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Written by:
bobo
3/6/2009 9:31 AM
I think the defining moment for me was when Bernanke responded to the question from Congress, as to whether the American people (and their elected representatives in Congress) would be told to whom all their tax dollars have been given or lent. That single word summed it up perfectly for me: "No."
Any illusions that the money trust in the US, that collection of bankers and hedge fund managers and industrialists who are the beneficiaries of the systematic looting of the Treasury under the current "emergency" measures, is going to do anything other than precisely whatever it likes, or is going to report to those being looted, was dispelled at that moment. Likewise, nobody has been able to articulate why the massive swindle at AIG continues to be subsidized by our tax dollars - but again, no reporting on where those dollars are going will be forthcoming.
Basically, the gloves are off and the banking establishment - the for-profit cartel of private bankers that is the Federal Reserve - refuses the most basic explanations of where our, and the next several generations' retirements, are going.
Just won't talk. Nope. Shhhhh. It's a secret.
So AIG sells insurance for which it has no collateral, thinly disguising it as credit default swaps, to those with no financial interest in the things being insured (which is illegal if insurance), and you and I get to pay those who bought the swaps and are now collecting big on the destruction of the market and the American way of life. Not a mention of simply making swaps illegal and calling them what they are - illegal insurance, which should be null and void. Nope. Instead, we get to pay out hundreds of billions, to Goldman and the Saudis and whomever else is fortunate enough to be a counterparty - but we can't know to whom the billions are being paid. Again. That's a secret.
I was thinking about how casual the disregard for the rule of law has become on Wall Street, and how confident the money trust is in our apathy and our absence of the will or the means to interfere with their schemes. And well they should be. As nothing has, and likely nothing will.
When I started writing about the naked short selling scam, and the underlying larceny that drove it, I predicted it would ultimately destroy the engine of prosperity that is the US market system. My reasoning was simple - if you allow crooks to run the system, to take money without requiring they deliver what they were paid for, you don't have a market, you have a giant fraud. And a system built upon a foundation of fraud isn't sustainable; eventually there are no more rubes to fleece. I also was vocal that while this started out as a penny stock fraud, it had grown to include small-cap companies, and that left unchecked, it would ultimately destroy the IBMs of the world just as surely as it has the countless small-caps. And here we are - the other day, the CFO of GE was forced to acknowledge its stock is being deliberately manipulated down, however he had no choice but to simply ignore it and focus on the long term, as nobody was going to do anything to stop it. How remarkable is that? We've gone from where this was a penny stock issue, to where one of the largest multi-nationals in the world is being played...and there's nothing anyone is going to do about it.
So what's the endgame? Is it to depress the markets to the point that all the naked short shares are coverable at a profit? A decade's worth of fraud, nicely solved by taking the Dow to 4000? Or is it simply that the jig is up on the larger scam, the fiat money game, and this is the final landgrab before the currency goes the way of used Charmin?
At this point, it's hard to know. There's no joy in being right. Nobody's calling to congratulate me, or Patrick, or Patch, for a job well done. There are no full page articles in the WSJ, as there were speculating as to my identity, saying, "GD it, they were right! Their full page ad in the Washington Post was right! This is destroying the system, and the same miscreants doing it are doing it to the global system using equally fraudulent tactics while the politicians pretend to have more pressing items on their agenda!" Nope. Because the money trust is particularly good at revisionist history, and spin, and controlling the information flow. And because they know you won't remember accurately what the hell happened 5 years from now, thus whatever a Nocera or a Greenberg says in print, no matter how obviously false, will become your accepted truth.
Their contempt for you is manifest in every action now, every day, as the looting moves out into the open. Oh, sure, there's plenty of hand wringing and table pounding by supposedly concerned politicians and the occasional journalist, however the point is your money is being systematically stolen, and you can't do anything to stop it. Game over.
I used to believe it was an information gap. That if I only articulated the problem using the right words, in the right forum, that exposure would be sufficient to drive those entrusted with protecting us to do their job. For a while I believed that inaction was a function of ignorance of the true issues, and that if only the correct explanation was put forth, that then a lightbulb would go off in the collective Congressional head, and the problem would be corrected.
Now I know better. Patrick's site, DeepCapture.com, is read by every major news outlet on a regular basis, as is this site. It's not that the info isn't knowable or known. It's that nothing will ever be done to change it; not by those with the apparent power to do so. Because even that power is an illusion. As evidenced by the single word response to a demand for the most basic and obvious form of transparency in the largest landgrab of national wealth in history:
"No."
I suppose "Bite Me" or "Fat Chance" are more inefficient uses of language. Why increase the number of words when a monosyllable will readily convey the entire idea?
So as you watch the value of your home decline by 60%, and your portfolio decline by at least that amount, and watch as we move from recession into depression (the jobless rate, BTW, is a joke, as it is far above 8% - reality is that we are closing in on 20%, likely to go more like to 25% or higher over the next year), consider that there have been plenty of voices calling this as it is. All along. It's simply that it isn't in the money trust's interests that those voices be heard, or remembered.
A system predicated upon fraud isn't sustainable. A clearing and settlement system that facilitates counterfeiting and fraud, and is accountable to nobody, isn't a clearing and settlement system. A media that only touts the party line isn't a free press. A private cartel of banks, writing trillions of dollars of taxpayer-funded checks while refusing to tell anyone who is receiving the loot isn't a sustainable banking system. A government that allows all the above to become the status quo, and which twists statistics in order to lie to its own citizenry as well as the rest of the world, isn't a sustainable government.
So many were divided over a black President being elected, and liberal ideas taking the day over conservative ones, but doesn't everyone understand that it's all theater, designed to take your mind off the obvious looting of the nation? Who really cares what color or religion or ideology the guy who slips the icepick into your spine is? Why would it even matter?
