Real Terrorism: Financial Terrorism - The Banksters

Are you worried about Muslims? Are you worried about Russians? You are willing to have trillions of dollars spent in efforts to thwart these threats?

Yet, you sit back and watch as the Federal Reserve and Megabanks holds us hostage. It has been stated that in mid September 2008 that Henry Paulson and members of the Treasury Department threatened that there would be Martial law unless the TARP Bill was passed in Congress. At the same time, we saw wild gyrations take place in the Stock Market. One such incident occurred when the TARP Bill failed to pass the House the first time and the Stock market went into the tank.

The forces in key positions of the Financial Structure of our country have been pulling strings and colluding with government entities to manipulate the financial markets and by doing so commit fraud, which has cost Americans trillions in real wealth from pension funds and other personal and public financial instruments.

From the New York Times - September 18, 2010 - The Bush administration on Saturday formally proposed a vast bailout of financial institutions in the United States, requesting unfettered authority for the Treasury Department to buy up to $700 billion in distressed mortgage-related assets from the private firms.

Then we saw a change in direction two months later, as reported in the New York Times - November 12, 2008 - Instead, Treasury will step up its program of injecting capital directly into banks and, for the first time, expand it to include financial companies that are not federally regulated banks or thrifts.

You see, the Congress gave the Executive Branch of our Government a blank slate of $700 billion to do with as they saw fit with no checks and balances in place to ensure accountability of money that in the end belongs to the citizens of this nation. The Congress and other members of the Federal government were unwilling to follow Constitutional procedures and Precedence of Law in the administration of governance. This is wrong, because this renders laws and structure meaningless and only empowers special interests who utilize money to consolidate power to elite power brokers.

In the end this creates the oligarchy that so many have spoken of. This is not a conspiracy theory. This is conspiracy fact. When I look at this debacle related to Real Property and mortgages, I see the same forces at work. Their is a rule of law that has formed around the Universal Commercial Code and Common Law that over centuries has laid out ground rules for a transfer of deed on real property. If you have bought a house and paid the slightest bit of attention, then you understand this.

You do not own your house until the mortgage is paid off, but the lender is supposed to physically hold the deed. The banks found that to be inconvenient in the era of securitization where they wanted to package loans into security instruments and sell them as derivatives. Financial Institutions have once again displayed their ineptitude and they are looking for others to remedy problems that they have created.

From a Maine House, a National Foreclosure Freeze - New York Times - October 14, 2010

Fannie Mae and GMAC, which serviced the loan for Fannie, have now most likely spent more to dislodge Mrs. Bradbury than her house is worth. Yet for all their efforts, they are not only losing this case, but also potentially laying the groundwork for foreclosure challenges nationwide.

“This ammunition will be front and center in thousands of foreclosure cases,” said Don Saunders of the National Legal Aid and Defender Association....

Mr. Cox vowed to a colleague that he would expose GMAC’s process and its limited signing officer, Jeffrey Stephan. A lawyer in another foreclosure case had already deposed Mr. Stephan, but Mr. Cox wanted to take the questioning much further. In June, he got his chance. A few weeks later, he spelled out in a court filing what he had learned from the robo-signer:

“When Stephan says in an affidavit that he has personal knowledge of the facts stated in his affidavits, he doesn’t. When he says that he has custody and control of the loan documents, he doesn’t. When he says that he is attaching ‘a true and accurate’ copy of a note or a mortgage, he has no idea if that is so, because he does not look at the exhibits. When he makes any other statement of fact, he has no idea if it is true. When the notary says that Stephan appeared before him or her, he didn’t.” ......

But Judge Powers went further than that, saying that GMAC had been admonished in a Florida court for using robo-signers four years ago but had persisted. “It is well past the time for such practices to end,” he wrote, adding that GMAC had acted “in bad faith” by submitting Mr. Stephan’s material:

“Filing such a document without significant regard for its accuracy, which the court in ordinary circumstances may never be able to investigate or otherwise verify, is a serious and troubling matter."

HR 3808 was a bill rushed through the House of Representatives and the Senate that would require any Federal or State court to recognize any notarization made by a notary public licensed by a State other than the State where the court is located when such notarization occurs in or affects interstate commerce.

