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Fed Must Disclose Bank Bailout Records As Court Of Appeals Upholds Historic "Mark Pittman" Decision
- Bank of America
- Bank of America
- Bank of New York
- Bloomberg News
- Citigroup
- Covenants
- Deutsche Bank
- Discount Window
- Federal Reserve
- FOIA
- Freedom of Information Act
- Great Depression
- JPMorgan Chase
- Judge Loretta Preska
- Lehman
- Lehman Brothers
- Mark Pittman
- Royal Bank of Scotland
- The Clearing House Association
- US Bancorp
- Wells Fargo
Next step for the Fed weasels - petitioning the Supreme Court in an attempt to completely trample America's constitution. In the meantime, Mark Pittman smiles from above as Satan reevaluates the amend and extend provisions of his affirmative covenants with the Fed.
From Bloomberg:
March 19 (Bloomberg) -- The Federal Reserve must disclose
documents identifying financial firms that might have collapsed
without the largest ever U.S. government bailout, a federal
appeals court said.
The U.S. Court of Appeals in Manhattan ruled today that the
Fed must release records of the unprecedented $2 trillion U.S.
loan program launched primarily after the 2008 collapse of
Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. The ruling upholds a decision of a
lower-court judge, who in August ordered that the information be
released.
The opinion might not be the final word in the bid for the
documents, which was launched by Bloomberg LP, the parent of
Bloomberg News, with a November 2008 lawsuit. The Fed could seek
a rehearing or appeal to the full appeals court and eventually
petition the U.S. Supreme Court.
The court was asked to decide whether loan records are
covered by the U.S. Freedom of Information Act, or FOIA.
Historically, the type of government documents sought in the
case has been protected from public disclosure because they
might reveal competitive trade secrets. The Board of Governors
of the Federal Reserve System had argued that disclosure of the
documents threatens to stigmatize lenders and cause them
“severe and irreparable competitive injury.”
Financial Crisis
Bloomberg, majority-owned by New York Mayor Michael
Bloomberg, sued after the Fed refused to name the firms it lent
to or disclose loan amounts or assets used as collateral under
its lending programs. Most of the loans were made in response to
the deepest financial crisis since the Great Depression.
Lawyers for Bloomberg argued in court that the public has
the right to know basic information about the “unprecedented
and highly controversial use” of public money.
“Bloomberg has been trying for almost two years to break
down a brick wall of secrecy in order to vindicate the public’s
right to learn basic information,” Thomas Golden, an attorney
for the company with Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP, wrote in
court filings.
Banks and the Fed warned that bailed-out lenders may be
hurt if the documents are made public, causing a run or a sell-
off by investors. Disclosure may hamstring the Fed’s ability to
deal with another crisis, they also argued.
Potential Harm
Much of the debate at the appeals court argument on Jan. 11
centered on the potential harm to banks if it was revealed that
they borrowed from the Fed’s so-called discount window. Matthew
Collette, a lawyer for the government, said banks don’t do that
unless they have liquidity problems.
FOIA requires federal agencies to make government documents
available to the press and public. An exception to the statute
protects trade secrets and privileged or confidential financial
data. In her Aug. 24 ruling, U.S. District Judge Loretta Preska
in New York said the exception didn’t apply because there’s no
proof banks would suffer.
The Fed’s balance sheet debt doubled after lending
standards were relaxed following Lehman’s failure on Sept. 15,
2008. That year, the Fed began extending credit directly to
companies that weren’t banks for the first time since the 1930s.
Total central bank lending exceeded $2 trillion for the first
time on Nov. 6, 2008, reaching $2.14 trillion on Sept. 23, 2009.
Payment Processors
The Clearing House Association, which processes payments
among banks, joined the case and sided with the Fed. The group
includes ABN Amro Bank NV, a unit of Royal Bank of Scotland Plc,
Bank of America Corp., The Bank of New York Mellon Corp.,
Citigroup Inc., Deutsche Bank AG, HSBC Holdings Plc, JPMorgan
Chase & Co., US Bancorp and Wells Fargo & Co.
More than a dozen other groups or companies filed friend-
of-the-court briefs. Those arguing for disclosure of the records
included the American Society of News Editors and individual
news organizations.
The case is Bloomberg LP v. Board of Governors of the
Federal Reserve System, 09-04083, U.S. Court of Appeals for the
Second Circuit (New York).
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No way will the Supreme Court rule against the Fed. That's a certainty.
Seems like the lower courts have more integrity than the Supreme Court lately.
Alas, the Supreme Court has always sustained the financial elite and the PONZI. That was, and is, the purpose of the court, to maintain the status quo which has always been in favor of the financial elite. Yes I'm aware of what the history (myth) books say was/is the "original" purpose of the Court but I've grown up since grade school and I've removed my "dunce" indoctrination cap and have begun to think for myself.
Oh sure, there are ebb and flows, back and forth, for and against the working slave ....er...man. But from the big picture point of view, the Supreme Court has always been beneficial to those who have the money and those who control the puppet strings. The Court has always supported the consumer plantation, just like it supported slave ownership, monopolies and every other form of centralized power structure.
Roberts showed the hand a bit at the SOU. He would have been better off sitting there stone faced so as not to give the poor innocent fools who still believe in the "sanctity" of the court any reason to doubt.
But he's too @%#$#^#&^^# arrogant.
The Supreme Court has also had it's share of prodding lately by a non-friendly (Hostile) administration. Roberts may bite that hand after all...
I agree there are occasional "surprises" from the Court. But in the big scheme of things, they're minor and change little from the prospective of who has the money and who doesn't. And who never will.
Every supposedly independent political entity must put on a show of independence now and then to maintain the illusion. I lost all faith in the Supreme Court with the Bush Florida ballot decision, when I finally realized that despite what everyone tells me, the Court is as political as any other branch of government.
I'm not talking about the decision they made. They should never had made a decision to begin with. They should have sent it back to Florida unheard. It was a states rights issue and they trampled on it. Suddenly I understood how the slave owning southerners felt when the Federal government came in and told the states what to do.
I'm not saying I believe in slaves. I believe in states rights. The constitution, as flawed as it was, gave each state the right to determine if it wanted to own slaves. There is a remedy for the Constitution if changes are to be made. It's called amendments or another constitutional congress to make changes. War is not one of the options in the constitution for the Federal government to impose changes. I always thought it was the "United States of America", not the "Federal Government Composed of 50 States".
