You know the 1% are ripping us off to an astonishing extent, right?

[Fire Walk With Me]

Last edited Sat Aug 24, 2013, 10:27 PM - Edit history (3)

Because some days it is so very hard to get through to some DUers that all is not well, all is not as it seems; the richest rich are acting behind the curtain of mainstream knowledge and perception to rig the entire game to their favor, as you would imagine capitalism run rampant to its final extent would truly do. This is barely the tip of the iceberg. Let's hope it smashes through the denial or misinformed status of any who require it.


The world economic circuit:

Larry Summers and the 'End Game' memo
THE CONFIDENTIAL MEMO AT THE HEART OF THE GLOBAL FINANCIAL CRISIS
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023513088

"The Memo confirmed every conspiracy freak’s fantasy: that in the late 1990s, the top US Treasury officials secretly conspired with a small cabal of banker big-shots to rip apart financial regulation across the planet. When you see 26.3 percent unemployment in Spain, desperation and hunger in Greece, riots in Indonesia and Detroit in bankruptcy, go back to this End Game memo, the genesis of the blood and tears.

The Treasury official playing the bankers’ secret End Game was Larry Summers. Today, Summers is Barack Obama’s leading choice for Chairman of the US Federal Reserve, the world’s central bank. If the confidential memo is authentic, then Summers shouldn’t be serving on the Fed, he should be serving hard time in some dungeon reserved for the criminally insane of the finance world."

Globalization is a prime driver of Plutonomy, according to the third leaked Citigroup Plutonomy memo (linked at the end).

Alan Grayson: TPP Secret Treaty “This Hands Sovereignty of Our Country Over to Corp Interests"
http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2013/06/first-congress-member-allowed-to-read-secret-treaty-says-there-is-no-national-security-purpose-in-keeping-this-text-secret-this-agreement-hands-the-sovereignty-of-our-country-over-t.html

"An international treaty being negotiated in secret which would not only crack down on Internet privacy much more than SOPA or ACTA, but would actually destroy the sovereignty of the U.S. and all other signatories."


Energy and physical resources:

Water privatization by the richest rich is happening now ("hydraulic empire&quot incl. the Bush family
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023406830

"A Citigroup economist gushed, 'Water as an asset class will, in my view, become eventually the single most important physical-commodity based asset class, dwarfing oil, copper, agricultural commodities and precious metals.'"

Goldman bankers get rich betting on food prices as millions starve
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/goldman-bankers-get-rich-betting-on-food-prices-as-millions-starve-8459207.html

Goldman Sachs Took $5 Billion From Consumers By Moving Metal Around
http://gawker.com/goldman-sachs-took-5-billion-from-consumers-by-moving-861862148

The Koch bros. could save $2 billion a year via the Keystone XL pipeline -Greg Palast
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022420517

Roll call for representatives with financial investment in the tarsands and TransCanada's KeystoneXL
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023364369


Plutonomists installing themselves in world-wide government and banking positions:

Voila! Greek Gov't Appoints Ex-Goldman Exec As New Debt Chief
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2010/02/19/838682/-Voila-Greek-Gov-t-Appoints-Ex-Goldman-Exec-As-New-Debt-Chief#

Arrest the Criminals at Goldman Sachs and in the Greek Government (video: Greg Palast)
http://www.v2load.com/videos/aQp22WN0cpg/

Also Italy's Prime Minister; the former attorney general of Ireland during the bailout; the head of the European Central Bank; and more:
http://acampadabcninternacional.wordpress.com/2011/12/09/what-price-the-new-democracy-goldman-sachs-conquers-europe-acampadabcn-takethesquare-acampadasol-15m-occupy/

Obama's defense of Summers not tied to Fed decision -White House
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/07/31/usa-obama-fed-summers-idUSL1N0G11HI20130731

Citi Offered Jack Lew A Big Bonus To Secure A 'High-Level' Government Position
http://www.businessinsider.com/citis-government-job-bonus-for-jack-lew-2013-2#ixzz2cvh5ASng

Senate Confirms (Billionaire) Penny Pritzker to Be Commerce Secretary, 97 to 1
http://www.theatlanticwire.com/politics/2013/06/senate-confirms-penny-pritzker-be-commerce-secretary-97-1/66589/


Housing theft:

The third leaked Plutonomy memo (linked at the end of this post) states the the main asset of the bottom 80% of American earners is their home.

It’s Not a Housing Boom. It’s a Land Grab
http://colorlines.com/archives/2013/05/the_dangerous_new_housing_boom.html

"Just in the last 12 months, Wall Street’s Blackstone Group has raised $8 billlion to buy up homes on Main Street. Following suit, according to The New Republic, JP Morgan Chase—the nation’s largest bank—has organized a fund to purchase 5,000 single-family homes in states with some of the most depressed real estate prices. As I wrote last year, a former Morgan Stanley housing strategist left that bank, organized a billion dollars, and is purchasing up to 10,000 homes with these new resources."

Your mortgage documents are fake!
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023461675

"Georgetown Law professor Adam Levitin spelled this out in testimony before Congress in 2010: 'If mortgages were not properly transferred in the securitization process, then mortgage-backed securities would in fact not be backed by any mortgages whatsoever.'

Szymoniak stated in her lawsuit that, 'Defendants used fraudulent mortgage assignments to conceal that over 1400 MBS trusts, each with mortgages valued at over $1 billion, are missing critical documents,' meaning that at least $1.4 trillion in mortgage-backed securities are, in fact, non-mortgage-backed securities. Because of the strict laws governing of these kinds of securitizations, there’s no way to make the assignments after the fact. Activists have a name for this: 'securitization FAIL.'”

