10/22/2008
Elaine Meinel Supkis
The confiscations of systems and wealth generating locations is beginning. The US has opened yet another window into the awful nothingness of the Cave of Wealth and Death. The 'rescue' amounts are now well over $2 trillion and rising weekly. The 90% losses from Lehman's collapse in the CDO markets is still not being acknowledged nor examined realistically. Bush promises MORE 'free trade' as he and other rulers push yet again for more of the Doha Round process to finish its job of killing the US industrial base. All the taps are wide open and all of this future wealth is vanishing today. Hedge funds are failing fast due to not being hedges at all but scams. The global trade collapse is confusing many mainstream commentators who would love to think that all is basically well, this is just some sort of odd glitch. It is not.
Argentina to take over pensions
Argentina's President Cristina Fernandez has signed a bill that will nationalise the country's 10 private pension funds. The move will put the government in control of almost $30bn (£18bn) of investments and is aimed at protecting them from the global market turmoil. Shares slumped amid fears of the move's impact and critics accused the government of trying to grab the funds.
*snip*
Ms Fernandez said that Argentina needed to protect those with pensions amid falling stock prices around the world. However, expectations of the announcement sent Argentine shares 11% lower and critics said the government simply wanted its hands on the money ahead of a tough budget year.
The minute any government is on the prowl for wealth, no one is safe. It doesn't matter if the government is 'capitalist' or 'communist' or any other possible system. When a government is in trouble, they confiscate stuff. They usually do this unilaterally and get it all rubber stamped or they don't do this at all and there is a violent revolution/coup. The #1 job of any government is to stay in power. They will do this no matter how messy. In a number of 'democracies' the power structure is built up on this system of opposition that is supposed to vacillate between 'left' and 'right' or 'labor' and 'capitalist'.
Due to the great diligence of the lobbyists and the rich, most nations do not have this dual system. Instead, there are very small differences in philosophy or systems which waver between to poles that are so close as to be indistinguishable to outsiders. Even if there are differences, the election process irons this all out and candidates end up sounding exactly the same even if their intentions for rule are not the same at all.
This ends up causing most elections in Europe and America as well as many other places to be all about personalities, skin color, religion or promises of future bribes like tax cuts. The US has seen many years of tax cut promises which have now bankrupted this nation and destroyed our entire power structure. Due to hostile aliens buying most of our debt, we are now in a state whereby the Average Joe and Jane imagines there is no limit to the debt we can take since none of this shows up in the local systems. We see no reduction in our lives, no dire effects. The goods keep pouring in from Asia, the money keeps magically entering into our national banking system and all is well. More tax cuts! We want more and more!
Anyone who talks about this is attacked or ignored. The main story line being run by the right wing is very simple: social security and health care for Americans are bankrupting the nation. The left simply is ignoring overhead costs. Neither side is relishing a realistic conversation with the voters about the dangers of our empire running up huge debts and being the center of global export trade. So let's go back to the news to see how free trade continues to kill America:
Bernanke supports higher spending
US Federal Reserve chief Ben Bernanke has said more government spending may be needed to combat economic weakness. A fresh round of stimulus would be a good idea, he told the US House of Representatives budget committee. Although Mr Bernanke stopped short of saying the US was in recession, he said the American economy was now in a "very serious slowdown".
Hopes of a fresh economic stimulus package pleased investors, with the main Dow Jones index ending up 4.7%.
Each injection is bigger than the last. Each has less impact. Last year, whenever the Fed or the Treasury injected fake funny money, the markets went totally wild with joy. The stock market shot up so much last September that it reached a peak! Then immediately began its present fall. Back then, all the main speakers on TV and in the mainstream media said that the decline was purely emotional. Of course, having Cramer run around TV screaming, 'There is BLOOD in the streets', was rather hysterically funny.
There was no blood. It was red ink. But to bankers and Cramer, this is their lifeblood.
Fed to Provide Up to $540 Billion to Aid Money Funds
(Bloomberg) -- The Federal Reserve will provide up to $540 billion in loans to help relieve pressure on money-market mutual funds beset by redemptions.``Short-term debt markets have been under considerable strain in recent weeks'' as it got tougher for funds to meet withdrawal requests, the Fed said today in a statement in Washington. A Fed official said that about $500 billion has flowed since August out of prime money-market funds, which with other money-market mutual funds control $3.45 trillion.
