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To quote six American Presidents on money creation and the nature of the banks.

Submitted by Roanman on Sat, 11/03/2012 - 08:12

 

Since we're already on the subject.

 

If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their  currency, first by inflation, then by deflation, the banks … will deprive the people of  all property until their children wake-up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered … The issuing power should be taken from the banks and restored to the people, to whom it properly belongs.  Thomas Jefferson

I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies. Thomas Jefferson

The modern theory of the perpetuation of debt has drenched the earth with blood, and crushed its inhabitants under burdens ever accumulating.  Thomas Jefferson

I wish it were possible to obtain a single amendment to our Constitution. I would be willing to depend on that alone for the reduction of the administration of our government to the genuine principles of its constitution; I mean an additional article, taking from the federal government the power to borrow money.  Thomas Jefferson

 

 
 
 
History records that the money changers have used every form of abuse, intrigue, deceit, and violent means possible to maintain their control over governments by controlling money and its issuance.  James Madison

 

 

 

If (As the supreme court had recently inferred) Congress has the right under the Constitution to issue paper money, it was given to them to be used by themselves, not to be delegated to individuals or corporations.  Andrew Jackson

 

 

 

The Government should create, issue, and circulate all the currency and credits needed to satisfy the spending power of the Government and the buying power of  consumers. By the adoption of these principles, the taxpayers will be saved immense sums of interest. Money will cease to be master and become the servant of humanity.  Abraham  Lincoln

 
 
 
 
 
Issue of currency should be lodged with the government and be protected from domination by Wall Street. We are opposed to … provisions [which] would place our currency and credit system in private hands.   Theodore Roosevelt
 
 
 
I am a most unhappy man. I have unwittingly ruined my country. A great industrial nation is controlled by its system of credit. Our system of  credit is concentrated. The growth of the nation, therefore, and all our activities are in the hands of a few men. We have come to be one of the worst ruled, one of the most  completely controlled and dominated Governments in the civilized world no longer a  Government by free opinion, no longer a Government by conviction and the vote of the majority, but a Government by the opinion and duress of a small group of dominant men.  Woodrow Wilson 
 
 
 

Yes you did you half-witted narcissistic twit!!!!!

 

 

The case against John Corzine according to James Koutoulas on the one year anniversary of the demise of MF Global

Submitted by Roanman on Wed, 10/31/2012 - 16:55

 

From Zero Hedge, yet again.

John Koutoulas offers up a primer to prosecuters everywhere for the prosecution of John Corzine on charges of fraud and possibly perjury in the matter of MF global and One Billion Six Hundred Million Dollars of supposedly segregated customer funds.

We've cut and pasted the conclusion which probably get's you home.  This isn't the easiest read we've ever posted but we found it to be worth the effort.

There are links all through this thing which disappeared when I first formatted this post.

If you drag your mouse around a bit you'll find some other good stuff.

 

To sum up, while Vice President Joe Biden’s “Smartest Guy I Know” was smart enough to not explicitly say “Steal the Customer Money” in an email, there is enough circumstantial evidence, to conclusively prove fraud (and probably perjury) beyond a reasonable doubt.

  • Corzine was well aware of the risk involved with his European Sovereign Debt trades, and fired the risk manager who brought the risk to the board’s attention.
  • Corzine encouraged his yes man CFO Henri Steenkamp to risk deficits in customer segregated funds against the advice of his more experienced CFO, Christine Serwinski.
  • MF Global falsified a segregated funds report to show $200M in firm excess while internal calculations, external JP Morgan calculations, and common sense showed massive shortfalls.
  • That 200M coincidentally is the exact amount (less 170k and change) transferred from customer accounts to MF Global’s house account, with exactly 87.5% of it being transferred to JPM almost immediately following the initial transfer.
  • None of the transfers of customer money to JPM or BONY were approved by CME Group which, as MF Global’s DSRO, required MF Global to have all equity withdrawals pre-approved by them in writing.
  • JP Morgan risk officers notified Corzine personally of their concern that customer money may have been used as part of the initial transfer.
  • MF Global intentionally changed its business practices to favor its own liquidity needs over its customers by redirecting wire redemption requests to checks. This incidentally, would have zero effect on its liquidity position if it was not knowingly misusing customer funds, as unlike banks which may fractionally reserve lend, brokers must have a ratio of customer funds or permitted collateral greater than 1:1, as per CFTC Commissioner Jill Sommers, “EVERY SECOND OF EVERY DAY.”

