Federal Reesrve - Who owns this banking system?

[WhiskeyGirl]

Hat tip to nonesuche...

Who owns the private Federal Reserve System?  Isn't it possible there are some really big conflicts of interest with bailout recipients and the Obama administration appointees?

Effects of the Federal Reserve

Squeezing the Middle Class

"As I have previously noted in this column, the financiers who actually control our government do not want a strong, numerous and well organized middle class to exist. Otherwise, it might demand and possibly attain the republic envisioned by our Founding Fathers - one that would operate for the benefit of the people, establish reasonable taxes, encourage strong family units and enable tens of millions of people to create estates capable of guaranteeing their political and financial independence. "

"Let us examine the record of the Federal Reserve after it was created in 1913 on the assurance there would be no more panics, depressions, inflation, or deflation. It is permitted a period of prosperity through 1919 during which great numbers of farmers borrowed to improve their homesteads. In 1920, however, the financiers caused a severe depression; and when the farmers could not make payments, their properties were confiscated. Hundreds of thousands lost everything. "

http://www.save-a-patriot.org/files/view/midclass.html

Sounds scary and familiar...

Maybe it's time for America to know the truth?  Who owns the Federal Reserve?

Who profits off of the misery and hard work of millions of Americans?

[WhiskeyGirl]

Hopefully, thugs won't come and firebomb my house tonight or break my legs for revealing secrets.

[LouiseVargas]

I cannot site a source but I read long ago that the Federal Reserve is an entity completely separate from the Federal Government. I was shocked.

[WhiskeyGirl]

I've read that it's private before, but never wondered about who owned it.  Who are the owners?  From what I've read, they make almost five hundren billion dollars a year in interest from US taxpayers and we pay interest on all the U.S. money that circulates.  Doesn't sound like a good deal for taxpayers or future generations.

Perhaps the best way for the economy to start recovery is to buy back the Federal Reserve banking system for less than half a billion dollars, just a fraction of any of these bailout bills. 

Why shouldn't the U.S. government control the Federal Reserve, our central banking system?  Why seize control of the Census and leave the largest banking system in private hands?

From this site - http://www.apfn.org/apfn/fed_reserve.htm

The U.S. Government can buy back the FED at any time for $450 million (per Congressional record). The U.S. Treasury could then collect all the profit on our money instead of the 300 original shareholders of the FED. The $4 trillion of U.S. debt could be exchanged dollar for dollar with U.S. non- interest bearing currency when the debt becomes due. There would be no inflation because there would be no additional currency in circulation. Personal income tax could be cut if we bought back the FED and therefore, the economy would expand. According to the Constitution, Congress is to control the creation of money, keeping the amount of inflation or deflation in check. If Congress isn't doing their job, they should be voted out of office. Unfortunately, voters can't vote the FED or its Chairman out of office.

Other sites -

http://land.netonecom.net/tlp/ref/federal_reserve.shtml

In August of 1929, the Fed began to tighten the money supply continually by buying more government bonds. At the same time, all the Wall Street giants of the era, including John D. Rockefeller and J.P. Morgan divested from the stockmarket and put all their assets into cash and gold.

Soon thereafter, on October 24, 1929, the large brokerages all simultaneously called in their 24 hour “call-loans.” Brokers and investors were now forced to sell their stocks at any price they could get to cover these loans. The resulting market crash on “Black Thursday” was the beginning of the Great Depression.

The Chairman of the House Banking and Currency Committee, Representative Louis T. Mc Fadden, accused the Fed and international bankers of premeditating the crash. “It was not accidental,” he declared, “it was a carefully contrived occurrence (created by international bankers) to bring about a condition of despair…so that they might emerge as rulers of us all.”

He went on to accuse European “statesmen and financiers” of creating the situation to facilitate the reacquisition of the massive amounts of gold which Europe had lost to the U.S. during WWI. In a 1999 interview, Nobel Prize winning economist and Stanford University Professor Milton Friedman stated: “The Federal Reserve definitely caused the Great Depression.”

