An international financial, economic, political and social commentary. Published and Edited by: Bob Chapman Vol. 6- No. 9-1 (89pgs.)

Phone & Fax: 941 639 4756  E-mail: bif4653@comcast.net.

We will be publishing an excerpt of this highly informative service regularly, you can see that Bob does go deep into his subject (89 pages) which is the usual, but not the norm in the newsletter industry. What you read here will certainly open your eyes. Bob has graciously allowed me to reprint sections from his widely read newsletter.

The world’s least corrupt nations in order are: Finland, Denmark, New Zealand, Iceland and Singapore and the most corrupt are Azerbaijan, Indonesia, Kenya, Angola, Madagascar, Paraguay, Nigeria and Bangladesh.

We find the whole concept of an International Criminal Court abhorrent in that it deprives a nation of its sovereignty and the right to try and control its own inhabitants. We have our own set of laws and let’s leave it that way. Sadly the Bush canard, that the US won’t sign the ICC motion because they feared American soldiers might be subject to politically motivated charges is another lie. The reason is that the President, the Cabinet officers, and other civilian and military leaders responsible for war or atrocities or foreign policy might be tried, as we tried so many at the German War Crimes Trials. They are all potential targets. What is behind all this and we’ve stated this before, is the Kissinger precedent, when charges were brought against him for planning and aiding in the 1973 Chilean Coup, the murderous aftermath and the 17-year dictatorship of General Augusto Pinochet. These elitists have murdered billions of people over the past thousand years and have always gotten away with it. The ICC would bring an end to that. This is the story our bought and paid for media and Congress will never tell you. They have no interest in the truth.

Global insurance companies and reinsurers face mounting threats to their finances and credit ratings, despite a surge in premiums since 9/11. These dire warnings come from industry insiders, analysts and regulators. Moody’s says the industry’s performance will be curbed by a combination of poor investment returns and the continuing affect of low pricing during the recent soft market. Existing loss reserves are inadequate. 2001 hit an all-time high for worldwide catastrophes with about $34 billion in damages versus $7.5 billion in 2000. The Financial Stability Forum expressed similar concerns about reinsurers. They were really concerned about the lack of transparency in the industry. Another concern is that in some companies there exists a culture that encourages risk taking. Strategic and operational risks cause the greatest concern with competitive pressures, staff retention and absenteeism dominating. A survey found current methods to control and measure the effectiveness of risk management were inadequate, particularly for high-impact risks with 40% of the companies lacking a formal policy. If you add all this up it spells trouble. Even with only normal losses further stock market losses could take many insurers and reinsurers under. Then there is the next asbestos bomb. There are $355 billion in claims hanging over corporate and insurers heads, which could be devastating.

The BIS, the bankers’ bank, tells us there is a loss of global confidence in financial markets and it has deepened and is spreading. They say perceived risks from the problems in corporate America have affected insurers and banks and threaten to constrain financial intermediation (flow of cash from one place to another) adding to the difficulties of non-financial firms in raising money. They say the fall in global stocks could lead to drops in house prices and the US remains vulnerable to a drop-off in consumer spending. There is a loss of confidence in the financial sector. It is estimated that the rise in house prices has been responsible for 25% of increased consumption. They believe that cannot continue.

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