Crime Of The Century

Thursday afternoon we first heard that there had been an agreement in principle struck by criminals and thieves masquerading as politicians in Washington to stick their greedy little fingers in your pocket and give Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke nearly a trillion dollars of your money to bail out their buddies on Wall Street.

We then later in the day heard that there had been a hastily arranged meeting in the White House with both presidential candidates invited by Bush in which John McCain had "destroyed" chances of an agreement in a desperate political stunt of an attempt to bolster his failing campaign. McCain's involvement, in the words of House Financial Services Chairman Barney Frank, was compared to "Richard Nixon blowing up the Vietnam peace talks in 1968."

Country first my ass.

McCain's stunt was not a stupid stunt. It was part of a shell game. A setup designed to con you. Designed to con you by giving top Democrats, Pelosi, Reid, et al a reason to support Bush's plans to rob you blind while looking like they are saving you from a Republican plan to kill the bailout.

Think about that for a minute. Remember who passed all the Iraq Occupation funding bills for the past two years?

Oppose Bush my ass.

They are on his side. They are part of the scam. How clear does it have to be?

Now Wall Street financial analyst and historian Dr. Michael Hudson, Distinguished Research Professor at University of Missouri, Kansas City, cuts through all the crap to say bluntly that the proposed bailout is an empire buster likely to virtually destroy an already very shaky US and global economy, and is nothing more than a pyramid scheme, a blatant Once In A Century Rip-Off intended as a last ditch effort to save, at your expense, the finally and utterly discredited neocon "philosophy" of economics and governance, and George Bush and his criminal friends. The crooks attempting to steal every last cent they can bullshit you out of before republicanism and the disastrous presidency of George W. Bush finally go down in flames and ignominy. Taking you down with them.

If there is one overriding reason to oppose this "bailout" with everything in you, it's this - it's A Once In A Century Rip-Off.

A Once In A Century Rip-Off of... you.

September 26, 2008 - Once In A Century Rip-Off
Economist Michael Hudson: the bailout is a giveaway that will cause hyperinflation and dollar collapse

Bailout talks stall as Bush meets with Congressional leaders and Presidential candidates. German Finance Minister says US will no longer be the financial Superpower. French President Sarkozy says the days when "the all powerful market is always right are over". The Real News Network spoke to economist and historian Dr. Michael Hudson who says that it's not a "bailout" but a "giveaway" and will create a new kleptocracy of billionaires.

Dr. Michael Hudson is a Wall Street financial analyst and historian. Dr. Hudson was Dennis Kucinich’s Chief Economic Advisor in the recent Democratic primary presidential campaign, and has advised the U.S., Canadian, Mexican and Latvian governments, as well as the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR). A Distinguished Research Professor at University of Missouri, Kansas City, he is the author of many books, including Super Imperialism: The Economic Strategy of American Empire and of Super-Imperialism and of The Myth of Aid .

The view around the world of the banking crisis and Paulson's bailout proposal appears to be much less as panicky as closer to home, if at all, and more of recognition of the realities of the situation with a general attitude of encircling and isolating a cancer to keep it localized.


Paulson Plan Throws Oil On Fire
By Hossein Askari and Noureddine Krichene
Asia Times

With the creation of the so called Mortgage and Financial Institutions Trust (MFI), the unfolding financial crisis, considered by many to be the worst in over 60 years, has become ever-more dangerous.

While such an institution has not existed in any country, the MFI could prove to be disastrous for US public finance, economic growth, the dollar, relations with major foreign holders of dollars, the global financial system, and could ignite the worst inflation in the economic history of the United States and reverse globalization to levels not seen since the Great Depression.

The initial cost of the MFI, put at US$700 billion, could easily escalate to trillions of dollars. At the same time, the Congressional Budget Office had previously projected a record fiscal deficit of US$500 billion for 2009. The MFI will further blow up the deficit to an unprecedented level, exceeding US$1.4 trillion. US debt, jumping with the takeover of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to 86% of GDP, has moved to an unsustainable level.

