GRIMLY FIENDISH

Actually, Mr Keiser also rather brilliantly sums it up _bKEoY53zGY

Obama Goes All Out For Dirty Banker Deal Matt Taibbi - Rolling Stone Politics A power play is underway in the foreclosure arena, according to the New York Times. On the one side is Eric Schneiderman, the New York Attorney General, who is conducting his own investigation into the era of securitizations – the practice of chopping up assets like mortgages and converting them into saleable securities – that led up to the financial crisis of 2007-2008. On the other side is the Obama administration, the banks, and all the other state attorneys general. This second camp has cooked up a deal that would allow the banks to walk away with just a seriously discounted fine from a generation of fraud that led to millions of people losing their homes. The idea behind this federally-guided “settlement” is to concentrate and centralize all the legal exposure accrued by this generation of grotesque banker corruption in one place, put one single price tag on it that everyone can live with, and then stuff the details into a titanium canister before shooting it into deep space. This is all about protecting the banks from future enforcement actions on both the civil and criminal sides. The plan is to provide year-after-year, repeat-offending banks like Bank of America with cost certainty, so that they know exactly how much they’ll have to pay in fines (trust me, it will end up being a tiny fraction of what they made off the fraudulent practices) and will also get to know for sure that there are no more criminal investigations in the pipeline. This deal will also submarine efforts by both defrauded investors in MBS [Mortgage-backed Securities] and unfairly foreclosed-upon homeowners and borrowers to obtain any kind of relief in the civil court system. The AGs initially talked about $20 billion as a settlement number, money that would “toward loan modifications and possibly counseling for homeowners,” as Gretchen Morgenson reported the other day. The banks, however, apparently “balked” at paying that sum, and no doubt it will end up being a lesser amount when the deal is finally done. To give you an indication of how absurdly small a number even $20 billion is relative to the sums of money the banks made unloading worthless crap subprime assets on foreigners, pension funds and other unsuspecting suckers around the world, consider this: in 2008 alone, the state pension fund of Florida, all by itself, lost more than three times that amount ($62 billion) thanks in significant part to investments in these deadly MBS. So this deal being cooked up is the ultimate Papal indulgence. By the time that $20 billion (if it even ends up being that high) gets divvied up between all the major players, the broadest and most destructive fraud scheme in American history, one that makes the S&L crisis look like a cheap liquor store holdup, will be safely reduced to a single painful but eminently survivable one-time line item for all the major perpetrators. But Schneiderman, who earlier this year launched an investigation into the securitization practices of Goldman, Morgan Stanley, Bank of America and other companies, is screwing up this whole arrangement. Until he lies down, the banks don’t have a deal. They need the certainty of having all 50 states and the federal government on board, or else it’s not worth paying anybody off. To quote the immortal Tony Montana, “How do I know you’re the last cop I’m gonna have to grease?” They need all the dirty cops on board, or else the whole enterprise is FUBAR. In addition to the global settlement, Schneiderman is also blocking an individual $8.5 billion settlement for Countrywide investors. He has sued to stop that deal, claiming it could “compromise investors’ claims in exchange for a payment representing a fraction of the losses.” If Schneiderman thinks $8.5 billion is an insufficient, fractional payoff just for defrauded Countrywide investors, then you can imagine how bad a $20 billion settlement for the entire industry would be for the victims. In that particular Countrywide settlement deal, it looks like Bank of New York Mellon, the New York Fed, Pimco and other players negotiated on behalf of defrauded investors. They told the Times they were happy with the deal, but investors outside the talks told Gretchen they weren’t happy with the settlement. Schneiderman apparently listened to those voices instead of the Mellon-Fed-BofA crowd, which infuriated the insiders who struck the actual deal. In a remarkable quote given to the Times, Kathryn Wylde, the Fed board member who ostensibly represents the public, said the following about Schneiderman: It is of concern to the industry that instead of trying to facilitate resolving these issues, you seem to be throwing a wrench into it. Wall Street is our Main Street — love ’em or hate ’em. They are important and we have to make sure we are doing everything we can to support them unless they are doing something indefensible. This, again, is coming not from a Bank of America attorney, but from the person on the Fed board who is supposedly representing the public! This quote leads one to wonder just what Wylde would consider “indefensible,” given that stealing is pretty much the worst thing that a bank can do — and these banks just finished the longest and most orgiastic campaign of stealing in the history of money. Is Wylde waiting for Goldman and Citi to blow up a skyscraper? Dump dioxin into an orphanage? It’s really an incredible quote. The banks are going to claim that all they’re guilty of is bad paperwork. But while