Idiggraves

The Devolution of Capitalism

2012-01-25T13:59:00.001+13:00

David Stockman's days with Ronald Reagan - and his ringside seat since then, gives him the street cred to comment on what went wrong. From the Mexican Peso crisis, to LTCM, to the GFC of 2007, Stockman sits down with Bill Moyers to talk about what's wrong with America. A former Congressman from Illinois, Stockman served as the Director of the OMB (Office of Management and Budget - the President's chief advisor for the White House) for Ronald Reagan in 1981, when the deficit was less than $1T. When he left, four years later, the national debt was just over $2T. Stockman left the Reagan administration after he was criticised for his comments in an Atlantic Monthly article. His book: The Triumph of Politics: Why the Reagan Revolution Failed (ISBN 0060155604)was critical of his time in the White House. His lengthy interview with Bill Moyers is a serious critique of the Obama Administration. He credits Obama's about face after the election with providing him the impetus to work begin a new book: The Triumph of Crony Capitalism.

Moyers & Company Show 102: On Crony Capitalism from BillMoyers.com on Vimeo.

Economystified: GDP

2012-01-25T12:37:00.000+13:00

Economystified: GDP: How do you measure something that has no physical dimensions? Can a child tell you he has 3 more units of love per hour for th...

The Big Lie - The Daily Beast

2011-12-28T07:51:00.000+13:00

The Big Lie - The Daily Beast
Michael Thomas writes beautiful prose. His description of the violence that will follow the soon-to-be uprising will be a spendid rebuttal to more than 30 years of greed and graft. Recently, I watched a wonderful BBC series about the great writers of the Romantic period. William Wordsworth went to Paris to witness the French Revolution first-hand. The relentless bloodletting got to him and he fled back to England. When I peel back the layers of bankers, lobbyists, politicians, and media who participated in the raping of the world, I can understand the need for the wet work. I expect when the killing starts it will be very bad indeed, only stopping after tellers and security guards litter the tops of the piles.

Financial crisis explained | Stuff.co.nz

2011-12-26T10:35:00.000+13:00

Financial crisis explained | Stuff.co.nz

Are we fuggin' stupid?

2011-12-20T14:17:00.002+13:00

Max Keiser asks the question.

Currency Wars

2011-12-19T11:44:00.000+13:00

Author Jim Rickards discusses the opening salvos of what he says is a global currency war. The Federal Reserve has extended currency swaps to the EU. The ECB cannot devalue the Euro without constitutional change in each of the 23 countries to allow it. In the meantime, Bernanke continues to print -- to provide the IMF with US$ in return for SDR's -- that in effect, the Federal Reserve is 'shorting' the US dollar.

Financial Armageddon: Just As Ugly with Less

2011-12-18T19:34:00.000+13:00

Financial Armageddon: Just As Ugly with Less

London vs. the Eurozone - Howard Davies - Project Syndicate

2011-12-15T12:38:00.000+13:00

London vs. the Eurozone - Howard Davies - Project Syndicate

Bass Season

2011-12-15T07:56:00.000+13:00

Kyle Bass manages the investment fund for the University of Texas. Larry Summers, often called, "The Smartest Guy in the Room", and one of the architects of the current global crisis, managed the investments for Harvard. Bass doubled the Texas pot, while Summers lost more than half Harvard's legacy investments. That's why Summers will always look around the room to see if people like Bass are there, before getting a cocktail. Pay attention to what he is saying in this CNBS, I mean CNBC video.

RBS

2011-12-09T13:15:00.001+13:00

This story of pure greed and arrogance sits at the forefront of disbelief. When the list is made up these guys need to be at the front of the lineup.

Financial Armageddon: I Smell a U.S. Bestseller-in-the-Making...

2011-12-09T10:28:00.000+13:00

Financial Armageddon: I Smell a U.S. Bestseller-in-the-Making...

Debt Slavery – Why It Destroyed Rome, Why It Will Destroy Us Unless It’s Stopped » Counterpunch: Tells the Facts, Names the Names

2011-12-05T06:26:00.000+13:00

Debt Slavery – Why It Destroyed Rome, Why It Will Destroy Us Unless It’s Stopped » Counterpunch: Tells the Facts, Names the Names

Bill Moyers Essay: Plutocracy and Democracy Don’t Mix | The Big Picture

2011-12-05T06:07:00.000+13:00

Bill Moyers Essay: Plutocracy and Democracy Don’t Mix | The Big Picture

AC2011 Session 1.2 Come Undone: Kyle Bass redux - YouTube

2011-12-04T23:45:00.000+13:00

Watch this and you will think twice before believing anything you ever, read about, see, or hear from MSM.

AC2011 Session 1.2 Come Undone: Kyle Bass redux - YouTube

Secret Fed Loans Gave Banks $13 Billion Undisclosed to Congress - Bloomberg

2011-12-02T14:32:00.000+13:00

Secret Fed Loans Gave Banks $13 Billion Undisclosed to Congress - Bloomberg

JP Auclair Stunt

2011-12-02T14:28:00.001+13:00

Thanks Paul Kedrosky

JP Auclair Street Segment (from All.I.Can.) from Sherpas Cinema on Vimeo.

The shocking truth about the crackdown on Occupy | Naomi Wolf | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk

2011-11-28T06:35:00.000+13:00

The shocking truth about the crackdown on Occupy | Naomi Wolf | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk

European Rescue Package

2011-09-27T07:22:00.000+13:00

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

Prophetic Warnings

2011-08-30T09:18:00.000+12:00

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints has always been blessed with leaders who see the world as it is; who caution against a reliance on governments and the machinations of men.

Amy Winehouse RIP

2011-07-28T06:18:00.000+12:00

What a talent. What a waste. Let's hope God receives her with open arms.

Back from Black - The Amy Winehouse Show tribute - You Know I'm No Good from Mike Walker on Vimeo.

Bye bye Miss American Pie

2011-04-13T17:46:00.001+12:00

Financial Armageddon posted this graphic from Billshrink that illustrates the ending of the American Dream. The Beaver got killed in Vietnam. Wally is a 10 term Congressman and Eddie is the president of a Wall Street Bank. Listen to the song while you study and ponder this graph.

Truth vs. Public Perception

2011-04-06T13:42:00.000+12:00

Michael Steinhardt, one of the most successful hedge fund traders ever, and with a longevity that spanned 50 years, now spends his time smelling the roses. He took time out from his retirement to speak frankly about the economy, the end of America's business culture, and what he called the 'Greatest PR Con Job Ever' when he spoke about Warren Buffett.

Truth vs. Manufactured Consent

2011-04-05T07:20:00.003+12:00

Yesterday I suggested folks take a look at some videos. I pointed you towards Manufacturing Consent. Speaking about the subject matter of his book, 'Manufacturing Consent', Noam Chomsky talks about the role the media plays in shaping political opinion. Here then, find out what he has to say about main stream media:

And then take a gander at this recent CNN interview of a former CIA analyst talking about America's intervention in Libya:

At the same time Libya is undergoing what is being called "Kinetic Military Action", hardly a peep is heard from Bahrain where 25 or more people have been killed, another 1,000 have been injured and wounded, and 400 people languish in jail for speaking out. The President of Bahrain's Human Rights Centre, Rajeel Rajabsays Western mainstream media are being asked not to report on Saudi and UAE troops gunning down protesters in Bahrain.
Where does the truth lay? Where is John Galt?

Two Rainy Day Films

2011-04-04T09:21:00.000+12:00

As an agregator site, I pull together items I find interesting to share with my friends. Very little of what I write these days finds its way onto posts. For the most part, any analysis I can offer is less than that provided somewhere else.

Two documentaries have made an impact on me recently. The first is "The Century of Self." This series, produced by the BBC, traces how industry and government use psychology to shape our purchase and voting habits. Eddie Bernays, the nephew of Sigmund Freude, began by working for the tobacco industry. He proved to Madison Avenue that psychology could overcome societal barriers in doubling the number of smokers in America by inducing women to take up the habit. A facinating application of the same techniques were adopted by political parties to get their leaders elected. YouTube also has a series of videos based on Noam Chomsky's great work; "Manufacturing Consent."

And when you are finished watching those and have had a good vomit, I suggest you continue the filmfest and watch the best documentary made about the financial crisis; "Inside Job", produced by Charles Ferguson. He won an Academy Award for it. It is an outstanding piece of film that traces the steps to the collapse from Reagan to Obama. Posted on the site Zero HedgeThis is the first time I have found it on-line for free.

Watch these films and perhaps show them to your friends and family. With an election coming up next year, ask yourself if you can believe anything you hear coming out of the mouths of politicians and the media. Think about the billions flowing from Wall Street to the campaign coffers of both Republicans and Democrats.

Revelations 6:12

2011-03-21T13:10:00.000+13:00

And I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal, and, lo, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood;

Perigee Moon (201103190001HQ)

The full moon is seen as it rises near the Lincoln Memorial, Saturday, March 19, 2011, in Washington. The full moon tonight is called a "Super Moon" since it is at its closest to Earth. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/nasahqphoto/5541053611/in/photostream

Are these the end days?

2011-03-16T07:15:00.000+13:00

Here in New Zealand the world seems to be a little smaller - our tiny nation more isolated. Images from Japan showing the slow creep of that massive wall of black water, consuming whole towns, technology and science spinning in its wake. One is reminded about the powerlessness of the individual. Our largest city - Auckland, was established in and around a cluster of 26 volcanos. Our capital - Wellington, constructed on a major fault line. One has to wonder who will come to the rescue if either of these becomes active? The unfolding muclear disaster in Fukushima
seems a metaphor for mankind's struggle to suborn the engine of it's own creation. The futility of trying to contain fuel rods that have been set free from their containment seems pointless in the face of reality. But, given the choice of wading through toxic slush that jiggles and muffles the tremors beneath your feet, or hanging on to the end of a hose in Fukushima, I suppose it would be better to be doing something, even if it is a losing fight.

Jailed Bankers? Not Likely.

2011-02-18T05:59:00.000+13:00

Rolling Stone's Matt Taiibi asks the question, "Why isn't Wall Street in Jail?"
As time passes and the five-year statute of limitations for criminal prosecutions draws near, it's clear not one banker will be put behind bars. It was not so clear when Lehman Brothers fell. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson felt the need to insert this clause into the TARP Bill:

Decisions by the Secretary pursuant to the authority of this Act are non-reviewable and committed to agency discretion, and may not be reviewed by any court of law or any administrative agency.