I know this statement will appear to be simplistic and I can't expand on it in this space. But the civil war was simply a power grab by the Federal government disguised as "freedom" for the slaves. Why is it every time the Federal government talks about defending my freedom, some of my freedom is taken away?
Just askin'!
I always thought it was the "United States of America", not the "Federal Government Composed of 50 States".
You obviously weren't taught to think in public school. Federalist/Anti-Federalist? That doesn't matter you poor old relic. Don't you know gays are trying to get married!?!
"You obviously weren't taught to think in public school. Federalist/Anti-Federalist?"
I'm assuming your taking the same medications you prescribed to Michael Jackson and that's what prompted this outburst. And your homophobic outburst can be ascribed to what?
If this is all sarcasm, the <sarcasm> affirmation would be appreciated until you have a little more than the 4 days of ZH experience you currently posses. This is your second post, right? What a way to make an entrance.
Homophobic? Let us not fall back to the use of such ridiculous terms. I have nary a fear of queer, rest assured.
Allow me to make an offering of humor and insight - http://www.comedycentral.com/videos/index.jhtml?title=black-bush&videoId...
Cheers
Since the topic has been knocked out of orbit I'll point out this story I found on HuffPo after doing a search for the Baier-Obama interview...with almost 23,000 comments! I think I found Marla, whipping the money-changers over there!
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/03/17/obama-on-fox-news-accuses_n_503...
If Obamacare passes, we have one full step closer to civil war - and if it doesn't we have a clearly lame-duck prez at the beginning of his second year, just before the second civil war. Epic!
I didn't get past 50 of the 22,770 listed comments before I gave up in disgust. These people simply don't wish to get past the left-right, Republican-Democrat, my dictator - your dictator is correct insanity that keeps the plebs busy in the front parlor while the good silver is being looted from the dinning room hutch.
Even when I come across an open mind on HuffPost, s/he is buried under an avalanche of finger pointing and hate/fear mongering. From my point of view, there is little to be gained from attempting to engage with the lowest common denominator mentality. The entire purpose of both left and right blogs such as these is one of distraction, not problem solving. As George Washington wrote about a few weeks back on ZH, the web is being used as a place where frustrations are being vented, bleeding off steam that otherwise might be used more constructively/destructively.
Since the pen (the Internet "space") is so vast and involved, the cattle/sheep/disenfranchised can be easily led to believe that something is getting done because of all the energy being expended when in fact nothing is getting done, other than the fact that otherwise perfectly good energy and emotional output is being spilled on the sheets. This is all part of the control system.
LOL!!
Hmm. Makes absolute sense. The internet as a distraction and keeping "otherwise perfectly good energy and emotional output [from exploding out in the streets].
Your description above frames that comment section perfectly.
WaterWings,
Thank you for finishing my thought with your words in parentheses.
"Since the pen (the Internet "space") is so vast and involved, the cattle/sheep/disenfranchised can be easily led to believe that something is getting done because of all the energy being expended when in fact nothing is getting done, other than the fact that otherwise perfectly good energy and emotional output is being spilled on the sheets instead of exploding in the streets. This is all part of the control system."
That's a keeper. Thank you co-author.
The web certainly is a paradox. All the intellectual freedom and communication . . . but shared among a vast community who tend to live their lives from their front row seats at the cyber looking glass. Another opiate of the people?
Same content appreciated as WW. Priceless CD.
like gold ,us old relics have value and some have wisdom. Without old relics you would not be alive today , young fool.
~
someone was putting down old people, i responded to a post that is no longer here. wish i could remove mine but the edit feature is gone.
The US Civil War was about much more than slavery. The abolishment of slavery was a very important result of the war. And it was the topic used to get the general public on board to a large degree.
The Civil War was about money, wealth and control of the US' banking system and raw materials. It always comes down to the Bankers. The master manipulators. Getting what they want.
Jackson was oppsed to a central bank - spuff, the gun mis-fired (twice)
Lincoln was opposed to a central bank - bang!
JFK
etc. etc.
I agree. Like I said, it was a simplistic statement. Anytime the words Federal government are used, it should be understood that it is a puppet regime.
The "Federal government" has always been the front man for those who wish to exercise control and gain money and power. Why even try to do anything on your own when you have a puppet regime you can control. That makes all the thieving and corruption legal, right?
The history books have been so sanitized (I've always been fascinated that sanity is a derivative [2nd, 3rd?]of sanitized or sanitation) that very few people understand what's going on today is a very old program updated and expanded for the exponential potential that comes with the computer age, supported by predictive programming techniques on TV and the resulting group think hive mentality.
The age of corruption, HFT style.
Thank you CD . Pirates is what they are. Perhaps if the public could see them in a new light, it would open a few eyes
1. All civil societies/cultures develop Elites; this is the nature of social animals. Elites are self organizing groups which share the same self-interests, that is, a higher-order clique; they are not conspiracies or formal organizations.
2. Under certain conditions, the structural obstacles/negative feedbacks which constrain Elite dominance weaken and the Elites (private and public/State), like any other human group, seek to exploit the resulting windfall.
3. This leads the Elites to over-reach which creates positive feedback: the more wealth and influence the Elites/State control, the easier it becomes to control even more. The net result is the Elites and the State's share of the national income rises to historic extremes.
4. Regardless of the exact nature of over-reach--expansionist warfare or financial leverage and looting are two popular choices--the interests of the Elites and the society as a whole diverge. As this divergence grows, the social contract between the Elites and those whose productivity powers the economy and society begins fraying.
5. Over-reach ontologically (inherently) leads to structural imbalances which then threaten to destabilize the productive middle class which supports the Elites. Due to the overwhelming power of the Elites/State partnership's fiefdoms, structural reform is impossible (see Chapter Twenty below).
6. As the productive middle class's share of national income shrinks, a well-concealed,opaque parallel system of dominance with a structure of its own arises to exclusively serve the interests of the Plutocracy/State Elites (apparatchiks). The hidden mechanisms are many: backroom deals, unwritten "understandings," price-fixing and other forms of collusion; cash payments and other "gifts and donations;" political favoritism (special admission to elite public universities for the well-connected); and a cornucopia of financial benefits: access to initial public offerings, special tax laws written to reward a particular enterprise or cartel, and so on.
7. The State, which was intended as a bulwark against the natural dominance of concentrated private capital and Monarchy, has instead become the handmaiden of the rentierfinancial Power Elites. The Elites and the State have thus become partners in the task of diverting ever-larger shares of the national income to their own coffers.
