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Pedro Da Costa Has The Courage To Review Ben Bernanke's Memoir, Finds A Few Gaping Holes
Pedro da Costa may no longer be asking Janet Yellen uncomfortable questions on behalf of the WSJ, but that doesn't mean the Peterson Institute's latest editorial fellow can't opine on his favorite topic: central bankers.
In the following review of Ben Bernanke's memoir "The Courage To Act", Pedro has done just that, and while his review of what is contained in the book is enlightening for those who are still waiting for the deflated, "fair value" priced copy, it is Pedro's "courage to write" what Bernanke conveniently forgot to add in his memoir, that makes this review so much more memorable than the generic sycophantic tripe written by his "access journalism" peers.
Yet the ongoing manipulation of key benchmark interest rates—which falls within the direct purview of the Fed—does not get a mention in the book. Neither do illegal foreclosures, the lack of transparency on Wall Street, banks’ concentrated political power, the revolving-door nexus of Wall Street and the regulatory world, or even the global banking system’s increasing vulnerability to financial crises (think Greece, China, Japan, Russia, Brazil, Turkey—and that’s just in the past year).
Bernanke does accept some blame for having missed the signs of looming financial disaster on his watch. But he stops well shy of a mea culpa. He says he was merely echoing the conventional wisdom of the time: that the housing bubble wouldn’t burst spectacularly and that, even if it did, the economic damage would be limited.
But at least Bernanke had the "courage" to cover everything else...
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Originally posted on Book Forum, written by Pedro Nicolaci Da Costa
Anatomy of a Meltdown
Ben Bernanke's Washington tell-all says too little, too late
Former Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke’s new book feels more like the first of many acts than an authoritative memoir. And the main body of the narrative remains, so far as financial history is concerned, very much a work in progress.
Still, notwithstanding its provisional character, there’s no denying that The Courage to Act is a useful document. Bernanke was arguably the most powerful economic official in the world during the worst global financial crisis since the Great Depression. His direct account of that event, staid though it can be, is invaluable—both for the official record and for understanding how his thinking shifted during an eventful eight-year tenure atop the Fed.
The memoir begins with an amusing glimpse into the notoriously shy and guarded Bernanke’s personal life, cataloguing his journey from a small-town boyhood in South Carolina through the Ivy League academic ranks and on to what he describes as his unlikely elevation to the head of the nation’s central bank. “I had studied monetary policy for years,” writes Bernanke, who as a longtime Princeton economics professor specialized in the study of the monetary causes of the Great Depression. “I had never expected to be part of the institution and contributing to policy decisions.” As he traces the odyssey leading to the inner sanctums of Washington power, Bernanke conquers his constitutional reserve long enough for the reader to get a feel for the folksy demeanor and obsessive baseball fandom that have endeared him within wonkish economic-policy circles.
Yet this personal touch is less in evidence as the book progresses. Bernanke slips all too easily into inside-baseball macroeconomic jargon in his blow-by-blow policy chronology, and while this might be interesting to investors, scholars, and journalists who lived through the crisis, it fails to offer enough insight to make this a broadly compelling historical account.
“I proposed that we leave the federal funds rate unchanged, while hedging our bets a little by continuing to acknowledge in our statement that ‘some inflation risks remained,’” he writes of one key policy call in 2006, early on in his tenure as Fed chairman. Not exactly fly-on-the-wall material—especially considering that full transcripts of meetings for that year were released in 2011. The book contains too many such passages.
In Bernanke’s version of events, his reticence seems more than simply personal; the omissions from his narrative prove, at times, to be more telling than the stories he shares. This is particularly true when it comes to the prospect of increased financial regulation—a chronic blind spot of Bernanke’s as chairman and, not coincidentally, a shortcoming typical of the conventional economic models favored by the nation’s other senior economic policy makers.
As he recounts how he sized up the challenges presented by the Fed post, Bernanke explains that, like many scholarly economists, he relished the chance to see his key intellectual concerns at play in real-world-policy settings. “I was interested in all of the work of the Board, including the regulation and supervision of banks. The big attraction, however, was the chance to be involved in U.S. monetary policy,” he admits.
An intensive focus on monetary matters dominates The Courage to Act, as it did Bernanke’s chairmanship. To take one striking example, Bernanke never talks about criminality or fraud when it comes to the financial crisis, despite ample legal evidence—and countless Justice Department settlements—indicating that banks consistently pushed the boundaries of legality and often went well beyond them. (He did get a lot of attention recently for saying, in an interview with USA Today published the day of the book’s release, that there should have been more prosecutions.)
Yet the ongoing manipulation of key benchmark interest rates—which falls within the direct purview of the Fed—does not get a mention in the book. Neither do illegal foreclosures, the lack of transparency on Wall Street, banks’ concentrated political power, the revolving-door nexus of Wall Street and the regulatory world, or even the global banking system’s increasing vulnerability to financial crises (think Greece, China, Japan, Russia, Brazil, Turkey—and that’s just in the past year).
Bernanke does accept some blame for having missed the signs of looming financial disaster on his watch. But he stops well shy of a mea culpa. He says he was merely echoing the conventional wisdom of the time: that the housing bubble wouldn’t burst spectacularly and that, even if it did, the economic damage would be limited.
In the great Washington tradition of blandly asserted deniability, Bernanke also rather fatalistically insists that the overlapping jurisdictions of multiple agencies—the Fed, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the Securities and Exchange Commission, and others—all but ensured that no single body had ultimate responsibility for monitoring the entire financial system.
Bernanke says he quietly but unsuccessfully favored a model that would have essentially handed all banking-regulation authority to the Fed, despite its widely reported precrisis failures. He was pushing back against ideas like Senate Banking Committee chairman Chris Dodd’s plan to strip the Fed of its regulatory authority entirely. “The Fed already possessed the bulk of the government’s expertise and experience needed to serve as the financial stability regulator,” Bernanke contends.
That expertise had not helped the Fed foresee the crisis, much less prevent it. But once the scope of the meltdown finally dawned on Bernanke, he was in some ways the perfect man for the job. His research on the Great Depression, as well as on Japan’s troubles with economic stagnation and deflation—a vicious cycle of falling prices, wages, and business activity—gave him an ample tool kit, albeit a still largely untested one, with which to approach the problems.
Indeed, Bernanke had given an inadvertently prescient speech in 2002 titled “Deflation: Making Sure ‘It’ Doesn’t Happen Here.” In it, he argued that central banks were not powerless to stimulate economic growth and employment, as had been widely presumed, in the event that official interest rates fell to zero. Instead, the Fed could purchase a range of government bonds to put downward pressure on longer-term interest rates, boosting other financial and credit markets in the process. The increased lending would help revive economic activity.
And buy bonds he did. Starting in late 2008, the Fed began purchasing Treasury and mortgage bonds in earnest, in a series of “quantitative easing” programs designed to bring the financial system back to life and bolster a sputtering economic recovery. The final tally of buying, which took place in three rounds, wound up totaling in excess of $4.5 trillion, more than five times the Fed’s precrisis bond portfolio. During an emergency teleconference of the policy-setting Federal Open Market Committee on January 21, 2008, Bernanke didn’t mince words. “At this point we are facing, potentially, a broad-based crisis,” he told his colleagues. “We can no longer temporize. We have to address this crisis. We have to try to get it under control. If we can’t do that, then we are just going to lose control of the whole situation.” Yet despite forceful moves to secure the banking system, including the decision to keep official rates at zero for nearly seven years, the performance of the US economy continues to frustrate the Fed’s optimism about the future in almost systematic fashion.