Many felt Paulson should have been indicted for watching the crisis unfold.
In much the same way that a "Peace Corps" entry on your resume often proved key to getting the job back in the 60's, investigators working for the SEC, CFTC, and Justice, are guaranteed top dollar working for the banks they had been investigating.
Taiibi writes about an event that took place late last year:

Gary Aguirre, the SEC investigator who lost his job when he drew the ire of Morgan Stanley, thinks he knows the answer.

Last year, Aguirre noticed that a conference on financial law enforcement was scheduled to be held at the Hilton in New York on November 12th. The list of attendees included 1,500 or so of the country's leading lawyers who represent Wall Street, as well as some of the government's top cops from both the SEC and the Justice Department.

Criminal justice, as it pertains to the Goldmans and Morgan Stanleys of the world, is not adversarial combat, with cops and crooks duking it out in interrogation rooms and courthouses. Instead, it's a cocktail party between friends and colleagues who from month to month and year to year are constantly switching sides and trading hats. At the Hilton conference, regulators and banker-lawyers rubbed elbows during a series of speeches and panel discussions, away from the rabble. "They were chummier in that environment," says Aguirre, who plunked down $2,200 to attend the conference.

Aguirre saw a lot of familiar faces at the conference, for a simple reason: Many of the SEC regulators he had worked with during his failed attempt to investigate John Mack had made a million-dollar pass through the Revolving Door, going to work for the very same firms they used to police. Aguirre didn't see Paul Berger, an associate director of enforcement who had rebuffed his attempts to interview Mack — maybe because Berger was tied up at his lucrative new job at Debevoise & Plimpton, the same law firm that Morgan Stanley employed to intervene in the Mack case. But he did see Mary Jo White, the former U.S. attorney, who was still at Debevoise & Plimpton. He also saw Linda Thomsen, the former SEC director of enforcement who had been so helpful to White. Thomsen had gone on to represent Wall Street as a partner at the prestigious firm of Davis Polk & Wardwell.

Two of the government's top cops were there as well: Preet Bharara, the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, and Robert Khuzami, the SEC's current director of enforcement. Bharara had been recommended for his post by Chuck Schumer, Wall Street's favorite senator. And both he and Khuzami had served with Mary Jo White at the U.S. attorney's office, before Mary Jo went on to become a partner at Debevoise. What's more, when Khuzami had served as general counsel for Deutsche Bank, he had been hired by none other than Dick Walker, who had been enforcement director at the SEC when it slow-rolled the pivotal fraud case against Rite Aid.

"It wasn't just one rotation of the revolving door," says Aguirre. "It just kept spinning. Every single person had rotated in and out of government and private service."

The Revolving Door isn't just a footnote in financial law enforcement; over the past decade, more than a dozen high-ranking SEC officials have gone on to lucrative jobs at Wall Street banks or white-shoe law firms, where partnerships are worth millions. That makes SEC officials like Paul Berger and Linda Thomsen the equivalent of college basketball stars waiting for their first NBA contract. Are you really going to give up a shot at the Knicks or the Lakers just to find out whether a Wall Street big shot like John Mack was guilty of insider trading? "You take one of these jobs," says Turner, the former chief accountant for the SEC, "and you're fit for life."

Enough time has passed for bankers, civil servants, and regulators to breath a sigh of relief and go back to the buffet for a second helping.

The Ascendancy of Asia

2011-01-21T10:08:00.000+13:00

As Obama waves goodbye to Chinese President Hu Jintao, Americans can take pride in their President standing tall in the saddle to remind his counterpart of the need for human rights for the Chinese people.

The Ode to the Common Man... Irish style.

2010-12-10T06:54:00.000+13:00

Zero Hedge posted this interview with a regular Irishman. The language is rough, but the sentiment real.

The Denial

2010-11-16T08:39:00.002+13:00

Denial: I don't even know I lied.
With George Bush's memoirs out we grasp the picture of a man who has looked into the abyss much the same way Dicken's Scrooge did when he bore witness of his own legacy and hoped he could dodge justice by manufacturing a glowing self-portrait. Somehow, we expected it of the man -- and chose him anyway, like a repentent flaggelant, flailing away at our own backs.

Obama is different. He promised change we could believe in and delivered an even more opaque version of the marriage between government and corporatism; but his crime is the greater, having revealed us to be a greater collection of fools for thinking things would be different this time. History will judge him badly I'm afraid. Take the case of author Christopher Hitchens.

Dying of esophageal cancer, he looked back over his life. Once the darling of the left, he turned into a rabid voice against the Muslim world following the fatwa issued by Ayatollah Khomeine against Salman Rushdie. He denied the label of "neo-con", preferring the label of "anti-atheist" in what became known as the "New Atheism Movement. As a literary critic he even disparaged Mother Theresa. In his book, God is Not Great, he defined religious faith as totalitarian -- arguing that man alone determined his ethical destiny. As he is dying he reflects upon his staunch support for the Iraq invasion:

I'm glad we're not having an inquest now, as we would be [if there had been no invasion], into why we allowed a Rwanda or a Congo to develop on the Gulf, an imploding Iraq right in front of our eyes, a vortex of violence and meltdown, a whole society beggared and fractured and traumatised, waiting to fall to pieces.

http://www.chris-floyd.com/articles/1-latest-news/2050-blind-mans-bluff-hitchens-pays-obeisance-to-his-one-true-god.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+empire_burlesque+%28Empire+Burlesque+-+Chris+Floyd%29

I look forward to reading what President Obama will write about when he begins his memoirs after 2012. Like Hitchens, he betting there is no God.

And now, a lighter look at denial.

A Must Watch Video

2010-11-01T04:57:00.000+13:00

This video marries conspiracy theorists to realists. Examples about the loss of individual rights in America, our education system, our food distribution system are based on researchable facts, not hyperbole. Given this video has been in production and post production for the past year, we have drifted exponentially closer to the conclusion stated by the National Inflation Association. Please watch this video and look for the similarities not the differences.

How Money is created

2010-09-25T05:27:00.002+12:00

The Short Unhappy Life of a Salesman

2010-09-02T13:28:00.002+12:00

Market Ticker's Denninger Reveals Illegal Flash Trade

2010-07-08T22:03:00.000+12:00

Karl Denninger is one of many voices speaking out against illegal market manipulation. Here he captures live screen proof of algorithmic flash traders pinging the Comex to alter the price of gold.

BP - The Nuclear Option

2010-05-31T12:27:00.000+12:00

This interview sheds light on the options available to plug the oil gushing into the Gulf of Mexico. This interview examines the possibility of oil escaping through another area, 5 miles from the drill site. This expert says the military needs to take over the repair job from BP and consider using a nuclear detonation to seal the rift.

Hugh Hendry takes Jeffrey Sachs to Lunch over Euro Debt

2010-05-29T06:07:00.002+12:00

Is Iran Next?

2010-03-16T11:52:00.007+13:00

The Herald of Scotland reported today that 387 Bunker Buster bombs are being shipped to Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean in preparation for an attack on Iran.

Could Joe Biden's embarassment in Jerusalem last week have been an elaborate ruse to hide his real mission - to plan a co-op attack with Israel? At the very least, this apparent "chilling" of US/Israeli relations takes Iran's eye off the ball. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's visit to Afghanistan, last week, to visit with Afghan President Hamid Karzai in Kabul, only pours more fuel on a situation that could explode into an expanded regional war.

Despite Obama's visible "Open Hand Policy" with Iran, there is little support for a gasoline embargo on Iran. China (perhaps in response to US arms shipments to Taiwan?) and Russia have both said they would not support an embargo. Last year, a Bipartisan Policy Task Force wrote a report called, "Meeting the Challenge: Time is Running Out."

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203440104574402583170409334.html
In an Op-ed that appeared in the Wall Street Journal, the authors warned that Iran could fast-track production of a nuclear device by 2010. They suggested an embargo would not work and urged the United States to prepare a contingency plan to use air strikes to take out Iran's capability. The Centre for Strategic and International Studies prepared a report entitled:
"Study on a Possible Israeli Strike on Iran's Nuclear Development Facilities", one year ago.
1800 K Street, NW Suite 400 Washington,
Iran has said they will choke off the Suez Canal and cut oil shipments to the west if attacked. The "Blu" series bunker-busters were thought to be incapable of penetrating Iran's hardened sites. A new type of bomb called the "Massive Ordnance Penetrator" (pictured above) was said not to be ready until July 2010. The MOP was developed to hit deep re-enforced sites like those thought to exist in Iran.

The likelihood of an attack, without the requisite "last ditch" attempt to find a UN solution, is not expected. However, if Iran should attempt to close the Suez or stage an attack on its neighbours, all bets are off. In any case, today the world took one step closer to a new conflict that could provide the "Black Swan" event that catapults the world into a new oil crisis and almost certain Global Depression.

A Rigged Game

2010-03-16T07:07:00.002+13:00

The Lehman Brothers 105Repo fiasco being brought to light, begs the question? Who else was doing this? In a classic off-balance-sheet switch, Lehman "sold" fragile debts to offshore banks to hide them, a week prior to the regular checks made by banking regulators, then bought the assets back after the regulators left. This was done in full view of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and the SEC, without repercussion. In the end, Lehman was brought down by their competitors, JP Morgan and Citibank, who demanded cash collateral in deal roll-overs - cash Lehman never had.

The nail in the coffin was when Hank Paulson, then Treasury Secretary, allowed the firm to die. "Hammering" Hank had accomplished the job he was hired to do by Goldman Sachs, where he had served as CEO, prior to taking public office. The former linebacker was made CEO to counter the presence of Lehman CEO, Dick Fuld, a notorious bully who intimidated his staff and competitors alike. Hank's physical presence neutralised Fuld's dominance of the Wall Street banking community.

“Dick is in no condition to make any decisions,” Paulson is quoted as telling a group of bankers gathered at the New York Fed to try to arrange a private rescue of Lehman. “He is in denial,” Paulson added, calling Fuld “dysfunctional.”

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601088&sid=a_TVrbtRQz54

One can only imagine the satisfaction for Paulson, when Fuld came begging during Lehman's dying hours.

Michael Lewis, author of Liar's Poker, has written a new book called, "The Big Short" that gives insight into the financial mess that is so deep, and has so captured the framework of checks and balances that was supposed to regulate it. Check out his interview on 60 minutes:

Watch CBS News Videos Online

An excerpt from The Big Short is included in the recent edition of Vanity Fair.

Wireless energy in a cube..... today

2010-02-25T17:55:00.002+13:00

This has to be seen to be believed. An 8 inch square box that produces clean energy, and delivers it wirelessly. It's called Bloombox.

