IMF Head Would Resort to Belly Dancing to Get Banking Reforms.

IMF Head Would Resort to Belly Dancing to Get Banking Reforms. (RN).

 The International Monetary Fund’s Managing Director Christine Lagarde joked before reporters Thursday that she would belly dance in front of the US Congress if it resulted in the banking reforms the institution is looking for, the Washington political insider’s newspaper The Hill reported.

“I have threatened even doing belly dancing. If that’s what it takes, then I will deliver it. But I hope it doesn’t,” the 58-year-old former French Finance Minister said in jest before the news conference, the source said.

Lagarde, who is participating in this week’s IMF and G20 fall sessions in Washington DC, pleaded with the US Congress, which she claimed was stalling the quota and governance reforms that had been proposed by the institution.

The proposals include doubling the requirements of members’ financial contributions to the bank’s general loan fund to a total of $755 billion. They also propose increasing the vote share of emerging economies such as China, Russia and India. This is something US Senate Republicans are reluctant to accept; as a result, the proposal has been blocked for nearly four years, despite support from President Barack Obama and most of the Senate Democrats.

The United States presently has a 16.73 percent vote share in the organization, giving it an effective veto power on amendments to the institution, which require an 85 percent supermajority in order to pass.

“Everybody knows that it is currently stuck before the U.S. Congress,” Lagarde said, cited by Reuters.

“We very much hope that the different branches of the U.S. authorities ... will understand the relevance of having an IMF that is representative of the global economy and includes the people that should sit at the table," she added.

The IMF chief’s comments were echoed in the Communique of representatives from the Group of 24 developing nations, which also met in Washington Thursday. The communique stated that the organization remains “deeply disappointed that the IMF quota and governance reforms agreed to in 2010 have not yet come into effect,” and urges “the U.S. to complete ratification.” The communique adds that “this remains a significant impediment to the credibility and effectiveness of the IMF and unjustifiably delays forward-looking commitments." Hmmm......Anyone else feels another 'executive order' coming?

Snowiest Jan-Feb since 1800s in New York City, with some extra 'Global warming' ...March as well.

Snowiest Jan-Feb since 1800s in New York City, with some extra 'Global warming' ...March as well. Source.

"Guess What?" - Satellites show no global warming for 17 years 5 months

"Guess What?" - Satellites show no global warming for 17 years 5 months. HT: WUWT. By Christopher Monckton of Brenchley.

The monthly satellite lower-troposphere temperature anomaly from Remote Sensing Systems, Inc., is now available.

Taking the least-squares linear-regression trend on this dataset (the bright blue horizontal line through the dark blue data), there has now been no global warming – at all – for 17 years 5 months.

Would readers like to make a projection of how many mainstream media outlets will report this surely not uninteresting fact?

It shows that the Hiatus hernia for true believers in the New Religion continues.

My own prediction is that the number of media reporting 17 years 5 months without any global warming will be approximately equal to the number of general-circulation models that predicted such a long Pause notwithstanding ever-rising CO2 concentration.

Print out the graph as a postcard and send it to the editor of a newspaper near you that has shut down democratic debate by announcing that it will refuse to print any letters at all from “climate deniers”.Hmmmm.....Headless chickens don't read graphs i guess.

"I'm Not A Dictator" - Obama not 'waiting for legislation' to push agenda.

"I'm Not A Dictator" - Obama not 'waiting for legislation' to push agenda.(WE).

President Obama on Tuesday said he's “not just going to be waiting for legislation” from Congress to move forward his agenda in 2014, further stoking a clash between both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue over the reach of executive power.

“I've got a pen and I've got a phone,” Obama said before a Cabinet meeting at the White House, issuing a challenge to GOP lawmakers who have blocked most of his second-term agenda.

In alluding to his “pen” and “phone,” Obama made clear that he would not hold back from issuing executive orders and rallying the public behind his agenda.

Obama was also asked about his speech at the Justice Department on Friday in which he'll outline reforms for the National Security Agency. The president told reporters simply, “It's getting close.”Hmmmm........Turkish professor of political science : "Absolute power corrupts absolutely" Is this true for every country?Yes, this is true for every country

Video - Global Cooling, Is an Ice Age Coming?