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Racketeering 102: Fed's Lacker Threatens With Mutually Assured Destruction If Fed Audited
It was a four short months ago that the Clearing House Association, in a court filing, threatened with untold destruction if the Fed was ordered to submit to an audit that would expose all their dirty laundry in the form of undervalued assets used as collateral by the Federal Reserve. We recall the direct threat used back then:
If
the names of our member banks who borrow emergency funds are publicly
disclosed, the likelihood that a borrowing bank's customers,
counterparties and other market participants will draw a negative
inference is great. Public speculation that a financial institution is
experiencing liquidity shortfalls - which would be a natural inference
from having tapped emergency funds - has caused bank customers to
withdraw deposits, counterparties to make collateral calls and lenders
to accelerate loan repayment or refuse to make new loans. When an
institution's customers flee and its credit dries up the institution
may suffer severe capital and liquidity strains leaving it in a
weakened competitive position.
It is fitting that as attempts to expose the Fed's shady practices accelerate on all fronts, and include direct legal approaches as well as subpoena demands by various politicians, that a Fed President would once again come out today, and recap the good old Mutual Assured Destruction treatise that both Wall and Main Street have gotten used to since the beginning of the bailouts. Somehow financial M.A.D. makes an appearance every time the bankers demand something and have no other rational justifications. So why not just feed the stupid plebs something about the Apocalypse that is certain to transpire should the financial oligarchs not get their way. Today was no exception.
Enter Richmond Fed president Jeffrey Lacker. His words, from prepared tesimony to the Richmond Risk Management Association:
Some observers argue that the financial reform agenda should include
changes in the role and governance of the Federal Reserve. One proposal
would extend the GAO's authority to audit Fed operations to include
monetary policy decisions. Other proposals would alter our governance
structure by making Reserve Bank directors and/or presidents political
appointees. I know it might sound self serving for a Fed insider to
object to such changes, but I believe such moves would present very
serious risks to the effectiveness of monetary policy and ultimately to
economic growth and stability. Looking across time and across
countries, there is abundant evidence that economic policy and
macroeconomic performance are generally better when the central bank's
monetary policy decisions are shielded from the political pressures of
the moment. For an illustrative case, one need only look to the 1970s
in the U.S., when political influence led to high and volatile
inflation that disrupted economic growth. The governance of the Federal
Reserve System balances accountability, with ultimate authority resting
in Washington, and independence, with the participation of
non-political leaders from throughout the country. While the
performance of our economy in the last two years has clearly been unsatisfactory, and policy mistakes may have contributed to our
problems, the Fed's balanced, hybrid governance structure has, I
believe, given us a good record over the better part of three decades.
Disrupting that balance would pose another long term challenge for our
economy.
While Mr. Lacker's testimony is indeed self-serving, it is also patently flawed. There is nothing in the proposed Fed Transparency law that would imperil the Fed with direct political intervention, and nothing that would impact its monetary policy decision-making appartus. Perhaps it is about time someone highlighted the actual truth behind the various Ron Paul et al proposals, which seek not contemporaneous information of decision-making to the GAO or otherwise, but a delayed, 6 month-lagged disclosure. How this impairs monetary policy independence is incomprehensible.
Furthermore, the claim that the Fed's "balanced, hybrid governance structure has given us a good record over the better part of three decades" is very much subject to a recount. If Mr. Lacker deems that Fed's actions over the past three decades, which culminated with the implosion of the biggest credit and housing bubbles this country has ever seen, courtesy of self-serving (that phrase again) monetary flaws, are indicative of a "good record" then we certainly agree. We also would recommend that the Fed president immediately seek a medical prescription for Geodon or, if that particular medicine will not be covered by the soon enacted "new and improved" nationalized healthcare system, any other over-the-counter antipsychotic medication that is freely available.
The biggest problem with the Fed is its continuous insistence that the kleptocratic oligarchy always knows not only what is in everyone's best interest, but is so much smarter than all, that stupid peasants getting advance knowledge of just how impaired the major TBTF institutions are, would immediately risk bank runs. Once again, it never dawns upon these enlightened gentlemen, that such rumor-based "bank runs" are merely a byproduct of never having the sufficient information to make informed decisions about these very companies in real time. And when the shit does hit the fan (as it always eventually does under the Fed's "aegis") the outpouring of panic is enough to bring the system down in a matter of hours as September 18, 2008 demonstrated.
Yet if American citizens are not allowed to get a glimpse into the true state of the banking system, which consists of publicly traded institutions for the most part, but also are the recipients of trillions of dollars of direct taxpayer cash and guarantees, then there never will be a right time to attain such information.
It is, and has always been, in everyone's best interest to have as much information about each and every financial institution, be it small regional banks, TBTF failures such as Citi, Fixed Income monopolists, or the nexus of all: the Federal Reserve. And until such information is freely available to all, not just provided to SIGTARPs and other investigatory queries, which all operate underneath the radar of full disclosure, the system will continue to be on edge, and constantly ready to collapse at a minute's notice, the second it becomes clear that the Fed, contrary to its desires, is unable to conduct the first ever successful experiment involving a planned and controlled economy.
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Agreed.
This will all come down to the Supreme Court.
My feeling is that there is a giant safety valve and escape hatch that no one is talking about presently.
The Federal Reserve Act was NEVER ratified. The entire system will be scrapped when things get bad enough.
The Supreme Court - in my view - will NOT allow the country to be condemned to eternal poverty and debt slavery. Not when the basic mechanics of society are failing (food supply, transportation system, public safety ...)
Its an easy fix, really ... Just go back to having the UST issue currency. Let the asset markets collapse and allow people to write down their RE losses against income.
Problem solved.
Didn't the Pentagon use the same kind of excuse before we found out about the $600 toilet seats?
Besides, if the Fed is doing its job as a regulator then there would be no banks in that bad of shape to make a run on that aren't already in the process of being sold, merged or liquidated.
The essence.... That the gods of finance will strike us down for uttering.
Time for the truth regardless of consequences. Without the true picture, nothing can be restored. End the Fed.
My guess is that the "political pressure" they fear is the push-back from voters once it becomes clear that the Fed's balance sheet will require decades of inflation and tax increases just to break even.
You are too kind. That is only IF they were to start a true recovery, pay down plan TODAY. We know they plan to make the debt even worse.
Dear FED,
There is no doomsday scenario you can create that is more terrifying than the contents of your own audit.
v/r
GlassHammer
+1
SledgeHammer!
There is a simple and immensely beneficial solution to dealing with these gangsters but the Congressional butt slaves aren't about to enact it. CALL THEIR BLUFF. Clearly they are only afraid of the exposure of their own horrendous wrong doing. And when massive tumult occurs in markets as a result of the Fed's epic fraud, who will it be most easy to tag with responsibility? The Fed will. And that will be their end and they know it. How to end the Fed menace?
CALL THEIR BLUFF!
The concocted "problem" with the legislation is always that it will alter the way the Fed implements monetary policy when clearly people know that this is not an issue. Repetition here is being used to try and ingrain into the minds of the collective that the argument they present is really an issue. Fortunately people are having none of it.
They know (and so do we) that the total financial system is based on the manipulation of the gold/silver prices, stock market and anything else of perceived value. The winner we know and the loser is.....you.
Transparency, honesty and integrity (huh?) will mean the end of the Wall street financial syndicate and they know this: they rather burn in hell than being an honest player.
Expect no cooperation: it is full-out war now. Read Jason Hommel's email exchange with Gensler of the CFTC:
http://silverstockreport.com/2010/Jan14-update.html
Where is the f%%)$& anger? Where is the leadership to confront these motherF^)^)$ and to bring down the system?
Here it is....
Why does anything as important as THIS ....
