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It Begins: Desperate Finland Set To Unleash Helicopter Money Drop To All Citizens
With Citi's chief economist proclaiming "only helicopter money can save the world now," and the Bank of England pre-empting paradropping money concerns, it appears that Australia's largest investment bank's forecast that money-drops were 12-18 months away was too conservative.
Over the last few months, in a prime example of currency failure and euro-defenders' narratives, Finland has been sliding deeper into depression. Almost 7 years into the the current global expansion, Finland's GDP is 6pc below its previous peak. As The Telegraph reports, this is a deeper and more protracted slump than the post-Soviet crash of the early 1990s, or the Great Depression of the 1930s. And so, having tried it all, Finnish authorities are preparing to unleash "helicopter money" to save their nation by giving every citizen a tax-free payout of around $900 each month!
Just over two years ago, when the world was deciding who would be Bernanke Fed Chair replacement, Larry Summers or Janet Yellen (how ironic that Larry Summers did not get the nod just because a bunch of progressive economists thought he would not be dovish enough) we wrote about a different problem: with the end of QE3 upcoming and with the inevitable failure of the economy to reignite (again), we warned that there remains one option after (when not if) QE fails to stimulate growth: helicopter money.
While QE may be ending, it certainly does not mean that the Fed is halting its effort to "boost" the economy. In fact... the end of QE may well be simply a redirection, whereby the broken monetary pathway, one which uses banks as intermediaries to stimulate inflation (supposedly a failure according to the economist mainstream), i.e., "second-round effects", is bypassed entirely and replaced with Plan Z, aka "Helicopter Money" mentioned previously as an all too real monetary policy option by none other than Milton Friedman and one Ben Bernanke. This is also known as the nuclear option.
Today Finland needs the nuclear option. As The Telegraph explained, nobody can accuse Finland of being spendthrift, or undisciplined, or technologically backward, or corrupt, or captive of an entrenched oligarchy, the sort of accusations levelled against the Greco-Latins.
The country's public debt is 62pc of GDP, lower than in Germany. Finland has long been held up as the EMU poster child of austerity, grit, and super-flexibility, the one member of the periphery that supposedly did its homework before joining monetary union and could therefore roll with the punches.
Finland tops the EU in the World Economic Forum’s index of global competitiveness. It comes 1st in the entire world for primary schools, higher education and training, innovation, property rights, intellectual property protection, its legal framework and reliability, anti-monopoly policies, university R&D links, availability of latest technologies, as well as scientists and engineers.
Its near-perfect profile demolishes the central claim of the German finance ministry - through its mouthpiece in Brussels - that countries get into bad trouble in EMU only if they drag their feet on reform and spend too much.
The country has obviously been hit by a series of asymmetric shocks: the collapse of its hi-tech champion Nokia, the slump in forestry and commodity prices, and the recession in Russia.
The relevant point is that it cannot now defend itself. Finland is trapped by a fixed exchange rate and by the fiscal straightjacket of the Stability Pact, a lawyers' construct that was never intended for such circumstances. The Pact is being enforced anyway because rules are rules and because leaders in the Teutonic bloc have an idee fixee that moral hazard will run rampant if any country in the EMU core sets a bad example.
Finland's output shrank a further 0.6pc in the third quarter and the country's three-year long recession is turning into a fourth year. Industrial orders fell 31pc in September. "It's spooky," said Pasi Sorjonen from Nordea.
Finland is digging itself into an ever deeper hole. The International Monetary Fund warned this week against austerity overkill and “pro-cyclical” cuts before the economy is strong enough to take it.
The IMF spoke softly but the message was clear. Finland should not even be thinking of a “front-loaded” fiscal contraction or slashing investment at a time when its output gap is 3.2pc of GDP.
The Finnish authorities admitted in their reply to the IMF's Article IV report that they had no choice because they had to comply with the Stability Pact. This is what European policy-making has come to.
Some in Finland were quick to throw stones at Greece during the debt crisis, seemingly unaware at the time that they too lived in a glass house. Their own story is not really that different from the EMU disasters that unfolded in the South.
Interest rates were too low for Finland’s needs during the commodity boom, causing the economy to overheat. Unit labour costs spiralled up 20pc from 2006 onwards, leaving the country high and dry when the music stopped. Public debt was low but private debt was high (somewhat like Spain and Ireland). The crisis hit later merely because the commodity bubble did not burst until 2012.
Sweden was able to navigate similar shocks by letting its currency take the strain at key moments over the last decade. Swedish GDP is now 8pc above its pre-Lehman level.
The divergence between Finland and Sweden is staggering for two Nordic economies with so much in common, and it has rekindled Finland’s dormant anti-euro movement.
And that 'political' crisis may have been just the kick the authorities needed to unleash the nuclear money drop option, as The Telegraph continues,
Authorities in Finland are considering giving every citizen a tax-free payout of €800 ($900) each month.
Under proposals being draw up by the Finnish Social Insurance Institution (Kela), this national basic income would replace all other benefit payments, and would be paid to all adults regardless of whether or not they receive any other income.
Unemployment in Finland is currently at record levels, and the basic income is intended to encourage more people back to work. At present, many unemployed people would be worse off if they took on low-paid temporary jobs due to loss of welfare payments.
Detractors caution that a basic income would remove people's incentive to work and lead to higher unemployment. Those in favour point to previous experiments where a basic income has been successfully trialed.
...
Finnish Prime Minister Juha Sipilä supports the idea, saying: “For me, a basic income means simplifying the social security system.”
