(Guardian) – Vice-presidential candidate denies he profited from a 2008 meeting with Fed chairman in which officials outlined fears for financial crisis Read the rest of this entry »

(Guardian) – American Airlines files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection – Read More Here

(MailOnline) – The next Jon Corzine? 16 yr old arrested in $2.3m bedroom stock market scam – Read More Here

(BaltSun) – Hospital CEOs get seven-figure salaries, country club memberships – Read More Here

(SchiffReport) – Video: Krugman Reveals Krugmonomics Fails Even in Small Elite Liberal NYC Neighborhood – Video Link Here

(MediaRoots) – Outlawing Cash for Second Hand Goods in Louisiana – Read More Here

(SHTFPlan) – Video: A Hidden America – Living in Cars, Tents and Cheap Motels *Video Report* – View Here

(Blooberg) – Secret Fed Loans Gave Banks $13 Billion – Read More Here

(Bloomberg) – Corzine Pushed Fatal Bet on European Debt to $11.5 Billion – Read More Here

(ZeroHedge) – SocGen Sees $600 Billion QE3 Starting In March 2012 Sending Gold Up Between $1900 And $8500/Oz – Read More Here

(RussiaToday) – Video: Italian Job – Stealing 2,451.8 tons of gold with style

The European Commission wants gold as debt collateral.

(ZeroHedge) – InTrade Odds On Euro Collapse By End Of 2012 Now At 50%

One can listen to Eurocrats promising the moon and the stars, and that the EURO.PK will survive come hell or high water, or one can trade the probability of the Eurozone’s breakup based on reality. For those who opt for the latter, they should head over to Intrade where the contract pricing the possibility of “Any country currently using the Euro to announce their intention to drop it midnight ET 31 Dec 2012” is now trading at perfectly even odds or 50%. In other words, the “upside benefit” of the EFSF, the ECB, the IMF and ultimately the Fed have been reduced to coin toss odds. Naturally, if there is a break up in the Eurozone the fallout will be massive and will likely lead to a far worse outcome than the freezing of money markets in the aftermath of the Lehman bankruptcy. In other words, the odds of capitalism surviving for just over a year form now are exactly fifty/fifty.

(ZeroHedge) – Hank Paulson Tipped Off The Goldman-Led “Plunge Protection Team” About Fannie Bankruptcy 7 Weeks In Advance

Today, BusinessWeek’s Michael Serrill and Jonathan Neumann have released a blockbuster report based on a FOIA response by the Treasury, which proves that in America rules are only for little people, that this country has been a banana republic for years, that Animal Farm was spot on, and gives excruciating detail of how Hank Paulson tipped off a select group of Goldman diaspora hedge fund managers about the eventual failure of Fannie and Freddie 7 weeks ahead of this information becoming public knowledge. Read the rest of this entry »

(WashingtonsBlog) – Leading bank analyst Chris Whalen has raised the question of whether criminal charges should be brought against former Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson.

Any discussion of whether Paulson committed unlawful actions as Treasury Secretary needs to start with Tarp.

As the New York Times wrote last year: Read the rest of this entry »

Social action begins with concerns, which may include anger or outrage at injustice. But effective strategy must also take account of the power, positions, and possibilities of the various social forces and social classes involved. A number of such factors must be considered when mobilizing around the interests of ordinary people during the emerging world economic crisis.

Read the rest of this entry »

It’s Time to Treat America’s Homeowners as Well as We’ve Been Treating Wall Street’s Bankers Read the rest of this entry »

Making an appearance on the Morning Joe television show, the Rockefeller globalist Zbigniew Brzezinski said it is high time the rich who have made billions since the days of the Clinton administration help out the poor and struggling masses. Said Brzezinski: Read the rest of this entry »

February 09, 2009 C-SPAN Read the rest of this entry »

February 09, 2009 C-SPAN Read the rest of this entry »