Rome is on fire. The government is pumping gasoline through the fire hoses, and the only ones benefiting are the recipients of the trillions and trillions of dollars of your money. Fairly soon, I think it will be safe to say that the formerly prosperous middle class will become the working poor, in a land filled with half-vacant strip malls selling shoddily-made crap to a populace so numb and dazed it doesn't know the difference and can't remember anything better. Just as 50 years ago seems like a fairy-tale time, when a gas station attendant could support a wife, kids, a car or two, and a home on his salary, a few years ago will sound surreal to our children; imagine a time when two working parents could afford a home and a car! Imagine when there was enough work for both of them to even work steadily! Imagine owning a car! Or a home! That's crazy talk, and we can't change things, so why dwell on it...
That's where we're headed. I was roundly criticized by many of my readers for being a pessimist back at Dow 12K+ for saying anyone with a dime in the market was an idiot - that you had better-regulated odds of prevailing at the blackjack table in Vegas than in the markets. I guess that too was a bit prescient, no? Still not getting it? Still think you can play in the rigged casino and win? You can't. Only about 300 rich white guys ultimately win, and you aren't one of them if you are reading this blog. Trust me on that.
So that's what's been on my mind lately, as I watch the last vestiges of the illusion crumble, and the rapacious character of the beast emerge from its lair to strip the final bits of flesh from the already rotting carcass.
Last one out turn off the lights.
As always, Digg it if you believe this blog deserves wider readership.
Copyright ©2009 Bob O'Brien
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40 comment(s) so far...
Re: Random Musings On The End Of The American Experiment
<< A system predicated upon fraud isn't sustainable. A clearing and settlement system that allows counterfeiting and fraud, and which answers to nobody, isn't a clearing and settlement system. A media that only touts the party line isn't a free press. A private cartel of banks, writing trillions of dollars of taxpayer-funded checks while refusing to tell anyone who is receiving the loot isn't a sustainable banking system. A government that allows all the above to become the status quo, and which twists statistics in order to lie to its own citizenry as well as the rest of the world, isn't a sustainable government.>> Yup, just about right.
By CMElec on
3/6/2009 5:02 PM
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Re: Random Musings On The End Of The American Experiment
I've also come to the same conclusion in about the same way. I always wondered why the North Koreans didn't overthrow their leaders and instead kept taking it on the chin, decade after decade. We're not much different and people are just not willing to stand up for fear of being the nail that sticks out and gets hammered down. Sad.
Apathy will, at some point, come home to roost. And we're seeing it unfold.
The best hope I hold at this point is that the states amend the UCC so that this fraud stops and requires reporting and disclosure of financial intermediaries. The UCC and the states have the power to do that. Working on it is all I'll say.
The NCANS letter signed by over 1,000 people also predicted exactly what is happening now. GE and Berkshire Hathaway are nice juicy targets for the fraudsters that will be greatly harmed unless this madness stops.
"We The People" can make any law we want and can run this country any way we want. I hope we the people stop complaining and start acting accordingly.
By tommytoyz on
3/6/2009 5:02 PM
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Re: Random Musings On The End Of The American Experiment
I watch the financial pundits through this, and they are STILL trying to tout that putting money into the market is a smart thing to do "for the long run." It's like they have been programmed to ignore the structural deficiencies that have caused this unprecedented wipeout. Folks, this is nothing more than the bear raids of the 20's being conducted by far wealthier, computer-driven pools of manipulative money. The end result will be worse. There's way more money to be made by the 300 rich white guys by destroying the markets and the country, than there is building it. That's the plain truth, thus you can expect more of this to come. More insane reallocations of massive wealth via bailouts and anonymous loans. More destruction of the average Joe's capital. More havoc in the fiat money system, as the money trust wrings the last of the juice out of the formerly fatted calf.
We have a petition signed by about 10,000 people. Nobody cares. We have taken out full page ads. We have discussed the issue with guys like Forbes. We have tried to get the states to pass laws protecting us. We have been on TV, radio, the papers. And nada. Nothing. Zilch. It's pretty fair to say that some of us have invested many years of our lives in calling this, to no real avail. It's not depressing, it is rather a lesson in human nature, and the corruption that is the inevitable end result of big money.
So now we get to watch the end game, and my sense is that it will be a life altering event for many millions.
Too bad, is all I can say. It didn't have to be this way.
By bobo on
3/6/2009 5:35 PM
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Re: Random Musings On The End Of The American Experiment
The Fraudonomy. The base of the problem is that we lack sound money supported by a strong regulatory framework. Until we have that, nothing will change -- a system that vacillates between hidden fraud and blatant fraud. Sound money alone will not change anything. Without a strong regulatory framework, the sound money will be quickly abandoned. Likewise, all the talk about a “stronger” regulatory framework will ultimately accomplish little. Without sound money, what’s the point?
With this in mind, most like to think of what’s currently transpiring as some sort of extreme bad luck, not predictable by any but the gods. Well, it might have been “predicted” by gods of sorts, but not the kind of gods one would commonly imagine.
Though Wall Street pretty much engages in fraud as the standard mode of doing their “business”, the immediately preceding 25 years or so was a “special situation” requiring they pull out all the stops. I see current round of blatant fraud as the result of an irresistible opportunity. That opportunity was a large, well-educated, productive demography with a high standard of living ostensibly saving for its retirement, increasingly via tax sheltered, self-directed accounts.
Wall Street saw this booty and had to have it. In their mind, they “deserved” it. So we were sold a series of fake booms, real busts, and siphoning savings all along the way. By their logic, the demographic was going to cause (Wall Street) real financial stress once it began cashing out in 2010. So Wall Street did what it does best, it front ran the event. The government was going to have to step in anyway in some fashion, so why not profit as much as possible before that day arrived?