The basic income will cost Finland roughly €46.7 billion per year if fully implemented. Kela's proposals are due to be submitted in November 2016.
That's around 20% of GDP annually... and while politicians will claim it is temporary, these 'initiatives' never are - just ask Japan!
* * *
As we previously detailed, support is growing around the world for such spending to be funded by “People’s QE.” The idea behind “People’s QE” is that central banks would directly fund government spending… and even inject money directly into household bank accounts, if need be. And the idea is catching on.
Already the European Central Bank is buying bonds of the European Investment Bank, an E.U. institution that finances infrastructure projects. And the new leader of Britain’s Labor Party, Jeremy Corbyn, is backing a British version of this scheme.
That’s the monster coming to towns and villages near you! Call it “overt monetary financing.” Call it “money from helicopters.” Call in “insane.”
But it won’t be unpopular. Who will protest when the feds begin handing our money to “mid- and low-income households”?
Simply put, The Keynesian Endgame is here... as the only way to avoid secular stagnation (which, for the uninitiated, is just another complicated-sounding, economist buzzword for the more colloquial “everything grinds to a halt”) is for central bankers to call in the Krugman Kraken and go full-Keynes.
Rather than buying assets, central banks drop money on the street. Or even better, in a more modern and civilised fashion, credit our bank accounts! That, after all, may be more effective than buying assets, and would not imply the same transfer of wealth as previous or current forms of QE. Indeed, ‘helicopter money’ can be seen as permanent QE, where the central bank commits to making the increase in the monetary base permanent.
Again, crediting accounts does not guarantee that money will be spent – in contrast to monetary financing where the newly created cash can be used for fiscal spending. And in many cases, such policy would actually imply fiscal policy, as most central banks cannot conduct helicopter money operations on their own.
...
So again, the thing to realize here is that this has moved well beyond the theoretical and it's not entirely clear that most people understand how completely absurd this has become (and this isn't necessarily a specific critique of SocGen by the way, it's just an honest look at what's going on). At the risk of violating every semblance of capital market analysis decorum, allow us to just say that this is pure, unadulterated insanity. There's not even any humor in it anymore.
You cannot simply print a piece of paper, sell it to yourself, and then use the virtual pieces of paper you just printed to buy your piece of paper to stimulate the economy. There's no credibility in that whatsoever, and we don't mean that in the somewhat academic language that everyone is now employing on the way to criticizing the Fed, the ECB, and the BoJ.
And it will end only one way...
The monetizing of state debt by the central bank is the engine of helicopter money. When the central state issues $1 trillion in bonds and drops the money into household bank accounts, the central bank buys the new bonds and promptly buries them in the bank's balance sheet as an asset.
The Japanese model is to lower interest rates to the point that the cost of issuing new sovereign debt is reduced to near-zero. Until, of course, the sovereign debt piles up into a mountain so vast that servicing the interest absorbs 40+% of all tax revenues.
But the downsides of helicopter money are never mentioned, of course. Like QE (i.e. monetary stimulus), fiscal stimulus (helicopter money) will be sold as a temporary measure that quickly become permanent, as the economy will crater the moment it is withdrawn.
The temporary relief turns out to be, well, heroin, and the Cold Turkey withdrawal, full-blown depression.
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"It Begins" again?
$9oo every month? That's almost as much as 1/3 of Americans
This can only mean Benny Bernake and some of the other filthy scums cousins of his have found employment in Finland. Expect none of that money to make it into Finnish pockets.
Just Erase It
When will they learn that all they need do is stop “lending” money to themselves and merely stop paying interest on the “debt” they owe to .gov and simply repudiate that “debt” which is merely money fabricated by a CB and “lent” to a .gov which is simply nothing more than slight of hand con job enslaving the sheeple.
Im movin to Finland...whos coming with?
A shitload of 'refugees' from the ME.
Basic income is much, MUCH better than the system that is being replaced, where you are incentivized not to work.
This would and could only be bad if it was funded by central bank printing, which is FUCKING ISN'T and Tyler should be absolutely fucking ashamed for implying such.
Nothing works when base is on fiat.
Obama's plan to stimulate the economy is to drop two million Syrians on the USA. I prefer the cash.
I want to see this kind of Helicopter Drop in the US. Fuck giving the money to banks, you want to stimulate the economy due this a week before Black Friday even ONCE A YEAR and you will see a huge spike in spending. Doing it monthly? I love it. We are going to have a hyperinflation one way or the other. I like the version where I'm given lots of free money to spend on food, PM's etc. After all, all my previous PM's are at the bottom of Lake "Boating Accident". :'(
Agreed. I could do with $1200 a month to spend on whatever I wanted. There's a $1200 EMP proof solar/diesel/rotary emergency combination generator I've been eyeing off for quite a while now. Then there's that ounce of AU I could get each month.
Heck, I might even be able to afford the prohibitively expensive firearm license and get myself some copper-lead combinations.
Still on the fence on the Syrians thing, It depends on what faction they are and from what height they are dropped...
Finland is depressing enough in the winter with minus 20 degree temps with 25 mph winds sweeping the streets. Add an economic downturn and it will be pretty bad there. They already have one of the highest suicide rates and alcoholism rates. I was there one winter for a month and incredibly depressing. People were gloomy all the time. Very depressing.
right, Findland is bad, sure. WHy dont you instead visit any Skid Row in ANy major American city to see trully depressing and report what you see. Just walk around to see all the cazies druggies and alchholics. And America is supposed to be the richest country in the world, right.
