How Lehman, With The Fed's Complicity, Created Another Illegal Precedent In Abusing The Primary Dealer Credit Facility

Five months ago, Zero Hedge observed the nuances of the Federal Reserve's Primary Dealer Credit Facility (PDCF) and concluded that this artificial liquidity boosting construct was nothing more than yet another scam to allow banks to extract ever more money from taxpayers, with the complicit blessing of the Federal Reserve Board Of New York (as the original piece also provided an in-depth discussion of the triparty repo market which is now a parallel to the buzzword of the day in the form of Lehman's "Repo 105" off balance sheet contraption, it should serve as a useful refresher course to anyone who wishes to understand why while Repo 105 with its $50 billion in liability contingency may have been an issue, the true Repo market, with over $3 trillion of likely just as toxic assets, is where the real pain in the future will come from). The PDCF would allow assets of declining and even inexistent value to be pledged as collateral, thus making sure that taxpayer cash was funneled into sham institutions holding predominantly toxic assets, and whose viability was and is limited, yet still is backed by the Fed, which to this day continues to pour our money into them. Today, with a tip from the NYT's Eric Dash, we demonstrate just how grossly negligent the Federal Reserve was when it came to Lehman's abuse of the PDCF, and how the trail of slime of Lehman's increasingly obvious manipulation of its books goes to the very top of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, and its then governor - a very much complicit Tim Geithner.

1. The Liquidity Conundrum And the PDCF

In our original piece, we posited the following observation on the Fed's constant involvement in liquidity provisioning, particularly in the context of the repo market:

Here is the liquidity crunch in its full flow-chart glory:

1. If can not obtain short-term (overnight or term) funding in repo market, go to Eurodollar market
2. If can not obtain short-term funding in Eurodollar market (LIBOR), go to asset sales
3. If
   asset sales are impossible due to lack bids, illiquid markets, and
   collateral consists of toxic MBS and CCC-rated junk bonds, yet margin
   calls are streaming and repo counterparties are demanding their cash
   back, go to bankruptcy
4. File for bankruptcy

This
would be natural chain of events in a normal capitalist country.
However, America in times of stress is anything but - which is why
enter 3.5 (after 3 and before 4): the Federal Reserve. What the Fed did
was to basically extend credit, first to Bear Stearns (through JP
Morgan which ended up acquiring Bear's toxic asset mess, now better
known as Maiden Lane as it continues to reside on the Fed's balance
sheet), and second to Lehman Brothers (here JPMorgan was not the
ultimate beneficiary of the "good bank," and instead it was merely the
clearing agent of the triparty repo which had a very nervous Fed on one
side, stuck with nearly $70 billion in worthless securities consisting
of anything from defaulted CRE whole loans, to stock in hundreds of
bankrupt companies.

Keep in mind this is not the first time the
Fed has found itself in this situation: in 1998, when LTCM blew up, it
was a dress rehearsal to the dot, along with the same feedback-loop
driven evaporation of liquidity, as haircuts collapsed and nobody
wanted to be on contingent to anyone else making rash decision. Yet
there was one notable difference between 1998 and 2008: roughly $3.5
trillion (or 350% more) in outstanding repos: a number equal to about
30% of the US GDP, and a number sufficient to bring down the entire
financial ponzi house of cards. Enter the Federal Reserve and the
doctrine of encouraged moral hazard.

The Fed's response to point 3.5 - the emergence of the Primary Dealer Credit Facility.

The PDCF is mostly notable for the one fact that on the eve of Lehman's bankruptcy, the PPT officially came out to play. On September 14^th the original, "stricter", terms of the PDCF were modified to expand the collateral package from investment grade securities to pretty much anything that was not nailed down, including equities. In this way the Fed was basically acting as the Plunge Protection Team once removed: it would lend money to banks so they could buy equities. If anybody was confused about the existence of the PPT, it became completely evident on September 14^th. This was also previously discussed on Zero Hedge:

All through the spring and summer of 2008, the Fed was confident it had
managed to glue the pieces together, and retain some semblance of
stability. Then came that fateful weekend of September 13th about which
so much has been written. In advance of the Lehman collapse, and what
the Fed knew would quickly become a lock-up of not just money markets
(which nearly occurred), but of the entire repo system, bringing
practically all leveraged institutions to a halt and prompt
liquidation, the Federal Reserve announced this little discussed amendment to the Primary Dealer Credit Facility:

The collateral elligible to be pledged at the
Primary Dealer Credit Facility (PDCF) has been broadened to closely
match the types of collateral that can be pledged in the tri-party repo
systems of the two major clearing banks. Previously, PDCF collateral
had been limited to investment-grade debt securities.

The bolded text is all you need to know to find the smoking gun for any
and all allegations of "plunge protection" or however one wishes to
frame the invisible market bid. On September 14th, 2008 the gloves
cames off, when the Fed, stated in a press release no less, that it
would provide virtually free taxpayer capital to banks so that they
could go to the market and purchase equities!

And while the gloves really came off after Lehman's failure, there was a sense that in the period between the PDCF's inception in March and the September crisis amendment, the Fed was acting with at least a borderline fiduciary obligation to taxpaying Americans, by at least being true to its words of accepting only "investment grade rated securities."

On March 16, 2008, finding itself in a quandary as to how to unclog
frozen repo markets, the Federal Reserve Board announced the Primary Dealer Credit Facility.
Most notably from the press release is the disclosure on collateral:
"Credit extended to primary dealers under this facility may be
collateralized by a broad range of investment-grade debt securities."
Note: not junk bonds, equities or any other toxic trash. At least at
this point the Fed, while acting to preserve liquidity, still retained
some semblance of fiduciary responsibility to the U.S. taxpayer.

We have now discovered that this was absolutely not the case.

When analyzing the Lehman failure, the Lehman Examiner spends a substantial amount of time on the PDCF, and the interplay between it, and Lehman's "assets":

On March 16, 2008, “at the height of the Bear Stearns crisis” the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve granted the FRBNY the authority to establish the Primary Dealer Credit Facility (“PDCF”)...Under the PDCF, the FRBNY would make collateralized loans to broker-dealers, such as LBI, and in effect, act as a repo counterparty. Unlike a typical counterparty, though, with the creation of the PDCF, the FRBNY was generally understood by market participants to be the “lender of last resort to the broker-dealers.” Reflecting the fact that broker-dealer liquidity had become increasingly dependent on overnight repos to obtain short-term secured financing, the PDCF was structured as an overnight facility.

As to the acceptable collateral qualifier, Valukas notes:

Pursuant to the Federal Reserve Act’s requirement that a Federal Reserve Bank lend only on a secured basis, and according to the convention in repo lending, the FRBNY advanced funds against a schedule of collateral. Collateral accepted by the PDCF initially consisted of: Treasuries, government agency securities, mortgage-backed securities issued or guaranteed by  government agencies, and investment grade corporate, municipal, mortgage- and asset-backed securities priced by clearing banks.

