Blog Trek: Run Silent, Run Deep

CYBERSPACE, THE FINAL FRONTIER...

THESE ARE THE VOYAGES OF THE UCS WEBLOG...

ITS MULTIYEAR MISSION...

TO EXPLORE STRANGE NEW SITES...

TO SEEK OUT NEW FACTS AND NEW POINTS OF VIEW...

TO BOLDLY GO WHERE NO BLOGGER HAS GONE BEFORE....


Aboard the United Cybership (UCS) Weblog...


Captain's Blog, Cyberdate 20090214


Deep in uncharted cyberspace, we have become aware of unique threats posed to the UCS Weblog by our enemy. Analyses by Intelligence and Tactical indicate that our vessel is being tracked based upon our identification transponder, the codes for which have been compromised. Although I will not go into the technical details in this blog entry, it is important to realize the gravity of the threat.

The Federation is part of a broader alliance that now finds itself in the midst of a war -- a war which was begun by a terrorist attack. The information that we have uncovered makes that terrorist attack look more and more suspicious. Undoubtedly, the terrorists had help from deep inside the Federation, and undoubtedly, the enemy that we now face has access to Federation cybership transponder codes.

To be sure, it takes resources to track a cybership, although the need for resources is mitigated by the fact that, once started, the process of tracking cyberships is highly automated.

We had previously been aware of our enemy's ability to sense the wake of our vessel as we move through cyberspace, and of our enemy's attempt to track the leading edge of our wake, with an eye toward gaining a fire control solution against us. Now, however, the ante in this game has been upped by the enemy's ability to track us via our transponder code.

It should be noted that other critical information is now known or assumed to be compromised, as well.

As a consequence of this situation, the UCS Weblog has been forced to operate far more cautiously than previously.

As I reflect on this, I am reminded of stories about submarine operations in past wars. These vessels, with the ability to slip into close proximity to enemy targets and fire on them while underwater, and thus unseen, were considered particularly dangerous in warfare. In a deadly game of cat-and-mouse -- an analogy I have used in a previous blog entry with reference to our own situation -- the answer to the threat posed by the submarine was for groups of ships to work together to hunt it down and destroy it; however, the game of cat-and-mouse was deadly precisely because the prey was so deadly, and, indeed, it was often difficult to tell who was the prey, and who was the hunter pursuing it, or, as I had phrased it, "who is the cat, and who is the mouse."

Already with a reputation for mystery, the UCS Weblog now becomes even more mysterious, as we manipulate our transponder, and tie this through Tactical to our cloaking system, allowing us to move like a ghostship through the heart of enemy cyberspace. The enemy must now wonder where will we appear and in what form, what target will we fire upon and with what weapons -- all while I compare our current situation to that of submariners of old, as the UCS Weblog appears to "run silent, run deep".

The Avenger: Prelude

She looked at herself in the mirror.

The bikini was a little more revealing than what she normally wore.

Actually, it was a great deal more revealing; she was more far modest than that.

Still, it would have been out-of-place to be haunting the grounds of a beach hotel in the tropics wearing clothes that she would have felt comfortable with.

She smiled.

Although it was certainly not her desire to exploit the fact -- indeed, as modest as she was, it was difficult for her to even admit the fact -- she did have a nice figure. Her constant athletic activity honed and developed a gift of nature that was hers: she was beautiful.

Her ex-husband had commented on that many times. For all his faults -- and they had been many -- he was sweet at times, and there had also been a great deal to admire and appreciate about him.

She sighed.

Now she was here.

She looked around the hotel.

It was nice, but not the kind she was accustomed to when she was escorting him. People would have expected to have found him in a five-star hotel, renting the very best suite.

Instead, he and she had adjoining rooms on the top floor of what was advertised as a four-star hotel, although she wondered if it really was more than a three-star hotel.

He had not wanted adjoining rooms, as he was still trying to keep a certain professional distance from her, but she pointed out that adjoining rooms would permit one to help the other in the event of a problem.