The 1 Percent Is Buying Up All Of The Low End Real Estate
http://www.businessinsider.com/the-1-percent-is-buying-up-all-the-real-estate-beware-of-tom-lee-of-jpm-2012-5#ixzz2cvaZEb5y

BANK OF AMERICA'S SENIOR LOAN COLLECTOR ADMITS TO LYING BECAUSE HE WAS TOLD TO LIE
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023019762


Social Security theft:

Plutocrats' New Pitch: Let Us Rob You Now So You Can Plan Ahead for Poverty
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023527276


College loan debt and rising tution rate scams:

Matt Taibbi: Ripping Off Young America: The College-Loan Scandal
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023466523

8 Reasons Young Americans Don't Fight Back: How the US Crushed Youth Resistance
http://www.filmsforaction.org/news/8_reasons_young_americans_dont_fight_back_how_the_us_crushed_youth_resistance/#.UhZ1YsMTgSA.twitter …

1. Student-Loan Debt. Large debt—and the fear it creates—is a pacifying force. There was no tuition at the City University of New York when I attended one of its colleges in the 1970s, a time when tuition at many U.S. public universities was so affordable that it was easy to get a B.A. and even a graduate degree without accruing any student-loan debt. While those days are gone in the United States, public universities continue to be free in the Arab world and are either free or with very low fees in many countries throughout the world. The millions of young Iranians who risked getting shot to protest their disputed 2009 presidential election, the millions of young Egyptians who risked their lives earlier this year to eliminate Mubarak, and the millions of young Americans who demonstrated against the Vietnam War all had in common the absence of pacifying huge student-loan debt.


The for-profit private prison industry, created by the for-profit "war on drugs":

Chris Hedges: The Business of Mass Incarceration
http://sync.democraticunderground.com/10023368819

"Poor people, especially those of color, are worth nothing to corporations and private contractors if they are on the street. In jails and prisons, however, they each can generate corporate revenues of $30,000 to $40,000 a year."

Government guarantees 90% occupancy rate in private prisons.
http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/nation/story/2012-03-01/buying-prisons-require-high-occupancy/53402894/1

"Ohio's deal requires the state to maintain a 90% occupancy rate, but Janes said that provision remains in effect for 18 months — not 20 years — before it can be renegotiated. As part of the deal, Ohio pays the company a monthly fee, totaling $3.8 million per year."

Prison Labor Booms As Unemployment Remains High; Companies Reap Benefits
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/10/prison-labor_n_2272036.html


The for-profit surveillance state, created by the for-profit "war on terror":

All your money and privacy are belong to BushCo
http://sync.democraticunderground.com/12528536

The Bush disaster family recently enjoyed a $2 billion dollar payment from their 2/3s share of Booz Allen through their Carlyle Group.

5 Companies That Make Money By Keeping Americans Terrified of Terror Attacks
http://www.alternet.org/civil-liberties/5-companies-make-money-keeping-americans-terrified-terror-attacks?paging=off

Meet the Contractors Turning America's Police Into a Paramilitary Force
http://www.democraticunderground.com/12525281

The surveillance state has an annual budget of $1 trillion, going mostly to unknown contractors.

Spying is local too......look no further than the Los Angeles Police Department
http://www.laactivist.com/2013/06/21/bringing-the-argument-home-about-domestic-spying

"Another technology employed by the LAPD is a suitcase-sized device called StingRay. It mimics a cell phone tower, tricking every cell phone in a neighborhood into connecting to it. Once connected, police can grab information from everyone’s phone in the area, not just the suspects.

StingRay was purchased with Dept. of Homeland Security Funds. It was meant for counterterrorism, but according to documents obtained by LA Weekly, in 2012, the LAPD used StingRay 21 times within four-months in burglary, drug and murder investigations."

Lawmakers Who Upheld NSA Phone Spying Received Double the Defense Industry Cash
http://deepthought.newsvine.com/_news/2013/07/30/19773586-lawmakers-who-upheld-nsa-phone-spying-received-double-the-defense-industry-cash-slashdot


Mainstream media in the United States are owned by six corporations.

These 6 Corporations Control 90% Of The Media In America
http://www.businessinsider.com/these-6-corporations-control-90-of-the-media-in-america-2012-6


Want to protest any of this? This is what happens, thanks directly to the 1% who run the whole thing:







In their own frank words to each other, the three leaked Citigroup Plutonomy memos:

Download three “secret” Citigroup “Plutonomy” reports
http://our99angrypercent.wordpress.com/2011/11/27/download-citigroup-plutonomy-memos/
“Plutonomy: Buying Luxury, Explaining Global Imbalances”
“Revisiting Plutonomy: The Rich Getting Richer”
"The Plutonomy Symposium: Rising Tides Lifting Yachts"

Where is Plutonomy occurring? Page 8 of the third memo:

“Figure 1 shows...the top 1% of the population of income has grown substantially in countries such as the US, UK, and Canada. The countries, which apparently tolerate income inequality, are what we call Plutonomy countries: economies powered by a relatively small number of rich people.”

What sort of people would put their own interests so ahead of the rest of us?

"The source of the term is a quotation in an October 17, 2004, The New York Times Magazine article by writer Ron Suskind, quoting an unnamed aide to George W. Bush (later attributed to Karl Rove):

The aide said that guys like me were 'in what we call the reality-based community,' which he defined as people who 'believe that solutions emerge from your judicious study of discernible reality.' ... 'That's not the way the world really works anymore,' he continued. 'We're an empire now, and when we act, we create our own reality. And while you're studying that reality—judiciously, as you will—we'll act again, creating other new realities, which you can study too, and that's how things will sort out. We're history's actors…and you, all of you, will be left to just study what we do.'"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reality-based_community

Basically, they're marching in and doing whatever they want whenever they want, and rigging the game where it does not already serve them.


