The Smart Money Buys When There's Blood In The Streets: Jeb Handwerger [View article]
If the smart money buys when there's blood in the streets, then shouldn't smart money be shorting the market, as the shorts have been bleeding since SDS was $120/share and before their 3-1 reverse split ( i.e.,= @ $ 360/share of today's shares)? Just wondering if the inverse corollary works. What's the historical pattern?
ABN Amro was one of the most underhanded (if not the most underhanded) mortgage lenders to ever make mortgage loans in this country. Their underwriting guidelines from the early part of the century have disappeared. Their former CEO was written up in the Washington Post (if I recall coreectly) under an article entitled "The World's Worst Banker". How's that for confidence building?.
I know someone will question my statement that big govt is prospering. I say this because it is growing in power and is winning the ideological battle in the minds of voters. The exploding national debt is a problem for taxpayers because it means future tax increases ad infinitum. The exploding national debt is a solution for big govt because it means futrue tax increases and growth of big govt ad infinitum.
You will note that there has been no discussion of hiring freezes, cutting federal employees compensation, either salary or benefits,or even any cuts other than those most likely to be scary to the American people just as releasing prisoners early or to be resented by the American people, such as ending White House tours, laying off firefighters and teachers and police. What a crock!!!
The goal is obviously to destroy the will of the people to restrain govt growth and to deprive us all of our personal rights. We have become a nation ruled by and serving the whims of a centralized govt.; not a nation whose govt represents and serves us. The Federal govt and its bureaucracy and oligarchy and its allies are prospering at the expense of the American people.
I see that the average household net worth has dropped 36% in nominal dollars (not inflation-adjusted dollars), in the last 6 years. However, the markets are setting new highs, which means that the figures would be even worse if stock prices were exluded. The economy of the ciitzenry stinks. Big business and big govt are prospering at the expense of Americans, a fact that goes unmentioned in the media, which is itself generally owned by conglomerates.
That leads me to conclude that one can justify a presumption of rigging and the presumption of cover-up by the media. Not irrebuttable presumptions, but reasonable ones.
If Bernanke actually said that gold is not money, then he needs to read and follow the clear dictate of the US Constitution, which provides that gold and silver are the only lawful money. If he refuses to accept that gold is money, then he should do the honorable thing and resign.
The 'Too Big To Jail' Red Herring: The Jamie Dimon Edition [View article]
The standard argument is that Wall Street needs to pay so well with its system of compensating mainly through bonuses, (rather than simply paying people to do the job well and firing them if they do not do the job well and giving bonuses only if deserved, like most businesses) because Wall Street needs to be able to get and keep "the best talent".
this argument has been shown to boil down to an argument that Wall Street needs to get and keep the most talented con men. The reason these cons were perpetrated was because they were well-rewarded with bonuses for conning people, rather than paid well for their work.
The 'Too Big To Jail' Red Herring: The Jamie Dimon Edition [View article]
You miss the point. The truly big guys think they are invincible and the evidence is that Uncle Sam will not prosecute them if they are big enough. That is why they are willing to commit crimes other "professionals" would not dare commit.
Some green enters the screen a half hour after a big down open, with Apple and Hewlett-Packard (after an upgrade) notably higher. Not surprisingly banks are feeling the brunt of what's left of the EU bank-induced selloff, the XLF -1.4%. SPY -0.8%, DIA -0.4%, QQQ -0.6%. Europe's about 1% off the lows, the Stoxx 50 (FEZ) -1.5%. [View news story]
Is this not evidence of how the banks believe they own govts?
Ben Bernanke's Diabolical Plan To Turn Mortgage-Backed Securities Into Pristine Collateral [View article]
The 10th Amendment, inspired by Locke's contract theory of govt, added, "and to the people." as the contract we call govt by consent does not delegate to govt, state or federal, all political rights.
John Locke authoried the first SC Copnstitution, some of which in moderrn English, survives in the present SC Constitution. Read Article 1, Sec 1, which he authored. Very illuminating. It states that all political power belongs to the people, who have the right to change their form of government at any time.
Ben Bernanke's Diabolical Plan To Turn Mortgage-Backed Securities Into Pristine Collateral [View article]
Gary,
I do not understand the dynamics of our international banking system well enough to know all the consequences of rehypothecation of collateral. I will take your word for it.
