Sunday, January 9, 2011

Presto! 9.4% Unemployment! How The Government Lies.

Hooray…Happy days are here again!

That is exactly what the elite would have us believe with the 9.4% unemployment number in this huge CONfidence game otherwise known as the USEconomy.

“During times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act” -George Orwell

We were having dinner at my in-law’s house and I had overheard the TV playing in the back ground. At one point, I thought I had heard the squealing of teenagers who were fawning over Justin Beiber. Instead, it turned out that it was someone on the news reporting the new, much lower 9.4% unemployment rate. I could hear the panting of excitement spoken by the breathless reporters who were interviewing very serious economists about this new 9.4% rate. The news aired their personal interest piece about a girl who was just hired at an internet company. She commented with the utmost confidence that the economy was getting better!! You have all heard that saying, “it is a recession when your neighbor loses a job, but when you lose a job it is a depression.” Well, according to her, we are out of her depression.

But alas, this is all a dream and the media is using their very best, tried and true propaganda to keep the people from getting too upset with reality. Let me just state that the real rate of unemployment is much, much more than the 9.4% and if the government really reported what was really going on, there would be revolution in the morning. Allow me to destroy this fictional 9.4% number and the billion dollar propaganda machine that provides cover for the trillion dollar banking and government schemes. I will accomplish this magical feat with writing a blog post in my pajamas. That is real magic!

“There are three types of lies: Lies, Damned Lies, and Statistics.” -Mark Twain.

The first thing we need to understand is the birth/death model. It is an estimate/lie that the Bureau of Labor Statistics starts with to figure out how many jobs small companies have created.

Since so many jobs in this country are creat

Irish Protesters Demand End to Government Collusion with Catholic Church Child Rapists

ITCCS members rally in Dublin, issue statement

By Kevin Annett

Protesters rallied yesterday outside government offices in Dublin to demand that the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) stop shielding child rapists in the Catholic church, and threatening citizens who demand action.

Gerry O’Donovan, a member of the International Tribunal into Crimes of Church and State (ITCCS), joined with Kevin Flanagan, Dave O’Brien and others in delivering a formal letter of protest to the government because of the DPP’s refusal to bring charges against a Catholic priest, “Brother B”, who has raped at least nine girls.

The protesters also pointed out that the DPP has even threatened to sue anyone who demands the prosecution of suspected child raping priests.

According to O’Donovan,

“In the DPP’s letter to me it says ‘Under Section 6 of the Prosecution of Offences Act 1974, it is against the law to write to the Director to ask him to either stop or not to prosecute a case.’ Me, Dave, Kevin and others have broken that law by writing to him as it is considered to be ‘improper’. “.

O’Donovan also read from a statement issued by Kevin Annett for the ITCCS Executive, which announced the intention of the ITCCS Tribunal to investigate the DPP’s actions when it convenes next September in London.

The Irish group is planning a similar protest tomorrow in Cork. For more information contact the ITCCS at ITCCS101@gmail.com .

See the evidence of Genocide in Canada at www.hiddennolonger.com

Watch Kevin’s award-winning documentary film UNREPENTANT on his website www.hiddenfromhistory.org

“We will bring to light the hidden works of darkness and drive falsity to the bottomless pit. For all doctrines founded in fraud or nursed by fear shall be confounded by Truth.”
- Kevin’s ancestor Peter Annett, writing in The Free Inquirer, October 17, 1761, just before being imprisoned by the English crown for “blasphemous libel”

« Foreclosure Fraud & MERS In The Spotlight: Interview With CEO R.K. Arnold (Video, Links, Jamie Dimon Says 'No') »

Editor's Note: From October when the MERS controversy began...

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Fox Video: CEO R.K. Arnold discusses how the company and its database are involved in the nation's foreclosure mess

Several developments regarding MERS in the last few days:

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You can also verify your loan servicer with MERS online -- takes about 45 seconds:

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And you can find out if Fannie or Freddie own your note:

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From yesterday:

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Screenshot


« Does Fannie Mae Or Freddie Mac Now Own YOUR Mortgage? Find Out Right Here »

With all the discussion of Fannie Mae & Freddie Mac now originating and owning such a huge slice of the mortgage market, you might have found yourself wondering if they might own yours as well. As it turns out, even if it's being serviced by another mortgage firm, it still might be owned F & F.

Quick and simple:

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Done checking? Now listen to this excellent song about fannie...

More detail is here...

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I started a lawsuit against Litton Loan/Goldman Sachs - MERS - Fremont Bank - Deutsche Bank and Trustee

I am going ahead and revealing, I have started a lawsuit against Litton Loan, which is a Goldman Sachs loan servicer company, MERS, Fremont Bank, Deutsche Bank and their Trustee.

Right now it is an individual suit but I am working with Class Action Attorneys with the purpose to roll this into a Class Action suit!

There are still many hurdles before then, including a court date this coming week.

Why did I do this? Because I have asked others to stand up to the foreclosure fraud and originally when I began my mission of trying to get the MERS foreclosure fraud uncovered and class action suits, about one and half years ago, I had planned on being a "behind the scenes person".

All the hours I spent on it, trying to get Class Action Law firms involved before MERS fraud became well known in the media, did not get me any where. EXCEPT there is one law firm, who I look upon as Heroes! That is Hager and Hearne in Nevada. Treva Hearne has worked on getting a class action suit going through out the U.S. in non-judicial suits since Oct. of 2009. We collaborated for a period of time, until there were various walls put up and the attempts were abandoned. During the time I was trying to help with a U.S. wide class action, people who I had found in Missouri to be the representatives did get their house free and clear from my understanding from Treva. Treva is a real hero, she has gone on to do class actions against MERS in California and Nevada for the states and MERS getting away with billions of transfer fees to the states due to their fraud. From her case other suits have been filed in 14 states. Most of those suits are gag ordered from the judges of those states. The judges do not want the information out about the class actions. The law firms involved can not even acknowledge their involvement in the suits or even confirm there is a class action against MERS.

One firm who can not confirm any involvement in an class action suit against MERS, happens to be the law firm I am involved with at this time.

Also another huge class action law firm, which I collaborated with, from my understanding will be putting class action suits together in all the non-judicial foreclosure states for all homeowners who have already been foreclosed on.

I am going ahead and putting this information out to the public, even though there are a few stages which need to be accomplished before I can say any thing concrete will happen. First a judge has to approve my suit this coming week. A big problem is no judge in the state of Tennessee has ruled against MERS and banks yet.

I also am admitting this, as this will be part of the topic of conversation during my radio interview with Dave Hodges on the Commonsense Radio show on Sunday, Jan. 9th 2011 at 10:30pm est. Just click the listen live on the right at the time of the show, if you so desire to listen in.

BUT, a point of this is WE CAN ALL DO THIS TOGETHER! I AM ASKING OTHERS TO STAND WITH ME AND ALL THOSE INVOLVED IN EXPOSING THE BANKS HAVE NO RIGHT TO FORECLOSE ON ANYONE AND ALL FORECLOSURES THEY HAVE DONE AND DO ARE BASED ON FRAUD!

I am asking people to start contacting me who have been foreclosed on already to get them to join upcoming class actions suits and those who have Litton Loan at this time and Bank of America who are in Tennessee, to become part of a class action against them. Taking steps of standing up can be very scary if we let those emotions rule us. BUT if we let the emotions of Truth and Justice rule us, we will feel excitement!

Part of the excitement is the Judges who have stood up for justice and truth, including the Supreme Court of Massachusetts, yesterday. The highest court there ruled for the homeowners and against the banks right to foreclose.

I am thrilled MSM has written about the foreclosure fraud, though they spin it to be simple "paperwork irregularities". It still has gotten awareness from people on a whole, of which previously many were not familiar with.

I ASK FOR EVERYONE TO STAND UP! PLEASE RECOGNIZE YOUR OWN POWER OF TRUTH AND TOGETHER WE HAVE MORE POWER THAN ANY OTHER FORCE OUT THERE! BELIEVE IN YOURSELF AND OTHERS, BE GUIDED BY TRUTH AND LOVE AND WE WILL BE SET FREE!

PLEASE JOIN ME AND COUNTLESS OF OTHERS WHOSE INTENTIONS HAVE BEEN/ARE TO EXPOSE THE FORECLOSURE FRAUD TO THE FULLEST POSSIBLE!

I will also say - EVERYONE needs to send the letter in this post out to your mortgage servicer via certified mail - it is important to do so. It shows a trail of you asking for who the owner of your mortgage is, without getting an answer.

Central Banks are Acquiring Gold, Dumping US Dollars

There is evidence that central banks in several regions of the World are building up their gold reserves. What is published are the official purchases.

