|
Users viewing this topic:
none
|
|
Login | |
|
RE: US Bankers control USA - 4/26/2010 1:01:03 AM
|
|
|
prophetjul
Posts: 666
Joined: 4/19/2005
Status: offline
|
When plunder becomes a way of life for a group of men in a society, over the course of time they create for themselves a legal system that authorizes it and a moral code that glorifies it."….. FREDERIC BASTIAT (From his important book ‘The Law).
|
|
|
|
RE: US Bankers control USA - 4/27/2010 5:49:43 PM
|
|
|
GroupW
Posts: 2237
Joined: 11/16/2007
From: Up in the hills of Colorado (very BIG hills...)
Status: offline
|
quote:
ORIGINAL: GroupW In this case re: abacus 2007 AC1, the issue isn't the short sale, it's allowing a short seller to choose the bonds and then telling everyone buying the CDO that the portfolio was selected by an independent and objective third party. You can do what GS did - but you can't lie about it. There is the rub. I may have spoken to soon. Turns out that ACA Capital was given the portfolio before it was sold and they put their stamp of approval on it and allowed themselves to be named "portfolio selection agent" on the deal. GS may not have been 100% transparent, but they weren't complete liars either. They actually did have an independent and objective selection agent. The story gets a bit more interesting, as now ACA is backpedaling and saying they wouldn't have approved the portfolio if they knew Paulson was shorting it. (Excuse me ACA , but these vehicles existed primarily to facilitate selling positions. Somehow you thought this one was different???) My big question is why ACA deferred to Paulson when everyone knew Paulson didn't know diddly about mortgages. Lots of finger pointing going on here, but not a lot of enlightened discussion. Could be that the villain here is ACA, the primary investor in the dal - wearing dual hats as both villain and dupe. It's a strange, strange world .... BT
_____________________________
There is a theory that if ever anyone discovers what the Universe is and why it's here, it will instantly disappear & be replaced by something even more bizarre and inexplicable. There is another theory which states this has already happened. (D. Adams)
|
|
|
|
RE: US Bankers control USA - 4/27/2010 7:41:49 PM
|
|
|
prophetjul
Posts: 666
Joined: 4/19/2005
Status: offline
|
quote:
It's a strange, strange world .... Strange aint the word....its called corrupted. GS controls what they want to see happen....thats the fact of the matter. The emails prove that the traders knew exactly what they were doing. And the rating agensies who gave AAA to these **** loans? Well, who doesnt wanna dance and make a buck with GS? http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Goldman-CEO-denies-wrongdoing-apf-1039519270.html?x=0&sec=topStories&pos=1&asset=&ccode= Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., the panel's chairman cited a "fundamental conflict" in Goldman's selling securities and then betting against the same securities -- and not telling the buyers. "They're buying something from you, and you are betting against it. And you want people to trust you. I wouldn't trust you," Levin told Blankfein.
_____________________________
Create in me a Clean Heart, O Lord.
|
|
|
|
RE: US Bankers control USA - 4/27/2010 8:16:00 PM
|
|
|
GroupW
Posts: 2237
Joined: 11/16/2007
From: Up in the hills of Colorado (very BIG hills...)
