For those who still can’t comprehend the meaning of ONE TRILLION DOLLARS OF DEBT (let alone $4 TRILLION in a single year), this excellent video by Tony Robbins may help simplify it for you. And moving onto politics, the following article sums up my thoughts quite eloquently…

(NYPost) “It’s good that so many Americans (and possibly non-Americans) donate money to the worthy cause of informing us how bad politicians are. .. Still, I fear all these negative ads will not be enough to counter the extremely destructive and diabolical (though luckily rare) positive ads.”

“The mere thought of one of these positive political ads chills my soul. Either there is a voiceover as the politician meets with hard-working Americans, or the politician looks directly at the camera with his soulless eyes and tells us that we can trust him to fix our problems and strengthen our nation.”

“Look at our bloated government, our countless regulations, and our military engaged in constant conflicts overseas — did we get all this because we listened to the negative ads about our politicians, or because we somehow got it in our heads that we could trust them? After every election, the negative ads stop, and we start to get that fool notion that we can rely on these people.”

“Do we need exorbitant amounts of money from unknown sources to tell us not to hug angry badgers? No, we’ve learned that by word of mouth from our friends, families and neighbors. This is how we should know not to trust politicians. .. If a politician asks for your money, don’t give it to him. And if he tries to trick you and instead asks for other people’s money so he can buy you presents, just get away from him as fast as you can. Catch a ride in a stranger’s van if you have to..”

“We also need volunteers to continue informing people how bad politicians are, even in non-election years; too many folks now have the ridiculous idea that they can trust the people running the government.”

“Many folks don’t trust politicians from one side of the aisle. It’s like they know not to trust a crack addict to watch their kids, yet don’t see anything wrong about dropping the kids off at the meth addict’s house.”

“And once we convince everyone that all politicians are bad, some will ask, ‘Then whom do I vote for?’ Smack them, because they still don’t get it. You don’t vote for any of them. It’s like having a choice of what kind of cancer to get: You’d just pick whichever one you think you’re most likely to survive.”

“Just remember that, after that new politician takes office and says, ‘Now I’m going to work hard on our nation’s problems and get our economy and job growth going again!’ you respond: ‘Just keep your hands where I can see them, and don’t make any sudden movements or spending decisions.’ ”

Full Story: It’s the positive ads we should worry about (NYPost)

America didn’t become great because of the government or its politicians.

America became great IN SPITE of them.

Wow, fellow Americans, maybe WE really did build THAT!

“I have committed fraud. For this I feel constant and intense guilt. .. Through a scheme of using false bank statements I have been able to embezzle millions of dollars from customer accounts at Peregrine Financial Group, Inc. The forgeries started nearly twenty years ago and have gone undetected until now. I was able to conceal my crime of forgery by being the sole individual with access to the US Bank account held by PFG. No one else in the company ever saw an actual US Bank statement. … I had no access to additional capital and I was forced into a difficult decision: Should I go out of business or cheat? I guess my ego was too big to admit failure. So I cheated, I falsified the very core of the financial documents of PFG, the Bank Statements. .. I also made forgeries of official letters and correspondence from the bank, as well as transaction confirmation statements.”

“Using a combination of Photo Shop, Excel, scanners, and both laser and ink jet printers I was able to make very convincing forgeries of nearing every document that came from the Bank. I could create forgeries very quickly so no one suspected that my forgeries were not the real thing that had just arrived in the mail.”

“When it became a common practice for Certified Auditors and the Field Auditors of the Regulators to mail Balance Confirmation Forms to Banks and other entities holding customer funds I opened a post office box. The box was originally in the name of Firstar Bank but was eventually changed to US Bank. I put the address “PO Box 706, Cedar Falls, lA 50613-0030″ on the counterfeit Bank Statements. When the auditors mailed Confirmation Forms to the Bank’s false address, I would intercept the Form, type in the amount I needed to show, forge a Bank Officer’s signature and mail it back to the Regulator or Certified Auditor.

When online Banking became prevalent I learned how to falsify online Bank Statements and the Regulators accepted them without question.”

Full PFG Affidavit (including part of the suicide note): PFG Affidavit (Scribd)

——————–

PFG once again proves that not only is the Sanctity of Segregated Funds “guideline” all but dead, but that it was really just a myth all along. Far be it for regulators to pick up a phone just once over a 20 year period and speak with an actual representative of the bank to confirm the existence of hundreds of millions of dollars.

But perhaps the most frightening thing about all these blowups using client capital, is that by the time this is all over, with so many firms secretly reaching for yield any way they can since interest rates have been stuck at 0%, how many more funds, companies, clearing firms, and brokerage houses blow up before all is said and done. And even if they get away with it for a while, I can’t imagine what hell will break loose once interest rates start climbing again in the U.S. (as they have in Greece, Italy, Spain, etc). Unfortunately, there’s still no way for the average person to tell who’s gonna get caught with their pants down once the tides turn. And while I don’t very much trust the FDIC or SIPC either (especially if many institutions all collapse simultaneously), it’s still better than nothing if regulators want to hold to the claim of actually somewhat protecting innocent customers. Just ask some of Madoff’s ex-clients.

Often times such blowups start with the coverup of a smaller loss (or some kind of “reaching for yield” or “naked hedge” scenario that backfired). The CEO figures he’ll be able to “kick the can” down the road long enough to figure out how to dig out of the hole (hey, the government does it all the time, so why can’t we all)! Perhaps he can outgrow the “discrepancy” over time and glaze it over. Such wishful thinking inevitably leads to even bigger failures and blowups (just like repeatedly lending more money to defunct countries who have absolutely no way to pay it back or even print their way out of it).

But perhaps the government can pass some new laws, rules, and regulations, and create a few new oversight bureaus, to make sure the original oversight commissions enforce the laws, rules, and regulations already in place.

So far, clients of these firms would have likely faced less risk had the government simply told them “caveat emptor”: realize that any firm where you entrust your hard-earned money could disappear with it overnight, so diversify wisely… And if you do get caught up in one of these frauds, hopefully your money went to help some other “poor” politically-connected bankster stay afloat and save the economy while you go back to eating cake…

Perhaps the most frightening part of this 2006 video is that not one of these police officers objected to shooting rubber bullets at an unarmed woman’s head and laughing about it. Or if any of them did, they certainly did not feel comfortable enough to go against the majority of their fellow officers and make a point of it… And, just like my recent 2011 pre-Thanksgiving Day parade incident, I’m experiencing, hearing, and seeing more stories than ever of such treatment that don’t even involve protests or rallies (and that doesn’t even consider all the frightening TSA-abuse stories – against children no less!). It’s more about control and demoralizing compliance.

