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Wall Street Hustlers Built a $100 Trillion House of Cards and Stuck You with the Fallout

By Joshua Holland, AlterNet. Posted October 22, 2008.


Deregulation brought us hugely "leveraged" investments, and they brought us panicked markets and pain.

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Exactly Why We Need To Audit These Banks ...
Posted by: mmckinl on Oct 22, 2008 12:46 AM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
The US tax payer is now on the hook for $2.5 trillion in guarantees for these banks, brokerages and hedge funds yet all $ 2.5 Trillion could disappear overnight should these derivatives take a turn for the worse. That's right, $2.5 Trillion in tax payer money could be lost with the misplaced stroke of a computer key !!!

We need a bank holiday like FDR had to audit these banks before all our money gets sucked into the derivatives black hole. Why should we tax payers give dime one to these crooks without seeing what we are getting ourselves into.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

Ponzi FASCIST ruling class CRASH
Posted by: Mister_PsyOps on Oct 22, 2008 2:10 AM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Sorry but the so-called “context” to this piece is a red herring.

The engine and malefactor that brought this crash is the same one that cooked that last great crash at the Great Depression. Even Rockefeller ruling class charlatan Milton Friedman admitted the “The Federal Reserve definitely caused the great depression” where “Fed” chair Bernanke copped to it as he told birthday boy Friedman “Regarding the Great Depression. You're right, we did it. We're very sorry. But thanks to you, we won't do it again.”

Well what can we say about a private Ponzi scheme “Federal Reserve” Corp that was never federal with minus no reserves that prints money out of thin air and charges the nation interest on it? We can say it's REGULATION. Only it’s Orwellian “Keynesian” regulation by and for Fascists over the rest of us.

The grotesque “leverage” inherent in printing up fiat funny money out of nowhere but debt is a criminal farce that was unconstitutional the day the “Fed” was hatched in 1910 by robber barons at their secret summit on Jekyll Island and then rubberstamped by Klu Klux Klan bogus “progressive” puppet president Woodrow Wilson.

The derivatives gambling casino that actually crashed the system is at least a thousand time more dangerous than the subprime mortgage debacle. And the entire mess is an outgrowth of the rigged nature of the economy under the ruling class shell game enforced by the “Federal Reserve” Corp Fascist bank.

The most important thing to realize about most crashes is they are planned events. That would include this one managed by Alan "Bubbles" Greenspan (whose doctorate in economics was on housing bubbles) that fought against “regulating” the derivatives market. It would also include Hank Paulson (ex CEO Goldman Sachs and a prime marketer of “derivatives”), Bernanke and Co who constantly told us everything was peaches and Wall Street profits until the latter half of this year.

Bottom line: this is about Organized Corporate Crime Rule by a criminal class that has trashed the constitution for unending Wall Street bailouts under martial law as it holds the nation for ransom. A ransom so complete it could only be described as Fascism where “capitalism” and “democracy” aren’t just missing in action but crushed before the nation’s eyes.


“What we have found over the years in the marketplace is that derivatives have been an extraordinarily useful vehicle to transfer risk from those who shouldn’t be taking it to those who are willing to and are capable of doing so…We think it would be a mistake to more deeply regulate.”
Alan Greespan (before the Senate Banking Committee 2003)

“Our financial institutions are in a strong financial position, and our economic fundamentals are healthy…”
Hank Paulson (IMF meeting 10/20/07)

"We will not have any more crashes in our time."
John Maynard Keynes (economist credited with “Keynesian Economics” advocating centrally planned and controlled economy. Two years before the Great Depression. Quote 1927)

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jailbirds
Posted by: richholland on Oct 22, 2008 2:32 AM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
the guy who stole a car worth $ 10.000 will be put in jail for 2 years....

the banker who stole 10.000.000 wil be sent to the Bahamas or Dubai lifelong.

This is Free market, Gods Own Country.
Yes brothers and sisters soon hundreds of hustlers will be arrested... ask mr MCCain ask Mrs Todt Palin??

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All these bets and the insurance on these bets could be Settled Easily
Posted by: opmoc on Oct 22, 2008 2:32 AM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
With bets there are winners and losers, but at the end of the day it's a zero sum game. The winners cancel out the losers.

What's screwing up the entire financial system is that the entire mess is so complex that no one knows - or is admitting to knowing who the winners and losers are in detail.

Now the whole thing could be settled by Governments Worldwide declaring that these bets are illegal.

The US Government effectively did the equivalent of this a couple of years ago by retrospectively declaring most on-line gambling in the US illegal. This effectively crashed several UK listed gaming companies. The US even started arresting Directors of these companies whilst they were passing through US airports.