So come on, when is your report in USA coming out?
East Hastings in Vancouver. Third world sort of but the people camped out on the sidewalk looked pretty happy as I drove on by. I was the sad one.
Currency wars are stepping it up.
Finnish are from the most emotionally expressive people but gloomy all of the time? Finns have some of the highest reported rates of happiness overall of any country in the world even if they have some of the highest suicide rates too.
If you did this here AND eliminated the huge welfare bureaucracy (millions of paper pushers giving no value added) it might be worth a try. I thought of this 20 years back. No welfare check, no free food, no free medicine, no free or subsidized housing means you use your stipend any way you choose. If you screw up and don't get health insurance too bad. You spent all your stipend on scratch tickets, too bad starve or beg. In a round about way that would put more personal responsibility back into society.Want to work hard, you get to keep all your income, tax free up to $20 K a year. This could also put a bunch of IRS agents out of work.
What thinks the club? Here is your stipend. Sink or swim, it is all up to you.
and how about also eliminating the HUGE Military spending that amounts in the trillions of dollars and cut the budget of CIA< FBI and all thr secret the slush finds? WHy dont you talk about that too huh? Why are none of you trolls even mentioning the Military spending?
It's actually pretty small compared to entitlement spending.
When I made my budget allowing implimentation of a BI, I cut military spending to plug the deficit hole. That was about all it was good for. Put maybe 1/4th military spending towards a basic income. 95% of the funding for BI came from entitlements.
Absolutely should be done and would be one way to truly downsize and main the federal gov't more efficient. The GOP won't do it because they don't give a fuck about the poor and the Democrats won't do it because of limiting the scope of federal gov't.
"This would and could only be bad if it was funded by central bank printing"
So the central bank will not be increasing its balance sheet?
Maybe have Goldman buy the bonds first - then sell them to the cebtral bank - front running makes everything better. ;-O
And some Finnish might consider living in some Asian tropical paradise while collecting $900 a month back home. It should be enough to live quite comfortably while waiting for some economic recovery. Just sayin'...
This could work out quite well if you convert it to gold for when the crunch finally comes as the 'helicopter' 'hits the deck'.
In every country in the west, it is the same thing. Definitely not part of any plan though of course. Zionists are not known for being highly organized transnationally.
Time to apply for dual citizenship!
900.00 a month? I'll take it!
Sing along now: Finland, Finland, Finland. The country where I want to be...
Pony trekking or camping; Or just watching TV... Finland, Finland, Finland. It's the country for me...
Hanging around the Harvard petards too much. Guaranteed to screw up you thinking for life.
I would turn that into American Eagles instantly, every fucking month.
Lucky bastards.
You read my mind
As a Finn I must say that the 900 € monthly "citizen salary" is only one of the options on the table. Mostly the talk has centered around idea that people without jobs could get the 900 € a month automaticly without paperwork / bureaucracy involved nowdays.
Finnish economy has been hit hard with the Russian sanctions (the hardest in EU) and 10's of thousands have been laid off.
There is not a lot of good things to anticipate in Finland as we are flooded with the sandpeople and naggers, industry has been moved to Asia and all the major corporations use aggressive tax evasion techniques.
ONE THE BIGGEST CORPORATE TAX PAYER WAS SUPERCELL which employs about 20 people. That should give you a good estimate of the problem. Even state owned enterprises use the tax havens. Supercell (they make mobile games) actually paid more taxes than Neste Oil that is a 50 % state owned oil company.
Just wanted to say FUCK YOU USA and NATO for fucking up my country :( I'm moving to Canada as soon as possible to start my legal cannabis business.
Atleast people are starting to get really pissed off and when Finns get upset in large numbers - there will be blood.
Thank the globalists ... deregulation and outsourcing with impunity and with no regard to maintaining a country's sovereignty or ability to control its own destiny.
Swedish GPD... that was pure comedy.
Hahahhahahhahaahaahaahahahahhahahahaahahhahaah fools.
Such a money drop is a gut reaction, although its so much better than just giving money to the banks to hoard.
A better plan would be to use such money directly against peoples debts so more of their earned income could circulate in the economy, then tighten lending so people don't get into such debt again. Sustainable. Of course I'm assuming the Fin govt isn't part of the plan to crash it all...
You'd still to have to pay cash to people who don't have any debts (while the debtors don't get in hand, but just get debt paid off by the amount) so that there's no incetive for everybody to take on debts just to get a free lunch.
Oh shit. US is hitting Syrian troops, Swedes are loading the helicopter money and we lose our gun rights at 8pm... today is busy!
Oops.. Finland.
That ain't shit. US welfare system cranks out the handouts, and, I just got $500 for my scrap gold!
When your country gives its citizens the equivalent to one of those clear-glass tornado wind cash tubes you see on game shows, you know the theatrics are coming to its Final Act.
This is a good time for the Finns to buy gold. Every month.
Keep in mind, when one sells stocks, one needs to wait three days for the trade to clear before it’s deposited into the account as currency. That could be an eternity when everyone is bailing out of currency and into tangible assets. In three day’s time, the currency could lose another 90%+...just ask Germany.
"entrenched oligarchy"
Fucked just like the US citizens.
I would suggest that they spend that money as fast as they get it.
That's the idea. If they don't the purchasing power will decrease.
Lets drop some paper promises during the winter in Scandanavia.