Watch CBS News Videos Online
Hat tip to The Big Picture

Sixth Sense Technology

2010-02-03T10:00:00.002+13:00

This young man, Pranav Mistry, pushes the personal computing experience to levels that are life-changing. This is the kind of thinking that can engineer an economy - both sustainable, and which builds on existing infrastructure.

A Carbon Tax may save us.

2010-01-19T10:36:00.002+13:00

I have not considered the pluses with respect to climate change economics. But economist Jeff Rubin makes a strong case for a global tax on energy consumption. This is a long video but it is well worth a look and listen. Thanks to Paul Kedrosky's Infectious Greed

Terminal Turbo Timmy

2010-01-09T08:17:00.008+13:00

Turbo Tim's time in "The Show" is drawing to a close.

The much heralded phenom is about to be relegated to the minors after the New York Times revealed the former FRBNY's chairperson put the kybosh on the release of counterparty details in AIG's backdoor payout to Goldman Sachs, et.al. That the Washington Post also got copies of the e-mails between AIG and FRBNY smells of Team Obama's desperate need to save face on composting economic matters and offer a sacrificial lamb on the altar of public opinion. William D. Cohen's Op-ed in the Times, that identified Paulson, Bernanke, and Geithner as the three horseman of the economic collapse provides the third witness.

Bloomberg reports that Geithner will be called before Congress on January 18th to testify on his role in the affair. White House Press Secretary issued a hearty "of course" when asked if the President still supported the Treasury Secretary... the kiss of death.

Senator Byron Dorgan, who recently announced he would not stand for re-election, has added his name to those placing a hold on Ben Bernanke's second term as Federal Reserve Chairman. Dorgan makes six Senators- from both sides of the House - who want a vote on Bernanke's reappointment. 41 votes in the Senate and Bernanke is toast. Only a neophyte could believe the two matters are not closely related.

Rahm Emmanuel's iron fingerprints are all over the brown envelopes slid under the doors of the Times and Post after being caught flat-footed by the momentum of HR 1207. Ron Paul's audit the fed bill revealed the soft underbelly of House politics in the face of growing popular dissent, Obama does not want the same dynamic to take out Ben Bernanke.

With mid-term elections on the fore, Congress needs to show some steel and Timmy is the fall guy. It's a win-win situation for everyone: Timmy gets to pull in some 'Rubinesque' coin, Summers gets his shot at Treasury(?), and campaigning Congressmen and Senators get to flex and preen for voters.

But the real game is putting a stop to the multiple crosshairs being brought to bear on Time's Person of the Year.

Nexus Point - March 2010

2010-01-08T09:04:00.005+13:00

The pivotal month is March. The Fed has signalled an exit from purchasing MBS (Quantitative Easing) and the results from Q1 earnings and job numbers will be in. This is Big Picture's Peter Boockvar's take on early 2010:

The US Treasury market, Fed and the level of interest rates hold the key to stock market performance in 2010 and the thesis will specifically be put to the test just in the next few months. If the Fed decides to stick to their current plan to end the purchases of MBS/Agency debt by March 31st, yields are going higher with mortgage rates following and stocks are going lower as they’ve already priced in, in my opinion, a healthy rebound in corporate earnings. If the Fed caves in because of the fear of what higher rates will do to a still fragile but improving economy and announces another round of asset purchases, aka more money printing, no matter what the size, the reflation trade will be in full force, the US$ will resume its downward trend and nominal gains in stocks will continue.
http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/2010/01/the-fed-and-where-stocks-go-from-here

PIMCO's Bill Gross believes there will be a need for Stimulus II, shifting the focus from backstopping financial institutions to kickstarting job creation. In this interview for Time Magazine, the Managing Director for the world's largest Bond firm says this:

The first half will be dominated by government stimulus and by inventory accumulation or a lack of [inventory] liquidation among businesses. I expect nothing from consumer [spending] and nothing really from housing or really any of the standard cyclical leading sectors. It's hard to put a number on GDP growth rates, but let's say 4% in the first half and then 2% in the second half, which would basically call for some additional help.
http://www.time.com/time/business/article/0,8599,1951623-1,00.html

By March we will know if Bernanke/Geithner did enough and if there is enough residual from Stimulus I to effect the national economy in any real way. If stocks retrace significantly and if Interest Rates increase (I think they will), then fears of a double-dip recession will generate the need for a second stimulus package. If we are being set up for Stimulus II, the $2 trillion dollar question is: How will we finance the deficit without more QE?

Best 2010 Forecasts

2010-01-01T00:37:00.003+13:00

Well, this is the time of year when everybody selling investment advice or books gives you their forecast for the year. Since this site provides a bearish point of view, I'm starting off with this list of Doom Forecasts put together by Paul Farrell at Market Watch...My favourite from that list?

Barton Biggs warns us to prepare for a "breakdown of civilization ... Your safe haven must be self-sufficient and capable of growing some kind of food ... It should be well-stocked with seed, fertilizer, canned food, wine, medicine, clothes, etc ... A few rounds over the approaching brigands' heads would probably be a compelling persuader that there are easier farms to pillage."

Those wanting a more mainstream view can check out this wonderful list put together by the team at The Pragmatic Capitalist.
Another great post from James Howard Kunstler at Clusterfuck Nation, who rivals Matt Taibbi over at Rolling Stone in turning a phrase. Kunstler's 2010 forecast is would be funny if it wasn't so true.

Stagflation 2010

2009-12-29T07:24:00.002+13:00

In the waning hours before Congress jetted off for the holidays they removed the cap on financing Fannie and Freddy housing losses. Treasury will auction off $118 Billion more T-bills to close out 2009.
This video talks about the madness of it all.

Membership Criteria - New World Order

2009-11-22T07:37:00.000+13:00

To be considered for Membership in the New World Order, a country has to have: A - A Carbon Tax System, and B: Sufficient control over their population to institute Mandatory Vaccinations. Check out this video posted by BoingBoing.

Bohemian Bankruptcy - A tragedy by Drag Queen

2009-10-26T13:13:00.001+13:00

This was posted by Barry Ritholtz's Big Picture blog. I had to add it to mine. Cheers

The Politics of Deception

2009-10-24T07:20:00.001+13:00

There was a terrific article written by Yves Smith at Washington's Blog . The upshot is we are all being deceived by governments that tell us, "The kids are alright. That everything is fine," when in reality the whole of what we are being told is completely false. He makes 1984-Orwellian parallels between communist and fascist past efforts to control group-think, and today.
Some would even suggest that Nobel Prize winning President, Barrack H. Obama, was the perfect shill for the New Normal; the Black JFK, the Harvard trained ghetto worker from Chicago's South Side. There are some who would even suggest the left/right paradigm is like coke/pepsi - where two entities slug it out for market dominance - only to wake up and discover both products are manufactured in the same plant, that the stockholders for both are owned by one equity fund.

Brooksley Born - A sacrificial ewe at the altar of greed.

2009-10-23T04:50:00.007+13:00

Women have made huge strides climbing to the penthouses of power. But all too often, when they get there, they still face incredible opposition. To endure the cultural misogyny of university, corporate culture, and politics to aspire to the top displays a depth of character and selflessness non-existent in their male counterparts. A woman rises on individual strength: Men in power rise on the strength of their associations and allegiances to the club of men.
One such woman is Brooksley Born. Selected by Bill Clinton to head up the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, Born fought a lonely battle in the 90's to curb the unregulated derivatives market that threatened the economy. In the end she was bullied, slandered, and ostracised by the brethren for daring to question the status quo. This PBS documentary goes in-depth to expose the legacy of shame that rests on the shoulders of Summers, Rubin, Geithner, Greenspan, and many others, in the destruction of a good human being.

Paradise Lost

2009-10-17T08:26:00.005+13:00

It's clear that the global strategy of central governments is to deal with the economic crisis by pretending it is over. Nobel prizes, H5N1 flu, Health Insurance Reform, Afghanistan, and DOW 10,000 rally caps are all subterfuge to keep us from looking too deeply at what has been the largest PONZI scheme in history; a time when trillions of dollars of assets were funneled to people living in the capstone of the pyramid. Naked Capitalism has compiled a great post detailing the extent of the fraud.
Industrial activity and manufacturing have been usurped by financial engineering on an unimagined scale - the new credo "Greed is Good" has become doctrine instead of a catch-phrase. But as Roger Bootle writes in the Telegraph, "Greed is not good, It's dangerous".
And for all the happy fizz-bangs coming from resource-rich countries, the Chinese, Australian and Canadian economies have similar asset bubbles waiting to be burst. Flush with capital, China has been on a commodities buying binge. At the same time, the dragon has been on their own real estate spree inflating the cost of land, housing, and commercial real estate. This has been documented by John Mauldin, a founder of the site: Thoughts from the Frontline Mauldin references The China Files when he writes:

The real estate market in China, particularly the residential side, is a burgeoning bubble that is growing bigger and more breakable by the day. Land and housing prices were already rising steadily when Beijing's stimulus package hit the sector in early 2009. Now prices are surging, with developers, bureaucrats and investors cashing in while urban Chinese - once encouraged to invest in home ownership by the central government - become less and less able to buy.

c/o John F. Mauldin
johnmauldin@investorsinsight.com
This Youtube video provides a glimpse of China's foray in commercial real estate.

The planet suddenly seems much smaller. The US has become a very large stopper in a sea of global debt. Any belief that emerging economies - like China, have the capacity to backstop the freefall of capitalism are founded on a vague hope. When the New World Order takes shape it is clear that those of us born in the '50s will chronicle a lifestyle that will seem mythical to our grandchildren.
The whimsical nature of our changing world is found in Judith Warner's Op-Ed piece in the New York Times To me it captures a feeling of disconnect between reality and our hopes for our children. All of us who remain silent are complicit in the legacy of debt we leave our children. Josh, a fellow blogger, quote Robert F. Kennedy:

"All it takes for evil to prosper, is for good men to do nothing"

Obama - Return of the King

2009-10-14T22:34:00.004+13:00

Let's see... inaugurated January 20th...... nominations close for Nobel Peace Prize February 1st.
Blogsite Club Orlov likens it to the Nobel Prize Gorbachev received while the Russian economy dissolved around him: A sort of consolation prize.

Less than two weeks in office and he wins the Nobel Prize. Is there something wrong with this? Or is it just me? And who nominated him, LLoyd Blankfein? Nobel Committee defend their ground.

Reading List

2009-10-14T21:57:00.003+13:00

* Peggy Noonan's excellent essay on our economic times. c/o John Mauldin

* "Dead Peasants Insurance" - Is your boss insuring your life - and hoping?