The initiative is the third government effort to aid the funds, which usually provide a key source of financing for banks and companies. The exodus of investors, sparked by losses following the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc., contributed to the freezing of credit that threatens to tip the economy into a prolonged recession.
``The problem was much worse than we thought,'' Jim Bianco, president of Chicago-based Bianco Research LLC, said in a Bloomberg Television interview. Policy makers are trying to prevent ``Great Depression II'' by stemming the financial industry's contraction, he said.
The rabbit is out of the magician's hat. The cat is out of the bag. Even the dimmest wits in America are figuring out two things: the bankers are really socialists but are exclusionary socialists. Namely, they want money to be created and handed to them, not to us. They want to use us as collateral. Ask any banker if money can be lent at cheap with no collateral. They will laugh maliciously.
No, to get those cute 1% loans, you need to put up some collateral. And the true collateral here is the US taxpayers and everything they own. Note the top story. All our collective and individual wealth can be suddenly seized. Since the bankers and their buddies own our political system, they will get whatever they need.
The other fact the US public has become dimly aware is, they will NOT be bailed out with this magic money. They will have to pay a price and a steep price. If they ARE bailed out with funny money, this will be extracted in less than five years just like the Bush tax cuts, via inflation of food, fuel and other necessities.
Since there is a lot of propaganda from kindergarden on up poured into brains to convince US citizens that we are NOT an empire, it is hard for voters to understand the profound loss of sovereignty and international muscle the US has suffered during this last 8 years of wild misspending, wild debt accumulation and wild military expansionism.
The bail outs are now at $2.25 trillion!
Paulson announced the plan Tuesday, saying "we regret having to take these actions." Pouring billions in public money into the banks, he said, was "objectionable," but unavoidable to restore confidence in the markets and persuade the banks to start lending again.In addition to the capital infusions, which will be made this week, the government said it would temporarily guarantee $1.5 trillion worth of new senior debt issued by banks, as well as insuring $500 billion in deposits in non-interest-bearing accounts, mainly used by businesses.
All told, the potential cost to the government of the latest bailout package comes to $2.25 trillion, triple the size of the original $700 billion rescue package, which centered on buying distressed assets from banks. The latest massive show of government firepower is an abrupt about-face for Paulson, who just days earlier was discouraging the idea of capital injections for banks. Analysts say the United States was forced to shift policy in part because Britain and other European countries had announced plans to recapitalize their banks and backstop bank lending. But unlike the British authorities, the Treasury secretary presented his plan as an offer the banks could not refuse.
"It was "It was a take it or take it offer," said a person who was briefed on the meeting, speaking on condition of anonymity because the discussions had been private. "Everyone knew there was only one answer."
*snip*
"I don't think there was any banker in that room who was going to look us in the eye and say they had too much capital," Paulson said. "In a relatively short period of time, people came on board."
*snip*
The Treasury will receive preferred shares that pay a 5 percent dividend, rising to 9 percent after five years. It will get warrants to purchase common shares, equivalent to 15 percent of its initial investment. But the Treasury said it would not exercise its right to vote those common shares.
Note how this story frames it as if the bankers didn't have the slightest idea why Paulson was calling them to DC! Oh, how barking CLUELESS they all were! HAHAHAHA. But they claimed to this reporter, to be shocked, just SHOCKED that things were screwed up and were collapsing after the Lehman bankruptcy and AIG demanded a humongous hand out! Oh, no. They had to be FORCED to take a hand out.
This reminds me of last year's story nearly at this same time frame: the same clowns in that room with Paulson in September were with him last year, too. And he and Bernanke blasted open a new hole into the Cave of Wealth and Death and said, 'This is a new lending window! And to prove it doesn't hurt to use it, we are inviting bankers to use it.' Then the bankers, squealing like pigs at a party eating cake, grabbed money from this new magic window. And they were able to give themselves record Xmas bonuses.
Since then, they are edgy. Will people figure out their latest scam? So they return to the media to tell stories about how their arms were twisted for force them to suck up huge funds in the trillions and then hand themselves a 10% cut in the form of bonuses. 'Look at the bruises our buddy and fellow conspirator made on our arms when he twisted them!' they all cry in unison. 'Oh, it hurts! Oh, it hurts, Precioussss.' Gads, all these gnomes are Gollums, aren't they?