Wall Street immediately greeted the arrival of the PDCF as the panacea that would bail out the world.

Citigroup’s Global Markets Equity Research division upgraded Lehman to “buy” on the back of the expansion of the PDCF. Referring to the PDCF, the Citigroup analysis states: “In our view, it’s tough to have a liquidity-driven meltdown when you’re being backed by government entities that have the ability to print money.” The Citigroup analysis elaborated on that point: “With $34b in liquidity at the parent company, [and] the ability to get access to over $200b in liquidity from the Fed’s primary dealer credit facility, . . . access to liquidity is a non-issue.”

To Lehman itself, the PDCF seemed like a Bernanke Ex Machina. To wit:

A day after the PDCF became operational, Lehman personnel commented: “I think the new ‘Primary Dealer Credit Facility’ is a LOT bigger deal than it is being played to be . . . .” They mused that if Lehman could use the PDCF “as a warehouse for all types of collateral, we should have plenty of flexibility to structure and rethink CLO/CDO structures . . . .” Additionally, by viewing the PDCF as “available to serve as a ‘warehouse’ for short term securities [b]acked by corporate loans,”5345 the facility “MAY BE THE ‘EXIT STRATEGY’ FUNDING SOURCE WE NEED TO GET NEW COMPETITION IN THE CORPORATE LOAN MARKET.

Amusingly, even Lehman realized the obvious: that the Fed was locked in its "enabler" mode and would now have to serve Ponzi heroin virtually in perpetuity, as it would have no ability to withdraw the extra liquidity:

Feldkamp hypothesized that banks would be able to take advantage of the PDCF’s warehousing potential over the long term, believing the FRBNY could not discontinue the temporary program in the near term, and that the program would eventually become entrenched:

Bernanke and co may have ‘saved the day’, and JPM has a great public affairs approach to make the Bear deal look extremely positive for everyone, by emphasizing how it will be looking forward to applying this new [CDO packaging]  technology to [the] resolution of this crisis. Once applied successfully, the Fed will not be able to end the facility. They’ll have to conti[n]ue it and manage it as a standard monetary policy tool.

Forget lender of last resort: everyone now saw the Fed as the "enabler of infinite resort."

The 'hope' reached to the very top, when Dick Fuld said on March 17:“The Federal Reserve’s decision to create a lending facility for primary dealers and permit a broad range of investment-grade securities to serve as collateral improves the liquidity picture and, from my perspective, takes the liquidity issue for the entire industry off the table.” [amusingly, this is taken from a quote by the now infamous Zachery Kouwe, Lehman Is Not Ready To Fuld — Chairman Bullish Despite 19% Drop, N.Y. Post, Mar. 18, 2008, at p. 37 - we wonder how many sources were trampled in the creation of this reference...]

Oh Dick, if only you knew then how wrong you are.

2. Lehman PDCF Land-Grab

The second PDCF was announced, it became Lehman's saving grace. The firm immediately took to packaging whatever questionable assets it could find, including completely worthless unsecured loans from Mozillo's defunct Countrywide Financial, securitizing them with a few rating agency kickbacks, getting a single A rating for these, and peddling them over to the taxpayers in exchange for cash, with the Fed's criminally negligent complicity:

Lehman did indeed create securitizations for the PDCF with a view toward treating the new facility as a “warehouse” for its illiquid leveraged loans. In March 2008, Lehman packaged 66 corporate loans to create the “Freedom CLO.” The transaction consisted of two tranches: a $2.26 billion senior note, priced at par, rated single A, and designed to be PDCF eligible, and an unrated $570 million equity tranche. he loans that Freedom “repackaged” included high-yield leveraged loans, which Lehman had difficulty moving off its books, and included unsecured loans to Countrywide Financial Corp.

The rub here is that unlike any traditional "asset", there was no roadshow, no market, no way to determine the price for the CLO - it was all just Lehman's word. Yet the kicker is that the only reason the CLO was created was to abuse the PDCF's generosity.

Lehman did not intend to market its Freedom CLO, or other similar securitizations, to investors. Rather, Lehman created the CLOs exclusively to pledge to the PDCF. An internal presentation documenting the securitization process for Freedom and similar CLOs named “Spruce” and “Thalia,” noted that the “[r]epackage[d] portfolio of HY [high yield leveraged loans]” constituting the securitizations, “are not meant to be marketed.” Handwriting from an unknown source underlines this sentence and notes at the margin: “No intention to market.

Where it gets much worse, and where alarm bells comparable to those in the AIG case should now start to go off, is that Lehman had every intention of manipulating its books to hide its intention of using the CLO exclusively for Fed collateral purposes. This has all the makings of another SEC-sponsored disclosure crisis, in which both the regulator and the Fed were criminally negligent and/or complicit in hiding the true state of Lehman's affairs from the broader public. And while Fuld can claim he was unaware of Repo 105, there is at least a written trail that exposes his order to make Lehman's PDCF participation hidden from the public's eye: this alone is grounds for a criminal and civil investigation.

Lehman may have also managed its disclosures to ensure that the public did not become aware that the CLOs were not created to be sold on the open market, but rather were intended solely to be pledged to the PDCF. An April 4, 2008 e-mail containing edits to talking points concerning the Freedom CLO to be delivered by Fuld stated:

"Given that the press has not focused (yet) on the Fed window in relation to the [Freedom] CLO, I’d suggest deleting the reference in the summary below. Press will be in attendance at the shareholder meeting and my concern is that volunteering this information would result in a story."

It is unclear, based solely on the e-mail, why a reference linking the FRBNY’s liquidity facility to the Freedom CLO was deleted. One explanation could be that Lehman did not want the public to learn that it had securitized illiquid loans exclusively to be  pledged to the PDCF. Another reason may have been to hide the fact that Lehman needed to access the PDCF in the first  place, given that accessing the securities dealers’ lender of last resort could have negative signaling implications.

While it is immediately unknown if the SEC was aware, and thus at fault as well for the this public disclosure manipulation, what is clear is that the FRBNY was well too aware of the deal:

The FRBNY was aware that Lehman viewed the PDCF not only as a liquidity backstop for financing quality assets, but also as a means to finance its illiquid assets. Describing a March 20, 2008 meeting between the FRBNY and Lehman’s senior management, FRBNY examiner Jan Voigts wrote that Lehman “intended to use the PDCF as both a backstop, and business opportunity.” With respect to the Freedom securitization in particular, Voigts wrote that Lehman saw the PDCF

"as an opportunity to move illiquid assets into a securitization that would be PDCF eligible. They [Lehman] also noted they intended to create 2 or 3 additional PDCF eligible securitizations. We avoided comment on the securitization but noted the firm’s intention to use the PDCF as an opportunity to finance assets they could not finance elsewhere."