* Tarp and Lobbying - a great return on their investment. c/o Open Secrets

The All Great Seeing Eye

2009-10-11T12:37:00.002+13:00

Are we f***ed?

2009-09-29T05:39:00.001+13:00

This has been posted around by Mish and Karl. I thought it was funny. Very Funny.

Staring into the abyss

2009-08-18T05:35:00.004+12:00

Take a couple of hours and go through this blog entry by Karl Denninger. This is especially useful if you are one of those who believe our global economy will somehow come right.

The entry features a presentation by William Black, the lead investigator for the Savings and Loan scandal back in 1989. Famously, Charles Keating, Chairman of the Lincoln Savings and Loan ordered a "hit" on Bill Black. You may recall the "Keating Five" Senate investigation of five Senators who conspired to quash the federal inquiry. It's a very long watch, but worth it for people who believe the worst has passed. Black is currently advising the government of Iceland on their investigations into the banking collapse. For an idea of how that's going read: The Telegraph article via Paul Kedrosky's Infectious Greed Blog.

Market Ticker is a very good source for finding out when the next - even bigger collapse will happen. Denninger has the exuberance of a kid with a new toy. I enjoy listening to his weekly radio blog because he is patient with phone-in questions and explains the "why" about what is happening in the markets.

The Left/Right Paradigm

2009-08-07T16:15:00.005+12:00

The left wing, right wing split in American politics appears to be an illusion. People are waking up to the realisation that regardless of whom occupies the big office on Pennsylvania Avenue, it has been business as usual for Wall Street.

Legislation coming out of Congress in the last decade has uniformly served the interests of financiers by dismantling the safeguards built into the system after The Great Depression. Bill Clinton's administration was a runaway train of change. Signing the Financial Services Modernization Act of 1999, and keeping Alan Greenspan at the Fed, was arguably the root cause for much of the economic destruction today.

George Bush will be remembered as a warmaker, so consumed with Al Queda, that the kids in Treasury and the Fed declared a free-for-all of consumption paid for by cheap debt. By the time Bush had packed his bags for Texas, the collapse had begun and it was "Good Luck" and a hug for Obama on the steps of the White House.

Obama entered the White House with the third highest approval ratings since Gallup began keeping track. And now, after 200 days in office, his ratings have dropped to the third lowest level since tracking began in 1930. Campaign promises to engineer change have not manifested. War has been expanded in Afghanistan, lobbyists still roam the halls of Congress and White House. Bankers emerged from last year's financial collapse intact; their losses socialised and "moral hazard" a forgotten threat.

Strangely, George W Bush achieved the highest approval rating ever - at 98%, following 9/11, with the traditional support given to a President at war. But efforts to shore up Obama's ratings seem destined to follow the Market, this October. This administration is poised to oversee financial collapse in America. The 5-year bond auction failed last week and the 7-year auction that followed was heralded as a success - until it was revealed as a fraud. It's just a question of time. Read here

Everything is hedged on his passing the Health Reform Bill, H.R.3200, to provide health insurance to the more than 30 million Americans who don't have any. The Democrats have the numbers to get the Bill passed, but voters on both sides are showing increased hostility. They realize that nothing in the legislation will reduce the skyrocketing cost of health care. The current recess, a time when congressman and senators return to their districts and feel the pulse of the people, is not going well for those politicians seeking re-election next year. At town hall meetings all across America the party faithful are turning on legistators now seen as puppets.

A grassroots movement has begun in Los Angeles that is puzzling analysts. Posters began appearing in Los Angeles and spread to San Francisco and beyond. The Joker posters are blamed on the American right but there is nothing to support this claim; Rupublicans and Libertarians are just as puzzled by the origin of the posters. Indeed, Democrats are now putting up their own version with the word "Fascist" dubbed in place of "Socialist". People are downloading the image from the internet and paying for the printing themselves. Kinkos reports people coming in with memory keys and getting a hundred, or so, at their own expense.

This may be the groundswell of a second American Revolution. Republican voters are embracing Libertarian candidates in local districts. Rand Paul is running for Congress in Kentucky and Peter Schiff is putting together a team to challenge Connecticut Senator Chris Dodd. It seems likely that a third party will emerge from the ashes to contest the next presidential election.

But it may be too late for Obama to recover the "Hope" that used to emblazon his posters. Facing a Carter-like, one-term presidency, Obama needs listen to the people instead of the retreaded syncophants he began with in January.

A Naked Empire

2009-08-05T21:41:00.005+12:00

Photo courtesy of www.noquarterusa.net

This is one of those (rarer these days) posts to express some idea of where we are headed as a collective body. Its like finding everybody you hold, in respect and love, attending a drug-fueled satanic ritual involving the sacrifice of your baby brother. It is a time when innocence and childish things are lost forever.

The year began with so much promise. True; the economy was in a tatters, but when Obama was inaugurated all but the most cold-hearted of neo-cons had to feel some degree of hope that 'here was the man who might lead us out of the darkness'. Now it appears we are being led towards Armageddon instead of Camelot.

The amount of money in circulation is double what it was this time last year and there is nothing to demonstrate new industry or ideas. Instead, the government is the only growth industry today. Wars are expanded, industry nationalized, and new taxes in the form of carbon credits are soon to be felt in a country that is running out of customers for the never ending auction of treasury bonds offered, week after week. This week the 5yr bond auction failed, like a sharp chest pain to someone with heart disease.

The FDIC, backstopping what is left of peoples' savings, is broke. This year, two million Americans face a Christmas having exhausted the last of their unemployment insurance. California is bankrupt and is issuing IOUs to contractors and suppliers. Michigan is dead. Futures trading in food and oil show skyrocketing increases on the horizon. This October will see bank runs, a currency failure, and a fresh tsunami of housing foreclosures and job losses.

The stock market has become bloated with disease. Stock prices continue to rise, despite any earnings, growth, or dividends. Dark pools of traders meet in hidden rooms behind the hum of racks of servers plugged into the matrix of global trading, skimming pennies off the blind by the supertanker load. There is no regulation, no oversight, no justice for the impoverished retirees at the hands of bankers who have lost their humanity. Moral hazard... indeed.

And presiding over this band of merry pranksters is "The One". He's a perfect choice really. His color deflects any criticism with cries of racism. His manner is reminiscent of a newly elected JFK, but slowly the veil is being lifted to reveal the Wizard as nothing more than an actor. The Congress is a hen house full of blatherers. Content with their C-Span moment, they cannot fathom their complicity in the greatest fraud ever to take place.

Another war won't fix it: Nobody will be lining up to buy war bonds for an institution now regarded as an enemy. As Oliver Stone wrote, "Charlie is out there... and he's hungry.' So all that's left is to huddle behind the ring of nuclear might and blackmail the nations of the world to submit, if they don't collapse first.

Or will the unthinkable happen: that the elites will unleash a pandemic among its denizens and neighbours in a last stand effort to turn back the clock to a time when there was plenty for everybody. Once more Americans will be told to stand in line for the shots. This time, it may be a soylent concoction with the real intent of removing all but the most essential from among us. Carbon footprint erased, all debts eliminated, and resources enough for another millennium of V8 cruising and malteds at the corner store.

Sick in America

2009-08-04T04:34:00.005+12:00

An incredible item today from Naked Capitalism They linked to Taunter Media and featured a post called "Unconscionable Math".

In short, it says that half of Americans who carry health insurance do not claim anything. That it is only when you reach the 95th percentile that you find any appreciable costs - in this case: $11,487. It is the top one percent who are responsible for 22% of the costs. So far, so good.

But the insurance industry hedges against this one percent of policy holders by including convaluted and hard to understand questions in their application process. The health insurance underwriters will happily accept your premiums. But the minute you report cancer or some other high cost condition, a team from the company go over your quesionaire and application to see if you screwed up. Through this process half of all policies - in the 1% group - are cancelled.

Listen to this testomony on Capital Hill:

So President Obama promises health care for all Americans, but instead of universal care like systems found in Canada, New Zealand, or Britain, he proposes to deliver the care by subsidising the cost of health insurance. Only in America.

SWINE FLU VIRUS BEGAN IN LAB WAYNE MADSEN RUSSIA TODAY JULY 2009

2009-07-21T19:08:00.001+12:00

Wayne Madsen talks about the Swine Flu outbreak, He states that more than 100 people have died of swine flu in New Zealand.

Swine Flu Update

2009-07-14T23:33:00.003+12:00

Swine flu numbers continue to climb in New Zealand - especially Northland. There are 120 people in hospital with the flu. Ten are in intensive care. My friend Gary's daughter is one of them. She began with relatively mild flu symptoms, but decided to go to the hospital when she started to cough up blood. After the examination she was put in an induced coma and isolated. She is 36 years old.

My wife's executive assistant has been off work for the past ten days. He thought he was getting better and then the flu came back with a vengeance. He has lost consciousness a couple of times and is being cared for by his sister. He has not seen a doctor. He is 32 years old.

Our next door neighbour's eldest teenage son is in quarantine at home. My grandson's pal is beginning to have symptoms. What began as an abstract news item has begun to hit closer home. I imagine it's only a matter of time before the flu enters my inner circle. I am not worried for myself, but this disease seems to find strength in the young and I worry for my children and grandchildren.

Swine Flu Update

2009-07-10T05:07:00.002+12:00

Officially, New Zealand is reporting 1,195 people with H1N1 Swine Flu, but the numbers are probably much higher. 47 people have been hospitalized and seven have died so far. Yesterday, I learned that swine flu hit my former workplace. There are about 20 staff there. What happened was one of the staff rushed down to visit a neice who had come down with the flu. On Tuesday she was reporting symptoms. On Wednesday two more staff members got sick - one of them was hospitalized. Who knows what today will bring. Deaths from the flu all carry the same message: "The victim had additional contributing complications." I was there on Tuesday, and met with the woman who was later hospitalized.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/health/news/article.cfm?c_id=204&objectid=10583022

Community clinics to fight the pandemic are beginning to pull out of the effort to deal with the disease because of funding fears.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/health/news/article.cfm?c_id=204&objectid=10583333

New Zealand has ordered 300,000 doses of vaccine from Baxter Pharma, enough to immunize 150,000 people. The as yet unproven vaccine is still in production. Baxter Pharma was the company that sent 5,000,000 doses of another vaccine to Europe. A Chechoslovakian centre tested the vaccine on ferrets first, but they all died. It was discovered that the vaccine contained live Avian flu.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601202&sid=aTo3LbhcA75I

Goldman Sachs - The Enemy at the Gate

2009-06-30T15:10:00.001+12:00

Rolling Stone's Matt Taibbi wrote a terrific piece about Goldman Sachs. Click here to read.

