Pay paticular attention to Congressmans Gowdys cross of Simon Lazarus!!!!!!!!!!! http://www.c-span.org/
"The number of banks is down to just under 6,900. There were 7,000 a year ago. Banking regulation adds to costs. This wipes out small banks. It subsidizes big banks. Which banks caused the crisis of 2008? Large banks. Which banks got the lion’s share of the bailouts from Congress and the Federal Reserve? The top 6 banks. The crisis made them bigger, more powerful. The bailouts were subsidies for failure. Which banks hold 70% of all bank assets? The top 12 banks. Who loses? Small businesses. They get loans from small banks. Which businesses provide the vast majority of new jobs? Start-up businesses." Continue reading →
"RBS and its retail banking unit Netwest's online systems and debit cards failed on Monday evening as customers were unable to process payments on one of the busiest online shopping days called the 'Cyber Monday'. Millions of customers across the United Kingdom were unable to withdraw cash, pay for goods or use telephone and online banking services. RBS, which is 82 percent owned by the UK government, faced a probe by the Financial Conduct Authority in April when technology failure left customers unable to avail the bank's card and online services. A software upgrade gone wrong also led to similar problems for RBS' customers in June 2012." Continue reading →
"The Dutch central bank on Tuesday warned consumers about the rising popularity of virtual currency such as bitcoins, pointing out that they currently fall outside official regulatory channels. Nor does the central bank have a regulatory roll in companies which trade virtual currency, the institution said in a short statement. ‘Consumers should be aware of the risks they run when they acquire bitcoins,’ the statement said. ‘The exchange rate is volatile and there is no central authority consumers can hold responsible. Nor are Dutch guarantees on savings applicable.’ Several Dutch cafes and bars now accept bitcoins as currency, such as the Café De Waag in Delft." Continue reading →
"Central banking is a modern religion, a technocratic one. The world's top men, the ones who control banking, want to present central banking as a science. Any sense of spontaneity, gaiety or eccentricity is to be drained from the process. What is left is a dutiful acknowledgement that those minding the money store are the best of the best – and chosen for their fealty to honesty and their honest resoluteness in the face of the temptations of corruption. A straight-shooter, fearless, well-meaning, earnest ... even a bit nebbish. That's how the central banker is basically presented to the world. You don't usually see them in relaxed environments. You hardly ever see them at barbecues." Continue reading →
"The idea that the ECB and the Fed are going to begin to quarrel or pursue separate policies is a ludicrous one. Yet we are being asked to believe it. These people never let a good crisis go to waste. Part of the point of the lingering EU credit crunch is to create a necessity for a deeper union, monetarily and politically. ECB pols have said as much. The goal of ECB bureaucrats is to further paste together the fraying EU and its even sicker euro currency. At this point, this policy is being pursued in direct defiance of EU citizens who have voted continuously, when they can, against a deeper union of any sort. There are no rogue central banks. Everyone has a part to play." Continue reading →
"Today government – and its central banks – utilize the private sector for policy purposes. Tomorrow, government may see fit to move those levers directly. In the meantime, there can be no doubt – as we have observed – that the plan is to take the stock market a good deal higher. While equity purists shall object that when earnings decouple from prices a crash is near, we would beg to differ. Volatility is certainly headed our way. But not necessarily an earth shattering crash, or not yet anyway. Markets are strange beasts. Pumped up by modern fiat money, they can go higher than one might expect – and then stay down longer, as well, as Japanese markets have." Continue reading →
"The Wall Street Party we've forecast continues to build. The JOBS Act is forcing new product into the IPO market. QE continues in the US, Britain and Europe. Janet Yellen and Mark Carney are not about to try to taper in any serious way. The fracking meme continues to be pursued, giving people at least the illusion of more gas and oil to stimulate another industrial boom. And now, to ensue that money flows copiously, top bankers are obviously considering negative interest rates. How do you increase consumer spending, thus contributing to the Wall Street Party about which we've regularly written? Try to increase the velocity of money any way you can." Continue reading →
"At the IMF Research Conference on November 8, 2013, former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers presented a plan to expand the con game. Summers says that it is not enough merely to give the banks interest free money. More should be done for the banks. Instead of being paid interest on their bank deposits, people should be penalized for keeping their money in banks instead of spending it. Summers acknowledges that the problem with his solution is that people would take their money out of banks and hoard it in cash holdings. Summers has a fix for this: eliminate the freedom by imposing a cashless society where the only money is electronic." Continue reading →