When an army goes to war, the command generally always comes up with some derogatory term to address the enemy, as it’s much easier to rape, demean, and/or kill people when you’re referring to them as “Gooks” or “Cockroaches”.

“In Rwanda they referred to Tutsis as cockroaches,” explains Omaar. “They were not human beings. This is very important to understand, very close parallels to what happened in Hitler’s Germany. ‘Don’t worry, you’re not killing humans like you. You are killing some vermin that belongs under your shoe. You’re killing cockroaches.‘ – The Few Who Stayed – Defying Genocide in Rwanda (AmericanRadioWorks)

(NYTimes) “They called people ‘animals’ and ‘savages.’ One comment said, ‘Drop a bomb and wipe them all out.‘ .. Hearing New York police officers speak publicly but candidly about one another and the people they police is rare indeed, especially with their names attached. But for a few days in September, a raw and rude conversation among officers was on Facebook for the world to see — until it vanished for unknown reasons.” – N.Y.C. Police Maligned Paradegoers on Facebook (NYTimes)

(WashingtonsBlog) “Journalists from across the spectrum have documented the militarization of police forces in the United States, including, CNN, Huffington Post, the Cato Institute, Forbes, the New York Times, Daily Kos, Esquire, The Atlantic, Salon and many others. Many police departments laugh at and harass Americans who exercise their right to free speech. Indeed – especially since police brutality against protesters has been so blatant in recent months, while no top bank executives have been prosecuted – many Americans believe that the police are protecting the bankers whose fraud brought down the economy instead of the American people.”

“Most assume that the militarization of police started after 9/11. Certainly, Dick Cheney initiated Continuity of Government Plans on September 11th that ended America’s constitutional form of government (at least for some undetermined period of time.) On that same day, a national state of emergency was declared … and that state of emergency has continuously been in effect up to today. But the militarization of police actually started long before 9/11… in the 1980s.”

“SWAT teams were originally designed to be used in violent, emergency situations like hostage takings, acts of terrorism, or bank robberies. From the late 1960s to the early 1980s, that’s primarily how they were used, and they performed marvelously. .. But beginning in the early 1980s, they’ve been increasingly used for routine warrant service in drug cases and other nonviolent crimes. And thanks to the Pentagon transfer programs, there are now a lot more of them.”

“After 9/11 the government drew up the Patriot Act within 20 days and it was passed. The Patriot Act is huge and I remember someone asking a Justice Department official how did they write such a large statute so quickly, and of course the answer was that it has been sitting in the drawers of the Justice Department for the last 20 years waiting for the event where they would pull it out.”

“The militarization of police forces throughout the United States cannot be taken in a vacuum, but is part of the ongoing drift towards a police state. The government has said for years that American citizens on U.S. soil may be targets in the war on terror, and is using anti-terrorism laws to crush dissent.

Indeed, you can be labeled as or suspected of being a terrorist simply for questioning war, protesting anything, asking questions about pollution or about Wall Street shenanigans, supporting Ron Paul, being a libertarian, holding gold, or stocking up on more than 7 days of food. Government agencies such as FEMA are allegedly teaching that the Founding Fathers should be considered terrorists. So perhaps that means that any people who like American values are ‘terrorist sympathizers’. ”

Full Story: The Militarization of American Police – and Shredding of Our Constitutional Rights – Started At Least 30 Years Ago (WashingtonsBlog)

(WashingtonsBlog) “Obama Wants to Veto the Indefinite Detention Bill Because It Would Hold the U.S. to the Geneva Convention” – The Real Reason for Obama’s Threat to Veto the Indefinite Detention Bill (Hint: It’s Not to Protect Liberty)

Interview with Trends Research founder Gerald Celente, who had his own six figure gold investment account completely looted by MF Global‘s chapter 11 trustees, and he is fighting to get it back. Also interesting is how certain higher-profile clients such as the Koch brothers and others clearly must have known of the cratering positions and imminent collapse of MF Global, as $$billions of dollars of accounts were “coincidentally” withdrawn just before the MF “house of cards” collapsed.

I don’t believe that people truly understand the ramifications of what has happened over at MF Global.  People still seem to believe that clients who had money with MF were basically gamblers and “should have known better” by placing their money with “more secure” entities such as Interactive Brokers.  That’s not to say Interactive Brokers is not secure (especially as they “seem” to practice extremely sound risk management). But what happens when one of their banks or counterparties also decides to “waive” their account holders’ rights? And what exactly would have given customers of MF any less reason to believe that MF Global would be any less secure, especially since the Federal Reserve granted them “Primary Dealer” status last year? Regulations are very strict on “segregated funds”.  Those funds “should” actually be “SAFER” than a straight-up bank account (because the funds should generally be locked away at either the CME as margin or sitting in Treasury Bills so the banks can’t even lend that money out in REPO markets).  If an Occupy Wall Street protester stole a sandwich, they’d probably be thrown in jail for 5 years.  Jon Corzine recks New Jersey, and a year later, wrecks MF Global and steals HUNDREDS of MILLIONS from 150,000+ client accounts to cover more reckless gambling debts, and he’ll probably end up being the next secretary of the treasury.  This guy should be hanged and held up to the standards of the Hammurabi Code (If a builder build a house for some one, and does not construct it properly, and the house which he built fall in and kill its owner, then that builder shall be put to death). If such a “code” were implemented, I’d bet such horrendous thefts and shenanigans would all but disappear. Instead, we have banks stealing $$BILLIONS from clients through cockamamie schemes, then paying $100 MILLION to the SEC without admitting or denying guilt while they pocket the rest, still leaving the clients/investors out most if not all of their losses. This is likely the tip of the iceberg, as there is no way to know how many other firms may have also made similarly reckless bets with client funds (or are unknowingly directly connected to others that do).

To help clarify what this really means, here is the “Safety of Funds” assertions by two reputable futures clearing firms:

(DormanTrading) “The funds in your account with Dorman are held as “Customer Segregated” funds. Our principal bank is Harris, NA, a subsidiary of BMO Financial Group of Toronto Canada. The segregated funds that Dorman holds at Harris, are primarily invested in US Treasury Bills, with the remainder in cash or deposited with the Chicago Mercantile Exchange as margin deposits. The Treasury Bills at Harris are specifically identified to Dorman and on Dorman’s books they are specifically identified to those accounts that have asked us to invest their funds.

