Why Occupy Wall Street When You Can Control Wall Street?

Here is an interesting video that illustrates the extreme
vulnerability of the banks if the "Occupy Wall Street" movement truly
gets organized with direction from someone with a deep understanding of
the system. You know, someone tall, brown, charismatic and not afraid to
really speak the truth...

This video touches upon many taboos in society, business and Wall Street
finance... Right up my alley. One of the more interesting topics is that
of social class, and how the little naked woman in the video just
doesn't have the same impact as Carl Icahn. Careful, now. Don't laugh
prematurely. The lightning fast distributed method of communal
communication commonly known as social media is truly changing the way
thing get done around here. Think about how you are reading this message
and who you're reading it from.

One concept that I would like to
dwell on this post, but unfortunately will not be able do due to time
constraints, is the very real fact that there is NO MIDDLE CLASS! I
believe it is a construct created by the capitalist class and their
managers to placate the masses and muffle would be insurrectors who
would dare attempt to move up the ranks. The reality is everybody is a
member of the working class who is not a member of the capitalist class
and needs to work for a living. That's right, if you cannot live off of
your capital, then you are a working class citizen. Middle class and
upper middle class monikers, are just that... monikers. That goes for
you doctors, lawyers, accountants and well educated PhDs. You know the
old saying about the friends walking down the street in Greenwich. One
saw a neighbor and immediately urged the other to hustle across the
street. When his friend asked what the rush was, the 1st man replied, I
heard that Biff over there is starting to live off of his principle.
Long story short, many more of you are members of that 99% than may have
been led to believe by those in charge.

As excerpted from Super Brokers form to push Super Broken products to make those with High Net Worth Super Broke

Social Mobility: Unlike the Jefferson's, We're moving on down!

Social
class is defined (on this blog) as the amount of control one has over
one's socio-economic environment. It is much more than money, although
money is a large component. For instance, Barack Obama is in a higher
class than Robert DeNiro or Michael Jackson, although Robert DeNiro and
Michael Jackson are most likely wealthier (although that is quite
debatable after taking into consideration the value of Obama's campaign
contribution list and membership database from his social networking
site!). Obama's higher class stems from his ability to exert more
control over his socio-economic environment. The factors that this
author uses to determine class combine (with the associated weights) to
create a "socioeconomic index":

Socioeconomic Index=

(Occupation X 12) + (Income source X12) + (Income X 7) + (Wealth X 14) + (Education X 7) + (Dwelling area X 15) + (Class Consciousness X 7) + (Housing X 12)

There
is a handy dandy BoomBustBlog class model (based loosely upon the Index
of Status Charcteristics) available for download for anyone interested
in delving  into this further. See boombustblog.com_social_class_model v.7.3 156.00 Kb.

As you can see, wealth is the largest contributor to the class standing, and coincidentally it is the factor
that is the most at risk in this current economic climate. I believe
that there will be a significant entry into the upper middle class by
those who were once firmly entrenched into the upper classes! While that
may not seem like a big deal to many, it is damn big deal to those who
are moving down the ladder. This also means, that there will be some
space for others to move (relatively speaking) up the ladder. One man's
(or woman's) misfortune is another's opportunity. I believe this blog
can not only be used to insure and proof against downward mobility

for those in the upper strata, but can also be used by those in the
lower, middle and lower upper strata to rise upward a notch or even two.
Social Mobility is the name of the game in times of severe dislocation - times like we are experiencing now.

Lower Strata	Underclass/Poor
	Working Poor
Middle Strata	Lower Middle Class
	Upper Middle Class
Upper Strata	Lower Upper Class	<-- 20% to 30% of BoomBustBloggers are here, roughly 1,000 of you!
	Higher Upper Class

Now,
in term of wealth (not social class and influence, just wealth) we can
split the upper strata into three different categories (there are only
two above because of the other factors that come into play when social
class or socioeconomic standing is taken into consideration).
There
is the poor wealthy, those guys and girls that are just a hair's breath
from being pulled into the upper middle class strata due to marginal
wealth. This would be the $1m to $10m net worth crowd, who rely on
business profits, salary and investment returns for income. The next
would be the middle strata of the wealthy, hailing between $10 to $100
million in Net Worth, and then there is the upper strata wealthy at
above $100 million. Each of these three strata of wealth represent, in
my opinion, distinct behavior tranches in terms of discretionary
expenditures, investment, and politics and (what passes as, this is a
story for another post) philanthropic activities.

