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Reality aversion and rabbit hole logic
by nano Sunday, Dec 14 2008, 8:51am
international / social/political / opinion/analysis

As the U.S. population labours under a mountain of misapprehensions and disinformation regarding the activities of its murdering, criminal government and the mayhem it has created at home and abroad, financial and other ruling cabals are orchestrating a bid for total global financial power – believe it! But rather than confront hard reality and PARTICIPATE in maintaining a healthy democracy – by demanding full accountability of all persons in positions of trust and responsibility -- what do the people do; drown in torrents of propaganda, lies, spin and Murdoch ‘news?’ Americans continue to labour under the false apprehension that turncoat Obama represents “change we can believe in!”

alicerabbit.jpg

If Obama’s line-up for the highest offices in the land does not indicate his REAL political position then his very public reversal on most of the policy positions that earned him victory should! Yet in fits of desperation and dissociation we ignore the ‘great betrayer’ and hard reality that we‘ve been conned again by the same interests that have steered the nation since LBJ and Nixon – ‘CHANGE,’ my black, lying, arse!

Consider how, with the utmost ease, the FED and ‘G Sachs’ Paulson blackmailed Bush into pilfering the public purse to save the incompetent Bankers and Financiers that created the global collapse in the first instance – give us all a break! Sane people are not in the habit of extending assistance to thieves engaged in ransacking their homes, yet Paulson, with the utmost contempt for ALL thinking people, demanded that WE not only bail his bankster buddies out of the hole they dug for the entire world but surrender all powers of oversight and regulation (over how the package is utilised) to the bankers! This action is beyond irresponsible, it is outright criminal! The lack of conditions on the package/gift to insider bankers, should remove all doubt as to who really rules the USA.

GIFTING Paulson’s buddies and Bernanke public money is an OUTRAGE, but who is offended? These men should be hanged from the flagpoles of the Stock Exchange not pampered and encouraged to wreak more havoc on the people while utilising the people’s money to save THEIR OWN MISERABLE HIDES!

I am illustrating a point and demonstrating that nations fail from the bottom up not the top down, as is commonly believed; name another population in the free world that would tolerate such OVERT contempt and criminal audacity from ROGUES, CRIMINALS and DUNCES?

A few mindless American commentators have mistakenly labelled the government bailouts “SOCIALISM” but fail to comprehend that Socialism is nationalisation on all levels especially the areas of management and decision-making. Whatever these commentators choose to call the bailout it certainly is NOT socialism!

Bush’s pathetic response in an interview regarding his submissive compliance to the demands of criminal Bankers was almost as lame as the ‘response’ from the population, to paraphrase; “what can you do when the nation’s leading bankers, economists and financiers tell you to handover the money or face a total economic meltdown?” ‘What’ indeed, dubya?

The first response is to demand that all large financial institutions make public how they ‘burned/thieved’ the funds left in their trust and hold CEOs and other guilty parties to account in VERY PUBLIC TRIALS. Releasing held funds back into the economy would assist recovery far more than bailing out the rich. If those actions do not ‘encourage’ other bankers to resume trading and release liquid assets into the local economy then jail more of them until either the entire banking industry is nationalised or the economy is kick-started by the steady release of secreted funds into the real economy.

Whatever one does in such circumstances, acquiescing to blackmail is NOT an option!

[Do not imagine for a second we have relented in our pursuit of you or senior members of ‘your’ administration, Mr Bush. War crimes and other crimes against humanity demand that we pursue you to the ends of the earth if necessary. Unlike the spineless American population we never relent until justice is served or death intervenes, never forget it, you vile criminal scum.]

It is amusing to watch a pathological population in total denial, a government flounder and ruling cabals forced to gamble what is left of their assets. America is yet to face the full implications of the so-called 'credit crisis.'

