Tender for Second Fixed Line Operator in Serbia
October 16, 2009
Belgrade | 16 October 2009 | Bojana Barlovac
Daily Blic reports that Deutche Telecom, which has a trackrecord of buying into Balkan operators, will not take part in the tender since the company is interested in purchasing Serbia’s only current fixed-line operator Telekom Srbija.
Telenor and SBB have expressed an interested in the second fixed-line operator and have been negotiating with Serbian government representatives thereon for some time, Blic has learned.
Telecommunications and Information Society Minister Jasna Matic said earlier that several companies will participate in the tender for the second fixed-line licence. She added that the competition would lead to the “expeditious improvement” of the market.
The minister refused to comment on the state’s negotiations with potential operators, but expressed her belief that Telenor will take part in the tender.
She added that the nature of the license would be defined in the tendering process.
It remains unknown how much money the deal will garner.
microsoft and yahoo against google
July 29, 2009
reuters picture
By Alexei Oreskovic and Bill Rigby
SAN FRANCISCO/SEATTLE (Reuters) – Microsoft Corp and Yahoo Inc inked a 10-year Web search deal to challenge market leader Google Inc but stopped short of combining their display advertising businesses.
The long-expected deal effectively means Microsoft’s new Bing search engine will be combined with Yahoo’s experience attracting advertisers to pose the first serious threat to Google, if the companies get regulatory approval and can make the partnership work.
Yahoo shares fell 11 percent as some investors were disappointed by the limited scope of the deal, which did not include upfront payments for Yahoo, which could have been $1.5 billion or more, according to a Sanford Bernstein research report last week.
“Microsoft will be able to report a greater share in terms of search… And Yahoo doesn’t have to spend any more money on search,” said Barry Diller, chief executive of IAC/InterActiveCorp, which owns rival search engine Ask.com.
Shares of Microsoft were flat, while Google shares fell 1.2 percent.
Microsoft and Yahoo still face antitrust and privacy issues and likely opposition from Google, which dropped its plans for an advertising partnership with Yahoo last year under pressure from the U.S. Justice Department.
The companies said they expect the deal to be “closely reviewed” by regulators, but were “hopeful” it can close in early 2010.
Google said on Wednesday only that it was “interested” in the Microsoft/Yahoo partnership, while the chairman of the U.S. Senate antitrust panel said the deal warrants “careful scrutiny.”
The deal culminates a lengthy, and at times contentious, dance between the two companies. They have been in on-and-off-again talks on a search partnership since Yahoo rebuffed Microsoft’s $47.5 billion takeover bid last year.
Microsoft Chief Executive Steve Ballmer clashed last year with former Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang, who was strongly opposed to an all-out acquisition. Relations between the two companies improved under new Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz, who took the reins in January and started to shake up Yahoo’s top management.
Ballmer and Bartz met “three or four times” over the past six months as they hammered out a deal, according to Ballmer.
HOW THE DEAL WORKS
Under the deal announced on Wednesday, Microsoft’s Bing search engine will power search queries on Yahoo’s sites. Yahoo’s sales force will be responsible for selling premium advertising based on search terms for both companies.
Microsoft’s AdCenter technology will serve the standard sponsored links that appear alongside search results.
While Yahoo CEO Bartz had previously said that any deal would require a partner with “boatloads of money,” she said on Wednesday that the agreement provided “boatloads of value”, saying the revenue share agreement in the Microsoft deal was more valuable to Yahoo than a one-time payment. Continued…
reuters.com
Defence Daily Industry
June 6, 2009
General Dynamics Acquires Axsys for $643M
04-Jun-2009 20:37 EDT
Related Stories: Americas – USA, General Dynamics, Mergers & Acquisitions, Other Corporation, Sensors & Guidance
General Dynamics has agreed to pay $643 million to acquire Axsys Technologies, the world’s leading diamond turning optical manufacturer and a supplier of electro-optical and infrared (EO/IR) sensors and stabilized cameras to the U.S. military and homeland security agencies. General Dynamics Advanced Information Systems will pay $54 per share for Axsys’ outstanding common stock.
According to a General Dynamics spokeswoman, Axsys supplies electro-optical cameras, infared sensors, and multi-axis stabilized sensors for the following U.S. military systems:
Continue Reading… »
GM files for bankruptcy, the end of an era
June 2, 2009
DETROIT/WASHINGTON (Reuters) – General Motors Corp filed for bankruptcy on Monday as the Obama administration took the first steps to try to revive a failed icon of American industry by extending unprecedented federal funding and oversight.