I see an over-reaching sovereign as no better than over-reaching supersovereigns.
The issue I have with big govt goes beyond the economy and into civil liberties, including, without limitation, rights proptected under our Constitution to privacy, fair trial, freedom of speech and religion, even the right to bear arms (to defend one's life and liberty from enemies domestic or foreign, whether tyrants or burglars; not to hunt or target practice, which the framers would not have worried about and could not possibly be the concern of the 2nd Amendment).
Ben Bernanke's Diabolical Plan To Turn Mortgage-Backed Securities Into Pristine Collateral [View article]
Gary,
I appreciate the time you spent with me to illuminate some issues.
At the risk of seeming inane, let me indulge a fantasy for a moment.
I suppose that the only way to decrease the unjustifiable power of the "supersovereigns" is to decrease the size and scope of their henchmen, the sovereign govts. In the USA, that would mean that we would respect the constitutional limits on the power of the centrailzed govt return to being a nation with a centralized govt. of enumerated powers, as per the 10th amendment and the original intent of the framers.
If such were to happen without additonal measures to curtail the power of the supersovereigns, that would merely cause them to use more flagrantly the resources of the muti-national and other large coropriatons and conglomerates to serve the purposes that govt would no longer serve or or would serve less effectively for them.
The opposition's (the public's) strategy would require that the corporation be "re-invented" to dismantle conglomerates, perhaps by forbidding corporations from owning interests in other corporations combined with forbidding their "controlling persons' or groups of controlling persons to achieve the same end.
Very complicated and very unlikely and subject to all calls for special exemptions, (e.g., the tax code) as the public could probably not be unified to to work for such ends without the assistance of mass media, itself controlled by conglomerates and solutions would be proposed by lobbyists and politicians.that the public could be conned into believing would work.
Ben Bernanke's Diabolical Plan To Turn Mortgage-Backed Securities Into Pristine Collateral [View article]
Gary,
I like what I see in your new article. You obviously have more insight than I originally thought. Your reference to the TBTF banks threatening to end 30 year mortgages unless they were all guaranteed by Uncle Sam reminds me of a personal story, wherein I was advised by counsel for a certain state agency that the second mortgage industry threatened to refuse to make second mortgages to the citizens of SC if the State fo South Carolina enforced Sec. 37-10-102(a) of the SC Code so the agency backed down. This was not even a threat from TBTF banks, but included many of their finance company subsidiaries. I also had one manager of American General tell me they were big enough so that if people sued them for violation of that same law, they would have the law changed. A few years later, class actions were commenced against several lenders for violation of this statute and the lenders had the laws changed to prohibit class actions and limit damages.
Now, as to your questions. As to the chart, concerning the numbers of mortgage loans sold to the GSE's and the "shadow banks" First, I do not see where the chart distinguishes between solid loans and subprime loans. My suspicion is that the most desirable loans were kept in-house and the less desirable ones were sold to whoever would pay the most for them, including GSE's. Additionally, what do you call a "shadow bank"? When Deutsche Bank buys a loan and has BOA or Green Tree Loan Servicing service it, is Deutsche Bank a "shadow bank?
Finally, I see the source of the information was the Federal Reserve. You may as well comment that the banks determined what information to supply and what information to publish and how the numbers were calculated.
When ABN-Amro (read RBS, probably as much information RE: ABN has mysteriously disappeared) approved mortgage loan brokers working on commission and gave them status as "correspondent lenders", and gave them the software to review and approve loans in-house and gave them the software to print ABN-Amro packages naming the correspondent lender as the payee onj the note and as mortgagee and including mortgage assignments to ABN-Amro with closing instructions to ship the package directly to ABN-Amro, (with the loan being net-funded by ABN) prior to or simultaneously with disbursement of loan proceeds, is that correspondent lender a "shadow bank"?
As to your comparison of Japan and the USA, stating that the two are like each other in that neither will run out of money, I do not pretend to understand the dynamics of either economy well enough to comment on whether this is acurate or not. I can say that the cultures are incredibly different. It seems the Japanese citizenry are much more inclined to save than their American counterparts. It appears that the American citizenry is much more inclined to file for disability or for Sec 8 and/or for other govt assistance than the Japanese. I suspect that the Japanese aging population is accountable for most of the govt assistance in Japan, whereas, I am not so sure about how many Americans are actually in need of their entitlements. I am not as educated as you in these matters. What I know about economics has been learned primarily from my own observations and my own experiences, colored by the commentary of others that I have read and heard and not by formal training.
