Blankfein Says Finance CEOs Urge Action on Debt Limit By Phil Mattingly and Roger Runningen October 02, 2013
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. Chief Executive Officer Lloyd Blankfein left a White House meeting with President Barack Obama and said lawmakers are risking the economic recovery if they don’t raise the federal debt ceiling. Blankfein was among a group of financial-industry executives including JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM) CEO Jamie Dimon and Brian Moynihan, CEO of Bank of America Corp., who met with the president today, the second day of a partial government shutdown. Democrats and Republicans are deadlocked on spending legislation and already are battling over raising the U.S. debt limit, which is required by later this month to avoid a default.
Does any of this sound familiar? Remember 2008 when Henry Paulson, former Goldman Sachs CEO, and then Secretary of the Treasury told member of Congress there would be martial law and a complete breakdown of the global financial system if they didn't approve of a bailout. Now read this email to subscribers of LaRouche PAC dated October 5th, 2013
Wall Street had demanded that President Barack Obama stop the reinstatement of Glass Steagall at all costs and instead move ahead with more bailouts and bail-in looting of the American people to preserve their thoroughly bankrupt system. The Wall Street policy means an acceleration of crippling hyperinflation, devastating austerity and, ultimately, mass murder of the nation's most vulnerable citizens. Several highly qualified Washington sources have confirmed that this was the ultimatum delivered by the Wall Street delegation that met privately with Obama on Wednesday afternoon Oct. 2 at the White House. The delegation was organized by the Financial Services Forum, a coalition of the nation's 19 biggest banks and insurance companies, and included Jamie Dimon, CEO of JPMorgan Chase; Lloyd Blankfein, CEO of Goldman Sachs; Brian Moynihan, CEO of Bank of America; Michael Corbat, CEO of Citibank; and Anshu Jain, CEO of Deutsche Bank. IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde delivered the same message in an interview with the Financial Times on Oct. 4, in which she demanded that the Federal Reserve maintain the $85 billion a month quantitative easing bailout of the top Wall Street and Europe banks indefinitely. And Treasury Secretary Jack Lew, speaking for Obama, threatened that any U.S. default will trigger a financial crisis far worse than the September 2008 meltdown. The reality, as bluntly stated by Lyndon LaRouche today, is that the ongoing government shutdown and threatened default on U.S. sovereign debt on Oct. 17 is nothing more than an orchestrated swindle, aimed at conditioning the American people for the murderous policies that have already been accepted by Obama and by leading Congressional Republicans. LaRouche warned: "Unless Glass Steagall is passed into law immediately, Obama and Wall Street plan to unleash the worst mass murder austerity and looting of the American people ever. The total separation of commercial banking from all the gambling activities under Glass Steagall is the only remedy. Bankrupt Wall Street now, before they can unleash their genocidal schemes full-force. President Obama is nothing but a tool of these Wall Street interests, as evidenced by his slavish commitment to maintain the bailout/bail-in program and stop Glass Steagall." LaRouche continued: "In a matter of days or weeks, Obama and his Congressional Republican cohorts, on orders from Wall Street, are going to unleash absolute Hell on the American public through even deeper killer austerity cuts than the sequestration of the past months. The government shutdown is the biggest dog and pony show ever, intended to prepare the population to accept more hyperinflation, more bailouts and bail-ins, and worsening conditions so that Wall Street can survive a bit longer while honest, hard-working Americans die in ever greater numbers. "It is time for Congress to break from Wall Street and the bankers stooge in the White House, and do the only thing that can set the United States back on a course of genuine prosperity: Pass Glass Steagall by a veto-proof majority this week." ... Pass Glass Steagall, wipe out the power of Wall Street and their European allies, and get on with the business of reviving this nation and the world around a plan of genuine development..."
Now we are getting somewhere. There have been several proposals for a Wall Street Sales Tax, and 2 separate bills in the House and Senate calling for Glass-Steagall to be reinstated. There is widespread popular support across the political spectrum for financial reform, and yet the power and money of the banking system stands in our way once again.
There have been only 2 issues which have plagued this country since the very early days of the colonies. Slavery and the control of the money supply. This is it. This is the true face of Wall Street and the globalist bankers. They threaten global economic collapse because they can. Because they control an immense portion of the worlds assets. Through interlocking directorates, the big banks, their oil companies, and their organized crime syndicates, these criminals are repeating the very same tricks that got the US into World War I and World War II, and now we are on the verge of World War III involving Syria, Iran, Russia, China, and Israel.
