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It's Not the "Great Recession". It's the Great BANK ROBBERY
In case it's not crystal clear, this isn't the "Great Recession".
It's really the Great Bank Robbery.
First, there was the threat of martial law if the $700 Billion Tarp bailout wasn't passed. Specifically, Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson warned Congress that there would be martial law unless the Tarp bailouts were approved.
As I pointed out last October:
The New York Times wrote on July 16th:
In retrospect, Congress felt bullied by Mr. Paulson last year. Many of them fervently believed they should not prop up the banks that had led us to this crisis — yet they were pushed by Mr. Paulson and Mr. Bernanke into passing the $700 billion TARP, which was then used to bail out those very banks.
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Congressmen Brad Sherman and Paul Kanjorski and Senator James Inhofe all say that the government warned of martial law if Tarp wasn't passed:
Bait And Switch
Indeed, the Tarp Inspector General has said that Paulson misrepresented some fundamental aspects of Tarp.
And Paulson himself has said:
During the two weeks that Congress considered the [Tarp] legislation, market conditions worsened considerably. It was clear to me by the time the bill was signed on October 3rd that we needed to act quickly and forcefully, and that purchasing troubled assets—our initial focus—would take time to implement and would not be sufficient given the severity of the problem. In consultation with the Federal Reserve, I determined that the most timely, effective step to improve credit market conditions was to strengthen bank balance sheets quickly through direct purchases of equity in banks.
So Paulson knew "by the time the bill was signed" that it wouldn't be used for its advertised purpose - disposing of toxic assets - and would instead be used to give money directly to the big banks?
But at least the bailout money was used to help the economy by stabilizing the financial sector, right?
Sorry.
As I wrote in March 2009:
The bailout money is just going to line the pockets of the wealthy, instead of helping to stabilize the economy or even the companies receiving the bailouts:
- Bailout money is being used to subsidize companies run by horrible business men, allowing the bankers to receive fat bonuses, to redecorate their offices, and to buy gold toilets and prostitutes
- A lot of the bailout money is going to the failing companies' shareholders
- Indeed, a leading progressive economist says that the true purpose of the bank rescue plans is "a massive redistribution of wealth to the bank shareholders and their top executives"
- The Treasury Department encouraged banks to use the bailout money to buy their competitors, and pushed through an amendment to the tax laws which rewards mergers in the banking industry (this has caused a lot of companies to bite off more than they can chew, destabilizing the acquiring companies)
And as the New York Times notes, "Tens of billions of [bailout] dollars have merely passed through A.I.G. to its derivatives trading partners".
***
In other words, through a little game-playing by the Fed, taxpayer money is going straight into the pockets of investors in AIG's credit default swaps and is not even really stabilizing AIG.
But at least the government is trying to help the struggling homeowner, right?
Well, PhD economists John Hussman and Dean Baker (and fund manager and financial writer Barry Ritholtz) say that the only reason the government keeps giving billions to Fannie and Freddie is that it is really a huge, ongoing, back-door bailout of the big banks.
Many also accuse Obama's foreclosure relief programs as being backdoor bailouts for the banks. (See this, this and this).
But certainly quantitative easing is helping the little guy?
Unfortunately, QE only helps the big banks and giant corporations, and the small number of investors who hold most of the stock. See this, this, this, this and this.
And now, the government has announced that it will maintain tax breaks for the wealthiest while considering slashing social security and medicare.
Warren Buffet famously said a couple of years ago:
There's class warfare, all right, but it's my class, the rich class, that's making war, and we're winning.
The proof is in the pudding: a small handful of people have ended up with a lot more loot in their safes, while everyone else has gotten a lot poorer. And, unfortunately, radical concentration of wealth is destroying both capitalism and democracy.
The government has not only failed to enforce any laws
to prevent theft, but has been so busy helping the big boys carry their
bags of cash that - even with the sheriff's badges - it is difficult to tell who is who.