What I do know is that we, as a people, are losing or have lost our govt to big business and are losing our individual liberties to the twin incestuous alters of big govt and big busn., and, most particularly, big banking. Citzens United is proof of that fact.
If the American people knew and aprpeciated the extent to which the TBTF banks control their govt and control their lives and destroy their competiton and their opponents with deceit and rob the American people, things might change for the better. I don't pretend to know.
The Smart Money Buys When There's Blood In The Streets: Jeb Handwerger [View article]
Are The Markets Rigged? [View article]
Are The Markets Rigged? [View article]
Are The Markets Rigged? [View article]
You will note that there has been no discussion of hiring freezes, cutting federal employees compensation, either salary or benefits,or even any cuts other than those most likely to be scary to the American people just as releasing prisoners early or to be resented by the American people, such as ending White House tours, laying off firefighters and teachers and police. What a crock!!!
The goal is obviously to destroy the will of the people to restrain govt growth and to deprive us all of our personal rights. We have become a nation ruled by and serving the whims of a centralized govt.; not a nation whose govt represents and serves us. The Federal govt and its bureaucracy and oligarchy and its allies are prospering at the expense of the American people.
Are The Markets Rigged? [View article]
That leads me to conclude that one can justify a presumption of rigging and the presumption of cover-up by the media. Not irrebuttable presumptions, but reasonable ones.
Are The Markets Rigged? [View article]
The 'Too Big To Jail' Red Herring: The Jamie Dimon Edition [View article]
this argument has been shown to boil down to an argument that Wall Street needs to get and keep the most talented con men. The reason these cons were perpetrated was because they were well-rewarded with bonuses for conning people, rather than paid well for their work.
The 'Too Big To Jail' Red Herring: The Jamie Dimon Edition [View article]
Gold's safe-haven status is renewed amid the situation in Cyprus, sending Comex gold above $1,600/oz. for the first time this month. “Gold should profit from the possibility that savings are no longer regarded as safe," Commerzbank says, but it's too early to know if the push will last; Societe Generale doubts gold rallies much from here. Gold miners also move up: GDX +1.1%, GDXJ +1.2%. [View news story]
Some green enters the screen a half hour after a big down open, with Apple and Hewlett-Packard (after an upgrade) notably higher. Not surprisingly banks are feeling the brunt of what's left of the EU bank-induced selloff, the XLF -1.4%. SPY -0.8%, DIA -0.4%, QQQ -0.6%. Europe's about 1% off the lows, the Stoxx 50 (FEZ) -1.5%. [View news story]
Ben Bernanke's Diabolical Plan To Turn Mortgage-Backed Securities Into Pristine Collateral [View article]
Ben Bernanke's Diabolical Plan To Turn Mortgage-Backed Securities Into Pristine Collateral [View article]
John Locke authoried the first SC Copnstitution, some of which in moderrn English, survives in the present SC Constitution. Read Article 1, Sec 1, which he authored. Very illuminating. It states that all political power belongs to the people, who have the right to change their form of government at any time.
Ben Bernanke's Diabolical Plan To Turn Mortgage-Backed Securities Into Pristine Collateral [View article]
I do not understand the dynamics of our international banking system well enough to know all the consequences of rehypothecation of collateral. I will take your word for it.
I see an over-reaching sovereign as no better than over-reaching supersovereigns.
The issue I have with big govt goes beyond the economy and into civil liberties, including, without limitation, rights proptected under our Constitution to privacy, fair trial, freedom of speech and religion, even the right to bear arms (to defend one's life and liberty from enemies domestic or foreign, whether tyrants or burglars; not to hunt or target practice, which the framers would not have worried about and could not possibly be the concern of the 2nd Amendment).
Ben Bernanke's Diabolical Plan To Turn Mortgage-Backed Securities Into Pristine Collateral [View article]
I appreciate the time you spent with me to illuminate some issues.