Status: offline
|
quote:
ORIGINAL: prophet Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., the panel's chairman cited a "fundamental conflict" in Goldman's selling securities and then betting against the same securities -- and not telling the buyers. Thing is, everyone knew that's one of the reasons these things were being created. You don't HAVE to tell the buyers why you're selling something. No one has ever had to do that in institutional investment world. The mere fact you're selling it means someone doesn't want to own it. Short selling really, really has nothing to do with it. I've been involved in buying these things, creating these things, and selling these things. A few billion dollars worth of it. Levin's a smart guy, but he really doesn't understand this particular topic. The real conflict of interest has nothing to do with GS's shorts. The real conflict of interest comes when I hire GS to do a securitization for me. At that point, they work for me, not the buyer. They have some level of diminished fiduciary responsibility to the buyer, but they work for me. Their job is to get my securities sold. It doesn't matter if I'm long or short, or if they are long or short. At that point, they are immensely conflicted (they have a primary duty to me, but secondary duties to their other clients who are buying the securities I'm creating.) That's been a conflict ever since this business was invented and it will continue to be. Good old Carl can't change that. And for the record, I find all this discussion of Goldman's shorts very disturbing. BT PS: strange really is the word for it. Paulson picks out bonds it wants to short, and hires GS which is in the business of facilitating that exact type of transaction. It then is vilified for making money on the business it's supposed to be doing. It hires an independent portfolio advisor to scrub the portfolio that Paulson wants to short. ACA kicks out half the suggested bonds, puts their stamp of approval on the other half. Then when it all goes to heck, they point at GS and Paulson saying "we wouldn't have been so eager to go along if we'd known folks were short", despite the fact that: a) These transactions were created specifically to help people assemble short positions rapidly. b) Market participants including ACA generally knew that this was the case. c) ACA kicked out half the proposed bonds. Half. It's not like they failed to realize it wasn't a great pool. d) Then ACA ends up buying most of the bonds anyway - they bonds they themselves helped pick, knowing that it was extremely likely that someone somewhere was using this as a way to short the market. Sounds like institutional whining to me.
_____________________________
There is a theory that if ever anyone discovers what the Universe is and why it's here, it will instantly disappear & be replaced by something even more bizarre and inexplicable. There is another theory which states this has already happened. (D. Adams)
|
|
|
|
RE: US Bankers control USA - 4/28/2010 7:52:40 PM
|
|
|
prophetjul
Posts: 666
Joined: 4/19/2005
Status: offline
|
US nevers learns from GS debacle! http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/04/27/banks-bet-against-us-citi_n_553891.html Banks Bet Against U.S. Cities, States First Posted: 04-27-10 01:53 PM | Updated: 04-27-10 03:01 PM Amidst growing pessimism about the financial condition of U.S. cities and states, investors are increasingly buying financial instruments that essentially allow them to short sell – or bet against – cities and states, says a Wall Street Journal report. Offered by banks like JP Morgan, Bank of America, and Citigroup, the so-called municipal credit default swaps can be used by investors to bet that insurance contracts protecting holders of municipal bonds will default. Some states say the derivatives not only scare away potential buyers of municipal bonds by creating a perception of risk, but ultimately drive up states’ borrowing costs. Others contend that the instruments are traded too thinly to affect municipal bond markets or a state’s credit rating. The California treasurer is just one of a number of state treasurers that have launched a probe into the sale of these derivatives and the sale of municipal bonds by big Wall Street firms that might reveal "speculative abuse of CDS in the muni market," says one regulator.
|
|
|
|
RE: US Bankers control USA - 5/9/2010 7:30:05 PM
|
|
|
prophetjul
Posts: 666
Joined: 4/19/2005
Status: offline
|
http://www.nypost.com/p/news/busines...OJpB55M7Rh9vwM Feds probing JPMorgan trades in silver pit Federal agents have launched parallel criminal and civil probes of JPMorgan Chase and its trading activity in the precious metals market, The Post has learned. The probes are centering on whether or not JPMorgan, a top derivatives holder in precious metals, acted improperly to depress the price of silver, sources said. The Commodities Futures Trade Commission is looking into civil charges, and the Department of Justice's Antitrust Division is handling the criminal probe, according to sources, who did not wish to be identified due to the sensitive nature of the information. The probes are far-ranging, with federal officials looking into JPMorgan's precious metals trades on the London Bullion Market Association's (LBMA) exchange, which is a physical delivery market, and the New York Mercantile Exchange (Nymex) for future paper derivative trades. JPMorgan increased its silver derivative holdings by $6.76 billion, or about 220 million ounces, during the last three months of 2009, according to the Office of Comptroller of the Currency.
