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"A Walk In The Park" - A High Level Banker's Take On #OccupyWallStreet... And Other Musings
By Russ Certo, head of rates at Gleacher
A Walk In The Park
The life of man upon earth is a warfare… Job 7:1
Let them call me rebel and welcome, I feel no concern from it; but I should suffer the misery of devils, were I to make a whore of my soul Thomas Paine
Be not deceived. Revolutions do not go backward. Abe Lincoln, May 19, 1856
We will either find a way or make one…Hannibal
Where the people fear the government you have tyranny. Where the government fears the people you have liberty.
John Basil Barnhill (1914).
I am not the friend of a very energetic Government. It is always oppressive. Thomas Jefferson
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Excerpts from “Rules for Radicals” Saul Alinsky 1971
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The first radical known to man who rebelled against the establishment and did it so effectively that he at least won his own kingdom-Lucifer Saul Alinsky (A.K.A SA)
The organizer is constantly creating the new out of the old. He knows that all new ideas arise from conflict… SA
This is the job of today’s radical-to fan the embers of hopelessness into a flame to fight… SA
A Marxist begins with his prime truth that all evils are caused by the exploitation of the proletariat by the capitalists… SA
Change means movement. Movement means friction. SA
In the Declaration of Independence, the Bill of Particulars attesting to the reasons colonists felt that England had been guilty of, but listed none of the benefits… SA
Compromise is a word that carries shades of weakness, vacillation, betrayal of ideals, and surrender of moral principles. SA
Change comes from power and power comes from organization. SA
The first step or organization is community dis-organization; fan the latent hostilities of many of the people; search out controversy; stir up dissatisfaction. SA
The target should be the banks that serve the steel, auto, and other industries… SA
Fat cat bankers…. SA
We must begin with where we are if we are to build power for change, and the power and the people are in the big middle-class majority… SA
Any organizer knows, as a particular tactic grows out of the rules and principles of revolution… SA
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Alinsky’s techniques and teachings influenced generations of community and labor organizations, including the church-based group hiring a young (Barack) Obama to work on Chicago’s South Side in the 1980s…
Chicago Sun-Times on the cover of “Rules for Radicals”
http://www.amazon.com/Rules-Radicals-Saul-Alinsky/dp/0679721134#reader_0...
Millionaires and billionaires….BHO
If you’re on the cover of a best seller, you have a responsibility. Last Thursday I walked from Town Hall in N.Y.C to Wall St. wearing my navy blue pin-stripped suit, asking for directions to the NYSE from PROTESTERS and ORGANIZERS. You should have seen the look on their faces. Kill em with kindness and a smile.
Everyone was there. SEIU, ACORN, Longshoremen and other organizers, faceless, unemployed, faceless employed, moms, dads, and lost souls. I felt like a lost soul during a slow motion walk near frozen in time. There were almost more press corps than protestors but they achieved one of their goals, virtually shutting down a major grid of commerce in one of the most travelled corners of the nation, Wall Street. Ironically, I was on my way to a conduit in support of affordable housing goals aided by a bunch of bankers in the iconic figment of capitalism, the NYSE.
It was a surreal walk accentuated by Contrast and Conflict, my own and others For me there was a conflict of the realization of a mis-understood marriage and divorce of catalyst Congressional public policy initiatives and government sponsored support, in which I was in route meeting, and with private partner capitalist mandates of mortgage finance, me.
I’ve been asked often in my own community recently, “What is Occupy Wall St.?” I sense the answer is different for different people. A dis-organized expression for many. But a highly organized expression for others from the likes of quotes from organizers above. Caroline Baum asked demonstrators AND HERSELF the question recently. Just as I side-stepped the blitz with a silhouette of a Bull in the distance. http://www.businessweek.com/news/2011-10-06/anti-wall-street-protests-ig... An organizer?!$!$%
I ask what is a banker? Who are these evil people? Is it loan officer? FX trader, teller, IG trader, taxable fixed income salesperson, middle office operations employee?
I strongly suspect the 99% is not aware of the intimate linkages of public policy-private partnership between big government and big business in the past and in the present. Is history about to be written or rewritten? Is there a correct or accurate written history? I wonder if Boston Tea Party is described accurately? Factually accurate if there is such a thing in revolution? Who is Occupy Wall St.? Who are banks? What are liar loans? How many people’s mortgages are worth less than the value of their home (8 million). Who are your friends? Which side of the isle of Congress espouses your views? Where is the genesis and chronology of blame? Who is John Gualt?