HAVE TO BE SO SECRETIVE ....
.........................................
To me ....this is a sure sign the system is highly
flawed....and must be changed....
........................................
Just as in any form of engineering....there can be structural
flaws....
Major US structural flaws.....
Political design....
The current design is win by advertising $$$$...
Solution: Internet only....review, information, voting....
And....voting by local township for tax expenditure categories...good riddance to Fed lobby system....
Finance Design....
Banks must be separated from the securities business....and
carry on local activities only....
Securities Exchanges....must be revamped into defragmented....
lower cost....lower spread....direct access electronic worldwide exchanges....no taxes of any kind....
Big players must be downsized....size limitations per account...MUST BE RETAIL run and oriented....No outside matching of any sort....Stocks by merit via a defragmented worldwide exchange....is the best way to distribute global wealth and innovation.....
Legal largesse.....
The biggest threat to business is divorce....employee lawsuits....medical costs....and all sorts of other forms of legal largesse both Fed and State....
Tax Structure....
One of the only tools that will allow the US to compete head on with BRIC....
$0 individual and corp. taxes...a 15% sole consumption tax....will put the US on a SUSTAINABLE UPWARD ECONOMIC PATH....
Education.....
Must be for the willing via the internet.....not because of wealthy, connected parents....
Via the internet....any willing child or adult can receive the education that is required....
"Unfortunately, I knew nothing about Seldon's Plan except for the two axioms on which it is based: one, that there be involved a large enough number of human beings to allow humanity to be treated statistically as a group of individuals interacting randomly; and second, that humanity not know the results of psychohistorical conclusions before the results are achieved." G.T.
love those books.
M.A.D. Why am I not frightened. I say "Bring it."
I agree...I'm sick of threats by mealy mouthed scumbags..
". . .Looking across time and across countries, there is abundant evidence that economic policy and macroeconomic performance are generally better when the central bank's monetary policy decisions are shielded from the political pressures of the moment. For an illustrative case, one need only look to the 1970s in the U.S., when political influence led to high and volatile inflation that disrupted economic growth. . . ."
Does anybody know to what this refers?
to Naiverealist:
It refers to obfuscation. Lacker is trying to tell us that the unemployment and double-digit inflation of the 1970's was someone else's doing, not the Fed.
It reminds me of the story of the kid in diapers, when his Mom pulls the diaper back and in the bottom there is a smelly yellow turd. The kid looks up to his Mom and says, "not mine, don't know how it got in there ! "
Lacker and his cohorts will resort to any lie, any absurdity to hide the truth. The "asset" side of the Fed balance sheet is yellow poop. And the taxpayers have paid $2 Trillion for it.
Lucky for us, we have these guys on our side, saving the system....
It's like beating a dead horse over and over, but here goes: A full audit would flay the fed wide open, showing its rotten criminal actions. How can one think otherwise? It's so silly.
Here is the easier road. Forget the audit. Just allow the govt to print money and take the fed out of it. No more debt, no more interest payments, and money still backed by the full faith of the same government. We honor our payments and debts and dont ever need to issue any debt again.
Ben Franklin
Will the 1913 FRA and all subsequent FRS legislation be repealed in my lifetime? One can only hope.
Lacker can suck my ballz.
I may not be able to describe pornography but I'll know it when I see it.
And Lacker providing that "lip" service for you will most definitely be pornography of the ZH kind. :>))
He has a purty mouth. I'm in love:
http://media.timesdispatch.com/timesdispatch/gfx.php?max_width=300&imgfile=images/uploads/20091010_lack.jpg
Full disclosure and truth will ultimately restore faith, and an efficient market. Initially, it will be painful, and probably so globally as mistakes unwind, and corrections are made. But, ultimately, it's the best thing.
So we live off beanie-weenies for a while...so what? We'll figure out a way to survive, and then succeed, once again.
As always, truth sets you free.
Well if the Fed tells the public it will be financial armageddon... oh wait that's a blog... financial destruction if the Fed is audited...
Then the American public will just have to pull all their money out of Fed banks to be safe... and then sell all their NYSE and S&P holdings to be safe, too.
Your move Fed Gov'nah...
Exactly! A great option would be to move our assets to the Bank of North Dakota.
I thought I read somewhere that only North Dakota citizens and businesses can bank with the Bank of North Dakota. I'm in the process of verifying.
End the Fed, bitches!
thomas j.
That reminds me: Please add the phony baloney, completely contrived money market draw down of September 18, 2008 to the list of events that at the very least need to be fully and completely investigated as to who, how much, when and where. Do you really believe that much money was suddenly sucked out of the system in that span of time? I do not, and must be shown how it occurred. A not unreasonable request, in light of the dramatic steps the government took (an announced $250,000 account guarantee, right?) to "stop" the run, and the apparently fantastic danger such a run poses. The whole thing sounded contrived then, and sounds contrived now. Do you know anybody who ran to their money market fund that day and took out ALL of their money that day? I mean, WHO did that? And, is it really that easy to get that much money out that quickly in general? I mean, not everybody with money in a money market account watches it like a hawk on the Internet. I smell bullshit. Smelled it then, smell it now. Issa? Add it to the list. Throw this carcass on the table, grab the chest saw and let's slice this foul-smelling thing open and look inside.
Just for the heck of it - let's, for fun, assume that the run consisted of quite a few account holders simultaneously coming to the conclusion that they had better get their money out pronto, and you also need to assume, that this same group of account holders were assuaged and comforted enough by the "announced" $250K account guarantee to - all at once - stop. This is what we are told occurred. So, to me, that means the withdrawing parties were a group of people who had $250K or less in their accounts. Let's make the very generous assessment that these panicked folks had an average of $200,000 in their accounts. To get to $550 billion, that would mean 2,750,000 people took their money out in "an hour or two." Do you really believe that happened that day? Where did that money go? And also ask yourself, if there were that much panic in the streets, where's the corresponding bank runs, and grocery store runs, and ammunition runs? Multiply that panic over the much larger number of people who simply did not have that kind of money in a money market account, but a much smaller amount, and the numbers go exponential, and reveal this event to be something different from what it was claimed to be.
It was contrived, to create a sense of urgency. It was over before it started, and it was used to bludgeon foolish congressmen and the general public. Use your heads, people.
Bingo! "One can’t explain an unusual cluster of errors by citing greed, which is always around, just as one can’t explain a cluster of airplane crashes by citing gravity." - L. H. White
Most excellent points. I, for one, did not even know about the run until three months later. I don't follow the markets in detail day-by-day, but I do generally try to keep up on things.
Realizing how out-of-the loop I actually was is what eventually led me to sites like ZH.
The timing of the events of Sept 2008 was always suspicious to me - right as it was coming down to the wire in an election year. One sure way to force 'change' in a election is a poor economy, and the events of that month resulted in a pretty stunning financial turn-around, at least in the eyes of the public.
Foreign influence? Goldman making sure all their political contributions paid off? Who knows. Of one thing I am sure - even with all of the information now available on sites like this, I am still a few levels of understanding away from what is really going on.
"Of one thing I am sure - even with all of the information now available on sites like this, I am still a few levels of understanding away from what is really going on."
Dude, you're not alone. I've been in the business for over 20 years and while I understand the details better and I think I understand the manipulation to a greater extent, the fact is that I don't truly understand. And it's not for lack of trying.
With the Treasury and Federal Reserve ...ops.....Treserve (thanks Marla for the new word, I was growing tired of using the empires' terminology) working almost exclusively behind the curtain, you can never be sure who's working with or for the Treserve and for what purpose. I suspect different parts of the same bank are often working against each other without ever knowing it. This is (of course) intentional, not because they wish to quell panic, but instead to instill panic and manipulation when it serves their goals.