The financing of previous large fiscal deficits under the George W Bush Administration has already caused external deficits (current account) to widen to 5-7% of GDP, turned national savings negative, sent the dollar plummeting, and ignited rapid inflation, particularly in food, energy, and housing prices. Further financing of extraordinary large fiscal deficits, as required by the MFI, can only disrupt economic stability both in the US and world-wide. It will only further undermine the dollar, exacerbate widening external deficits, soaring energy and food prices, and rising unemployment.

Nonetheless, the main architects of the MFI, Messrs Henry Paulson and Ben Bernanke, Treasury Secretary and Federal Reserve chairman respectively, are determined to protect Wall Street. They have decidedly transformed the US budget and the US central bank into vehicles that only care for the welfare of Wall Street and divert public resources to bankers, under the guise of protecting the economy and averting systemic risk.

Albeit evidence of a systemic risk has not been established, vast public resources have so far been devoted to bailouts at the expense of growth-generating spending. The Fed has been pouring billions of dollars into financial institutions, buying worthless paper, and incurring huge losses. To quote Paulson "I am convinced that this bold approach [that is creation of the MFI] will cost American families far less than the alternative - a continuing series of financial-institution failures and frozen credit markets unable to fund economic expansion."

Contrary to Paulson’s claim, domestic credit is still expanding at a fast rate, at 9% per year as of July 2008, and the notion of frozen markets cannot be supported by Fed’s published monetary data. Banks have excess liquidity and are still extending loans to safe customers. Certainly they are no longer in the mood of reigniting a new speculative euphoria by lending to speculator and impaired credit.

And contrary to Paulson’s belief, the MFI will in the end cost American families more than other alternatives.

[snip...]

All of this cannot but impair the global financial and economic reputation of the US. Just in a matter of days the dollar has declined from $1.39 to $1.48 to the euro, oil has climbed from $90 to over $120 (at one point rising by more than $20 in one day, September 22) and gold has jumped from $750 per ounce to over $900 .

The declining value of the dollar will adversely affect the value of foreign holdings in the US. China Investment Corporation (CIC) and a number of other sovereign wealth funds are major stakeholders in US financial and non-financial sectors, as holders of US government securities, debt of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and owners of manufacturing companies.

Asia and Persian Gulf oil exporters will no longer continue to trust the United States with their money. Financial trust, a needed but already a rare commodity in finance, will evaporate. Countries will withdraw from participating in the global financial system and autarchy will once again raise its ugly head. Moreover, oil exporters with large financial surpluses, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, may cut back their oil exports. Why would they want to sell their depleting oil reserves for worthless paper?

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^{Hossein Askari is professor of international business and international affairs at George Washington University.
Noureddine Krichene is an economist at the International Monetary Fund and a former advisor, Islamic Development Bank, Jeddah.}


Read the entire article here... (it's worth it)

Listen to Marcy Kaptur, D-OH, speaking on the floor of the house this past Monday, Sept.22:

From Glenn Greenwald two days ago:

Wall Street and corporate America can't lose in Congress -- they never do -- for one very simple reason: they own Congress and the "leaders" of it. Just listen to Rep. Marcy Kaptur; she's been in Congress for 26 years and she knows how it works:

To Wall St. insiders . . . you have perpetrated the greatest financial crimes ever on this American Republic. You think you can get by with it because you are extraordinarily wealthy and are the largest contributors to both presidential and Congressional campaigns in both major parties.

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PALIN PUPPET SHOW

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NEW VP LITE MEETS FOREIGN "LEADERS"

NO ONE IS ALLOWED TO WATCH



It Must Have Been Awful

Awfully hilarious. I wonder if she told Muslim Karzai that "Jesus loves him"? Or that her Mom has an afghan, they're so warm & cozy, $49.99 on the Home Shopping Network, dontchya know? Did she tell South American Uribe that she and McCain would drop by his "casa" when they went to neighboring Spain? Or how much she loves the spicy Mexican food, like Doritos? Or maybe she just said, "Good job, Poncho. Let us know who you need us to bomb next." (And these were the only two Bush-installed mutts that could be relied upon to come when called, sit, stay, roll over, play dead, fetch, and beg for a foto-op.) Foreign policy is the McPalins' strong suit? What's their weak suit? Counting? The alphabet?

