|
| A protester hurls a canister at police during violent clashes in Rome, as thousands of Italians demonstrated against corporate greed, unemployment and the government's austerity measures. Source: AFP |
Thoughts from an Email sent October 1st 2008.
News Headlines in "The Australian"
Headlines Extract - The Australian
David Uren, Economics Correspondent
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
Central banks worldwide struggle to stop the credit crisis from triggering a global downturn. Monday's shock defeat of the US Government's $US700 billion Wall Street bailout sent stock markets into meltdown. In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average suffered its biggest points fall - a 777 point rout that wiped more than $US1 trillion from the value of listed stocks - after a bitterly divided US House of Representatives blocked the emergency bailout.
Click here for further details.
As the day began in Australia, it was still September 30th, Rosh Hashanah 5769, New Year's Day in Israel. Romans 11
Click here to confirm this on a Hebrew Date Converter page.
Click here to see a list of Jewish holidays in the calendar year January - December 2008.
Jewish New Year's Day, Rosh Hashanah, in 2007 had been the start of a seventh or sabbath year for all devout Jews.
2007-2008 AD was in fact the 496th seventh year, counting 1459-1458 BC as the 1st — after Joshua in 1465 BC led them into the land of Israel.
It was a day on which the Lord had spoken of debts being cancelled between brothers and neighbours, no more debtors, no more creditors. Those who during the seven years had sold themselves into service to pay off their debts were now to be allowed to go free, and be richly endowed with gifts for their time served. See Deuteronomy 15
Note that the 50th year, the first year following the 7th Sabbath, was always to be a Jubilee year when the trumpet would be especially blown (see Leviticus 25). It was a "Freedom" year for the agricultural land, and a year when every man would be allowed to reclaim their land title, based on his genealogy through his father.
Interestingly according to
And most interestingly, the six day war in June 1967 when Israel reclaimed all of Jerusalem came in the 70th Jubilee year that followed 3430 years (70 times seven times seven years) of forgiveness from the Lord.
Click here for a list of these 70 Jubilee Years.
1465BC to 1AD = 1465 years. 1AD to 1966AD = 1965 years. 1465+1965 = 3430 years (or 490 sabbaths).
So, in the first instance, we see in 975-974 BC God's chosen king, David revealed.
In the second instance, we see in 1966-1967 AD God's chosen city, Jerusalem revealed. Click here for a live webcam on the Western Wall.
As a side note, it came 49 years after the freeing of Beersheba (and Jerusalem) from the Ottoman Empire, the 69th Jubilee year of 1917-1918,
In the first instance, we see after 40 years in 935-934 BC, his precious son Solomon acknowledged in the nation.
In the second instance, we see after 40 years in 2006-2007 AD, his precious people Israel acknowledged in the United Nations click here.
In the first instance according to
In the second instance, did we see in
Certainly the meeting in Copenhagen in Dec 2009 spoke of the fear, worldwide, of what people see coming upon the earth click here.
Now, here's the email sent 1st October 2008
Hi all
Yep, really enjoying the sense of the Lord's hand over all that's happening at the moment.
I was sharing this morning about meditating on the following scripture.
Note - the "underlined" words link to the original Greek - the "others"
are just fill in words to flesh out the meaning in King James's era :-).
Thus the word "good man" is not in the original Greek - the underlined word "house" refers
to the "house master" -
i.e. "rulers of the darkness of this world" in Ephesians 6.
|
Watch therefore: for you know not what hour your Lord does come |
|
|
But know this, that if the goodman of the house had known in what watch the thief would come he would have watched and would not have permitted his house to be broken up |
|
|
Therefore be you also ready: for in such an hour as you think not the Son of man comes |
|
|
Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his lord has made ruler over his household, to give them meat in due season ? |
|
|
Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he comes shall find so doing |
|
|
Verily I say unto you, That he shall make him ruler over all his goods |
|
|
But and if that evil servant shall say in his heart, My lord delays his coming |
|
|
And shall begin to beat his fellowservants, and to eat and drink with the drunk ones |
|
|
The lord of that servant shall come in a day when he looks not for him, and in an hour that he is not aware of |
|
|
And shall cut him in two and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites: there shall be weeping and grating of teeth. |
Silver is the word in Scripture that is translated as money — it had been generally used for thousands of years because of its inbuilt value.
Interestingly — I think the first in depth mention of a buying / selling transaction using silver in scripture was Abraham spending 400 shekels (about 8kg) to obtain an appropriate burial place for his Sarah: Genesis 23:4
Anyway, this was the section I found really well put about the meeting of the Allied nations at Bretton Woods in 1944 in Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org /wiki/Bretton Woods system#Informal
In the 19th and early 20th centuries gold played a key role in international monetary transactions. The gold standard was used to back currencies; the international value of currency was determined by its fixed relationship to gold; gold was used to settle international accounts. The gold standard maintained fixed exchange rates that were seen as desirable because they reduced the risk of trading with other countries.
