My "Sara" model is part of this wonderful website on the history of Lake Champlain

My "Sara" model is part of this wonderful website on the history of Lake Champlain
Cannons !

Thursday, December 29, 2011

My version of the US Dollar; the GNP fiat note

    GNP fiat is the only way to go; gold is just one commodity; the overall health of the
nation is in the GNP, which the monetary system should reflect IMO, but you'll never see it,
as it's just fair to all.  And yes, issued by the gov., debt free, so that in times of necessary deficits, the country just suffers the inflationary printing, instead of adding to the national debt as now.
   To deal with overprinting, I would suggest the states with their powers of nullification be part of the mix and to make sure that the GNP dollar/basket of goods were accurately reflective of all parts of the economy/country, which sounds messy, but then this IS money, the next most important thing after military defense...and you see how bad that is. It's sorta like barter, then a LET system, but with notes of value; very simple really, and NO private Federal Reserve banks to swindle us anymore !
   Their "national debt" should be called out and adjudicated one case at a time for culpability, and if found guilty (with even international subpoena's, regardless of "implied" or other supposed immunities) those involved should suffer jail time, forfiture/restitutional directives with new legislation to whit to prevent further negative incursions into the "general welfare" of the country.
   Kucinich's, HR6550/111th, also his NEED act is a fairly good start to the process, but he wants to just pay off the national debt as it comes due...BAD; adjudicate instead ! ...don't let them get away with their past malfeasance and ruination of the country...and the world !

People ! The country is dying ! Please wakeup !


Why is this country dying and what to do about it before we can't even log onto facebook, etc.? Three articles that cover most of it.  I expect trouble this summer, before elections probably. Be ready ... To VOTE 'em all out (almost all of 'em).  We must GET the Fed-printing (and owning), major capital flighting, off-shoring, outsourcing retards that have ruined the best thing mankind ever had a chance at for freedom for the commmon man.  If America goes down, we get thrown back way past even the Magna Carta !  If you don't mind being a penurious peon of a serf slave for the super-rich, just keep up what you're doing now; you'll  be "back on the plantation" before you know it soon... all of us that is; in total debt with no ownership of anything and under the total control of the "state", and with S1867/HR1540, if you make too much of a fuss, you could end up with a Montana concertina vacation "time-share" with one-way doors (and mirrors).     

Monday, December 26, 2011

At least a few are trying to Save the Country !

Thanks to Paul and Grayson, etal., we now have even more damaging info on the big-bank-bailouts in addition to judge Preska's 29,000 pages, and judge Jed Rakoff's 21,000 documents on the Federal Reserve system (not Madoff...different guy right?)

So what is one to do to help save the country ?

1. Close your bank accounts at these banks :
....List ... (include Bank of America, JP Morgan/Chase, etc.

2. Open bank accounts to show solidarity and give strength to these ... List... Bank of North
Dakota, , etc.

3. Know your congressmen and bombard them with letters, e-mails, calls, appointment,
audience and appearance requests, bringing as list of grievances we all can use (post please,
esp. if you are a lawyer, etc.). Mine are actually sending me "hand-written" letters which my
have me sent to a FEMA camp, but I'm too old to bother to worrry about myself anymore.
If I can do any good for the country with the time I have left (maybe 20 years?) so be it !
We all must insist on investigations FOIA to whit on the over $16T bank bailouts, etal.
Just where are all the AGs in this ? Why aren't we hearing from them and state's governors?

4. Do not buy from the following list of companies and stores... GE, Monsanto, big pharma, etc.

5. Always Occupy polling places legally, but maximally with signs supportive of our plight and
for Ron Paul or your hero/heroine of the American people.6. Legally sabotage all business dealings with as many 1% types as possible in all things, even to foreign shores where they often reside.

7. This is a Quik-List; add to it please to help save the country for "we the (little) American
people" ! Please feel free to add to it if you will.

http://www.activistpost.com/2011/12/civil-disobedience-now-or-forever-hold.html#comment-form 

http://readersupportednews.org/opinion2/279-82/8766-the-fed-bailouts-money-for-nothing

http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d11696.pdf

Responsible American gun owners/users rejoice...3 small victories !

