This page has been archived and commenting is disabled.
Father Knows Best
It is difficult not to come away with the impression that the many officials and quasi-officials issuing forth from the Federal Reserve and the Treasury (hereinafter the "Treserve") to defend from all enemies, foreign and domestic, the current structures that define these institutions richly enjoy and leverage the complexity, opacity and inscrutability in which they have cloaked themselves. That the Treserve's cadre now traverse through a complex weave of dim shadows, crossing the dark tendrils of financial and regulatory obscurity with practiced ease is a function of... well... the great deal of practice they have had at it.
In fact, one immediately recognizes something of the smug smirk that finally emerges in the third act of the pool hustler's successful performance when confronted with the expression on the faces of cadre seniors engaged with woefully outmatched citizens (or even legislators) as they deliver commentary like this:
If the names of our member banks who borrow emergency funds are publicly disclosed, the likelihood that a borrowing bank's customers, counterparties and other market participants will draw a negative inference is great. Public speculation that a financial institution is experiencing liquidity shortfalls - which would be a natural inference from having tapped emergency funds - has caused bank customers to withdraw deposits, counterparties to make collateral calls and lenders to accelerate loan repayment or refuse to make new loans. When an institution's customers flee and its credit dries up the institution may suffer severe capital and liquidity strains leaving it in a weakened competitive position.
What is simply mesmerizing about this refrain, aside from its numbing and incessant repetition for going on two years now, is its absolutely flawless record when used as a bright red ball gag firmly jammed into the hesitant mouth of critical discourse- even in the presence of those political and financial experts who should know better than to open wide.
Necromancy being a dark art, it is difficult to tell exactly which incantations within this spell of silence are doing the real psychic work, but if we had to guess we might nominate some of these sections:
"...withdraw deposits..."
"...collateral calls..."
"...severe capital and liquidity strains..."
"...weakened competitive position...."
So powerful, it would seem, are these ancient words, that their mere, careless whisper dulls the senses of all those present, muddling higher cognitive functions until, drooling, fatigued and approaching incontinence, they file out of the chamber once the gavel is banged and handfuls of analgesics are quickly swallowed. Few mantras are more needful of a liberal application of sunlight than the class of castings this conjuring occupies. Let us reflect:
If the names of our member banks who borrow emergency funds are publicly disclosed, the likelihood that a borrowing bank's customers, counterparties and other market participants will draw a negative inference is great.
Would it be outlandish of us to suggest that the likelihood of the bank's customers, counterparties and other market participants drawing a negative inference is great because borrowing emergency funds might actually somehow be indicative of a funding emergency? We know we are straining the limits of credulity there, but perhaps the point is worth considering?
Yes, we are aware that we have already stressed the fragile fabric of the logical universe almost to the threshold of its tensile strength, but to torture the matter even further we should like to wonder out loud if it should be the role of, for instance, the Treserve in its capacity as [regulator|lender of last resort|buyer of last resort|monetary authority|printer|tax authority|executive agency|debt underwriter] to actively conceal the distressed state of a financial institution from its depositors, shareholders, customers, market actors, the citizenry, the FDIC, the Securities and Exchange Commission and Congress. Putting matters another way, shouldn't it be painfully obvious that anyone asserting that action X might cause various parties to draw a negative inference begs the question "Isn't that inference absolutely legitimate?"
Zero Hedge readers might well be forgiven for noticing that there is an oddly circular logic to Treserve reasoning here. We might paraphrase this neatly in English (though it is much prettier in German). To wit:
In order to prevent a loss of confidence in the system caused by uncertainty on the part of market actors with respect to the stability of financial institutions, we are going to conceal signs of financial institution instability from market actors (read: make the true level of financial institution stability unknowable).
Zero Hedge readers might also be forgiven for being overtaken by the vague notion, perhaps laced with a subtle but discernible dose of déjà vu, that they have already seen this trick. Perhaps dressed up a bit more like this:
In order to prevent a loss of confidence in the balance sheets of financial institutions caused by uncertainty on the part of market actors with respect to the price of illiquid securities, we are going to conceal signs of weakening prices of illiquid securities from market actors (read: make the true prices of illiquid securities unknowable).
This sudden epidemic of déjà vu is related to the alarmingly ubiquitous abuse of the "ignorance is confidence" theory of financial regulatory affairs. This particular development depends for its lifeblood on the continued acquiescence of the citizenry to masters who are content to draw an arbitrary border between that information deemed safe for public consumption and those facts which their wards are insufficiently developed to be trusted with.
Strangely, given the placid manner with which this attitude is received, even the most oblique and naive observation will expose the crass, underlying assumption: our masters believe themselves our intellectual superiors.
It is, in fact, the same deadpan lie one finds deceptively stitched into the phrase "Relax, these handcuffs are for your protection." There is a moment, and this epiphany reveals itself at a different interval for everyone, when one realizes that one is being insulted by such treatment. That one is being handled and managed, like a child. If the brain is not totally fried by this point, perhaps one notices a number of circumstances where authority figures are working hard to suck information away from the public, or cloud it under the thick fabric of a number of TARPs. This should revolt us. But, then, it is awfully warm in Mommy's arms, isn't it?
Mmmm, nap time.
»
- 6217 reads
- Printer-friendly version
- Send to friend
- advertisements -
The Fedserve, Serves Only One! I mean Treserve
Love this RADIOZH SET! thanks, Non-RUINS, Cool.
great piece, Marla. love the linguistic catch.
from wiki:
Schumpeter and entrepreneurshipThe research of entrepreneurship owes a lot to his contributions. He was probably the first scholar to develop its theories. He gave two theories, sometimes called Mark I and Mark II. In the first one, the early one, Schumpeter argued that the innovation and technological change of a nation comes from the entrepreneurs, or wild spirits. He coined the word Unternehmergeist, German for entrepreneur-spirit. He believed that these individuals are the ones who make things work in the economy of the country. In Mark II, developed later as professor at Harvard, he asserted that the actors that drive innovation and the economy are big companies which have the resources and capital to invest in research and development. Both arguments might be complementary today.
The English literature uses the term entrepreneurship, from the French "entreprise". When studying entrepreneurship and Schumpeter, it is helpful to keep in mind he used the German term (Unternehmergeist), acknowledging these "fiery souls" or "spirits".
My hat off to you Chopshop. I used to read Schumpeter as a sleeping aid. After 5 minutes, I would sleep like a baby.
+1
What a feast I've just had. This is the most excellent dessert.
Well-put, as usual. The real equation: intentional concealment of material facts (which leads to ignorance) in order to induce a transfer of funds = fraud. This is not hard.
SEC Rule 10b-5 has an even lesser standard by removing the requirement that intentionality be an element of the omission to state a material fact.
Intention once it appears, depending on the level of intention (gross negligence all the way up to no-doubt-about-it-this-is-a-fraud) defines whether the omission or active concealment is criminal.
