The Great Confidence Game

The link below contains a purported list of the top 25 in Congress who got contributions from the folks at Fannie and Freddie. Obama is listed third, after Dodd and Kerry, even though Obama is just a junior Senator. Obama is followed next by Clinton. Barney Frank and Nancy Pelosi are on the list as well.

http://www.investors.com/editorial/IBDArticles.asp?artsec=16&artnum=1&issue=20080918

Then there is the Senate Banking Committee Chairman Christopher J. Dodd who allegedly got special mortgage deals from Countrywide, who gave preferential rates to 'friends' of company's chairman.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25140560/

For an interesting article purporting to detail the House Financial Services Committee Chairs long history with Fannie Mae, See http://www.businessandmedia.org/printer/2008/20080924145932.aspx

"House Financial Services Committee Chair promoted GSEs while former 'spouse' was Fannie Mae executive."

The link below describes how some in Congress tried to use the original version of the bailout bill to divert money eventually recovered to groups like ACORN, a group Obama has a long association with. See:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122247015469280723.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

And then there is House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who allegedly has directed nearly $100,000 from her political action committee to her husband's real estate and investment firm.

http://www.washtimes.com/news/2008/oct/01/pelosis-pac-pays-bills-for-spouses-firm.

A man of great wisdom:
http://www.atlah.org/broadcast/manningreport.html

This fraudulent FBI investigation may come up with a patsy for this crime, but will never indict who it needs to, our federal government. They hold about a 65% foothold in this whole debacle. Bailing out(or covering up) these treasonous companies only benefits those inside our government from being tied to this. A market collapse is essentially what these big business wolves want, much like 1929 when big business pulled the rug out from under the market and feeding on the remaining for pennies on the dollar. We can bail out the greed and see a delay in deflationary depression or let them eat it and take our medicine now. It is our fault. We know more about Dancing with the Stars than our local government. We don't question enough in the federal gov., but instead allow necessary barriers between investment banks and commercial banks to fall. We allow our freedoms to fall under the patriot act. We have allowed our government to run this country into enormous debt held by other countries, manufacturing to leave our shores and import everything(including food). Wake up people, party lines do not exist. Power corrupts and party affiliation does not assure that "your guy" isn't selling our country, our rights, and our freedoms to the highest bidder. This is just the latest in their brand of capitalism making the people pay for their greed. So, just sit their and enjoy the latest season of "American Idol" or fantasy sports; Or make our country, constitution, and ultimately our survival your priority. We run this country, no one else.

Lets see,
no more buldge bracket investment banks,
nationalization of AIG and the GSEs,
WaMu, the biggest bank failure in history,
money markets in near panic,
record foreclosures,
interbank credit freeze,
subprime godzilla,
global CDS minefield,
rising unemployment,
TARP (Torpedoed Assetbacked Recovery Plan) chaos,
Sage McCain, says:"This isn't the beginning of the end of this crisis, this is the end of the beginning."

Is it time to panic?

No! Its time to sing

OBLADI OBLADA (MARKET LIFE GOES ON)
(the Beatles)
(adapted by WilliamBanzai7)

Ben Bernanke plays backstop for the market place
Henry is cleaning up subprime quicksand
Bernanke says to Henry - we've got to save this place
And as he says this the two of them shake hands.

[ Chorus: ]
Obladi oblada markets go on bro
Lala how that market life goes on
Obladi Oblada markets go on bro
Lala how that market life goes on.

Bernanke takes a trolley from the Fed money store
Buys a 700 billion dollar bailout ring
Takes it back to Henry waiting at the door
And as he gives it to him the markets start to sing.

[ Chorus ]

In a couple of years they have refinanced
all our home sweet homes
With a couple of big banks running in the yard
And Hank and Ben sitting on the market throne.

Happy ever after in the market place
Bernanke lets the bankers lend a hand
Henry stays at home and keeps his poker face
And in the evening they both like
to sing out with the band.

[ Chorus ]

In a couple of years they have refinanced
all our home sweet homes
With a couple of big banks running in the yard
With Ben and Hank sitting on the market throne.

Happy ever after in the market place
Benrnanke lets the bankers lend a hand
Henry stays at home and keeps his poker face
And in the evening they both sing out with the band.