Serial liars. Whiners who don't hesitate to kill us if this gives them one more house, one more car to add to their collections.
Do our rulers know enough to avoid a 1930s replay?
The commodity and emerging market booms are breaking in unison, leaving no more bubbles left to burst. Almost every corner of the world is now being drawn into the vortex of debt deflation.The freight rates for Capesize vessels used to ship grains, coal, and iron ore have fallen 95pc to $11,600 since May, hence the bankruptcy of Odessa’s Industrial Carriers last week with a fleet of 52 vessels. Cargo deliveries dropped 15.2pc at the US Port of Long Beach last month, but that is a lagging indicator.
From what I have been able to find out, shipping is slowing as fast as it did in the grim months of late 1931. “The crisis is now in full swing across the entire world,” said Giulio Tremonti, Italy’s finance minister. “It is hitting the real economy, the productive forces of industry. It’s global, it’s total, and it’s everywhere,” he said.
This is from the UK. Yes, we are in a classic collapse of world debt accumulation. Note the last word: accumulation. It is not 'growing' but is SHIFTING. From the banks to the governments who then shift it to someone else. So long as the governments of all nations accustomed to shipping things to the US continue to fund the US debts, all will return to 'normal'. This 'normal' is fatal to the US public. But we are not told this since 100% of the US media is totally pro-world free trade.
This fall off in trade isn't due to barriers in the US. It is entirely due to the US public unable to go deeper into debt to pay for imports. The hope is, oil will be cheap again and thus, the US doesn't send so much money to energy commodity nations and resumes buying mostly Asian and European manufactured goods again. But this is an impossible dream except if we can gain access to the 0%-0%-0% system I keep harping on. This is already morphing into a totally anti-capitalist system whereby the government hands out loans to everyone and takes cuts on future profits that are NOT taxes but are partnerships with the government in the position of being able to confiscate whatever they need to keep afloat! Some partnership, eh?
Already, the horrid housing bill I was massively against, is doing this. Anyone foolish enough to sign up for it will regret it for they are now serfs of the state, quite literally. They will have to work off the principal of their house no matter what and gain virtually nothing if they sell eventually. Certainly, their heirs will gain little or nothing. Eventually, all we will pass onto our children will be heavily mortgaged properties!
The upper classes of Britain were in the habit of putting up bigger and bigger mortgages against their properties. So did the Russian ruling class. Then, when things went bad, they all went bankrupt during WWI when they should have had the resources to run up war debts. Even when England ran up huge loans with the US banks, this still sent the entire British landed elites into the doghouse. Most of their estates are now owned by foreign capitalists or the state and are now museums or schools and so on. The Russians were simply killed or driven out and the State took over everything, lock, stock and barrel.
Bush vows big push for Doha deal before leaving
(Reuters) - President George W. Bush vowed on Tuesday to press hard for a successful conclusion of the nearly 7-year-old round of world trade talks during his last few months in office."The recent impasse in the Doha Round of trade talks is disappointing, but that doesn't have to be the final word. And so before I leave office I'm going to press hard to make sure we have a successful Doha round," Bush said at a White House summit on international development.
Even with an all-out effort, it would be difficult for negotiators to finish every detail of a new world trade agreement before Bush leaves the White House on Jan. 20.
Bush is a traitor. He should be impeached and put on public trial. In this trial, we must detail how he actively destroyed our entire economy as well as our industrial base. China is flying astronauts and doing space walks, India is going to the moon right after the Chinese went there and Russia is putting our astronauts in space for a fee! And our economy is collapsing, the sea of red ink is deepening. And we have no funds to pay for things like space exploration. The wars we are fighting are not fixing anything real. In Afghanistan, we are totally losing that war.
And here is Bush, pushing very hard to increase the damage. Alas, the mainstream media heartily approves of this. So they are the problem, too. Much of our media is owned by aliens like Murdoch. He recently became a dual citizen which is a hip-hip-hooray moment in history. Ha. He is a very clever man. He works hard to appeal to the far right wing here in America while spending money in that dear little 'socialism for Jews only' kingdom of Israel. The ruling elites who run our media are very much for socialism....for themselves, their kin and other assorted special people. Some, like the owners of the NYT, want even other Americans to have a tiny taste of socialism but NOT any job protections. The biggest bullhorn for 'free trade' is the New York Times.