Have 99% of the Haves or Have Nots analyzed loan data? Severities, LTVs? Some would suggest that the largest percentage (near 35%) of certain vintage loans, the worst performing otherwise known as “liar loans”, weren’t even originated by banks but by one mortgage finance company named Countrywide. How awkward. I didn’t have enough time to dissert that to man unpacking sleeping bags from the van. Was there speculation? What is a vintage?
This may lean partisan but is Main Street aware of the genesis of specific Congressional initiatives to court mortgage finance companies? Barney’s (Frank) action plan specifically targeting Countrywide to increase affordable loans? Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, Senate Banking Committee Chairman Chris Dodd, Senate Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad, Former CEO of Fannie Mae, Jim Johnson, Secretary of HUD, Alphonso Jackson and dozens of others in Congress received off-market non-economic favorable mortgage financing from Countrywide as friends of Angelo. I am a banker on the way to try to partner and help make more affordable loans by increasing liquidity to support housing formation!#$$^#^^@. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angelo_Mozilo. Gretchen Morgenson has consistently written about these things.
Mortgage companies, Congress, HUD, Fannie. Is there an information, education, socio-economic, emotional, disconnect? Will history be documented accurately? The history of civilizations. One percent Barron’s, a periodical of money, suggest the protestors should occupy the place that’s the real SOURCE of the problem-Capital Hill. Will anyone see it that way? Should they? Does it make sense? Likely not, that is why I reflect on the Popular Delusions of Mankind and the Madness of Crowds. http://online.barrons.com/article/editorial_commentary.html.
Especially, since 2008. The Madness of Crowds by Mackay. http://www.amazon.com/Extraordinary-Popular-Delusions-Madness-Crowds/dp/...
This hasn’t been lost on Gretchen Mortgenson of the NYT. One would think that the NYT times would have certain partisan leanings. Gretchen has been steadfast in documenting the facts and genesis of the mortgage crises which I’m sure you can attest with a few search engine searches Can you discuss bank’s role in crises without partner Congress? Is that lost on the lost? This weekend Gretchen again makes the LINKAGE highlighting the 98th annual convention of the Mortgage Bankers Association. Gretchen must have been able to get a hold of the list of registrants as she lists quantity of attendees by firm. “Fannie and Freddie, still the socialites” from the NYT. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/16/business/fannie-mae-and-freddie-mac-st...
Randall Forsyth in Barron’s talks about a mis-match of skills (or lack thereof) of the unemployed and those sought by employers. Isn’t this really the debate that occupies Wall St.? Is also occupies the Fed as Forsyth highlights, as did I last week in rudimentary note, that the notion that “the central bank alone cannot determine unemployment and inflation through its monetary manipulations”, according for Forsyth. One should be extremely careful in understanding the consequences of policy, particularly in light of the order (or dis-order) of the day linked to failed policies.
In case you missed my note or the Up and Down Wall St Column, the upshot is that the Fed opined in its most recent minutes released last week that it “could include specific objectives for unemployment and inflation. Nor can it do much about other structural impediments such as regulatory issues. I didn’t write this, a renowned financial author and professional did. In other words the Fed could set some targets for the jobless rate, currently stuck at 9.1%, and indicate that it can keep interest rates low until it sees that rate come down meaningfully. HOWEVER< said differently as I have queried often, why are central banks bailing out poor fiscal decisions by governments and consumers alike? It was subtle verbiage in this week’s minutes which has gimmick policy implications, which ultimately affects a slew of market valuations and capital structure optimization. I didn’t hear anyone summarizing about this last week. We will watch as these communications of desired transparency for the Fed continue. http://online.barrons.com/article/SB500014240527487034927045766229929709...
In the same piece, Forsyth notes the Fed’s pledge of holding interest rates near zero until 2013 could backfire, implying that it could be more than a year and a half until the economy gets moving. So why hire now? In other words, the Fed’s dire proclamations are having the unintended consequence of having a perception become a reality, negatively impacting the viral feedback loop of confidence on consumption. Quantum physics Heisenberg Uncertainly Principle, the act of measuring an outcome changes the outcome. The Fed’s actions may ensure outcome.