The bankruptcy filing was the third-largest in U.S. history and the largest ever in U.S. manufacturing.
The decision to push GM into a fast-track bankruptcy and provide $30 billion of additional taxpayer funds to restructure the automaker is a huge gamble for the Obama administration.
But in a sign of progress in the government’s high-stakes effort, a bankruptcy judge approved the sale of substantially all of U.S. automaker Chrysler’s assets to a group led by Italy’s Fiat SpA.
In the wake of its widely anticipated bankruptcy filing, GM stock — once considered a rock-solid blue chip — was being removed from the Dow Jones industrial average and delisted by the New York Stock Exchange.
“This is proof that GM has failed,” said automotive historian Bob Elton. “They have been failing for years but have covered it up. Now they’ve come to the end of the line.”
Chrysler’s bankruptcy, also financed by the U.S. Treasury, has been widely seen as a test run for the much bigger and more complex reorganization of GM.
President Barack Obama said on Monday he was confident GM could emerge quickly from bankruptcy, saying the government had been thrust into a reluctant position as controlling shareholder.
“Our goal is to get GM back on its feet, take a hands off approach and get out quickly,” Obama said.
The administration’s ambitious plan for GM is for a quick sale process that would allow a much smaller company to emerge from court protection in as little as 60-90 days.
In bankruptcy, GM will be divided in two: a leaner “New GM” and “Old GM” — which will include excess plants and equipment that will eventually be liquidated under court protection.
GM said in a legal filing on Monday that the transaction to create the reorganized company would have to be quick to keep the automaker from losing its best chance to restructure.
“The vicious cycle of frozen credit markets, growing supplier uncertainty and lack of consumer confidence has the potential to unravel the automotive industry and short-circuit the creation of New GM,” Chief Executive Fritz Henderson said in a court filing.
On the first day in bankruptcy court, lawyers for GM said they would ask Judge Robert Gerber to approve its proposed sale of its strongest assets in just 30 days.
GM said Judge Gerber granted approval for it to access a new $33.3 billion debtor-in-possession (DIP) financing facility from the U.S. Treasury and the Canadian and Ontario governments.
The judge authorized the automaker to use up to $15 billion of the facility on an interim basis pending a final order approving the full facility, GM said.
“This credit facility will be used, among other things, for the company’s normal liquidity requirements, including employee wages, healthcare benefits, supplier payments, and other operating expenses,” GM said in a statement.
GM also said the court approved sale procedures on an interim basis and set a hearing for June 30 for the proposed sale of assets.
GOVERNMENT LIFELINE
Since the start of the year, GM has been kept alive by U.S. government funding as a White House-appointed task force vetted plans for a sweeping reorganization that will be undertaken with $50 billion in federal financing.
By taking a 60 percent stake in a reorganized GM, the Obama administration is betting the automaker can compete with the likes of Toyota Motor after its debt is cut by half and its labor costs are slashed.
GM plans to close or idle 14 U.S. plants and warehouse operations. The closings, which hit facilities from Michigan to Massachusetts, will cut between 18,000 and 20,000 GM workers in the United States.
In addition, GM said it would cut almost 8,000 white-collar jobs, with cuts among its senior executives.
GM had faced criticism under former CEO Rick Wagoner for not moving fast enough to overhaul a line-up tipped heavily toward pickup trucks and SUVs. Wagoner was ousted by the Obama administration at the end of March.
“The GM that many of you knew, the GM that let too many of you down, is history,” said Henderson at a news conference in New York.
“Today marks the beginning of what will be a new company, a new GM dedicated to building the very best cars and trucks, highly fuel-efficient, world-class quality, green technology development,” he said.
The United Auto Workers union would have a 17.5 percent stake in the New GM. The Canadian government would own 12 percent. GM bondholders would receive 10 percent.
Kent Kresa, who became GM chairman at the end of March, said he was already interviewing candidates to be directors for the new board at GM and was in contact with Steve Rattner, who heads the White House’s autos task force, as part of that process.
KEEP IT OUT OF LIQUIDATION
Officials involved in the planning for GM said the White House had to act to prevent a liquidation that analysts say would have cost tens of thousands of jobs at a time when the economy is mired in recession.
GM alone employs 92,000 in the United States and is indirectly responsible for 500,000 retirees.