8. As a result, inequality--as measured by shares of the national income and wealth--widens, furthering the divergence of interests between the productive class and the Elites/States' unproductive fiefdoms and dependents.
9. The State/Elites seek to counter these growing imbalances by extracting more from the productive class via taxes and "theft by other means" and masking this rising inequality by manipulating the politics of experience via relentless mass media propaganda. The goal is four-fold: nurture complacency and fatalism in the citizenry; divert their attention from the concealed parallel system that benefits the Plutocracy and State Elites exclusively; legitimize simulacrum democracy and delegitimize protest.
10. To keep the State dependents passive and unthreatening, the Elites/State placate this class with "bread and circuses," State-funded entitlements paid for by raising taxes on the dwindling productive class. Under the guise of entitlements, the State (and the Elites who control it) has in effect bought the passive complicity of its dependents in the Elites' growing dominance of national income and wealth.
11. Having over-promised entitlements to the unproductive and garnered the majority of national income and wealth for themselves, the Plutocracy/State Elites can only tax the productive class so much lest they kill the horse they ride so majestically. Their only alternative to loss of income and power is to debauch the currency by printing money and debauch credit by borrowing far in excess of what can possibly be paid back.
12. The debauchery of credit and currency and rising inequality/diverting of national income to the Elites continues in a process of devolution until a phase shift/tipping point is reached and the status quo collapses in insolvency.
http://www.oftwominds.com/Survival/Overreach-InequalitySP.pdf
No, that's not the intended purpose of the Supreme Court. Never was. I'll agree it has become corrupted, but to state that was the intent of the founders is just plain wrong.
reply to:
That was, and is, the purpose of the court, to maintain the status quo
swamp,
OK, so what was the intent of the Supreme Court, other than a stop on unfettered power exercised by either the executive or legislative (or judicial) branches? Or was that it? Or something else? The Court has made serious errors many times in the past, even before the civil war, and it appears it was often due to political pressure or self interests among key judges.
I'm not being sarcastic. I'm always ready to learn from a reasoned argument and I'm often wrong in my views. Would you consider replying so I can understand your thinking?
USSC is not on our side. Eminent Domain, corporations as people, and a stolen election are testament to that.
potus:scotus::house:senate
fertile for ruminating intent. apologies for brevity,
STOTUS is especially dangerous if compromised because they have the special power of giving legitimacy to unconstitutional law and decisions.
The sheeple don't see this and often point to STOTUS' decisions as "proof" that something is constitutional when it's not.
Ohh, not a typo. STOTUS = Supreme Tools of The United States (power elite establishment)
Ahhh, my business will be booming once people realize they are merely new world serfs.
Roberts and crew will make this all go away. We're starting to get an inkling of what's happened to the Court. But a few more rulings and it will be undeniable.
One way or another...
A few more rulings....
You mean you need MORE proof?
This brings up a conversation i had with my lady last night.
The question i asked her is "at what point will you rebel, say no to the government? How bad does it have to get? will you wait till they come to your house? Will you allow them to draft your children into an army?
Will you help them spy and turn in your neighbor if they ask or demand?
Will you rebel, say no more?
Will you wait until all jobs and all hope is gone
Where do we draw the line?
Foolish or not, tho i go forward with trepidation next week saturday is my day to begin the long 3,000 mile drive . I would already be on the way cept after weeks of no work i have a 6 day job putting a spec house together.
So she says to me, " What if some more work comes in?"
If it does it does. I could go on working and let them fool me some more.
Mind i am leaving a safe secure sitiuation for the unknown. But if you want to eat chicken , you have to kill the damn thing. You gotta chop wood for the fire and you gotta stand up to criminals and for your self respect. When i leave the planet i expect to take nothing more or less than my integrety.
I do not want or expect anything from anybody except honesty.
This is not a donation drive , but i do hope i inspire others to stand up for what they believe in and know what it is they believe.
merehuman, you can do more good, closer to home, help others to prepare, for what cannot be reversed at this late stage, with protests in washington. expend your limited resources wisely. good luck either way.
delacroix, thank you and i hear you. If it falls apart before i get gone i will stay home. But it seems our people are befuddled, isolated, in shock and persuaded that all is well or getting better. Makes it right hard to sit on my butt. I recall part of a passage....."as good men stood by". That remains with me as much as the awareness that life is indeed illusion . None the less as long as i have this body i must stand and be counted to honor myself.
To allow someone to continiou to steal from me and mine? No way.
+10
Honor is a gift that you give to yourself, and the one thing that only you can give away.
+100
"stigmatize lenders" cause... it might reveal just how corrupt and crumbling the house of cards stand. The sad thing is, the Supremes will finally feed that bullshit right back to us for that very reason. I'm with CC and CD, as things gets more desperate, the three branches will continue to coalesce for criminal coverage and survival until....well, the revolution
The courts are just dangling a carrot for us peasants . . .
Speaking of wonderful Supreme Court decisions, the first 2 corporations have explored running for Congress. Yes, it's not from The Onion.
http://www.fundmymutualfund.com/2010/03/two-corporations-begin-run-for-congress.html
Nor is it alone: according to the Washington Post, a firm called Computer Umbrella is now running for Congress in Virginia.
You are not wrong there CC. The supreme court has distorted the meaning of the constitution for some time.
Michael Rozeff spells out the root of the cancer here:-http://www.tenthamendmentcenter.com/2010/02/18/legal-tender-laws-and-the...
His essay shows how the government used their political appointees in the supreme court to over-rule the constitution, in their drive to institute Legal Tender Laws and thereby, big government preservation statutes.
That should expose the MO of those who junked you.
Sorry folks, you'll have to copy and paste this as I don't know how to offer a direct link
Marla, Tyler !!! PLEASE can you, would you change the junk set up?
As it is now a perfectly rational, well written piece will dissappear. Perhaps its Geithner or Bumberknacky or a total idiot getting his kicks.
But it aint worken' as it is. Thank you in advance for any move you make on this. I love your site.
Exactly MH. Junking without comment is BS. Adds nothing to the debate. Anyone who has written in anything "anti the supreme court" or of its support by smarmy politicians, has been junked by some anonymous turd who hasn't the where-with-all to hold a debate. Fuck off you troglodyte.
Thanks. To whoever, thank you for the junk , i consider it a badge of honor to be considered for your disapproval. Even morons should have their day.
I almost junked someone, i did not agree with them, but will defend their right to say it. Speak moron!