While no single bullet point proves fraud, taken together, any reasonable person will conclude that Corzine is guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.

Last December, when Rick Santelli asked me if customers would get their money back, I told him, “Damn right they will.” The distressed debt markets agree, as buyers have now paid more than 98% of the face value of customer claims for US designated accounts, and over 93% for claims for 30.7, UK designated accounts. However, the futures industry remains severely damaged as shown by CME’s Q3 profit down 31% as futures customers would rather take counterparty risk with a TBTF bank than trust uninsured clearing houses with ‘segregation’ protection that has proven to be nothing more than a paper tiger by Corzine’s theft. 

If Corzine is allowed to walk, it sends the message to not just the futures industry, but the entire US financial complex, “You can steal customer money from not just commodities accounts, but savings accounts, checking accounts, 401ks, and IRAs so long as you pay Obama 500k in bundled protection money, err, campaign contributions.”  And, while the current administration clearly doesn’t care about the integrity of markets, I do.

So today, for the 1 year anniversary of the day 38,000 farmers, ranchers, commercial hedgers, retirees, traders, and hedge funds were robbed, and 2,800 MF Global employees lost their jobs so an incredibly insecure multi-,multi-millionaire, Jon Corzine, could desperately try and show the world he is a great trader, after all, I renew my pledge to do all that I can to help put him behind bars. I am working with multiple state Attorneys General to help them bring charges once the DoJ officially closes their ‘investigation.’ And, I have another little trick up my sleeve that I assure you that Corzine’s high-priced lawyers haven’t thought of, so stay tuned.

So, Jonny Boy, keep pretending how you did nothing wrong and you’re just bummed out that you haven’t gotten back to work being an awesome hedge fund manager. I hope your 500k bought a Presidential Pardon along with the DoJ’s silence, because the law is coming for you and you’re going to need it.

xoxo,

James L. Koutoulas, Esq.
President, Commodity Customer Coalition
CEO, Typhon Capital Management

 

 

60 Minutes wakes up, "mmmmm coffee"

Submitted by Roanman on Wed, 04/25/2012 - 19:36

 

It doesn't happen that often anymore ... IMHO ... but old and slow 60 Minutes showed up with a useful piece having scored an interview with Anton Valukas who headed the investigation of the events leading up to the Lehman Brothers' bancruptcy.

It's about 15 minutes long with only one short commercial.

Recommended.

 

I can't wait til they hear about MF Global.

 

MF Global Hearing

Submitted by Roanman on Thu, 03/29/2012 - 10:14

 

Click on the photo below to link up to the C-Span coverage of the MF Global hearings.

If you have any money invested anywhere or hope to have some money invested somewhere, some day in the future, you should probably take the time and watch this/these hearings.

This one will only take about three hours out of your life.

I'll admit to having scrolled forward during most everybody's prepared remarks.

The questioning process is very revealing, to say the least.

 

 

Who is Buzzy Krongard?

Submitted by Roanman on Sun, 03/25/2012 - 10:49

 

From Wikipedia ... OK, OK, so we got a little lazy today.

A. B. “Buzzy” Krongard.

Alvin Bernard "Buzzy" Krongard[1] (more commonly "A.B.", born c. 1936) was the Executive Director of the Central Intelligence Agency. He was appointed by George Tenet on March 16, 2001.

