'Dump Trump': Tens of thousands join global march

'Dump Trump': Tens of thousands join global march
Demonstrators arrive on the National Mall in Washington, DC, for the 'Women's March on Washington' on January 21, 2017 (AFP Photo/Andrew CABALLERO-REYNOLDS)

March for Science protesters hit the streets worldwide

March for Science protesters hit the streets worldwide
Thousands of people in Australia and New Zealand on Saturday kicked off the March for Science, the first of more than 500 marches around the globe in support of scienceThousands of people in Australia and New Zealand on Saturday kicked off the March for Science, the first of more than 500 marches around the globe in support of science

Bernie Sanders and the Movement Where the People Found Their Voice

"A Summary" – Apr 2, 2011 (Kryon channelled by Lee Carroll) (Subjects: Religion, Shift of Human Consciousness, 2012, Intelligent/Benevolent Design, EU, South America, 5 Currencies, Water Cycle (Heat up, Mini Ice Ace, Oceans, Fish, Earthquakes ..), Middle East, Internet, Israel, Dictators, Palestine, US, Japan (Quake/Tsunami Disasters , People, Society ...), Nuclear Power Revealed, Hydro Power, Geothermal Power, Moon, Financial Institutes (Recession, Realign integrity values ..) , China, North Korea, Global Unity,..... etc.) -

“ … Here is another one. A change in what Human nature will allow for government. "Careful, Kryon, don't talk about politics. You'll get in trouble." I won't get in trouble. I'm going to tell you to watch for leadership that cares about you. "You mean politics is going to change?" It already has. It's beginning. Watch for it. You're going to see a total phase-out of old energy dictatorships eventually. The potential is that you're going to see that before 2013.

They're going to fall over, you know, because the energy of the population will not sustain an old energy leader ..."
"Update on Current Events" – Jul 23, 2011 (Kryon channelled by Lee Carroll) - (Subjects: The Humanization of God, Gaia, Shift of Human Consciousness, 2012, Benevolent Design, Financial Institutes (Recession, System to Change ...), Water Cycle (Heat up, Mini Ice Ace, Oceans, Fish, Earthquakes ..), Nuclear Power Revealed, Geothermal Power, Hydro Power, Drinking Water from Seawater, No need for Oil as Much, Middle East in Peace, Persia/Iran Uprising, Muhammad, Israel, DNA, Two Dictators to fall soon, Africa, China, (Old) Souls, Species to go, Whales to Humans, Global Unity,..... etc.)
(Subjects: Who/What is Kryon ?, Egypt Uprising, Iran/Persia Uprising, Peace in Middle East without Israel actively involved, Muhammad, "Conceptual" Youth Revolution, "Conceptual" Managed Business, Internet, Social Media, News Media, Google, Bankers, Global Unity,..... etc.)


Hong Kong's grandpa protesters speak softly but carry a stick

Hong Kong's grandpa protesters speak softly but carry a stick
'Grandpa Wong' is a regular sight at Hong Kong's street battles (AFP Photo/VIVEK PRAKASH)
.
A student holds a sign reading "Don't shoot, listen!!!" during a protest
on June 17, 2013 in Brasilia (AFP, Evaristo)

FIFA scandal engulfs Blatter and Platini

FIFA scandal engulfs Blatter and Platini
FIFA President Sepp Blatter (L) shakes hands with UEFA president Michel Platini after being re-elected following a vote in Zurich on May 29, 2015 (AFP Photo/Michael Buholzer)
"The Recalibration of Awareness – Apr 20/21, 2012 (Kryon channeled by Lee Carroll) (Subjects: Old Energy, Recalibration Lectures, God / Creator, Religions/Spiritual systems (Catholic Church, Priests/Nun’s, Worship, John Paul Pope, Women in the Church otherwise church will go, Current Pope won’t do it), Middle East, Jews, Governments will change (Internet, Media, Democracies, Dictators, North Korea, Nations voted at once), Integrity (Businesses, Tobacco Companies, Bankers/ Financial Institutes, Pharmaceutical company to collapse), Illuminati (Started in Greece, with Shipping, Financial markets, Stock markets, Pharmaceutical money (fund to build Africa, to develop)), Shift of Human Consciousness, (Old) Souls, Women, Masters to/already come back, Global Unity.... etc.) - (Text version)

… The Shift in Human Nature

You're starting to see integrity change. Awareness recalibrates integrity, and the Human Being who would sit there and take advantage of another Human Being in an old energy would never do it in a new energy. The reason? It will become intuitive, so this is a shift in Human Nature as well, for in the past you have assumed that people take advantage of people first and integrity comes later. That's just ordinary Human nature.