Thus, the FRBNY was aware that Lehman viewed the PDCF as an opportunity to finance its repackaged illiquid corporate loans. The Examiner’s investigation has not determined whether the FRBNY also understood that these Freedom-style securitizations were never intended for sale on the broader market. In response to a question from FRBNY analyst Patricia Mosser on whether Voigts knew “if they [Lehman] intend to pledge to triparty or PDCF,” Voigts replied that the Freedom CLO was “created with the PDCF in mind.”

Recall that Jan Voigts, who was an Examining Officer in the FRBNY's bank supervision department, was woefully unaware of Lehman's Repo 105, as in the words of the Examiner, he had "no knowledge of Lehman removing assets from its balance sheet at or near quarter-end via a repo trade." Voigts disclosure that Lehman intended to use the PDCF as both a backstop and business opportunity" comes from a letter to none other than Tim Geithner from April 9. What is hilarious is that while the FRBNY itself acknowledges that merely the first part of the use of the PDCF, namely the use of the facility as a liquidity backstop, "could encourage risky behavior", thereby introducing "moral hazard" issues, the second part, i.e., the use of the PDCF as a "business opportunity" screams of gross FRBNY negligence when it comes to eliminating any risk on part of the borrower, explicitly guaranteed by taxpayer funds. And Tim Geithner was all too aware of not just this, but of Lehman's lack of public disclosure of this very critical component to its ongoing business model.

Yet after milking the PDCF for all it was worth, suddenly Lehman got cold feet, as it realized that there is a stigma effect associated with being seen as needing this very last recourse in the lender of last resort's toolkit.

Lehman complained internally, and to the FRBNY, about the stigma attached to PDCF borrowing. In an internal e-mail, Lehman personnel appeared to view the PDCF as a net negative, writing that Lehman could not use it due to its “stigma,”  owing to the fact that “should the Fed disclose the [PDCF] borrowers, it would likely further damage confidence in the institutions that tapped the facilities.” Yet, at the same time, Lehman personnel suggested that the mere existence of FRBNY facilities forced Lehman to “quell rumors and bad press,” presumably regarding whether Lehman was suffering liquidity problems or was forced to access the PDCF. Tonucci also complained of the stigma, elevating his concerns to the FRBNY. Tonucci relayed the rumor to the FRBNY, which he attributed to Standard & Poor’s, that “usage of the PDCF would cause [the rating agency] to change [Lehman’s] outlook from stable to negative.”

Here we uncover yet another stunner: in order to validate whether or not the last statement above was true, the FRBNYs Brian Peters notified the FRBNY's infamous Steven Manzari, notorious for his involvement in AIG disclosuregate, which already got Tim Geithner in hot water before Congress, that he had spoken to S&P's Diane Hinton, who had told him that the rumor was "not at all" true. This brings a whole slew of questions: how often does the Fed discuss rating criteria and policy with the rating agencies? Does the Fed exert pressure when S&P or Moody's determines a given rating? Is the Fed instrumental in "nudging" a rating agency to raise or lower a rating, as then-Tim Geithner/Ben Bernanke and now Bill Dudley/Ben Bernanke so desire? Obviously, with the fate of Greece tied to Moody's one notch downgrade, this question could not have come at a more opportun time.

Yet despite posturing about worries of being stigmatized, Lehman had really no qualms about pleding Freedom CLO as collateral to the FRBNY, and to US taxpayers. And not only that, but it once again materially misrepresented its liquidity needs and actual internal operations, the Examiner finds. Hey SEC: how much more blatant does it get?

Lehman drew on the PDCF facility sparingly prior to its bankruptcy. Lehman accessed the PDCF seven times in the liquidity stress period that followed the Fed-brokered sale of Bear Stearns to JPMorgan. Both internally, and to third parties, Lehman characterized these draws as “tests,” although witnesses from the FRBNY have stated that these were not strictly “tests,” but instances in which Lehman drew upon the facility for liquidity purposes.

After demonstrating a valiant effort in going after "psychics" and enforcing
regulations when the amount of money involved is a few hundred
thousands dollars (or less), The Scam Enrichment Cabal becomes very
quiet when the perpetrator is someone who over the past several decades
made over half a billion dollars based on repeated and gross
misrepresentation and lies to the public. No, in this case the SEC is
very much silent. One wonders just how complicit the SEC's Chris Cox
and Mary Schapiro have been in all of this?

The above, in a nutshell, describes Lehman's repeated criminal misrepresentation to both investors, and the Fed's misrepresentation to taxpayers, about both Lehman's involvement in government backstopped programs, its intent in doing so, and the collateral the Fed would accept. We would certainly be more lenient on the Fed if it had indeed done some homework and realized the true value of Lehman collateral, which as is about to be shown, was in fact worthless.

3. The Fed's Criminal Negligence In Performing Any Collateral Diligence

Going back to the beginning, this whole debate would have been a moot point had the Fed done at least a little diligence to determine if the Lehman collateral in question was in compliance with the original PDCF terms of accepting only "investment grade" assets; if instead of blindly following the massively corrupt rating agency doctrine, the Fed's hundreds of overpaid analysts had done at least one hour worth of work; if the Fed had felt even a modest sense of fiduciary oblgiation to US taxpayers, to whom, much more so than Wall Street, it is supposed to be responsible.

This is not what happened.

In fact, what did happen, is that when Lehman attempted to use the Freedom CLO as collateral with Citi a few months down the line, it was classified as "bottom of the barrel" and "junk."

In early August, Lehman offered Citi the Kingfisher, Freedom, Spruce and Verano CLOs – recently rated tranches of asset-backed securities that were backed by corporate loans and structured by Lehman – as collateral in connection with the pledge agreement. Cornejo was concerned about Citi’s reaction to Lehman proposing these assets as collateral  and, according to Mauerstein, Lehman was not surprised when Citi ultimately rejected the CLOs as collateral. Citi personnel characterized the CLOs offered by Lehman in connection with the pledge negotiations as “bottom of the barrel” and “junk.”

There is far more but this is more than sufficient.

4. Total And Criminal Abdication Of Responsibility From Everyone

In conclusion what else can be said that the Fed was grossly irresponsible in its fiduciary obligation to US taxpayers, whose money it used to fund collateral which another bank (which itself would shortly need to be bailed out by taxpayers as well), made it all too clear that the Fed was playing Russian roulette with worthless assets, and admitting these to the PDCF, which at least on paper, was limited to quality collateral. The Fed basically lied to everyone, while behind the scenes allowing not just worthless collateral to be pledged, but worked in complicity with Lehman's management to misrepresent the true state of the firm's financial affairs. The Fed also conspired with rating agencies, and possibly was even instrumental in forcing the rating agencies to produce a credible threat of a major downgrade to Lehman, in order to accelerate the firm's death. Dick Fuld, in the meantime, was also willfully aware of financial misrepresentations, and that he was in violation of SEC reporting requirements, yet that did not stop him from repeatedly perverting the true nature of his PDCF involvements. And lastly, one may ask, where the fuck was the SEC in all of this? Aside from surely lamenting the fact that its only has a $1 billion budget a year, and engrossed in transvestite porn, did the agency do any work to figure out just how the common US investors was getting raped from all sides pretty much throughout 2008, and very likely, continuing to date?

