L'economista ($)mascherato

The Law for Usury (Interest) Free Banking

2012-01-28T06:47:00.001-08:00

The Law for Usury (Interest) Free Banking

Romney Camp Dung-Founded: No Integrity

2012-01-27T15:17:00.000-08:00

January 26, 2012 - White Hats Report #35
Romney Camp Dung-Founded: No Integrity, No Ethics, No Honor.

This article is one of a series exposing theft, deceit, tax evasion, and bribery of public officials. It
questions a Presidential candidate who would associate with such people, much less take money from them. This money is then hidden offshore to evade taxes in a conspiracy with ruthless criminals, all knowing the true Beneficial Owner of the funds was being cheated of his income at every turn. These actions bring consequences. Knowledge is power.

We expose three key names of consequence today. Mitt Romney, Dr Michael Herzog and Paul Guenette are now challenged to publicly explain why they ruthlessly cheated an American national causing loss of important projects, tax revenue and the denial of hope and dignity to many Katrina victims.
These far flung results would have resulted from pre-approved projects which were to have been done if not for the deceit of the above mentioned three. The Falcone Group was planning high value work which were needlessly delayed with pain and suffering for many. Real consequences occasioned for real people, so many innocent citizens affected by the ruthless conspiring greed of others.
Mitt Romney is a Presidential candidate bidding for the honor of holding the highest office in the land.
And yet, behind the scenes, he associates and trades with two men whose criminal pasts merit public awareness and scrutiny. We will present a sectional exposure of each. Mr. Edward Falcone was asked to allocate part of his Bank Trading Program profits to help Romney during his previous campaign. It was there that he and Herzog became connected. This is how Romney repays his supporters.
Paul Guenette, a Canadian resident, has a small home in Ethelbert, Manitoba. He and Dr. Michael
Herzog have a combined history of global arrests, charges and venomous fraudulent activities. A discrete inquiry to Canadian authorities led to helpful guidance that he is both under heavy surveillance by the Canadian Police and under an airport watch, indicating he may have already fled and may in fact be hiding out with Herzog in Germany or possibly in Spain. He and Herzog were closed down in Switzerland by security authorities with a Bank they jointly owned (ICB Bank). Guenette and Herzog were also arrested in Germany for attempting to pass fake credit Letters for cash via Commerzbank in Frankfurt, Germany. The German Police are monitoring Herzog closely and will no doubt increase activity on receipt of this. There are outstanding warrants on Herzog in Israel, and by respecting Canadian investigations and law, it is pertinent not to declare more or hinder clear and serious investigations involving Guenette. Herzog has made allegations that he and Ackermann were assured of safety as a result of bribes made to a named Senior Interpol Officer, details of which Mr. Falcone is willing to submit to investigating officers.
This precisely is the dilemma. How much to release which does not harm international enforcement
agency diligence, or pending actions. Herzog and Guenette have a deep relationship with Romney and money transfers he received, some of which will be exampled meriting public challenge. The files held are extensive. This is a small overview of a vast library of investigative reports and accounts used.
Romney is declaring his personal wealth holdings which simply do not equate to money he has received from Herzog and Guenette . Records exist showing in excess of 900 million dollars taken offshore. This raises questions as to the validity and truthfulness of his IRS declarations, or perhaps in Mitt Romney’s mind, tax is only for the “little people.“ Does he merit the highest office in the land?
A vast amount of detailed, highly incriminating evidence is in our hands and has been lodged with
appropriate global authorities. In such, we have to ensure we do not compromise criminal investigations now proceeding. The case we raise releases facts never before published. Facts you deserve to know and question.
During the third week of October 2006, Michael Herzog, working against a bank trading platform
contract he had been allocated by senior US political parties, signed in conjunction with Edward Falcone, and for the benefit of Edward Falcone, drew down $500M from a further Falcone account for Trading by Herzog. That was over and above the account set up for the use of Josef Ackermann of Deutsche Bank which primarily funded CIA accounts, exiting via banks such as Barclays London. This had previously started with a first initial amount of $350M and been rapidly leveraged by Ackermann and fast tracktraded up in value. A credit line was arranged by Josef Ackermann of Deutsche Bank with the Bank of Austria. That was traded well into July 2008 by Ackermann. Vast profits were earned. On August 1, 2007, Ackermann and George Bush Sr, working in conjunction with Herzog, Romney and Greenspan, exchanged communications agreeing not to pay Falcone, and to trade it for yet another year. While Herzog had been ready to pay Mr Falcone, he and Ackermann allege the communication to block payment came from Bush Sr who wanted to continue trading it. Yet he continued receiving his own, with other participants and substantial CIA profits being accrued without Congressional or Senate awareness or oversight. The second year a second program was traded with Herzog and others fronting it, while substantial profits were continuously accrued. Vast hundreds of billions of dollars were earned through their greed. All of this was, of course, apart from the trusting true beneficiary, who got nothing!
A series of high value multi -billion dollar Bank CHIPS were created from profits both in Falcone’s name and for his beneficial interests. However, those were also mass used, fraudulently signed off for trading via other parties, and Falcone was again ruthlessly circumvented. A criminal pack extorted his funds. On September 26, 2005, Deutsche Bank Chairman and CEO Josef Ackermann admitted to his Deutsche Bank coordinator Juergen Schafer that trading had been engaged by his commitment holder without informing Mr. Falcone. Records linking Paul Fauque, Nathan the Trader, and a series of beneficiaries are all on file as the investigation proceeds.
These profits accrued by Herzog were personally shared by George Bush Sr, George Bush Jr., Romney, Greenspan, Paulson, Herzog, Ackermann and Guenette in conjunction with other political associates and Bank Traders. Some associates earned between 2% and 4% of the profits which were side-lined into a labyrinth of offshore pseudo Trusts. The actual list of all beneficiaries is known, with accounts recorded and ready for Global recovery action. It has been lodged already with the FBI, Homeland Security, The US Federal Reserve, NSA, and also with the CIA - the largest beneficiary of profit allocations from Ackermann’s operation. This is America’s dilemma. With key appointments accepting political patronage, those compromised parties are too often carefully placed in key agency or government roles to maintain the status quo and to protect and block corruption inquiries.
Major Banks they used for these trades included Credit Lines leveraged up by the Bank of England, Bank of Austria and trading via Barclays, HSBC, CSFB using their Spanish division, RBS London, Deutsche Bank, ABN Germany, Commerzbank, Frankfurt Germany, and a network of exit banks used by Bush, Romney, Herzog and Guenette moving profits into Caracas then on to the Caribbean and even into South Africa.
Herzog exited profits via San Marino for onward distribution. Large Profits were made and substantial taxes avoided, yet Mr. Falcone always expressed a commitment to pay his taxes due. On receipt of the huge debt long overdue to him, he will declare his income, fully discharge his taxes and move to fund US infrastructure projects.
Herzog operated initially behind a series of fronts including Alliance Stars in Israel. He also defaulted on others, and hid behind his wife Gudrun Funkenweh whose accounts are now frozen. He used Oxi Mining and Trade LLC in the Isle of Man to hide profits, and also Frank Furstenberg behind a Berlin attorney trust.
This raises the issue of Mitt Romney, a man purporting to be Presidential material. He and his
fundraiser in Florida were pre-advised months ago that they might be culpable to repay all funds raised given this serious screening issue. How can he become a Presidential nominee when the Falcone issue is not resolved? Will he and his fundraiser ethically return funds they have raised should he withdraw as this escalates?
Some 2 years ago the CIA, the Bushes and Falcone had negotiated a settlement deal. Yet again, that was reneged on. This is escalating into what could become a serious global embarrassment for the United States. The Falcone camp is focused and determined to get their money, whatever it takes. This is about justice. It’s about the projects, people and jobs needlessly lost.
There are other agendas also being seriously monitored. President Obama’s bank accounts are
constantly watched by the retained Falcone investigators who note two amounts having been recently moved. Jeb Bush appears as a signatory on numerous offshore accounts both singularly and linked with Bush Sr for substantial amounts having no IRS history or true source of funds able to withstand forensic investigation.
The issue is Mitt Romney, he who would be President, and the company he keeps. Specifically it is his sense of moral justice regarding his own tax integrity and regarding Ed Falcone.
Herzog has threatened to open his books on all deals done with Bush, exposing the entire history of
their activity together if he is forced to pay back the Falcone funds. Might Congress demand this?
During Mr. Falcone’s visit to London, he met with key, influential people. The Lords discussed with him the independent facilities of the World Court in The Hague and its ability to force through his case to achieve a vast settlement avoiding the corrupt US Judiciary. He was offered introductions to senior government officials able to appraise his case and, if approved, to treat all the trading as a contested issue with conspiracy and fraud overtones. That could, if successful, allow worldwide recovery of the entire amount as proceeds of crime. A large number of the people trading his funds have now been identified, as have their Trusts and Foundations. Each will face tax investigations with stringent penalties. Senior Ministers are now reviewing the Falcone case. Huge embarrassment and shame will follow with full media exposure for their crimes. Moves are now developing to freeze their worldwide accounts as part of a UK Task Force Tax Recovery operation, irrespective of their political standing.
A good General never leaves his men behind. In the same spirit of integrity and new stewardship at the Agency, a leader of such integrity would never leave his key Investor behind. It needs to be made RIGHT and NOW. This blemish has to be removed. Integrity and Trust must be restored.
We are at the conclusion of this report and we felt a recap in the form of questions for Mitt to
contemplate:

1. In the 2008 General Elections, you were the #1 candidate to run with John McCain for the top
spot in the United States. You found out hours before that Sarah Palin was going to be the running mate on the Republican ticket due to your inability to pass McCain’s vetting process. The reason was the money you stole with your associates Michael Herzog and Paul Guenette. So, let us ask the obvious questions.

a) Did you actually think that the American public has forgotten, much less the White Hats?

b) Do you think you will move forward with the Presidential race with the potential of a criminal
prosecution in the international arena as the President of the United States of America? Do you think that Presidential immunity from prosecution provide you cover?

c) Do you think you have the moral character that is required to be the President of the United
States of America?

d) With what the world currently knows, do you think the world will think anything different of
you, as opposed to any other Presidential candidate the Bush Cabal is attempting to place into that slot for their own greedy purposes.

e) When you became aware of our report, did you really think that by merely glazing over the fact
you participated in the theft of Falcones money and received One Billion Dollars as compensation for your involvement in the international bank fraud conspiracy, you would be able to hid the funds in an off shore account and not pay any taxes on it?

f) Do you think the problem is going away by claiming “the problem is being handled” and “You
might have to amend some income tax returns”? Really Mitt ... can you explain to us how a guy of your stature and financial intellect forgets about one billion, tax free dollars, in a brand spankin’ new off shore bank account in the Caymans? Do you do your own taxes or does an accounting firm? Might you have forgotten to disclose that info to them?

g) If you forget about the white elephant in your living room, how can we expect you to perform in
the position of President of the United States of America, representing us, the American people, here at home and representing us in the World View?

Mitt, the White Hats think the American people need someone better than you to represent us, to lead us and make decisions for us. Take the pay-off money from the Bushs and go away. Hide behind the other recipients of the stolen money ... the FBI, the CIA, the NSA, Homeland Security and the Department of Justice.
America needs leadership, a small feeling of truth in it’s candidates and integrity. You maintain none of the qualities required to lead America!

“FOR THE REST OF THE CULPRITS”

It takes more than just a few to play the game in the international arena. Let’s examine a future article we are working on.
1) We will take a look at the Banks involved starting with Barclay’s, Deutche and the receiving banks responsible for the flow of the money and the trading.
2) We will take a deep look at the internal bank examiners and the external professional Accounting firms responsible for auditing the specific trades and the bank records.
3) We will look at the taxes that have not been paid to governments and other jurisdictions ... not that there will be much to look at above the excuse “Golly Gee, we just don’t know how we forgot to pay them ... we hate when that happens”.
4) We will look at the bank and independent traders that generated the profits and are responsible for the dissemination of the profits to the individual accounts.
5) Who we know took pay-offs, and who else took influencing money to look the other way including Senior Interpol Agents.
6) We will also connect the dots on who knew who when and how they accomplished this.

See you next time!

HSBC investigated for money laundering

2012-01-27T11:46:00.000-08:00

Exclusive: Senate investigating HSBC for money laundering

Wednesday, January 25, 2012 9:47 a.m. EST

http://whtc.com/news/articles/2012/jan/25/exclusive-senate-investigating-hsbc-for-money-laundering/

A view shows the entrance to a HSBC Bank branch in New York

By Carrick Mollenkamp, Brian Grow and Brett Wolf

(Reuters)- HSBC Holdings PLC is under investigation by a U.S. Senate panel in a money-laundering inquiry, the latest step in a long-running U.S. effort to halt shadowy money flows through global banks, according to people familiar with the situation and a company securities filing.

The inquiry being conducted by the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations could yield a report and congressional hearing later this spring, these people said. The subcommittee has a history of conducting high-profile hearings that have proved embarrassing for the world's biggest banks.

The intensifying scrutiny of HSBC is the latest in a series of investigations by U.S. officials into how global banks have processed -- and in some cases, intentionally hidden -- financial transactions on behalf of countries which allegedly support terrorism, corrupt foreign officials, drug gangs and criminals. Since 2008, European and U.S. banks have signed deferred prosecution agreements and paid more than $1.2 billion in penalties for alleged violations of anti-money laundering regulations.

The specific focus of the Senate probe of HSBC isn't known. A Reuters review of legal documents and prior regulatory probes, though, points to a number of alleged breakdowns in HSBC's anti-money laundering systems.

HSBC spokesman Robert Sherman said in a statement, "We have ongoing discussions with officials" including the Senate panel "on a number of regulatory and compliance matters. The nature of these discussions is confidential; in all cases, we are cooperating."

A spokesperson for the Senate subcommittee declined comment.

