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How Wall Street, In Broad Daylight, Took Over The US Government

Tyler Durden's picture




 

By now it is common knowledge that the primary way by which Goldman has taken over the world of central banking is by seeding places such as the New York Fed (or the ECB or the BOE) with its "former" employees, in the process converting them to benign colonies of the vampire squid (as explained first in 2010) while making sure the "independent" financial media which is supposed to expose and reveal such travesties is anything but (see "On The New York Fed's Editorial Influence Over The WSJ"). For a quick refresher read "How Goldman Controls The New York Fed: 47.5 Hours Of "The Secret Goldman Sachs Tapes" Explain."

Of course, what Goldman has done is hardly groundbreaking: as the following chart from Bloomberg shows, Wall Street's "revolving door" tradition has been working in overdrive to make sure that all American regulators are staffed with former (and future) Wall Street employees.

This epic pile up of conflicts of interest assures that the great bezzle - the robbery of the middle class by the 0.1% - can continue without any interruption, a great case in point being today's latest HSBC Swiss bank account scandal.

But while Wall Street can play dumb and try to ascribe what is clearly a premeditated attempt of literal "regulatory capture" to chance, where things get scary is that Wall Street is now actively enforcing behavior that facilitates even further Wall Street incursion into government positions.

As New Republic reports, "Citigroup is one of three Wall Street banks attempting to keep hidden their practice of paying executives multimillion-dollar awards for entering government service. In letters delivered to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) over the last month, Citi, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley seek exemption from a shareholder proposal, filed by the AFL-CIO labor coalition, which would force them to identify all executives eligible for these financial rewards, and the specific dollar amounts at stake. Critics argue these “golden parachutes” ensure more financial insiders in policy positions and favorable treatment toward Wall Street."

This is what the labor coalition asked:

“As shareholders of these banks, we want to know how much money we have promised to give away to senior executives if they take government jobs,” said AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka in a statement. “It’s a simple question, but the banks don’t want to answer it. What are they trying to hide?”

What has since been revealed is nothing short of a management-funded (and for recently insolvent banks it really means taxpayer-funded) takeover of government. Enter Usual Suspect A - Goldman Sachs:

These payments are routine at major banks, several of which have explicit policies, found in filings with the SEC, outlining automatic awards for executives who rotate into government. Goldman Sachs offers “a lump sum cash payment” for government service, for example.

And of course let's not forget the epic tax breaks that former Goldmanites receive when joining government. Case in point: Hank Paulson, who avoivded tens if not hundreds of millions in capital gains taxes when he rushed to leave Goldman to become Treasury secretary in 2006, just before it all came crashing down, in the process benefiting from the biggest capital allocation loophole in US history:

The $183,500 salary for the Treasury Secretary post may not mean much to nominee Henry Paulson, Jr., who's used to earning closer to $40 million. But thanks to a provision in the tax code, the exiting Goldman Sachs CEO will get a financial break for moving to D.C. that could add up to millions.

 

Paulson, who is expected to get the nod from the Senate Finance Committee as early as Tuesday, owns about $480 million worth of Goldman Sachs stock, which the White House said he would sell to avoid conflicts of interest, according to published reports.

Yes, we laughed too.

When executive branch officials are forced to sell assets, they are allowed to defer paying the capital gains tax owed if they buy "permitted property" within 60 days of the sale.

 

Permitted property includes Treasury securities and a "diversified investment fund," such as a stock mutual fund if approved by the Office of Government Ethics.

 

Paulson will have to pay a tax on his gains eventually, but one advantage of the forced sale for any executive branch official - not just Paulson - is the same as it is with any tax-deferred vehicle, like 401(k)s: the longer you put off taxes, the larger the balance that remains invested and the faster your money can compound.

 

And for someone like Paulson, whose wealth is heavily tied to Goldman Sachs, it's a free way to diversify one's holdings.

In other words, on one hand Goldman pays its employees massive bonuses, then pays them more when they join the government, and then the government, pardon - the taxpayer - makes sure they are "avoid" paying taxes on their vast equity holdings when they become part of the same government... that will sooner or later demand a bailout for Goldman... and every other bank.

It's all downhill from there. Back to New Republic.

Other banks’ policies are subtler. Banks often defer certain types of compensation in order to retain talent. When an executive terminates employment, unvested stock options and other forms of deferred compensation are usually forfeited. But several companies let executives’ equity options continue to vest if they leave for a government position, or allow them to keep retention bonuses that would otherwise be returned to the firm. A 2004 tax law banned accelerated payments but made an exemption for employees who leave for government service. Critics wonder whether the gifts are intended to fill the government with friendly faces who will act in their former employer’s interests. 

