Monday 21 March 2011

Quote of the Day: Greenspan's reputation dead as a parrot

“Greenspan is an ex-Maestro; his reputation is pushing up the daisies, it’s gone to meet its maker, it’s joined the choir invisible.

He’s no longer the Man Who Knows; he’s the man who presided over an economy careening to the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression — and who saw no evil, heard no evil, refused to do anything about subprime, insisted that derivatives made the financial system more stable, denied not only that there was a national housing bubble but that such a bubble was even possible.”

- Paul Krugman

Hat tip: Barry Ritholtz

26 comments:

jo6pac said...

He should have been DOA when he first got the job to destory the worlds $$$$, I know we in Amerika are done just waiting for the fork.

I think the rest of the world will see how that global economy is working when one country drops out of the loop. Sad and hards days ahead.

PeterJB said...

Good Morning @LB

"Robert Morris himself was serving in the assembly, so floor debate was intense. His merchant constituents were panicking. Investors everywhere in America relied on the bank for gigantic, poorly secured loans to fund their speculations in the land bubble, the bond rollercoaster, and their own fabulous lifestyles. James Wilson, one of the bank’s directors, had personally borrowed more than $250,000 from the bank for the purpose of wild speculation. Wilson too served in the Pennsylvania assembly, and in hopes of saving the charter, he and Morris found themselves forced to duke it out with the low-rent likes of Whitehill and Findley.
In a stunning benchmark legislative victory for popular finance, the Pennsylvania assembly did revoke the bank’s charter. When the charter came up in the next session, the assembly refused to reinstate it. The people had won. Rich men far and wide gasped in fear of what a democratic American legislature might achieve. Morris announced that a mob was confiscating his property. But for once there was nothing he could do. In a democratic process of republican government, struggling against an enormously powerful money interest in politics, economic fairness had prevailed. That was 1785."

http://www.newdeal20.org/2011/03/21/bretton-woods-the-new-deal-and-the-great-society-circa-1776-39211/

Hat tip Yves Smith

Did you get that?

“Investors everywhere in America relied on the bank for gigantic, poorly secured loans to fund their speculations in the land bubble…”

“By a continuing process of inflation, governments can confiscate[s], secretly and unobserved, an important part of the wealth of their citizens…if [when] a government refrains from regulations and allows matters to take their course, essential commodities soon attain a level of price out of reach of all but the rich, the worthlessness of the money becomes apparent, and the fraud upon the public can be concealed no longer.”

Its that time and now I move, in face of the ruling pretense:

"Be not intimidated... nor suffer yourselves to be wheedled out of your liberties by any pretense of politeness, delicacy, or decency. These, as they are often used, are but three different names for hypocrisy, chicanery and cowardice": John Adams to,

subject the whole banking system and its attachment to government, to the full power of the Law and bring convictions and jail terms for all those know as bankers, that have had undue advantages from he public purse.

We have had enough of the hypocrisy, chicanery and cowardice of the banker classes.

;-)

London Banker said...

@ PeterJB

I have always had my doubts about the agency(ies) behind the terrorist attacks blamed on Ghaddafi's Libya when G.H.W. Bush (former director of the CIA) was in the White House in the 1980s. They looked a great deal like Operation Gladio events then happening too regularly in Italy.

I rather suspect one of the ill-conceived motives of the unprovoked attack on Libya last week was to have a bogeyman to blame for future acts of terrorism which will cow any public revolt and reinforce the unreviewable powers of the shadow state.

That and the billions of dollars of gold that Ghaddafi amassed to elude currency sanctions. Oh, and the $30 billion that he deposited in US banks as the price of lifting sactions . . .

Perhaps I am a conspiracy theorist, but as we know from recent history, sometimes there are conspiracies.

PeterJB said...

Well said LB,

I hope that this post of yours is a sign that you are opening your ultra-conservative pretense and will start contributing now as a human being to the future of humanity.

The Blog is our intellectual future towards self government and freedom from genocide and impositions by crazed out-of-control madmen that wear suits to cover the cancer of their neurologies.