Comments

[chumbawamba]

Sorry, these run on sentences just kill me.  ZH needs an editor badly.

I am Chumbawamba.

[Anonymous]

"Sorry, these run on sentences just kill me, ZH needs an editor badly (I am Chumbawamba)."

Fixed.

[andy55]

I'm sorry, how much did you pay for this piece?  ...and each of the last 50?

[Anonymous]

Damn Andy all up in chumba's ass. I love gay people. They're like vacumn cleaners around this mofo. Only tyler and his tumor know how many times chumbawumba has hit the "Donate" button.

[Johnny Dangereaux]

April 15-19th could be an interesting period! I hope.....

You guys read 'History of the Fed' yet? Blood-boiling for sure.....

http://www.apfn.org/apfn/reserve.htm

[SRV - ES339]

The JD link above includes the 3 hr documentary, "The Money Masters" (1995).

IMO, a must see for all at ZH... while the methods have evolved through technology, it's just business as usual for those "behind the curtain."

[bingaling]

WOW. One criminal injustice after another and the most these criminals will have to do is answer questions in front of congress what a joke .It doesn't get more depressing than that .

[swamp]

Criminals answering questions to paid off criminals.

[Anonymous]

American peasants are sleeping the credit party hangover.

Everythig is going to be fine next morning unless reality comes and we discover it was just a debt-drugs fueled party.

Long Live Bubbleamerica's KING!!

[Anonymous]

I'm so laughing today.

I see the bailout deal of yesterday was refuted today by the BUN.

LOL

I can't beleive how this market is being manipulated now.

Poor shorts. Poor longs.

-MB

[GoldSilverDoc]

Wow.  People are starting to pay attention.

I asked, some months ago, what it would take to crack FRB and the Fed.  How much money would have to be withdrawn from how many banks.

The number is small.

A demand for less than 3% of deposited cash, in CASH (i.e., green money - but make sure you go and spend it IMMEDIATELY AFTER YOU GET IT - buy land/gold/assets), will crack the system.  A demand for 10% of deposited cash in electronic transfers, out of the vampire squid banks, will crack it too.

When will you do your part?

[George Washington]

I read recently that something like 6% of depositors in the too big to fails have already "moved their money" to small banks and credit unions ...

That is number of depositors, not amount of all deposits moved.

[Anonymous]

Start like this:

Print out the whole article and give at least 2 neighbours a copy to get the word spread.

[Ned Zeppelin]

Mind-boggling stuff, not to be repeated in the MSM. Timmah is counting on that. 

The best interpretation of all of this: Lehman was alone among all the banks in maliciously and intentionally perpetrating this crap, and did so solely to survive, and the FRBNY was truly merely asleep at the switch and grossly incompetent at the level we commonly expect of fairly undercompensated and non-too-bright career bureaucrats.  Maybe that is the way it was.

But that is the best, most Timmah-friendly theory you could cobble together to explain this set of facts, and it strains credulity to do so.

[Anonymous]

Kind of puts that major staggered report date round robin 'pass the REPO 105' bank fraud theory to rest then.

Nice and sleepful like a baby.

captcha: 'fourteen minus thirteen = '1'. wait. that can't be right?

[Anonymous]

I have yet to hear any mention of the parts of the Valukas report (v.4) that discuss FRBNY's knowledge of Lehman's "three card monte" (their words, not mine) reporting of its liquidity and its refusal either to do anything about it or to notify the SEC, **despite a memo of understanding with the SEC that they should collaborate and share information.**

Here's how one FRBNY on-site Lehman monitor put it: "“How Lehman reports its liquidity is between Lehman, the SEC, and the World."

More here: http://www.contrarianpundit.com/?p=374

[George Washington]

This is the single most important essay of the last couple of days.

ZH readers: If you agree, please help spread the story by voting up here, here,  and here.

[Bob]

Yeah!  (Where are all the "Digg" this and other gadgets?)  This one has gotta be spread widely . . .

[George Washington]

I'm not signed up on Digg.

If someone Diggs it, please post link here ...

[merehuman]

did not see where to vote, but left a positive remark.

Thanks george. You and fellow posters all take risk to have your say.

[merehuman]

George , all 3 links go to the same place.reddit

[Anonymous]

Remember that the ECB has had its own emergency-lending adventure, and afaics it has somewhat similar issues of undeclared (as well as declared) "qualitative easing". What else can one conclude when the ECB decides that it needs two agencies rather than one to confirm the eligibility of the collateral it's offered ... then waits another three months to actually implement the two-agency requirement?

http://www.zerohedge.com/article/dangers-greek-regulatory-arbitrage-and-...

[Hulk]

Here is Celente's take on this weeks
Lehman news,
interviewed on RT, of course

http://dollarcollapse.com/

Celente, as usual, calls it as it is...

[Mr Lennon Hendrix]

Celente for President?  How could we make that happen?

[defender]

a revolution?

[Hulk]

here is Stewart interviewing Markopolos
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ORvZjBKo-I

Not exactly related to this thread, but
Markos comments on the SEC remind us
of the level of corruption and incompetance we are facing in our government......

[Hulk]

No sane person would run for office.
Thats why DC is full of SocioPaths

[Anonymous]

Yes I would love to see Dick Fuld do the perp walk. But real satisfaction would be if Maria Bartiromo and Jim Cramer get indicted for the shit they pulled. Both got away with many violations of Federal Securities laws. Yeah, I know most of you are asking "what did they do"? Well do some homework and find out. If you are older than 20 and know the history of these two in their early years at CNBC, then you know what I'm talking about.

[Mr Lennon Hendrix]

what a tease.

[Anonymous]

Stupid cheesy fuc. Yeah most of us are asking what those two did in their early years. Fluffy, stupid, cheesy fuc talk for a 1/2 hour and say nothing.

[Hansel]

The rating agencies are an arm of the gov't and Fed, and are used to exert influence and enact policy for the PTB, IMO.  Allowing GM to stay in the Dow and S&P, downgrading Bear, downgrading Lehman, downgrading Greece, America will be AAA forever... there is an agenda behind all this crap. Again, IMO (and more accurately, in my reality. you won't convince me otherwise).

[merehuman]

Why would China and others go along with this?

[Al Gorerhythm]

Same type of scam happening all over the world. Unbacked paper at every central bank run by the same brand of megalomaniacs, kleptomaniacs and sociopaths. The scheme is designed to systematically shave spending power from the savings of every worker, world wide. The bastards even have the audacity to charge you fees at the same time! You won't "get it" until that "rainy day event" that demands that you draw down on your savings. "Fark"!