	Demographic	Source of wealth	Net Worth
Lower strata wealthy (High net worth)	Service professionals, corporate executives, entrepreneurs, inheritors	Salaries, stock options, restricted stock, small business profits, investment returns	$1 m to $10 m
Middle strata wealthy (Very High Net Worth)	Corporate executives, entrepreneurs, inheritors	Business ownership, investment returns, salaries, restricted stock, stock options	$10 m to $100 m
Upper strata (the truly Rich!)	Entrepreneurs, inheritors, very few CEOs	Business ownership, investment returns	$100 m to several $billion

A
trip to practically any decent sized yacht club or recreational vehicle
port reveals the relatively stark differences in discretionary spending
behavior. The first strata can be found in the 36 ft. to 68 ft. yacht
docks (where a captain is optional, but not mandatory and you really
don't need a crew). The second strata can be found 50 ft to 120 ft
docks, where captains, crews and semi-custom fiberglass boats abound.
The third strata are almost exclusively in the super yacht category,
where the carrying cost alone for these (basically waste of money) fully
custom built hulls and vehicles are about million a year to start with.
You can also see the other social economic strata as well, upper middle
class in the 20 to 35 ft boats, the middle and working class in the
considerably smaller fishing boats - as opposed to the ultra fast Viking
and Hatteras deep sea fishers, etc. It is an interesting and
instructional study in social studies and anthropolgy just walking along
your local docks! Once you are aware of how these things break down,
you will see many settings in a different light.

The dark purples, deep greens and reds are most likely the general demographic to get hit hardest.
Fortunately, those who follow this BoomBustBlog closely, either
personally or through their advisor, should have seen a net increase in
networth rather than a net decrease. This has hurt non-BoomBustBloggers
in this demographic tranche significantly, and will hurt them even
farther. At the same time, let's hope that the opinion and research that
I bring to the blog helps, because many will need it. Download The new BoomBustBlog.com Socio-economic stratification model

And The European Bank Run Continues...

As
excerpted from the article titled above, we find corroborating evidence
that the common man/woman can indeed elicit significant cooperation
from Wall Street baks, for those very same banks' institutional
counterparties are quite skittish as it is. As a matter of fact, we are
seeing the makings of an insitutional run right now, one that will
easily be exacerbated if retail depositors pull their money out as well.

Since
the problems have not been cured, they're literally guaranteed to come
back and bite ass. Guaranteed! So, as suggested earlier on, download
your appropriate BoomBustBlog BNP Paribas "Run On The Bank" Models
(they range from free up to institutional), read the balance of this
article for perspective, then populate the assumptions and inputs with
what you feel is realistic. I'm sure you will come up with conclusions
similar to ours. Below is sample outout from the professional level
model (BNP Exposures - Professional Subscriber Download Version) that simulates the bank run that the news clippings below appear to be describing in detail...(Click to enlarge to printer quality)

image014 

Bloomberg reports: Lloyd’s of London Pulls Euro Bank Deposits

Lloyd’s of London,
concerned European governments may be unable to support lenders in a
worsening debt crisis, has pulled deposits in some peripheral economies
as the European Central Bank provided dollars to one euro-area institution.

“There are a lot of banks who, because of the uncertainty around Europe,
the market has stopped using to place deposits with,” Luke Savage,
finance director of the world’s oldest insurance market, said today in a
phone interview. “If you’re worried the government itself might be at
risk, then you’re certainly worried the banks could be taken down with
them.”

European
banks and their regulators are trying to reassure investors and
customers that lenders have enough capital to withstand a default by Greece and slowing economic growth caused by governments’ austerity measures. Siemens AG (SIE), European’s biggest engineering company, withdrew short-term deposits from Societe Generale SA, France’s second-largest bank, in July, a person with knowledge of the matter said yesterday.

Lloyd’s,
which holds about a third of its 2.5 billion pounds ($3.9 billion) of
central assets in cash, has stopped depositing money with some banks in
Europe’s peripheral economies, Savage said, declining to name the
countries or institutions.