 

“It fuels the revolving door between banks and the government,” said Michael Smallberg, an investigator for the Project On Government Oversight (POGO), whose 2013 report detailed these types of compensation agreements. The average executive branch salary is substantially less than these millions in awards, so the bonuses effectively supplement the lower pay, raising questions about who the government officials actually work for.

The answer, by now, should be clear to absolutely everyone. Sadly, nobody cares, because that great distraction - the stock market - is at all time manipulated highs, central banks are on pace to buy more government bonds in 2015 than will be issued, the music is playing, everyone is dancing, and even the confidence of Joe Sixpack has rarely been higher.

And then one day the rug is pulled from under the house of cards, households lose trillions, crushing yet another generation of Americans even deeper into indentured servitude, and destroying what little is left of the middle class. But not the banks. Because at first opportunity, the "government's" workers will do what they have to, to make sure that the banks - their true employers - are taken care off: after all it is the banks that control government, not some quaint, anachronistic concept that it is a government "by the people, for the people."

Which means another round of bank bailouts. And then the Wall Street take over of its regulators, and of government in general can resume, until the two are indistinguishable.

And all of this takes place in broad daylight, in front of the entire American population, which is too bored, too lazy, and far too distracted by collecting the government handout equivalent of plastic beads, spending on 99 cent apps and watching the Grammys to care.

 

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Mon, 02/09/2015 - 19:28 | 5764055 kowalli
kowalli's picture

recovery

Mon, 02/09/2015 - 19:32 | 5764063 CH1
CH1's picture

Guv, corp, what's the difference?

These are sociopaths, ensconced in hierarchies... And the suckers obey them.

Mon, 02/09/2015 - 19:32 | 5764065 Usurious
Usurious's picture

tribe bankers sure know how to STEAL

Mon, 02/09/2015 - 19:35 | 5764074 cossack55
cossack55's picture

ZH is freakin' on it today.  Numerous 5 ratings. Keep on kickin', Tylers.

Mon, 02/09/2015 - 19:46 | 5764104 F-Tipp
F-Tipp's picture

Cheese Truck article made my day. Coworkers couldn't understand what I was laughing about.

Mon, 02/09/2015 - 20:02 | 5764152 Slave
Slave's picture

What the buttsex.

Mon, 02/09/2015 - 20:28 | 5764239 Karl von Bahnhof
Karl von Bahnhof's picture

POGO made my day

Mon, 02/09/2015 - 20:33 | 5764251 Cognitive Dissonance
Cognitive Dissonance's picture

Looks like a sense of urgency in 2008 kicked the revolving door up to warp factor 8. The percentage rate double in 6 short years.

It's almost like they knew 08-09 was going to be bad....but the next one was gonna be horrific. So they better have things already in place before it happens.

Mon, 02/09/2015 - 20:47 | 5764301 Anusocracy
Anusocracy's picture

BFD.

What special interest group WOULDN'T take over the government?

Most people are stupid evil control freaks.

Mon, 02/09/2015 - 21:08 | 5764360 stocktivity
stocktivity's picture

Amazing how many times it all comes back to Goldman.

Mon, 02/09/2015 - 22:04 | 5764587 Pinto Currency
Pinto Currency's picture

 

Where's the graph showing the takeover of the government starting in 1913 with creation of the Federal Reserve.

Mon, 02/09/2015 - 22:26 | 5764691 Sambo
Mon, 02/09/2015 - 19:34 | 5764071 MarketAnarchist
MarketAnarchist's picture

One must distinguish a corporation (a legal title granted by a government, and socialistic in nature) and a free-market company.   The free market only breaks when government is introduced.

Mon, 02/09/2015 - 19:36 | 5764080 NotApplicable
NotApplicable's picture

Formation of a government is the worst thing that can happen to a society.

Mon, 02/09/2015 - 19:41 | 5764088 TuPhat
TuPhat's picture

Without government there is no society.  Some groups of people can govern themselves without outside force but they are still governed.  Most are not capable of governing themselves. 

Mon, 02/09/2015 - 19:56 | 5764128 Renfield
Renfield's picture

<<Most are not capable of governing themselves.>>

Then those people are the responsibility of their own families or churches, or voluntary societies. Part of the reason big, powerful government exists is this stupid and futile mentality of nannying everyone else everywhere.

Mon, 02/09/2015 - 20:59 | 5764333 Anusocracy
Anusocracy's picture

Exactly! + 1 for all the sanity in the World in your post.

It's the act of dumbing society down to the level of the least capable by introducing rule by the least human.