So the precedent has already been set.

But what do Governments want? Some give the impression of not actually wanting to solve the financial crisis - which is causing real grief throughout the World.

No one is sensibly arguing that house prices simply have to come down to realistic levels such that the ratio between average house price and average wages return to historic norms. That is just part of normal 15-20 year cycle.

But there is no need for the process to have such an appallingly drastic effect on the real economy.

Once this mess is cleared - and it will be cleared over the next 12 months or so - one way or another - effective regulation is essential.

But we need more than that. We need an entire cultural change within the financial system to get back to fundamental principles of investment in people, processes and companies that perform a useful function for society.

Gambling should simply be entertainment. It should never have been allowed to become the entire main central focus of the vast majority of the major financial institutions and their gamblers (investors is a completely misleading word for these people - reckless crashers is more appropriate)

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A number of problems with this piece
Posted by: Russianrocket on Oct 22, 2008 2:37 AM   
Current rating: 2    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Read this piece is painful for me, because there are just so many factual errors and misconceptions in it. So let me just start listing some of them, to help dispell some of this.

1. CDOs and MBS are not derivatives. You actually own the debt with them or in the case of CDOs, pieces of it.

2. CDOs and MBS offer lower returns than most stocks and bonds. In fact, they offer pretty modest returns compared to other securities, however the returns were superior to others in their perceieved risk class.

3. And at that, the investment banks never said they weren't risky. In fact in every CDO/MBS prospectus, the probably spelled out ever potential risk short of nuclear winter. It was the ratings agencies, independent monitors of the debt markets, who said they weren't risky, giving them AAA ratings. Take that up with the ratings agencies, not the bankers.

4. No one held a gun to the people's heads who took out the subprime mortgages and told them to do it. I love this double standard. When an average person acts irresponsibly and does something stupid, they are a victim, but when a bank does something stupid, they are criminals.

5. When you trade commodities, you are trading futures contracts, which are a form of derivative.

6. On US exchanges you can leverage a hell of a lot more than 50%.

7. Most bonds, debt, whatever is traded over the counter. There aren't bond exchanges. Additionally, when trading CDOs these two-party contracts consist merely of an agreement between a buyer and a seller. No real opacity here.

8. How do hedge funds have anything to do with this crisis? I mean, I know they are the boogie man of the blogosphere, but really how do they contribute at all to your arguement?

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» RE: of course it is fraud Posted by: Lauren
» Answer my post, Rocket! Posted by: ReallyBearish
» Who is Russianrocket? Posted by: ReallyBearish
» RE: A problem with YOUR piece Posted by: Russianrocket
» It IS a moral issue. Posted by: heid
» RE: It IS a moral issue. Posted by: Russianrocket
» RE: It IS a moral issue. Posted by: Russianrocket
A number of problems with this piece
Posted by: Russianrocket on Oct 22, 2008 2:43 AM   
Current rating: 1    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Read this piece is painful for me, because there are just so many factual errors and misconceptions in it. So let me just start listing some of them, to help dispell some of this.

1. CDOs and MBS are not derivatives. You actually own the debt with them or in the case of CDOs, pieces of it.

2. CDOs and MBS offer lower returns than most stocks and bonds. In fact, they offer pretty modest returns compared to other securities, however the returns were superior to others in their perceieved risk class.

3. And at that, the investment banks never said they weren't risky. In fact in every CDO/MBS prospectus, the probably spelled out ever potential risk short of nuclear winter. It was the ratings agencies, independent monitors of the debt markets, who said they weren't risky, giving them AAA ratings. Take that up with the ratings agencies, not the bankers.

4. No one held a gun to the people's heads who took out the subprime mortgages and told them to do it. I love this double standard. When an average person acts irresponsibly and does something stupid, they are a victim, but when a bank does something stupid, they are criminals.

5. When you trade commodities, you are trading futures contracts, which are a form of derivative.

6. On US exchanges you can leverage a hell of a lot more than 50%.

7. Most bonds, debt, whatever is traded over the counter. There aren't bond exchanges. Additionally, when trading CDOs these two-party contracts consist merely of an agreement between a buyer and a seller. No real opacity here.

8. How do hedge funds have anything to do with this crisis? I mean, I know they are the boogie man of the blogosphere, but really how do they contribute at all to your arguement?

