"I have to go back...I...I...uh...I...I'm not certain whether that was addressed or not," - FBI Director Robert Muller at a congressional hearing 3/7/12, responding to the question of whether the Administration has the authority to assassinate Americans on U.S. soil.
Dear All,
Gregg Smith's New York Times piece reciting his reasoning for resigning from Goldman Sachs was unsurprising insofar as his description of the culture and activities of his former employer. Two things stand out however:
The first is the disparaging use of the term"Muppet's" which Smith reveals was used derogatorily within Goldman to refer to clients who were seen as easy prey. As regular readers are aware, this blog has been at the forefront of calling attention to puppetploitation and the under-aged muppet slave trade, a dirty secret of the politically correct left (which includes inevitably -- certain clergymen who have an uncanny habit of involvement in such cases, as seen in this goldmap expose). While Mr. Smith has not accused any Goldman employee of inappropriate hand-puppetry, such activity is often associated initially with verbal degradation of the victim(s).
The other rather grotesque element that emerged was JP Morgan Chase CEO James Dimon's ostensible (and clearly intended for public consumption) "internal memo" released the day following the Times publication. “I want to be clear that I don't want anyone here to seek advantage from a competitor's alleged issues or hearsay -- ever. It's not the way we do business," Dimon wrote, transparently seeking to do just that through sanctimonious grandstanding crafted so as to appear to take the high road. The concurrent element underlying Dimon's memo is that but for the grace of regulatory ineptitude is he not running his criminal enterprise from the inside of a prison cell: RollingStone: J.P. Morgan Chase's Ugly Family Secrets Revealed
The putrid culture that Gregg Smith describes is not company specific. Certainly there are good people within in its ranks serving their clients professionally and with integrity, but as a general rule the financial services industry has become a cesspool. In your dealings with Wall Street, you would be well advised to ask yourself who the muppet is. If you don't know, its probably you.
The more interesting whistle-blower story this week came not from a bank but from the Congressional Budget Office, which is so often cited for its non-partisan objectivity: Terminated CBO Whistleblower Shares Her Full Story With Zero Hedge, Exposes Deep Conflicts At "Impartial" Budget Office
"I was repeatedly pressured by the CBO Assistant Director, Deborah Lucas… to not write nor discuss issues in the banking sector and mortgage markets that might suggest weakness in these sectors and their consequences on the economy and households."
This poor fraudster simply didn't travel in the proper New York banking circles; otherwise he would be as free as Jon Corzine.
Well over 1 million Greeks are now unemployed, officially a 21% unemployment rate -- 40% higher than a year ago. More than half of Greece's youth are out of work and 30% of Greek businesses have closed their doors. Its socialistic model has now fully imploded and yet much of the financial world seems to accept the possibility that the non-ending "rescue" packages are viable. Never underestimate the propensity of politicians to willfully squander the money of the constituents they claim to serve. Greece is hopeless and the bailouts are nothing more than a desperate attempt to rescue banks and the monetary union itself. In the interim we have default by a thousand cuts in order to obfuscate the untenable losses in the credit default swaps held by the largest U.S. banks. The audacity with which the ISDA is perverting contract sanctity by re-defining the term default is having an effect on the debt market. This will reduce debt market liquidity, reduce private market participation in sovereigns and drive up borrowing costs: IFR: Greek CDS uncertainty fuels dumping
FBI director Muller's uncertainty quoted at the top of this post as to whether the FBI has the authority to kill within its borders citizens it deems a "threat," followed a speech two days earlier at Northwestern University in which Attorney General Eric Holder pledged to use care when going about the business of assassinating Americans, something I think we all appreciate. Mr. Holder also made the incredible assertion that the mere consideration by a U.S. president of whether an assassination is appropriate constitutes due process. Shoot and ask questions later, in other words, is the new due process. Actually, I'm unclear about the asking question component.
In its April issue Wired Magazine has done a cover story on the NSA's massive new spy center under construction in Bluffdale, Utah. As Wired bluntly puts it: "There is no doubt that it has transformed itself into the largest, most covert, and potentially most intrusive intelligence agency ever created." Codenamed "Stellar Wind," the top-secret project has little interest in conforming to the legal safeguards most Americans assume prevent the unwarranted data gathering of law-abiding citizens' personal activities. The depth of intrusiveness is mind-boggling. Wired: Inside the Matrix
"When they started violating the Constitution, I couldn’t stay.” Binney says Stellar Wind was far larger than has been publicly disclosed and included not just eavesdropping on domestic phone calls but the inspection of domestic email. At the outset the program recorded 320 million calls a day...The former NSA official held his thumb and forefinger close together: 'We are that far from a turnkey totalitarian state.'"
A pithy photograph in which the rise of Asia and decline of the west are encapsulated in a single image is presented here.
Why are we not surprised?...MailOnline: How to get ANYTHING through TSA body scanners. Blogger exposes loophole in $1billion fleet While the former Wendy's tray collectors now employed by the TSA are watching you disrobe and confiscating toothpaste, aircraft remain sitting ducks. These Keystone Cops are effective at nothing other than inconveniencing and harassing travelers. Watch this video:
"It can't possibly be that easy to beat the TSA's billion dollar fleet of nude body-scanners, right? The TSA can't be that stupid, can they? Unfortunately, the can and they are."
Republicrats love passing new laws and regulations to 'protect' us. If you find the following disturbing you have only yourself to blame. This is what habitually voting for the "lesser of evils" leads to. Unless you've been consistently supporting libertarian candidates both locally and nationally, you are contributing to the problem: Illegal Everything
Foreign aid is the process by which the working people in rich countries transfer their money to the rich people in poor ones: NYTimes: Intractable Afghan Graft Hampering U.S. Strategy
The trend...
Gold and silver...
Gold weakness in the face of what has occurred in Greece is confusing and entirely counter-intuitive. As GATA's Bill Murphy says so often -- in the gold world , black is white and white is black. Bill understands that central bank manipulation of the gold price -- the financial world's stress barometer, is critical to influencing perception of the viability of the banking system. These short term interventions always prove meaningless and the central banks will continue to lose their ability to control the gold price. The shenanigans have been going on since gold $260. Wait them out while buying the dips.
In the past two and one half years the world's central banks have increased their balance sheets by 2/3 of the dollar value of all the gold on earth. That's just the increase. The re-pricing of gold (and silver) that is coming will rattle your socks.
Jeff
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