A wise man once said:
"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 them will deprive the people of all property until their children wake up homeless on the continent their Fathers conquered...I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies... The issuing power should be taken from the banks and restored to the people, to whom it properly belongs." Thomas Jefferson
He should know. He fought the very same banking cartels in his time. Some things never change.
Meet Wall Street Lawyer, Banker, Blackwater Merchant of Death, and CIA Director Buzzy Krongard and 9/11 Insider Trading, Another Guilty Bastard?
Alvin Bernard "Buzzy" Krongard[1] (more commonly "A.B.", born c. 1936) was the Executive Director of the Central Intelligence Agency. He was appointed by George Tenet on March 16, 2001.
The Executive Director is the third ranking position within the CIA and the incumbent functions essentially as the Chief Operating Officer of the Agency. For three years prior, Krongard had served as Counselor to the Director of Central Intelligence (DCI).
A longtime consultant to DCIs, Krongard joined the Agency full-time in February 1998, following a 29-year business career. During his private sector career, he served as Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board of Alex. Brown & Sons, the nation’s oldest investment banking firm, and Vice Chairman of the Board of Bankers Trust.
Krongard resigned from the CIA shortly after the arrival of DCI Porter Goss in September 2004. While at the CIA, he was the connection between Erik Prince of Blackwater Security Consulting and the CIA. Through his influence, Blackwater was able to receive its first black contract.[citation needed]
On March 18, 2005, Krongard was appointed as an outside US director to the Global Board of Directors organized to oversee and coordinate the worldwide operations of DLA Piper, one of the world’s leading law firms.
Krongard's name was brought up in conjunction with investigations into suspected 9/11-related insider trading because of timely Wall Street trades made through the investment bank he used to head, Alex. Brown.[6]
"A single U.S.-based institutional investor with no conceivable ties to al Qaeda purchased 95 percent of the UAL puts on September 6 (2001) as part of a strategy that also included buying 115,000 shares of American on September 10. Similarly, much of the seemingly suspicious trading on September 10 was traced to a specific U.S.-based options trading newsletter…which recommended these trades."[7]
SUPPRESSED DETAILS OF CRIMINAL INSIDER TRADING LEAD DIRECTLY INTO THE CIA's HIGHEST RANKS
CIA EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR "BUZZY" KRONGARD MANAGED FIRM THAT HANDLED "PUT" OPTIONS ON UAL
FTW, October 9, 2001 - Although uniformly ignored by the mainstream U.S.media, there is abundant and clear evidence that a number of transactions in financial markets indicated specific (criminal) foreknowledge of the September 11 attacks on the WorldTradeCenter and the Pentagon. In the case of at least one of these trades -- which has left a $2.5 million prize unclaimed -- the firm used to place the "put options" on United Airlines stock was, until 1998, managed by the man who is now in the number three Executive Director position at the Central Intelligence Agency. Until 1997 A.B. "Buzzy" Krongard had been Chairman of the investment bank A.B. Brown. A.B. Brown was acquired by Banker's Trust in 1997. Krongard then became, as part of the merger, Vice Chairman of Banker's Trust-AB Brown, one of 20 major U.S. banks named by Senator Carl Levin this year as being connected to money laundering. Krongard's last position at Banker's Trust (BT) was to oversee "private client relations." In this capacity he had direct hands-on relations with some of the wealthiest people in the world in a kind of specialized banking operation that has been identified by the U.S. Senate and other investigators as being closely connected to the laundering of drug money.
Krongard (re?) joined the CIA in 1998 as counsel to CIA Director George Tenet. He was promoted to CIA Executive Director by President Bush in March of this year. BT was acquired by Deutsche Bank in 1999. The combined firm is the single largest bank in Europe. And, as we shall see, Deutsche Bank played several key roles in events connected to the September 11 attacks.
THE SCOPE OF KNOWN INSIDER TRADING
Before looking further into these relationships it is necessary to look at the insider trading information that is being ignored by Reuters, The New York Times and other mass media. It is well documented that the CIA has long monitored such trades - in real time - as potential warnings of terrorist attacks and other economic moves contrary to U.S. interests. Previous stories in FTW have specifically highlighted the use of Promis software to monitor such trades.
It is necessary to understand only two key financial terms to understand the significance of these trades, "selling short" and "put options".
"Selling Short" is the borrowing of stock, selling it at current market prices, but not being required to actually produce the stock for some time. If the stock falls precipitously after the short contract is entered, the seller can then fulfill the contract by buying the stock after the price has fallen and complete the contract at the pre-crash price. These contracts often have a window of as long as four months.