Bernanke, who now works as an adviser for the hedge fund Citadel and for Pimco, a giant bond fund based in California, might have hoped for a better set of economic indicators to greet the release of The Courage to Act. To his credit, the unemployment rate has fallen sharply to 5.1 percent, a far cry from its recession peak of 10 percent. However, there is evidence of underlying weakness in employment, including low workforce participation, a stubborn lack of wage growth, and high long-term joblessness. The economy’s growth rate remains lackluster, suggesting the expansion is still sluggish some six years after it began. True, the US economy looks stronger than many of its overseas counterparts, but that’s not saying much, given a global outlook that continues to deteriorate and threatens to once again shake US growth.
The status quo is particularly worrying in the already lagging realm of financial regulation. The sense that Wall Street has gone back to business as usual is pervasive among investors and the public. Bernanke admits there was little appetite for regulation within the agencies charged with writing and enforcing the rules: “[Alan] Greenspan and senior Fed attorneys were reluctant as a matter of principle to aggressively use” the new authority they had acquired to stop “unfair or deceptive” lending practices during the housing boom, he writes.
Washington’s persistent aversion to adopting tougher rules for finance could leave the country distinctly unprepared for another market shock. A recent Boston Fed conference found, discouragingly, that the current tools available to regulators to prevent and fight financial crises would likely fail. That’s hardly a ringing endorsement of years of hard-fought reform—or of Bernanke’s legacy. Nor is this glum appraisal out of line with Bernanke’s own confessed agnosticism about more robust regulatory enforcement. “Philosophically, I did not view myself as either strongly pro- or anti-regulation,” he writes. “As an economist, I instinctively trusted the markets.”
The nation’s chief regulator is more emphatic about his general allegiances in the rarefied circles of financial power. One especially fond memory, of the Bank for International Settlements (BIS), is instructive: “We retired to the BIS dining room for long, frank conversations over gourmet four-course dinners (each course with its own wine). For generations, the world’s central bankers have formed a sort of club, of which I was now a member.”
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And for those curious to learn more about the "central bankers's sort of club", the Bank of International Settlements, please read "Meet The Secretive Group That Runs The World"
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Pedro Nicolaci da Costa is an editorial fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics. He has been writing about economics since 2001, and covered the Fed extensively before, during, and after the 2008 financial crisis.
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How did he read that thing?
"He says he was merely echoing the conventional wisdom of the time: that the housing bubble wouldn’t burst spectacularly and that, even if it did, the economic damage would be limited."
But, but, but....I thought The Fed was omnipotent and was actually the creator of the conventional wisdom? It's certainly trying fucking hard at present, despite hard non-Government (Unmanipulated) data to the contrary, to create the conventional wisdom of evrything being awesome.
The biggest gaping hole is the author of the auto-lie-ography.
It is most unfortunate that having the Bernak face justice for crimes against humanity prolly won't happen.
Capital crime, capital punishment.
Something creative, though.
I am leaning towards lethal injection being replaced with having thieving psychopaths shot, pissed on, rolled in flour, and deep fried.
Peter G. Peterson Institute for International Economics?
Please tell me that it ain't what I think it is.
Oh, it is.
Speaking of old "Hammerin' Hank"....
The Mafia Expands: Micheal Bloomberg, Henry Paulson, Tim Geithner to Control US Trading of China’s CurrencyI can't believe China would allow that. Their people must be the same.
Read the article. Their banks are 'working' with the Fed banksters. It's surreal.
Betcha The Krugster and Bernak were hatched in the same coop at Dulce base under Reptilian supervision ....
I read it on the Interwebthingamajigglie, so it must be true.
You want an ePub copy at fair value (i.e. FREE )?
It’s here: TCtA%BB.torrent (if you know how to torrent!)
“As an economist, I instinctively manipulated the markets.”
Fixed if for ya...
If he "Instinctively trusted the markets" why was his first move to act contrary to the market and prop up failed institutions?
The Bernanke is a utter failure, his thesis is proven wrong at every turn.
I know. This shit gives me migraines.
The biggest gaping asshole is the author of the auto-lie-ography.
There, fixed it for ya.
So the economic dammage would be "contained" like ISIS? Gimme a break.
As long as the damage is "contained" outside the bankster class, it IS contained.
The 99% serve as shock absorbers to the 1%, don't cha know;)
http://thesaker.is/latin-america-sitrep-december-1st-2015-by-jack-j/
the bernank forgot that the media marginalized anyone who forecast the disaster accurately with the fewer math tools and data available to him. it was real comedy for cnbc to bust the chops of the doomsayers. the parellel to today is frightening as the financial press still makes fun of the doomsayers who will be right again.
I hate this fucking Bernanke. He fucked me out of a lot of money and one day I will happily piss on his grave
He's just an errand boy doing as he was told. You've never seen or heard of the people truly responsible. The names and faces you are familiar with are the sacrificial lambs that will be thrown to the mob when the game is finished.
The people will vent their anger on "those responsible" and a new global solution will be swiftly implemented by new faces and names. Rinse and repeat until the trap is completely closed on everyone too stupid to see it.
Doing what you're told in the act of cuntery still makes you a cunt. Anyone with a soul would've walked away.
How do you think he got the job? By being a cunt.
Anyone with honor and dignity gets weeded out early in the vetting process. Same as the initiations in heirarchical fraternal orders.
"You are an errand boy sent by grocery clerks to collect a bill."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nqjQG-Tw9FY
I hate Hollywood and their shit but Francis Ford Coppola was/is a great director. He pretty much hated Hollywood too which is why he worked mainly out of San Francisco.
Mr Poopra,
Yeah, but but but but.... (add rationalization).
Bernanke is a shifty-eyed goddamn liar.
Loved it when he sweated and hands shook under testimony.
The quivering voice was always entertaining, too.
Hey Harry, that's what you said about Nixon
I'd gladly dig up his corpse and hold it for ransom.
Bwaahhh haaaa haaaa !
P.O.B.D. 4-15-xx
Piss On Bernanke Day.
"I will happily piss on his grave"
You'll have to stand in a long line.
What, he found a Trillion-Dollar 'hole'?
Nah, that was Reggie...
Bernanke found a Trillion Dollar Platinum coin but even he didn't have the chutzpah to actually use it...
“We retired to the BIS dining room for long, frank conversations over gourmet four-course dinners (each course with its own wine). For generations, the world’s central bankers have formed a sort of club, of which I was now a member.”
Gang raping is to good for this smug cocksucker. At this point I have no idea what amount of pain would make him repent the evil he and his ilk have unleashed upon us all. One of those Buddhist hells that last until you figure out what you did that put you there might do it. Might...
"“We retired to the BIS dining room for long, frank conversations over gourmet four-course dinners (each course with its own wine)"
The Bernank needs a wine enema.