Vast numbers of people in the United States and abroad are hoping that President Obama will end America’s illegal wars, halt America’s support for Israel’s massacre of Lebanese and Palestinians, and punish, instead of reward, the shyster banksters whose fraudulent financial instruments have destroyed economics and imposed massive sufferings on people all over the world. If Obama’s appointments are an indication, all of these hopeful people are going to be disappointed. Read the rest of this entry »

Vast numbers of people in the United States and abroad are hoping that President Obama will end America’s illegal wars, halt America’s support for Israel’s massacre of Lebanese and Palestinians, and punish, instead of reward, the shyster banksters whose fraudulent financial instruments have destroyed economies and imposed massive sufferings on people all over the world. If Obama’s appointments are an indication, all of these hopeful people are going to be disappointed. Read the rest of this entry »

Texas Congressman Ron Paul has warned that passing the latest proposed economic stimulus package would be akin to pouring kerosene on an already raging fire. Read the rest of this entry »

The worst economic turmoil since the Great Depression is not a natural phenomenon but a man-made disaster in which we all played a part. In the second part of a week-long series looking behind the slump, Guardian City editor Julia Finch picks out the individuals who have led us into the current crisis. Read the rest of this entry »

Bank of America needs $20bn bailout while Citigroup forced to unveil break-up. Barclays Bank shares plummet 25 per cent as turmoil spreads to Europe Read the rest of this entry »

Paulson’s Financial Bailout

It is becoming clear that the bailout measures of late 2008 may have consequences at least as grave for an open society as the response to 9/11 in 2001. Many members of Congress felt coerced into voting against their inclinations, and the normal procedures for orderly consideration of a bill were dispensed with.

The excuse for bypassing normal legislative procedures was the existence of an emergency. But one of the most reprehensible features of the legislation, that it allowed Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson to permit bailed-out institutions to use public money for exorbitant salaries and bonuses, was inserted by Paulson after the immediate crisis had passed.

Read the rest of this entry »

Congressman Ron Paul responds to Barack Obama’s admission that trillion dollar deficits will be here for years to come. Read the rest of this entry »

SINGAPORE (Reuters) – Many investors said good riddance on Wednesday to one of the worst years on record and prayed that government rescue plans will pull the global economy out of its fierce tailspin later in the new year.

More pain is expected in the near-term as bleak economic reports roll in, flagging more bankruptcies, bad debts and layoffs through at least early 2009, and more sleepless nights for everyone from central bankers to consumers struggling to pay off mortgages and credit card bills.

Read the rest of this entry »

The greed of some of the Wall St. banksters, and the Fed’s inept policies, like condoning deregulation, are the real causes of the current financial meltdown. Nevertheless, the U.S. Congress has given them a green light to rake in trillions of dollars in taxpayers’ bailout money, with little or no public disclosure. The Fed’s functions should be taken over by the Treasury Dept. Main St. needs to be Congress’ prime concern, not Wall Street.

The Fed

“Wall Street has hijacked the economy for the last twenty some years.” – Richard L. Trumka, Secretary-Treasurer, AFL-CIO Read the rest of this entry »

The Federal Reserve has bluntly refused a request by a major US financial news service to disclose the recipients of more than $2 trillion of emergency loans from US taxpayers and to reveal the assets the central bank is accepting as collateral. Their lawyers resorted to the bizarre argument that they did so to protect ‘trade secrets.’ Is the secret that the US financial system is de facto bankrupt?