A large part of these Central Bank purchases of gold bullion are not disclosed. They are undertaken through third party contracting companies, with utmost discretion.

US dollar holdings and US dollar denominated debt instruments are in effect being traded in for gold, which in turn puts pressure on the US dollar.

In turn, both China and Russia have boosted domestic production of gold, a large share of which is being purchased by their central banks:

It has long been assumed that China is surreptitiously building up its gold reserves through buying local production. Russia is another major gold miner where the Central bank has been purchasing gold from another state entity, Gokhran, which is the marketing arm and central repository for the country's mined gold production. Now it has been reported by Bloomberg that the Venezuelan Central Bank director, Jose Khan, has said that country will boost its gold reserves through purchasing more than half the gold produced from its rapidly growing domestic gold mining industry.

In Russia, for example, Gokhran sold some 30 tonnes of gold to the Central Bank in an internal accounting exercise late last year. In part, so it was said at the time, the direct sale was made rather than placing the metal on the open market and perhaps adversely affecting the gold price.

China is currently the world's largest gold producer and last year it confirmed it had raised its own Central Bank gold holdings by more than 450 tones over the previous six years. Mineweb.com - The world's premier mining and mining investment website Venezuela taking own gold production into Central Bank reserves - GOLD NEWS | Mineweb

The 450 tons figure corresponds to an increase in the gold reserves of the central bank from 600 tons in 2003 to 1054 tons in 2009. If we go by official statements, China's gold reserves are increasing by approximately 10 percent per annum:

China has risen to now be the largest gold producing nation in the world at around 270 tonnes. The amount bought in by the government initially looks like 90 tonnes per annum or just under, 2 tonnes a week. Before 2003 the announcement by the Chinese central bank that gold reserves had been doubled to 600 tonnes, accounted for similar purchases before that date. Why so small an amount you may well ask? We think local and national issues clouded the central bank’s view as it was the government that bought the gold since 2003 and have now placed it on the central bank’s Balance Sheet. So we would conclude that the government has ensured central bank gold purchasing must continue. "How will Chinese Central Bank Gold Buying affect the Gold Price short & Long-Term?" by Julian Phillips. FSO Editorial 05/07/2009

Russia

Russia's Central bank holdings are in excess of 20 million troy ounces (January 2010)

click to enlarge

Russia’s Central Bank reserves have increased markedly in recent years. The RCB reported in May 2010 purchasing 34.2 tons of gold in a single month. Russian Central Bank Gold Purchases Soar In May – China Too? | The Daily Gold

The diagram below shows a significant increase in monthly purchases by the the RCB since June 2009.

(click on chart to enlarge)

Central Banks in the Middle East are also building up their gold reserves, while reducing their dollar forex holding.

Gold reserves of GCC states is less than 5 percent:

Dubai International Financial Centre Authority economists released a report yesterday calling for local countries to build gold reserves, according to The National.

Despite a high interest in gold, GCC states maintain less than 5 percent of their total reserves in gold. Compared to the ECB, which holds 25 percent of reserves in gold, that leaves a lot of room for growth. http://www.businessinsider.com/gcc-boost-gold-holdings-2010-12#ixzz18FEqpTy3

GCC states should boost their foreign reserve holdings of gold to help shield their billions of dollars of assets from turbulence in global currency markets, say economists at the Dubai International Financial Centre Authority (DIFCA).

Diversifying more of their reserves from US dollars to the yellow metal would help to offer central banks in the region higher investment returns, said Dr Nasser Saidi, the chief economist of DIFCA, and Dr Fabio Scacciavillani, the director of macroeconomics and statistics at the authority.

"When you have a great deal of economic uncertainty, going into paper assets, whatever they may be - stocks, bonds, other types of equity - is not attractive," said Dr Saidi. "That makes gold more attractive."

Declines in the dollar during recent months have dented the value of GCC oil revenues, which are predominantly weighted in the greenback. GCC urged to boost gold reserves

According to a report in People`s Daily;

The latest rankings of gold reserves show that, as of mid-December, the United States remains the top country and the Chinese mainland is ranked sixth with 1,054 tons of reserves, the World Gold Council announced recently.

Russia climbed to eighth place because its gold reserves increased by 167.5 tons since December 2009. The top ten in 2010 remains the same compared to the rankings of the same period of last year. And Saudi Arabia squeezed to the top 20.

Developing countries and regions, including Saudi Arabia and South Africa, have become the main force driving the gold reserve increase. ... .

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the European central bank are the major gold sellers, and the IMF's gold reserves decreased by 158.6 tons.
(China's gold reserves rank 6th worldwide - People's Daily Online

It should be understood that actual purchases of physical gold are not the only factor in explaining the movement of gold prices. The gold market is marked by organized speculation by large scale financial institutions.

The gold market is characterised by numerous paper instruments, gold index funds, gold certificates, OTC gold derivatives (including options, swaps and forwards), which play a strong role, particularly in short-term movement of gold prices. The recent increase and subsequent decline of gold prices are the result of manipulation by powerful financial actors.

BANKS DUG THEIR OWN GRAVE ON QUIET TITLE ACTION

Whatever they say will be suspect from now on

see ibanez-huge-win-for-borrowers-in-massachusetts-non-judicial-state-high-court

They never did the assignment and later when they tried to correct that problem they found they were in the position of violating the terms spelled out in the PSA wherein the assignment could be accepted by the pool — as to time, content (non-performing loans) etc. As of this point in time, there are approximately 50 million transactions over the past ten years that fit this fact pattern. All of them have fatal defects in title.— Neil Garfield

“In September and October of 2008, U.S. Bank and Wells Fargo brought separate actions in the Land Court under G.L. c. 240, § 6, which authorizes actions “to quiet or establish the title to land situated in the commonwealth or to remove a cloud from the title thereto.” The two complaints sought identical relief: (1) a judgment that the right, title, and interest of the mortgagor (Ibanez or the LaRaces) in the property was extinguished by the foreclosure; (2) a declaration that there was no cloud on title arising from publication of the notice of sale in the Boston Globe; and (3) a declaration that title was vested in the plaintiff trustee in fee simple. U.S. Bank and Wells Fargo each asserted in its complaint that it had become the holder of the respective mortgage through an assignment made after the foreclosure sale.”

EDITOR’S NOTE: The Banks themselves thought they had it made and filed what we have suggesting to borrowers — a lawsuit to quiet title, claiming the foreclosure was valid and that Ibanez was divested from title as a result of the foreclosure. The Supreme Court in Massachusetts said there is nothing wrong with an action to quiet title — it’s just that the banks lose and Ibanez wins. The Banks failed to establish a clear chain showing that they actually and legally had the right to foreclose — meaning that the mortgage was properly assigned to them. Upon failure to do that, the Banks were found to have violated Massachusetts law by foreclosing on property that was not subject to any legal claim by them. They had no right to title and therefore they had no right to quiet title.

In the end this was simple application of age-old title examination. As Max Gardner points out in his ABCDE approach, you either have it or you don’t. The Banks don’t and in my opinion they can’t fix it because factually they did everything wrong, they have already been compensated, and they have cheated not only the borrowers, but the investors who put up the money. Thus this decision helps both investors who filed damage suits against the investment bankers and borrowers who filed slander of title and other tort and statutory claims. This ruling by the Supreme Court corroborates the finding on these pages that the pools are and always were EMPTY.

The big point to take away from this decision is that the Banks must prove they have the right — it will no longer be presumed just because they have some paperwork of dubious authenticity and give an order to foreclose. Trustees around the country better take notice that if they receive an instruction on a Deed of Trust that they should foreclose they may be a tool in a fraudulent scheme.

“The Ibanez mortgage. On December 1, 2005, Antonio Ibanez took out a $103,500 loan for the purchase of property at 20 Crosby Street in Springfield, secured by a mortgage to the lender, Rose Mortgage, Inc. (Rose Mortgage). The mortgage was recorded the following day. Several days later, Rose Mortgage executed an assignment of this mortgage in blank, that is, an assignment that did not specify the name of the assignee. [FN11] The blank space in the assignment was at some point stamped with the name of Option One Mortgage Corporation (Option One) as the assignee, and that assignment was recorded on June 7, 2006. Before the recording, on January 23, 2006, Option One executed an assignment of the Ibanez mortgage in blank.”

EDITOR’S NOTE: This is a classic case of a sham transaction where Rose mortgage was not the source of funds, was not the lender, and never handled the money except for receiving a fee for pretending to be the lender. The Mass. Court decision goes to the heart of how securitization was practiced where the money moved and the documents didn’t and there was no disclosure or proper notice. The effect of naming nobody or a nominee with no interest or power to do anything (which is the same as identifying nobody) is to invalidate the transfer ab initio. There is no transfer and there is nothing that anybody can do to make it a transfer and there is nothing anyone needs to do to void the “transfer” because it did not occur.