Whoa...feel like I'm free falling down telescoping rabbit holes. I need to light up and contemplate this, almost too much to digest.
Thanks.
+1
Thanks for running some simple numbers - it makes it more "tangible". And what kind of idiot has that much cash hanging out in a bank account anyway!
I can only speak for myself when I say that I had no inclination to run the bank and withdraw any money nor do I know of anyone who was inclined to do so on September 18, 2008.
Ned - I been saying that IF these folks really knew how to be scandalous we would be in even deeper trouble. The deal is that for folks who are used to manipulating the offices of government & justice the idea that the decisions rendered by the corrupted institutions may well be unlawful is just beyond these peoples reasoning process..... Many folks have forgotten how quickly the concept of justice can change.
very well put
exactly , who took out the 550 billion. that question has to be answered to get to the root of this current mess.
I'm just a small drop in a large bucket, but as soon as I read a mm fund broke the buck, I instantly sold by mm fund. And I believe that others that understood what breaking the buck meant liquidated too. And this includes large money managers that are paid to manage large cash accounts. I don't monitor my mm account like a hawk, but I do monitor headlines. The mm fund breaking the buck was a headline on a Yahoo page that I opened. I immediately sold when I saw that headline and passed on the information to others. The headline itself was non-descript -- there weren't any whistles and bells or quotes from people recommending liqidations. I read it several times to make sure I understood what I was reading. I went to Bloomberg to read it there. I remember these events well because the financial system was in collapse, which doesn't happen very often and anyone with a brain should have realized that. The biggest day of withdrawls occured on a Wednesday if I remember; September 18, 2008 is a Thursday, the data for mm withdrawls is available to verify the liquidation flows that week. I believe the mm guarantee didn't come until Friday or over the weekend; anyway it came after the large withdrawals had occured. My money went into a demand deposit 0% interest rate account. I haven't looked at a stock market chart for that week, but I remember there was at least one large downdraft that week related to the mm issue. The stock of State Street was hit hard as they are responsible for mm clearing and couldn't keep up with the clearing requirements. If Paulsen hadn't offered the guarantee that weekend, conditions would have continued to deteriorate the next week.
Dear Anon 196445:
If everyone else, acted as you did, by re-depositing your funds into a demand deposit account, then there was no "run on the banking system". Those actions would truly be zero sum. There would be no net effect on the banking system.
If, however, on Wednesday the 17th, you and all the others, withdrew, in cash, $550 billion, there would have been many witnesses of desperate crowds, and unlikely enough paper currency to do the job.
Isn't anybody going to do something? We are being held hostage and noone is getting arrested. Why can't these fuckers be arrested?
It's called 'power'. Look it up....
Why can't these fuckers be arrested?
Simple. The political & judicial classes are too pusstified to do anything except after a banker has their way to do an Oliver Twist and ask for more....
The American people being threatened by a financial terrorist representing their central bank is nothing new. The president of the 2nd Bank of the United States Nicholas Biddle, threatened tight monetary policy and basically a depression if Andrew Jackson didn't back off with his move to kill the bank and not renew it's charter. Jackson killed the bank in 1836 and survived an assassin's attempt on his life.
Remember this 1790's quote from Mayer Amschel Rothschild: "Give me control of a nation's money supply and I care not who makes it's laws."
The ultimate power lies within monetary policy. If we are able to kill the Fed it will be like performing an excorcism on our economy. It will have violent effects to say the least.
Well and they are domestic. So, domestic terrorism is covered under the Patriot Act. So, we do have a right to go after them. Plus, how does that go? "Enemies foreign and domestic." Seems like the power should be in our hands.
Seems to me that this is nothing that a pitchfork and a torch can't solve.
I have heard those words alot. Havent seen any action. All ATMs still work and bankwindows have no damages. Mansions have NOT been set afire. No protest at all.
Two days without my computer reminded me of our fake reality. Watching the TV , Except for Ratigan, i got the impression all was well with the world.
Locally our coin shop tells me of late folks been bringing their gold coins in to trade for dollars. The coastal semi rich are hurting. I too just traded silver for cash. Our locals are closing down one by one showing up as empty store fronts and little traffic.
But watching the telly i realize how mesmerized we are by the TV message.
Foul on the media, and on the leaders leaving us all unprepared for the naked future.
It's not just a threat. I think Fed employees will intentionally try to screw up the economy as much as possible, if the Fed feels it is under political attack. This happened when president Jackson dismantled the Second Bank of United States (our second, unconstitutional central bank): http://mises.org/story/3632
IF the bill passes to audit the Fed, they just have to call in all the loans and its game over. They can return all the MBS to the Treasury and banksters and we're toast.
I hope it passes because I really would rather deal with 10 years of Mad Max than 2 years of Weimarica then worse.
Very Orwellian.
Does appear that they are trying to control EVERYTHING. Interest rates, Oil, Copper prices, Stock prices etc.
But, I think that what they are really afraid of is that THEY ARE BANKRUPT. Nothing but JUNK assest on their balance sheet.
At first the Banks were going Bankrupt but now the FED has all of the BAD ASSETS from the Banks the FED is close to Bankruptcy.
THE TRUE RUN THEY ARE AFRAID OF IS ON THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.
Whoa, whoa, whoa folks........
The Fed is not some Darth Vaderesque creature. These are people like you and me; but misguided. The reason we had an economic collapse is because the Fed believed they were omnipotent. Not a bad ominipotent. They believed that juicing the economy with low interest rates would help Americans AND.....they believed they had the power to correct/fix any problems that might result...via their power/secrecy. ABSOLUTE POWER CORRUPTS ABSOLUTELY!
So on they went. And then things got a little hairy. Now, they must hold onto their power/secrecy to correct/amend the economy. I don't think Bernake is a bad person.........just misguided and struggling to fix the mess his and Greenspans' Fed has created.
So the Fed CANNOT give up its' power/secrecy right now.......how else will they be able to fix what they screwed up?
If by "correct/fix" you mean continue to steal, then you make sense.Otherwise, you seem completely unintelligible.
Fucking people out of work,,,losing their homes,,,1 out of 4 or 8 (take your pick) on food stamps....slammed 401k's...common guy makes a mistake and they hammer him into the ground...old people that had savings drained from non existent interest rates...now using reverse mortgages to survive...they love the unemployed because it keeps the threat of higher wages off the table while their fucking university stipends and benefits go up with their federal salaries and pensions in their fake model based non productive mary poppins world and then they paper over all their friends losses with credit lines that would make Mandingo blush over it's size and then in collaboration with other parts of the government they give everyone some lame ass excuse that they can't break a contract and will not disclose what went on and you really think their misguided? They know what their doing.....
Save the Lord Acton speech for school...these guys are scum !
"These are people like you and me; but misguided."
miker,
I understand your point and I'm not attacking you, just the idea.
I've seen this used time and time again and I'm tired of it. Let's use a different example and re-frame the concept. I'm absolutely certain that 95% of the people serving in Hitler's armies, government and bureaucracy were ".....people like you and me; but misguided." People who needed a paycheck and a purpose in life, wanted to go with the flow and follow the herd, felt compelled to either follow or be run over, the explanations are endless.
But they were the supporters and suppliers of the monster. Without them, the monster crumbles instantly. The power of the monster comes from these "misguided" people and I refuse to look at them as innocent or worse, victims of circumstances. There comes a time in every person's life where they must choose between right and wrong. When they will face a difficult decision. If I choose the right way, I might be harmed. If I choose the wrong way, I will be left alone or even rewarded. When the person chooses the wrong way, I have no sympathy and they don't deserve my "understanding", other than to understand their choice. We can argue all we want about right and wrong but most people know in their bones the difference.