Simply fuel to the fire... As excerpted from my bank run post yesterday: Most Headlines Now Show French Bank Run …

Siemens shelters up to €6bn at ECB: Siemens withdrew more than half-a-billion euros...matter told the Financial Times. In total, Siemens has parked between €4bn ($5.4bn) and...to deposit cash directly with the ECB. Siemens’ move demonstrates the impact of the eurozone... By Daniel Schäfer in London and Chris Bryant and Ralph Atkins in Frankfurt...

... As excerpted from "The Fuel Behind Institutional “Runs on the Bank" Burns Through Europe, Lehman-Style":

The modern central banking system has proven resilient enough to
fortify banks against depositor runs, as was recently exemplified in the
recent depositor runs on UK, Irish, Portuguese and Greek banks – most
of which received relatively little fanfare. Where the risk truly lies
in today’s fiat/fractional reserve banking system is the run on
counterparties. Today’s global fractional reserve bank get’s more
financing from institutional counterparties than any other source save
its short term depositors.  In cases of the perception of extreme risk,
these counterparties are prone to pull funding are request
overcollateralization for said funding. This is what precipitated the
collapse of Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers, the pulling of liquidity
by skittish counterparties, and the excessive capital/collateralization
calls by other counterparties. Keep in mind that as some counterparties
and/or depositors pull liquidity, covenants are tripped that often
demand additional capital/collateral/ liquidity be put up by the
remaining counterparties, thus daisy-chaining into a modern day run on
the bank!

image006image006image006

...The
biggest European banks receive an average of US$64bn funding through
the U.S. money market, money market that is quite gun shy of bank
collapse, and for good reason. Signs of excess stress perceived in the
US combined with the conservative nature of US money market funds
(post-Lehman debacle) may very well lead to a US led run on these banks.
If the panic doesn’t stem from the US, it could come (or arguably is coming), from the other side of the pond. The Telegraph reports: UK banks abandon eurozone over Greek default fears

UK
banks have pulled billions of pounds of funding from the euro zone as
fears grow about the impact of a “Lehman-style” event connected to a
Greek default.

 Senior
sources have revealed that leading banks, including Barclays and
Standard Chartered, have radically reduced the amount of unsecured
lending they are prepared to make available to euro zone banks, raising
the prospect of a new credit crunch for the European banking system.

Standard
Chartered is understood to have withdrawn tens of billions of pounds
from the euro zone inter-bank lending market in recent months and cut
its overall exposure by two-thirds in the past few weeks as it has
become increasingly worried about the finances of other European banks.

Barclays
has also cut its exposure in recent months as senior managers have
become increasingly concerned about developments among banks with large
exposures to the troubled European countries Greece, Ireland, Spain,
Italy and Portugal.

In
its interim management statement, published in April, Barclays reported
a wholesale exposure to Spain of £6.4bn, compared with £7.2bn last
June, while its exposure to Italy has fallen by more than £100m.

One
source said it was “inevitable” that British banks would look to
minimise their potential losses in the event the euro zone crisis were
to get worse. “Everyone wants to ensure that they are not badly affected
by the crisis,” said one bank executive.

Moves
by stronger banks to cut back their lending to weaker banks is
reminiscent of the build-up to the financial crisis in 2008, when the
refusal of banks to lend to one another led to a seizing-up of the
markets that eventually led to the collapse of several major banks and
taxpayer bail-outs of many more.

Make no mistake - modern day bank runs are now caused by institutions!

Make no mistake! And just for those who cannot catch the hint... Reuters reports:

Bank of China halts FX swaps with some European banks

The European banks include French lenders Societe Generale (SOGN.PA), Credit Agricole (CAGR.PA) and BNP Paribas (BNPP.PA), and Bank of China halted trading with them partly because of the downgrading from Moody's, the sources said.

Another Chinese bank said it had stopped trading yuan interest rate swaps with European banks.

The sources declined to be identified because they were not authorized to speak with the media.

Contacted
about this move by the Chinese banks, spokespeople for Societe
Generale, UBS and BNP Paribas declined comment. Credit Agricole was not
reachable for comment.