US DECLAIRED bankruptcy

Because the government of the U.S. (a corporation) had paid its loans to the Fed with real money exchangeable for gold, it was now insolvent and could no longer retire its debt. It now had no choice but to file chapter 11. Under the Emergency Banking Act (March 9, 1933, 48 Stat.1, Public law 89-719) President Franklin Roosevelt effectively dissolved the United States Federal Government by declaring the entity bankrupt and insolvent.

(snip)

Henceforth, our United States Constitution would be continuously eroded due to the fact that our nation is now owned “lock stock and barrel,” by a private consortium of international bankers, contemptuous of any freedoms or sovereignties intended by our forefathers. This was all accomplished by design.

http://rainbowwarrior2005.wordpress.com/2008/09/29/federal-reserve-owners-and-history/

I think the Obama will use some kind of emergency act to collapse or force the country into bankruptcy.   Bankruptcy doesn't seem to help all the little people, it just concentrates ownership of what is left among the wealthy that are left.

Is the spending bill is a necessary diversion from the truth?

Who owns the Federal Reserve after all these years?  Who sits on it's many boards?  Do they have conflicting interests with all these bailouts?

Maybe they aren't the best ones to be making monetary policy?  Where is the transparency? 

From listening to various media reports, no one in the U.S. wants credit, so why do we need more money?  Credit is 'frozen' because no one wants to buy, so why keep spending?

Spend less than half a billion dollars and buy back the Federal Reserve by the end of February, 2009. 

Who's looking out for the best interests of Americans?  The Federal Reserve?  The President?  Individual members of Congress?

Who are the private folks and companies that own the Federal Reserve?  Isn't it odd that Geithner moved from the Federal Reserve to a top level government job?  Conflicts of interest?

[WhiskeyGirl]

Abolish the Federal Reserve Petition -

http://www.petitiononline.com/fed/petition.html


Ron Paul speech about abolishing the Federal Reserve -

Congressman Ron Paul
U.S. House of Representatives
September 10, 2002

ABOLISH THE FEDERAL RESERVE

Mr. Speaker, I rise to introduce legislation to restore financial stability to America's economy by abolishing the Federal Reserve. I also ask unanimous consent to insert the attached article by Lew Rockwell, president of the Ludwig Von Mises Institute, which explains the benefits of abolishing the Fed and restoring the gold standard, into the record.

Since the creation of the Federal Reserve, middle and working-class Americans have been victimized by a boom-and-bust monetary policy. In addition, most Americans have suffered a steadily eroding purchasing power because of the Federal Reserve's inflationary policies. This represents a real, if hidden, tax imposed on the American people.

From the Great Depression, to the stagflation of the seventies, to the burst of the dotcom bubble last year, every economic downturn suffered by the country over the last 80 years can be traced to Federal Reserve policy. The Fed has followed a consistent policy of flooding the economy with easy money, leading to a misallocation of resources and an artificial "boom" followed by a recession or depression when the Fed-created bubble bursts.

With a stable currency, American exporters will no longer be held hostage to an erratic monetary policy. Stabilizing the currency will also give Americans new incentives to save as they will no longer have to fear inflation eroding their savings. Those members concerned about increasing America's exports or the low rate of savings should be enthusiastic supporters of this legislation.

Though the Federal Reserve policy harms the average American, it benefits those in a position to take advantage of the cycles in monetary policy. The main beneficiaries are those who receive access to artificially inflated money and/or credit before the inflationary effects of the policy impact the entire economy. Federal Reserve policies also benefit big spending politicians who use the inflated currency created by the Fed to hide the true costs of the welfare-warfare state. It is time for Congress to put the interests of the American people ahead of the special interests and their own appetite for big government.

Abolishing the Federal Reserve will allow Congress to reassert its constitutional authority over monetary policy. The United States Constitution grants to Congress the authority to coin money and regulate the value of the currency. The Constitution does not give Congress the authority to delegate control over monetary policy to a central bank. Furthermore, the Constitution certainly does not empower the federal government to erode the American standard of living via an inflationary monetary policy.

