When AIG took more than $170 billion in bailout money from the Federal Reserve, it insisted it was so poor that only emergency funding of public money could save it. That was before AIG revealed it was &quotcontractually obliged&quot to pay $165 million in bonuses to its executives. Which executives, exactly? The ones who lost all the money in the first place!

	People will be marching in the streets, demanding the arrest of all the rich executives and corrupt bureaucrats who took part in this massive financial theft.

But this article isn’t about the facts surrounding the AIG bailout and its subsequent payout of $165 million in bonuses to incompetent executives. This is about something far more serious: The growing discontent among taxpayers who are inching ever closer towards a popular revolt.

Yes, there is a limit to how much even the mainstream public will put up with. And the only reason they aren’t marching in the streets right now is because all this bailout money hasn’t hit them in their own pocketbooks… yet. But once the hyperinflation of the U.S. dollar begins (which is now inevitable), and the public starts to connect the dots between their own financial losses and the bailout bonus money paid to rich executives, they are going to be utterly outraged at the magnitude and arrogance of the financial theft that took place right in front of them.

I believe it is no exaggeration to say that when these issues come to a crescendo, people will be marching in the streets, demanding the arrest of all the rich executives and corrupt bureaucrats who took part in this massive financial theft.

Let’s be blunt about this: This $165 in bonus money being paid to incompetent AIG managers is essentially money confiscated from hard-working American taxpayers. It’s just like being mugged on the street, except this theft will cost you much, much more than any mugging.

What we are witnessing here with this bailout fiasco is a massive theft of money from the People. And it’s the kind of scandal that makes people hopping mad when they finally figure it out. This is the kind of stuff that leads to wars of independence (read your American history books) and breakups of entire nations. And instead of stopping this madness and telling AIG they can’t pay million-dollar bonuses using taxpayer bailout money, the U.S. Congress and President just look the other way, pretending no theft is happening at all! Only a few lawmakers like Rep. Barney Frank (and Ron Paul, of course) have dared to stand up and challenge this fiscal madness (http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Frank…).

Betting the farm on a bankrupt nation

Meanwhile, the debt situation in America has become so dire that China is once again asking for assurances on U.S. debt (http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/15/u…).

They should be. The U.S. is so hopelessly lost in debt spending that there is no conceivable way to avoid outright national bankruptcy. So President Obama now takes to the podium and declares what every informed person in the world knows to be a lie, saying, &quot…every investor can have absolute confidence in the soundness of investments in the United States.&quot

And I have a bridge to sell ya in Brooklyn, too!

A White House spokesperson adds to the hilarity by saying, &quotThere’s no safer investment in the world than in the United States [debt].&quot (http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?…)

• A d v e r t i s e m e n t
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These are extraordinary statements from the world’s most highly-mortgaged debtor nation. They remind me of tobacco company executives stating, &quotNicotine is not addictive,&quot or Merck saying &quotVioxx is safe.&quot Sure, the U.S. — which needs about $2 trillion more in loans just to continue its bailout charade — is going to insist it will pay back the money. But how can it? With an economic depression now underway, and the import / export trade imbalance at dangerous levels, and the expense of fighting two wars hanging over the American Empire like a two-ton lead weight, the only person who believes the U.S. is a good credit risk is an insane person.

Buying U.S. debt is no doubt one of the dumbest things any investor could ever do, short of just pouring gasoline on dollar bills and lighting them up (which would actually help the Fed because it would slightly reduce the money supply).

Note carefully that what Madoff was arrested for (ripping off investors by running a ponzi scheme), the U.S. Treasury is pursuing as official policy! U.S. Treasury Bills are, in fact, a classic example of ponzi scheme mechanics: The only way the early investors get paid is if NEW investors can be suckered into the scheme in order to bring new money to the table! And when Obama says the U.S. is a safe investment, it echoes the words of Madoff himself who insisted that his own &quotinvestment brokerage&quot was a safe place for investors, too!

It is now obvious to every intelligent person familiar with the situation that the U.S. will default on its debt in some fashion, either by declaring a default or by paying off the debt with worthless hyper-inflated currency, which is much the same as declaring a default. The &quotone world currency&quot gang will then step in and exploit the crisis to seize control over the global money supply, and the U.S. dollar will be traded in (at pennies on the dollar) for some other global currency that’s once again controlled by the global elite.

Don’t be suckered into the U.S. dollar ponzi scheme

The only way to avoid losing your wealth during this transition is to convert your dollars to something real. Trade your dollars for gold, silver, land, storable food, seeds, tools, water filters or other things that hold value. The dollars you do not convert will be confiscated in one way or another, either through rising taxation or theft via new money creation.

Based on the way things are headed right now, I fully expect to see Americans rioting in the streets at some point in the next few years when the real pain of the bailout money fiasco starts to be felt by Joe Public. There are things you need to do in order to prepare for that, and I’ll write more about those topics here on CounterThink as events unfold.

Research related articles:

1. Borrowing from Peter to Pay Paul: The Wall Street Ponzi Scheme Called Fractional Reserve Banking
2. Kucinich calls for probe of bonuses for Wall Street aid recipients
3. Wall Street Bank Run

Matthias Chang

Future Fastforward

March 12, 2009

So long as the filthy rich global gamblers are alive and able to manipulate the stock markets, the currency markets, the oil markets and the derivative markets, there can be no genuine recovery for the global economy.