The FRB enjoys an "Old Glory" defense (or maybe better put, exception) whereby if you perpetrated the fraud for good reasons, such as the desire to avoid the "bad outcomes" listed above were the true facts to be known, you are not guilty of fraud, and you are above/beyond the law.
as nixon kind of said, if the president (of a federal reserve bank) does it, it's not illegal.
Will The Harvard Shadow Elite Bankrupt The University And The Country?
"The Rubin network remains alive and well in the White House, including not just Summers but several other Rubin protégés. Among the strangest of these power loops is that the well-connected Nancy Zimmerman has turned up as a member of Summers's economic policy brain trust.
The modern power elites thrive by forgetting any regrettable past. This amnesia is easy at Harvard, where the legal fiduciaries operate in secret and need not answer for their acts. They are the antipodes of the selfless institutional servants who built Harvard and other great American enterprises, and they bear close watching."
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/harry-r-lewis/larry-summers-robert-rubi_b_...
And the Rubin network couldn’t even trust Hillary to operate solo as Secretary of State. They had to put in one of their very own, Hormats, to oversee the U.S. State Department. Hormat’s appointment was critical for Goldman et al., advancing and protecting its worldwide enterprise. Goldman controls the treasury and all aspects of finance of the U.S. economy -- 306,000,000 Americans and their national and foreign policies are keyed to the interests of a small foreign power.
Back on July 23, 2009, Eric Janszen of iTulip wrote: “The influence of America’s top financial firm, Goldman Sachs, widened its influence over the White House when on Friday the (NY) Times reported, Goldman Executive Named as Obama Adviser.” And he quotes the Times:
“President Obama said Friday (July 17) he would nominate Robert Hormats, a vice chairman of Goldman Sachs International, to a top economic position at the State Department. Mr. Hormats, 66, will be under secretary of state for economic, energy and agricultural affairs. He was deputy trade representative from 1979 through 1981 and held other posts at the State Department throughout his career. Hillary Rodham Clinton, the secretary of state, said in a speech on Wednesday that she hoped to make economic policy and trade a larger part of United States diplomacy.” (emphasis added)
At the same time, said Janszen, and also according again to the New York Times, on July 22, 2009, “American financial oligarch Jamie Dimon, the head of J P Morgan Chase, held a meeting of his board in the nation’s capital for the first time. White House chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, attended.” And I quote Janszen: “Banker’s board meetings in Washington with White House staff in attendance? Will our legislature dispense with the formality of drafting FIRE Economy friendly legislation and simply allow the banks’ law firms to draft legislation for them?
"How could this happen in the United States of America?”
http://www.itulip.com/forums/showthread.php?p=111464#post111464
Well done,JR.
lobbyists writing legislation is old hat. tom delay took it to an art form and it almost certainly antedates him.
check out glenn greenwald's post about cass sunstein's proposal to have government agents infiltrate online sites to undermine "false" conspiracy theories and increase belief in government pronouncements. sunstein is thought to be on obama's shortlist for the next supreme court appointment.
Thanks! Cass Sunstein in 2001 book, Republic.com, argued that the Internet may weaken democracy because it allows citizens to isolate themselves within groups that share their own views and experiences, and thus cut themselves off from any information that might challenge their beliefs, a phenomenon known as cyber balkanization. -- Wikipeida
THE CREEPY MINDSET BEHIND CASS SUNSTEIN’S CREEPY PROPOSAL | Glenn Greenwald
Cass Sunstein has long been one of Barack Obama's closest confidants... among other things, he is responsible for "overseeing policies relating to privacy, information quality, and statistical programs." In 2008, while at Harvard Law School, Sunstein co-wrote a truly pernicious paper proposing that the U.S. Government employ teams of covert agents and psuedo-"independent" advocates to "cognitively infiltrate" online groups and websites – as well as other activist groups – which advocate views that Sunstein deems "false conspiracy theories" about the Government. This would be designed to increase citizens' faith in government officials and undermine the credibility of conspiracists. The paper's abstract can be read, and the full paper downloaded, here.
Sunstein advocates that the Government's stealth infiltration should be accomplished by sending covert agents into "chat rooms, online social networks, or even real-space groups." He also proposes that the Government make secret payments to so-called "independent" credible voices to bolster the Government's messaging... This program would target those advocating false "conspiracy theories," which they define to mean: "an attempt to explain an event or practice by reference to the machinations of powerful people, who have also managed to conceal their role."
...There's no evidence that the Obama administration has actually implemented a program exactly of the type advocated by Sunstein, though in light of this paper and the fact that Sunstein's position would include exactly such policies, that question certainly ought to be asked. Regardless, Sunstein's closeness to the President, as well as the highly influential position he occupies, merits an examination of the mentality behind what he wrote. This isn't an instance where some government official wrote a bizarre paper in college 30 years ago about matters unrelated to his official powers; this was written 18 months ago…
Covert government propaganda is exactly what Sunstein craves…He acknowledges that some "conspiracy theories" previously dismissed as insane and fringe have turned out to be entirely true (his examples: the CIA really did secretly administer LSD in "mind control" experiments; the DOD really did plot the commission of terrorist acts inside the U.S. with the intent to blame Castro… Given that history, how could it possibly be justified for the U.S. Government to institute covert programs designed to undermine anti-government "conspiracy theories," discredit government critics, and increase faith and trust in government pronouncements? Because, says Sunstein, such powers are warranted only when wielded by truly well-intentioned government officials who want to spread The Truth and Do Good – i.e., when used by people like Cass Sunstein and Barack Obama…
Read the rest of the article
Coming soon to a ZH near you, no doubt. I'm guessing they will be impaled upon the rapier wit of Marla and the Durdens.
Which is always entertaining. At what point do we, as a society, stop wishing to be entertained? If we delay payment for these ills long enough we shall find ourselves in the classic Orwell "Collective Oligarchy".
The exchange between Greemwald and Krugman was particularly interesting.
Cass Sunstein should be relieved of all duties with the Federal govt. immediately.
"...withdraw deposits..."
"...collateral calls..."
"...severe capital and liquidity strains..."
"...weakened competitive position...."
Thank you Marla for your wonderfully adept treatment of the subject. Your prose is magical and you can tongue lash with the best.
The words and phrases you've outlined (above) are designed to freeze the brain, to stop all critical thought, to place the mind in automatic pilot and activate the gag reflex. I call them "thought immobilizers" or "brain freezers" and this technique is a well know method used by propagandists and thought police to corral the cattle into mindless group think. Treserve Newspeak at it's best.
The only reason the Treserve hasn't used the ultimate weapon of group think mass destruction in this war to end all wars is because it isn't credible and would most certainly back fire. To use it, the majority must already be blind to the truth and, with regard to the Treserve, the truth is already widely disseminated and believed. What is this ultimate weapon most often used by (quasi) governmental authorities and it's various apologists, supportors, minnions and various other offical corporate welfare queens to quell diseent and corral the herd?
It's simple. Just call someone a "conspiracy theorist" when they talk about things best left buried. Alas, it won't work this time.
Man-o-war... We are really through the looking glass...
Bravo CD and thanks to you Marla, once again!
