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Archive for the ‘Financial crisis’ Category

Document: Goldman “shorted” mortgages because world wouldn’t expect it

Posted by seumasach on April 28, 2010

Truth Out

27th April, 2010

Washington – A key Goldman Sachs trading manager indicated in his personnel performance review that he could use the “fear” in the market of a coming collapse in the nation’s mortgage market to make profits for the Wall Street firm, documents released Tuesday show.

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The Devaluation of the US Dollar

Posted by seumasach on April 27, 2010


Now we have the Goldman Sachs fraud civil suit case. A closer check would raise suspicion from numerous corners. Five key red flags are raised, each worthy of future investigations.1) The Securities & Exchange Commission announced the fraud charges during a time when the Inspector General report was due for release. 2) The SEC fraud charges were announced during the time when a vote is soon coming for the Financial Reform Bill before the USCongress. 3) The SEC fraud charges were announced during the middle of the day, during stock market trading activity, a sharp break from proper information release. 4) Worse, the SEC gave Goldman Sachs a tipoff in the two weeks beforehand of the fraud charges to be made public. 5) Goldman Sachs has been privately accused of profiting from the adjustment in stock price due to its own problems. Stories are numerous of large S&P stock index puts purchased. Stories are numerous of a suspiciously high volume of ‘Out of Money’ stock option puts on GS, the Goldman Sachs stock share. They turned out to rise 140-fold, yet not much official talk about them.

So Goldman are making money out of speculating on the consequences of being prosecuted!!

Jim Willie

Financial Sense

22nd April, 2010

Click on link above for full article

The stream of events in the last four years casts extremely bad light on the US financial system, soon to reflect lower value. The subprime mortgage bonds were not isolated in damage done or loans gone bad. The prime mortgages, the Option ARMs, the second mortgages, the commercials, they almost all sport delinquencies and defaults that rival the subprimes. Details are shown in the last few Hat Trick Letter reports. The TARP Fund episode was an open extortion exercise, perpetrated on a hapless yet compromised USCongress, which now makes its own futile efforts to at least achieve disclosure of what the $700 billion or $500 remaining billion went. The US Supreme Court appears to be running interference for the US Federal Reserve, in blocking legal attempts to force disclosure of the USFed balance sheet, and disclosure of the TARP Fund disbursements. The overseas wars involve their own black eyes, what with $50 billion missing from the Iraq Reconstruction Fund. The United Nations drug task forces have pointed a finger at the US Security Establishment as funneling money into the US banking system, without which they claim the US banks would have collapsed in the autumn 2008. The nationalizations of Fannie Mae and American Intl Group took place amidst widespread charges of fraud, both in mortgage bonds and credit derivatives. Lawsuits were thwarted. The Credit Default Swap, an invention of Wall Street, has come under fire. It is being blamed for some distress in the European Govt debt markets. The CDSwap contract is under fire inside the United States even more so. Imagine a financial instrument that benefits from the implosion of financial firms, caused by policies and actions taken by the designers of the instruments. Only in America!

Now we have the Goldman Sachs fraud civil suit case. A closer check would raise suspicion from numerous corners. Five key red flags are raised, each worthy of future investigations.1) The Securities & Exchange Commission announced the fraud charges during a time when the Inspector General report was due for release. 2) The SEC fraud charges were announced during the time when a vote is soon coming for the Financial Reform Bill before the USCongress. 3) The SEC fraud charges were announced during the middle of the day, during stock market trading activity, a sharp break from proper information release. 4) Worse, the SEC gave Goldman Sachs a tipoff in the two weeks beforehand of the fraud charges to be made public. 5) Goldman Sachs has been privately accused of profiting from the adjustment in stock price due to its own problems. Stories are numerous of large S&P stock index puts purchased. Stories are numerous of a suspiciously high volume of ‘Out of Money’ stock option puts on GS, the Goldman Sachs stock share. They turned out to rise 140-fold, yet not much official talk about them.