    H.R. 2055—the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2012—has been passed by the House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate and has been sent to the President for his expected signature. 

   This bill contains three NRA-backed provisions that will strengthen our Second Amendment rights and prohibit your federal tax dollars from being used to advance an anti-gun agenda...but "they" can still use "citizens united" monies as long as this horrid ruling by scotus remains unchallenged.

http://www.opposingviews.com/i/society/guns/christmas-gift-gun-owners-3-congressional-victories

http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c112:H.R.2055:

http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d112:HR02055:@@@D&summ2=m&

http://tinyurl.com/846kt9s

http://www.rightsidenews.info/2011122615232/us/homeland-security/three-more-wins-for-gun-owners.html?utm_source=Right+Side+News&utm_campaign=7084636850-daily-rss-newsletter&utm_medium=email

Friday, December 23, 2011

One expert's thoughts on the Federal Reserve

As an "old--(late 70's)", real world economist, I have been struggling for
over 60 years with the concepts being discussed by this group, the PBI
Volunteers.

My professor and mentor at the University of Illinois, U-C, Donald Kemmerer,
(a real conservative who assumed my liberal inclination would disappear with
age), and I sparred about the obvious subversion of democracy involved in
the creation of the Federal Reserve. His father, a distinguished professor
of economics at Princeton University, and an expert on the role of gold as
money, was one of the economists whose intellectual input was available to
the conspirators at Jekyll Island. It was at the meetings at Jekyll Island
in the November of 1912 that the concept of the Federal Reserve System was
conjured up. Although I never grew to accept the anti-democratic nature of
the Fed, Kemmerer and I stayed friends until his death.

During that same period (1958-59) I was introduced to the writings of John
Maynard Keynes. One afternoon in the reference library at the University of
Illinois (UIUC), while reading in Keynes' "General Theory of Employment,
Interest and Money" I came to the awful realization that when the
politicians got hold of the ideas presented in this learned tract, they
would corrupt them and use them to excuse the profligate spending of money
without concern for whether or not a stimulation of the economy by the
government was a desirable thing. Perhaps the only restraining influence on
these people was the presence of gold as a bench mark on the value of
"paper" money.

Thirteen years later, after having studied for a Ph.D. in monetary and
financial economics at Cornell University, I had achieved a measure of
respect for understanding the vagaries of our economic system. I had just
become a vice-president of a "Wall Street" firm specializing in providing
investment and economic advice to institutional investors. It was September
of 1971 and Nixon had just taken the U.S. off the gold standard. I was in a
meeting with the first client I would address on behalf of that firm. I was
explaining to the staff of the client firm my thoughts about what the
outcome of the Nixon Administration's policy decision would be and what it
might mean for their investment policy decisions.

All of a sudden I had a flashback to that day in the library at the University of Illinois. I
described my awful realization of that day to my client's staff. I told them
that Keynes had given the politicians a license to steal. Now, Nixon had
given them the check book by which the restraints of the "Gold Standard"
became inoperative. Nixon and his crew could (and did)continue the wasteful
spending associated with the Vietnam War. They could spend at will. They had
laid the foundation for the fiscal and political crises which challenge us
today.

The moral of the story is this: neither the rich, the learned, the
politicians, nor the masses will enjoy peace and prosperity until an
agreement is reached among the classes, factions and regions of the country
resolving the question: How can the resources of the country best be
mobilized to provide for the "General Welfare" of the people of the country.

Discussions of Public Banking, the definitions of money, and how the
government's activities are to be financed will be important parts of that
debate. Also, the very difficult problem of the concentration of wealth,
along with the related question of the monopoly power of corporations must
be addressed.

As long as human beings are involved in this process the future is unlikely
to be any better than the past. I am not hopeful.