Officials said there was no plan to provide any further funding for GM and insisted all the Detroit Three could survive. Ford Motor Co has not sought emergency federal aid.
In the case of GM, the goal of restructuring is to allow it to return to break-even if U.S. industrywide auto sales recover even slightly to near 10 million units annually. Until now, to stop losing money, GM had counted on a recovery to the 16 million mark the industry last saw in 2007.
The automaker’s final descent started with an emergency aid announcement by the administration of President George W. Bush on December 19. Then in late March, the Obama administration gave the company 60 days to restructure.
While New GM is expected to emerge quickly from court protection, its shuttered plants, stranded equipment and other spurned assets would be left to liquidation in bankruptcy.
Al Koch, a managing director at advisory firm AlixPartners LLP, will be appointed chief restructuring officer in charge of liquidating those GM assets.
Founded in 1908, GM rose to dominate the U.S. and global auto industries under the stewardship of pioneering Chief Executive Alfred Sloan, who famously pledged the automaker would deliver “a car for every purse and purpose.”
By the mid-1950s, at the peak of its success, GM had 514,000 employees. It accounted for about half of U.S. car production and its sales were twice as large as the No.2 corporation, Standard Oil.
Since the 1960s, GM has struggled to come to grips with the gains by overseas rivals led by Toyota and the popularity of their more fuel-efficient small cars.
A relative upstart, Toyota did not even begin making cars until two years after GM had become the global sales leader in 1931. In a changing of the guard, Toyota eclipsed GM as the top automaker by worldwide vehicle sales last year.
GM has operated a joint-venture plant with Toyota since 1983 in California. GM executives said on Monday the automaker was reviewing its continued participation in the plant.
The Fremont, California-based NUMMI plant makes Tacoma pickups and Corolla sedans for Toyota. For GM, the plant makes the Pontiac Vibe. GM is dropping Pontiac along with its Hummer, Saturn and Saab brands.
In Shanghai, Kevin Wale, president of GM China Group, said an announcement on the sale of Hummer was imminent.
GM’s stock fell to a low of 48 cents on Monday, a level last seen during the Great Depression.
The bankruptcy case is In re: General Motors Corp, U.S. Bankruptcy Court, Southern District of New York, No. 09-50026.
(Additional reporting by David Bailey, Soyoung Kim, David Lawder, John Crawley, Leah Schnurr, Poornima Gupta, Walden Siew, Tom Hals and Ajay Kamalakaran; Editing by Gary Hill & Ian Geoghegan)
associated press/yahoo news
VT Group will look to US and UK for acquisitions
May 16, 2009
VT Group is preparing to seek acquisitions targets in the US and UK engineering services sectors between late 2009 and 2010 with a war chest of up to GBP400 million (USD607 million) as the divestment of its 45 per cent stake in BVT Surface Fleet draws near.
The previously announced sale of the stake in the naval shipbuilding joint venture (created in mid-2008 with partner BAE Systems) will mark the end of VT Group’s involvement in naval construction, while yielding a minimum gross windfall of GBP380 million.
The Group – which will then concentrate solely on support services – reiterated that it is looking towards acquisition targets in the United States or United Kingdom; operating within the engineering services domain; with a predicted timescale of late 2009 to mid-2010.
“We believe this [period] is a good window for a cash rich business to look for acquisitions,” VT’s chief executive Paul Lester said on 13 May.
janes.com
Fiat in talks over GM Europe move
May 4, 2009
There are concerns about job implications if Vauxhall was sold
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Italian carmaker Fiat has begun efforts to win support for its plan to take over General Motors’ European business, which includes Vauxhall and Opel.
After meeting Fiat’s chief executive, Germany’s economy minister said the Italians wanted to take over Opel, but without running up any debt.
Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg also said Fiat had pledged to keep the three main German factories if its bid went ahead.
GM is under pressure to sell its European interests as it restructures.
GM Europe confirmed that it was in talks with “several possible investors” some of who showed “good and realistic interest”.
Saab is also part of GM Europe, but may not be part of any discussions as it is being reorganised under Swedish law.
Fiat is already trying to take over some of Chrysler, the US carmaker that has applied for bankruptcy protection.
‘Consolidation needed’
Mr zu Guttenberg said, after meeting Fiat Group chief executive Sergio Marchionne, that any deal would need short-term financing across Europe by the Italian carmaker of about 5-7bn euros ($6.6-9.3bn; £4.45-6.24bn).