Basically they state the obvious in a paragraph when a sentence would suffice. That sucks up congresscritter time so both sides benefit from looking smart and doing nothing.
If Keynes were still around he might say: "We can drivel on longer than you are willing to pay attention."
That is right. It will not work this time. I am afraid the horse is already out of the bag...and they know it.
Is it just me or do I smell the scent of fear beginning to pervade more and more of the Treserve's pronouncements. Remember smug Timmay and Unca Ben smugging for the camera in their smug little suits and smug little briefcases? Well, they are not so smug any more and it appears that, even while their rhetoric has become more authoritative and reassuring, their eyes are widening into the depths of panic.
It was fine with them when we didn't want to know; when all we wanted was a snuggle in mama's bosom, as Marla metaphorically designed. But we're not okay with it any more. We're onto their lies. CIA trolls are staking out ZeroHedge more and more every day.
And just like Billy Ray Valentine, we can feel them panicking- only this time, they're objective is not a G. I. Joe with the Kung Fu Grip. This time, the stakes are far, far higher.
This time, it's for real.
Marla....
Wow....you have a good pen....and perhaps a means
of distributing it....
The US is killing its entrepreneurial estuaries by:
Excessive and Flawed Legal Largesse
American Style Fascism
Flawed Markets
Flawed Tax Structure
Flawed Political System
Flawed Educational System
Flawed Medical System
Flawed Govt. Design
Surely.....now that the personal computer can be had by most
....with the internet highway....THIS must be fully utilized....in a LIBERTAD manner....not as a CONTROL tool....
Every category has room for vast LIBERTAD improvement....and PEOPLE....CAN change it....
VIA THE INTERNET....
LOSING LIBERTAD IS NOT A REQUIREMENT....
LOSING LIBERTAD ENTREPRENEURSHIP IN EXCHANGE FOR FREE ICE CREAM IS A LESSON LEARNED LONG AGO....ASK CUBA, AND CURRENT CHAVEZ's VENEZUELA....
If I remember correctly in physics and the real world there is a thing called "the moment". The point in time when the branch breaks,or the camel falls. Only by experimenting many times do we come to realize that it is always different than expected.
There will always be a governing elite, and they will always take more than their share.
This was true before and after the French Revolution, the Russian Revolution, before and after Apartheid in South Africa...etc.
Some elites govern better than others.
The elite which has governed this country since the New Deal is exhausted and corrupt. It has failed to deliver. For me the "Ah ha!" moment came when the revolting pig Larry Summers was appointed President of my alma mater. This racist, sexist glutton looted Harvard for the benefit of the bankers and made us a laughing stock to the world. Once-proud Harvard had become the Vatican of Venality.
It is no surprise that he and his band led by Bob Rubin are proceeding in the same course of action in Washington...at an accelerated rate in the footsteps of Greenspan and Paulson because they see the end is near and are grabbing everything that remains before the game is officially over for them....over simply because the U.S. has been looted and is broke by all conventional standards of measurement.
This entire elite is past the "sell-by" date...they must go. Obama, Bernanke, Summers...all the leaders of the One Party...they no longer serve any national interests...they are comparable to the Shah in 1979, the Marcos Regime in the Phillipines, the corrupt PRI in Mexico in the 1990's, the LDP in Japan that was recently ousted, or even the Tito regime in Yugoslavia at the end.
The silly, incredible statistics released by the government, engineered financial and national security crises, markets grossly manipulated for political purposes...no credibility remains...only ever-increasing unemployment and looting by this elite. Thus "health care reform" becomes a scheme to use federal law to force citizens to pay premiums to insurance company gangsters.
The handwriting is on the wall for all to read...I'm not happy about it, but dramatic change in the political structure of the U.S. is baked in the cake.
The elite will not surrender easily however, so expect the unexpected...the elite have learned to operate behind the smokescreen of a crisis...so a very, very big crisis will materialize...something much bigger than 9-11 or the 2008 financial crisis...think, for example, about what type of crisis could make it a necessary to cancel, postpone or somehow change the groundrules for the 2012 election. This type of thinking will help you prepare for future events like the Treasury Secretary demanding a $700 billion blank check "or else" (congressmen were told if TARP failed a second time a domestic security crisis could ensue, and there were not sufficient domestic troops to insure the safety of members of Congress, unfortunately-they voted for TARP the second time!).
Excellent synopsis of the rotten mess we find ourselves in. Change will come because it has to.
The more vocal we are in speaking the truth here and on other blogs, the less of a chance violence will ensue because of it. The more our moms and dads and sisters and brothers- and everybody- begins to understand just how the wool has been pulled over our eyes for so long, the sooner we will see real hope and real change.
Keep up the great work, everybody. I get the feeling we are starting to break through.
What these misanthropes at the Treserve fail to realize is that when the full extent of their deception and double dealing is finally laid bare beneath the rubble of a collapsed financial and political system, the cocky and swarmy attitudes that now dominate their snake like visages will be suddenly transformed into expressions of abject fear and dread as the bloodthirsty hordes give chase.
Wake up Neo.....
Bank Run Bitches!!!
Sometimes there were two sets of footprints
Other times there were one set of footprints..
The times when you have seen only one set of footprints
Is when WE became Treserve.
This must be the "best spoof of the week"!
If Scott "Cosmo" Brown wins in Massachusetts, expect things to shake up a little.
Marla you are hotter than Bristol Palin (and she is really, really hot). When you wake up on Wednesday morning, think erection, uh, election.
After all, "Let them eat cake," didn't play forever.
Dude, I'm hotter than Bristol Palin, and I'm a hairy male.
I don't want to give Marla any bigger of a head than she currently has but puh-leeze.
I am Chumbawamba.
and you know marla's hotness how? don't say it's her mind since your metaphor is bristol palin. as the gay man said as he answered the 900 number call in, i think they know we aren't the girls in the magazine ads, but i do think they think we're girls.
Like I said, wake up and change the bedsheets already.
MOPE = Management of Perspective Economics = "If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it. The lie can be maintained only for such time as the State can shield the people from the political, economic and/or military consequences of the lie. It thus becomes vitally important for the State to use all of its powers to repress dissent, for the truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, the truth is the greatest enemy of the State." (Joseph Goebbels)
Get ready to defend your liberty, your sanity, and your soul. Only the strong survive.
I am Chumbawamba.
Chumbawamba,
For many people, their ego will not tolerate the idea that they've swallowed the BIG lie hook line and sinker. The Cognitive Dissonance pain is so great that the easier softer road they choose to travel is to continue to believe the lie. This is how seemingly sane and aware people can look at evidence that contradicts the lie and dismiss it out of hand.
I'm constantly astounded by the amount of energy expended by the average Joe in order to continue to believe the lie as opposed to the less energy they would need to expend to get through the Cognitive Dissonance pain. I understand that the word I'm about to use is explosive and divisive but so many people choose the cowardice of denial over the courage of painful truth.