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

» RE: Bankrupt! Posted by: Cybershaman
» RE: Bankrupt! Posted by: Russianrocket
» RE: Bankrupt! Posted by: endoftheroad
» What, you get TWO shots Rocket boy? Posted by: ReallyBearish
» RE: A number of problems with this piece Posted by: andabottleof_rum
» Why are you still posting rocket boy? Posted by: ReallyBearish
And jubilant Wall Street says:
Posted by: talkville on Oct 22, 2008 3:20 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
"The cards are dead; long live the cards!!"

They have $700-plus to start building a New House. And, in a few years, that one will come down. And...

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

Bank FREEZE, Forclosure FREEZE, Derivative FREEZE!
Posted by: Ottomatic on Oct 22, 2008 4:08 AM   
Current rating: 4    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Check the Books!
Fire the Crooks!
Rescind their Corporate Charters.
Rescind all Corporate rights as Human beings.
They're Capital Appendages of the Wealthy:
MACHINES!
Nationalize their assets and expropriate the Debt.
Declare all Derivatives Void.
Let the chips fall.
Put all cards on the table right now.
Stop the Rip-Off!
STOP the BU__! SH__!
Corporations swear no Allegiance to the U.S., to the American People or to our creed.
they have no: Values, Ideals or Positive Humanistic Goals.
They by the selfish, by GREED!
SCREW them!
They got themselves in this mess.
Why should we bail them out.
Capitalism is DEAD.
Good Riddance!
Let's party on it's grave.
We can do better!
The Corpirate C.E.O.s still have all the stolen LOOT,
Take it Back.
Repatriate everything privatized by BUSH.
Kick The ZIO-CON Federal Reserve, their Debt and their phony Dollar all the way back to OLD EUROPE, where they came from.
FREE America from their Evil Control,
ZIO-FASCIST Servitude, Economic Terrorism and Treachery.
Goodbye Ben-Playing-Hanky-Panky go suck down some Ratschild wine.
Here's a little parting gift to show our appreciation:
Tar and Feathers!

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» Deflecting the obvious Posted by: weathered
» Scapegoating Nazi-Style Posted by: gellero1
Sorry, this comment has been removed from the system.
Again, if Mukasey was doing his job
Posted by: weathered on Oct 22, 2008 4:47 AM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
as an AG instead of what he really is, a criminal defense attorney we'd see indictments.

Remember who put him through quickly Pelosi/Schumer/Fienstein/Clinton

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The Problem Is
Posted by: Last Chance on Oct 22, 2008 5:33 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
The value of money changes from day to day as greed inspires all kinds of financial manipulations. Thus, the capitalist system cannot be reformed or replaced unless and until the people return to the land as their source of survival and prosperity. No matter what other creative things you love to do, a part of every day must be devoted to cultivating the garden or processing the food, so when vegetables, fruits and nuts become your wealth, money cannot dominate you life. There are communities of people who are doing this today.

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» There is a name for this.... Posted by: gellero1
» Wrong! Posted by: Last Chance
» It must be nice to have land to grow... Posted by: paulmagillsmith
» We Can Have Land To Grow Our Food Posted by: Last Chance
» Depression and Change Posted by: pdxjoe
» RE: Depression and Change Posted by: Last Chance
» RE: Depression and Change Posted by: pdxjoe
» RE: Depression and Change Posted by: Last Chance
» The Amish Posted by: pdxjoe
At Last Mr.Holland moves beyond a Partisan Attack.
Posted by: gellero1 on Oct 22, 2008 5:56 AM   
Current rating: 2    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
The fact is the 'financial world' is heavily invested in BOTH parties. So when 'The Messiah' blames the 'failed economic policies' of the current administration, the reality is, both parties are guilty as hell.

Read about the AIG bailout and the Credit Derivitives market, and you'll know why there was 'bipartisan support' to flow TRILLIONS into the money supply to truly prevent wordwide economic collapse and a deep, inevitable depression.

The loot gained by the financial CEO's and others is NOTHING compared to what could happen.

The fact is, Congress and the public hardy understand how the financial system is like a house of cards, and if the 'flow'of money stops, like a bottleneck on a highway in a dense fog, there will be a monstrous crash of INDUSTRIAL PRODUCTION. The stock market is just PAPER.......FACTORIES are REAL....if industry crashes....that's the definition of DEPRESSION.

More to follow

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We may all be millionaires soon.
Posted by: andabottleof_rum on Oct 22, 2008 6:21 AM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
If a small fraction of this imaginary money (hundreds of trillions of dollars) enters general circulation by way of bailouts or any other mechanism, then inflation could well spiral out of control. We could all finally be millionaires by hyperinflation. Isn't having millions of dollars what we're supposed to do according to American dream, entrepreneurial spirit propaganda?