Lacy Hunt of Hoisington echoes the same, that unintended consequences have superseded the Fed’s professional aims. QE2 CAUSED the current slowdown as rising equity values only helped the 1% Haves but higher energy and commodity prices, food and fuel, decimated the real incomes of the 99% Have Not average family. I paraphrase a bit here but extremely interesting points regarding unintended consequence, law of opposites. I see similarities to major themes in markets.
Consider QE2, the end of QE2, and twist. Technical micro trees from the forest themes associated policy easings in the form of ASSET PURCHASES to extrapolated asset price performance but were trumped by macro step back forest of a central bank Chairman is either protecting your cash flows or diluting/devaluing them. Easings or targeted asset purchase ironically dilute the storehouse and end of program run off realities preserve performance as a relative tightening preservation of fixed cash flows. In essence, other that grandiose and inaugural QE1, the entry and exits of other policy ruminations effected the exact opposite response Lacy and Randal pointed out. Since the actual start of twist, the curve has steepened and nominal and mortgage rates are higher, at least for now. Interest rate outcomes respond well to vigilance and less so to helicopter liquidity droppings.
Barton Biggs, as readers know, authored one of my favorites “Wealth, War, and Wisdom.” I will borrow a major tenet from the book and apply it to major global markets in the last several weeks or even last week and to the comments from Barron’s above. I am not an advocate of efficient market theory but Biggs purports the nuance that historically, WWII in this case, the collective wisdom of markets often accurately discount inconceivable outcomes by the masses. He studied asset performance, not during the Great Depression, but during more onerous WW2 when the practical reality was one of living in a subterranean subway for survival from Axis. Shockingly, he backdated and found that collective psyche of markets, asset performance, and wealth preservation often discounted the future probability of outcome in major battles of the war.
You don’t need to look at news footage of Wall Street protestors to know that banks are among the most hated of sectors. In the U.S. the S&P Financials is the worst performing sector of the year, down 21%. The Stoxx European banks are down a heftier 30% in local currencies. Many major financial entities are down closer to 40%. http://online.barrons.com/article/SB500014240527487034927045766230319099...
Dare I say that the irony of unintended consequences and collective wisdom of markets not just Fed policies or wartime scenarios MAY see Occupy Wall Street as the cover of Time Magazine and collective discounting. Of elections. Maybe, price actions reflect extreme sentiment. However, maybe the great dissatisfaction of this day may in fact be statistically impacting election outcomes. Has popular sentiment become so impacting that the James Carville observation, “it’s the economy, stupid” has extrapolated a reverse course statistical policy outcome?
Oil and gas gained 10% on the week. Norway was the largest European gainer this week up 7% as its proxy to energy export. There was a 7% move in financials, 12% S&P gains since early last week, up on the year, longest streak in 6 months, 5.5% Euro gains off the low of early this month after September posted biggest USD one month gain since 2008 crises, 10% appreciation of risk and commodity and growth oriented Brazilian real, Ausi dollar……collective wisdom of markets. Or maybe, some players anticipated the Barron’s Cover Story, “Time to Buy!” financial institutions. http://online.barrons.com/article/barrons_cover.html#articleTabs_panel_a...
Is it as simple as pent up extreme sentiment, European political resolve, stronger retails sales or value investing?
What about bonds and what do they make of all this? After the benchmark Treasury yield plummeted in September to 1.627%, its lowest levels since the 1940s, the 10 year yielded 2.22% late Friday, up sharply from 2.08% at the start of the week. The 30 year at 3.205 vs. 3.025, a dramatic pullback in the face of operation twist. Unintended consequences, law of opposites, macro Chairman easing create inflation aspirations trumping micro technical asset purchase twist schemes. Forsyth, Lacy, Barton, Occupy. http://online.barrons.com/article/SB500014240527487034927045766230413489...
Maybe, three fold European plan taking place: new bailout for Greece, effort to shore up banks, and reassuring insurance backstop mechanism firepower. (I have strong opinions on this newfound concept of insurance so let’s talk off record.) Maybe, bond and equity markets alike are responding to central banks achieving their goals, of creating inflation. “Euro Zone’s Inflation Jumps FAR Above Target.” The annual rate of inflation rose in September to 3% from 2.5% in August. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142405297020400230457663044366795749...