Bernanke was running out the clock to get his speaking megabucks just like Obama is.
I liked Linda Green's review of the book, better.
You can watch the youtube video for free and see how clueless The Bernak was...
When I was growing up, I never heard of a Reverse Mortgage - now they are the rage... ask Bernanke why -
He shudda named his book - "Free Lunch"
Ben S. Bernanke. They put the S. in the title so he would not be confused with all the other Ben Bernankes.
The Courage to Act? I can just see Obama's memoirs now.....Hard Choices.
i knew all pretense of a real market had officially died when he started pulling his shit. courage? i think not. those maggots never go to prison. damn it feels good to be a gangsta.
The only "courage" The Bernak had was working for the Fed's shareholders - the Banks.
How is any of this a mystery let alone a courageous one?
Chuckle all you want, but this petulant unemployed #myhurtfeelings generation will be lighting the ovens when they discover they will never own anything and exist in a state of perpetual sickness and debt.
If this second-rate econ hump had a spine they would have minimally set consumer credit and mortgage interest rates to ZIRP, liquidated failed (and they were failed) banks.
Things are 10x worse now after these gutless baby-boomers kicked the can down the road.
Ben SHALOM Bernanke is a KIKE SCUM KOSHER RAT, we need a nuclear oven the get rid of the jewish RAT Tribe.
Maybe Princeton, after removing all traces of Woodrow Wilson, can do the same with Mr. (Dr.) Bernanke.
Come on Paul.. Really ?? You dont understand the "crisis" was all intentional ? QE was a known beforehand? You think total disable of free markets just "happened". Who or joo benefits?
-"Bernanke was arguably the most powerful economic official in the world" NO paul. Hes a satanic Effing criminal .. Dont call someone that should be strung up on his nuts in the middle of Times Sqaure an "official"
- " during the worst global financial crisis s" Thas pre planned prescripted. Was anything accidental about 9-11? Not there either
I didnt really need to go farther after that. One thing ive learned from watching that game changer documentary "JFK to 9-11 Everythings a Rich Mans Trick " is that documentation after ward can actually be part of the tribe selling the false narrative IE with Kennedy till this day. Once again. As you see "markets" today, Paul dont be so clueless as to buy the narrative this POS is telling
The only thing he acted on is when or if the world ever figures out the real whys what .. To guarantee Funding of the Greater Isreal Project.. Thats my .02 and im sticking with it.
Hes not cluess less at all. He pulled of what was and still is to this very day the mosts epic white collar crime man has ever seen. Sorry Pual your book isnt worth wiping my rectum with
To understand the last 300 years of history all one has to have is a copy of the talmud and the protocols of the elders of zion.
While I commend young De Costa for willingly wallowing in this pig slop, he's now lost irreplacable time in his life he can never recover. Just like the currency printed up FOR NATIONAL DEBT that these assho, ummm, "brightest minds in the room" said would be magically "inflated away", it's gone.
As said at the time, that was/is pure unadulterated horseshit and the debt grows daily and Ben Bernanke is an accomplice to the crime.
bernanke's legacy is over & done with in 1 simple arguement. this dickhead "claims he is a student of the Great Depression". the 1 thing he leaves OUT of his college "thesis" (as it relates to his actions while running the fed was that WE WERE ABLE TO COME OUT OF THE DEPRESSION. WTF is the model here? answer = a quasi Japan-Greece-ification of the U.S.
so, where the depression lasted a decade, we are 7 years into this insanity with no path or strategy out. oh, and $19 trillion and growing debt, massive inflation in food, education, rent, healthcare ... a 2% economy where the jobs suck & kids have to live at home cuz they can't pay back student loans, governments thinking it's ok to buy their own debt with $ that doesn't exist, and a MASSIVE retirement crisis because seniors can't earn shit on the $ they have worked so hard for.
cowardness to NOT do the RIGHT actions (i.e. liquidate the debt)
One had to be a "student" to turn "markets" into Zimbabwe ? I could find 10 5th graders that could do that. And ill even take it farther . .Maybe someday well find out about a financial Odigo because like the twin towers not a soul on earth would have been in or staying unless they knew something. Or maybe like Al Franken getting "The JOO call"? And you mean to tell me some hedgie managers didnt get the financial Jew Call ?
Sen. Al Franken Admits Being Warned About 9-11 Beforehand: “One of the widely disseminated stories was that no Jews died in the collapse of the Trade Towers because they had received calls telling them not to go to work that day. To tell you the truth, I got the Jew call” Filed under: 9-11 TRUTH • ToBeFree,Israel • ToBeFree,Talmudic orthodox/reformed 'Jews' — Jeff Fenske @ 4:19 amAn excerpt from Al Franken’s bestselling book Lies And The Lying Liars Who Tell Them: A Fair And Balanced Look At The Right (Dutton Publishing; 2003):
Six months after 9/11, the Gallup Poll of Islamic Countries found that an overwhelming majority of those surveyed believed the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon had not been the works of Arabs. Well-educated Egyptians and Saudis believed that the Israelis were behind the murder of three thousand innocents on 9/11, in large part because of articles in their countries’ official state newspapers. One of the widely disseminated stories was that no Jews died in the collapse of the Trade Towers because they had received calls telling them not to go to work that day.
To tell you the truth, I got the Jew call. I had an office in the Trade Center where I used to do most of my writing. The call came from former New York mayor Ed Koch. “Al,” he told me, “don’t go to work on the twenty-third day of Elul [September 11 – ed.].” (source)
Al Franken?...lol.
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For the record, I could have posted this years ago, (retracted):
Lee Alan Adler, 48, was a computer designer at Cantor Fitzgerald. Mr. Adler was a member of the board of trustees of Temple Beth Ahm in Springfield, New Jersey, where memorial services were held for him. He was married to his wife. Alice, for 15 years and had a 12-year old daughter. His daughter wrote in a February 22, 2002 message on an internet memorial site, “Daddy I love you!”
Joshua Aron, 29, was an equities trader at Cantor Fitzgerald. Joshua’s father, Barry Aron, says, “Not a minute goes by in a day that I don’t think about Josh. … It’s like part of you being ripped out and you can’t replace it.” Barry talks to his son’s widow, Rachel daily. Mr. Aron and Rachel would have celebrated their first wedding anniversary on September 16, 2001. Memorial services were held at the Oceanside Jewish Center in Oceanside, New York.
Michael Edward Asher, 53, was vice president and senior technology architect at Cantor Fitzgerald. On September 10, 2001, he talked with his son Jeremy, 18, about rebuilding an old Jaguar automobile. Mr. Asher was also survived by his wife Dana and a daughter, Rachel, 16. A memorial service was held for him at the Monroe Temple of Liberal Judaism in Monroe, New York.
Debbie S. Bellows, 30, was an executive assistant at Cantor Fitzgerald. She was survived by her husband Sean, who wrote, “Debbie meant the world to me. … My heart will always be filled with the love and beauty that filled her soul.” A memorial service was held for Ms. Bellows at the Westchester Reform Temple in Scarsdale, New York.
Alvin Bergsohn, 48, was an equities trader at Cantor Fitzgerald. From a picture posted on the Internet, it appears that he was survived by a wife and two sons. A service was held for him at the South Baldwin Jewish Center in Baldwin Harbor, New York.
