Broke! - article by Michael Fox

Zarathustra · 09-17-2008, 03:16 PM

http://www.opednews.com/articles/Bro...80917-937.html

Broke!

by Michael Fox
www.opednews.com

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The bailout of AIG has exposed more than just the collapse of Casino Capitalism. It exposes the governmental system to be as much a sham as our economy has been! How is it that $85 billion can just materialize to bail out this one insurance company (insuring for the most part, opaque, enormously complicated and risky investments) without so much as a session of Congress? Where is the appropriations committee in this matter? Where were they when the Bear, Stearns/JP Morgan deal went down on a Sunday?

What has been exposed here is the complete absence of the United States Government as it is supposed to work. In its place are Treasury Sec. Henry Paulson and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke making decisions about spending sums of money equal to the budgets of many small nations – money that will have to be paid back by the taxpayers, who have seen none of the gilded rewards. You have had no say – nor have your impotent representatives.

I don’t care if you’re a Republican or a Democrat or an Independent: you should be mighty ******-off right now, because you’ve just been ****** on! And your “golden shower” didn’t come with the “golden parachute” that was given to Merrill Lynch CEO John Thain! Mr. Thain was hired 10 months ago by the venerable, 96-year old firm, and sold it to Bank of America (on Sunday, of course) for about a nickel on the dollar it had been worth a year ago. For his efforts, he will be receiving an estimated $34 million. I know what you’re thinking: Only $34 mil?

Well, I’m thinking I’ve seen enough of these guys walk away after bleeding huge companies, their investors and stockholders - and ultimately every taxpayer in the country dry, without the good old-fashioned Eleven o’clock News PERP WALK!

AIG is insuring some $600 billion in securities – most of which are backed by the real estate market (or, in the case of municipal bonds, the projected property taxes on homes that are losing value and/or being foreclosed upon, and therefore will not be redeemable from the then-penniless municipality). Because of the amount of claims AIG has had to pay, their credit worthiness has gone down. As Standard and Poor’s or Moody’s lowers the rating, AIG has been required to come up with more and more collateral to cover their potential losses. They have little left with which to collateralize, and their efforts (along with those of other downgraded companies like Merrill Lynch and Lehman Bros) have sent commodity markets through the floor as they have been urgently cashing out everything from oil futures to precious metals and realty holdings. Platinum, for example, has halved in three months, as it’s been dumped to cover margins.

With nothing left to liquidate, and their ratings continuing to tank, they would have had to start defaulting on claims. Enter the Fed - and the 85 billion Weimar Dollars.

If the past 10 months of the Depression are any indication, it will probably keep the market level for another week or so, as each such move seems to do, then another shoe will drop. It's reckless and we're watching the whole system collapse – financial, governmental, and even judicial, as there appears to be not even any judge to step in and stop this corruption - nay, this perversion - of our economic and legislative systems.

Steve_A · 09-17-2008, 05:19 PM

Hi Zarathustra,

I'm sorry to see such behaviour by the American government, however am not suprised. I live in a developing country and this sort of behaviour happens every day, using and abusing public money to help out, even for a short time, themselves (the politicians) or their friends.

But seriously, the writing was on the wall. I mean not in the popular press, but in the so called 'subversive' element of society. I mean the drop in the price of oil for example is not because of the reasons we can see published on Fox News. The reason for a drop in oil, they said, was that the damage from a hurricane was not so bad. I mean any damage must have a cost and so the logic is at least to keep the price steady until the damage has been repaired.

So I'm tending to lean towards Lindsey Williams' informed opinion (although I tend not to go as low as $50 a barrel) on the oil issue.

As for finance keep in touch with George Greens' comments. Although I'm not sure about the number of insiders he has, he certainly keeps up with the right media sources and has the right info at least a day or so before the mainstream and with this info he can make and indeed does some very accurate predictions.

As for government using my money, your money, I came to the conclusion that it makes up part of the game. I'm just going to keep my head low and in the meantime get back to the farm.

Best regards,

Steve

Zarathustra · 09-17-2008, 05:23 PM

Well said Steve. I have been listening to George Green for a while now. Another who should be listened to is Bob Chapman, www.theinternationalforecaster.com .