James P. Savage III; reprinted here without permission it is so excellent and timely

Thursday, December 22, 2011

Meandering machinations of a Minarchist

"Constitutionalities"
I would think none of us here is a Constitutional lawyer, but I can hope to get some better interpretations if such a person were to step forward. I have always taken the "general welfare" clause to speak to the overall socio-economic health of the country, but that's just my take, which I try to inject all over to see what kind of response I will get...often agreeable, but always interested in other opinions. ...then there is always the powers of the states and people with the 10th, which could start local groundswells culminating in national referenda or real legislation, but that is also over my head; wrong field of endeavor ! I have a "pocket" Constitution right next to the computer that I place there a few years ago and use it as needed just to test myself if nothing else.

Our "Drone nation under foot"
My real take on all the events of the present time is horrible, I feel the country is being pared down to a troglodytic/MIC/drone militaristic collection of would be targets so the super-rich can stay off-shore, outsourced, and capital flighted in relative safety as the spartanized American "watch-dog" nation controls and quells any "problems" the world may present to the "one world corporation"/NWO, etc. with Patraeus at the helm of the ISAF, aptly named as their website expounds about.

Federal Reserve thoughts:
I wouldn't end the federal reserve banking regulation part, which is an obfuscatory part of the agency meant to confuse us of course, while the private fed banks are allowed to print/own/lend/hoarde fiat money as they see fit without any regulation (the ultimate de-regulation IMO), ie. counterfeiting it as outlined in art. 1, sec. 8, par. 6 (not par.5, coining; different problem). Then there are the other monetary "problems" of overprinting (QE disease), not basing the money supply on anything, except greed, with no ongoing, actionable prosecutions or even investigations to whit, except for the likes of Spitzer's attempt, and you see what that got him..won't get into JFK or LT McFadden, etc...you HAVE listened to at least part of JFKs speech tellingly from the Waldorf-Astoria on secret societies ? If anyone doesn't think there is a GIANT conspiracy coming to fruition at this time, they must be vacationing on the planet Mars !...of course you could just call it a "business plan"...like a hostile takeover ? When such a "business plan" is carried out such that some lose big time, then I call such a "conspiracy", which may or may not be legal of course...we may never know, and I'm too old to take up lawyering.

"America the dream" is failing:
"little people out in the cold" to me would mean a continuation of the last 100 years with the finality of indebting all Americans into servitude to the government, with the lucky ones able to escape with at least some part of their supporting means intact. We are witnessing this transitional period now IMO, where the "America political idiom" is no longer a viable entity, as it fades into the dustbin of history as a failed experiment in freedom for all, esp. we the little people, due mostly to the greed and egotistical ways of those who have systematically ruined perhaps mankind's last best chance for a fair and peaceful world.

Saturday, December 17, 2011

Ron Paul vs Elizabeth Warren....interesting, telling, KEY !

Neutral comment ? NOPE ; Both are WRONG IMO.  Paul is too privatized and niggardly here, and Warren is too socialistic, but she displays a glimmer of hope for those who excel, who must be recognized and rewarded more than the indolent, incogitant and slothful.  It's not that Paul is selfish really, but he's just too self-absorbed and doesn't generally reflect on the mutualism to any degree that would benefit  mankind as it did in our distant tribal periods, where such was key to survival of the species, which has set a baseline of moralism and social doctrine ever since, as evidenced by the deaths of those civilizations that didn't honor such.  One must guard against both ends of this spectrum, neither espousing the "spiders in a bottle" syndrome, nor the "sometin' fer nuttin" crowd either...self determination, pride in the work ethic and achievement, and a little golden rule to help those (minimally) who haven't got their bootstraps on right yet...but you don't give away the farm or weaken yourself and become part of the problem or the country will fail.

http://hnn.us/node/143399#disqus_thread

Friday, December 16, 2011

"The NDAA proves that a people of sheep invites a government of wolves"

Constitutional Attorney Bruce Fein; NDAA (S-1867, HR-1540) is an Unprecedented Intrusion...being used to destroy what we are as a republic and as a nation.  We are all terrorists now if we exist in the most seemingly normal, innocent of ways as we always have...like having more than 1 week's food and water in our homes or guns and ammunition of any amount.