In fact, Congress' constitutional mandate regarding monetary policy should only permit currency backed by stable commodities such as silver and gold to be used as legal tender. Therefore, abolishing the Federal Reserve and returning to a constitutional system will enable America to return to the type of monetary system envisioned by our nation's founders: one where the value of money is consistent because it is tied to a commodity such as gold.  Such a monetary system is the basis of a true free-market economy.

In conclusion, Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to stand up for working Americans by putting an end to the manipulation of the money supply which erodes Americans' standard of living, enlarges big government, and enriches well-connected elites, by cosponsoring my legislation to abolish the Federal Reserve.

http://www.house.gov/paul/congrec/congrec2002/cr091002b.htm

Sounds like what is going on today.  Printing money, spending and horrible depressions afterwords.

imho

[WhiskeyGirl]

"I have to be honest with you," Sen. Robert Menendez, a New Jersey Democrat, told him. "A lot of questions still remain unanswered. A lot of details are necessary before I can give it my support."

Those doubts are sure to arise Wednesday when Blankfein and the CEOs of Bank of America Corp., Citigroup Inc., JP Morgan Chase & Co., Wells Fargo and Co., Morgan Stanley, State Street Corp. and the Bank of New York Mellon appear before the House Financial Services Committee.

The bankers are not sympathetic figures in Congress, particularly in the more populist House.

The initial spending of the bailout funds was secretive, lacking strict requirements that the banks account publicly for how they were using the money. A government watchdog reported last week that the Treasury under Bush overpaid the banks for the assets it obtained in exchange for the capital infusion.

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/02/11/bailed-bank-ceos-face-congressional-grilling/

It seems like many of these banks are the same ones that own the Federal Reserve.  Robbing Peter to bonus Paul? 

Conflicts of interest?  Who really owns the Federal Reserve?  Who really owns the banking committee?

[WhiskeyGirl]

One more quote -

With the Vegas junket a fresh memory, Wells Fargo President and CEO John Stumpf made one other point.

"We are always careful stewards of our shareholders' money," he said. "We have never been wasteful. ... We are frugal."

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/02/11/bailed-bank-ceos-face-congressional-grilling/

Who own the Federal Reserve?  Who profits from the misery of Americans?  When will government work for Americans and not private banking interests?

[WhiskeyGirl]

From the media -

Bernanke Begins ‘Thorough Review’ of Fed Disclosure (Update1)

By Craig Torres

Feb. 10 (Bloomberg) -- Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke initiated a review of the information it provides the public after lawmakers criticized the central bank’s disclosure policies during the unprecedented expansion of its holdings.

“We at the Fed have begun a thorough review of our disclosure policies and the effectiveness of our communication,” Bernanke said today in remarks prepared for testimony before the House Financial Services Committee. Board Vice Chairman Donald Kohn will lead a panel for the review.

I don't think communication is the problem.  Who own's the Federal Reserve?  Who profits from all this money creation?  Interest payments by taxpayers?

Bernanke has invoked emergency authority and more than doubled the size of the Fed’s balance sheet to $1.8 trillion to combat the worst credit crisis in seven decades. His moves have prompted concern that the central bank is encouraging excessive risk-taking, distorting pricing in financial markets and jeopardizing the Fed’s independence. The Fed hasn’t disclosed many of the assets and participants in its programs.

I would imagine this means taxpayers pay more interest to the Federal Reserve.  Interest payments by taxpayers?  What is the Fed independent of?  Common sense?

“It does not seem to me healthy in our democracy for the amount of power that is now lodged in the Federal Reserve with very few restrictions to continue,” said Representative Barney Frank, a Democrat from Massachusetts and the committee chairman.

Maybe taxpayers and citizens should control their own destiny and monetary supply?