But, being a millionaire then would be like living in poverty now, as owning the means of production is what counts when money implodes, and regular peons own none of this.

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» Remember the tsunami in Indonesia? Posted by: edgeofnowhere
One Word
Posted by: RedFoxOne on Oct 22, 2008 6:24 AM   
Current rating: 3    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
I ALL boiled down to one word, GREED. From the local real estate brokers and loan agents all the way up to the largest lendors GREED is what brought it all on. Give anyone a home loan regardless of their ability t repay the loan just give me my commission on the sale! Sad isnt it. Look where it got you now?

Jiff
Is your ISP watching you?

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A comment on a part of this response..
Posted by: Tim Chadron on Oct 22, 2008 6:25 AM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
4. No one held a gun to the people's heads who took out the subprime mortgages and told them to do it. I love this double standard. When an average person acts irresponsibly and does something stupid, they are a victim, but when a bank does something stupid, they are criminals.

The problem with this argument is that the bankers are supposed to be the experts. When buying a home, the average individual brings their financial information to the lender and says "What can I afford?" They have to TRUST the so called expert to give them viable information and not try to screw them. You cannot blame the average home buyer for getting duped by the so called "experts". Most folks don't have the time or inclination to research everything. Do not those same people, maybe even yourself included, trust their plumbers, or their electrician, or their doctors, to make the right decisions for them because they are the experts? And if something goes terribly wrong, should we all blame them for not researching how to wire a house or perform a surgery before they went in? Should we blame someone for trusting the experts? I don't think so. The experts should bear the burden of responsibility here, just as they should in all aspects of this financial crisis. The problem is, they are passing the buck, and the buck stops with you and me.

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» SKINT? Posted by: edgeofnowhere
» RE: SKINT? Posted by: Joshua Holland
» RE: SKINT? Posted by: Hajoda
Oops
Posted by: Tim Chadron on Oct 22, 2008 6:27 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
THis is supposed to be a response to the Russianrocket. Sorry about that!

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Unfortunately, Main Street is imprisoned by DYSFUNCTIONALS who think they'll be as "rich" as Wall $t
Posted by: maxpayne on Oct 22, 2008 7:52 AM   
Current rating: 3    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Most of the folks on Main Street who rail against socialism and delude themselves into believing that they'll be flying rich pigs like the goons on Wall $treet are in DENIAL mode ready to bite the hand that actually feeds. Until Main Street can get its act together and quit falling for social "conservative" BULLSHIT, Wall $treet will keep laughing its ways to the bank until they wet their panties as the poor slobs on Main Street make spectacles of themselves by taking part in ruining the prospects of the working class stand up for economic justice.

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If they had money for a bailout, they had money to rebuild New Orleans...
Posted by: fanny666 on Oct 22, 2008 8:30 AM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
It's pretty striking that, with the public so strongly opposed to the $700 billion bailout, EITHER candidate could have come out against it and seen their campaign take over decisively. It also says a lot that THERE WEREN'T EVEN HEARINGS about it.

The article I link to below sums up what we should all take from the bailout, I think:

"...the money to maintain, secure and improve the lives of their families and communities was always there -- but their governments, and their political parties, made a deliberate, unforced choice not to use it for the common good."

So, for example, when the Center for war-related brain injuries recently had its budget cut, a spokeswoman for the Senate Appropriations Committee offered: "Honestly, they would have loved to have funded it, but there were just so many priorities. They didn't have any flexibility in such a tight fiscal year."

We know this is untrue. And, unlike the bailout, rebuilding New Orleans or helping brain-injured soldiers would have been a Keynesian economic stimulus. Especially rebuilding NOLA, because the construction industry has been hit really hard by the housing market.

The God That Failed: The 30-Year Lie of the Market Cult

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Something we need more of.
Posted by: monkeywrench on Oct 22, 2008 8:38 AM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
The mortgages at the base of this house of cards, this chain of ever-more leveraged and risky "investments" (investing in DEBT?!) have been chopped into so many little pieces (to hide their worthlessness) that no one really knows who actually owns them. In fact, with each individual mortgage, it is likely that no single entity can be proved to be the owner.

So ...

What every homeowner who faces foreclosure should do is what has worked for some already: demand in court that the promissory note for the loan be physically produced. In many, many cases, these notes cannot be found or are no longer valid, making foreclosure difficult or impossible.

Maybe if a few million of them hold onto their houses and gum up the works by denying Wall Street pirates the tangible assets they now desperately need, clog the courts, and expose to the law this massive economic Ponzi Scheme for what it is, then those "Wall Street hotshots" and the minions who supported them in this Greatest Financial Theft of All Time won't be laughing so hard on the way to the bank – if they make it there, at all.