 Bruce  Fein was deputy attorney general under President Ronald Reagan and is author of
"Constitutional Peril: The Life and Death Struggle for Our Constitution and Democracy." 

http://www.opednews.com/Podcast/Constitutional-Attorney-Br-by-Rob-Kall-111214-714.html

Wednesday, December 14, 2011

Robert Reich - points to go after in the Rebuilding of America - (with a few notes of mine)

inequality - middle class no longer has the income to maintain American business,
     while the super-rich just hoarde their excess incomes from all sources,
     however questionable.

- the money is rigged toward the top 1% which allows "controlling" campaigns and
     unfair legislative practice as the founding fathers warned of.  The oxymoronic
     "citizens united" and corporate personhood must be rescinded to restore at least
     some of the "power to the people".

- Trickle-down economics is a lie and a fraud, enabling and enriching only the "1 %",
      with tax cuts only for them, while not creating jobs at all, as they absconded with
      such proceeds to foreign shores, untaxed and unregulated.

- Tax cuts for the wealthy, skewed legislation and subsidies, usurious bailouts, all
      have ruined the country, putting the load of that debt on the backs of common
      Americans by transferring it through such vehicles as the FDIC, etal. in usurious,
      often felonious fashion, but for which no actions to date exist "for some reason".

- All this has lead to massive deficits due to a lack of taxable income at all levels...
    - the middle classes due to their joblessness
    - the super-rich, due to their absconding unopposed and untaxed

- The super-rich must be taxed more, including increases as above, on capital gains,
       and stock transactions (rescinded quite a while ago), etal.

- We need the return of Glass-Steagal, and similar bank rules, modified to minimize
       moral hazard that all caused the banking melt-downs and bailouts.   This must
       also be dealt with by breaking up big banks that have shown any such tendencies,
        practices or had such outcomes, with principle officials being subpoenaed, tried,
        and convicted with jail time and forfiture to properly discourage such examples
        of turpitude.

- Loan modifications must be made for mortgage holders of good record, so that their
        homes are no longer "underwater" , and otherwise in trouble due to no fault of
        their own, as one example of "reparation" of the American way of life fast
        disappearing.

- Reinvest in the American infrastructure at all levels and in all "industries", including
        education to rid our young of the "dumbing down" started a generation ago

- We must elect a man for potus who will help reinvigorate and return America to
        prosperity and its former place in the world with a population worthy of that
        distinction.

A Recent Letter to my Congressmen...

Once again I implore you and your staff to take special notice of the transgressions being wrought on our once fine country. I fear for us all, as it descends into unknown, radical and punitive territory in every way for
common Americans.

Legislating Tyranny in America - by Stephen Lendman (in part)

Obama won't prosecute CIA torturers, Wall Street crooks, other corporate criminals, lawless war profiteers, or other venal high-level civilian or government officials. (nor will Holder, USAG)

Instead, expect him to sign into law (or at least tacitly approve) indefinite military detentions of US citizens allegedly associated with terrorist groups, with or without corroborating evidence.

Post-9/11, US freedoms and other democratic values (are) dramatically eroded. Enactment of police state provisions in the FY 2012 National Defense Authorization Act comes closer to ending them entirely.
On December 5, the ACLU headlined, "Indefinite Detention, Endless Worldwide War and the 2012 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA)," saying: Enactment of this measure will authorize "the military to pick up and imprison people, including US citizens, without charging them or putting them on trial."
Secretly with no hearings, both Houses are rushing to complete a "joint version" before leaving for Christmas break. "Fundamental American values and freedoms are on the line." Given the stakes, they're perilously hanging by a thread.

   On December 13, the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) urged Obama to veto NDAA in its present form. Otherwise, he'll "be responsible for signing into law one of the greatest expansions of executive power in our nation's history, allowing the government to lock up citizens and non-citizens without the right to fair trials."
   Indefinite detentions violate core democratic freedoms, including fundamental Bill of Rights ones already gravely eroded.
   On November 27, 1941, Franklin Roosevelt issued Proclamation 2524, declaring December 15 Bill of Rights Day to commemorate its 150th 1791 ratification. At the time, he hailed "America('s) charter of personal liberty and human dignity," including "freedom of religion, freedom of speech, freedom of the press, freedom of assembly, and the free right to petition the Government for redress of grievances." Although American freedom then was far less than he claimed, today it hangs by a thread and may pass entirely any time for any reason.