Collective wisdom of Schumer Bill. On October 6, 46 Democrats and 16 Republicans joined to pass the Schumer bill, which would require the Treasury and the Commerce Department to impose retaliatory tariffs on nations that have overvalued currencies. China.
Supposing, Congress IS right and that if China stopped manipulating its currency which many an economist deem 15% to 38% undervalued, would a 38% increase of all prices of goods imported from China be good for American consumers? Bond market take notice. Rules for Radicals incite your largest creditor in fragile economic climate? Smoot-Hawley knocked 15% of the value of U.S. imports almost immediately. Canada partner/neighbor responded and quickly erected trade barriers of their own. U.S. exports fell 50% in less than 3 years. Weak economic tidings but importation of inflation? http://online.barrons.com/article/SB500014240527487038870045766293102408...
Floyd Norris NYT timeliness. Imports to most countries plunged when the credit crises began in 2008, and then recovered. But in recent months, slowing economies have led to renewed declines in most countries in the Euro zone. Appropriate time for retaliatory Schumer tariffs, no? http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/15/business/europes-consumers-are-pointin...
What will the consequence of the litany of above listed policies be on inflation? Other than being scared to dickens by policies which DISCOURAGE confidence in housing formation, “Looking to Rent? Good luck.” This NYT Real Estate Section title notes that times may be tough but rents in Manhattan are breaking records. They now average $3,331 a month, and vacancy rates have fallen. Rents make up more than 30% of owners equivalent rent (OER), the largest portion of the CPI. Unintended consequences. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/16/realestate/rents-in-manhattan-rebound-...
The above section feature is validated by the WSJ article articulating that many metropolitan markets have price/rent ratios in the single digits, suggesting bargains abound. Take notice that this rent creep will be hitting the CPI. This is ironic in the fact that more people are renting as home ownership housing stock has come down significantly by historical standards. Buy high, sell low? NOW Barney and Congress are promoting renting. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142405297020477460457662944331303573...
Popular delusions of mankind and the madness or crowds. Ironies of laws of unintended consequences, policy prescriptions, community “organizations” or disorganizations, world of opposites, marriages and divorce of politicians and bankers, partisan parties, twists, collective wisdom discount mechanisms, rent or buy, buy or sell, 1% or 99%.
Russ
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I'll take my country back for starters. The Chinese prefer longer-term trading partners these days. Let the Bankers have their ironic destiny served to them and without the protection of the American military. I know how you feel but the pursuit of vengeneance multiplies losses, Hitler and Bin laden are two example. Justice and revenge are very different concepts.
Look at the impact that Occupy Wall Street is having, whereas no one even knew what it was 4 weeks ago. The lesson? Don't underestimate the impact of so-called "fringe" movements. We'd be well-advised to keep tabs of another national movement that's gathering pace and has the potential to more directly hit the banks where it hurts: http://bit.ly/pVu04R
The 5th of November, yet!
Reads like it's written by someone hooked on Ritalin and crack. Did anyone manage to follow this wandering, meandering, meaningless, smug, mendacious crap to the end? I couldn't. I think this guy actually believes he is somebody important enough to be hated and was surprised when nobody gave a fuck.
the technique, if you cant' dazzle them with brilliance
baffle them with bullshit.
end the fed. it is that simple.
the root is dead. it is that simple.
it was all an illusion, get over it.
at least were not dead yet !
.
as marlon brando said ...
.... "Are you a soldier? You're not a soldier, you're a grocery clerk,
sent to collect payment for the bill. And Pete Rose belongs in the
Hall of Fame."
i leave it up to you to make all sentient connections.
.
but i remember hearing that marlon brando's last words were
" what was that ? "
WE recognise the fraud and theft partenership between the Government and selected banksters . It doesn't matter how thw fascist media spins OWS that issue hasn't and will not change. Both parties are corrupt Congress exempting theirselfs and selected fascisdt from criminal fraud . Both parties have to be replaced Congress has to be subjected to the same laws as the 99%.