This failure actually represents a failure of the most structurally important principles of the American ideology, the free market and the role of government in relation to regulatory measures and interventionist policies! Like the Soviet Union before it America faces inevitable collapse, which Russia has proven is not a bad thing! The sooner America realises that its unfair easily compromised ideology has failed the sooner it would be able to recover. However, unlike Russian realists, Americans prefer fantasy, escapism and denial, recipes for ruination in today's competitive world.

Russia was able to recover relatively quickly due to the fact that it faced the fact that communism was a flawed system. Capitalism is also flawed -- gaping disparities and inequities -- as the current crisis indicates but few alternatives present themselves to the mentalities that have preyed upon the masses and ruled for hundreds of years.

As all nations fail from the bottom up so they must overcome from the grass roots up.

The VERY FIRST steps on the road to recovery involve of course confronting REALITY and arresting known war criminals regardless of whether they have served in government or not! The nationalisation of vital assets must be complete -- allowing rogues and banksters to have their bailout cake and eat it is absurd.

The most important element in recovery is COMPETENT, REPRESENTATIVE GOVERNMENT not more lackeys, puppets and charlatans. Either Obama is forced to honour his previous statements or he is simply removed by popular revolt. Those nefarious individuals that imagine they are able to constantly dupe and manipulate the public by proxy are dreaming!

January or late December will prove to be a very ‘formative‘ period for America; watch the criminals play their last dramatic hand then arrest the criminals and restore DEMOCRACY to the nation.

We are ONE.

Peace.

You have good reason ..
You have good reason ..

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The List of Losers in the Madoff Case
by staff report NYT via reed - New York Times Sunday, Dec 14 2008, 7:21pm

The list keeps growing of those who invested with Bernard L. Madoff, the prominent trader who is accused of running a $50 billion Ponzi scheme, and are now exposed to huge losses. DealBook will continue to update the list as further information becomes available.

Previously, DealBook took a look at some of the bigger losers and the growing litigation in the case.

Here is the latest list, compiled by Bloomberg News and other news organizations, showing who lost money, how much was lost and where the loss was disclosed:

Access International Advisors -- undetermined loss, company statement

Ascot Partners, run by Jacob Ezra Merkin -- GMAC’s chairman, most of its $1.8 billion in assets, The Wall Street Journal

Banco Santander -- $3.6 billion, the Spanish newspaper El Pais

Banque Benedict Hentsch -- $48 million, company statement

Benbassat & Cie -- $935 million, Reuters, citing the French newspaper Le Temps

BNP Paribas -- undetermined loss, The Wall Street Journal

Bramdean Alternatives -- 9.5 percent of assets, company statement

The Boston philanthropist Carl Shapiro’s charitable foundation -- $145 million, The Boston Globe

EIM Group, $230 million -- Reuters, citing Le Temps

Fairfield Greenwich Group -- $7.3 billion, Bloomberg News

Fix Asset Management -- $400 million, company statement

HSBC -- $1 billion The Financial Times

Julian J. Levitt Foundation -- $6 million, The Washington Post

Kingate Management -- $2.8 billion, Bloomberg News

Madoff Family Foundation -- $19 million, The Washington Post

Maxam Capital Management -- $280 million, The Wall Street Journal

Mirabaud & Cie -- a few million Swiss francs, Reuters, citing Le Temps

Neue Privat Bank -- $5 million, Bloomberg News

Notz, Stucki & Cie -- undetermined loss, Reuters, citing Le Temps

Nomura Holdings -- undetermined loss, The Wall Street Journal

Norman Braman, former owners of the Philadelphia Eagles -- undetermined loss, The Wall Street Journal

North Shore-Long Island Jewish Health System -- $5 million, company statement

Optimal Investment Services -- undetermined loss, Bloomberg News

Pioneer Alternative Investments -- almost all of its $280 million in assets, Bloomberg News

Robert I. Lappin Charitable Foundation -- $8 million, The Washington Post

Reichmuth Matterhorn fund -- $330 million, letter to clients

Senator Frank Lautenberg’s charitable foundation -- undetermined loss, The Record of Hackensack, N.J.