   In response to global imperial wars, corporate favoritism, unbridled private sector criminality, and political corruption at the highest levels, causing economic crisis conditions at home, thousands began protesting nationwide for social justice. In response, militarized police confront them violently as NDAA heads for enactment to stop anyone from challenging US hegemony and corporate power by throwing them indefinitely in military dungeons to rot.

   Equity and justice are fast eroding entirely to advance America's imperium. On May 26, the House passed HR 1540, 322 - 96. Doing so took a giant step toward abolishing freedom entirely. On December 1, the Senate's S. 1867 followed suit, 93 to 7.
   Both versions assure no one anywhere is now safe, including law-abiding US citizens. Enactment means anyone anywhere, including US citizens, may be indefinitely held without charge or trial, based solely on suspicions, baseless allegations or none at all. No reasonable proof is required, just suspicions that those detained pose threats. Under subsection (b)(1), indefinite detentions can follow mere membership (past or present) or support for suspect organizations. Presidents will have unchecked authority to arrest, interrogate and indefinitely detain law-abiding citizens if accused of potentially posing a threat.   (continued at)

http://sjlendman.blogspot.com/

Monday, December 12, 2011

Wonder Why Election Cycles are so long now ?

IMO, that is one reason why the election cycles are so long now....to exhaust those without super-bucks and keep them from continuing to campaign effectively. There should be legislation to limit this problem besides getting rid of the horrid "rulings" at the links below, which was NOT a clear ruling, but which gave corporations "personhood" and has been used extensively to our collective detriment from then until the present day, especially now with the OTHER horrid ruling by scotus, the oxymoronic "citizens united" case for unlimited campaign contributions ruled as a matter of
"free speech".... for corporations, without disclosures as to sources, etc. .

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santa_Clara_County_v._Southern_Pacific_Railroad

---------------------

The doctrine of corporate personhood creates an interesting legal contradiction. The corporation is owned by its shareholders and is therefore their property. If it is also a legal person, then it is a person owned by others and thus exists in a condition of slavery -- a status explicitly forbidden by the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution. So is a corporation a person illegally held in servitude by its shareholders? Or is it a person who enjoys the rights of personhood that take precedence over the presumed ownership rights of its shareholders? So far as I have been able to determine, this contradiction has not been directly addressed by the courts.

http://www.ratical.org/corporations/SCvSPR1886.html

---------------------

Sen. Bernie Sanders: Corporations Are Not People and They Shouldn't Be Allowed to Buy Our Elections Corporations should not be able to go into their treasuries and spend millions and millions of dollars on a campaign in order to buy elections.

http://www.alternet.org/story/153391/sen_bernie_sanders_corporations_are_not_
people_and_they_shouldnt_be_allowed_to_buy_our_elections

----------------------

Bill Moyers reminds us that repairing American democracy begins with reasserting that corporations do not have the same constitutional rights as citizens.

http://www.alternet.org/story/153349/moyers%3A_why_%27we_the_people%27_must_triumph_over_corporate_power?akid=7981.318675.gakOe0

Friday, December 9, 2011

Tax Rate disincentives to business ?

    So; there is no new investment to speak of due to over-regulation and double tax rates for such monies ?   That's called a "dis-incentive-ized" economy IMO.   The usurious, oxymoronic sounding "unearned" income (esp. rentier, but not your grandmother's apartment rental income) , is 1/2 of what it should be at 16%, while the "earned" rate is now at 38% or so....totally unfair to, and dishonoring the work ethic that built the country in the first place !  Actually, the "peace dividend" idea that it represents (for the super-rich only) should be reversed if you truly want to save the country...OH, I forgot; they DON'T want to save the post-WWII country; they now want another 3rd-world country of troglodytes and "government bound entitlementalists", who are more than willing to settle for a much more rewarding (on purpose) career in the military for the "Spartanized" nation we are becoming so the ISAF can truly "assist" in world "security" of their ill-gotten gains on wallstreet.