One
of the sources said that Bank of China's decision may apply across its
branches, including the onshore foreign exchange market.

"Apart
from spot trading, all swaps and forwards trading (with the European
banks) have been stopped," one source who is familiar with the matter
told Reuters.

A step by step tutorial on exactly how it will happen....

• • The Mechanics Behind Setting Up A Potential European Bank Run Trade and European Bank Run Trading Supplement
  • What Happens When That Juggler Gets Clumsy?
• Let's Walk The Path Of A Potential Pan-European Bank Run, Then Construct Trades To Profit From Such
  • The Anatomy Of A European Bank Run: Look At The Banking Situation BEFORE The Run Occurs!
• The Fuel Behind Institutional “Runs on the Bank” Burns Through Europe, Lehman-Style!
  • Multiple Botched and Mismanaged Stress Test Have Created The Makings Of A Pan-European Bank Run 
• France, As Most Susceptible To Contagion, Will See Its Banks Suffer
  • Observations Of French Markets From A Trader's Perspective
• On Your Mark, Get Set, (Bank) Run! The D…
  • ECB As European Lender Of Last Resort = Institutional Purveyor Of A Pan-European Ponzi Scheme

Again,
I believe the next big thing, for when (not if, but when) European
banks blow up, is the reverberation through American banks and how it
WILL affect us stateside! Subscribers, be sure to be prepared.
Puts are already quite costly, but there are other methods if you
haven't taken your positions when the research was first released. For
those who wish to subscribe, click here.

•  Contagion Forensic Review - Retail
•  Contagion Forensic Review - Professional

Comments

[CustomersMan]

 Hey People,

Interesting poll by Fox "Lies" Murdoch News = FLMN (or Flem for short, as in snot):

Tue Oct 11, 2011 at 10:23 AM PDT
Fox Poll Backfires on Fox
by carver

The Brad Blog reported that Fox News conducted a poll on how the public views the #OWS protests; however, the results are not likely to be a lead story on Fox anytime soon.

The question asked was ,
“Do Occupy Wall Street protest represent your views on the economy?”

Do Occupy Wall Street protest represent your views on the economy? <183,148 total responses>
- Maybe. I am not even sure what they want----- <2.8% 4694 votes>
- No. They have no idea how jobs are created or how a free enterprise system works. -----<28.63% 52025 votes}[br />- Yes. These folks are right about corporate greed and what's happening to the little guy. ----<67.98% 123509 votes>
- Other (post comment) ---- <.8% 1460 votes >

67.98% you say...67.98%...oops!

Roger, (Ailes that is) we have to bury that nasty little nugget of information because its...uh...unbalanced.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/10/11/1025213/-Fox-P...

[Georgesblog]

The investment environment and the marketplace are roped together at the wrists. Always have been, always will be. The limits are always there and we are se3eing the forces that constantly try to separate them. The question is, will those forces collapse both investment and consumer activity?

http://georgesblogforum.wordpress.com/2011/10/06/crash-course/

[ex VRWC]

Reggie, You need a different soundtrack.  Try some of these:

http://economicprotestproject.blogspot.com/

If you need one with a different topic, I will write it.  If it comes out good, I will have it recorded.

[High Plains Drifter]

one day in the near future somewhere in zuccotti park, a voice is heard yelling in a megaphone............

LET MY PEOPLE GO..........!!!!!

[Finance Addict]

There's a new report out from New York State that's focusing on how many job losses Wall Street will see this year. The MSM is eating it up as a sob story, but if you look more closely at the full report you'll see how well it's all being spun: http://bit.ly/nV7ihn

[silverserfer]

a lot of these protestors are kids that were told to go to school to become something and go into massive debt to it. They have become aware of the debt machine that they are being led into like cattle. Americans should not be drwan into becoming serfs and usuary! If commercial banks can get $ at 0% so should students to get school loans and first time home buyers!

          Fuck the bankers that have done this to our country!

[stu11]

You are right silver, but don't forget their politician partners.

Feel your anger.  Embrace your anger.  Use it when the opportunity arises.

[Tsunami Wave]

Reggie.. I've been following you for a while and I think you are very smart and you are right on most topics.  However.. I can't help but see that sometimes you look like a cracked/methed out Economist whenever I see your picture or videos anywhere, and am hoping you lay off the pipe or get some better sleep.