Sterling Equities, run by Fred Wilpson, owner of the New York Mets -- undetermined loss, company statement

Tremont Capital Management -- undetermined loss, The Wall Street Journal

Union Bancaire Privee -- $850 million, Reuters, citing Le Temps

Yeshiva University -- undetermined loss, The Washington Post and university statement

© 2008 The New York Times Company

Iraqi journalist hurls shoes at 'dog' Bush
by AFP wire via gan - AFP Sunday, Dec 14 2008, 7:33pm

BAGHDAD (AFP) — An Iraqi journalist hurled his shoes and an insult at George W. Bush, without hitting him, as the US president was shaking hands with the Iraqi premier at his Baghdad office on Sunday.

As the two leaders met in Nuri al-Maliki's private office, a journalist sitting in the third row jumped up, shouting: "It is the farewell kiss, you dog," and threw his shoes one after the other towards Bush.

Maliki made a protective gesture towards the US president, who ducked and was not hit.

The journalist, Muntazer al-Zaidi from Al-Baghdadia channel which broadcasts from Cairo, was frogmarched from the room by security staff, an AFP journalist said.

Soles of shoes are considered the ultimate insult in Arab culture. After Saddam Hussein's statue was toppled in Baghdad in April 2003, many onlookers beat the statue's face with their soles.

Some Iraqi journalists stood up to apologise.

The White House said Bush ducked to avoid the first shoe, while the second narrowly missed the president.

Bush said: "Thanks for apologising on behalf of the Iraqi people. It doesn't bother me. If you want the facts, it was a size 10 shoe that he threw".

Playing down the incident, the president later added: "I don't know what the guy's cause is [try one million dead civilians, a ruined state and stolen oil reserves] ... I didn't feel the least bit threatened by it." [You will ..!]

© 2008 AFP

[Note: In local culture showing the sole of the shoe in this manner constitutes the gravest insult and demonstrates the height of contempt!]

Big Bailouts, Bigger Bucks
by Barry Ritholtz via quill - The Big Picture Sunday, Dec 14 2008, 10:03pm

November 25, 2008: Whenever I discussed the current bailout situation with people, I find they have a hard time comprehending the actual numbers involved. That became a problem while doing the research for the [1] Bailout Nation book. I needed some way to put this into proper historical perspective.

If we add in the Citi bailout, the total cost now exceeds $4.6165 trillion dollars. People have a hard time conceptualizing very large numbers, so let’s give this some context. The current Credit Crisis bailout is now the largest outlay In American history.

Jim Bianco of Bianco Research crunched the inflation adjusted numbers. The bailout has cost more than all of these big budget government expenditures – combined:

• Marshall Plan: Cost: $12.7 billion, Inflation Adjusted Cost: $115.3 billion
• Louisiana Purchase: Cost: $15 million, Inflation Adjusted Cost: $217 billion
• Race to the Moon: Cost: $36.4 billion, Inflation Adjusted Cost: $237 billion
• S&L Crisis: Cost: $153 billion, Inflation Adjusted Cost: $256 billion
• Korean War: Cost: $54 billion, Inflation Adjusted Cost: $454 billion
• The New Deal: Cost: $32 billion (Est), Inflation Adjusted Cost: $500 billion (Est)
• Invasion of Iraq: Cost: $551b, Inflation Adjusted Cost: $597 billion
• Vietnam War: Cost: $111 billion, Inflation Adjusted Cost: $698 billion
• NASA: Cost: $416.7 billion, Inflation Adjusted Cost: $851.2 billion
TOTAL: $3.92 trillion.

Data courtesy of Bianco Research.

That is $686 billion less than the cost of the credit crisis thus far.

The only single American event in history that even comes close to matching the cost of the credit crisis is World War II: Original Cost: $288 billion, Inflation Adjusted Cost: $3.6 trillion.