+100
Perhaps a pop-up window identifying the junker, who then has to send a note to admin to explain the "junking" would be appropriate.
There is, or should be, a big difference between "voting" in support/disagreement of/with a post (with just a mouse click) and labeling something "Junk", which should be reserved for spam, wild insanity that would discredit the community, etc..
The Fed is sooo stupid. We all know that almost every bank borrowed from them and still do. We all know the Fed is rigging the system this very minute. We all know that at its very core the Fed is corrupt.
Which is precisely why the entire lot needs to be put in prison.
White collar crime is no longer a crime in America.
+!!
Killer avatar!
Dude, is it just me, or did you build that fantastic avatar in light of your dedicated purpose to seeing Tim Geithner behind bars at some point in future?
Your dedication is encouraging, good on you. BUT, you forgot to add that classic line at the bottom of your post:
"Tim Geithner needs to go to jail"
Don't forget it, otherwise, it's one step closer to:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZB_2oIKUVks
Yeah but is he really gonna do his time in Harris County Jail?
a back door into hr1207 is fine with me
time to burn for 100 years of slavery
Anyone hearing of bank problems today? Trouble getting money out? ATM transactions not going through?
No problem for me this morning.
Not me! Yet. But, hey I am still down in Peru. ZH-rs, do let us know ASAP if that is happening.
Glad I have my prepaid ticket back to the USA.
First thing I´ll do when back is go pick up my shiny new guns I bought.
ATM at Home Depot worked fine for me in Reno this morning.
A couple of weeks ago I tried to cash a check at my bank and they had no $20's. How wierd is that?
I don't keep any money in banks, just a few dollars to keep a checking open so I can cash checks. They continue to cash my checks which are far in excess of my balance. Then I get cashier's checks and cash. Any electronic transfers are closely monitored (by me) and no doubling up, each transaction clears before another is made — in case they try to scalp trade my transactions. Now my brokerage and forex accounts are a separate matter. So are paper stock certificates in off shore mining companies, and physical gold.
Next step: ABOLISH THE FED!!!
If the info is so detrimental to the health of the banks then I guess they aren't in such great shape after all. Is it a recovery or isn't it. I thought the crisis was over according to them. This is common sense you don't need any degree or financial wisdom to see the FED is full of shit.
Everyone ready for the forthcoming False Flag distraction?
This is where my focus has been for the last two weeks or so. Will it be Iran/Israel? An earthquake in California? Every night for the past two weeks, UFOs have been seen over Lake Erie. I watched them fly around for about two hours last night. There's some videos of it on Youtube, and the MSNBC site I think.
Well...I'd have to say, contact with ET would definitely qualify as a black swan.
...stepping down the ramp holding hands with Michael Jackson.
http://daz76.files.wordpress.com/2009/06/et3.jpg
Yeah, that's just creepy.
creepy for ET.
We won't even talk about the anal probe.
what they have been seeing are the ghost of our factories !
I'm guessing it will happen early next week to knock the passage of 'health care reform' out of the headlines. Probably going to be something big - either has a serious timer or expiration date given the frantic effort to get the bill signed before next week.
And, sadly, it will work. Come November, with no media discussion for months and plenty of 'distractions' played up for general consumption (and with the bill not kicking in for another four years), this will all have been forgotten and incumbents will be re-elected as if nothing happened.
Relevant Rush lyrics of the day:
When they turn the pages of history
When these days have passed long ago
Will they read of us with sadness
For the seeds that we let grow?
We turned our gaze
From the castles in the distance
Eyes cast down
On the path of least resistance
Cities full of hatred, fear and lies
Withered hearts and cruel, tormented eyes
Scheming demons dressed in kingly guise
Beating down the multitude and
Scoffing at the wise
The hypocrites are slandering
The sacred Halls of Truth
Ancient nobles showering
Their bitterness on youth
Can't we find the minds that made us strong?
Can't we learn to feel what's right
And what's wrong?
What's wrong?
Cities full of hatred, fear and lies
Withered hearts and cruel, tormented eyes
Scheming demons dressed in kingly guise
Beating down the multitude and
Scoffing at the wise
Can't we raise our eyes and make a start?
Can't we find the minds to lead us
Closer to the heart?
ZOMGitsCriss reflections on you tube
Thanks - worth watching
Poetry is nearer to vital truth than history. -Plato
Obama is a caretaker. The American Tax Payer is the boss.
Maybe they should be reminded of that fact in November.
The most important election is your own proscutor's. Let's start enforcing local laws and work our way up.
The never-ending carrot dangling that elections will bring any real kind of change is what keeps people captured.
Will November change the fact that the banksters are in control of everything and everyone--save a few good people in Congress?
System failure. It's broken. The banks have all the right people in all the right places to ensure that the wealth transfer continues, no matter who we elect.
Elections are a placebo for change. The control group remains the same.
You are correct Howard and that is so unfortunate for all of us and our kids.
its only unfortunate if we allow it to go on. Stand in what ever way you can,
but for the sake of our children and country, STAND
"Next step for the Fed weasels - petitioning the Supreme Court in an attempt to completely trample America's constitution."
Which is why it's so important for each successive administration to stack the Supreme Court with it's own nominees. The illusion of three separate and isolated branches of government is a fantasy taught from early grade school. In fact, this is the entire purpose of political parties, to sink tentacles deep into each branch. Often, when the entire structure is threatened, even the most die hard partisan will cross the aisle to keep the underlying power structure stable. I will bail with my enemy if the boat we're both in is sinking. We can get back to fighting later.
This happens on both sides of the political fence so let's be adult here and recognize that if I speak of Bush, he just happens to be the last President. Obama wants to do the same thing. Clinton did the same thing. We have one political party with two different factions within jostling for power. They hold out some differences to the public to make it appear there are wide ideological differences separating them and the vast majority of loyal party hacks really do believe there are major differences. But both sides still dance to the ultimate powers-that-be, the 1% money interest of the world.
Do not forget the recent article and comments by Chief Justice Roberts scolding the President for publicly questioning the decisions of the Supreme Court in the S/O/U. His comments included phrases like deeply disturbing..
Roberts sucks off collies. That is deeply disturbing.
"Roberts sucks off collies. That is deeply disturbing." (emphasis mine)
LOL
Bravo! That was one of those deep and lasting belly laughs you just conjured up for me.