Imbalances in international trade were theoretically rectified automatically by the gold standard. A country with a deficit (i.e. the country spending more in imports than it was selling in exports) would have depleted gold reserves and would thus have to reduce its money supply (the paper it was authorizing the banks to trade with). The resulting fall in demand would reduce imports and the lowering of prices (for individuals to stay in business) would boost exports; thus the deficit would be rectified.
Any country experiencing inflation would lose gold (people would change their paper money back to gold to protect themselves from the reducing value of the paper) and therefore would have a decrease in the amount of money (paper) available to spend. This decrease in the amount of money would act to reduce the inflationary pressure.
Supplementing the use of gold in this period was the British pound. Based on the dominant British economy, the pound became a reserve, transaction, and intervention currency. But the pound was not up to the challenge of serving as the primary world currency, given the weakness of the British economy after the Second World War.
The architects of Bretton Woods had conceived of a system wherein exchange rate stability was a prime goal. Yet, in an era of more activist economic policy, governments did not seriously consider permanently fixed rates on the model of the classical gold standard of the nineteenth century. Gold production was not even sufficient to meet the demands of growing international trade and investment. And a sizeable share of the world's known gold reserves were rumoured to be in the Soviet Union, which would later emerge as a Cold War rival to the United States and Western Europe.
The exponential growth in world population was also playing a major role here. In 1800, following 5,800 years of human history according to Scripture, it is estimated that the world population had still only just reached 1 billion people. However, this number had grown to 2 billion in 1927, and, despite the Second World War, accelerated to 2.4 billion at the time of Bretton Woods. Since then, the number went to 3 billion in 1959, 4 billion in 1974, 5 billion in 1986, and 6 billion in 1999. In fact in 2008, the world is rapidly approaching a population of 7 billion people (click here)
The only currency strong enough to meet the rising demands for international liquidity was the U.S. dollar. The strength of the U.S. economy, the fixed relationship of the dollar to gold ($35 an ounce), and the commitment of the U.S. government to convert dollars into gold at that price made the dollar as good as gold. In fact (just as the British pound had done previously), the dollar was even better than gold: it earned interest and it was more flexible than gold.
There is a lot more in the article, but that's the section I particularly enjoyed because of how well it summarized the issues.
Of course, the 1944 agreement which brought in the IMF and the World Bank, then the U.S. grants through the Marshall Plan, led to a sense of real competitive anger at America — being seen to be at the top — and then Israel coming in to being. And it is certainly natural for everyone to be
And so by 1971, the US's gold stock was insufficient to meet the swelling official demand — with this growing shortage of gold America had to devalue the dollar (also rapidly), and thus came off a fixed gold standard — and since then the standard backing of currencies is simply by "fiat" i.e. what governments/business markets in groups, and individually decree — based on their forecast of future incomes. Frequently driven by fear.
Click here for a list by Allianz of currency/stock/bonds owned by each country's residents — America currently showing €35 trillion.
Click here for each country's gross external debt i.e. owed to non-residents — with investment in America click here currently showing $15 trillion.
Click here for each country's foreign exchange reserves — America currently showing $150 billion.
And click here for each country's official gold reserves — with 8133 tonnes, America currently valued at $450 billion.
Currently, about 88% of all currency transactions across the world involve the US dollar click here.
Comment from a friend "Note: The US not only holds the most gold but it represents 75% of their reserves. This means that whilst their dollar may not be backed by gold, they still understand its role as a potential storage of wealth in tough times. So, the US financial system is being hammered but as a country, any run on the gold price will help them (i.e. the federal reserve) to buy out the toxic debt and restabilise things. Look at the UK. Backs to a wall and no gold to play with...ouch."
And another friend's prayerful thought: "I think there are two currencies operating in the world: a) the currency of greed and corruption orchestrated by the world's international monetary system, and b) the currency of God's love revealed in Christ and extending Eternal Life to all who respond in faith to God's Call. I think this second currency operates 'under the radar' a lot of the time even though the world system tries to annex it through the institutionalisation of religion. But the Word of God grows and multiplies — Acts 12:24 — and wherever it grows and multiplies it brings blessing and peace and stability, in a measure, to the nations that do not actively war against it. Those that oppose it struggle massively with social degradation and economic impoverishment. I believe the uncharacteristic blessing that abides on Australia has come about because godly men and women have faithfully preached the Word over the time of our brief history. 'In Him was Life; and the Life was the Light of men. And the Light shineth in the darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not'
Further thoughts: Page 34 of Weekend Australian Oct 11-12, 2008 "China will continue to buy massive amounts of foreign — especially US — treasury bills. This will underline the growing dependence of the world on Chinese — and to an extent also Indian — commitments to resolving any global challenge."