Replacing the welfare system, including the Social Security welfare program, with a national income would be a good idea to keep their centrally-controlled system intact awhile longer. Removing all the ancient propaganda driven programs based on the idea of "the worthy poor" would be a far sight better than what we have now. Not as good as actual free markets, but if you wanted to keep your oligarchy intact awhile longer it would probably be the smart thing to do.
It would never be as good as a truly free market, but it is a good stepping stone to get people out of the panic mode that mass poverty creates, and into a better frame of mind to make positive changes in the country.
That first GDP chart is a crock of shit.
Yep, you're correct. If it was entitled 'Fake GDP' it would be accurate.
After that announcement, Finland can expect a massve influx of new refugees, and not just from Syria. Half of europe will try to move there.
$900 is nice but nothing comes for free, especially from government. I'm guessing they become the next Greece.
It's not free. They are replacing all other forms of welfare. This is good, because the other types of welfare had huge costs associated with them, and encouraged people not to work lest they lose their benefits.
This is good, because the other types of welfare had huge costs associated with them, and encouraged people not to work lest they lose their benefits.
And somehow this one doesn't? Yeaaa, THAT $900 in bennies cost a shitload and encouraged people not to work, but THIS $900 in GUARANTEED bennies that they'll still receive whtether or not they decide to work...it costs nothing and somehow doesn't encourage ppl to not work. LMAO! Your kind doesn't learn until you're getting put up against a wall.
"And somehow this one doesn't? "
You must be mentally incompetant. Let me explain it in a way that is so simple even a low IQ low test idiot like you can understand.
Current welfare systems have something called a MEANS TEST. That means that if you have a job that makes any amount of money, you get less or no welfare. With a BI, you get that money no matter what, so you get out there and work hard because you, as a human being, want more money so you can attract a mate and have lots of babies. It's so simple a fucking amoeba can figure it out.
"you get that money no matter what, so you get out there and work hard because you, as a human being, want more money so you can attract a mate and have lots of babies."
what if I'm a Euro-Tranny?
Then you want lots of money to buy big black dildos.
Sounds really great ... so Finland might finally become the top destination country for refugees and "getting paid for fucking" - that might even outpace mama Merkels "Welcome" - policy.
Ok, so le me retort to the mentally retarded. That's you.
You said the NON means tested welfare scheme (AKA EVERBODY GETS IT, NO MATTER WHAT) doesnt have a cost and encourages ppl to work but somehow a means tested welfare system has no cost, and encourages people to work.
How did that work out in your stupid mind? How does universal welfare, where people CANT lose it, guarantee people work if means testing, aka work and you might lose it, doesnt? Did that actually make sense to you? Man I think you might be conflating the definition of competent for constipated because you sure do have shit for brains. But then you're a socialist, we already know you have shit for brains. How does a rule change eliminate that cost too. Please, you're so competent, so lay out how guaranteeing that welfare, no matter what, has no cost. C'mon genius.
Back in reality, we already know that guaranteeing people free money, which has just as much cost as free money under different rules, doesn't encourage people to work. It's so simple that you can't do it. MORON.
Zero hedge operating under the Austrian notion of scarcity.
Scarcity in the modern capitalistic system is a result of investment, think of euro "Green" investments which need to be subsidised as there is no demand signal.
This investment is therefore a wasted effort.
Jesus proclaimed there is no scarcity and was crucified for it.
The surplus that a Industrial system can producis is enormous but most of this energy is wasted on the act of physical distribution in the economy (Transport)
This wasted effort is the friction we witness today.
s
"Jesus proclaimed there is no scarcity and was crucified for it."
Who killed the Dork and replaced him with a fucking Commie stooge?
I am reborn baby.
Now go and fuck yourself.
Pretty sure they got to the Dork. Please ffs, everyone just ignore this reanimated corpse.
No body got to me
I live like a Franciscan and always have.
I had my Goleum moment of seeking the precious and now have come to understand it was a corrupting experience.
People make mistakes, some admit they were wrong and some do not.
It's the way of things.
Holy shit, they fucking killed you and stole your online personality.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=fGlNr29nUms
Follow the youtube personality trajectory of Archibald Chesterfield the third.
It's both sad and inspiring at the same time
Then you will come to understand.
A wonderful well rounded Toad character..... And very funny.https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=_6a2qq9W3AE
Remember what Gandi said:
“I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ.You wwere called a Commie, it's so predicable.
Borrow enough with negative interest rates and governments can hand out really 'free' money!
This may be Finland, but it's the beginning of the end game. Mark this day on your calendar as Day 1 of Year 0.
this can actually work if there is a sterilizing function on the other side. raising salaries would be more civilized but this is one of the choices that have to be made in a permanently unemployed, way over capacity labor force. this is the mature industrial economy. using wealth to support the riot control welfare programs the system has made necessary.
helicopter money is the ultimate communist, socuialist, fascist model.
Wages add to prices
Does zero hedge advocate a increase in prices?
If this is new money then this is a good thing.
Does zero hedge advocate a transfer of wealth instead? ( VIA THE TAX SYSTEM)
Now that's socialist baby.
If properly executed using social credit theory then this policy is not socialist, it is practical Christianity.
AGGREGATE wages add to prices. This move does not increase aggregate wages. It subtracts 100% of the wages from the loafers and those tasked with keeping them in cash, and gives it to people who are free to work as much as they like.
The only thing less socialist would be no form of welfare at all.
Again I do not understand the Finnish proposal in detail.