The segregated account structure of your futures trading account protects you from suffering a loss, should your broker, your clearing firm, Dorman, or Harris file for bankruptcy. This segregated structure means that your funds on deposit are not subject to any offset, indebtedness, obligation, or the liabilities of any entity besides the customers themselves. These regulations are in place so that neither your clearing firm, Dorman, nor their bank Harris can dip into the customer segregated funds to offset losses elsewhere.” – Dorman Trading Safety of Funds

(RCG-Direct) “Pursuant to the Commodity Exchange Act and Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) regulations, Rosenthal Collins Group LLC (RCG), a Futures Commission Merchant (FCM), is required to treat all customers’ money, securities and other property received to margin, guarantee or secure futures or options on futures trades, as customer property. With regard to futures and options on futures accounts, RCG is required to account separately for and segregate customer money, securities and property and not to commingle those assets with RCG’s own operating assets. Customers’ segregated assets cannot be used to margin any other person’s trades. These segregation requirements apply to futures and options trades on exchanges located in the United States.” – Rosenthal Collins Group Customer Protection

Understanding Big Money, Banks, and the REPO Market…

(MartinArmstrong) “When you deal in REAL money, there is a problem. How do you store it? You can’t just put a billion on deposit at a bank. They will sell it every night and don’t have to tell you. If the REPO market blows up and you go to the bank and say I want my billion, they lost it, and so you turn to FDIC to collect your $100,000. Right! The ONLY way to park serious money is in treasuries.” – Will a Downgrade of USA FROM AAA Really Mean Anything? (MartinArmstrong)

(PeterBrandt) “According to the Commodity Exchange Act (the overarching law governing futures trading) customer funds at futures commission merchants ‘shall not be commingled with the funds of such commission merchant or be used to margin or guarantee the trades or contracts…of any customer or person other than the one for whom the same are held.’ CFTC Regulation 1.25 provides that:

‘No futures commission merchant and no clearing organization shall invest customer funds except in obligations of the United States, in general obligations of any State or of any political subdivision thereof, or in obligations fully guaranteed as to principal and interest by the United States. Such investments shall be made through an account or accounts used for the deposit of customer funds and proceeds from any sale of such obligations shall be re-deposited in such account or accounts.’ ” – MF Global: Proof that the U.S. government is not able or willing to protect investors (PeterBrandt)

CBS News’ Steve Kroft reports that members of Congress can legally trade stock based on non-public information from Capitol Hill.  We’ve already discussed this type of corruption in the past, and it’s great to see the issue receive so much more widespread publicity…  You also see by Nancy Pelosi’s attitude how a two-tiered “Rule of Law” is practically considered a “congressional entitlement” at this point.  Hint to OccupyWallStreet protesters, HERE IS YOUR REAL ONE PERCENT!!! (actually, more like the truly thieving and conniving .1% who want you to grant them even more money and power)

(CBS) “The buying and selling of stock by corporate insiders who have access to non-public information that could affect the stock price can be a criminal offense, just ask hedge fund manager Raj Rajaratnam who recently got 11 years in prison for doing it. But, congressional lawmakers have no corporate responsibilities and have long been considered exempt from insider trading laws, even though they have daily access to non-public information and plenty of opportunities to trade on it.”

“So in 2004, Baird and Congresswoman Louise Slaughter introduced the STOCK Act  which would make it illegal for members of Congress to trade stocks on non-public information and require them to report their stock trades every 90 days instead of once a year. .. Kroft: How far did you get with this? Baird: We didn’t get anywhere. Just flat died. Went nowhere. Kroft: How many cosponsors did you get? Baird: I think we got six. Kroft: Six doesn’t sound like a very big amount. Baird: It’s not, Steve. You– you could have– ‘National Cherry Pie Week’ and get 100 cosponsors. When Baird finally managed to get a congressional hearing on the STOCK Act, almost no one showed up. It’s reintroduced every session, but is buried so deep in the Capitol we had trouble finding congressmen who had even heard of it.”

“And former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and her husband have participated in at least eight IPOs. One of those came in 2008, from Visa, just as a troublesome piece of legislation that would have hurt credit card companies, began making its way through the House. Undisturbed by a potential conflict of interest the Pelosis purchased 5,000 shares of Visa at the initial price of $44 dollars. Two days later it was trading at $64. The credit card legislation never made it to the floor of the House.”

“In the past few years a whole new totally unregulated, $100 million dollar industry has grown up in Washington called political intelligence. It employs former congressmen and former staffers to scour the halls of the Capitol gathering valuable non-public information then selling it to hedge funds and traders on Wall Street who can trade on it.”

]]> http://www.vlogolution.com/hot/2011-11-15-congressional-insider-trading-scam-our-rule-of-law-doesnt-apply-to-the-1-who-run-the-government-and-the-country/feed/ 0 http://www.vlogolution.com/hot/2011-11-04-do-you-know-the-counterparty-credit-risk-of-your-etfs-and-etns/ http://www.vlogolution.com/hot/2011-11-04-do-you-know-the-counterparty-credit-risk-of-your-etfs-and-etns/#comments Fri, 04 Nov 2011 22:08:14 +0000 http://www.vlogolution.com/hot/?p=1548

(GlobeInvestor) “ETNs expose investors to the risk of losing all or most of their principal. That’s because ETNs are set up as unsecured, long-term debt obligations of the issuer, Ms. Pelant explains. ETF investors don’t face the same default risk because ETFs own a pro rata stake in a basket of stocks, bonds, or derivatives held by a custodian in trust and legally separate from the issuer, she says.”

“When Morgan Stanley’s viability came under question in September , its family of Market Vectors ETNs sold off dramatically. ‘The Market Vectors Remnimbi/USD ETN (CNY) plunged more than 25 per cent versus a 1-per-cent drop in a comparable ETF,’ observes Greg Newton, a veteran financial journalist who writes the NakedShorts blog.”

However, if the ETFs don’t actually hold the securities that make up the fund, and instead use synthetics or swaps rather than physicals, investors may also be exposed to much more credit and counter-party risk than they realize. And as Jeffrey Gundlach discussed at the recent DoubleLine Luncheon at the New York Yacht Club, “Never, ever take counterparty risk. It is the one risk you are almost never rewarded for taking. Unless you are running $800 billion dollars, there is no need to use swaps, synthetics or baskets – trade cash markets and avoid any trades that require a counterparty.”

(HistorySquared) “In light of the counter party risks inherent in ETFs, especially those that use synthetic swaps rather than the physicals, there might be an inexpensive way to express a bearish view on some of the European banks.