She had to phrase it like that, because, although she was his bodyguard, he had a very powerful chivalrous streak in him, and it would rub him wrong if she said it was so she could protect him, so she had to make it sound like it was a mutual thing; besides which, since he had taken her into his confidence and invited her to assist him on his missions, there had definitely developed a reciprocity in their interactions which transcended the official description of her job on file in the personnel office of Wayne Enterprises.

She wrapped an article of clothing around her. She had no idea what it was called, it was like a dress -- half a dress, really, maybe only a third -- and it was mostly transparent, but it made her feel less immodest in her bikini. She then put on a wide hat to protect herself from the intense sun, which beat down from above and blasted in as reflected light off the sea and the surrounding white buildings, she put on her sunglasses, picked up a beach towel, and headed towards the door.

Maria, with whom she shared the room, smiled and held the door for her.

Maria was another employee of Wayne Enterprises, accompanying the team because, as a native speaker of Spanish, her skills were indispensable on this particular mission.

She looked at Maria and nodded. "Thanks," she said, the smile half disappearing as she studied Maria again momentarily. With a dark complexion, black hair and dark brown eyes, and a tremendous figure, Maria was stunningly beautiful.

Why, she wondered, were there so many beautiful women around him all the time? Did he plan it, or did it just happen that way? Or, maybe, somebody else planned it for him? Lucius? Surely not Alfred!

She shook her head and hurried through the door.

As she approached the elevator, one of the hotel employees smiled and greeted her.

"¡Buenos días! ¿Dónde está mi esposo?" she asked, haltingly, trying her Spanish.

"Señor Malone está por la piscina," came the smiling response.

"'In the office'?" She looked at him questioningly.

"The pool," he said in English.

She smiled, blushed, and hurried off.



Apparent confusion is the product of good order; apparent fear is the product of bravery; and apparent weakness is the product of strength.

He considered the words, deep in thought, gazing out at the sea from his chair under the big umbrella.

"Good morning, Señor Malone!", the waiter smiled at him, setting a glass of tangerine juice and a cup of coffee on the small table next to him.

The large figure glanced up from the tropical sea, surprised, and nodded at the waiter, then looked back down at his book.

So, those skilled at making an enemy move do so by causing a situation to which he must conform; they entice him with something he is certain to take, and, holding the promise of tremendous profit, they await their enemy in strength.



Lucius walked through the facility. It was Saturday morning, but in the high-security area of the Wayne Enterprises research facility, there was a full crew of personnel, and they were busy.

Before leaving on vacation -- with quite a contingent of Wayne Enterprises personnel, including security people -- Bruce had asked for some special new equipment. In an off-handed way, right as he was leaving, he mentioned that it would be nice to have a Batsuit that could keep him alive in a furnace, then, after the briefest of pauses, he laughed and said that was probably impossible.

Of course, the technicians took that as a challenge, and now, when Bruce got back from vacation, he would get his Christmas presents from the staff. They had set up a Christmas tree in the basement workshop of Wayne Enterprises, and, under it, there was a completely-redesigned Batmobile, a new Batbot, and not one but two new Batsuits, both of which had tested as impervious to multiple hits from grenade launchers and to extended attacks from flamethrowers.



It was late evening already, but the fortune-teller and the master were deep in a conversation.

For all his training, for all his knowledge and understanding, for all that he had and for all he had passed on to his disciple, his conversations with the fortune-teller filled a gap that needed to be filled

"It was written anciently, 'Therefore, one able to achieve victory by modifying his tactics in accordance with the enemy situation may be said to be divine.' Is this not among your teachings?"

He looked at the fortune-teller. "Yes, it is," he answered, serving her some more tea. "'Of the earth's elements,'" he continued where she had left off, "'none is always predominant; of the four seasons, none lasts forever; of the days, some are long and some are short, and the moon waxes and wanes.'"

These conversations with the fortune-teller reminded the master of who he had always been, and helped him to not worry -- because he knew something was up, and it was something worth worrying about.



She approached him, but he was so caught up reading his book, he didn't even notice her; although he was on a beautiful tropical beach (surrounded by beautiful women, she noted), his book took him somewhere else, and she wondered where that was and why anyone would be so driven to be there and not here.

