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Obama picks Goldman Sachs exec for ambassador to Canada

"U.S. President Barack Obama has selected a partner at the investment firm of Goldman Sachs in Chicago to be the new U.S. ambassador to Canada, CBC News has learned. Sources tell CBC News Network's Power & Politics that Bruce Heyman has accepted the job but still has to pass a vetting process in order to be be formally nominated. His confirmation will be up to the U.S. Congress. Well known as a high-level fundraiser to Barack Obama, Heyman and his wife Vicki, also a fundraiser, raised more than $1 million for Obama and were on his national finance committee. Heyman runs the private wealth fund at Goldman Sachs." Continue reading →

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Ex-Goldman Sachs trader charged with $118 million trading fraud

"A former trader with US banking giant Goldman Sachs was arrested Wednesday on criminal charges of fraud linked to a scheme to hide an $8 billion futures bet, officials said. The federal prosecutor’s office in Manhattan said Taylor was due to appear before a judge on the charges 'in connection with a scheme to accumulate and conceal an unauthorized $8 billion position in a trading account that he managed at Goldman, Sachs & Co.' In November, the Commodities Futures Trading Commission filed a civil suit accusing Taylor of defrauding his employer 'by intentionally concealing… the true huge size, as well as the risk and potential profits or losses associated.'" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingEx-Goldman Sachs trader charged with $118 million trading fraud

Marc Faber: What Happened In Cyprus Will Happen Everywhere

"'It will happen everywhere in the world, in Western democracies,' Faber said. 'I think you have to be prepared to lose 20 to 30%. I think you're lucky if you don't lose your life.' 'If you look at what happened in Cyprus, basically people with money will lose part of their wealth, either through expropriation or higher taxation. The problem is that 92% of financial wealth is owned by 5% of the population. The majority of people don't benefit from a rise in the stock market. They are being hurt by a rising cost of living and we all know that the real incomes of median households has been going down for the last few years,' he said." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingMarc Faber: What Happened In Cyprus Will Happen Everywhere

Most Consumer Complaints Come From Boca Raton, Upper West Side

"When U.S. officials began collecting consumer complaints about credit cards, one goal was to identify patterns that could help them write rules protecting families with low and moderate incomes. Nearly two years later, it’s the well-to-do neighborhoods of Florida and New York that are supplying the most grievances to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, an analysis of agency data shows. Almost 60 percent of complaints originated in zip codes where the median household income is higher than the national median of $52,762, according to the analysis." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingMost Consumer Complaints Come From Boca Raton, Upper West Side

Jim Rickards: Forget Cyprus, Nobody Is Stealing from Depositors More than Bernanke

"'At this stage of a recovery normalized interest rates should be around 2-3%,' says Rickards. 'Apply that 2-3%…to the entire multi-trillion-dollar deposit base of the United States of America and that’s a $400-billion per year wealth transfer from savers to bankers so they can pay themselves bigger bonuses or make crazy bets.' Over time, Rickards says, that wealth transfer could reach $1 trillion. Rickards says zero interest rates are just one way the Fed is fleecing depositors. Others include increasing inflation, which Bernanke is trying to do, and taxing deposits like Cyprus is pushing for." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingJim Rickards: Forget Cyprus, Nobody Is Stealing from Depositors More than Bernanke

Florida investment adviser charged with selling $8 million of fake Facebook shares

"A Florida investment adviser was charged Tuesday with selling $8 million of fake Facebook shares ahead of the social network’s highly anticipated public offering, officials said. The Justice Department said Craig Berkman, 71, was arrested on two separate securities fraud schemes involving Facebook shares. Berkman received a total of at least $8 million from these schemes, most of which he 'misappropriated for his own benefit,' a Justice Department statement said. Investors discovered the fraud when they tried to redeem their shares in 2012, officials said." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingFlorida investment adviser charged with selling $8 million of fake Facebook shares

JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon is accused of hiding information about big losses

"Washington dealt a double blow Thursday to JPMorgan Chase as a Senate report accused its iconic chief executive of hiding information about a massive loss from regulators while the Federal Reserve unexpectedly said it had found a 'weakness' in the bank’s capital plans. The report takes the bank to task for hiding losses for three months last year, overstating the value of its trading positions and ignoring red flags. When regulators grew concerned, JPMorgan withheld information about the nature of the portfolio, Senate investigators say." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingJPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon is accused of hiding information about big losses

Conspiracy Theories vs. the Religion of Democracy

"The proponents of any conspiracy view of historical events are pariahs in academia. That is because these theories get close to the truth, namely, that mass democracy has not prevented special-interest messianic groups from seeking political power and wealth as ways to re-shape mankind. These groups exercise power behind many thrones. They are not pro-democracy. They are not pro-free market. They are men in search of ways to achieve what they want: a new humanity. They will use money and politics to attain this goal. The best way to overcome a conspiracy is to take away its leverage: political power in defense of the existing distribution of wealth." Continue reading →

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What to Keep in Mind about the Tax on Cyprus Bank Deposits

"Those who lent money to Cyprus’s banks by buying their debt rather than by depositing money at the banks, will suffer no losses at all. Those who lent money to the insolvent Cypriot government, will be paid off at 100 cents on the euro. In other words, the banksters are protected. Only depositors with banks will suffer losses in this International Monetary Fund engineered plan. It's as blatant example of who the IMF really works for. This is not the liquidation of a bad system. It is an attempt to protect the crony system and the banksters who are part of it. It is a tax on the 'little people' who keep their funds in the form of deposits, rather than bonds." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingWhat to Keep in Mind about the Tax on Cyprus Bank Deposits

Libor Scandal to Reveal Metals Manipulation?

"Gold is being sucked directly into the Libor scandal. Of course, we are on record as pointing out that it can hardly be much of a scandal when central banks set the price and volume of money every day. But nonetheless, the mainstream press has been buzzing about the idea that commercial banks were setting LIBOR rates in ways that accommodated their business practices. It is ultimately all about control. Gold and silver prices are apparently not subject to open marketplace competition for a reason. And now the Libor scandal threatens to unearth the seamy side of metals manipulation from the standpoint of the world's biggest banks." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingLibor Scandal to Reveal Metals Manipulation?