|
|
|
|
RE: US Bankers control USA - 5/9/2010 7:32:43 PM
|
|
|
prophetjul
Posts: 666
Joined: 4/19/2005
Status: offline
|
quote:
''If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, it expects what never was and never will be.'' -- Thomas Jefferson
|
|
|
|
RE: US Bankers control USA - 5/10/2010 7:27:36 PM
|
|
|
prophetjul
Posts: 666
Joined: 4/19/2005
Status: offline
|
http://www.zerohedge.com/article/jim-rickards-goldman-can-create-shorts-faster-europe-can-print-money Jim Rickards: "Goldman Can Create Shorts Faster Than Europe Can Print Money" Jim Rickards, who recently has gotten massive media exposure on everything from the JPM Silver manipulation scandal, to the Greek default, was back on CNBC earlier with one of the most fascinating insights we have yet heard from anyone, which demonstrates beyond a doubt why any attempt by Europe to print its way out of its current default is doomed: "Look at what Soros did to the Bank of England in 1992 - he went after them, they had a finite amount of dollars, he was selling sterling and taking the dollars, and they were buying the sterling and selling the dollars to defend the peg. All he had to do was sell more than they had and he wins. But he needed real money to do that. Today you can break a country, you don't need money you just need synthetic euroshorts or CDS. A trillion dollar bailout: Goldman can create 10 trillion of euroshorts. So it just dominates whatever governments can do. So basically Goldman can create shorts faster than Europe can create money." Just wait until Europe finally realizes that the CDS "speculators" had all the cards in the poker game all along. And we hope Europe listens to the man: being LTCM's GC he knows all about failed bail outs. Go watch
|
|
|
|
RE: US Bankers control USA - 5/10/2010 8:00:49 PM
|
|
|
GroupW
Posts: 2237
Joined: 11/16/2007
From: Up in the hills of Colorado (very BIG hills...)
Status: offline
|
Jim Rickards isn't totally correct on this one. 1) These trades are governed under a contract called an ISDA (short for International Swaps and Derivatives Assn.) The ISDA provides for the collateralization of any daily mark to market gains or losses. 2) That means that very little cash is required, as long as the trade is going in your direction. The minute the market turns against you, you start getting margin calls for the difference between what the contracts are worth at the moment vs. what the contract was worth when you bought it. 3) While cash isn't necessarily required while the market is going in your favor, there remains risk capital which has to be set aside to back up the contract. You don't pay the cash to someone else, but you do end up leaving money sitting idle to backstop the trade. Works out economically to be about the same thing. His basic point though is correct - while it actually does take SOME cash, there is a lot of leverage built into these contracts so it doesn't require a LOT of cash. Still, even GS doesn't have the equity to create a $10 trillion short. The market in its entirety though could easily enough. The fallacy in his logic is that the governments involved can engage in the same type of contracts. It's a fair fight. You would have to go toe-to-toe, euro-to-euro with the combined power of the German, French, Dutch etc. governments. That's a tougher & more robust set than the Bank of England. Other point there is that the purpose of the intervention isn't to prop up the euro - it's still likely to fall toward parity against the dollar, and even at current levels today after being pummeled for a few weeks, it remains about where it was in 2003-2004 and stronger than it was when it was first issued. The purpose is to buy time for the weaker economies in the EU to work out there debt issues in an orderly fashion. It has the potential to do that much even if the currency itself can't be supported at current market prices.
_____________________________
There is a theory that if ever anyone discovers what the Universe is and why it's here, it will instantly disappear & be replaced by something even more bizarre and inexplicable. There is another theory which states this has already happened. (D. Adams)
|
|
|
|
RE: US Bankers control USA - 5/10/2010 8:30:11 PM
|
|
|
prophetjul
Posts: 666
Joined: 4/19/2005
Status: offline
|
BTW its a fallacy to think that DERIVATIVES has GOVERNANCE.
|
|
|
|
RE: US Bankers control USA - 5/10/2010 10:43:29 PM
|
|
|
GroupW
Posts: 2237
Joined: 11/16/2007
From: Up in the hills of Colorado (very BIG hills...)
Status: offline
|
Derivatives would be part of what I do for a living. It would be a fallacy to assume there is NO governance. I've traded a few billion dollars of them. They are governed by contracts. As long as contracts can be enforced, they are governed. Now, REGULATED is a different question ....