Bernanke also said the Fed is preparing a Web site where the public can find more details and analysis about the Fed lending effort. He defended the programs, saying they helped restore liquidity and buffer risk during a severe credit crisis.

“Our lending to financial institutions, together with actions taken by other agencies, has helped relax the severe liquidity strains experienced by many firms and has been associated with considerable improvements in interbank lending markets,” Bernanke said.

When was the last time the Federal Reserve was audited?  Checked for conflicts of interest?

Under section 13.3 of the Federal Reserve Act, the Federal Reserve Board “in unusual and exigent circumstances” can authorize lending by reserve banks to individuals, partnerships and corporations that are unable to obtain “adequate credit.”

Bernanke, 55, and the Fed governors used the authority for the first time since the Great Depression last March in a $13 billion emergency loan to Bear Stearns Cos., which faced a run by creditors.

The Fed’s actions have helped stabilize the financial system, pushing interbank borrowing rates closer to the federal funds rate as risk aversion dissipated. The yield difference between the London interbank offered rate, or Libor, that banks say they charge each other for three-month loans in dollars, and the benchmark federal funds rate stood at 1 percentage point today. The spread widened to 4 percentage points on Oct. 10.

Who's best interest's does the Fed serve?  Who owns and profits from the Federal Reserve?

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&sid=adhpRsPpINDA&refer=news

Maybe the Federal Reserve is one part of the nation that isn't working.  Perhaps AMERICANS should be in charge of the monetary system and not business people and bankers.

imho

[WhiskeyGirl]

$1 trillion to boost lending

Federal Reserve program will aim to jumpstart credit cards, auto and student loans. Program will also cover loans backed by commercial real estate.

By Tami Luhby, CNNMoney.com senior writer

Last Updated: February 10, 2009: 5:16 PM ET

"It will bring investors back to the table," Goldwasser said.

read more here -
http://money.cnn.com/2009/02/10/news/companies/consumer_loans/?postversion=2009021011

I can't think of anyone who needs their credit card "jumpstarted". 

It seems like with all the bubbles, S&L, Tech, mortgage, etc., the best thing an investor could do is in anything other than the markets, invest in gold/silver, put your liquid assets in the mattress, and push themselves away from the 'investment' table.

Fool me once...it's been many many times over the past 20 years...

mo

[WhiskeyGirl]

Spending and lending got us into this trouble, I don't think it will get us out.  It will just dig the hole deeper.

imho

[nonesuche]

I cannot site a source but I read long ago that the Federal Reserve is an entity completely separate from the Federal Government. I was shocked.

It is, it has nothing to do with our Federal Government. If you go to your phone book to look up the Federal Reserve Bank it's not in the government listings but appears just after Federal Express?

If you check the links I posted, it clearly shows who does own the Federal Reserve and few of those 'owners' are American. However, Lehman Brothers has had quite a big take in ownership..........imagine that?

[WhiskeyGirl]

The idea is to lure private investors into buying up the banks' toxic assets, by having the Fed limit their downside risks. If private investors pay too much, the Fed picks up the tab.

This is not a model of transparency. To date, the Fed has already committed some $2.5 trillion to rescuing the financial system, yet no one outside the Fed knows exactly how or where this money went. The Fed is subject to almost no political oversight. Yet if the trillions of dollars the Fed has already committed and the trillions more it's about to commit can't be recouped, the federal debt explodes and you and I and other taxpayers are left holding the bag.

In other words, Geithner and Fed Chair Ben Bernanke continue to do pretty much what Hank Paulson and Bernanke did. They hide the true costs and risks to taxpayers of repairing the banking system. Those risks and costs should be put on the people who made risky bets on the banks in the first place -- namely bank shareholders and creditors. Shareholders of the most troubled banks should be wiped out entirely. Bank creditors -- except depositors -- should take major hits. And top executives who were responsible for the worst of this should be canned. But it's politically easier to put the costs and risks on taxpayers, especially in ways they can't see.