Shimmy D. Biegeleisen, 42, was vice president of Fiduciary Trust International. Susan Townsend, who interviewed for a job at Mr. Biegeleisen’s company, described him “a genuinely kind and gentle soul, a man of true integrity.” A friend, Joseph Weinberger, said he was “a person with a golden heart, loved everybody, always with a smile.” Another described him as “a perfect mix of God-fearing, friendly, and fun.” Tony Skutnik said he was “a kind and gentle man, generous and forgiving almost to a fault.” He was survived by a wife and five children.
Joshua David Birnbaum, 24, was an assistant bond trader at Cantor Fitzgerald. His best friend, Leehe Matalon, wrote, “Josh’s smile always managed to light up the faces of those he surrounded himself with. He had a special charm ….” He was survived by his parents, Sam and Marcel, and a sister, Jill. A memorial service was held for him at the Sephardic Congregation of Long Beach in Long Beach, New York.
Kevin Sanford Cohen, 28, was a computer support person for Cantor Fitzgerald. He was survived by his parents, Barry and Marcia, and a brother Neil. His mother said that when she had asked him why he didn’t slow down, he replied, “Mom, I believe in living life to the fullest.” A memorial service was held for him at Neve Shalom in Metuchen, New Jersey.
Michael Allen Davidson, 27, was an equity options trader at Cantor Fitzgerald. A co-worker named Jay wrote, “He could have been the nicest, most sensitive person I have ever met. Everyone loves him.” He was engaged to be married the following July to Dominique DeNardo. Mr. Davidson was survived by his mother Ellen. A memorial service was held for him at Congregation Beth Israel in Scotch Plains, New Jersey.
Peter Feidelberg, 34, worked for Aon corporation. Mr. Feidelberg was from Montreal, Canada, and worked at Aon with his wife, Meredith Ewart, whom he had married in March 2000. According to the Canadian Jewish News, Mr. Feidelberg attended Jewish Peoples School, ran in the 1998 New York Marathon, enjoyed rugby, mountain biking, skiing and scuba diving, and had backpacked through Europe, Costa Rica, Turkey and other countries.
Steven Mark Fogel, 40, was vice president and assistant general counsel for Cantor Fitzgerald. He was survived by his wife Kori, a son and a daughter. A memorial service was held for him at Temple Emanuel in Westfield, New York.
Morton H. Frank, 31, was an insurance equities broker at Cantor Fitzgerald. In college, he was a member of the Jewish fraternity Alpha Epsilon Pi. A childhood friend said he had “a fun-loving spirit and a wonderful heart.” He had married his wife Jessica 14 months before 9/11.
Arlene Eva Fried, 49, was vice president and assistant general counsel at Cantor Fitzgerald. She met her future husband Ken when she was 15 and he was 17. When the youngest of their three daughters entered kindergarten, Arlene went back to school to study law. Her parents, Nicholas and Ronnie Joseph, were both survivors of Nazi concentration camps; her mother had been at Auschwitz.
They wrote, in a October 13, 2003 internet tribute, “As Arlene Joseph Fried’s parents, the loss is indescribable; a daughter with indescribable warmth and love toward her whole family and friends — losing her left an unhealable wound in our hearts.” A memorial service was held for her at Temple Beth Shalom in Roslyn, New York.
Douglas B. Gardner, 39, was a vice chairman at Cantor Fitzgerald. He was survived by his wife, Jennifer, and two children. Memorial services were held at the Stephen Weiss Free Synagogue in New York City.
Steven Paul Geller, 52, was an institutional trader for Cantor Fitzgerald. Mr. Geller loved to cook with his daughter, Hali, 12. He was also survived by his wife, Debra. A memorial service was held for him at Congregation Rodeph Sholom in New York City.
Marina Romanova Gertsberg, 25, was one of 16 Russian-speaking Jews who perished in the 9/11 attacks, according to World Congress of Russian Jewry. Her family had emigrated from Odessa, Ukraine to the United States when Marina was four so that her father would not have to serve with Soviet forces in Afghanistan. She joined Cantor Fitzgerald as a junior manager one week before September 11. A memorial service for her was held at the Manhattan Beach Jewish Center in Brooklyn, New York.
Jeffrey Grant Goldflam, 48, was senior vice president and chief financial officer at Cantor Fitzgerald. Mr. Goldflam was survived by his wife Risa and two children. He was a track and soccer star in high school. Robert Kayton, a college acquaintance, remembered Mr. Goldflam as “easygoing, friendly, and helpful.” A memorial service was held for him at Temple Beth Tohar in Melville, New York.
Michelle Herman Goldstein, 31, worked as a broker for Aon Risk Services insurance company. She had married her husband, Edward Goldstein, exactly seven months before 9/11. After the first plane struck the North tower of the World Trade Center, she called her mother, a Hebrew teacher at the Tamarac Jewish Center in Florida, from the 96th floor of the South tower to reassure her that she was all right. Her mother described her as “full of life. She lights up a room when she smiles.”
Monica Goldstein, 25, was an accounts specialist at Cantor Fitzgerald. She spent long hours at her older sister’s house, caring for her two young nephews and visiting with her sister. Her father said, “Her smile and her laugh were infectious. … The loss has totally changed our lives. We’ll never be the same anymore. … She was a very, very special person.” Ms. Goldstein was engaged to be married in September 2002. A memorial service was held for her at the Congregation B’nai Israel in Bay Terrace, New York.
Steven Goldstein, 35, had started work for Cantor Fitzgerald two weeks before September 11. Working in his basement, he had started and developed an online trading system, which he sold to Cantor Fitzgerald. His wife said his motivation was to make a lot of money and retire so he could spend time with his family. She said he loved nothing more than spending time with his one-year old son Harris and three-year old daughter Hanna. Mr. Goldstein had been a member of the Jewish fraternity Alpha Epsilon Pi when at the University of Michigan.
Marcia Hoffman, 52, was vice president and senior technical architect at Cantor Fitzgerald. A former child-welfare worker, she switched to a career in computers. She was survived by her husband, Jim, and her daughter, Lara. A memorial service was held for her at the Kane Street Synagogue in New York City.
Aaron Horwitz, 24, was a bond broker at Cantor Fitzgerald. He was described as a showman who loved entertaining people, someone who “seized souls, not letting go until he made them merry.” A memorial service was held for him at the Brotherhood Synagogue in New York City.
Daniel Ilkanayev, 36, was a senior programming analyst at Cantor Fitzgerald. Mr. Ilkanayev was born in Baku, Azerbaijan, in the former Soviet Union. He was one 16 Russian-speaking Jews who perished in the 9/11 attacks, according to World Congress of Russian Jewry.
Brooke Alexandra Jackman, 23, had just started working as an assistant bond trader at Cantor Fitzgerald. On September 10, 2001, she had told her mother she was applying to Columbia University’s School of Social Work because “there is more to life than making money.” A crowd of 1,000 to 1,500 attended her memorial service at the Jewish Center in Oyster Bay, New York. She had volunteered a community soup kitchen and a thrift shop for cancer patients.