the banks are indeed being investigated for "paperwork" offenses like mass tax evasion (by failing to pay fees associated with mortgage registrations and deed transfers) and mass perjury (a la the “robo-signing” practices), their real crime, the one Schneiderman is interested in, is even more serious. The issue goes beyond fraudulent paperwork to an intentional, far-reaching theft scheme designed to take junk subprime loans and disguise them as AAA-rated investments. The banks lent money to corrupt companies like Countrywide, who made masses of bad loans and immediately sold them back to the banks. The banks in turn hid the crappiness of these loans via certain poorly-understood nuances in the securitization process – this is almost certainly where Scheniderman’s investigators are doing their digging – before hawking the resultant securities as AAA-rated gold to fools in places like the Florida state pension fund. They did this for years, systematically, working hand in hand in a wink-nudge arrangement with clearly criminal enterprises like Countrywide and New Century. The victims were millions of investors worldwide (like the pensioners who saw their funds drop in value) and hundreds of thousands of individual homeowners, who were often sold trick loans and hustled into foreclosure when unexpected rate hikes kicked in. In a larger sense, even the (often irresponsible) people who simply bought more house than they could afford were victims of this scam. That's because in many of these cases, credit simply would not have been available to those people had the banks not first discovered a way to raise vast sums of money dumping crap loans on an unsuspecting market. In other words: if Bank of America hadn’t found a way to sell worthless subprime loans as AAA paper to the Chinese and the Scandavians in May, you can be sure that it wouldn’t be going back to Countrywide in June to lend out more money for more subprime loans. And Countrywide, in turn, wouldn’t then have been sending masses of reps out into the ghettoes to offer juicy home loans to undocumented immigrants and refis to confused old ladies on social security. This is as bad as white-collar crime gets. But to Wylde, it doesn’t rise to the level of being “indefensible.” Until they do something worse than this, we apparently should support the banks, and make sure they don’t have to pay more than a fraction of what they made off of this kind of crime. What is most amazing about Wylde’s quote is the clear implication that even a law enforcement official like Schneiderman should view it as his job to “do everything we can to support” Wall Street. That would be astonishing interpretation of what a prosecutor's duties are, were it not for the fact that 49 other Attorneys General apparently agree with her. In Schneiderman we have at least one honest investigator who doesn’t agree, which is to his great credit. But everyone else is on Wylde’s side now. The Times story claims that HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan and various Justice Department officials have been leaning on the New York AG to cave, which tells you that reining in this last rogue cop is now an urgent priority for Barack Obama. Why? My theory is that the Obama administration is trying to secure its 2012 campaign war chest with this settlement deal. If Barry can make this foreclosure thing go away for the banks, you can bet he’ll win the contributions battle against the Republicans next summer. Which is good for him, I guess. But it seems to me that it might be time to wonder if is this the most disappointing president we’ve ever had. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The bits in bold are important.... And Taibbi is absolutely 100% correct.... A $20 billion deal sounds like a lot of money, but, really, compared to the HUNDREDS OF TRILLIONS the Banksters have looted all over the world, and the tens of TRILLIONS in the US alone, do you even try and work out $20 billion as a percentage of all that...? You'll come to a very small % indeed... It's a bit like a John leaving the hooker a $50 tip after he's f***ed her up the ass, made her bleed and come in her mouth and hair.... Yeah, I think it's THAT disgusting and insulting and degrading to the American public as a whole who are having to deal with the consequences of Bankster fraud and greed on an utterly MASSIVE scale... As Taibbi says, the 2007/8 crisis makes the Savings and Loan scandal look pretty insignificant... But that resulted in the arrest and prosecution of over 1000 crooked bankers.... Tell, me, how many Banksters responsible for this shite have thus far been prosecuted. Or even charged.... This craven and cowardly "deal" that O-bomber is cooking up with the banks is a disgrace... He is a traitor. He is a coward. He is a banker-bumming b'astard who frankly should be impeached, doing this deal with the banksters would be a bit like FDR entering into an agreement with Japan after the Pearl Harbour bombing.... I never thought I'd ever say this, but if Ron Paul is the Republican candidate against O-bomber, well, he gets my support... Paul is scaring everyone, but he's scaring the right people... He's scaring his fellow Republicans and Tea-baggers, he's scaring the Democrats, he's scaring the Bankers and Wall Street, he's scaring the mainstream media, he's scaring the Military Industrial Complex, in fact he's scaring them so much, the media is doing their best to ignore his successes at the GOP and are praying he'll go away..... f*** it, I think I may just take that over an incredibly disappointing and hopelessly compromised O-bomber anyday.....