Earlier this month, HSBC named former top U.S. Treasury Department official Stuart Levey as chief legal officer in a sign of how the bank is hiring outside experts in money laundering. Levey, who specialized in combating terrorism financing and left the Treasury Department last year, is based in London. An HSBC spokesman said Levey wasn't available for comment.

Stuart Gulliver, HSBC chief executive, said in a statement this month that Levey's experience "dealing with international financial and legal issues is highly relevant to a global bank such as HSBC."

EARLY WARNING SIGNS

For HSBC, which has operations in more than 80 countries and territories, the Senate probe is another sign that U.S. law enforcement officials are widening their inquiries into the London bank - one that for the past decade has repeatedly drawn scrutiny from U.S. financial regulators for weak money-laundering controls and allegedly enabling healthcare fraud and tax evasion.

In 2003 and 2010, two U.S. bank regulators raised serious concerns about the bank's anti-money laundering systems and staff and ordered the bank to improve anti-money laundering systems and personnel, according to enforcement actions by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and the Comptroller of the Currency, a Treasury Department unit.

In securities filings, the bank has disclosed increasing inquiries. In 2010, the bank disclosed that it had received grand jury subpoenas and was being investigated by the Justice Department in money-laundering inquiries. It subsequently said the district attorney's office in Manhattan was investigating.

Then in November, HSBC said additional inquiries were being pursued by the Senate panel and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, according to an SEC filing by HSBC USA Inc. The bank said the investigations focused on money laundering and the proper filing of U.S. taxes by customers. The unit is HSBC's main U.S. business, offering retail and corporate banking to some 4 million customers. HSBC's North American operations, which include HSBC Bank USA and a consumer-finance unit, account for about 5 percent of HSBC profits.

WEST VIRGINIA LINK

Investigations into how the bank allegedly was used to launder money extend to Vienna, W. Va. There, a pain-management doctor named Barton J. Adams was indicted in 2008 by the Justice Department on 169 counts of alleged healthcare fraud, tax evasion, money laundering and witness tampering. Adams allegedly moved hundreds of thousands of dollars in Medicare fraud proceeds between an HSBC Bank USA internet account and other HSBC accounts in Canada, Hong Kong and the Philippines, according to U.S. District Court filings in West Virginia. Dr. Adams has pleaded not guilty.

Stephen Herndon, an attorney for Adams, declined to comment citing the ongoing litigation. A spokesman for the U.S. attorney's office in West Virginia declined comment.

To be sure, HSBC isn't the only major bank to face scrutiny from regulators over alleged money laundering. In 2009 and 2010, Barclays PLC, Lloyds Banking Group and Credit Suisse Group agreed to forfeitures totaling $1.2 billion with U.S. regulators that found the banks evaded U.S. law in aiding sanctioned countries. In 2010, Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC agreed to forfeit $500 million to the U.S. to cover ABN Amro Holding NV's illegal U.S. dollar transactions tied to Iran, Libya, the Sudan and Cuba. RBS and a bank consortium acquired ABN, a Dutch bank, in 2007.

Law-enforcement scrutiny is increasingly focused on narcotics proceeds moving between the U.S. and Mexico. In 2010, for example, Wachovia Bank, acquired by Wells Fargo & Co. in 2008, agreed to a $160 million settlement with the Justice Department, which alleged that failure in controls at the bank allowed drug traffickers to launder drug money tied to Mexico.

A 2011 study by the Government Accountability Office said that money from illegal drug sales in the U.S. that flows back to Mexico -- often in the form of large currency shipments called "bulk cash smuggling" -- totals between $18 billion and $39 billion a year. John Cassara, an expert on money laundering and former Treasury agent, said U.S. authorities struggle to stop the money flowing from the U.S. into Mexico.

HSBC UNDER MICROSCOPE

HSBC has faced several orders to improve its anti-money laundering policies. In 2003, HSBC Bank USA, under an agreement with the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and New York bank regulators, said a "common goal" with regulators was that the bank would "ensure that the bank fully addresses deficiencies in the bank's anti-money laundering policies and procedures."

At the time, the bank agreed to design a program to upgrade internal controls to ensure compliance with Bank Secrecy Act provisions to better monitor "suspicious or unusual activities."

In early 2010, HSBC again came under scrutiny. The Senate panel alleged in a report, titled "Keeping Foreign Corruption out of the United States," that HSBC, along with other banks, had allowed high-risk individuals, known as politically exposed persons, or PEPs, to route money through the U.S. financial system. Such persons are typically powerful foreign leaders, relatives and close associates from regimes prone to corruption.

The 2010 Senate report analyzed HSBC's ties to Angola, the oil-producing African country prone to graft and mismanaging oil revenues. The Senate report alleged that HSBC provided U.S. banking services to politically connected officials of Angola's national oil company through Banco Africano de Investimentos, or BAI, an Angolan private bank, without designating the transactions as potentially high risk. HSBC allowed those money movements "despite the presence of PEPs" in BAI's management and clientele.

At a Senate hearing, Wiecher Mandemaker, then a director of general compliance for HSBC Bank USA, said the bank believed that institutions such as BAI were important to helping move Africans "into the modern banking system." The HSBC official said the bank had thoroughly investigated BAI and that it was HSBC's policy to discourage banking relationships with PEPs unless the bank had a long-standing relationship with the client and the bank believed the client had a "legitimate source of funds."

Mandemaker has since left the bank and could not be reached for comment.

In late 2010, the bank was hit with another order from a U.S. bank regulator to clean up its anti-money laundering system after the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, or OCC, investigated several businesses that routed cash for clients and other banks. The probe and subsequent consent order "identified deficiencies" in the HSBC's anti-money laundering practices and among other requirements, ordered the bank to hire a permanent regional compliance officer and submit full compliance plans in policing improper money flows.

HSBC subsequently exited or curtailed those businesses. It separately has announced plans to exit numerous U.S. businesses, agreeing to sell both bank branches and a credit card business amid a shift to faster-growing economies.

The OCC found the bank's "compliance program and its implementation are ineffective" and that the bank faced the "significant potential for unreported money laundering or terrorist financing."

The OCC consent order said that between 2006 and 2009, HSBC had not properly monitored bulk cash transactions. The OCC order also said the bank did not "appropriately" designate customers as "high risk" even if the customer affiliation with a politically exposed person could hurt the bank's reputation. The report also criticized the bank for a backlog of unprocessed suspicious activity reports, known as SARs, that can tip off regulators to questionable money flows.

As part of the consent order, the bank said it had "committed to taking all necessary and appropriate steps to remedy the deficiencies."

Sherman, the HSBC spokesman, said, "We acknowledged we fell short of our own expectations and are working with our regulators to address and resolve the issues raised."

Sherman said the bank had taken steps such as investing in staff, a new anti-money laundering system, a new compliance helpline, and new training for all U.S. employees.

(Editing by Alwyn Scott and Edward Tobin)

Central bank policy is obscuring market values

2012-01-27T11:41:00.001-08:00

Central bank policy is obscuring market values, Warsh tells Stanford audience

Submitted by cpowell on Fri, 2012-01-27 02:53. Section: Daily Dispatches

10:04p ET Thursday, January 26, 2012

Dear Friend of GATA and Gold:

Central banks are now so heavily influencing asset prices that investors are unable to ascertain market values, former Federal Reserve Board of Governors member Kevin M. Warsh told the Stanford University Institute for Economic Policy Research tonight.

This influence is especially evident, Warsh said, with the Fed's purchase of government bonds, which has made it impossible for investors to use bond prices to learn anything about markets.

Warsh, who disclosed during GATA's freedom-of-information litigation with the Fed in 2009 that the central bank has secret gold swap arrangements with foreign banks (http://www.gata.org/files/GATAFedResponse-09-17-2009.pdf), added that the Fed is trying to do too much and the rest of the government not enough to encourage economic growth.

While he said nothing explicitly about gold, Warsh seemed to come pretty close to your secretary/treasurer's observation almost four years ago that there are no markets anymore, just central bank interventions. (Seehttp://www.gata.org/node/6241.)

Warsh was especially critical of the federal government's efforts to stimulate the housing market. "The government-sponsored housing entities remain sources of vulnerability to the U.S. economy," he said, "and repeated ad-hoc attempts to push Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to take greater risks at taxpayer expense are deeply counterproductive." Such efforts have not succeeded, he added.

Warsh said higher real incomes are far more important to economic growth than recovery in the housing sector.

He said he opposed pursuing economic recovery through inflating debt away and devaluing the currency.

Warsh was the youngest person ever appointed to the Fed board, resigning eight months ago after five years in office, and is now a distinguished visiting fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford and a lecturer in the university's Graduate School of Business. He received his undergraduate degree at Stanford in 1992 and a law degree at Harvard three years later. He was special assistant for economic policy under President George W. Bush and executive secretary of the National Economic Council. He was also a member of the President's Working Group on Financial Markets, commonly known as the Plunge Protection Team.

Warsh spoke tonight from an outline he provided to GATA and then answered questions from his audience, which included Stanford faculty and students. The outline is appended.

Warsh's talk was broadcast live at the Internet site of the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research --

http://siepr.stanford.edu/

-- and video of it is expected to be posted there shortly.

CHRIS POWELL, Secretary/Treasurer
Gold Anti-Trust Action Committee Inc.

Fed disinformation hides greater inflation

2012-01-27T11:38:00.001-08:00

Fed disinformation hides greater inflation, Rickards tells King World News

Submitted by cpowell on Fri, 2012-01-27 18:09. Section: Daily Dispatches

1:07p ET Friday, January 27, 2012

Dear Friend of GATA and Gold:

Geopolitical analyst James G. Rickards tells King World News today that the Federal Reserve is engaged in a massive disinformation campaign about its intentions, which are far more inflationary than believed. Rickards adds that the U.S. economic embargo of Iran may hasten the move of other countries away from the dollar as a trading currency. An excerpt from the interview is posted at the King World News blog here:

http://kingworldnews.com/kingworldnews/KWN_DailyWeb/Entries/2012/1/27_Ri...

CHRIS POWELL, Secretary/Treasurer
Gold Anti-Trust Action Committee Inc.

Nigeria Thrown into Chaos: The Role of the IMF

2012-01-27T11:26:00.000-08:00

Nigeria: Thrown into Chaos and a State of Civil War: The Role of the IMF

by F. William Engdahl

Global Research, January 27, 2012

Nigeria, Africa’s most populous nation and its largest oil producer, is from all evidence being systematically thrown into chaos and a state of civil war. The recent surprise decision by the government of Goodluck Jonathan to abruptly lift subsidies on imported gasoline and other fuel has a far more sinister background than mere corruption and the Washington-based International Monetary Fund (IMF) is playing a key role. China appears to be the likely loser along with Nigeria’s population.

The recent strikes protesting the government’s abrupt elimination of gasoline and other fuel subsidies, that brought Nigeria briefly to a standstill, came as a surprise to most in the country. Months earlier President Jonathan had promised the major trade union organizations that he would conduct a gradual four-stage lifting of the subsidy to ease the economic burden. Instead, without warning he announced an immediate full removal of subsidies effective January 1, 2012. It was “shock therapy” to put it mildly.

Nigeria today is one of the world’s most important producers of light, sweet crude oil—the same high quality crude oil that Libya and the British North Sea produce. The country is showing every indication of spiraling downward into deep disorder. Nigeria is the fifth largest supplier of oil to the United States and twelfth largest oil producer in the world on a par with Kuwait and just behind Venezuela with production exceeding two million barrels a day. 1

The curious timing of IMF subsidy demand

Despite its oil riches, Nigeria remains one of Africa’s poorest countries. The known oilfields are concentrated around the vast Niger Delta roughly between Port Harcourt and extending in the direction of the capital Lagos, with large new finds being developed all along the oil-rich Gulf of Guinea. Nigeria’s oil is exploited and largely exported by the Anglo-American giants—Shell, Mobil, Chevron, Texaco. Italy’s Agip also has a presence and most recently, to no one’s surprise, the Chinese state oil companies began seeking major exploration and oil infrastructure agreements with the Lagos government.

Ironically, despite the fact that Nigeria has abundant oil to earn dollar export revenue to build its domestic infrastructure, government policy has deliberately let its domestic oil refining capacity fall into ruin. The consequence has been that most of the gasoline and other refined petroleum products used to drive transportation and industry, has to be imported, despite the country’s abundant oil. In order to shield the population from the high import costs of gasoline and other refined fuels, the central government has subsidized prices.

Until January 1, 2012, that is. That was the day when, without advance warning President Goodluck Ebele Azikiwe Jonathan announced immediate removal of all fuel subsidies. Prices for gasoline shot up almost threefold in hours from 65 naira (35 cents of a dollar) a liter to 150 naira (93 cents). The impact rippled across the economy to everything including prices of grains and vegetables.2

In justifying the move, Central Bank Governor Lamido Sanusi insisted that “The monies will be used in provision of social amenities and infrastructural development that will benefit Nigerians more and save the country from economic rift.”3 President Goodluck Jonathan says he is phasing out the subsidy as a part of a move to “clean up the Nigerian government.” If so how he plans to proceed is anything but apparent.

The huge unexpected price hike for domestic fuel triggered nationwide protests that threatened to bring the economy to a halt by mid-January. The president deftly took the wind out of protester sails by announcing a partial rollback in prices, still leaving prices effectively double that of December. The trade union federation immediately called off the protests. Then, revealingly, Goodluck Jonathan’s government ordered the military to take to the streets to “keep order” and de facto prevent new protests. All that took place during one of the bloodiest waves of bombings and murder rampages by the terrorist Boko Haram sect creating a climate of extreme chaos.4

The smoking gun of the IMF

What has been buried from international accounts of the unrest is the explicit role the US-dominated International Monetary Fund (IMF) played in the situation. With suspicious timing IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde was in Nigeria days before the abrupt subsidy decision of President Jonathan.5 By all accounts, the IMF and the Nigerian government have been careful this time not to be blatant about openly announcing demands to ends subsidies as they were in Tunisia before food protests became the trigger for that country’s Twitter putsch in 2011.