Aaron Jacobs, 27, was a vice president at Cantor Fitzgerald. He was making plans for a honeymoon, perhaps to Africa, with his bride-to-be, Jeannine McAteer. He had backpacked through Europe, taught English in Mexico, and climbed a volcano in Greece. His dream was to retire at an early age and travel. He also taught job skills to welfare recipients. A memorial service for him was held at Temple Emanuel in Newton, Massachusetts.
Steven A. Jacobson, 53, was a transmission engineer working on the 110th floor of World Trade Center’s north tower. His job was to keep the WPIX television station on the air, no matter what happened. After working the night shift at the television station, he opened the Town and Village synagogue where he worshiped. Mr. Jacobson was survived by his wife, Deborah, and two daughters, Rachel and Miriam.
Family was the most important thing to him; he called his mother every day. Colleagues say he called them on September 11, saying his room was filling with smoke but it was too hot to leave even though he was having trouble breathing.
Shari Ann Kandell, 27, was a support staffer at Cantor Fitzgerald. She loved the theater and was studying for a degree in English in the evenings. Her father said, “the overwhelming and outstanding quality that Shari showed all her life was her total selflessness.” Many at her memorial service at Temple Beth Rishon in Wyckoff, New Jersey spoke of her giving priority to the needs of others.
Andrew Keith Kates, 37, was a senior managing director of Cantor Fitzgerald. He was survived by his wife Emily Terry, two daughters, Hannah, 5, and Lucy, 3, and a son, Henry, 1. His wife said that although Mr. Kates was a serious bike rider, swimmer, and runner, having run the New York Marathon in three hours and 15 minutes, his family came first. Every Saturday morning, the children would crowd into bed with Mr. Kates and his wife. A memorial service for him was held at Congregation Rodeph Sholom in New York City.
Peter Rodney Kellerman, 35, was a vice president and equities trader at Cantor Fitzgerald. He was survived by his wife Robi. Mr. Kellerman had a doctor’s appointment on the morning of September 11, but came to work when the appointment was rescheduled. Friend Jon Bott wrote how he misses Mr. Kellerman’s “infectious humor, your wonderful wit and how comfortable and easy you made people feel.” A memorial service was held for him at the Park Avenue Synagogue in New York City.
Howard Kestenbaum, 56, was an executive vice president at Aon Corporation. His 24-year old daughter Lauren saw the first plane hit the World Trade Center. Mr. Kestenbaum, who was in the second tower hit, had evacuated his office on the 103rd floor and was at the 78th floor when his tower was struck. Witnesses say he was knocked unconscious by flying debris.
Mr. Kestenbaum was always joking and made others laugh. He was an active member of Congregation Beth Ann in Verona, New Jersey, visited the sick and old, and volunteered at a homeless shelter.
Mary Jo Kimelman, 34, had worked for Cantor Fitzgerald for 13 years. Friends and family say she was an extremely loyal, outgoing person who wrote poetry and enjoyed traveling. Her boyfriend, Thierry LeBras, said she had a special talent of listening to people she had just met, getting them to open up about their lives. A memorial service was held for her at Temple Emanu-El in New York City.
Glenn Davis Kirwin, 40, was a senior vice president at Cantor Fitzgerald. He was also an avid cyclist, runner, golfer, and skier, who would go on 80-kilometer bicycle rides. His wife, Joan, says he always found time to play with his sons, Miles, 10, and Troy, 7, even after long workdays. A memorial service was held for him at Westchester Reform Temple in Scarsdale, New York.
Alan Kleinberg, 39, was just days away from transferring to a different Cantor Fitzgerald office on September 11. He was survived by his wife, Mindy, a three-year old son, Sam, a seven-year old daughter, Lauren, and a nine-year old son, Jacob. His mother said Mr. Kleinberg limited his outside interests so he could spend more time with his family. A memorial service was held for him at the Jewish Center in East Brunswick, New Jersey.
Karen Joyce Klitzman, 38, worked at Cantor Fitzgerald. She and her twin sister Donna spoke with each other every day on the phone. Karen had taught English for two years in Macao and Beijing, China, and traveled in Siberia and throughout the Middle East. A memorial service was held for her at Stephen Weiss Free Synagogue in New York City.
Nicholas Craig Lassman, 28, was a computer technician for Cantor Fitzgerald. Mr. Lassman studied computers after several years of teaching golf in Florida. He also taught himself how to play the guitar and learned Russian and German so he could read books in those languages. He spoke to his parents, Ira and Laura Lassman, almost every day. A memorial service for Mr. Lassman was held at Temple Beth-El in Cloister, New Jersey.
Alan Lederman, 43, started work for Aon Corporation two months before September 11. Just before reporting to work, he climbed Mount Whitney, the tallest mountain in the continental United States. Most of his co-workers left the World Trade Center’s south tower, where he worked, but Mr. Lederman stopped to help two women who were paralyzed by panic. A memorial service was held for him at Temple Neve Shalom in Metuchen, New Jersey.
Neil D. Levin, 46, was Executive Director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which runs New York’s three major airports, its port facilities, six bridges and tunnels, and is landlord of the World Trade Center complex. Mr. Levin was at a breakfast meeting at the Windows on the World restaurant atop the north tower when it was hit on September 11.
Mr. Levin’s wife, Christine Ferer, called him “the love of my life, the most kind and generous person,” and someone who became a “super-Dad” to Ms. Ferer’s two daughters from a previous marriage. A memorial service for Mr. Levin was held at the Temple Emanu-El in New York City. His family set up a scholarship fund in his name for children of Port Authority employees killed on September 11.
Steven Barry Lillianthal, 38, was a mortgage bond broker for Cantor Fitzgerald. He was survived by his wife Adina, 4-year old twins, Emma and Gabriel, and a three-month old son, Sam. A memorial service was held for Mr. Lillianthal at Temple B’nai Abraham in Livingston, New Jersey.
Stuart T. Meltzer, 32, was an energy broker at Cantor Fitzgerald. He had two young sons; the eldest, Jacob, was four years old when he died. His brother, Larry, said he talked with Stuart at least five days a day, often discussing sports. A memorial service for Mr. Meltzer was held at Temple Emeth in Brookline, Massachusetts.
Nancy Morgenstern, 32, was an administrative assistant at Cantor Fitzgerald. She was an Orthodox Jew whose passions were cycling and skiing. She would bring kosher food and the pots and pans needed to stay kosher on cycling racing trips. In a website dedicated to her memory, her mother wrote, “Nancy, I miss you more than mere words can express. Not only were you my daughter, but you were also my best friend.”
A co-worker described Nancy as “one of the most thoughtful, disciplined, funny, crazy, independent women I ever knew.” Fifty-eight friends wrote tributes to her on her memorial website.
Laurence M. Polatsch, 32, was a partner in equities sales at Cantor Fitzgerald. A prankster, Mr. Polatsch donned a tuxedo and crashed the 2000 wedding of celebrities Catherine Zeta-Jones and Michael Douglas. He ate with actor Jack Nicholson before security guards asked him to leave. Mr. Polatsch’s mother said he once flew back from college to present her with flowers on her birthday.
Recently, Mr. Polatsch had resumed a relationship with childhood sweetheart Marni Wasserman, and they were expected to marry. Guttermann Funeral Home in Woodbury, New York confirmed that Mr. Polatsch was Jewish.