Read the rest here -
http://marketplace.publicradio.org/display/web/2009/02/11/pm_transparency_comm/

The Federal Reserve needs to be the target of open books, transparency, coming clean with taxpayers - Who owns the Federal Reserve?  Any conflicts of interest?  Any owners or their businesses bailout recipients?

[WhiskeyGirl]

Peter Coy, Business Week, writes that " In an effort to come up with a politically appealing plan, President Barack Obama and his team obscured the answer to the most important question: Who loses? " http://www.businessweek.com/bwdaily/dnflash/content/feb2009/db20090210_833896.htm?chan=top+news_top+news+index+-+temp_top+story

There is a sickening feeling I'm beginning to experience that behind this obvious subterfuge is the planned demolition of the American Constitution and financial system ~ from which would emerge the long awaited New World Order.

Chuck Baldwin makes the same point in his article of February 10th ~ where he writes ~ " In other words, ladies and gentlemen, America is being run by a private banking cartel, the majority of whom are not even citizens of these United States. Ever since the Fed was created in 1913, America has been subjected to recession after recession, not to mention one Great Depression. Some are even predicting that the United States is now actually entering a second Great Depression. Please understand this: the Federal Reserve has manipulated every bit of this financial crisis for the express purpose of enriching the international bankers on the backs (and bankruptcies) of the American taxpayers. And what does our illustrious Congress do? They continue to give billions and even trillions of taxpayer dollars to the very same group of gangsters who created and perpetuate this financial fraud. And, as with Congress, Presidents from both major parties likewise promote and defend this chicanery." President And Congress Grovel Before The Fed
http://www.chuckbaldwinlive.com/c2009/cbarchive_20090210.html


Sound far fetched ? I think not and certainly not after you watch this engrossing 40 minute online mini-documentary on the New World Order. It exclusively details information from Core of Corruption and it shows video news segments which have never before been available on the internet and no one has seen .
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=7817109040843835804

What we desperately need is not a New World Order based on power and greed but, instead, a New World Consciousness based on altruism and social cooperation.

http://www.opednews.com/articles/Absent-in-Geithner-s-Bank-by-Allen-L-Roland-090211-105.html

www.CoreOfCorruption.com

The video goes into the "The TriLateral Commission" - lots of old news clips, interesting stuff.

Also, 'Google' Operation "Mockingbird".  SkullNBones, secret societies, Yale, etc.

[nonesuche]

Interesting research isn't it WG? This isn't a recent issue but one that began very early on in our country. What fightens me is our reliance upon the advice and guidance from the Federal Reserve.........

[WhiskeyGirl]

The Core of Corruption movie mentions a group "The Bilderberg Group".  A quick google, and wiki shows the following -

The original Bilderberg conference was held at the Hotel de Bilderberg, near Arnhem in The Netherlands, from May 29 to May 31, 1954. The meeting was initiated by several people, including Joseph Retinger, concerned about the growth of anti-Americanism in Western Europe, who proposed an international conference at which leaders from European countries and the United States would be brought together with the aim of promoting understanding between the cultures of United States of America and Western Europe.[4]

Retinger approached Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands, who agreed to promote the idea, together with Belgian Prime Minister Paul Van Zeeland, and the head of Unilever at that time, the Dutchman Paul Rijkens. Bernhard in turn contacted Walter Bedell Smith, then head of the CIA, who asked Eisenhower adviser C. D. Jackson to deal with the suggestion.[5] The guest list was to be drawn up by inviting two attendees from each nation, one each to represent conservative and liberal points of view.[6]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bilderberg_Group

names from bilderberg group list of attendees-

Henry M. Paulson, Jr. (2008), current United States Secretary of the Treasury
Peter George Peterson (1978), former United States Secretary of Commerce
Colin L. Powell (1997), former United States Secretary of State
Condoleezza Rice (2008), former United States Secretary of State
Donald Rumsfeld (1975, 2002), Secretary of Defense, 2001 - 2006
Paul Volcker (1982, 1983, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1992, 1997)[3], former Chairman of the Federal Reserve
George Soros (1990, 1994, 1996, 2000, 2002)
Barack Obama (2008), President of the United States
Dutch Royalty

Lots of other names and companies too.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Bilderberg_attendees

Another thought that comes to mind is the Hague.  How many times have people commented in the NH case about the number of hits from the Hague at various blogs early in the case?  For a small potatoes, Dutch/Aruba affair, this always seemed strange.