I'm down with russ. People with pitchforks aren't considering anything except their own self righteous seething anger and jealousy. True there has been some stuff that's been done wrong, a lot of it infact, but there's more than "those evil bankers" to blame for it and "hanging them" isn't going to fix anything. Really, it won't fix it. It's either all going to blow up or it isn't. You don't need to be there pretending there is a line in the middle where if you're on one side you're right and on the other you're wrong. Life just isn't like that. It's ALSO possible that a guy disagrees with the policies that he has somehow benefitted from in a local maximum kind of way... I mean, think of it, if you don't smoke, you probably don't mind the clean air in the bar... even if you think they should be allowed to smoke in there. so before anyone goes bitching because some guy says "Wait a minute, there's more than pitchforks and moltav cocktails to consider here," think.
go ahead. vote me down while you proceed to saw off the branch you're sitting on. good luck with that.
The result of the French Revolution was Napoleon, but also, a re-leveling of wealth took place. The distribution of wealth in the US has become so skewed towards to top that the rest of the people are becoming unable to have financial stability--when you can't build up a savings account for a rainy day and have to rely solely on credit when the eventual "bad things" happen, you are screwed. The elite want us to be completely subservient and indebted with no means of building wealth or even any safety net for ourselves. The government wants the same thing--total dependence on worthless government programs. The situation will become untenable unless a major change of course takes place.
If at some point, I am unable to provide for my family despite working hard to do so, I will revolt, bet on it.
"If at some point, I am unable to provide for my family despite working hard to do so, I will revolt, bet on it."
THAT is probably the BEST definition of when the SHTF. And I'll be standing by you brother.
Peak Oil (and a reversal of globalisation) and new methods of transportation are issues that needed to be dealt with 5 years ago... Yet this idiotic skid mark is worried about his bonus. Crocodile tears for a 'high level bankster'.
Who or what is a 'banker'?
Anyone that shuffles securities/paper for money without personal risk or obligation. If you're a loan officer at a bank/CU, you know the system well enough to know that you're committing fraud/grand larceny; if you're a CEO of a hdge fund, you're the ones writing the rules on how fraudulent activity can be perpetrated without legal consequences.
In short, if you hold any position above 'teller' in a financial institution, there's a rope with your name on it.
Thesis: The whole #OWS movement is about people in power abusing their power for base self enrichment
1. Wall Street CEOs had the power to hide offshore business, obfuscate transactions, all to self enrich
2. Underperforming executives take rock star salaries while laying people off, even when business is good, and getting massive severances for failing
3. Politicians sending tax receipts to fund their friends and their personal self-aggrandizing projects
4. Churches covering for unimaginable sins of their employees to keep the money rolling in
5. Underperforming centi-millionaire sport stars getting paid since cable TV costs, which largely fund the salaries, are pushed to the unempowered public
6. Unions pushing for member retirement in the forties with lavish benefits – at the expense of a voiceless public that cannot choose services
7. Politicians agreeing to the above and worse simply to stay in power
The list can go on. This is not 1% vs. 99% on earnings per se. It is about a systemic crash in cultural values and a shift is needed where people in power prefer to use it improve everyone else’s condition rather than abuse it for ignoble goals. Naïve? Yes. But if we don’t change it we’re lost
Changes in law are not going to change this. There is a cultural revolution that needs to happen.
Exactly right. No law is going to fix what is wrong here. The problem is how people act when nobody is looking. Just because you can make some greedy grab doesn't justify doing so. There has been an extreme lack of long-term thinking about consequences for one particular generation of people. The US has been raped repeatedly with no comeuppance for the rapists.
Talk about not getting what the problem is! These guys were given an inch and took a thousand miles, choking off capital from many other parts of the economy that don't get special deals or representation in Congress, pay themselves outsized bonuses when everyone else is struggling to keep the lights on, and then wonder why the hell the rest of us are so utterly frustrated and pissed off? All I can say is, let them keep pushing and see what happens.
"Living is keeping the absurd alive. Keeping it alive is, above all, contemplating it. Unlike Eurydice, the absurd dies only when we turn away from it. One of the only coherent philosophical positions is thus revolt. It is a constant confrontation between man and his own obscurity. It is an insistence upon an impossible transparency...
The workman of today works every day in his life at the same tasks, and this fate is no less absurd. But it is tragic only at the rare moments when it becomes conscious."
The Myth of Sisyphus.
When Zeus punishes for revealing his secrets and 'tricking' the Gods to escape death, then the only rational response of an existential (anti) hero is revolt. The dichotomy of scorning the sheep for their ignorance, whilst jumping around in panic when they do strive to be conscious is a pathetic one.