The monsters of this world count on, depend upon, this type of behaviour. It's one thing to understand it, it's another to dismiss it or accept it as "natural" or "misguided" and say "oh well, such is life."
When my children were little, they would complain that a decision they needed to make was hard because it entailed them not getting what they wanted. They would tell me that didn't "know" what to do. I would always tell them that it's very easy to "know" what to do. It's much harder to actually do it. That's where morality is measured. 20 years later, they understand more completely what I talked about. But even back then they understood enough to know that they needed to do the right thing, not the thing that would please themselves.
I've resigned a few times on moral grounds. It hurt like hell and it imperiled myself and my family. I can say that I'm in worse shape financially today because of these incidents. But I can look in the mirror and know I did the right thing. I'm not acting superior or better than others here. I'm saying that one can live their life morally and honestly, at least more so than those around him, and as best as one can do in a morally corrupt society. We make our own choices. If we are dishonest, we can comfort ourselves with the rationalization that we did our best and other people forced us to do what we did. I choose not to be dishonest and I won't enable others when they are dishonest. That may make me a social outcast at times but so be it.
This world will begin to change for the better when we hold ourselves to a higher standard. Most of the world's problems will solve themselves when we start acting like responsible adults and demanding that others do so as well. Yes, it's as simple as that.
CD you restore my hope for humanity. I too remain honest.
But i like who i am, can look anyone in the eye and am trusted because of it. The first lie, first theft would ruin that.
Bravo.
Well said, and I fully agree.
"When the person chooses the wrong way, I have no sympathy and they don't deserve my "understanding", other than to understand their choice."
Yes, weakness and cowardice are vices that should be destroyed whenever they are manifested in our lives, and the lives around us.
Emerson once said something to the effect that "the man who is more obedient than me, is my master"... of course obedience here is absolute... the feeling in the "bones" you discussed... which comes back again to "cognitive dissonance" - are you going to follow that feeling, despite what anyone might say? Are you going to pursue, as a responsible adult, your own personal, idosyncratic path?
God I hope you are kidding.
I am nothing like a Keynesian lap dog. If anything these pieces of crap have been fleecing this nation since 1913 promoting their ideas and acting as the major support for the 16th and 17th Amendments which have successfully destroyed the original intent of the Founding Fathers and left this nation in the grips of an ever expanding oligarchy which now openly flaunts its powers and shows little regard for the Constitution.
They are NOTHING like me, you maybe, but not me. If this were the 1820's these bastards would have a home under an oak tree for what they have done.
At the end of a rope.
I don't think the Fed understands.
The US middle class has already been destroyed.
These people? This government contractor? They dare threaten to hold hostage the citizens of this country, for demanding truth and accountability from our elected representatives and the entities our institutions oversee?
I've got a message for the Fed, for DC, and for Wall St.
Pull the goddamn plug. Do it. See what happens.
You want to see destruction? If you people are shown to purposefully pull the rug, and I'm forced from house and home, I will show you an enemy willing to die for what he believes. I will send my wife and son away, and I will come for you bastards. You can mark that down. You want to threaten my family, my home, my son's future, my government, and the country that many generations of my family have literally bled fighting for? Where I come from threats like these are existential, and you had better be ready for hell if you go to much farther down this road Mr. Lacker.
Bitch please. If the Fed pulls the plug you know you'll run and hide like all the other sheep.
We have no place to hide. Our backs are now against a wall. We WILL stand and fight.
+1000......Thanks for putting my thoughts into words. We pee-ons [sic] are already destroyed. Bring on the destruction. Misery loves company.
“What has commonly been called rebellion has more often been nothing but a manly and glorious struggle in opposition to the lawless power of rebellious kings and princes.
“If ye love wealth better than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better than the animating contest of freedom, go home from us in peace. We ask not your counsels or arms. Crouch down and lick the hands which feed you. May your chains set lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that ye were our countrymen.” -- SAMUEL ADAMS: 1776
United, we'll stand, Crab Cake. United!
Perhaps you should watch the new Jesse Ventura series conspiracy theory episode on 2012. The gov has created many underground bunkers, purportedly for MAD, but the guy interviewed that was building private bunkers stated that they are building them for the coming financial collapse?
So let's completely destroy the economy so they have nothing to bargain with.
FED thinks we all suffer amnesia cause they were behind closed doors and took worlds economy down which is still going on.
Indeed FEDs fear reaction seems to point at frightening disclosures for them, not for us.
"Ummmm...honey dear. I have an awkward thing I need to discuss with you. Well... you've been kinda distant lately and I was wondering if...gosh this is difficult. Are you cheating on me?"
"I'm not going to answer that because it would ruin our relationship. Everything I do is for you. You do know that right? Now would you mind if we stop talking about this and get me a beer. Thanks babe."
Good one.
www.RevokeTheFed.comMarch 2008
WHEREAS, Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution of the United States of America authorizes Congress "To coin Money, regulate the Value thereof, and of foreign Coin, and fix the Standard of Weights and Measures";
WHEREAS, on December 23rd, 1913 the US Congress enacted the Federal Reserve System;
WHEREAS, the Federal Reserve System is considered an independent agency within the federal government, with oversight of Congress and containing appointed public officials on its board of directors;
WHEREAS, the Federal Reserve System Controls the Federal Reserve Note, the official currency of the great nation of the United States of America;
WHEREAS, there may be controversies regarding the legality and constitutionality of the Federal Reserve System, it is recognized that the said system has operated continuously as the central banking system of the United States since the inception of the Federal Reserve Act of 1913;
WHEREAS, the Constitution of the United States of America granted Congress the authority to create the current Federal Reserve System, it also does grant Congress the authority to modify or revoke the Federal Reserve System;
WHEREAS, the actions of the Fedreral Reserve System represent the credit and currency of the United Stated of America to the citizens of this great nation and to the world;
WHEREAS, the Federal Reserve System, acting independently within the federal government allowed, supported, and even promoted parasitical and non-productive uses of the money and credit of the United States of America;
WHEREAS, the United States and likely the entire world's financial system is undergoing massive de-leveraging of the said parasitical and non-productive uses of the credit and money of the United States of America (as well as other nations' currencies);
WHEREAS, the US dollar, the "Federal Reserve Note" is declining in value due to these parasitical activites, as well as potentially other causes;
WHEREAS, it is recognized that the citizens of the United States and other nations did willingly participate at some level in the creation and propogation of said parasitical activities;
WHEREAS, it is also recognized that the United States of America, a sovereign nation, has the legal, moral, and God given authority to take actions to benefit its citizens and to protect its good name, credit and money in times of difficulty;
WHEREAS, it is recognized that the current time is such a time of great difficulty;
WHEREAS, it is recognized the parasitical financial institutions and their activities are at odds with citizens of the United States of America and the good credit and money thereof;
WHEREAS, the current indications are that the Federal Reserve System is acting to preserve the financial system currently flooded with the parasitical activities;
WHEREAS, the current indications are that the neither the Federal Reserve System, nor the Congress of the United States, nor the people of the United States have access to the books of the institutions being preserved by the Federal Reserve, and therefor the degree of inter-connectivity and risk associated with the institutions and other entities cannot be determined;
WHEREAS, the Federal Reserve System is accepting non-performing assets as collateral for credit with ultimate taxpayer responibility to entities not under its legislative mandate;
IT MUST BE CONCLUDED, that the Federal Reserve System is not acting to the benefit of the people of the United States of America, its credit, money, and good name;
WHEREAS, it is recognized that the political will and capability of the government of the United States of America may not be up to the task of prosecuting this proclamation ; It is also recognized that this may be the only hope for the continued survival of the United States of America as the great nation as it has historically existed.