Yes, I suppose their investment in those treasury bills makes them a major player — if not the major player. Except for where the Lord sovereignly plays a hand. :-) Massive game of poker going on at present. Click here for some background on over-the-counter derivatives, published in Weekend Australian on October 18, 2008.
Small extract: Wall Street Journal, January 12, 2010
The US Federal Reserve has purchased more than $1.7 trillion in Treasury and mortgage debt, taking these complex derivatives as collateral for the loans, partnering with the government to rescue companies such as American International Group Inc. and Citigroup Inc.
The Bank of England essentially printed money when it bought swaths of government bonds. The European Central Bank, the Bank of Japan and others took similar steps.
Click here for a report on February 11th, 2010 comparing the surging Australian economy with other economies.
Click here for recent news on the situation in Europe since May 4th 2010 & the IMF's bailout of Greece.
Brief Quote "The Greek bailout means Euro-area nations are indeed their brothers' keepers, which in practice means every country's debt is on every other country's balance sheet."
|
NEW YORK: Protesters have torched cars and smashed up banks in Rome, while clashes involving police on horseback erupted in New York's Times Square on a day of worldwide demonstrations against corporate greed and government cutbacks. Tens of thousands took to the streets of the Italian capital for a march that turned violent, and equal numbers rallied in Madrid and Lisbon. In New York, where thousands protested, more than 70 were arrested yesterday.
The protests — which included rallies in Adelaide, Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney and Wellington and Christchurch in New Zealand — were inspired by the Occupy Wall Street movement in the US and the Indignants in Spain, which are targeting 951 cities in more than 80 countries. It was the biggest show of power yet by a movement born on May 15 when a rally in Madrid's central Puerta del Sol square sparked a worldwide campaign focused on anger over unemployment and corporate greed. "It is very moving that the movement that was born here has extended throughout the world. It was about time for people to rise up," said Carmen Martin, 24, as she marched towards Puerta del Sol.
In Rome, which saw the worst violence of the weekend, the march quickly degenerated into running street battles between groups of hooded protesters and riot police who fired teargas and water jets into the crowd. Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi condemned the "incredible level of violence" at the march, which took place amid a security lockdown. "We've seen the worst of Europe today in Rome," Mayor Gianni Alemanno said. At least 70 people were injured in the clashes and treated by medics, including three who were in a serious condition, Italian news agency ANSA reported.
Backing from Italy's main trade unions and student movements boosted the numbers at the protest in Rome, in contrast to most of the other rallies. The protests received unexpected support from Italian central bank governor Mario Draghi, a former executive at Wall Street giant Goldman Sachs who is set to take over as president of the European Central Bank. "They're angry against the world of finance; I understand them," Mr Draghi said, while expressing regret at the violence.
In the Portuguese capital, where about 50,000 protesters rallied, Mathieu Rego, 25, said: "We are victims of financial speculation and this austerity program is going to ruin us. We have to change this rotten system." Protests were staged throughout Europe in Amsterdam, Athens, Brussels, Geneva, Paris, Sarajevo and Zurich. Thousands also rallied across Canada and in New York, Washington and Miami. More than 10,000 Canadians blew bubbles, strummed guitars and chanted anti-corporate slogans at peaceful protests in cities across the country. In Mexico, Peru and Chile, thousands marched to protest against what they slammed as an unfair financial system and stagnant unemployment.
About 500 people gathered in the heart of Hong Kong's financial district to vent their anger, and in Tokyo a crowd of about 100 demonstrators voiced their fury at the Fukushima nuclear accident.
Scuffles broke out in London, where about 800 people gathered in the financial district by St Paul's Cathedral. Five people were arrested, three for assaulting police officers and two for public order offences, Scotland Yard said. Three lines of police, and one line at the rear on horseback, blocked protesters from heading to the London Stock Exchange and pushed back against lead marchers, some wearing masks. "One of the reasons why we support what is happening here in Occupy London is because the banking system in London is the recipient of corrupt money," Australian WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange said from the steps of St Paul's, flanked by bodyguards.
The European Union also became a target for anger as the eurozone debt crisis continues, with about 9000 protesters marching to the EU's headquarters in Brussels and rallying outside the ECB's headquarters in Frankfurt. In the US, at least 74 protesters were arrested as thousands marched in New York. Police on horseback clashed with demonstrators in Times Square, and one woman was injured. At least 2000 marched in Washington, while in Miami, a city that rarely hosts mass demonstrations, at least 1000 people marched downtown to vent their anger against corporations, banks and war.
Extract: Fear of new financial crisis grows as European contagion spreads
Weekend Australian
Matthew Stevens
Saturday, November 26, 2011
THE tentacles of Europe's debt crisis are clutching at the heart of the Australian economy with global credit markets frozen in a "Lehman-style way", triggering warnings from the nation's most senior bankers that a new financial crisis is upon us. "This is fundamentally a European problem and the issue is there is a contagion," ANZ chief executive Mike Smith said yesterday. "There is a credit crunch in Europe now, it is spreading to Asia and it will spread here too."