The latest Fed move is further indication of the degree of panic and lack of clear strategy within the highest ranks of the US financial institutions. Unprecedented Federal Reserve expansion of the Monetary Base in recent weeks sets the stage for a future Weimar-style hyperinflation, perhaps before 2010. Read the rest of this entry »

Big rise in monetary base, trillions in loans all over the world that will never be repaid, many nations very exposed in monetization crisis, all currencies to fall against gold, writers running naked, larger corporate failures to come, American condition to worsen, resentment already smoldering around the world, taxpayer money still being squandered on bankrupt Wall Street… Read the rest of this entry »

The announcement in the last few days of a deal reached between the U.S. Treasury and the moribund insurance giant, A.I.G. provides a very lucid insight in to the nefarious and destructive world of the Troubled Asset Relief Program, otherwise known as T.A.R.P..Not only have A.I.G. received $152 billion to date and subsequently reported a third quarter loss of $25 billion, now they are to be cleared of their obligation on $53 billion worth of toxic credit default swaps. U.S. taxpayers are now on the hook for $205 billion courtesy of an institution which played in the Wall St. casino that passes for a “Financial Sector” and lost. Under the “Free market” system, so expounded upon by Government and Wall St. alike, A.I.G should be in chapter 11. Bailing out A.I.G and other failing institutions does absolutely nothing to address the fundamental issues at hand. Read the rest of this entry »

The announcement in the last few days of a deal reached between the U.S. Treasury and the moribund insurance giant, A.I.G. provides a very lucid insight in to the nefarious and destructive world of the Troubled Asset Relief Program, otherwise known as T.A.R.P..Not only have A.I.G. received $152 billion to date and subsequently reported a third quarter loss of $25 billion, now they are to be cleared of their obligation on $53 billion worth of toxic credit default swaps. U.S. taxpayers are now on the hook for $205 billion courtesy of an institution which played in the Wall St. casino that passes for a “Financial Sector” and lost. Under the “Free market” system, so expounded upon by Government and Wall St. alike, A.I.G should be in chapter 11. Bailing out A.I.G and other failing institutions does absolutely nothing to address the fundamental issues at hand. Read the rest of this entry »

“Conditions have deteriorated on a scale and with a speed that no one could have predicted just a few months ago. Market conditions of unprecedented strength are roiling the world’s financial markets. The global economy is either in, or close to, recession and 2009 is not likely to be a year of great recovery.” Brett White, chief executive officer of CB Richard Ellis, LA Times

November 29, 2008 – Without any public debate or authorization from Congress, the Federal Reserve has embarked on the most radical financial intervention in history. Fed chairman Ben Bernanke is trying to avert another Great Depression by flooding the financial system with liquidity in an attempt to mitigate the effects of tightening credit and a sharp decline in consumer spending. Read the rest of this entry »

WASHINGTON – Few prominent economists will say it, but to me it looks and feels like we are in another Great Depression or a reasonable facsimile.

The current meltdown is dubbed a “financial crisis.” But a rose by any other name would still inflict the same hardship and suffering on most people and businesses. Read the rest of this entry »

WASHINGTON – Few prominent economists will say it, but to me it looks and feels like we are in another Great Depression or a reasonable facsimile.

The current meltdown is dubbed a “financial crisis.” But a rose by any other name would still inflict the same hardship and suffering on most people and businesses. Read the rest of this entry »

Total sum represents 60 per cent of GDP

The total cost of funds committed to the bailout in its various guises has now hit $8.5 trillion dollars, up from $7.7 trillion in just two days after the federal government committed an additional $800 billion to two new loan programs on Tuesday. Read the rest of this entry »

The Truth behind the Citigroup Bank “Nationalization”

On Friday November 21, the world came within a hair’s breadth of the most colossal financial collapse in history according to bankers on the inside of events with whom we have contact. The trigger was the bank which only two years ago was America’s largest, Citigroup. The size of the US Government de facto nationalization of the $2 trillion banking institution is an indication of shocks yet to come in other major US and perhaps European banks thought to be ‘too big to fail.’ Read the rest of this entry »

With every passing day of economic woe, the scale of the heist just perpetrated against America’s taxpayers by the country’s largest banks becomes more apparent.

In the shadow of the presidential election, the nine biggest banks were given $125bn of taxpayer money with the understanding they would send this fresh capital coursing into the economy in the form of loans. It was a plan inspired by Gordon Brown’s decision to recapitalise Britain’s main banks. Read the rest of this entry »

Our troubles with Hank started back when he was CEO at Goldman-$achs. Hank helped launch the masked bogus financial instruments called “derivatives” which are at the Heart of the Global Meltdown of Banks around our Planet.

