:
(1)        Miss Garcia’s verbal testimony
(2)        A letter from the director of Jersey Online Traders Limited t/a Nigel Pearce & Son, Jewellers which made an offer of employment which Miss Garcia herself indicates she did not actually comply with, and therefore did not accept, which the tribunal erroneously attributed to Darius Pearce (who is a separate legal person).
(3)        The entries on the bank statements of Miss Garcia which said ‘dariuspearce, salary’ but which the tribunal re-worded as ‘Darius Pearce, Salary’ and erroneously indicated that this was consideration paid by Darius Pearce, when in fact the source bank account was that of Jersey Online Traders Limited. 
3.    The Commissioner of the Royal Court has made two important observations
(1)        That based on the evidence before the tribunal it was possible to reach the conclusion that it did.
(2)        That the tribunal does have the power to add parties to the hearing who should have been named. 
4.    Therefore it is imperative that I demonstrate that Miss Garcia has misled the tribunal and that the tribunal consider whether this was intentional or whether these statements were made recklessly based upon the knowledge and recent statements of the applicant. 
5.    On the th May 2012 Miss Garcia made a statement under oath and on pain of perjury to a sworn officer of the Social Security Department. In this statement she affirms on pain of perjury that her employer was Jersey Online Traders Limited. Yet just a few weeks later she makes a contrary statement to this tribunal that her employer was the natural person Darius Pearce. It is not for me to suggest that she deliberately misled the tribunal although this may have been the case as it may simply be that she has committed perjury or that she really does not know and understand what the situation was/is. In either case I would suggest to the tribunal that her testimony cannot be relied upon and that any future evidence that she might wish to give should be treated as similarly suspect. 
6.    I invite the tribunal to re-review the letter already submitted by Miss Garcia and would draw their attention to the company name which is clearly shown on the letter, as noted by the Commissioner of the Royal Court. 
7.    I append bank statement showing the source of the funds which were deposited into Miss Garcia’s account and draw attention to the name of the account holder. 
8.    Clearly whilst the tribunal could have reached the conclusions it has previously reached that was only enabled by the false and misleading evidence presented by the applicant. 
9.    I draw the attention of the tribunal to Article 95 of the Employment (Jersey) Law 2003 and ask them to consider whether the applicant in making a statement contradictory to a sworn statement made the month immediately preceding the original hearing has not contravened Article 95 (1) (a) (ii) or Article 95 (1) (a) (i) 
95    Offences(1)          A person who without reasonable excuse –
(a)             in proceedings before the Tribunal –
(i)                makes a statement which the person knows or believes to be false, misleading or deceptive in a material particular,
(ii)             recklessly makes a statement which is false, misleading or deceptive in a material particular, or
(iii)           produces or furnishes or causes or permits to be produced or furnished any information or document which the person knows or believes to be false, misleading or deceptive in a material particular; 
10. Should the tribunal decide that the false statements were solely made due to the applicants misunderstanding of the situation then I would ask the tribunal to consider the validity of any and all other testimony that the applicant may make. 
11. I would also remind the tribunal that a contract is only a contract if entered into knowingly and willingly, if the applicant was unaware of the nature of the contract entered into, there was no contract at all. 
12. The Employment (Jersey) Law 2003, as amended defines an employer and an employee in Article 1A (as follows): 
1A      “Employer” and “employee”(1)          In this Law –
(a)             employer” means a person who employs another person; and
(b)            employee” means a person who is employed by an employer.
(2)          For the purposes of paragraph (1), a person is employed by another person if the first person works for the second person under a contract of service or apprenticeship with the second person.
(3)          For the purposes of paragraph (1), a person is also employed by another person if the first person enters into any other contract with the second person under which –
(a)             the first person undertakes to do, or to perform personally, work or services for the second person; and
(b)            the status of the second person is not that of a client or customer of any profession or trade or business undertaking that is carried on by the first person. 
13. It is necessary to consider the period in question in terms of two distinct periods of time, the first being that which concluded on the 31st December 2011 during which period Miss Fiona Garcia was an employee and whilst it was impossible to conclude contractual negotiations with the applicant the legal person Jersey Online Traders Limited to all intents and purposes acted as her employer (paying social security contributions, providing employers’ liability insurance, completing the requirements of the Regulations and Undertakings Law, etc.) 
14. Any claim against Jersey Online Traders Limited in respect of the termination of that employment would have had to have been initiated by the applicant by the 31st March 2012. 
15. The second period deals with the period between the 1st January 2012 and the day of Miss Garcia’s temper tantrum. 
16. I have clearly demonstrated that it was my intent that any contract that was entered into with Miss Garcia, or her sister or that Miss Garcia entered into indirectly to me whilst undertaking the tasks appointed to her sister to complete should solely fall within the purview of Article 1A (3) (b) and any relationship with the applicant be strictly on a client or customer basis. 
17. The elements of a contract are:
(1)        Mutual Assent (offer and acceptance),
(2)        Intention to create legal relations,
(3)        Consideration 
18. As it was not my intention to create any legal relations that would give rise to the status of employer for myself, or the status of employee to the Applicant, there can be no contract which would afford such status. 
19. There was no attempt to define precisely the relationship between the three persons concerned, as the relationship was deliberately left fluid and mutable, as the relationship was not intended to be covered within the Employment (Jersey) Law 2003 there is no legal requirement to do so. The only definition it was possible to make was to define that which it was not. 
20. I was largely working alone in the shop, whilst the applicant and her sister were left to operate the online part of the business in a different room, the applicant was under the direct control and supervision of her sister at all times. 
21. The understanding with the applicant’s sister was that she would be paid a percentage of the turnover of the online business, but that should that fail to match a minimum then additional sums would be given as charitable donations whilst she established herself as a businessperson. 
22. No stipulation was made on the applicant’s sister as to what she did, when or how she did it and whether it was her who did it or another person – this other person included the applicant. 
23. I was mindful in the setting up of the arrangement of the provisions of Article 79 (1) of the Employment (Jersey) Law 2003 
79    Restrictions on contracting out(1)          A provision in a contract (whether a relevant agreement or not) shall be void in so far as it purports –
(a)             to exclude or limit the operation of any provision of this Law; or
(b)            to preclude a person from bringing any proceedings under this Law before the Tribunal,
(c)             except as permitted by this Law. 
24. And I therefore defined the relationship by way of a notice of understanding and intent rather than by way of a contract in order to preclude any possibility that the arrangement might fall foul of this article of the law. 
25. There is no guidance offered by JACS on avoiding the jurisdiction of the Employment (Jersey) Law 2003 and whilst my actions may appear extreme, this is the only method that I could conceive of, I am not a man of Learning, after several weeks of deliberation, by which to remain within the Law and yet not be bound to the Employment (Jersey) Law 2003. 
26. Whilst it is not the place of the tribunal to consider whether the Employment (Jersey) Law 2003 is right or wrong, it is clear to me that it is destructive to employment, prevents job creation and is therefore damaging to the community. 
27. It is a law whose application is unfairly imbalanced and biased favouring employees over employers and therefore creates distrust in a relationship which must be based upon trust. 
28. It is further disadvantageous in the grander scheme of things to both employers and employees ultimately serving the ends of government bureaucracy alone. The foundation stone of its overarching tyranny; a foundation upon which numerous greater tyrannies are ultimately dependent. 
29. Avoiding such oppression is a perfectly legitimate and reasonable aim. It is also the moral duty of any reasonable man to seek to protect others from such tyranny. I would argue that to fail to do so, is to fail in the responsibilities placed upon each man by God himself and all failures of this nature must be accounted for at His final judgement. I, a God fearing man, could not in good conscience act in any contrary manner and thereby knowingly allow the Government to use me as an agent of oppression and thereby cement its tyranny.
However I took the trouble to do the applicant's work for her and tried to adduce her case as follows:
The claims of Miss Garcia are as follows:
That Miss Garcia was employed by an employer from the 26th May 2011 to 2nd April 2012 when she was unfairly dismissed.
Based on an hourly rate of £6.32 at 25 hours per week the full claim is as follows:
For two hours pay: £12.64
For a week's notice: £158.00
For four week's for unfair dismissal: £632.00
Miss Garcia further claims she was not given holiday pay for the period 26th May to 2nd April which is less than one year, but acknowledges that she received payment for the first two weeks in January 2012 when she did not work. Which by my calculation means that she has been overpaid in respect of holidays by 28+25/365 days or 11.78% of two weeks or 1.65 days or 8.25 hours. Which would make a deduction of £(52.14). Records also show that two week's paid leave were taken in 2011 which would make a further deduction of £(316.00)
So the total value of the claim is: £12.64+£158+£632-£52.14-£316 = £434.50
I therefore offer this full amount in settlement.