Add to that long ago posts by Dutchies, things like "poor USAIANs"  - relating to overextended credit and some impending disaster, collapsing currency, "the US should never have gone off the gold standard" - in 2005 there were all these comments.  Didn't quite understand at the time how they were related.  Coincidence?  

Add to that Posner, Chicago politicians taking trips to Posner's casino in Aruba, and Rahm Emanuel, I have to wonder if they are all relate of the van der Sloots (or other suspects) in some small way.

Others on the list: "Used car salesman" from Dr. Michael B.; "casino greeter for Daley's Lollapalooza casino," from Patrick M.; "Elvis impersonator," from reader Laura M., and finally, No. 10, sent in by reader Yassino G.: Blago's best-selling memoir "The Audacity of a Dope."

I'd love to read that one on a beach outside a casino in sunny Aruba, just before playing blackjack with half the politicians from Chicago.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/columnists/chi-kass-wed-04-feb04,0,7358581.column

Aruba, known for drugs and money laundering. 

nonesuche, yes it is scary.  It's one thing to hear rumors, but to see the Federal Reserve doing such odd things...the odd things only make sense in a scary way...doesn't look good.

Under these conditions, Obama promises "to actively and aggressively seek a lasting peace between Israel and the Palestinians...." Longtime insider George Mitchell will spearhead it as the new Middle East envoy. He's a former Senate majority leader and member of the influential Council on Foreign Relations and Bilderberg Group. He's no friend of Palestine.

Tel Aviv welcomed the appointment. Its US ambassador, Sallai Meridor, said Israel holds him "in high regard and looks forward to working with him on taking the next steps towards realizing a future of peace and security for Israel and her neighbors."

Human Rights Groups Accuse Israel of War Crimes

http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=12008

Instead of a nation or state to hose up, just bigger corruption and opportunism and infighting.  Larger scale poverty, and fewer chances for any geographic area or people to escape or work their way out.

Good reasons for the founding fathers, constitution, and firewalls.  Hopefully, all is not lost.

Not odd in the least that we have to be independent of oil...

imho

[WhiskeyGirl]

Vice-President Joe Biden’s most strange “prophecy”

A short time before last November’s presidential elections, then vice-presidential candidate Joe Biden said that he “guaranteed” that if Obama won the elections, he would be tested by some major international crisis during the first six months of his presidency which would require him getting the support of those who voted for him, as he will have to make “very tough and unpopular decisions”.
The US News Network ABC News reported on 20th October 2008, that during a Seattle fundraiser, Biden said:

“Mark my words: It will not be six months before the world tests Barack Obama like they did John Kennedy. The world is looking. We’re about to elect a brilliant 47-year-old senator president of the United States of America. Remember I said it standing here if you don’t remember anything else I said. Watch, we’re gonna have an international crisis, a generated crisis, to test the mettle of this guy"

"I can give you at least four or five scenarios from where it might originate,” Biden said mentioning the Middle East and Russia as possibilities. “And he’s gonna need help. And the kind of help he’s gonna need is, he’s gonna need you - not financially to help him - we’re gonna need you to use your influence, your influence within the community, to stand with him. Because it’s not gonna be apparent initially, it’s not gonna be apparent that we’re right.”.

And if such a crisis and attack can be “predicted” by the Joe Biden’s, is it because key Insiders know full well that this type of events are actually False-Flag Operations carefully planned, financed, protected and carried out by deeply embedded layers of powerful Intelligence, Operational and “Dirty Tricks” operatives loyal, not to the American National Interest, but to the NWO power structures?

http://axisoflogic.com/artman/publish/article_29416.shtml

Bill Ayers and his righteous bombings come to mind.  Bring terror to the heartland...   