In the following weeks we will see how much Goldman Sachs earned from their own legal challenges. In fact, a source informs me that his legal beagles regard the Paulson Abacus case as perhaps the weakest of all potential fraud cases against GSax. It might be designed to fail and be rejected by the courts. In fact, they mention that GSax might revert to a private investment bank, now that the TARP Funds were taken and returned, its commercial bank sham status no longer needed. The need instead is for privacy and no more prying eyes. GSax will not escape the lawsuits, but might face criminal charges. Watch the Germans, who are angry at being defrauded. Germany seems in many ways to act as the spearhead to disrupt, dislodge, and dismantle the US-UK streak of corporate fraud perpetrated by those wearing USGovt & UKGovt suits. The Goldman Sachs fraud case, and cases to follow, will render severe damage to the image of the USDollar, the USTreasury, and the USGovt leadership that is dominated by the GSax alumni. My belief is that the fraud charges have opened Pandora’s Box, for other complaints, other lawsuits, even class action lawsuits to be handled in federal court. The whiff of Pandora will be next seen in Germany from a broad swift response.

The White House connection to Goldman Sachs is not as clear as the USDept Treasury control by GSax. While GSax lawyers negotiated with the SEC over the high profile risk filled civil fraud charges, the GSax CEO Lloyd Blankfein visited the White House at least four times. White House logs show that Blankfein traveled to the national capital for at least two events with President Obama. Furthermore, the Obama 2008 presidential campaign received $995 thousand in donations from the GSax political action committee, its employees, and their relatives. The response included appointment of yet another GSax alumnus as Treasury Secretary, Tim Geithner. Worse, GSax has retained former Obama White House counsel Gregory Craig as a member of its legal team. The GSax connections to the White House and the Obama Admin are raising a lot of eyebrows. Influence is clear, as it might be bought. Watch the financial regulation overhaul grant even more power to Wall Street firms and more impunity for their actions. See the McClatchy Washington Bureau article entitled “Goldman White House Connections Raise Eyebrows” (CLICK HERE).

The crushing weight of lost integrity is vast. My suspicion is that the greatest impact from the Goldman Sachs stream of lawsuits and felony charges, complete with potential restitution attempts, will be on the USDollar and not the GS stock price or its balance sheet. What comes next is the survival reactions by nations under deep distress, weakend by sluggish if not moribund economies, weakened by exported toxic bonds from Wall Street, weakened by Credit Default Swap attacks lodged by Wall Street and London firms, weakened by years of accepted USTreasurys as legitimate payment for exported finished products, weakened by broad usage of the USDollar within their banking system. The Jackass maintains a firm conviction that the first few nations that break ranks from the USDollar embrace will become the leading nations in the next chapter. A shock this way comes, from a Paradigm Shift in progress, recognized across the world, but not in the United States or England. A sudden USGovt-led devaluation could come soon, ordered by the United States banking and government leaders. It might turn out to be a vain arrogant maneuver to achieve instant stability, to maintain chokehold control, and to attempt to prevent creditor abandonment.

A grand backfire comes, since numerous platforms and paper support beams can no longer bear the weight of US insolvency, US dishonesty, and US arrogance. A grand backlash comes. My best sources warn to expect flash events. Either the US will attempt to control the sudden rash of events, or foreign sources (dominated by US creditors) will pull the rug from under the US-UK controllers. The maestros in New York and London are fast losing control and credibility. The next victim front & center is information flow. The CFTC hearings to reveal the gold & silver market rigs is one item. The empty gold vaults at the London Bullion Market Assn is another item. The insider trading schemes in flash trading mechanisms by Goldman Sachs is another item. The involvement of Wall Street firms in European debt machinations is another item. The revealed USTreasury monetization and accounting is another item. The usage of the IMF and World Bank as financial weapons is another item. The narcotics trafficking under USGovt and USMilitary aegis is another item, complete with Wall Street money laundering. These highly important factors are all recent exposures of the US information machine losing its grip. These factors combine to invite a global response. It will be felt and realized eventually in the USDollar. The Euro is nowhere near as weak and fraught with insolvency as the USDollar, not to mention deep pervasive fraud. Time will prove this out.

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Goldman Sachs: The Next American Revolution

Posted by seumasach on April 27, 2010

James West

Midas Letter

26th April, 2010

Allegations of fraud brought last week by the Securities and Exchange Commission is a shocking departure from the culture of collusion among the U.S. government and the nation’s top banks. That despite the position of this publication and myriad others broadly categorized as “fringe” who have consistently and vociferously objected to the two or more standards applied to organizations and individuals by a corrupt legal system.

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Goldman Sachs ‘made fortune betting against clients’

Posted by seumasach on April 25, 2010

The beleaguered Wall Street bank Goldman Sachs boasted that it was making tens of millions of dollars of profits daily by betting against its own clients’ investments, according to internal emails released yesterday by a US senator.