NOW THEREFORE, it is PROCLAIMED by those supporting this Proclamation that the Congress of the United States of America FULLY NATIONALIZE the Federal Reserve System, and take full control of the credit and money of our great nation; The Congress must take whatever action necessary to seperate out, sequester, disown, or otherwise neutralize the effect of the parasitical financial activities which led to the current crisis; The Congress of the United States of America must reorganize, replace, or terminate the Federal Reserve System as appropriate; or otherwise devise a system for creation of the national currency.
IT IS FURTHER PROCLAIMED, that the Congress of the United States of America in cooperation with the Executive of the United States of America contact allied nations and any other nation willing to participate in the overhaul of the failing and parastical financial sytem currently in operation and create new treaties and alliances as necessary to create a sane and productive system of finance with the express goal of supporting a productive national, and by extension and through voluntary cooperation, world economy;
FURTHERMORE, it is PROCLAIMED that it should be the goal of such an international effort to maintain fair international trading practices allowing for protection in national interest of labor, resources, and productive capabilities;
WHEREAS, it is recognized that such a move on the part of the United States of America may result in the necessity of an isolationist policy IF the other developed nations do not follow our lead; If such occurs, so be it.
SO HELP US GOD!
Went from revoke the Fed to a weird hodge podge.
I would love to see an audit of the FED, I doubt it will happen. If it became public, there would indeed be panic, and that's fine be me (it's going to happen anyway), likewise for the for the big banks too.
Lacker is as full of shit as an xmas goose. It's just a matter of time, it's all coming down no matter what they do. An audit would be the perfect excuse to blame someone else. Game over man:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BPsSWoYursc&feature=related
Fuckin ay mann. Time to break out Struass and Howe again. Teach your children well. Thery're our hope and our future.
Fantastic, withering commentary, Tyler. Thank you again.
>> "I believe [auditing the Fed] would present very serious risks to the effectiveness of monetary policy and ultimately to economic growth and stability." Well, yeah, actually, it IS self-serving.
Red alert! Be very afraid! We can't jeopardize such stellar performance to date, especially, though oddly not mentioned here, such great progress on full employment. Eventually, we get a terminal case of fear and adrenalin fatigue. Not even Cheney can trigger a decent stampede anymore.
It appears as if the Gods of finance are demanding a policy of zero tolerance regarding questions from their followers (those who owe their riches and status to the Gods) and servants (those of us that have to live and die by their decision process). Elevating those that lead the financial structures of an economy in a "democracy" to the status of unquestioned Gods is where Mr. Lacker's mind and the minds of others closely associated with the current state of affairs at present.
Dictatorship in a one-party state indeed seems to loom for us. As one prominent commentator has pointed out, the normal order of the human condition is tyranny, subjugation, and dictatorship, with only a couple of respite periods throughout history, including our time in the West over the past two centuries or so. It just took that long for the totalitarian types to gain near-total power in our country, which they are now consolidating over the coming year. What are the betting odds that they will ever let it go voluntarily?
Make sure Timmy Geithner explains Synthetic Collateralized Debt Obligations , how they were packaged , who packaged them, where they are now, quantify the ammount of toxic garbage burried in them, who wrote the CDS's on them , how big the spreads were that were burried by the "sell side" in both the physical securities and the derivatives, how much the buy side money managers {read "fiduciaries"} were bonused for outperforning their "competitive universe" by compromising the integrity of their portfolios for phony yeild, are those "fiduciaries" still managing the publics money, who other than the so called hedger also bought the "insurance" and if the taxpaying public is still paying the counterparties on this vile scam.
Geithner will defend secretive AIG bailout deals
http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2010/01/15/general-financial-administrati...
You will find numbered account identities at foreign banks are itemized for the BIS showning the recipients of ongoing credit default swap payments.
Think; numbered foreign bank accounts holding Credit Default Swaps for the likes of Pelosi, Soros, Greenspan, Dodd, Frank, Rubin , Paulson ,Reid, Clintons ,Bush , Cheny , ...where the cds income is still being paid to this day.
http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=35166
I am speechless.
This is HR 4173, “‘The Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2009.
http://financialservices.house.gov/Key_Issues/Financial_Regulatory_Refor...
On Section 1701 (ADDITIONAL IMPROVEMENTS FOR FINANCIAL CRISIS MANAGEMENT.) starts on page 436 and on subsection C (FINANCIAL CRISIS MANAGEMENT) talks about unusual and exigent circumstances. Page 437 says “Upon making any determination under this paragraph, with the consent of the Secretary of the Treasury, the Financial Stability Oversight Council shall promptly submit a notice of such determination to the Congress. The amounts made on available under this subsection shall not exceed $4,000,000,000,000.”
Basically this bill allows future $4 Trillion back stop to WallStreet casino.
Wait. Aren't there already a "Move Your Money" campaign to move depositors' money from Banking Institutions with implicit support from the Federal Reserve System to Credit Unions without any support from the Federal Reserve System? The systemic risks and moral hazard from the mere fact that the Member Banks are being tied to The Fed has already caused a run on the banks! Not releasing which Member Bank is and isn't using emergency funds actually put ALL Member Banks under a huge cloud of suspicion and fuel additional capital flight.
Please tell me what system was really brought down during the financial crisis of 2008? Other than the FEDs lack of bank oversight, irresposible handling of reserve ratios, not addressing derivatives, and loose monetary policy in forming a real estate debt bubble.
The risk was the FEDs, in the sense that systemic problems where never addressed. The FED created the monster, but could not recognize it, or choose to ignore it.
Perhaps, it is a little too far fetched to think the FED does not know real banking systemic risk. They do, but do not prioritze stability over bank profits, or to say it another way, there really is not any oversight. The FED does not regulate or stabilize the banking system. The record speaks for itself.
----------
Anyway, I wanted to understand more about how ZH and subscribers would describe Economic Collapse. Really, what does this word mean? Its not depression as in the 1930s because we have policies in place to offset some of those prior effects. So what is economic collapse? What are the steps or sign posts along the way?
----------
Here is my point of view:
How is economic callapse linked to lack of short term bank over night Money Market access?
The crisis in 2008 during the liquidity lock, exhibited itself as Bank codependence for over night loans. Lack of liquidity would quickly bankrupt a lot of Bank Holding Companies. However, the FED could help the BHCs through the discount window for collateralized short term loans. If getting short term loans was the only real issue. But, the FED did not realized the extent of the codependence in the complex arrangements of FED member banks, and the leverage involved. The FEDs existing tool box would not be enough to save the banks.
So the FED and Treasury needed new tools. But Paulson had to do a few things first:
#1 Convince congress that the economy = banks.
#2 That without banks we cease to exist.
So where was this electronic run coming from? Short term liquidity on overleveraged banks. Maybe a run on bank solvency?
Paul Kanjorski was on the receiving end of the Paulson/Bernanke story and got spooked. Why would losing a few wall street banks cause an economic crises? It was clear the real danger was to FED member banks and not to the economy as a whole.
During this time FDIC deposits where still insured including MM accounts. So no bank runs?
In the end, under threat and using fear of the unknown, Paulson and Bernanke got their way. By saving the banks they saved themselves, its that simple.
Mark Beck
Amend #2 to read "That without the Wall Street banks we cease to exist."
The money market liquidity crisis was portrayed as one that stopped once the new $250,000 "FDIC-type" insurance was announced. This amount of insurance would not mean a thing to the interbank liquidity system. Yet we are told this announcement stopped the money market drain. How could it? Something else was going on, and who wants to guess when we should simply find out. How hard could it be? Who at the Fed noticed the cascade of withdrawals? What sort of data caused them to see this? Where is that data? To whom was it reported? Who then discussed it? Who decided on the $250k insurance? Why? etc. etc.