The concept of the value of prior investment explains this issue. Because they invested so much effort in the lie (usually unknowingly) it's easier to add a little more investment to keep the lie hidden from themselves than it is to lose (in their mind) the entire investment. The fact that the investment is non existent is immaterial to them, only what they've put into it so far, which to them appears as an inflated (and false) total.
Denial is not sane nor rational.
Wow - CD... ON THE MONEY!
Nice post CD. Reminds me of a Carl Sagan quote:
"One of the saddest lessons of history is this: If we've been bamboozled long enough, we tend to reject any evidence of the bamboozle. We're no longer interested in finding out the truth. The bamboozle has captured us. It is simply too painful to acknowledge - even to ourselves - that we've been so credulous."
in a way it was merciful of obama to let his erstwhile supporters know early on that he was pretty much a fraud (i was one).
"A sucker born every minute..."
W.C. Fields, "Never Give a Sucker an Even Break", 1941
Oh, I just paid attention to your avatar. Awesome in at least two ways.
...it's not just denial, it's like a massive collective Stockholm syndrome.
CD,
while I agree the individual ego is an impediment to seeing through the Big Lie, despair trumps ego. With collapsing home values, rampant foreclosures, high and rising unemployment, the "outsourcing" of middle class jobs, we have a cauldron ready to boil over.
Obama's pathetic proposal to tax back the ill-gotten funds gifted to the Banksters is seen on the street for the ruse that it is. We are seeing fear and desperation from ruling elite and the worker bees.
And I, too, am waiting for the fabricated crisis to provide an attempted diversion from our real crisis. I am fairly confident the diversion it is not an explosive in your underwear; after all, it could be a little bit difficult servicing your 72 Virgins with your pecker blown off.
my money is on obama getting wacked, probably, by al queda from iran. nevermind, that there is no al queda in iran
I don't know, maybe blow this up into a larger freestanding post... how about it CD?
I'm struggling to complete an article on this topic, the psychology of the individual and crowd.
As I understand it, that is how Scientology works. They don't reveal Xenu and the DC-8s (great name for a band) until you are well into it, and have paid lots of money for audits.
Once you hear about that (much less the ability to fly which Tom Cruise should be approaching soon), you have spent so much money, intellectual capital, and emotion that your mind and ego will accept the lie rather than be thought a fool.
But at least in Scientology you get the offer of super-powers (or in LDS, the offer of your own planet!). What does the Treserve offer us but a slow recovery at best?
If I had to pick a religion it would be the Mormons. They offer the best post-life rewards package (you get to be a god, so you can create as many planets as you want - top that!) and if it weren't for the rest of the conservatives, that never tried marriage Old Testament style, the Mormons would still have to decide whether to take Friday wife or Wednesday wife to the supermarket today (I say both. Flaunt it if you got it!).
I do not think the average Joe remotely believes in the system. Outside of the fringe 5% on either end of the spectrum and the useless 10% on either side that are trapped in an endless political party battle, the 70% in the middle of the spectrum of believeing in the system are very pragmatic.
Their goal is to carve out some level of compromise where they and their loved ones are left alone and out of the clutches of the "system" as much as possible. They all know that 40-50% of eveything is tribute to the power addicted. They will deal with it being 49%. They just do not want to be bothered with the shenanigans...not because they have no ability...not because they are invested in a lie...not because they are sheeple...but because there is not a practical choice that gives them a chance to go through the crap radical change requires yet still give them a shot to protect themselves and their loved ones.
Their circle of focus is very small number of people or a job they love or a addiction they need. The government and the financial elite are enemies outside that circle. They do not like them...nor believe in them, nor agree with them...they know they are FOS even if they do not have the lexicon and the details. What they do not have is a practical choice at this time.
What was the last practical choice? Obama vs McCain vs chaos vs living in the woods with a secret cache of gold?
I do not think the majority is fooled in the slightest. Even those who temporarily hope swept up by the poetry of a Reagan or an Obama go only 100 days and realize that its one more empty suit.
Until there is a practical choice ...there will be no action.
9% of the people in a recent survey thought the USA was in good financial shape. Thats pretty good evidence they are not fooled.
The question is why don't they act?
And that $64,000 question can be applied to the commentariat here on ZH just as well as it can be applied to the "sheeple"
imho
+1 Pretty much.
I'm going to try a metaphor, I believe, which was inspired by CogDis and your post, but I disclaim it won't be as eloquent.
An audio speaker requires that everything holding it in place remains relentlessly stiff in order for it to reproduce a sound. If vibrations occur in the housing of the speaker it represents a loss in quality of reproduction. Right now the American public is sitting in a rusted '92 Grand Am with sub-woofer threatening to remove the bumpers if taken it to 11.
I remember watching the election debates back in '08 and remember not even paying attention to what was being said time and time again. There is so much distortion produced by mass media that the average Joe has no idea which way is up - but they do know which team they will be cheering for, no matter how bad the current [election] season. Without a solid guide rail it takes a lot of time to find out who really is in charge - and I still don't really feel that I have even that nailed down. Bilderbergs? The Pope? Bush the Senior? As they say in French, a meeting of three? By judging their fruit I can only expect the worst - and I feel that it really is a waste of time to speculate and risk losing all credibility in the eyes of those that willfully choose not to see.
We are not even teaching our children the significance of the Constitution anymore - how can we expect them as adults to truly cherish that titanic clash of 1776. That was well expended energy.
In this country you have either the flag-waving party or the party of the already disillusioned. If you ask your average citizen, "What is the difference between the Bill of Rights and the first 10 Amendments to the Constitution?" it is unlikely they will realize you are asking a trick question. As a people, we have no solid frame of reference which can be used to see what is to be seen.
I can separate friends and family in two categories: if they watch television on a regular basis there really is no hope. What is it about taking off a week from ZH that makes one irrationally optimistic about the deadly horizon?
I feel that the real battle comes down to this: can the Powerz anticipate, and neutralize, any and all events, or individual attempts, that would trigger a revolution of power back to the People? As Solzhenitsyn put it they are playing solitaire, while we sit and hope we are not the next to receive the loving sting from the cattle-prod. The only thing really holding this confidence game together, which really makes it unique in history, is that both sides are heavily armed - the psychopaths are holding all the cards except one this time around.
Wondering,
Thank you for your feedback.
I've thought about this for a long time. And on the surface it does appear that many people do understand quite a bit. But it is a surface knowledge, an understanding begrudgingly conceded but not assimilated. I've read a number of books and stories written by slaves (always get your info from the source) in the 1800's as well as more modern slaves. Interestingly they are able to hold in their minds the knowledge that they are slaves yet still see themselves as free and independant.
I've also seen this happen in prisons where the inmates are in for long time or for life. It's a defensive mechanism that allows a person to maintain dignity and sanity while coping with tremendous stress and oppression. The bottom line is that they rarely break free from the mental bindings, where the slave mentality begins. I see the same thing in America today.
I am writing an article now about this and other aspects of the American psychology and hope to have it done soon.
I cannot fricking wait! Make sure it has wide appeal to go viral! Maybe a meaty abstract for the masses. Something to lure them in.