   No envy here; just a growing sense of how immoral and usurious "your" 1/2 is, esp. when it comes to the tax codes, unrestricted major capital flight, unfettered off-shoring, outsourcing of jobs and whole industries and general malfeasnce minimally against the Constitutional "general welfare" clause, let alone the federal reserve's abuse of the country for the last 100 years with the equally immoral, usurious, and unconstitutional but "legal" status as it has systematically destroyed our currency's value, using the totally fraudulent by some legal definition, "money created as debt" idea, which should be banned from the world forever.  So ENVY ?  NO, but a great sense of total INJUSTICE and MALFEASANCE against the American people.

Thursday, December 8, 2011

To the unrepentant, usurious, rentier enabled super-rich entitlementalists...

  So, there is no new investment to speak of due to over-regulation and double tax rates for such monies ?   That's called a "dis-incentive-ized" economy IMO.   The usurious, oxymoronic sounding "unearned" income (esp. rentier, but not your grandmother's apartment rental income) , is 1/2 of what it should be....like the "earned" rate is now at 38% or so....totally unfair to, and dishonoring the work ethic that built the country in the first place !  Actually, the "peace dividend" idea that it represents (for the super-rich only) should be reversed if you truly want to save the country...OH, I forgot; they DON'T want to save the post-WWII country; they now want another 3rd-world country of troglodytes and "government bound entitlementalists", who are more than willing to settle for a much more rewarding (on purpose) career in the military for the "Spartanized" nation we are becoming so the ISAF can truly "assist" in world "security" of their ill-gotten gains on wallstreet.

   No envy here; just a growing sense of how immoral and usurious "your" 1/2 is, esp. when it comes to the tax codes, unrestricted major capital flight, unfettered off-shoring, outsourcing of jobs and whole industries and general malfeasnce minimally against the Constitutional "general welfare" clause, let alone the federal reserve's abuse of the country for the last 100 years with the equally immoral, usurious, and unconstitutional but "legal" status as it has systematically destroyed our currency's value, using the totally fraudulent by some legal definition, "money created as debt" idea, which should be banned from the world forever.  So ENVY ?  NO, but a great sense of total INJUSTICE and MALFEASANCE against the American people.

Elizabeth Warren; one of the few great Americans left !

She is one of the few great Americans we have left.  Please sign her petition against wallstreet abuse of the American people !

http://elizabethwarren.com/wall-street?utm_source=sp4262062&utm_medium=e&sc=sp4262062&refcode=sp4262062

Monday, December 5, 2011

Ron Paul's plan to restore America :

 ***  REPEALING ObamaCare, Dodd-Frank, Sarbanes Oxley, mandating REINS-style requirements for thorough congressional review and authorization before implementing any new regulations issued by bureaucrats, and canceling all onerous regulations previously issued by Executive Order.

***  REDUCING the federal workforce by 10%, slashing congressional pay and perks, curbing excessive federal travel, and lowering my salary as President to $39,336, which is approximately equal to the median personal income of the American worker;

***  FREEZING federal spending to 2006 levels, the last time Republicans had complete control of the federal government;

***  AUDITING the Federal Reserve, as well as cutting the EPA by 30% and the FDA by 40%;

***  STOPPING all foreign aid and ending all foreign wars so we no longer continue the policy of taking money from poor people here in America and sending it to rich people in poor countries overseas

------------ He would also bring home most of our overseas troops, but I have yet to see his plans for them once they come home for re-employment !   All the other candidates avoid this issue totally.

Is there any real accounting by anyone for the last 10 years ?

I just want to see an adjudication list with subpoenas for the following ...
to be expanded as all contribute and as can be researched :

-potus Obama - for crimes against the Constitution, not promoting the "general welfare"
-usag Holder - same
-Nancy Pelosi - insider trading not available to "ordinary" Americans
-Barney Frank - allowing TARP to be necessary; his weak bill "fix" is not at all good enough

- Phil Gramm - A main culprit who now has a cushy job at UBS. As chairman of the Senate Banking Committee from 1995 through 2000, Gramm was Washington's most prominent champion of financial deregulation. NOTE : contrast him with the great Louis T. McFadden, one of our American champion heros for "we the little people".