Regardless, keep up the good work

[PulauHantu29]

Bring back the Draft.

[eddiebe]

thank you Reg!

[High Plains Drifter]

go for it brother. knock yourself out..........

[TheBillMan]

All I can say is... Reggie Middleton for President of the United States.  Or at least a VP to Ron Paul.

[AldousHuxley]

better than the black pizza guy who thinks it is the fault of MIT phD in chemistry's fault for not finding a job and having no healthcare.

The problem is that majority of 99% Americans don't understand or believe this:

The reality is everybody is a member of the working class who is not a member of the capitalist class
and needs to work for a living.

The arrogance of upper middle class have blinded that they were better than factory workers. Well, now upper middle class is the new lower middle (can't afford to send their kids to college they graduated from) and everyone else is pretty much welfare dependent (old, young, government jobs, etc.)...and that's when the revolution will begin. 

[InconvenientCou...]

pure genius.

Gandhi and MLK would approve.

[lindaamick]

You are THE man Reggie.

I have already followed your advice.

I hope MANY others follow your advice as well. 

Try and influence actions in the General Assembly.

[Lazane]

the age of freeloading may finally be coming to an end

For even when we were with you, this we commanded you, that if any would not work, neither should he eat.

2 Thes 3:10

KJV

[silverserfer]

the problem with freeloading is that a lot of the poorest people do it and the richest poeple do it. The rich just have a better mecanism in place to exploit the existing system.

[virgilcaine]

Need more little naked chicks.

[StychoKiller]

Ya got a problem with big, naked chicks?

[Bob]

Loved it, Reg!  You keep rockin' that shit. 

I'll be circulating the video, count on it.

[nothing can go wrogn]

"Long story short, many more of you are members of that 99% than may have
been led to believe by those in charge."

Huge point. Great post.

There is a whole segment of the population that thinks if they just keep their head down, say the right things, wear the right clothes, drive the right car...some day they'll be toasting champagne with Ben Bernanke.

[dlmaniac]

This entire nation is like a big Detroit. Much of the suffering is self-inflicted. 

Despite so much fraud, banksters only play a partial role here. A bigger crook that has not received enough attention (not enough from these occupiers at least) is USGovt that forced the banks to hand risky loans out to fools unable to afford them under phony sales pitch such as "equal lending", "no discrimination", "community re-invest" and so on. Bankers went after fools' money while politicians did their vote.

Now here's the question: Who elected these politicians? Well it's fools themselves who believe there really is sth called free lunch in this world so they voted for liars promising generous social programs one after another. They could have elected someone like Ron Paul to avoid this mess all along, and yet they did not.

Well you often reap what you sow at the end of the day, do you not?

[dolly madison]

I've certainly heard about the government forcing banks to hand out risky loans to fools enough times, so I am not sure it has not gotten enough attention.

The bankers would never have went for it if not for the derivatives I bet.

Anyway, the underlying cause of our problems is the collusion between the government and the corporations.  Neither by themselves is the problem.  It is the joining of them that is the problem.  That is where the right and left should work together.  It is in all our best interests to get government and business separated.

[StychoKiller]

[quote]

" It was when the banks and wall street starting selling their loans as derivatives that the problem started."  That may be the party line and CNBC talking heads explanation but it's not accurate.  That's just a cause of some stupid regulation that forced banks to originate loans to people who they knew had no chance of paying them back.

That's right, they were forced to make these loans by regulations passed by the Federal government and threats of fines by the Federal Reserve bank for non-compliance. Hmmm...what's a poor bank to do?  I have to loan this money to people who can't pay it back or suffer the wrath of the Feds so I'll have to offset my risk of the defaults I know are coming. The qaunts on wall street figured out that it was legal to package these loans into securities and sell them.  What a wonderful idea says the banker.  I can make the loan and offset my risk to someone else. It's like insurance!  Further, the buyer who took on the risk could bundle the loans with others and sell them to someone else if desired.  "Hey this is great! Thanks Government regulators!!, you just created a whole new way for us all to make money while spreading the risk around."  "This is easy money, government endorsed, and housing is booming." said the bankers and wall street titans. 