Mon, 02/09/2015 - 21:03 | 5764349 Anusocracy
Anusocracy's picture

"Most are not capable of governing themselves."

There are 7+ billion people on Earth. If those people can't be civilized, drop them in the jungle and let Nature recycle her own.

Mon, 02/09/2015 - 21:25 | 5764399 lunaticfringe
lunaticfringe's picture

Society existed long before government. I am confident that our culture will continue even though one day, we will stretch some bankers necks on the branches of the tree of liberty.

Tue, 02/10/2015 - 00:17 | 5765022 lakecity55
lakecity55's picture

"A dangerous Servant and a Fearful Master."
-G. Washington, President

Mon, 02/09/2015 - 22:25 | 5764679 doctor10
doctor10's picture

funny how they never even mention that LITTLE part about the NSA-keeping track of all the congressional boyfirends and girlfriends-and making sure the data gets strategically dropped at the right time and place

Mon, 02/09/2015 - 19:33 | 5764066 Kaiser Sousa
Kaiser Sousa's picture

how many times have i said here in this fucking place THAT THE MONEYCHANGERS R UR REAL GOVERNMENT!!!

until theY r destroyed nothing will fucking change.

DEATH TO THE MONEYCHANGERS...

AND I MEAN DEATH.

Mon, 02/09/2015 - 19:34 | 5764072 NotApplicable
NotApplicable's picture

As I ask clueless statists all of the time, "Exactly how do you go about voting Goldman Sachs out of office?"

Mon, 02/09/2015 - 19:57 | 5764129 kowalli
kowalli's picture

voting out by nail gun and garbage shredder

Mon, 02/09/2015 - 22:19 | 5764653 Sambo
Sambo's picture

NYPD may not allow that.

Mon, 02/09/2015 - 19:34 | 5764070 davidalan1
davidalan1's picture

Baltic, velocity, employment lies....all good!  what does 18trillion and Eastern Airlines have in common?

Mon, 02/09/2015 - 19:35 | 5764077 Dungholio
Dungholio's picture

I want my mommy....

Mon, 02/09/2015 - 20:17 | 5764195 fascismlover
fascismlover's picture

It's like taking candy from a very fat baby in a sugar coma

Mon, 02/09/2015 - 19:35 | 5764079 Bill of Rights
Bill of Rights's picture

Don't forget drugged up as well..

Mon, 02/09/2015 - 19:38 | 5764083 Goldilocks
Goldilocks's picture

The Archies - Sugar, Sugar (Original 1969 Music Video)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h9nE2spOw_o (3:02)

Mon, 02/09/2015 - 20:18 | 5764200 Eirik Magnus Larssen
Eirik Magnus Larssen's picture

Well before my time.

Mon, 02/09/2015 - 21:22 | 5764386 Anusocracy
Anusocracy's picture

Young fart.

Mon, 02/09/2015 - 19:45 | 5764101 buzzsaw99
buzzsaw99's picture

i seriously doubt the existence of god but am fairly damned certain that there is a powerful evil muther fucking devil

Mon, 02/09/2015 - 19:45 | 5764103 franciscopendergrass
franciscopendergrass's picture

Thats why Goldman got bailed out and Lehman and Bears Stearn were left to die.  /sarc off

Mon, 02/09/2015 - 20:09 | 5764172 disabledvet
disabledvet's picture

My personal view for what its worth is that "sometimes failure is better."

What Goldman had to do to "stay Goldman" I think destroyed not only the reputation of the business but the entire reputation of Wall Street.

"If you didn't need the money why did you take it?"

So now imagine being Greece....right now..."and Goldman Sachs rings you up and says we're here to help!"

Now its all HSBC's fault.

Bwhahahahahaha. Give it up already.

REPUTATION MATTERS AND THESE FOLKS ARE SCUM!

Now we have the Fed itself..."job numbers are great...we need another trillion!"

Wow...great! "So good we need another bailout.". There is no logic to it.

If you're just a thief of course...

Mon, 02/09/2015 - 19:50 | 5764112 Psquared
Psquared's picture

Ehh ... our government has always been run by the elite. The first 10 Presidents, and most of the founding fathers were wealthy landowners and businessmen.

http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/charters/constitution_founding_fathers_...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_Presidents_by_net_worth

Mon, 02/09/2015 - 20:15 | 5764190 RaceToTheBottom
RaceToTheBottom's picture

Entry level class in VENN diagrams.

Elite does not always mean criminal.

WS always means criminal.