(I, for one, am saddened, but not incredulous, that none of the bastards responsible for what may turn out to be a world-wide depression are not on their way to prison already. After all, we only have one set of laws in America – and it only applies to the bottom 95% of us.)

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Situation may actually be worse
Posted by: ReallyBearish on Oct 22, 2008 9:42 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Than this article stated.

It looks like JP Morgan, under the guidance of the Fed and using your tax money, is now "managing" commodities prices. We have a shortage of silver but the price goes down (to keep the chump money from leaving the stock market). In the silver market, two banks (one likely being JP Morgan) shorted 20 percent of the annual silver supply back in July, forcing the price of silver down 50 percent. Oil demand is down 5 percent worldwide, but the price of oil has dropped over 50 percent.

My point is this: the free market will operate sooner or later, no matter what the cretins at the Fed or JP Morgan do. So you'll have oil exploration curtailed, mines closed, producers going out of business etc. limiting supply and causing shortages. We now have shortages in the silver market, but the futures keep going down.

What happens to the rest of the commodities that the Fed is "managing"? A massive price spike along with a falling dollar? Hyperinflation?

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» Aggregate demand Posted by: Joshua Holland
» RE: Aggregate demand Posted by: ReallyBearish
» RE: Aggregate demand Posted by: Joshua Holland
» RE: Aggregate demand Posted by: ReallyBearish
» RE: Aggregate demand Posted by: Joshua Holland
» RE: Aggregate demand Posted by: jc1234
» OK, probably true Posted by: ReallyBearish
Joe Six-Pack and Derivatives
Posted by: sivere on Oct 22, 2008 9:48 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
There are something like $1/2-1 Quadrillion in derivatives out there, and they have inter-conected everything in the financial world. The idiots in Washington are trying to save this gambling casino. It cannot and should not be saved. Instead congress needs to repeal the Fed (who encouraged and allowed the derivatives casino), put the current system into bankruptcy, create a new currency, and save the republic and the faltering economy.

www.JoeSixPack.me

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Regulate the Markets, But Also Address the Cause!
Posted by: Rob_Dietz on Oct 22, 2008 10:35 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
After a few weeks of reading about the financial house of cards built by the investment banks, it is clear that some regulation is needed to close the casino. But the reason the speculators opened the casino in the first place is buried in the article: the ALL-IMPORTANT drive for perpetual economic growth. If we can't grow real assets (just how many new 4,000 sq. ft. suburban homes does this country need?) fast enough, then we'll try to grow paper assets to keep our obsession with growth going. But since paper assets have to represent real assets, they can't possibly grow faster without crashing.

One of these days, our society will realize that continuous exponential growth on a finite planet is simply not possible. If you accept this commonsense notion, then please sign the position on economic growth at the Center for the Advancement of the Steady State Economy (CASSE). If you don't believe it, feel free to visit the website anyway and have a look at the scientific literature on the physical and ecological limits to growth.

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Request
Posted by: Timberbee on Oct 22, 2008 11:46 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Can You create a resource link which bundles these articles together? I am finding that I need to read these a few times in order to retain much of the information, in a manner which allows me to properly respond to those who continue to blame Blacks, the poor, and... well, Jimmy Carter.
Thanks

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» We're going to act on your suggestion Posted by: Joshua Holland
The Real Problem
Posted by: websmith on Oct 22, 2008 1:42 PM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Mortgages are not the problem. They are just a drop in the bucket that is being used as a scapegoat. The problem is that banks and investors have created $520 trillion worth of derivatives. The entire worlds’ combined GDP, real estate, and stock is worth about $225 trillion. Banks and investors have secretly signed contracts agreeing to sell the world for over twice what it’s worth. Since most of these transactions are secret, no one knows who has the contracts and who doesn’t, so, none of the banks want to loan each other money because they might go out of business and they are hoarding their money because they might need it.

$700 billion given to the banks is not going to fix this. $10 trillion given to the banks is not going to fix this. All of this money just devalues the currency and makes things worse. A meeting is not going to fix this. A new President is not going to fix this.

You have to elect Congress members and Senators who are going to listen to you the next time.

http://ewebsmith.com/Finance/therealproblem.html

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Joshua Holland - Thank You For Decoding The English Word Skint To Ordinary Americans
Posted by: opmoc on Oct 22, 2008 5:21 PM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
I ain't that skint that I can't contribute a few dollars to

http://www.feedingamerica.org

And I have been encouraging many of my British friends who live all over the World to do the same.