The $4.6165 trillion dollars committed so far is about a trillion dollars ($979 billion dollars) greater than the entire cost of World War II borne by the United States: $3.6 trillion, adjusted for inflation (original cost was $288 billion).

Go figure: WWII was a relative bargain.

I estimate that by the time we get through 2010, the final bill may scale up to as much as $10 trillion dollars…

UPDATE: November 25, 23008 10:34am

A few additional details:

- Well regarded Jim Bianco did the number crunching. The easiest method is to recalculate the numbers using CPI data. There are other ways to depict this — such as percentage of GDP, or on a per capita basis, or in terms of costs of common items (eggs, bread, big macs, etc).

[2] Bloomberg calculates the total amount the taxpayer is on the hook for is $7.76 trillion, or $24,000 for every man woman and child in the country. ([3] Data breakdown is here).

Regardless, no matter how you calculate it, we are talking about an ungodly amount of money.

Links:
[1] Bailout Nation book: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0071609059/thebigpictu09-20
[2] Bloomberg: http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601109&sid=an3k2rZMNgDw&
[3] Data breakdown is here: http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/data?pid=avimage&iid=i0YrUuvkygWs

© 2008 The Big Picture

The Neo-Alchemy of the Federal Reserve
by Ron Paul via reed - ICH Tuesday, Dec 16 2008, 7:50am

As the printing presses for the bailouts run at full speed, those in power are no longer even pretending that the new giveaways will fix our problems. Now that we are used to rewarding failure with taxpayer-funded bailouts, we are being told that this is “just a start,” more funds will inevitably be needed for more industries, and that things would be much worse had we done nothing.

The updated total bailout commitments add up to over $8 trillion now. This translates into a monetary base increase of 75 percent over the last two months. This money does not come from some rainy day fund tucked away in the budget somewhere – it is created from thin air, and devalues every dollar in circulation. Dumping money on an economy, as they have been doing, is not the same as dumping wealth. In fact, it has quite the opposite effect.

One key attribute that gives money value is scarcity. If something that is used as money becomes too plentiful, it loses value. That is how inflation and hyperinflation happens. Giving a central bank the power to create fiat money out of thin air creates the tremendous risk of eventual hyperinflation. Most of the founding fathers did not want a central bank. Having just experienced the hyperinflation of the Continental dollar, they understood the power and the temptations inherent in that type of system. It gives one entity far too much power to control and destabilize the economy.

Our central bankers have had a tremendous amount of hubris over the years, believing that they could actually manage a paper money system in such a way as to replicate the behavior and benefits of a gold standard. In fact, back in 2004 then Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan told me as much. People talk about toxic assets, but the real toxicity in our economy comes from the neo-alchemy practiced by the Federal Reserve System. Just as alchemists of the past frequently poisoned themselves with the lead or mercury they were trying to turn to gold, today’s bankers are poisoning the economy with accelerated fiat money creation.

Throughout the ages, gold has stood the test of time as a consistently reliable medium of exchange, and has frequently been referred to as “God’s money”, as only God can make more of it. Seeking superhuman power over money in the way alchemists did in ancient times caused society to shun them as charlatans. In much the same way, free people today should be sending the message that this power and control over our money is no longer acceptable.

The irony is that even had the ancient practice of alchemy been successful, and gold was suddenly, magically made abundant, alchemists still would have failed to create real wealth. Creating gold from lead would have cheapened its status to that of rhinestones or cubic zirconia. It is unnatural and dangerous for paper to be considered as precious as a precious metal. Our fiat currency system is crumbling and coming to an end, as all fiat currencies eventually do.

Congress should reject the central bank as a failure for its manipulations of money that have brought our economy to its knees. I am hoping that in the 111th Congress my legislation to abolish the Federal Reserve System gains traction so that the central bank can no longer destroy our money.

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