I'm sure it will surprise me, as always. Sometimes I feel like an opinionated court jester. Merci beaucoup.
after a long enough time, most of those prisoners, can't cope with the world outside, when released
"after a long enough time, most of those prisoners, can't cope with the world outside, when released"
Your comment, if changed slightly, applies to what I'm talking about.
After a long enough time, most of those mentally imprisoned Americans can't cope with the world and citizenship responsibilities.
Perfectly explains the psychology of Extend and Pretend.
:D
Good points all - but my view of the 'average Joe' is somewhat different in that the main problem is not necessarily that he (she) is in denial, but rather he (she) has not yet reached the 'next level' of awareness necessary to see through more of what is going on.
Consider the amount of propaganda the average person is subject to, beginning from early education and reinforced in nearly all forms of media (news, entertainment, music, etc.). A convenient real-time example would be 'global warming'. Taught to children in their formative years. Prizes and awards showered on Gore. The message is inserted in movies, TV shows, music, the 'news'. Alternative views are demonized and rarely presented to anyone not actively seeking out an opposing opinion. Regardless of the merits of whether 'global warming' is real, I find the approach horrifying.
Personally, there came a point in my life when I began to identify the propaganda. Once you pick up on the techniques used to present the message, you can never go back. Before that point, I was basically Joe six-pack.
So I guess my view is that many of the blissfully unaware have not yet reached that point in their life. Some may never reach it. But one thing holds true - achieving the next level of awareness is usually instigated by pain and introspection - and I get the feeling that the general public is in for a healthy dose of both in the near future.
I agree that propaganda and myth making are an integral part of the psychosis of America. Books have been written on the subject. May I present an article I posted a few months ago talking about this subject.
Bottom line, it's all interrelated and some things are stronger at times than others. My understanding is changing everyday as I dig deeper into the rabbit hole.
http://www.zerohedge.com/article/end-empire-%E2%80%93-propaganda-and-american-myth
I remember briefly scanning your article when you posted it, not having time for a more in-depth read. Thanks for posting the link, it was definitely worth reading in full.
As I read a few thoughts kept popping into mind. One is regarding a quote from Andrew Grove (Intel founder):
which to me leads to the question: All empires rise and fall, making way for new empires - do we attempt to prevent what may be as intrinsic as the cycle of life? Or just try to salvage what we can from the ashes for those left in the failed empire? If you believe that each new empire, while having 'good' and 'bad' aspects, generally builds upon the previous, or experiments in a new direction completely - who are we to stand in the way of human evolution? Is it really better for America to reign supreme for all time? In short - what the hell do you do, what is your responsibility as a resident of the empire in decline?
Secondly, and somewhat unrelated, regarding ways in which to motivate groups of people: I recall an interview with George Carlin where he said something to the effect that, dealing with individual people, you can almost 'see the universe in their eyes', but when people act as a group, the collective intellect decreases proportionally with the size of the group. The 'mob mentality' is well known, and in prison riots it can be dealt with effectively using small charges which spray the mob with rubber balls at high velocity. The key to breaking people out of the mentality is to personalize the pain and consequences of their actions - on a large scale. Maybe this explains the inherent flaw in democracy, which relies on mob mentality for selecting leaders. And why nothing is really changed until the pain becomes personal to a large number of people. As bad as things are, I don't think we are there yet.
Just some random thoughts - thank you for your posts and contributions to this site.
the 'Fatal Sequence', stages of empires (which at least one person attributes to Henning W. Prentis, c. 1946):
Bondage to Spiritual Faith;
Spiritual Faith to Courage;
Courage to Freedom;
Freedom to Abundance;
Abundance to Selfishness;
Selfishness to Complacency;
Complacency to Apathy;
Apathy to Fear;
Fear to Dependency;
Dependency to Bondage
Thanks for posting that - provides a much more detailed (and thought provoking) perspective.
Not exactly uplifting to see where the US likely falls on this scale. My first inclination was to see the inflection point (where 'good' begins to go 'bad' if you believe in such things) between Abundance and Selfishness. On further consideration, I would place my bet between Freedom and Abundance. Abundance implies oversupply - not balance.
Indeed, it seems the cycle could be broken by replacing that link with Freedom to Sufficiency. Provided one has enough unbridled curiosity to avoid boredom, once the body's needs are taken care of.
From my perspective this definitely holds true for the individual - why not nations?
+1 (which I state out of sadness).
The phrase "this time is different" is almost never true, but it is so useful in selling snake oil. However, in this case, I believe "this time is different" because of math.
When Madoff started his ponzi, it was destined to conclude. Ditto for the financial system. It's just amazing they got as far as they did ... but that success defines the magnitude of the crash.
The implications of that statement are so unthinkable, and yet IMHO true. There will be lots of bad, but also some good that will come.
From the article:
Amazingly people trust the FDIC. And the government. I shall feel no comfort when they wake up against their delusions, in the midst of the rubble, their world destroyed, for I fear many of them will still believe the FDIC and the government did their job, but that it was the irresponsible actions of some random party that will be blamed. Many will die hopelessly unaware of their delusions.
The system has already failed, and a new one will be built, and (comically), blame is mostly irrelevant, except in reference to the human folly of a command economy.
"Amazingly people trust the FDIC. And the government."
From the point of view of so many people, they have no choice. When you have been psychologically broken, you become dependent upon your tormentor.
The only way out of this jungle is the empower ourselves, slowly but surely. This doesn't happen on a national level but at the community level. And here's the tough part. It starts with you and I. Because we are the first awake, it is our responsibility to empower others by leading the way, working on the local level to energize others. We must entice people away from the isolation of their TV and get them back working within and for their local community, defined as 1000 yards from their home.
I'm doing it and while at first it didn't appear I was making headway, then something happened and the community came together. The recent heavy snowstorm was such an event and people's eyes were opened by the strength we the people had by simply working together. When the plows didn't come because of the heavy snow, we the people worked together to solve our local problem. The cry "where are they" turned into "we solved the problem".
That is probably the most succinct way to phrase that.
Of course you are correct: This is the "some good will come of it" part.
I completely agree with your statement, emphasizing, "From the point of view of so many people". I think they are wrong, but that is their point of view.
I'm amazed at what the Haitians have tolerated for hundreds of years ... and yet, they are no closer to a tolerable life, IMHO. While you and I will show some level of success in our communities, success is not guaranteed. (I think it's more guaranteed in the US than in countries with a broken people, and people can only be broken by their government.)
People must and in some cases finally are waking up to the fact that it's all in their hands now. No one is going to save them after the next earthquake, hurricane, tornado, etc. It's every man, every family, every community for itself. Which is how it should be. First take care of yourself, then your family, then your community. What happens outside that realm should be of lesser concern as 95% of your life is effected and affected locally.
As far as the Haitians, hopefully they can rise out of this a free people once again, just as they did when their founders freed themselves from the bonds of slavery in the 18th century.
I am Chumbawamba.
Awesome CD!