Would the BIS be involved in this by any chance?

The US, having the world's Reserve currency, (what a fucking sinister joke) has made this an world wide event that requires international dissent.

[merehuman]

Algorerythm, conincidence that the same phenomena is all across the planet. Does GS have their folk in every CB on the planet? Do we control China? And if not , how come they take our insults so easily? Losing and saving 'Face' is a big deal to them,especially now that they are so close to achieving leadership of the planet. I believe they see it that way and expect to hold the next reserve currency backed by gold.

My 2 cents

[Al Gorerhythm]

Merehuman.

Answer to first, No, no coincidence at all.

Answer to two, practically, or are in companies that influence Treasury officials and politicians, eg UK, Greece, Spain, Ireland or as far south as Australia, (they recently dumped their Parliamentary Opposition Leader who is an ex- Goldmanite. (He steadfastly backed the ETS, going against his own party, whose new leader exposed it as a cheap tax grab) If it ain't Goldman, then it is RBS or BNP Paribus or any of the other majors around the world. They all use the same playbook.

As for the Chinese, same pig, different lipstick.

As for the insults, they have long memories and carry a grudge.

The first country to back their currency with gold or issues it directly from treasury will hold all the aces.

That will take cunning and bravery on the part of their patriots.

Who's first? China? not yet. The US, what gold? UK? sold theirs, India? Hmmmmm.

[Anonymous]

India/Russia axis- already cooperating massively on tech (especially weapons). Both are steadily increasing stocks of physical gold. Putin and Singh may well be the ones with the nerve and foresight to emerge at the top of the shite pile.

[merehuman]

Thank you   Al Gorerhythm

[Miles Kendig]

Dollar trap.

[Bob]

Damn, ZH has hit its stride as an indisputibly prime time player.  Thanks for rewarding--and hopefully inspiring--the faithful. 

[bugs_]

It was  going on before it was going on.

End the New York Fed.

[AnonymousMonetarist]

' The PDCF would allow assets of declining and even inexistent value to be pledged as collateral, thus making sure that taxpayer cash was funneled into sham institutions holding predominantly toxic assets, and whose viability was and is limited, yet still is backed by the Fed, which to this day continues to pour our money into them. '

Oh Really?

Yes Virginia there is .... oh hell you know what I'm going to say :)

[Anonymous]

Surely there must be racketeering type offenses intending to defraud taxpayers described in these activities which would whet the appetite of true patriot whistleblowers, FBI agents, US attorneys, class action lawyers and pitchfork wielding citizens. ( Unless rendered secret and legal for national security reasons)

[Hulk]

Whistleblowing is a joke, might as well be called whistle in the wind blowing
(I am a fed serial whistleblower and speak from experience)
The FBI has been consumed by homeland security and those thousands of agents
have not been replaced
Don't know about attorneys, so this one is going to be up to those with pitchforks and torches..

[Anonymous]

Don't you get it? there will be no trial there will be no jail sentences.The most these criminals will have to face is cCongress .It's a robbery at the highest levels

[Anonymous]

I worry about the safety of the likes of McDonald, Harry M, Ratigan, and Spitzer, among others.

After all, we are dealing with the US Govt here - and they will use anything within their power to cover this up. These were crimes committed against all Americans by Fuld, the accountants, the CFOs, Paulson, Geithner, and yes gray beard Bernanke. These people are cornered now, and like a wild animal will strike.

This story should get bigger and bigger and spark revolution. If this doesn't do it, I don't know what will! Wake up America!!! Let's put an end to this shit!

[Anonymous]

"After all, we are dealing with the US Govt here..."

Joke is on YOU!

[Reflexivity]

This story should get bigger and bigger and spark revolution. If this doesn't do it, I don't know what will! Wake up America!!!

There is strong chance that many of the 'sleeping' masses, don't really want to wake up (even if they had the option like the blue pill vs. red pill dilemma in the Matrix).

The independence of thought and action that would be required for one to abandon the herd is probably too much responsibility (and too painful) for the average person.

Only when the 'rebel group' becomes big enough will the defectors start to move over.  Most people don't want to let go of one group until they can safely land in another group. Saftey is in numbers.

There would be a lot smaller leader-to-follower ratio, if leadership wasn't so difficult.  Pioneers are an entirely different breed of people (different on the inside, since on the outside all of us humans look the same).

[jules from aus]

awesome, Tyler & crew

just awesome

jules from Aus

[Anonymous]

I think Dick fuld will become the poster child (that goes to jail) to appease the American public. This is all another smokescreen !!

[Anonymous]

"It was all just circling the drain... Had to end sometime!"
... The Chronicles of Riddick.

[Anonymous]

Americans, lets be honest here. what is missing?

A.the pioneering spirit

B.the lawman of Dodge City

C.a backbone in any US citizen

stop writing on blogs and do something like merehuman is. he is the only person with any cojones left in america.

incidentally all the french peasants are already on strike so dont hold your breath.

[jc125d]

How much is enough? What's it gonna take? The tipping point - when and what is the catalyst that rouses us lazy, cowardly people.

[merehuman]

Am i scared a little bit? Yea. I may never see my home again. Soldiers still do what they must.

Truthfully, part of me hopes it all falls before the 21st. I would rather go goldpanning than protesting. Think i will also put signs on my truck,Mayhap an advertisement for Zerohedge.com since it is the site that frees us from the  frankenmedia.

[delacroix]

merehuman, you can be a lot more effective, helping the average joe to understand whats happening, and how it will affect us.  flyers, that explain the situation in simple terms, distributed, to parked cars, donut shops, senior centers etc. spend some of that time, and gas money locally, hire kids to distribute them. have lots, and lots printed. paper is still cheap. many people who have a basic understanding, is much more powerful, than 1 expert. you are a valuable resource. expend yourself wisely.  that drive, was a lot easier, when we were younger. listen to your wife, she loves you. fuck washington DC, an honest man, has no chance there. think local, not global. keep your expectations reasonable, and you will be more likely, to acheive success. I symphathize with your frustration, but disagree, with your proposed action.you don't have to drive 3000 miles, to make a difference.

[merehuman]

Thanks, Delacroix. I have done some of that locally. Yet i failed to get my 24 year old to understand. The young always know better than us till they age.  Geez, i was hoping to raise an army along the way, just quietly. My idea of protest is different from what i have seen so far.

To give you a clue without giving away any plan

I would have bombed Iraq also...with food. With help that the people actually needed. They dont need bombs, ask any of them.

As long as the powers are comfortable in their homes we will not see results we want. So lets make them uncomfortable. Who lives in your neighbor hood? How creative can you be?

[perchprism]

My twin brother and I spent the winter/spring of '92 panning gold along the Merced.  You need a partner because it's too dangerous to go it alone.  I followed an old mining adit 300 feet into bedrock underlying where the river had once ran, and there were rocks fallen to the floor large enough to smash your brains out.  The ceiling had been stoped in places up to 20 feet.  People did this work with pickaxes.  Unbelievable.  Ironically, the largest nugget I've ever found was here in North Carolina, on the Rocky River.  I still have it.