Mon, 02/09/2015 - 20:29 | 5764241 gdpetti
gdpetti's picture

Yes, as Niccolo Machiavellia wrote in The Prince, it's always a case of the oligarchs vs the people in every civilization... anyone with any knowledge of history knows this... check the Roman example, as it is about the most data we have, as these oligarchs have a tendency to burn books and the libraries that contain them... or the real hidden threat of cosmic catastrophe that comes around every 3-4 centuries and worse every 36 centuries, not to mention the outliers, but then only punctuates the situation, right?

Mon, 02/09/2015 - 20:42 | 5764290 Karl von Bahnhof
Karl von Bahnhof's picture

I still think that bankers are subject of premature ejaculation in their "rule of world" dreams.

Mon, 02/09/2015 - 19:50 | 5764113 eddiebe
eddiebe's picture

When I talk about this kind of stuff to my own children, the get angry at me and tell me I'm always so negative. 

Mon, 02/09/2015 - 20:02 | 5764153 kowalli
kowalli's picture

Americans are cowards because they can't face their problems..

Mon, 02/09/2015 - 21:13 | 5764275 Aleedsfella
Aleedsfella's picture

The western public are cowards, not just Americans. I am English NOT EUROPEAN! for most of my life I stood by in ignorance of all thing political, during this time the scum that we think runs our country's rose to power. We are to blame for all this shit, we went along with it all while we were money whoring and thinking we were special. Now its time for our children to pay the Piper!

Mon, 02/09/2015 - 20:18 | 5764202 GCT
GCT's picture

Spot on Eddie. +100 if I could.

Not only is the GS bunch and other banks revolving thru the doors into our financial areas, most, not all high level government employees break hte rule all the time.  They get relatives, cousins, spouse and sibling employed in some area of the government.  Many think they can do whateve they wish.  How many do you see being prosecuted for stealing money from the taxpayer coffers or have big time conflicts of interest themselves.  Yet if a lower government employee should violate this they get canned without alot of recourse.

The AFL-CIO speaking about corruption makes me just want to laugh as they are nothing mroe then the mafia telling the pleebs they must give 10% of their salary because they are helping them.  That same union leader violate his or her own oath of office daily.  The whole fucking system is corrupt.  If your skilled and experienced and could do the job better then anyone else it would not matter.  It is not what you know but WHO you know to gt a better paying job.

A true story .  Back in the 90's an Inspector General was appoint to investigate fraud and abuse of welfare people and the agencies that provided assistance.  Hie results were great, until he started investigating Executive Directors (ED) and their staffs.  Well he was getting more EDs then the welfare fraudsters.  Imainge that.  To make a long story short the power were brought to bear on this individual and his staff and the state government disbanded the office.  I used to laugh at listening to the whiney EDs because they too knkew they were breaking the laws. 

Nothing is going to change until people have had enough and that will not happen for a long, long time.  With more people on the government dole then people working in the private sector not one person here can do a dam thing.  Why?  Because as soon as you start checking and making complaints to superiors your labeled as a trouble maker and TPTB will do their damndest to make you out to be a criminal including doctoring up charges and planting evidence in your area.  Most govenment employees ae actually good honest people but those in charge of them usually suck big time.  The education system is the same dam way the scool superintendent will hire his wife for his personal assistant, the broter is the operatins manager, his cousin is the coach and her daddy runs the physical plant.  Nepotism is rampant in government work and they are usually related to the person in charge.

Those that enforce the rules sit in there offices because they do not have any money to travel and sit and watch porn!!!!! 

Tue, 02/10/2015 - 14:57 | 5767557 Bemused Observer
Bemused Observer's picture

Thank you for mentioning the welfare fraud investigation...So many people are outraged at the fraud and waste, but they focus their attacks on the individual recipients, who actually account for very little of the total fraud. It almost always originates higher up the food chain...
administratively, within the agencies, or from local businessmen who own chains of bodegas in poor neighborhoods and 'buy' people's benefits for a fraction of the face value, then cash in for the full amount. Many poor people DO have needs other than food, and sometimes they are desperate for some cash and will agree.
But too many people still want to take out their anger at the recipients, not understanding that if you eliminated ALL fraud among recipients, you'd barely make a dent in the fraud.

Wed, 02/11/2015 - 12:06 | 5771455 GCT
GCT's picture

Bemused if you come back to this which I hope you do fraud is rampant big time.  The reason we have a section * program is because a person trying to make it, working thier asses off cannot afford to rent period in most areas.  So the govenment subsidizes these outrageous prices.  You can bet rent would drop without this program.  True price discovery would happen if alot of these HUD programs went away as most multifamily housing would stand empty without them.  Landlords would actually have to charge a fair rent on property.

Welfare comes in many forms but the biggest chunks end up in the owners hands and not the poor peoples hands. 