_____________________________
There is a theory that if ever anyone discovers what the Universe is and why it's here, it will instantly disappear & be replaced by something even more bizarre and inexplicable. There is another theory which states this has already happened. (D. Adams)
|
|
|
|
RE: US Bankers control USA - 5/11/2010 2:41:41 AM
|
|
|
prophetjul
Posts: 666
Joined: 4/19/2005
Status: offline
|
quote:
ORIGINAL: GroupW Derivatives would be part of what I do for a living. It would be a fallacy to assume there is NO governance. I've traded a few billion dollars of them. They are governed by contracts. As long as contracts can be enforced, they are governed. Now, REGULATED is a different question .... Ok Regulations may be the right word.
|
|
|
|
RE: US Bankers control USA - 5/11/2010 10:04:01 AM
|
|
|
GroupW
Posts: 2237
Joined: 11/16/2007
From: Up in the hills of Colorado (very BIG hills...)
Status: offline
|
Regulation is an issue. The majority of derivatives are exchange traded and self-regulated by the industry. For the most part, while I'm not a fan of self-regulation (the phrase "fox guarding the hen house" comes to mind), it has seemed to work in this one sector. Not perfectly, but well enough. Most options & futures contracts are traded on the CBOT, the Mercantile Exchange, or some other formal exchange. Those markets function fairly well. Most of what I've traded (interest rate swaps, forwards, caps, floors, swaptions, credit default & total return swaps) are OTC - or direct dealer to client to dealer. That's a mostly unregulated market with very little information on who owes what to whom, insufficient standardization of terms, no required minimum margin/collateralization amounts, and no centralized clearing mechanism. It's part of the reason the Lehman failure created such huge outward ripples - no one was in a position to be able to tell who or what could be affected.
_____________________________
There is a theory that if ever anyone discovers what the Universe is and why it's here, it will instantly disappear & be replaced by something even more bizarre and inexplicable. There is another theory which states this has already happened. (D. Adams)
|
|
|
|
RE: US Bankers control USA - 5/11/2010 10:36:09 AM
|
|
|
ColoradoLady39
Posts: 113
Joined: 8/11/2008
From: Somewhere near Pikes Peak
Status: offline
|
I have a stupid question, I am notorious for those. lol. Is there a plan put in place for the banks that have been 'bailed out' to have to repay those bail out payments once they are out of the red? It's just a thought of mine, but it would help to at least alleviate some of that monetary loss.
_____________________________
God loves me even though....
|
|
|
|
RE: US Bankers control USA - 5/11/2010 11:02:34 AM
|
|
|
GroupW
Posts: 2237
Joined: 11/16/2007
From: Up in the hills of Colorado (very BIG hills...)
Status: offline
|
The plan is essentially to pay it off as soon as you can. There is a built in incentive for banks to try to get the government out of their finances as soon as possible. The govt owns warrants in proportion to the capital that was given to them. The longer those warrants remain outstanding, and the more the bank recovers, the more expensive it becomes for the bank to buy those warrants back. The cheapest thing for a bank to do is to buy those back as early in the recovery process as you can. (A warrant is like a long term option to buy stock at a specific price. The higher the price of the stock, the more that option is worth.) Edit: About 244 billion was contributed as capital to the banks. About $70 billion as of year end was paid back with a $10 billion profit to the government.
_____________________________
There is a theory that if ever anyone discovers what the Universe is and why it's here, it will instantly disappear & be replaced by something even more bizarre and inexplicable. There is another theory which states this has already happened. (D. Adams)
|
|
|
|
RE: US Bankers control USA - 5/12/2010 7:43:12 PM
|
|
|
prophetjul
Posts: 666
Joined: 4/19/2005
Status: offline
|
Surprise, Surprise! ? It is the Wall Street equivalent of a perfect game of baseball — 27 up, 27 down, the final score measured in millions of dollars a day. Despite the running unease in world markets, four giants of American finance managed to make money from trading every single day during the first three months of the year.Their remarkable 61-day streak is one for the record books. Perfect trading quarters on Wall Street are about as rare as perfect games in Major League Baseball. On Sunday, Dallas Braden of the Oakland Athletics pitched what was only the 19th perfect game in baseball history. But Bank of America, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan Chase & Company produced the equivalent of a trio of perfect games during the first quarter. Each one finished the period without losing money for even one day.Their showing, disclosed in quarterly financial filings, underscored the outsize — and controversial — role that trading has assumed at major financial institutions. It also drives home the widening lead that a handful of big banks are enjoying over lesser rivals on post-bailout Wall Street.