I'm through the first stage, in that I'm actively involved, and am now gauging the readiness and willingness of those around me to join in the reboot. Based on my experience not two days ago standing in line at the courthouse I have my work cut out for me, but it begins with me.
I am Chumbawamba.
.
I've been thinking exactly that from the point at which the various financial institutions started availing themselves of the various Government (aka taxpayer) financial 'assistances'.
Unfortunately, it's also meant that my insight has resulted in my losing money through 2009 as a result of seeing the obvious fault of their arguments.
That which can't continue, won't.
I guess Keynes was right on one thing (I certainly don't think his massive ego resulted in him being right on much else) - 'The markets can stay irrational longer than one can remain solvent', although I'm not sure where that leaves the (insolvent?) banks and Government...
DavidC
Three more banks down:
Barnes Banking Company - Kaysville, UT - est. $271.3M hit to FDIC
St. Stephen State Bank - St. Stephen, MN - est. $7.2M hit
Town Community Bank & Trust - Antioch, IL - est. $17.8M hit
Treserve = Treason Serve
We the people serve in the boiler rooms of the USS Titanic. The fruits of our labor had been stored in coal kept deep in the hold.
Far more worthy and brilliant people (Larry Summers, Robert Rubin, Hank Paulson, Jimmy Dimon) took the long view from the bridge. They invited along lackeys such as Alan Greenspan ("a simple declarative sentence will never contain my brilliance"), Frank Raines, Barney Frank, etc...
Everything was going just swimmingly. USS Titanic was brought to full speed and excess boilerroom workers were set free midAtlantic to seek new opportunities.
The boys on the bridge steered a course well south of any icebergs. (Ben over from Princeton had read history and provided a stern warning about them.)
Most of the coal had been burned up. The brilliant set from Greenwich decided to add a couple more decks to the top of the ship (mid-ocean retrofit services courtesy of the Chinese Navy).
The Chinese Navy turned to leave and while accelerating left a larger wake than the surrounding waves...
USS Titanic rolled over (there was no weight in the bottom of the hull, all the coal having been burned).
Larry said that he had always wanted to be a submarine captain.
Awesome. Especially this part:
Never trust people with power that think they are smarter than you.
Exactly. From the Fed's perspective,
prosperity relies on confidence, confidence is supported by ignorance, and transparency undermines confidence.
Therefore,
lies = prosperity
Unfortunately for the rest of us, it only takes a $2000 suit, impeccable hair, and a fantastic skin treatment to cow members of congress. The fallacious trumpery the treservists spout is merely window dressing.
Fabulous analysis, Marla. Just Great.
Marla - good article, and something that needs to be discussed a lot more IMO.
Fractional reserve banking, by definition, rests on deception... it rests on confidence that must be manufactured and sustained (both by misdirection), because the currency issuing bank does NOT, in reality, have the backing for the currency.
Throughout the history of banking, this issue has risen again and again to the forefront... you cannot create "money" out of thin air without scamming someone!
Until we, as a society; until the common man... the average person, understands this fundamental truth - the bankers will continue to destroy nations, create sinister illusions, and hide from each man something about himself, and his relations with his fellow man. Money, properly understood, is a very strong binding force that, when tampered with, destroys the bonds between men.
I often think of all the millions of people who go to church every week, and sit for an hour, while someone preaches about good and evil... if only they spent that one hour learning economics! Is religion a "still-to-be-properly-formed" archetype...
alchemy -> science
astrology -> astronomy
god focused religion -> "Church of LIBERTY"????
I mean, what is the purpose of religion in our lives if not learning how to best live with each other? And Knowledge of Liberty provides a truer, more consistent, and steadier guide for that than the Bible (or other sacred texts).
So: Understand fractional reserve banking, and understand how some men try to deceive you, for their own gain. Use the truths you discover in the process for guidance in your life, instead of scriptures, or religions.
the only place in the new testament, where JESUS got pissed, and violent, was when the moneychangers, had taken over the temple. thats a good story to emphasize to the church crowd.
That is a very good point.
Maybe that is why Goldman is doing God's work. However, I have no doubt that Goldman won't be able to buy a seat a table for this one.
"...severe capital and liquidity strains..."
When the phuck is Obama going to figure out that the (engineered) profits should be going back into the bank's capital accounts to reserve for past losses (toxic assets), current losses, and projected future losses?
What the phuck is so hard about this? Most banks are undercapitalized (some near insolvency as we know) and this money should be building capital and not being stuffed in banker's pockets.
Obama...just tell your regulators to do this, it is a fucking no brainer.
Obama? The Presidency is just a sideshow for drooling imbeciles. Right vs left is a pantomime. Wake up.
I understand the folly of the right v. left and Rep v. Dem pantomime.
The indisputable fact remains that the President can and is able to order regulators to force an increase in capital and capital standards for banks. We can discuss ad infinitum about Obama or any other Pres being a sock puppet, but the President still has that authority. The issue is whether a President has the stones to do it.
doin what he's told, is worth millions, going off the reservation, and acting like he's in charge, his life won't be worth a nickel. an assasination, could play very well, for TPTB, in fact they might already have a plan. he knows, he's not one of the big dogs
The confidence game goes beyond out shores to instill the world wide view that the western model of "capitalism" is indeed better serving the elites than a Marxist model. Rob the masses slowly through "green" poilices, populist nanny -state social agendas, creaping inflation, taxation at every level and regulation. All under the guise of the "American Dream", i.e. welcome to The Matrix - work hard and you too may "owe" a home of your own.
China's confidence game is working so well it is probably shocking the old school elites there...Here, it is too painful for the masses to not accept the status quo, revolution is far too extreme for the average Joe in the Matrix, the youngsters partying at 50K a year private colleges are far too comfortable to stir the pot, as long as the pain is at the margin, there will be no bank run, there will be bread and circus...pax Romanus?
Thanks Marla for another well-thought article.
History will record the turning point on the day Hank Paulson stooged a manufactured crisis before Congress, to pick $700 billion from the pockets of the middle class taxpayer.
It is, indeed, not a matter that we "cannot handle the truth", it is that they cannot handle the consequences of disclosing the truth.
The crap tables are empty, the casino has burned to the ground and the ghosts of the past are still rattling around, hyping the same old bullshit.
What if the country's supposed growth in Net Worth over the past 20 years was but a croupier's illusion ??
It irritates me that folks go on and on with a response to an argument instead of simply pointing out the obvious flaws in it. As if the argument is valid, just unfair.
The core of the FEDs argument is flawed. Its really no big secret all the big banks are insolvent and depend on the FED to stay afloat. No one is making a run on them because the deposits are insured and they cant fail with an unlimited credit line from the FED.
If the FED fessed up and named names like Citi, BAC, JPM and the usual suspects, it would be a non event, therefore the argument has no basis.
Hey Fazzie,
Since it is no big deal, then disclose it. Then you could stop being irritated by "folks" like me and I would not be irritated by "folks" like you.
Whereas I do not always accept that where there is smoke, there is fire; every time someone tells me it is really just "oats" but it smells like excrement, it usually is excremement.