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FIAT
 Europe’s sixth-largest carmaker by unit sales
Group sales of 59.4bn euros (£53.9bn; $78.8bn) in 2008
Based in Turin, north-west Italy
Employs about 200,000 people
Brands include Fiat, Lancia, Alfa Romeo, Ferrari, Maserati and Iveco
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The economy minister described Fiat’s plans for Opel – which he said called for “a certain need for consolidation” – as “interesting”, but said the German government would need to take time before reaching any conclusions.
Mr Marchionne is also to hold talks with the head of the Opel works council to assess the viability of a deal.
But German union official Armin Schild, who sits on Opel’s supervisory board, was sceptical about whether Fiat would be an effective investor.
“I can’t say if Mr Marchionne is able to save Opel, but I know that Opel and Fiat are direct competitors, producing the same types of cars for the same market, so the merger of both companies could offer little to each other and take away a lot,” he said.
Job risk?
Opel employs nearly 26,000 in Germany, while Vauxhall employs about 5,000 people in the UK.
And the UK’s Unite union said it opposed Vauxhall being taken over by Fiat – claiming it would be an “unmitigated disaster” that would cost jobs.
Professor Garel Rhys from the Cardiff Business School agreed that British jobs could be lost if the deal went ahead.
“General Motors has indicated they have three plants too many and those three plants too many are actually in Germany, or run by the Germans”, he said.
“It could be that Fiat, knowing that the company is too big, would balk at taking on the Germans and might look for the softer option of closing a plant in the UK.”
GM faces potential bankruptcy in the US and has until 1 June to restructure.
Opel has said it needs 3.3bn euros (£2.9bn; $4.3bn) to get through the economic crisis, but the German government has encouraged it to find an investor.
It has said it does not intend offering Opel a bail-out, but that it would offer investors state support.
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GM EUROPE
 Sales of $34.4bn in 2008 (£23bn; 25.9bn euros)
Operates 10 plants in seven countries
Employs about 54,500 people
Brands include Vauxhall, Opel and Saab
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Mr de Montezemolo told Italy’s Corriere della Sera newspaper on Sunday that a Fiat takeover of Opel would create “a very strong group”
However Canadian car parts maker Magna International has also put forward what the German government has called a “rough concept for a commitment with Opel”.
There has been some doubt about whether Fiat could cope with such growth.
“They’re going to be a global powerhouse, I guess. Who would have thought?” said Erich Merkle, an independent auto industry analyst in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
“It’ll make them a very large automaker, but we’ve seen that large isn’t necessarily indicative of success.”
Five years ago, GM paid $2bn to avoid having to take up an option to buy Fiat’s carmaking business.
GM challenge
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 Fiat are going to be a global powerhouse, I guess. Who would have thought?  Erich Merkle, car industry analyst
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Last week GM said it was to cut 21,000 US jobs in 2009 and phase out its Pontiac brand, as it aims to meet the deadline set by the US government to overhaul its business and show that it is viable.
It has said a number of potential buyers had expressed interest in its Saturn brand in the US, and that it was proceeding to the next step in selling it.
Like US rivals Ford and Chrysler, GM has seen sales fall sharply in its core home market in recent years, a decline that has intensified as the recession has continued.
bbc.co.uk
April 24th, 2009 Five to watch in the Business of Green
April 30, 2009
With government money flowing and traditional industries fading, 2009 is set to be a watershed year for green business. Reuters News and Venture Capital Journal have selected five decisionmakers who will help to decide the course of technology, energy usage and climate change in the years to come.
Vinod Khosla
Founder, Khosla Ventures
Khosla grew up dreaming of being an entrepreneur, despite spending his childhood up in an Indian Army household with no business or technology connections. He eventually became a founder of Sun Microsystems and then joined legendary venture capital firm Kleiner, Perkins, Caufield & Byers.
In 2004, Khosla, driven by the need for flexibility to accommodate four teenage children and a desire to be more experimental, formed Khosla Ventures, funded entirely with family funds. His goals remain the same – work and learn from fun and knowledgeable entrepreneurs, build impactful companies through the leverage of innovation, and spend time as a partnership making a difference. He has made investments in companies working on waste water and water desalinization, solar, geothermal and cellulosic ethanol.