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Could someone give me an answer please on the above question I just really want to nail in my head how this shit is happening, at the moment I have a wishy washy idea because nobody seems to spell out in lay mans terms what is happening, all one hears is "wealth transfer", or "taxpayers paying for wall street screwup." I mean I've recently heard that in giving the banks QE money the FED is taking money from the banks actual reserves from the FED, so in effect it is not new money and then I hear that the FED just invents QE out of thin air and gives it directly to the banks, so which is it because surely the former is not inflationary. If the FED is making this money up out of thin air how is the taxpayer paying for it? I understand that if QE leads to inflation then that is defined as "inflation tax" but is there some way that the tax money goes directly to the banks as a result of these bailouts? Does the process of giving money to banks as QE result in the US treasury having to create more US treasury bonds and if so why? This is the only way I can see that the taxpayer may have to pay directly, if the number of bonds in circulation increases due to the demand created by QE itself. Can somebody help please.
@" I've recently heard that in giving the banks QE money the FED is taking money from the banks actual reserves from the FED, so in effect it is not new money and then I hear that the FED just invents QE out of thin air and gives it directly to the banks, so which is it because surely the former is not inflationary."
first i would say audit the fed. that would clear it up but the fed is of the possition
that that is not going to happen. we will see.
second i would say..
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantitative_easing
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Quantitative easing From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to: navigation, search Public finance Sources of government revenue Tax and non-tax revenue Government policy Fiscal · Monetary · Trade · Policy mix Fiscal policy Tax policy (see taxation series)Government revenue · Government debt
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Budget deficit and surplus Monetary policy Money supply · Central bank
Gold standard · Fiat currency Trade policy Balance of trade · Tariff · Tariff war
Free trade · Trade pact See also Taxation series · Project
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Quantitative easing (QE) is a monetary policy used by some central banks to increase the supply of money by increasing the excess reserves of the banking system, generally through buying of the central government's own bonds to stabilize or raise their prices and thereby lower long-term interest rates. This policy is usually invoked when the normal methods to control the money supply have failed, i.e the bank interest rate, discount rate and/or interbank interest rate are either at, or close to, zero. It has been termed the electronic equivalent of simply printing legal tender.[1]
A central bank implements quantitative easing by first crediting its own account with money it creates ex nihilo ("out of nothing").[2] All fiat money is created out of nothing: out of thin air. It is, however, backed by all - the sum total of - the underlying value systems in an economy, namely sound governance, sound economic policies, sound monetary policies, sound industrial policies, sound commercial policies, etc. Annual inflation above the central bank´s inflation target indicates the excess of fiat money created in the banking system. The central bank then purchases financial assets, including government bonds, agency debt, mortgage-backed securities and corporate bonds, from banks and other financial institutions in a process referred to as open market operations. The purchases, by way of account deposits, give banks the excess reserves required for them to create new money, and thus hopefully induce a stimulation of the economy, by the process of deposit multiplication from increased lending in the fractional reserve banking system.
Risks include the policy being more effective than intended or the risk of not being effective enough, if banks opt simply to sit on the additional cash in order to increase their capital reserves in a climate of increasing defaults in their present loan portfolio..
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but i would say see this.. as all money goes to the banking system and the populace is left with the debt.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-2550156453790090544#
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http://www.csper.org/media.html
and then this..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HpL6SG6kjZo
and
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TCyQOJxWOkA&playnext=1&list=PL4CD7A58DF37F2DE1&index=12
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rQ_4ss9v7Z4
"the easier it looks the harder it hooks
there ain't no such thing as easy money." r.l. jones
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dWEUPB5XHjE
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http://www.zerohedge.com/article/guest-post-alert-qe-ii-has-lit-fuse
basically, i just feel like crying ....... for myself, for my dear kids & grandkids & for the whole sorry lot of us. we need a revolution; unfortunately, the bulk of us are too old to revolt, unless we can get out of our walkers & beds ! & the young people just think this is all normal, they don't remember what this country was like in the 1950's. when i was growing up we didn't hear much about WASHINGTON D.C. , they weren't constantly in the news wreaking havoc ! Get rid of the FEDERAL RESERVE BANK, too bad they did it to themselves, bunch of greedy bastards .............. THEY WAY OVERPLAYED THEIR HAND & BLEW THEMSELVES UP ! ....... bunch of idiots & i'm sick to death of them ........ signed: Revolution Granny
[deleted]
And you incompetent twits fell for it hook line and sinker; stop blaming Paulson for the fact that you're too fucking stupid to perform your duties as a legislator.