For example, in 2008 Lehman Brothers had several failed ETNs. ‘The three ETNs were Opta Lehman Commodity, Agriculture and Private Equity. In September 2008, these ETNs halted trading when Lehman Brothers failed. Currently, the final results are being sorted out, but it appears that Lehman ETN holders will receive 2 cents on the dollar from their original investment.’ ”

These are some clever lower-risk trading ideas for expressing a bearish view on the future solvency of a particular counterparty:

“Perhaps there are some far OTM options on some of the Socgen ETFs that are worth a look . Or a less risky trade could be long an ETF with physicals underlying the ETF that is issued by a more secure bank, and short the highly correlated Socgen ETFs. A potentially catastrophic event could be triggered by Deutsche Banks popular x-trackers.”

Full Story: ETFs as Tail Risk Trades (HistorySquared)

(Bloomberg) “ETFs that use swaps to clone stock, bond or currency returns have been criticized by regulators and firms including Fidelity Investors, which say clients risk losing money should the banks writing the derivatives become insolvent. Outflows from Lyxor are another blow to Societe Generale, France’s second-largest bank, whose shares have tumbled this year as the escalating sovereign-debt crisis squeezes lenders’ funding.

‘It’s an issue of counterparty risk related to the financial health of the backing bank,’ said Jose Garcia Zarate, an ETF analyst at Morningstar Inc. in London. ‘Fears over synthetic replication have been building up, and at the same time, fears of banks’ peripheral-debt exposure have grown. Put those two together: bingo!’ ” — Swap ETFs, Lyxor Have Record Outflows (Bloomberg)

(Mish) Great article by Mike Shedlock on the Greek/Euro Dilemma – “Is there any reason Greek voters should not be given a choice? I think not. They may not make a wise choice but what is the likelihood that political hacks and political opportunists will?”

“Take a good look at Iceland. In repeated attempts, political hacks (with banker’s interests in mind) attempted to sell Icelandic citizens into debt slavery. A referendum saved the day. Sadly, voters were forced to repeat the referendum, and once again voters made the correct decision. .. Iceland is now in full recovery simply because it told the EU and IMF to go to hell.”

“Greece does not have an easy way out. However, its problems are no doubt far worse than if it told the EU and the IMF to go to hell two years ago.  Greece should have gone bankrupt long ago. Heck, it should not be in the EU in the first place, and the EU is primarily to blame even though Greece lied to get in.”

“(PeterTchir) If a leader in the Middle East finally gave into months of protest and decided to give the people a real say on an important issue, the Western leaders would be rejoicing. .. But if a fellow Western leader dares let his people express their wishes more directly than via “their representatives” they are all shocked and outraged. In the meantime other Greek politicians are busy taking advantage to gain power rather than helping their citizens.”

“(PaterTenebrarum) The eurocracy is at its heart deeply undemocratic – if it were up to the ‘technocrats’ leading it, national subsidiarity would have long ago become a relic of the past and democratic interference with their plan to erect a socialist super-state would be kept to a bare minimum. .. This can be seen by the fate suffered by previous referendums: when the Irish and French e.g. said ‘no’ and ‘non’ respectively to the Lisbon treaty, the referendums were simply repeated to get the ‘right’ result. As Stalin once sagely remarked, it doesn’t matter who votes for what anyway – what matters is who counts the votes. So far, the eurocrats have always gotten the results that they wanted, by hook or by crook.

Shall I tell you the truly terrifying thing about the EU? It’s not the absence of democracy in Brussels, or the ease with which Eurocrats swat aside referendum results. It’s the way in which the internal democracy of the member states is subverted in order to sustain the requirements of membership. ..

I wish I could convey the sheer horror that his proposal provoked in Brussels. The first rule of the Eurocracy is “no referendums”. Brussels functionaries believe that their work is too important to be subject to the prejudices of hoi polloi (for once, the Greek phrase seems apposite). Referendums are always seen as irresponsible; but, at a time when the euro is teetering on the brink, Papandreou’s proposal was seen as an act of ingratitude bordering on treason. ..

Eurocrats are prepared to pay any price rather than admit that the single currency was a mistake – or, more precisely, to expect their peoples to pay, since EU officials are exempt from national taxation. The peripheral countries are to suffer poverty, unemployment and emigration, the core countries perpetual tax rises, so that supporters of the euro can save face.”

“(DanielHannan) Euro-enthusiasts in Brussels and in Athens are ready to bring down an elected government rather than allow a referendum. Yet the funny thing is that Papandreou is a Euro-enthusiast. He fervently wants to remain in the euro, and had been planning to campaign for a Yes vote. His sin, in the eyes of Brussels, was not to hold the wrong opinions, but to be too keen on democracy. ..”

“Whose Skin Are We Saving? No eurocrat or politician outside of Greece gives a rat’s ass about helping Greece. The only skin they want to save is their own.  That realization coupled with my earlier proposal that Papandreou was tired of beatings, meetings, and riots is by far the most likely reason Papandreou decided to “walk away” from the mess via referendum.”

Full Story: In Praise of Papandreou’s Referendum Decision; Eurocrats Terrified of Democracy; Parade of Cowards (Mish)

As usual, this is more about bailing out the banks and protecting those who made foolish investments above all else.  It’s also interesting to note that while private bond holders of Greek debt was expected to take a 50% haircut, my understanding is that the ECB (who currently owns about half of all outstanding Greek bonds) would still be holding their Greek bonds at par.

This is not to say Greece is not also at fault.  There’s plenty of blame to go around.  However, to this day the War Reparations forced upon Germany after World War I are still largely blamed for leading Germany into hyperinflation and the eventual rise of Hitler.  And perhaps Germany eventually owning and/or controlling most of Greece’s key assets to pay back its debts is not something those “pesky” Greek citizens are willing to accept quite that easily.

Regarding Papandreou’s recent changes to his top military staff, while only Papandreou and his closest confidants know exactly what’s going on, given he called a referendum to offer the people a “say”, it would seem unlikely he is considering a “military coup”.  I would speculate his motive would more likely be to assure that the military will remain loyal to the “best interests of Greece”, as opposed to the “best interests of the European Union”.

(MartinArmstrong) “The most important aspect is the economy. Screw that up and you get war, depression, and starvation. We then elect a whole bunch of people to posts and automatically assume these people have the (1) real intelligence ABOVE average to comprehend such complex subjects, and (2) they understand the right thing to do. Where did we ever get these ideas? Most of the staff members employed by politicians are smarter than the people they work for. But unless they believe an economic crisis is possible, they will not even look at the issue.” — Martin Armstrong, Happy Days Are Here Again

(TheMarketTicker) Great article by Karl Denninger sums up our greatest financial problem perfectly… “ is the process by which something very ordinary (say, a TV set) becomes financed. In doing so there is inherently created the use (and usually the abuse) of leverage. .. Leverage is simply the ability to act as though you have much more of something than you really do. ”

“See, in economics there is this thing called ‘supply and demand’. The more demand there is for something with a given supply, the higher the price tends to be. In ordinary times a gallon jug of drinking water in a store is a dollar, and from the tap it costs so little we don’t ordinarily put a price on it. Yet if there was just a hurricane, and there is no fresh water available, what would the price of that same gallon be? Ah, now we have much demand and very short supply, and as such the price will be quite dear. Perhaps the price of that water might be several gallons of gasoline (for the seller’s generator, of course.) So what has happened to our economy over the last three decades? In short, things that never should have been became financialized. And as the goods and services became financialized, demand was shifted upward – people were made “able” to allegedly “buy” things they could not otherwise afford. The expected response in the marketplace to such a thing, predicted by basic economics, was that prices would rise.”

