The M+G+R Foundation

How the Media Manipulates the Numbers

Its Effect in the Markets and World Economy

PURPOSE and INTRODUCTION

Just as when "they" tried to topple President Clinton - but simply couldn't - or when “they” tried to topple Portuguese Prime Minister Gutierrez - and they could because he did not have the same "coach" Clinton had - a concerted effort is being made to topple the current Socialist governments of Spain and Portugal.

When Greece almost went bankrupt because they had - with the assistance of some Wall Street "luminaries" - falsified their financial condition in order to be accepted into the European Union, the "let's take down the Portuguese and Spanish governments" plan went into high gear.

All one would hear on the news - regular or financial, printed or on TV or on radio or in the Internet - was about the "bankruptcy trinity": Greece, Portugal and Spain.


Standard and Poor’s chimed in to downgrade the ratings of Spain and Portugal, the world stock markets reflected the lack of confidence in the "bankrupt trinity," and they almost fulfilled their prophecy.

The vendetta against Portugal and Spain was so transparent - at least to us - that we decided to expose it and use it as a teaching tool to demonstrate: How the masses and some of the elite (no matter how lofty a reputation they may have, or claim) can be easily manipulated by the media.


DETAILS

We have taken a look at the financial state of eleven countries which are either in the news due to the financial crisis or that can be used as points of reference.  For your convenience, we have highlighted in bold blue the countries in question

The data are the estimates for 2009 found in the CIA World Fact Book (1) and Wikipedia (2). Although numbers from other sources may vary a little, they do not alter the conclusions. We had to calculate the Public debt per capita using the other numbers presented since such ratio is seldom presented..... It is not convenient to the mass manipulators.

In the category of Public Debt  per capita

(how much of the governmental debt falls on each citizen of the country)

 

The one in worst shape is Japan with 77,200 US dollars per capita
Italy with          41,900
Iceland with     37,000

Greece  with   36,100

France with     33,200
Germany with  30,725

USA  with       24,900
UK   with        24,900

Israel   with     20,900

Spain with      18,100

The one in best shape is Portugal with 15,600 US dollars per capita

COMMENTS / CONCLUSIONS

* We understand that changes have occurred in those numbers since they were estimated by the CIA and the World Bank, but we do not expect that their relative positions and magnitudes have changed that much.

* Although the official unemployment rate in Spain is about 20 %, it does not appear to be so based on our “on the ground” observations. Spain had a similar outrageous unemployment rate in the early nineties and (“on the ground”) it did not appear to be so severe then, nor did it cause the national economy to fail. We suspect that "appearances" do not match "numbers" as a result of bookkeeping or of the underground ecenomy. For example: We do not believe that unemployment in Spain is really twice that in Portugal now. The hunger that one can see in Portugal now is far more than what is evident in Spain.

* As on June 2010 the two major banks in Spain - Santander and BBVA - have been certified by the European Union authorities as the healthiest of all of the Union. It is hard to fathom that the country with banks even healthier than those of the EU motors - Germany and France - and those of the UK is about to go into bankruptcy.

* If the world worriers want to have something to worry about.... look at the financial status of Japan and Italy.  If one then considers that the Japanese economy is the No. 2 of the world, an infusion of chamomile (3) may bring some relief. For all practical purposes, Japan is in an undeclared bankruptcy.

* For those who want to blame everything that goes wrong in the Universe on President Obama, including the astronomical deficit, we suggest that they review the historical chart (4) on the US deficit and notice the levels as related to the governments for the last sixty years. [This is not a political posture. We are only highlighting the incoherent thinking of fanatics.]

NOTES___________________________

(1)  Source
(2)  Source
(3)  About Chamomile Tea
(4)  Source

Brainwashing at its Best

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