I don't know if they did - but I asked and I did. It was only $10

Tony

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What post-war era?
Posted by: holypigeon on Oct 22, 2008 5:23 PM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
My problem with this article starts with the very first paragraph. I don't know about you, but I don't believe that I'm living in a post-war era. This is the era of war(s). And that's part of the problem.

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That's why Mr. John Paulson....
Posted by: eosrk on Oct 22, 2008 6:03 PM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
...not related to the bonehead from Goldman Sachs now Tresury Sec, shorted the mortage markets and took home a 3.5 billion dollar prize last year.

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Where are the Regulators?
Posted by: ron heringhauser on Oct 22, 2008 6:23 PM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
We are witnessing criminal activity on a grand scale. Our government which is composed mainly of paid hucksters for the lobbysts for the megcorporations; the list covers every aspect of our daily lives: from the militery-industrial complex who get us into needless wars for profit, to the FDA which allows big pharma to overcharge and push through harmful medications, they along with the insurance companies wrote the medicare part D bill, which is ripping off seniors getting perscription drugs. The list could go on right through every governmental agency. The big financial rating firms, rate junk investments as AAA+, then the accountants swear by the balance sheets (Enron a case in point), the companies go under and the employees, and stock holders take the hit while the top CEO's walk away with a slap on the wrist. The lies, greed, corruption, have all but destroyed America and the free market system. Paulson and Bernake can put all the band aids, and print all the fiat currency they want, its not going to help. The Federal Reserve and its fiat currency has taken the world to the brink of a total economic meltdown. I believe this is intentional, so as to destroy the dollar, our Constitution and usher in their One World Government, with one currency, and slavery/poverty and cradle to death debt for 99% of us. What we could be facing in the next few years is massive civil unrest and martial law (thousands of FEMA prison camps have been built nationwide). America is a well armed and educated populace who will not easily succumb to this tyranny.

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DON'T WORRY; NOTHING IS GOING TO WORK
Posted by: AlteredStates on Oct 22, 2008 7:26 PM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Everybody is an expert. At least that's the way is seems after reading all these comments. The real problem here is that the public is completely bullshitted and confused. Just look at the current Presidential campaign. On one side we have Ms. I'm so cute you just have to vote for me, Palin. And, her benefactor John McShame who will do and say anything to go elected...even if it means dragging the whole country down to "the gates of Hell", with him. Most of McCain's advisers and managers are lobbyists or Wall Street cronies of McBush & Company so if those two are elected, don't expect any help if you work for a living. If you don't believe it just look at their record and their plans for America.
But, the saddest part of all this are the crowds of people who follow these two. They are absolutely blind, yelling, in some instances, "kill'em" when Obama's name is mentioned.

Then, we have the latest version of the Democratic ticket, Mr. Obama. He can't be blamed for any of this, because he has only just begun. But the Democratic fools who voted for and encouraged deregulation are still in office.

So, what do you have, Hank Paulson? Yeah, right. And good luck. Does anyone trust this creep. I really think this guy sleeps in a coffin.

I guess the point I'm trying to make is, we are all fucked. I think Obama is sincere in his efforts to try and help the middle class, but there isn't much he can do, because this economic problem is beyond any one government or group of governments. They really screwed the pooch on this one, and they know it.

Sorry for being so pessimistic, but the only recourse these power brokers have is to start more wars to keep the populous distracted from the real causes of their problems. The other reason that wars will increase is for survival. Survival of the nations, just to stay alive...barely. That's the mess we are in...sorry.

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Disembedding society from the economy
Posted by: Ignatz deFyre on Oct 23, 2008 10:26 AM   
Current rating: 4    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
On and off I've posted regarding Karl Polanyi's theory of embeddedness, as he wrote about in his book "The Great Transformation". To my mind, we are at the extreme swing of a pendulum and about to move in the opposite direction. The "economy", basically the flow of goods / services from manufacturers / providers to the consumer (citizen), has long been hijacked by middlemen who profit from the transactional activity. These transactional activities have been manipulated into a multi-layered ersatz "economy" where money can be made while not actually producing anything. So, rather than economy in the service of society, we have society in the service of economy. If the money cannot be made from actually making something, it has to be made from fees, leveraging, churning, and essentially monetizing any and all human activities (wars, disasters, lawsuits) so that they are made to generate revenue streams.

Like all things, this cycle looks like it is coming close to the return swing, as people realize that society must disengage itself from economic bondage. Don't hold your breath folks: it took centuries to get here, it may take a few to get back.