If the facts are what you suppose, then let the public know. I would love to see the "non-event".
Kayman, I am all for auditing the FED and then dismantling it. My point was that a good place to start countering any given argument is to not accept the logical basis of the argument, unless it is sound.
Marla harps on the unfairness of the FED witholding info. Yes it is unfair, and there is a "father knows best" condescending tone the FED likes to use.
But for Christs sake dont blindly accept the premise that if the names were named, a big run on the banks and blood on the streets would result!
The entire FED defense rests on their assertion that all hell would break loose, without providing any compelling evidence to support it. There is at least one Federal judge out there that has pointed this out.
If you were to fight the FED in court, you wouldnt go on and on with how crokked the FED was and how unfair the secrecy was, you would kick a leg out from under the FEDs scare tactic argument by pointing out the lack of evidence the FED has that disclosing the names would,in fact, doom the world. Extrordinary claims require extrordinary evidence.
Fazzie,
I missed your earlier point. Thanks for the clarification. I agree totally that the FED premise is bogus.
I still partly retain this Walt Disney view, that somewhere, we have an honest leader who has the fortitude to disclose the TRUTH to the American People. However, ugly that TRUTH may be, if the entire nation is enlisted to help dig us out of this mess, I believe we can do it- even if it takes a generation.
Yes. How absurd it is that the nation’s currency—the fabric of all business and all personal transactions—has evolved into a money monopoly over all wealth, debt, and credit creation—on the very value of the means to carry on our indispensable exchanges. This country was founded on the principles of free enterprise and individual freedom whereby the exchange claims on goods, the currency, was regulated by the rate of actualization of those goods. The opposite of that is monopoly of either resources or industry.
A few men meeting in secret now decide who wins and who loses in America based on their secret and complete control of the currency, dictating, in short, the very social order of the nation.
You ask who these deciders are? Why they’re the winners, of course.
Well worth the wait,Marla.....your work always be dat. Great stuff.
Its just like the argument for big bonuses. The MSM never points out the obvious flaw.
They tacitly accept the argument that big bonuses are necessary to keep talented folks from fleeing the country in our time of need.
They only question the form and size of the bonuses, and present it as a conflict of public outrage, and bad PR handling of a sensitive issue.
Well, the argument is flawed on its face. The "talent" part. Bringing their respective firms and the entire world to the brink of ruin kinda sorta implies less than stellar talent.
Then theres the "mass exodus" argument. This implies that banks somewhere in la la land are itching to steal away the aforementioned "talent" and presumably pay them their true worth for bankrupting a company,which is 10s of millions of dollars.
What can these a-holes put on their resumes? Hell they just ran a company into the ground and robbed the shareholders and taxpayers! Good effing riddance I say and good luck selling that brand of "talent"!
On that we can agree. It is the control of the message that allows the BIG LIE take root and expand.
Look to who owns the Media and to whom the Media is indebted, ie, follow the money.
Regarding our "irreplaceable" croupiers at the crooked banks, it is not their talents for which they receive their bonuses, it is their silence, and their skills at scotch-taping the leaky balloon.
In the real world and in any real business, they would all have had their asses canned long ago.
Remember, in the last years of its collapse, Rome paid a double share of wages to the Praetorian guard.
It does beg the question- "what price Tyler and Marla" ?
China's always looking for a few good miners. Maybe the "talent" can go over there and start working to pay off the debt.
Cookie cutter secrecy:
Larry Summers, Robert Rubin: Will The Harvard Shadow Elite Bankrupt The University And The Country?
At the heart of the new system of power, says Janine Wedel, is "a decline in loyalty to institutions" and "the proliferation of players who swoop in and out of organizations with which they are affiliated." There is no more vivid example of this phenomenon than Harvard University, which for centuries was held together by institutional loyalty. Today, that loyalty has eroded, and those at the top act much more flexibly. Yet they still enjoy almost unlimited power. Like all forms of mismanagement, Harvard's woes call for transparency and accountability. The story resonates to Washington, where Harvard's power elite is deeply entangled.
Harvard lost $11 billion from its endowment last year, plus another $2 billion by gambling with operating cash and $1 billion in bad bets on interest rate fluctuations. Harvard had been borrowing vast sums to leverage its assets and to expand its physical plant; its president, Lawrence Summers, had described as "extraordinary investments" what ordinary people would call crushing debt. The only way to balance the looming deficits was through huge investment returns. The speculating worked for a while, but when the bubble burst, Harvard was left almost insolvent.
The Corporation is stunningly secretive. The members are listed on a Harvard web page--but with no contact information. Their meetings and agendas are unannounced, their decisions unreported. The Fellows, scattered across the country, are isolated from the institution they govern. Even the university's statutes--the closest thing to a constitution limiting the Corporation's discretionary power--are almost impossible to locate. The colonial-era board structure is failing the modern university.
In September, 2000, the government sued Harvard, Shleifer, and others, claiming that Shleifer was lining his own pockets and those of his wife, hedge fund manager Nancy Zimmerman--formerly a vice president at Goldman Sachs under Rubin.
http://tinyurl.com/yc9yf4s
The Treserve idea is funny, but I prefer Treasury + Fed = "Tred." As in, where angels fear to.
as in, put the dead tred dread to bed, so that it might dream of angels.
Words designed to stop critical thought.
Well heck folks, if you dont critisize the argument itself and and debate instead on its effects and the fairness of it all, you have apparently accepted the basis of the logic put forth by the fed.
The Fed didnt stop my critical process. Their argument is BS. Who in the hell would be shocked that CITI,AIG,JPM,BAC and the like are only operating thanks to the Feds genorosity?
The names of these banks could not possibly be besmirched any futher! they are collectively 100 trillion or so underwater and officially naming them wouldnt matter. Everyone knows the FED will back them.
Since the scare tactic argument of the FED is not sound, and they resist any disclosure, the real question is why? What is the real reason?
If one accepts the argument of the FED, then they have a compelling public interest argument for hiding everything.
Some recovery....what happens when we double dip? I know ....we save the bankers.
Nearly 25% of San Jose Residents Now Live in Poverty
http://tinyurl.com/ybqcpzh
Bravo! Well said and eloquent! Words that should ring in the heads of many.
Now, is there more that can actually be done? This is like whistling in a hurricane.
I have to add my name to the list of Marla's admirers for this post. It really was well-written, and I'm thankful for the critical bent. Had she been a Fed booster, she would have lulled us to sleep.
A book I read reproduced this quote from Valéry Giscard D’Estaing about flexible exchange rates: he called them "a sort of monetary LSD." It strikes me as being one of those adaptable quotes...
But the nub of it all is this. To prevent banking crises the authorities must regulate capital ratios and leverage limits.
Under the present regime of secrecy, the authorities have found it politically impossible to impose and enforce capital ratios and leverage factor limits that would prevent systemic failure.