Good points all.
Who on ZH is a constituent of Paul Kanjorksi and can set up a meeting with him?
I used to live in his district Ned. It is located in the heart of "Pennsyltucky" where everyone knows everyone and all of those relationships are indeed old ones. So, even if you could get the meeting it wouldn't mean much since his seat is secure and those that have that power with Paul aren't sharing....
Have you read Atlas Shrugged? Quite vivid. Ayn Rand is not perfect but presents solutions, explains what those in control are willing to do to maintain control, and demonstrates that more policies is a sign post for bad things around the corner.
But speaking of today, from the viewpoint of a non-economist I would say that unless we have a "crack-up boom", we will become a prison planet. So I won't try to explain it further:
So, barring the slow slide into control by collective oligarchy or a regional disaster, we wait for the other 80% of human civilization to wake up.
we need to know who withdrew the 550 billion. that would make everyone stand up and listen. and one of the many reasons why the fed dont want to be audited. how can we find out. the banking system didnt collapse, it was collapsed, and the people that did it have got names and addresses.
Over 100 posts into this and nobody said it, the FED will never be audited. They own your President and they own your Congress and the sheeple are still watching their flatscreens and playing with X-Box. I ask, how the fuck can the FED EVER be audited?
At the moment I think the people are just praying the pending healthcare legislation does not get passed - 80% prefer what they have to what is pending.
TD,
"it never dawns upon these enlightened gentlemen, that such rumor-based "bank runs" are merely a byproduct of never having the sufficient information to make informed decisions about these very companies in real time."
A very constructive and lucid point.
Thanks.
Banks will pay $150 B in bonuses this year.
That amount equals our nations GDP growth expected for this year. ($14.5T budget with 2% growth)
Banker Bonuses = USA GDP growth.
They left us with the $12.8 Trillion debt for the taxpayers.
Regards,
The Lloyds work
Don't think we'll ever see an audit if the Fed. We may see an end to the Fed, and that won't be the end of the world. But be prepared for the lot of pain we deserve for getting in this mess.
The point of the Fed was to separate monetary policy from political influence. It has SO failed in this, it just shouldn't be around anymore. That Fed employees speak to protect their jobs is understandable. That banks point to the perverse incentives put in front of them is rational. While I oppose it, I'm not going to attack GS or any one single entity because it is far bigger than that.
There is no counterweight to the financial influence in government. The best protection for citizens in any government is competing predators that keep each others' predations in check. And we ain't got that.
Wanna see the end of bank run fears? Let the market interest rates rise enough to increase demand deposits. The Fed seems to think this is impossible. A 5% yield and 2% inflation on a savings account is not Dante's inferno. There is nothing more wholesome in the world than real yields that reward savers. What gets in the way of this be damned.
I believe they are telling the truth and it will cause a catastrophic event, but it will be smaller than the one they cause if we let this continue.
Bingo!
So now we, each and every one of us, has a choice to make. Do we scrub the wound now, after it has festered for years, knowing that for a while it will hurt like hell and the healing process will take some time because the wound has been ignored. Or do we continue to bargain with ourselves, to justify not scrubbing the wound because we know it will hurt like hell and participate in the false hope that if left alone it will heal itself.
As that wonderful TV commercial from long ago stated so simply, you can pay me now or you can pay me later. Clean the wound and suffer for a few years or don't and suffer for decades. If our child came to us with this "wound" choice, we all know what we would tell them. Let's clean the wound now, regardless of the pain, and move on. Because not cleaning it entails much worse consequences.
People, it's that easy. Let's not delude ourselves into thinking taking down the Fed and it's minions will be easy and painless. It will be the second hardest thing we as a society will ever do. The hardest would be to do it later or not to do it at all.
I'd just add that part of the problem is optics... few people understand finance, money, and banking. The underlying reality has drifted so far from the "social construct". Therefore, some truly sincere, goodhearted people (although they are probably a bit 'slower' than us) - would make the tough choice... but they aren't sure a crisis is imminent. Education is the solution.
can we just give everyone a million dollars, it would go along way in solving the problem and ending the misery. quickening the death spiral sort of.
They are telling us plainly that the banks are insolvent. If there was going to be a bank run the general statement that they can't tell us should be enough to start it. It makes me wonder if perhaps they are hiding the fact that one or more banks are actually healthy and well run. If people knew there was such bank there could be a run TO that bank.
But don't take their threat mildly
You have to be willing to face the end
You have to think that the end is better than continuing as it now is
The founding fathers faced gallows
Lincoln was shot
Garfield was shot
The banksters are not bluffing they haven't bluffed yet
So talk is cheap -- an the banksters may welcome a challenge to weed out the pontificators (like Tyler?)
We will never see this audit. It will be blocked. They can crash any market, any time, whenever they want.
So if the House looks like it will be voted on, short the dog snot out of the SPY. The S&P 500 will be down 50-100 points in nothing flat if the "Ayes" win.
I am speechless.
This is HR 4173, “‘The Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2009.
http://financialservices.house.gov/Key_Issues/Financial_Regulatory_Refor...
On Section 1701 (ADDITIONAL IMPROVEMENTS FOR FINANCIAL CRISIS MANAGEMENT.) starts on page 436 and on subsection C (FINANCIAL CRISIS MANAGEMENT) talks about unusual and exigent circumstances. Page 437 says “Upon making any determination under this paragraph, with the consent of the Secretary of the Treasury, the Financial Stability Oversight Council shall promptly submit a notice of such determination to the Congress. The amounts made on available under this subsection shall not exceed $4,000,000,000,000.”
Basically this bill allows future $4 Trillion back stop to WallStreet casino.
I know you from the good ol' days, wawawa, and thank goodness, then as now, you aren't "speechless." I will admit, however, that another $4,000,000,000,000 with a "t" for the bankster gang in 2010 from Timmy their Treasury lookout and the Financial Stability Oversight Council does tend to cause a taxpayer's mouth to hang open for a moment.
Knowing the boyz, it's a little hard to believe they won't find "unusual and exigent circumstances" and refuse the offer of more stolen funds, isn't it? Four Trillion in 2010! Now that's inflation.
These people are financial suicide bombers.
Lets call their bluff - and watch them all go up in flames.
Things will be JUST FINE WITHOUT THEM. The USA was successful and prosperous prior to 1913.
The meltdown now happening was predictable, obvious, and unavoidable.
At this point, we either have to double down - and replace the pyramid scheme with an even bigger (global) pyramid scheme - or scrap the whole corrupt, bankrupt idea of pyramid fiat debt-is-money economic theory.
A fiat system, which is to say a virtual currency, is not necessarily the problem.
The essential problem is how the system is managed, and to who's benefit. In fact, a fiat currency is one of the only reasons the American colonies became prosperous in the first place. A well managed steady state virtual currency that maintains exact par with demand for dollars in circulation, with full transparency, could lead to an essential utopia for mankind if constructed for the benefit of the users. It worked for colonial scrip and America. The trick is taxes have to be the interest and return from government issue and printing, from a people's own Fed like entity. Thus taxes do not exist unless one wants to mop liquidity for overspending/printing, and spending is generated through people's monopoly. The People must control fiscal AND monetary policy, to do otherwise allows the few to gain at the expense of the many.
I would also argue that an commodity backed currency is inherently flawed. I'm not saying that gold will not be valuable forever and ever amen, or that ultimatley assets are the store of wealth in this world, but modern e conomies need a medium of exchange. Logistical issues, and the possibility that there could be a shortage of currency in circulation relative to need, is just as bad a problem as inflation.
I would rather have digital gold. All paper currencies fail due to oversupply in the long run, no matter if there is a tax scheme attached to them or not.
http://www.dgcmagazine.com/dp/
ditto
A general comment on using the terms "The Fed" or "The Federal Reserve": I know everyone here knows who they are.