During her visit to Nigeria Lagarde said President Jonathan's 'Transformation Agenda' for deregulation "is an agenda for Nigeria, driven by Nigerians. The IMF is here to support you and be a better partner for you." 6 Few Nigerians were convinced. On December 29 Reuters wrote, "The IMF has urged countries across West and Central Africa to cut fuel subsidies, which they say are not effective in directly aiding the poor, but do promote corruption and smuggling. The past months have seen governments in Nigeria, Guinea, Cameroon and Chad moving to cut state subsidies on fuel." 7

Further confirming the role US and IMF pressure on the Nigerian government played, Jeffery Sachs, Special Adviser to the United Nations (UN) Secretary General, during a meeting with President Jonathan in Nigeria in early January days after the subsidy decision, Sachs declared Jonathan's decision to withdraw petroleum subsidy “a bold and correct policy.” 8

Sachs, a former Harvard economics professor became notorious during the early 1990’s for prescribing IMF “shock therapy” for Poland, Russia, Ukraine and other former communist states which opened invaluable state assets for de facto plundering by dollar-rich western multinationals. 9

Making the sudden decision to end the domestic fuel subsidy even more suspicious is the manner in which Washington and the IMF are putting pressure on only select countries to end subsidies. Nigeria, whose oil today sells for the equivalent of $1 a liter or roughly $3.78 a US gallon, is far from cheap. Brunei, Oman, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, Saudi Arabia all offer their petrol very cheap to their people. The Saudis sell their oil at 17 cents, Kuwait at 22 cents.10 In the US gasoline averages 89 cents a liter.11

That means the IMF and Washington have forced one of the poorest economies in Africa to impose a huge tax on its citizens on the implausible argument it will help eliminate corruption in the state petroleum sector. The IMF knows well that the elimination of subsidies will do nothing about corruption in high places.

Were the IMF and World Bank genuinely concerned with the health of the domestic Nigerian economy, they would have provided support for rebuilding and expanding a domestic oil refinery industry that has been let to rot so that the country need no longer import refined fuels using precious state budget resources to do so. The easiest way to do that would be to expedite a two-year-old deal between China and the Nigerian government to invest some $28 billion in massive expansion of the oil refinery sector to eliminate need for importing foreign gasoline and other refined products.

Quite the opposite—the criminal cabal inside NNPC and the Government making huge profits on the old subsidy system are suddenly making double and potentially triple more to maintain the old corrupt import system, and, of course, to sabotage Chinese refinery construction that could put an end to their gravy train.

Cutting their nose to spite the face…

Rather than benefit ordinary Nigerians as the IMF proclaims to want, the elimination of the subsidies has further pauperized the 90 per cent living on less than $2 a day, according to Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, the Nigerian Central Bank governor.12 An estimated 40 million Nigerians are unemployed in the country of 148 million.

Because transport costs are a significant factor in delivery of food to the cities, food price inflation has soared along with costs of public transportation for the majority of poorer Nigerians. According to the Nigerian Leadership Sunday, “prices of commodities which shot up as a fallout of the fuel pump price increase have refused to come down.” Everything from street vegetable sellers to carwashes to roadside photographers are feeling the shock of the rise in fuel prices. Unemployment is rising as small businesses fold. 13

The argument of the IMF and the Jonathan Administration is that by freeing fuel prices, funds would be available to more social services and rebuild Nigeria’s “infrastructure.” Both the IMF and the Government know it would have been far more economically viable to replace the current corrupt system of importing refined gasoline and fuels with investing in rebuilding Nigeria’s domestic refining capacity.

Son Gyoh of the Nigerian Awareness for Development organization stated, “Would it not be more expedient to pressure government to service the refineries to full production capacity given the implications on overhead and competitiveness for local industries?” 14

Gyoh pointed to the source of the problem: “Why have successive governments left the refineries in a state of disrepair while spending huge on subsidy? Is there any chance that the savings from subsidy withdrawal will go directly into rehabilitating the refineries? Does deregulation imply NNPC will no longer operate a monopoly in importation of refined petroleum product or is this lobby a self-serving lifeline to continue its monopoly? ” He concludes, “In any case, there is good reason to doubt subsidy removal will solve the fuel scarcity problem as the cabal will only regroup to change tactics, a fact Nigerians are only too aware of.” 15

After Nigeria partly nationalized its oil sector in the late 1970’s they also took control of Shell Oil’s Port Harcourt I refinery. In 1989 Port Harcourt II refinery was built. Both refineries fell into serious disrepair after 1994 when the Abacha military dictatorship cut the “take” of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) from domestic sale of refined oil products such as gasoline from 84% to 22%. That caused a cash crisis for NNPC and a halt to refinery maintenance. Today only one of four refineries operates at all.16

What developed since was a system of NNPC importing foreign gasoline and other refined products for Nigeria’s domestic needs, naturally at a far more expensive cost. The price subsidies were to relieve that higher import cost, hardly a sensible solution but a very lucrative one for those corrupt elements in the state and private sector making a killing, literally, off the import process.

NNPC criminal enterprise

The IMF is well aware of the real cause of Nigeria’s fuel industry problems. A Nigerian legislative committee examining the sources of the industry’s problems recently released a report documenting that at least $4 billion annually is taken from taxpayers in fuel industry corruption with the state Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) at the center. According to the commission, “every day, fuel importers drop off 59 million liters of fuel. The country consumes 35 million liters daily. That leaves 24 million liters of oil available for smugglers to export, paid for by government fuel subsidies. This costs the Nigerian people roughly $4 billion yearly, according to Reuters.” 17

The Nigerian government has said that the 7.5 billion dollars spent yearly on fuel subsidies could be used to provide desperately needed infrastructure. But they omit any mention of the rampant siphoning off of $4 billion of oil by black market smugglers, reportedly with connivance of high NNPC government officials, to sell to neighboring countries at a hefty profit. The refined imported fuel is reportedly smuggled into neighboring countries like Cameroon, Chad and Niger where petrol prices are far higher, according to Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, Deputy Governor of Kano State.18

China as IMF target?

One major geopolitical factor that is generally ignored in recent discussion of Nigerian oil politics is the growing role of China in the country. In May 2010 only days after President Jonathan was sworn in, China signed an impressive $28.5 billion deal with his government to build three new refineries, something that in no way fit into the plans of either the IMF or of Washington or of the Anglo-American oil majors.19

China State Construction Engineering Corporation Limited (CSCEC) signed the deal to build three oil refineries with Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), in the biggest deal China has made with Africa. Shehu Ladan, head of NNPC, said at the signing ceremony that the added refineries would reduce the $10 billion spent annually on imported refined products. As of January 2012 the three Chinese refnery projects were still in the planning stage, reportedly blocked by the powerful vested interests gaining from the existing corrupt import system.20

A report in China Daily last November quoted Nigeria’s Olusegun Olutoyin Aganga, the minister of trade and investment that Nigeria was seeking added Chinese investors for its energy, mining and agribusiness industries. Last September on a visit to Beijing, Nigeria central bank governor Lamido Sanusi announced his country planned to invest 5 percent to 10 percent of its foreign exchange reserves in China's currency, the renminbi (RMB) or yuan, noting that he sees the yuan becoming reserve currency. In 2010 China's loans and exports to Nigeria exceeded $7 billion, while Nigeria exported $1 billion of crude oil, Sanusi stated.21Until now Nigeria has held some 79% of her foreign currency reserves in dollars, the rest in Euro or Sterling, all of which look dicey given their financial and debt problems. The move of a major oil producer away from dollars, added to similar moves recently by India, Japan, Russia, Iran and others, augurs bad news for the continued role of the dollar as dominant world reserve currency. 22 Clearly some in Washington would not be happy with that.

The Chinese are also bidding to get a direct stake in Nigeria’s rich oil reserves, until now an Anglo-American domain. In July 2010, China's CNPC (China National Petroleum Corporation) won four prospective oil blocks -two in the Niger Delta and two in the frontier Chad Basin, with plans to become core investor in the Kaduna refinery, and construction of a double track Lagos-Kano railway.23 As well China’s oil company, CNOOC Ltd has a major offshore production area in Nigeria.

The IMF and Washington pressure to lift subsidies on imported fuels is at this point in question as is the future of China in Nigeria’s energy industry. Clear is that lifting subsidies in no way will benefit Nigerians. More alarming in this context is the orchestration of a major new wave of terror killings and bombings by the mysterious and suspiciously well-armed Boko Haram. This we will look at next in the context of Nigeria’s recent transformation into a major narcotics hub.

F. William Engdahl, author of A Century of War: Anglo-American Oil Politics and the New World Order

Notes:

1John Campbell, Nigeria’s Turmoil and the Outside World, January 12, 2012, accessed inhttp://blogs.cfr.org/campbell/2012/01/12/nigeria%E2%80%99s-turmoil-and-the-outside-world/#more-3994.

2 Chika Otuchikere and Chibunma Ukwu, Nigeria: Aftermath of Subsidy Crisis Food Prices Hitting Roof Tops, 22 January, 2012, accessed in http://allafrica.com/stories/201201231627.html.

3 Mustapha Muhammad, Nigeria: Billions Siphoned by Corruption Could Have Been Used to Maintain Fuel Subsidy, Inter Press Service, January 11, 2012, accessed in http://www.globalissues.org/news/2012/01/11/12407.

4 Mike Oboh, Boko Haram Islamist Insurgents Kill at Least 178 in Nigeria's Kano, January 22, 2012, International Business Times, accessed in http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/285620/20120122/boko-haram-islamist-insurgents-kill-178-nigeria.htm.

5 Christine Lagarde, Statement by IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde at the Conclusion of her Visit to Nigeria, IMF, Washington, Press Release No. 11/478, December 20, 2011, accessed inhttp://www.imf.org/external/np/sec/pr/2011/pr11478.htm.

6 Ibid.

7 Quoted in Idris Ahmed and Kate da Costa, Nigeria: IMF Pushing the Country to End Subsidy - - Report, 30 December 2011, accessed in http://allafrica.com/stories/201112300791.html.

8 Olutayo Olubi, Fuel subsidy: International conspiracy against Nigerians, National Daily, 15 January 2012, accessed inhttp://nationaldailyngr.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2825:fuel-subsidy-international-conspiracy-against-nigerians&catid=306:business-news&Itemid=561.

9 Ibid.

10 Ibid.

11 Ibid.

12 Ibid.

13 Chika Otuchikere and Chibunma Ukwu, Nigeria Aftermath of Subsidy Crisis: Food Prices Hitting Roof Tops, 22 January 2012, accessed in http://allafrica.com/stories/201201231627.html.

14 Son Gyoh, Nigeria: The case against removal of fuel subsidy and the argument for deregulated petroleum sub sector, accessed in http://awarenessfordevelopment.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=66:nigeria-fuel-subsidy.

15 Ibid.

16 MBendi, Oil Refining in Nigeria--An Overview, accessed in http://www.mbendi.com/indy/oilg/ogrf/af/ng/p0005.htm.

17 Heather Murdock, Nigeria finds 4 billion dollars in fuel corruption, January 20, 2012, accessed inhttp://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/africa/nigeria/120119/nigeria-oil-fuel-corruption.

18 Mustapha Muhammad, Nigeria: Billions Siphoned by Corruption Could Have Been Used to Maintain Fuel Subsidy, Inter Press Service, January 11, 2012, accessed in http://www.globalissues.org/news/2012/01/11/12407.

19 Kerri Shannon, China Continues Its Run on African Commodities With $23 Billion Nigeria Oil Deal, Money Morning, May 15, 2010, accessed in http://moneymorning.com/2010/05/15/nigeria-oil-deal/.

20 Gavin du Venage, Everyone is a loser in Nigeria's fuel subsidy cut and partial restoration, The National, January 24, 2012, accessed in http://www.thenational.ae/thenationalconversation/industry-insights/energy/everyone-is-a-loser-in-nigerias-fuel-subsidy-cut-and-partial-restoration.

21 China Daily, Nigeria seeking Chinese capital, November 12, 2011, accessed inhttp://www.chinadaily.com.cn/cndy/2011-11/12/content_14082411.htm.

22 Xinhua, Nigeria bank chief sees yuan becoming reserve currency, September 6, 2011, accessed inhttp://europe.chinadaily.com.cn/world/2011-09/06/content_13641562.htm.

23 Kayode Ekundayo, Nigeria: China, 2010 Budget and Oil Blocks, Daily Trust (Abuja), 12 July 2010, accessed inhttp://allafrica.com/stories/201007121319.html

Parasite Capitalism: Human Awakening

2012-01-27T11:10:00.001-08:00

Parasite Capitalism: Human Awakening Calling Time On the Beast

by Finian Cunningham

Global Research, January 27, 2012

Listen to this fable. A man was lying in bed, tired and tormented. Tired because it was the early hours and yet he could not sleep; tormented because the cause of his tiredness was a mosquito, lurking somewhere in the darkness that would sporadically make its presence known by homing in on the man’s head, its whining buzz ringing in his ear. Try as he might, the man could not find any rest. Covering his head with the bed sheet only made him hot and breathless, the clammy discomfort made all the worse because of the climate.

Furthermore there was the hateful, capricious presence of his tormentor. Just when tiredness was overcoming the man, luring him to sleep, his tormentor would descend with its wicked whining on the other side of the sheet. Jolted by the sound, the man’s irritation would surge again, knowing that another hour of sleeplessness would have to pass.

His mind began to wander into squeamish thoughts. If he submitted to his tormentor’s desires by throwing off the sheet from his head, gaining some air to breathe and some badly craved minutes of sleep, then the mosquito would as sure as hell take its toll. The man pictured the ruthless parasite gorging on his blood while sleeping. He was nauseated by the idea of an alien creature being able to violate his skin with impunity and dipping into the well of his lifeblood, sucking his body’s vital fluid until its spindly belly became grotesquely bloated. The horribleness of the process disgusted him, terrorized him.