"Good morning, Bruce!"

Hurriedly, he looked up. "Good morning, Sasha." He smiled warmly at her, but just as quickly disappeared off into his distant place inside his book.

She looked at it. She had heard of it before. It was a translation of a work by someone called Sun Tzu.



There was no fixed date for the return, but Lucius knew it couldn't be much longer. Still, it had already lasted longer than anyone had anticipated, and Lucius was pleased and hoping it would last until the New Year.

He looked around the facility where, in a scene reminiscent of Santa's workshop, Wayne Enterprises technicians, complete with red-and-white tassel hats, were busy fabricating and testing new "toys" for their employer and, looking around, he knew, sooner or later, it would end.

Sooner or later, Bruce Wayne's long-needed vacation would end, Bruce would come back to Gotham City, and when he did, Batman would be back with a vengeance.

And, Lucius thought, in his mind reviewing what he knew about the situation in Gotham City, when Batman came back, there would be hell to pay.

Lipstick on a Pig, Part 3 of 3

We pick up from where we left off in Part 2, considering the question of who reaps the political harvest of this economic crisis we are in; we continue reviewing Who's Behind the Economic Collapse? by Cliff Kincaid, October 28, 2008:

Information from the Center for Responsive Politics identifies Goldman Sachs as a "strongly Democratic" firm, having contributed 73 percent of their almost $5 million in 2008 election cycle contributions to Democrats.

Some liberals understand the connection between Goldman Sachs and Obama. "Obama’s number one bundler is Goldman Sachs,” notes John R. MacArthur, publisher of Harper's Magazine, in a release from the "progressive" group calling itself the Institute for Public Accuracy. He was referring to how money from the firm is packaged for the Obama campaign.

"In his book, 'The Audacity of Hope,' Obama talks about how much he likes investment bankers, how bright and liberal they are," says MacArthur. He believes that Obama is a "socialist" only in the sense that he, like Bush and McCain, supports socialism for the rich through the Wall Street bailout.

Socialist or not, Obama is clearly the firm's favorite in the presidential race.

And -- Surprise! Surprise! -- Obama benefits politically from this crisis, as people look to him to save them from the evil speculators.

Lynn Sweet of the Chicago Tribune recently discovered that, on May 3, 2007, Obama had attended an event at the Museum of Modern Art in Manhattan "that was not on his public schedule and is only now surfacing ― a private dinner for Goldman Sachs traders with a discussion on issues moderated for the Wall Street firm by NBC's Tom Brokaw" ― the moderator of the second presidential debate.

Her column notes other Obama campaign connections to Goldman Sachs and mentions that Bloomberg had reported that Obama addressed the Goldman's annual partners meeting 2006 in Chicago.

It is not known, of course, what kind of illegal financial activities may have contributed to the current crisis. But based on what has been publicly said by the President and the SEC, the culprits could possibly include operators of the controversial, mysterious and secretive financial vehicles known as hedge funds.

A hedge fund operator such as George Soros, who was convicted of insider trading in France, is known to make money from the collapse of national economies and currencies. Labeled "The Man who broke the Bank of England" because of his financial activities against the British currency, he is said to be on a witness list of hedge fund operators that will be called to testify before Congress next month―probably after the election.

Isn't it interesting how the candidate that Soros has been backing for years now, Senator Barack Obama, is the main political beneficiary of an economic crisis -- the kind of crisis Soros has been known to generate?

And, isn't it interesting how Senator Obama led the charge in giving over $700 billion dollars of money, borrowed with an I.O.U. signed by the U.S. taxpayer, to financial speculators -- of which George Soros is a very successful example?

Our financial regulatory system is a pig -- corrupt government regulators taking care of their dishonest cronies in the private sector.

And, Barack Obama used his influence (and McCain went along with it, and Bush signed it) to put lipstick on that pig, and sell it to us in a poke. (For my foreign readers: Pig in a poke.)