Why don't we all start something new? Why don't we all start referring to them (including ZH articles) as the "Central Bank" or "Central Bank Reserve" or "The Banking Reserve" (perhaps followed by "formerly known as the Federal Reserve")
We need to start saying this in front of everyone (our colleagues, friends, relatives, etc) out of habit so that we start calling them who they truly are.
Can I get a witness?
Btw, I do like the new term "Treserve", I hope we use that from now on.
NO.
All references to the FED should included present and past members' names and stop with the innocuous letters F-E-D.
These people are flesh and blood vampires and need to be exposed at every turn. Enough hiding behind some corporate name.
http://www.federalreserve.gov/aboutthefed/bios/board/default.htm
Translation: "If you look there is nothing"
--The financial system is on 100% borrowed time.
This smells like the making of the largest cover up of all time.
Brace yourselves.
The Federal Reserve is criminal organization. They've been lining their owner's pockets since its inception. If the American people finds this "SECRET" out, they will demand the the elimination of the Federal Reserve. Indict those fuckers.
You people have short memories. The fed is among other large gifts, hiding the amount over paid to MBS holders, varoius Bond holders, and S&P futures buying to gift wall street and pensions indirectly. But you forget the crisis merge gifts to BAC JPM WFC ect when they took the bad assets and left the good with them for BS WAMU WACKOVIA ect.
The Fed has surpassed the Congress bailout by many trillions which can't be counted until audited. SEC is covering up as well as related agencies. We may never know the sum total till we storm the gates.
Yes!! I'm reminded of those confiscated assets everytime I see the transformed Washington Mutual branches now dominating every one of our communities with the disreputable, super-sized, often blue-neoned, signs of CHASE. Instead of a service industry, somehow this has the ring of tryanny.
Ditto.
Maybe you already saw this:
http://www.zerohedge.com/article/if-government-wont-break-giant-banks-le...
Thanks, I didn't. Looks like a juicy one--I'll hone my wit and tackle it tomorrow. By the way, I always look for, enjoy and value your comments.
I'm honored, and so I tip my hat to you from across the room.
The FED is dictating what the quality of life for our great, great-grandchildren will be, but can't be audited? Paul Craig Roberts said the other day that he doesn't think there WAS any imminent collapse in the first place. An audit will only show what is too late to fix.
What does an economic collapse look like? Look around, then imagine watching the Titanic sink in extra extra slow motion. The bonuses are the evidence of the looters on their way to the first lifeboats, while the symphony of the MSM plays on the promenade deck and most Americans dance to the music.
Do we really NEED an audit? Most of you smart folks on here can pretty well figure out their games and how they are playing. The fact is they don't CARE if we know. By the time it's all figured out, they will be gone and we'll be cowering in our bunkers with a can of Dinty Moore.
The more I look for a way out, the more I see how they have their grip on all our 'investments'. And just about the time we figure out how we can flee the country, the borders will finally be secured. If we all wake up to what the 'end game' is, we'd better pay the fee (tax), get what's left of our life savings and run, NOW!
An audit is pointless. You don't argue about who set the house on fire - you get the heck out and call the fire department.
This is really pretty simple. Either the money supply just got cut in half, and we've got a 20 year deflationary train wreck ahead, or the money supply just doubled, and we've got 5 years of serious inflation ahead.
Either way, the purchasing power of the US (and of the West in general) is reduced by 50%.
Which variable takes it on the chin? The numerator (inflationary wipe out) or the denominator (deflationary wipe out)
A Celente video, on LewRockwell.com
OBAMA’S BANK TAX IS CHUMP CHANGE | by Amy Judd | January 16, 2010
The tax on banks proposed by Washington guarantees Wall Street $US 4 trillion which means top banks will keep playing the same game in the future, economic trend forecaster Gerald Celente warned.
“Goldman Sachs is nothing more than a big hedge fund, period and paragraph. If they went under – people don’t have go to the ATM machine to get their money out of the Goldman Sachs bank, they do not have Goldman Sachs cheques, they are just fronting for Wall Street and all Wall Street is doing is gambling and their risks are covered by the American taxpayer,” said Celente.
“America was at its greatest when it was not about Wall Street but Main Street; when it was not about the Walmart but moms and pops and community; when it was not about factory farms but family farms. Everything in America has gone corporate,” grieved the forecaster.
Celente concluded by saying, “the merger of state and corporate powers, according to Mussolini, who knew a thing or two about it, is called fascism and fascism is coming to America.”
http://www.lewrockwell.com/celente/celente22.1.html
The video originally appeared on Russia Today.
We focus so much on what is right in front us that we cannot (dare?) not look at the big picture.
RT is puzzling, because the vehicle is somewhat easy to dismiss, but the information makes sense. And they definitely do tell me what I want to hear, unlike Fox, MSNBC, and CNN - at least the selected clips on YouTube.
http://online.wsj.com/public/resources/documents/fedletter011410.pdf
read Ben's letter to Congress plaintively asking for another chance to do better next time.
The thoughts, wisdom and promises coming from Professor Bernanke and from the people who believe in him remind me of a description of a love affair I heard described on NPR this morning.
When you’re in love, a young man was admitting, you often miss the red flags along the way. One I missed, he said, was that my girlfriend was a liar.
+1+1
Its not the Fed or the Congress. Its the Survivalists. They're determined to make me buy (and eat) canned bacon.
If everyone is pissed off, there's a host of solutions, mobs notwithstanding. Its evident that Homemade Security is frozen in the headlights when it comes to terroristic threats from Banking Cartels.
Look, I'm upset, too. I am a long-only 401k (not 201k) investor who has missed the dotcom crash and the real estate crash, because I bolt at the first scandal to make the news for the mania du jour. And yes, I owned Yahoo, the sock puppet and all that just like everyone else.
I now live in that portfolio. The Smartest Guys in the Room bought my house (thanks, you suckers). So quit telling me I'm a clueless couch potato or a pajama-clad, pistol-waving nutjob who believes in little green men.
I live out here on the edge of the Chihuahua desert. I make my own water out of thin air. I am installing the wherewithal to do the same with electricity. I have been setting funds aside for 10 years in other currencies, gold and silver. I am not hoarding enough to feed Manhattan. Its insurance, not a savings account.
We do all of this not because we are mad at the dreaded Establishment, but because we are relatively poor. I'm a computer guy -- a logician of sorts, and never made more than 30K until 10 years ago. Now I have 3 old women with crappy health insurance on my hands.
I have no choice. I have to cut the banksters and their interest rates out of the loop. I have to cut the cost of utilities out of the loop. I have to cut all of you out of the loop, just to eat. And that's precisely what has happened. Not going to. Has.
How many are doing this? Damn few, I'd imagine, since its generally the stuff of nutjobs. But it has the effect of bleeding the guys like Lacker and his "be afraid" silliness that the truly discerning among us quit believing about the time Putin figured out he could bomb Chechnya under the rubric of "they're terra-ists".
And by the way, I think it was an act of political genius, regardless of whether or not its tantamount to seizing the moral high ground. That's when I decided the GWOT was just another government incantation to stampede everyone.
That, and I have a relative who worked high up the government, and I found out more than you'd like for me to tell the nice posters on ZH. I assure you, it would be unhelpful in a fundamental way, to use Mr. Rumsfeld's phraseology.
You have very little of my money Mr. Lacker. Your little cartel's funds are tied up in stuff that will last longer than I will.
Considering the entire population of Wyoming is now living in Balboa Park, I will not dare a demonstrably postal government official to heap further hardship on my fellow citizens.
But I will continue to bleed you, and your cartel.