Do you truly wish to know where Obama stands on all of this? Several important links found herein:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=3526698

Edit: Obviously, some do NOT like any of this information because it is factual and verifiable and that Obama is NOT doing a good job, is shilling for the ultra-rich while the rest of us get screwed. Guess what: You are putting "party unity" above facts, above the need to FIX these problems. The house is on fire. PLEASE help put it out.)



For further reading, analysis from the third leaked Citigroup Plutonomy memo:

Page 17, “The Risks to Plutonomy”.

-Inflation
-Financial collapse
-Ending technological revolution
-Political pressure to end the increase in income and wealth inequality
-Destroy globalisation
-Destroy right-wing, anti-immigration political parties which support the rise in profit share/fall in wage share
Page 18
-Call for relaxing immigration controls/deportation
-”The political process is the greatest threat to Plutonomy.”
-Page 21 lists equity strategies. “Equities are the main asset of the rich.” -Page 12 of the memo. So, attack equities.
Of course, it says that the rich actually drive the economy, and the economy mainly serves the rich. So live outside the economy and destroy the economy.

"The risks to Plutonomy: Finally, political pressure to end the increase in income and wealth inequality."

"Perhaps the most immediate challenge to Plutonomy comes from the political process. Ultimately, the rise in income and wealth inequality to some extent is an economic disenfrachisement of the masses to the benefit of the few. However in democracies this is rarely tolerated forever."

“We see the biggest threat to Plutonomy as coming from a rise in political demands to reduce income inequality, spread the wealth more evenly, and challenge forces such as globalization which have benefited profit and wealth growth.”

Page 18:

"So is Plutonomy under threat politically? We are keeping an eye on this one. At the moment it is too early to make this call. ...does not resonate as a population determined to destroy wealth inequality."

"While there are challenges to this, not least through populations/the political process demanding a more 'equitable' share of the wealth, in the short term we think the trend of the rich getting richer is likely to persist."

From one of the other memos:

“At some point it is likely that labor will fight back against the rising profit share of the rich and there will be a political backlash against the rising wealth of the rich. This could be felt through higher taxation on the rich (or indirectly though higher corporate taxes/regulation) or through trying to protect indigenous [home-grown] laborers, in a push-back on globalization -- either anti-mmigration, or protectionism. We don’t see this happening yet, though there are signs of rising political tensions.”




America faces more than a dozen deadlines, all caused by billionaires and wealth transfer

"I’ve had an article in draft for some time — 'The 16 Deadlines Facing America' — that details each deadline, describes the dangers, and states why each faces an end-point rather than just a periodic fluctuation... I’ve identified 16 of these game-over situations facing America today, situations from which there is the possibility of no recovery — not the certainty, but the possibility. As I was working on that article though, looking especially what it would take to reverse each trend, I realized it’s really only one story writ 16 times on 16 separate canvasses.

That story? The song of the predator class, the rich and the rest — “All your money are belong to us.”
Here they are, numbered in no particular order, but grouped:

1. Accelerating transfer of wealth to the .001% (“the billionaires”)
2. Accelerating transfer of manufacturing out of the country
3. Marginalization or destruction of effective labor unions
4. Destruction of the middle class (i.e., the consumer class)
5. Capture of government by billionaires of both parties
6. Capture of the Republican Party by anti-Constitutional billionaires via Tea Party-financed candidates
7. Constitutional changes, including changes in practice to rule of law and an ever-widening circle of elites with immunity from prosecution
8. Creation via trade agreements of a transnational state that enshrines corporate sovereignty
9. Permanent war and a permanently expanding military
10. Permanently expanding national security state, including militarization of police, widespread spying and punishment for political crimes
11. The ticking time bomb of increasing numbers of returning untreated war-damaged battle-trained veterans
12. Oil dependence without recognition of oil as a soon-to-be-depleted energy source
13. Deterioration of the environment, largely due to oil and carbon dependence, among other causes
14. Destruction of the integrity of our food supply
15. Destruction of public education
16. Climate catastrophe and the collapse of human populations and level of civilization

My bottom line, and the surprise discovery, is that every single one is driven by one common cause — internationalist billionaires."

http://americablog.com/2013/02/america-faces-more-than-a-dozen-deadlines-all-caused-by-billionaires-and-wealth-transfer.html

Enormous thanks to all of the DUers from whom I've learned much of this information. Keep fighting the good fight!

[Neoma]

1. Bookmarked for later.

[Octafish]

2. Now THAT is an OP. Explains why Have-Mores get richer and the rest of us get the shaft.

Thank you, Fire Walk With Me. Outstanding resource, to which I'd add:



SOURCE: http://www2.ucsc.edu/whorulesamerica/power/wealth.html

As for the elite, Frank "BFEE luvs Lumumba and Carlyle Group" Carlucci is selling survival life spaces aboard floating luxury life boats:

http://www.alternet.org/story/147058/the_really_creepy_people_behind_the_libertarian-inspired_billionaire_sea_castles

Good luck!

[Fire Walk With Me]

3. Gotta keep up with your superb work. The BFEE =are= Plutonomy. As are their Saudi friends who are

looking to divest as "peak oil" approaches.

[Enthusiast]

37. Me too...nt

[orpupilofnature57]

6. And I'd ask them, What's it worth on a sinking ship ?

[TBF]

9. They don't care -

they know this planet has been destroyed and the ones w/the most money are talking about things like colonizing Mars. These folks are sociopaths - you're not going to guilt them into caring.