If Barack Obama wins on Tuesday, the biggest difference we will have beginning in January is that of whose friends will benefit from the corruption and cronyism in Washington, as one crooked regime takes over from another.

Regime change? Change we can believe in!



Please finish reading the originals that I quoted from: Treasury Secretary Looks Out for His Buddies First and Who's Behind the Economic Collapse?

Lipstick on a Pig, Part 2 of 3

We return now to Treasury Secretary Looks Out for His Buddies First, picking up where we left of in Part 1 reviewing that article:

There is no simple way to create markets for the collateralized debt obligations (CDOs) on the banks' books. Trade can only happen when you can discern a price and parties think they will benefit. The bank or hedge fund cannot value these assets correctly in the interbank market because they can't be sure the other party is not going to fail. This results in a price that is far away from where it normally would be quoted. A clearing house takes away much of the risk, leaving only the market risk of the CDO. Better pricing of these CDOs will save taxpayers billions of dollars, since in any auction you will be buying and selling at a more efficient market price.

Who doesn't want the independent clearing house solution? Investment banks of New York. Over 30% of their revenue comes from proprietary trading. They reap massive profits in the over-the-counter (OTC) marketplace. They also would have to spend money to hold positions in the clearing house. This will limit their operations and profitability. Additionally, they are afraid because the clearing house would have access to all kinds of information that the banks deem sensitive. If that information were leaked, it could compromise a bank's competitive position. The New York banks will try to establish a clearing house that they control. They would keep the market fuzzy and to themselves. A bank-controlled clearing house would be a license to steal. This would be like the fox watching the hen house. It will be only a matter of time before we blow up again.

First of all, we already have an organization which, to a great extent, is supposed to be monitoring the financial sector, limiting the damage caused by bad moves there -- and despite that we had the Great Depression, other crises and scandals, and now this. So, now they propose more regulation and perhaps a reorganization -- a "new world economic order".

Kind of like 9/11 -- we had government agencies that had information that something was up, including some surprising particulars, but despite that, the terrorist attack succeeded literally against all odds. No one was ever held accountable or punished, we just had more regulation -- that "Patriot Act" -- and a reorganization -- the Directorate of Central Intelligence became the Directorate of National Intelligence.

We now return to Who's Behind the Economic Collapse?; we repeat the last paragraph that was quoted in the previous post, and continue with the next two paragraphs:

The growing suspicion that the financial meltdown is a "generated crisis" has been fed by statements from President Bush himself that illegal financial activities were taking place. On September 18, when he made a public statement about the growing economic problems, Bush announced that the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) was stepping up its enforcement actions "against illegal market manipulation."

By whom or what? The President didn't say.

The next day, September 19, Bush appeared in the Rose Garden with Paulson, SEC chairman Christopher Cox, and Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke. Bush declared, "The SEC is also requiring certain investors to disclose their short selling, and has launched rigorous enforcement actions to detect fraud and manipulation in the market. Anyone engaging in illegal financial transactions will be caught and persecuted [sic]." Again, what was Bush talking about?

The only ones who will be "persecuted" -- and for my usage, I am spelling it correctly -- will be those whistleblowers who come forward to tell us what is really going on; consider the Sibel Edmonds case in connection with 9/11 to see what I am talking about.

Continuing with Who's Behind the Economic Collapse?:

For its part, on the same day, the SEC announced "a sweeping expansion of its ongoing investigation into possible market manipulation in the securities of certain financial institutions." The SEC declared, "Hedge fund managers, broker-dealers, and institutional investors with significant trading activity in financial issuers or positions in credit default swaps will be required, under oath, to disclose those positions to the Commission and provide certain other information."

But no details were provided. Don't voters have the right to know whether these illegal activities were being conducted for political purposes?

Almost as secretive were Treasury Secretary Paulson's maneuvers. He produced a quick three-page proposal to make himself a virtual financial dictator without judicial oversight or review. Then just as quickly it was secretly altered so that he would have the authority to bail out banks in China and other foreign countries.

A "financial dictator without judicial oversight or review" -- now surely we would not expect that from this White House?