What you have left is a homeowner whose title record is clouded (Cleared up mostly by this court decision) where the only record lender was not the factual lender. The note therefore does not describe the transaction and the mortgage, seeking to provide security for the note, is securing an obligation that does not exist. The obligation, if one exists, arises by virtue of the receipt of money by the borrower or the payment on his behalf from a source of funds that is the lender. That actual lender is not described in the closing documents and the identity of the true lender was intentionally withheld from the buyer, depriving him of the right to choose whom he does business with.

Thus the REAL obligation has NO DOCUMENTATION. And under this decision pretender lenders can no longer substitute fabricated documentation for real proof. The fact that this decision took place in a state where court action is not required to commence foreclosure means that the decision is applicable to ALL states. In plain language, the banks are screwed.

“ According to U.S. Bank, the assignment of the Ibanez mortgage to U.S. Bank occurred pursuant to a December 1, 2006, trust agreement, which is not in the record. What is in the record is the private placement memorandum (PPM), dated December 26, 2006, a 273-page, unsigned offer of mortgage-backed securities to potential investors. The PPM describes the mortgage pools and the entities involved, and summarizes the provisions of the trust agreement, including the representation that mortgages “will be” assigned into the trust.”

EDITOR’S NOTE: The Massachusetts Court adeptly picked up on the practice of “selling forward,” a concept that I have been spouting about for over three years. It makes all the difference in the world. The fact is that in most cases when the investors advanced funds, there were no mortgages, there was not even any applications for mortgages that were applicable to that money. The investors were sold shares in empty pools that were going to be filled later by “mortgages that will be assigned.” The terms of the assignment were set forth usually in the PSA. They never did the assignment and later when they tried to correct that problem they found they were in the position of violating the terms spelled out in the PSA wherein the assignment could be accepted by the pool — as to time, content (non-performing loans) etc. As of this point in time, there are approximately 50 million transactions over the past ten years that fit this fact pattern. All of them have fatal defects in title.

“At the foreclosure sale on July 5, 2007, the Ibanez property was purchased by U.S. Bank, as trustee for the securitization trust, for $94,350, a value significantly less than the outstanding debt and the estimated market value of the property. The foreclosure deed (from U.S. Bank, trustee, as the purported holder of the mortgage, to U.S. Bank, trustee, as the purchaser) and the statutory foreclosure affidavit were recorded on May 23, 2008. On September 2, 2008, more than one year after the sale, and more than five months after recording of the sale, American Home Mortgage Servicing, Inc., “as successor-in-interest” to Option One, which was until then the record holder of the Ibanez mortgage, executed a written assignment of that mortgage to U.S. Bank, as trustee for the securitization trust. [FN14] This assignment was recorded on September 11, 2008.”

EDITOR’S NOTE: See how the credit bid was misused. US bank was not a creditor but was allowed by the trustee/auctioneer to accept a dirt low bid from itself to “transfer” title — a transfer that the Massachusetts Supreme Court said never happened because they didn’t own the property. See also how the Court picked up on the issues that lawyers all over the country have been pounding on to the deaf ears of trial judges — that an assignment AFTER the fact is not a way to cure the defect in title. This decision upholds the stability of state laws in all 50 states wherein buyers and mortgage companies may rely on the record at the county recorder’s office and are not subject to claims from third parties who claim to have an interest through an unrecorded instrument that was fabricated at a later time.

Like a sale of land itself, the assignment of a mortgage is a conveyance of an interest in land that requires a writing signed by the grantor. See G.L. c. 183, § 3; Saint Patrick’s Religious, Educ. & Charitable Ass’n v. Hale, 227 Mass. 175, 177 (1917). In a “title theory state” like Massachusetts, a mortgage is a transfer of legal title in a property to secure a debt. See Faneuil Investors Group, Ltd. Partnership v. Selectmen of Dennis, 458 Mass. 1, 6 (2010). Therefore, when a person borrows money to purchase a home and gives the lender a mortgage, the homeowner-mortgagor retains only equitable title in the home; the legal title is held by the mortgagee. See Vee Jay Realty Trust Co. v. DiCroce, 360 Mass. 751, 753 (1972), quoting Dolliver v. St. Joseph Fire & Marine Ins. Co., 128 Mass. 315, 316 (1880) (although “as to all the world except the mortgagee, a mortgagor is the owner of the mortgaged lands,” mortgagee has legal title to property); Maglione v. BancBoston Mtge. Corp., 29 Mass.App.Ct. 88, 90 (1990). Where, as here, mortgage loans are pooled together in a trust and converted into mortgage-backed securities, the underlying promissory notes serve as financial instruments generating a potential income stream for investors, but the mortgages securing these notes are still legal title to someone’s home or farm and must be treated as such.

The PPM, however, described the trust agreement as an agreement to be executed in the future, so it only furnished evidence of an intent to assign mortgages to U.S. Bank, not proof of their actual assignment. Even if there were an executed trust agreement with language of present assignment, U.S. Bank did not produce the schedule of loans and mortgages that was an exhibit to that agreement, so it failed to show that the Ibanez mortgage was among the mortgages to be assigned by that agreement. Finally, even if there were an executed trust agreement with the required schedule, U.S. Bank failed to furnish any evidence that the entity assigning the mortgage–Structured Asset Securities Corporation–ever held the mortgage to be assigned.”

“ Second, the plaintiffs contend that, because they held the mortgage note, they had a sufficient financial interest in the mortgage to allow them to foreclose. In Massachusetts, where a note has been assigned but there is no written assignment of the mortgage underlying the note, the assignment of the note does not carry with it the assignment of the mortgage. Barnes v. Boardman, 149 Mass. 106, 114 (1889). Rather, the holder of the mortgage holds the mortgage in trust for the purchaser of the note, who has an equitable right to obtain an assignment of the mortgage, which may be accomplished by filing an action in court and obtaining an equitable order of assignment. Id. (“In some jurisdictions it is held that the mere transfer of the debt, without any assignment or even mention of the mortgage, carries the mortgage with it, so as to enable the assignee to assert his title in an action at law…. This doctrine has not prevailed in Massachusetts, and the tendency of the decisions here has been, that in such cases the mortgagee would hold the legal title in trust for the purchaser of the debt, and that the latter might obtain a conveyance by a bill in equity”). See Young v. Miller, 6 Gray 152, 154 (1856).”

Confirmed: We’re Literally On the Brink of Catastrophic Collapse

We’ve been told a lot of things since the global economic crisis first became apparent in 2007. In March of that year Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said, “the impact on the broader economy and financial markets of the problems in the sub-prime markets seems likely to be contained.” Clearly, Mr. Bernanke’s assessment was incorrect and the sub-prime real estate issues were only part of a broader, systemic issue.

The fundamental problems within our economy became mainstream news in the latter part of 2008 when stock markets around the world were in free fall and most major financial institutions were on the cusp of insolvency. In response, our government, with the full support and confidence of Congress, took unprecedented steps to save the system by injecting, first billions, and then trillions of dollars to bailout failed companies, stabilize deflationary price collapses and stimulate the economy.

Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson eventually wrote a book about the crisis, aptly titled On the Brink. But how close to the brink were we? If Representative Brad Sherman is to be believed, we were close. So close, in fact, that according to Sherman, Congressional members were told that if the bailout was not authorized by Congress the collapse would be so severe that martial law may have to be declared - basically, tanks in the streets. The following short video is Brad Sherman discussing the situation on the House floor:

Are we now to believe that the actions taken by Congress, The President, US Treasury and The Federal Reserve have resolved the fundamental problems facing our nation?

For those 17% of people who think the economy is in recovery and the other 33% who believe it will happen soon, we point you to the latest statement from current Treasury Secretary Timothy Geitherner, who outlines the severity of the problem in a January 6, 2011 letter to Congress writes:

I am writing in response to your request for an estimate by the Treasury Department of when the statutory debt limit will be reached, and for a description of the consequences of default by the United States.

Never in our history has Congress failed to increase the debt limit when necessary. Failure to raise the limit would precipitate a default by the United States. Default would effectively impose a significant and long-lasting tax on all Americans and all American businesses and could lead to the loss of millions of American jobs. Even a very short-term or limited default would have catastrophic economic consequences that would last for decades. Failure to increase the limit would be deeply irresponsible. For these reasons, I am requesting that Congress act to increase the limit early this year, well before the threat of default becomes imminent.