Next, at the invitation of GwB, Hank skipped over to the US Treasury, where his months of failures to act made things worse. When the World Economy had festered to the point of near collapse– a week before Congress was to go home to hit the Campaign Trail — Hank laid a 3-page Bailout Plan before them, and said, “take it or leave it.” BTW, if you don’t take it — while you’re out of Washington — the World as you know it will collapse. There will be Rioting in the Streets of America, requiring us to declare Martial Law. Obediently, Congress swallowed Hank’s Bailout Pig, whole. Read the rest of this entry »

DAILY REPORT (11/14/08)

Every morning the talking heads on CNN and Bloomberg come out with their smiling faces and try to come up with reasons to buy the market. Lately that’s been a tough sell. I, on the other hand, have been bearish on the stock market for longer than I care to remember. There have been a series of supports along the way, at 12,400, 11,650, 10,725 and then down at 9,005, and at each level we would hold for a while, resulting in a chorus of “we’ve bottomed”, until it became obvious that we didn’t. Each subsequent retest would be met with a resounding “retests are bullish” and then we’d head lower yet. The last such critical level is at 8,146 and it was tested twice in October and held both times. This really inspired the bulls and they dragged out the big guns, like Barton Biggs, who took two days of TV time on numerous channels to declare a bottom for stocks and champion his love of the banking sector. Read the rest of this entry »

Why Aren’t the Dems Doing Something About It?

November 14, 2008 – The more details emerge, the clearer it becomes that Washington’s handling of the Wall Street bailout is not merely incompetent. It is borderline criminal.

In a moment of high panic in late September, the U.S. Treasury unilaterally pushed through a radical change in how bank mergers are taxed – a change long sought by the industry. Despite the fact that this move will deprive the government of as much as $140 billion in tax revenue, lawmakers found out only after the fact. According to the Washington Post, more than a dozen tax attorneys agree that “Treasury had no authority to issue the [tax change] notice.” Read the rest of this entry »

Why Aren’t the Dems Doing Something About It?

November 14, 2008 – The more details emerge, the clearer it becomes that Washington’s handling of the Wall Street bailout is not merely incompetent. It is borderline criminal.

In a moment of high panic in late September, the U.S. Treasury unilaterally pushed through a radical change in how bank mergers are taxed – a change long sought by the industry. Despite the fact that this move will deprive the government of as much as $140 billion in tax revenue, lawmakers found out only after the fact. According to the Washington Post, more than a dozen tax attorneys agree that “Treasury had no authority to issue the [tax change] notice.” Read the rest of this entry »

On October 28, the Financial Times’ columnist Martin Wolf wrote: “Preventing a global slump must be the priority.” He cited Nouriel Roubini back in February listing “twelve steps to financial disaster,” all of which the US took and dragged the whole world down with it.

Priority one is to rescue it and avoid a possible depression. “Given the near-disintegration of the western world’s banking system, the flight to safe assets, the tightening of credit to the real economy, collapsing equity prices, turmoil on currency markets, continued steep declines in house prices, rapid withdrawal of funds from hedge funds and ongoing collapse of the so-called “shadow banking system.” More worrisome is that “next year could be far worse” so what does Wolf think should be done? Read the rest of this entry »

While the government is clearly spending a lot of taxpayers’ money to bail out financial firms, the tally is even bigger than most Americans (economists and pundits included) are probably aware or willing to admit. Read the rest of this entry »

While the government is clearly spending a lot of taxpayers’ money to bail out financial firms, the tally is even bigger than most Americans (economists and pundits included) are probably aware or willing to admit. Read the rest of this entry »

Will an Obama Administration Reverse the Tide?

