Email this AM from two in the family..."Here is an “pox both their houses” update commentary from XXXXX that I thought you might appreciate. It deals with the state of affairs as they exist today and how they relate to the financial distress and challenges that we are all dealing with.
For what it is worth, in addition to the Fed’s fiat money initiatives discussed about 2/3 rds of the way through the summary, there was a report over the weekend by (of all people) Rep. Ron Paul and Senator Dennis Kucinich (talk about an unlikely pair!!) discussing an initial data dump from the Fed as a result of court direction resulting from an FOI lawsuit. This is a first example (despite futile long term repeated previous attempts to secure disclosure) of a penetration of the Fed’s jealously guarded “firewall” to maintain secrecy and unaccountability for their actions and decisions. One of the first revelations was that, in addition to the printing press money actions we know about, the Fed printed and dispersed an additional $3.3 TRILLION to EU banks and financial institutions in the fall of 2008. This is one major example of what was done with no knowledge of the Congress or you and I as taxpayers who get the ultimate “bill” until this very moment.
Just think about that!! Scary stuff."
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April 4, 2011
>>>>>"60-Minutes segment on what’s going on with the mortgage situation and why Shelia Bair recently suggested paying certain homeowners to “walk away”.
Right-wing media has highlighted this as an unconscionable give-away to the poor and malfeasant. They are utterly and completely ignorant of the problem and in denial about its implications. And in backing the bankers, they are on the wrong side of history, and (ironically) taking unto themselves a burden that was largely initiated under Bill Clinton and the Dems running Congress, especially Barney Frank, Chris Dodd, Bob Rubin, Larry Summers and Tim Geithner. Because their party is owned by religious zealots with an agenda – at least for this moment in time – it doesn't seem to dawn on them that there are about 42 million voters on food stamps, about 38 million homeowners with too much debt, and only about 150,000 bankers.
Left-wing media has ignored this completely. They are lost at sea, knowing that their own guys precipitated this mess, which was then magnified to catastrophe by a monster government class through inaction, ineptness and corruption. Their worldview doesn’t work. And they don’t want to talk about that, because they have zero solutions centered on entities other than big government.
Both miss the essential messages here. There is nothing more fundamental to our nation and economy than the concept of rule of law assuring property rights – without exception. Without the concept of unassailable property rights retained by the individual against the State, there is no liberty. This goes all they way back to John Locke, and the definition of how “rights” like “Life” are assembled from the ground-up. It’s at the very heart of Western Civilization. When George Mason wrote the Virginia Declaration of Rights (upon which Jefferson based the Declaration of Independence), “property” was listed as a fundamental right in place of the “pursuit of happiness”, as it was recognized that the latter is impossible without first securing the former.
This isn’t just an “issue with some fouled-up paperwork”. This is an issue of outright and pervasive fraud, pursued and executed consciously within a series of “arms length” relationships intended to preserve a certain plausible deniability. And the target is the most fundamental protection people have against the State. Namely, the requirement that indirect claimants on real property produce and hold an original deed with an original “wet” signature, attested by human beings in their personal presence, and recorded publicly at a local level for everyone to see. A.k.a., “proper title”. This requirement is the direct result of the Kings of old “manufacturing” legal claims to property when it suited their convenience way back in the Dark Ages.
What the banks and bureaucrats are trying to do here is add the elimination of “true and proper title” protection to the voluminous list of giveaways to malfeasants banks and creditors. That list includes (so far):
• Free money to banks and insurance companies and the attendant devalued currency and destroyed savings of the Middle Class
• Radically altered accounting rules intended to hide the true nature of bank balance sheets from general public investors
• Wildly-increased public debt, the proceeds of which were used to buoy banks self-inflicted lack of capital
• Nobody-knows-how-much toxic waste put on the taxpayer’s balance sheet by an unelected and unaccountable Federal Reserve Bank
And what is the justification for al this? The argument is that we can’t survive without them -- where “them” is the too-big-to-fail banks, the Federal Reserve, Fannie, Freddie, FHLB and certain Wall Street and government pseudo-banking entities who have sunk immeasurable amounts of their own risk capital into this rat hole. And when I say “government”, I mean all governments, not just the USA. They are all vested in a system of infinite wealth creation through money printing, held unto themselves as a monopoly right. This is evident in Europe as we speak.
The level of fraud inherent in this story is utterly epic.
Plenty of deadbeat homeowners have been prosecuted, thrown out of their homes, and financially destroyed. These ranks include numerous cases wherein completely innocent homeowners – including people with no mortgage whatsoever – are persecuted by mistake in a headlong rush by a corrupt system to shut down the problem before it gets “out of hand”.
People who consider themselves partisans should ask themselves, “what’s the acceptable risk that someone comes knocking on my door to take my house in error, against a system whereby defending myself against such a false claim is guaranteed to be financially devastating – even if I win”. Is it 5%? 2%? 1%? Before 2007, the acceptable percentage in the United States was zero. There were no justifiable scenarios wherein you risked losing your house, wealth and property for no reason other than someone else's bad bet, or bureaucratic error, or both.
And still... not a single, solitary banker prosecuted. In fact, not a single banker indicted... or even seriously investigated.
IMO, that’s because of the influence the industry wields in DC, and especially because I believe that a truly thorough investigation would reveal numerous and bipartisan tentacles of corruption between the banking/finance/mortgage-mill system and the bureaucracy. Probably including Senators, Congressmen and staffers.
To date, the political class and their supporters have bailed out criminals, and then claimed to turn a “profit for the taxpayer”. Specifically here I am referring to the Fed, the Treasury, and staffers from the current and the previous administrations. Nowhere in these claims does anyone mention:
• the $6T increased national debt heaped on the back of the taxpayer
• the $3.8T in direct cash manipulation of markets by the federal government
• the incalculable lost savings of citizens who saw their savings destroyed in two “100-year” crashes in 10 years
• the debilitating impact on people over ~45 years of age whose savings and retirement accounts are incapable of supporting their retirement objectives at artificial interest rates near zero
• or the still undisclosed toxic waste securities now being held by the Fed, Treasury and Banks – off balance sheet, mind you – and guaranteed by the U.S. taxpayer
Only by assaulting truth itself can such a scenario be described as “profitable”.
When you hear me state the opinion that the decisions of the last three administrations – enabled by their hyper-partisan, take-no-prisoners supporters – run the very real risk of unhinging the country at its very foundation, this is what I mean. When people truly and clearly see what’s happened here, and when the inevitable consequences of this socialization of private risk becomes evident (which it ultimately will), people will become unhinged.
Not just mad. Unhinged. Unable to believe with conviction that the system works.
Throw in the usual and predictable appearance of moralizers, religious intolerants, social progressives, unionist/communists and their ilk trying to exploit the chaos when this comes home to roost, and you have a recipe for real trouble.
Our prescription? Continue to develop solid, cash-flowing private business – preferably that generates at least some revenue from outside the United States. Solid financial plans in place that contemplate a manipulated-low return, high-risk environment. Understand and plan for both inflation and currency devaluation. Be prepared to act on carefully selected dividend stocks if and when we get another market correction. Establish the ability to move certain assets into non-US banks in case of emergency.
Once you’ve done all these things, then all you really need to do is stay abreast of what’s happening without succumbing to partisan spin from either side. Eventually, that approach will yield clues as to when and how to protect your assets.
Given the overall context of our current state of affairs, I think that’s the best one can do." <<<<< |