But also the squalid, gratuitous relationship filled him with anger. All at once his anger redoubled because he then realized that he – a man – had wasted so much of his precious rest time cowering under a sheet intimidated by an inferior speck of an insect, which in daylight he recalled is actually a very ungainly, insipid kind of creature that can easily be captured and crushed.

The man wasn’t yet working to a premeditated plan. Angry and exasperated, now fully awake, he simply decided to throw off the sheet and enjoy the cooling air. Lying full-square on his back, at first he felt a certain amusement from his petty show of defiance. What he would do next, wasn’t quite in his consciousness. He was just for the moment merely taking in fresh air.

Then out of the blackness, it came again, the wicked whining. Louder than ever, it seemed, the tormentor was drilling towards his bare face. But this time the man did not shirk or take shelter under the sheet. It was probably a mixture of irritation and anger that made his hands snap together in reflex, not consciously. He was surprised by his own quick, powerful action. And what was even more surprising to him was the subsequent silence. At first hardly believing his luck at catching his tormentor in pitch darkness, he then became elated by the sustained silence that meant that the torment was over. He had at last acquired rest and he luxuriated in the satisfaction of earning it. To be sure, in the scheme of things it was only a small victory, but nevertheless the man allowed himself the pleasure of knowing that he had asserted his will deliberately, purposefully for the comfort and peace of his mind and body. No longer would he be subjugated by a fiend. Henceforth, or at least for the rest of the night, this man would be the subject of his own fate.

The parasitical nature of late capitalism in the early 21st century is beyond comparison to a pest such as the mosquito. The lifeblood sucked from the body of society by a tiny ruling elite is oceans in volume by comparison; the human misery and suffering magnitudes worse. Prolific journalist Stephen Lendman can provide the shocking data on the United States of America in particular and how that society has within the space of a lifetime been bled utterly dry by the Wall Street banks, corporate oligarchs and their servile political Igors in both mainstream parties, including the occupant of the White House [1]. The same torment of the large body of people by a parasitical elite is replicated in Europe and elsewhere.

That is the ineluctable fiendish nature of global capitalism, which over generations feeds on the lifeblood of workers, and emaciates them and their families, while the system’s executors become bloated to the point of bursting, with all the wastefulness and destructiveness, including wars, that that entails. There is no way of legislating against such parasitism because the legislators are, or will sooner or later become, part of the parasitism – as the rich get richer and power and wealth inevitably polarize under capitalism. It is like a centrifugal force; always taking, taking, taking until the majority are left looking like a spent liquid to be discarded. Look at every nation state under the diktat of capitalism at this time in history, and dare say that that isn’t so.

The only protection to be gained is from crushing the system and replacing it with a different paradigm of relationships (democratic socialism – an alternative that has scarcely ever been given the chance to develop under the tyranny of capitalist imperialism).

In truth, this is not an impossibly tall order. The tormentor is in actual fact puny in number and size when compared with the collective body and power of the people. In many ways, the tormentor is only able to continue his parasitical tyranny because the people have chosen thus far to cower and take relative disorganized shelter. Or worst, they have fallen asleep from weariness, assigning themselves completely to the mercy of an insatiable feeding frenzy.

But signs are that the great body of humanity is finally beginning to rouse in anger, precisely from a painful understanding of how it has been and is being tormented. The world is awakening – thanks to global communications – and no more so than in the United States, where it is arguably most needed. And like the man in the above fable, a moment of determined organization could be all it takes to suddenly overturn a state of fear and torment into one of joy and freedom.

Finian Cunningham is Global Research’s Middle East and East Africa Correspondent

cunninghamfinian@gmail.com

NOTES

[1] America’s Great Divide Between Rich and Poor by Stephen Lendman http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=28812

Australian PM Julia Gillard forced to flee Aboriginals

2012-01-27T05:06:00.000-08:00

01/26/2012

Australian PM Julia Gillard forced to flee mob at Australia Day event

By Ian Saleh, Washington Post

Australia’s tenuous and complicated relationship with its indigenous population came to a head in Canberra on Thursday when Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard had to flee a mob of protesting aboriginal activists, the Associated Press reported.
Australia's Prime Minister Julia Gillard, second from left, is escorted by body guards and police through a crowd of rowdy protesters. (Lukas Coch/AP)

Gillard and Opposition leader Tony Abbott were forced to wait for riot police to escort them from an Australia Day event after hundreds of supporters of the city’s Aboriginal Tent Embassy began protesting outside.
Protesters banged on the windows of the restaurant, chanting “shame” and “racist,” before police reinforcements arrived and pushed them back.

Gillard and Abbott were attending an event celebrating the official national day and the commemoration of the arrival of the British to the island. For many of indigenous heritage, the day is a controversial holiday — some have even taken to calling it Invasion Day. The Tent Embassy organizes annual protests.

Protesters descended on the convoy as the pair were being escorted to their vehicles, the Associated Press reported. Gillard’s bodyguard can be seen in the below video hustling her from the scene and bundling her into a waiting car. Gillard lost a shoe in the process. The car sped away while protesters ran after it pounding the windows and hood.

Tensions were inflamed after Abbott suggested that the aboriginal activists “move on” on the eve of the Tent Embassy’s 40th anniversary celebration. Embassy co-founder Michael Anderson decried Abbott’s statements as racially insensitive and criticized police for overreacting, the Herald Sun reported.

Other activists condemned the protesters’ actions. Gillard later said she was made of “tough stuff” and lauded the police for their actions. She did not comment on Abbott’s statement or the Aboriginal Tent Embassy.

She may be saving her fire for one of the many political battles she and her party are facing. She recently lost her razor-thin Parliamentary majority over a broken promise to reform slot machines, and is facing an impending state election in Queensland where her Labor party is running far behind the opposition in polls. The Queensland election is seen by many as a preamble to big Labor losses in the federal elections next year, and both Gillard and former PM Kevin Rudd have already committed to campaigning for the incumbent Anna Bligh.

By Ian Saleh | 01:06 PM ET, 01/26/2012

7 tools to shut down corporatocracy

2012-01-27T05:03:00.000-08:00

Corporate Rule Is Not Inevitable

7 signs the corporatocracy is losing its legitimacy ... and 7 populist tools to help shut it down.

Document Actions

by Sarah van Gelder

YES!Magazine, Jan 20, 2012

: A parody of corporate personhood in D.C.
Photo by takomabibelot

You may remember that there was a time when apartheid in South Africa seemed unstoppable.

Sure, there were international boycotts of South African businesses, banks, and tourist attractions. There were heroic activists in South Africa, who were going to prison and even dying for freedom. But the conventional wisdom remained that these were principled gestures with little chance of upending the entrenched system of white rule.

“Be patient,” activists were told. “Don’t expect too much against powerful interests with a lot of money invested in the status quo.”

With hindsight, though, apartheid’s fall appears inevitable: the legitimacy of the system had already crumbled. It was harming too many for the benefit of too few. South Africa’s freedom fighters would not be silenced, and the global movement supporting them was likewise tenacious and principled.

In the same way, the legitimacy of rule by giant corporations and Wall Street banks is crumbling. This system of corporate rule also benefits few and harms many, affecting nearly every major issue in public life. Some examples:

Powerful corporations socialize their risks and costs, but privatize profits. That means we, the 99 percent, pick up the tab for environmental clean ups, for helping workers who aren’t paid enough to afford food or health care, for bailouts when risky speculation goes wrong. Meanwhile, profits go straight into the pockets of top executives and others in the 1 percent.
The financial collapse threw millions of Americans into poverty. 25 million are unemployed, under-employed, or have given up looking for work; four million have been unemployed for more than 12 months. Poverty increased 27 percent between 2006 and 2010. And students who graduated with student loans in 2010 had borrowed 5 percent more than the previous year’s graduating class—owing more than $25,000. Meanwhile, those who caused the collapse continue the same practices. And the unwillingness of the 1 percent to pay their fair share of taxes means the the public services we rely on are fraying.
Scientists say that we are on the brink of runaway climate change; we only have a few years to make the needed investments in clean power and energy efficiency. This transition could be a huge job creator—on the order of the investments made during World War II, which got us out of the Depression. But fossil fuel industries don’t want to see their investment in dirty energy undermined by the switch to clean energy and conservation. So far, by paying millions to climate deniers, lobbyists, and political campaigns, they’ve succeeded in stymieing change.
Agribusiness get taxpayer subsidies for foods that make us sick; for farming practices that destroy rivers, soils, the climate, and the oceans; and for trade practices that cause hunger at home and abroad.
Through ALEC, the private prison industry crafts state laws that boost the numbers behind bars, lengthen sentences, and privatize prisons.
Big Pharma jacks up prices; insurance companies raise premiums and delivers fewer benefits; the burden of inflated care drags down the economy and bankrupts families. But only a very few politicians stand up to the health care industry's war chests and advocate for Canadian-style single-payer health care, which would go a long way toward solving the cost problem.
Corporations and wealthy executives fund an army of lobbyists and election campaigns, spreading untruths and self-serving policy prescriptions.

It’s not that we, the people, haven’t noticed all this.

In a recent poll by the Pew Research Center, 77 percent of Americans said too much power is concentrated in the hands of a few rich people and large corporations. In a poll by Time Magazine, 86 percent of Americans said Wall Street and its lobbyists have too much influence in Washington.

And 80 percent of Americans oppose Citizens United, the pro-corporate Supreme Court ruling that turns two years old today. Eighty percent—that’s among Republicans, Democrats, and Independents.

Some say corporations have such a strong grip on politicians and big media that it is impossible to challenge them, no matter how many of us there are.

But I believe we can do it. In the past few months, YES! Magazine has been researching ways that ordinary people can challenge corporate power (look for strategies in our spring issue, out in February). And we found that there are actually a lot of tools at our disposal:

Corporations were created by public law to provide a public benefit. If we the people no longer feel that a corporation is providing a benefit—or if we feel that it is operating in a lawless and destructive manner—we can revoke their charter. That’s what Free Speech for People has asked the attorney general of Delaware to do to Massey Energy, which has been one of the worst culprits in mountaintop removal and which has operated its mines in a lawless and negligent manner, resulting in 29 deaths at the Upper Big Branch Mine.
We can insist that, in exchange for use of our public airwaves, broadcasters provide free airtime to candidates for public office. If they don’t need to raise millions for media buys, they don’t need to be as beholden to the 1 percent.
We can get our governments to quit banking with Bank of America and Chase, and start our own state banks—14 states, including California and Washington, are considering such a move. And while we're at it, we can localizefood, energy, and other aspects of our economy so local, independent businesses and cooperatives can thrive.
We can stand up to specific parts of the corporate agenda by engaging in the sort of direct action that halted the KXL Pipeline.
We can call for a constitutional amendment overturning Citizens United, corporate personhood, and the ridiculous notion that money is the same thing as speech. So far, Los Angeles, New York City, and about 50 other towns and cities have done so far.
We can use mechanisms like clean elections, electoral transparency, citizen review of legislation, and recalls to keep corporate control of our democracy in check.
Finally, the reason I am most hopeful today: We can take a cue from Occupy Wall Street and continue to name the source of political corruption—something the political establishment and mainstream media have refused to do. We can occupy homes that are slated for foreclosure, as people have been doing all over the country. We can mic check places like Walmarts that intimidate and fire workers who want to unionize. We can set up tents in public places and in other ways join with the Occupy movement to take a stand for a world that works for the 100 percent—a world where we all benefit.

None of these actions will be easy. It will take time—potentially years of work—to make big change. But just as the legitimacy of apartheid crumbled well before the institutions of apartheid went down, the legitimacy of corporate rule is crumbling. So I’m convinced that, with you and me and all the others out there creating alternatives and taking a stand, we will see change.

Sarah van Gelder will deliver these comments at Seattle's rally on the second anniversary of the Citizens United ruling. Sarah is YES! Magazine's co-founder and executive editor, and editor of the new book: "This Changes Everything: Occupy Wall Street and the 99% Movement."

Interested?

The 12 Most Hopeful Trends to Build On in 2012
2011 was full of surprises, many of them the good kind. But which ones will matter in the coming year? Here's our pick of trends to watch.
How Cities and States are Sticking It to Citizens United
From courthouses to statehouses, the pro-corporate ruling is under pressure.
How to Liberate America
How is it that our nation is awash in money, but too broke to provide jobs and services? David Korten introduces a landmark new report, “How to Liberate America from Wall Street Rule.”

Recent literature on complementary currencies

2012-01-26T09:39:00.001-08:00

Recent literature on complementary currencies
Posted by: "Gill Seyfang (ENV)" g.seyfang@uea.ac.uk gillseyfang
Thu Jan 26, 2012 4:47 am (PST)

I'm pleased to forward this email from Rolf Schroeder, who compiles a wonderful database of CC literature. This is his list of most recent additions to the database. Please explore the database yourselves to find new research papers, and contribute anything else you know about,

www.cc-literature.org <http://www.cc-literature.org/>

thanks, Gill

International Journal of Community Currency Research
www.ijccr.net

Hello,

please find below a list with new publications and unpublished works. 66 contributions of the year 2011 and 2 of the year 2012 have, so far, been entered into the databank of the "Bibliography" (www.cc-literature.org <http://www.cc-literature.org/>). Not yet included are the Lyon conference papers. Below, I did not include the IJCCR publications readily available under www.ijccr.net . As usual, annotations i. r. o. many titles can be found in the databank. With regard to lit. in Japanese and French - work is in progress. I would be grateful for hints about other sources, of course also from earlier years.

Somebody in Lyon suggested to include some essential information about key authors. Here you are - a start has been made with Colin C. Williams a) in the "Focus" section and b) as pdf attachment to each and every entry. Other authors will follow.