Down with a flu

2009-06-18T06:10:00.002+12:00

I couldn't say I was "down with THE flu" - I even wondered about the A flu, just in case someone thought I meant Influenza A. In any case I don't know whether I had H1N1 or not. Three days ago I woke up feeling achy - I want to say "ague", but since it is a word only found in crosswords and I have no idea whether it is pronounced "A gu" as in guru, or "agyew" as in Agnew (and am feeling too shitty to find out) I fell back on "Achy".

Anyhow, I had all the symptoms: headache, diarrhea, aching muscles and joints, a temperature of 37.9C, nausea. As a school worker, I called it in and about an hour later got a call from the department head. After I explained why I couldn't come in she asked me, "So you can't come in?" I said, "No". I should explain that I work with "difficult" students. These are the ratbags nobody wants in their classroom but are legally bound to do something with - that's where I come in. They bundle all of them up together for me. The department head asked suggested I come in anyway and hopefully the students would get it too. She wasn't laughing.

Just to be on the safe side I telephoned the 1-800 number advertised nationally for those showing symptoms of swine flu.... I got an answering machine message that advised me to telephone my local district health board. I phoned them and they told me to contact my GP (general practitioner). When I called them they asked what my temperature was? I told them and there was an audible sound of relief: "We're only seeing people with a temperature over 39C," they said. So I'm at home, reading about flu. The national health department announced that they were no longer trying to contain Swine flu. Instead, they would just manage it.

So, I can't tell you whether I have THE FLU, or just a flu.

US vs. UK

2009-06-10T10:55:00.002+12:00

I am beginning to wonder if this global financial crisis is just the fallout in a game of chicken between New York and London. Britain stopped building anything a long time ago and North Sea Oil revenues allowed them the capital to reestablish their throne as the center of the planet for bankers. Wall Street fought back by engaging in the same chancey trading of shadow banking instruments. When current customers were sated they just created a new subprime market. The winner will only be declared when one cries, "Uncle" and cannot fool the world into buying more of their bonds.

The Financial Services Act, 1999 was America’s response to what was happening in London, where Glass Steagal didn’t exist in the first place. The UK can’t be blamed for trying to recapture the financial predominance Fleet Street enjoyed during the time of Queen Victoria, but it has to be acknowledged that the derivatives market was an invention of the Poms.

The lack of transparency in European accounting requirements allowed banks there to adjust their books to offset and postpone losses in a way US banks could not (until last April’s G20 Conference anyway). However, these losses will have to present themselves eventually. Timing is everything. It may well be a footnote in history that America survived by pouring enough cash into the financial bubble to wait out a more devastating European crash that followed.

A New Computer

2009-06-06T09:15:00.002+12:00

Perhaps nobody noticed, but I havn't been posting recently. That's because my trusty old ASUS laptop packed it in. I purchased a netbook, a HP Mini 1128tu, and am going to try it out for my blogging. It is handy to tote around. Hopefully, this will result in more output.

Technical Difficulties

2009-06-03T05:11:00.001+12:00

I haven't been posting much since my computer packed it in. I have a new one on order and will be back before too long.

US Debt

2009-05-23T14:08:00.002+12:00

For those of you who miss watching the little squares move when you defragged your hard drive. US Debt Clock

Bear Market will end... or else.

2009-05-22T16:46:00.003+12:00

Yesterday's $45 billion bond issue fell flat, along with the stock market, so where is the money going? As Bernanke employs QE, the big question is are foreign sovereign funds dumping their bonds at the same time, driving up yields? Karl Denninger writes in his blog:
There apparently is a new wrinkle to the intermediation trade between buying from Treasury to sell to the Fed with real money, including central banks, now in on the act. Indeed, several Street sources relay central banks were aggressive offers into this morning's coupon pass, with one letting go of a large block of old 5-years. Other offers too are coming in from embedded Asian real money longs -- in the higher coupons -- also looking to sell size without unduly upsetting the market, and especially considering the illiquidity in off- the-run bids from the Street.

Whether influenced or not by the much higher tenders coming in on the Fed Passes ($45 bln tendered for $7.4 bln bought in today's pass for a 16.2% hit rate), fast money has been tattooing the bid and especially so in the belly with the 10-year most leaned on. Note as well, earlier this week the Bank of England (BoE) gilt pass too saw a need to offer paper at or below the market's bid side in order to get sales off.

So now what Ben?

If Foreign Central Banks are selling into Ben's bid then the game is literally weeks or even days away from being over.

May 21, 2009, 11:11 a.m. EST
Treasury to sell $101 billion in debt next week

NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- The Treasury Department said Thursday it plans to sell $101 billion in debt next week in its monthly round of shorter-term note offerings. The government will sell $40 billion in 2-year notes (UST2YR 0.83, 0.00, -0.48%) on Tuesday, matching the amount expected by Wrightson ICAP. It will also offer $35 billion in 5-year notes (UST5YR 2.01, -0.01, -0.69%) the following day and $28 billion in 7-year notes next Thursday. The 7-year security was reintroduced in March to help the government spread out the increasing debt issuance needed to fund all of lawmakers' stimulus plans and the Fed's programs to stabilize financial markets.

This next week will prove to be pivotal.

Plastic Coffins being Stockpiled in the US

2009-05-13T21:08:00.003+12:00

All over America fields are being leased by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to stockpile hundreds of thousands of plastic coffins. Manufactured by a company in Covington, Georgia, called Vantage Products, these coffins have been purchased by FEMA. The following video shows them stacked like dixie cups.

When Pigs Die

2009-05-04T09:22:00.006+12:00

My last post compared the 1918 "Spanish Flu" with the current "Swine Flu". One of the promising factors about the most recent outbreak was the missing link between pigs and humans. Yesterday, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency reported that a sick worker, returning from Mexico had infected 200 pigs at his workplace in Alberta. The pigs seem to be recovering. What is troubling is that a bridge between pigs and humans has been established.

The WHO will step down their alerts in the coming two weeks. However, we should hold our collective breath throughout the summer (winter in Australasia). If the flu reappears again in June, it may be following the wave pattern of infection that occurred in 1918. This will be confirmed if a resurgence results in a higher death rate. By then the virus manufacturers should have prepared a new generation of vaccines for the marketplace. New infections will retract and the mortality rate will fall. This will be attributable to the new regimen.

But, following the 1918 paradigm, infections and rates will decline anyway, irrespective of treatment; the worst months were in October and November, when the virus returned. I'm very concerned this is a very real scenario. The conspiracy theorists in the blogosphere are telling everyone that the whole pandemic was a staged hoax, to take our minds off the economy and tighten control on society.

Economists are beginning to be divided into two camps; Keynesians vs. Mises. The Keynesians are telling us to get ready for a slow recovery this fall. The Austrian School (Mise) are warning of a more devastating collapse of the equity and forex markets this October.

So October may prove to be a watershed month for all of us. Economists do agree on one thing: If the pandemic returns with greater strength, the cost to the global economy will erase all of the gains in the past year and leave us once more poised on the precipice of a sytemic collapse.

The Economy and the Flu

2009-05-01T14:05:00.004+12:00

We seem to have taken the same approach to solving the economy and the H1N1 virus, throw money at it and hope it goes away. Masks are handed out that do nothing to screen out the virus. Tamiflu, not specific enough to kill this virus, is distributed and sold throughout the world. These things reassure people, who see action being taken and since the disease seems to kill only Mexicans, life can go on.

When the so-called "Spanish Flu" hit in March 1918, it was not unlike any other flu on the day; people got sick and then they got better. The flu seemed to be gone by the end of April. But it wasn't gone... it came back with renewed strength in June and people began to die. Again it seemed to be gone by the end of July. but it wasn't gone... it came back even stronger than before in October, this time killing many more people than ever. Another, less deadly wave, broke out again in 1919. And then it was gone.

When comparing the 2009 virus with its distant cousin from 1918, there is one reassurance. The 1918 virus affected pigs the same as people. So far, pigs are reported to be unaffected. Hopefully our virus lacks that little something that accounted for so many deaths.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/28/opinion/28barry.html

Stock Tip - Buy Dow Global Technologies Inc.

2009-04-29T05:58:00.003+12:00

Those looking for a hot stock to buy should consider a flutter on Dow Global Technologies Inc. (NYSE:DOW). They have developed a new technology to ferment vaccines much quicker than traditional methods, especially important in finding vaccines for recombinant strains of virus' such as H1N1. Merck and Pfizer have both signed agreements with DowPharma for the new technology.

They also hold a patent on a vaccine filed in 2006. Their production subsidiary is Serum Institute of India Ltd., the world's largest producer of vaccines.

The 1918 Flu in New Zealand

2009-04-28T06:00:00.004+12:00

This carved wooden Maori cenotaph was erected at Te Koura marae in memory of those who died in the 1918 influenza pandemic. The cenotaph was designed and carved by Tene Waitere of Ngati Tarawhai. He also created a similar cenotaph at Te Ihingarangi marae, Waimiha. This photograph was taken in 1920 by Albert Percy Godber.

Serviceman returning from The Great War brought the flu to New Zealand with them. The population in 1918 was 1,150,000. One characteristic of the flu was that it came in waves. The first wave served to immunize communities to some extent. Many people were lulled into believing it was not the same flu as the one that had killed so many elsewhere. But it was the second wave of the flu, catching previously unaffected communities that caused the majority of the 8,600 deaths in New Zealand.
Maori were seven times more likely to die from the flu.

Maori suffered heavily: their overall rate of death was 42.3 per thousand people, seven times that of Europeans. In one community, Mangatawhiri in the Waikato, about 50 out of 200 local Maori died. Whina Cooper recalled similar suffering at Panguru, Hokianga:

Everyone was sick, no one to help, they were dying one after the other. My father was very, very sick then. He was the first to die. I couldn't do anything for him. I remember we put him in a coffin, like a box. There were many others, you could see them on the roads, on the sledges, the ones that are able to drag them away, dragged them away to the cemetery. No time for tangis. (writer's note: official statistics identify only 9 deaths in the Hokianga.)

But there was an exception. Mortality amongst Maori on the East Coast of the North Island was, according to historian Geoffrey Rice, ‘much less than expected in comparison with other North Island districts'. This may have been because they had received partial immunity from the first wave which was reportedly widespread in the district during August and September.

To date, nobody has died from the flu outside of Mexico. However health officials there cannot say whether the deaths there, which are now more than 100 people, are because what we are seeing is a second wave asserting itself.

