After listening to these two NPR programs, I'm convinced.....

[Postman]

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=94928783

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=94686428


the criminals engaged in this extortion married all their destructive behavior to "the system" ....knowing full well that no politician could afford or allow "the system" to collapse harming the vast majority of people.... thus ensuring a de-facto Investor Class FDIC for the super-rich.

on edit: by "the system" I mean pension funds for working people, money markets, legitimate banking activities......

[melody]

1. bingo -- exactly n/t

[mckara]

2. That's Right! Don't They Call That Extortion?

n/t

[Frustratedlady]

3. Can anyone figure out if the Carlyle Group is involved?

Why do I fear them? I get a sick feeling every time their name pops into my mind.

[BrklynLiberal]

6. I believe that I did read that they are involved in at least one of these guys that is getting

bailed out. Perhaps AIG.

EDIT:
http://www.nowpublic.com/world/feds-aig-bailout-henry-kissinger-carlyle-group-big-government-crooks
<snip>
Does this whole thing sound like small government to you? And why are US mom and pop America forced to pay taxes for these rich scamsters who screwed up? And why should mom and pop American pay for the US War Machine and its phoney war on terror, which makes us pay for the New Welfare Department called Homeland Security?

And why did they go along to bail out AIG? Because Henry Kissinger is on the board of directors and they are intimately tied with BlackStone Group and the Carlysle Group.
Kissinger McLarty Associates has a “strategic alliance” with the Blackstone Group – seen by many as nothing more than another arm of the Carlyle Group. The Blackstone Group describes their relationship thus:

“Blackstone's alliance with Kissinger McLarty Associates is designed to help provide financial advisory services to corporations seeking high-level strategic advice. The relationship was announced in 2000 and recently completed its first strategic advisory assignment on behalf of a NYSE-listed company.” (source)
<snip>

[Frustratedlady]

8. And didn't they buy up gold a couple years ago?

Are they powerful enough to manipulate the economy?

Just curious, although I don't know that I truly want to know the answer.

[WestWingEmpty]

10. Nope. They are dumping Gold to keep it's price down.

Gold rising will let people know they are killing the dollar. They are dumping gold to keep the price down.

"But what if they run out of gold?" you might ask.

No problem. When it is too late they will just point to those that have gold and call them greedy speculators. Then they will ban private ownership of gold like in 1933 and confiscate it to get it all back.

Nice and simple.

[Cerridwen]

4. We must maintain the status quo.

Anyone in pain or dying due to the status quo...collateral damage. The system is all. All hail the system.

Long live free markets.

[grassfed]

5. They should be treated as brutally as any average person would

who defaulted on one of their loans but they'll remain rich and secure.

[lutherj]

7. It's amazing how well they timed it to happen right at the end of the Bush Administration.

It's the last and ultimate payoff as their phony cowboy rides off into the sunset. You know they're all going to get together in a few months and laugh and party their asses off.

[WestWingEmpty]

12. Did you also notice.

This occured RIGHT after the bankruptcy laws were changed in 2005?

[WestWingEmpty]

9. Conspiracy Theory here.

OK if you don't like conspiracies don't read further. I'm not saying I agree with this but I'm not saying I don't either.

The Fed is a private bank run buy all of the really Big Banks Like Morgan, Chase, ect.

Everyone once in a while other banks start eating into their profits.

So they do the following since they are in charge of the money supply.

They lower interest rates which causes people to get stupid with money. Take out lots of loans ect. Same with regular commercial and investment banks not a part of the Fed.

Then when they get overextended the Fed raises rates. This causes a slow down. All of those that were overextended see their stock prices crash.

Since the Fed can print it's own money it gives it to it's Big member banks that go out and buy up the banks whose stocks are low.

It's happened many many times in the past. The last time it got this out of control was in the 1920's. Remember the Roaring 20's? That was because the Fed pumped so much money out that people lived like they were rich. Until the crash. Even Bernake admits the Fed caused the Great Depression.

Since then the Fed has been pretty good at doing this little trick on a small enough scale that they didn't get caught. This time they may have taken it too far. We shall see.

[Postman]

13. Have you ever read The Creature From Jekyll Island?

http://www.amazon.com/Creature-Jekyll-Island-Federal-Reserve/dp/0912986212

There is some good history on money in here but I found the author to be too much of a right-wing, anti-New Deal, Libertarian....