Vangelis' "Bladerunner" sound-track is the almost perfect marriage of film and music ever created IMO.... Stunning... Just about anything Ennio Morricone did for Sergio Leone's films is pretty good too...

Precisely.... I wouldn't be at all surprised if there were some "back-handers" doing the rounds... <_<

Well, I disagree. This government makes U-Turns whenever it suits, so why not actually do a U-Turn that would be beneficial to people..... Do you honestly think the French or Germans wouldn't do a U-turn if it was one of their companies that was about to go to the wall...? They are both far more protectionist than we are... (and the fact is that the French Govt actually fears the wrath of their workers...)

There may be consequences for the government, but, frankly, who gives a shit when it's jobs on the line and people's livelihoods....? I say roll the dice and consequences be damned....

What? It's "fantasy land" to expect the BRITISH government to support BRITISH workers....??

Indeed, it is sad, I used to have respect for Vince, he was the one who talked tough on the banks, but seems to have forgotten all that as well... He's basically been neutered like a lap-cat....

Vince Cable: Bombardier U-turn would make us look bad Source Mirror.co.uk THE Government has admitted it is more interested in saving face than saving Britain’s last train maker, Bombardier. Business Secretary Vince Cable has ruled out a U-turn on the £1.4billion Thameslink contract because it would “cause significant damage to the ­Government’s reputation”. Labour says it proves that vanity is the only thing preventing the Coalition from reversing its decision to award the carriage-making contract to German firm Siemens instead of Bombardier. Shadow Transport Secretary Maria Eagle said: “It is incredible that the Tory-led Government is sticking its head in the sand when it should be doing everything possible to protect manufacturing jobs. “Vince Cable has let the cat out of the bag and admitted it is the vanity of ministers that is stopping this decision from being reviewed. “Instead of Transport Secretary Philip Hammond and Vince Cable worrying about what the papers might say, they should think about the thousands of lost jobs.” Bombardier in Derby has already made 1,400 of its 3,000 workers redundant after losing the Thameslink bid. Dr Cable said in a letter to Philip Hickson, the leader of Tory-led Derby city council: “A sudden decision to reverse a procurement decision in response to what could look like political pressure would cause significant damage to the Government’s reputation as a trustworthy counterparty. “This could cause considerably increased costs for future procurements and badly damage investment in this country.” The Lib Dem’s four-page letter, which has been seen by the Mirror, adds that the Government takes “the situation in Derby extremely seriously” but repeats the Coalition’s line that EU rules prevent it from changing the decision. But the Mirror revealed yesterday that a business law expert insists the ConDems could simply abort the deal. Last night John Pearson, from the Unite union, said: “I’m sure another U-turn won’t make any difference. They are all being stubborn. All they have to do is admit they made a mistake and get out of this mess. Now is the time for them to do the right thing. “The letter shows clearly that Vince Cable learnt nothing from his visit to Derby and shows a lack of understanding about what’s happening.” Cllr Hickson, who had written to David Cameron urging him to meet an all-party delegation from Derby to discuss the Bombardier crisis, was not available for comment last night. But Chris Williamson, Labour MP for Derby North, said: “The Government has betrayed British manufacturing and Vince Cable is deluding himself if he thinks the Coalition has a reputation that is worth protecting. “People are not interested in his weasel words about a ‘personal commitment’ to Derby, they just want their Government to stand up for Britain. “Unless the Government reverses its plans to build Thameslink trains in Germany, 2011 will be the end of the line for British train making.” ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sorry, but the bit in bold just makes me want to piss myself laughing... :lol: :lol: As if this government's "reputation" could actually get any worse.... As far as I'm concerned Cable is a Judas, he's basically sold out the working classes of this country and thrown his lot in with a bunch of upper-crust Tory Toffs who want to destroy the public sector and public services. The biblical Judas got 30 pieces of silver in return for his services, Cable got a nice cushy job, a gold-plated ministerial pension and a nice chauffeur-driven motor... But the principle's basically the same...