This bill was sponsored by Robert Aderholdt, a Republican from Alabama and quickly passed the Senate without amendment. How many times does that happen and what was Representative Aderholt's intent?

This bill would force a State to accept notary public signatures of other States. That means if others States accept lower standards for Notary Public signings, then another State would be forced to accept those lower standards. If one State has a regulation that accepts electronic Notary Signings, then all other States would be forced to accept any document that comes from that state. This stems from the fact that many of these "Fraudclosure Loans" have been electronically signed and recorded through the "MERS" (Mortgage Electronic Registration System) system.

When it comes to loans, the banks don't mind using laws to come down hard on average citizens to kick them out of their houses instead of working with the people until they can get back on their feet. They don't mind displacing families. They enjoy packaging these loans as securities, leveraging them 10-fold and selling them around the globe. They enjoy the fees they earn every time they package these loans and resell them and the subsequent billions of dollars in bonuses accrued to top executives.

But when the law goes against them, then they want to retroactively change laws to serve whatever context they desire and their own personal interests. The law means nothing to these people and the Congress is complicit in all of this and may as well be the accomplice driving the car away from the bank, because they have helped these Financial Executives rob the Financial System and the American people. For the average person, we expect that throughout life sometimes we will win and sometimes we will lose. For the Banksters, they don't think they should ever lose and thanks to our corrupt government they probably never will.

Time to break the Banksters

2nd wave of the Banking Meltdown is here

How can the United States avoid Bankruptcy?

The Plunge Protection Team and the Ponzi Economy

Time to break the Banksters

What Is MERS and What Role Does It Have in the Foreclosure Mess? (Hint: It Holds 60% of All Mortgages, But Has ZERO Employees) - (Washington Blog - October 13, 2010)

What is MERS? - Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems or "MERS" - It is the company created and owned by all of the big banks to process title to property in the U.S. Approximately 60% of the nation’s residential mortgages are recorded in the name of MERS.

Why was MERS created in the first place? In the mid-1990s mortgage bankers decided they did not want to pay recording fees for assigning mortgages anymore. This decision was driven by securitization—a process of pooling many mortgages into a trust and selling income from the trust to investors on Wall Street. Securitization, also sometimes called structured finance, usually required several successive mortgage assignments to different companies. To avoid paying county recording fees, mortgage bankers formed a plan to create one shell company that would pretend to own all the mortgages in the country—that way, the mortgage bankers would never have to record assignments since the same company would always “own” all the mortgages.


"At the Root of the Crisis We Find the Largest Financial Swindle in World History", Where "Counterfeit" Mortgages Were "Laundered" by the Banks - (Washingtons Blog - 10/12/2010)

The tidal wave of evidence showing that the giant banks have engaged in fraudulent foreclosure practices is so large that the attorneys general of up to 40 states are launching investigations.

People's homes are being taken when they didn't even hold a mortgage, and the big banks have been using "robo signers" to forge mortgage related documents. Indeed, even president Obama has been hit by robo signers (see this and this).

Its so blatant that foreclosure mills have published price lists for forging documents, including such gems as:

"Create Missing Intervening Assignment" $35
"Cure Defective Assignment" $12.95
"Recreate Entire Collateral File" $95

According to economist Max Wolff:

The securitization process worked by "packag(ing), sell(ing), repack(aging) and resell(ing) mortages making what was a small housing bubble, a gigantic (one) and making what became an American financial problem very much a global" one by selling mortgage bundles worldwide "without full disclosure of the lack of underlying assets or risks."

Buyers accepted them on good faith, failed in their due diligence, and rating agencies were negligent, even criminal, in overvaluing and endorsing junk assets that they knew were high-risk or toxic. "The whole process was corrupt at its core."

Indeed, there was fraud at every step of the mortgage process. The big banks intentionally signed up borrowers with insufficient income and assets, threw out the documentation because it would prove fraud, racked up loan fees and received short-term payments before all of the new borrowers ran out of money, and then laundered the bad loans into securitized instruments to sell to the suckers.

The banks created an intermediary called "MERS" to hold all of the documentation, in at attempt to shield the banks legally. But courts have held that this scheme doesn't fly, and that MERS doesn't have title to foreclose on houses. See this and this (and as Tyler Durden points out, MERS might have infected the commercial real estate market as well.)