[lutherj]

15. Welcome to DU! I always love a good conspiracy theory, but I'm afraid I have

to point out a flaw in yours. Any profits that accrue to the Federal Reserve are paid into the US Treasury, so the Fed would have no incentive to take over private banks. The Fed is semi-autonomous, but it's not really a private bank. The president appoints the Chairman with consent from congress, and congress controls the board of directors.

:hi:

[WestWingEmpty]

16. From what I understand..

The Fed doesn't end up owning the banks. The member banks end up owning the other banks. The Fed is just their way to do it.

Why can't congress audit the Fed?
Why do the taxpayers have to pay interest on money "owed" to the Fed?

It should be obvious I don't understand how it works but it just seems like something isn't right.

First of why is there a Fed in the first place? If Congress can't raise enough taxes why don't we just print the money to pay the bills? Why do we have to pretend to borrow it fromt the Fed?

Maybe I should read the book the other person mentioned.

[lutherj]

18. The Fed is operated by the federal government. Banks like Chase Manhattan

or JP Morgan don't have any control over the Fed. The Fed is audited by congress, more specifically by the GAO under the authority of congress.

The Fed lends money to private banks at a determined prime rate, and the banks in turn lend the money to corporations and to people. This is one aspect of capitalism that I don't like, because this system requires constant economic growth, or the system starts to collapse (as were seeing now). However, I'm not sure how else the government would introduce money into the economy. Would you have them give it away? I suppose they could give it to taxpayers directly, in distributions similar to the economic stimulus checks sent out this summer, but I suspect that over time that would likely result in inflation.

The Fed was created by congress to manage money supply in order to smooth over the bust and boom cycles that had been plaguing the country since its inception. It's true that it failed it's first real test, and we suffered the great depression. But after that they did a pretty good job managing the economy for about 70 years.

What we're experiencing right now is out of control capitalism, and a crumbling social contract, all running up against the realities of peak oil. I suspect the whole project is doomed.

[WestWingEmpty]

21. Thanks for the info.

That's the nice part of the internet. I didn't know anything about the Fed. So you look it up on the internet and there is so much stuff you have to sort it all out. I agree that it seems everything is based on growth. To me that one of our main problems. We have to move to something more sustainable. It seems even SS was designed for a growing population.

As for introducing money into the economy I saw a site that had an interesting idea. Let all government expenditures come from the Treasury printing money. It would be inflationary but you could take taxes in to remove money as well. If they have to report how much money they spent and how much they took in then we could hold them accountable and there wouldn't be any borrowing.

Again I'm not real smart on this stuff but it sounded like a good idea.

[lutherj]

22. Interesting idea about the treasury. I agree, we need to move to something

sustainable. If we don't choose to make the transition, sooner or later the choice will be made for us.

[Festivito]

24. Mine too. For more info google: "Money Masters"

Buy low, sell high, but first, create the low.

The video at the site you can find is good for all ages and intellects and less than an hour. I found it riveting.

EDIT ADDING FROM ANOTHER DU REMINDER POST TODAY:
"I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies. If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their currency, first by inflation, then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around will deprive the people of all property until their children wake-up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered. The issuing power should be taken from the banks and restored to the people, to whom it properly belongs. "

—Thomas Jefferson, 1802
From ITsec today:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x4114854

[lib2DaBone]

11. It's Obvious They Want this Country To Fail......

The Dems have signed on.. the Media has signed on... the only question is... where are we going? The Amero...complete chaos... serfdom?

[alfredo]

14. Naomi Klein is a Prophet.

[defendandprotect]

17. Obviously, it's always been the whole agenda: bankrupting Treasury, destroying Constitution --

equality for all/freedom of conscience -- democracy, itself --

The dollar, housing -- and creating vast poverty ...

not accidental --

[bridgit]

19. Correct enough. It's a variation of what was done in Iraq. Go in by lies or hook or crook...

So now we're there, just...there whether in this current money mess or Iraq. And the positioning thereafter is that if you don't support the troop with the funding they need (insert current financial crisis or any other trumped up crisis involving find-the-lady ultimatums) the entire escapade will fail and all the deaths of all those honorable soldiers will have been squandered in vain.

Just try to forget for a moment that all these are structured and occurring at the behest of global corporatism

[lostnotforgotten]

20. Grover Norquist's Best Wet Dream Is Coming True

Do not support the bailout or they win!

[Usrename]

23. That's it exactly.

This business of a bailout is just their way of shredding any evidence of their fraudulent activities.

Buy up all the bad paper so no one can be criminally prosecuted.

Enron on a global scale.