Well as to conspiracy theories, it has been most obvious in the Press that those barking mad and frenzied "f&^%ing crazies", that live to kill anything, neocon crowd - have been salivating everybody they touch into another lust orgy for more blood and gore.

Of course, another great opportunity for Israel as well as a show of might for the Arab world's Pavlov's dogs - as to what will happen if they take this 'pan arab' rebellion any further.

Perhaps you have noticed that Obama has been instructed to announce the possibility of Qadaffi remaining as chief arsehole after kill time has sated?

In the meantime, it appears most clear to me that the incestuous relationship between banker and "leadership" needs to be totally severed and the secret tunnels from Banks to the offices of Parliaments' filled with cement.

In other words - if Bankers have some concern for the future of humanity, it is time to begin to cut off the funds and consultations to inept and corrupted governments.

You of all people LB have the experience and the insights of this task and I personally hope that you rise to the trust that God bestowed in you at the time of your conception.

It is time for you to grasp your "accomplished self".

Thanks for your post which may have hurt, but not that much and really, you feel pretty good now, mais non?

PeterJB said...

Back to Greenspan's reputation:

There was a time that we all (and that included me) believed Greenspan to be a man of great integrity, but those days are gone but,

what of the Bernank? Hasn't he carried on Greenspan's legacy as well as perfecting it by transferring all the tangible wealth from the people to a few sordid but idolized bankers?

Has not the Bernank declared that this virtual and imaginary non-material assets such as CDO's and such like - as magnificent innovations of the super-intelligent banker classes? These worthless pieces of paper known as securitized debt and financial instruments that nobody wants and has frozen inter bank lending, due to the unknown amounts of this toxic crap that reside on all the banks' books but which nobody is saying or declaring. As the result, trust has been lost; that is, the necessary trust of the financial worlds and of the Law, no longer exists. However, as the FedRes now becomes the last and only buyer of US Treasuries (T-bonds) in some sort of incestuous act of eating one's own children as brought to us through mythology, we note those imaginary assets now also reside in huge numbers in FedRes and other Central Bank Holdings while the transfers continue unabated.

So, the Bernank has already ruined his reputation, unless of course, either you are a true believer' or have so much of this imaginary crap, that you feel that acknowledging the worthlessness, of same, would be too painful to admit, so it is far easier to condemn the whole of humanity, in lieu thereof.

The point LB, is that it would be worthy of you Central Bankers, if you believe that you all are part of humanity, that you lead a strong Bankers' movement together with the likes of Mervyn King and some noted perhaps Misean dignitaries to present a clear and precise **non -"hypocrisy, chicanery and cowardice""" action, to force "leadership" to clean up!

The time demands now a need ethics, principles, morality, integrity and courage and it should start with the privileged Banker Classes.

You would indeed have the full support of we the unwashed masses who continue to suffer horribly from the continual manipulations of markets, audits, and very essence of truth.

The Bernank is done and his reputation sucks and so is the US - it is time for a new dawn for humanity. Shall we call it an Age of Integrity and Humanity?

What say you LB?

Knute Rife said...

"But if your ultimate goal is power, how best to use such a weapon? It's at this point in our story that along comes a spider. He is a man seemingly without a conscience, for whom the ends always justify the means, and it is he who suggests that their target should not be an enemy of the country, but rather the country itself. Three targets are chosen to maximise the effect of the attack: a school, a tube station, and a water treatment plant. Several hundred die within the first few weeks. Fueled by the media, fear and panic spread quickly, fracturing and dividing the country...."

PeterJB said...

Banking:

http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com/2011/03/central-bank-authorized-fraud.html

Fraud? No... surely not?

What say you LB?

Ho hum

dearieme said...

I'm not surprised at exotic speculation about the purpose of the attack on Libya, because I can't see a sensible purpose.

Ariel said...

Are you on Facebook, show your appreciation of London Banker by joining the "Fans of London Banker" group

http://www.facebook.com/home.php?sk=group_202847316399966

Not quite sure how we survived without him for 2 years!

London Banker said...

@ Roga,
Cheers for that. I'm not on Facebook, but it will be interesting to see how your initiative develops.