Then there's the whole foreclosure scandal, where banks have forged and backdated documentation to try to prove they are entitled to foreclose. This is the part that is in the news right now. But because fraud was committed every step of the way - from mortgage origination and loan applications, to securitization, to MERS to foreclosures - it shows a fraudulent scheme, and not just sloppy paperwork.

The Hound's Take: Wall Street and the financial institutions in our country are who have gotten us into this mess that is an economic depression. We need to look back to the TARP fund and its passage by the Congress in the heat of the moment during the weeks following the wild rides of the stock market in the middle of September 2008.

What was done at that point in time has certainly not remedied the situation that we faced then and still face today. Please look at the Drudge Report where the top news of the day is Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke looking forward to the Federal Reserve purchasing United States Treasury Securities. This will not fix anything. This is monetizing the debt (devaluing the currency). This has never been attempted in this country before and in every country where this has been attempted it has lead to hyperinflation. If this Genie is let out of the bottle, the possibilities of controlling the valuation of our currency will be at serious risk.

What we see today is a serious systemic crisis based upon corruption. We need to go back and correct the mistakes that were made two years ago. That would be the best thing to do. We gave a few individuals way too much power and they have not acted in the American peoples interest. They have acted only in Wall Street's interest. We should not continue down this path of uncertainty. We need to correct the mistakes that have been made.

Let's look at the value of homes. Honestly,if we were evaluating how much a homeowner can sell their house for it is substantially less than what it was a few years ago. What is holding up this redefinition of market values? I believe it is collusion between the financial institutions and the government as a coordinated action. Governments at all levels do not want to see housing values fall, because this will have an effect on tax revenues and banks do not want to lower the value of assets that they have on the books. They don't want to write down these values and don't want to put these toxic assets on the market and accept the losses and purge the system of these assets that were overvalued because of the bubble economy related to real estate.

The bottom line is that the banks are insolvent and the sooner that we come to that conclusion, the sooner we are going to be able to get out of this depression. We need to break up the banks and decentralize the power concentrated on Wall Street through Bank of America, J.P. Morgan Chase, Wells Fargo,and Citibank. We need to force these megabanks to be broken up much the same as AT&T was broken up back in the late 1970s.

Most of the actions above, which were unethical, were perpetrated in the name of consolidation, which ultimately led to corruption caused by greed. Greed may be good for those at top of the food chain, but what we have seen is people have their lives ruined so that these scavengers at the top of the financial food chain could get bigger and bigger just for the sake of getting bigger and bigger. These people are narcissistic sociopaths who care nothing about the security of this nation and its people. They are out of control and it is time to reign them in and rectify this situation and make the people of this great nation whole again. There is nothing wrong with accumulating wealth, but when you do it through fraud and at the expense of innocent people, then it is wrong and you should be made to pay back these ill gotten gains. We know what the problems are and we need to fix them and we need the ensure that we never go back down this road again.

2nd wave of the Banking Meltdown is here

How can the United States avoid Bankruptcy?

2nd wave of Banking Meltdown is here

MSNBC—Oct. 14, 2010—From the Dylan Ratigan Show. People are starting to fight back against mistreatment by mortgage lenders. And the extent of the housing mortgage mess is beginning to come to light.

Game, Set,...Match?

Death of a city - Gary, Indiana



Wall Street swimming in money while Main Street is swimming in Debt - The Sellout of America - Top 35 Financial Institutions will get $144 billion in bonuses - (Wall Street Journal - October 11, 2010)



Dollar fall sparks stability warnings - (Financial Times - October 14, 2010)- Increasing expectations the Federal Reserve will pump more money into the US economy next month under a policy known as quantitative easing sent the dollar to new lows against the Chinese renminbi, Swiss franc and Australian dollar. It dropped to a 15-year low against the yen and an eight-month low against the euro.

October Rant -- Honesty, Integrity, Honor, and Loyalty

I know that nothing is ever been perfect and there have always been problems in our society. Think back to the days of Bonnie and Clyde or John Dillinger. Those were iconic criminal figures of the Economic Depression of the 1930s. Most of us weren't alive then and so we don't really know if these people were looked up to or not, but there have certainly been movies made that glorified what they did -- sort of like a Robin Hood situation.