This is why the average American worker, pushed against the wall, watching jobs vanish, can't get a grasp on what is causing this tragedy. These workers struggle to pin the blame onto someone, anyone. But have no leaders. Ross Perot performed this function briefly and disturbed the dual similar systems set up by the Republicans and Democrats! But he was pushed offstage when he tried to form a new party. The Libertarians and Greens can still be minor spoilers in very close elections but this gains them absolutely nothing. It merely decreases the differences between the GOP and Dem candidates!
Unlike in 1990 when the US trade deficit was only $20 billion or less per year, today it is a yawning chasm of nearly a trillion a year and is at the very bottom of what ails our economic systems. Yet it is not an issue in this election. So Bush has been emboldened to set this mess in stone! And has the approval of everyone at the top.
A warning to the Ron Paul people: you can't have a revolution without a huge change in one's mind about all sorts of things! Any reactionary revolution you attempt will simply give the present players oppressing you, MORE POWER. Not less. For reactionary thinking is all about the status quo. Got that? If you want the old, old status quo, you will be defeated. For they will grant you the ILLUSION of the old times while reaming you all out!
Since many of you want revolutionary change in finances and taxes, etc. Including the very important part of withdrawing from our empire, then you must do battle with all the forces on the RIGHT, not the left. For the right is run by guys who make easy money via the military/industrial complex and free trade. And you all will never get any of them to join this 'revolution' of Ron Paul! Got that?
The ONLY way you can effect change is to go to the left and join forces! This is why I opened up the frontal debate about socialism and the meaning of Marx and all that. If you all can't grasp the importance of this, well. That's life! Full of frustrations. As an ancient revolutionary, I am very familiar with how all this works. The upper echelon debates we held at various world conferences about how to better the working conditions of the greater masses of people in the world, we had to discuss how to do this politically and ethically. It was a harsh debate!
At one conference, the Black Panthers threatened to beat me up. I stood on a chair and dared them to come at me! At another, the Troskyites went after me. They accused me of historical revisionism. HAHAHA. When Monty Python came out with the 'Holy Grail', the scene of the peasant anarchists sent me to the floor, laughing hard.
Chinese President Hu holds telephone talks with Bush
(Xinhua) -- Chinese President Hu Jintao on Tuesday spoke over phone with his U.S. counterpart George W. Bush about international cooperation to cope with the ongoing global financial turmoil.The leaders exchanged ideas about the planned international financial summits and strengthening international cooperation to stabilize the financial markets.
Bush said the United States hopes to make joint efforts with the international community to seek measures to overcome the crisis and maintain the stability of the world economy.
Bush is a right wing President, head of the GOP and like Nixon and Bush Sr, he is always playing footsie with the Chinese commies. Now, if I were Ron Paul, I would resign from the party just for that! But at no time in Paul's history, did he leave the party even as the leaders openly kissed the communists on the cheeks, much less, all that buss-bussing the Saudi king with smooches galore! The Chinese ruling dragon called Bush and ordered him to continue free trade or die. And of course, Bush agreed with all his heart.
THIS DIDN'T MAKE THE US NEWS. The above story is from China. They want their readers to know that the Glorious Leader has the US President on a short leash. Two years ago, Bush was very insulting to Hu. But that was for domestic consumption. In private, he crawled to the Dragon Throne and told Hu, he wouldn't interfere with China destroying our economic base. This, of course, is treason. Just like Reagan running off to Japan to make one ten minute speech for $2.5 million. Open bribery which was ignored by the US public and few today know of this treason.
Financial crisis is shifting power to Asia, says HSBC boss Stephen Green
Speaking at a financial conference in Dubai, the banker also condemned the financial model that has led to the crisis as "bankrupt".The crisis, probably the worst since the 1929 Wall Street crash, will offer several lessons, Mr Green said, but added that the underlying trend of movement from West to East would "not be derailed".
"The rebalancing of the global economy towards Asia, home to over half the world's population, and its implications for the Middle East, is the shift that will affect financial markets most profoundly," he said.