Treasury would prefer not to have to engage again in any of these extraordinary measures [suspension of the issuance of certain types of government debt and government investment vehicles]. If we are forced to do so again, these measures could delay the date by which the limit is reached by several weeks. Once these steps have been taken, no remaining legal and prudent measures would be available to create additional headroom under the debt limit, and the United States would begin to default on its obligations.

The Treasury Secretary of The United States of America just said that if we don’t get another $1 trillion or so dollars by March of this year then this country will begin to default on its debt obligations. These remarks are extremely serious and should be understood for what they are.

We are, literally and without mixing words, on the brink of economic catastrophe.

The scary thing is, according to Mr. Geithner and the many supporters of raising our debt ceiling, that borrowing more money is the only solution available.

In a recent commentary we pointed out the opposing view from Karl Denninger of Market Ticker, who said that raising the debt ceiling would essentially lead to the very same consequence as leaving it as is:

Let me be clear: If you extend the debt ceiling and by doing so allow deficits of this sort to continue for another year, say much less two, you will have placed a loaded shotgun in the mouth of this nation and pulled the trigger.

It will go off, and you will splatter this nations’ economic and political system all over the wall.

It’s a Catch 22 and there’s no way out.

Defaulting on or inflating away our debt are the only viable solutions. Both of these will lead to the same end - a complete and total collapse of the way of life Americans have become used to.

Just as Henry Paulson, President Bush, et. al. warned of economic collapse and depression in 2008, Mr. Geithner warns of the very same today. All of the trillions spent, all of the laws passed, and all of the manipulations of global asset markets, have done absolutely nothing to resolve the fundamental systemic problems we faced prior to the onset of the crisis.

It is, quite literally, going to be the end of the world as we know it - and it cannot be stopped.

It’s time for each individual to take steps to prepare for a national debt default and a complete debasement of the US dollar. It won’t be long before we either can’t meet our debt obligations or our creditors finally put a stop to our out of control borrowing. And when they do, the chances are high that we will experience a hyperinflationary monetary collapse, complete with disruptions to the normal flow of commerce, food shortages and out of control prices. The only refuge will be to understand what is money when the system collapses and start preparing now. The government is getting ready for it, so should you.

More Recommended Reading:

There’s an Economic Collapse Coming to This Country - Plan Now

I Want People to Be Mentally Prepared For What’s Coming Our Way

The First 12 Hours of a US Dollar Collapse *Video*

Jeff Becker Questions WTC 7 Collapse in US Senate Debate

Obama Eyeing Internet ID for Americans

STANFORD, Calif. - President Obama is planning to hand the U.S. Commerce Department authority over a forthcoming cybersecurity effort to create an Internet ID for Americans, a White House official said here today.

It's "the absolute perfect spot in the U.S. government" to centralize efforts toward creating an "identity ecosystem" for the Internet, White House Cybersecurity Coordinator Howard Schmidt said.

That news, first reported by CNET, effectively pushes the department to the forefront of the issue, beating out other potential candidates including the National Security Agency and the Department of Homeland Security. The move also is likely to please privacy and civil liberties groups that have raised concerns in the past over the dual roles of police and intelligence agencies.

The announcement came at an event today at the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research, where U.S. Commerce Secretary Gary Locke and Schmidt spoke.

The Obama administration is currently drafting what it's calling the National Strategy for Trusted Identities in Cyberspace, which Locke said will be released by the president in the next few months. (An early version was publicly released last summer.)

"We are not talking about a national ID card," Locke said at the Stanford event. "We are not talking about a government-controlled system. What we are talking about is enhancing online security and privacy and reducing and perhaps even eliminating the need to memorize a dozen passwords, through creation and use of more trusted digital identities."

The Commerce Department will be setting up a national program office to work on this project, Locke said.

Details about the "trusted identity" project are unusually scarce. Last year's announcement referenced a possible forthcoming smart card or digital certificate that would prove that online users are who they say they are. These digital IDs would be offered to consumers by online vendors for financial transactions.

Schmidt stressed today that anonymity and pseudonymity will remain possible on the Internet. "I don't have to get a credential if I don't want to," he said. There's no chance that "a centralized database will emerge," and "we need the private sector to lead the implementation of this," he said.

Inter-agency rivalries to claim authority over cybersecurity have exited ever since many responsibilities were centralized in the Department of Homeland Security as part of its creation nine years ago. Three years ago, proposals were were circulating in Washington to transfer authority to the secretive NSA, which is part of the U.S. Defense Department.

In March 2009, Rod Beckstrom, director of Homeland Security's National Cybersecurity Center, resigned through a letter that gave a rare public glimpse into the competition for budgetary dollars and cybersecurity authority. Beckstrom said at the time that the NSA "effectively controls DHS cyber efforts through detailees, technology insertions," and has proposed moving some functions to the agency's Fort Meade, Md., headquarters.

US Census Bureau: Rising Levels of Poverty in America

Using new formula, Census Bureau ups estimate of US poverty rate to 15.7 percent

There are over 4 million more Americans living in poverty than previously reported and poor people make up 15.7 percent of the population instead of 14.3 percent, according to new figures for 2009 released by the US Census Bureau on Wednesday.

Utilizing a different formula than that employed to generate the official poverty statistics—one that takes into account living costs such as medical expenses, transportation and child care as well as non-cash benefits including Medicare, food stamps and low-income tax subsidies—the Census Bureau estimated there were 47.8 million people living in poverty in the US in 2009.

The official estimate, released last September, was 43.6 million. The earlier report put the poverty rate for working-age Americans, those aged 18 to 64, at 12.9 percent—already the highest since the 1960s levels that sparked Lyndon Johnson’s “War on Poverty” programs. Using the alternate formula, the percentage of working-age poor rises to 14.8 percent.

Most staggering is the increase under the revised formula for the elderly. According to the official poverty figures, 8.9 percent of those 65 and older were living in poverty in 2009. But when out-of-pocket medical costs and other expenses are taken into account, the elderly poverty rate nearly doubles to 16.1 percent.

The highest poverty rate is among children, 18 percent of whom are poor, according to the new Census figures.

Under the revised formula, the West had the worst poverty rate in the country at 19.2 percent. It was followed by the South (16.1 percent), the Northeast (14.3 percent) and the Midwest (12.5 percent).

Kathleen S. Short, a Census Bureau researcher and author of the report released Wednesday, wrote that the “new group of poor would consist of a larger population of elderly people, working families and married-couple families than are identified in the official poverty measure.”

The government is not replacing the official figures with those generated by the revised formula, but rather plans to publish the new measure alongside the traditional rate this fall as a “supplement” for the benefit of federal agencies and state governments.

Both the traditional and the revised formulas vastly underestimate the real level of poverty in the US, since they both use an income threshold that is absurdly low. The official 2009 poverty threshold was an annual income of $14,570 for family of two and $22,050 for a family of four.

The new Census figures were not even reported in Thursday’s print editions of the New York Times, the Washington Post or the Wall Street Journal. This reflects the indifference of the political and media establishment to the acute and worsening social distress in the country and the vast chasm separating the ruling elite from the people.

Statistics providing some insight into the scale of poverty, exacerbated by the highest levels of unemployment since the Great Depression, are inconvenient at a time when the major media, the Obama administration and the Republicans are waging a common campaign to justify slashing spending on social programs and reducing taxes and regulations on corporations.

The Obama administration is spearheading the attack on the working class, in the name of “creating jobs.” Following the bailout of the banks with trillions of tax-payer dollars and the launching of a nationwide assault on private-sector wages with the Obama Auto Task Force’s 50 percent cut in the wages of newly hired auto workers, Democratic and Republican officials alike are demanding savage cuts in the pay, benefits and pensions of public employees.

That “creating jobs” is a euphemism for driving up corporate profits at the expense of workers and society as a whole was underscored by a report in Thursday’s Wall Street Journal on plans to slash corporate taxes by as much as 15 percent. “But President Barack Obama and Republican congressional leaders are separately sounding the same broad theme that corporate tax rates should be lower,” the Journal wrote.

This follows last month’s extension of the Bush-era tax cuts for the rich, which will funnel some $70 billion a year into the coffers of the wealthiest 2 percent of the population, and the lowering of the estate tax, which will award some 6,600 families an estimated $23 billion in tax breaks.

As part of the administration’s efforts to improve relations with big business, the Journal noted, the White House on Wednesday announced that Obama will address the US Chamber of Commerce next month.

The Obama administration is intensifying the pro-corporate policies that have led to a massive growth of social inequality over the past three decades. The Economic Policy Institute (EPI) reported last month that the wealth of the richest 1 percent of US households in 2009 was 225 times greater than the median family net worth in America.