Now you're talking GW. Rename the shit. Language and naming is power.
This was the biggest heist of all time.
The MIT study proving the banks didn't seize up in "Paulson's week" would help your article.
I know this is a American discussion but Bill Black is in Ireland now giving us his views regarding the activities of criminal banks.
Check out his luminous t- shirt !
Go to the November 10 box, - there is some discussion before Bill gets to speak.
www.tv3.ie/tonightwithvincentbrowne
If we only had more guys of this calibre in Ireland.
ALL involved need to be tried for treason. They should do it sooner than later because the mob will not adhere to due process. And the mob is mobilizing. Like it or not.
The muckity-mucks and congress may have wanted the bailouts, but an awful lot of just plain folks DIDN'T. Of course, no one listened to them (us). Because of course it was a con and "they" just continued to play their game. It's not like the just plain folks didn't understand that the banks has been giving loans to people who didn't intend to pay, or wouldn't be able to pay. It was crystal clear.
Why didn't congress protect us? Why didn't they say no?
Guess!
http://www.opensecrets.org/news/2008/09/update-fannie-mae-and-freddie.html
all congressional recipients of payoffs...oops, I mean contributions...are listed at the link above. Whether it's one dollar or one million, taking money is evidence of, oooooh, dare we say the word.... corruption.
Could we just pay them minimum wage, for God's sake, and tell them they have to buy their own benefits, same as we do?!
And also, one term only. No repeats. If you show up again, we shoot ya.
Gravy train should be O V E R!!!!
The real scam is the hyper loaning the banks did while their own underwriting people were saying up to 80% of loans are not qualified. Then offloading that onto State and Local Municipalities, Pensions, etc in the form of "investable" paper. More and more its looking a bit more sinister than mere robbery but is an orchestrated "attempt" to bring down the USA. This is what happens when really rich people don't get their rock's off on just being rich but want to control the world as if to somehow then be able to quench their inability to have simple satisfaction. The big question is, will the awaking happen ahead of their twisted little plans coming to fruition? Gosh it must suck to be them...
Quote: I'm thinking that when the folks that expect monthly payments from those state, local, and municipal pensions are told they aren't going to get anything, they'll take to the streets and that'll begin the roundup to camps and martial law. Unquote
The federales must know it's bound to happen, they just don't know when the realization will strike; don't know who had the idea to call home the special military units and to build "the camps" but they ARE out there. And I agree that it sounds more like a plan than a mistake.
I think this is crap: Quote: This is what happens when really rich people don't get their rock's off on just being rich but want to control the world as if to somehow then be able to quench their inability to have simple satisfaction. The big question is, will the awaking happen ahead of their twisted little plans coming to fruition? Gosh it must suck to be them... Unquote. just crap, b.s.
But I think something IS going to happen, and when it does, innocent folks shoul be at home with lights off and the shotgun loaded. Let's keep our wits about us, make sure we are aware of events about to happen. States are bankrupt; municipalities are scraping the bottom of the barrel; municipal bond issues are defaulting (when bondholders that fund municipal projects don't get paid, it's because those municipalities are no longer functioning and won't be paying employees or their retirees' benefits). Unrest could go on a long time -- weeks, months, and once round-ups begin all may be at risk. Be prepared.
ok. its dark and i am holding my barrel...sure is warm.. ah geez!
The day is much too gloomy, but fitting for winter. Many of us will get past this and moreso keeping our heads under cover.
they are so stupid that their plan has no fruition, it just ends
with them being destroyed in a moment of euphoric revelation.
what a plan! they have no vision.
Exactly+1000
But the robbery WAS LEGAL...
You know...LEGAL ROBBERY....
There is probably more than 1000 individuals that could be hanged for treason....
That has a nice ring to it... hang for treason.
when you write retroactive law there is no law.
and poorly crafted and excessive law breeds lawlessness
as people need to live according to natural law and law
can be imposed that criminalizes that necessity. ....
in that sense it was "legal". but that just makes
a mockery of justice, just the way the monetary system
likes it, needs it, as it is just a debt based ponzi, organized
crime, grafter breeding, pyramid scam designed to steal value
from honest, hardworking and compassionate human beings.
send these lizards back to the desert before they turn the
entire planet into a desert! or is it too late? has civilization
just exhausted itself and are we collapsed?