For those interested in some of the fascinating details about Paulson's extremely close relationship with China, which may have provoked the financial crisis and stands to benefit from it, the October issue of Bloomberg Markets is a good place to start. It notes that Paulson was sworn in as secretary in July 2006 and that by September he was announcing "creation of the first U.S.-China Strategic Economic Dialogue." Paulson, the magazine reports, has a relationship with Chinese leaders and has traveled to China at least 70 times in his career. It reports that he personally had $25 million worth of holdings in a Goldman Sachs fund whose sole asset was a stake in the Industrial & Commercial Bank of China.

Goldman Sachs, a "full-service global investment banking and securities firm," is "the leading underwriter of Chinese equity securities and M&A [merger and acquisition] advisor in China," its website declares.

"Managing the U.S. relationship with China is an increasingly important part of the Treasury secretary's job," Bloomberg Markets says. "During the Fannie and Freddie crisis, Paulson used his credibility with Chinese leaders to reassure them that the U.S. mortgage companies weren't in jeopardy." Paulson is quoted as saying that "I clearly talked with the Chinese through this. They've worked with me enough that they knew I wouldn't say it unless I believed it."

Why was this necessary? Chinese institutions own more than $30 billion of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac paper, the magazine reports.

On September 7, of course, the U.S. Government, under Paulson's direction, took control of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, putting the U.S. taxpayers on the hook for $5 trillion of mortgages. But Paulson's statement made no mention of the Chinese investments. Instead, he talked about protecting financial markets and U.S. taxpayers.

About a week and a half later the demands came for more taxpayer money for Wall Street, and the national economic crisis was well underway.

Rep. Scott Garrett, Republican of New Jersey, is leading the Congressional effort to find out how Paulson's proposal was developed and by whom. He wants to know what went on behind "closed conference room doors" in the U.S. Government.

Equally significant, on September 23, Paulson's former firm, Goldman-Sachs, received an infusion of $5 billion from Warren Buffett, a major Obama financial backer and booster.

The former Goldman Sachs CEO "does not act or sound much like a conservative Republican to the GOP remnant at the Treasury," noted Robert Novak in an October 2007 column. Novak reported that Paulson had "marched to his own drummer" by naming Eric Mindich, chairman of Eton Park Capital Management, to head the Asset Managers' Committee of the President's Working Group on Financial Markets. "A former Goldman Sachs colleague of Paulson's, Mindich is a top-level Democratic fundraiser," Novak noted. "He was in Sen. John Kerry's inner circle for the 2004 presidential campaign and backs Sen. Barack Obama for 2008."

Then, during the current crisis, Paulson appointed another former Goldman Sachs banker, Neel Kashkari, to run the new "Office of Financial Stability" and buy bad loans and distressed securities.

Talk about a revolving door of cronyism....

But, to whose political benefit does this happen?

Stay tuned for Part 3.

Lipstick on a Pig, Part 1 of 3

We begin with Treasury Secretary Looks Out for His Buddies First, by Jeffrey Carter, November 1, 2008; please see the original for links which I did not reproduce.

Hank Paulson has acted like the secretary of Wall Street rather than the secretary of the Treasury. This economic crisis manifested itself in August 2007 and nothing that Paulson has done has been a remedy for the problem. His solutions have only propped up his cronies on Wall Street. He is sidestepping the real problem in the market: counterparty risk. Only an independent clearing house can solve this crisis.

Secretary Paulson's bailout package does nothing for the problem. It injects money into bankrupt institutions by buying preferred stock, which only solves the easy part of the crisis. What if the stuff on the banks' books is worth less than they say? We will still have a problem. The crux of the problem is that there is so much counterparty risk that banks will not lend to each other. This has frozen what's called the interbank credit market. Banks do not trust each others' financial statements. This is why our credit system is clogged.

There are only two ways to get rid of counterparty risk. One is don't trade with each other. This is not an option; it's what is happening today. The other is to trade through an independent "clearing house" that erases counterparty risk by guaranteeing each trader is solvent. Once we recertify trust, the credit market will unlock and trading can resume.