"Put Options," are contracts giving the buyer the option to sell stocks at a later date. Purchased at nominal prices of, for example, $1.00 per share, they are sold in blocks of 100 shares. If exercised, they give the holder the option of selling selected stocks at a future date at a price set when the contract is issued. Thus, for an investment of $10,000 it might be possible to tie up 10,000 shares of United or American Airlines at $100 per share, and the seller of the option is then obligated to buy them if the option is executed. If the stock has fallen to $50 when the contract matures, the holder of the option can purchase the shares for $50 and immediately sell them for $100 - regardless of where the market then stands. A call option is the reverse of a put option, which is, in effect, a derivatives bet that the stock price will go up.
A September 21 story by the Israeli Herzliyya International Policy Institute for Counterterrorism, entitled "Black Tuesday: The World's Largest Insider Trading Scam?" documented the following trades connected to the September 11 attacks:
- Between September 6 and 7, the Chicago Board Options Exchange saw purchases of 4,744 put options on United Airlines, but only 396 call options. Assuming that 4,000 of the options were bought by people with advance knowledge of the imminent attacks, these "insiders" would have profited by almost $5 million.
- On September 10, 4,516 put options on American Airlines were bought on the Chicago exchange, compared to only 748 calls. Again, there was no news at that point to justify this imbalance; Again, assuming that 4,000 of these options trades represent "insiders," they would represent a gain of about $4 million.
- [The levels of put options purchased above were more than six times higher than normal.]
- No similar trading in other airlines occurred on the Chicago exchange in the days immediately preceding Black Tuesday.
- Morgan Stanley Dean Witter & Co., which occupied 22 floors of the World Trade Center, saw 2,157 of its October $45 put options bought in the three trading days before Black Tuesday; this compares to an average of 27 contracts per day before September 6. Morgan Stanley's share price fell from $48.90 to $42.50 in the aftermath of the attacks. Assuming that 2,000 of these options contracts were bought based upon knowledge of the approaching attacks, their purchasers could have profited by at least $1.2 million.
- Merrill Lynch & Co., with headquarters near the Twin Towers, saw 12,215 October $45 put options bought in the four trading days before the attacks; the previous average volume in those shares had been 252 contracts per day [a 1200% increase!]. When trading resumed, Merrill's shares fell from $46.88 to $41.50; assuming that 11,000 option contracts were bought by "insiders," their profit would have been about $5.5 million.
- European regulators are examining trades in Germany's Munich Re, Switzerland's Swiss Re, and AXA of France, all major reinsurers with exposure to the Black Tuesday disaster. [FTW Note: AXA also owns more than 25% of American Airlines stock making the attacks a "double whammy" for them.]
On September 29, 2001 - in a vital story that has gone unnoticed by the major media - the San Francisco Chronicle reported, "Investors have yet to collect more than $2.5 million in profits they made trading options in the stock of United Airlines before the Sept. 11, terrorist attacks, according to a source familiar with the trades and market data.
"The uncollected money raises suspicions that the investors - whose identities and nationalities have not been made public - had advance knowledge of the strikes." They don't dare show up now. The suspension of trading for four days after the attacks made it impossible to cash-out quickly and claim the prize before investigators started looking.
"October series options for UAL Corp. were purchased in highly unusual volumes three trading days before the terrorist attacks for a total outlay of $2,070; investors bought the option contracts, each representing 100 shares, for 90 cents each. [This represents 230,000 shares]. Those options are now selling at more than $12 each. There are still 2,313 so-called "put" options outstanding [valued at $2.77 million and representing 231,300 shares] according to the Options Clearinghouse Corp."
"The source familiar with the United trades identified Deutsche Bank Alex Brown, the American investment banking arm of German giant Deutsche Bank, as the investment bank used to purchase at least some of these options." This was the operation managed by Krongard until as recently as 1998.
As reported in other news stories, Deutsche Bank was also the hub of insider trading activity connected to Munich Re. just before the attacks.
CIA, THE BANKS AND THE BROKERS
Understanding the interrelationships between CIA and the banking and brokerage world is critical to grasping the already frightening implications of the above revelations. Let's look at the history of CIA, Wall Street and the big banks by looking at some of the key players in CIA's history.
Clark Clifford - The National Security Act of 1947 was written by Clark Clifford, a Democratic Party powerhouse, former Secretary of Defense, and one-time advisor to President Harry Truman. In the 1980s, as Chairman of First American Bancshares, Clifford was instrumental in getting the corrupt CIA drug bank BCCI a license to operate on American shores. His profession: Wall Street lawyer and banker.