Excellent OP.

[orpupilofnature57]

18. Right on both counts .

[CrispyQ]

66. The human legacy - sociopaths in space.

I think our species had potential. We sure did squander it. If there is a galactic culture out there, HUMAN is their word for FUBAR.

[chervilant]

70. Well, according to Shirley,

the silver-skinned aliens will step in to save us and our planet before it's too late. I guess the sociopathic corporate megalomaniacs are counting on that...

[SammyWinstonJack]

99. Obviously they have an exit plan.........from this sinking ship. Space, the exit plan for the 1%?

[leftstreet]

7. LOL the billionaire sea castles!

I forgot all about those

These people need their own DSM classification

What fun it would be to sneak on board and organize the many workers who'll be housekeeping, cooking, serving and waiting on these freaks!

[leftstreet]

4. DURec

Excellent OP

[woo me with science]

5. Wow.

THANK YOU.

[OneGrassRoot]

8. EXCELLENT OP. Greatly appreciated!!! K&R & bookmarked n/t

[cantbeserious]

10. You've Woken Up...Now What?

&feature=player_embedded#t=0

[Fire Walk With Me]

13. Response-ability. Yes!

Saw this go past me on Twitter earlier today and didn't watch it. I'm glad that you shared and that I've seen it. Thanks!

[JNelson6563]

63. Great video, here's another

While it's more in regard to protest the Iraq war, it's essentially about revolution. I love it!

&list=PL16CE417DF5245CF0&index=20

[fascisthunter]

11. make the upperclass wealthier just for peanuts

suckers

[OnyxCollie]

12. BIG K&R!

[mick063]

14. They fill the President's cabinet.

Just sayin

[Fire Walk With Me]

15. Yep :(

[MineralMan]

16. Well...

Too many blue links!

[WCGreen]

17. Good stuff...

This is what makes DU the place I go for my news...

[defacto7]

98. Me as well.

Not too many places where it's combined and compiled from all angles like here.

[forestpath]

19. K&R. The pompom pumpers are just like the Bush apoligists. They

will defend anything their hero is a party to, no matter how egregious a betrayal it is.

[Fire Walk With Me]

20. Beyond astonishing, isn't it? Denial to its extreme. :(

[paleotn]

23. Amen!.....

....I get so tired of the bullshit, cult of personality crap.

Are you listening, Mr. President? I don't give a rats ass about what you say. It's what you do, or better yet, who you appoint to high office and what they do that matters. Larry Summers?!! Are you out of your G. D. mind?!! Summers even being remotely considered as Fed chairman by this administration is absolutely nuts!! Unless this administration, like so many others in recent history, is bought and paid for by Wall Street.

[paleotn]

21. Martin Sheen, in character as Carl Fox....

Spoke some of the wisest words I've ever heard....

"The rich have been doing it to the poor since the beginning of time. The only difference between the Pyramids and the Empire State Building is the Egyptians didn't allow unions."

As that character, he reminded me very much of my own father.

Of course, they don't often allow unions anymore. Nothing new, unfortunately. Instead of nobility and monarchs and such, we now have laissez faire capitalism, taken to its logical conclusion. On the other hand, we still have a semi-democratic form of government, so I suppose there is still hope, despite the faux news propaganda machine. Although, sometimes I think it's just a quasi-democratic government and 99% of us are just royally F'd.

[CrispyQ]

68. They weren't facing climate change back then.

That changes everything. Couple it with peak oil & wow, we're fucked in ways we never imagined! The Koch's may be funding anti-science think tanks, but they aren't stupid & they know climate change is real & it's here now. The rich are making as big a cushion for themselves as they can, cuz the species is about to take a fall like no other we've experienced before. Mother Nature is about to teach us that you cannot live outside of nature.

Can you tell I'm a glass half empty type?

[zeemike]

22. That is pretty extensive.

Can not do this justice with just one session...bookmarke it to return later.
And this is probably our most important issue we have...how do we stop them from enslaving us.

Thank you Fire Walk With Me for all of that in one place...K&R

[99th_Monkey]

24. K & R Very Impressive collection of information. Thanks. ~nt

[Agony]

25. Makes my head spin

even being familiar with much of your compendium...

thanks for compiling this.. bookmarked for reference.

[Fire Walk With Me]

27. Thanks. People wonder why I'm upset.

It's not easy living with your face in the blender every day, searching out what's in the OP. It makes my skin crawl. Peace!

[fascisthunter]

28. they aren't wondering, they are pretending to

[Fire Walk With Me]

30. ...

[orpupilofnature57]

29. Your a Champ FWWM !!!

[sendero]

31. Good job..

.... oh and by the way, as I've been saying here for 5 years now, to varying degrees of disbelief - THERE IS NO RECOVERY. NONE. NOT ANY. And if you don't get it, you will be SCREWED.

[Agony]

33. You will not see me wondering why. - I am upset every day.

You would have to practically be dead to _not_ be upset at the injustice gathering in the world.

still... the world is an awesome place. no reason to be depressed, just never give up.

Cheerio,
Agony

[Enthusiast]

38. I never have doubt

as to why you're upset. Fuck.

[L0oniX]

72. Short version: They are telling us to go eat cake. n/t

[Mnemosyne]

26. Excellent! Thanks FWWM. nt

[Vic Vinegar]

32. the scariest thing

/1000w

That isn't good and a lot of it is what is called Credit Default Swaps, that means a security note betting on whether a company is going to go under. It is the perfect way to destroy the economy and steal wealth. Another great derivative is on oil options which inflates the price of gas when there is little demand and no shortage.