I thought we established in Economic 9-11? that it was the job of the Federal Reserve to evaluate the general financial situations of its member banks.

In other words, we already have a "clearing house" -- but, the clearing house hasn't been doing its job.

The theory is that Federal Reserve -- which is not really a government entity, by the way -- is supposed to help police our financial sector.

The reality is that the Federal Reserve has become a place for cronies of those in power to leverage their knowledge of what is happening in the financial industry into big profits for select players on the financial scene.

We now consider Who's Behind the Economic Collapse? by Cliff Kincaid, October 28, 2008; again, please see the original for links that I did not reproduce.

Joe Biden made headlines by talking about a "generated crisis" for a President Obama. But is the current financial meltdown another "generated crisis?" Considering the problems in the economy, including too much federal debt, too much spending and easy credit, which have been with us for years, why did this crisis suddenly occur only six weeks before the election?

And is it just a coincidence that it occurred at a time when John McCain was leading in the national public opinion polls and appeared to be on his way to a November 4 election victory?

The crisis was man-made. It is a fact that President Bush's Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, who worked for a Democratic firm, Goldman Sachs, and has very close ties to Communist China, is the one who convinced Bush to demand hundreds of billions of bailout dollars from Congress.

Let me interrupt this narrative to remind you all that Paulson is one of us rich, self-interested Republicans; Democrats, as we know, are all poor, or at the very least selflessly use their wealth for the benefit of all humanity, like George Soros does.

This is when McCain began falling in the polls. That's apparently because McCain, like Bush, is a Republican, and he has been blamed by Obama and the Democrats for the Republican policies that are said to have produced this crisis. This charge is debatable, but it has proven to be effective, with the cooperation of the major media.

Part of the problem, of course, was of McCain's own making. He voted for the $700-billion plan after flirting with the House conservatives opposing it. This was a major error on his part. He missed a critical opportunity to take on the incumbent President of his own party, Obama, the Democrats, and Wall Street interests.

The timing was important. If you examine the polling trend (see page two of this PDF document from Karl Rove & Company), one can see that McCain was moving ahead of Obama by mid-September. One poll, the Rasmussen poll, had McCain over Obama every day from September 12-17. McCain evened up the race again on September 23, after Obama had taken a lead, but it has been Obama ever since.

Clearly, the controversy over the legislative "bailout" or "rescue" for Wall Street, which emerged in a big way on September 18, changed the dynamics of the presidential race. It has hugely benefited Obama by making the economy take precedence over Obama's controversial associates, pro-socialist views, or lack of a background and security check.

The growing suspicion that the financial meltdown is a "generated crisis" has been fed by statements from President Bush himself that illegal financial activities were taking place. On September 18, when he made a public statement about the growing economic problems, Bush announced that the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) was stepping up its enforcement actions "against illegal market manipulation."

Illegal market manipulation -- what have I written about in the few posts where I have addressed this crisis?

Stay tuned for Part 2.

Whole Lotta Trouble: Intermezzo

From Two Plus Two, Part 8, October 28, 2008; this passage begins with an excerpt from What "incredibly tough" foreign policy actions is Obama preparing? by Patrick Martin, October 25, 2008:

Foreign policy journals and pundits linked to the Democratic Party have undoubtedly been discussing many such doomsday scenarios, and Biden's language suggests that the use of the US nuclear arsenal, the world's largest, is under consideration by those who are formulating the foreign and military policy of an Obama-Biden administration.

The expectation is that they will use nuclear weapons to show everybody how tough Obama is.

From Nuclear Strike on US Imminent?, February 16, 2007:

Bin Laden is believed to have bought some small nuclear weapons, possibly from organized crime figures in Chechnya.[snip]

It is vital to note that this isn't just a bunch of backwards tribesman running around in the mountains with something they may not be able to use. Bin Laden is anything but unintelligent and unsophisticated in his thinking.[snip]

Bin Laden contracted technicians and other personnel from the former Soviet Union to maintain his nuclear weapons and advise him regarding them. It would be quite foolish to assume that all these weapons are "duds" or that for some other reason Bin Laden can't pull this off. The 9/11 attack probably seemed quite unimaginable to many until it happend.