You have also seen several of these kinds of issues that have always involved politics. I think of Huey Long in Louisiana or Mayor Richard J. Daley in Chicago. These men were kingmakers and played a role in national politics as much as they did on the local scene. These men's legacies were formed around issues that involved corruption and near dictatorial powers. Their strength, it has been stated in so many words, was built on a foundation of unethical activity. The end always justified the means. Even when their personal actions did not overtly support this corruption, the men who they had put in positions of power formed the base which supported such activity.

Whatever happened to integrity? Did it not used to be part of the fabric of our society or is that just a myth. I look at the documents formed by our forefathers and the government that was instituted their by, did not that government bring us the principles of liberty and were they not founded upon personal integrity, self-reliance, and rugged individualism? It just does not seem right that such a magnificent foundation of principles should lead us to where we are today. How have we gotten to this point?

I am by no means perfect. I do not look to judge people by perfection. But, what I see today is a society that is always looking for someone else to solve their problems and the easy way out. We see a society that has given up on the ideals of excellence. Is that how we have gotten to this point?

In my line of work, I see a general lack of courtesy and manners on a daily basis. I see a true lack of respect between people who should be trying to help one another. The customer provides money and the employee provides a service. Both sides need one another and yet so many times they look at one another in an adversarial manner. One cannot exist without the other, but it seems many times that each look down at the other. They are both human, they're both going to make mistakes, and in the end it is the desire of both parties that each get what they want out of the process. How about some courtesy, some patience, some understanding, some respect? This should be true of all forms of business.

However, what we have seen develop is a game of one-upsmanship. Each party feeling that they are superior to the other party. You know it takes all of us to make a great society. If we respected one another's capabilities and tried to lift one another up, instead of building ourselves up by putting others down, then would the world not be a better place?

I am a chef by trade, I love cooking for people who enjoy good wholesome creative food, but honestly I have lost my desire to practice my profession in public. The people of this area limit the ability of top-notch talent to ply their trade, because they enjoy the process of eating and filling their gut with foods that they could just as easily prepare at home. They just don't seem to care about quality. It is about price, speed of service, portion size. I may be being too honest by stating that, but I am giving a generality about what I have witnessed over the last 25 years.

There are some people who do appreciate what I desire to deliver, but they are in the vast minority. Ten years ago this area was much more economically viable, because the companies in the area were more economically dynamic. We had people coming from all parts of the world to our area and those people respected the talents of creative people in this area. That is part of the race to the bottom that has been witnessed in our area. We have a lot to offer, but we don't have a lot to offer it to. We need to expand our horizons to the outside world, not close the area off to that world.

I really don't know how we're going to get out of this mess. There are forces that are working against solving the problems that we see in our area. And there are forces that are putting their futures at stake to try and rectify the inadequacies and negatives that have been perpetuated and put us in the vulnerable position that we are in today.

I spoke with a friend of mine who is in the real estate profession. I was talking to him about the Economic Depression that we're in and I was stating that I can't understand how people don't see that we are in an Economic Depression. He said that he believed that most people understand this, they just don't want to talk about it or deal with it -- they're scared. I asked about the real estate business and was he doing any business? He stated that he showed properties and he talked about properties, but he wasn't doing any business. He said everything is on hold. Life is on hold.

It is like we have stated on this blog before. You're either making positive progress or you are falling behind. Stagnation is falling behind. I do agree that this area has done things which will help "some" when things turn around, but what are we aggressively doing to turn things around? We have to do things to turn our economic prospects around without relying on external forces to come save the day. We are going to have to take some chances. The status quo in a period of malaise only helps to propagate that malaise.

I feel that it is incumbent upon the people of our community to look to themselves as problem solvers. If we look at the major issues that we are facing today, the common thread is that people are desiring unrealistic solutions from third-party sources. Instead of self-reliance as the principal, people are all too willing to accept charity from people who lack accountability. Who am I talking about? The GOVERNMENT.

Our government is a big problem. The people are going to have to demand accountability from the government. The government grows larger and larger and yet their accountability continues to dim. If the people continue to accept their current lot in this downward economic spiral, then they better prepare for the worst.