Wed, 02/11/2015 - 14:19 | 5772285 Bemused Observer
Bemused Observer's picture

Absolutely...without all the subsidies on everything, we'd all be better off, including the poor. Prices would decline to the level the economy could support, and in fact many people who are now considered 'the poor' would suddenly find they COULD make ends meet without welfare. Right now, many ARE working, but simply can't make enough no matter how they try...I can't think of any better way to kill off the work ethic than to make work valueless and pointless for so many.

I wish folks could understand that their battle is not with "Takwana" and her EBT card or her 6 kinds by different fathers...but on the ones who have constructed and are protecting a system that gives her no choice, and no better options anyway.

Some say the recipients aren't even grateful for what they get, and that might actually be true...think about it. If you force someone into a corner, where they have no choice but to appeal to you for basic survival, and you reluctantly help, do you really expect gratitude?
What you'll GET is resentment, and a lot OF it.

Does the caged tiger feel warm fuzzy gratitude when his captor arrives with food? Or does that tiger fantasize about ripping his fucking head off every time he comes around? And that captor can feed him for 10 years, and the first time he turns his back that ungrateful tiger will go all Ferguson on his ass.

Mon, 02/09/2015 - 21:10 | 5764364 Bemused Observer
Bemused Observer's picture

My own son deleted a facebook comment I made on one of his posts because it "had such a downer tone"...

Mon, 02/09/2015 - 21:38 | 5764455 Questan1913
Questan1913's picture

Not quite the generation that will restore the country. But not the generation that sat back and let "them" destroy it either. 

 

Mon, 02/09/2015 - 21:30 | 5764416 lunaticfringe
lunaticfringe's picture

Negative? Since when did the fucking truth beg for a label? You sir, must have spared the rod. 

Mon, 02/09/2015 - 21:37 | 5764445 Renfield
Renfield's picture

"Negative," like "positive," is subjective and relative, a slightly more grown-up way of saying "happy" or "sad". Such language indicates a garbage opinion. It's a mark of people who tend to believe in fairy tales with "happy" endings.

The first measure we should use for any statement is: "Is it true?" That's often the only standard necessary for clear thinking, and the only one worthy of debate.

Mon, 02/09/2015 - 21:50 | 5764503 lunaticfringe
lunaticfringe's picture

Is it true, is of course, correct. If they don't show a little more respect may I suggest that... You look those little brats in the fucking eye and tell them I brought you here and I might just revoke your day pass. I might be negative but at least I'm not stupid. I got that going for me and surely I wish that I had passed that DNA strand along. Capiche?

Tue, 02/10/2015 - 14:16 | 5767320 MrSteve
MrSteve's picture

It's true! It's true!  .... the first words of the theme from Camelot which didn't have a happy ending.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4TvL7YlVWEo&index=3&list=PL901F138EA5622F52

I like the Rotary's 4 Way Test, well worth passing on to anyone who needs to improve their world and thinking..

http://thefourwaytest.com/history-of-the-four-way-test/

 

 

Mon, 02/09/2015 - 21:46 | 5764497 Sandmann
Sandmann's picture

Positive Stupidity is the approved position

Mon, 02/09/2015 - 21:12 | 5764121 Renfield
Renfield's picture

A perceptive article, illustrating the absolute failure of big government. Wall Street is enabled by big gov, but make no mistake that big, powerful government is the problem here, not Wall Street. Wall Street may be the failing organs, but big government is the cancer itself.

Best way to get rid of these huge, powerful governments is to begin breaking down their enormous constituencies, and limiting their reach. Each of us must begin detaching all our support from the government squid, in small ways leading to bigger ways - everything from empowering small local groups, to reclaiming personal and individual sovereignty. Above all, this attitude must change: that gov has some "right" to pass any number of statutes, which must then duly be observed by the rest of us, regardless of our personal or local interests, into perpetuity unless or until said gov feels like lifting them.

One idea might be that laws shall have automatic expiry dates.

Another might be that unless someone lives within a certain (small and limited) area, they have no legal right to pass laws for and may not be seated in government for that area; voting eligibility may also be limited to a small area. Obviously, laws that exempt law-makers to be verboten.

Another may be that, while big groups may from time to time be formed for specific or limited purposes, their time/conditions of dissolution shall be agreed at formation. (NATO, for example, was formed for a specific purpose which it has long outlived.)

Another may be that government shall not be paid; or that productivity shall not be taxed.