But tell me Ripped Chunk, what do you have against collies? :>)
Clever. Though I would have thought given your POV that you might rest your last and dangling hope in the S/C. or is it the Military? lol
I always have some hope that we can wake from this nightmare. I woke up a decade ago, many people here at ZH have, it can happen to the general public. But the PONZI has us all by the jugular and it will take a great awakening for people to throw off the mental chains we bind ourselves with.
See my comments above about the S/C.
Caught a mass of nat guard the other day rehearsing at 7am for SPD parade chanting loudly in formation marching up major ave in NYC. Looking at them through the prism of Americana doesn't inspire much confidence that an "awakening" is happening anytime soon. It did however lend some insight into how precariously close the line is between something like the Basij and "we are here to help"
i just woke up about 3 years ago. i have known katherine harris (florida) brother walt, for 25 years and never put the two together. he ran away from home in early 70's to colorado to hide out, but is quickly becoming an unscrupulous businessman.
Dangling hope?? WTF? And what do you think the military will do???? Follow orders for a while, but not forever.
They have families too that will call them to say B of A has ransacked the house and took the parrot with them when they left.
That is what I keep hoping, that a peoples revolution will come at the total awakening of the population to the incredible crime that has just been committed to them. It happened in France for many of the same reasons, a storming of the Bastille could well happen again, but will it be the Fed, the Pentagon, or the whole nation descending on Washington?
I can't see how it will start or end, but what is happening is so shamefully wrong that I can't believe the banksters will get away with it, and I really hope that we will end up with a new and better system because of it, but all of them need to go, and preferably to jail!
I didn't want anyone to think Roberts was above Judge Smails in any way. Elihu molests collies.
For those wondering about the reference.
http://www.imdb.com/character/ch0010122/
http://www.reelmovienews.com/quotes/characters/judge-smails/
Lacy Underall: "My Uncle says you have a screw loose"
Ty Webb: "Your Uncle molests collies"
LOL
While I'm a fan of Caddyshack, you sir are obviously a connoisseur to be able to pull up quotes like that.
Or is that a connoisewer? :>)
Apparently too much vacant real estate in my brain........
Have a good weekend all. Clear your minds and enjoy some non TV leisure.
Just one little dog and you're labeled for life.
One question, did Roberts vote for the re interpretation of the Constitution on eminent domain or was he a dissenter? That says it all. If he's willing to let private parties seize privately held land, he's a sell out.
Cheney has dibs on Yellowstone.
He is going to have a guest cottage for W near the park exit.
"Cheney has dibs on Yellowstone. He is going to have a guest cottage for W near the park exit."
LOL
Yes, good idea. Always keep the dog at the front door to slow down the bill collectors, summons servers and various other riff raff while you exit stage right.
Cheney sucks farts from dead seagulls.
cheney avenue in jackson hole, WY
He wasn't on the court when it was decided.
there's only two sides here; those that support the Constitution, and those that don't. simple.
yep, and almost 99% of those in Washington are in the latter group
Couldn't have said it better myself. Most of the political debate in this country is meaningless because it's based on the faulty premise of Democrats vs. Republicans.
AKA WWE Smackdown!
Supreme Court Justices are just politicians. They wear black and act like they have a stick up the ass, but they are just politicians like the rest of them.
Most all politicians share this seagull predilection.
(Transcript of Mark Pittman's interview with the Columbia Journalism Review {The Audit : TA} on Feburary 27, 2009 -AM)
TA: How’d you get onto the crisis story?
MP: I had a conversation with a couple of people in late 2006/early 2007, and people were talking about what’s wrong with asset-backed securities and where all this is headed. I’d also covered derivatives contracts. When they first started doing credit-default swaps on companies, I covered that. That was like ‘99-2000. You could tell it was going to be a really hot thing.
When they started talking about doing derivatives on mortgage-backed securities , I was like “oh, man, that means the banks are scared!” That was 2006, and we wrote a whole series about this.
You always want to be around the hot story. If you’re not around the hot story, you’re screwed.
TA: So did you go into that pretty much full-time? How’d you convince your editors to let you do that?
MP: You know it really wasn’t hard. They’ve really let me take a lot of chances here, and they’re extremely generous with my time. They recognize it as an important part of the reporting process. They give me a lot of rope. They let me figure stuff out. That’s something that’s in real short supply with a lot of news organizations now. You’ve got to let reporters run and figure out what’s going on.
TA: Not many others have the resources to do much of that nowadays.
MP: Instead of doing the sixth sidebar on a bailout program that probably won’t work anyway, let the person figure out what’s actually happening. And you’ve got to let your people do that. We did a five-part series [the one that won the Loeb] on the whole idea of why the subprime crisis occurred, and it starts with this story about how a bunch of traders at Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan got together and said “We need a standard contract to be able to short the mortgage market.” As soon as I realized they were going to try and short the mortgage market I said, “Ohhh. That means they think the market is going down.”
TA: And these are the guys who’ve come out pretty okay in this.
MP: You’ll notice UBS and Merrill aren’t in the group. The thing about this entire series of events is this is so complicated and so intertwined that we don’t have —journalists are not qualified to cover the story. We don’t have the background. These guys are doing stuff that you had no idea was happening. The off-balance-sheet accounting stuff is crazy.
TA: Well, if the ex-chairman of the Fed Alan Greenspan, formerly regarded as a near god, didn’t understand what this stuff was, who did? He had access to all the people and all the information he could want.
MP: He had no idea what was going on. How is it possible for them to sell themselves, to an off-balance-sheet entity, risk that is now exploding all over everybody? Why would that be allowed and why would you be able to book a profit on this? Who was in charge of this?
We haven’t got to the bottom of this whole thing yet. Somebody’s going to do this big forensic—and it might be me!—somebody’s going to do the deep dive into how everything happened and they’re going to find out that this system was just on autopilot and was spinning money out to a whole bunch of people. And it included you and me.
TA: In the form of cheap credit?
MP: Yes. The spreads should never have gotten to that level.
This goes back to why AIG is all screwed up. The banks sold AIG all their risk in 2007, when it was really blowing up. AIG had sworn that they weren’t going to do any more of this and then (the banks) restuffed the CDO’s with new stuff. So (AIG) had newer collateral that they weren’t really aware of.
TA: So the banks were stuffing the CDO’s with new stuff but AIG didn’t know they were replacing the stuff?
MP: Right.
TA: An MBS, you can’t move things in or out, but a CDO you can. Are the banks liable for this? AIG got blown up, but these guys knew what they were doing.