But a national dividend proposal (see Oliver Heydorn Site) does not subtract from anyone.
He seeks to remove the wasted effort witnessed in the modern world.
No welfare would mean the end of the Industrial.system period, do you advocate such a proposal?
"No welfare would mean the end of the Industrial.system period"
These are the words of the shill. If someone says this to you, you should literally hang them from the neck until they are dead.
Hold it there cowboy, do not go all MERICAN on me - not just yet.
How are you going to eat the industrial surplus without welfare.... this by the way includes subsidised CAPITAL INCOME.
If you were a Belloc agrarian type of guy who wants to work in the fields all day then I might have some respect for your viewpoint but I suspect you are not.
Your thoughts strike me as irrational
Classic puritan I am afraid.l
"How are you going to eat the industrial surplus without welfare"
OMG how does wealth distribute itself in any system ever!!!??
Prices fall until the people can afford the goods, commie idiot.
Usury costs are embedded within the price structure.
The Irish experience tells us that Says law is not correct.
Another aspect of social credit is the compensated price.... Do you believe in this method?
This is ridiculous. You only get this nonsense when start with Marxist assumptions (which are simply not real).
Again, companies can only recover costs from sales.
Wages add to a firms cost.
The goods become unaffordable.
The goods do not decrease in price, you get a generalised breakdown of the production / consumption costs.
Companies have already fled domestic wage costs (Globalisation) but now other costs such as capex investment costs, higher energy needed for distribution etc etc has come back to bite them.
It's a sysphian endeavour.
More On Social Credit And A Letter By Dick Eastman
https://realcurrencies.wordpress.com/2015/04/14/more-on-social-credit-an...
How Usury Encloses The Commons
https://realcurrencies.wordpress.com/2014/11/15/how-usury-encloses-the-c...
"All the gold is owned by the bankers and they have been preparing the transition to a new gold standard for decades now."
...
and an interesting, if religious nonsense based analysis from a muslim cleric who, at least, seems to understand the role of usury in achieving the eschatological ends of the "bankers" [i.e. I think you can strip away the religious nonsense *per se* and still get some insight. pretty short.]
Three main Things Jews Will do Before Dajjal By Sheikh Imran Hosein
http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=NDqL6AJP9v8
Moron
If properly executed using social credit theory then this policy is not socialist, it is practical Christianity.
Huh? Jesus was a big advocate of poverty. The poor will find riches in heaven.
The banksters will only submit to this if physical cash is outlawed. Then, they can direct their income streams to taxing all electronic transactions with appropriate finders fees selling depositors transaction information.
Does insanity cure insanity? Get out of the euro.
I do not see this as Keynesian.
They are not asking people to break windows and remake them.
The industrial surplus is free.
It's just that the banks want to charge for it which then subsequently creates a breakdown of the production / consumption system.
There is no "industrial surplus", there is just supply and demand, nothing is free. If there was such a concept as "industrial surplus" then there would be such a concept such as "industrial deficit", so do you envisage a situation where people should give their earnings to a company that they have no interest in for no benefit to themselves? Picture a company making penny farthings or manufacturing monocle grease, the idea is lunacy.
At the heart of your "social" ideas is a little group of people in government deciding how other peoples earnings should be spent.
They do this for government retirees every month. Why not for the rest of us?
"They do this for government retirees every month."
They also do it for all current government workers."
If you could model one country and point to it as the poster child for doing everything right, it would probably be finland. Low population and birth rate, free education, much of it focused on science and engineering, top notch healthcare. I've only been there once and the only negative I could see was the frigid weather. Obviously they are now in trouble but it's not for lack of trying to establish the best foundation for success. Their problem is that the world ecnomy is dead and there is no solution to that. Giving each member of the population $900 per month to live on is just a confirmation that in the future, only a tiny percentage of people will work except in a volunteer position. All the Finnish government is doing is acknowledging what every financial statistic is showng, while every other government just digs its head in the sand. Oh and they have some of the best eye candy around.
Come on Janet, Sweethart! Let's dispense with the paper nonsense. Just send me an ounce of gold every month and I promise (fingers crossed) to stimulate inflation to save the banks.
Helicopter money won´t work. People will just buy imported consumer electronics or cars.
What Finland need is restored trade relations with Russia. It would probably also be a great idea to reduce the supply of labour which the labour market doesn´t need. Perhaps they should also cut foreign aid. The Nokia problem is something they can´t solve. I´m not surprised that Nokia lost its position as the largest producer of cell phones in the world considering the fact that Finland is a country with a small population near the Arctic circle. Apple had a better brand and leaders that prioritized what the consumer want. Typical business executives don´t understand the consumer markets. South Korea has a larger population, more engineers to choose from and an edge as regards labour costs.
It also seems as if Finland has a general a labour cost problem. Reduced demand for labour doesn´t seem to affect labour costs. If that is the case, Finland should do something about it. If Finland had kept its own currency, the Finnish mark, labour costs would in many cases have been compensated by a depreciating currency.
In general, a country like Finland, which depends on exports of wood, pulp and paper benefits very little from the euro. Countries which export goods in small quantities for each shipment benefit more from the euro. So Finland just gets the problems associated with euro.
Expansion of global trade has been the whole fucking cause of this problem. Former internal economies have been destroyed, and with it people's purchasing power. Why do you think that governments throw out trade agreements every time there is a depression.
the answer is not less global interchange.