As you like your Bible, Mr Certo:
Corinthians 13:12
For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.
http://www.bloomsburyacademic.com/view/BeyondControl_9781849660907/chapt...
our social and personal calculus tells us change is the constant
our psychology resists
saul alinski informed a generation. "out-organize them!" were our standing orders. L0L!!! everybody else's, too!
banksters not excepted
Wow! Margaret Brennan was chatting with Al Hunt about OWS. Said signs were offensive. Racially divisive and anti-semitic in nature. Here comes the smear campaign.
Also read an article on snitch feeding inside information of OWS tactics to the FBI, NYPD and targeted companies.
"A walk in the park" continued as a ramble on the page. What a mess.
(dup)
What is a banker? Well, you do not appear to be especially articulate, much less introspective, so I’m going to give you a hand.
A banker is someone who sees what he wants to see in the OWS protests, which means he will miss what is really coming---and coming for him.
A banker is someone who doesn’t feel it necessary to own his own losses, because he considers lobbying money and campaign contributions to be a kind of dynamic hedging vehicle.
A banker is someone who believes his mere existence is worth five times base at bonus time, and twenty times if he can get the taxpayer to cover his errors.
A banker is someone who knows, when all else fails, there is still at least one sucker on an asset management desk somewhere in Bavaria.
A banker is someone who knows style trumps substance, so he can boast about some charitable “affordable housing initiative” that is really a bank profit center.
A banker is---to paraphrase Malcolm Forbes---the asset with the widest margin in the investment universe, where fortunes could be made buying a banker for his actual worth and selling him for what he thinks he is worth.
These groups of freeloaders have mortal fear of tea party and they rightly should because tea party as far as the politics of the republic is the dog that wags the tail.
Oops looks like TPTB forgot to pay off the military.
Quite a major faux pas. Marine Sergeant Stands Up to Protect Wall Street Protesters from NYPD www.washingtonsblog.com
That was great! Semper fi indeed.
yes, who IS a banker anyway? a teller, a loan officer, a janitor who takes out the bank's trash at the end of the day? are not these people bankers? huh?
We have been lied to systematically and have been patronized for far too long, it's time to end it!
To whom was this article written to?
I could barely comprehend any of it. Seemed very disconnected, cut-off and disconnected.
Anyone got the Cliff Notes?
Jesus wept. This needs an editor in the worst possible ways.
Congressman McFadden's Speech
On the Federal Reserve Corporation:
http://home.hiwaay.net/~becraft/mcfadden.html
"I ask what is a banker? Who are these evil people? Is it loan officer? FX trader, teller, IG trader, taxable fixed income salesperson, middle office operations employee?"
I say, use the guillotine on them all and let God sort them out, bankster!
(That quote historically annotated to first come from the Catholic cardinal who order the massacre of the Cathars back in the 16th century or thereabouts.
For an excellent fictional treatment of this, I highly recommend Kate Mosse's Labyrinth.
I seldom read fiction, so I only spend time reading the most entertaining sort -- and this was an excellent read.)
Did you smoke a joint before going for a walk in the park. Or was it crack. Id say crack judging by the way this article is written. And YOUR a banker???
God help us all.
George Parr - Credit Crunch
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DXJtnqXubK0
Man does this drip with condescension, arrogance and ignorance. On the one hand it's brilliant: Put a face on the culprit (e.g., the "loan officer" dulling out a low-income loan) and suddenly the protestors have an epiphany that bankers are good. One problem with the message. No one is denying that banks are good although it's convenient (and yes outrageously patronizing to color the protestors as morons incapable of understanding that) to create the appearance that the banking industry is a monolith. Of course, maybe you see it (and know it) as a monolith because the largest banks have seen to it that they buy into virtually every nook and crany of the financial services industry actually creating the monolith.
I suspect one major complaint of the more thoughtful protestors is that it is precisely because a handful of banks control and influence virtually every nook and crany of the financial services industry that our financial system is so vulnerable.
(Now, as to the last point, this is when the great think-tank banks are at their very best, producing reams of well organized data to prove that they influence nothing and that they control even less.)
I would add another quote to the article: 1Timothy 6:
6But godliness with contentment is great gain. 7For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. 8But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that. 9People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction. 10For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.