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» To Get Back??? Posted by: pdxjoe
» Maybe not "back" Posted by: Ignatz deFyre
interesting
Posted by: Von on Oct 23, 2008 11:23 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ge2J2lNusJs

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» Amero coin hoax: Posted by: Ignatz deFyre
Its getting more interesting by the hour
Posted by: Von on Oct 24, 2008 1:34 PM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
In The Age.COM there is a piece on what is going on in Australia regarding certain withdrawals are being frozen

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It is very appropriate you use the handle "yellow"
Posted by: paulmagillsmith on Oct 25, 2008 1:45 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
...because if you are the one who had my comment censured/deleted that's just what you are. More likely a bright shade of fascist Republican 'red' since you obviously are afraid of free speech, or having others see my comment. I am really apalled Alternet would approve of censorship.

As far as being an immature fool, of little education or cognitive abilities, I guess two university degrees don't count in your book, but who are you to make such an assumption? Is it because I rail against the non-Federal Reserve 'central' banking system, illegally created by greedy bankers intent on getting control of our monetary policy?

I do understand the financial crisis, but am more interested in the root cause rather than the effect, because if we don't correct the underpinnings of the corrupt banking system we currently have now, in the form of the PRIVATE Federal Reserve System, we can expect to see this boom/panic/crash cycle endlessly repeated, and America perpetually in debt.

Thomas Jefferson warned us about this in 1791, and so did Andrew Jackson later on. The US Treasury should have control of our money supply NOT private banks.

One of the most important indicators we have is the M3 money supply, but mysteriously the figures stopped being published by the (non)FED in 2005. Is there any wonder there is a credit crisis now when we don't even know the amount of money out there available in circulation?

We are in agreement on this statement you made, however, "All this had to do with deregulation, financialization and a maldistribution of income leading to the need to finance continued consumption in the 1990s through consumer borrowing against the rising value of asset portfolios and with home equity cashouts which accounted for most of the GDP growth in the 1990s." I would add, though, the push for deregulation began back in the 1980's under the Reagan administration.

I believe you are being a bit nearsighted, though. This same boom/panic/bust Wall Sreet ploy has been foisted on us many times in the past, by inflating the money supply, then contracting it, causing panics & depressions numerous times. It didn't just start in the 1990's. Intentional crashes/panics were created by unscrupulous banks/bankers in the 1870's, 1880's, 1890's, and finally in 1907, which led to the creation of the Federal Reserve Act of 1913, highly unconstitutional & never ratified by enough states to this day.

The 1929 Wall Street crash was planned as well, and is almost a mirror image of the current 'crisis'. Unregulated markets, expanded money supply, wild speculation, overleveraging, contracted money supply leading to tightened credit, crash of the stock market, foreclosures, then bank consolidations...all through manipulation.

Until we get rid of the FED, and return control of our money supply to the US Treasury (as the founding fathers planned), this cycle will endlessly repeat so the few can buy up assets of the many at sometimes pennies on the dollar. Perpetual debt for Americans is the outcome, since there is never enough money 'created' to pay back the principal along with the interest (usury), which is skimmed off by the private bank making up the FED.

As someone rightfully stated, "The Federal Reserve is no more federal than Federal Express". Basically, it boils down to this. If our monetary policy is controlled by the US Treasury at least when we pay back interest on a loan it goes back into the public coffers of the people's treasury instead of the pockets of private banks/bankers.

Alan Greenspam, the 'guru' of economics to right wing 'free market' people, admitted in congressional testimony this week his assumption markets could/would regulate themselves was utter hogwash, and his theories about economics for the past forty years were in error.

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ATH
Posted by: ATH on Oct 26, 2008 11:25 AM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
The true, underlying cause of ALL our financial problems is due to the fact that a private corporation--The "Federal" Reserve--is controlling the nation's currency, and similar such private central banks control most other country's currency as well. Before the FED Act was passed, the government printed and circulated its own money, debt free.
After these ultimate thieves, whom our Founding Fathers fought to keep out of America, gained a foothold when 3 Senators passed the Federal Reserve Act
when someone accidently left the Senate session open on December 23, 1913, when all the rest of the Senators were home for the holidays, America was changed forever. President Woodrow Wilson signed the FED ACT into Law but later deeply regretted doing so:

"I am a very unhappy man. I have unwittingly ruined my country. A great industrial nation is now dependent on its system of credit. We are no longer a government by free opinion...no longer a government by conviction and the vote of
the majority, but a government by the opinion and duress of a small group of dominant men." --President Woodrow Wilson, 1919