By the way, Wall Street also figured out how to falsely balloon and siphon profits from the only other historically reliable form of Joe-six-pack savings: housing. By their MBS packaging mechanisms and various “insurance” scams, they were able to harvest these savings as well. Instead of eventually facing a demographic wave of downsizing and selling on its own, the real estate sector now has full government support, whatever that amounts to. And similar cases might be made for annuities and pensions.
The government’s knee-jerk response was predictable, was planned on, counted on, and ultimately laughable to the string pullers. They’ve run their massive scams, gotten away with it, pretty much Scott-free, and are now sitting back, counting their gains, while being morbidly entertained with the wildly flailing government responses to date. They can hardly believe their good fortune in that, not only have they absconded with the loot and avoiding any accountability, many of their thought-to-be disposable absconding vehicles are now being sustained by the same taxpayers they’ve already looted. What a hoot! The perps don’t give a sh#t; they’re not capable of giving a sh#t. And without sound money and a strong regulatory framework, why should they?
-taboonss
By Take a Bite Out of NSS on
3/6/2009 7:46 PM
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Re: Random Musings On The End Of The American Experiment
Don`t forget, bobo, this whole thing is extremely easy to fix. They can fix it anytime they want to, despite the talking heads saying otherwise. Imagine what would happen if Shapiro announced this weekend that not only naked shorting was banned, but that all shorting was banned, and all trades must be settled T+3 with no exceptions. The market would rocket to new highs in a week. The whole market would do a volkswagon type move. There is a lot of money out there looking for a home.
By oldfeller on
3/6/2009 7:44 PM
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Re: Random Musings On The End Of The American Experiment
Well, oldfeller, a hole in the bottom of a boat is also easy to fix. You plug the hole. But it's never been a function of how easy it is to fix, is it? It's whether anyone with the power to fix it will. So far we have seen nothing. We have heard talk, we have seen token attempts, but we have not actually seen anything even approaching a fix, and we won't. Shapiro? Please. She's a zero. She was a zero 10 years ago, and is a zero now. My prediction is that we will still be discussing how the system doesn't force settlement 4 more years from now, just as we did 4 years ago, and 4 years before that.
Again, as long as you have a system that doesn't require that goods be delivered when they are paid for, you have a system built on fraud - and that isn't sustainable.
By bobo on
3/6/2009 7:50 PM
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Re: Random Musings On The End Of The American Experiment
We have discussed this many, many times and I was foolish enough to think that with all of the Paul Revere warnings that we gave out to every single cell organism that this would change our weakest point and our most prevalent problem , "THE DUMBING OF AMERICA". I must say that not only was I wrong but I was off by a mile. In the last two years there is not a day that goes by that does not re-affirm my conviction that Americans are becoming more morally challenged and dumber at a more alarming rate than before. One only has to look at how we entertain ourselves and look at those we hold in high esteem to realize we have the class of crazed wino who thinks that TV is for real and Europe is on the other side of that big beach ball. Lets face it, Americans are stupid and what is worse they are content in being so as long as they don't have to make decisions or get off their fat asses to go the extra m ile. The mere fact that less than 5% of our populace knows about Madoff or even give a rats ass that he pulled it off with the ease of buying a lottery ticket after the sheriff was notified for 10 years that someone was robbing the lottery store. Our love affair with WWF, Oprah, American idol and all other socially redeeming venues just might give us a clue. The fact that rudimentary knowledge of the investment world is kept from evryone is the red flag that tells you that you are a bullseye for the powers to be as you have been prepared for the fleecing that is inevitable. I always thought this was too harsh to say but now it is common knowledge. As always the pendulum swings too far before it corrects, and I believe that is starting to happen however this time I think the consequences will be much more dire and a lot of people will be hurt. I really hope I am wrong.
By rtway on
3/6/2009 10:01 PM
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Re: Random Musings On The End Of The American Experiment
Well bobo think about it. They convinced the sec that they needed things like the Madoff exception to prevent the pump and dump schemes that they themselves had been doing for a long time. Once they had that they attacked the microcaps with a fury and made a killing. It worked so well that they decided to go after bigger targets. It worked there too. Beyond even their wildest dreams. But now they realize that they might have overdone it. After all any parasite notices when the blood starts getting so thin it tastes like water. So what does a multibillionaire parasite do in this position? Simple-- Buy back all the fake shares and a bunch of the real shares. Then tell your employees at the sec that real shares are not to be tolerated anymore. And watch while the sheep chase the prices back up.
By oldfeller on
3/6/2009 10:02 PM
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Re: Random Musings On The End Of The American Experiment
The last 2 posts sum it up nicely. The problem is easy to fix, and easy not to fix....regrettably, the easy not to's appear to have the deciding vote....It's a disgrace...for all of the rhetoric about change, for all of the hubub about appointments, for all of the hope of having an advisor like Robert Shapiro who well understands the fails in the settlement system...nothing has been spoken, nothing has been done....
CNBC will continue to "keep you in the game" because that is what they are paid to do....Deepcapture will print great stories that will be read, some eyes will roll and others will just shrug....
Apathy rules - we could no more have a Boston Tea Party today, than fix these problems...people will complain, increase their intake of comfort food and prescription anti-depressants, and get together on Friday nights with friends to drink away their worries about money....
President Obama - you have the power, the question is, do you have the will?
Restore the uptick rule...settle ALL fails ex-clearing...clean up the DTCC...full disclosure on all bailout money...or else stop telling us that you really "care"...
I'm doubtful...please prove me wrong....
By clearthinker on
3/6/2009 10:03 PM
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Re: Random Musings On The End Of The American Experiment
Bobo, I have my annoying metaphor about snowflakes piling up to cause an avalanche, with that last snowflake causing all the change. I find it annoying, too, but I repeat it because it is true.