Certainly, this H1N1 virus sweeping through Mexico bears striking similarities to the 1918 flu. Both have origins in swine and both are claiming the lives of healthy people between the ages of 19 - 35. What makes this virus more alarming than the 1918 variety is the hybrid nature of it: This virus contains elements of Avian Flu from two different continents, elements of different swine virus' from two different continents, along with a human influenza virus.

The last pandemic fear was during the SARS scare 3 years ago. That virus proved to be a false flag because it did not make the transition from, bird to human transmission, to human to human transmission. This new virus, almost certainly a virus that was manufactured in a laboratory, has combined the most dangerous elements of both the swine and avian varieties. Because of the exotic nature of this strain, it is highly unlikely that tamiflu or any other vaccine will be effective. A new vaccine - specific to this virus, is estimated to take months to develop; most of those who died in New Zealand, did so in the two months following the first outbreak wave.
http://www.nzhistory.net.nz/culture/influenza-pandemic-1918

It's here.

2009-04-26T20:41:00.002+12:00

8pm
New Zealand Health Minister Tony Ryall has this evening confirmed ten positive influenza results from testing carried out on 13 Rangitoto College students who returned from Mexico early yesterday morning.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5g-G1kSAM9yaH00eBrXD2S5s-3ZhgD97Q12800

The Crisis is here.

2009-04-25T12:17:00.011+12:00

On October 5th, 2005 the CDC announced they had successfully reconstructed the virus that caused the 1918 flu pandemic. The work, done in collaboration with Mount Sinai School of Medicine, the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology and Southeast Poultry Research Laboratory, determined the set of genes in the 1918 virus that made it so harmful. The 1918 pandemic killed an estimated 20-50 million people worldwide, including 675,000 in the United States. The pandemic’s most striking feature was its unusually high death rate among otherwise healthy people aged 15-34.

The Army's Criminal Investigation Command agents have been visiting Fort Detrick in Frederick, Maryland, to investigate the disappearance of three vials of a virus. Christopher Grey, spokesman for the command, said this latest investigation has found "no evidence of criminal activity."

The vials contained samples of Venezuelan Equine Encephalitis, a virus that sickens horses and can be spread to humans by mosquitoes. In 97 percent of cases, humans with the virus suffer flu-like symptoms, but it can be deadly in about 1 out of 100 cases, according to Caree Vander Linden, a spokeswoman for the Army's Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases. There is an effective vaccine for the disease and there hasn't been an outbreak in the United States since 1971.

The vials had been at the research institute's facility at Fort Detrick, home of the Army's top biological research facility, for more than a decade. The three missing vials were among thousands of vials that were under the control of a senior scientist who retired in 2004. When another Fort Detrick scientist recently inventoried the retired scientist's biological samples, he discovered that the three vials of the virus were missing. The original scientist's records about his vials dated back to the days of paper-and-pen inventories.

Health officials in Dallas County are urging anyone with upper respiratory ailments to be tested for a rare strain of swine flu after two cases surfaced in Texas.

Elsewhere across Texas, health departments are on the lookout for the illness, which sickened two high school students from Guadalupe County near San Antonio and a 10-year-old boy from San Diego who visited Dallas before his diagnosis. All three, and the other four victims in the U.S., have recovered and are fine.

"This virus that has been isolated has never been seen before," said Dr. John Carlo, medical director for Dallas County's health department. "The good news is this has been very mild."

It's unclear how anyone caught the virus that combines pig, bird and human viruses in an unusual way, he said. None of the seven people were in contact with pigs, which is how people usually catch swine flu. And only a few were in contact with each other.

Test results the state received from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention showed the Texas illnesses were caused by a swine influenza-A virus that appears to closely match the viruses from the five in Southern California.

It's not yet known whether those cases are related to the swine flu virus that may have killed 60 people in Mexico, sickened hundreds of others there and has health officials fearful of a possible global flu epidemic.

There have been no reported deaths in the United States and health officials say there's not yet cause for alarm here.

The day the earth stood still

2009-04-20T21:27:00.002+12:00

This programme from PBS is a stunning look at the first days of the economic crisis. It is clear from this programme that Goldman Sachs engineering a short run on Bear Stearns that almost brought the whole shooting match down. It was a near run thing.

The End Game

2009-04-11T22:48:00.003+12:00

I stumbled across this Vblog from an economist who experienced the collapse of the Argentine economy firsthand. Speaking today, he discusses how out-of-control shadow bankers are intent on a controlled dissolution of individual state governments.

Part One:

Part Two:

God help us all. This man is not alone... Marc Faber gives advice on how you can benefit from today's market, but there is little doubt he comes to a similar conclusion as to the endgame.

12 Trillion Dollars is transferred from the US Taxpayer to Bankers... So what does a trillion $ look like?

2009-04-11T07:32:00.001+12:00

How Globalization destroyed Argentina

2009-04-09T04:56:00.003+12:00

This series of videos, found on You Tube, documented the effect of globalization on the people of Argentina. The same banking institutions responsible for today's crisis were present during decades of looting there. With very little imagination, a thinking person can gain a glimpse of how shadow bankers, conglomerates, the IMF, and the Western governments work in concert to pillage countries of their wealth and enslave working people. An amazing series, It is well worth the time to watch all 12 segments.

Credit Card Slaves

2009-04-07T04:38:00.003+12:00

With employment in the US at 8.5% and increasing by more than 600,000 a month, the new focus is on credit card debt. The typical American consumer uses their credit card as a cash flow management device. When they lose their jobs, credit cards are used to carry expenses over. The banks know this and analyze each transaction for signs you may be having trouble. Use your card to pay for utility or food at the grocery store, or take out a cash advance and your credit line may be cut short... on the spot. At the very least your interest rates will get jacked up to the "high risk" level.

Hidden fees, credit line cuts and dramatic increases in rates has unfairly targeted people whose credit is good and has meant big profits for the banks. Currently three regulatory bodies have announced changes to the rules that allow banks to trap cardholders, but these changes don't take effect until mid 2010. In a bid to resurrect a badly damaged image, Chairman of the Senate Banking Services Committee, Senator Christopher Dodd, is fast-tracking legislation that would see changes happen now. You may remember that it was Dodd, whose Connecticut seat is home to AIG headquarters, who took out bonus restrictions from the TARP I bill and touched off the recent furor over AIG's bonus bonanza, last month.

This legislation could touch off another "shit-storm" in the banking sector.

Speaking with Steve Forbes, Meredith Whitney believes that instead of a 'run on the banks', there is a high possibility of a 'run on the cards' by American consumers. The new legislation restricts card issuers from changing credit lines and interest rates on the fly, so when someone loses their job there are fears that person will max out their cards before the 24-day grace period featured in the bill. In anticipation of these changes, credit worthy holders are seeing their credit lines reduced ad-hoc.

Before any of the new regulations were introduced last year, credit line were chopped by $1 Trillion as banks reduced their exposure to credit card debt. A reduction in the $2.3 Trillion of existing credit lines in the US could do to the consumer what the banking crisis has done to the banking industry.

The average American owes more than $8,000 on their cards. With 1.5 billion credit cards in circulation in the US, half of the card holders pay the minimum each month.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/29/business/29credit.html?scp=6&sq=credit+card+debt&st=nyt

G20 Capitulates to the bankers and shows US how to fudge the books

2009-04-03T23:06:00.003+13:00

Two major decisions at the G20 conference locks in any doubt that governments worldwide have capitulated to the bankers.

First, the G20 have agreed to adopt International Accounting standards when banks issue reports. US accounting standards are much more strict; a protection for investors and a bulwark against the prevalence of lawsuits in the US, arising from misleading bank reports. This article, published last year in the Washington Post, shows how these standards allowed European banks to bilk investors. In short, International accounting standards allow banks to shift losses to another place in time. This means that when the expected bear rally fizzles in October, the collapse will be compounded by unreported losses floating their way back to the top at some time in the future.

The second move was to shift away from Mark to Market. This will permit US banks to backdate the value of the derivatives they are holding to the date they were purchased, not on their value today. One can only wonder how this will affect the outcome of Geithner's PPIP plan to purchase the toxic assets that has frozen the banks. Banks are afraid of exposing their assets in today's market because it will prove they are insolvent. Getting rid of Mark to Market will permit the banks to substitute bad assets for good cash... all at the expense of the taxpayer.

All this has done has moved back the day of reckoning. There has to be losers somewhere in the mix, but these two moves forestalls the collapse and does nothing to solve the problem.

Op-Ed Contributor - Obama’s Ersatz Capitalism - NYTimes.com

2009-04-02T04:07:00.001+13:00

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/01/opinion/01stiglitz.html?pagewanted=2&ref=opinion

Joseph Stiglitz: Yet another nobel laureate in economics, whom believes Geithner Plan II, (PPPIP) guarantees profits for the banks at the expense of taxpayers.

Trust

2009-04-01T05:54:00.003+13:00

The future of the world economy hinges on trust:

How can anyone trust bankers, whom not only bankrupted their balance sheets, but used derivatives to bet on that very thing happening? And now we are being asked to suspend the evidence and trust that they will not use Geithner Plan II to jack up the value of their credit default swaps and cash out at the expense of future generations.

How can anyone trust the Federal Reserve, whom flooded the world economy with ridiculously low interest rates for more than a decade, to police the banking system?

How can anyone trust House and Senate representatives, so deeply indebted to banking lobbyists, whom poured billions in campaign contributions into both Republican and Democrat coffers, in return for a dismantling of every regulation put in place after the last Great Depression?

How can anyone trust President Obama, when he appoints a Treasury Secretary who was complicit in the breakdown as Governor of the New York Federal Reserve Bank, was an employee of Goldman Sachs, and didn't pay his taxes? This same president whom promised transparency, accountability, and a political system free of lobbying?

At some point, the injustice of it all will turn into public insurrection. More than the economy is at stake now; the very fabric of society hinges on a fragile hope that America's elites have the country's best interest at heart.

Geithner Plan II - Why it won't work

2009-03-31T15:07:00.002+13:00

Smart people have been saying all along that the banking crisis could be easily solved. All the United States needs to do is create and capitalize a bunch of new banks, with clean balance sheets. Six new banks, each with 100 billion dollars of taxpayer money could leverage these pristine assets at a ratio of 6:1 - meaning each of these banks could have 600 billion dollars to begin lending tomorrow.

Smartish people say nationalize the insolvent banks, clean out their balance sheets, recapitalize them, and sell them.

But Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner, chooses to do none of this, because to do so would necessitate the dissolution of management, stockholders, and Boards of Directors. His former employer, Goldman Sachs, paid $6 million dollars into Obama Campaign coffers... against today.
So, Geithner has concocted a way to keep these insolvent banks intact, at the expense of prudent banking practice. What Geithner's Plan II intends, it to launder these toxic assets through the taxpayer filter. This video explains how that will happen.

