Chart Of The Day: Fed Interventions Since 2008 The chart below, via Stone McCarthy, shows the months with Fed intervention since December 2008. That in the past 42 or so months, less than one third have been intervention-free, should close any open questions about whether the stock "market" is anything but a policy vehicle used by the Fed to perpetuate a broke(n) status quo now entirely dependent on every market up (and down) tick. We dread to think what would happen to those record low US bond yields if the market were to be left on its own without the backstop of guaranteed Fed intervention in the interest rate market... ironically something which Barclays is in boiling hot water for right about now. And a detailed breakdown:
Kalle Lasn on OWS, the Israel lobby & the New York Times Kalle Lasn in front of the Adbuster’s corporate flag of America. (Photo: Globus) When the Occupy Wall Street protests began to attract attention in the fall, everyone wanted to know where the idea to set up a permanent protest at the heart of Manhattan’s financial district came from. The answer was the mind of Kalle Lasn, the co-editor (along with Micah White) of the anti-consumerist “culture jamming” magazine Adbusters.
The $7 trillion secret loan program: The government and big banks should be punished for deceiving the public about their hush-hush bailout scheme Photograph by Jupiterimages/ Getty Images. Imagine you walked into a bank, applied for a personal line of credit, and filled out all the paperwork claiming to have no debts and an income of $200,000 per year. The bank, based on these representations, extended you the line of credit. Then, three years later, after fighting disclosure all the way, you were forced by a court to tell the truth: At the time you made the statements to the bank, you actually were unemployed, you had a $1 million mortgage on your house on which you had failed to make payments for six months, and you hadn’t paid even the minimum on your credit-card bills for three months. Do you think the bank would just say: Never mind, don’t worry about it? Of course not.
Why This Harvard Economist Is Pulling All His Money From Bank Of America A classicial economist... and Harvard professor... preaching to the world that one's money is not safe in the US banking system due to Ben Bernanke's actions? And putting his withdrawal slip where his mouth is and pulling $1 million out of Bank America? Say it isn't so... From Terry Burnham, former Harvard economics professor, author of “Mean Genes” and “Mean Markets and Lizard Brains,” provocative poster on this page and long-time critic of the Federal Reserve, argues that the Fed’s efforts to strengthen America’s banks have perversely weakened them. First posted in PBS. Is your money safe at the bank?
Occupy Denver: Police track down protesters' identities using YouTube (VIDEOS) It's not a new tactic, but for some, it might be a surprising one: One of the ways the Denver Police Department has checked the identities of those faced with warrants for Occupy Denver is through online archival footage, including the average YouTube search. Previously anonymous protesters can be -- and have been -- easily identified through crowd and news coverage of weekend events. Depending on what they're wearing, not even Guy Fawkes masks can keep them anonymous. "We can use that information from videos to help identify individuals suspected of criminal activity, and that's pretty significant," says Detective John White, a DPD spokesman.
7.77 trillion in secret Federal Reserve loans to banks? I have been looking into the claim recently made by any number of internet sites (for example, here’s one of the many hundreds, if you insist on a link) that the Federal Reserve made $7.77 trillion in secret loans to banks. The claim is outrageously inaccurate, as I explain below. Let me begin with some accounting basics. The Federal Reserve Explained in 7 Minutes Have you ever caught yourself wondering how nearly every country on earth can be in debt to outside sources? In my world, if I owe a friend $10 and he owes me $5 then I simply give him $5 and we call it “even.” But that’s not how the world of international banking works. If you have a minute, Wikipedia tries to keep an updated National Debt List. Looking at the chart is very eye-opening.
Occupy Philadelphia, Los Angeles protesters ignore threat of eviction; DC could be next - BlogPost Posted at 12:19 PM ET, 11/29/2011 Nov 29, 2011 05:19 PM EST TheWashingtonPost Two weeks after Zuccotti Park, the spiritual home of the Occupy movement, was raided by New York police, protesters in several cities are staying put in their encampments despite city threats of eviction. Jeff Rousset holds a sign during a Occupy Philadelphia demonstration in Dilworth Plaza in defiance of the city’s 5 p.m. eviction order.
Too Big to Stop: Why Big Banks Keep Getting Away With Breaking the Law - James Kwak - Business For the country's biggest financial institutions, it's still worth it to break the law, because the government has no way to make the banks pay for acting illegally Reuters Move along, nothing to see here. That's been the Wall Street line on the financial crisis and the calamitous behavior that caused it, and that strategy has been spectacularly successful. Since Spring 2010, financial institutions' predatory practices have fallen off the front pages of newspapers, replaced by manufactured fears of over-regulation and -- thanks to an assist from the European continent -- an Orwellian belief that government debt lies at the root of our economic problems. The issue in the Goldman case was whether the bank properly disclosed that John Paulson, a hedge fund manager, was involved in the selection of securities for the deal, because he wanted to bet against them.
IRS Agent Whistleblowers Shelley L. Davis - The first, and last, official IRS Historian. Source: Senators Demand the Military Lock Up American Citizens in a “Battlefield” They Define as Being Right Outside Your Window UPDATE III: The Senate rejected the Udall amendment 38-60. While nearly all Americans head to family and friends to celebrate Thanksgiving, the Senate is gearing up for a vote on Monday or Tuesday that goes to the very heart of who we are as Americans. The Senate will be voting on a bill that will direct American military resources not at an enemy shooting at our military in a war zone, but at American citizens and other civilians far from any battlefield — even people in the United States itself. Senators need to hear from you, on whether you think your front yard is part of a “battlefield” and if any president can send the military anywhere in the world to imprison civilians without charge or trial.
More on those secret Federal Reserve loans to banks The claim that the Federal Reserve extended trillions of dollars in secret loans to banks continues to be spread. Here at Econbrowser we will continue to try to correct some of the misunderstanding that is out there. Consider for example this item from the Levy Institute blog written by University of Missouri Professor L. Are Private Banks Unconstitutional? Ellen BrownRINF Alternative News The movement to break away from Wall Street and form publicly-owned banks continues to gain momentum. But enthusiasts are deterred by claims that a state-owned bank would violate constitutional prohibitions against “lending the credit of the state.” California’s constitution is typical. 2010-2011 GSA Chair - UC Davis GSA The 2010-2011 GSA Chair is Brian Riley. You can contact him at brian.riley AT yahoo DOT com See also 2009-2010 GSA Chair for information about the previous Chair CLICK HERE to read Brian's opinion columns in the California Aggie, the UC Davis student newspaper. CLICK HERE to read about Brian in the UC Davis Catalyst magazine, Spring 2010 issue.