The record figure underscores how the ruling elite has used the financial crisis and recession to further plunder the social wealth. The ratio of the wealthiest 1 percent to median wealth last year was nearly twice the ratio of 125 in 1960.

Another report published in November by the EPI highlighted the degree to which the financial elite has monopolized income growth over the past quarter century. The report showed that between 1979 and 2005, households at the bottom fifth of the income scale saw an average, inflation-adjusted income growth of just $200 over the entire 26-year period. Households at the top 0.1 percent of the income scale had an average income growth of almost $6 million over the same period, an average yearly increase of $231,000.

At the other end, according to an EPI report from last September, 2009 saw a record 6.3 percent of Americans living in so-called deep poverty, earning less than half the official poverty threshold. To fall below half the poverty line, a family of four would have an annual income of less than $11,000.

The 2009 deep poverty rate is the highest since the Census Bureau started keeping records in 1975 and is nearly double the low point of 3.3 percent in 1976.

At the same time, growing numbers of workers are falling into the low-income category, earning less than twice the official poverty rate. Nearly a third of all working families are officially low-income, meaning they are actually living in poverty conditions.

Wednesday’s Census report, which took into account non-cash benefits in supplementing family income, provided an indication of the devastating social impact the cuts that are being prepared in Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and other welfare programs will have. The report concluded that without the earned income tax credit, the poverty rate under the revised formula would rise from 15.7 percent to 17.7 percent. The absence of food stamps would increase the poverty rate to 17.2 percent.

Beverly Hills foreclosure listed at $16.95M now on the market for $8.59M. In search of the largest foreclosures. Beverly Hills and the 90210correction

Financially California is staring into a dark and deep economic abyss. Even if we start adding jobs at a fast pace it is likely to do very little for the housing market simply because the jobs being added do not have the income potential of the real estate heavy jobs during the housing bubble. Inflated home prices equaled inflated paychecks for many. It is hard to see a sudden surge in real estate values based on recent job growth trends. What is troubling is that even if the nationwide economy picks up California is likely to face structural problems because of looming liabilities. California needs to figure out a way to grow even faster merely to pay for stated expenses. The upper crust of the housing market is seeing large foreclosures hitting the market. Today we will take a look at another Beverly Hills foreclosure that is the biggest foreclosure we have covered on the blog.

Beverly Hills and the $16,950,000 foreclosure

beverly hills foreclosure

2600 BOWMONT DR, Beverly Hills, CA 90210

Beds: 7

Baths: 8/1

Square feet: 10,000

Lot size: 1 acre

Let me start off by saying this is a great looking place by any measure. A large Beverly Hills home with all the amenities a buyer can ask for. Yet this home is part of the grim foreclosure statistics. It is interesting that the upper range of the housing market has stalled out with an intense ferocity. FHA insured loans or non-jumbo mortgages do not provide any support here. In our current housing market to purchase a home like this will require substantial document income. No aspiring actor making $1 million a year and loading up on an option ARM here. It was amazing that back in the bubble days we were seeing multi-million dollar loans from lenders like Washington Mutual going with nearly zero down. No wonder why these lenders went extinct.

Let us marvel at this home before moving on to the details:

beverly hills 2

“Nice rug.”

beverly hills 3

“Nice rug.”

beverly hills 4

“Nice view.”

This is definitely what you would consider a prime Southern California home. But apparently things are not moving so quickly. Let us look at the description:

“Lender Owned~Sequestered in a sml gated community resides this 10,000+ SF Contemporary Medit masterpiece. Features 7 bds, 8.5 ba~s + guest apt behind prvt gates w/ stunning city, canyon & valley views. Superior craftsmanship & sophisticated design in every corner of this well appointed homage to modern living. Grand vol & scale throughout. Stately columns, hand painted ceil & 2 stry entry lead to lrg LR, DR & FR w/ soaring ceilings, fplc & wall of windows. Lrg center isle eat in kit w/ Arclinea cabinets, 2 Elkay sinks, granite cntrs, side by side Subzero freezer & fridge, Miele oven & fpl. Spectac mstr suite w/ hrd wd flrs, fplc, prvt terr & huge walk-in closets. Top of the line amenities turn spacious his & her mstr baths into sophisticated personal spas. Covered loggia, rolling green lawns, well-designed pool & spa, outdoor kit w/ BBQ. Guest apt w/ full ba, walk in closet, prvt terr & sep entry. Motor crt & 5 car garage, Crestron Advantage System & CAT5 wiring. Orig listed at $16,950,000.”

This place was originally listed at $16,950,000 so I know many of you are already getting your checkbooks ready. How much action has taken place with the listing price? Let us take a look:

beverly hills listing history

Little by little the price has come down. From a listing price of $16.95 million to $8.59 million. This is a 50 percent price drop in Beverly Hills! As we all know the upper end of the housing market is still largely in a housing bubble. If this home was perceived as being worth $16 million it would have sold to someone that would be in the market for a $16 million home. Of course the pool of buyers for this home is extremely small.

Let us look at some older sales history:

beverly hills sales history

Source: Redfin

The place sold at a foreclosure auction in July of 2010 for $7.75 million. The current list price is still $845,000 over the foreclosure auction price. Assuming a six percent commission any profits on the second go around are getting slimmer.

Anyone in the market for a $16 million home for $8 million?

Today we salute Beverly Hills with our Real Homes of Genius Award.

Spain admits that the Obama green economy is a disaster

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US Economy Has Finally Lost Control of its Debt

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Irish Leaders Castigated As Greatest Traitors Of All Time

by Gabriel Donohoe

The Irish Government has recently passed the harshest budget in the history of the State with further austerity promised for the next three years and perhaps for decades. Prime Minister Brian Cowen and Finance Minister Brian Lenihan have steered Ireland from the booming prosperity of a Celtic Tiger to a ruined shell of a country where unemployment, poverty, emigration, and despair are proceeding to destroy a once proud, industrious people.

Cowen and Lenihan also bear the ignominy of having brought in the International Monetary Fund who, along with EU banksters, are now dictating Irish fiscal policy. The IMF has long had a vulturish reputation for plundering weaker countries by stripping the flesh of its victims down to the bare bones. This repulsive scavenger is well known for promoting austerity and misery, grabbing national assets for its bankster and corporate friends, and leaving the skeleton of a country’s economy in its wake. The first piece of offal to be plucked from the Irish carcass by this opportunistic carrion eater was the nation’s €20 billion pension fund, the life savings of working people.

As a result of Ireland’s dramatic reversal of fortune the names of Brian Cowen and Brian Lenihan are now being reviled as the villains who inflicted horrendous financial disaster upon the Irish people and forced the enslavement of future generations to a criminal cadre of International Banksters.

The words ‘treason’, ‘traitors’, and ‘treachery’ are being increasingly used not only by ordinary citizens but also by certain politicians, economists, business leaders, and celebrities. ‘Economic treason’ was a term used by the leader of the Labour Party to describe Cowen and Lenihan’s blanket guarantee to the banks. And, incredibly, even the country’s ostensibly non-partisan police association, the GRA, accused the government of ‘treachery’ and denounced it as a ‘government of national sabotage’.

Today, Cowen and Lenihan are being compared to other traitors in history like Vidkun Quisling, a Norwegian politician who assisted the Nazis to conquer his native country; General Benedict Arnold, an American soldier who changed sides during the Revolution and betrayed his country to the British; and even Judas Iscariot, who betrayed his Master for 30 pieces of silver.

In Ireland, the names of Cowen and Lenihan now evoke the same revulsion as that reserved for Dermot MacMurrough, a 12th century King of Leinster who has been loathed for over 8 centuries as the man who brought the first English invaders to Ireland. In 1167, after a dispute with other Irish kings which led to his forced exile, MacMurrough persuaded an English army under the command of the Earl of Pembroke, known as ‘Strongbow’, to invade Ireland and help him take his kingdom back.

MacMurrough died 3 years later and Strongbow declared himself the King of Leinster. Thus began the beginning of a British military occupation that would last for over 800 years and cause countless thousands of Irish deaths and condemn many generations of Irish men and women to utter misery, slavery, famine, and financial and religious tyranny. It is not easy for anyone to incite more odium in the hearts of the Irish people than that of the back-stabber Dermot MacMurrough.

And yet Brian Cowen and Brian Lenihan are reviled with the same detestation as that accorded the traitorous 12th century King of Leinster.

What did Cowen and Lenihan do to earn such public loathing?