Bailouts to date

2009-03-31T14:42:00.004+13:00

Column Archive SPECIAL REPORT Issue #1: America's Money Crisis

Economy rescue: Adding up the dollars

The government is engaged in an unprecedented - and expensive - effort to rescue the economy. Here are all the elements of the bailouts.

Date Bailout Allocated Spent

December 2007 Term Auction Facility
Lending program that allows commercial banks to unload hard-to-sell assets, including mortgage-backed securities: Fed takes assets as collateral and banks get cash. $600 billion $468.6 billion

February 2008 Economic Stimulus Act of 2008
Tax rebates of up to $600 for individual filers and $1,200 for couples in effort to boost the economy. Businesses received more than $60 billion in tax breaks. $168 billion $168 billion

March 2008 Bear Stearns bailout
Program to guarantee potential losses on Bear Stearns' portfolio; smoothed the way for JPMorgan Chase to buy the failed investment bank. $29 billion $26.2 billion

March 2008 Term Securities Lending Facility
Federal Reserve facility that loans Treasurys to banks against hard-to-sell collateral like mortgage-backed securities. $200 billion $88.6 billion

March 2008 Primary Dealer Credit Facility
Long-time lending facility for commercial banks that was opened to investment banks for first time in March 2008. n/a $61.3 billion

May 2008 Student loan guarantees
Program to purchase federal student loans from private lenders. Aim is to provide financing to companies that provide student loans. $130 billion $9 billion

September 2008 Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac bailout
Cost to the government of taking the mortgage finance companies into conservatorship. $400 billion1 $59.8 billion

September 2008 Foreign exchange dollar swaps
Exchange of dollars to 13 foreign central banks for collateral. Aim is to provide liquidity to foreign financial institutions. Unlimited $327.8 billion

October 2008 FHA housing rescue
Funding set aside for insurance of new 30-year fixed-rate mortgages for at-risk borrowers, tax credits for first-time home buyers and assistance to states and municipalities. $320 billion $20 billion +2

October 2008 Auto industry energy efficiency loans
Low-interest loans to help speed the industry's transition to more fuel-efficient vehicles. $25 billion $0

October 2008

Troubled Asset Relief Program
Financial rescue plan aimed at restoring liquidity to the financial markets. Funds thus far allocated for capital purchases in banks and emergency bailouts.

$700 billion

$323.4 billion

October 2008

Bank capital investments

$250 billion

$198.6 billion

November 2008 Citigroup capital investment
Emergency funding to keep bank afloat; in addition to previous $25 billion capital investment. $20 billion $20 billion

November 2008 Citigroup loan-loss backstop
Funds set aside to backstop potential losses to Treasury from Citigroup loans. $5 billion $0

November 2008 TALF loss provisions
Funds set aside to backstop potential losses to Treasury from purchases of consumer loan-backed securities and mortgage-backed securities. $100 billion $0

December 2008

Auto industry bailout
Program that will provide capital on a case-by-case basis to systemically significant institutions that are at substantial risk of failure.

$29.8 billion

$24.8 billion

December 2008	General Motors Government bailout of automaker to keep company afloat and help it achieve viability for the future. Last $4 billion subject to congressional approval	$13.4 billion	$13.4 billion
December 2008	Chrysler Government bailout of automaker to keep company afloat and help it achieve viability for the future. Last $4 billion subject to congressional approval	$4 billion	$4 billion
December 2008	GMAC Government bailout of auto finance company to which Federal Reserve granted bank holding company status. $5 billion went to GMAC directly and $1 billion to GM to make an investment in the company.	$5.9 billion	$5.9 billion
January 2009	Chrysler Financial Government bailout of auto finance company to which Federal Reserve granted bank holding company status.	$1.5 billion	$1.5 billion
March 2009	Auto Supplier Support Program Program to help stabilize auto suppliers by guaranteeing debt owed to them for shipped products, and providing financing to continue operations.	$5 billion	$0

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January 2009 Bank of America capital investment
Emergency funding to aid Merrill Lynch transaction; in addition to previous $25 billion capital investment. $20 billion $20 billion

February 2009 Foreclosure prevention $50 billion4 $0

February 2009 Public-private investment fund
Taxpayer funds used in partnership with private investment that will buy up at least $500 billion of toxic assets from financial institutions. $100 billion $0

March 2009 AIG common stock investment
Money to help troubled insurer pay off now defunct lending facility set up by Fed in the initial version of the company's bailout. $40 billion $40 billion

March 2009 TALF investment $20 billion $20 billion

March 2009 AIG preferred capital investment $30 billion $0

March 2009 Small business loan-backed securities purchasesFunds to purchase securities backed by SBA loans in effort to unlock credit for small businesses $15 billion $0

n/a Funds left unallocated $20.2 billion n/a

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October 2008 Money market guarantees
Four programs to help money market funds by insuring against losses; financing bank purchases of debt from funds; buying funds’ debt; and lending to funds directly. $659 billion $15 billion

October 2008 Commercial Paper Funding Facility
Purchases of short-term corporate debt aimed at boosting the struggling market and providing critical three-month financing to businesses. $1.4 trillion $241.3 billion

November 2008 Unemployment benefit extensions
Funds to help states expand unemployment benefits. $8 billion $8 billion

November 2008 Citigroup loan-loss backstop
Funds set aside to insure against losses from bank’s mortgage-backed securities investments. $245 billion $0

November 2008 Term Asset-Backed Securities Loan Facility
Program to buy consumer loan-backed securities. Aim is to revive the securitization market for consumer loans like credit cards and auto loans. $1 trillion $4.7 billion

November 2008 GSE mortgage-backed securities purchases
Program to buy mortgage-backed securities held by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Aim is to reduce rates on home loans. $1.25 trillion $236.2 billion

November 2008 GSE debt purchases
Program to buy debt issued by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Aim is to reduce rates on home loans. $100 billion $50.4 billion

November 2008 FDIC Temporary Liquidity Guarantee Program
Guarantees on newly issued bank bonds with maturities of more than three months. Aim is to restore liquidity to the corporate bond market and provide long-term financing to banks. $1.5 trillion $297.1 billion

2008

FDIC bank takeovers
Cost to FDIC fund that insures losses depositors suffer when a bank fails.

n/a

$18.5 billion

January 2009 Bank of America loan-loss backstop
Funds set aside to insure against losses from bank’s Merrill Lynch merger. $97 billion $0

January 2009 Credit Union deposit insurance guarantees $80 billion $0

January 2009 U.S. Central Federal Credit Union capital injection $1 billion $1 billion

February 2009

American Recovery and Reinvestment Act
Infrastructure spending, funding for states, help for the needy and tax cuts for individuals and businesses to stimulate the economy.

$787.2 billion

n/a3

February 2009	Tax cuts for individuals and businesses	$212 billion	n/a
February 2009	Direct spending	$267 billion	n/a
February 2009	Appropriations spending	$308.3 billion	n/a

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February 2009 Foreclosure prevention $25 billion4 $0

March 2009

AIG
Multifaceted bailout to help insurer through restructuring, minimize the need to post collateral and get rid of toxic assets from its balance sheet.

$182 billion5

$129.3 billion5

November 2008	Bridge loan Financing to help company through its restructuring process as it spins off non-core businesses.	$60 billion6	$43.2 billion
November 2008	Collateralized debt obligation purchases Facility to buy private investors' loans on which AIG sold insurance. As the value of loans plummeted, AIG was forced to post more collateral to back up the insurance contracts, known as credit default swap agreements.	$30 billion	$27.6 billion
November 2008	Mortgage-backed securities purchases Facility to buy company’s securities backed by residential loans.	$22.5 billion	$18.4 billion
March 2009	Treasury preferred capital investment Loan to help pay off a now defunct lending facility set up by the Fed in the initial version of the company’s bailout.	$30 billion	$0
March 2009	Investment in ALICO and AIA life insurance units	$26 billion	$0
March 2009	Purchases of life insurance-backed securities	$8.5 billion	$0
March 2009	Treasury common stock investment	$40 billion	$40 billion

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March 2009 U.S. government bond purchases
Federal Reserve will buy up to $300 billion of U.S. debt to support Treasury market and help keep interest rates down for consumer loans. $300 billion $15 billion

2009

FDIC bank takeovers
Cost to FDIC fund that insures losses depositors suffer when a bank fails.

n/a

$2.3 billion

Total: $10.5 trillion $2.6 trillion

1$200 billion set aside in September 2008; $200 billion additional in February 2009
2At least $20 billion
3Estimated budget impact for 2009 is $120 billion
4Making Home Affordable foreclosure prevention program will get $50 billion from Treasury, $20 billion from GSEs and $5 billion from HUD.
5Includes $70 billion from TARP
6Bridge loan allocation to be reduced to not less than $25 billion once government takes stakes in life insurance units

Sources: Federal Reserve, Treasury, FDIC, CBO
Note: Figures as of March 30, 2009

http://money.cnn.com/news/specials/storysupplement/bailout_scorecard/index.html

The Big Takeover : Rolling Stone

2009-03-27T15:04:00.001+13:00

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/26793903/the_big_takeover

Andrew Ross Sorkin, Paul Krugman and Joe Nocera | The Big Picture

2009-03-27T14:13:00.001+13:00

http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/2009/03/andrew-ross-sorkin-paul-krugman-and-joe-nocera

The Size of Derivatives Bubble = $190K Per Person on Planet

2009-03-23T21:24:00.001+13:00

http://www.siliconvalleywatcher.com/mt/archives/2008/10/the_size_of_der.php

Op-Ed Columnist - Has a ‘Katrina Moment’ Arrived? - NYTimes.com

2009-03-23T05:56:00.001+13:00

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/22/opinion/22rich.html?em

The Kennedy Speech that got him killed.

2009-03-14T11:05:00.002+13:00

It has been less than 50 years, but this speech given by J.F.K. challenged the shadow bankers. There is evidence Kennedy saw this secret society as the United States Federal Reserve.

