Democracy has been sold.
Perhaps there was a time when we believed that the government’s we elected represented us – but who believes that now?
and the current situation goes far beyond the usual collusion between our elected representatives and the financial elites.
In Greece we have an unelected government carrying out a disastrous programme of austerity and neo-liberal policies at the behest of two unelected and unaccountable bodies – the ECB and the hated IMF. Poverty in Greece has risen to new heights under a gruelling recession exacerbated by austerity that has swelled the …

The Haze is unsuprised to learn that our esteemed chancellor – the smirking toff – has been having secret meetings with the heads of the banking establishment to ensure that any reform of the banking sector will be as ineffectual as possible.
This is how democracy works in this country – public outcry is dealt with by a four stage plan.
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1. Step One: Make a lot of noise.
Issue any number of statements containing lots of soundbites – with phrases like ‘tough action’ and ‘root and branch review’ (that’s a favourite!) and ‘radical …

This the latest video from Positive Money – a superb three minute summary of the problem with our money supply and their solution.

Superb summary of the malaise at the heart of US political and economic life - every word applies to the UK also.

The IMF has published it latest ‘health check’ on the state of the Greek economy. There is an almost hilarious irony in this idea – the IMF acting as they always do as the mafia style enforcers for the banking cartels, have their foot firmly on the embattled nations throat – anyone who has ever borrowed money from a loan shark will recognise the scene.
While the IMF does all it can to bully and cower the greek nation into meek acceptance of its economic medicine – it is all too …

In the series “tell us something we don’t know” the blogosphere is alive with the analysis reported in the financial times (login required) – that reveals the true extent of funding provided to the tory party by hedge funds.
It seems that since David Cameron’s arrival – funding from influential city fund managers has increased dramatically, clearly they recognise whose side his party now bats for.
In 2001 donations to the tory party from hedge funds totalled just £20,000 – some might say they had no need of the tories then as …

Almost a winter storm of articles about banking in the guardian today.
here is another one: Is David Cameron’s kid-glove treatment of the City remotely justified, when it neither pays its way nor lends effectively?
Here Aditya Chakrabortty coins the phrase ‘Bankocracy’ to describe 21st century Britain – and what an accurate picture he paints.
In a poorer country, the cosiness of relations between bankers and politicians would be scrutinised by an official from the World Bank and disdainfully pronounced as pure cronyism. In Britain, we need to come up with a new word for …

Lots of articles on banking today…
this one from the Comment is Free section in The Guardian.
You can read the whole article here
But here are some good bits:
Consider the irony: governments today impose austerity on the rest of us because “the markets” demand no less to keep credit flowing to those governments. Behind this dubious abstraction – “the markets” – hide the chief lenders to governments. Those are the same global banks that received the government bailouts paid for by massive government borrowing since 2007. “Thieves,” mutter the Occupy Wall Street …

The media today relays the conclusions of a report from the Financial Services Authority  that explains why RBS had to be bailed out with taxpayers money to the tune of £45 billion back in 2008.
Lord Turner’s report cites six reasons for the bank’s collapse:
• significant weaknesses in RBS’s capital position, as a result of management decisions and permitted by an inadequate global regulatory capital framework
•over-reliance on risky short-term wholesale funding, which was permitted by an inadequate approach to the regulation of liquidity
• concerns and uncertainties about RBS’s underlying asset quality because of little fundamental …

A number of critiques exist for our current monetary system.
Some of the critics have a niche status as small celebrities.
Paul Grignon’s videos – the ‘Money As Debt’  series are well known on the Internet.
Ron Paul, a current Republican U.S. presidential nominee is a well know advocate of monetary reform and wants to abolish the Federal Reserve.
Bill Still is well know for his film – The Money Masters and more recently the Wizard of Oz.
The Positive Money campaign has grown quickly and lots set to grow further.
Perhaps in the current climate of euro-zone …

The Money as Debt series has been a trilogy for a while with the original MAD video being joined by the sequel “Promises Unleashed” and now “Evolution Beyond Money”.
These cartoon style documenatries from Paul Grignon have become iconic starting points for many who think about monetary reform.
You can find the first two videos  here and the newbie can be found on youtube.
Central to the message of the latest video is an evangelism for the introduction of a global system of digital coins, a form of self-issued credit. You can find out more …