On September 29th, 2008, a momentous event occurred. That evening, four of the most senior executives of Ireland’s two largest high street banks, Dermot Gleeson and Eugene Sheehy of Allied Irish Bank (AIB) and Brian Goggin and Richard Burrows of Bank of Ireland (BOI), called to Government Buildings for a hastily convened meeting with the Prime Minister, Brian Cowen, and the Minister for Finance, Brian Lenihan. Also present was the Irish Attorney-General, Paul Gallagher.

The banksters were frantic. As the property bubble was beginning to burst, their main rival, Anglo Irish Bank, was in serious trouble and the huge loss of liquidity could bring down the country’s entire financial system. Like Anglo Irish, AIB and BOI also had massive exposure to the developers and all were in danger of imminent collapse. The banksters implored the Government to do something, immediately, before the money markets opened the following morning.

Having received such stark news from the banksters, Cowen and Lenihan knew they had to move quickly and decisively. They would have to act, and be seen to act, without bias and without favouring any special interest groups. Their first duty was to ensure the welfare of the nation as a whole and to safeguard the financial interests of all the Irish people.

But in this they failed utterly. One special interest group, the banksters, prevailed spectacularly over the interests of the Irish people. How did the banksters manage to wield such inordinate influence over crucial governmental policy?

A key disturbing fact about this meeting was never commented upon in the mainstream media. On the government side of the table sat Paul Gallagher, the Attorney-General, legal adviser to the Irish Government. On the banksters’ side of the table sat Dermot Gleeson, the AIB chairman and himself a former Irish Attorney-General. But, apart from both men holding the senior law office of the land, a more sinister connection between them remained undisclosed. They were both Bilderbergers.

For those who haven’t heard of the Bilderbergers, they are a brotherhood of unelected international banksters, corporatists, politicians, and others who meet secretly every year to formulate and manipulate world policy in finance, economics, trade, and any other area that they can control for their own selfish, globalist interests.

It may well be that the presence of the two Bilderbergers, Gleeson and Gallagher, was just a coincidence but, considering such incredibly high stakes, it can be argued that Gallagher’s attendance as Attorney-General at such a crucial meeting generated a monumental conflict of interest. His Bilderberger connection clearly compromised him as legal adviser to the Irish Government, especially when his Bilderberger pal, Gleeson, was about to be on the receiving end of a whopping government bailout.

After a surprisingly short discussion with some members of the cabinet, the Attorney-General, and top civil servants, Cowen and Lenihan arrived at an ominous decision. They decided that the Government would guarantee all the liabilities of six Irish banks – not just customer and interbank deposits but also the full exposure of all bondholders! This amounted to some 450 billion euro, an astronomical figure which, if ever called upon, would destroy the country.

With the stroke of a pen Cowen and Lenihan shifted hundreds of billions of private debt incurred by greedy, fraudulent banksters and dumped it onto the backs of the Irish people. This was an incredible act of treachery against the Irish nation. What could possess these two politicians to put their people into impossible debt and penury – perhaps for generations – just to save a few mega-rich banksters from taking a loss on their reckless gambling? Was it utter ineptitude or was it something more sinister than that?

As Marcellus said to Horatio in Shakespeare’s Hamlet, ‘Something is rotten in the State of Denmark.’ He said ‘Denmark’, but he might well have been describing present-day Ireland. This bank guarantee deal stinks to high heaven!

Inflicting a risk exposure of €450 billion on the Irish nation was tantamount to state suicide. The willing and needless placement of an entire people into such peril could only be the result of criminal incompetence or criminal collusion. There could be no other explanation, except, of course, criminal insanity. Take your pick. Are Cowen and Lenihan criminally inept, corrupt, or insane?

To put the enormity of the hazard to the nation into perspective let’s compare it to U.S Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson’s 2008 bank bailout of $700 billion which was then strenuously opposed by the great majority of the American people. The Irish bailout was the equivalent of more than $585 billion dollars, not a far cry from the $700 billion that so appalled and angered most Americans. Consider that the U.S. has a population of 300 million while Ireland only has a population of less than 4.5 million, much the same as the state of Louisiana.

At 3.30am the four bankers left. According to Shane Ross, author of Bankers, they had ‘put the gun to the Government’s head and the ministers had delivered.’

Ireland was aghast. Cowen and Lenihan said the bailout was necessary to preserve Ireland’s creditworthiness with ‘the markets’. This was hogwash and was said so by many people at the time, including leading economists. (The fallacy of the ministers’ thinking is borne out by the approach of the plucky Icelandic people who refused to take on private bankster debt and whose economy is now in a much healthier position than that of Ireland.) But Lenihan persisted with the bailout declaring that it would be ‘the cheapest bailout in history’. Those words, like the ghost in Hamlet, would soon come back to haunt him.

Cowen and Lenihan then proceeded to pour taxpayers’ money into the banks, capitalizing the high street lenders to the tune of some €13.5 billion. This figure did not even include the requirements of Anglo Irish Bank, the biggest culprit of fraudulent lending, who Lenihan said could be saved with a €4 billion bailout. As time progressed the Minister of Finance continually revised his figures upwards, going to €12 billion, €18 billion, €24 billion, and now the figure is hovering around €35 billion. The Irish people will never see a single cent of the tens of billions poured into that black hole that is Anglo Irish Bank. This cannot be described as anything other than an act of outrageous criminality.

Another fiasco in the making, the brainchild of Lenihan and Cowen, is NAMA (National Asset Management Agency), set up to restore the banks’ balance sheets by buying their toxic loans to the tune of some €54 billion of taxpayers’ money. This is another huge and needless risk that is likely to go disastrously wrong and which hangs eternally over Irish taxpayers like the Sword of Damocles. The slightest miscalculation and the sword falls – with devastating effect.

This writer, and many others, pointed out at the time that there was a much better short-term solution to the Irish banking problem. The Government could have let the banks fail – that’s what happens in capitalism when businesses are reckless or make mistakes – and set up a state bank. A state bank could have created all the credit the country needed with a much, much smaller outlay. Through fractional reserve lending, a bank can create some twelve and a half times the amount of credit that it holds in assets. For example, if a state bank is capitalised with €10 billion it can lend out €125 billion. With only €20 billion in capital a state bank could create and lend out €250 billion. This would have boosted Irish businesses and given the economy a huge injection and would have obviated the need to go back to the exploitative money markets.

(It is important to point out that this would be a short-term solution only. The real cause of global financial chaos and prohibitive national debt is the permitting of private banking cartels to create a nation’s money, money that is based on debt and bears interest and which makes an immense fortune for the international banksters – to the impoverishment of the people.)

But Cowen and Lenihan seemed not to be focussed on what was good and efficacious for the people of Ireland but on how to save a few criminal banksters from incurring gigantic losses.

Before the bank guarantees, Ireland had a manageable sovereign debt. But after taking on the private debts of reckless, fraudulent banksters Cowen and Lenihan drove Ireland into insolvency. Interest on Irish government bonds rose dramatically and threatened to destabilise the Euro. Uncertainty about Ireland’s ability to handle its deficit caused unrest in Portuguese and Spanish bond markets. There were concerns too about Belgium and Italy. The EU, fearful that panic and contagion would spread and collapse the Euro, bullied the Irish Government into taking a joint EU/IMF bailout. The high placed members of the self-serving Brussels elite were willing to impose hardship and needless austerity upon the people of Ireland in order to save their precious Euro and to preserve their positions of opulence and power.

The Irish economy per se did not need a bailout, but Irish banks did. The IMF does not lend to banks but only to sovereign countries. (That way, they can force a country to bleed its taxpayers to get their money back.) Cowen and Lenihan then proceeded to sell the idea of an EU/IMF loan to the country as a ‘rescue package’ for the Irish nation. This was a complete lie. It was a rescue package mainly for German, British, and French banks who had recklessly and greedily loaned billions to Irish banks during the Celtic Tiger boom.

David McWilliams, Irish economist, broadcaster, and writer, says of the IMF, ‘It is not here to bail us out; it is here to bail [the banks] out. The bailout is a bailout for the banks of Germany and France and the Irish taxpayer foots the bill. It is that simple. And where will the EU and IMF money come from? It will be borrowed from the very investment banks that will be bailed out. So they will get interest payments from us, in order that we pay for their mistakes.’

This view is echoed by Dr. Constantin Gurdgiev, adjunct lecturer in Finance at Trinity College, Dublin, who likens the ECB/IMF bailout to ‘corporate welfare’ (as opposed to social welfare). ‘It’s worse than corporate welfare, it’s corporate welfare with a massive moral hazard loaded on top. This is an undemocratic, corporatist transfer of wealth from ordinary citizens to a tiny group of people: bank bondholders…’

Just who are these precious bondholders that Cowen and Lenihan would bind and bankrupt the country in order to make up their ‘gambling’ losses?