“If you’re wondering why you can’t afford to pay for college by flipping burgers or pizzas in your off hours, this is the reason.  It was precisely the distortion of the government making student loan debt non-dischargeable, which made it available to almost everyone at a “low interest rate”, that drove up the price of college educations to the moon.  And to the moon they went – up 450% since the 1980s, more than five times as much as average salaries increased.

How about houses?  A middle-class house in 1960 sold for $12,000. .. That wasn’t so hard to do when you could buy a house at twice the average income.

What happened when we financialized houses?  Prices went up.  A lot.  They went up much faster than did incomes.  First to 3x incomes, and in some parts of the nation in the 2000s they went to utterly ridiculous multiples, like 5, 6 even 10x.  How?  Nobody ever really actually owned the damn house; the bank owned it and you were turned into a financial slave!“

“How about medical care?  In the 1960s your parents wrote a check to the doctor.  If it was really serious they probably had insurance; they got billed and then filed a claim.  Bankruptcy due to medical costs was extremely rare, and you could almost always afford whatever you needed medical attention for by paying with the money in your wallet.“

“Where do you think that money went? Why, right in the pockets of JP Morgan, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Citibank, Bank of America and yes, the bank on the corner.  I’m sure you’ve noticed that bank buildings tend to be quite nice.  Grand exteriors, high-rise buildings in the middle of cities (very, very expensive real estate), fabulous lobbies with marble floors and other similar visible elements of opulence.  Where do you think all the money came from to buy that stuff?  Why, from you – the rube standing there in the lobby!  Never mind the bankster’s bonuses!”

“Was this all the “free market” at work?  Absolutely not! Student loan debt was given “special status” and cannot be discharged in bankruptcy.  Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac massively distorted the housing market.  Medical insurance companies are exempt from anti-trust laws, and drug makers were given the ability to legally prohibit you from doing what you’d like with what you own (specifically, reselling things you purchased and paid for.)

All of this distortion in the market occurred due to the direct acts of government acting at the behest of fat cat banksters and industry insiders, using the threat of force to strip your wealth.

Every morning in the financial media we hear about how horrible it will be if we put a stop to this financial rape and the financial system’s size and influence shrink dramatically!“

THE SOLUTION

“But what happens if tomorrow all the ‘free money’ loans stop?  Now the college has empty classrooms because nobody comes any more.  Students can’t afford to attend, so they don’t.  What happens the next morning at that college?  Oh that’s simple: See, it doesn’t cost much to provide a few desks, chairs, and a roof over head along with a calculus book, does it?  Nor does an instructor cost that much when spread across a student body.  Let’s see how cheaply a college can educate you, if they’re unable to extract from you promises from the future and must instead talk you into providing them with economic surplus from your current efforts.”

“The important point here is that if we cut off the financialization of college you will still get an education.  The schools will scream and many will go bankrupt, but soon on the same ground where there was a bankrupt college there will be a new one, and this one will charge $2,000 a semester to attend instead of $10,000 or $20,000.  The difference?  You’ll have to pay cash, but you’ll be able to work a part-time job for the two grand and thus you’ll have no debt!”

“Houses are no different and neither is medical care.  The screaming about how “nobody will be able to go to the doctor” or “nobody will be able to buy a house” is a lie.  The doctor can set his fee at $100,000 for his services if he wants but if nobody can or will pay him $100,000 then he sells no service.  That doctor goes bankrupt immediately, soon there will be a different doctor (or maybe the same one after he goes through bankruptcy) and suddenly medical care will be much-more reasonably priced! After all, if nobody can buy then the seller can’t make a living either, can he?  Prices will be forced down to what the ordinary person can afford to pay.”

“There is no way that such a price disparity would hold for more than 10 minutes were these laws to be dropped.  You get screwed on your prescriptions and devices you buy intentionally by our government through their protection of these industries.  You get financially raped so that everyone in the world can enjoy our medical technology at the mere reproduction cost and the banksters and drug companies can get rich.  It’s an outrage and again, it happens due to financialization of the medical industry and the force of government coercion, NOT the free market.”

“You can bet the banksters, universities, medical societies and housing industry insiders know this, and they’re scared. They know that if you figure it out their income is cut in half or more.  They are returned to middle-class working people rather than the fat cat status they enjoy today.  Doctors, college professors, home builders, bankers and Realtors used to be middle-class citizens, not gold-clad elites driving around in Lamborghinis and living in mansions!

What’s worse (to them) is that if you succeed in breaking the back of financialization these people will lose the ability to enslave you.  You will have returned to yourself the power to choose when you work, how hard you work, and what you do with your own economic surplus, instead of having pledged it to the bank to buy the car, the bank to buy the house, and the insurance company in the event you get sick.”

“We did not find ourselves here because of the “free market.”  We are here because the rich and powerful demanded special protections from government that allowed them to enslave you, they enticed you into taking that first hit off the crack pipe of cheap money, and then once you were hooked good they used the jackboot of the government to screw you through changes in the law and special protections for themselves so that you could not easily escape. The solution is not to demand “free stuff” or “fairness.”  The only solution is to remove the excess leverage from the economy – to get rid of the debt that has been accumulated and force recognition of the fact that not only are many people bankrupt but the financial institutions are as well.  Only when the balance sheets on both sides are cleared can the economy.”

Full Story: OWS: Want To Turn The Tide? (TheMarketTicker)

If the “bad rich” always find manage to find ways to control and manipulate the government, why do so many want to empower them further with addition tax revenue, regulatory power, and more spending, … For all the calls to “more heavily tax the rich”, let’s finally go after the real controlling, manipulative, and politically-connected “rich” people / politicians / banksters / special interest groups, and stop empowering those who are the greatest benefactors of people’s rage and “wealth redistribution” agenda. Let’s also call for a return to a fair and balanced “Rule of Law“.

And for the record, I don’t consider myself a Republican, a Democrat, or a Libertarian, so much as a “Classical Liberal“.