At the risk of seeming inane, let me indulge a fantasy for a moment.
I suppose that the only way to decrease the unjustifiable power of the "supersovereigns" is to decrease the size and scope of their henchmen, the sovereign govts. In the USA, that would mean that we would respect the constitutional limits on the power of the centrailzed govt return to being a nation with a centralized govt. of enumerated powers, as per the 10th amendment and the original intent of the framers.
If such were to happen without additonal measures to curtail the power of the supersovereigns, that would merely cause them to use more flagrantly the resources of the muti-national and other large coropriatons and conglomerates to serve the purposes that govt would no longer serve or or would serve less effectively for them.
The opposition's (the public's) strategy would require that the corporation be "re-invented" to dismantle conglomerates, perhaps by forbidding corporations from owning interests in other corporations combined with forbidding their "controlling persons' or groups of controlling persons to achieve the same end.
Very complicated and very unlikely and subject to all calls for special exemptions, (e.g., the tax code) as the public could probably not be unified to to work for such ends without the assistance of mass media, itself controlled by conglomerates and solutions would be proposed by lobbyists and politicians.that the public could be conned into believing would work.
Ben Bernanke's Diabolical Plan To Turn Mortgage-Backed Securities Into Pristine Collateral [View article]
I like what I see in your new article. You obviously have more insight than I originally thought. Your reference to the TBTF banks threatening to end 30 year mortgages unless they were all guaranteed by Uncle Sam reminds me of a personal story, wherein I was advised by counsel for a certain state agency that the second mortgage industry threatened to refuse to make second mortgages to the citizens of SC if the State fo South Carolina enforced Sec. 37-10-102(a) of the SC Code so the agency backed down. This was not even a threat from TBTF banks, but included many of their finance company subsidiaries. I also had one manager of American General tell me they were big enough so that if people sued them for violation of that same law, they would have the law changed. A few years later, class actions were commenced against several lenders for violation of this statute and the lenders had the laws changed to prohibit class actions and limit damages.
Now, as to your questions. As to the chart, concerning the numbers of mortgage loans sold to the GSE's and the "shadow banks" First, I do not see where the chart distinguishes between solid loans and subprime loans. My suspicion is that the most desirable loans were kept in-house and the less desirable ones were sold to whoever would pay the most for them, including GSE's. Additionally, what do you call a "shadow bank"? When Deutsche Bank buys a loan and has BOA or Green Tree Loan Servicing service it, is Deutsche Bank a "shadow bank?
Finally, I see the source of the information was the Federal Reserve. You may as well comment that the banks determined what information to supply and what information to publish and how the numbers were calculated.
When ABN-Amro (read RBS, probably as much information RE: ABN has mysteriously disappeared) approved mortgage loan brokers working on commission and gave them status as "correspondent lenders", and gave them the software to review and approve loans in-house and gave them the software to print ABN-Amro packages naming the correspondent lender as the payee onj the note and as mortgagee and including mortgage assignments to ABN-Amro with closing instructions to ship the package directly to ABN-Amro, (with the loan being net-funded by ABN) prior to or simultaneously with disbursement of loan proceeds, is that correspondent lender a "shadow bank"?
As to your comparison of Japan and the USA, stating that the two are like each other in that neither will run out of money, I do not pretend to understand the dynamics of either economy well enough to comment on whether this is acurate or not. I can say that the cultures are incredibly different. It seems the Japanese citizenry are much more inclined to save than their American counterparts. It appears that the American citizenry is much more inclined to file for disability or for Sec 8 and/or for other govt assistance than the Japanese. I suspect that the Japanese aging population is accountable for most of the govt assistance in Japan, whereas, I am not so sure about how many Americans are actually in need of their entitlements. I am not as educated as you in these matters. What I know about economics has been learned primarily from my own observations and my own experiences, colored by the commentary of others that I have read and heard and not by formal training.
What I do know is that we, as a people, are losing or have lost our govt to big business and are losing our individual liberties to the twin incestuous alters of big govt and big busn., and, most particularly, big banking. Citzens United is proof of that fact.
If the American people knew and aprpeciated the extent to which the TBTF banks control their govt and control their lives and destroy their competiton and their opponents with deceit and rob the American people, things might change for the better. I don't pretend to know.