"How lucky for Chase Manhattan Bank. Below from a new batch of cables released by Wikileaks: A 1975 cable on Paul Volcker travelling to Kuwait as an official of Chase Manhattan Bank, who the State Department reports will be viewed by the Kuwaiti government as a senior Federal Reserve official." Continue reading →
"This week marks the 80th anniversary of FDR's decree, writes the Daily Bail. It remained the law of the land for more than four decades. Only on Dec. 31, 1974, was it finally repealed by Gerald Ford. Below is a full copy of the Executive Order." Continue reading →
"During the early honeymoon between ‘Abenomics’ and financial reality, the idea of printing yourself to prosperity is likely to have imitators, with the UK being a prime candidate. In terms of total indebtedness, the UK is the one industrialized country that can compete with Japan, meaning it is in the same supersized debt-pickle. Over at Threadneedle Street, the Deputy Governor of the Bank of England, Paul Tucker, openly fantasized about negative interest rates recently, outgoing Governor Mervyn King voted for more QE (overruled), and Governor-elect Mark Carney promises to be, well, – flexible. Bottom line: desperation is spreading. Watch this place!" Continue reading →
"Nearly $100,000 in direct contributions to Maryland lawmakers from speed camera companies paid off with the state dropping a proposed reform bill. Maryland's General Assembly adjourned for the year on Monday with balloons and confetti showering delegates. Governor Martin O'Malley (D) made the rounds, congratulating lawmakers on for a job he considered well done. Photo enforcement firms also ended the day with a celebration after their investment paid off with the defeat of all legislation that might have imposed limits or quality checks on their ticketing operations." Continue reading →
"Apparently the Federal Bureau of Investigation has been trying very, very hard to infiltrate the KAC, judging from this account of the arrest of one of the club’s members, Rich Paul, on marijuana charges. Paul is going on trial for petty marijuana distribution offenses pursuant to testimony by an undercover FBI informant. It looks as if the trial is on state charges, but what’s interesting and disturbing is the interest the federal government has taken in the case. FBI agent Phillip Christiana apparently tried to pressure Paul into wearing a wire into the KAC and luring people into pot transactions, offering him immunity from prosecution in exchange." Continue reading →
"As we saw in The Real Cyprus Template (the one you're not supposed to notice), once the smart money exits the at-risk banking sector, it is allowed to fall. This suggests that one way to identify which dominoes are likely to fall next is to look at the smart money's deposits in each nation's banks. If the smart money has pulled most of its capital out, ECB and Eurozone authorities have a diminishing stake in propping up the domino. As a result, its fall becomes increasingly likely." Continue reading →
"The $604 million issue from consumer lender Springleaf Financial, the former American General Finance, will bundle together about $662 million of loans secured by assets such as cars, boats, furniture and jewelry into ABS, according to a term sheet. Some loans have no collateral. Personal loans haven't been a part of the mainstream ABS market since securitizations from Conseco Finance Corp. in the late 1990s, according to Michael Dean, co-head of Fitch Ratings' ABS group. That market dried up as the recession hit and, under the weight of bad subprime loans, Conseco filed for bankruptcy in 2002." Continue reading →
"This is really an odd list and appears to be some type of very insider, VIP group. It contains major investment banks, such as Goldman Sachs, high powered law firms, such as Sullivan Cromwell and bank lobbying firms. I am on the list to receive FOMC minutes and other Fed releases, but did not receive the FOMC minutes in advance, like those on this list did. The real question is what is this list about, how does one get on it and do they receive any type notices from the Fed that are not released to anyone else? Indeed, the BIG question is why was this list put together?" Continue reading →
"The coming attacks will be publicized rapidly – with stories and releases prepared ahead of time – and will paint the worst possible picture. Afterwards it will be seen that the first loss estimates were wildly high, but that won't matter to the people who see the headlines on the evening news. Joe and Jane Obedient will believe the worst. This is all manipulation, obviously, since people are being ripped-off in government money, on gigantic scales: millions of thefts at once. But, such is the state of the West at this sad moment: The large abusers are sanctified and the innovators are demonized." Continue reading →
"The rush to build a more reliable exchange for the virtual currency bitcoin is under way after another price crash on Wednesday disgruntled customers who directed their anger against the alternative currency's major exchange. This follows a 20 percent crash last Thursday which Mt.Gox blamed on a type of hacking attack called a distributed denial-of-service attack (DDoS) -- which slows down the website -- delaying orders and panicking sellers. Another DDoS was again reported by the exchange on Thursday morning, coinciding with another price drop." Continue reading →