Dark Daze:
"Expansion of global trade has been the whole fucking cause of this problem. Former internal economies have been destroyed, and with it people's purchasing power. Why do you think that governments throw out trade agreements every time there is a depression."
My comments:
A small country like Finland, which depends on exporting wood, pulp and paper and has poor domestic economies of scale for goods like cell phones and automobiles needs global trade. However, I don´t think they need the euro. They may not even need a free trade agreement with the EU like Switzerland and Israel have. Finland could create an import/export duty set-off system that would enable the government to “refund” export duties to Finnish companies by using import duties paid to the government. For a country that exports goods in large quantities for each shipment, that´s a feasible solution. Wood, pulp and paper are generally exported in very large shipments. So a country like Finland benefits very little from a free trade agreement.
The reason why there has been such a strong support for EU membership in Finland is that they are afraid of the Russians. They think that there won´t be a Russian invasion if they are members of the EU.
One step closer to the "One World Goobermint, One World Financial System."
Its inevitable if you think about it.
The only one world monetary system that could exist is Anarchy.
Everythiung else will fail like the Euro due to stresses, you cant have a First world country sharing a currency with a third world slum nation, the carrying weight of the currency would depress the slum nations and push them deeper into poverty because the governments and people running them are not mature enough to responsibly handle the finances of their nations.
Essentially the people running the third world countries would borrow infinite sums of the central currency until their nation is destroyed and they would run off with the money leaving the nation in debt.... like with what has happened to almost every country in the E.U.
Look at Greece.
10 million population.
They were doing fine till they joined the Euro.... now they dont even exist as a country anymore they got enslaved and turned into a German Colony and Germany is whoring out the government there like a cheap two dollar hooker..... barking orders at Greece to give blow jobs to refugees.
The Euro failed as a currency, but succeeded in enslaving half of Europe, the Nazis essentially won WWII by creating the Euro.
Are you not entertained?!
If you give trillions to banks.
Might as well give trillions to the people.
Its not like the banks are more responsible than the people they rob anyway.
All that happens with hyperinflation if people are smart about it is debts get written down, savers are punished (no one saves anymore anyway) , and zeros get added to the price of goods.
Hyperinflation is not SOOO BAD as long as you stop inflating at some point.
If you hyper-inflate to form an S-Curve in the money supply its OK and could actually do good to wipe out debt and allow headroom for new spending on new goods and services to push the economy into gear.
If you dont stop inflating and government spending goes over-board............. well you have a hyperinflationary crisis.
The best thing you can do instead of hyper-inflating is writing down debt.... just deduct a Zero from everyones debts..... BOOM same effect as hyperinflating without the damage of price inflation, infact writing down debts would be DEFLATIONARY because chances are people will sell their homes if their mortgage is payed off and prices will drop so the next generation can afford homes, the way it is now .... chances of a millenial buying a home thats not in a slum/swamp .... might as well play the lotto you have a better chance.
How could this happen? I've been hearing from leftists for years how well Scandinavian socialism works. </sarc>
It won't work of course because the problem has to do with the misallocation of capital, not the quantity of capital.
Well, dipshit, if you bothered reading the article you would know the answer to your question, but don't let me interrupt your narcacistic rant.
Aw did I offend your leftist sensitivities?
Can I get my $900 dollars worth in gold please?
The idea behind “People’s QE” is that central banks would directly fund government spending… and even inject money directly into household bank accounts, if need be. And the idea is catching on.
So, isn't that exactly the same thing as governments regaining the soveriegn right to issue currency without having to pay interest on it? You know, the way things used to be before the interest crazed Jews got hold of the world's governments.
Better idea than most because it at least helps actual households a bit vs the stuff we have central banks due to date which has massively benefited only incredibly tiny handfuls of people. It is a bad idea too but it has to be judged against what has been employed to date since '08 which is nothing short of the financial sector transfering massive wealth from the public sector into very few hands in the private sector.
So, finally, after 8 years and upteen trillions thrown away on the .001% and their stock market, we come back to the basic reality. If you want to have economic activity, ORDINARY PEOPLE HAVE TO HAVE MONEY TO SPEND OVER AND ABOVE THEIR FIXED COSTS.
I want free money to support the miners
If the Finns had control over their own money supply, and I thought for a minute the national dividend would be paid out of debt-free money to male Finnish householders, I'd be all for this.
In the event, the basic income will be paid by the taxes of people still working.
A basic income paid out to unmarried women, no strings attached, will encourage them to drop out of the labour force and have babies with local "asylum seekers." Their long-suffering fathers and brothers won't find it any easier to find work. Nobody will pay a living wage to men for doing work women used to do for pocket money or to supplement welfare cheques.
If legal non-citizen residents of Finland are allowed to apply, moreover, unemployment among non-whites will skyrocket as the local "refugees" abandon any serious work in favour of living on the basic income---unless you count Koran study and bomb-making as "work."
Mind you, even Helsinki elites might notice the problem soonish. Their favourite ethnic restaurants will start shutting up shop for want of staff willing to work for cash under the table.
They aren't giving out free gold. They are giving out free paper. The difference is huge. Since it's all play monopoly money anyhow, it readlly doesn't matter how much of you give away.
Now that I have money I don't have to trade any of my shit for anything.
Allowing commercial banks to create credit by issuing loans at interest, government debt monetization and direct crediting, central bank interest rates, deficit spending, all of this is nonsense.
We need to end fractional reserve lending, end commercial bank credit, and institute a sensible monetary policy. 100% reserve banking, relegating banks to operate competitively in the market place, acting as financial intermediaries. No more money multiplier theory or credit creation theory.