MP: You know what, the lawsuits will have to sort that out. And it’s going to be going on for years. It’s going to be just a debacle. Congress is going to have go through and force people to say “Okay, so what did you do with this, and where did it go from here?” They need to have very talented investigators go in and find out what the deal is.
TA: Tell me how your cops background plays into what you’re doing now.
MP: You end up with a big BS detector as a cops reporter because the cops lie to you, the victims lie to you, the people helping the victims lie to you. And you’ve got to sort through and there will be a story that seems a certain way and it just won’t be—and you know it. That’s what this is about.
The reporters who didn’t question the tight, tight spreads [the narrow difference in interest rates offered by Treasury bills and other, less secure instruments] that were going on in corporate [bonds], it was wrong. Where is this demand coming from? How can you guys sell this issue in thirty minutes? Who the hell’s buying this stuff like that? We’re going to come to the answer that it was going off balance sheet, at least temporarily, and then it might be sold to other customers.
TA: So they were buying it themselves and…
MP: They were buying it themselves. Yeah. And not every deal. But you know what—it happened enough. We don’t have enough journalists in America who understand what a spread does, which is the essence of banking. I just finished Dean’s piece in Mother Jones recently. We’ve got 9,000 business journalists and maybe twenty of them know what a spread is. This is not business journalism’s finest hour. But it is our biggest opportunity ever.
TA: How does the Bloomberg terminal inform your reporting or help you find leads?
MP: Well, I’ll give you an example. The first best story that I did about this—I’m gonna brag about this—was in June of ‘07. It said that subprime bonds are failing and they’re failing at an alarming rate, and they’re going up a lot, and they all need to be downgraded. The ratings companies aren’t following their own criteria for what makes a bond a certain rating. I did that through data that’s available on the Bloomberg. We’ve got a function called DQRP, which gives you delinquency reports on every RMBS, dividing it up by category. So you can pick the worst bonds with the worst stuff and you can divide it up by rating—all kinds of sorting. Nobody has that but us.
TA: I didn’t even know that capability was out there.
MP: Hell yes, man. And it works. Then you can pull up each individual bond and you’ve got a complete description of its geographic reach—how much is in California, all kinds of great stuff. What a weapon! And if you know how to use it, it works pretty well.
TA: So what’s your prescription for business journalists? What do they need to know and do? Not everybody’s going to have a $20,000 a year Bloomberg terminal to play with.
MP: Hardly anyone has a Bloomberg machine and the ones that do don’t know how to use it
But you know what? The government needs to make this kind of data much more publicly available than it is now. We purchase a lot of this. But, for instance, a lot of the bond deals were (not subject to disclosure). And all the CDO’s were private placements. We know why—because they placed them with themselves. The number of secret deals going bad is astounding, it’s probably 90 percent of them were secret deals.
TA: Bloomberg’s got a ton of people on bonds, but I’ve said before that a part of why the business press failed here was that it has so many times more people covering equities than debt. And debt markets are many, many times the size of the equity markets. That’s kind of a major problem right there, right?
MP: It is huge. Most reporters, it’s shocking how few of them actually understand the difference between price and yield. Hardly any business journalist actually covers the financing. If you cover a company and all of a sudden their borrowing costs go from 100 (basis points) over to 250 or 300 over [meaning investors believe the risk has increased substantially], and no one asks a question. There’s a problem there when that happens and nobody asks a question. I think we have training issues in a huge way in our profession. We brought a knife to a gunfight.
TA: Does there need to be regulation just to simplify things to where it makes sense to more people?
MP: If it was all transparent the complexity wouldn’t matter. If the CDO market had had publicly available prospectuses with the contents of the CDO disclosed, we wouldn’t have this issue, because Bloomberg probably would have made fun of anybody who bought anything like this. But there was this enormous shadow banking system going on. We did a series about that, too. A lot of times people don’t see what we do.
TA: That’s one of the problems I’ve noticed. We’ve consciously tried at The Audit to make sure people are reading your stuff. I don’t think it’s become a habit for a lot of people even in the biz to go over to Bloomberg.
MP: It kinda bums you out, because you want to do things that have big (impact) because that’s why you’re in the business. And public policy would work a lot better if they actually understood what the hell was going on.
TA: Like adding up the total number of trillions that the government is on the hook for in this bailout. Nobody else is doing that but you. Why not?
MP: Because it’s a big pain. You start off with whatever you can remember off the top of your head—oh, they’re doing this, they’re doing that—you start writing it down on a piece of paper and you go “Wow, this is real money.” It starts adding up.
The thing that people don’t realize is that the Fed is now the “bad bank.” That’s just something that people don’t understand. They’ve taken collateral, and they refuse to tell us how they valued it…
We have numerous banks— dozens, maybe hundreds that are insolvent. And they become more insolvent every day because more people quit paying their mortgage loans, and more guys move out of the shopping center, and more people quit paying their credit cards. But nobody wants to have the adult conversation…We need to be honest about what the problem is here, how big it is, and how we’re going forward to clean it up, and who’s going to pay for it.
TA: Basically the charade that’s going on here is that they haven’t marked these assets down yet because that would show they’re insolvent.
MP: But a lot of [the assets] have gone to the Fed, though, as collateral for loans. They’re still on their balance sheet, but you borrowed against them. We don’t know if those are cracked CDO’s or prime RMBS…
TA: That’s what you guys are suing (the Federal Reserve) for—to find out what the collateral is.
MP: Yeah, and that’s the secret part of the story that nobody wants to let you know.
TA: Because it’s worth pennies on the dollar or dimes on the dollar.
MP: Yeah, and then everybody’s going to go “Oh my God, we’re lending ninety cents on something that’s worth twenty or thirty?”
(Yes Virginia there is no collateral. -AM)
TA: They say they don’t want to disclose it because it would interfere with the markets, is that right?
MP: Their basic argument is this would cause chaos, and they’re probably right. But that doesn’t mean that the American taxpayer ought to be on the hook for this.
TA: Why would it cause chaos?
MP: Because people would realize that we’re lending eighty cents on the dollar for something that’s worth twenty cents.
TA: So political chaos?
MP: And maybe market chaos, too. Well, you know the market’s probably pretty savvy about this thing, and everybody knows what’s going on but we just haven’t communicated with the public.