I'm sure, I will be on the list for reeducation at some point.  Perhaps, rather than spend money on my reeducation due to my age, my life force (and perhaps others) will suffer a rare accident due to the great Obama medical database for human tracking the treatment.  A mistake that is fatal and for which there is no blame to anyone.  Just great sorrow about an accident that killed one life, much like the single accident that sank the Titanic. 

mo

[WhiskeyGirl]

Is financial chaos all a big plot?

Monday January 26 2009

Riots in Latvia, Greece and Iceland with more civil unrest simmering in global flashpoints, including Ireland. Never has the phrase, "out of chaos will come order" been more apt.

One wonders if this financial meltdown hasn't been contrived.

Why hasn't the world's elite of bankers, politicians and industrialists not met to steer a way out of this turmoil?

There is no reason why the highly influential Bilderberg group could not bring forward its annual conclave from the end of May to the present time.

Or is it, as one suspects, that it shares the three-legged stool approach, as advocated by its sister policy group, the Trilateral Commission, whereby the economies of America, Asia and Europe are being deliberately nobbled so that we all end up with the same GNP and GDP as the continent of Africa, along with a single monetary unit and low interest rates, all managed by the IMF?

The net result being that corporations grow wealthier while the rest of us become enslaved. If this is the New World Order I will gladly settle for the old order any day.

John Finegan Bailieborough, Co Cavan

http://www.independent.ie/opinion/letters/is-financial-chaos-all-a-big-plot-1614438.html

And then there is Bill Gates and his mosquitos.  Not that he doesn't have good intentions, but sometimes there are unforseen consequences.

imho

[WhiskeyGirl]

Why would anyone believe in leadership that doesn't investigate a big unknown like the Federal Reserve?  The leadership of the Fed, why kind of values do they practice?

Only the little people pay taxes?

It brings to mind AmSouth and vilification they suffered in discussions of NH. 

Will Congress or any entity apply such logic to those in Congress who didn't see the mortgage banking problem coming?  Those in the banks that should have seen something on their balance sheets...for how many years?  How could so many banks have missed all those clues?

How could Freddie/Fannie have missed all those clues?  The Federal Reserve, was it also clueless?

Southeastern regional bank AmSouth (ASO:NYSE - commentary - research) is paying $50 million in fines to settle a federal investigation stemming from allegations it failed to properly report "suspicious activities'' of some of its customers.

The Alabama-based bank, in the deal, is paying a $40 million fine to federal prosecutors and a $10 million fine to the Federal Reserve.

Hmmm...failure ot report "suspicious activities"...maybe they had like two or three customers?   I wonder how much the Federal Reserve makes on fines?

The deal stems from an investigation into allegations involving two AmSouth customers and a scheme involving fraudulent notes that were placed into a custodial account at the bank. The scheme triggered a number of civil lawsuits from individuals and institutions allegedly defrauded by the AmSouth customers.

The federal investigation subsequently expanded to examine AmSouth's general procedures for policing its customers and spotting suspicious activities.

Two customers?  AmSouth failed to act like a big brother?

http://www.badamsouth.com/amfraud2.cfm

AmSouth was bad?  What about all those sucking black hole banks on Wall Street and the Federal Reserve?  Are they being held to the same standards?  They seem to have disappeared billions, even trillions...no bottom in sight.

Complying With the Bank Secrecy Act: Are You Being Lulled Into a False Sense of Security?
By Frye, Bailey
Publication: Hoosier Banker
Date: Monday, August 1 2005

As Federal Reserve Bank examiners are becoming more proficient at focusing on the requirements defined by the Bank secrecy Act (BSA), their expectations for banks are climbing, and their examinations are digging deeper. Banks can no longer assume that, by virtue of passing previous examinations, they can look forward to smooth sailing on future exams.