Faina Rapaport, 45, was a computer programmer working as a consultant to March & McLellan. In 1994, she and her family emigrated from Moscow, Russia to New York. At the time of her death, her son Alex was 25 and her daughter, Elena, 19. Elena said, “I know my mother is still happy about coming to America. She accomplished things that she never would have been able to do in Russia.”
Joshua Reiss, 23, was a bond trader at Cantor Fitzgerald. An enterprising young man, Joshua began delivering newspapers at age 10, worked in the family business before attending college, and worked full-time as a waiter while also being a full-time student with a double major at college. More than 1500 people attended his memorial service at Adath Israel Synagogue in Lawrenceville, New Jersey. On August 27, 2002, his mother wrote on the internet, “We miss you and still want you to come home. I will always have a void in my soul.”
Brooke David Rosenbaum, 31, was supervisor in the overseas division of Cantor Fitzgerald. He was sick on September 10, but went to work the next day because, according to a friend, he felt that without him, “the whole place would fall apart.” He was survived by his mother, Dorothy. A memorial service was held for him at the Jewish Center in Rego Park, New York.
Sheryl Lynn Rosenbaum, 33, was an accountant and partner at Cantor Fitzgerald. Her father described her as the “glue” of their family. She was survived by her husband, Mark, and two children, aged 3 months and 17 months. A memorial service was held for her at Temple Har Shalom in Warren, New Jersey.
Lloyd Daniel Rosenberg, 31, was a bond trader at Cantor Fitzgerald. He was survived by his wife Glenna and three daughters, Samantha, 5, Kaylee, 3, and Alyssa, 1. His wife said that “Lloyd’s passion was being a ‘daddy.’ His girls were his pride and joy. I will forever miss the Saturday mornings when I would sneak downstairs and watch him reading them a book or playing ‘horsie.’” A memorial service was held for him at Temple Shalom in Aberdeen, New Jersey.
Mark Louis Rosenberg, 26, was a computer programmer for Marsh & McLellan. He attended Marsha Stern Talmudical Academy in New York and Yeshiva University for a short time. Mr. Rosenberg met his wife, Jennifer, at a Jewish youth event. She said, “He was a great people person. He got along with everybody. He had a great smile and a great sense of humor.”
Andrew Ira Rosenblum, 45, was a broker at Cantor Fitzgerald. He married his wife, Jill, at Temple Hillel in North Woodmere, New Jersey, and their sons Jordan and Kyle were 14 and 11, respectively, when their father died. Mr. Rosenblum’s friend, Steve Cohen, said, “Andy was the kind of guy that had many circles of friends and many dear friends within each circle.”
Joshua M. Rosenblum, 28, was an assistant trader at Cantor Fitzgerald. He was only four days away from marrying colleague Gina Hawryluk on September 11. Ms. Hawryluk stayed home from work that day to plan their wedding. Mr. Rosenblum and co-workers smashed out windows with computers on the 104th floor to let smoke escape. A memorial service was held for him at Temple Beth El in Cedarhurst, New York.
Joshua Rosenthal, 44, was a senior vice president at Fiduciary Trust. He was an avid reader, mountain hiker, and sailor. A friend described Mr. Rosenthal as “a wonderfully warm and witty person who was loved and admired by those who knew him.” A memorial service was held for him at Birmingham Temple in Farmington Hills, Michigan.
Richard Rosenthal, 50, was vice president of finance at Cantor Fitzgerald. Mr. Rosenthal was treasurer of the Jewish Center in Fair Lawn, New Jersey and also treasurer of the Dysautonomia Foundation.
His son Evan, 18 years old when Mr. Rosenthal died, suffers from dysautonomia, a disorder of the nervous system that confines him to a wheelchair. Evan has needed a feeding tube to eat since he was 2. Friends say Mr. Rosenthal “was always with [Evan].” His younger son Seth, 15 years old when Mr. Rosenthal died, said, following September 11, “I’m going to keep calling him on the cell phone until he answers.”
Michael Craig Rothberg, 39, was a managing director for Cantor Fitzgerald. Mr. Rothberg was an avid skier, boater, and jogger. Described as “modest and unassuming” and extremely loyal to his co-workers, Mr. Rothberg raised money for multiple sclerosis in a bike-a-thon and for a friend who had cancer. A memorial service was held for him at the Temple Sholom in Greenwich, Connecticut.
Ronald J. Ruben, 36, was a vice president of equity trading at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods. Mr. Ruben, who was unmarried, “was Uncle Ronnie to 100 kids,” said his sister, Leslie Dillon. When he received his first holiday bonus, he spent it all at a toy store, delivering gifts to children at a hospital near his home.
Mr. Ruben’s father, Peter, died of cancer in 1998 and his mother, Marjorie, died in 1996, also from cancer. To honor them, Mr. Ruben had their initials, M and P, tattooed over his heart. A memorial service was held for him at Temple Israel in Ridgewood, New Jersey.
Jason Elazar Sabbag, 26, was a portfolio manager at Fiduciary Trust. He was engaged to be married to Sarah Hare when he died. A memorial service was held for him at Temple Sholom in Greenwich, Connecticut, at which friends recalled his “warm demeanor, his playful sense of humor, his extraordinary talent in sports, academics, and business, and, most of all, his love for his family and very large circle of friends.”
Eric Sand, 36, was an equity trader at cantor Fitzgerald. Mr. Sand, a talented musician who had once pursued a career in music, had more recently played guitar for a special audience — his young son, Aaron, who was 18 months old when Mr. Sand died. Mr. Sand’s wife, Michelle, said he would rush home from work to spend as much time as possible with his son. A memorial service was held for Mr. Sand at Congregation B’nai Yisrael in Armonk, New York.
Scott Schertzer, 28, worked in the human resources department of Cantor Fitzgerald. On September 10, he felt terrible because he had to give layoff notices to a number of co-workers, but this saved their lives. Mr. Schertzer was an excellent soccer and baseball player who could bench press 102 kilograms, even though he weighed only 70 kilograms.
A memorial service was held for him at Congregation B’nai Ahavath Shalom in Union, New Jersey. On December 5, 2001, his mother, father and sister posted this note on an internet memorial site: “We can never say ‘Good-bye.’ You will always be with us. We love you and will always love you.”
Ian Schneider, 45, was a senior managing director for Cantor Fitzgerald. His lifelong friend Howie Kessler said, “This guy loved life. No one danced harder at a party or shouted louder at a ball game.” His wife Cheryl said that when he arrived home, his three children Rachel, 11, Jake, 9, and Sophie, 7, fought for the right to jump first into his arms. Almost 2000 people attended Mr. Schneider’s memorial service at Temple Sharey Teflio-Israel in South Orange, New Jersey.
Many were families of the children he coached on soccer, softball, and baseball teams, a chore he undertook so he could spend more time with his children.
John Burkhart Schwartz, 40, was a bond broker for Cantor Fitzgerald. A memorial service was held for him at Temple Emanu-El in New York City.