Anonymous said...

It is nearly worth witnessing (and maybe suffering) the great Recession to see how the big capitalists and Wall St banksters were criminal. Let no one claim that they did not know better.

PeterJB said...

@ LB

Good Morning

I hear Ireland is being raped by British, German and French Banks (+plus the odd few others like the US, etc.) and Portugal, and hell, the rest will soon follow follow.

Is this all naught but denial?

"Evidently, all the criticisms leveled by US policymakers at Japan in recent years are now revealed as utter hypocrisy."

http://www.acting-man.com/?p=6569

I thought everybody knew that, but what of King, eh?

Oh Dear LB, any insights as to when it all collapses in a heap and the UK stops buying its own Debt and lets the Banks fail like the commercials are supposed to?

Or is your current political government just another extension of a Blairite copy of the Mad Cow Disease, ie Thatcherism? Ride the dragon into hell!

what say you, LB?

Ho hum

PeterJB said...

@ LB

You are very inactive /quiet / non-attentive LB on your Blog.

Is this obvious silence significant as to your obligations - desperate / urgent / critical / vital / hectic / losing - as a London Central Banker?

Any "Inside information" you care to share with us "unwashed", ie your loyal followers?

Ho hum

Average Jane said...

"Greenspan's reputation dead as a parrot." Talk about stating the obvious, Mr. Krugman.

Greetings to loyal LB readers. (That's you, PJB and anyone else who's lurking.) And greetings to LB who's apparently very busy these days.

Warning: middle class lament dead ahead.

I went onto one of those websites to calculate how much money I'd need to retire at age 70--about 20 years from now. Suffice it to say the amount was north of half a million dollars. Any middle class person reading this will do the same as I did: laugh uncontrollably. To achieve this monumental sum, I would have to save somewhere around $1,900 a month. Cue more hysterical laughing. Most of us can barely save $5,000 a year, nevermind $1,900 a month.

So the moral of the story is, the reason you still see the mindless spending by the middle class, the reason personal spending keeps rising in the face of stagflation or inflation or deflation (all three of which are occurring simultaneously) is because there is no effing way any of us will ever be able to afford to retire, will ever be able to afford a de minimis amount of healthcare ((sic)--I mean sick care), property taxes, a roof over our head, clean water to drink or a mode of transportation, and furthermore, in 20 years $500,000 might just buy us a week in a nursing home thanks to currency devaluation, so we may as well spend it now while it buys something--anything--that might bring us a fleeting moment of happiness. iPad, anyone?

And that, my friends, is straight from your Man on Main Street.

Average Jane

PeterJB said...

Greetings Average Jane,

I am happy to hear that your day to face your retirement will be well past the current and far from finished Global Systemic Collapse (GSC) - it is nice to be young. I am 68 and retired but have a 14 year old daughter who brings me great joy and stimulus (not the Bernanke type).

In Australia the Real Estate bubble is about to burst; we have stimulated the Banks (which we are now told are so strong that there is no danger at all - which means there are plenty more urgent fiscal policies being rapidly introduced to ensure that these Banks remain strong - they all appear to have fed at the Bernanke trough - such as new taxation at every level of government. WE have also stimulated (bailed out) the RE Insurers, Ford and General Motors (aren't we generous) and many others - but our Banks are very strong!

The whole of the Australian economic is now bank led real estate where from the Central Bank (RBA) down to the lowly real estate agent, we are told that house prices will never fall - ever.
(Bridges are a big business scam here too)

There is also mining which is mostly foreign owned but it does create jobs for those that like to dig holes (about 99.9% of the work force if they want to eat). The rest of the loot get repatriated to foreign shores - we get the shaft (and /or holes).

see Part II following

PeterJB said...

Part II

hic

Now, it is expected that as Australia has the strongest banking sector in the World, our central bank (RBA) and the strong Banks, in consultation with our second level of government, "leadership" - will increase rates soon again so as to attract more hot money to keep the real estate as THE ploy in major play (PIMP).

The Economist has written that our house prices are 58% over-valued and in reality, totally unaffordable. Of course, this is denied.