Honestly, you need to stay put.  See my previous post.  If you have people counting on you, stay for them.  Do what you can on a national level by networking with everyone you know. 

[merehuman]

perchprism.   Thank you for the friendly advice.

And it would be easier to follow the path you outline.

I watched much of the argentina story and came away with the idea that this "harvesting" of our country could go on a long time. And still end badly years later when we all begin to "bang the pots".

So sitting still while the rape of our nation continious is not in the cards for me.

If i did not have a son and grandson perhaps i would not be so motivated.

What i do know is that they are rolling over us.

The easy way has never been my path.

Yes i am a damned fool. But i like who i am and if i did not stand up to those who would be my masters i would no longer respect or love who i am.  The folks in power are making fools out of us!

Glad you found that nugget, makes the trip a good memory.

[loki]

... I'm still only about half way through the article...  but a thought came to me and I was wondering...

Do you think they intentionally let Lehman fail as punishment for essentially tricking them (the PCDF) with the illiquid CLO/CDOs to get money?

I know it's probably a naive take on it but -- it was the thought that came to me as I was reading this.

[Anonymous]

Thanks ZH for being tenacious on reporting on this SCUM of the earth! I believe the gov is pushing healthcare reform, et al to keep our attention off this shit!

[deadhead]

Obama's rolling out Education stuff now.  This guy is politically clueless.

Someone ought to tell him that we are in a depression and the banks are stealing the USA blind.

[Anonymous]

Banks to Obama: "Keep the proles distracted, as we continue to loot the country and commit thousands of crimes for which we will not be prosecuted."

Obama: "Your bidding is my command, my Master."

[Anonymous]

My guess: on Monday, the DOW goes up 200 points (with open chequebook from FED buying, why not join the party and BUY?), gold drops another $10 or so, no mainstream media mentions this report. Life goes on as usual.

[merehuman]

Exactly. 23 out of 24 mondays are up.

All bad news for the country =stocks up.

Hilarious. The laughter of insanity

[perchprism]

The Rhapsodies of Bedlam.

[Anonymous]

Some of these fuckers better start thinking about jumping . .

[Al Gorerhythm]

Must have had an impact, Tyler. Obamanable was first reported to have delayed his visit to S.E. Asia and Australia. It now looks like his trip is indoubt as reported on morning news in Australia today. Here's to you! Glug glug glug. 

[williambanzai7]

JAIL HOUSE DICK:  http://williambanzai7.blogspot.com/2010/03/jail-house-fuld.html

[CB]

what a Dick.

[CB]

I meant to say that he's aptly-named.

[defender]

maybe if you stated it like a nick-name.... "What A" Dick Fuld

That way he and "Definitely No Virgin" Mary Shapiro can have lunch together in public and not be embarrassed.

[CB]

ha ha

[primus]

Fuck Scheman Brothers and all the rest of the banksters.

This country doesn't have any problems that a few hundred pairs of leg irons and some capital punishment sentances wouldn't fix.

[Youri Carma]

See Also: Peek-A-Boo Accounting and the Crash of Financial Stocks on Wall Street by Max Keiser (Scroll down for More)  http://forum.prisonplanet.com/index.php?topic=163169.0

[velobabe]

i follow you on keiser report audience. can't quite crack that one. kinda hard to figure out replies to posts, chronologically etc.

[williambanzai7]

REPO 105.07--JAKE AND ENRON BLUES ON BANKSTA MOTIVATIONS:

http://williambanzai7.blogspot.com/2010/03/repo-10507-banksta-motives.html

[Anonymous]

WOAH.

http://assets.theatlantic.com/static/mt/assets/politics/ARM10090.pdf

-MB

[faustian bargain]

expansion of power.

[Mr Lennon Hendrix]

MUST READ!  McCain is such a patsy.  His family's political lineage goes as far back as the Gore's, Rodham's, and Bush's (Pierce's).  BASTARDS!

[Anonymous]

What happened long ago may happen to America in its own way and I feel very sad for everyone. :(

"Now, son of man, take a clay tablet, put it in front of you and draw the city of Jerusalem on it. Then lay siege to it: Erect siege works against it, build a ramp up to it, set up camps against it and put battering rams around it. Then take an iron pan, place it as an iron wall between you and the city and turn your face toward it. It will be under siege, and you shall besiege it. This will be a sign to the house of Israel.

"Then lie on your left side and put the sin of the house of Israel upon yourself. You are to bear their sin for the number of days you lie on your side. I have assigned you the same number of days as the years of their sin. So for 390 days you will bear the sin of the house of Israel.

"After you have finished this, lie down again, this time on your right side, and bear the sin of the house of Judah. I have assigned you 40 days, a day for each year. Turn your face toward the siege of Jerusalem and with bared arm prophesy against her. I will tie you up with ropes so that you cannot turn from one side to the other until you have finished the days of your siege.

"Take wheat and barley, beans and lentils, millet and spelt; put them in a storage jar and use them to make bread for yourself. You are to eat it during the 390 days you lie on your side. Weigh out twenty shekels of food to eat each day and eat it at set times. Also measure out a sixth of a hin of water and drink it at set times. Eat the food as you would a barley cake; bake it in the sight of the people, using human excrement for fuel." The LORD said, "In this way the people of Israel will eat defiled food among the nations where I will drive them."

Then I said, "Not so, Sovereign LORD! I have never defiled myself. From my youth until now I have never eaten anything found dead or torn by wild animals. No unclean meat has ever entered my mouth."

"Very well," he said, "I will let you bake your bread over cow manure instead of human excrement."

He then said to me: "Son of man, I will cut off the supply of food in Jerusalem. The people will eat rationed food in anxiety and drink rationed water in despair, for food and water will be scarce. They will be appalled at the sight of each other and will waste away because of their sin.
(Ezekiel 4)

[Rusty_Shackleford]

Complete and utter lawlessness.

[Mr Lennon Hendrix]

I can't put it any better than Boots Riley.

5 Million Ways to Kill a C.E.O.:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RQthFDpYCys

W/Tom Morello:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lAaDVJ1OWbA&feature=related

[Anonymous]

This news today is probably nothing new to the Buffetts, top hedgies and insiders of the financial world. These guys are all on the same side of the trade in support of Obama, Geithner, Bernanke.

Keeping the information flowing, making more people aware of the apparent crimes against the state is paramount.

At some point the government has to bend to popular opinion. The polls are unmistakable and the popularity of the president continues to fall.

Scott Brown was a big warning sign but the government failed to take heed.

If the government doesn't bend and support the will of the people, and more people outside of the finance world are made aware of the truth, dissention could start brewing in the ranks of policemen and military.

