The following info graphics serve to explain the different aspects of the current global economic crisis in understandable language. Basically governments are over-borrowing to pay for the different facets of government; war, bank-bailouts, economic bailout packages, along with the regular costs of running countries.

When the debt to GDP (ratio to debt) of a country gets too high they have to continue to finance the interest on the government debt, leading to a deficit in national income. GDP being the ‘gross domestic product’, the amount of income per capita (citizen) that a country generates. Eventually the debt gets too high and this means that the country can either default or print more money (causing hyper-inflation).

The system is based on secrecy, because if it was clear how much money major countries are in debt then the financial / investment markets would become unstable, giving the governments unfavorable credit ratings, causing investors to move to other markets and generally causing economic decline. An integrated facet of the current school of economic thought is that the economy must continually be growing in order to pay off the ever growing national debt. If the economy would reach a no growth or decline situation than the interest on national debt could no longer be covered by national income (unless taxes were raised). However a continually growing economy is an irrational thought because the earth and her resources are finite, eventually leading to a no growth situation (which is predictable and agreeable). In this leveled off or no growth situation national debt becomes impossible to pay off. The current economic paradigm is therefore impossible to sustain.

The American 2007 (+/-) homeowner crisis

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Japan’s 2012 Debt Problem Visualized

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Food Speculation

Less to do directly with the crisis but more so about the nature of international business on a large scale. Our current paradigm and system allow for economic exploitation at the cost of regular citizens.

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Verweghistan – A fictional country derived from the Dutch words “Ver Weg”, which means “Far Away”.

Consider the following statements by MinBuZa, The Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

“In the Netherlands, internet freedom is also a priority in human rights foreign policy.

The Netherlands supports projects aimed at strengthening media diversity and promoting human rights from the Human Rights Fund. A significant part of the total budget is allocated for projects related to internet freedom.15 Initiatives in this area are aimed at: 1) training in online journalism, 2) creating awareness of secure online behaviour, 3) use of circumvention tools and 4) offering strategic hosting support. By using this approach the Dutch government has for instance supported media diversity in Iran, trained online journalists in Afghanistan to make them aware of online security, and made direct investments in projects that offer proxy servers to online activists.”

“To limit the power of the Internet in supporting these key rights, authoritarian regimes have turned to censorship and use blocking and filtering techniques to stem the free flow of information.”  

“Protecting and Supporting Cyber Activists Online“

Then consider the following internal news from the Netherlands, Ministry of Justice and the Public Prosecutors Office.

“Inventarisatie van nieuwe strafrechtelijke opsporingsbevoegdheden op het internet:

Het op afstand doorzoeken van gegevens die vanuit een computer toegankelijk zijn, ongeacht de locatie waarop die gegevens zijn opgeslagen en met inachtneming van de afspraken en regels over de internationale rechtshulp;

Het op afstand ontoegankelijk maken van gegevens die vanuit een computer toegankelijk zijn, ongeacht de locatie van het geautomatiseerde werk waarop die gegevens zijn opgeslagen en met inachtneming van de afspraken en regels over de internationale rechtshulp.

Het op afstand binnendringen van computers en het plaatsen van technische hulpmiddelen (waaronder software) ten behoeve van de opsporing van ernstige vormen van criminaliteit;

De strafbaarstelling van het helen van (digitale) gegevens.”

“Opstelten wil opsporing op internet versterken“

The new law proposal and judicial rights translated into English would say;

The ability to remotely search through data that are accessible on computers, regardless of the computers’ location or where the data is stored, keeping in mind the protocols of other international legal agencies.

The ability to disable data that is accessible on computers, regardless of the computers’ location or where the data is stored, keeping in mind the protocols of other international legal agencies.

Locating and breaking into remote computers and the placing of technical aids (which could be software), to enable the tracing and logging of  ‘serious forms of cyber-crime’.

Obtaining and providing (digital) documents an illegal act.

And there is a Dutch company that is already waiting for the law.

“Now, exactly two years later, the currently demissionary minister has announced in a letter to the Lower House that cyberlegislation is on its way. At Fox-IT we are anticipating this new law with interest. Because although we often know where to find the foreign servers used in cyberattacks, we can do nothing without a legal basis.”

“Are we allowed to fight back?”

Further reading on Fox-IT.

“Het ministerie besteedt zelfs recherchewerk aan Fox-IT uit, doordat ze de regie dan in handen kan houden en het werken met eigen mensen ook risico’s met zich meebrengt.’ Fintelman was blij dat Fox-IT in 2003 de unieke cryptotechnologie van Philips overnam.” 

References, Fox-IT.

“Protecting and Supporting Cyber Activists Online“, 2012. Ministerie van Buitenlandse Zaken. Accessed 10 Jan. 2012.

“Opstelten wil opsporing op internet versterken“, 2012. Rijksoverheid. Accessed 10 Jan. 2012.

“References, Fox-IT.“, 2012. Fox-IT. Accessed 10 Jan. 2012.

“Are we allowed to fight back?“, 16 Oct. 2012. Fox-IT. Accessed 10 Jan. 2012.

Also see “Government Spying and the Social Credit System“.