Best regards,
Rolf

------------ --------- --------- --------- --------- --------- -

Adams, C., & Mouatt, S. (2012). Alternatives to the global financial sector: Local complementary currencies, LETS, and time backed currencies. In Z. Luo (Ed.), Advanced analytics for green and sustainable economic development: Supply chain models and financial technologies (pp. 64-78). Hershey, PA: IGI Global. doi:
http://dx.doi.org/10.4018/978-1-61350-156-6.ch005

Associazione Nazionale Banche del Tempo (Ed.). (2011). Banca del Tempo: L'Esperienza e il Valore sociale di una grande Rete di Relazioni e Saperi tra Cittadini. Milano: Altra Economia.

Barnes, G. (2011). Liquidity networks: Local trading systems using a debt-free electronic currency. In R. Douthwaite, & G. Fallon (Eds.), Fleeing vesuvius: Overcoming the risks of economic and environmental collapse (pp. 80-85). Gabriola Island: New Society Publishers.

Blanc, J., & Fare, M. (2011). Le rôle des pouvoirs publics dans le déploiement de monnaies sociales. Territoires, (515), 24-29.

Breitstein, L., & Dini, P. (2012). A social constructivist analysis of the 2007 banking crisis: Building trust and transparency through community currencies. Journal of Banking Regulation, 13(1), 36-62. doi:http://dx.doi. org/10.1057/ jbr.2011. 16 Retrieved from http://dx.doi.org/10.1057/jbr.2011.16

Caminha, U., & Figueiredo, M. (2011). Atividade financeira e moeda: Análise da experiência do conjunto palmeiras em fortaleza-CE. [Financial activity and currency: analisys of the experience of “conjunto palmeiras” in Fortaleza-CE (translation as provided in the journal)] Revista Direito GV, 7(1), 99-130. doi:http://dx.doi. org/10.1590/ S1808-2432201100 0100006 Retrieved from
http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?pid=S1808-24322011000100006&script=sci_arttext

Cochrane, A. (2011). Alternative approaches to local and regional development. In A. Pike, A. Rodríguez-Pose & J. Tomaney (Eds.), Handbook of local and regional development (pp. 97-105). Abingdon; New York: Routledge.

Collom, E. (2011, Motivations and differential participation in a community currency system:
the dynamics within a local social movement organization. Sociological Forum, 26, 144-168. doi:http://dx.doi. org/10.1111/ j.1573-7861. 2010.01228. x Retrieved from
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1573-7861.2010.01228.x/abstract

Darlaston-Jones, W. J. (2011). Endless possibilities: Achieving transformative change on poverty using community currencies. The Australian Community Psychologist, 23(1), 46-58. Retrieved from http://www.groups. psychology. org.au/Assets/ Files/ACP- 23-1-Darlaston- Jones.pdf;
http://www.groups.psychology.org.au/Assets/Files/ACP-23-1-2011.pdf

de Freitas, C. (2011). La Banque Palmas : une expérience phare de banque communautaire. Territoires, (515), 30-32.

Deconinck, G., Joachain, H., Klopfert, F., Holzemer, L., De Craemer, K., Qiu, Z., et al. (2011). An approach towards socially acceptable energy saving policies via monetary instruments on the smart meter infrastructure. Paper presented at the Leuven. 1-6. Retrieved from
https://lirias.kuleuven.be/handle/123456789/297783

Douthwaite, R. (2011). Degrowth and the supply of money in an energy-scarce world. Ecological Economics, , 1-7. doi:http://dx.doi. org/10.1016/ j.ecolecon. 2011.03.020 Retri eved from
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0921800911001297

Douthwaite, R. (2011). The supply of money in an energy-scarce world. In R. Douthwaite, & G. Fallon (Eds.), Fleeing vesuvius: Overcoming the risks of economic and environmental collapse (pp. 52-79). Gabriola Island: New Society Publishers.

Dunne, J. (2011). Complementary currency systems. In P. U. Petit (Ed.), Earth capitalism: Creating a new civilization through a responsible market economy (pp. 137-152). Piscataway, NJ: Transaction Publishers, Rutgers.

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------------ --------- ---------
Dr Gill Seyfang
RCUK Academic Fellow in Sustainable Consumption
Science, Society and Sustainability (3S) Research Group
School of Environmental Sciences
University of East Anglia
Norwich NR4 7TJ, UK

tel: +44(0)1603 592956

3S: www.3s.uea.ac.uk<http://www.3s.uea.ac.uk>
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Rescates financieros en Europa permiten privatizaciones

2012-01-26T04:13:00.000-08:00

INTERNACIONAL

Rescates financieros en Europa permiten privatizaciones de bienes y riquezas estatales

por Leandro Albani

http://www.avn.info.ve/contenido/rescates-financieros-europa-permiten-privatizaciones-bienes-y-riquezas-estatales

Caracas, 24 Ene. AVN.- Los rescates financieros que en la actualidad se aplican en Europa tienen el objetivo de aumentar las deudas públicas de los países y, ante la imposibilidad de pagar esos compromisos, despojarlos de sus empresas públicas y sus riquezas.

Así lo afirmó el el politólogo italiano, Attillio Folliero, en una entrevista con la Agencia Venezolana de Noticias (AVN).

"El rescate tiene un objetivo preciso y es aumentar la deuda pública, llevándola a un nivel impagable para después poder despojar a los países desarrollados de sus mejoras empresas estatales y sus riquezas", expresó el también profesor universitario.

Folliero señaló que en estos momentos, los países europeos tienen una deuda alta y, cuanto más se acreciente a través de préstamos de organismos internacionales, "menor será el precio para los 'interesados' en adquirir las riquezas de un país y sus grandes empresas estatales".

Grecia, Portugal, Italia y España son las naciones del viejo continente que más han avanzado en esta dirección, liberalizando sus economías, aplicando medidas de ajuste y dictando leyes que permiten las privatizaciones y los despidos masivos, requisitos impuestos por el FMI y la Unión Europea (UE) a cambio de ayudas financieras.

Estas políticas son denunciadas de forma permanente en las protestas de sindicatos y movimientos de indigandos en Europa.

Para Folliero, la actual crisis en el continente "no se va a resolver en tiempos rápidos", porque está relacionada con "la aceleración del ocaso del Occidente".

El politólogo italiano vaticinó que en un futuro se podrán presenciar "manifestaciones impactantes", porque comenzarán a repercutir problemas estructurales como el hambre.

"Europa no tiene futuro porque además hay que añadir que no tiene ningún tipo de recursos naturales. Por supuesto tiene grandes riquezas, grandes empresas tecnológicas o grandes reservas de oro", pero "serán despojadas, robadas por las grandes transnacionales".

Folliero aseveró que "la crisis no ha llegado a su punto más crítico y aun cuando llegara y pasara el punto más crítico, Europa seguirá en crisis, en el sentido que nunca más alcanzara el poder y la riqueza a la cual había llegado".

Leandro Albani AVN 24/01/2012 10:07

Shining a Light on Shadow Banking

2012-01-25T17:34:00.000-08:00

Why All the Robo-Signing? Shining a

Light on the Shadow Banking System

Wednesday 25 January 2012

by: Ellen Brown, Truthout | News Analysis

http://www.truth-out.org/why-all-robo-signing-shining-light-shadow-banking-system/1327502824

(Image: JR / TO; Adapted: epicharmus,_rockinfree)

The Wall Street Journal reported on January 19 that the Obama administration was pushing heavily to get the 50 state attorneys general to agree to a settlement with five major banks in the "robo-signing" scandal. The scandal involves employees signing names not their own, under titles they did not really have, attesting to the veracity of documents they had not really reviewed. Investigation is revealing that it did not just happen occasionally, but was an industry-wide practice, dating back to the late 1990s; and that it may have clouded the titles of millions of homes. If the settlement is agreed to, it will let Wall Street bankers off the hook for crimes that would land the rest of us in jail - fraud, forgery, securities violations and tax evasion.

To the president's credit, however, he seems to have shifted his position on the settlement in response to protests before his State of the Union address. In his speech on January 24, President Obama did not mention the settlement, but announced instead that he would be creating a mortgage crisis unit to investigate wrongdoing related to real estate lending. "This new unit will hold accountable those who broke the law, speed assistance to homeowners and help turn the page on an era of recklessness that hurt so many Americans," he said.

The Deeper Question Is, Why?

Whether massive robo-signing occurred is no longer in issue. The question that needs to be investigated is why it was being done. The alleged justification - that the bankers were so busy that they cut corners - hardly seems credible given the extent of the practice.

The robo-signing largely involved assignments of mortgage notes to mortgage servicers or trusts representing the investors who put up the loan money. Assignment was necessary to give the trusts legal title to the loans. But assignment was delayed until it was necessary to foreclose on the homes, when it had to be done through the forgery and fraud of robo-signing. Why had it been delayed? Why did the banks not assign the mortgages to the trusts when and as required by law?

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Here is a working hypothesis, suggested by Martin Andelman: securitized mortgages are the "pawns" used in the pawn shop known as the "repo market." "Repos" are overnight sales and repurchases of collateral. Yale economist Gary Gorton explains that repos are the "deposit insurance" for the shadow banking system, which is now larger than the conventional banking system and is necessary for the conventional system to operate. The problem is that repos require "sales," which means the mortgage notes have to remain free to be bought and sold. The mortgages are left unendorsed so they can be used in this repo market.

The Evolution of the Shadow Banking System

Gorton observes that there is a massive and growing demand for banking by large institutional investors - pension funds, mutual funds, hedge funds, sovereign wealth funds - which have millions of dollars to park somewhere between investments. But FDIC insurance covers only up to $250,000. FDIC insurance was resisted in the 1930s by bankers and government officials and was pushed through as a populist movement: the people demanded it. What they got was enough insurance to cover the deposits of individuals and no more. Today, the large institutional investors want similar coverage. They want an investment that is secure, that provides them with a little interest and that is liquid like a traditional deposit account, allowing quick withdrawal.

The shadow banking system evolved in response to this need, operating largely through the repo market. "Repos" are sales and repurchases of highly liquid collateral, typically Treasury debt or mortgage-backed securities - the securitized units into which American real estate has been ground up and packaged, sausage-fashion. The collateral is bought by a "special purpose vehicle" (SPV), which acts as the shadow bank. The investors put their money in the SPV and keep the securities, which substitute for FDIC insurance in a traditional bank. (If the SPV fails to pay up, the investors can foreclose on the securities.) To satisfy the demand for liquidity, the repos are one-day or short-term deals, continually rolled over until the money is withdrawn. This money is used by the banks for other lending, investing or speculating. Gorton writes:

This banking system (the "shadow" or "parallel" banking system) - repo based on securitization - is a genuine banking system, as large as the traditional, regulated banking system. It is of critical importance to the economy because it is the funding basis for the traditional banking system. Without it, traditional banks will not lend and credit, which is essential for job creation, will not be created.

All Behind the Curtain of MERS

The housing shell game was made possible because it was all concealed behind an electronic smokescreen called MERS (an acronym for Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems, Inc.). MERS allowed houses to be shuffled around among multiple, rapidly changing owners while circumventing local recording laws. Title would be recorded in the name of MERS as a placeholder for the investors and MERS would foreclose on behalf of the investors. Payments would be received by the mortgage servicer, which was typically the bank that signed the mortgage with the homeowner. The homeowner usually thinks the servicer is the lender, but in fact it is an amorphous group of investors.

This all worked until courts started questioning whether MERS, which admitted that it was a mere conduit without title, had standing to foreclose. Courts have increasingly held that it does not.

Making matters worse for the servicing banks, Fannie Mae sent out a memo telling servicers that in order to be reimbursed under HAMP - a government loan modification program designed to help at-risk homeowners meet their mortgage payments - the servicers would have to produce the paperwork showing the loan had been assigned to the trust.

The hasty solution was a rash of assignments signed by an army of "robo-signers," to be filed in the public records. But the documents are patent forgeries, making a shambles of county title records.

Complicating all this are tax issues. Since 1986, mortgage-backed securities have been issued to investors through SPVs called REMICs (Real Estate Mortgage Investment Conduits). REMICs are designed as tax shelters; but to qualify for that status, they must be "static." Mortgages can't be transferred in and out once the closing date has occurred. The REMIC Pooling and Servicing Agreement typically states that any transfer significantly after the closing date is invalid. Yet, the newly robo-signed documents, which are required to begin foreclosure proceedings, are almost always executed long after the trust's closing date. The whole business is quite complicated, but the bottom line is that title has been clouded not only by MERS, but because the trusts purporting to foreclose do not own the properties by the terms of their own documents.

John O'Brien, register of deeds for the Southern Essex District of Massachusetts, calls it a "criminal enterprise." On January 18, he called for a full-scale criminal investigation, including a grand jury, to look into the evidence. He sent to Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley, US Attorney General Eric Holder and US Attorney Carmen Ortiz over 30,000 documents recorded in the Salem Registry that he says are fraudulent.

From Lending Machines to Borrowing Machines

The bankers have engaged in what amounts to a massive fraud, not necessarily because they started out with criminal intent, but because they have been required to in order to come up with the collateral (in this case real estate) to back their loans. It is the way our system is set up: the banks are not really creating credit and advancing it to us, counting on our future productivity to pay it off, the way they once did under the deceptive but functional façade of fractional reserve lending. Instead, they are vacuuming up our money and lending it back to us at higher rates.

"Instead of lending into the economy," says British money reformer Ann Pettifor, "bankers are borrowing from the real economy." She wrote in The Huffington Post in October 2010:

[T]he crazy facts are these: bankers now borrow from their customers and from taxpayers. They are effectively draining funds from household bank accounts, small businesses, corporations, government Treasuries and from e.g. the Federal Reserve. They do so by charging high rates of interest and fees; by demanding early repayment of loans; by illegally foreclosing on homeowners and by appropriating and then speculating with trillions of dollars of taxpayer-backed resources.