This administration is playing a very dangerous game. Either Obama is a weak, naive, clueless president or he is complicit in covering up and hiding high treason.

[Al Gorerhythm]

He can't claim cluelessness now. This report has long passed through his "IN" tray. But let's just say that he received an email with this article attached, today.

What will his actions be from this point forward? His actions from this point on will be under the microscope. Judge him and his and past administrations by their words and deeds. 

Then hang em!

[Anonymous]

Don't expect the Fed to take any action on the reverse repo issue, other than to use it itself to link impaired assets on its books to money market cash, one of the last clean pools it can tap.

The Fed has already stated they will use three tools to drain liquidity and return impaired assets back to the market.
1. Asset sales - but this option is expected to be a low percentage of the total because of the high losses it would lock in.
2. Fed-issued CDs somehow linked to bad assets. Again, not believed to be the largest part of the plan.
3. Tri-party reverse repos - but first, the Fed needs more SEC, FASB(GAAP), and other rule changes so the bad assets can be transfered to repo dealers without any write-down. The only haircut would be taken by the money market fund if they decide to cash in the repo before the maturation date.

Here's a link with partial details http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSN2536381120091125?feedType=RSS&feedNa...

[hoslappa]

As Morpheus said to Neo: “we live in an imaginary state.” A state in which people have been indoctrinated to such a degree that they are no longer able to discern reality from make believe. A culture that is so socially numb and easily pliable that words like “misspoke” and “misstated” have replaced the word “lied”;

We are a society of people who have gone down the rabbit hole with the Mad Hatter and March Hare and believe that somehow contrary to basic mathematical laws like one plus one equals two the economy can be improved by taking money from one person and giving it to another or by dropping it from a helicopter. Given their drunken social state, it makes perfect sense to them.

We have people around the world including our biggest financier, China laughing at our government’s highest officials when they try to sell them the same bullshit the inebriated Americans buy and yet the drugged continue to believe.

So this is the society in which we sober folks live and we must continually keep an eye on the addicts, who are in fact the majority, in order to make sure they don’t affect us to the detriment of our lives. We must constantly try to convince them to seek help; to enroll in rehab because the problem starts with them. Delusion is real and the truth will set them free. It’s scary to know the truth because one can never go back to the ignorant bliss from which one came. Let’s hope the truth does it before depression, hyperinflation and bread lines or worse do it.

[merehuman]

Breadlines= food stamps , we have it

Depression= i dont see enthusiasm

Hyperinflation= one step after " lack of trust"

[williambanzai7]

REPO 105 SERIES con't --BEN THE MONEY PRINTER:

http://williambanzai7.blogspot.com/2010/03/repo-10506-ben-money-printer....

[Anonymous]

Will the government, treasury, or fed refute any of this?

[Howard_Beale]

Well the latest is that China is bitching about the dollar again. So how do we get the dollar to appreciate? Kill the market. It will be well timed and within the cycles I follow. Folks--20 trading days max to the top. We'll most likely take a dive down this week, and the dollar strengthens, flight to bonds makes China happy. Then the last of the diehards that buy the dips will rejoice that Dow 11000 is on the way and the little guys will just jump in completely. Then Kaboom--to steal from Eric Sprott--the Fed decides which is more important: The dollar as the reserve currency and pegaroo to China, or those that have been double burned in a decade on the buy and hold strategy. It's simple to me. The jig is up. Game over. Ramping the market 60% has done little for consumer confidence. Fuck it. U/E is only going to get worse. The states are in serious danger of default--soon.

The PPT is done. Now it's time for the Plunge Guarantee Team. We've had a year of stock market bliss aka a dead cat bounce.

But since I am a cycle trader, I could care less how it's engineered. And while the bounce that most cycle traders predicted would be 9-12 months, we can extend for one more. The bears are at 25%, a very low level. The Nasdaq 100 has traded up 13 straight days. It's time for volatility to ramp. It's going to be a very interesting options expiration.

[nuinut]

This is fairly new information, from Harvey Organ:
"Rob Kirby with a fascinating find:

Subject: looky here 

Go to the Fed's "flow of funds report" Q4/09 just released toady at this link:http://www.federalreserve.gov/releases/z1/Current/z1.pdfScroll down to page 24 [Flow of Funds with Rest of Word] and observe line # 14 on that page. It states that the U.S. Fed sold 190.7 billion dollars worth of gold / SDRs in Q3/09. 190.7 billion @ 1,000 per ounce would be 5,937 tonnes of gold .

A Chartered Financial Analyst subscriber of mine follows this release every quarter and alerted me to the "back-dating" of the gold sales for Q3/09 in the release today. Note: In the same flow of funds report for Q3/09 at this appended link - there was no mention of gold / SDR sales - period:http://www.federalreserve.gov/releases/z1/20091210/z1.pdfI've attached the Flow of Funds Report for both Q3/09 and Q4/09 for comparison purposes.

Question: has the Federal Reserve just "papered over" the disgorgement of nearly 6,000 metric tonnes of sovereign U.S. Gold bullion? 
best, 
Rob Kirby

end.

The report is from the federal reserve government releases and it shows the flow of funds in the 4th quarter.

I checked the government data and sure enough on page 24, line 14 the usa sold 190.7 billion dollars of gold (SDR's translated into real oz). At 1000 dollars per oz that translates into 5937 tonnes of gold.

The previous quarter on the flow of funds reports showed no gold activity. Looks like the usa is trying to paper over their sale of 6000 metric tonnes of gold.

The usa has 8133 tonnes of gold so 73% of the usa gold reserves have been liquidated.

The problem here is that the gold belongs to its citizens and not government. The government needs congressional approval to sell the gold.

Trouble ahead on this front!"

[faustian bargain]

How do they get from 190.9 billion in gold/SDR sales in that quarter, to a total of 47 billion in gold/SDR sales for the whole year? The '09 quarterly numbers don't add up...am I misreading that?

In addition, on page 84, table L.200, it looks like the 'gold stock and SDRs' levels went up from Q2'09 to Q3, from 20.5 to 69.0 billion...I don't know what that means. Was that just a revaluation? Or was it a combination of sales and revaluation? For the level of 'gold stock and SDRs' to go up from one quarter to the next, I would assume that would mean they either increased their holdings, or revalued it to be worth more.

I know I've got to be missing something.

[merehuman]

since they had that gold on their books @ 35.00 for the longest time, mayhap now they revalued it?   I am guessing.

[xPat]

This piece urgently needs a Glenn Beck or Dylan Rattigan-style dumbing down so that the masses can understand the full implications.

I was disappointed to hear in an earlier post that the MSM is not giving ZH the attribution it deserves, but it's also important to understand cause and effect, and know how to make the system work for you. This is a story of government corruption of Watergate proportions. But this story is written at a level that only finance-savvy readers will understand and fully appreciate the meaning of.