It is frustrating to spit in the wind unless you realize your small effort is adding up to really big change.
You knew me when I was traderdan at NFI, and you have to admit that although we all gut sucker punched on that investment, we've come a long way. No one talks about tin hats now. There are very few pros that not only think the system is corrupt, they believe it won't be corrupt a year from now.
Anyone that matters reads your site and Patrick's on a daily basis, even when it isn't being updated.
The thieves are on borrowed time.
Did you know Canada nationalized their central bank in the 1930's and it is one of the reasons for their extreme prosperity compared to ours? Did you know North Dacota controls their banks and the farmers prosper because of it? It's the only rich state.
Did you hear of:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-r_-QRKyu6g&eurl=http://www.heartlandnews.us/02_04_09_debtfreedollars.html&feature=player_embedded
No one that understands it is in favor of a bankster cartel controlling the issuance of the US dollar (ask yourself what the notation "federal reserve note" means when you understand the Federal Reserve is privately owned, mostly by Europeans.
We ARE WINNING, although the avalanche hasn't happened yet.
There will be a surpise BULL MARKET RUN later this year. The naked shorts want an inflationary run which means you should be buying undervalued companies (hard assets) now.
The thieves are hoping for hyperinflation. They don't want a 1929 depression where money is scarce. They'd prefer they cover their 2000 short with 2010 dollars worth $.25 In other words, the pros want hyperinflation, which is full employment and another stock market bubble and the opposite what Joe Sixpack rube is expecting. I wouldn't be surprised to see a strong $3 trillion stimulus stock market bull market of all time, the greatest stock market rise in 100 years, followed by covering where hyperinflation saves the day for the thieves because even though they cover at higher prices, the dollar is worth less.
We aren't the first ones to face the monied trust.
- they don't teach it in school, but the war in 1776 was because the colonists refused to use British pounds and issued their own colonial script. This is the main reason why the STATES UNITED in AMERICA to fight the private monied trust.
- the history of the United States was resistance to the European private banksters, with the Wizard of Oz being an allegory. Citizens lost the war when the Fed. was formed, but it took almost 40 years for people to agree to start paying income taxes to pay interest when the Fed. printed money out of thin air and lent it to the government.
http://www.prosperityuk.com/prosperity/articles/wizzoz.html
Here's Mickey Mouse convincing you why you should pay taxes to pay interest to the private banksters.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dfwZNomxsNg
By davidn on
3/7/2009 7:29 AM
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Re: Random Musings On The End Of The American Experiment
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gJ69X1qt4sQ&NR=1
By davidn on
3/7/2009 7:30 AM
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Re: Random Musings On The End Of The American Experiment
«A decade's worth of fraud, nicely solved by taking the Dow to 4000?»
The scam was taking the Dow above 4000 by driving P/Es to ridiculous values, and making up fake Es, and cashing in by selling the paper to the idiots. Then the idiots now cry foul as gravity reasserts itself.
By Blissex on
3/7/2009 7:30 AM
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Re: Random Musings
I fully support keeping up the pressure on politicians, as reform is absolutely necessary, but it's silly to already write off Obama and Congress. He's been in power for less than two months. He has, however, given clear signals that there will be reforms. When you see what he is proposing, and you think it falls far short, then scream all you want. Just don't go all cynical at this early point and effectively dismiss the ability of politicians to effect change.
By anonymous on
3/7/2009 7:31 AM
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Re: Random Musings On The End Of The American Experiment
I think you are wildly optimistic about the future of the US.
Possibilities are broken down sewer, water, electricity and communications systems....loss of all savings, food instability, crime waves, no police or fire protection, no banks, no insurance, no laws or martial law. Think no gas for cars, mass homelessness, rioting, concentration camps, invasions by foreign enemies, stripping of all assets, total inability to produce anything new, and lack of reliable medical care. I think having things work relatively well except that everyone is working and poor buying cheap crap is probably the best possible outcome.
By Igor on
3/7/2009 7:32 AM
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Re: Random Musings On The End Of The American Experiment
And still there are no co-sponsors to Ron Paul's repeal the Fed bill.
By dogster on
3/7/2009 7:32 AM
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Re: Random Musings On The End Of The American Experiment
Bob, my last post should have read "fake" shares will not be tolerated, not "real" shares. Thanks
By oldfeller on
3/7/2009 7:33 AM
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Re: Random Musings On The End Of The American Experiment
Blissex: Possibly, however that couldn't have happened absent insanely low interest rates, used to fuel a credit bubble of previously unimagined proportions. I suppose one could also say that the crashes of 29 and 32 and 38 were also all caused by creating insane valuations, and the massive bear raids that crashed them were simply pragmatists acting in their own special way.
I suppose I would warm to that spin a bit more if the 34 Act didn't require prompt delivery of shares, with that being ignored whole cloth by the DTCC, exacerbating the current crisis if not directly causing it.
By bobo on
3/7/2009 7:38 AM
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Re: Random Musings On The End Of The American Experiment
"So as you watch the value of your home decline by 60%, and your portfolio decline by at least that amount,"
I haven't lost a cent, up double digits in 2008; it was easy to see the bridge was out for our consumer economy.
It's hard to accept the possibility of something so far from the norm. But everyday new events occur that a year ago were beyond imagination; making your scanrio something to seriously consider and prepare for.
By Nomneme on
3/7/2009 8:18 AM
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Re: Random Musings On The End Of The American Experiment
Nomneme: The vast majority of folks aren't up double digits. As in, most. Most are down huge. I agree that it was fairly simple to call this, however witness the massive machine devoted to insisting that there was no there there. Most followed that machine over the cliff.