I do not know what the future holds, because honestly, I don't understand people. Why do people want to wait until a catastrophe arises until they take action. We have already seen a catastrophe take place with our economy and we have seen the inaction of the government and an ambivalence towards solving the problems that we face. Words, words, words... when we need action. And I may not be taking enough action, but I am acting. People can do something (anything) to help.

Integrity is all about being true to oneself and being honest with oneself. If one cannot get to the core of that general principle, then frankly there is nothing that can be done to help that individual. We need leaders, not sociopaths. The term used for those who serve in the government is “Public Servant.” The government as an entity is supposed to serve the people, not the other way around. That is the foundational principle upon which our government is based.

Corruption is at the root of our economic problems. What we see is systemic. Until we choose to call out those people who represent the forces of iniquity, then we will continue to spin our wheels forever. You better start learning and teaching you kids Mandarin. Taking the easy way out is no longer an option. The issues that we face are related to character. It is only about judging people to the extent of what is inherently right and wrong. If we are unwilling to call people out, because of who they are or some entity that they represent, then we are accomplices and enablers of whatever injustice these people are perpetrating.

We must represent and demand honesty, integrity, honor, and loyalty and we should never shrink in espousing these principles.

REBUILDING & EMPOWERING FROM THE BOTTOM UP -- Citizens for Equity in Government

The Citizens for Equity in Government (CEG) in Hickory is a call for every resident of Hickory to join in a major effort to make Hickory a better city. Rebuilding and empowering the city requires an informed public that is willing to continually seek the truth and stand for justice for all people. We want to build a grassroots democratic culture where all are respected, all voices are heard, and where we work together so that the needs of all are met. Is that the Hickory you want? Let’s join together in Hickory and make it happen. This campaign is a continuation of decades of grassroots work and is an important step towards laying the foundations for a city where dignity and worth of all are affirmed and up held.

We at CEG stand for dignity, worth and potential of every person. We work with mainly the poor, most rejected, and most ejected and excluded. We try to do this work in such a way as to promote the welfare of all. We fully support the effort to save our children’s swimming pools.

Our struggle for justice involves issues of health, education, environment, and economics. Saving our children’s swimming pools is a starting point rather than an end.

At the recent workshops (hearings) held by the City of Hickory it was abundantly clear what type of Aquatic Program the citizens desired. It was also made clear by City Council member Hank Guess that “the City does not have money set aside for swimming pools and has to balance recreation needs with other city projects.”

Hearings, workshops, citizens’ suggestions and ideals!

We will continue our struggle on Saturday, October 16, 2010 at 11:00 am at Ridgeview Recreation Center. Hear the Rev. Nelson Johnson of Greensboro, NC deliver the keynote address.

Hear what other citizens’ research exposes. But, most of all express yourself.

There will be food and fellowship for all.

Contact: Billy Sudderth (828) 308-4669

The Hound: This sounds great and it is my hope that an effort such as this can succeed in engaging all of the citizens of Hickory and enticing more people to participate in the decision making processes that take place in Hickory. This is not going to be an easy task. In my opinion there are forces that have long aligned to keep the average citizen out of the city's policy making apparatus.

What this is going to take is determination and perseverance. Far too many people believe that efforts such as these will be quickly and easily solved. They feel that going to one meeting or attending a few functions are going to gain attention and cause key decision makers to take notice and support whatever position the group is advocating. It unfortunately does not work that way.

It is a numbers game. The Powers that Be are only going to listen to you when they feel that it may have a direct effect (or reflection) on their status. They listen to the existing interests, because that is who brought them to the decision making table. If they feel that your movement could cause them to lose their position of status, then they will be moved to incorporate your interests into the decision making process. Unfortunately, the name of the game today is not right and/or wrong. Right and/or wrong is only going to come to the fore if a group such as "Citizens for Equity in Government" can become enough of a force to make the necessary changes to existing processes to incorporate such principles into the decision making process.

I congratulate Citizens for Equity in Government on their initial efforts. I do believe that we have seen progress on the Hickory City Pools issue. The efforts to squash the interests of the Ridgeview and West Hickory have failed miserably and this shows that when Advocacy groups do take an interest in city processes that they can make a difference. But, this issue is not solved until the goal is attained and the Pools issue is solved and then we move on from there to solve other issues. Just because you have gotten the tide to turn in your favor on this issue does not mean that you have won anything. You have to remain vigilant. There will be wins and losses along the way. That is how a Representative Democracy works. But, you are now in the game and your participation in Hickory City Governance is a most welcomed sight!