Yes – Sodium Haze is back from its sabbatical.
and boy do we have a lot to catch up on.
so without futher delay…

Murdered schoolgirl Milly Dowler had phone hacked

The Haze has been astonished by the thunder rumbling around the media and Westminister in recent days.
Not surprised by the activities of the News of the World, more the targeting of Rupert Murdoch  -this challenges some ‘facts’ of British politcal life that have dominated our democracy for decades:
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(a) No Political party can get elected without the support of the Murdoch tabloids.
(b) No political party or politicians can dare to stand against the Murdoch tabloids. (see above)
(c) News Internmational must not be obstructed when they want certain policy decisions in their favour.
(d) Murdoch must be …

Sodium Haze strongly promotes the simple truth that humans as a single species inhabiting one ecosystem – are all communards – or as we call ourselves – humanards.
We share sn ecosystem with all the plants and animals that form part of the incredible diversity on planet earth.
These are  simple unarguable truths – if we lived from this expanded consciousness, many of our crisis would diminish or even dissapear.
Of course – most humans don’t see themselves this way, preferring the traps of narcissm and more narrow self interest – and the earth is just seen as an endless …

Its about time we posted this here.
Its the film that has electrified the anti-austerity protests in Greece – ‘debtocracy’.
Debtocracy is a 2011 documentary film by Katerina Kitidi and Aris Hatzistefanou. The documentary mainly focuses on two points: the causes of the Greek debt crisis in 2010 and possible future solutions that could be given to the problem that are not currently being considered by the government of the country.
the Haze would welcome some input from our Greek readers – we know you visit here – so speak up!
There …

Huge crowds attended a ceremony to raise the flag of the new South Sudanese nation today.
After decades of civil war within Sudan the partition represents the best hopes for peace for several generations in this deeply troubled state.
So what are the prospects for the newest nation on earth?
Perhaps the most realistic thing we could say is ‘mixed’.
In this interestung article for the Oxford Student – Sam Richardson spells out some of the problems afflicting the new South Sudanese administration.
Southern Sudan has one of the worst humanitarian standards on the planet. One in ten …

This phone hacking thing IS important – immoral and criminal activities have been exposed in a major UK media organisation and the political landscape of the UK has changed as the Murdoch empire has lost its grip on the politcal class of this country…
…and much more important things are happening all around the world that don’t involve the media’s obsession with itself and the tabloid drama of the UK westminister village. Here are just 10 examples.

1. DEC East Africa Crisis Appeal – [DEC UK]

LEADING UK humanitarian agencies are launching …

The Haze is no fan of David Cameron and his Conservative Party – their ‘Big Society’ nonsense is an absolute affront to everything we stand for @ Sodium Haze – its just a PR scam to hide attacks on democracy.
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So the idea that Cameron has been mortally wounded by this scandal with his chums at News International is rather appealing to The Haze and doubtless many of our readers – but is it a realistic prospect?
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Peter Oborne in the Telegraph was quick to start wrting his obituary yesterday – even before the …

So the announcement has been made – this Sunday’s edition of the News Of The World will be the last. Hurrah!
The Haze reagrds the demise of the NOTW as good riddance to bad rubbish.
But what happens now?
Commenting on our headline story yesterday Peter wisely pointed out:
I agree and could not be more then [sic] delighted at the NOTW going under but I have a feeling that News International will just publish a Sunday version of the Sun. Also, they have managed to shift all the blame away from the top players …

The Haze was glad to learn about Zero Credit.
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Zero-Credit is a co-operative, promoting consumer rights for borrowers.
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Although Zero Credit is working with the status quo and is not involved directly in the Monetary Reform movement – we found their determination to have a voice as consumers of credit to be a very refreshing step in the right direction.
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Here is their charter:

Zero-credit is a co-operative, promoting consumer rights for borrowers. Who do we mean when we say borrowers? Ordinary people, who have used or are using a credit card, loan, …