And for the first time in probably 20 years, I'm saying something about it publicly, rather than just getting the job done. You will not matter to me in 6 months, mister, as I will be utterly off the grid.
Until then, feel free to curse the darkness.
k
Thanks for your post.
Great post!
Funny! Hey, don't be shy if you have dirt on the government. We. Love. It.
The band Iced Earth has a site called sons of liberty
http://www.sons-of-liberty.net/
You can sign up for their newsletter and get a free download of their album "Bush-Fires of the Mind".
Example first song titled "Jeckyll Island" in the lyrics they chant "End the FED".
Real cool and liberty minded. Check it out, this is not a solicitation but patriotic music with some metal!
I Call it Spam.
For Chrissakes, a doctor can't touch you without "informed consent" so why shouldn't the small investor/depositor have the same rights, say under "informed decision/disclosure as to the TRUE state of stability of the freakin' TBTF rent seekin' m-fuckers? AUDIT THE FED!!!! RE-ENACT GLASS/STEAGALL!!! Wake up, sheeple and pull your money out of the hands of these oligarchs!
I was pimping out this Fib Fan way back to July 7th, 2009
http://oahutrading.blogspot.com/2010/01/just-when-you-think-this-market-can-do.html
http://oahutrading.blogspot.com/2009/07/fib-fan-1932-to-2007-peak-not-2002.html
http://oahutrading.blogspot.com/2009/09/dia-and-50fib.html
Now it looks like it is really in play.
http://oahutrading.blogspot.com/2010/01/spooky-fib-fans-from-great-depression.html
I Call it SPAM
I think everyone here should know: Lacker and Friends have two shields. The shield petit is, "this will lead to irresponsible monetary policy, an inflation crisis, [etc. etc.]" It's used for fending off Congress or old-style populism.
The shield grand is, "this will lead to a collapse of the banking system and another Great Depression." It's used when the Fed's core prerogatives are threatened.
The shield grand, I should add, goes with the sword grand - namely:
"You people WANT another Great Depression!..."
This is the real nuclear button if the Fed is truly pinked.
Does that mean that "audit the Fed" campaign should be put on hold till everyone realises that it was the Fed that caused another Great Depression - despite Ben Shalom's claims that "he will not preside" over one? Regardless of all the moneyprinting - the guys have failed to reflate the credit cycle. This is now a medical fact.
Maybe they are actually inviting this audit.. hoping to deflect the blame when "crash v2.0" happens, and say "we told you"? Would they be cunning enough to pull off smth like that? Or, despite all his academic acclaim, Bernanke still thinks that hope is a method?
You can take it as a caution against launching a campaign too early, or as counsel to be satisfied with half a loaf. I should disclose that I'm Canadian, so I'm going to come across as detached from the issue no matter what.
Maybe they are actually inviting this audit.. hoping to deflect the blame when "crash v2.0" happens, and say "we told you"? Would they be cunning enough to pull off smth like that?
According to an earlier poster, Nicholas Biddle did precisely that when Andrew Jackson went after the Second Bank of the United States.
Disclosure: not a US citizen myself.
But I guess there are millions across the globe who may have a couple of nice words to say to the US Fed. It's only that few have the knowledge to articulate their grievances.))
Thanks for pointing out the analogy. I did hear about the Biddle/Jackson story.. And Jackson came out the winner! I thought Bernanke is no Biddle however.. but Obama ain't Jackson either.
I would call it a battle of titans set in the age of glorious mediocrity.)
"There is nothing in the proposed Fed Transparency law that would imperil the Fed with direct political intervention" - of course there ain't! This only shows how these guys at the Fed hold anyone and everyone around them for imbeciles, believing such simplistic diversionary tactics can work for them.
To me the fact that they cannot engage in a proper discussion where arguments can be judged on the merits - it proves they have lost, if not politically, they have lost it from the intellectual and moral perspective. Maintain the pressure, and they will break down.
I agree with a previous poster only a powerful non corrupt President could deal with these banking crooks and their friends and enablers at the fed. After the crisis first hit there should have been a true criminal investigation into the activities of the bankers at GS etc and cases could have easily been made for prosecution.
The only way a president could outmaneuver the money masters is by beating them at their only trump card : war.
Which is why if I where president you'd be waking up to a world minus CHINA, INDIA and a few thousand H-bombs today.
Let the bankers contemplate that scenario.
-MobBarley
Please define Mutual Assured Destruction and how it applies to the Lacker quote in the post.
If you destroy us (The FED) we will destroy you (The US economy.)
Evil works thrive in under the cover of darkness.
Good works shine for accolades in the light of day.
Audit the Fed? What the fuck is the point? MC Hammer doesn't need to be audited because we know all the shit he owns is worthless and all his debts will never be repaid.
Pretty much. Which demonstrates the astute, patient efforts of Ron Paul.
Total destruction, or bust. He sends his morse code message to all those willing to pay attention - it is only, only! the means to an end.
So guess what the end is...
Can somebody please explain who took the money out on September 18 and where did it go?
A simple question really so I would appreciate simple answers.
exactly. someones gotta know. surely this is what ZH is for. cmon people who took the 550 billion.
I took my money out. I imagine the big money withdrawals were by corporate and financial cash account managers. I liquidated my mm fund that week; I think it was Tuesday or Wednesday; it was within a day of the mm breaking the buck announcment. I would think that most fund managers directly purchased 1 month to 3 month tbills with their money. I don't remember access to mm funds being closed and I don't think, my opinion, the mm funds would have been drained within one day. But that is where things were headed. The run was on. From reports at the time, State Street had a difficult time clearing trades; that was the reason for the additional liquidity in the system, as the 9/18 post suggests. State Street stock tanked. Alot of information regarding events at the time were public knowledge. Anyone reading or watching the news of the day could have figured out what was going on. As soon as it was announced that the buck had been broken, it was clear to me that there would be a run, initially on the mm funds and eventually on the banks and other elements of the financial system (brokerage accounts).
The event is a warm up to the eventual financial system run that is going to occur. Once people figure out that there is not enough "money" in the system to cover all of the deposits, the dash for cash will be on. That's when stocks tank. Expect a bank/financial system holiday that will last for several days -- no access to your "money" till the wise men figure out what to do. I expect that eventually limited access to funds will be given and alot of ious (gvmt tbonds) will be passed out to replace the cash balances. At least, this is the scenario that the fed is trying to avoid.
I can imagine these withdrawals done over a week or so but I believe this was done over a period of a few hours. Parhaps this is the power of modern telecommunications but it strikes me as being very strange.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cKKHSAE1gIs
We are in DEEP DEEP trouble
I am scared
When push comes to shove and it's the TBTF banks' survival vs. US Dollar credibility, then TBTF (BofA, Citi, Wells Fargo) finally fails and world financial structure is reorganized with Chase & Sachs dividing the spoils.
Wow, Lacker is so full of it. When the Fed gets audited its probable that he will be indicted of some grievous wrongdoing. Weaving pseudo logical arguments out of defensive and deceptive motivations always takes on a similar form.
There are many at the Fed that probably realize the reason for the audit is to gain the proof required to end the Fed's independence entirely. I think they are correct and I'm all for it.
It does appear that the large majority (>70%) of ZHers, while posting extreme, numerous and lengthy rants about the ineptness and corruptness of the government, if they could only choose one of:
(a) rant and rave about the evils of corporations (banks, etc) and those who work for them, but not really do anything about it because they lack nexus (not a customer nor sharholder of the evil corporation); OR
(b) attempt to make a wholesale change in government by voting out virtually all incumbents this November because of their ineptness and/or corruptness,
amazingly choose (a) over (b). Which tells me a lot about their politics and world view. Interesting, but sad.