I hope everyone reading this will forward this story to Glenn Beck, Dylan Rattigan, and the rest of the MSMers who are good at dumbing things down to the point that Joe Sixpack can understand what it means. If you ever want to see anything resembling justice or accountability, you have to get the mainstream pissed off enough to demand action, and this is written at a level that only smart people can appreciate.

xPat

[merehuman]

I ask for Mr Denninger to volunteer. He is very good at parsing it out in an understandable way.

[Lndmvr]

Anybody but Gasbagarino. Saw him on Fox the other day. Who made the decision to give him work after CNBS?

[andy55]

I already mailed Tom Keene with a link and asked him it's about time to grilling some of the SEC guys that come on his show (e.g. Levitt).  He needs to ask them how flagrant does this stuff have to get before someone does their freaking job.

[Anonymous]

+1000

[Anonymous]

Awesome journalism

[williambanzai7]

REPO 105.09--RESUME CHOPPING WITH IAN LOWITT: 

http://williambanzai7.blogspot.com/2010/03/repo-10509-resume-chopping.html

[Anonymous]

Timmy Timmy Timmy
I hate you and i hate your mum.
You are sooo dead

[chindit13]

I'll go out on a limb here and guess that this revelation has absolutely no effect on the market, and that not a single indictment results from it.  The market might even applaud it, since it indicates the degree of control the PTB have in wanting to maintain a robust bubble.

The system is THAT broken.

Perhaps, though, it will grow into the straw that breaks the camels's back and helps encourage the populace to overthrow the corrupt system under which we now all live.

The patient can try to do this overthrow via the ballot box;  the Type A personalities can take a more direct and immediate approach.

"A time for sedition".  I believe that is a line from Ecclesiastes (which is not, by the way, the name for Federal Reserve sycophants).

The time is upon us.

[Everyman]

"A time for sedition".

Indeed!

[Anonymous]

Sorry ZH but this time there is no story here.
Are you just now discovering that banks all over the world have been structuring deals to get access to central bank liquidity?

do you know how many billions the ECB has lent out this way? And i don't exactly understand why you think there is fraud implied by taking illiquid loans and repackaging them into a cdo or clo. Sorry but you're misguided on this. There's plenty to focus on in lehman affair in terms of real stories such as repo 105, you should stick to those.

[Howard_Beale]

Repo 105 is significant but this is the real smoking gun. Creating securities that even Shitti-bank called trash with the sole purpose of laying them off on the Fed, ie taxpayers, is criminal. They weren't just illiquid, they were non-performing garbage--explicitly not offered to the public or spoken of at the shareholder's meeting.

The memo's speak for themselves as well as the collusion involved with Geithner and rating agencies. This one is just as interesting as Repo 105 and the word "indictments" seems to be getting closer to a possibility.

However, since you know so much about the ECB and the toxic waste they take in, enlighten us.

[Anonymous]

Please send your comments directly to the White House--

WHERE are the investigations????

Do they really think American's are going to tolerate this any longer??

http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact

[Anonymous]

SOUND OFF----

http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact

[Anonymous]

STARVE these companies!! MOVE YOUR MONEY NOWWWWWWWW!

It is the only power we have left as citizens to stop them from continuing to loot our nation blind.

The sad fact is, they have simply bought off our leaders to the highest level, and our government will do nothing to stop them.

Want CHANGE?? Well, then YOU have to be that change.

[DavosSherman]

Robbed blind by a lipstick wearing (fed) pig

[Bob]

Having had a night to digest all of this and reading the comments anew, I'm wishing I could dismiss all the furor here about the literal "loss of our nation" as unrestrained hysteria . . . but it just ain't working. 

This level of corruption is so much bigger than anything that our nation has experienced before (that I know of) that it boggles the mind.  Watergate was just a hiccup compared to this stuff. 

I think this will indeed become the acid test for many, and appropriately so.  If these crimes are not prosecuted fully, we are in fact lost. 

But I have to say that I'm not hopeful.  We are a nation that not long ago launched a "preemptive" war--on subsequently revealed lies--that has killed hundreds of thousands of people and, even on the premise that it was an "honest mistake," we have never even said "Sorry."  Torture and suspension of legal process are accepted, domestic spying easily accommodated . . .

How this latest "scandal" is handled will, I think, resolve any doubts about who we really are as a people . . . or what we have become. 

[Anonymous]

As a Uk member of the equally f**ked and abused societies. I feel bad, as I look from my nailed cross at the American people et.al, looking on, from my side of road, as one of Spartacus' soldiers, abused by both counter-parties for fighting back. People are lost in their own selfish state and arrogance, whilst they think their ok or mentally protected by their ignorance of the facts. We by tipping of hats and concurrence collectively agree with our masters and their treatment of us all.

The game is -and will always be, won by the Cartels and Oligarchs over weak and corrupt government players. Haven't you heard, there's no Philosopher Kings left, they died out 2000 years ago and more!

[lizzy36]

Since LEH died, the ONLY rule/regulation that has been changed, is new curbs on short selling (astounding). Hope you can believe in. 

Moreover, LEH went TU on September 15, 2008 and the fucking geniuses that are US regulators took until March 12, 2010 for the to ask other financial firms if they were engaging in the same fraudulent book cooking as LEH.  Note, that once again they are relying on the self reporting of financial firms because we all know it worked so well in the past. 

Senior US financial executives said they had received worried calls from US regulators early on Friday asking about the use of transactions like “Repo 105” – a device that helped Lehman flatter its financial health.

Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley, which competed with Lehman in investment banking and had similar funding needs, said they had never used such transactions.

People close to the situation said US regulators wanted to ensure that Repo 105, which enabled Lehman to move some $50bn off its balance sheet at the end of the first and second quarter of 2008, was not a widespread practice.

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/2e412d50-2d6e-11df-a262-00144feabdc0.html?catid=69

[merehuman]

right. Just like we never miss when we pee.

Sure, honey i lifted the seat up!

[digalert]

With the maddening pace in the shuffle amongst the criminal banksters, complicit congress and FED, I had forgotten about Maiden Lane and sequels. Back on track now... I think.

[Anonymous]

There are so many smart people on this board, with viewpoints that must be HEARD!

Please take a moment to tell Barry what you spend countless hours SCREAMING and Blogging about--

STOP THE LOOTING, SIR!!

http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact

[Orly]

Sorry, no dotgovs here.  I am not going to accept a government tracking cookie.

/:

[Anonymous]

Here's what I don't understand. Constantly we hear that the free market needs regulation because it caused the collapse we're witnessing now, even though it didn't.

However, we never hear that entities like the Federal Reserve, or the Federal Government itself, needs regulation. Oh you mention that you get scorned and told you're an idiot because the Fed solved the crisis.

Bah!

A new 2,200 report supposedly states that JP Morgan and Citi raped Lehman (not in so many words of course.

[Anonymous]

Just wait till we get to Fannie and Freddie. Then we can talk about real fraud.

[Privatus]

Pure Au, Tyler.

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