- Angelo Mozilo - Banking ; , Mozilo co-founded Countrywide in 1969 and built it into the largest mortgage lender in the U.S. Countrywide wasn't the first to offer exotic mortgages to borrowers with a questionable ability to repay them.

This is just a first small sampling on the sites below ; you can expand on each of the villains...

- Alan Greenspan
- Chris Cox
- American Consumers
- Hank Paulson
- Joe Cassano
- Ian McCarthy
- Franklin Raines
- Kathleen Corbet
- Dick Fuld
- Marion and Herb Sandler
- Bill Clinton
- George W. Bush
- Stan O'Neal
- Wen Jiabao
- David Lereah
- John Devaney
- Bernie Madoff
- Lew Ranieri
- Burton Jablin
- Fred Goodwin
- Sandy Weill
- David Oddsson
- Jimmy Cayne

http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/completelist/0,29569,1877351,00.html

Read more: http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/completelist/0,29569,1877351,00.html#ixzz1ffHuyEBH

FDIC Fights 'Too Big to Fail' With Bank 'Living Wills' - 9-15-11

Let's hope something good happens for a change ! The Dodd-Frank Act is too weak and watered down.

 http://www.law.com/jsp/cc/PubArticleCC.jsp?id=1202514421678
------------------
"FDIC Board Approves Interim Final Rule Requiring Resolution Plans for Insured Depository Institutions Over $50 Billion" "FDIC Acting Chairman Martin J. Gruenberg said, "The FDIC's Interim Final Rule requiring insured depository institutions with assets over $50 billion to submit resolution plans is intended to serve as a complement to the joint rulemaking with the Federal Reserve under the Dodd-Frank Act that was also approved by the FDIC Board today.

These two rules will ensure the comprehensive and coordinated resolution planning for both the insured depository and its holding company and affiliates in the event that an orderly liquidation is required. The rules will also facilitate improved efficiencies and risk management practices among covered institutions as they produce and evaluate these plans."

http://www.fdic.gov/news/news/press/2011/pr11150.html
----------------------

10-18-11 ; If you have any doubt that Bank of America is in trouble, this development should settle it Bank of America Corp. (BAC), hit by a credit downgrade last month, has moved derivatives from its Merrill Lynch unit to a subsidiary flush with insured deposits, according to people with direct knowledge of the situation...

Bank of America's holding company - the parent of both the retail bank and the Merrill Lynch securities unit - held almost $75 trillion of derivatives at the end of June, according to data compiled by the OCC. About $53 trillion, or 71 percent, were within Bank of America NA, according to the data, which represent the notional values of the trades.

That compares with JPMorgan's deposit-taking entity, JPMorgan Chase Bank NA, which contained 99 percent of the New York-based firm's $79 trillion of notional derivatives, the OCC data show.

http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2011/10/bank-of-america-deathwatch-moves-risky-derivatives-from-holding-company-to-taxpayer-backstopped-depositors.html
--------------------

Is there real hope for nullifying the now $175 Trillion that just went onto the FDIC roles in derivatives or are we going to have to lose the country for allowing this ? My understanding of Dodd-Frank (and knowing what I think of those two) makes me shudder at the possiblilites for failure of our monetary system.

Sunday, December 4, 2011

BofA and JPM move up to $100 TRILLION in derivatives to FDIC-insured accounts...and that's just the tip of the Iceberg about to hit us all !


 Where IS the potus and USAG in all this ? asleep? Nope; otherwise engaged? sorta; on the take with Pelosi & co. with congressionally condoned/legalized insider trading on no-bid military contracts and also allowing derivative disasters like this...? YES !...

We first need a judicial, executive and legislative revolution so we can get subpoenas flying like Preska's 29,000 pages on the Fed, or the new 21,000 documents from Jed Rakoff (NOT to be confused with Madoff !).