Not only has the system destroyed county title records, but it is highly vulnerable to bank runs and systemic collapse. In the shadow banking system, as in the old, fractional reserve banking system, the collateral is being double counted: it is owed to the borrowers and the depositors at the same time. This allows for expansion of the money supply, but bank runs can occur when the borrowers and the depositors demand their money at the same time. And unlike the conventional banking system, the shadow banking system is largely unregulated. It doesn't have the backup of FDIC insurance to prevent bank runs.

That is what happened in September 2008 following the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers, a major investment bank. Gorton explains that it was a run on the shadow banking system that caused the credit collapse that followed. Investors rushed to pull their money out overnight. LIBOR - the London interbank lending rate for short-term loans - shot up to around 5 percent. Since the cost of borrowing the money to cover loans was too high for banks to turn a profit, lending abruptly came to a halt.

Fixing the System

The question is how to eliminate this systemic risk. As noted by The Business Insider:

Regulate shadow banking more tightly and you probably have to also provide government backstops. Shudder. Try to shut the thing down or restrict it and you suck credit out of the system, credit which much of the non-financial "'real" economy uses and needs.

Interestingly, countries with strong public-sector banking systems largely escaped the 2008 credit crisis. These include the BRIC countries - Brazil, Russia, India and China - which contain 40 percent of the global population and are today's fastest growing economies. They escaped because their public-sector banks do not need to rely on repos and securitizations to back their loans. The banks are owned and operated by the ultimate guarantor - the government itself. The public-sector banking model deserves further study.

Whatever the solution, a system that requires the slicing and dicing of mortgages behind an electronic smokescreen so they can be bought and sold as collateral for the pawn shop of the repo market is obviously fraught with perils and is unsustainable. Please contact your state attorney general and urge him or her not to go through with the robo-signing settlement, which will be granting immunity for crimes that are not yet fully known. Phone numbers are here. The surface of this great shadowy second banking system has barely been scratched. It needs a very thorough investigation.

Italian Trucker Blockades Cost EUR200 Million A Day

2012-01-25T12:49:00.001-08:00

Italian Trucker Blockades Cost EUR200 Million A Day - Report

Published January 25, 2012

Dow Jones Newswires

ROME – A nationwide blockade by Italian truckers is costing the country's economy at least EUR200 million a day, Italian business daily Il Sole 24 Ore reported Wednesday.

The paper said at least EUR50 million in fresh product is being lost to sales each day and noted that carmaker Fiat SpA (F.MI) has had to shut down some shifts due to the fact that supplies are not being delivered.

Appliance-makers Indesit Co. SpA (IND.MI), Whirlpool Corp. (WHR) and Electrolux AB (ELUXY) are also cutting back on shifts due to supply problems, while Italy's many shoe-making enterprises are also running out of material.

Italian truckers are protesting the high cost of fuel, which the government's latest austerity measures increased by adding a new excise tax, as well as high road tolls, which the government did not cut in its liberalization decree. Episodes of violence have occurred during the protest.

The disruption has led to shortages of gasoline and food. Markets in the city of Rome are receiving 70% less fruit and vegetables than usual, which has triggered an equal jump in prices for some items, pushing the humble zucchini or courgette to command as much as EUR6.50 a kilogram, daily Il Messaggero reported.

Gold-market rigging has many whistleblowers

2012-01-24T00:47:00.000-08:00

Gold-market rigging has many whistleblowers; they're just always ignored

Submitted by cpowell on Mon, 2012-01-23 01:45. Section: Documentation

Remarks by Chris Powell
Secretary/Treasurer, Gold Anti-Trust Action Committee Inc.
Vancouver Resource Investment Conference
Vancouver Convention Center West
Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Sunday, January 21, 2012

http://www.gata.org/node/10909

Many people ask why, if there really is a gold price suppression scheme -- a scheme of currency market intervention to support the dollar and other currencies against the true international reserve currency, gold -- some whistleblowers haven't come forward to expose it.

In fact, the whistle has been blown on the gold price suppression scheme manytimes over the years, and by the highest authorities. They just haven't yet been recognized as whistleblowers by the news media and financial analysts.

Many of you may have heard of Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan's famous remark about gold in his testimony to Congress in July 1998: "Central banks stand ready to lease gold in increasing quantities should the price rise."

That is, Greenspan contradicted the usual central bank explanation for leasing gold -- supposedly to earn a little interest on a dead asset -- and admitted that gold leasing is all about suppressing the price. Greenspan's admission is still posted at the Fed's Internet site:

http://www.federalreserve.gov/boarddocs/testimony/1998/19980724.htm

And at GATA's:

http://www.gata.org/files/GreenspanTestimony-07-24-1998.htm_.txt

But the official whistleblowing goes far beyond that.

A few years ago a sensational memorandum was discovered in the archives of William McChesney Martin, the longest-serving chairman of the Fed, from 1951 to 1970. His archives are in the possession of the Missouri Historical Society and material from them is posted on the Internet site of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis.

The sensational memorandum is dated April 5, 1961, and is titled "U.S. Foreign Exchange Operations: Needs and Methods." It is a detailed plan of surreptitious intervention by the U.S. government to rig the currency and gold markets to support the dollar and to conceal, obscure, or even falsify U.S. government records and reports so that the rigging might not be discovered.

We don't know if the plan was ever fully implemented but the memo proves that at least such surreptitious market rigging was contemplated by the U.S. government in the greatest detail:

http://www.gata.org/node/7096

Paul Volcker was the U.S. Treasury Department's undersecretary for international monetary affairs from 1969 to 1974 and became Fed chairman in 1979. He lately has been an adviser to President Obama. Volcker has written some memoirs that as far as we can tell have been published only in excerpts by The Nikkei Weekly in Japan.

On November 15, 2004, The Nikkei Weekly published the following excerpt from Volcker's memiors about the U.S. dollar revaluation that took place on February 12, 1973. Volcker writes:

"That day the United States announced that the dollar would be devalued by 10 percent. By switching the yen to a floating exchange rate, the Japanese currency appreciated, and a sufficient realignment in exchange rates was realized. Joint intervention in gold sales to prevent a steep rise in the price of gold, however, was not undertaken. That was a mistake."

http://www.gata.org/node/8209

Got that? A former Federal Reserve chairman, the one credited for wringing inflation out of the U.S. dollar in the late 1970s and early 1980s, now a presidential adviser, says that for the U.S. government not to rig the gold market was a mistake.

Volcker is still around to answer questions, but as far as we know, no financial journalist has ever asked him why not rigging the gold market was a mistake.

Arthur Burns was Fed chairman from 1970 to 1978. On June 3, 1975, Burns wrote a letter to President Ford about surreptitious efforts by the Fed to suppress the gold price. This letter is available from various sources of declassified U.S. government records and is posted at GATA's Internet site:

http://www.gata.org/files/FedArthurBurnsOnGold-6-03-1975.pdf

Burns told the president: "I have a secret understanding in writing with the Bundesbank, concurred in by Mr. Schmidt" -- that's Helmut Schmidt, West Germany's chancellor at the time -- "that Germany will not buy gold, either from the market or from another government, at a price above the official price of $42.22 per ounce."

Burns added, "I am convinced that by far the best position for us to take at this time is to resist arrangements that provide wide latitude for central banks and governments to purchase gold at a market-related price."

That is, the chairman of the Fed in 1975, four years after the dollar was disconnected from any formal convertibility into gold, told the president that the U.S. government should discourage market pricing of gold.

A few weeks ago the German freelance journalist Lars Schall contacted Schmidt's office about the Burns letter. Schmidt replied through a secretary that he could not remember the secret understanding the letter described, but he did not deny it.

The whistleblowing about gold price suppression by former Fed Chairmen Greenspan, Martin, Volcker, and Burns may seem a bit like history. But there was similar whistleblowing two years ago.

Evaluating GATA's freedom-of-information request for access to the Fed's gold documents, a member of the Fed's Board of Governors, Kevin M. Warsh, replied to GATA's lawyer in September 2009 that among the gold records the Fed insisted on keeping secret were records of the Fed's gold swap arrangements with foreign banks:

http://www.gata.org/files/GATAFedResponse-09-17-2009.pdf

Of course the only purpose of gold swap arrangements is market intervention.

Fed Governor Warsh did not write that those gold swap arrangements had actually been implemented. But our German freelance journalist friend Schall and others have gotten the Bundesbank to make statements that come close to confirming that the Bundesbank has undertaken gold swaps with the United States to pursue what the Bundesbank calls its "strategic" activities in the market:

http://www.gata.org/node/9363

And just last month Warsh, having resigned from the Fed's board, wrote an essay in The Wall Street Journal about the increasingly popular topic of "financial repression" -- that is, government intervention against markets. Warsh wrote that "policy makers are finding it tempting to pursue 'financial repression' -- suppressing market prices that they don't like":

http://www.gata.org/node/10839

A few weeks later a columnist for the Financial Times cited Warsh's commentary in her own column in the FT:

http://www.gata.org/node/10828

But neither she nor anyone else, as far as GATA has been able to determine, went back to Warsh to ask the obvious and compelling questions:

-- Which policy makers are trying to suppress market prices?

-- Which prices are they trying to suppress?

-- Exactly how do you know about these efforts to suppress certain prices? Do you know from the experience of your five years as a member of the Fed's Board of Governors?

-- In a democratic country do the public and the markets have the right to know plainly and specifically the public policy of "financial repression" here, so they might understand which markets are being targeted, which markets really aren't markets anymore at all?

Since the news media and financial writers do not seem inclined to ask Warsh the obvious and compelling questions raised by his essay, GATA sought to do so. We reached Warsh through the Hoover Institution at Stanford University in California, where he has become a visiting fellow, and asked if we could interview him about his essay in the Wall Street Journal about "financial repression." Warsh was slow to respond but he did respond after a couple of weeks, very cordially and apologizing for the delay.

While not answering the request for an interview, Warsh replied that this coming Thursday at Stanford he plans to make his first public comments since leaving the Fed, that these comments will elaborate on "financial repression," and that the university will make his comments widely available. Warsh even had a university publicist contact me so that I would have quick access to his comments. They may be of the greatest interest to advocates of free markets and democracy.

Will Warsh's comments be of any interest to the financial news media? I wouldn't count on it. But I mention these incidents of whistleblowing about the gold market, all of which are described in the "Documentation" section at GATA's Internet site -- http://www.gata.org/taxonomy/term/21 -- just to show that the question isn't why isn't there any whistleblowing in the gold market but rather why it isn't reported.

Monti will be defeat by democracy

2012-01-24T00:16:00.001-08:00

Monti will be defeat by democracy, truth and conscience, more than by taxi drivers!
http://www.movisol.org/12news005.htm

Sir,

In reference to Mr. Giugliano's article of Dec. 29 ("Monti needs more than Europe's cheers to hold Rome"), what is being described as "resistances" by a system of "closed shop professions" must be more properly viewed as the passionate effort by forces engaged in an actual democratic resistance against the transformation of Italy from a republic into an oligarchical state. Taxi drivers, pharmacists, newsvendors, shopkeepers - before being workers, are citizens who still enjoy voting rights and who put pressure on a system which – despite the "freezing" of the constitutional process of selection of the Prime minister by a series of national and international forces – is still centered around Parliament and voting rights which these persons still enjoy. This is the primary obstacle to a neo-liberal blueprint aiming at putting the country - with its economic, productive and distributive expressions, both state-owned and shared among a multitude of citizens - in the hands of a financial oligarchy which has domineered upon the nation at least since 1992 (the year of the famous "Britannia" deals).

The second obstacle faced by Mr. Monti is truth. All above mentioned citizen-workers are mobilizing to make their co-citizens clear that the current media campaign is not truthful. Since most television and radio talk-shows do not allow or severely limit a real debate, union organizations and single workers have established a real parallel information system by using the social network, leaflets and word-of-mouth advertising.

The third and last obstacle faced by Monti is represented by that properly human ontological quality called conscience. This is the sea where the River of Truth finds its mouth: it finds it in a few members of Parliament, in some journalists, in many citizens.

Therefore, it is not some magical power by taxi-drivers that is stopping Monti, but this mix of democracy, truth and conscience which is keeping the country still safe from ultimately falling in the hands of financial sharks!

Claudio Giudici
Chairman
Uritaxi (national taxi drivers union), Tuscany region

In Ponzi World You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet

2012-01-23T02:31:00.001-08:00

In Ponzi World You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet by Tom Heneghan, International Intelligence Expert
Sunday January 22, 2012
http://www.myspace.com/tom_heneghan_intel/blog/545194306/

UNITED STATES of America - It can now be reported that IMF President Christine Lagarde has cut off funding for the Scandinavian nations of Sweden, Norway and Denmark.
European INTERPOL has frozen the trading accounts in three major Luxembourg banks that have an excess amount of Swedish kroner derivatives that violate the terms of Basil II European banking agreement.

We can now divulge that the Luxembourg trading accounts have operated as a major money laundry for the outlaw London LIFFE Exchange, the privately owned U.S. Federal Reserve and the European Central Bank (ECB).

We can now also divulge that the billions of dollars of the MF Global-JP Morgan alleged missing funds continue to be laundered through the London LIFFE Exchange and Hungarian banks tied to noted financial terrorist George Soros. Soros has been busily disguising these derivatives by converting them into Swedish, Danish and Norweign kroner and then parking them in Luxembourg banks. Soros then uses this hocus pocus kroner (counterfeit ?) to engage in a massive worldwide ponzi scheme that is manipulating foreign currency, precious metals and stock index future markets on the worldwide financial exchanges.

Also participating in the scam is Soros' underwriter, worldwide banking giant HSBC.

P.S. At this hour we can report (despite Bloomberg News dis-information) Greek financial officers have told the European Central Bank (ECB) they will NOT 'bail out' Goldman Sachs and its crooked derivative bets that were made against the Greek nation itself.

Greek financial officers have also told the ECB that the alleged creditor Goldman Sachs is not only going to take a haircut but they are going to get their head shaved.