(Here's a flashback: I have spoken to the heads of various Wall Street equity derivative trading desks and every single one of the senior managers told me that Bernie Madoff was a fraud. Of course no one wants undue career risk by sticking their head up and saying that the emperor isn't wearing any clothes. As a result of this case several careers on Wall Street and in Europe will be ruined. Therefore, I have not signed nor put my name on this report. I am worried about the personal safety of myself and my family.'
-Harry Markopolos in 2005.
A ponzi by any other name will still destroy your standard of living. -AM)
When you say “political chaos” you might well be right. That may be what it was. Congress is going to go “We’re lending this much money on this Triple-C security? What are we thinking here?”
TA: One thing I really like about you guys is in your reporting and writing, you have a sense of outrage that’s not in the Journal, say. This thing is so huge, and you guys are conveying the magnitude of it better than some, and there’s a sense of urgency that’s lacking elsewhere. Is this a conscious thing in the newsroom?
MP: We have been primary movers for transparency in markets since our existence. Bloomberg’s reason for being was to give the buy side enough tools so they wouldn’t get screwed by the investment banks. That’s what we’re about. So we’re a weapon for the buy side and a de facto weapon for every one who has a mutual fund. We just need to level the playing field and let everybody know what’s going on. This is from Matt Winkler on down. This is what we do.
It’s also that we realize this is a defining moment for business journalism and for Wall Street. I think that this organization, this news department, was built for this crisis. We’ve got more tools than anybody, we’ve got the will, we have the assets to go after this in a huge way. Everybody believes that in this room.
Hopefully, we will be able to inform the people enough to know how badly we’re getting screwed (laughs). We need to know how to prevent it from happening again, and we need to know who did it. There’s renewed energy on this front because we’ve staffed up the people who cover banks, the securities firms. We have a lot more people going at real estate and a bunch of different areas that this involves. That was a conscious move from meetings we started having in 2007. We hired people and we moved people from one area to another area.
Our issue is we have readers who are very interested in very small things. That’s why they have the terminal. It’s because they’re interested in natural gas or things that aren’t connected with the biggest story in twenty years, maybe longer. This is a big deal and it’s going to be going on—I swear to God I’m going to retire on this story, because it’s just going to keep happening
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601109&sid=afp8OC.OvRnI
Thanks, AM!
MP: But a lot of [the assets] have gone to the Fed, though, as collateral for loans. They’re still on their balance sheet, but you borrowed against them. We don’t know if those are cracked CDO’s or prime RMBS…
Essentially, these "asset" transfers/loans are nothing more in substance than Lehman's Repo 105 transactions, yes?
Except on a mass, systemic scale of course, and with the up-front guarantee with taxpayer money . . .
WOW thanks money, how do you get these valuable dialogues?
Going on holiday abroad. enjoy, glad you had a bit of time this morning to post this.
you picked a good time to leave town. Good on you and have fun. Stay alert no matter where you are. Refreshingly alert!
Something tells me this just ain't true. A real leader surrounds himself with people smarter than he is. The FED knew. Come on, folks. Ignorance of problems due to a system's complicated nature can't be a credible excuse for letting the financial system rot from the inside. The FED just couldn't have been that ignorant. Blind, maybe, but not totally ignorant.
Didn't this guy die of a "heart condition"?
New Slogan: Fed-up with the Fed?
Now that explains why the markets' red today.
Satan's pissed!
i think greenie and bernie aren't speaking anymore:
Greenspan advises that requiring banks and other financial firms to raise as much as 40 percent more in reserve capital is one of the best ways to prevent another bout of Wall Street exuberance
Bernanke wants to eliminate reserve requirementsYou are talking about two different things. Tier One capital vs. reserve requirements (i.e.vault money).
Greenspan effectively eliminated RR in 1990 and 1992, 10% on savings accounts and 0% on checking. Before the Depression, RR for all accounts were 22%.
Here's a nice little article on RR's:
http://www.kc.frb.org/PUBLICAT/ECONREV/PDF/4Q96SELL.pdf
Don't be using no banker slang with me. We have had enough of that shit I can tell you. People have gotten extremely well paid using that shit.
Now the bankers will have to eat them words for breakfast in a jail cell.
See ya. Wouldn't want to be ya.
Howard can't take it anymore either.
HB,
Thanks for the link. Good read. Informative.
At the top of the first full paragraph on page 2, it says it's the first of two articles. Do you have the second available?
http://www.kc.frb.org/publicat/econrev/pdf/2q97wein.pdf
Thank you
Sellon & Weiner should have the label "Craftsman" tattooed on their foreheads.
LMAO! it took a few seconds but I got it.
A glimmer of hope for all rational HONEST people
The mere prospect that these records could be disclosed has one drooling in anticipation. I can only fantasize about Bernanke and Geithner being cross examined about their public statements versus their private actions.
One suspects that this information is not detrimental to the health of the banks but rather detrimental to the survival of the Federal Reserve.
Mark Pittman is indeed smiling today.
And so are we ... Time to enjoy a rare drink
A toast Miles:L'Chaim.
L'Chaim.
Not all public statements, just those under oath. Then they can spend all their time in jail playing monopoly.
Agree. I popped wood when I saw the article on Bloomberg this morning.
lizzy36 its likely they have thought this out already. After all it is their plan they follow. Either its planned (world wide) or its one hell of a lot of coincidences of really stupid people in charge getting rich by accident.
It used to be just lawyers , ballplayers and american idol contestants.
George Bush used the phrase "hard work" often and gave hard work a bad image. Now i feel like a fool for working hard and accepting a paper promise.
True worth =?
White collar crime terminology really needs to be changed to "elitist crimes". White collar workers have been taking the brunt of job outsourcing since the begining of the decade. One of the biggest lies perped on the masses by the MSM has been the unreported massive job losses inflicted on white collar workers by the elites.
I told u from day 1, he was killed by the fed operatives. Now it's the fed who's dying.
END THE FCKING FED
The National Security Apparatus, specifically the NSA and CIA, were the brainchild of Wall Street bankers scheming on Jupiter Island FL in 1946-1947. They needed a global "enforcer" agency that could topple non-cooperative governments and murder domestic dissenters that posed a threat.
My money is on Agency Boyz whacking Mark Pittman to both set another example and kill the bloodhound at the same time.
The finish line is in site. Bless Mr. Pittman and his loved ones.
There is a difference between what people wants and what can be done or will be done.
The information won't be released. The damage from information can be much greater than just curiosity. For now every1 is guessing that FED is bending us over and saving money on baby oil. One thing is guessing and another is knowing. They cant allow and they won't. But than again... hope always die last.