(TheMarketTicker) “.. there’s really nothing more-serious than grabbing client funds internally, and it appears to have happened in the case of MF Global…  It’s black-letter wrong, and The ‘mainstream media’ outlets this morning are talking about this being a “risk management” issue. Nonsense. This is a trust issue and Corzine is a former Goldman guy and the former governor of New Jersey.”

“But this much we do know: This is not an issue of a firm that allegedly broke every rule in the book when it comes to the sanctity of customer funds. Rather it is a story of utterly failed regulation and oversight that continues four years after the collapse that initiated in 2007. It is the story of willful and intentional blindness by our government and the instrumentalities within it that are supposed to prevent this sort of crap from happening.”

“Let us remember that MF Global was just added to the primary dealer list in 2010! The bankruptcy does raise questions, however, about how the Fed picks the primary dealers — especially since MF Global was one of four firms added to the ranks after new, more stringent requirements were put in effect in 2010.”

“I have to ask: Was that a political addition and where in the hell were the examiners that are supposed to be paying attention to what these firms are doing? If this is the result of “more-stringent” requirements can someone tell me why I should believe that any of the other Primary Dealers are in fact solvent and why I should not believe that they’re all doing the same thing?”

“This is the continuing story, as I lay out in Leverage, of “two worlds” where one has the rule of law (you and I) enforced, where robbing a bank gets you a nice long prison sentence and some cops looking for bank robbers to stop them while in the other, inhabited by politically-connected and powerful men and women you can pretty much do anything you damn well please and nothing happens to you — in fact, you get rewarded with calls from The President of the United States and pick the pockets of the public with essential impunity.”

“There are no checks and balances and the banksters wield their briefcases like John Dillinger wielded his tommy gun.  There has been no reform since 2008.  Dodd-Frank was a joke, Glass-Steagall was not put back in place, and there was no prosecution of those who did wrong.

SEVENTEEN PAGES IN GLASS-STEAGALL – 17 PAGES – KEPT THE BANKING SYSTEM SAFE FOR FIFTY YEARS.

And now we have another collapse that appears to show that there is no regulation, there is no oversight and nobody in the government gives a damn when one of the primary dealers that the government charges with making an orderly market in Treasuries appears to have co-mingled more than half a billion in customer funds with their own trading book.”

Full Story: Can You Survive It Being Over? (TheMarketTicker)

Amazingly, the media has been parroting as to how MF Global proves that the Frank-Dodd bill actually worked!

(Mish) “In spite of that background, (or do I mean because of it), MF Global thought Corzine was a perfect fit. Indeed, those looking for reckless behavior, massive risk taking, and willingness to bet the farm on marriage, in politics, and in life, Corzine represented rare ‘impossible to pass up’ talent.”

Full Story: Regulators Investigate MF Global for Missing Customer Money; MF Global Goes Bankrupt Before Making 1st Interest Payment; Corzine’s Achievement Sheet (Mish)

(Bloomberg) “The Volcker rule, as written in the Dodd Frank Act, had ‘so many different exemptions and exceptions and loopholes that it almost became nearly impossible for the regulators to fashion a rule that can live up to its original intent,’ said Barofsky, a Bloomberg Television contributing editor.”

Full Story: MF Exposes Risk Volcker Wants to Curb (Bloomberg)

(ZeroHedge) ” ‘The most common mistake people make when buying property in Cyprus is to use a lawyer who has been introduced or recommended to them by a property developer,’ says Nigel Howarth who has helped foreign property buyers in Cyprus for more than 10 years. Foreign buyers are sitting ducks. They’re unaware of the local business culture and don’t suspect that their lawyers are in cahoots with developers–aided and abetted by the banks.”

“The country acceded to the Eurozone in 2008, but it’s already in a heap of trouble. A recent loan agreement with Russia of €2.5 billion will keep it afloat for a few months into 2012. Then it’s bailout and haircut time. On October 27, Standard & Poor’s cut Cyprus to BBB. The big problem: exposure of its banks to Greek sovereign, corporate, and bank debt. But not a word about the title-deed scandal and the billions that evaporated with it.”

“The scheme works this way: A developer takes out a mortgage on the land but hides it from foreign buyers. The bank retains the title deed as collateral. When the developer sells the property, the buyers’ lawyer, who is in cahoots with the developer, doesn’t perform a title search and doesn’t ‘discover’ the original mortgage. Buyers, assuming that their part of the property is free and clear, either pay cash or take out a mortgage. The developer pockets the money instead of paying off the original mortgage. The bank goes along because it can collect interest on one or two mortgages. But it retains the title deed as collateral for the original mortgage, and the buyer never sees it.”

“Throughout, buyers are told by everyone, including the government, that a buyer of immovable property is absolutely protected once the sales contract is lodged with the Cyprus Land Registry, and that they don’t need the title deed.”

“Proving fraud in court seems to be impossible. In a recent double-selling case, the judge ruled against the plaintiff: lodging of a sales contract at the Land Registry does not mean that buyers ‘automatically and in perpetuity have become the ‘owners’ (as they mean it) of the residence,’ she wrote. Hence, only possession of a title deed confers protection against double selling.”

“But the bank still holds the title deed as collateral for the original developer mortgage, and it has the right to foreclose on the property. Under normal circumstances, it takes a bank between 9 to 12 years to obtain control over the property. So banks extend and pretend until the developer goes broke. Then they move to recuperate a property that one or two other “owners” have paid for…. A nightmare. And no legal resolutions are in sight.”

“The numbers are stunning. In this tiny speck of a country with 803,000 people, about 130,000 properties are still awaiting their title deeds. If the average value of these homes is €150,000, then nearly €20 billion worth of properties might be in dispute, many of them with more than one mortgage and more than one owner.”

“The banks aren’t talking. And they aren’t writing down their assets to reflect the layers of mortgages that are worthless. Developers are going bust. The money they pocketed has disappeared. Expat homeowners who don’t hold title deeds are terrified of losing their homes, even if they paid cash. There are no legal processes in place to resolve this. Estimates of the missing money range from €3 to €6 billion—enough to take down all Cypriot banks. By comparison, the banks’ exposure to Greek sovereign debt is estimated to be €4.2 billion, of which only half will have to be written off.”

Full Story: Another Eurozone Country Bites the Dust (ZeroHedge)

One Big Lesson for Real-Estate Buyers: ALWAYS HAVE DEED IN HAND AND PROOF THAT IT’S REAL UPON CLOSING.  If someone or some entity tries to convince you it’s unnecessary, run for the exit and expect the coming debacle…

Last week, Reason.tv followed Peter Schiff, prinicipal of the financial firm Euro Pacific Capital, around Occupy Wall Street protesters in Manhattan’s Zuccotti Park as he attempted to debate the the difference between capitalism and cronyism, and how socialism (and communism) only serve to promote more cronyism.