A new constitution is required. A strict mandate for the expansion of the money supply needs to be adhered to. No more ponzi schemes. No welfare. No minimum wage. No student loans. No home loans. Simple user pays taxes. No income tax. No consumption taxes.
Work, save, invest, spend. If the people want earn more, they will need to become more productive. There is no shortcut to wealth. Engaging in QE infinity or helicopter madness isn't going to cure the demographic cliff. If people aren't having children, growth will suffer.
Gold bullion needs to be viewed as god. Governments need to be accruing this and holding on to it. This is true money.
There will be downturns. There will be shortages. There is no perfect solution.There is no panacea. Never has been, never will be. We can't all be rich. QE for the people is still redistribution. It is still a ponzi.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ZfJsmV9g1Oo
They've hit the panic button with evey EU citizen watching on along asking why not me and you can imagine the Greeks.
Why not just cut income tax so people keep more of the money they worked for, they could gradually bring them back up to unwind the stimulus?
Finland should start a war with Russia. That would be a more conventional and accepted approach to economic stimulus and would generate less controversy among economists.
If they did a helicopter drop in the U.S., I wonder whether the deposited money would be free from creditor claims? For example, could the cash be captured by an order of attachment of the account for past due child support, unpaid taxes, unpaid judgments, etc.?
Failed to pay your student loan debt? No helicopter drop for you!
What? You made anti-Obozo comments on ZH? We're holding that helicopter drop until you apologize by showing that you voted the right way this time.
For many, I suspect that the hoped-for helicopter drop would never arrive, sort of like the aid we supposedly dropped to our allies in the Middle East.
Who knows how many Trillions-or even Quadrillions of dollars we have poured down that Middle East rathole-and to the War Industries-and its all other peoples money
I say give us the damn helicopter money already here in the USA!
God knows the deep state and banksters got enough of it already!
And by it I mean my tax dollars.
Previous comment suggested that technology results in too little work for too many workers. That is correct. But people must live. Give them money directly to live a moderate life style. No welfare, no credit. Must live within means provided. Productive workers can earn as much as they can under a modified capitalistic system but must accept the burden of providing for non-productive people. We don't want anarchy. Procreation rights will need to be modified to control population density. I know this sounds like a DR Strangelove scenario, but it's the best solution I can give.
This would mean that Obamacare premiums would be 900 a month.
I see absolutely no downside to this policy.
Also, every Finn male should have their own personal hooker. And free bottles of lotion.
We would most likely seen a return of Industry to Europe if this was implemented correctly
Companies wage pressure would drop.
Imagine 50% wage drops but increased demand.
Corrupt unions would become obsolete
Before giving money away, why not just reduce or eliminate taxes. This way you cut out the middle man and a lot of work...
But then it wouldnt be socialism...never mind.
$500 loaf of bread dead ahead.
Looks like Mike Maloney was right after all.
Squid
The money is just worth that much less now.
And money will be worth even less with more QE.
QE(moar money) always creates inflation.
QE is not money, it is actually credit.
Why can't we just let the market resume a natural track?
Manipulated markets will always fail!
The right way to do a helicopter drop is to issue EBT cards that can only be spent on luxury items (restaurant meals, jewlery, hookers, drugs, etc..), and has an expiration date. That way the money must be spent, and won't simply replace other normal spending on necessities.
But it surely makes sense
government is by for & of ppl
so people actually own the nation
& nation must pay them for their sustenence
Every citizen must get a stipend from govt. to make a living
& I am not joking
Earning the money should be for affording luxeries of life
--------------
The present central banking based Adam Smith economy (Trickle down) is a big failure as it has been hijacked by cronies of policitians , now politicians make systems so that crony capitalists make huge money by several means , QE, obamacare, banksters, sub-prime, TBTF, warfare
(causing warfare to increase risk so that contractors can claim 100 times the actual cost)
Present economics of CabalA$$LickerLiarDrugAddictHomObamma :
Vox Cronie Vox Dei
Where do you get from "of the people" to "nation must pay". Govt can't pay anybody anything, it has no money. It has to first pillage it's people to finance all of it's activities. You can have a govt that is "of the people" and completely precludes robbing Paul to give to Peter - you can also have this base income (redistribution) that is "of the people".
There simply is no connection in this. It can be arbitrarily decided, or voted into law/constitution - can govt redistribute at all, and to what extent if yes. Obviously in Finalnd it can and already does redistributes/consumes half of GDP (total govt spending to GDP).
you missed the pt
Govt is the only entity that can create money from thin air
Print
Finland as part of the EU could see its population grow dramatically if EU passport-families that consist of several beneficaries (adults) decide to move to Finnland under the EU- freedom of settlement act and dwell in huts in the large forest areas. Larger families could possible make a comfortable living. We might all become Fins soon.
This global economy is one big fuck up.
When government lends money to banks - ZH doesnt like it because it's not for people but for elite.
When government gives away money to people - ZH doesn't like it and calls an desperat move.
WTF?!
So giving away 900 $ a month for free to each fins is desperate for Finland but for ruskies elders to live with 85 EUR a month is a proud thing?
ha ha ha :D
government should not be redistributed wealth.