The Future is Now -- Hickory Hound 30,000+ Unique Views

On Tuesday the Hound went over 30,000 unique views. I have been keeping up with the numbers and this is by far the fastest 5,000 unique view increment increase that we have seen since this blog began. It took 82 days to get those 5,000 views compared to the previous 5,000 increment (from 20k to 25k) that took 130 days. It is great to see that the Hound continues to gather momentum. It has been steady progress, of course with constant steps forward and steps back, but the trends show the slow, but we are seeing an exponential growth curve develop as we have moved forward.

I truly appreciate those who read and participate with the input of this blog. In my opinion, you give this community hope, because you care. It is discouraging when we see the challenges that we face in this community and the fact that some people just don't get it and others just don't care. Everyone is entitled to their opinion and that is what makes a great community, but when people are ambivalent they may as well be working against us.

Some people think that I am out there and I guess I am a little out there, but I'm a lot less crazy than some of you think. Below is an embedded video from Discovery Channel called "Next World -- the Future of Life on Earth." This video shows technology, much of which is already accessible in its beginning form, that will change life as we know it on earth. I have been around technology my entire life. I have told many of you about that before in other postings and in person.

The human brain does 100 trillion calculations per second, by 2050 a desktop computer will have the equivalent processing power of 9 billion brains. We're moving quickly towards where computer devices will have artificial intelligence. The machines that are derivatives of this technology will give us the capability of being superhuman in nature.

I was around computers when they took up the bottom floor a building to do the most rudimentary operations. Those computers were nothing compared to what Blackberries and iPhones can do today. Remember people’s vinyl collections of music and how much space that 100 albums would take up. Well, today's 160 GB iPod will hold 40,000 songs, so that's anywhere between 2,500 and 4,000 albums and this will fit easily in your shirt pocket. That is how technology has evolved and expanded over the last 30 years.

What this video shows is the evolution of robotic technology. The video shows the melding of humans and machines. That is already taking place. Look at what has happened with smart phones and Blue Tooth technology.

This video shows Ray Kurzweil who is one of the leading futurists in the world. What we see from all of this is that humans in their ultimate form are very adaptive. Sometimes the exponential growth of the technology that surrounds us has proven to be faster than our minds can comprehend. What I want you to understand is that most of the technology that we are enjoying today was at one time thought to be impossible. So as one watches this video and has trouble comprehending or believing what they are seeing, they need to come to the realization that anything is possible if given enough time to develop. It is foolish to ever think or state that something can never happened -- never say never.

One recent example is an article that I read on ESPN.com today. Brent Musburger, who most of us know through his association as a media journalist and commentator, was stating that the use of steroids (performance enhancing drugs), when properly administered by physicians in a safe environment, should be acceptable for adult professional athletes. A lot of respondents went with standard line of today that that is an unacceptable idea. But, I understand exactly where Brent Musburger is coming from.

We are coming to an age when bionic prosthetic devices could be used when a human has a problem with the knee joint, hip joint, elbow, shoulder, ankle, vertebrae, etc... Eventually these devices could be better than the real thing. Would these not be construed as performance enhancing devices. Should they be banned or outlawed. What if an athlete tears up their knee and one of these devices could be installed as replacement. What would be wrong with that?

These are some of the ethical questions that are going to have to be answered in the very near future. We see this in this video when an exoskeleton is shown. We have already seen the use of predator drones on the battlefield. Soon we are going to see the ability to utilize robotic technology and exoskeleton technology in conjunction with humans on the battlefield. We must open our minds to the possibilities in order to gain an understanding of what we are facing. You can stick your head in the sand or you can join those of us who have an acceptance of all of this and help to make better decisions of the limitless possibilities, consequences, and challenges that we face.

This particular video runs a little over 40 minutes. Watch a little bit at a time and come back to it. I don't see how you can't find something such as this very interesting. Sure it isn't a comedy or drama to help you escape the pressures of day, but it is good to expand your horizons and understand the true characteristics of the world in which we live.