But whether these ideas are good or bad, it is past time for us all to begin thinking and talking about alternatives, and take some responsibility to help one another as communities working for a common, local interest. Most of all, citizens must be educated about the danger of following leaders, and the absolute necessity of accepting (and assessing) personal risk. It is time for us to leave behind the childish mentality that fixates on entertainment and social engineering, and stop being afraid of risk, conflict, or disapproval. It is our mentality that must change first, one by one and family by family, community by community. This disease will be healed from the bottom up, and will probably take a few generations if we begin now.

The big picture is daunting, but there are myriad small steps each of us may take, in our own lives, to begin the work.

Mon, 02/09/2015 - 21:45 | 5764488 Questan1913
Questan1913's picture

"A perceptive article, illustrating the absolute failure of big government. Wall Street is enabled by big gov, but make no mistake that big, powerful government is the problem here, not Wall Street. Wall Street may be the failing organs, but big government is the cancer itself."

 

That seems a rather inane distinction.  The article is spot on.  The real question is what are you going to do about it? 

 

 

 

 

And the answer is nothing.

 

Mon, 02/09/2015 - 22:39 | 5764731 Renfield
Renfield's picture

??? I spent most of my comment describing what I am doing about it. (Now, not "going to".) Did you read past the first two lines, or does reading go faster for you if you don't sweat comprehension?

The fact that you find a distinction between Wall St. and government "rather inane" shows you to be part of the problem. There is a great distinction between the two, however much Wall St. AND gov would like you to think there is not. Your thinking is muddled. Wall St. could do nothing without big gov to enable it. Wall St. is NOT the problem. It is a symptom of the problem.

Having repeated that, I'll ask you your very same question: What are YOU doing about it? If you have no ideas (your last line sounds like you don't), I'll suggest you start by researching - reading carefully - the difference between government, and Wall Street. No, they are NOT the same thing. One is much more dangerous than the other.

Mon, 02/09/2015 - 19:59 | 5764138 will ling
will ling's picture

nature abhors a vacuum.

Mon, 02/09/2015 - 20:09 | 5764158 RaceToTheBottom
RaceToTheBottom's picture

Can you imagine what the last 40 years would have been like if we had fixated on a different profession?  

What would have happened if Industrialists, or more clearly, builders of stuff like Engineers had infiltrated the US Government to the degree of WS and driven the growth instead of the wholesale rape that has occurred?  

We would be sitting in a different country right now...

Mon, 02/09/2015 - 20:34 | 5764260 cynicalskeptic
cynicalskeptic's picture

Well... I doubt that the damn roads would be full of potholes and bridges wouldn't be falling down..... TRILLIONS to keep bankers in business so they can suck more out of the economy while the infrastructure itself is collapsing.

Driving anywhere in Greater NYC is like being in a third world country.  You think all the uber rich in Manhattanmight actually care about the condition of the roads they're chaufferred around on.

Mon, 02/09/2015 - 20:42 | 5764287 RaceToTheBottom
RaceToTheBottom's picture

Come to think of it, America's financial situation has a lot of potholes as well.   Actually it is one big pothole.

Mon, 02/09/2015 - 20:12 | 5764181 DOGGONE
DOGGONE's picture

Holders of elected office,
higher education,
the mainstream news media

ALL whore for Wall Street.

See http://patrick.net/?p=1223928

Mon, 02/09/2015 - 20:16 | 5764191 GernB
GernB's picture

I wouldn't be so uncharitable as to call the public lazy or distracted. I think they are just far far too trusting of the talking heads on TV who tell them the Fed saved us from a fate worse than death, and far to invested in their pet political candidates who tell them the things are getting better and the future is rosey.

Mon, 02/09/2015 - 20:25 | 5764223 Stevious
Stevious's picture

I thought so.

 

(Note: This statement: "I thought so," is often heard from those suffering from Alzheimer's disease).  These people are seriously confused, but they sense they are confused and are embarassed.  Sadly, they will never, ever become un-confused.

 

Tell a friend: "Research I have done shows that big banking is taking over the government and destroying the middle class."

 

Many will say: "I thought so."

Mon, 02/09/2015 - 20:26 | 5764232 pragmatic hobo
pragmatic hobo's picture

what are you guys talking about? it was back in the 80's when reagan handed over the government to the fuckers in wall-street ... it's just now become apparent.

Mon, 02/09/2015 - 20:41 | 5764283 Duc888
Duc888's picture

 

 

Clinton Glass Steagle anyone?

 

 

Tue, 02/10/2015 - 00:12 | 5765008 lakecity55
lakecity55's picture

RR did one thing Bath House does not: he read and studied a lot.

I do not think he intentionally gave out to the banks.

I do think someone had that boy shoot him, though.