[mick063]

35. If people only understood what derivatives do.

Imagine that you owned sizeable stock in a professional football team and you were allowed to bet billions, much of it the money of others, on any given game, for any given team, to win or lose. Further, there would be little or no oversight. You could make the bet with an e-mail.

Traders are betting on corporations to go broke. Really. Ponder that for a moment. Failure is richly rewarded.

So if you stand to make great profit from failure, what type of actions might you take to "help it along"?

It is so counterproductive. It should be illegal to bet on failure. Poorly run companies will indeed fail. There should be no additional encouragement for it to happen.

Imagine Bain Capital betting on a company to fail, then perform a leveraged buyout of that company, strip it of assets and wealth to line personal pockets, declare bankruptcy for that company, use the judicial system to declare the employee pensions insolvent, abandon the remains of the shattered company, then go collect "winnings" from the hedge fund manager because it was "gambled" that the company might fail.

[Enthusiast]

40. It's one ugly scenario.

And they rise up in all their arrogance and scream about excessive regulation. Dude. Shit is bad in this country.

[nenagh]

92. Thanks mick63... it's difficult for an outsider to understand derivatives...

I understand from your example... but my mind doesn't want to accept it.

[mick063]

93. I am far from an expert.

The first time I became aware of them was from Michael Moore's Documentary, "Capitalism: A Love Story", but I was left with more questions than answers.

I always though of derivatives in terms of differential equations or integrals within Calculus math. I had no idea that they were an economic term as well.

This video is where I first began to grasp what they truly are:

[nenagh]

95. Excellent video, many thanks..

I was trying to study tranches and securitization... TPTB or the Wall Street insiders must have known that the system was built upon sand

Bundling mortgages together and then dividing the whole into artificial tranches according to risk.. and formulas that factored in only increasing home values.. incredible.

Derivatives..

Your video was astonishing and clear... thanks again..

[Taitertots]

119. The Best Explanation of the Banking Crisis is....

DU is a Company.

Everyone on DU starts buying DU bonds.
You are afraid that DU's bond prices might tank, so you buy a derivative contract to hedge your loses.
The derivative decreased your risk, so you mortgage your house and take out huge variable rate loans to buy more DU securities.
You buy more derivatives, so you can repay those loans if DU defaults or your interest rate spikes higher.
The people who lent you money take out derivatives to cover themselves if you default.
The company that sold you the derivative doesn't have to count it as a potential liability!
DU bond prices tank.
You lose all your money, your house, and you can't repay your loans.
Everyone on DU loses all their money and can't repay their loans.
All the people who loaned us money lose everything they invested.
Everyone goes to the investment banks for our derivatives, but they took all the money that we paid them, called it profit and took it.

[nenagh]

120. Taitertots, thank you for your great explanation. I'm having to reread this a # of times :)

'The company (ies?) that sold the derivatives did not have to count it as a liability.'

which is nearly unfathomable info..

It seems the investment banks(s) were protected from their losses on derivatives (and possibly other artificial financial products)
and Main Street investors lost everything or a high % of their investments after the crash..

I don't know whether that protection was as a result of loosening banking laws and regulations pre 2008 or how the bank bailouts were constructed.. but you make me understand that the end result is that the investment banks kept the bailout $$ as profit..

while DUers and Main Street lost everything...or a high % of their investments and the whole home mortgage losses and bank robosigner phenomenon .. sickening.

Thanks again...

[Taitertots]

122. The simplified version is that they didn't have enough cash to cover their bets

And they didn't have to because the government deregulated/under-regulated derivatives markets. So the company that owes you money never set aside money to pay off any losses. In the past, when they lost money, they just borrowed money from other people to pay. It works good for Wall Street as long as they can keep finding other people who will lend them money.


"I don't know whether that protection was as a result of loosening banking laws and regulations pre 2008 or how the bank bailouts were constructed.. but you make me understand that the end result is that the investment banks kept the bailout $$ as profit.. "
It wasn't so much that the bailout was profit, but that the bailout replaced the money that they took from investors. In simple terms, they went into debt (derivative liabilities), hid the debt from their investors and regulators (off balance sheet liabilities, deregulation), paid themselves with the money they borrowed (before the crisis), and ran for a bailout when people started expecting to get paid for their derivatives. They were protected from reasonable accounting procedures, protected from derivative regulation and protected from loss when the government bailed them out.

[Enthusiast]

36. This will take some time to go through.

I agree with the basic drift.

[KT2000]

39. Everything is a financial instrument now n/t

[Enthusiast]

42. And they're

bizarre financial instruments that no one can explain, like quarks.

[sabrina 1]

41. Excellent work, Fire. Everyone in the country should be reading about these issues

and our 'News' if it was news, would be reporting on all of this every single day.

But they won't, because they know more than anyone else that 'an informed society would be a real threat to them.

Thanks again Fire ...

[DevonRex]

43. Wow. A list of reasons to impeach AND tons of BLUE LINKS all in

a couple of days. You've been posting blue links everywhere!!! OMG!! People here HATE blue links and lists!!! They'll be attacking you any second.

Stay safe.

[johnnyreb]

44. Good OP, Fire Walk With Me.

Thanks for occupying DU and for putting up with us.

Gee.... reminds me of a song;

http://www.oldno8.com/08%20dark%20ages.mp3

[2naSalit]

45. Thanks for

doing our homework for us!

