Screw the Banks and Investment Firms

[can't sit still]

The FED has just changed the rules. Should any member banks suffer any losses, they just shlep the losses over to treasury.
"An accounting methodology change at the central bank will allow the Fed to incur losses, even substantial losses, without eroding its capital."

The change essentially allows the Fed to denote losses by the various regional reserve banks that make up the Fed system as a liability to the Treasury rather than a hit to its capital"
http://www.economicpolicyjournal.com/20 ... hange.html

[jkisha]

Here's an interesting article coming out ahead of the report to be released tomorrow. 2008 financial crisis was avoidable! http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/26/busin ... &src=busln

JK

[cowboyangel]

Washington's Take on FCIC

http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2011/01/ ... risis.html
Friday, January 28, 2011
Inside Scoop on the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission


Nobel prize winning economists George Akerloff and Joseph Stiglitz, former Fed chairman Alan Greenspan, leading economists such as Robert Shiller, Anna Schwartz, James Galbraith, former lead S & L regulator William K. Black, former Tarp overseer Elizabeth Warren and many other leading financial experts say that criminal fraud was the primary cause of the financial crisis.

They also say that failing to prosecute that fraud will prolong the crisis, interfere with the ability to stabilize the economy, and cause future crises. And see this.

They make it clear that the most fraud destructive fraud starts at the top: with the heads of the biggest banks, biggest accounting firms, and biggest corporations.

Experts in fraud as a cause of economic crises have developed a set of terms to describe this process, including "looting", "control fraud", "accounting fraud" and "regulatory capture". However, none of these terms appear in the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission Report.

Why not?

As Josh Rosner of of Graham-Fisher told me:

If one looks closely at the document behind the investigation, it appears the FCIC failed to highlight perhaps the most central issue in the crisis - warehouse lending. Documents in the FCIC archives demonstrate that at least one of the rating agencies was aware, before they began to downgrade securities en masse, that the Wall Street banks were aggressively cleaning out their inventory of securities and selling them to investors. Other documents demonstrate that at least one large firm was aggressively seeking to offload risks they had intended to retain by moving them to sales traders and arming sales-traders with information to use to move those risks, even going so far as to choose specific firms to target. Clearly, they believed in the greater fool theory, the question is did they make honest representations to those they sought to fool. Culpability seems clear, and I would think legal action should follow, but as is the case with most "gold panel" commissions, those who control the game make sure they can skate away.

more at: http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2011/01/ ... risis.html[/img]

[can't sit still]

Interesting interview with Fitts.
"illegal drug business are essential for propping up the big money market banks. (Not a theory. Proven over and over again in criminal court trials.)"

http://www.realecontv.com/videos/post-c ... ystem.html

[can't sit still]

Poor Goldman Sachs. Their profits have slumped 38%. Somehow this cloud produced a silver lining and bonuses are UP;
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2011 ... cutive-pay

[can't sit still]

This paper has an interesting article about an electronic "run" on th banks. I've never seen much additional info.
"“On Thursday [the 18th], at about 11 o’clock in the morning, the Federal Reserve noticed a tremendous drawdown of money market accounts in the United States to a tune of $550 billion being drawn out in a matter of an hour or two. "
"They decided to close the operation, close down the money accounts, and announce a guarantee of $250,000 per account so there wouldn’t be further panic and there. And that’s what actually happened. If they had not done that their estimation was that by two o’clock that afternoon, $5.5 trillion would have been drawn out of the money market system of the United States, would have collapsed the entire economy of the United States, and within 24 hours the world economy would have collapsed."

Strange shit

The article also has some interesting graphs. One chart shows SS and Medi-Care liabilities increasing $5 trillion on ONE year.
The number of pages needed to explain federal tax law has climbed to 70,000.
Interesting article.
http://www.theburningplatform.com/?p=10182

Add to this, the "flash crash". WTF was behind that? It appeared that "someone" wanted to prove a point. Dunno.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010_Flash_Crash

[can't sit still]

This author seems to believe that foreclosures are going to go way up;
"Lawler points to 1,445,000 completed foreclosures and short sales at the end of 2010, compared with 4,296,01 mortgages that are past due by 90 days or more."
http://reason.com/blog/2011/02/03/comin ... rcent-incr

I read somewhere that it costs a bank about $57,000 to complete a foreclosure. 3 million foreclosures at $ 57,000 each is quite a chunk of change. $ 171 Billion that they don't have.