[ Chorus: ]
Obladi oblada markets go on bro
Lala how that market life goes on
Obladi Oblada markets go on bro
Lala how that market life goes on.

The Great Con Game....

That???s what I am beginning to think of Ben Bernanke and Hank Paulson. It???s particularly interesting that Paulson is the CEO of Goldman-Sachs. It???s also interesting that Warren Buffet, whom McCain suggested should head an oversight committee just bought millions of dollars in Goldman-Sachs shares. It???s probably just a ???coincidence??? that Goldman-Sachs would be the chief beneficiaries in the proposed $ 700 billion dollar bailout.

Even more revealing is the news from Bush???s press secretary that this plan had actually be in the works for month. (I got that info courtesy of the Rachel Maddow show.) In addition, from CNN, I got information that a lot of corporations involved in the meltdown are under FBI investigation for mortgage fraud. In addition one of McCain???s chief campaign manager Rick Davis had a long association with Freed Mac.

Most disturbing is Paulson???s insistence on no over sight. He is to make all decisions about how the $ 700 billion is to be spent. In addition, Paulson is insisting on railroading through this legislation - no questions asked. Congress has every right to ask questions and every right to delay any action until all questions have a satisfactory answer.

Before we approve of a bailout - let???s make sure the bailout doesn???t go to billionaires. And let???s at least get oversight. I???d also suggest that the richest 1 % of this country put their own bank accounts and assets up as collateral. We also need to put a hefty sur-tax on the incomes of the Super rich. Those guys did not earn their money. They stole it from the working class of this country. It???s time the working class got their money back.

Without tough love you just feed the addiction. This crisis will not end until those who created it feel its pain (large losses). Once we recognize that you cannot reward poorly managed companies, the management and accountability will improve. Our economy will survive this, the poorly managed companies will be replaced by better capitalized ones and our economy will grow again.

We rank right alongside Zimbabwe in poor leadership. For the past eight years, our country's leaders have utterly failed us. To have let this financial mess happen right after an unnecessary and disastrously expensive war is simply astounding. I guess you get what you vote for. But with the Republican leadership we certainly got short shrift. Knowing that my grandkids will be paying for the war and for this Wall Street mess leaves me outraged. Why anyone, under the present circumstances, would vote for another Republican is beyond me. With his unwavering support of the current leadership, Robert Samuelson has lost all credibility.

The war in Afghanistan made the USSR bankrupt. It is so simple, when you invest in a war, there is no guarantee that you will get the return on your investment. Especially if it is a proxy war. What did the US gain from the Vietnam War? NOTHING.Similarly all the money spent on wars will eventually make the USA bankrupt. The US has infact started begging from other nations for quite sometime and the next generation of tax payers are still not being conceived in the wombs to pay the current debts! The US is surviving based on trust by the creditors and is actually at their mercy.

Yeah, we don't trust it with reason. As, in fact, we don't trust you, with reason.

Go get a job as a Republican shill. The first Mayor Dailey of Chicago used to say that an honest politician was one that stayed bought.

I'd think better of you if your hidden agendas were not hidden.

many mixed emotions as I watch the economy meltdown like a broken nuclear reactor.
not something I would wish on my own worst enemy.
but, highly predictable given the underlying flawed infrastructure.
details in a paper I wrote, 2002, called "fractional reserve banking as economic
parasitism"

http://econpapers.repec.org/paper/wpawuwpma/0203005.htm

endorsed by two phd economists. printed in nexus
magazine, 60k world circulation. #1 top downloaded
economics paper. used by economics
teacher in australia as standard classroom material.

recent supporting material:

Web of Debt-- How Banks and the Federal Reserve are Bankrupting the Planet, by Ellen Brown
http://www.webofdebt.com/

The Shock Doctrine: Naomi Klein on the Rise of Disaster Capitalism
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=07/09/17/1411235

Confessions of an Economic Hit Man: How the U.S. Uses Globalization to Cheat Poor Countries Out of Trillions
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=04/11/09/1526251

John Perkins on "The Secret History of the American Empire: Economic Hit Men, Jackals, and the Truth about Global Corruption"
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=07/06/05/149254

Behind the falsification of US economic data
Peter Daniels
http://www.infowars.com/?p=2525

Money as Debt, video by Grignon
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-9050474362583451279

When will people finally understand that this government does not care for the people?? If it did, we would have UHC and affordable education for all ! This is just like a 3rd world country. The rich live, the poor die. GET ON THE WAGON! STOP SPENDING 600 BILLION OF OUR TAX FOR THE MILITARY AND START SPENDING THOSE BILLIONS ON THE WELL BEING OF THE PEOPLE!!