The reason is simple.

	Vikram Pandit, Citigroup Chief Executive.

There has been such a massive and unprecedented malinvestment and misallocation of capital resources from productive endeavours to the global financial casino in the last twenty-five years, that when the global financial system collapsed in 2007, the real economy starved of essential capital and other resources went into a tailspin in 2008 throughout the Western developed economies. We are now witnessing the pernicious effects spreading throughout the global economy. No one and no economy has been spared!

The gamblers know that unless they can keep suckers coming back to the financial casino on the false promise that not only can they recover their losses, but more importantly, they have better than an even chance to make good money, these financial rapists would in turn be wiped out for good.

Vikram Pandit, Citigroup Chief Executive is a financial fraud par excellence and in testimonies to the US Congress has been lying about the bank’s balance sheet to the extent of short changing the US taxpayers of the value of securities that were pledged to secure the bailout to the tune of US$19 billion.

Financial analysts, including our idiots in Malaysia’s financial dailies and radio talk-show hosts were so taken up by the announcement of the alleged profits in the first two months of 2009 by this crook, that they have commented that the market has bottomed and this good news has sparked the rally and will continue to boost market sentiments.

If there is an example of a drowning man grasping at straws, this is it!

Anyone who believes in this trash is an idiot and I hope that every penny that they still have will be wiped out when this manipulated bear rally fizzles out in the next few days and that they will be forced into bankruptcy. They deserve no pity whatsoever.

Citigroup is bankrupt in law and in fact, notwithstanding the massive bailout by the US Treasury and the Fed. The fact that it has been “nationalised” does not change the financial status of the bank.

I will give a simple analogy.

You have a business which has gone into receivership (“conservatorship” in US jargon) and the receivers and managers are now winding up the affairs of the company. Creditors are all lining up to take whatever remaining of the company’s assets in part settlement of the credit extended (hopefully 5 cents to the dollar).  Just because, the receivers and managers sold some assets and were able to obtain a better price than expected, would this good news change the status of the company?

So what is all this baloney that Citigroup is now on the road to recovery and this is an indication of a turn around in the US economy. The once mighty Citigroup had a market capitalisation of over $250 billion, just a year ago and it has now slumped to less that $8 billion, its share price hovering around $1.05.

Common sense tells me (and I am truly amazed why so many refuse to apply common sense) that if in fact Citigroup is on the road to recovery, this unscrupulous banker, Vikram Pandit would call for a global press conference to announce this fantastic news. Champagne would be flowing again at corporate headquarters.

Compare and contrast what Tiger Woods did when he had recovered from his knee operation. He gave a global press conference and went out to compete again in one of the most demanding match-play tournaments. And although he did not win the tournament, there was ample evidence that he had recovered, but it was also obvious that he needed more time and matches to get back to his normal groove!

But no, this Pandit sent out a so-called memo to his staff, which was conveniently leaked to the mass media (and knowing the gullibility of the stock market idiots) so as to lend credence that this confidential information must be true.

Surely the duty is first to inform officially the shareholders and taxpayers who have bailout the bank. But the preferred method of disclosure (and we are suppose to be in the age of transparency and good governance) is by way of a memo to the staff.

The actual memo has not been reproduced in full by the mass media. But surely the quoted words attributed to this financial crook is sufficient even to a first year student in economics and or finance that the so-called profit is bullshit and horseshit!

I quote:
“In fact, we are profitable through the first two months of 2009 and are having our best quarter-to-date performance since the third quarter of 2007. The bank had US$19 billion of revenue in January and February before disclosed write-downs.”

If you cannot detect the stupid nonsense from this quote, you have no business to be an economist, a banker, an accountant, an investor and or a regulator!

Firstly, two months revenue does not make a quarter.

Revenue is meaningless by itself if your debts are far, far greater than your revenue.

Revenue or income is only one side of the balance sheet.

The financial idiots who put out this piece of shit should be hounded down, hung from the street lamp-post and then tarred and feathered, the preferred punishment by the Irish Republican Army against traitors and other scumbags during the British colonial occupation of Ireland.

To the citizens of America: if you don’t bring a class action against Vikram Pandit, you bloody deserve to be financially raped and plundered by these crooks!

Gary North
Lew Rockwell
March 11, 2009

In early February, President Obama was looking for a place to symbolize the recession. He wanted to rally support for his proposed $800 billion bailout of the economy, a bailout that he admitted would send the Federal government’s annual deficit to $1.7 trillion in fiscal 2010.

He chose Elkhart, Indiana, which advertises itself as the recreation vehicle capital of America, and hence the world. Elkhart’s economy has collapsed. There is 15% unemployment and no hope in sight.

For years, the RV industry grew. The scene in About Schmidt was representative. The retired middle manager bought an RV for his retirement. Then his wife died. He went out on the open road by himself. He went back to his home town. Nothing remained of the places he remembered.

This industry is today representative of the profound economic breakdown we are experiencing. This is not business as usual. The industry is close to collapse.

In 2005, the Indiana Business Magazine ran a story: &quotOn a roll? What’s behind the dramatic growth of Indiana’s RV industry? Baby Boomers buying vs. higher fuel costs.&quot It reflected the final year of Greenspan’s decade-long bubble economy. Like California housing, the RV industry seemed to levitate high above economic rationality.