The Executive Director is the third ranking position within the CIA and the incumbent functions essentially as the Chief Operating Officer of the Agency. For three years prior, Krongard had served as Counselor to the DCI.

A longtime consultant to DCIs, Krongard joined the Agency full time in February 1998, following a 29-year business career. During his private sector career, he served as Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board of Alex Brown & Sons, the nation’s oldest investment banking firm, and Vice Chairman of the Board of Bankers Trust.

Krongard is the brother of State Department Inspector General Howard Krongard who has some interesting history in his own right.

 
The reason we ask is as follows; from HistoryCommons.org's complete 9/11 timeline which you should read, as it seems that half the world knew that there would be an attack on the World Trade Center in September of 2011 including but not limited to Muslim school children of Pakistani descent in both Texas and New Jersey, the FBI, the CIA and especially CIA Director George Tenet, maybe Mayor Willie Brown of San Francisco, possibly Warren Buffett and traders all over Europe and the US, none of whom thought to mention it to the American people.
 
 

Suspicious trading occurs on the stock of American and United, the two airlines hijacked in the 9/11 attacks. “Between 6 and 7 September, the Chicago Board Options Exchange [sees] purchases of 4,744 put option contracts [a speculation that the stock will go down] in UAL versus 396 call options—where a speculator bets on a price rising.

Holders of the put options would [net] a profit of $5 million once the carrier’s share price [dive] after September 11. On September 10, 4,516 put options in American Airlines, the other airline involved in the hijackings, [are] purchased in Chicago. This compares with a mere 748 call options in American purchased that day.

Investigators cannot help but notice that no other airlines [see] such trading in their put options.” One analyst later says, “I saw put-call numbers higher than I’ve ever seen in ten years of following the markets, particularly the options markets.” [ASSOCIATED PRESS, 9/18/2001SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE, 9/19/2001]

“To the embarrassment of investigators, it has also [learned] that the firm used to buy many of the ‘put’ options… on United Airlines stock was headed until 1998 by ‘Buzzy’ Krongard, now executive director of the CIA.” Krongard was chairman of Alex Brown Inc., which was bought by Deutsche Bank. “His last post before resigning to take his senior role in the CIA was to head Bankers Trust—Alex Brown’s private client business, dealing with the accounts and investments of wealthy customers around the world.” [INDEPENDENT, 10/14/2001]

 

The Chicago Board Options Exchange sees suspicious trading on Merrill Lynch and Morgan Stanley, two of the largest WTC tenants. In the first week of September, an average of 27 put option contracts in its shares are bought each day. Then the total for the three days before the attacks is 2,157. Merrill Lynch, another WTC tenant, see 12,215 put options bought between September 7-10, when the previous days had seen averages of 252 contracts a day. [INDEPENDENT, 10/14/2001]

 Dylan Ratigan of Bloomberg Business News, speaking of the trading on Morgan Stanley and other companies, says, “This would be one of the most extraordinary coincidences in the history of mankind if it was a coincidence.” [ABC NEWS, 9/20/2001]

 

We take the liberty of cutting and pasting the following piece in it's entirety from WantToKnow.info as all of the links offered as reference to this piece at the Washington Post no longer work.

Searching for A. B. "Buzzy" Krongard on the Washington Post site search engine generates this list which I believe includes the entire article from which the following excerpt was taken, sequestered behind the Washington Post's paywall.

 

Colorful Outsider Is Named No. 3 at the CIA

Washington Post, March 17, 2001

http://washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A16570-2001Mar16.html

A.B. "Buzzy" Krongard, a ... former investment banker ... was named yesterday executive director of the CIA, bringing a fast-paced management style to the agency's No. 3 job. Central Intelligence Agency Director George J. Tenet announced the appointment, saying he treasures Krongard's "wise counsel and 'no-nonsense' business-like views." Krongard, 64, former head of Alex. Brown & Co., an investment bank based in Baltimore, joined the agency three years ago as a counselor to Tenet. He switched careers shortly after helping engineer the $2.5 billion merger of Alex. Brown and Bankers Trust New York Corp., gaining $71 million in Bankers Trust stock. Few of his former colleagues were surprised by his decision to trade a $4 million salary and stock options for the far less remunerative job of Tenet's consigliere. A graduate of Princeton and the University of Maryland Law School, Krongard has a fondness for extreme military-style activities. Even as a banking executive, he trained with police SWAT teams for recreation and worked out with a kung fu master. He maintained a shooting range on the park-like grounds of his home on the northern edge of Baltimore.