[cowboyangel]

Interesting how the seedy financial news has been swept away so to speak as the news of the day revolves in its dizzying pace.

[can't sit still]

Sweet deal;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ssl5yb7FewA

[can't sit still]

With all the $ trillions stolen, NOBODY went to jail. There were a few fines. In general, the criminals got the fines paid by their shareholders. The good-ol-boys network is working fine.
One investigator gives his solution. "You put Lloyd Blankfein in pound-me-in-the-ass prison for one six-month term, and all this bullshit would stop, all over Wall Street," says a former congressional aide. "That's all it would take. Just once."
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/ne ... 216?page=1

[jkisha]

Interesting how the seedy financial news has been swept away so to speak as the news of the day revolves in its dizzying pace.

It's not just financial news that gets swept away. My biggest problem with news reporting (especially TV) is that they report on a story and then never follow up on its conclusion.

JK

[ygmir]

Interesting how the seedy financial news has been swept away so to speak as the news of the day revolves in its dizzying pace.

It's not just financial news that gets swept away. My biggest problem with news reporting (especially TV) is that they report on a story and then never follow up on its conclusion.

JK

I'm with ya both here........and, noting each American news outlet has an "agenda", they seem to focus on.

How about "here's what happened" reporting.

Later: " Here's how it turned out" when it's a large scale thing.

instead of just focusing on blood and suffering exclusively.

[jkisha]

Couple of good articles there CSS. I do have some subtle points of disagreement with the video, but far too nuanced for me to take the time to put into coherent words here; but I enjoyed the reads.

JK

[cowboyangel]

Now the fat ass Republican public worker hating governors of NJ and Wisconsin are threatening public service unions , SS, Medicare and collective bargaining. This is good because these idiots have no idea what they're about to unleash. The banks caused this problem of the giant recession- not workers. We will not pay the price of their folly any longer.Watch and see. You heard it here.

[jkisha]

Now the fat ass Republican public worker hating governors of NJ and Wisconsin are threatening public service unions , SS, Medicare and collective bargaining. This is good because these idiots have no idea what they're about to unleash. The banks caused this problem of the giant recession- not workers. We will not pay the price of their folly any longer.Watch and see. You heard it here.

I'm right with you on this one.

JK

[ygmir]

Now the fat ass Republican public worker hating governors of NJ and Wisconsin are threatening public service unions , SS, Medicare and collective bargaining. This is good because these idiots have no idea what they're about to unleash. The banks caused this problem of the giant recession- not workers. We will not pay the price of their folly any longer.Watch and see. You heard it here.

yeah, 'cause no democrat governors do ANYTHING like that.

Partisan only works, when there is a difference........IMHO, they're both different sides of the same wooden nickle.

[jkisha]

Well this has been a pleasant kumbaya moment here for a change.

JK

[jkisha]

Now the fat ass Republican public worker hating governors of NJ and Wisconsin are threatening public service unions , SS, Medicare and collective bargaining. This is good because these idiots have no idea what they're about to unleash. The banks caused this problem of the giant recession- not workers. We will not pay the price of their folly any longer.Watch and see. You heard it here.

yeah, 'cause no democrat governors do ANYTHING like that.

Partisan only works, when there is a difference........IMHO, they're both different sides of the same wooden nickle.

Historically, Democrats have always been supporters of labor. You should look up some of Kennedy's old speeches. (Senator)

Oh and the "conspiracy theory" as to why this is happening is extremely interesting...one that I just might be able to buy into.

As you know, SCOTUS recently ruled that corporations could spend all the money they wanted to on political campaigns and not have to report it.

Corporate money historically backs Republican candidate.

Labor Unions historically organize for and support Democrats.

If they (republicans) can break up labor unions, they remove the biggest funding arm of the democratic party.

Since elections are won with campaign contributions, this is their path to the white house in 2012.

All at the expense of the middle class working man.

JK

JK

[ygmir]

Well this has been a pleasant kumbaya moment here for a change.

JK

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_eyFiClAzq8[/youtube]

[ygmir]

Now the fat ass Republican public worker hating governors of NJ and Wisconsin are threatening public service unions , SS, Medicare and collective bargaining. This is good because these idiots have no idea what they're about to unleash. The banks caused this problem of the giant recession- not workers. We will not pay the price of their folly any longer.Watch and see. You heard it here.

yeah, 'cause no democrat governors do ANYTHING like that.