Senator and presidential hopeful David Norris tried to read out their names under parliamentary privilege in the Irish Senate but was quickly silenced. It seems that Cowen and Lenihan and the Irish Government do not want the people to know that they have been put into debt slavery for the benefit of some of the wealthiest, most fraudulent banksters in the world. The names of these bondholders are now a matter of public record, thanks to investigative journalists like Guido Fawkes (www.order-order.com).

Some of the more familiar names among the four score or so major bondholders are Goldman Sachs, one of the most despised banks on Wall Street whose name is synonymous with greed, sleaze, and fraud. Max Keiser, broadcaster and former broker & options trader, says, ‘Goldman Sachs are scum. I mean that’s the bottom line. They have basically co-opted the U.S. Government, they have co-opted the Treasury Department, the Federal Reserve functionality. They’ve co-opted the Obama administration. And Barack Obama dances to Goldman Sach’s tune. They are really crooked and abominable in what they’ve done.’

Keiser continues, with remarkable candour, ‘Just remember, Hank Paulson held Congress hostage, took them in the back room and said give us $700 billion or we’re gonna crash the market. He’s an arsonist; he’s an outlaw. And yet he’s given praise. If you go down the list, they’re all Goldman Sachs scum, whether it’s Hank Paulson, whether it’s Geithner…you know Geithner has very strong ties to Goldman Sachs…and of course all these banking bonuses are paid out to all their cronies who are Goldman Sachs scum.’

Another Anglo Irish Bank bondholder is the Rothschilds Bank, Zurich; the Rothschild family are reputed to have owned half the wealth of Europe a century and a half ago – how much do they own now? And most of the remaining bondholders are worth an accumulation of some twenty trillion euro. An Irish default would involve such an insignificant fraction of their wealth that it would hardly cause them to raise their eyebrows. Yet Cowen and Lenihan forced crippling debt upon the Irish people for many years to come in order to repay the banksters every single cent of their reckless investments.

One great irony amid all this debt and despair is the great wealth recently discovered in the gas fields off the west coast of Ireland. The Corrib gas field alone is reckoned to be worth well over €420 billion, enough to pay off all of Ireland’s debts and make the country vastly rich. According to the Petroleum Affairs Division there is even more gas and oil off the west coast, perhaps as much as 13 trillion euro or beyond, enough to make millionaires of every man, woman, and child in Ireland.

What did the Irish Government do with this €420 billion windfall from the Corrib field? They gave it away to Royal Dutch Shell for nothing. Yes, nothing! In an incredible move, the government cut the State’s share from 50% to zero on all its offshore oil and gas and abolished all royalties.

Why would they do such a crazy thing?

For an answer to that you’ll have to ask the then minister, Ray Burke, who was later convicted and jailed for political corruption on other matters.

Royal Dutch Shell, with its monthly revenues fluctuating between $25 billion and $45 billion, certainly doesn’t need the money as much as the Irish people do. Royal Dutch Shell is a key Bilderberg asset; its principal shareholder is Queen Beatrix of Holland, a long-time member of Bilderberg which was founded by her father, Prince Bernhard, a former officer of Hitler’s SS. Giving these plutocrats billions, and perhaps trillions, in oil and gas for absolutely nothing is criminally obscene and utterly enraging. These energy resources rightfully belong to the Irish people and it’s not for individual politicians, whether corrupt or incompetent, to give them away for nothing.

Looking forward, there will soon be a new government in Ireland. It is now time for the Irish people to take a firm stand. In the coming election campaign they must warn incoming government hopefuls that there HAS to be radical change. The criminal pledges of an outgoing government of traitors MUST be dismantled and consigned to the trash can, along with their authors. The people will not stand for more of the same old bullshit gombeen politics; they are in no mood for mealy-mouthedness or ineffectual tinkering with a failed system. They demand nothing less than clear, decisive, and even ruthless change. They demand leaders of integrity, innovation, and courage. And they demand a decent living for themselves, their children, and future generations yet unborn. There can be no going back!

Actions that should be taken as a matter of urgency:

• Defaulting on private bankster debt which is not a just or proper debt of the Irish people.
• Leave the Euro and return to the Irish Punt. (And consider leaving the EU altogether and take back control of our seas which have been plundered of hundreds of billions of euro of fish stock by other EU nations.)
• End Fractional Reserve Banking and take the power of money creation back from private, criminal banking cartels. The Government would then issue debt-free, interest-free money for the benefit of all the people.
• Spend this debt-free money on hospitals, education, sustainable green energy, ports & harbours, transportation, roads, and infrastructure such as the 100+ year old water and sewage systems that are about to collapse.
• Take full control of all oil, gas, and mineral deposits on land and within our territorial waters.
• Pay a monthly dividend, or basic income, to every adult and child, such as that described in Social Credit or as explained in ‘The Cook Plan’ by Richard C. Cook.
• Promote organic farming so that we are more self-sufficient and need to import less and less foreign foodstuffs.
• Encourage the use of natural medicines and natural health therapies so that the people have real freedom of choice.
• Reduce the number of seats in parliament, abolish the senate and useless quangos, and use the internet more to interface with our politicians and government.
• Make the Mainstream Media truly independent so that they will return to being the proper watchdogs of the people.
• Promote the arts and artists so that we may discover our true spiritual nature and live in peace and harmony and abundance on this wondrous planet of ours.

If a new Irish government implements the actions listed above, the country will quickly achieve unrivalled prosperity and contentment and could well become a guiding light for momentous reform in other nations of the world.

Pecunia, si uti scis, ancilla est; si nescis, domina. (If you know how to use money, money is your slave; if you don’t, money is your master.)

AmpedStatus.com Hit By Mass DoS Attacks

As you may have notice, for most of the day yesterday AmpedStatus.com was down. Shortly after posting our new report we were hit with a heavy barrage of DoS attacks. Not only did they take out our website, they took out our ISP network, which affected many other sites as well. We will release information on where the attacks were coming from once the ISP network gives us the go-ahead.

We're assuming that the attacks were designed to keep us out of the peak news cycle for the report below. We timed the release to correspond with Obama's press conference announcing his new economic team. Unfortunately, it appears as if they succeeded, as many of the websites that were linking or would have linked to it while peak traffic attention was focused on this news peg has faded.

It's one thing to be threatened with baseless defamation lawsuits, as we have in the past, that are clearly designed to intimidate. It's quite another to get knocked off the net for exercising our First Amendment rights. The limited knowledge I have of these attacks leads me to believe that we may never know the true source of them, as it is easy to set up servers in foreign locations to launch attacks from, but given the information contained in the following article, we can only speculate as to who is behind this.

Obama Renews Commitment to Complete Destruction of the Middle Class - Meet the New Economic Death Squad

Obama has just doubled down on the side of the financial terrorists. Meet Bill Daley and Gene Sperling - another JP Morgan-Goldman Sachs attack. Let's dig deep into their past and reveal everything that you need to know.

Obama Renews Commitment to Complete Destruction of the Middle Class - Meet the New Economic Death Squad

By David DeGraw, AmpedStatus

Meet Obama's New Chief of Financial TerrorismSticking with my New Year's resolution to not participate in journalism of appeasement, this article and headline will definitely not be picked up by the appeasers. The unfortunate truth that they don't want to acknowledge is that Barack "Banana Republic Bankster Puppet" Obama has bowed to his masters yet again.

For the people still delusional enough to believe anything that the psychological operation known as Barack Obama says, this will just be more facts for you to ignore. So turn away now and go watch some "reality" TV - the economy is recovering, tax cuts for multi-millionaires will help everyone, exporting jobs to South Korea will be great for the middle class, the oil in the Gulf of Mexico is 75% cleaned up, seafood from there is perfectly healthy, health insurance rates are declining, the "situation" in Afghanistan is improving, non-combat troops are leaving Iraq, your civil liberties are just fine and a unicorn will soon give you a magical ride over the rainbow. Just click your heels together and the American dream will continue, after this message from our sponsors:

If, on the other hand, you live in the real world, Obama's latest cabinet appointments are yet another blatant sign that he is absolutely committed to destroying what is left of the middle class. Obama is doubling down on the side of the financial terrorists. Enter Bill Daley and Gene Sperling - a JP Morgan, Goldman Sachs one-two punch to send battered and bruised Americans to the canvas for a final ten-count.