Greece is ready to follow the path of Iceland and will not issue new bonds that legitimize Goldman Sachs crooked derivative trading.
P.P.S. Assistant Attorney General of the United States Lanny Breuer is ready to go public and demand that criminal U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder resign immediately!

Note: Breuer is a close friend of former Deputy U.S. Attorney General and American patriot James Comey.

Breuer has accused Bush-Clinton-Obama Crime Family Syndicate stooge Eric Holder of engaging in obstruction of justice involving the MFGlobal-JP Morgan bankruptcy fiasco (a defalcation).

Breuer has also accused Holder of planning FALSE FLAG terrorist activity by funding and arming the Mexican drug cartel who then help fund and arm alleged Iranian terrorists aka ISRAELI MOSSAD agents who are operating without any oversight on the U.S.-Mexican border.

Bush-Clinton-Obama Crime Family Syndicate dis-information stooge "Sorcha" has been putting out disinformation that an earthquake is about to take place on the U.S.-Mexico border. It is clear "Sorcha" is trying to use the earthquake story to cover up the FALSE FLAG terrorist activity that is taking place on the U.S.-Mexican border.

So you see, folks, instead of sending the U.S. Military down there to arrest these FALSE FLAG terrorists Eric Holder and Barack Hussein Obama-Soetoro will send meteorologists.

TRAITORS the Bush-Clinton Crime Family Syndicate
HIGH Treason against the American People

P.P.P.S. In closing let us make it perfectly clear that the Bushes and the Clintons and their entire bloodline still remain a mortal enemy of the American People and their Constitution.

It was none other than loser and lesbian, dysfunctional Secretary of State Hillary Rodenhurst Clinton that strongly advised, if not blackmailed, foreign born, alleged pResident Barack Hussein Obama-Soetoro to sign the TREASONOUS National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) that has permanently shredded the U.S. Constitution and allows pResident Obama and any future U.S. President to arrest patriotic American citizens on their own soil without habeas corpus or due process of law.

Remember, folks, the fascist Department of Homeland Security (DHS) can designate you a terrorist: If you don't support the neo-Nazi Israeli government of Benjamin Netanyahu, or if you have a Ron Paul bumper sticker on your car.

Listen to this, folks: Year 2000 election stealer and former Governor of Florida, Jeb Bush, is thinking about running for president. Can you believe that! The audacity of the little punk! I warned you, folks, it is still Bush and Bitch.
Hillary wants to be Vice President without an election aka replace Biden and then you can almost imagine what is coming next; and Jeb Bush wants to run a brokered Republican Convention in which he gets to be the Republican nominee without even winning one primary.

Duly elected natural born President Albert Gore Jr.

It is time now for year 2000 duly elected, natural born President Albert Gore Jr. and the patriotic elements of the U.S. Military to arrest every last member of the Bush-Clinton Crime Family Syndicate bloodline and have them placed in immediate detention using none other than the recently signed National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) as predicate for their detention. Lets put these REAL terrorists in the FEMA concentration camps they have actually prepared for the American People.

Once this is done President Gore can then sign an Executive Order terminating and eradicating the criminal and TREASONOUS UN-Constitutional Patriot Act and National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) similar to President Thomas Jefferson's Executive Order in the year 1800 when he terminated and eradicated the TREASONOUS Alien Sedition Act of the previous U.S. President John Adams.

Stay tuned for our future intelligence briefing, which will include a massive nuclear winter reference the criminal activity of the corporate fascist, extortion-friendly U.S. media filth.

In a way, thanks to Newt Gingrich's direct attack on CNN stooge John King, the gloves are now really going to come off.

There is a lot of built up anger and hatred for what this media filth has done in enabling the destruction of the American Republic.
Note: The #1 media enemy of the American People remains FOX News owner Rupert Murdoch Greenberg who is actively pursuing internet censorship legislation in the U.S. Congress.

Families of 9/11 victims had phones hacked

Murdoch and FOX News should not even have a broadcast license after it has been proven that FOX News actively,illegally spied and hacked the phones of families of 9/11 victims who did not believe in the government big lie version of 9/11.

This illegal espionage against American citizens was done on American soil and being covered up by Attorney General Eric Holder, alleged rPresident Obama and his sociopath, dysfunctional U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

Note: This is another issue that Assistant Attorney General Lanny Breuer has with Marc Rich defense attorney, AG Holder.

THE BUSH CABAL - NUKING THE OUTHOUSE!
White Hats Report #34
http://tdarkcabal.blogspot.com/2012/01/january-18-2012-white-hats-report-34.html

#OpGlobalBlackout Targets Banks

2012-01-22T05:45:00.000-08:00

The World War on Democracy

2012-01-22T04:50:00.001-08:00

The World War on Democracy

by John Pilger
Global Research, January 19, 2012Lisette Talate died the other day. I remember a wiry, fiercely intelligent woman who masked her grief with a determination that was a presence. She was the embodiment of people’s resistance to the war on democracy. I first glimpsed her in a 1950s Colonial Office film about the Chagos islanders, a tiny creole nation living midway between Africa and Asia in the Indian Ocean. The camera panned across thriving villages, a church, a school, a hospital, set in a phenomenon of natural beauty and peace. Lisette remembers the producer saying to her and her teenage friends, "Keep smiling girls!"

Sitting in her kitchen in Mauritius many years later, she said, "I didn’t have to be told to smile. I was a happy child, because my roots were deep in the islands, my paradise. My great-grandmother was born there; I made six children there. That’s why they couldn’t legally throw us out of our own homes; they had to terrify us into leaving or force us out. At first, they tried to starve us. The food ships stopped arriving [then] they spread rumours we would be bombed, then they turned on our dogs."

In the early 1960s, the Labour government of Harold Wilson secretly agreed to a demand from Washington that the Chagos archipelago, a British colony, be "swept" and "sanitised" of its 2,500 inhabitants so that a military base could be built on the principal island, Diego Garcia. "They knew we were inseparable from our pets," said Lisette, "When the American soldiers arrived to build the base, they backed their big trucks against the brick shed where we prepared the coconuts; hundreds of our dogs had been rounded up and imprisoned there. Then they gassed them through tubes from the trucks’ exhausts. You could hear them crying."

Lisette and her family and hundreds of islanders were forced on to a rusting steamer bound for Mauritius, a distance of 2,500 miles. They were made to sleep in the hold on a cargo of fertiliser: bird shit. The weather was rough; everyone was ill; two women miscarried. Dumped on the docks at Port Louis, Lizette’s youngest children, Jollice, and Regis, died within a week of each other. "They died of sadness," she said. "They had heard all the talk and seen the horror of what had happened to the dogs. They knew they were leaving their home forever. The doctor in Mauritius said he could not treat sadness."

This act of mass kidnapping was carried out in high secrecy. In one official file, under the heading, "Maintaining the fiction", the Foreign Office legal adviser exhorts his colleagues to cover their actions by "re-classifying" the population as "floating" and to "make up the rules as we go along". Article 7 of the statute of the International Criminal Court says the "deportation or forcible transfer of population" is a crime against humanity. That Britain had committed such a crime -- in exchange for a $14million discount off an American Polaris nuclear submarine -- was not on the agenda of a group of British "defence" correspondents flown to the Chagos by the Ministry of Defence when the US base was completed. "There is nothing in our files," said a ministry official, "about inhabitants or an evacuation."

Today, Diego Garcia is crucial to America’s and Britain’s war on democracy. The heaviest bombing of Iraq and Afghanistan was launched from its vast airstrips, beyond which the islanders’ abandoned cemetery and church stand like archaeological ruins. The terraced garden where Lisette laughed for the camera is now a fortress housing the "bunker-busting" bombs carried by bat-shaped B-2 aircraft to targets in two continents; an attack on Iran will start here. As if to complete the emblem of rampant, criminal power, the CIA added a Guantanamo-style prison for its "rendition" victims and called it Camp Justice.

What was done to Lisette’s paradise has an urgent and universal meaning, for it represents the violent, ruthless nature of a whole system behind its democratic façade, and the scale of our own indoctrination to its messianic assumptions, described by Harold Pinter as a "brilliant, even witty, highly successful act of hypnosis." Longer and bloodier than any war since 1945, waged with demonic weapons and a gangsterism dressed as economic policy and sometimes known as globalisation, the war on democracy is unmentionable in western elite circles. As Pinter wrote, "it never happened even while it was happening". Last July, American historian William Blum published his "updated summary of the record of US foreign policy". Since the Second World War, the US has:

1. Attempted to overthrow more than 50 governments, most of them democratically-elected.
2. Attempted to suppress a populist or national movement in 20 countries.
3. Grossly interfered in democratic elections in at least 30 countries.
4. Dropped bombs on the people of more than 30 countries.
5. Attempted to assassinate more than 50 foreign leaders.

In total, the United States has carried out one or more of these actions in 69 countries. In almost all cases, Britain has been a collaborator. The "enemy" changes in name – from communism to Islamism -- but mostly it is the rise of democracy independent of western power or a society occupying strategically useful territory, deemed expendable, like the Chagos Islands.

The sheer scale of suffering, let alone criminality, is little known in the west, despite the presence of the world’s most advanced communications, nominally freest journalism and most admired academy. That the most numerous victims of terrorism – western terrorism – are Muslims is unsayable, if it is known. That half a million Iraqi infants died in the 1990s as a result of the embargo imposed by Britain and America is of no interest. That extreme jihadism, which led to 9/11, was nurtured as a weapon of western policy ("Operation Cyclone") is known to specialists but otherwise suppressed.

While popular culture in Britain and America immerses the Second World War in an ethical bath for the victors, the holocausts arising from Anglo-American dominance of resource-rich regions are consigned to oblivion. Under the Indonesian tyrant Suharto, anointed "our man" by Thatcher, more than a million people were slaughtered. Described by the CIA as "the worst mass murder of the second half of the 20th century", the estimate does not include a third of the population of East Timor who were starved or murdered with western connivance, British fighter-bombers and machine guns.

These true stories are told in declassified files in the Public Record Office, yet represent an entire dimension of politics and the exercise of power excluded from public consideration. This has been achieved by a regime of un-coercive information control, from the evangelical mantra of consumer advertising to sound-bites on BBC news and now the ephemera of social media.

It is as if writers as watchdogs are extinct, or in thrall to a sociopathic zeitgeist, convinced they are too clever to be duped. Witness the stampede of sycophants eager to deify Christopher Hitchens, a war lover who longed to be allowed to justify the crimes of rapacious power. "For almost the first time in two centuries", wrote Terry Eagleton, "there is no eminent British poet, playwright or novelist prepared to question the foundations of the western way of life". No Orwell warns that we do not need to live in a totalitarian society to be corrupted by totalitarianism. No Shelley speaks for the poor, no Blake proffers a vision, no Wilde reminds us that "disobedience, in the eyes of anyone who has read history, is man’s original virtue". And grievously no Pinter rages at the war machine, as in American Football:

Hallelujah.

Praise the Lord for all good things ...

We blew their balls into shards of dust,

Into shards of fucking dust …

Into shards of fucking dust go all the lives blown there by Barack Obama, the Hopey Changey of western violence. Whenever one of Obama’s drones wipes out an entire family in a faraway tribal region of Pakistan, or Somalia, or Yemen, the American controllers in front of their computer-game screens type in "Bugsplat". Obama likes drones and has joked about them with journalists. One of his first actions as president was to order a wave of Predator drone attacks on Pakistan that killed 74 people. He has since killed thousands, mostly civilians; drones fire Hellfire missiles that suck the air out of the lungs of children and leave body parts festooned across scrubland.

Remember the tear-stained headlines when Brand Obama was elected: "momentous, spine-tingling":the Guardian. "The American future," wrote Simon Schama, "is all vision, numinous, unformed, light-headed ..." The San Francisco Chronicle’s columnist saw a spiritual "lightworker [who can] usher in a new way of being on the planet". Beyond the drivel, as the great whistleblower Daniel Ellsberg had predicted, a military coup was taking place in Washington, and Obama was their man. Having seduced the anti-war movement into virtual silence, he has given America’s corrupt military officer class unprecedented powers of state and engagement. These include the prospect of wars in Africa and opportunities for provocations against China, America’s largest creditor and new "enemy" in Asia. Under Obama, the old source of official paranoia Russia, has been encircled with ballistic missiles and the Russian opposition infiltrated. Military and CIA assassination teams have been assigned to 120 countries; long planned attacks on Syria and Iran beckon a world war. Israel, the exemplar of US violence and lawlessness by proxy, has just received its annual pocket money of $3bn together with Obama’s permission to steal more Palestinian land.

Obama’s most "historic" achievement is to bring the war on democracy home to America. On New Year’s Eve, he signed the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), a law that grants the Pentagon the legal right to kidnap both foreigners and US citizens and indefinitely detain, interrogate and torture, or even kill them. They need only "associate" with those "belligerent" to the United States. There will be no protection of law, no trial, no legal representation. This is the first explicit legislation to abolish habeus corpus (the right to due process of law) and effectively repeal the Bill of Rights of 1789.

On 5 January, in an extraordinary speech at the Pentagon, Obama said the military would not only be ready to "secure territory and populations" overseas but to fight in the "homeland" and provide "support to the civil authorities". In other words, US troops will be deployed on the streets of American cities when the inevitable civil unrest takes hold.

America is now a land of epidemic poverty and barbaric prisons: the consequence of a "market" extremism which, under Obama, has prompted the transfer of $14 trillion in public money to criminal enterprises in Wall Street. The victims are mostly young jobless, homeless, incarcerated African-Americans, betrayed by the first black president. The historic corollary of a perpetual war state, this is not fascism, not yet, but neither is it democracy in any recognisable form, regardless of the placebo politics that will consume the news until November. The presidential campaign, says the Washington Post, will "feature a clash of philosophies rooted in distinctly different views of the economy". This is patently false. The circumscribed task of journalism on both sides of the Atlantic is to create the pretence of political choice where there is none.