Partisan only works, when there is a difference........IMHO, they're both different sides of the same wooden nickle.

Historically, Democrats have always been supporters of labor. You should look up some of Kennedy's old speeches. (Senator)

JK

yeah, I know the differences that exist.
But, if we look over the last, say, 75 years, no matter which party is where, we have still been sliding down the slope.
IF, one party was that much better, or, had it "right", it seems they'd be elected more often, and, be able to "do it right".
I can't imagine fully half the electorate is dumb enough not to recognize "right from wrong". But, submit, there are two (or more) different ways of approaching many problems.
What I do see,is at any given moment, one side or the other will come up with a plan, the other will de-rail it, and, well.....on it goes.

It's just busted. IMHO. period.

[jkisha]

Well this has been a pleasant kumbaya moment here for a change.

JK

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_eyFiClAzq8[/youtube]

I am constantly amazed at how you always manage to find such relevant graphics.

JK

[ygmir]

dang double post somehow...........

[cowboyangel]

http://www.thenation.com/article/158647 ... ic-workers

This excellent article by Nation writer Jeffrey Thompson slashes some of the myths about public unions and pensions. Wish the guy would get interested in public [state banks] banking.

[jkisha]

Now the fat ass Republican public worker hating governors of NJ and Wisconsin are threatening public service unions , SS, Medicare and collective bargaining. This is good because these idiots have no idea what they're about to unleash. The banks caused this problem of the giant recession- not workers. We will not pay the price of their folly any longer.Watch and see. You heard it here.

yeah, 'cause no democrat governors do ANYTHING like that.

Partisan only works, when there is a difference........IMHO, they're both different sides of the same wooden nickle.

Historically, Democrats have always been supporters of labor. You should look up some of Kennedy's old speeches. (Senator)

JK

yeah, I know the differences that exist.
But, if we look over the last, say, 75 years, no matter which party is where, we have still been sliding down the slope.
IF, one party was that much better, or, had it "right", it seems they'd be elected more often, and, be able to "do it right".
I can't imagine fully half the electorate is dumb enough not to recognize "right from wrong". But, submit, there are two (or more) different ways of approaching many problems.
What I do see,is at any given moment, one side or the other will come up with a plan, the other will de-rail it, and, well.....on it goes.

It's just busted. IMHO. period.

You have to also give full credit to how fickle, impatient and uninformed the electorate is--which is probably the biggest part of the problem.

Which side of the protests in Wisconsin are you on? And which party do you think is standing up for the unions? And do you honestly think this national union busting theme would be sweeping the nation now had the Democrats remained in power after the mid-terms?

Mostly rhetorical questions; but I am actually angry about what they are trying to do to the unions now when there are so many better ways to balance the state budgets than on the backs of the working middle class.

(And I'm not even all that pro union.)

JK

[cowboyangel]

This fat fuck lard faced buffoon republican scum sucking dirtbag arterial sclerotic dim wit rich fuck wants to fuck with Social Security because it's an "entitlement" that's bankrupting society. Hope Robert Reich sets this fat dumb ass straight. Get a stroke you fuck tard mutha.


Budget Baloney (1): Why Social Security Isn’t a Problem for 26 Years, and the Best Way to Fix It Permanently

Wednesday 16 February 2011

by: Robert Reich | Robert Reich's Blog | Op-Ed

New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, a Republican presidential hopeful, says in order to “saveâ€

[jkisha]

Well, I'm with you on this too cba!

JK

[cowboyangel]

The US did not officially launch an IMF type austerity program, the rat fucks are thinking they're gonna sneak it on us. This they are now deploying.
Raising the social security cap to around 180K as Reich suggests, increasing taxes on the top 1% and instituting 50 state state bank campaigns will do the trick. Thank you Wisconsin!

[Ugly Dougly]

Anyone seen this?

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X2DRm5ES-uA[/youtube]

[jkisha]

The US did not officially launch an IMF type austerity program, the rat fucks are thinking they're gonna sneak it on us. This they are now deploying.
Raising the social security cap to around 180K as Reich suggests, increasing taxes on the top 1% and instituting 50 state state bank campaigns will do the trick. Thank you Wisconsin!

This is a Republican thing, not a government thing, as I see it.

JK

[cowboyangel]

agreed to a point.