In the past few years, several banks have been hit with dramatic fines under the BSA. Last year AnchorBank was fined $100,000 for BSA-related violations; Riggs Bank sustained $25 million in civil money penalties; and AmSouth paid out $10 million in fines and $40 million in forfeitures. In 2002 Great Eastern Bank of Florida, a bank with only $55 million in assets, found itself liable for a $100,000 civil money penalty.

As some bankers have noted, "It is not just what we are doing right; it is what we should be doing that we are not."

Triggers include insider crimes such as defalcation, theft and insider trading. Customer crimes - such as check, loan, or mortgage fraud, kiting, identity theft and fraudulent financial statements - also constitute SAR triggers.

Examples of such activity might include the illegal use of shell corporations, endorsed third-party checks negotiated abroad and consumer loan fraud.

http://www.allbusiness.com/finance-insurance/credit-intermediation-related-activities/1131361-1.html

Hmmm...the Fed must have been real busy...

Today, the Fed and Congress just keep throwing money at the banks.  Not sure I understand that logic.

Hmmm...nobody noticed these suspicious bad loans?  Maybe they were increasing in negative value over time?  Need more money to fill the sink hole?  NOT one person at any of these institutions said "excuse me, we have a problem"?  Federal Reserve Bank Examiners are somehow responsible for monitoring these folks?  What is wrong with this picture?

AmSouth, a big case from 2005, around the same time as Fannie/Freddie reform efforts by John McCain and Barney Frank.  'cept nothing happened to fix Fannie/Freddie.

Today, the 'big' story is Madoff.  Madoff, really small potatoes compared to the trillions already in the can for the bank/insurance bailouts.  Anyone investigating the Federal Reserve?  Maybe finding out if there are conflicting interests?

How would anyone be able to identify conflicts of interest if no one seems to know who owns the Federal Reserve?

mo

[A's Fever]

"I have to be honest with you," Sen. Robert Menendez, a New Jersey Democrat, told him. "A lot of questions still remain unanswered. A lot of details are necessary before I can give it my support."

Those doubts are sure to arise Wednesday when Blankfein and the CEOs of Bank of America Corp., Citigroup Inc., JP Morgan Chase & Co., Wells Fargo and Co., Morgan Stanley, State Street Corp. and the Bank of New York Mellon appear before the House Financial Services Committee.

The bankers are not sympathetic figures in Congress, particularly in the more populist House.

That list of bankers didn't go nearly far enough.  Where were Thain, Fuld, O'Neill, Mozillo, the Sandlers, whoever ran AIG?  I guess they don't have to answer to Congress because they are no longer in their positions or because their companies are not longer viable.  I hope the Congress seriously considers clawbacks and seeks to prosecute the architects of this crisis to the fullest extent possible.

[WhiskeyGirl]

"I have to be honest with you," Sen. Robert Menendez, a New Jersey Democrat, told him. "A lot of questions still remain unanswered. A lot of details are necessary before I can give it my support."

Those doubts are sure to arise Wednesday when Blankfein and the CEOs of Bank of America Corp., Citigroup Inc., JP Morgan Chase & Co., Wells Fargo and Co., Morgan Stanley, State Street Corp. and the Bank of New York Mellon appear before the House Financial Services Committee.

The bankers are not sympathetic figures in Congress, particularly in the more populist House.

That list of bankers didn't go nearly far enough.  Where were Thain, Fuld, O'Neill, Mozillo, the Sandlers, whoever ran AIG?  I guess they don't have to answer to Congress because they are no longer in their positions or because their companies are not longer viable.  I hope the Congress seriously considers clawbacks and seeks to prosecute the architects of this crisis to the fullest extent possible.

I just don't know how it could have gotton so bad for years, for so many, and nothing was done.  That says to me, there are A LOT of people that should have noticed.  If there was some kind of fraud in the lower ranks, someone should have noticed.

I have to wonder how many put in applications for money, I seem to recall there were many.  I think that some are innocent victims of the economy, while others may have had long term issues that went unaddressed.

mo