The same shadow is across Britain and much of Europe where social democracy, an article of faith two generations ago, has fallen to the central bank dictators. In David Cameron’s "big society", the theft of 84bn pounds in jobs and services even exceeds the amount of tax "legally" avoid by piratical corporations. Blame rests not with the far right, but a cowardly liberal political culture that has allowed this to happen, which, wrote Hywel Williams in the wake of the attacks on 9/11, "can itself be a form of self righteous fanaticism". Tony Blair is one such fanatic. In its managerial indifference to the freedoms that it claims to hold dear, bourgeois Blairite Britain has created a surveillance state with 3,000 new criminal offences and laws: more than for the whole of the previous century. The police clearly believe they have an impunity to kill. At the demand of the CIA, cases like that of Binyam Mohamed, an innocent British resident tortured and then held for five years in Guantanamo Bay, will be dealt with in secret courts in Britain "in order to protect the intelligence agencies" – the torturers.

This invisible state allowed the Blair government to fight the Chagos islanders as they rose from their despair in exile and demanded justice in the streets of Port Louis and London. "Only when you take direct action, face to face, even break laws, are you ever noticed," said Lisette. "And the smaller you are, the greater your example to others." Such an eloquent answer to those who still ask, "What can I do?"

I last saw Lisette’s tiny figure standing in driving rain alongside her comrades outside the Houses of Parliament. What struck me was the enduring courage of their resistance. It is this refusal to give up that rotten power fears, above all, knowing it is the seed beneath the snow.

For more information on John Pilger visit his website at www.johnpilger.com

The CIA Exposes the Truth About Ron Paul

2012-01-22T04:37:00.001-08:00

Greece's creditors leave Athens

2012-01-22T04:22:00.001-08:00

Greece's creditors leave Athens, talks to continue

Charles Dallara, right, and Jean Lemiere from the Institute of International Finance, which represents Greece's private bondholders, leave Maximou mansion after a meeting with Greek Prime Lukas Papademos and Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos in Athens, Friday. (AP)

By REUTERS

Published: Jan 22, 2012 03:04 Updated: Jan 22, 2012 03:40

http://arabnews.com/economy/article566391.ece

LONDON/ATHENS: Chief negotiators for Greece's private creditors left Athens unexpectedly on Saturday without a deal on a debt swap plan that is vital to avert a chaotic default, sources close to the negotiations told Reuters.

A technical team stayed in the Greek capital to work on details and negotiations will continue over the phone but it is unlikely that a deal can be clinched before a crucial meeting Monday of euro zone finance ministers, the sources said.

Following several rounds of talks from Wednesday to Friday, Greece and its private creditors, represented by Institute of International Finance chief Charles Dallara, are converging toward a deal in which private creditors will take a real loss of 65 to 70 percent.

The new bonds would feature 30-year maturity and a progressive interest rate averaging out at 4 percent, a banking official close to the talks told Reuters.

But a lot of details are still unresolved, and sources close to the negotiations said much of the attention will now turn to the euro zone finance ministers' meeting in Brussels, and to how EU paymaster Germany and the IMF view the progress in the debt swap talks.

"Discussions will continue over the phone this weekend but an agreement is unlikely before next week, if there is an agreement at all," one source close to the talks said. "Things are complicated, we are getting closer on the numbers but there is still quite some work ahead."

The IMF and EU countries, and in particular the bloc's paymaster Germany, want to make sure the deal puts Greece's derailed finances back on a sustainable track before they agree to a new, 130-billion-euro bailout, which is also crucial to avoid a messy default. How much money Athens needs from official lenders also depends on the details of the debt swap deal.

The IMF insists any deal must ensure Greece's debt burden will be cut to 120 percent of GDP by 2020 from 160 percent now, as agreed at an EU summit in October, and has warned that this is made more difficult by the fact that Athens' economic prospects have deteriorated since.

DEBT SUSTAINABILITY

A meeting Monday of euro zone finance ministers and the calculation of how the debt swap deal affects the sustainability of Greece's debt over the next decade will be key to any further progress in the talks.

"We will want to test the waters among member states because given the complex connections between private sector and official funding elements, we have to have the backing of member states for a deal," a senior EU source told Reuters.

A new analysis of Greece's debt sustainability could be ready before Monday's Eurogroup, or by mid-week, the source said, adding that a lot depended on how that was calculated. Long-term projections for Greece's economy, now in its fifth year of recession, will be key.

"The euro zone ministers will examine the proposal and say whether we have a deal. If they say we don't, we're back to the negotiating table," a banking source close to the talks said.

The IIF, which confirmed that Dallara and adviser Jean Lemierre had left Athens in the morning, repeated that the elements of the deal were coming into place and talks were continuing.

It said on Friday that now was the time "to act decisively and seize the opportunity to finalize this historic deal," a statement which seemed to be addressing Greece's official lenders, the EU and the IMF.

Haggling over the coupon had held up the long-running talks as Greece raced to wrap up an agreement, raising the prospect of a messy default when Athens faces 14.5 billion euros ($18.5 billion) of bond repayments in March.

A 15 percent cash sweetener will be made up of short-term bonds from Europe's temporary bailout fund, the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF), two sources told Reuters.

"It will be near cash-equivalent short-term EFSF bonds," one of the sources said.

Where have the Rothschilds disappeared to?

2012-01-22T04:05:00.001-08:00

FBI Busts Programmer for Stealing US Treasury

2012-01-22T03:59:00.001-08:00

FBI Busts Programmer for Stealing US Treasury Code

By Michael Cooney, NetworkWorld Jan 20, 2012 11:20 pm

http://www.pcworld.com/article/248487/fbi_busts_programmer_for_stealing_us_treasury_code.html

The FBI said it arrested a computer programmer in New York this week and charged him with stealing proprietary software code from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. The software known as the Government-Wide Accounting and Reporting Program (GWA) handles all manner of U.S. government financial transactions.

IN OTHER NEWS: Cutting-edge electronics will require US to revamp auto defect investigations

From the FBI: "As alleged in the complaint, between May 2011 and August 11, 2011, Bo Zhang was a contract employee assigned to the Federal Reserve Board of New York (FRBNY) to work on further developing a specific portion of the GWA's source code which the United States has spent approximately $9.5 million to develop. In the summer of 2011, Zhang allegedly stole the GWA Code.

"According to the complaint, Zhang admitted that in July 2011, while working at the FRBNY, he checked out and copied the GWA Code onto his hard drive at the FRBNY; he subsequently copied the GWA Code onto a bank-owned external hard drive; and he connected that external hard-drive to his private office computer, his home computer, and his laptop. Zhang stated that he used the GWA Code in connection with a private business he ran training individuals in computer programming."

"Zhang took advantage of the access that came with his trusted position to steal highly sensitive proprietary software. His intentions with regard to that software are immaterial. Stealing it and copying it threatened the security of vitally important source code," said FBI Assistant Director in Charge Janice Fedarcyk in a statement.

Now free on bond but due back in court in February, Zhang, 32, of Queens, New York, faces a maximum term of 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine if guilty.

While the FBI didn't identify which company Zhang currently worked for, Bloomberg.com reported he in the past had worked for at Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) and Bank of America Corp.

Bloomberg.com also said Matt Anderson, a Treasury spokesman, said the department has worked to strengthen security procedures for Federal Reserve contractors working on Financial Management Service projects. "There was no compromise of any transaction data, personal identifying information or federal funds," Anderson said.

Sinking Ship In Credit Sea

2012-01-22T03:21:00.001-08:00

War in Libya was largely about gold

2012-01-21T15:28:00.001-08:00

Intervention in Libya was largely about gold, Rickards tells Future Money Trends

Submitted by cpowell on Sat, 2012-01-21 18:43. Section: Daily Dispatches

10:42a PT Saturday, January 21, 2012

Dear Friend of GATA and Gold:

In a 23-minute interview geopolitical analyst James G. Rickards tells Dan Ameduri of Future Money Trends that the recent Western intervention in the civil war in Libya was likely in large part about gaining control of that nation's gold reserves and that the Federal Reserve won't let the U.S. dollar get too much stronger than the euro:

http://futuremoneytrends.com/jamesrickards.html

CHRIS POWELL, Secretary/Treasurer
Gold Anti-Trust Action Committee Inc.

Auditing the Fed's gold

2012-01-21T15:24:00.001-08:00

Gary North: Auditing the Fed's gold

Submitted by cpowell on Fri, 2012-01-20 21:49. Section: Daily Dispatches

1:48 PT Friday, January 20, 2012

Dear Friend of GATA and Gold:

Financial writer Gary North today is heartened that all the candidates for the Republican presidential nomination support auditing the Federal Reserve, and he echoes GATA's observation that the big question about the U.S. gold reserve is not just whether and how much gold is held in the vaults but also whether its ownership is encumbered in any way, as through gold swaps and leasing.

North writes: "If the Fed is fully audited, it is likely that the audit will reveal that the gold is encumbered. Foreign central banks have leased their gold. This is a phrase for 'sold the gold,' since the people who borrowed it at 1% per annum then sold it for money and bought government bonds paying 5% or more. They cannot sell these bonds at face value; the bonds have fallen in value. They cannot afford to buy gold in the open market to return the gold to the central banks. The price is already far above what they sold it for. The central banks dare not demand a return of this gold. The gold is still on their books. The IOUs they received from the borrowers are counted as being as good as gold. The voters do not know that the gold is missing."

North's commentary is headlined "Auditing the Fed's Gold" and it's posted at GoldSeek here:

http://news.goldseek.com/LewRockwell/1327072200.php

And at Lew Rockwell here:

http://lewrockwell.com/north/north1089.html

CHRIS POWELL, Secretary/Treasurer
Gold Anti-Trust Action Committee Inc.

Bullion banking system 'not fully backed'

2012-01-21T15:21:00.001-08:00

Bullion banking system 'not fully backed,' Naylor-Leyland tells CNBC Europe

Submitted by cpowell on Fri, 2012-01-20 16:47. Section: Daily Dispatches

8:45a PT Friday, January 20, 2012

Dear Friend of GATA and Gold:

Cheviot Asset Management's investment director, Ned Naylor-Leyland, was interviewed for 7 minutes the other day on CNBC Europe and noted that the bullion banking system is "not fully backed" -- that is, that it is selling promises of gold it doesn't have. The interview is posted at the Cheviot Internet site here:

http://cheviot.co.uk/media/press/commodities-corner

CHRIS POWELL, Secretary/Treasurer
Gold Anti-Trust Action Committee Inc.

European gold to be repatriated from Fed

2012-01-21T15:18:00.001-08:00

Sinclair expects European gold to be repatriated from Fed

Submitted by cpowell on Fri, 2012-01-20 03:41. Section: Daily Dispatches

7:40p PT Thursday, January 19, 2012

Dear Friend of GATA and Gold:

Mining entrepreneur and market analyst Jim Sinclair tells King World News today that there likely will be much repatriation of European gold reserves held in custody at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. Sinclair expects that there will be attempts to discourage repatriation but he doesn't expect the Fed to refuse. An excerpt from the interview is posted at the King World News blog here:

http://kingworldnews.com/kingworldnews/KWN_DailyWeb/Entries/2012/1/19_Ji...

CHRIS POWELL, Secretary/Treasurer
Gold Anti-Trust Action Committee Inc.

SHARED MONETARY GOVERNANCE

2012-01-21T13:32:00.001-08:00

SHARED MONETARY GOVERNANCE: Exploring the role of regulatory frameworks, participatory internal decision-making and scale in stakeholder institutional access to General and Special Purpose Currencies

http://opus.bath.ac.uk/18960/

Reference:

Jones, D. A., 2010. SHARED MONETARY GOVERNANCE: Exploring the role of regulatory frameworks, participatory internal decision-making and scale in stakeholder institutional access to General and Special Purpose Currencies. Thesis (Master of Philosophy (MPhil)). University of Bath.

Abstract

Fung and Olin-Wright argue for small scale politico-economic institutions as a means of facilitating greater participatory governance. Similarly, Polanyi emphasised the distinction between large scale 'General Purpose Money' and smaller scale non-national ‘Special Purpose Currencies’ (SPCs). Non-national currencies, by complementing existing national currencies, form alternative or Complementary Currencies (CCs). CC advocates observe that while institutions which issue General Purpose Money tend to use closed (non-transparent and non-participatory) governance processes, CC institutions, particularly when sponsored by local communities, may offer potential models for more participatory forms of monetary governance. This study applies established governance principles to monetary decision-making, highlighting the importance of regulatory frameworks, transparency, accountability and direct participatory input for all currency users. It further explores whether national regulations and scale inhibit attempts by monetary institutions to allow full stakeholder access to monetary governance. To facilitate this exploration, a comparative analytical framework, called “Shared Monetary Governance” (SMG), is developed that allows the evaluation of distinct types of currency institutions. Its application in the cases of four currencies from the USA - the US Dollar, Humboldt Exchange Dollars, Time Dollars, and Deli Dollars - aims to enhance our understanding of how the degree of SMG is affected by three interrelated factors: national regulatory frameworks, internal decision-making processes, and scale. The four currencies are therefore evaluated across three sets of criteria: Regulatory Framework toleration (11 indices), Participatory Internal Decision-making (15 indices), and scale (indexed by function and geography). This methodology empirically compares each set to determine how each interrelated influence affects monetary governance and therefore stakeholder ability to influence priority setting. It finds that community-based currency institutions, part of the group of CCs, tend to allow greater SMG. Such findings imply that a multi-level interconnected monetary system including community-based, national and international money may facilitate greatest stakeholder access.

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Sinclair expects European gold to be repatriated from Fed

SHARED MONETARY GOVERNANCE

SHARED MONETARY GOVERNANCE: Exploring the role of regulatory frameworks, participatory internal decision-making and scale in stakeholder institutional access to General and Special Purpose Currencies

Reference:

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Abstract