More:
- IPO VIEW-Green tech cos waiting for market to open up
- Venture capital looks to new sources of biofuels
- Khosla looking for clean energy “black swans”
Dan Reicher
Director of climate change and energy initiatives at Google.org
Reicher wants to conquer the Valley of Death — the seemingly insurmountable funding gap for unproven green technologies. The former Clinton administration Energy Department official is putting Google’s philanthropic funds behind a range of possible breakthroughs, including $10 million for geothermal, but also solar thermal and high-altitude wind power. Two early recipients of Google.org’s largesse were geothermal firms AltaRock Energy and Potter Drilling Inc.
More recently, Reicher has promoted Google’s free software that lets consumers track home electricity use and improve energy efficiency.
More:
- Google looking to invest in energy sector
- Lack of new power lines threatens renewable growth
- Investors take on green energy’s “Valley of Death”
Jennifer Fonstad
Managing Director, Draper Fisher Jurvetson
Fonstad’s interests span a broad set of technology and life sciences companies, including cleantech. One of the investments that helped make her #89 on the Forbes Midas List is GreenFuel Technologies, which takes carbon dioxide produced by power plants and feeds it to algae, which are then converted into biofuel. Before becoming a champion of a particular entrepreneur, Fonstad considers a number of factors in evaluating a potential investment opportunity, such as whether the company has a strong technical team with clear breakout capability, experience and a real passion for re-inventing the world.
“This means we are making bets on people first and foremost and we are making bets on our judgment about market spaces that are emerging,” she says. Forbes notes that she “once escaped kidnappers while working in Russia by jumping out of a moving car; and closed a deal while in labor with her first child.”
More:
Lyndon Rive
CEO, Solar City
Solar City was dubbed “the Swiss arms dealer” of solar installation by VentureBeat, although “Swiss army knife” might be more like it. The company sells, leases, installs and maintains solar panels for residences and small businesses, with a sideline in energy efficiency consulting. The idea is to convince geographic clusters of homes and businesses to go solar, and then reap cost savings from economies of scale.
The company’s venture background is impeccable: Rive sold an earlier software company to Dell, and Solar City is backed by Elon Musk of PayPal fame, who happens to be Rive’s cousin. And if the switch away from fossil fuels fails, and the polar ice caps melt, Rive has a hedge — he’s a member of the U.S. Underwater Hockey team.
More:
Matt Kistler
Wal-Mart senior vice president for sustainability
The world’s largest retailer may not have the greenest of corporate images, but its sheer size ensures that its initiatives will have an outsize impact on the global economy. Matt Kistler is the public face of Wal-Mart’s sustainability efforts, from curbing plastic bag use — aimed at cutting plastic bag waste by a third by 2013, equal to 9 billion bags a year — to reaching new fuel efficiency targets for its massive truck fleet.
The efforts of Wal-Mart and Kistler, a former marketer, are not only aimed at burnishing its corporate image and trimming costs, but also to cater to green-conscious consumers, as with its private label coffee brand, certified by Fair Trade.
More:
reuters blogs
Austal stays optimistic as US confirms commitment to LCS
April 27, 2009
Australian shipbuilder Austal has expressed confidence in winning further contracts to produce Littoral Combat Ships (LCS) for the US Navy (USN), following a recommendation earlier this month that re-emphasised Washington’s commitment to procure 55 of the vessels.
On 6 April US Secretary of Defense Robert Gates revealed details of the Pentagon’s USD533.7 billion budget request for Fiscal Year 2010 (FY10). Although the plan called for major cuts in several programmes, he reiterated the USN’s intention to acquire the LCS by calling the platform a “key capability for presence, stability and counter-insurgency operations”.
Gates also stated that the LCS programme’s FY10 funding will accelerate from two to three ships.
A spokesman from Austal – which, with US partner General Dynamics, is currently completing the USN’s second LCS, named Independence – indicated that the Perth-based company watched the US budget developments closely.
“A lot has been said about Austal and the LCS project,” he said, “and we are aware of the potential in the programme. There will be no major change in our strategy or direction but we are reasonably confident.”
http://www.janes.com/news/defence/jdi/jdi090422_2_n.shtml
Oil Show in Teheran
April 24, 2009
An oil, gas and petrochemical show was staged in Tehran Tuesday. Foreign oil companies were also attending the show.
The 13th International Oil, Gas and Petrochemical Exhibition (held in Tehran in April 2008) covered 10 task forces including consultant engineer groups, spare parts constructors, technical and commercial service provider companies, oil products producers, processing equipments producers, fuel consumption efficiency companies and research and training sector, general contractors, companies active in information technology fields.