Defaulting middle-class U.S. homeowners are blamed, but they are merely a pawn in the game. Those loans were invented so that hedge funds would have high-yield debt to buy, now estimated to be 10x more = 1000 Trillion, which can supposedly be put atop the debt now "insured" by the FDIC...?? NOWAY on my planet ! Let the courts fly NOW !

http://www.opednews.com/articles/opedne_sharon_k_071117_hey_buddy_2c_can_you_s.htm

http://www.examiner.com/finance-examiner-in-national/2008-redux-taxpayers-to-help-bailout-merrill-lynch-and-bank-of-america

http://www.wireclub.com/topics/politics/conversations/TqC2NgM8CwyAZajD0

Go again Eliot ; We missed you !

   Our hero list keeps growing with Spitzer, the "mean dog" of  WS fame, even if his personal life is a mess. We need more heros like Rakoff, Preska, Born, Pauls, Grayson, Sanders, Kucinich, Perry Clark, Elizabeth Warren, Karen Kwiatkowski, Al Franken (he's no comedian here, as he voted to get
rid of "citizens united"!)

http://www.alternet.org/story/153291/eliot_spitzer%3A_5_ways_to_make_banks_pay_for_their_secret_%247_trillion_free_ride/comments/

Saturday, December 3, 2011

We need more judges like Jed Rakoff (and Napalitano?) to help save America !

 Judge Rakoff Challenge to the S.E.C.: Can Regulatory Capture be Reversed?

Last Monday, Federal Judge Jed Rakoff issued a potentially precedent-setting challenge to the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) when he rejected the $285 million settlement between the agency and Citigroup. The bank is charged with negligence related to its misleading sale of toxic mortgage-backed securities, which ultimately cost investors nearly $700 million but earned the bank a handsome profit of almost $160 million. Citigroup is a prime example. It is accused of negligence in the loss of $700 million of investor money, and agreed to pay $285 million, which is less than 8 percent of the bank’s profits in just the third-quarter of 2011 alone.

A New York Times analysis found that over the past 15 years, at least 51 cases have involved recidivism by 19 Wall Street firms. In many of these cases, the SEC could bring contempt of court charges, but it has not done so in at least 10 years. Most major banks are repeat violators.

Taking on very large firms and raising the costs of violating the law are not impossible tasks. It can be done. In fact, in 2008 American and European authorities went after Siemens, a German multinational company, for making large amounts of dubious payments globally. By 2010 Siemens had paid out nearly $3.4 billion in investigations, back taxes and fines to end the probe.

Focusing only on the minimum the SEC can do to settle with Citigroup and to satisfy the specific challenge presented by judge Rakoff misses the much larger picture

There should be much more debate on how to stem the undue influence of big banks, which should be revisited, and a spectrum of more stringent measures, even including the breakup of the biggest banks, ought to be seriously considered. Revolving door policies ought to be revisited and cooling off periods should be extended, especially for persons occupying sensitive positions that are particularly vulnerable to capture.
We need judges who will see to it that tougher transparency, regulatory and enforcement incentives would further raise the costs of violating securities laws because companies would face the added risk of investor lawsuits, and possible criminal prosecutions by the Justice Department against executives.

If Judge Rakoff’s ruling will set a precedent is unclear, and it depends greatly on the White House, Congress, the SEC, other judges, civil society and reformists in the private sector to seize this opportunity and to address the persistent and costly phenomena of capture.
 
http://www.brookings.edu/opinions/2011/1202_rakoff_challenge_kaufmann.aspx

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/money/u-s-district-judge-jed-rakoff-rejects-bank-america-sec-settlement-merrill-lynch-bonuses-article-1.402858

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/money/time-magazine-top-people-blame-economic-mess-toplist-1.3374

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/09/15/judge-jed-rakoff-takes-on_n_286909.html

Thursday, December 1, 2011

6 Shocking Revelations About Wall Street's "Secret Government"

 Top officials willfully concealed the true extent of the 2008-'09 bailouts from Congress and the public.

Americans now have access to over 29,000 pages of Fed documents and 21,000 additional Fed transactions that were
deliberately hidden, and for good reason, as they are almost self-indicting ! 

http://www.alternet.org/story/153274/6_shocking_revelations_about_wall_street%27s_secret_governmen
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