09-17-2008, 03:16 PM	#1
Zarathustra Avalon Senior Member Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: Eastern U.S. Posts: 429	Broke! - article by Michael Fox http://www.opednews.com/articles/Bro...80917-937.html Broke! by Michael Fox www.opednews.com 2 votesBuzz up! SAVE FAVORITESVIEW FAVORITES (0.0 from 0 ratings) View Ratings \| Rate It The bailout of AIG has exposed more than just the collapse of Casino Capitalism. It exposes the governmental system to be as much a sham as our economy has been! How is it that $85 billion can just materialize to bail out this one insurance company (insuring for the most part, opaque, enormously complicated and risky investments) without so much as a session of Congress? Where is the appropriations committee in this matter? Where were they when the Bear, Stearns/JP Morgan deal went down on a Sunday? What has been exposed here is the complete absence of the United States Government as it is supposed to work. In its place are Treasury Sec. Henry Paulson and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke making decisions about spending sums of money equal to the budgets of many small nations – money that will have to be paid back by the taxpayers, who have seen none of the gilded rewards. You have had no say – nor have your impotent representatives. I don’t care if you’re a Republican or a Democrat or an Independent: you should be mighty ****-off right now, because you’ve just been **** on! And your “golden shower” didn’t come with the “golden parachute” that was given to Merrill Lynch CEO John Thain! Mr. Thain was hired 10 months ago by the venerable, 96-year old firm, and sold it to Bank of America (on Sunday, of course) for about a nickel on the dollar it had been worth a year ago. For his efforts, he will be receiving an estimated $34 million. I know what you’re thinking: Only $34 mil? Well, I’m thinking I’ve seen enough of these guys walk away after bleeding huge companies, their investors and stockholders - and ultimately every taxpayer in the country dry, without the good old-fashioned Eleven o’clock News PERP WALK! AIG is insuring some $600 billion in securities – most of which are backed by the real estate market (or, in the case of municipal bonds, the projected property taxes on homes that are losing value and/or being foreclosed upon, and therefore will not be redeemable from the then-penniless municipality). Because of the amount of claims AIG has had to pay, their credit worthiness has gone down. As Standard and Poor’s or Moody’s lowers the rating, AIG has been required to come up with more and more collateral to cover their potential losses. They have little left with which to collateralize, and their efforts (along with those of other downgraded companies like Merrill Lynch and Lehman Bros) have sent commodity markets through the floor as they have been urgently cashing out everything from oil futures to precious metals and realty holdings. Platinum, for example, has halved in three months, as it’s been dumped to cover margins. With nothing left to liquidate, and their ratings continuing to tank, they would have had to start defaulting on claims. Enter the Fed - and the 85 billion Weimar Dollars. If the past 10 months of the Depression are any indication, it will probably keep the market level for another week or so, as each such move seems to do, then another shoe will drop. It's reckless and we're watching the whole system collapse – financial, governmental, and even judicial, as there appears to be not even any judge to step in and stop this corruption - nay, this perversion - of our economic and legislative systems.

09-17-2008, 05:19 PM	#2
Steve_A Project Avalon Moderator Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: Northeastern Brazil Posts: 1,259	Re: Broke! - article by Michael Fox Hi Zarathustra, I'm sorry to see such behaviour by the American government, however am not suprised. I live in a developing country and this sort of behaviour happens every day, using and abusing public money to help out, even for a short time, themselves (the politicians) or their friends. But seriously, the writing was on the wall. I mean not in the popular press, but in the so called 'subversive' element of society. I mean the drop in the price of oil for example is not because of the reasons we can see published on Fox News. The reason for a drop in oil, they said, was that the damage from a hurricane was not so bad. I mean any damage must have a cost and so the logic is at least to keep the price steady until the damage has been repaired. So I'm tending to lean towards Lindsey Williams' informed opinion (although I tend not to go as low as $50 a barrel) on the oil issue. As for finance keep in touch with George Greens' comments. Although I'm not sure about the number of insiders he has, he certainly keeps up with the right media sources and has the right info at least a day or so before the mainstream and with this info he can make and indeed does some very accurate predictions. As for government using my money, your money, I came to the conclusion that it makes up part of the game. I'm just going to keep my head low and in the meantime get back to the farm. Best regards, Steve

09-17-2008, 05:23 PM	#3
Zarathustra Avalon Senior Member Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: Eastern U.S. Posts: 429	Re: Broke! - article by Michael Fox Well said Steve. I have been listening to George Green for a while now. Another who should be listened to is Bob Chapman, www.theinternationalforecaster.com .