KENNEDY TRIED TO CHANGE IT
In 1963, President John Kennedy wanted an end to the Federal Reserve System, which had a strangle-hold on the United States and virtually the world. By a simple stroke of the pen, President Kennedy dismissed the Federal Resene System and ordered the U.S. governmcnt to restore its Constitutional-mandate of controlling the money. President Kennedy was dead three weeks later. When President Lyndon Johnson took office, he immediately rescinded Kennedy's order and the Federal Resene won another round.
Representative Charles A. Lindberg, Sr., the father of the famous aviator, was a member of thc Banking and Currency Committee. He opposed the Federal Reserve Act and gave a speech on January 20, 1915. "The system is private, conducted for the sole purpose of obtaining the greatest possible profits from the use of other people's money, and in the interest of the stockholders and those allied with them." Representative Louis T. McFadden, chairman of the Housing Banking and Currency Committee, stated on June 10,1932, "Some people think the Federal Reserve Banks are United States Government institutions. They are not Government institutions. They are privatc credit monopolies that prey upon the people of the United States for the benefit of themselves and their foreign and domestic swindlers; and rich and predatory money lenders."
FOREIGN BANKERS OWN MAJORITY OF FEDERAL RESERVE
More that half the shareholdings in the Federal Reserve Bank arc controlled by large New York City banks, including National City Bank, National Bank of Commerce, First National Bank, Chase National Bank, and Marine National Bank. When Rockefeller's National City Bank merged with J.P. Morgan's First National Bank in 1955, the Rockefeller group owned 22 percent of the shares of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, which in turn holds the majority of shares in the Federal Reserve System - 53 percent. But who really owns what? Here arc the top controllers of the Federal Reserve Bank
1. Rothchild banks of London and Berlin.
2. Lazard Brothers Banks of Paris.
3. Israel Moses Seif Banks of Italy.
4. Warburg Bank of Hamburg and Amsterdam.
5. Lehman Brothers Bank of New York.
6. Kuhn, Loeb bank of New York.
7. Chase Manhattan Bank of New York, which controls all of the other 11 Federal Rwerve Banks.
8. Goldman, Sachs Bank of New York.
This ownership combination has been challenged by the Federal Reserve Bank, but a study of Standards and Poors will verify the ownerships. This means that the controlling interest of our national monetary system is foreign. In 1797, John Adams wrote to Thomas Jefferson, "All the perplexities, confusion and distress in America arise, not from defects of the Constitution or Confederation; not from any want of honor or virtue, as much as downright ignorance of the nature of coin, credit and circulation." In simple terms, the United States Government borrows money from the Federal Reserve Bank with interest. Here is how it works: The Government wants $1 billion. The Federal Reserve prints $1 billion - based upon no hard asset - and lends it to the Government at a high interest rate. The bank did not have the original money, it created it and made a bookkeeping entry - like you writing yourself a check without funds and cashing it. The Federal Reserve controls the flow of money, making it tight and creating unemployment or printing more than actually exists and creates inflation. It is, in wessence, a paper corporation, which controls the entire economic well-being of the nation.
CONCLUSION
No Congress, no President has been strong enough to stand up to the foreign-controlled Federal Reserve Bank. Yet there is a catch - one that President Kennedy recognized before he was slain - the original deal in 1913 creating the Federal Reserve Bank had a simple backout clause. The investors loaned the United States Government $1 billion. And the backout clause allows the United States to buy out the system for that $1 billion. If the Federal Reserve Bank were demolished and the Congress of the United States took control of the currency, as required in the Constitution, the National Debt would virtually end overnight, and the need for more taxes and even the income tax, itself. Thomas Jefferson was concise in his early warning to the American nation, "If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issuance of their currency, first by inflation and then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around them will deprive the people of all their property until their children will wake up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered."

In his farewell address to the nation, President Dwight Eisenhower warned of the danger.

AIG - The Kingpin

2009-03-10T12:56:00.002+13:00

The latest buzzword in finance is no longer "too big to fail": it's "systemic risk". The same could be said about holding a gun to someone else s head. AIG, already the recipient of $130 billion taxpayer dollars, leaked this document to ABC News (a favourite of the dems) just four days before asking Treasury for another $30 billion dollars.

Aig Systemic 090309

Publish at Scribd or explore others: Business & Legal baiklouts aig

If you are not a Keynesian - then you're for Uncle Milton

2009-03-03T15:45:00.003+13:00

Economist Milton F. Friedman talks with Phil Donahue about the necessity for capitalism and greed in society.

Paul Harvey Dies - aged 90

2009-03-02T06:24:00.002+13:00

As a kid growing up we listened to the radio a lot. Sure, we had TV, but some stories were best told on the radio. There was a guy called Paul Harvey who told stories. They were always interesting because at the last would be some trick ending. He always prompted the punch line with the words: "and now for the rest of the story..." With a deep voice and an ingenious use of pauses - during which the radio would hum while we hung on the edge of our seats, he provided what I later came to recognise as art.

Dr. Roubini talks about the stimulus package.

2009-02-11T22:07:00.002+13:00

This prospectus by Nouriel Roubini is downright scary.
Have a gander: BLOOMBERG

Dr. Doom and The Black Swan

2009-02-10T14:21:00.001+13:00

This video features two economists who got it right. Listen to what they say about today's solution.
Dr. Doom and The Black Swan

Update 2009

2009-01-29T10:48:00.003+13:00

Sorry I haven't been posting the past couple of weeks. Put it down to my young grandson on holiday until next week (Feb 9th) . After I get him packed off I'll get right back to work. There is so much to write about.

Accounting for Profit

2008-12-30T06:17:00.002+13:00

The Economic Crisis has become a crisis of trust between people, business, banks and government - and now you can add accountants into the mix.

Recent changes to the way the global body on accounting, the IASB, keeps books, will soon show a global recovery that is non-existent. Last October, the IASB, changed the rules to enable companies more leeway in disclosing assets and liabilities to favour the balance sheet. Deutsche Bank, for example, shifted $32b off their balance sheets. This enabled them to post a profit of $120m istead of a loss of $970m. When the profit was announced shares in the bank's stock soared 19%.

The accounting changes were made because of pressure from the EU. The IASB was formed to standardize accounting practices globally so investors and auditors could compare apples with apples. 130 countries have agreed to the new international standards - the major holdout to date is the US.

In the US, accounting standards are maintained by the Financial Accounting Standards Board. The FASB standards are considered more conservative and transparent than those elsewhere in the world, because of the larger number of lawsuits in the US. But pressure is being brought to bear on the US to change their standards. The SEC has ordered all companies to adopt the new standards by 2016, but 100 selected American companies can use the standards in 2009.

If Deutsche Bank's experience with the change is any indication, US banks will report startling turnarounds in Fiscal 2010. If just one of the major banks, probably Citigroup, accepts the new standard and reports a profit, then the other banks will be forced to follow. Just like derivatives trading, nobody will want to be left behind. Pundits and spokespeople will celebrate the end of the recession and the start of a new bull market. But in fact, it will be a bull with no balls.

Pause to Reflect

2008-12-12T05:29:00.002+13:00

The global recession happening around us will leave very few people untouched, but rather than focus on the negative, there is an opportunity for people to make major shifts in their lives for the better.

From birth, we soon learn the words, "I want!" or "It's mine." Through our developing years we were rewarded by getting things. In adulthood we measured our success in terms of the stuff we have accumulated: like houses, cars, and electronics. But in truth our families have not prospered. Drug and alcohol use is problematic for many families; just as crime and violence has become the cultural norm in many of our communities.

Here in Godzone , New Zealand, young people are roughly divided into three categories; gang prospects, athletes, and victims. Although I live in a moderately affluent part of town, weekends are binges that see roving groups of drunken youth chasing the next event. Fights break open when these groups collide and generally the nights are occassioned by girls screaming and cars squeeling around town. Dogs bark and the sound of breaking glass and assaults on such things as street signs and mailboxes ring out.

I wonder how parents can sleep at night knowing their children are out there. Probably, they have become acclimatized to the whole scene and are generally content when the morning comes and their kids are back home. Two weeks ago there was an incident when one drunken teenage girl returned home in the company of three older boys at 3:00 in the morning. The mother came out and ordered her daughter inside the house. The daughter rained abuse at her mother who stepped in and grabbed her daughter. The daughter's screams prompted calls from to the local police, but as soon as they pulled up the daughter ran down the street in a great drama. She cried out for help to the police, saying her mother had assaulted her. The mother was arrested. I wonder where the father was?

As the economy forces us back to basic living, I hope many of us take a fresh look at our values and take stock of what is truly important. Family time and activities are generally cheaper than handing cash to the kids and telling them to have fun. At a time when stock dividends are becoming worthless, perhaps now is the time to invest back in our families.

The sun also rises

2008-11-28T05:47:00.002+13:00

Just a little something to remind us all of the symbiosis between hope, spirit, and music.

Bonfire of the Vain and Stupid

2008-11-27T11:30:00.003+13:00

The Dow is up for the third consecutive day. No doubt some are thinking the bottom was reached last week and we have a long slow recovery ahead of us... but I'm not one of them.

I am reminded of 1929: The stock market crashed and came back then too. It wasn't until 1932 that the impact of a mangled manufacturing base hit with full force. It's easy to look back at Harry Hopkins and FDR as heroes for getting the nation out of the Great Depression, but it took a full ten years of fiscal tweeking and a wartime economy to get millions of people back to work. It was hardly a miracle.

In the end it was greed that got us. For once in recent history, the market was allowed to operate without intervention or regulation. The past decade has been the story of manifest entitlement by the privileged few. The creation of new investment facilities that enabled investment bankers to multiply their profits by selling MBS's to second tier entities that later repackaged and sold the risk to trusts and corporations in the form of CDO's and Credit Default Swaps. Complicit, and critical to all of this were the bond and rating agencies - like Moody's, that assigned AAA ratings to these trusts and corporations - the "shadow bankers" a requirement before shares of these products could be sold to thousands of pension funds, hedge funds, and municipal and state fund managers.

That any third party - completely unrelated to any of these transactions, could later take out insurance policies that paid off in the case of a default of these trusts and corporations is clearly bordering on, if not outright criminal. These derivatives paid massive returns to holders of the paper so long as people kept borrowing and buying houses. They paid even more when the bottom dropped out of the housing market and millions of new homeowners defaulted on their mortgages. Those betting on a collapse could then cash in their default swaps for insurance remissions from companies like AIG.

Perhaps the best first-person account of Wall Street culture, written to date, is a story written by Michael Lewis in Portfolio.com, entitled "The End of Wall Street's Boom".

The solution is far from a done deal. There is an old saying, "use a thief to catch a thief." If there is any truth to that then President-elect Obama has assembled a first class team to lead the nation through the crisis, because most of them had a hand in creating it. As for me, I am growing weary of reporting on the ups and downs of it all. I'd like to get back to writing about the sorts of things that contribute to the growth of the human spirit. But, I'm an addict, and as such will no doubt be drawn back to what is the biggest story of my mature years. In the meantime, I am going to get on to some other subjects.... if I can.