Problem was, everyone assumed that the defaults would be handled a little here and a little there.  But what happens if the defaults all come at once?  We know the answer to that one.

[/quote]

[g]

Good work Reg, but the music was much to loud versus the speech volume.

[Mercury]

There are more than a few folks near the bottom of the ladder that don't have to work for a living and quite a few public sector employees that don't have to work very much.  They may not have much monetize-able capital but they have a lot of political capital.

My definition of "middle class" is someone who is neither rich nor poor enough to afford socialism and omnipresent, in-your-face government without constant hustling.

Robert DeNiro can hang out anywhere and with anyone he chooses.  But because of his current position Obama will be trapped in the same 5-star resort hell full of sycophantic D-bags for the rest of his life...unless he ends up like Michael Jackson.

And big power boats are for dinks.

[JW n FL]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c2ui7VmMYv4

Join Us in Solidarity! www.facebook.com/OccupyCanada
Revolution 2.0 always starts on the internet. It will be tweeted, facebooked, YouTubed liked and shared. If your government shuts down the internet. Shut down your government.

References:

CBC News: The Canadian Civil Liberties Association report, "Breach of the Peace," notes concerns that POLICE INFORMANTS may have supported the vandalism. http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/story/2011/02/27/g20-report.html

G20 activists say they feel "betrayed" by 'Orwellian secret police'
http://www.citytv.com/toronto/citynews/news/local/article/119050--g20-activis...

Some G20 activists held a press conference Tuesday claiming they were "betrayed" by undercover police officers as part of an "Orwellian" infiltration in the lead-up to the international summit last June. The activists, led by Centre for Police Accountability founder Davin Charney, outlined instances in which undercover cops posed as protest organizers. One young woman from Guelph expressed anger over the fact she was unknowingly roommates with an officer pretending to be an activist.
http://www.citytv.com/toronto/citynews/news/local/article/119050--g20-activis...

Flashback: Be aware of Infiltration of Protest groups.
Report: Police Infiltrated Protest Groups
http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2011/06/24/g20-report-police-infiltr_n_883839.html

CBC News: G20/G8 summit opponents infiltrated by police
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/story/2011/02/27/g20-report.html

Federal Reserve Private banking system which answers to no one not even the government, as stated by Allan Greenspan.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9g1UtFDytfk

Credit/Source footage used : Into The Fire - Full Film by PressForTruth.ca
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zejD0UkMGGY

Stephen Harper Met G20 finance banking heads then says "Its a loss of national sovereignty for Canada"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=97FX5QU07j8

Quebec police admit going undercover at montebello protests
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gAfzUOx53Rg

G20 Police spotted in Black Bloc clothing -Toronto G20
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-QD3C7cgpW4

Video Report: Tactics, Agent Provocateurs?/Undercover Police
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rUInlsNkebw

BBC News: G20 London Agent Provocateurs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pi3HI5xa_BI

Gov. Scott Walker called for Provocateurs/Black Bloc to Disrupt Protests
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Tr6zX1Z6sI

There is no time left to be complacent. The world is changing now. Not tomorrow. Be part of the change for good. Embrace The love. Not the fear. Let go your attachment to the old world and embrace the new.

BE THE CHANGE YOU WANT TO SEE - Join Occupy WallStreet
http://www.facebook.com/OccupyWallSt

"Before this victory is won, some will have to get thrown in jail some more, but we shall overcome. Don't worry about us before the victory is won, some of us will lose jobs, but we shall overcome. Before the victory is won, some will be misunderstood and called bad names and dismissed as rebel-rousers and agitators But we shall overcome.

And I'll tell you why.
We shall overcome because the arch of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice." - Martin Luther King

[JW n FL]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Zpp3BNUgGM&feature=relmfu

Uploaded by RussiaToday on Oct 11, 2011

This week Max Keiser and co-host, Stacy Herbert, talk about Marie Antoinette's last words on a banner at the Chicago Board of Trade, Herman Cain's views on the 'unAmerican' protesters and a proposal for a Seal Team 6 to protect us from terrorist bankers. In the second half of the show, Max Keiser interviews Charles Hugh Smith, author of An Unconventional Guide to Investing in Troubled Times, about #occupywallstreet, Crash JP Morgan - Buy Silver and other solutions to a dangerous banking system.