George,
I've seen your horse. Look what they did to him:
http://sharrock.files.wordpress.com/2009/01/jlhorse.jpg
The White Horse, by Jack Levine
http://www.allposters.com/-sp/The-Horse-Posters_i915285_.htm
.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:PicassoGuernica.jpg
.
http://www.eleganthorsepictures.com/papibu.html
@"never got a paycheck from a poor man." yes he did, he just
wasn't aware of it. people must learn "money". what it is, where
it comes from, how it is made. stop with the fetish money thing.
we have no money and the old laborer never received any money.
his labor was stolen from him in exchange for a debt "note" which is legal
tender but has no value with which he can secure his freedom.
and we don't need Ferrari driving criminals to support in the "hope"
that we can eat the scraps from their dumpsters. are we dogs? perhaps.?
g.w.. great post here. ricardo, what is your point? your statement and
use of the word "idiot" reflects directly on yourself as in you appear to be an
idiot. somewhere on the spectral line from idiot to genius we all find a home.
where do you fall? the people who scare me most are the one's near
genius who can integrate all the important information and come up with
the absolutely wrong conclusions. is that you? i hope not.
USD discard after use
if this information weren't so important and worth repeating i would have yawned as this is old news....however the people and other assorted fucktards of the world do not believe that we live in a nazi state so think nothing of it when the executive branch threatens the legislative branch with murder. after all, anyone who opposed martial law would have been murdered by the 4th reich.
bush and obama are the most foul assholes to occupy the white house since bush-41....the oligarchs are dying for the imposition of martial law and the establishment of a totalitarian state as in china.....indeed the plutocrats funded mao which is why truman capitulated so readily by ordering arms to kaichek impounded....china is the central planner's vision of the future for amerika.
"do not believe that we live in a nazi state" - I didn't believe before, but now I think it's likely.
"bush and obama are the most foul assholes to occupy the white house since bush-41" - yes but that's not a very long time. I think next will be worse.
And by the way, Clinton signed the repeal of Steagall-Glass so he opened the gates for the catastrophe (and got gazillions), so he's one of the a/h. You forgot to mention it.
"the oligarchs are dying for the imposition of martial law and the establishment of a totalitarian state" - I think the totalitarian part is here already; they keep prodding us to do something in order to justify hauling us all off to the camps. I'm guessing then they'll give an empty house to every illegal.
"do not believe that we live in a nazi state" - I didn't believe before, but now I think it's likely.
"bush and obama are the most foul assholes to occupy the white house since bush-41" - yes but that's not a very long time. I think next will be worse.
"the oligarchs are dying for the imposition of martial law and the establishment of a totalitarian state" - I think the totalitarian part is here already; they keep prodding us to do something in order to justify hauling us all off to the camps. I'm guessing then they'll give an empty house to every illegal.
"do not believe that we live in a nazi state" - I didn't believe before, but now I think it's likely.
"bush and obama are the most foul assholes to occupy the white house since bush-41" - yes but that's not a very long time. I think next will be worse.
"the oligarchs are dying for the imposition of martial law and the establishment of a totalitarian state" - I think the totalitarian part is here already; they keep prodding us to do something in order to justify hauling us all off to the camps. I'm guessing then they'll give an empty house to every illegal.
"The proof is in the pudding ..."
mmmm pudding.
Mmmm Chocolate...
mmmm Keeley Hazell.
http://www.wedgeworld.com/more_models/keeley_hazell/index.htm
When I was young, we used to go on vacation in Italy Viareggio. That place was loaded with maffia money. Everywhere you looked there where Ferrari's and the poor could only afford Porches.
When we went out every night, everybody went to the disco's with at least 2 bodyguards.
For me as a youngster, it was pretty anoying because my parents didn't have things like that. We where well off but when I was there, I felt poor.
And one day when I felt bad because of it my dad said to me: Never be jalous. We need rich people, because without them, we wouldn't have as much. And the more Ferrari's you see, the better it will get for you.
15 years later, I know he was right. And I still remember his words every time I see one.