|
|
|
|
RE: US Bankers control USA - 5/13/2010 2:14:18 AM
|
|
|
prophetjul
Posts: 666
Joined: 4/19/2005
Status: offline
|
http://petersantilli.com/2010/05/12/you-are-being-lied-to-by-the-entire-financial-system/ You Are Being Lied To By The Entire Financial System Almost every US Corporation will do and say anything to keep us spending money, regardless of what they know about the fragility of our entire financial system. Bankster’s are now using world governments as patsies to commit the largest heist in world history. Stealing a trillion dollars from US citizens proved to be too difficult, as they had to receive congressional approval to bail themselves out. Their recent scam involves using the world’s central banks to bypass democracy & funnel money to offshore entities without oversight. Just think; the IMF, partially funded by the US Treasury; can operate freely & independently as they steal US currency for their cronies without being held accountable to the US taxpayer. If the American taxpayer ever knew that $1 trillion isn’t going to be nearly enough to save the world from a $700 trillion derivative problem, do you think we’d agree to bailing out the EU with $50 billion? So-called financial experts and analysts in the U.S. who never warned us about the financial/debt crisis are now putting out propaganda regarding our risk and exposure to the EU bailout. If you don’t see what’s happening, let me reveal it to you: Banksters are skirting US regulation & the US Constitution to ship money offshore to foreign central banks. The US Treasury is the pawn Bankster’s have chosen to filter $50 billion to the IMF —– like a thief in the night. Bankster’s will never tell you the truth about our economic outlook because if they did, we’d all default on our mortgage loans and stop spending money altogether. They’re delaying the inevitable, as they steal in $50-100 billion increments.
|
|
|
|
RE: US Bankers control USA - 6/1/2010 10:53:56 PM
|
|
|
prophetjul
Posts: 666
Joined: 4/19/2005
Status: offline
|
Another Lie by Goldman Sachs? http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6504FR20100601 Exclusive: Goldman's bid didn't disclose probe to Calpers (Reuters) - Goldman Sachs Group Inc, seeking a consulting mandate from Calpers, assured the pension fund giant in March that it was not "the target of a formal investigation," according to a document obtained by Reuters. That was six months after U.S. securities regulators notified the powerful Wall Street bank that it was likely to be charged with fraud in connection with the underwriting and marketing of a $1 billion subprime-mortgage-linked security. On April 16, the Securities and Exchange Commission filed a civil suit against Goldman over that transaction. Goldman's assurances to the California Public Employees' Retirement System came on the bank's March 18 application to become a real estate investment consultant to the largest U.S. public pension fund. Calpers spokesman Brad Pacheco told Reuters the pension fund's investment staff "will be reaching out to Goldman for an explanation on their response." The investment staff is finalizing contracts for Calpers' consultant pool, which will be effective July 1. Goldman's response to Calpers could reignite the debate about whether the Wall Street firm had an obligation to inform shareholders and potential clients that the SEC had sent it a so-called Wells Notice -- a letter alerting the firm of the likelihood of a regulatory enforcement action.
_____________________________
Create in me a Clean Heart, O Lord.
|
|
|
|
RE: US Bankers control USA - 6/7/2010 10:07:55 PM
|
|
|
prophetjul
Posts: 666
Joined: 4/19/2005
Status: offline
|
Crooks at it... http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=al.7k3fL70P8&pos=3 June 7 (Bloomberg) -- Goldman Sachs Group Inc. was subpoenaed by the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission after panel members said the most profitable firm in Wall Street history engaged in a document “dump” to hinder a probe. Goldman Sachs sent more than a billion pages of documents, FCIC Vice Chairman Bill Thomas said on a conference call with reporters today. Not all of the information is what the panel requested, and Goldman Sachs didn’t cooperate with requests to interview Chief Executive Officer Lloyd Blankfein, Chief Operating Officer Gary Cohn and Chief Financial Officer David Viniar, FCIC Chairman Phil Angelides said. “We did not ask them to pull up a dump truck to our offices and dump a bunch of rubbish,” said Angelides, 56, who previously served as California’s treasurer. “This has been a very deliberate effort over time to run out the clock.”
|
|
|
|
RE: US Bankers control USA - 6/8/2010 12:06:28 AM
|
|
|
GroupW
Posts: 2237
Joined: 11/16/2007
From: Up in the hills of Colorado (very BIG hills...)