Divertimento:

From Gotham City Teasers I, October 26, 2008:

The Detective (Touch the Sun) Part 10 of 12:

"The danger is not past, Bruce," his mother's voice answered.

The Detective (Touch the Sun) Part 12 of 12:

But Ra's al Ghul knew something more; he knew that it would not end with the destruction of the Gotham Towers.

The Eagle and the Butterfly:

"To murder a man and to destroy an entire village are both crimes, but, as terrible as the one is, it pales in significance when compared to the other."

Late at Night in the Batcave:

"You think this new crime syndicate, the Mujahideen, have nuclear weapons, don't you, sir?" It wasn't a question. "You think they have them here in Gotham."

Whole Lotta Trouble, Part 2

And the angel said "Well you must have had a dream"

Who is Behind the Financial Meltdown? - Market Manipulation and the Institutional Speculator

The market is heavily manipulated. The driving force behind the meltdown is speculative trade. The system of "private regulation" serves the interests of the speculators.

While most individual investors loose when the market falls, the institutional speculator makes money when there is a financial collapse.

In fact, triggering market collapse can be a very profitable undertaking.

There are indications that the Security Exchange Commission (SEC) regulators have created an environment which supports speculative transactions.

And you remember it 'till the dream followed through

Puppetmaster

On top of that, when the system is being manipulated by those in power -- be they government regulators, the elected officials who appointed them, or the billionaire-patrons of the politicians -- honest people have nowhere to run. The result is not just the greed that our elites decry, but a greed enforced by fascistic government regulation.

Till the end of the dream and the dream came true

Who is Behind the Financial Meltdown? - Market Manipulation and the Institutional Speculator

There are several instruments including futures, options, index funds, derivative securities, etc. used to make money when the stock market crumbles.

The more it falls, the greater the gains.

Those who make it fall are also speculating on its decline.

With foreknowledge and inside information, a collapse in market values constitutes a lucrative and money-spinning opportunity, for a select category of powerful speculators who have the ability to manipulate the market in the appropriate direction at the appropriate time.

When I want something I get it

Economic 9-11?

So, it is the job of the Federal Reserve to monitor the loans of its member banks, and, if they are "playing fast and loose", to report the matter and, ultimately, it is the job of the Board of Governors to suspend those banks from the Federal Reserve System if they continue with their irresponsible lending practices.

Dare I point out that all of the current members of the Federal Reserve's Board of Governors were appointed by President George W. Bush? Ben Bernanke, Donald Kohn, Kevin Warsh, Randall Kroszner and Elizabeth A. Duke; by 2006, four of the five were in place on the Board of Governors.

Now President Bush -- in reaction to this crisis that the people he appointed to the Federal Reserve's Board of Governors should have seen coming and should have avoided -- has given us a hard-sale on a 700 billion dollar (?) bailout package -- which we all know will cost much more by the time this plays out.

You'd better go he says yes I think I better

Who is Behind the Financial Meltdown? - Market Manipulation and the Institutional Speculator

The effect of being on a "protected list" was to no avail. It was tantamount to putting those listed companies on a "hit list". If the SEC had implemented a complete and permanent ban on short selling coupled with a freeze on all forms of speculative trade, including index funds and options, this would have contributed to reducing market volatility and dampening the meltdown.

The ban on short selling was applied with a view to establishing the protected list. It expired on Wednesday October 8 at midnight.

The following morning, Thursday 9th of October, when the market opened up, those companies on the "protected list" became "unprotected" and were the first target of the speculative onslaught, leading to a dramatic collapse on of the Dow Jones on Thursday 9th and Friday 10th.

The course of events was entirely predictable. The lifting of the ban on short selling contributed to accentuating the downfall in stock market values. The companies which were on the hit list were the first victims of the speculative onslaught.