Just gets more and more ridiculous this does tbh.... it's not like they've ever nicked everyone who's ever bought a dodgy DVD off a bloke in the pub, is it...? In fact has anyone ever been sent to the clink for buying illegal DVDs off "a bloke down the pub"......?

Indeed....

Nice to see the PM has his priorities right though..... Lastminute.cam - PM heads for fourth holiday in five months Source Mirror.co.uk WHAT do you do when the economy is crumbling and the nation is still reeling from the worst riots in modern history? Well, for man-in-a-suitcase David Cameron the answer seems to be to simply get away from it all… again. The PM is off on his FOURTH holiday in five months. This time the gadabout is heading to Cornwall for a week – just 10 days after he came back from a luxury break in Italy. And just as a gentle warm-up he also found time yesterday to sip beer while watching England’s final Test match against India at the Oval in London. The on-tour Tory leader began his hectic holiday schedule in April, when he went to Granada in Spain for wife Samantha’s 40th birthday. Then there was a week in Ibiza in May, before jetting off to Tuscany at the beginning of this month. Labour MP Chris Williamson, whose Derby constituency has been hit by the Bombardier train crisis, said: “It just shows how out of touch with reality he is. We have just had the worst riots for 30 years, the economy is in meltdown and, at a local level, we have the railway industry and Bombardier facing collapse but the PM is off on another jaunt. “If he were serious about what was happening he’d remain in No 10 and deal with all the emergencies.” Mr Cameron reluctantly cut short his trip to Italy, where he stayed in a £9,500-a-week villa, because of the riots which swept Britain. And he seemed unperturbed at the cricket yesterday – despite the London stock market falling below the crucial 5,000 mark on the worst day of trading for three years. As he left the Oval, one angry spectator shouted: “Sort the bloody riots out instead of watching the cricket!” But in an interview on Test Match Special, the PM defended his decision to cheer on Kevin Pietersen and Co. He said: “I hope no one will begrudge me an afternoon’s cricket, particularly when England are doing so well. “I try to keep up with the cricket, it’s a good way to relax.” He claimed it was important to take time off – “otherwise you get exhausted, you get completely fried and you make terrible decisions”. Others were not so laid back, as yesterday’s shares bloodbath was sparked by fears that the economy was heading for a double-dip recession. Some experts blamed the Tory-led coalition’s failure to boost growth for the panic on the markets, which has seen a 13% fall in the FTSE 100 this month. And Richard Hunter, of brokers Hargreaves Lansdown, said: “There seems to have been little co-ordinated action to spur growth or deal with the increasingly difficult debt ­situation of many developed economies.” The collapse on the stock market ends a week of dire economic news with the jobless total leaping by 38,000 in the past three months and retail sales flat-lining. Statistics out yesterday revealed Chancellor George Osborne risks missing his target to cut the deficit. Labour MP Kerry McCarthy said: “The deficit targets have already had to be revised up since the recovery was choked off.” She pointed out that the Government was expected to borrow £46billion more than previously planned, and added: “If you slam the brakes on too hard you risk jobs and the recovery. “It could start a vicious circle where slower growth means fewer people in work paying taxes and more people on the dole claiming benefits.” Meanwhile, Downing Street insisted Mr Cameron would still have his finger on the pulse while on his fourth break. A spokesman said: “Modern technology enables the Prime Minister to remain in charge even when not in the office.” ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- If Sca-Moron honestly believes that the deep, complex issues that contributed to the riots can be sorted out by him just turning up and putting in a little "face-time" for a week or so (and, Christ, his arm had to practically be twisted before he got his arse back on the plane from sodding Tuscany) and then he can just get back to his hectic "holiday schedule", then he is very much mistaken....

The rioting was inevitable, I've been saying that riots were going to happen for ages, the problem was was that they were messy and unfocused, and too many pikeys and chavs used the unrest as an opportunity to go thieving, but I suppose in retrospect the same thing happened during the LA riots in '92 as well... Every time you get a Tory government, you get riots and social unrest, it's inevitable. Even Nick Clegg thought so (there's a clip of Clegg on You Tube before the election basically saying that there would be riots if there was a Tory Govt..), until he sold his soul to Cameron for a few cushy jobs for him and his cronies... The corruption starts at the top and works its way down, the looting began long ago with the banksters and the politicians, it was only a matter of time before the ordinary citizens got in on the act.... But Max Keiser expresses it far better than I can in his most recent Keiser Reports this week....