Most Serious Economic Crisis in Modern History

The October 2008 financial meltdown is not the result of a cyclical economic phenomenon. It is the deliberate result of US government policy instrumented through the Treasury and the US Federal Reserve Board.  Read the rest of this entry »

From too much of a good thing. From the 1980s and 1990s excesses. From the longest ever US bull market. Heavily manipulated to keep it levitating. From August 1982 to January 2000. An illusory reprieve from October 2002 to October 2007. Fluctuations aside, all lost in the past 12 months. The wages of sin are now due, and payment is being painfully extracted. From all nations globally. Affecting ordinary people the most who had nothing to do with creating booms and busts. They got little on the upside but are paying dearly for the down. Read the rest of this entry »

The US bail-out amounts to a strings-free, public-funded windfall for big business. Welcome to no-risk capitalism

In the final days of the election many Republicans seem to have given up the fight for power. But don’t be fooled: that doesn’t mean they are relaxing. If you want to see real Republican elbow grease, check out the energy going into chucking great chunks of the $700bn bail-out out the door. Read the rest of this entry »

The US bail-out amounts to a strings-free, public-funded windfall for big business. Welcome to no-risk capitalism

In the final days of the election many Republicans seem to have given up the fight for power. But don’t be fooled: that doesn’t mean they are relaxing. If you want to see real Republican elbow grease, check out the energy going into chucking great chunks of the $700bn bail-out out the door. Read the rest of this entry »

The Housing Bubble And Its Crash Were Engineered From The Highest Levels Of The US Government, The Federal Reserve, And The Financial Industry Read the rest of this entry »

14 reasons Main Street loses big while Wall Street sabotages democracy

ARROYO GRANDE, Calif. (MarketWatch) — Yes, we’re dummies. You. Me. All 300 million of us. Clueless. We should be ashamed. We’re obsessed about the slogans and rituals of “democracy,” distracted by the campaign, polls, debates, rhetoric, half-truths and outright lies. McCain? Obama? Sorry to pop your bubble folks, but it no longer matters who’s president. Read the rest of this entry »

Voters are rightly furious at the proposal to spend $700,000,000,000 that the government doesn’t have to bail out Wall Street bankers who created the current economic crisis in the first place. But why then aren’t we concerned about the trillions of dollars the Federal Reserve is pumping into the system? Or the trillions missing from the Pentagon? Or the quadrillion dollar derivatives bubble.

It’s said that every dollar donated to a DC politico’s “campaign fund,” results in over $1,000.00 in returns.

Not a bad return on your investment. Read the rest of this entry »

So the tax-payer hand-out will “save” Wall Street from its own predations. Any reasonable man, of course, would wish the pig-fuckers to fry in their own feces. Let the free market carry out their corpses to the gutter. And mine too, perhaps, for as a magazine writer I depend on the thoughtlessness and blind-mole cupidity of credit-card consumerism – the credit system now imploding – to feed the ad-market that feeds the magazines that pay my bills. Without dumb blondes buying Manohlo Blahniks and metrosexuals fawning over prawns in overpriced restaurants, my paycheck turns to dust. Read the rest of this entry »

Just as the Bush regime’s wars have been used to pour billions of dollars into the pockets of its military-security donor base, the Paulson bailout looks like a Bush regime scheme to incur $700 billion in new public debt in order to transfer the money into the coffers of its financial donor base. The US taxpayers will be left with the interest payments in perpetuity (or inflation if the Fed monetizes the debt), and the number of Wall Street billionaires will grow. As for the US and European governments’ purchases of bank shares, that is just a cover for funneling public money into private hands. Read the rest of this entry »

A comparison of the current Wall Street crash with the events of 1929 shows that the Dow has at least another 27 per cent drop below the bailout bounce before it bottoms out, despite another rout yesterday after which the Dow had lost over 700 points.

“In 1929 we saw a two day rally of almost 19 per cent followed by a decline of 6 per cent and finally from the recovery high we lost 27 per cent,” Edward Loef from Theodoor Gilissen Bankiers told CNBC this morning.

Read the rest of this entry »