If it's instead of regular welfare system - it's actually a step forward. If you actually remove ALL welfare and put it in, it'd remove perverse incentive keep your your income as low as possible (unless you can get it way above minimum). It's also very straightforward. You pay X of taxes and fund Y level of base income (and other stuff) out of it. If people think this Y is too high, or X is too high - it's very easy to start correcting it. Right now any movement against welfare has to target specific programs ... and this creates instant hard opposition (beneficients and public workers doleing it) while provides only diffuse benefit (OK you cut back on 1, but there's 10 others still sucking up the taxes). It would put welfare in much more wieldy democratic check.
you don't even know what the word income means in a tax statute. What makes you qualified to throw out stupid opinions?
We have seen how the current globalisation works.
In the good times, prior to 2008, all we hear about is the wealth creators. How they are responsible for the boom and how they deserve to keep their rewards.
In the bad times, after 2008, the easy profits have gone and so have the wealth creators. It is up to national tax payers and national institutions (Governments and Central Banks) to sort out the mess.
The profits are privatised and the losses are socialised.
Unconditional bailouts for bankers and austerity for the people.
Even the markets have given up on the “wealth creators”.
In the US, bad news from the “wealth creators” is now good news for markets as there should be some more freshly minted stimulus from the FED.
The markets are now driven by the pronouncements from the Central Banks.
When is the next stimulus coming?
The markets have given up on the “wealth creators” and now Governments realise the “wealth creators” are no longer providing sufficient wages to employees.
National institutions will now need to pay wages as well to keep sufficient demand in the system.
Is there any chance the “wealth creators” will create wealth for anyone apart from themselves?
The odds are very low.
Today’s ideal is unregulated, trickledown Capitalism.
We had unregulated, trickledown Capitalism in the UK in the 19th Century.
We know what it looks like.
1) Those at the top were very wealthy
2) Those lower down lived in grinding poverty, paid just enough to keep them alive to work with as little time off as possible.
3) Slavery
4) Child Labour
Immense wealth at the top with nothing trickling down, just like today.
The beginnings of regulation to deal with the wealthy UK businessman seeking to maximise profit, the abolition of slavery and child labour.
Unregulated, trickledown Capitalism was never very good at creating demand.I think this could work. It might even be better than the current system of welfare and QE. It would be a big step towards eliminating cash as the basic income can be paid exclusively via electronic currency.
Basically, we're looking at government control ramping up much higher. The government will dispense money (to people it likes), the government will control the creation of money, the government will monitor how you spend your money, and they'll probably tell you how to spend it as well.
Basic income COULD work. But only if the government were honest and effective in implementing it.
None of that is to say that it SHOULD be implemented. Personally, I'd rather move in the other direction and just get rid of public welfare net entirely. But that is unlikely (it would require more honesty from our government and society!). This is much more plausible given the current social atmosphere and trajectory.
It's a really good idea. The welfare bureaucracy in Finland is huge. This will eliminate most of it AND incentivize people to work because they won't lose their welfare payments if they decide to go work part time or minimum wage. The global economic woes hit the country hard, but it's the EU debacle with Russia and the weakness of the ruble that are doing most of the short term damage as trade with Russia and tourism have collapsed.
Sorry but this article is crap. It confuses very different concepts:
Also FYI at this stage the Finnsih government is only talking about experimenting basic income in local areas.
But of course you cannot understand this by reading the Telegraph. This is probably a better starting point: http://finlandpolitics.org/2015/11/05/710/
But yeah i suppose understanding the subtilities would make the whole article much less dramatic / traffic driving.
All the "money" comes from the same source. Debt and must be paid. There is no such thing as free. Fool socialists and communists never learn.
That $900 is just barely enough for a months living expenses if you rent in some rathole and never eat out. I would imagine you'd be incentivised to take any part time job on top of that to get some sausage to go with that plain bread.
I think the whole idea of this is to keep peoples heads above water, but if you want luxuries, Androids, PSPs,TeeVees, cars, to eat well, you have to try to get a job
you don't think too well do you?
double
900€ a month - boy - harems in Finland the new business model. The more you fuck, the more money you get, the more girlies, the more babies each of which earns 900€/month ... getting paid for fucking. Later those kids join the same busines and pay royalities. The whole planet will move to Finland ... Asia is out - Finland is in.
1...2...3 and the next IPO for this new business model ... replacing even apple ... ifuckfactory
Or as they say in Germany: "Mit Speck fängt man Mäuse".
And likely also all sorts of rats.
Including the pests they bring along.
Boy this outpaces even my wildest dreams. Baby factories .. how to get the most out of your juicy dicks and sluts ... at some point countries will pay even more, because all men have left for Finland ... truely surreal ... was that a Goldman Sucks bankers idea?
I'm glad it is happening. It will put the last nail in the coffin of Keynesian Economics!
Why not give every citizen One Million dollars per month! Then they's all be wealthy! Damn, it's that simple - why didn't anyone think of this before!!!!
Every human on earth should get One Million dollars per month handed to them. This would end world poverty, hunger...everyone would be driving Lamborghini's, living in McMansions. It will be GREAT!
It is amazing - the simple solution to all our problems was there all the time! PRINT MOAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
QE for the rich = Good
QE for the people = Bad
ONE QUESTION
CAN THEY PRINT GOLD AND SILVER COINS, AND DROP THAT?
NO?
THEN FUCK THIS IDEA UP THE ASS WITH A HOT POKER!
NO
But they can supress it, outlaw it so much, torture you, force you to reveal where you have it
that you can't even look at it. FOREVER !
The big bother can make the word "GOLD" become 100x more tabu than "childporn"
count the days