*snip*
The HSBC chairman also criticised the bonus culture at banks, "which has so often encouraged too much opacity and excessive risk-taking".He added that the "high-leverage model of finance is bankrupt" and said securitisation of loans would survive. "You cannot bring the whole of the world's capital markets back on to banks' balance sheets."
The West kept looking wealthy due to debt accumulations. But all wealth will begin to flow to the 'East' which is a historic change. For 500 years, it flowed to the 'West'. Thanks to the invention and use of cannons and guns and the industrial revolution. Now, this is reversing. Yet the EU/US system still wants the illusion of wealth, thus the need for 'credit'. From top to bottom. This credit is now being created out of thin air which is most dangerous. Soon as people understand this is so we can fund free trade, the better. And as soon as people understand that the capitalists of the West worship the Chinese communists...HAHAHA. And we are supposed to fear socialism!
Like I keep saying, our fears are greatly misplaced. And this is deliberate. A massive amount of energy is spent on misinforming people so they split along left/right lines and argue about teen pregnancies and skin color. The day white workers unite with black ones in the US is the day the Establishment fears the most. The day the right wingers end their battle over who gets to tell women whether or not they must have babies is the day the workers will be stronger. By insisting on enslaving women to their fertility, many right wingers end up appealing to never-do-wells like the Palins and their sexually active children who have no self control at all. If we focused only on the Prize which is the Economy, the left and right can unite. But so long as the right wants to control the personal physical bodies of one half of the work force, this will never happen. This is the same over the race stuff: all the right has to do is stop worrying about skin color and instead, look at people's connections with the Cave of Wealth and Death, we will have great power to change. And change has to include some sort of reward for workers: socialism in the form of social security retirements, free schools for the children, support for young mothers, good health care! How simple is this, anyway?
Protests and Hecklers Have Mortgage Bankers Longing for Good Old Days
Mr. Rove, the Republican strategist and former adviser to President Bush, was accosted onstage during a convention panel here on Tuesday morning by a protester who tried to handcuff and arrest him “for treason.” Mr. Rove tried to elbow her away before she was taken offstage.No one was injured and no arrests were made, but the stage-storming was just the latest outburst at an event that usually packs all the excitement of a mortgage calculator. On Monday, another panel was interrupted by protesters demanding a moratorium on foreclosures, and hecklers screamed at attendees through bullhorns outside.
Arrest them all! HAHAHA. I love that young lady who bravely tried to enforce the laws of the land! I have done over 30 citizen's arrests and have had the joy of barking, 'You are UNDER ARREST,' while the criminal struggles to get out of my grip. I salute this brave woman! And note that she is doing the hard work here! She has been arrested but she is a HERO. A hero isn't someone who grins and just sits there while telling followers to have a 'revolution.'
This brings me to one fine Ron Paul supporter who is doing the right thing. Dr. Kirby in our comments section left this important message:
END the FED
11:22:08On November 22, 2008 there will be protests at every Federal Reserve Bank and office in the country. Activists will demand an end to private banker control over the nation’s money supply and the return to a hard, commodity backed monetary system. The slogan is simple and direct: “End the Fed!”
The November 22 protests are intended as a kick-off to an ongoing campaign to educate and organize the public and take concerted, planned action. ONLY the conscious action of We the People can save the nation from ruin, plunder and total socialist tyranny. The time is NOW.
Protests will be held in the following 38 cities:
Boston, Philadelphia, New York City, Buffalo, Cleveland, Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, Richmond, Baltimore, Charlotte, Atlanta, Birmingham, Jacksonville, Miami, Nashville, New Orleans, Chicago, Detroit, St. Louis, Little Rock, Louisville, Memphis, Minneapolis, Helena, Kansas City, Denver, Oklahoma City, Omaha, Dallas, El Paso, Houston, San Antonio, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Portland, Salt Lake City, Seattle, Washington, D.C.
For more info and to sign-up for the protest, go to:
http://www.endthefed.us/
I hope to be in Manhattan with the camera and my note pad. Hope to see others there! I heartily endorse this demonstration. If anyone attends the other demonstrations, please send me emails about it and I will publish these! Bravo.