By bobo on
3/7/2009 8:39 AM
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Re: Random Musings On The End Of The American Experiment
You don;t seriously think short selling is at the heart of this crisis of capitalism? It isn't. The short sell rule is not the solution either. It is a populist reflex, period.
The problem is with the sturctural gutting of the US economy and the loose money policies meant to paper over the looting. The masses need a sedative and the loose money fed gave it to them as the multinationals and comapnies exploited "productivity" and wage labor to drive profitability in spite of top line stagnation. The powers that be have thown in the lot with free trade and globalisation and it is failing. That is what is failing. Fixing DTC is like putting aband aid on a cancer patient. The problem is the GM problem.
Whenit was about to break you go zero finance and push a lot of stuff through the channel. All looks good as the SAAR skyrockets and peoplefeel good. IOn the background, the debt load worsens and the system exerts more pressure on fed to keep it loose. Who elese is goign to pay for the low rates?
The US gov did the same thing. They have been issuing debt en masse for decades. All those poepl who claimw e would be paying down national debt circa the late 90s if only Bush hadn;t arrived are the same folks who openly talk about the bubbles in tech stocks. Some how paiting a rosy responsible picture about future bugest projections based on a lie of loose money seems a tad disengenuous.
The US gov saw globalization and free tradeas the only viable strategy for expanding the market for US hold. The problem is that China and the like got the playbook and weren;t willing to cave on the FIRE sectors. Therefore, we were left competing with their labor. The begging of multiple treasury sec. yielded no results. By going all in on FIRE and gloablziation there was is no turning back. This is why the governeemnt is so desperate to protect the system They still think the strategy is viable and that if given enough time they can pry their way in. Even if the US were to repudiate the debt, we get war not capitulation. There opium of the masses will be revolt. Technology/media is spreading too fast and nukes are rampant.
The US palyed a high game of poker and lost. Now it is just about scrambling around to figure out who end sup with the loot. The bank the street the industrialists etc...Centralzing of power and pownership will for sure occurr. The fancy thing is watching the US put in place swap lines to try and seduce other central banks to play along with their scheme. When will the FCBS retur the loot just like some TARP guys and tell the Fed to go F&ck itself? Soon in the case of switzerland.
Who will be those standing when this is done. My bet is swiss franc as a unified small cohesisve society.
This isn;t about short selling much as I appreciate the rant. This is about a geopolitical shift that the uS is fighting tooth and nail to prevent. This is about the FX and bond markets -- the equity markets are a sideshow at this point.
By S on
3/7/2009 10:41 AM
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Re: Random Musings On The End Of The American Experiment
I have no dog in the race so I can say this without bias. Obama is doing a wonderful job of assuring me that he and his band of well seasoned con men have not a clue as to how to run a capitalist market. If it looks like a mountain of debt, smells like a mountain of debt it is probably a mountain of debt that does not have an "EASY BUTTON" on it to make it go away.One must accept the fact that the mountain of debt was used to cover the mistakes of a bunch of greedy bastards who made up the intangible investments and partnered with ratings agencies to give these pieces of dung credibility and market them with a company who was widely respected and perceived to be a stalwart that was too big to fail. Call it AIG. If none of the Obama team could not figure this out or have a clue that these pozi's were operating even after they have been informed that they were, then Obama is not up to the job or his merry men and women. Worse yet is that they want us to pour more money that we don't have into this bottomless pit andf ask no questions because we have voted for "CHANGE". And as I type this out the operation continues with no "CHANGE", just different names with the same purpose, keeping America dumb and vulnerable while letting the citizens get their shorts bunched up over who is taking steroids or what two radio or TV celeberties can kill themselves in a closed cage and then selling Sham Wow towells to break the monotany. This president makes Clinton and Nixon look like altar boys when it comes to lying to your face. There are documented film clips to prove the exact words I am typing. Our latest budget has over 8500 ear marks that some might say are important but are kept a secret so as to not let the American citizens judge their importance. If we do not wake up and stop this race into oblivion then Bud Burrell is right on his assumption that we will all have to know how to speak Chinese to survive as they will own this country legally without ever breaking a sweat.Real "CHANGES" require some tough and informative decision making choices that are unpopular and require some honest and unemotional assessments and then doing them. We need a no-nonsense thick skinned leader that cares less about being politically correct but more about how to survive and grow this country and stop taxing its citizens for everything but the air they breathe.
By rtway on
3/7/2009 10:40 AM
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Re: Random Musings On The End Of The American Experiment
bobo... whereas you self-profess to be an asshole i self-profess to the dumbass. and with rightous reason. i mean, i came to conclusion (the hard way) that the markets had to be heavily manipulated. i just had no idea how. that was until 2 days ago when i triped over a link to deep capture. now i have at least what amounts to a clue and, thing about it is, the evidence is overwhelming eh? but some of us are so much a dumbass that, even in the light of what is probably a no-brainer to everyone else, we'd still ponder the stupidest of questions. in this case the most obvious question from this dumbass is... WHY THE HELL HASN'T THERE BEEN A CLASS ACTION LAWSUIT????
sue who? the warm bodies. forget cnbc and thestreet and the times and the journal. those are just fences warm bodies can hide behind. sue the players. force 'em to PERSONAL accountability. put them in a position where they start eating each other alive.
i mean, why pursue channels like full page ads when all they're gonna do is take yer money and laugh all the way to the bank?
i mean, hell, between you you've got the talent and skills to do it. and i'm bettin, the kahunas. and there's certainly no shortage of "victums" out there. i'm one myself having lost 85 grand playing trades a few years back that, by all "known-to-the-public" account, should have had no power to defy gravity.