The simplest alternative would be to gradually eliminate deposit insurance while adopting a regime of complete and universal disclosure of each bank's capital ratio, its leverage factor and its loans and investments. Then the market would price the risks of providing deposits and capital (equity and debt) to each institution. Deposits would seek banks with the lowest risk, while equity would probably seek (and reward) those with the highest risk, so that over time most deposit gathering and lending would converge toward a reasonable median, with bank risk taking confined to the fringes which present little systemic risk.
Prior to 1913 there was no disclosure whatever by banks of their capital and leverage ratios, much less their investments. Thus, long periods of prosperity inevitably led to a competive race to the bottom with increasing risk and leverage, enabled by secrecy. Crashes and panics were inevitable and the public lacked the information needed to protect themselves and to discipline the riskiest banks, thereby avoiding systemic panics.
Oddly, the public is still deprived of the information neccessary to protect themselves, to discipline the riskiest banks and thus to avoid systemic panics.
In short, the solution has never been tried.
Ron Paul Powerful Speech - A Call for Revolution?
Slavery sold as liberty. Socialism to save capitalism. A psychotic
nation. Exuberant taxation. Epidemic of cronyism. 700 military basis
all over the world. Tortures of 21st century. We have forgatten what
made America great. Revolutionary changes are needed and forseen. Is
Ron Paul the ONLY honest man in American's politics??
http://tinyurl.com/yj4wr3w
One point on the "Treserve," that I think is important:
a) Ben Bernanke's now-famous 2002 deflation speech, as it turns out, was a little more (or less) than academic. As it turned out, there was real worry that a 2008-type disaster would wreak its carnage in 2000-1. It was feared that the U.S. would go into Japan mode after the stock-market bubble popped. That fear was actually more logical, as it expected that a post-stock-bubble America would face the same fate as post-stock-bubble Japan. His speech was in part a revelation of a contingency plan against that possibility at that time.
b) What made Tim Geithner the star of 2008 was the fact that he was warning about the possibility of a OTC deriviatives implosion as far back as 2005. The 2007 book Financial Armageddon quotes him to that effect. As we all know, the OTC derivatives market did implode; that made Geithner the vindicated prophet, and earmarked him.
Putting these capsule bios together shows that the Treserve is run by the "Deflationary Disaster Duo." Both of them proved to be ahead of their time on the disaster front. Both of them can be cast - in Geithner's case, accurately - as vindicated prophets. That's what's made both of them well-nigh untouchable in insiders' ranks. Had Congress not gone populist, both of them would be D.C. heroes.
Both of them, of course, are deflationists at heart. Both really believe that their actions averted an all-out deflationary depression. Both have their very names staked on reflation as a necessary backstop against a money-supply implosion. Both, it's safe to conclude, believe that their crisis conduct is completely justified because they saved the American economy from being wrecked by a implosionary deflation.
Hence, I venture: both will face their deer-in-the-headlights moments come an inflationary crisis. Their reputations are too engrounded in the deflationist model for them to flip-flop in that way.
If they are not willing to disclose which banks are in dire straits, it behooves us to assume that ALL BANKS in the US are at risk of going under. Don't keep any money in banks folks - period. If, after this, you still choose to keep money in a bank and lose it, don't expect any sympathy; for you deserve it and will have chosen that fate for yourself.
What many fail to recognize is that Geitner and Bernanke along with their pals purposely engineered the global financial crisis and accompanying deflationary collapse in order to accelerate universal insolvency from individuals to businesses to sovereigns not only in the US but the ROW.
Geitner being lauded for warning about the catastrophic consequences of unregulated derivatives is akin to an arsonist taking credit for spotting the fire he just ordered his crew to set.
The current situation of universal insolvency is what the globalists consider necessary to facilitate the sought after transition to a single global currency managed by a global central bank overseeing an international financial regulatory regime. And that's just for starters.
Volcker specifically advocated this very outcome. Volcker, far from being a rogue maverick whose sage wisdom is being ignored, is in reality a prime mover in the current debacle. After all it was Volcker that took the US off the gold standard blasting the world financial system into the pure fiat realm during his stint at Treasury prior to chairing the Fed then heading up Rothchild's US branch.
Ultimately Geitner and Bernanke both realize they must fall on their swords to further the globalists' agenda. They have already demonstrated they are team players. Look for the "grownups" like Volcker, Stiglitz, et. al. to eventually be brought in to clean up the mess with their Yoda like financial reforms.
Of course, there will be another series of crises in the global financial system. The next big one will involve sovereigns in addition to the money center banks. The banks are woefully undercapitalized given the trillions of dollars of toxic crap still sitting on their balance sheets. And it is now clear that the wall street banks are being demonized (fairly I might add) by the pols.
The current management at the banks will take the blame during the next go around. The way TARP was handled was intended to maximize public outrage at the bankers.
Why didn't the government buy up the toxic crap as originally planned instead of letting it continue to shit all over the banks' balance sheets? Just imagine what will happen when the banks come hat in hand for the next round of bailouts.
By the time the globalists are finished the population of the world, disgusted with their corrupt native political and financial leaders, will be falling all over themselves to hand over national sovereignty to their all-knowing Father in Brussels.
Jefferson
Agree with para. 2. Timmy is indeed one of the financial arsonists, who, luckily, was able to spot the wildfire, that he and his cohorts started.
The "government" didn't buy up the toxic paper, as planned, because $700 billion is but a small down payment on $100 Trillion + of sewage.
Their only hope, and I believe it is a very slim hope, is to inflate these popped balloons.
The core problem in this country is the loss of its manufacturing base. No great country can be a "Walmart nation". IMHO
If the oligarchs really wanted to inflate their way out of this current fiasco they would have done so already. Bernanke was brought in to manage the deflationary collapse not prevent it.
Anyone who believes the money lenders are going to willingly destroy their franchise by allowing runaway inflation in the world's reserve currency is delusional. Their debt is the locus of their power. They wiil use debt to destroy what's left of everybody else's equity whether it is in houses, businesses or government property.
The reflation meme is propaganda. When the credit bubble finally bursts in China leading to economic ruin for the entire world, the true players will make their final move on what's left of the free markets, national sovereignty and individual liberty.
+1
Ahh Marla, I'm not always a fan of your analytical tendencies, but this time...well this time, "you done good".
marla, good article
someone needs to utube, A Few Good Men courtroom scene with bens head on jack nicholson and gary coopers on tom cruises and insert that arguement in audio
imho, hate motivates, we haven't reached the peak of hate yet, it's still way below boiling from a mass physchology perspective, the only recent reat one was the surge in iraq, the iraqi's hated dying so much, they switched sides when they realized even though these guys initially killed us, these new guys are much much worse, add into the fact five years of death was the peak and you got a trend change
like mccain said, there is always an acceptable level of casualties........all the worlds central banks decided a dozen big boys dying was the most allowable, thus, it's not just ben, it is the 20 other countries following ben down the road, with the power too change laws in a day, there hands are immenasurably strong..........look at iceland, they blow up and yet are there folks starving in the streets en mass, in greece? spain?
not that i can see, hate is very well contained
JFK
Excellent find.