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No wonder Palin has been hidden from the media. Even the tamest corporate network talking heads will have a hard time concealing the Governor's lack of knowledge and experience on all things non-Alaskan. In fact, why doesn't she just run for Vice-President of Alaska? Oh, wait, she has that job. Exxon is the President of Alaska. So, why doesn't she just fick off?

Oh, right, her Grampa John needs someone to change his diapers. Well, she's a good grand-daughter to do that, especially given all the moose he's been eating lately. And all the crow he'll be eating in the debates. Speaking of which, if our first female President-In-Waiting can't answer a few questions from Larry King or Baba Wawa, how's she going to handle Vladimir Putin or the Fed Chairman? Yeah, how is she on multiple debentures, derivatives, indexing with LIBOR, you know, all that boring Lower-48 economical kinda junk, ay? Hm, 'Cuda?

On the other hand, Palin's first "international" outing (If you count New York as foreign territory, as most Republicans do) was a raging success, by past Republican Presidential standards: She didn't throw up on anybody, or put her head in their lap. She didn't forget their names or their countries' names or where their countries were. And she didn't compare them to waiters, busboys or dishwashers. She didn't even bomb any of them. (Yet.) So, she's more than qualified than Bush I, Bush II or McCain, at least at small talk. That's all there is to the job of President of the United States of America, isn't it? Chit-chat? Girl talk? Hm?


YAHOO NEWS
"Palin meets her first world leaders in New York"
How small was the talk? Well, let's just say you don't want to try any of Sarah's new Afghan Columbian brownies.

' Sarah Palin met her first world leaders Tuesday. It was a tightly controlled crash course on foreign policy for the Republican vice presidential candidate, the mayor-turned-governor who has been outside North America just once. Palin sat down with Afghan President Hamid Karzai and Colombian President Alvaro Uribe. The conversations were private, the pictures public, meant to build her resume for voters concerned about her lack of experience in world affairs. lengths Tuesday to maintain that distance as Palin made her diplomatic debut. The GOP campaign, applying more restrictive rules on access than even President Bush uses in the White House, banned reporters from the start of the meetings, so as not to risk a question being asked of Palin. McCain aides relented after news organizations objected and CNN, which was supplying TV footage to a variety of networks, decided to pull its TV crew from Palin's meeting with Karzai. Overheard: small talk. '

FINANCIAL TIMES
"Palin begins course on foreign affairs"
It's the Bono one that really counts. "ACHTUNG, baby!"

' Sarah Palin was on the fringes of the UN General Assembly on Tuesday at the start of a three-day crash course on international affairs to address concerns, even within her Republican party, that the Alaska governor’s knowledge of the outside world is shaky. The schedule of the vice-presidential nominee included meetings with five presidents, a prime minister, Henry Kissinger, doyen of former US secretaries of state, and Bono, the fund-raising activist. '

CBS NEWS
"Palin “Disappointed” In “Understandable” AIG Bailout"
"Shot called by The Feds"? What is she, all mobbed up?

' During a quick stop at a diner in Cleveland, Ohio, Sarah Palin was asked for her reaction to the AIG bailout. “Dissapointed that taxpayers are called upon to bailout another one,” she said. “Certainly AIG though with the construction bonds that they’re holding and with the insurance that they are holding very, very impactful to Americans so you know the shot that has been called by the Feds its understandable but very, very disappointing that taxpayers are called upon for another one.” Told that her traveling press corps was getting lonely in the back of her campaign plane, Palin said, “Are you getting lonely? Gee, yeah, come on up then!” Though she has been on the campaign trail for nearly three weeks, Palin has yet to hold a press conference, and this morning’s stop marked the first time she answered a question from the press on the fly, prompting concerned looks from staffers. Palin did have a two-day interview with ABC News’ Charlie Gibson and sat down with Fox News’ Sean Hannity in Cleveland this morning. The media is sure to take the governor up on her offer to chat at the front of her plane, assuming the campaign is willing to comply with the boss’s wishes for more face time with journalists. '

POLITICO.COM
"Henry and Sarah"
Barracudas school with sharks, now?