thing about is, its highly likely i coulda got that money back. after it happened i started researching and, for a number of reasons, came to the same conclusion you've come to... that our money is being systematically stolen. but on the way to that conclusion i knew the straw that would start the whole unwinding would likely be housing. builders are directly linked to housing and i'm a subcontractor in new-home construction. so i started looking around me and began to see how so many houses were being sold to people who couldn't afford them. people with massive debt and using the inflation in housing as an ATM machine. people fliping houses like sharks at the feed. and the other side of the trade... the agents and brokers and appraisers and on up the line all the way to wall street and then out onto the global market. enough at least to know that, when certain signs appeared, the first shorts (legit of course) should be the builders. and then the financials dealing in the sub-primes cuz those HAD to default. it wouldn't have mattered what happened after that cuz i'd have been out with more $$ than i'd ever need to spend. i lead a prety simple life and i'm happy with it.
but, at the same time, it occured to me that the only way to win at this game was not to play. that playing, even to get my own money back, was feeding the monster. guilt by association. sorta like saying... okay, i appove, i don't care what you do. just give me mine. i just happen to believe that where we invest our energy has consequences. and money is a proxy for energy. lots of it. if it weren't the VIX would be no more.
the problem is not the system. i don't care if its political or economic or whatever. the prob is PEOPLE! the human condition. and as long as we have people fueling the fire it don't matter what you do to try to bring some change to it. even that class action suit, successful or not, wouldn't change anything until the people stop feeding the monster.
so let the damn thing burn. let that monster eat itself alive. it won't be the first time eh? civilization rises from the ashes and off it goes again ultimately repeating history. the only thing that changes is the form. until it don't. and its pretty obvious we haven't learned that lesson yet.
let those few hundred at the top end up with all the money. it ain't gonna be worth anything anyway. denied alignments on the part of the masses is massive and universe has a way of reversing denial when denial gets things so far past the balance point that life itself is no longer sustainable. thats exactly where we are on the pendulum swing. and anyone wanting to stay on this planet is faced with a decision right about NOW. choose life. or not. but if we choose life we have to make the choices that go along with living it in sustainable ways. or we're toast anyway. and btw, don't anybody confuse choosing life with the highly controversial and highly emotionally charged rowe v wade issue. thats just ideologies having a pissin contest with guilt playing a major role.
palooka
and oh ya, btw... since i don't know your # to call you i'll just say it here... congratulations!! to you too patrick. and you too dave. and everyone else who's carried the torch in the crusade for truth and transparency. job well done!! some of us really are listening and forever grateful for your work.
By palooka's revenge on
3/7/2009 10:12 AM
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Re: Random Musings On The End Of The American Experiment
S: First off, there is a massive difference between legal short selling and illegally defrauding buyers by taking their money and then failing to deliver that for which you received money. My point is that a market that enables that systematic swindle is not a fair market - it is a theft engine. Now step back. When you look at the banking issue coming home to roost, that is also a larceny problem. As is the lack of regulation. As is the lack of government halting of the theft.
It is all about allowing a few very wealthy special interests to steal, in a variety of ways, the wealth of a nation. It's taken a while, that's for sure. Decades, however mission effectively accomplished.
So now we have a market system that is a farce, regulators who don't regulate, banks which are casinos where the taxpayer pays when they lose, industries that have been uncompetitive for generations joining in on the looting....
And that is the tame picture.
Palooka: The issue is of course that those closest to the receipt of the loot convert it into things with lasting value - land, commodities, etc. Then when the paper goes down 99% in value, the lasting value assets still have value, only now it takes a wheelbarrow of hundreds to buy the commodity that could be had for a grand today. We saw that in the Great Depression, and we are seeing it again - Depressions are great buying ops if you have money to buy with.
And you can't find any competent attorneys who will sue - there's no cause of action, and no hope of recovery. Again, these are not stupid people - they have created a perfect crime.
By bobo on
3/7/2009 10:57 AM
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Re: Random Musings On The End Of The American Experiment
Fraud used to be a felony.
Now the government is felonious...
Oh well.
By donna on
3/7/2009 11:04 AM
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Re: Random Musings On The End Of The American Experiment
I empathize with Bob O’Brien’s frustration, i.e., those in financial power are massively betraying the public trust and they will not be brought low simply by reason or opinions expressed in his blog. It takes years for the public to indignantly rise up in defiance, but that tipping point is coming, remain steadfast and fully engaged.
By Eric L. Prentis on
3/7/2009 11:27 AM
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Re: Random Musings On The End Of The American Experiment
I am getting ready to do my annual "throw my money away for a tax benefit" payment into my IRA. I HATE doing this because, even before it fell into burning ashes, I had the suspicion that the money I've tossed that way all along is lost and wasted. Yet, I NEED the tax benefit it garners! My wife and I have never earned a high enough income to benefit from Bush's tax cuts for the upper classes so we have to do anything and everything possible to reduce our inevitable hit.
This year, for obvious reasons, I actually almost feel physically ill contemplating throwing a few thousand dollars into a pointless IRA. If I thought my wife would go for it (she won't) I would refuse to pay ANY federal taxes at all in protest of my hard-earned (actually earned by WORK) money going, free and clear, to criminals in the banking and finance sectors - all so they don't have to lose a single mansion, limo, Cartier watch, or priceless piece of art. Musn't cause THEM any inconvenience!
By Praedor Atrebates on
3/7/2009 11:29 AM
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Re: Random Musings On The End Of The American Experiment
A transaction tax should be enacted on ALL stock and bond trades. The usual call is for something like 0.25%, something small enough that regular human's trading wont notice, but those doing HUGE trades (and comitting HUGE frauds) actually have to cough up a LOT of money, both buying and selling. Doing this would bring in LOTS of revenue and discourage short-term buys and sells - forcing a more sedate, long-term investment outlook while helping correct the current account deficit.