If you refuse to accept your deemed role as a serf you risk being labeled a "populist". Worse, you might end up tagged as an "extremist" or potential "domestic terrorist".
Really, you need to knock off this "the people" stuff. It's so passe in a post-democratic world. Globalism and democracies cannot co-exist. And we all know how important and inevitable globalism is.
What was the official cause of death? Mighty suspicious, and I don't recall reading about it...
was it ZH that his daughter made a post and said he had been quite ill?
speculation was rampant of cause of his demise, right?
maybe another blog but i remember seeing her quote¿
you are correct velobabe in that it was a post on zh....i'm 99.9% certain of that.
Prediction: the Supreme Shysters will invent some government right to maintain public order in a time of financial crisis. This is the "bad news".
The good news: "Heller vs. DC". Should we all become a "well-regulated militia"?
That's the only way we will ever get our government back.
I realized this morning for the first time completely that our country is no longer a constitutional republic as constructed by the "Founding Fathers."
The framers concept of nearly sovereign states loosely bound together by a limited Federal Government is long gone. Now, we have a tyrannical regime in Washington including the Imperial Presidency, the Politburo-rubber-stamp Congress, and an Out-to-Lunch Supreme Court. All backed by a Pravda-like press.
We're a rouge state, rudderless, swept by populist passions. Broke too.
Welcome. The red pill is a tough swallow but I prefer the ugly truth to the sticky sweet illusion that rots the teeth and the brain at the same time.
Is there a preferred reading list?
I know this is going to sound like a cop-out but no, there is no preferred reading list. For the same reason there is not "one" investment for everyone. I've had bad luck offering things to people to read. They are not on the same path as I, they don't have the same reading history as I do, they might just be peeking their head out the door but won't say so for fear of being ridiculed. Thus they give me the impression they are experienced, I give them something to read and it scares the hell out of them.
This stuff is so shocking at times that it needs to be assimilated over time. I started well over 10 years ago and I'm still knocks off my feet at times and that is hard to do. For people not as far down the path, picking up something that I might feel is tame (but wasn't 10 years ago) often has the effect of frightening them back into the emotional safety zone of the TV and approved thought.
It depends on what you wish to learn about and how far you want to go. If I were to give one name it would be Peter Dale Scott, who is a rigorous scholar and an honest intellect. He was a Canadian diplomat at one point and has written some books about deep politics. Plug his name into amazon.com or YouTube or google him and spend some time listening or reading him.
This man won't take you too far off the beaten path unless it can be substantiated and documented to his satisfaction. No flights of fancy by him but this also means if he says something that you don't like to hear, it's gonna be harder for you to stay in denial. The man is substantial but also will take you into areas many don't wish to travel, including the Kennedy assassination, 9/11, Gladio in Europe and so on. Good luck.
Zeitgeist the final cut did it for me. Of course i have been all over the net looking for reality as it stands for our country and economy.
What disturbs me is that i know i am not as swift as i used to be and i never thought myself too smart in the best of times. So it grieves me to see our public so under the spell of illusion and in some cases an absolute refusal to acknwledge what is patently self evident.
ie Trillions spent and we are still OUTSOURCING JOBS. HELLO!??
CD Imet someone like that in the spritual arena.Got lucky. Got to know the human i had become , still learning and refining the balance of where i put my attention ie myself. We are where our attention is to a large degree.
Cant hardly talk to anyone about it. its even harder to get than the economy as its more than mental understanding.
CD, if I may offer my 2 cents here (afterall, it IS legal tender for all debts, public and private, and I'm indebted to your insight... I'll toss some silver at you later when the gov'ts not looking. ;) ), there is one book that if you, and others have not read, should definitely put on your MUST READ list.
Survival+: Structuring Prosperity for Yourself and the Nation, by Charles Hugh Smith.
Recommended to me by a poster at chrismartenson.com From reading your posts, I suggest picking it up when you have some time, because I suspect you'll go cover to cover in a single read. Seriously.
I bought the kindle version (19.95) and read all 400? pages. Perhaps the most cogent, spot-on tome regarding the illusion of liberty in America. This book has gotten legs and has really taken off. BTW. The establishment press wouldn't touch it with a ten foot pole. Probably because he tears them a new one in one of his chapters.
Smith absolutely hits a grand slam with this book. He delves into the externalization of self via consumerism (that is, one's life is incomplete and empty if it lacks "products") and how easily this state of being is used to induce distraction and indifference.
He spends and enormous amount of time speaking of the various simulacra (there, there's a word for what you all are experiencing!!!!) prevelant in our culture, and how people literally live in an alter reality.
He shows utter disdain for "guns, beans, and bunker" mentality. For those who are offended by this statement, read the book. 100 fiat notes says most here will be converts.
He talks about how to make the "system" irrelevant.
My favorite quote in the book, "If you want to look out for number 1, look out for numbers 2 through 100".
Most of all guys and gals, his SeekingAlpha Certified blog is incredible. And he's financially savvy as hell for a guy with a philosophy background.
I think 99% of ZH'ers would enjoy both his book and his blog.
Note. Read the ENTIRE book. Because just when your blood is boiling in your veins, and you are at that state of rationalizing homicidal behavior, Charles shifts frames and plows into some of the most unique, compelling, and utterly positive concepts you'll ever be exposed to. You'll walk away inspired, refreshed, empowered, and determined.
BTW. Today's blog entry is on the "melt-up" and how retail investors aren't buying the bullshit. Nice short read.
http://www.oftwominds.com/
You and I probably smoked it all of our lives and never knew it.
35Pete,
I read his blog off and on and always enjoy it. I remember him talking about his upcoming book but missed his announcement that it was being published. So upon your recommendation, I just purchased the book and will have it Tuesday.
Thank you.
Welcome to the club.
BTW, totally off-point, but it's rogue. I've seen it spelled the way you did so many times that I'm afraid it's becoming some kind of pop culture idiom, or something. 'Rouge' is what some women apply to their cheeks. (Also, it's French for 'red'.) Which may be apropos to our government, but probably not what you meant in this case. :-)
I have an issue with how so many people pronounce "coupons". It started slowly but has gained considerable momentum over the past 5 or 6 years.
Many say "cuepons" as in taking your "cue" to exit or as in using a well balanced "cue" when playing pool. It should be "coupons" as in it was a bloodless "coup" and the President was quickly whisked away into the night.
Sorry, my Webster's lists Kyoo'-pon as acceptable.