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Mortgage madness: financial fraud in the housing market

Posted by seumasach on April 25, 2010

Mike Whitney

Global Research

24th April, 2010

Housing has been going sideways for seven months now, mainly due to lax lending standards (at FHA), the Firsttime Homebuyers Credit, and the Fed’s mortgage-backed securities (MBS) buyback program. But once the props are removed, the market will fall sharply.

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Computerized Front Running and Financial Fraud

Posted by seumasach on April 23, 2010

Ellen Brown

Global Research

23rd April, 2010

While the SEC is busy investigating Goldman Sachs, it might want to look into another Goldman-dominated fraud: computerized front running using high-frequency trading programs.

Market commentators are fond of talking about “free market capitalism,” but according to Wall Street commentator Max Keiser, it is no more.  It has morphed into what his TV co-host Stacy Herbert calls “rigged market capitalism”: all markets today are subject to manipulation for private gain.

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The Goldman Sachs indictment

Posted by seumasach on April 23, 2010

“The trillions in ill-gotten wealth of Wall Street operators must be re-appropriated and used to help fund public works programs to provide jobs for the unemployed and rebuild the social infrastructure. This money, stolen from the American people, must be used as well to provide relief for the millions victimized by the financial robber barons”.

Patrick O’Connor(WSWS)

Global Research

23rd April, 2010

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filed a civil case Friday against giant investment bank Goldman Sachs charging “fraudulent misconduct” in relation to $1 billion of worthless sub-prime mortgage securities Goldman palmed off to its clients in 2007.

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Hat Trick Letter: Jim Willie’s indispensable analysis of financial crisis

Posted by seumasach on April 20, 2010

Jim Willie

Kitco

8th April, 2010

While the multitudes debate over whether an economic recovery is coming to the United States, signals sound loudly in harsh tones. While they point to the recent rise in the USDollar, signals sound loudly in harsh tones. Admittedly the signals are confusing, but they are important. The long-term bond yield for USTreasurys threatens the 4.0% mark. The crude oil price is close to threatening the $100 mark. Sleepy financial market anchors and mavens offer comment, but might miss altogether the significance of the signals. The signals clearly mean great strain on the credit markets still, and gradual decay of the major currencies led by the USDollar.

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Goldman Sachs Sued by SEC for Fraud Tied to CDOs

Posted by seumasach on April 17, 2010

Bloomberg

16th April, 2010

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. was sued by U.S. regulators for fraud tied to collateralized debt obligations that contributed to the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression. The firm’s shares tumbled 13 percent and financial stocks slumped.

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Looting Main Street: how the nation’s biggest banks are ripping off American cities

Posted by seumasach on April 13, 2010

“in one key area, a swap deal differs from a home mortgage. Imagine a mortgage that you have to keep on paying even after you sell your house. That’s basically how a swap deal works.’

This article is absolutely brilliant and extraordinarily illuminating. It is also one of the funniest article ever written about anything and certainly the funniest ever written about the last days of American “capitalism”. If you can read this without being able to control your laughter you might just have what it takes to survive what is coming to us.

Matt Taibbi

Global Research

12th April, 2010

Click here to see Matt Taibbi on Russia Today

How the nation’s biggest banks are ripping off American cities with the same predatory deals that brought down Greece
If you want to know what life in the Third World is like, just ask Lisa Pack, an administrative assistant who works in the roads and transportation department in Jefferson County, Alabama. Pack got rudely introduced to life in post-crisis America last August, when word came down that she and 1,000 of her fellow public employees would have to take a little unpaid vacation for a while. The county, it turned out, was more than $5 billion in debt — meaning that courthouses, jails and sheriff’s precincts had to be closed so that Wall Street banks could be paid.

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LBMA bullion market Ponzi scheme. Financial manipulation in the gold and silver markets

Posted by seumasach on April 6, 2010

Adrian Douglas

Global Research

5th April, 2010

Here is running commentary from Douglas based on a transcript of this part of the hearing:

S. O’MALIA: Both Mr. Organ and Mr. Epstein in the second panel, raised the concerns that short positions exceed the physical supply. The second panel kind of argued that that wasn’t a concern. Are you concerned that the shorts will not be able to deliver if called upon?

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