KR on FB: http://www.facebook.com/KeiserReport

http://www.facebook.com/Occupy-Palm-Beach-County

https://twitter.com/JWnFL

http://www.youtube.com/JWnFL

All good info.. if anyone is starting an Occupy Group and would like some boiler plate documents and or other help leave me a message! and I will do my best to help you provide sourced and sited material to your people that you are taking responsibility for!

[disabledvet]

Good stuff but let's get our facts straight. The counterparties are instantly obliterated. You still don't understand this because your government is now the counter-party and we call it "a deficit of a trillion dollars." that was understood by The People Other Than Kashkari on day one. The question then becomes a simple "can we have government now." in this Obama's "yes we can!" promise has proven true. Insofar as Obama is "more important" than an actor...well that seems pretty obvious. I'd say the rank and file government official which both TS Geithner and Fed Chairman Bernanke exemplify that easily outpace both. (I would add the head of NASA, the head of Homeland Security, the head of HHS and obviously the entirety of the Pentagon and the various Intelligence Agencies). Individually they stand at the epicenter of "material information" and atop organizations with the wherewithal to act upon it. And they do.

[anony]

Great.  At least someone remembers Kashkari.  These guys come and go, wreck the joint, and then disappear into the ether.

Thanks for bringing him back to account, you and I are the only ones that I can see that have  ever done so.

[AldousHuxley]

I'd wish they'd disappear but Kashkari and greenspan works for PIMPco now.

[Gringo Viejo]

Reggie.....you mention time constraints in the 2nd paragraph and end up wth War & Peace. That said, enjoyed the quip of Biff having to live off hs principle.

[stormsailor]

reggie,  the equities market has ignored the european problem for the last week and we are within striking distance of new highs.  it would seem complacency is now the norm.

good time to start building a short position

[Dyler Turden II Esq]

"there is NO MIDDLE CLASS! I believe it is a construct created by the capitalist class and their managers to placate the masses and muffle would be insurrectors who would dare attempt to move up the ranks. The reality is everybody is a member of the working class who is not a member of the capitalist class and needs to work for a living. That's right, if you cannot live off of your capital, then you are a working class citizen."

Reggie, I always suspected you to be a weenie-whacking liberal socialist marxist pinko ratfink, but this PROVES IT!

No, but seriously: great post, marred only by a bunch of distracting typos and minor grammatical errors. For the love of God, Reggie, PLEASE start proofreading your posts!  Or else have a friend do it (better to have "fresh eyes" do it).  Your writing and thinking is WORTH IT, I do declare.

Keep up the good work.

[CulturalEngineer]

I suggest that the eventual 'goal' for this movement should first be... not political, not Left/Right distractions... but "Meta-political".

I.e... addressing mechanisms of representation and influence so as to both better reflect (non-corporate) community and individual interests.

Most never give to a cause or campaign... and believe it impossible to have an effect comparable to the forces of concentrated money.

Please think about scale for a moment! Think about large numbers and small money.

Think about the potential for the Political Micro-transaction in lobbying efforts.

150 million registered voters...

Each individual inspired maybe a couple of times a week to contribute a quarter with a simple click in response to some emailed or web-based solicitation... reporting issues handled, security handled...

While its not likely to go just that way. Wake-up to the potentials.

That $7 Billion per election cycle. 

There's power in small money. 

The Pooled-User-Determined (PUD) Account enables a secure, one-button micro-transaction currently not viable (and importantly... not only a micro-transaction but others as well)

Chagora's role in transaction is passive... (it does not add to cost of transaction and as such is financially equivalent to direct transaction with recipient)

This transaction has much more utility than is currently realized (collective political lobbying, payment for news/journalism and other digital content being central)

Eventually almost everyone will want this capability at least once in a while.

The very nature of the structure allowing the account also facilitates its monetization especially in charity and campaign services, corporate/charity sponsorships, sponsorships related to the Live-debate function, general and (especially) 'localized' advertising... and if this "wallet" system has potential in more general retail use... if neededsome merchant charges can be added for those commercial transactions only.