Foreign companies from more than 30 countries, including Germany, Britain, France, Russia, Ukraine, China, Spain, Norway, Switzerland, Austria, United Arab Emirates, Belgium, Sweden, Italy, Japan, Poland, South Korea, Romania, Netherlands, Belarus, India, Qatar, Turkey, Bahrain, UK, Japan, Finland, Denmark, Greece, Canada, USA, Saudi Arabia and Hong Kong participated in the exhibition.
A total of 860 domestic companies and 505 foreign companies took part in this exhibition. The Oil Industry Equipment Manufacturers Community with 161 subsidiary companies, Iran Industry Equipment Manufacturers Community with 45 subsidiary companies, and Iran Fuel Efficiency Organization with 55 subsidiary companies were among domestic companies who were present at the event.
International Exhibitions are one of the well recognized instruments for gaining access to the potentials of the Iranian Oil Industry. The benefits gained through the previous Thirteen Tehran International Oil, Gas and Petrochemicals Exhibitions by Iranian and international participants strongly justify supporting this annual event.
The Petroleum industry, apart from its role in the international arena and satisfying a large portion of the world’s oil requirements, also makes great contributions towards providing the nation’s hard currency earnings, enhances national manufacturing and production capabilities, creates local employment opportunities and provides the required funding needed for the government’s local investments and public services. It is worth mentioning that the development of new fields by the Ministry of Petroleum alone directly resulted in the creation of more than 200,000 new jobs, which is unprecedented in other sectors.
The 13th Oil Show attracted over 115,000 specialist visitors from both Iran and neighbouring countries in the region. The 1365 Iranian and International companies present at the exhibition occupied a total surface area of more than 75000 sq m!
A Short History of Money
April 24, 2009
| Written by Elitza Palazov |
| Thursday, 23 April 2009 |
| I have never had a particular interest in details concerning money; so long as I have enough to pay rent and buy food, I’m pretty happy. Like everyone else, I would love to be rich, but I don’t allow financial concerns to control my day-to-day existence. Lately, however, words like “recession” and “world financial crisis” are on everyone’s lips, and it made me stop and wonder, just what is money and where does it come from?
There are various theories on the subject. Some suggest the Phoenicians (located in modern day Lebanon) were the first to use coins, due to their experiences in trading goods. Coins were made of valuable metals such as gold and silver, and were usually stamped with the face of the nation’s current ruler. These coins had actual value, intended to be of similar value to the items for which they were traded. Money was used as a measure of relative worth for traded objects.
Loans, however, date back to the time of Jesus, and many suggest that Jesus preached that if a borrower had not returned what was owed after seven years, the lender should forgive the debt. (I wonder how the bank would respond if I asked that my student loan could be forgiven, given that it’s been more than seven years since I finished school… Jesus sure was a forgiving guy!)
It is an accepted cultural fact that “money goes to money,” and bankers are some of the wealthiest people in the world. Today, financial institutions make money off of a set percentage of interest on loans, but in the past, it was the individual lending the money who determined the interest rate and the type of loan, making rules surrounding loans variable and flexible. Furthermore, the decision of who was allowed a loan was based on the personal judgement of the lender. This feature is actually similar to modern lending practices, whereby bankers are more likely to approve loans for those with large incomes.
By the 1700s, coins were no longer representative of the actual value of the gold or precious metal in them, and bankers began to substitute coins with paper. Instead of carrying gold, people were able to carry pieces of paper with a “virtual” value of the real gold stored back at the bank. Countries and their corresponding monarchs created large deposits of gold and precious metals, and, often in times of war, banks would request that gold be exchanged for paper money.
One of the most important banks in the world is the United States Federal Reserve. It began as a central government bank of the US; however, in 1913 it become privately controlled by some of the world’s richest banking families, including Rothschild, J.P. Morgan, and others. The Federal Reserve has the crucial role of printing, distributing, and controlling American currency within the US and throughout the world. As a privately owned bank and major lender, the Federal Reserve requested that countries pay their loans in gold. By 1944, the US possessed 70% of the world’s gold supply, which led to the creation of the World Bank.
Today, the world market is controlled by Wall Street, and the golden standard is the American dollar. The wealth of the world is in the hands of international bankers, a group, potentially, as small as 125 people. They control who gets money, how much they get, and how long they have to pay it back. Somehow I have a feeling that words like “recession” and “financial crisis” aren’t keeping them up at night. culturemagazine.ca |