The announcement of Bill Daley, JP Morgan Chase's czar of "government affairs" (lobbying), as Obama's new Chief of Staff may sound bad on the surface, but if you dig into Daley's background, it gets, as George W would say, "downright evil." Other than spending the past seven years serving Jamie Dimon at JP Morgan, Bill Daley was also a Chamber of Commerce chair. While at the Chamber, Daley "played a major role in opposing the regulation of derivatives" and signed the now infamous Chamber of Commerce manifesto to destroy middle class America.

And we're just getting warmed up... Daley was Clinton's NAFTA czar (job exporting specialist) and he even has deep ties to the organization responsible for creating the explosion in CEO pay, all-time record-breaking inequality of wealth and shipping millions more jobs overseas, The Business Roundtable. They just released the following statement:

"Business Roundtable has a strong relationship with Mr. Daley and has worked with him in the past on many issues important to both business and the broader economy, such as the successful ratification of NAFTA. Mr. Daley can continue to be an important partner in our fight.... We look forward to continuing our work with Mr. Daley in his new position."

Let's also mention that he played a pivotal role in creating the housing crisis, was on the board of Fannie Mae, opposed financial reform, supported health insurance companies, fought for Pharma interests, lobbied for telecommunications companies and adamantly opposed the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. He even railed against post-Enron accounting and auditing laws... P.O.P... that was the sound of the vein in my head bursting.

But wait... it gets even better! As a board member of the think tank "Third Way," Daley took a strong interest in cutting "entitlements" like Social Security and Medicare. He is a proud member of the Council on Foreign Relations and serves on the Boards of Directors of Merck & Co., one of the world's largest pharmaceutical companies, and he is on the board of . . . wait for it . . . Boeing. Yes, the Pentagon-Wall Street-Pharma nexus is complete. You may now run the White House.

Boeing certainly does love Wall Street. For those of you out of the loop, you may not recall that the most powerful and destructive WMD that Boeing executives ever helped develop was the CDO, that's a Collateralized Debt (Damage) Obligation. Do you remember that guy Edward Liddy? Liddy and Bill Daley were both Boeing board members, before Liddy temporarily moved to Goldman Sachs where he oversaw their Audit Committee. Liddy was the person who had the most knowledge of Goldman's CDO exposure insured through, what was that company's name?... Oh, AIG. Yeah, that was it. Then, Hank "Pentagon-Watergate-Goldman" Paulson unilaterally made Liddy the CEO of AIG, before teaming up with Tim "Kissinger-Rubin-Summers-IMF" Geithner to flush $183 billion tax dollars down the "too big to fail" drain. And then... after the government was finished pumping our tax dollars to financial terrorists through the AIG SPV, Liddy scurried back to the board of Boeing where he could have cocktails with his ole pal Billy-Boy Daley. Yep, Goldman, JP Morgan, Boeing and the destruction of the US economy, birds of a feather...

But I digress, this all happened so long ago, who even remembers this stuff? It all sounds too conspiracy theory for me anyway.

Seriously though, this appointment shows you how arrogant this criminal racket is in their power. Through Daley, JP Morgan and friends will now control Obama's information flow and schedule. But don't take my word for it, as you might have noticed, I'm completely biased against the people who are raping this country. When it comes to financial terrorists, my commitment to being fair and balanced goes right out the window. So let's see what others are reporting...

To throw a little light on this deal with the dark side, Paul Blumenthal from the Sunlight Foundation focuses on the ever-spinning revolving door between Washington and Wall Street:

The revolving door shouldn't spin again for William Daley

"A Daley selection, which has been hailed by banks, would plant an official emissary from Wall Street into one of the most important jobs in Washington.

The President once told a meeting of bankers that he was 'the only thing standing between you and the pitchforks.' That apparently wasn't good enough. Picking Daley would send the message that the pitchforks-normal people-matter less than the continued flow of campaign donations from the uber-wealthy. Barack Obama raised $39 million from the finance, insurance and real estate sector in his 2008 bid for President, the most raised from this sector by anyone in one cycle seeking political office in the United States ever.

Even more problematic than the need to corral donors for 2012 is that Daley's presence would allow him to control the time of the President. Daley could choose who the President sees and what information gets to the President. Based on the praise the financial sector has for the Daley selection, it is clear who those people are and what that information would be." [read more]

That old-fashioned investigative reporting outlet ProPublica focuses on Daley's Chamber days:

Obama's New Chief of Staff a Top Banker With Strong Chamber Ties

Obama has named Bill Daley his new chief of staff... a current JPMorgan Chase executive.... Daley has strong ties to the Chamber of Commerce, which opposed the financial reform bill that was a cornerstone of the administration's agenda last year. From Kevin Connor, co-director the Public Accountability Initiative, a nonprofit research organization:

'From 2005 to 2007, he co-chaired a Chamber of Commerce committee on financial (de)regulation. The 'Commission on the Regulation of Capital Markets in the 21st Century' eventually became the Chamber's Center for Capital Markets Competitiveness, which played a prominent role in attacking derivatives regulation and consumer protections last year. The Hill called the group one of the 'loudest voices on financial legislation' -and they weren't exactly singing the praises of reform efforts.

Daley also signed on to a March 2009 Chamber manifesto on 'Restoring Confidence in US Capital Markets,' the Chamber's opening PR move in the financial reform debate.'

The new chief of staff has publicly opposed the concept of an independent consumer financial protection agency...." [read more]

Those are some of the many financial ties, but let's not forget the Boeing connection.

This just in:

Pentagon delays F-35, buys more Boeing fighters

"The Pentagon overhauled the Lockheed Martin Corp F-35 fighter program for the second time in a year and said it would buy 41 Boeing Co F/A-18 warplanes over the next three years...." [read more]

Wow, that paid off real quick! Probably just a coincidence though. No conflicts of interest to see here, or anywhere else for that matter. Move along...

Meet Obama's New Chief of Financial TerrorismNow, for the icing on the cake, Obama's pick to replace Larry Summers as his top economic advisor is Tim Geithner's right-hand confidant, former Goldman executive and Rubin disciple Gene Sperling. Speriling was also a Clinton-Rubin-Summers compadre who held this same position under Clinton, playing a direct role in implementing the very policies that fueled our current crisis.

As Wikipedia succinctly states:

"As director of the NEC. Sperling was a principal negotiator with then-Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers of the Financial Modernization Act of 1999, also known as the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act. Gramm-Leach-Bliley repealed large portions of the depression-era Glass-Stegall Act allowing banks, securities firms and insurance companies to merge." [ read more]

Speriling is another Council on Foreign Relations member and has worked for the Brookings Institution. He even made some dough off of CIA Ponzi scheme mastermind Allen Stanford. I won't even go down that rabbit hole, here's William Alden's recent take on him:

Gene Sperling Made Millions On Wall Street As Economy Tanked

"Gene Sperling, a leading contender for a top economic post in the White House, made millions on Wall Street even as the economy faltered. The adviser to Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner is near the top of President Barack Obama's list of candidates to replace Larry Summers as director of the National Economic Council... By appointing Sperling, the president would fuel perceptions that his administration is overly close to Wall Street, installing a policymaker who has not only overseen monumental deregulation of the financial sector, but has also Sperling worked under Rubin in the early Clinton years, when Rubin was NEC director. In Clinton's second term, during Sperling's own tenure as NEC director, Congress repealed the Glass-Steagall Act, prompting a rule-easing that allowed Citigroup to become the world's largest financial services company.

Citigroup later required a $45 billion taxpayer bailout.

'He saw nothing at all wrong with the pattern of growth we had in place in the '90s,' Dean Baker, co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research in Washington, said of Sperling. 'He was not thinking at all critically, seeing that there were even any issues here.'" [read more]

As for Sterling's most recent achievement, he played a lead role in extending tax cuts to the richest 1%.

What a resume! Let's put this guy in charge. You can't even make this shit up. Could Obama have found any more corrupt and incompetent Wall Street thugs than this?

To end on a more positive note, albeit another sad development, at least these appointments have further exposed who the Democratic party partisan hacks are. Howard Dean, the man who is supposed to be the "Progressive left" challenger to Obama in 2012, adamantly supports Bill Daley as Chief of Staff, calling his appointment a "huge plus." Ouch, that's a bitter pill for Progressives to swallow. And Mother Jones' David Corn has come out in support of Gene Sperling.

Dear Progressives, put the Kool-Aid down and step away from the two-party oligarchy.

It's just another sad, sad day on the way down, as America burns.

Maybe I'll go lay down and watch the Daily Show...

WTF?... Obama is Luke Skywalker?!? Oh Jonny, not you too?

Say it ain't so! Perhaps I should have just taken the blue pill...

- David DeGraw is the founder and editor of AmpedStatus.com. He is the author of The Economic Elite Vs. The People of the United States. His new book is The Road Through 2012.