(Reason.TV) “Touring the Occupy Wall Street scene in New York with a sign that read ‘I Am the 1%, Let’s Talk,’ Schiff spent more than three hours on the scene, explaining the difference between cronyism and capitalism, bailouts and balance sheets, and more.  ‘The regulation we want is the market,’ said Schiff. ‘That’s what works.’ Schiff describes himself as ‘sympathetic’ to the plight of the OWS protesters, but thinks their anger is misdirected at legitimate business interests and should be better at the White House, Congress, the Federal Reserve, and the crony capitalists they’ve bailed out.”

It’s sad and disheartening to watch people arguing with him, while blind to the fact that he’s on their side and generally agrees with most of their grievances, but not with their solutions.  Granted, there are also many Ron Paul, “Tea Party”, and sound money-types in the crowd as well, who do likely already better understand these points.  As such, these debates can only serve to bring them closer together against the true common enemies of the people.

Schiff debates a few people who correctly make the point that “Wall Street” TBTF (Too Big To Fail) firms must get their hands out of politics, and shouldn’t be allowed to control and manipulate the government. At the same time, they want to raise taxes and give even more money, power, and control to the government. Somehow they simply don’t make the connection that the same manipulative controlling “rich” people they despise most of all are the greatest benefactors of their rage and “wealth redistribution” agenda. These “elites” are laughing all the way back to the bank while directing the bought-and-paid-for police, judges, politicians, and prosecutors to do their bidding.  Who do OWS protesters think controls the policemen firing flash grenades at their heads (who then deny doing it despite the events being captured on video from a dozen different angles)?  And if the Almighty Obama himself couldn’t even bring the “Change” they were looking for, then who got all those $$trillions?  Must be the same people Obama blamed for “blocking progress”…  Maybe had he thrown all the bankers in jail where they belong, they’d have a harder time at it.

Schiff believes that capitalism is the only hope for young, frustrated people to have a vibrant and prosperous future.  So he went to Occupy Wall Street to engage and debate the protesters, and to help them better understand these key differences.

“This video is looped and then slowed down and it clearly identifies a police officer tossing the flash-bang directly at the disabled vet on the ground when the protesters attempt to come to his aid. It detonates literally right next to him. None of the protesters are committing any act of violence – they are assisting a man who has just been shot with a rubber round in the head.

THERE IS NO EXCUSE FOR THIS ACT. EACH ACT OF EACH PARTY STANDS ALONE – NO PROTESTER CHARGED THE FENCES OR OTHERWISE ASSAULTED AN OFFICER. THIS WAS A PREMEDITATED ASSAULT BY THE POLICE UPON A PRONE AND INJURED MAN AND THOSE ATTEMPTING TO ASSIST HIM.” – Dateline Oakland: FELONIOUS ASSAULT By Police? (TheMarketTicker)

Perhaps Sergeant Shamar Thomas, a decorated Marine who stood with the “Occupy Wall Street” protest, said it best when he directed the following discourse towards police officers: “It takes a coward to harm an unarmed civilian…This is not a war zone, these are unarmed people. It does not make you tough to hurt these people… If you want to go fight, go to Iraq and Afghanistan… Leave these people alone, they are U.S. citizens…Why are you doing this to our people? I’ve been to Iraq 14 months for my people and you come here to hurt them, they don’t have guns… It doesn’t make any sense… How do you sleep at night? There is no honor in this…you’re here to protect them, protect us.You’re all walking around in riot gear like this is a war, these people don’t have guns.” Semper Fi, Sir!

One can only hope there is a special place in hell for police officers, judges, prison guards, and prosecutors who have sworn an oath to protect and serve the people, yet choose to use their “special powers” not only for the simple motive of personal gain, but even worse… to inflict tyranny over those they swore to defend, as if they get thrills from pulling the wings off a helpless fly…

And as Benjamin Franklin has said, “They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.” Those who wish to trample over another group’s rights and succeed, better know that it’s just a matter of time before they’re next in line…

Historically, all empires eventually fall due to the corruption of the “Rule of Law“. All accumulated wealth can be attributed to the fair and balanced application of the Rule of Law. If people don’t know what to expect because laws are selectively applied or perverted by the government, there will be flight of capital. In America, the judicial branch is considered untouchable even by the senate. Our justices are unelected officials who are held to no standards. They are immune from prosecution, and hold their positions for life.

If you’ve ever fought a speeding ticket and you know you were in the right, you’ll know that “Rule of Law” is blatently disregarded. Martin Armstrong’s written about it for years from prison. Good luck figuring out what his crime was – so much for a trial by jury. And just a few years back, could you imagine the outrage and outcry we would have seen over an agent groping children at an airport? Look at the ruckus caused just by Don Imus saying “Nappy-headed Ho” (2007 seems like oh so long ago)… “Lock up those damn pedophiles, and throw away the key” would have been the mantra of the day. Today, it’s “business as usual”…

And now, there have been so many outright disgusting and disgraceful acts of unneccessary violence perpertrated by police during the “Occupy Wall Street” movement it’s mind boggling. I myself have been threatened and harrassed by police for standing in front of my own apartment building in NYC — the night before the Thanksgiving Parade no less. While I may have been left feeling helpless and disheartened, these “minor” incidences don’t hold a candle to the violent video footage captured during peaceful protests. The policemen know they’re being recorded, yet they couldn’t even care less anymore – they know they’ll be “protected”.

Ironically, it may very well be these most blatant injustices that will fuel this rising movement more than any other. People can only be pushed and taken advantage of so far, and those in power know this.* The less people feel they have to lose, the more likely they are to take to the streets. And no where else has it been so blatant that those in control now completely follow their own set of rules.