That, and eliminate the Fed and make a new Fed that is actually the federal government. ALL interest would ultimate get paid up the line to the federal government instead of to a private bank run by criminals. You could actually do away with a major part of the income tax - though I would argue that it be kept for all people earning $250,000/yr or more (by ANY means, including capital gains or trust funders) while eliminating it entirely for everyone below that point.
By Besides banning naked shorts on
3/7/2009 11:56 AM
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Re: Random Musings On The End Of The American Experiment
I was glad to find your site if only because I was feeling like a lone lunatic, scribbling on scrap paper, trying to reveal the truth to any passerby that would listen by shaking the scraps at them as they walk around me.
The Blogosphere has created a safety valve for angry people that might otherwise have hit the streets by now. Any government responds to angry masses in the street. Ours has enough credibility left that it would not initially put down protest with pain. Like you and your readers I don't see much change in the wind without real change in the players and that is my biggest disappointment with Obama. Robert Rubin, the $115 Million Dollar Citi Group Tool as an economic advisor for change?
People have abdicated responsibility for their own future since the inception of Social Security and reliance on the broken promises of corporate defined benefit plans. Part of the systematic looting has been in the form of false promises of financial security with out individual savings. Right now less than two percent of americans self direct their retirement, even though it is perfectly legal to use IRA money to buy gold, real estate and other hard assets. Most simply do not want the extra work involved and the responsibility for their own decisions, but the mechanism is there for IRA's and 401k plans. Hopefully more of the millions being laid off will use what is left of their pensions to buy hard assets, just like the truly rich do.
We have been living in an unsustainabubble, but do not need to sit passively by and let it happen. We can seek venues for public, visible protest rather than rant in the electronic universe and we can take control of and responsibility for what remains of our personal assets to create sustained abundance.
We know what the logical choices are, but what level of pain will take us to the tipping point? Is anyone else out there worried that our children and grand children might decide that we are expendable as the solution for eliminating expensive health and welfare costs?
By Ant With a Megaphone on
3/8/2009 9:12 AM
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Re: Random Musings On The End Of The American Experiment
There are more and more articles, Steve Forbes, Gretchen, Jon Stewart and Joe Nocera and now Ben Stein coming out singing the same song.. and they are keeping it simple. Stein's is very concise. Our legislators and the White House have to be reading this.
M2M changed, stop naked shorting and reinstate the uptick rule, unwind the CDS.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/08/business/08every.html?_r=1&partner=rss&emc=rss
The solution is under their noses.. now get on board. Interesting how Forbes and Stein both include stopping naked shorting as part of the solution... Guess they figure it must be real or they wouldn't mention it.
By mhelburn on
3/8/2009 12:08 PM
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Re: Random Musings On The End Of The American Experiment
Like a couple others in this thread, I have stumbled onto the "darkside." For years I knew we were arranging the deckchairs even as the bulkheads were buckling, but just didn't understand why.
I was hoping it was just me, and that my friends that keep saying it's just a minor bubble, and things will come back, were right.
Thanx for all the hard work!!
By POedMainiac on
3/8/2009 8:35 PM
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Re: Random Musings On The End Of The American Experiment
Note to self: Buy more ammo. Lots more.
By Paul on
3/8/2009 8:35 PM
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Re: Random Musings On The End Of The American Experiment
The crime is perfect. There's no way to get the money back. So far. There is a way to keep more money from getting away. The States have the power to limit the fraud. see http://investorprotectioncoalition.org/Risk.html. The bad guys only have the power we let them have.
RVAC
By RVAC106 on
3/8/2009 8:36 PM
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Re: Random Musings On The End Of The American Experiment
We may be headed into a Mad Max future, I sure hope not. If we dont find a way to save this system, we could be looking at millions of deaths, maybe billions around the world. As global trade dries up the first victims will be the sick, the aged and the handicapped. Then it will be feral looting etc for and between the people who are left.
By Not Giving Up on
3/8/2009 8:37 PM
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Re: Random Musings On The End Of The American Experiment
davidN.. I agree the snowflakes ARE ADDING up and as a FEW POWERFUL types are witnessing and experiencing their legacies be destroyed. MY GUTT and ONLY MY GUTT says that one/two/three are about to being acting collectively and as they do that won't be a SNOW FLAKE dropping on someone but a very very large and dangerous AVALANCHE. BOTTOM line is NEVER PISS OFF the wrong group. It's one thing if they hurt you or me. It's one thing when the deceive of dupe x or y. But when you screw with c/d/e one is going to understand the consequences of such. Look to your hisotry books for example and whom. I'll go one step further, if there is a co ordinated action taken THEN you will see reform and in a heartbeat. Again all in my humble opinion but based on my very streetwise gutt.
By Fintas on
3/8/2009 10:35 PM
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Re: Random Musings On The End Of The American Experiment
Yeah. Didn't have to be this way but it is and that is that. What I can't get is that, like you and many others, I spent a good part of at least 4 years trying to find someone, anyone in a position to do anything about it and was not successful. I mean I REALLY tried federal and state so that was somewhat of a surprise to me. I guess what is also a surprise is that of all the aquaintenances and friends (including my wife) that I have attempted to tell about this on-going fraud, only one (not my wife) was interested and after actually reading about it also joined in trying to do something about it. The others just did not want to hear about it, didn't believe it would happen and even after loseing massive amounts of investments still fell for the "it will be a good investment for the long term". Basic head in the sand approach. I'm trying to say, "its not over yet" and there will be blood but the sheeple are simply not interested. Didn't have to be this way. Thank you my friend for your long term effort.