John Foster and Allen Dulles - These two brothers "designed" the CIA for Clifford. Both were active in intelligence operations during WW II. Allen Dulles was OSS station chief in Berne, Switzerland, where he met frequently with Nazi leaders and looked after U.S. investments in Germany. John Foster went on to become Secretary of State under Dwight Eisenhower and Allen went on to serve as CIA Director under Eisenhower and was later fired by JFK. Their professions: partners in the most powerful - to this day - Wall Street law firm of Sullivan, Cromwell.
Bill Casey - Ronald Reagan's CIA Director and OSS veteran who served as chief wrangler during the Iran-Contra years was, under President Richard Nixon, Chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission. His profession: Wall Street lawyer and stockbroker.
David Doherty - The current Vice President of the New York Stock Exchange for enforcement is the retired General Counsel of the Central Intelligence Agency.
George Herbert Walker Bush - President from 1989 to January 1993, also served as CIA Director for 13 months from 1976-7. He is now a paid consultant to the Carlyle Group, the 11th largest defense contractor in the nation, which also shares joint investments with the bin Laden family.
A.B. "Buzzy" Krongard - The current Executive Director of the Central Intelligence Agency is the former Chairman of the investment bank A.B. Brown and former Vice Chairman of Banker's Trust.
John Deutch - This retired CIA Director from the Clinton Administration currently sits on the board at Citigroup, the nation's second largest bank, which has been repeatedly and overtly involved in the documented laundering of drug money. This includes Citigroup's 2001 purchase of a Mexican bank known to launder drug money, Banamex.
Nora Slatkin - This retired CIA Executive Director also sits on Citibank's board.
Maurice "Hank" Greenburg - The CEO of AIG insurance, manager of the third largest capital investment pool in the world, was floated as a possible CIA Director in 1995. FTW exposed Greenberg's and AIG's long connection to CIA drug trafficking and covert operations in a two-part series that was interrupted just prior to the attacks of September 11. AIG's stock has bounced back remarkably well since the attacks. To read that story, please go tohttp://www.fromthewilderness.com/ free/ciadrugs/part_2.html.
One wonders how much damning evidence is necessary to respond to what is now irrefutable proof that CIA knew about the attacks and did not stop them. Whatever our government is doing, whatever the CIA is doing, it is clearly NOT in the interests of the American people, especially those who died on September 11. Now down the rabbit hole to learn more about these nefarious events and evil people.
Demand, not speculation, cited for rising oil prices
High oil prices are here to stay, and they're caused by surging demand and limited new supply, not Wall Street speculators.
That's the message from Fatih Birol, chief economist at the International Energy Agency.
Birol said growth in worldwide oil demand is outstripping growth in new supplies by 1 million barrels a day per year.
Much of that new demand is coming from China, which is adding 800,000 vehicles to its roads each year, he said, and is responsible for fully half of the world's demand growth. Birol noted the growth in China's oil consumption is equal to all of the new output expected from Iraq over the next few years.
US banks have the world hostage to their gambling and greed. They must be broken up and federal policy should stimulate localized community banks to support small business and individuals
Seriously, Henry Paulson, Timothy Geitner and Ben Benanke should all go to jail. But then again, so would EVERYBODY in every administration since the dawn of USA time.
Why is the Federal Reserve forking over $220 million in bailout money to the wives of two Morgan Stanley bigwigs?
America has two national budgets, one official, one unofficial. The official budget is public record and hotly debated: Money comes in as taxes and goes out as jet fighters, DEA agents, wheat subsidies and Medicare, plus pensions and bennies for that great untamed socialist menace called a unionized public-sector workforce that Republicans are always complaining about. According to popular legend, we're broke and in so much debt that 40 years from now our granddaughters will still be hooking on weekends to pay the medical bills of this year's retirees from the IRS, the SEC and the Department of Energy.
When news of Goldmanesque bonuses first sparked public outrage, both Wall Street and the White House combated the criticism with a persistent argument: Yes, it might be deeply frustrating to see taxpayer dollars used to further enrich already wealthy bankers, but these bonus deals were were contractual obligations and America is a nation of laws. You just can't tear up contracts, the argument went. So, with few exceptions, the bonuses stayed.
Yet now, with state leaders planning pay cuts for teachers, firefighters and other public workers, contracts aren't described as so sacrosanct anymore...
Yes. OUTRAGE IS NECESSARY!!!
Why are Goldman compensation contracts sacrosanct when pension plans and collective bargaining rights for teachers are not??
