I know already that it is pointless to ask you questions, Arjay, 'cos you say this stuff without actually engaging your brain at all. But I'll have another go, just to keep the world a'turning.

>>Some may ask why the Asian Development Bank is important to us. We have no money for infrastructure because of our Govt debt of $600 billion and this has increased with a 20% depreciation in our $ in relation to the USA $.<<

Do you mean this Asian Development Bank?

http://www.adb.org/

In which case:

"Australia has pulled ahead of the United States to become the second biggest aid donor to the Asian Development Bank. The move is part of Canberra's strategy of putting more money into multilateral agencies which have specialist expertise in areas such as infrastructure."

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-08-20/an-australia-becomes-second-biggest-aid-donor-to-asian-developm/4898228

But I rather think you meant this one:

http://www.voanews.com/content/china-launches-new-asia-development-bank/2494903.html

Ok, so here's the question:

How will our membership of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank affect our country's investment in infrastructure, given there are already 21 countries signed up, and only $100 billion planned to be put into the kitty?

It's a bit of an unfair question, of course, because the Bank hasn't yet established its articles of agreement, nor has a single Yuan been deposited.

But given the importance you seem to place upon a) its existence and b) Australia's participation, I'm sure you have already worked out an answer.

(Actually, that last bit isn't true. I know from past experience that you haven't given it any more thought than blindly regurgitating a gobbet from an equally-uninformed conspiracy web site.)

Pericles and Aidan the usual suck ups and apologists to the current Western Banking system which was bailed out by us and continues to loot our economies.

No mention of "bail in" which was passed by our pollies at the last G20 meeting in Brisbane which gives the banks the power to convert our deposits into their shares when their derivative gambling collapses. Are you two saying that James Rickards in his book 'The Death of Money' is a fool and out right liar? Rickards who has worked both for the CIA and our Central Banks as an insider knows what really is happening.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KYW5OGWfqJc

Rather than an Asian Development Bank we should have our own Govt Banks like China and Russia that can create debt free money for infrastructure. Who gave private Central Banks the right to create and own our money supply which represents our growth + inflation?

@Graham Y on Tuesday. The problem with people like you Graham is that you insist on seeing people in terms of "left" or otherwise. There was nothing in my post that reflected a "left" "right" or any other view. I think that my contributions to this forum are based on evidence. One can always disagree as to what policy options the evidence may lead us to. As someone once famously said, you are entitled to your own opinion, you are not entitled to your own facts.

Your view of the TPP is frightening in its ignorance. It has nothing to do with free trade. Those sections of the draft that have been leaked demonstrate that it is an agreement that exists primarily for the benefit of large American corporations, to the extent that they will be able to challenge law passed by our parliament, in a foreign jurisdiction such as Hong Kong, because our law affects their profits. With the greatest respect I suggest that you acquaint yourself with the facts before you venture forth with opinions such as those.

As for being paranoid? Take a half hour of your time and google Gladio, Operation Northwoods, and the US government report (leaked last year after 11 years) on the discovery of nuclear material residue in the World Trade Centres. Read Noam Chomsky while you are engaging in some research. Trust me, you will find evidence based arguments so much more satisfying, as much as that may enrage a large number of the people who inhabit the comments section of this site.

No, Arjay, I[m not an apologist for the system, but neither do I base my opinions of it on false claims.

I didn't mention "bail in" because I found your claims about its implications to be false. What banks can do when they go bust is determined by national governments, and the bail in provisions did not change that.

<<Are you two saying that James Rickards in his book 'The Death of Money' is a fool and out right liar? >>
No, probably just the former. But I've not read his book so I can't yet rule out the possibility that he's a liar too.

<<Rather than an Asian Development Bank we should have our own Govt Banks like China and Russia that can create debt free money for infrastructure.>>
WE DO! We just choose not to use them.

Admittedly it's technically not totally debt free because the money would end up as reserves deposited with the RBA, so technically we'd be in debt the way banks are in debt to account holders. But that's a sensible precaution to control inflation.

What will it take to convince you that (with one technical exception in America) there are no private central banks?

Aidan which banks in Australia are Govt owned and have the capacity to create debt free money for infrastructure ?

Rather than an Asian Development Bank we should have our own Govt Banks like China and Russia that can create debt free money for infrastructure.>>
Aidan ,"WE DO! We just choose not to use them."

Our RBA is controlled by the private Bank of International Settlements through APRA. John Howard gave away the last remnants of power over the RBA in his term. Our Govt now has almost no control of the money supply. Call that a sovereign country ?

When Prof Michael Hudson an economist from Canada came to Australia a few yrs ago he confronted the RBA on why they do not create credit for Australians and got no reply.

Suggest you have a look at Rickards' interview on Money Morning. He backs the Central bankers in seeing the IMF as being the source of a new global reserve currency. He does say we are in for the mother of all collapses and is not alone in this belief.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KYW5OGWfqJc

Say what you will, Arjay. The fact remains that you don't have the vaguest understanding of finance, and continue to make silly mistakes (ADB instead of AIIB is just one of many). I notice that you didn't answer the question that would have proved me wrong on this, and instead went ahead with another classic Arjayism.

>>Rather than an Asian Development Bank we should have our own Govt Banks like China and Russia that can create debt free money for infrastructure.<<

What is the benefit, do you think, of creating "debt-free money"? In what way is it a superior process than, say, an infrastructure bond issue? Given that it is the taxpayer who is going to provide the actual cash involved how - in a democracy - would you present this to the voters?

http://fortune.com/2014/12/01/china-investment-losses-infrastructure/

Or perhaps, as seems likely from your posts here, you would prefer an authoritarian government, in which the people's voice is entirely absent?

And - except for the scale - how does the Chinese approach to funding infrastructure differ from Kevin's Building the Education Revolution stimulus package?

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-01-05/china-said-to-accelerate-1-trillion-in-projects-to-spur-growth

Do yourself a big favour, and tear yourself away from those mind-sapping web sites, and rejoin the real world. It's actually quite interesting.