[Union Scribe]

46. k/ r/ bookmarked. nt

[rhett o rick]

47. k&r thanks for posting. nm

[Ichingcarpenter]

48. Get Over It

George Herbert Walker Bush: September 11, 1990:



“Out of these troubled times, our objective—a new world order—can emerge. Today, that new world is struggling to be born, a world quite different from the one we have known.”



Address Before a Joint Session of the Congress on the Persian Gulf Crisis and the Federal Budget Deficit

[Fire Walk With Me]

49. GHW Bush on the "new world order" : "When we are successful...and we will be..."

[Joe Shlabotnik]

50. K&R n/t

[Turbineguy]

51. The beauty of the system is

they don't even have to work at it.

[Initech]

52. Hey I've been saying this since 2004. You'll get no argument from me!

[defacto7]

54. Here's some info on the owners of us all.

It's a couple of years old and I know there have been some shifts but the basic forces are the same. Can anyone concur with some of these conclusions I gleaned back in 2011?

The world's largest companies are:

Bank of America:
State Street Corporation, Vanguard Group, BlackRock, FMR (Fidelity), Paulson, JP Morgan, T. Rowe, Capital World Investors, AXA, Bank of NY, Mellon.

JP Morgan:
State Street Corp, Vanguard Group, FMR, BlackRock, T. Rowe, AXA, Capital World Investor, Capital Research Global Investor, Northern Trust Corp. and Bank of Mellon.

Citigroup:
State Street Corporation, Vanguard Group, BlackRock, Paulson, FMR, Capital World Investor, JP Morgan, Northern Trust Corporation, Fairhome Capital Mgmt and Bank of NY Mellon.

Wells Fargo:
Berkshire Hathaway, FMR, State Street, Vanguard Group, Capital World Investors, BlackRock, Wellington Mgmt, AXA, T. Rowe and Davis Selected Advisers.

There appears to be 4 entities present in all these banks:
State Street Corporation
Vanguard Group
BlackRock
FMR (Fidelity)

I'll call them the "big four".

The next 4 corporations are next in line in size...

Goldman Sachs:
"The big four", Wellington, Capital World Investors, AXA, Massachusetts Financial Service and T. Rowe.

Morgan Stanley:
"The big four", Mitsubishi UFJ, Franklin Resources, AXA, T. Rowe, Bank of NY Mellon e Jennison Associates. Rowe, Bank of NY Mellon and Jennison Associates.

Bank of NY Mellon:
Davis Selected, Massachusetts Financial Services, Capital Research Global Investor, Dodge, Cox, Southeastern Asset Mgmt. and ... "The big four".

State Street Corporation (one of the "big four&quot :
Massachusetts Financial Services, Capital Research Global Investor, Barrow Hanley, GE, Putnam Investment and ... The "big four" (shareholders themselves!).

BlackRock (another of the "big four&quot :
PNC, Barclays e CIC [...]

The eight largest U.S. financial companies (JP Morgan, Wells Fargo, Bank of America, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, U.S. Bancorp, Bank of New York Mellon and Morgan Stanley) are 100% controlled by ten shareholders and we have four companies always present in all decisions: BlackRock, State Street, Vanguard and Fidelity.

The Federal Reserve is comprised of 12 banks, represented by a board of seven people, which comprises representatives of the "big four", which in turn are present in all other entities. So it seems the Federal Reserve is controlled by four large private companies: BlackRock, State Street, Vanguard and Fidelity. These companies control U.S. monetary policy (and world) without any control or "democratic" choice.

These are some of the companies controlled by this "big four" group:

Alcoa Inc. - Altria Group Inc. - American International Group Inc. - AT&T Inc. - Boeing Co. - Caterpillar Inc. - Coca-Cola Co. - DuPont & Co. - Exxon Mobil Corp. - General Electric Co. - General Motors Corporation - Hewlett-Packard Co. - Home Depot Inc. - Honeywell International Inc. - Intel Corp. - International Business Machines Corp - Johnson & Johnson - JP Morgan Chase & Co. - McDonald's Corp. - Merck & Co. Inc. - Microsoft Corp. - 3M Co. - Pfizer Inc. - Procter & Gamble Co. - United Technologies Corp. - Verizon Communications Inc. - Wal-Mart Stores Inc. - Time Warner - Walt Disney - Viacom - Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation. - CBS Corporation - NBC Universal

The same "big four" control the majority of European companies counted on the stock exchange.

I would say there is a major control mechanism here or the whole world just really trusts these 4 companies.

[Fire Walk With Me]

78. Thank you, I was unaware of some of this and it makes great sense. Good to know "them". n/t

[hedda_foil]

79. ***SEE ABOVE!!! defacto finds the 4 companies who own the world,***

Thanks for this amazing piece of research in this astounding thread.

[defacto7]

101. Don't give me the credit...

I found several postings on the net back in 2011 that sounded interesting. All I did was check the facts to see if it was legit. This is what I ended up with and as of then it was as stated. It is quite an eye opener.

[emsimon33]

55. Wow! Great contribution!! Thank you!!!!

[blkmusclmachine]

56. "Trickle Down"/Reaganomics/Voodoo Economics

aka Third Wayerism/Bipartisan Centrism/Triangulation.

There's a reason why they have to keep changing titles!!!

SCAMOLA!!!

[geckosfeet]

57. The magnitude of their theft is simply incomprehensible to most people. Every aspect of

the economy is being bled dry by them. They leave no source of wealth unturned.

[silvershadow]

58. Bookmarked. nt

[Scuba]

59. Great post, thanks ...

[snot]

73. +100!

The fact that these trends have been in place and accelerating over decades means that the 1% have already scraped off an enormous share of the wealth we've created over that time-frame––a treasure chest that now funds their efforts to retain their power over us despite our burgeoning realization of how we've been fleeced.