Jason Sekzer, 31, was a vice president at Cantor Fitzgerald. His father, Will Sekzer, who is active in a fraternal society of Jewish New York policemen, described his son as “handsome, smart, humble, and polite.” Mr. Sekzer had married Nastasha Makshanov eight months before he died. On September 10, the photographer called to say that their album of wedding photographs was ready. A memorial service was held for him at East Midwood Jewish Center in Brooklyn, New York.
Hagay Shefi, 34, was the co-founder and chief executive of GoldTier Technologies, a software company. Mr. Shefi had lived in the United States for eight years, after emigrating from Israel, and was close to becoming a U.S. citizen. He was in the Windows on the World restaurant atop the World Trade Center to make a business presentation when it was struck. On September 16, 2001, his body was found intact in the rubble. He was survived by his wife Sigal, also from Israel, a five-year old son and a three-year old daughter.
Mark Shulman, 47, was a disaster inspector, fire prevention and risk consultant for March & McLellan. He was survived by his wife, Lori, and daughters Melissa, 17, and Jamie, 12. “His family always came first,” his mother Evelyn said. “He did everything for his family. I lost a treasure.” A memorial service was held for Mr. Shulman at Temple Shaari Emeth in Manalapan, New Jersey.
Allan Abraham Shwartzstein, 37, was a managing director and partner at Cantor Fitzgerald. “He was about the most considerate person I knew,” longtime friend Mark Madoff said. One thousand people attended the memorial service for him at Temple Beth El in Chappaqua, New York. He was survived by his wife, Amy, a five-year old daughter, Jessica, and a four-year old son, Matthew.
Arthur Simon, 57, was a vice president and equities trader at Fred Alger Management company. He and his son, Kenneth Alan Simon, both died in the World Trade Center. The elder Mr. Simon worked on the 93rd floor; the younger on the 104th. One of Mr. Simon’s greatest loves was dancing. He was survived by his wife, Susan, a son, Todd, and two daughters, Mandy and Jennifer. A memorial service was held for him and his son at Temple Beth El in Spring Valley, New Jersey.
Kenneth Alan Simon, 34, was an equities trader for Cantor Fitzgerald. He and his wife, Karen, had adopted a daughter, Maya, who was 10 months old when he died. “You should have seen his face when he looked into her big brown eyes for the first time,” his wife said. “He just melted.” The Simons had plans to adopt more children.
Mr. Simon called his wife after the plane hit to say that he was going to look for his father, Arthur Simon, who worked 11 stories below him. A memorial service was held for both father and son at Temple Beth El in Spring Valley, New Jersey.
William E. Spitz, 49, was a government bonds broker at Cantor Fitzgerald. He had a degree in elementary education. A memorial service was held for him at Oceanside Jewish Center in Oceanside, New Jersey.
Eric A. Stahlman, 43, was a broker for Cantor Fitzgerald. He joined the company about 10 weeks before September 11. He was survived by his wife, Blanca, who is from Ecuador, a seven-year old daughter, Allison, and a four-year old son, Jacob. Long friendships and close family ties were the things he cherished most, family members said. A memorial service was held for him at Temple Beth El in Papchoque, New York.
Alexander Robbins Steinman, 32, was a vice president in equities sales for Cantor Fitzgerald. Mr. Steinman had attended the wedding in Italy of lifelong friend Richard Diamond on the weekend before September 11. He then rushed home to get back to work, which he loved. “Alex had an incredible sense of humor and he got as much out of life as anybody possibly could,” Mr. Diamond said. He said Mr. Steinman had been “the life of the party” at his wedding in Italy. A memorial service was held for Mr. Steinman at Temple Israel in Staten Island, New York.
Kenneth W. Van Auken, 47, was a bond trader at Cantor Fitzgerald. He was survived by his wife Lorie, and two children, Matthew and Sarah. His wife says Mr. Van Auken was her “rock,” the loving spirit in her life, and someone who was always willing to interrupt what he was doing to have some fun with his children. He was also a skilled carpenter, building a deck, bookcases, and other projects around his home. A memorial service was held for him at Temple B’nai Shalom in East Brunswick, New Jersey.
Steven Jay Weinberg, 41, was an accounting manager for Baseline Financial Services. He was survived by his wife Laurie and three children, Lindsay, 12, Samuel, 8, and Jason, 6. He went to all his children’s sports events and volunteered at the Parents-Teachers Association. A memorial service for Mr. Weinberg was held at the Nanuet Hebrew Center.
Simon Weiser, 65, was a power-distribution engineer for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. A Jew born in Kiev, Ukraine in 1936, he arrived in New York in 1978. He was survived by his wife, a son, and three grandchildren. He was planning to retire in 2002.
David Thomas Weiss, 50, was vice president and deputy general counsel for Cantor Fitzgerald. He was survived by his wife Marcia and daughter Gina. He was described as a “very private man with a kind, sweet and generous heart and … above all else … limitless devotion to this family.” A memorial service was held for him at the Brotherhood Synagogue in New York City.
Michael Wittenstein, 34, was a bond broker at Cantor Fitzgerald. He was scheduled to marry his fiancée, Carrie Bernstein, on October 20, 2001. His uncle, Mark Hershkowitz, said he had thought many times after the first World Trade Center bombing in 1993 about buying Michael a parachute, and wishes he had. “Michael was one of those people who always had a smile, always seemed happy at whatever he was doing,” relative Warren Treuhaft wrote. As in the Jewish tradition, Mr. Wittenstein was buried with some of his possessions.
Marc Scott Zeplin, 33, was an equities trader for Cantor Fitzgerald. He was survived by his wife, Debra, and two sons, Ryan, 3, and Ethan, 10 months old. Mr. Zeplin once dreamed of becoming a professional sportscaster, having broadcast hockey games at the University of Michigan. His friends formed the Marc S. Zeplin Foundation, which helps children who lost a parent or loved one on September 11. A memorial service for Mr. Zeplin was held at the Jewish Community Center in Harrisson, New York.
Charles A. Zion, 54, was a senior vice president at Cantor Fitzgerald. Mr. Zion was survived by his wife, Carole, and his 16-year old son, Zachary. “He was a great guy and a great husband,” his wife said. A memorial service for Mr. Zion, who was the son of a rabbi, was held at the Greenwich Reformed Synagogue in Greenwich, Connecticut.
Andrew Steven Zucker, 27, was a lawyer with Harris Beach LLP, which had offices in the World Trade Center’s south tower, which was the second one hit. Mr. Zucker, a former volunteer fireman, stayed around the 78th floor, where the second plane hit, to help others evacuate. He was survived by his wife Erica, who was pregnant with their first child when he died. Mr. Zucker was a member of the Jewish fraternity Alpha Epsilon Pi.
Igor Zukelman, 29, worked with computers at Fiduciary Trust Company, on the 97th floor of the north tower, which was hit first. Mr. Zukelman was an immigrant from the Ukraine, arriving in the United States in 1992, and was survived by his three-year old son. According to the World Congress of Russian Jewry, Mr. Zukelman was one of 16 Russian-speaking Jews killed in the September 11 attacks.
Good post nmewn. Innocent people of all types got killed that day. Just don't try posting the names of firefighters and other rescue crews that died a few years after from the toxicity of it all, or people who lived nearby. You'll need a lot more space than what ZH can offer. A lot more than 3000 died that day. They just didn't know that they had been killed... slowly.