In the past, Human nature expressed within governments worked like this: If you were stronger than the other one, you simply conquered them. If you were strong, it was an invitation to conquer. If you were weak, it was an invitation to be conquered. No one even thought about it. It was the way of things. The bigger you could have your armies, the better they would do when you sent them out to conquer. That's not how you think today. Did you notice?

Any country that thinks this way today will not survive, for humanity has discovered that the world goes far better by putting things together instead of tearing them apart. The new energy puts the weak and strong together in ways that make sense and that have integrity. Take a look at what happened to some of the businesses in this great land (USA). Up to 30 years ago, when you started realizing some of them didn't have integrity, you eliminated them. What happened to the tobacco companies when you realized they were knowingly addicting your children? Today, they still sell their products to less-aware countries, but that will also change.

What did you do a few years ago when you realized that your bankers were actually selling you homes that they knew you couldn't pay for later? They were walking away, smiling greedily, not thinking about the heartbreak that was to follow when a life's dream would be lost. Dear American, you are in a recession. However, this is like when you prune a tree and cut back the branches. When the tree grows back, you've got control and the branches will grow bigger and stronger than they were before, without the greed factor. Then, if you don't like the way it grows back, you'll prune it again! I tell you this because awareness is now in control of big money. It's right before your eyes, what you're doing. But fear often rules. …

Wall Street's 'Fearless Girl' statue to stay until 2018

Wall Street's 'Fearless Girl' statue to stay until 2018
The " Fearless Girl " statue on Wall Street is seen by many as a defiant symbol of women's rights under the new administration of President Donald Trump (AFP Photo/ TIMOTHY A. CLARY)



“… The Fall of Many - Seen It Yet?

You are going to see more and more personal secrets being revealed about persons in high places of popularity or government. It will seem like an epidemic of non-integrity! But what is happening is exactly what we have been teaching. The new energy has light that will expose the darkness of things that are not commensurate with integrity. They have always been there, and they were kept from being seen by many who keep secrets in the dark. Seen the change yet?

In order to get to a more stable future, you will have to go through gyrations of dark and light. What this means is that the dark is going to be revealed and push back at you. It will eventually lose. We told you this. That's what you're here for is to help those around you who don't see an escape from the past. They didn't get their nuclear war, but everything else is going into the dumper anyway. … “

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Saturday, May 2, 2015

Britain’s Scandal-Battered Banks Paralyzed as Election Looms

Jakarta Globe, Stephen Morris,May 01, 2015

This picture shows a general view of a branch of the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS)
 alongside a branch of Clydesdale Bank in Edinburgh, on September 11, 2014.
(AFP Photo/Andy Buchanan)

Whatever the outcome of Britain’s election next week, the outlook for the country’s banks is worsening.

Almost seven years since the industry received the biggest taxpayer bailout in history, public confidence in banks is near an all-time low and lenders’ efforts to boost profit are being frustrated by investigations into alleged currency and interest rate-rigging. Since the coalition government took power in 2010, UK bank stocks have lost 7 percent. Their US counterparts have returned 46 percent.

“You can hardly believe we are now seven years into this crisis, and we’ve still got billions in fines to come and virtually none of the major banks predicting decent returns for at least another three to four years,” said Ed Firth, head of European bank research at Macquarie Group. “If you told us that in 2007, we just wouldn’t have believed it.”

The industry’s prospects look to be getting worse as both major political parties distance themselves from the City, London’s financial district, before the May 7 election. The Bank of England is preparing harsher stress tests this year that may force firms to bolster capital buffers and new rules require expensive firewalls to be created around consumer operations. A levy on banks’ balance sheets has been increased eight times since 2010.

Tarnished bankers

UK taxpayers sunk about 1 trillion pounds ($1.5 trillion) into banks in 2008 and 2009 to prop up the nation’s failing system, and still own 79 percent of money-losing Royal Bank of Scotland Group and a fifth of Lloyds Banking Group. Before the election, the tarnished reputation of the industry has taken another battering with HSBC Holdings embroiled in allegations it aided tax evasion. The Asian-focused lender said last week it may leave London because of rising tax and regulatory costs and Standard Chartered may join them.

The banks remain unloved by the taxpayers who saved them: 68 percent of Britons said it would be good or would make no difference if lots of bankers left the country, according to a survey by polling company YouGov in November. Seventy-three percent want to see bankers’ bonuses capped.

The UK’s four largest banks face 19 billion pounds more in misconduct charges in the two years through 2016, according to Standard & Poor’s. In the five years to 2014, about 7.5 percent of their revenue, or 42 billion pounds, was swallowed by charges for wrongdoing.

Earnings decline

This week’s earnings reports show how the past continues to haunt the banks. Barclays set aside almost 1 billion pounds and RBS another 434 million pounds to settle allegations they rigged currency benchmarks and for selling consumers payment- protection insurance they didn’t need or that didn’t cover them. Meanwhile, Standard Chartered’s first-quarter pretax profit fell 22 percent, with all but one division reporting lower earnings. Lloyds reports on Friday and HSBC next week.