' The pool report, from WSJ's Elizabeth Holmes: Again, your pool was in the room for half a minute. Peter Hamby and his outstanding sound tech, picked up this part of the conversation. Kissinger: (something about a speech, not sure to whom he was referring) “And I'm going to give him a lot of credit for what he did in Georgia.” Palin: “Good, good. And you'll give me more insight on that, also, huh? Good.” Palin emerged from the building at 3 p.m., making this by far her longest meeting (others were roughly half an hour). She was accompanied by Kissinger and the two hugged and she gave him a peck on the cheek. CNN’s Peter Hamby (the star of today) yelled, “Governor, how was your meeting?” and she mouthed “It was great.” '

FOXNEWS
"Palin Adviser On Karzai, Uribe, and Kissinger Meetings"
Wow! She said all THAT???!!! You could hardly see handler Biegun's lips move! Although she did seem a bit uncomfortable with his hand up her arse for so long.

' Sarah Palin’s Foreign Policy adviser, Stephen Biegun met with the press to give more details on Palin’s meetings today with Afghan President Hamid Karzai, Colombian President Alvaro Uribe, and Former Secretary of State Dr. Henry Kissinger. Biegun said that Palin is aware that she is a candidate for office and not the President of the United States, “So rather than make specific policy prescriptions, she was largely listening, having an exchange of views, and also very interested in forming a relationship with people she met with today.” With Colombian President Uribe, Palin spoke about the security situation and violence in the country, “They were in full agreement that a very important step in ameliorating the conditions that the FARC guerillas are exploiting is to address issue of increased economic opportunity. And both governor Palin and Sen. McCain, on Sen. McCain’s behalf, Gov. Palin emphasizes her and Sen. McCain’s strong support for Colombia free trade agreement and the degree to which it will contribute not only to economic prosperity but also social stability in Colombia which is critical to finally winning the war against terrorist elements of the FARC.” '

MCCLATCHY NEWSPAPERS
"Palin meets world leaders, but keeps the public at arm's length"
Of course Karzai warmed to her. By Afghan standards, she was practically naked.

' Controversy erupted when the McCain-Palin campaign tried to bar reporters from attending a brief photo session preceding a meeting between Palin and Afghan President Hamid Karzai. CNN, which was providing pooled video of the encounter for the other television networks, threatened to withdraw its cameras, according to network officials, thus denying the campaign the pictures it wanted of Palin-as-diplomat. The campaign relented. Peter Hamby, a CNN producer, wrote in a pool report that journalists were allowed into the room where Palin and Karzai met for 29 seconds. Above the click of cameras, the two were overheard discussing Karzai's 20-month-old son, Mirwais. Since GOP nominee Sen. John McCain chose Palin as his running mate, his campaign has tried to shield her from unscripted encounters with the media and the public. Jon Alterman, a scholar at the nonpartisan Center for Strategic and International Studies, said Palin's New York diplomatic mission could both help her and hurt her. "It cuts both ways. On the one hand, she can say, I've met with all these people, I know how to do this," Alterman said. "On the other hand, it underlines that she hasn't done it until the end of September," less than two months before she could be elected vice president. "The challenge is getting things out of your meetings and getting people to do things they wouldn't otherwise do," he added. "That's not the kind of meeting she's having. They're courtesy meetings." Karzai, however, who depends on U.S. backing to sustain his fragile government in Kabul, had warm words for Palin. The meeting was "very good. I found her quite a capable woman. She asked the right questions on Afghanistan," Karzai said in an appearance later before the Asia Society in New York. '

NY DAILY NEWS
"Sarah Palin meeting world leaders, passing up N.Y. public during visit"
What a rube! Nobody in NY buys retail politics. Anybody who's anybody can get it for you wholesale, schmuck.

' Sarah Palin swooped into New York Monday night to meet world leaders, but New York won't be meeting her. The GOP veep hopeful has served as a crowd magnet in other parts of the country - she drew 60,000 to a Florida rally on Sunday. But the Alaska governor will be kept largely under wraps during her stay in New York, where Dems outnumber GOPers 5 to 1. She's just too busy for that kind of retail politicking, say aides, who add that Palin andMcCain are due back in mid-October for a major fund-raiser. She and Bristol toured the New York Stock Exchange and met business executives, charging Alaska taxpayers for three nights in a $707-a-day hotel room, state records show. Her trip home was not so great. "I left New York City yesterday morning, and I hate to admit it but I am wearing the same clothes," she told a news conference back in Alaska. "They lost my luggage." '

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