Excellent research, and thanks.
Thanks.
A lot of people are consumed by it (911) they form their entire lives around it. Whether it's some half-assed conspiracy theory OR all the rah rah-rally round the flag boiz! nonsense that also resulted from it.
I'm not.
All of it's bullshit, we know what happened and we can discern why that will never happen again by what HAS NOT HAPPENED SINCE. Because the first motherfucker that stands up and declares a hijacking will be beat to greasy pulp in the middle of the aisle (even if they die -individually- in the process) as everyone now knows (or at least suspects) they are all going to die.
So all the NSA spying, all the bureaucratic budgetary security expansion is also bullshit, never letting a "good crisis go to waste" so to speak.
What I always try to get across is the Deep State really doesn't give a fuck about welfare mom's or budgets or freedom or security or borders or how obese or skinny you are.
They only care about their paycheck, their pensions, their health insurance etc. and whether the state grows into an all consuming behemouth devouring everything in its path not connected to it doesn't bother them...because they are the Deep State and we are the victims or as I like to say...the-enemy-within.
Were any Israeli?
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/odigo-says-workers-were-warned...
http://www.theinsider.org/news/article.asp?id=520
The no jews died thing is disinfo.
Franken's blurb was obvious sarcasm/attempt at satire. But the Ofigo warning, the lease breaking of zim shipping, the arrest of a number of isrselis working for dom suter who fled to israel... All real.
As were Israelis seen celebrating and taking pictures - pictures the American people were not allowed to see.
http://youtu.be/QphxGBXiA-M
Because they prove they were set up before the first plane hit.
Evidence the hijacker patsies drank and smoked and grnerally werent religious is abundant. Evidence that they were closely observed (at a minimum) by mossad is also abundant.
9/11 was a false flag op run by us and israeli intelligence, but it will be the Saudis eventually blamed, just as Israel's role in actively and materially supporting both Al Nusra and ISIS is perpetually left out of the headlines.
http://landdestroyer.blogspot.com/2015/04/us-israel-wage-war-on-iran-in-...
https://uprootedpalestinians.wordpress.com/2015/10/14/russia-red-lines-i...
You know, the whole thing with starting out with a lie is, when the lie is proven false another lie must be fabricated to try and cover up the original lie.
So either Franken is engaging in a really bad joke (something unbecoming for his ill-gotten position) or he's a disinfo/psy-op or he's a liar...I really don't have to make that determination, I've always had one...he's a fucking idiot who happens to sit in the Senate, which is more of a reflection of the idiot voters who put him there than of me ;-)
Ok. I THINK i have your point?? Thanks.. Jewish Nationals killed 3. Collateral damage listed above. So your point is? Am i suppose to lightien my stance? Forget it. Thousands murdered. I could care less if these cunts saw them as the few eggs in the omlette. I feel bad for them but the evidence is overwhelming. Feel free...
http://www.veteranstoday.com/2015/10/29/how-soon-can-we-get-aipac-owned-...
http://www.veteranstoday.com/2015/10/21/rare-window-of-opportunity-for-a...
Just a tease from Dr. Preston. Excellent stuff you can read the rest. Thanks for your input !!
Putin's checkmate and exposure of the Israeli-American Terror machine in Syria has now offered Americans a rare opportunity to take back America from the Rothschild Khazarian Mafia
For the first time ever, the American People are presented with an opportunity to apply great pressure to their politicians and the Administration to stop consorting with the Israelis and the *RKM, their secret World Zionist masters.And we now know for certain that it is the *RKM who also just happens to control America’s private monetary production and distribution system through their private Federal Reserve System, which is a total fraud, completely illegal, and completely unConstitutional.
Until this massive Federal Reserve System (FRS) fraud is rectified, America is doomed to an asset-stripping process, by which it will be destroyed.
Hopefully now most Americans will learn that every Member of Congress, but one (Rep. Walter Jones), has taken an AIPAC Loyalty Oath to place Israel first, even before America, which is Treason by anyone’s definition. This is now recognized to be especially true, that signing this AIPAC Loyalty Oath to Israel is Treason according to the actual official legal definition, since we know for certain Israel attacked America on 9-11-01, and Israel is the avowed enemy of what their leaders secretly refer to as “American Goyim” (aka their “American Cattle”).
Every day, more Americans learn that the RKM’s Federal Reserve System (FRS) is neither Federal nor a Reserve, but is an illegal, unConstitutional privately-owned, foreign-based bank from the City of London that makes vast profits by defrauding Americans of their hard-earned income, and uses it to buy and bribe American elected officials.
American paper dollars are actually not American at all, but are printed Federal Reserve System NOTES, which are actually loans that must be repaid at interest. Thus, the longer Americans keep their money in circulation, the more interest is accrued. This makes the so-called American National Debt fraudulent, phony, and the biggest RICO financial crime ever committed in America.
In fact, the financial fraud is so extreme by the FRS’s use of pernicious usury charged for Americans using what should have been their own money in the first place, we now know that as soon as We The People can get the FRS canceled, most prices in the retail stores would immediately decrease by 38-40%. This should give you an idea of the massive asset-stripping of the wealth earned by hard working Americans, which the FRS has been able to obtain due to the traitors in Congress and the Administration who failed to honor their Oaths of Office.
For fuck's sake Franken was joking.
"We have to try to get it under control. If we can’t do that, then we are just going to lose control of the whole situation."
This is something a tyrant would write. For him to have it under control, he would have to take control away from us, the millions of people, who SHOULD be in control but who were illegally deprived of control by this maniac.
If he were to "lose control," the control would pass to the millions of decision-makers in the economy. That is freedom. Compare that to his drive for central planning. Welcome to the Amerikan Soviet.
How much was he paid: "echoing the conventional wisdom of the time"? A mountain will repeat everything you tell it for free!
What kind of asshole reads the book in the first place. I'd rather have an alien probe my anal cavity while watching the Kardashians 24/7 for a year straight than read what that clown has to say.
Pedro is no asshole. He is one of the good guys. His job requires that he consider all sides and read stuff that most wouldn't bother with. A true open mind.
Ben wasn't about to tell the ghostwriter anything about 2008 ghostwriter didn't already know. On the off chance Ben ever finds himself in the dock, he doesn't want to build the prosecution's case for it.
Dillon and baseball are different. Ben could spend all day on the witness stand gassing about his idyllic boyhood without having to plead the Fifth once.
Sounds like a pretty shitty, self-congratulatory, and dishonest book. Glad I'll never be reading it.
who knew ben was writing a crime novel? i am a simplistic guy - but I know organized crime when I see it. Myer Lansky got' nuthin on these fed jews.
Words that will live in infamy:
"Courage to Act" - Ben Bernanke
"I have returned from Germany with peace for our time." - Neville Chamberlain
I kept the WSJ article by Bernanke that oulined the Federal Reserve's EXIT STRATEGY from their emergency rates and economic stimulus strategies.
The article was published in JULY OF 2009!!!!!!!!!!!!
7 years later, Janet is stuck with the mess that ANYONE could have created, BEN, but the cautionary that you tossed to the wind was HOW TO GET OUT OF IT.......and there is still no answer.....