From the Summit of the Moral High Ground

Boris will be Mayor of London The Telegraph reports "The Conservatives are reeling from a series of political setbacks, many of which have their origins in last month’s controversial Budget, while their coalition partners, the Liberal Democrats, are expected once again to pay a high price for coalition unpopularity.  Labour should be taking full advantage of the Government’s mid-term blues, but despite healthy opinion poll leads, Ken Livingstone looks set to lose to Boris Johnston in London’s mayoral poll - while the party is also under threat from the Scottish nationalists north of the border.  As well as two other mayoral votes (in Liverpool and Salford), 10 cities will be staging referendums on whether to have mayors. Some 5,000 council seats in 180 councils will also be up for grabs on 3 May." Recent elections around the world have shown that there is a deep dissatisfaction with the established parties. In the United States Business Insider Reports ...

Whilst the two 'front-runners' are talking about increasing economic growth, as if that is something that has ever been or will be within the control of Government, some candidates are addressing the key issue affecting the modern world. Namely that by following the rules of subsidiarity and returning power to the lowest competent authority which is the individual wherever possible the greatest gains are to be made and the struggle against those who would seek to consolidate power in the hands of the few. The exit polls: François Hollande 28.4% (PS) Nicolas Sarkozy 25.5% (UMP) Marine le Pen 20% (FN) Jean-Luc Mélenchon 11.7% (Left Front) François Bayrou 8.5% (MoDem) Eva Joly 2% (Green) Nicolas Dupont-Aignan 1.8% (Arise the Republic) Philippe Poutou 1.2% (New Anti-Capitalist) Nathalie Arthaud 0.8% (Workers Struggle) Jacques Cheminade 0.2% (Solidarity and Progress) A second round between the two leading candidates will now proceed on the 6th May. Th...

The Ten Candidates for President of France  On April 21 2012 the French nation will go to the polls to elect their next president and the BBC suggests that for the first time in history Sarkozy may not serve a second term. Fortunately being able to read French I am not dependent on the BBC for my understanding of the race as we have a very much sanitised version of the debate that is taking place presented to us. Just as the BBC have yet to cover Ron Paul, the most influential candidate of all, in their coverage of the US elections the BBC have chosen to concentrate on the main parties. Now I understand that the euphemistically termed 'other-hopefuls' are unlikely to win, they do not have the party machinery behind them to achieve such a success and the media of course is pushing the propoganda that it will be either of the two parties in a self-fulfilling prophecy that we in Jersey are all too aware of. But equally the official candidates of the two main parti...

Jersey is heavily exposed to the bond market according to Senator Ozouf, the paltry 9.17% return on Jersey's fund of funds, which would have been 30%+ had the fund simply bought gold instead, is riding the largest bubble in history — government bonds or sovereign debt. Capital is seeking security in bonds But bonds are not particularly secure One nation after another crashes Jersey's reserves are in that market Jersey has about £1.3 billion which would meet government expenditure for about two years, but this includes the Social Security and employee pension funds. Imagine this scenario: A major government has been forever borrowing from Peter to pay Paul, never lifting a finger to cut its deficits. Suddenly, global investors pull the plug. They dump the government's bonds like a hot potato. They drive bond prices into the gutter and make it impossible for the government to borrow another cent without paying sky-high, budget-busting inte...