Because their scum-bags, always have been! Have your ever been to the NYSE or Chicago's? Greedy slicksters and fat slobs is all you'll see. Get a real job, not some job based on speculation? Only in America could you make money out of nothing, maybe that's why we have this crisis today!

It's all similar to the 1997 Asian financial crisis, except this time it's the U.S. that is the third-world country. As in southeast Asia, you have banks with tons of bad real estate loans on the books. We lectured them about "transparency" because of secretive banking practices. So what happens in the U.S.? Thanks to laissez-faire policies you have securitized mortgages sold everywhere like stock with bogus credit ratings. Nobody knows who has lots of bad paper, and banks won't tell - fearing a stampede - if they think they can somehow manage. In other words, NO TRANSPARENCY!

So what happened in Asia? Some places needed IMF bailouts, but even those that didn't had their CURRENCIES ATTACKED, with the baht, ringgit, rupiah and others losing half or more of value. That decimated retirement savings and really brought hardship on already-poor people. Anything imported was prohibitive (think how much the U.S. imports!). And it took about 9 YEARS to recover, even in economies with fundamentals favoring high-growth. If something like that happens to the U.S. you're looking at the worst economic pain since the Depression.

You know, normally I read an entire article before commenting, but it is unnecessary in this case. One can analyze endlessly a debacle like the present one, and attribute it to "confidence," but how about substituting the word "REALITY?" Wall Street, with its hot-air investments, has been totally bogus for decades. Don't forget that the origin of "confidence man" is rooted in that same word, and that's what brokers are. The first notable confidence man-=-because his buying and selling manipulated the London Stock Exchange--was Nathanial Rothschild, and stockbrokers' schemes and financial instruments have gotten more elaborate ever since. Hot air, lies, and human greed are the three main ingrediants in the Wall Street Pie. The real strength of any country lies WITH THE PEOPLE, THEIR WELL-BEING AND PROSPERITY, not the fat cats who hold nearly 90& of real wealth. I have no pity for the Wall Street Gang--only their victims, and as a homeowner tryhing to sell his home in an ever-sinking market, I am one. Finito

If all of these financial institutions are running out of money... where did all of this money leak away to?

This bailout is about preserving the wealth in the hands of a few. Those CEO's and high level owners who own much of the stock in these business that took the greed risk and fail. They want bailed out. How will the government ever sell and recoup these worthless securities. Is there some phony marketing scheme that they plan to unfold in a year or two?? The big boys must face the consequents of their actions and redistribute the assets of these companies to small companies. Big is not better.

Perhaps the issue of trust for many americans is with the president and his cronies whos' pockets he pads. This whole scenario of a rush to get the $700 B. BAILOUT approved, in days, may seem reminiscent of the drumbeat to go to war in Iraq. Some may remember that Colon Powell, highly revered, nearly a national hero, was sent to sell the deal to the UN. There was an urgency pushed then because the fear was that al-Qaeda would be in our cities within the next week spewing yellowcake...all facilitated by Saddam Hussein and his fictitious WMD machine. This war has made many very wealthy.
Some may also recall that there was also a severe urgency to get the Patriot Act passed...This was done while the rubble was still at the 9/11 WTC site. Part of the Patriot Act gives the executive branch powers of a monarch. With this rushed tool, the Patriot Act, any one person in the world can be snatched up and flung into a small corner cell in Cuba without the opportunity of a reasonably fair trial or perhaps even a phone call.
Now Hank Paulson, highly revered, much like Gen. Powell, is giving warning of eventual if not immediate disintegration of life as we know it if immediate action is not taken.
The judgment of the monarch and the tools he crafts may be what people don't trust.
Likely, a few questions will be asked by congress and fewer asked by the general public. Some believe that our grandchildren don't need to and wont wish to pay for the posh retirement of multitudes of bankers with poor judgment.