So what is about to happen, as China is now stalling and stalling badly and Europe is almost totally dependent upon the largesse of Germany (with flaring tempers), the mining sector will implode, unemployment increases, rates are jacked up to 20% and everybody well, almost everybody, is thrown out on the Street in foreclosure.

But hey, our strongest banks remain strong and that is - important. Did I mention cost of living increase of basic groceries and such up ~20%, fuel flying high - rents up, rates up, police booking motorists 24/7 - crime up - important! And the Government approves increases in electricity and gas prices about every 3 month.

We here are in a drought and we just had floods, so local produce and grains and beef and etc., are all feeling tight at the moment, but don't worry, the banks are still strong.

Me? My daughter makes me happy and brings me much joy. And the Banks are still strong.

2 days ago the Gold and Silver broke out and I announced my forecast that this was the beginning of the end as we enter the eye of the typhoon aka phase transition. We are now in unknown territory and in ten years time we will emerge from the end of the past period and at the beginning of the new Epoch and Age of Man. And then ewe can re-build in integrity

Prosperity comes from truth, honesty, courage and integrity and I predict we we shall have a new system of Open and extremely small Government - utility bankers as regulators that are transparent and accountable - and not career appointments but stints at service to humanity; Gatekeepers, while the rest will run in mind your own business laissez faire capitalism with commitment to society as a whole - ephemeralization founded in a monetary system - and not a fiat debt scheme run by a sordid few totally corrupted bankers and "leaders".

Optimism and you so young will see it all, so I say to you akuna matata - Don't worry - learn and enjoy - better you spend it before that mob of bureaucrats and neocons get at it.

Go over to my Blog and learn about how we have now agreed to Military Occupation by USA in order to confront China - which is at the moment, our only Client.

But Australia's Banks ar the strongest in the World and House prices will never fall in Australia - its a sort of paradoxical oxymoron ;-)


Take great care Average Jane.

Ho hum

PeterJB said...

@ LB and Average Jane

Australain economy - I posted this at Steve Keen's Blog

http://www.debtdeflation.com

From Kris Kayce at Money Morning

http://www.moneymorning.com.au/20110405/the-reality-of-australias-strong-economy.html#more-4949

% of economy

Extract
All Stocks 35.44%
All stocks ex banks 24.12%
All stocks ex resources 20.86%
All stocks ex resources and banks -3.72%


These numbers show you exactly why the Australian economy is in worse shape than the mainstream would have you think.

Now, don’t get me wrong. If you’ve been on board the resources boom over the past two years you’ll have done very well.

End Extract

^^ As I have suspected

And now the part that makes up the -3.72% is targeted to pay through the nose in Carbon Tax costs?

The above says that the Australian economy consists of Miners and Banks and little else of value - actually the little else is a drag.

Ho hum

Average Jane said...

PJB, thanks for the links. And who knew that wild, beautiful Australia was in such dire straits. There is no escape from the corporatists, the capitalists, the extractors. Men take but they do not give back. I too can only hope there is great integrity buried somewhere in our collective conscience in order that we may rise above our challenges. But I fear that humankind will continue to devolve into a war among us for more and more scarce resources and that the Glock-wielders will eventually "win" the day.

It's heartening to hear that your little miss is a comfort to you. Would that we all could understand what we're doing to our children. Methinks if we could see 20 years into the future, all of this stuff-and-nonsense would come to a screeching halt.

Peace out, dood, and I'm going to run over and check your blog.

PeterJB said...

Yes, I'm cool AJ
It's peace all round - winter comes and great sleeping weather.
Gold 1366 and Silver at $40 - wow
Nuclear Reactors on the Brink, boot on the ground in where-ever, and a US with no bucks and Tiny Tim threatening hell afreezing -
So JPM and HSBC caught short literally, and applying for more bailouts and allbanks threatening to leave their domestic abodes if regulation is implemented and Merv King doing it tough with all the boys ag'in him...

Just business as usual for these days.

