fnbplanet

Publicly post their attendance % and votes on the issues. Also, list ALL of the laws that they couldn't find time for.

Agreed. Sad to say, if we're to see results from our quest anytime soon, we depend on whether they can bother to show up to do the same job that they're so anxious to get re-elected to. I'm normally an optimist, but these ain't great odds.

Thank Yota, love these kinds of articles!

Venezuela hopes to tackle the world’s worst inflation by deleting zeros from its currency Interesting LOP article from Washington Post .... HERE

I think you're on to their miscalculation. I do believe that the CBI is grossly underestimating the amount of dinar held outside of the country. Probably means that the Iraqi citizens are much poorer than they think.

He added that "the remaining period on the expiration of the 15-day deadline four days during which the Ministry of Finance is obliged to launch it as automatically approved." I thought the budget passed on March 3rd. Fifteen days would mean TODAY the 18th, yet the article, dated yesterday, says four more days.

IMO, 1. There probably are a lot of unconstitutional items in this year's budget. 2. They know that passing a budget is only one step to OPENING a budget. Opening a budget takes time to publish it so they can access it. 3. Money and getting re-elected are the ONLY things that motivate all Iraqi politicians. The important thing to me is that, at about the beginning of the month, they "all-of-a-sudden" found a sense of urgency (extremely rare for them and therefore very suspicious) and rammed it through in a very quick and haphazard way. This fifteen day rule regarding presidential approval was no secret - they at least know the rules. So here's my question: What (money-motivated) DEADLINE has suddenly caused them to come together enough and to finally move so quickly that they break the rules in order to shove this through? I don't believe it's that they want to get home and start campaigning.

Fuad Masum is just positioning himself as defying the central government in order to look good in front of his "peeps". Toothless lion just before elections. We'll probably see a lot more of this as elections draw near.

Just playing with the calculator......if the price of oil just averages $56 per barrel, they end up with a two trillion dinar surplus. Already averaging about $63 first 1/5th of the year.

We ARE smiling! - take the damn picture already!!

This is where the globalists at the IMF exert the power they gain by being the arbiter of loans. "We will help you, but you have to do what we say you have to do". Some view this as making the world a better place, some view it as extortion. Iraq's government HAD to know this was coming. They're lazy, but not stupid. The question now is: Do they play ball and rewrite the budget after the elections (probably means no RI/RV in the meantime, taking it to midyear at least), OR.....do they have another plan, which negates the necessity for the loans (RI/RV)?

Together with the article about how Abadi "saved" Iraq, it sounds as if the campaigning is in full swing! I hope everyone's evening is progressing better than planned! A little Bailey's on two scrawny ice cubes is beginning mine just perfectly.

Sounds like Maliki has his own version of a "Deep State" thing goin' on. P.S. I didn't get the joke. I'll stick with the "Thugs" brand of humor.

Imagine that. They've prepared 8 laws for voting in the event that a quorum breaks out. Ha!

It sure would be nice to have them pass this law(s), with Baghdad picking up all outstanding debts to the oil entities, and then paying those debts with a dinar that was worth MORE. Heck, they could even pay off Kuwait with that new, improved dinar.

Disclosure of a satisfactory agreement for the Kurdistan Region on salaries in the meeting of the three presidencies The members of the Finance Committee in the Iraqi Council of Representatives Ahmed Haji Mahmoud on Friday the agreement of the three presidencies in the meeting held yesterday to send more than six trillion dinars to the Kurdistan Region in order to defend the salaries of employees and employees there. Haji Mahmoud said in a statement today that the most important decision taken during the meeting held in the house of the President of the Republic represents an amount of six trillions and 597 billion dinars for the Kurdistan Region, except for the budget of the Peshmerga forces of 444 billion dinars. He explained that he had represented the Kurdish blocs during the meeting of the Finance Committee, which was held on Tuesday, and we have reached an agreement to allocate the amount of 9 trillion dinars to the Kurdistan Region, according to the condition of the International Monetary Fund, and the budget of the Peshmerga estimated 444 billion dinars, and the allocation of more than one trillion dinars on the budget Region. He said Haji Mahmoud that he then agreed the Kurdish blocs on those proposals, leaving only a meeting, "Mr. Abbadi", but because of some ambiguity that material in the budget, and not meeting with the Finance Committee did not enter the blocks yesterday. He added that the Kurdish blocs did not attend the session yesterday so as not to give legitimacy in reducing the share of the Kurdistan Region of the budget to less than 17%. LINK Just an opinion, buuuuuuut.......this seems like there's more "showboating" in the resolution of this budget issue than meets the eye. Parliament FINALLY passes the budget without increasing the Kurd's share from the lowered 12.67% (victory for THEM), and the Kurds get to show off by boycotting the process in protest, but end up getting all of the goodies in the article above (victory for THEM). Add to all of this, we see the IMF's hand in this by setting the 9 trillion dinars "condition". My question is: If the IMF set a "condition" that the Parliament had to "back door" a 9 trillion dinar payment, what has the IMF promised to Iraq to MEET this condition?? Just sayin'......

I had to read that twice. Looks to me like they "boycotted the vote", and now they are considering a "withdrawal from the political process". From this corner, that's the same ding dang thang.

Honestly, I cannot remember what took place in December for this to happen...but like my jeep buddy says, it's right around .00083/.00085 it's looking like that's when they may have put the clinch on banks and money exchanges to keep the rate the same...buttoned up on corruption??? Looking at the chart, it looks like something happened in the first week of December. Lifting of Chapter 7 on Dec. 7th?

IMO, someone or some deadline seems to be driving this latest push to all-of-a-sudden come to a budget agreement. We all know they have no sense of urgency on their own, and wouldn't care if it dragged out until July. My guess is that there were other items that needed to happen or be accomplished before they could move on to the next step of Monetary Reform, and that those items have been completed or are very close to fruition, and now the Budget is the next step in the process. Any guesses as to what happens as the immediate next step after the budget is a done deal? Just curious.

Here's an idea......why don't they pass a bill that lowers the quorum requirement? It would prevent any one party from holding the Parliament hostage. That way, if a party was trying to stop the passage of a certain bill, they would HAVE to communicate and work with one other to do so - more than likely through quid pro quo ( "if you help stop THIS bill, we'll help you PASS yours"....). just sayin'.

Seems they're p*ssing all over themselves just jockeying for whatever they can scam next.

I wish they'd just give them 14% this year, and hire an outside third party to conduct a census (quickly) for next year. Any cheating or intimidation gets them the 12.67% for 2019. Anyone receiving ANY government payments HAS to show ID and open a bank account for direct deposit. Now, is that so hard to figure out? Eliminate the filthy b*stard, middle-man thieves.

I think he's talking about a new "toaster giveaway" promotion to get people to open checking accounts. It'll be HUGE.

Does anyone else think that Iraq NOT being "handed" $88 BILLION dollars might be a GOOD thing? Giving them that much money would be like slipping an alcoholic a bottle of Jack for Christmas. So, I have to imagine there's a "Plan B". Now, where on earth would they find a way to obtain the wealth needed to import all the materials for a major face lift to their war torn cities? What economic move could they make? Hmmmmmmm.....

They want to outlaw the firing of guns during celebrations because it's dangerous. The knuckleheads call it "fire prevention" ! HA!