The Lib Dem Councillor who got away with a jail term after admitting making fraudulent claims on Incapacity Benefit was DEFINITELY breaking the law, and yet he doesn't get a custodial sentence for nicking over £12k... Absolutly ridiculous..... <_< <_< As for these fukkin' Bankster scum, well, they get away with it because they manipulate governments in order to benefit themselves and get the rules stacked in their favour... Do you think the J P Morgan gave Tony Blair a seat on its board of execs just because he was "good chap"..? And then you have the likes of Hank Paulson, Alan Greenspan, Warren Blankfein, Ben Bernanke and Jamie Diamond basically in cahoots with the US government to bend the rules also... During the Savings and Loan scandal of the 80s over 1000 banksters were jailed, the 2008 crisis there have barely been any prosecutions... Is that coincidence...? I think not...

Perish the thought .... :rolleyes:

I take no one seriously who has a ridiculous syrup/hair weave/transplant/dead cat on his head, like the one he has..... :lol:

:lol: :lol: :lol: Oh gosh, yeah... What a terrifying thought....... :mellow:

Indeed. And cowardly, unsympathetic, incapable of relating to real people and willing to jump on any "Daily Mail" bandwagon going..... Tosser....

That would likely be the thread starter, Ethan..... :rolleyes:

I think you'll find that it's more people are tolerating Obama because the likes of Bachmann, Romney, etc, are intolerable.....

I said nothing of the sort... WTF are you talking about...? And in case you hadn't noticed, this thread is actually chiefly about the US downgrade....

The "official" term for Bitter Ruin is "Dark Cabaret"..... ;)

S&P under investigation over US downgrade Source - Russia Today Following a series of attacks from filmmaker Michael Moore and Senator Al Franken, the US Securities and Exchange Commission is now investigating allegations of illegal practices from within the wall of Standard & Poor’s. A week after downgrading the United States’ credit rating, Standard and Poor’s is now facing scrutiny from the SEC over allegations that S&P’s employees conducted insider trading before the US debt downgrade was officially announced On Monday, Michael Moore tweeted that President Barack Obama should “show some guts” and arrest the CEO of S&P, writing that “these criminals brought down the economy in 2008” and warning that they “will do it again.” That same day, Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) gave an interview to The National Memo in which he said that misconduct happening within the ratings agencies served as a catalyst for the catastrophe that came following S&P’s downgrade of the US debt Now it looks like Obama might have listened to them, as the SEC is now investigating if members of S&P received prior knowledge of the downgrade before it was published to the public last Friday, allowing them to participate in financial transactions before what turned out to be a week of bizarre market fluctuations. As part of their probe, the SEC is asking to see a list of S&P employees who were made aware of the downgrade before it happened Should the SEC determine that Standard and Poor’s officials were given notice of the downgrade ahead of time, it would still be difficult for them to prove that they conducted illegal insider trading, reports The Financial Times. Given threats of a downgrade during the weeks prior, many on Wall Street were anticipating a downgrade whether or not Congress could reach a decision of the debt ceiling by last Tuesday’s deadline Should the SEC find evidence of wrongdoing among members of S&P, the credit rating agency could stand to face serious repercussions. The Credit Rating Agency Reform Act of 2006 states that an agency faces revocation of its license if it leaks information about a downgrade decision before it is made available to the public. Furthermore, an agency, such as S&P, must have policies and procedures set to prevent a disclosure from happening. S&P, however, fire back that an 18-page section of its code of conduct clearly outlines such policies, which makes it illegal for its employees to trade what they rate. On Monday of this week, the Senate Banking Committee revealed that they were beginning an investigation of their own regarding the debt downgrade --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Hmmm, interesting... Obama actually beginning to grow a pair...?

Considering that the recent civil unrest has likely cost the economy billions, I honestly cant see how it can fail to have an effect on the markets.....

To me, it's pretty obvious what's been going on the past 30 years, unaccountable, unelected bankers and other financial institutions have undermined Democracy and Sovereign Governments, politicians have enabled this, and many have been rewarded for their complicity, usually through obtaining positions on boards or large "consultancy" packages... I gave the example of Tony Blair earlier on and how he's now on the board on J P Morgan, but there are many others....