The primary market and the European interbank markets have "basically come to a stage where there is just no movement", he said. "The interbank market in the US is still open but it is very, very short. But the issue really is that it doesn't matter who you are (in the primary market) there is no bid," he said, identifying the failure of the German bond auction as a pivotal demonstration of the timorous state of investor confidence. "If the German government can't raise money, then no one else can," he said. "The problem is that nobody is prepared to invest.
A senior commercial banker said yesterday that, like the 2008 crisis when Lehman Brothers collapsed, "funding markets have frozen again right now in a post-Lehman style". The direction that is being given by the political classes and the regulators to the European banks is that they have to increase their capital. Their response to that has been to deleverage rather than to raise new capital and thus one of the world's key sources of debt and trade finance has quite suddenly run dry of confidence and capital.
The implications of this potentially secular (generational) shift in the European banking system and the credit markets it has traditionally supported could be seismic around the globe and across an extraordinarily diverse front of global commerce and trade. And this time around, China's need to feed its prosperity might not protect Australia from global financial infection.
Luke 14:12-35
Note that in Ephesians 5:28-29, husbands are commanded to love their wives as their own bodies.
|
So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loves his wife loves himself. | |
|
For no man ever yet hated his own flesh; but nourishes and cherishes it, even as the Lord the church: |
There is no contradiction — what we are looking at here is a contrast of preferences — to receive the power "dunamis" to be a disciple / learner, Christ must come first, because Christ first loved / valued us.
Back to Luke 14:27
|
And whosoever does not bear his cross, and come after me, can not be my disciple. |
|
|
For which of you, intending to build a tower, sits not down first, and counts the cost, whether he have sufficient to finish it? |
|
|
Lest, at any time, after he has laid the foundation, and is not able to finish it, all that behold it begin to mock him, |
|
|
Or what king, going to make war against another king, sits not down first, and consults whether he be able with ten thousand to meet him that comes against him with twenty thousand ? |
|
|
Or else, while the other is yet a great way off, he sends an embassy, and desires conditions of peace. |
|
|
So likewise, whosoever he be of you that forsakes not all that he has , he can not be my disciple. |
|
|
Salt is good: but if the salt has lost its savour wherewith shall it be seasoned |
|
|
It is neither fit for the land, nor yet for the manure; but men cast it out. He that has ears to hear let him hear |
Luke 17:26-37
See Job 39:27-30
Also see John 19:16 with its use of the Greek word "paralambano" meaning "take"
II Thessalonians 2:1-8
|
Now we beseech you, brothers (and sisters), regarding the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together to him, |
|
|
That you be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand (i.e. present) |
|
|
Let
no
man
deceive
you
by
any
means:
for
that day shall not come, except
there come
a falling away / forsaking (the separation / divorce of every hero, of all money, of the harlot Babylon, the trading city of |
|
|
Who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sits in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God. |
|
|
Remember you not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things ? |
|
|
And now you know what withholds (holds him fast) that he (i.e. the man of sin) might be revealed (uncovered) in his time. |
|
|
For the mystery of iniquity does already work only that who now lets (holds him fast) will let, until that be taken out of the way. |
|
|
And then shall that Wicked be revealed whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming: |
From:
Stephen Williamson
Sent: Wednesday, April 24, 2013 4:47 PM
Subject: Australia on 23 million yesterday
Hi all
Interesting reading that statistic about Australia's population now 23 million (published and announced everywhere it seems) last night and today :-)
Yesterday afternoon I found myself popping together some 'global growth' averaging since 1900, after reading a statistic at midday on how nearly 11 billion people have been born since 1900.
Pretty big number alright, for those interested, here are the numbers below, broken into two periods 1900-1959 when we hit 3 billion, and 1959-2012 when we hit 7 billion. History has never seen the like.
| 1900-1959 | Births 4.4 billion (Average 35 per 1000 or 74 million each year)
| | Deaths 3.1 billion (Average 25 per 1000 or 52 million each year) | |
Nett growth 1.7 billion in 1900 to 3 billion in 1959
| 1959-2012 | Births 6.5 billion (Average 25 per 1000 or 123 million each year)
| | Deaths 2.5 billion (Average 9.5 per 1000 or 47 million each year) | |
Nett growth 3 billion to 7 billion in 2012
Averages per 1000 are based on a midpoint of 2.3 billion in 1900-1959 and 5 billion in 1959-2012
Lord, you know the hearts (and died for) each one.
Blessings all 
Steve
Stephen Williamson Computing Services Pty Ltd
www.swcs.com.au/aboutus.asp