Status: offline
|
Nothing wrong with doing the dump. I would have done exactly the same thing. In the current environment, there is nothing to be gained by risking the accusation that some little piece of information may have been withheld. Better to back up the truck and fill it. It's fairly standard practice. Makes me wonder, "well, what the heck did you expect ?" Seriously, though, why all the anger directed at banks? What put this particular bee in your bonnet?
_____________________________
There is a theory that if ever anyone discovers what the Universe is and why it's here, it will instantly disappear & be replaced by something even more bizarre and inexplicable. There is another theory which states this has already happened. (D. Adams)
|
|
|
|
RE: US Bankers control USA - 6/8/2010 10:19:49 AM
|
|
|
GroupW
Posts: 2237
Joined: 11/16/2007
From: Up in the hills of Colorado (very BIG hills...)
Status: offline
|
quote:
ORIGINAL: prophet quote:
ORIGINAL: GroupW Nothing wrong with doing the dump. I would have done exactly the same thing. In the current environment, there is nothing to be gained by risking the accusation that some little piece of information may have been withheld. Better to back up the truck and fill it. It's fairly standard practice. Makes me wonder, "well, what the heck did you expect ?" Seriously, though, why all the anger directed at banks? What put this particular bee in your bonnet? Well it did say "Not all of the information is what the panel requested". ... As for bankers, i have indicated they are crooks of the highest order.... The crsis caused by them . I think you just called me a crook The crisis wasn't caused just by them. In reality, there were at least 8-10 different factors that all combined together to create a very bad situation. Bankers played their part, but so did China, Europe, consumers, regulators, rating agencies, accountants, politicians, etc. I've been a VP/SVP in large banks for 20 years now doing securitized finance, risk analytics, M&A, accounting & investments. If you want to know what really caused all this, please feel free to ask. As a securitizer of mortgages (mostly commercial), I lived this crisis and knew most of the characters involved.
_____________________________
There is a theory that if ever anyone discovers what the Universe is and why it's here, it will instantly disappear & be replaced by something even more bizarre and inexplicable. There is another theory which states this has already happened. (D. Adams)
|
|
|
|
RE: US Bankers control USA - 6/8/2010 7:52:50 PM
|
|
|
prophetjul
Posts: 666
Joined: 4/19/2005
Status: offline
|
quote:
ORIGINAL: GroupW quote:
ORIGINAL: prophet quote:
ORIGINAL: GroupW Nothing wrong with doing the dump. I would have done exactly the same thing. In the current environment, there is nothing to be gained by risking the accusation that some little piece of information may have been withheld. Better to back up the truck and fill it. It's fairly standard practice. Makes me wonder, "well, what the heck did you expect ?" Seriously, though, why all the anger directed at banks? What put this particular bee in your bonnet? Well it did say "Not all of the information is what the panel requested". ... As for bankers, i have indicated they are crooks of the highest order.... The crsis caused by them . I think you just called me a crook The crisis wasn't caused just by them. In reality, there were at least 8-10 different factors that all combined together to create a very bad situation. Bankers played their part, but so did China, Europe, consumers, regulators, rating agencies, accountants, politicians, etc. I've been a VP/SVP in large banks for 20 years now doing securitized finance, risk analytics, M&A, accounting & investments. If you want to know what really caused all this, please feel free to ask. As a securitizer of mortgages (mostly commercial), I lived this crisis and knew most of the characters involved. Sorry, not meant to be personal.....more like the banking institutions.... Its not the crisis per se. Its the way the banking system is created for unequality and profiteering from it. eg fractional banking accounting, derivatives, etc- ALL very bad corruption in the eyes of scriptures
|
|
|
|
New Messages |
No New Messages |
Hot Topic w/ New Messages |
Hot Topic w/o New Messages |
Locked w/ New Messages |
Locked w/o New Messages |
|
Post New Thread
Reply to Message
Post New Poll
Submit Vote
Delete My Own Post
Delete My Own Thread
Rate Posts |
|
|