By Bob on
3/8/2009 10:37 PM
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Re: Random Musings On The End Of The American Experiment
Top Treasury Pick to Withdraw From Consideration
March 05, 2009 6:33 PM
Annette Nazareth, Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner's expected pick to be his top deputy at the Treasury Department has withdrawn from consideration, administration sources confirm.
The withdrawal of Nazareth, a former Securities and Exchange Commissioner, may further complicate Geithner's effort to build his staff amidst the greatest economic crisis the nation has faced in decades.
A Democratic source tells me that Nazareth faced resistance on Capitol Hill for being "too lax a regulator" at the SEC.
Nazareth's withdrawal is the latest blow for the Treasury Department, which has struggled to fill key staffing posts. Last week, Obama administration economics adviser Paul Volcker called the staffing problems "shameful."
"There is an area that I think is, I don't know, shameful is the word," Volcker said at a Joint Economic Committee hearing on Feb. 26.
"The Secretary of the Treasury is sitting there without a deputy, without any undersecretaries, without any, as far as I know, assistant secretaries in substantive areas at a time of very severe crisis. He shouldn't be sitting there alone. Now various things have contributed to this, I guess, including vetting procedures, but it really is an unfortunate situation," Volcker said.
Treasury officials insist all essential work is getting done, but Democrats in Congress are worried that work is falling through the cracks.
Yesterday, Sen. Tom Carper, D-Del., questioned Geithner to see if any progress had been made filling key posts.
"I worry about the administration especially with Treasury the ability to -- to get your team around you," Carper said. "And can you just give us an update on how -- how we're progressing there? Your deputy secretary and your undersecretaries, assistant -- how are we doing there because you need -- obviously, you need help."
"We're making some progress," Geithner responded, "and we'll -- we hope to come up for the committee soon with a full slate of very strong people. And we're doing this carefully as you would expect and you know trying to make sure that we have the best talent in the country, frankly."
--George Stephanopoulos
By Ding Dong the witch is dead.. on
3/9/2009 9:06 AM
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Re: Random Musings On The End Of The American Experiment
anonymous - Allow the politicians to fix it ???? You have got to be kidding yourself. Look at the published amount of contributions and lobby money given to virtually every single one of them and get a clue to why they have not and will not do one damned thing they are not forced to do. When stats show 85% of the public did not want a bailout bill and they did it anyway that should tell you something. It should tell you they don't give a shit what you think , they will do just exactly what they can get away with. The fraud is now so "in your face' it is a laugh. Bernanke said it just fine. He said "NO". And nobody did a damned thing about it.
By captdale on
3/9/2009 4:58 PM
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Re: Random Musings On The End Of The American Experiment
anonymous - I will say again. If a politician's mouth is moving he is lying. Obama is not left out of that. What he said he would do and what he has done is certainly not the same thing. Will line item veto all the tags so there is No pork ? Please. Appointees ? Please. He says that the country that invented the automobile should not walk away from helping out the industry when it is down. I agree, however, he must mean France as they were the ones that invented the automobile and not the USA. Oops. He is all green to the core. Thats why you don't see any pics of him with a cigarette in his mouth. Hey, the dude is a unexperienced lier and appeals to those that can't think for themselves but depends on the left media for their thought process. And thats the way it really is. We are in for a real deliverance type pig squeel screwing and all the bought off politicians won't be able to put that egg back together.We need to consider what China does to its fraudsters that commit high crimes against society. Line them up in times square and shoot the whole lousy bunch. We give more hard time to 20 somethings for pot possession than these crooks will ever get. Change you can count on ? I'll keep my guns for when the time comes to use them and you can keep the change. And thats what I'm sayiing.
By CAPTDALE on
3/10/2009 6:28 PM
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The Federal Reserve Is Bankrupt ???!!! Are we really that surprised?
bobo, Could this possibly be true? Seems plausible given the tri-party repo catastophe that is poised to explode.
Pete
-------------------------------
The Federal Reserve Is Bankrupt - How Did It Happen & The Ugly Consequences - By Matthias Chang (11/3/09)
Matthias Chang
Tuesday, 10 March 2009 21:32
http://www.futurefastforward.com/component/content/article/1201
The following section struck a particularly foreboding chord...
All these years, the con was maintained by the Fed that it was solid because it has on its balance sheet over $800 billion of US treasuries i.e. its notes “were so-called backed by these treasuries”. It could sell its treasuries in the repo market for cash and thereby control the money flows in the economy and vice versa.
In their subconscious mind, Americans and stupid foreign central banks and their executives (brain-washed by the Chicago School of Economics) somehow believe in the infallibility of the Fed.
Now it has been exposed that the Fed’s “assets” comprise of junk bonds and toxic wastes.
The Emperor has no clothes!
Paul Volcker, former Chairman of the Federal Reserve may have given the ultimate epitaph: “The bright new financial system – for all its talented participants, for all its rich rewards – has failed the test of the market place.”
And it is any wonder that Professor Nouriel Roubini declared:
“The process of socialising the private losses from this crisis has already moved many liabilities of the private sector onto the books of the sovereign. At some point a sovereign bank may crack, in which case the ability of the government to credibly commit to act as a backstop for the financial system – including deposit guarantees – could come unglued.”
It is my confident assertion that the Fed has already come unglued. Whatever guarantees given to secure the indebtedness of Citibank and others to prevent a run on these banks are useless.
It is bankrupt!
By pjstevenson on
3/12/2009 1:05 PM
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Re: Random Musings On The End Of The American Experiment
Bobo,
I've been following your work for a while. I completely agree with the sentiments in this post. It is very dispiriting to see efforts that appear to have been wasted.
The universe works in mysterious ways, however. Who knows what positive impacts will come as a result of all your work and courage?
For me personally, I thank you for all that you've done.
Regards,
Evan
By Evan on
3/18/2009 7:07 AM
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