[daleanime]

60. bookmarked

[JNelson6563]

61. Oh yes, I've known this for a long while!

The game is so rigged it's ridiculous. So very many are just too happy having a bit more than the minimum needed to survive they can't be bothered by those who don't have enough.

Here, have a photo that says it all...



On edit: Forgot to give you many thanks and much praise for this most excellent compilation of info. Bookmarking!

Julie

[Fire Walk With Me]

102. That's one of the most telling images from the movement. They certainly don't serve The People.

[chervilant]

62. Your posts are giving me much hope,

that more of us are aware of the enslavement du jour: radical income inequity. When individuals are overwhelmed with the anxiety of insufficient income to allow for both food on the table and essential meds, political activism falls by the wayside. When exercising our right to protest nets us ridicule and broken skulls, more of us will remain ensconced in our hovels. HOWEVER, when more of us are facing homelessness and food deprivation, all bets will be off!

The small number of DUers who persist in idolizing Mr. Obama cannot get outside their sanctimonious, self-congratulatory sycophancy to acknowledge that our nation has been usurped by the corporate megalomaniacs who own our media, our politics AND our global economy. Early in Obama's first term, I thought he was merely a simulacrum. Now, I feel that his actions are the measure of the man. What a sad legacy for our party AND our nation.

(BTW, I've been warning about the corporate megs since St. Ronnie's reign of terror -- and there's another example of a prez who was idolized by a pernicious group of sycophants...)

[rurallib]

64. One of the best works I have seen here

almost should be required reading.
Will come back to it in a few days to really absorb.

[Civilization2]

65. Irrefutable evidence, yet most folks will simply ignore this rather than deal with the reality.

I have been fighting for years to wake people up to this reality; that the table it tilted that the game is rigged, that the bulk of our problems arise from this systemic corruption/theft the 1% continue to perpetrate.

My takeaway form all this effort, is that most people simply would rather ignore the situation, and focus of the mundane daily life issues that face them directly,. as my English collage roommate used to say on this subject (often after a few beers); "They just don't want to know!". So while I do commend your work and effort in studying these issues and taking the time to post here, it will sadly "wake up" a tinny number at best.

Then what to do for those of us who know the score and see this reality every day? For me, as I do continue to point to the problem, I try to spend more of my efforts on creating the solutions; getting out from under the corporate-military system, becoming more self sufficient, and linked into the local community of like minded people.

Once we realize the entire system is working against us, we come to know that another system must replace the corrupted one, as any system so badly broken can not be reformed, since it allowed itself to get this bad it simply does not protect against they corrupting forces. Real democracy is needed, a system without elected representatives, since voting them in gives them power to run amok till voting them out,. this is not a workable system, it invites corruption.

A participatory democracy, with direct voting on all issues of import is a possibility, "government" becomes the neutral implementors of the will of the people. Public debate and voting can be done on-line, and votes can be change at any time. If an issue changes shape you then change your position on it, and you can lobby your friends and neighbors to vote with you. Anyway, I have a worked out system in my head, I see as incorruptible, or much less so,. I will eventually write it down somewhere. The point is, this system is unfixable, and others are very possible.

I devote my efforts to not participating in the current corrupted corporate-military fake democracy,. and work to build the basics of a happy life; Permacuture is a guiding principle, along with Degrowth, Relocalization. Movements like Slow Money are already implementing large parts of this. The future is what we make it today.

[CrispyQ]

67. Thanks for the great post, Fire, depressing as it is.

Bookmarking for great info!

[Dustlawyer]

69. Cut off the Billionaires access to politicians by protesting (massively) for Publically Funded

Elections!

[defacto7]

100. I agree. n/t

[L0oniX]

71. The trains left quite a while on so many tracks. There's no going back.

You can try to play wackamole with em but it only takes one to get ya. Peak oil is going to smack us all down hard. These transnational corporations will put food grown here up for bid on a world commodities market and it won't matter if we starve because of it. Hell who will be able to afford food or water if they get their way? Oh yea ...and Democracy IS an illusion in this country. The zombies will continue to vote and believe the system will be corrected.

[raouldukelives]

74. K&R for a tremendous OP!

There are two sides we find ourselves on.
One, supporting Wall St & corporations and the further destruction of our country, our world and all its inhabitants. At this point, there is no mistaking the costs associated with investments in the 1%. They will use it to defraud & destroy the rest of us who willingly choose not to be a part of the destruction. Who find the idea of sharing in the proceeds from climate change, drone strikes, GMO & fracking reprehensible.
Or, two, choose not to support Wall St. Refuse to share in the profits of death and misery. Actually have the possibility of living a life that doesn't assuredly make things worse. What is an easy choice for those burdened with a love for their fellow man, wildlife and nature is just as menacing a choice for those enamored with CEO's, skyscrapers and smokestacks.
If you want to stand against something, not standing with it is a good start. The only start.

[mick063]

75. You offer great insight to prolonging the lifespan of our Democracy.

Although it is likely long past the threshold of being ultimately saved.

Vote for that which mutually benefits everyone. Never vote for compromise when compromise contributes to our nation's failure. Regardless of party affiliation.

[DonCoquixote]

82. nature is not necessarily better

as activism and unity often comes from the cities that some hate.

[raouldukelives]

104. Sadly just not for climate change. Those who live in steel forests, unattached to the soil.

Don't see the changes happening. Are no witness to the oaks dying or the streams drying. Hustling from climate controlled towers to air conditioned condominiums. Working away lives for corporate dreams & aspirations that in the end only equal wholesale theft and destruction of the future & lives of every living thing.
Nature bats last.