Its capability for external monetization allows it to undercut all other current payment systems (e.g. PayPal) while offering additional capabilities and advantages for the user. This makes it attractive to BOTH sides of the transaction and a likely major player in the space.

As with other peer-to-peer 'transaction' networks (like Facebook, LinkedIn)... there's a tendency towards a natural monopoly since the advantages for the user expands with the ubiquity of the network... However unlike other such networks... this one is protected by patent for its core function!!!!!
Bottom Line:

The micro-transaction is the key to a ubiquitous peer-to-peer network and powerful public space. Its a still unrecognized but needed utility!

I'll be discussing and presenting this at Douglas Rushkoff's Contact Summit in NYC on Oct 20th.

Demo and Faq here http://Chagora.com
Blog http://culturalengineer.blogspot.com

I'd love to find support from both the (non-corporatist) Right AND Left.... from both the Ron Paul's and Ralph Nader's of the world...

(because both party establishments and their patrons in the financial 'services' sector... are a bit spooked by the idea it seems)

[Josh Randall]

Remove your deposits, move to local banks, lobby for state owned banks (ala North Dakota) and a well thought out boycott strategy is how you win this fight. Sleep in your own beds at night people and take a more coordinated approach

[DaveyJones]

good stuff. As our first commenter said, history tells us there are only a few options left for the masses. What's left of the "system" is criminal. The solutions are outside of it.

[NotApplicable]

I'm thinking of printing this out on a poster board and donating it to the local occupation (along with some paper copies). It does a great job of focusing the cause of our social decay, the bankster class.

http://www.lewrockwell.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/Bankster-Flye...

Created by Bretigne Shaffer.

[CapitalistRock]

If there is no capital then where do my working class wages come from. I'm actually a successful small business owner, but like most, I depended at one time on someone else's generous investments before I was totally independent.

[NotApplicable]

Basically, we're eating the seed corn instead of planting it, as all of the fields have been poisoned. Meanwhile some have grown so full of corn, they've taken to pissing in it instead.

Someday, though, there will be no more corn.

[beastie]

This is the most thoughtful thing I have read in months. Well done Sir!

[Smiddywesson]

You know, someone tall, brown, charismatic and not afraid to
really speak the truth...

Someone with washboard abs and absolutely no fear of run-on sentences.

[anony]

.....and hurls a javelin.

[dlmaniac]

Those protestors don't have much money in the bank to withdraw. Many are there asking for either loan forgiveness or taxing the rich to finance their living.

[DaveyJones]

like those WWII vets in those pictures last week?  Why do you sound like Marie?  

[Smiddywesson]

In part, you may be right, because I'm sure most of them dont' know the issues, but they know they are getting screwed.  From the eldest pennypincher to the spend thrift kid with no job, all of America senses that Wall Street is screwing us.  For that one reason alone, it is foolish to denigrate the protesters.  They represent a very powerful and angry force that is beginning to awaken.

[rocker]

 Bloomberg Pointed out that U.S Banks have 700 Billion in exposure.

 Didn't JPMorgan and others tell us they had none. 

 I guess the U.S. Banks figure they will get Bailed Out Again. Or we will Bail Out European Banks again.

Way to go Reggie. You are 100% right and print what others do not want to see.

[New American Re...]

You are brilliant Reg, but too brilliant to communicate with the masses.   I, on the other hand, am not brilliant.  My only virtues are questionable.   First, I was raised on politics and am quite familiar with that animal.   Secondly, while I am a very good writer, I am a better historian.   This, and hard work and study has armed me well for America's nascent revolution.   In fact, I have written a book on our revolution and how to 'front run' it.   It will be out in November and I'll try and get you a copy.    If it is not readily available, please leave your address in reply to this post. 

You are the best, Reg.

[covert]

you forgot the trillionaires! how could you do this?

http://expose2.wordpress.com

[GottaBKiddn]

I agree Reg, you are brilliant, but you come across as an intellectual, which is not good politics. Remember, well-meaning masses don't have the same ability to concentrate on facts that you do. To get their attention you must be vastly more concise or you will trash your own message with too many facts. There are times and  places to elucidate, but the most effective messages are short and to the point. Don't stop now!