Velocity And The V-Shaped Recovery
Brian S. Wesbury and Robert Stein
Rather than being the first of several negative quarters of economic growth, we expect this will be a temporary capitulation to the credit crunch, with almost all of the economic losses postponing economic activity into what will turn out to be a healthy period of growth in the second half of 2009. To be precise, we expect real GDP to be flat in Q1-2009 but then grow at an average annual rate of 3% in the final three quarters of next year.The reason: This sharp drop in growth is due to a temporary drop in velocity, due to a true credit crunch, with some panic thrown in for good measure. It is not a typical recession caused by fundamental, economy-changing events such as higher tax rates, tighter money, protectionism or other public policies that stifle innovation or entrepreneurship.
*snip*
If there is a slowdown in the turnover of money--say a 5% decline--the impact on nominal GDP growth is no different than if the money supply itself shrinks by 5%.But there is good news. After ham-handing the rescue operation for months, the cavalry has finally arrived. The Fed has injected massive amounts of liquidity, driving the federal funds rate to roughly 1%--where it traded last week.
The cavalry is like the Keystone Kops. And it has rescued nothing. It simply took the magical flying piggy bank and used it to pour insane amounts of money into this mess. Displaying our ire over all this is important which is why the November 22 demonstrations are a good step in this direction. Just remember, a demonstration is useless unless it inconveniences someone powerful. This is why Congress was nearly totally united in passing laws outlawing US citizens interfering with anything the rulers are doing. We can't block doors anymore. We can't stop traffic! Or we can be put in prison. And calling for this is illegal, too. So I can't say, 'Stop traffic at Wall and Broad Street' or I would be inciting a revolution.
All dying empires do this. They outlaw even the slightest expression of ire. Note how that worked in the past: argh! Not at all. The Chinese communists crushed the Chinese students brutally. But then we took over part of Manhattan across the street from the UN and embarrassed both the Chinese and Bush Sr. and forced them to do some of the things we wanted. Like giving Chinese students in the US amnesty. At one point, Mayor Koch ordered the Manhattan police to arrest me and scatter the Chinese students. I said to the head of the NYPD that the only way they could haul me off was to kill me. They backed down. But since then, we have lost huge areas of citizen rights and live in a full police state. Last time I was in Manhattan, the military was occupying Penn Station and doing huge searches of random passengers. It was an armed camp, not a democracy of free people.
Frankly, it reminded me of East Germany, circa 1968.
CDO Cuts Show $1 Trillion Corporate-Debt Bets Toxic
(Bloomberg) -- Investors are taking losses of up to 90 percent in the $1.2 trillion market for collateralized debt obligations tied to corporate credit as the failures of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. and Icelandic banks send shockwaves through the global financial system.The losses among banks, insurers and money managers may spark the next round of writedowns on CDOs after $660 billion in subprime-related losses. They may force lenders to post more reserves against losses after governments worldwide announced $3 trillion in financial-industry rescue packages since last month, according to Barclays Capital.
``We'll see the same problems we've seen in subprime,'' said Alistair Milne, a professor in banking and finance at Cass Business School in London and a former U.K. Treasury economist. ``Banks will take substantial markdowns.''
Back to the economy: the derivatives Beast still is munching away. Yesterday, the Lehman business with the 90% losses was supposed to be finished. Then, no news! I looked and looked. But found other news relevant to all this business:
Hedge Funds Worldwide Post Record Losses in September
(Bloomberg) -- Hedge funds worldwide posted record monthly losses in September, according to Eurekahedge Pte., as short sale bans and client redemptions amid the credit crisis hurt funds including Citadel Investment Group Inc.The Eurekahedge Hedge Fund Index, which tracks 2,431 funds that invest globally, declined 4.7 percent, preliminary figures from the data provider show. The drop is the biggest one-month loss since it began collecting data in 2000 and the index, down 7.9 percent through September, is set for its worst year on record.
``The volatility has been difficult even for seasoned veterans to manage; one day the markets plunge on apocalyptic fundamentals, and the next day they surge,'' said Robert Howe, founder of Hong Kong-based hedge fund manager Geomatrix (HK) Ltd., which oversees $32 million. ``As many managers just liquidate to wait out the storm, or clients do it for them, money drains out of all investment strategies.''
These stupid gnomes can't manage volatility? HAHAHA. They were supposed to be geniuses at this stuff! Not fumble bums. All the hedge funds are dying in unison because they all ended up doing the same things at the same time. This is NOT hedging! It is herding! HAHAHA. And they herded themselves right off of the same cliff.