It is perhaps unnecessary to point out that the Applicant had in fact been overpaid by more than two weeks prior to bringing her claim.

So the day of the tribunal arrived, the applicant had not responded to my offer and I simply asked the tribunal why we were there. Advocate Santos-Costa kindly pointed out to the Applicant that if she did not accept the offer then they would be required to reduce the final claim because the settlement had already been offered.

JACS was called up and negotiations proceeded, Miss Garcia claimed she was paid £6.50 per hour rather than £6.32 and even though that did not compute mathematically with the amount she had received I did not argue but paid over the £487.50.

In the interim however the JACS officer bought me a document of settlement to sign, which clearly stated that the dispute arose from her employment, when I asked for the wording to be changed as the applicant was never my employee she stormed out and called the tribunal in. Apparently the JACS officer is not competent to change the wording on standard forms to suit the individual settlement (which would simply have been the addition of 'alleged' before contract of employment). And the tribunal were called back in, however as there was agreement between the parties there was very little they could do to proceed.

Why did they want me to admit a 'contract of employment', well quite simply a contract of employment is their ticket to rob you of taxes, social security and to tell me off for not doing all the things the Employment Law says you must do if you employ someone.

The lesson here for employees though is that you should try to resolve matters with your (alleged) employer prior to bringing a case. I know of cases where RBC employees have been given three months additional severance pay because this cost is a lot less than paying a lawyer to represent them at a tribunal hearing.

Going to the tribunal has negative results for an employee - you gain a reputation as a troublemaker and a number of application forms now ask whether you have ever been a party in a tribunal case (including the States of Jersey) and therefore you will have difficulty getting another job unless you commit fraud and lie. You have to ask yourself is stealing £487.50 worth a life on benefits?

The tribunal has negative results for Jersey - no one is employing unnecessarily, you are likely to find yourself laid off within the first six months and many jobs are being seconded overseas.

Were you in the UK then your local political party would be able to assist you in matters such as these, just one of a number of benefits we in Jersey miss out on because the Civil Service does not want things resolved quietly and cost effectively when they can be wasting tax payer money on not providing the same service.

Reform Day is September 28th, it is time we had a real political party in Jersey.