Mon, 02/09/2015 - 20:32 | 5764253 samsara
samsara's picture

 

"And all of this takes place in broad daylight, in front of the entire American population, which is too bored, too lazy..."

I'm getting really tired of this "... Too bored, too lazy" bullshit.

Everybody on this forum, at work, on the street are REALLY pissed.  They all have different levels of understanding of it all but all are pissed.

What are we supposed to do? 

Write our congressman?

Stop working for 6 months and 'organize' a March?

Start shooting them?

Too bored? Too Lazy?  Bullshit.

I wouldn't take the lack of any perceivable revolt YET with indifference. 

One of these days and it's gonna break.  Then you will see the shooting starting.

Mon, 02/09/2015 - 21:25 | 5764389 stocktivity
stocktivity's picture

It won't be shooting. It will be a third party rising with a leader with no ties to Wall street and the fat bankers and who is just as pissed off as we are on ZH. Much like you saw happen in Greece and now beginning in Spain. The people in the US will eventually revolt with their vote. The tea party movement was just a tiny warm-up. Eventually the people on Main Street get pissed. The ZH's here are just ahead of their time.

Tue, 02/10/2015 - 08:36 | 5765617 T-NUTZ
T-NUTZ's picture

LOL

Mon, 02/09/2015 - 21:39 | 5764465 lunaticfringe
lunaticfringe's picture

I agree. But we are mostly a small group of nutters at ZH. Things just have to get really, really bad before anything good can happen. That's just how it works. So have some patience. We should have a complete societal collapse just about the time I am too fucking old to care anymore- so I got that going for me.

Mon, 02/09/2015 - 20:39 | 5764278 Duc888
Duc888's picture

 

 

Hat tip to the other poster who posted this the other day.

Should read "How politicians, Wall Street and banksters suck drug dealer cock".      I think that's a much better title.

http://www.ratical.org/co-globalize/narcoDollars.html#part1

 

Mon, 02/09/2015 - 20:51 | 5764316 max2205
max2205's picture

Raise hands 

Mon, 02/09/2015 - 20:52 | 5764321 nakki
nakki's picture

This article is dead on. Unfortunately it was written around 101 years too late Teddy Roosevelt tried and as soon (in relative terms) as he was out we got the  "Federal Reserve." So yes the Banks/Wall St. to over the country years ago. It only took them 16 years to cause the great depression. To a certain extent Glass Steagall, although not perfect at the time it was written, did rein in the Banks and Wall St for a while (well at least until the MIC/Wall St profited from the Cold War and reconstruction after WW2. Fast forward to 1999 and the Gramm Leach Bliley Act, which in all reality set us all the way back to 1899, and its come full circle. Unfortunately I don't think we'll be getting a Teddy Roosevelt anytime soon.

www.ushistory.org/us/43b.asp

Mon, 02/09/2015 - 21:01 | 5764342 Manipuflation
Manipuflation's picture

You all knew that I would not make it for 39 more days without buying some precious metals.  I had to to go to the coin shop and ask what do you got for me.  I went looking for bullion silver but he said that it is in short supply.  I am a platinum investor now.  I bought all of that with cash on the barrelhead.  I'm not sure if I should have done that but I did.  I fucked around with palladium in the past and made out alright but that was nerve racking.  

So I asked "Where is the gold?".  He went into the back room and produced an 1881 gold half eagle.  Nice coin too.  How much?  Alright I'll take that.  Cash on the barrelhead again.  What else do you have I asked?  Well, I have this 1931 British Sovereign.  How much is that?  I will take it.  More cash on the barrelhead.  He said, "Wow you are serious aren't you?"  I just smiled.  I noted how he was putting the cash in back pocket and so did Mr's M.  No cash register and no receipts.  There is no record of any tranasaction whatsoever.  Poof!  I have no idea where the money went and I think it might have been lost in a boating accident.

I was lucky to get what I got today.  I was there for an hour and a half.  The dealer actually asked me if I would sell some bullion silver to him because he is out of silver dimes.  Mrs. M was standing there and she could not believe that was asked.  No, I won't sell right now but thanks for asking.  You all know what I going to do or what I want to do.  I want to stack and it getting hard to do that.  The dealer told me that I might have some trouble at the coin show accumulating bullion because he said no dealers want to sell at these prices.  He is correct on that.  

The PM's are out there but it is skinny.  I have not bought gold since 2007 but I did today.  Platinum is flat on it's back so I had to buy that.  I went to buy silver and ended up with gold and platinum and an offer from a dealer to buy any silver I wish to sell.  That was not how I thought it would go down.          