Wiki definition of hedge funds:
A hedge fund is a private investment fund open to a limited range of investors which is permitted by regulators to undertake a wider range of activities than other investment funds and which pays a performance fee to its investment manager. Although each fund will have its own strategy which determines the type of investments and the methods of investment it undertakes, hedge funds as a class invest in a broad range of investments, from shares, debt and commodities to works of art.As the name implies, hedge funds often seek to offset potential losses in the principal markets they invest in by hedging their investments using a variety of methods, most notably short selling. However, the term "hedge fund" has come to be applied to many funds that do not actually hedge their investments, and in particular to funds using short selling and other "hedging" methods to increase rather than reduce risk, with the expectation of increasing return.
Hedge funds are typically open only to a limited range of professional or wealthy investors. This provides them with an exemption in many jurisdictions from regulations governing short selling, derivative contracts, leverage, fee structures and the liquidity of investments in the fund. A hedge fund will nevertheless voluntarily limit the scope of its activities via its contractual arrangements with the individual investors in order to give them some certainty surrounding the specific investments that will be invested by the hedge fund itself.
The assets under management of a hedge fund can run into many billions of dollars, and this will usually be multiplied by leverage, meaning that their influence over markets is substantial. Hedge funds dominate certain specialty markets such as trading within derivatives with high-yield ratings and distressed debt.[1]
See? They are not hedge funds at all. So we must rename them 'Herd funds' and view this like a herd of cattle being run off a cliff by a prairie fire or wolves chasing them. The main hedge tool was to short each other's organizations. This is sort of like running a protection racket which involves stabbing, robbing and kneecapping each other! As Cramer noted, 'There is BLOOD running in the streets!' HAHAHA. They shorted and cheated each other. And now are bleeding to death. What a stunning development.
Now back to the main reason they do these things: gnomes need lots and lots of money so their heartless souls can find goddesses to have sex with. To do this, they need palaces, yachts, diamonds, furs, antiques, artwork, etc. This is expensive as hell. They need all those Joe Plumber sorts to moo like cattle and be herded off the cliff so the gnomes can strip them of their last dimes.
Lloyds chief tells staff: you'll still get bonuses
The chief executive of Lloyds TSB, one of the banks participating in the £37bn bank bail-out, has promised staff they will receive bonuses this year despite Gordon Brown's promise of a crackdown on bankers' pay following the investment by taxpayers.Eric Daniels has told employees that the historic government intervention will not change the behaviour of Lloyds, which is in the throes of the rescue takeover of HBOS brokered by the prime minister.
Arrest them all. Back yet again to Lehman's mess:
The Securities Law Firm of Klayman & Toskes, P.A., www.nasd-law.com, announced today that it is investigating the sale of Lehman Brothers Principal Protected Notes ("Lehman Principal Protected Notes") by full-service brokerage firms to their customers. Also referred to as guaranteed linked notes, these securities were "structured products" that combined fixed income investments with derivatives. What resulted was a product that supposedly provided the protection of fixed income, with the upside of the stock market. Lehman Brothers (OTC:LEHMQ.PK) sold its North American investment banking and capital markets businesses to Barclays earlier this year. In the deal, Barclays agreed to buy Lehman's operations, along with trading assets valued at $72 billion, and trading liabilities worth $68 billion.Lehman Principal Protected Notes were marketed by several brokerage firms, including Lehman Brothers, Citigroup, as conservative investments. Investors looking for income were advised that Lehman Principal Protected Notes would provide preservation of capital, a modest yield, and a slight gain in principal. In a brochure issued by Lehman Brothers, it stated that their "structured notes," which includes Lehman Principal Protected Notes, had "100 percent principal protection" and "uncapped appreciation potential" based upon the gains in the S&P 500 Index. In reality, however, investors of Lehman Principal Protected Notes were subject to a significant amount of risk.
Well, at least they can be sued. But that doesn't scare the other gnomes hardly at all. They all have very expensive lawyers, oodles of lawyers. They can tangle things up in court for years and years while they prepare their escape from the long arm of the law which is about 1" long, I fear.
Greenspan admits to "flaw" in his ideology!
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=ah5qh9Up4rIg&refer=home
Gee whiz . . .
Posted by: No More Gnomes! | October 23, 2008 at 01:11 PM