What I mean is: We do indeed have to protect the rich. Even is it seems unfair at the moment. The more rich people we have, the better we'll have it.
While you may be right, and though organized crime robs us all because when we work we have to pay taxes on our earnings and they don't pay taxes, I don't begrudge the mob but I DO begrudge the sociopathic sub-humans who perpetrated this calamity on all of us, and I'd prefer that they be dead in horrible painful ways sooner rather than later. If God's finger could zap them where they stand right now, I'd call that justice, but since that's unlikely to happen, I think the problem requires action.
I'm not holding my breath that anything will happen in my lifetime, but I hope when it happens they'll all get theirs at once and I hope it's nasty and painful.
Sorry... "the rich" folks that I know are nice, they earned what they have through hard work (jobs) and they don't screw people or screw with people.
"I'm not holding my breath that anything will happen in my lifetime, but I hope when it happens they'll all get theirs at once and I hope it's nasty and painful"
A wild guess...they got somewhere between ten months and ten years left. I'm hoping its years not months. They don't deserve the time, but i want to prepare for the collateral damage.
Be willing to bet they toss some of their less reliable members to the wolves (or hire some wolves) and then try to get protection as a persecuted minority. I wonder if someone will sell treasure maps? "Brick Bungalos, Boltholes and Bunkers of the Bigger Banksters!"
Nels has it right - when the richest men were real inventors and tycoons like Ford, Carnegie, and Edison their business activity was the source of real growth. What the fuck does Soros or Buffett do for us? It's not that I expect the financial sector to perform actual labor or even invent things, but they're supposed to facilitate the functioning of the physical economy and currently they do the opposite. Capital is sucked out of possibly fruitful channels in order to play its role in the great derivatives casino. Even when physical goods do get produced there's a difference between the rich having most of the purchasing power: the dumb fuck Mafioso who buys a Ferrari is paying a premium to have an auto slowly built by hand whereas Henry Ford's employees were far more productive per hour and per resources used by mass producing cars for the average American.
Radical Concentration of Wealth is Destroying Both Capitalism and Democracy
If you're wasting brain cells coveting someones latest model or upgraded widget, you've lost.
The more rich people we have, the better we'll have it.
But the crooked rich? I don't think we need so many of them.
Henry Ford gave us all cars, but George Soros?
Bad sex, but he pays well.
<Sarc off?>
Quote from a 55-year old Black laborer that works at my company when I recently asked him his opinion on the bashing of the rich, taxes, etc. . . .
"Well, I never got a paycheck from a poor man."
If that don't say it all.
Eyes,
That is interesting;
"Quote from a 55-year old Black laborer that works at my company when I recently asked him his opinion on the bashing of the rich, taxes, etc. . . .
"Well, I never got a paycheck from a poor man."
I ran across a young black guy (laborer) when I was also young (I was working as a contractor) and he asked me how he could get into what I was doing as it paid about four times what he was making.
So I started telling him about the investment involved, the insurance, the time, the training & what not...he stopped me in mid sentence and pulled me off to the side and said OK what next?
I said wait a minute, this ain't top secret stuff.
He explained that his co-workers were like "crabs in a bucket...one get's up toward the lip of the bucket and the others grab you and pull you back".
I have never forgotten that man and his wisdom.
Take a shit, place the pile in a paper bag and deposit it in the after hours chute at you local bank.
Ohhhh, I LOVE this! Where are my little white sandwich bags....
Tell me why I should blame my local bank?
:
because they failed to organize and irradicate the
pestilence that will eat their lunch and piss down
their throats, (the fed and the investment banks).
You'd better wear an Obama/Bernanke/Whomever mask and not drive there to avoid your car tags being caught on tape. Just remember that what you just described is considered a Federal offense.
BTW, take a shit in the bag and save a step while keeping your hands clean. :>)
funny, they're hands aren't clean, why should ours be?
we don't need no stinkin' bags.
I can just "see" blindman backed up to the after hours deposit slot at 3 AM laying cable for deposit.
Priceless. :>)
you just plead insanity and throw yourself at the mercy
of the court. i would do that and have little trouble
with my defense. make it a class action " YOU FUCKERS
MADE ME CRAZY" defense.
rectal fixation?
Mucho gusto
Is that some magical way to make it turn into money?