[DonCoquixote]

105. here is where I disagree

The cities that are vilified save energy and land, keeping people from roaming about the earth using more land, more energy. Meanwhile, the farmers put ddt in the water, cut down forests for wood and land, and make factory farms.

Not tomention that all these spiritual, tribal societies were not democratic, and resulted in lives of little more than sheer hand to mouth desperation, with hierarchies that demanded death for those who could not make the cieftains and priests happy.

[raouldukelives]

112. I tend to agree with you in theory. I just haven't seen it played out with facts.

Cities tend to become the center of power with naturally all resources directed to them. Instead of living within the bounds of nature, even the lands & waterways themselves are displaced to accommodate the needs of the cities. International airports, amusement parks, golf courses and business centers constantly pushing for more and more traffic to cover vast distances to visit them. Constant turnover, constant growth. It devours itself when it has nothing left to swallow.
I love the idea of sustainable cities. And I agree they would be the best option in the long run. It's not like all of us out here in the sticks live low impact lifestyles. Many who tire of the cities move out here and start removing trees, displacing waterways and bending the environment to their needs. It is all they know.
One thing is for sure, we all need to find a balance. Like, yesterday.

[gtar100]

76. Most important op around regarding what's wrong with the world right now!

It's the natural, inevitable consequence of capitalism when left unregulated. There is no built-in balance to the system and rewards go to the most ruthless, cutthroat people. Cultural standards, human dignity, ecology, spirituality, or anything that gives meaning and purpose to life and love are of no importance to the form of capitalism that is running rampant on our earth today. Greed is a sickness.

[arikara]

77. Bookmarking

Thanks for all your work on this. Much appreciated.

[loudsue]

80. Thank you so much for this post! Money is being sucked out of Americans' pockets at a faster

pace than I can even keep track of. Americans need to rise up and stop all this mess!

[Phlem]

81. K&R!

yes, I've know this fora while.

Exactly why I've lost all patience with the "everything's just fine club" here in DU.

Still I will always do what I can for a better future for my daughter.

Great Job!

-p

[Gidney N Cloyd]

83. "US Federal Reserve, the world’s central bank" ?

[barbtries]

84. yep, i do.

i sure as hell don't know what to do about it though, except to keep working, love my loved ones, and keep an eye and an ear out for the fall.
there will be a fall.

[Fire Walk With Me]

90. Check the end section of Plutonomy's own fears. These are specific vectors we may use against them.

[me b zola]

85. Highly recommended

Thank you for this OP, am bookmarking.

[Lenomsky]

86. We've been F***ed over ..

Since the Regan/Thatchers golden handshake era we've been royally f***ed!

They sold our assets to the highest bidder and many in the general public got rewards and so at the time it seemed golden WIN-WIN.

This generation (and the next few) get to pay the price for the free money.

Shocking really but humans are greedy and a free lunches are accepted with a smile.

[panader0]

87. k and r--bookmarked

As another poster said above, it's posts like this that make me come to DU.

[WillyT]

88. HUGE K & R !!!

[adirondacker]

89. Nice collection you gathered Fire. Thanks! Worthy of a rec and bookmark. nt

[Little Star]

91. Great OP! k&r! Bookmarked! Thanks!

[defacto7]

94. Maybe I don't understand the workings of the DU site

but this OP has 180 recs and 92 comments at this point, it's in General Discussion, and was posted yesterday evening... and it's not on the front page.

Why is that?

on edit: It's buried on the 3rd page of LT.

[Zorra]

96. K & R and bookmarked, thanks. nt

[defacto7]

97. K&R

I forgot to kick it.

[barbiegeek]

103. Please consider that this post and making a Web or FB page

Please take this post with great information and make a web page with all this information to people can always refer to it and it won't become an archived piece.

[Cali_Democrat]

106. The OP is no longer with us. n/t

[SidDithers]

113. Good...nt

Sid

[Luminous Animal]

107. Kick.

[Joe Shlabotnik]

108. posthumous kick

[KoKo]

109. An Incredible Post with Much Information to Bookmark..not to forget...

to keep Reference...because this poster is, sadly, no longer with us.

Sad to lose a DU'er who was NEVER A TROLL...but, who popped off a few times about less than many who stay here have "popped off" about. But, it offended many...and hope that they will rethink the informative posts this DU'er provided to this site rather than the "Pop Off's."

[Cali_Democrat]

110. There should be zero tolerance for anti-semitism. n/t

[KoKo]

111. I think this post shows the concerns of this Poster....

and there are some important links there.

[Waiting For Everyman]

117. Anti-zionist is not the same thing as anti-semitism. nt

[PETRUS]

118. Quite true

"Nationalism is an infantile disease. It is the measles of mankind." - Albert Einstein

"Thats the way the ruling class operates in any society. They try to divide the rest of the people ... You know, anything different, thats what they gonna talk about. Race, religion, ethnic and national backgrounds..." - George Carlin

Not to mention:

"As I write, highly civilized human beings are flying overhead, trying to kill me." - George Orwell

[Edim]

114. Yes your bottom line is right, but

I disagree about climate catastrophe, it's the scare that's driven by internationalist billionaires, not the catastrophe. Their best weapon is confusion, distraction and making people fearful. There's no AGW.

http://www.woodfortrees.org/plot/hadcrut4gl

[polichick]

116. One of the most important threads I've ever seen on DU...

It's horrifying but essential to know.

Thank-you!


(Somebody pin this to the top of the page please.)

[pa28]

121. Another posthumous kick.

Excellent compilation here.