“Conduct and litigation charges are now a way of life for the U.K. banking industry,” said Nigel Greenwood, a credit analyst at S&P. “Some form of charge seems probable every year for the larger banks.”

Britain’s Labor Party is seeking to capitalize on bankers’ enduring bad reputation by pledging a new tax on bonuses to pay for a youth employment program and to increase the levy on banks’ balance sheets. The industry scarcely fared better in George Osborne’s March budget, which boosted the bank levy and barred them from deducting customer compensation from taxable profit, costing the industry 5.3 billion pounds over five years.

Shrinking industry

The UK is introducing some of the world’s toughest rules on financial conduct, including jailing senior bankers for “reckless misconduct” that contributes to a firm’s collapse, as it attempts to focus accountability on individuals, a source of public anger.

The industry is smaller and less profitable than before the crisis. Together, the banks have eliminated 193,828 jobs and cut 1.82 trillion pounds of assets since 2008, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The leadership at all five banks has changed since the crisis, twice at RBS.

“The regulations continue to change, capital requirements continue to go up and conduct charges continue. There’s no sign of the end,” said Stephen Carter, co-head of financial institutions for Europe, Middle East and Africa at Credit Suisse Group, who advised the UK government on the bailout in 2008. “If the level of capital that’s being held in the banking sector is roughly double what it was pre-crisis, by definition the returns have gone down.”

Profit declines

None of the major British lenders were able to make a return-on-equity of more than 8 percent in 2014, the data show. The average ROE was 17.7 percent in 2007.

After profitability at Barclays, Standard Chartered and HSBC declined in 2014, the three reduced their ROE targets, citing increased regulation, greater capital requirements and high funding costs.

Lloyds and HSBC are the only major UK banks trading above its book value, indicating investors see the other three as worth less than they would receive if the company failed and liquidated its assets.

UK banks’ “problems were deeper than the market realized, most expectations were for a five-year job, but here we are seven years and counting,” said Chris White, who helps oversee about 3.2 billion pounds at Premier Asset Management in Guildford, England. “Banks couldn’t write off everything on day one as their balance sheets wouldn’t have survived, so they’ve stretched out liabilities over a period of time, yet still there’s more work to be done.”

CEOs replaced

Investors have pressured bank boards to replace top executives as the share prices suffered. RBS has fallen 14 percent this year, almost completely erasing its gains in 2014. Standard Chartered plummeted 29 percent last year, followed by a 10 percent drop at Barclays.

Standard Chartered replaced Chief Executive Officer Peter Sands, 53, with former JPMorgan Chase & Co. banker Bill Winters, also 53, and overhauled its board, as it tries to reverse two years of falling profits. It may still need to issue shares to bolster capital, analysts say, and the bank is monitored by the US after breaching a ban on transactions in Iran.

The Asia-focused lender is just the latest to change bosses. RBS has had two new CEOs since 2007, with retail banker Ross McEwan, 57, now in charge. Barclays also picked a consumer banker, Oxford-educated Antony Jenkins, to take over from Robert Diamond in August 2012 after the Libor-rigging scandal.

RBS’s outlook

RBS was meant to have returned to private ownership by last October, according to transcripts of meetings of the Bank of England policy makers that arranged the lender’s bailout. RBS Chairman Philip Hampton, 61, similarly predicted in May 2013 the government would be able to start reducing its stake in 2014.

Instead, the lender, recipient of a 45.5 billion-pound rescue, had its seventh straight annual loss in 2014. In March, it finally gave up its ambitions to be a global bank, and may cut as many as 14,000 investment-banking jobs to refocus on the UK consumer market, according to a person with knowledge of the matter. It had another loss in the first quarter, and the stock still trades below the government’s break-even price, where taxpayers would at least get their money back.

Lloyds progresses

Lloyds, Britain’s biggest mortgage lender, comes the closest to a success story, returning to profit after five years of losses and planning to resume dividend payments. The turnaround comes with an asterisk: It has paid 12 billion pounds to compensate clients for improperly sold payment protection insurance and is still about 20 percent owned by the government that spent more than 20 billion pounds to save it.

Banks also have to contend with new rules forcing them to separate their consumer banks from riskier trading businesses to protect depositors. The move may make investment banking operations untenable for the industry, according to Bill Michael, head of Europe, Middle East and Africa financial services for KPMG in London.

“The fundamental problem with the entire debate post- crisis is that we’ve been unable to separate our response to protecting depositors and taxpayers from other banking activities and it’s paralyzing for the industry,” Michael said. “The sector is still at an inflexion point and won’t look like anything it does now in three to four years because none of these banks’ models are sustainable.”

Bloomberg

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