Mon, 02/09/2015 - 21:22 | 5764388 Arrowflinger
Arrowflinger's picture

It isn't just Wall Street. Georgia was #1 0r #2 in Mortgage Fraud for 5 years, followed by #1 in bank failures, yet banker' control of state government has kept their looting schemes intact. Both Georgia Senate and House Banking chairmen two years ago were associated with failed banks, with the FDIC suing one of them.

The corruption flows down to the county level, too.

Mon, 02/09/2015 - 21:31 | 5764425 kchrisc
kchrisc's picture

"How Wall Street, In Broad Daylight, Took Over The US Government"

Wall St. subleases from the Zionist banksters any control they exercise over the DC US.

The banksters need to repay us.

 

I'm leasing guillotines. "Lease to own. Nothing down, and only 5 bankster heads a month for 36 months."

Mon, 02/09/2015 - 22:07 | 5764607 Sambo
Sambo's picture

One can only pray, a giant sink hole develops under Wall St.

Mon, 02/09/2015 - 23:22 | 5764868 fremannx
fremannx's picture

Wall Street will eventually get its comeuppance. When the deflationary vortex finally sucks in the last vestige of gamblers of OPM, the markets will realize that it only takes two to Tango...

 

http://www.globaldeflationnews.com/it-only-takes-two-to-tango-everyone-e...

Tue, 02/10/2015 - 00:49 | 5765106 ersatz007
ersatz007's picture

And all of this takes place in broad daylight, in front of the entire American population, which is too bored, too lazy, and far too distracted by collecting the government handout equivalent of plastic beads, spending on 99 cent apps and watching the Grammys to care.

Ok - so tell us what the fuck we can do to fight it!  I appreciate the information I've gleaned here at ZH - but this is yet another article telling me how lazy, stupid, and complacent, I and my fellow americans are for allowing the gov't and the banksters to fuck us over.  It makes the lazy assumption that all we're interested in is watching crappy TV, playing video games and provides NO constructive idea on how to fight the theft and corruption that's taking place.

Please tell me - exactly how can I stop the banks from being bailed out in the next crash?  Seriously I want to fucking know.  Tell me how I can see to it that the Fed gets audited.  Tell me how to prevent interest rates from being lowered any further.  Tell me how to prevent any further debt monetization to occur.  Tell me how to prevent people being given extremely important positions in the gov't just because of their connections.  Tell me how to prevent the manipulation of the prices of gold, silver, oil and the manipulation of the stock market. Tell me how I can prevent the US from going to war with yet another country.

 

 

Tue, 02/10/2015 - 02:35 | 5765283 Jack Daniels Esq
Jack Daniels Esq's picture

Oh Lordy - how I miss Ross Perot

Tue, 02/10/2015 - 03:05 | 5765322 BolshevikPartyP...
BolshevikPartyPlanningCommitee's picture

The one thing that countries did in the past was expel these parasites.  Here is the list: 

http://www.subvertednation.net/jew-lists/jewish-expulsions-and-exiles/

Add Guatemala to the list as they kicked them out in 2014.

Also, "Renaissance" just happened to occur after the expulsion.  Expulsions show that they just keep coming back.  Therefore, THE WOODCHIPPER is the only solution.  Stop by your local heavy equipment dealer today.....

Tue, 02/10/2015 - 03:06 | 5765324 bk1037
bk1037's picture

ZH's Goldman bashing would have a lot more credibility to me if they weren't hiding behind the Tyler Durden moniker. If the authors are brave enough to bash behind a curtain, they should bash in the open like some of the other bloggers that get posted here.

Tue, 02/10/2015 - 10:33 | 5766041 taketheredpill
taketheredpill's picture

Seriously who gives a fuck that the authors remain anonymous?

 

Agree with the article or disagree.  Feel free to submit an argument even.  Whatever.

 

BUT UNDERSTAND THAT A BANK DOES NOT SPEND MONEY FOR ALTRUISTIC REASONS.  FULL STOP.  BANKS SPEND MONEY BECAUSE THEY EXPECT TO MAKE A RETURN ON THEIR INVESTMENT.

 

 

Tue, 02/10/2015 - 09:04 | 5765699 Vinividivinci
Vinividivinci's picture

Sorry, but this Kanadian doesnt buy the lazy Amerikan meme (with all due respect, ZH).
I rather blame the fluoride, chemtrail, UNholy-wood mind control, GMO,etc...as the reason for what passes for apathy in your country.
Americans (without the K) have always impressed us Canadians (without a K) as being masters of their own destinies.
NOT your fault if the lizard people have subversively dumbed y'all down.
Hey, when it comes to apathy, WE in the great white north are supreme.
GOD bless America (without a K).

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