Thanks for your comments in Death Star Australis - but never mind as Oz is in a permanent state of denial - that is, that place where pain doesn't hurt - while someone is listening..
Yeah, interesting times and we are lucky to be witnessing this phenomena unfold - something to tell your granchildren.

Become a paranoic, as it will save your life - and thensit back and be happy as it is better than TV

Akuna Matata

Ho hum

PeterJB said...

@ LB

Heads UP

Dr Steve Keen - Associate Professor of Economics at Western Sydney University and described by some as the best economist in the World today will be in London and available for talks mid June 2011.

If you would like to arrange to hear him present his arguments, please contact him direct - through his website:

http://www.debtdeflation.com/blogs/2011/04/09/europe-trip-mid-june/

Certainly a great opportunity. You can use my name if you wish. Need any assistance, just let me know.

kindest

PeterJB

PeterJB said...

Iceland reject bailing out foreign bankers despite the threats of blackmail.

http://dailybail.com/home/iceland-does-it-again-icesave-repayment-scheme-rejected.html?

It is time for commercial Bankers to understand that banking is not a risk free enterprise and cannot impose this risk free status on the World, due the inherent dys-balances that are imposed on the whole socio-economic phase space.

Ho hum

PeterJB said...

@ LB

FYI Dr Steve Keen's email contact is:

debunking at gmail dot com

PeterJB said...

"Let's Hang Some Bankers"

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article27911.htm

Ho hum

PeterJB said...

@ LB

Your silence echoes the dread that you in the UK must be feeling as my prediction that mid 2011 marks the beginning of the end for the insolvent banks and the horrors that are arriving to the shores of the UK. It appears as the US prepares to starve and desert its friends of the World and begin its inward focus is a desperate attempt to save itself from that Dark Age (demographically expressed) that appears behind the widening cracks. Oh what has that little fiddle with Libya wrought on the budget plans my Dear Fellow?

Is Brussels somewhat more in control thus leaving the British isolated and deserted and facing dread, dismay and huge uncertainty.

What do the BRICS bring? And then the UoT stocking up on Gold - who follows here where Gordon Brown sold, not so wisely, eh? Who desperately tries to catch the 'hot money' now?

Soon the truth will emerge that what "leadership" has wrought is merely the cravings of madmen released and for these such empty echoes of nightmares and promises of madmen, we all so shall we pay dearly.

Your science old chap is mere technology for those of the material hard hath of science; mere manipulation known as technology, useful Aye, but not to dolts.

You see my friend LB, as I have been attempting to relate:

" Science is the soul of our existence,
the generative impulse of humanity.
If it were not for the slow progress of science,
we would be but primitive beings clad in animal skins."

We have erred: our egos have mistaken the hard for the soul; and the same hand now leads you to the hard fate of that choice.

This year, 2011, and now coming faster than a French train, is the end for Britain, as you know it, so much so, it may WWII look and fell like a picnic on some grassy bank.

The UK have consistently made all the wrong decisions and continue to do so and it is clear that the icy cold spear of dread and fear of this realization, is now passing into the heart of this former great Nation. Two more months and even the most gullible and profane will be able to that you have chosen the wrong path.

What say you LB?

PeterJB said...

Getting the Truth out of Bankers is like pulling teeth out of chickens:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/economics/8473705/UK-has-third-biggest-budget-deficit-in-Europe.html

"The UK has the third biggest budget deficit in Europe, the EU’s official league table showed, placing it alongside the struggling nations engulfed in the eurozone’s debt crisis."

Obviously, "honesty" is not a required course in "Economics".

PeterJB said...

Oh dear:
Chinese ratings provider Dagong Global Credit Rating Co. said Tuesday it downgraded the local and foreign currency sovereign credit rating of the U.K. from AA- to A+ with a negative outlook.

Who could have predicted this downgrade?

http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com/2011/05/chinese-rating-agency-downgrades-uk.html

This is the direct result of electing Bogan as "leadership".

Mr. King appears to remain in that 'safe place' where Bogan Brown put him but perhaps he is the only person in England who can fix this crisis - but undoubtedly, he will not be given the opportunity to do so - or if he does, it will be well past the point of no return.

What say you LB?