In an interview yesterday, Krongard described his past duties as those of a "minister without portfolio" whom senior managers felt comfortable talking to about "sticky subjects." But Krongard exhibited the requisite secretiveness when asked to explain his interest in intelligence and how he came to land a job in Tenet's inner circle. If you go back to the CIA's origins during World War II in the Office of Strategic Services, he explained, "the whole OSS was really nothing but Wall Street bankers and lawyers."

Buzzy Krongard was the executive director of the CIA on 9/11.

His past ties to the investment firm which placed most of the extraordinarily high volume of "put options" on United and American Airlines stocks the week before the attacks is one of many strange "coincidences" unexplained by the official story of what happened on that horrific day.

For more on this, click here.

 

Now here's the real question.

In light of the above, don't you think A.B. "Buzzy" Krongard should probably be a household name?

He sure isn't.

 

Criminal Prosecutions of Financial Institution Fraud Continues to Fall

Submitted by Roanman on Sun, 02/12/2012 - 15:00

 

From Syracuse University's Trac Report program via Chris Martinson (sort of) and The Economic Populist (moreso).

All three pieces are very good and worth the time.

 

Criminal Prosecutions for Financial Institution Fraud Continue to Fall

 

Federal prosecutions for financial institution fraud have continued their downward slide despite the financial troubles reported in this sector. The latest available data from the Justice Department show that during the first eleven months of FY 2011 the government reported 1,251 new prosecutions were filed. If this activity continues at the same pace, the annual total of prosecutions will be 1,365 for this fiscal year, down 28.6 percent from their numbers of just five years ago and less than half the level prevalent a decade ago.

 

Number Year-to-date 1,251
Percent Change from previous year -2.4
Percent Change from 5 years ago -28.6
Percent Change from 10 years ago -57.7
Percent Change from 20 years ago -56.5


Table 1: Criminal Financial Institution Fraud Prosecutions

 

 

I'm thinking that the Obama/Democrat excuse here should be that the failed policies of the Bush Administration and it's mismanagement of the Justice Department among other agencies has forced him to continue this deficit of prosecutions.

 

John Dingell gets it right in 1999

Submitted by Roanman on Tue, 01/31/2012 - 19:15

 

Too bad he goes to babbling a bit about privacy issues at the end of this speech, because John Dingell hits it out of the park ... with men on ... and then some ... during the 1999 debate on the Gramm-Leach-Biley Act.  

Which legislation repealed those portions of the Glass Steagall act that seperated institutions that take customer's deposits from investment banks and insurance companies.

Too big to fail said Mr. Dingell in 1999.

 

 

 

 

Click on the above cartoon to link up to Khalil Bendib who I think is the above artist as I can't read the name ... at Otherworld.org

 

 

What happened to Glass Steagall?

Submitted by Roanman on Tue, 01/31/2012 - 19:15

 

In case your wondering what Glass Steagall is in the first place, this vid provides a simple and sufficient answer to that question.

In a nutshell Glass Steagall is the shorthand name for legislation passed in 1933 that was specifically designed to help prevent another stock market crash ala 1929 and subsequent depression ala "The Great Depression".

It worked like a charm too ...... right up until the moment it was repealed. 

Democrats are gonna hate this story as it totally blows up the notion that the powers that be within the Democrat party care one whit more about you than do those reprehensible fascists of the right.

If you take the time to watch this, you'll at least have an understanding of what hit you.

 

 

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