Our Founding Fathers knew well the risk of private bankers gaining control of a nation's money supply...they had done so in England, with the Bank of England, which drove their national debt so high that Parliament was forced to levy extra taxes on the American colonies, which, according to Ben Franklin, was the true cause of the Revolutionary War. The same would now happen to American, because before the FED was passed, the government, by power given through our Constitution, printed and circulated all the money, debt and interest free. With the passing of the FED Act, now the government had to BORROW the money it needed from the Federal Reserve--which wasn't "Federal" at all, but a private corporation that worked solely for the profit of its secret shareholders..Congress doesn't even audit the bank---and pay that money back with INTEREST, which began our enslavement into debt.
Why did the government allow this? The bankers were very clever..they had designed a series of booms and busts, and then told the people and Congress that we needed a central bank (they left out the private part, and used the word "Federal" in the name to make people think the bank was working in the government and people's interest) to keep all the wealth from being consolidated into just a few hands.
Well, it was these very hands, the hands of these ultra rich and powerful bankers, the main ones being J.P. Morgan, John D.Rockefeller, and Paul Warburg, who,
in utter secrecy (they travelled, under false names, to a private island they owned off the coast of Georgia--Jeckyll Island--and there drew up their plans) that designed this system of The "Federal" Reserve. If anyone had known who was actually behind the Act, it would have never worked, but they got away with it, and no one was the wiser.
Another reason why the FED has went unchallenged is that most people do not understand money, or can't follow the process, or comprehend the danger of having the money supply in private hands. The ones who were aware and did speak out had an odd habit of disappearing or dying mysteriously, often in the prime of life. So, it's lasted because of fear, ignorance, and bribery.

"If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issuance of their currency, they, and the corporations which will rise up around them, will--first through inflation, then by deflation-- rob the people of all their property, until one
day their children wake up homeless..."--President Thomas Jefferson

Isn't this what is happening today?

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ATH--true cause cont
Posted by: ATH on Oct 26, 2008 11:27 AM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
cont...

These booms and busts are not part of a "natural business cycle." These private bankers, work their private banks like a corporation where gain is the only goal, regardless of what it does to the country or people! They will expand the money supply, make credit easy, and people will take out loans, buy busineses, etc. Then,
they will contract the money supply and tighten credit, causing mass bankrupcies.
Then, these bankers will come along and buy everything up for pennies on the dollar,
drepriving people of their property while enriching themselves.
Most of all, they love war. War is the chance to saddle countries with immense
debt, and they always fund both sides--the one they want to win heavily, and the other just enough to give them hope. They also usually require that the winner honor the loser's debts! Together with the military industrial complex, it's no surprise we have perpetual war, is there?

"Give me control of a nation's money supply, and I care not who makes its laws!"--Mayer Rothschild, Private Banker

"The bankers own the earth. Take it away from them, but leave them the power
to create money, and with the flick of a pen, they will make enough money to buy it back again.
However, take away from them the power to create money, and all the great fortunes like mine will disappear, and they ought to disappear, for this would be a happier and better world to live in.
But, if you wish to remain the slaves of bankers, and pay the cost of your own slavery, then let them continue to create money."
---------Sir Josiah Stamp, Former Director of The Bank of England
"The government should create, circulate, and issue all the money. This is
the sole prerogative of government, and its greatest creative opportunity. Adopting
these principles will save the people immense sums of interest, and money shall
cease to be the master and become the servant of mankind."
--President Abraham Lincoln
The power to create money must be returned to the people. We must
take away this power from the hands of the minority in which it rests, before these few enslave the rest of us in their plans for Global Government! We must get rid of the Federal Reserve system by phasing it out, as we issue a tightly controlled currency. A fiat currency can work, as Colonial Script did in Colonial America, so long as it is not abused, and we must abolish the practice of fractional reserve banking to help insure this.
Money must stop to be a way for a few elites to rule over the rest of humanity, and the ability to create money must be returned to the government and people, for the sole function of facilitating trade, and bankers will have to get real jobs, some decade down the road when their fortunes begin to wane.
America can once again be debt free! We could pay off our National Debt within no more than 4 years! Probably less, depending on how long it takes to root out these private bankers and re-establish control by the government and people.
We also need to repeal these pieces of draconian legislation that was passed due to fear mongering and which completely eviserated our Civil Liberties, such as the so-called "Patriot" Act. I mean, they tell us we were attacked for our freedoms, so the answer the Executive and Congress give is to eliminate thos freedoms? I can't think of a more cowardly or complete surrender to the terrorists!
The Constitution is NEVER supposed to be repealed, in part or whole, at ANY time. In fact, it is at the most exigent of times when we most need its guidance.

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