“I don’t care if you hail from the left or right, or what your particular view of the “Occupy Wall Street” movement is.  The fact of the matter is that we no longer have the foundational principle of this nation underlying our nation: The Rule of Law. ” – Well, We Know Who The Felons Are – They Wear Badges (TheMarketTicker)

“Restore the Rule of Law. We’re a Constitutional Republic, not a Democracy. In a Democracy the 51% enslaves everyone else. Are you black, hispanic, or some other minority? In a democracy you’re a slave. Recognize this or make a huge mistake supporting any such move. A Constitutional Republic is governed by the Rule of Law, which says that nobody gets to infringe your fundamental liberty interests, no matter who they are: Rich, poor, white, black or Martian. Everyone who breaks the law is punished and for like crime one gets a like sentence. If I rob you of $50,000 whether I do it with a gun or briefcase is immaterial. Whether I take it one penny at a time or all at once is immaterial too. In each case I must go to prison for doing it and what I stole must be returned to the maximum extent possible.” – The Bottom Line On All The Frauds (TheMarketTicker)

* “I think he knows what Rome is. Rome is the mob. Conjure magic for them and they’ll be distracted. Take away their freedom and still they’ll roar. The beating heart of Rome is not the marble of the senate, it’s the sand of the coliseum. He’ll bring them death – and they will love him for it.” – Gracchus (movie Gladiator)

Isn’t it amazing how, no matter at what level, it always seems to boil down to a small group of “elites” trying to control all the money, all the power, all the “stuff”, and all the other people…

(NYMag) ” .. we’ve had issues with the drummers too. They drum incessantly all day, and really loud.’ Facilitators spearheaded a General Assembly proposal to limit the drumming to two hours a day. ‘The drumming is a major issue which has the potential to get us kicked out,’ said Lauren Digion, a leader on the sanitation working group.”

“But the drums were fun. They brought in publicity and money. Many non-facilitators were infuriated by the decision and claimed that it had been forced through the General Assembly.”

” ‘They’re imposing a structure on the natural flow of music,’ said Seth Harper, an 18-year-old from Georgia. ‘The GA decided to do it … they suppressed people’s opinions. I wanted to do introduce a different proposal, but a big black organizer chick with an Afro said I couldn’t.’ ”

” To Shane Engelerdt, a 19-year-old from Jersey City and self-described former ‘head drummer,’ this amounted to a Jacobinic betrayal. ‘They are becoming the government we’re trying to protest,’ he said. ‘They didn’t even give the drummers a say … Drumming is the heartbeat of this movement. Look around: This is dead, you need a pulse to keep something alive.’ ”

“The drummers claim that the finance working group even levied a percussion tax of sorts, taking up to half of the $150-300 a day that the drum circle was receiving in tips. ‘Now they have over $500,000 from all sorts of places,’ said Engelerdt. ‘We’re like, what’s going on here? They’re like the banks we’re protesting.‘ ”

“All belongings and money in the park are supposed to be held in common, but property rights reared their capitalistic head when facilitators went to clean up the park, .. ” (For those supporting Communism, it always seems like a great idea ’til someone tries to take your stuff)

“In response to dissatisfaction with the consensus General Assembly, many facilitators have adopted a new ‘spokescouncil’ model, which allows each working group to act independently without securing the will of the collective. ‘This streamlines it,’ argued Zonkers. ‘The GA is unwieldy, cumbersome, and redundant.’ ”

Full Story: The Organizers vs. the Organized in Zuccotti Park (NYMag)

This recently posted video to YouTube by Ann a.k.a. Rockerchic4God describes the public credit crisis dilemma so well I had to post it here. She’s furious that Bank of America would jack up her credit card APR to over 30% despite no change in her credit rating, and no misses in payments. While Bank of America (and MANY OTHER BANKS mind you) were more than willing to accept government largess off the backs of hardworking Americans, they’ve turned around and jacked up rates on middle class debtors across the board to try and make up for all their solid risk management principles based on insane levels of leverage.

Her response is that if Bank of America doesn’t revert her credit card back to its previous rate, they’re not getting one more cent out of her. And she recommends that you do the same, especially if you do not own your own home or other major assets.

This “just walk away” attitude seems to be gaining traction among middle class slavesworkers who are hardest hit by a slithery cocktail of inflation and usurious interest rates that can be changed after the money has already been borrowed, at the whim of the lender without consequence. This attitude could gain traction as more mortgages continue to reset and employment continues to rise (just because people give up looking for a job doesn’t mean that unemployment drops – well, unless you’re the government looking to rig statistics just a wee bit more). The legal system won’t be able to do anything to stop it if tens of millions of people decide to stop paying their unsecured loans. And that’s the ultimate fear of the elite “powers that be” that they don’t want you to realize. If people band together for a just and fair cause against institutions and government that is corrupt to no end, only then can REAL CHANGE ever happen.

The Obama Deception is a must-see film that completely destroys the myth that Barack Obama is working for the best interests of the American people.

The Obama phenomenon is a hoax carefully crafted by the captains of the New World Order. He’s been pushed as a savior in an attempt to con the American people into literally accepting global slavery.

We have reached a critical juncture in the New World Order’s plans. It’s not about Left or Right: it’s about a One World Government. The international banks plan to loot the people of the United States and turn them into slaves on a Global Plantation.

Around 44 minutes into the movie: What happened to all the promises of CHANGE by Obama, such as immediately ending the war in Iraq, outlawing secret arrests, ending the Patriot Act, ending government wiretapping, getting out of NAFTA and GATT, improving transparency, removing lobbyist conflicts-of-interest, or bringing all the criminal banksters responsible for the credit crisis to justice, to name just a few… Regarding the war, he’s actually planning to add more troops to Afghanistan! And we won’t even begin discussing the outrageous Health Care bill which amounts to a complete government takeover of just about everything related to health care.

The truth is that Obama is just one more pawn, just like Bush and many presidents before him, in a larger global agenda. Learn the true backgrounds of the many cabinet members he assigned to power – many who were already part of previous democratic and republican presidential administrations. So much for CHANGE…

With many Americans slowly waking up to the reality that our government and banking system are entirely under the control of a criminal elite of private bankster crooks, Ron Paul has once again taken it upon himself to push for an audit of the Federal Reserve, the outcome of which would likely be so incomprehensibly shocking that the Fed may finally be forced to shut down for the greater good of our country and its citizens.

The Federal Reserve was originally created under the guise of being an “impartial” entity separate from the government that could be called upon to stabilize our economy in times of panic, while protecting and maintaining free market principles.  The sick twisted irony is that the Fed is the precise antithesis of what free markets are really about.  And since the Fed’s inception, it has done nothing but DESTABILIZE our economy with increased volatility by manipulating interest rates, along with leverage ratios used by the banks (in cahoots with those who control the Fed and the SEC).

It still boggles my mind that the SEC implemented the “Pattern Day Trader” rule to “protect the little guy” by forcing more active traders and investors to maintain at least $25,000 in a trading account or face severe trading restrictions.  I guess the SEC also forgot that they came into power largely because a big part of the 1929 crash was caused by the extension of 10:1 credit to investors (which couldn’t have happened without the Fed’s easy money policies).  So to make amends, the SEC goes on to serve and protect “the little guy” some more by allowing ONLY the largest (and most politically-connected) “too big to fail” investment banks pump up their balance sheets with over 40:1 leverage.

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