Stop for a moment I think you should think for a minute

The New Kleptocracy: Biggest "Giveaway" in American History - Interview with Dr. Michael Hudson

MH: Cash for trash is exactly what it was, and the emphasis should be placed on "Emergency" for Emergency Plan. It was rushed through without giving any opportunity to debate. Dennis Kucinich protested, for instance, that this was the first time a major plan that was going to create the equivalent of 700 billionaires, people who are going to become the next power elite to govern America for the next century --that this act was done without any hearings, without specialists--despite hundreds and hundreds of major economists throughout the world saying that it was a disaster and a giveaway. It is cash for trash. It will not resolve the problems.

Would you change your mind, at the very last minute

White House to banks: Start lending now

Under the authority of the $700 billion financial bailout plan approved by Congress and signed by President Bush earlier this month, the administration also plans to dole out $250 billion to banks in return for partial ownership. The Treasury Department, which is overseeing the massive capital injection program along with the rest of the bailout, will pour $125 billion into nine of the country's largest banks this week. Another $125 billion will go to other banks.

When I want something I get it

The New Kleptocracy: Biggest "Giveaway" in American History - Interview with Dr. Michael Hudson

MH: The Secretary of the Treasury said that he really just picked the amount out of the air. There will be another $700 billion next month, another $700 billion after that. Trillion after trillion will go to create a financial elite of kleptocrats. What's happened here by Mr. Paulson of Goldman Sachs is almost a mirror image of what the other Goldman Sachs' Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin did in Russia: he's creating and endowing a class of kleptocrats by giving them liquid treasury securities in exchange for basically worthless junk. It’s actually called the "Worthless Assets Recovery Program, (WARP)".

Whole lotta trouble

White House to banks: Start lending now

Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson has said the money was aimed at rebuilding banks' reserves so that they would resume more normal lending practices. But reports then surfaced that bankers might instead use the money to buy other banks. Indeed, the government approved PNC Financial Services Group Inc. to receive $7.7 billion in return for company stock and, at the same time, PNC said it was acquiring National City Corp. for $5.58 billion.

Officials have said that there are few strings attached to the capital-infusion program because too many rules would discourage financial institutions from participating.

Whole lotta trouble

Puppetmaster

Yes, you may make a mistake with your money, but the alternative is to have guys with guns and badges take your money from you, and give it to the foxes who are guarding your henhouse.

Whole lotta trouble for you

The New Kleptocracy: Biggest "Giveaway" in American History - Interview with Dr. Michael Hudson

"Mr. Obama is the man who is giving it all away to Wall Street and his major campaign contributors. Look at what's happening with Mr. Rubin, there's no difference at all between his financial advisor Robert Rubin and the Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson." Instead Mr. McCain shifted gears, reversed himself, gave in and said, "now I'm supporting the plan too".

Well this could be a whole lotta trouble

Puppetmaster

Needless to say, they want the economy more regulated -- there is a call for "global macroeconomic coordination".

That means taking more freedom from you, and giving it to our Washington elite.

Whole lotta trouble, baby

The "Worthless Assets Recovery Program"

Our "maverick" John McCain -- but when it comes right down to it, he joins Senator Obama in giving taxpayer dollars to the rich elite of this country, allowing that elite to take over the competition.

Senator Obama -- change we can believe in -- leading the charge in stealing tax dollars from the poor, giving to his rich cronies; McCain agrees with it, and Bush signs off on it. The only change was in control of our wealth -- and it wasn't Robin Hood Socialism, it was banana republic graft, enriching the elite.

Now there's change we can believe in, right Senator Obama?

Whole lotta trouble for you

Financial Meltdown: The Greatest Transfer of Wealth in History

That means the government and the Fed are now committing even more public money and taking on even more public risk. The taxpayers are already tapped out, so the Treasury’s "special deposit" will no doubt come from U.S. bonds, meaning more debt on which the taxpayers have to pay interest. The federal debt could wind up running so high that the government loses its own triple-A rating. The U.S. could be reduced to Third World status, with "austerity measures" being imposed as a condition for further loans, and hyperinflation running the dollar into oblivion. Rather than solving the problem, these "rescue" plans seem destined to make it worse.