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Generational Dynamics Web Log for 1-Sep-2012
1-Sep-12 World View -- Putin’s spokesman criticizes Romney for toughness on Russia

Web Log - September, 2012

1-Sep-12 World View -- Putin’s spokesman criticizes Romney for toughness on Russia

Money continues to flood out of Spain

This morning's key headlines from GenerationalDynamics.com

World food prices jump another 10% in July
Putin’s spokesman criticizes Romney for toughness on Russia
Money continues to flood out of Spain

World food prices jump another 10% in July

A pair of sheep attempt to graze on a parched pasture as a severe drought takes its toll in Koritna, eastern Croatia, on August 21 (Reuters)

A pair of sheep attempt to graze on a parched pasture as a severe drought takes its toll in Koritna, eastern Croatia, on August 21 (Reuters)

After a big jump in food prices in June, food prices soared by an additional 10% in July, with maize and soybean reaching all-time peaks due to an unprecedented summer of droughts and high temperatures in both the United States and Eastern Europe, From June to July, maize and wheat rose by 25 percent each, soybeans by 17 percent, and only rice went down, by 4 percent. Overall, world food prices rose 6% since July of last year.

Food price increases were not uniform around the world. Black Africa (Sub-Saharan Africa), in particular, experienced the highest price increases in maize, including 113 percent in some markets in Mozambique. Meanwhile, the Sahel and eastern Africa regions experienced steep price increases of sorghum: 220 percent in South Sudan, and 180 percent in Sudan, for instance. World Bank

Putin’s spokesman criticizes Romney for toughness on Russia

Last week, China condemned Mitt Romney's 'Cold War mentality.' Now it's Russia, criticizing this sentence in Romney's speech: "Under my administration our friends will see more loyalty and Mr. Putin will see a little less flexibility and more backbone." Romney's statement reflects the increased nationalism among the people of the United States, just as nationalism is also increasing in China, Russia and other countries in a generational Crisis era. The spokesman for Russian President Vladimir Putin responded as follows:

"During official meetings, both Moscow and Washington have on different levels expressed their understanding that it is inadmissible for the bilateral ties to fall victim to pre-election debates.
As the Russian president has said many times, Russia is interested and will continue to be interested in developing U.S.-Russian relations."

Russia's response was far less harsh than China's. This reflects the differences in relationships between the three parties. To state it as starkly as possible for clarity, the Russians and the Chinese hate each other, the Americans and the Chinese hate each other, but Americans and Russians LIKE each other. Please excuse this exaggeration, but this statement reflects the reason why Russia and America will be allies in the coming Clash of Civilizations world war. Ria Novosti (Moscow)

Money continues to flood out of Spain

Capital outflows from Spain (WSJ)

Capital outflows from Spain (WSJ)

Spain's bond yields (interest rates) had fallen from a panic-level 7.5% down close to 6%, as a result of statements by the ECB recently that gave investors hope that the ECB would flood the markets with "printed money" liquidity again. Nonetheless, money is pouring out of Spain as people transfer their money to foreign banks and safer havens, including U.S. Treasuries, and so bond yields are rising again, reaching 6.89% on Friday. Anything above 6% is considered unsustainable, and anything above 7% is considered full scale panic. And "panic" may be the right word, as net capital outflows reached 56.6 billion euros in June, and 219.8 euros in the first half of the year.

Of Spain's 17 autonomous regions, three of them -- Catalonia, Valencia and Murcia -- this week requested bailout money to keep them from going bankrupt. Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy had set aside 18 billion euros as bailout funds for all 17 regions, but these three need more than half of the fund, indicating that the fund is too small.

If you listen to CNBC these days, you'll notice that all they talk about is quantitative easing or other forms of injecting "printed money" liquidity into the banking system. It used to be that they would talk about this money going to stimulate economic growth, but there's been a change in tone, and they don't talk about economic growth any more, except to say that it's a few years off. There's no longer any pretense. They want more liquidity injection because that money will flow into the stock market, and their bankster friends will continue to justify their 7-digit salaries and bonuses. I don't even hear much about hyperinflation any more, as more analysts are resigned to the deflationary spiral that Generational Dynamics predicted almost ten years ago. Bloomberg and WSJ

(Comments: For reader comments, questions and discussion, see the 1-Sep-12 World View -- Putin’s spokesman criticizes Romney for toughness on Russia thread of the Generational Dynamics forum. Comments may be posted anonymously.) (1-Sep-2012) Permanent Link
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Generational Dynamics Web Log for 1-Sep-2012 1-Sep-12 World View -- Putin’s spokesman criticizes Romney for toughness on Russia

World food prices jump another 10% in July

Putin’s spokesman criticizes Romney for toughness on Russia

Money continues to flood out of Spain

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Generational Dynamics Web Log for 1-Sep-2012
1-Sep-12 World View -- Putin’s spokesman criticizes Romney for toughness on Russia