Well it behooves one to judge the message, not the messenger, although given the author's convoluted writing style one can easily understand fellow readers' ire. i do agree with 2 points he has made:
1. That Clinton-era policies sought to force lenders to lower their lending standards, subsequently leading to explosive growth of structured financial products (CDOs and such) which, at their very core, were invented as a self-defense mechanism. Gradually these lending institutions and their bankers grew addicted to what was essentially 'free money' (fees), and the rest is history;
2. The world might be plunged into a period of high stagflation (5-10%, or worse!), as soon as policy makers in the west run out of options. Which would, of course - for lack of better words - absolutely suck.
Hey but there's still time.
How come, in discussions of the problems that do truly exist, the names of Rockefeller, Rothschild, Morgan, Warburg and a few other banking families are not mentioned (rarely, anyway)?
All the activity that is occurring here and abroad fails to address the root causes (namely those mentioned above). This is like treating a cancer with aspirin to alleviate the pain, or kicking the can down the road, or going to the politicos and "asking" for them to fix things. Generally that won't work...will it? Has it yet?
I learned about the above-mentioned families and their bloodlines back in '75 from a dying man. He had no reason to BS me or anyone else. I have observed their actions since that time, confirmed what I have learned, know they are quite predictable and not very bright (probably due to in-breeding...ha ha ha).
It is likely, due to the unrest, that a distraction is needed fairly soon....war is a good one (typical of their maneuvers) and very profitable for "them". Some good distractions of recent are that "Casey Anthony" and "Michael Jackson's Doctor" soap operas. It seems that everything they do is to follow the protocol of "problem, reaction and solution". Study Machiavelli's (1500's) book "The Prince" for more insight into this way of manipulating the masses. It happened to me, too (hoodwinked), up until '75, that is. If you feel the "market" is manipulated...I have news for everyone...that is the tip of the iceberg. The bigger market is the approximate 7 billion people on this planet and virtually every one of them gives a piece of their "arse" to those few families mentioned in the first paragraph. It's good business for "them" in one way or another. Does this make sense? Why do it? You don't have to. You have a choice.
Not here to make a point without a solution, if a large amount of people would simply stop going to work, we will see a major shift. May not be pretty, but effective, nonetheless. Continuing to go to "work" for "them" is pointless and will accomplish what they want. That makes them happy, it seems. Ohhh..and don't forget the legacy being left to our offspring. Ladies out there...is that what you want for your kids? Dads...what about you? Are you all going to just take it up the "arse" without a murmur? If you were witness to a pervert raping a 10 year old girl, would you just stand there? Listen, I already know many out there would just walk away and pretend they saw nothing. How do I know? Because I have witnessed similar events and have intervened unarmed to stop a crime(s). So don't go saying I'm just talking...I have done it and was outnumbered. Have you? These families mentioned above are cowards...they hide undercover and pay their minions to do their dirty work. I repeat, they are yellow bellied cowards. They send your kids off to wars that are nothing more than manipulated events designed to enhance their profits. Think about the latter. This is really sad, especially for those serving and not aware of what is really going on (and before someone goes on about something military related, I was in for 8 years). If you don't think this is true, better spend some time learning about it. Want more of the same, including more empire-ism and human manipulation BS, then keep going to work. They won't even thank you for it.
Thank you
Brilliant article. finally someone looking at OWS from a different perspective, and recognizing the idiocy, and conventional wisdom, of these people.
Solution: End the federal reserve.
Solution: End the federal government.
Solution: End all fiat and fractional reserve practices.
In the end, let NOBODY have control over any other human being. Let there be ZERO "official powers". We all have a right to produce goods, exchange goods, defend ourselves and our property against physical harm, and do anything we want that causes no harm to others or their property. There is NO PLACE in any world or universe of sane sentient beings for "fictitious entities" or "officials thereof" with special powers. End all fiat, fake, fraud, fiction, fantasy and fractional-reserve. Get real.
And then of course there is Tony: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2eqAuFBNy0Q
Here is a snap-shot of a bank full of banksters:
During the '80s and '90's, I used to race sailboats with a Washington Mutual Employee. (They were one of the first banks to go belly-up.) He told me that they deliberately gave home loans to people they expected to default, because, about three-times the value of the home changed hands when the default occured. --- Was there collusion? Damned right, there was! And it extended all the way down, through the mid-level, to most of their employees.
I don't believe that it is just the board of directors and major investors that are involved in a bank's wrong-doing.