It is better to be an outcast, a stranger in one’s own country, than an outcast from one’s self. It is better to see what is about to befall us and to resist than to retreat into the fantasies embraced by a nation of the blind.
Chris Hedges

Tuesday, September 27, 2011

European Rescue Package

The Europeans have developed what they believe is a rescue package- some claim as much as 2 Trillion Euros - to ring fence the corrupted banks and countries in the EU. The truth is that Credit Default Swaps on the banks, and on the sovereigns, multiplies the losses at many, many, more trillions; more than could possibly be printed. Brooksley Born was right. Love him for his honesty, or hate him, Alessio Rastani is telling it as he sees it and how he hopes things turn out. The big winner, when Europe collapses, may be the US as money floods into US Treasuries. But by the time the derivatives contracts begin to hit the court system, those gains will be short lived. Replay this BBC clip. Buy gold and silver and bury it, deeply.
According to a new study at the University of St. Gallen seen by SPIEGEL, one contributing factor may be that stockbrokers' behavior is more reckless and manipulative than that of psychopaths. Researchers at the Swiss research university measured the readiness to cooperate and the egotism of 28 professional traders who took part in computer simulations and intelligence tests. The results, compared with the behavior of psychopaths, exceeded the expectations of the study's co-authors, forensic expert Pascal Scherrer, and Thomas Noll, a lead administrator at the Pöschwies prison north of Zürich. http://www.spiegel.de/international/zeitgeist/0,1518,788462,00.html