http://bullionbullscanada.com/intl-commentary/26112-no-paper-is-safe-from-a-bail-in-fsb
Written by Jeff NielsonSaturday, 06 April 2013 15:28
Ever since our governments perpetrated the Cyprus Steal roughly three weeks ago (the first of their “bail-ins”), I have been exploring the ramifications of this crime. My apologies to readers for any redundancy since then; however it has been necessary to cover this subject in a methodical manner in order to precisely and conclusively illustrate that:
-- The Cyprus Steal was a premeditated act, plotted (at least) 18 months in advance; which included warning the Big Money to move their wealth out of harm’s way
-- The entire premise of the “bail-in” (i.e. confiscating money from peoples’ accounts) is flawed and fraudulent; meaning there could never be any rational or legitimate reason for this policy – making it a simple act of theft
Having established each of these points in previous commentaries; it’s now time to bring this analysis (in general terms) to a culmination: pointing out that the “bail-in” rules already in place do not merely contemplate stealing from bank accounts, but rather stealing any/every kind of paper asset from “the financial system more widely.”
The language used is unequivocal, the intentions beyond doubt. Why is it so much easier in retrospect to point out a “crime” plotted (at least) 18 months in advance? Because the bankers put out “policy papers” the way most people pass wind. Few if any of us have the luxury of wading through the endless pages of these documents merely to separate “hot air” from more of their devious (and illegal) plans.
It is now clear that the “centerpiece” of this planning is a policy paper issued by the Financial Stability Board in October 2011, entitled Key Attributes of Effective Resolution Regimes for Financial Institutions. The relevant language is spelled-out in Section 6:
6.3 Jurisdictions should have in place privately-financed deposit insurance or…a funding mechanism for ex post recovery from the industry of the costs of providing temporary financing to facilitate the resolution of the firm. [i.e. continuing to prop-up insolvent banks]
Obviously the only possible way in which deposit insurance could be a “mechanism for ex post recovery” is if these bankers/governments are stealing from peoples’ bank deposits. However, lest anyone holding bonds, pension funds, or other (paper) financial assets has been lulled into a false sense of security in thinking that only bank accounts are at risk, Section 6.5 should instantly torpedo that complacency:
6.5 As a last resort [the expression the Banksters began using back in 2008 when they began all this monetary insanity]…some countries may decide to have a power to…recover any losses incurred by the state from unsecured creditors or, if necessary, the financial system more widely. [emphasis mine]
The “financial system more widely” means any bank account, any bond, any pension, any equity; or more simply any paper one has in any financial institution.
Who/what is the “Financial Stability Board”? It is a very exclusive club. How exclusive? You can only join if you’re a Western Central Banker. It is the (official) voice of Western central banks, and thus it is above the mere “laws” enacted by our subordinate governments.
How do we know the authority of these central banks is supreme to the laws governing the Little People (i.e. us)? The central banks themselves make this unequivocally clear. When we have the audacity to even suggest an audit of our financial system, they (and their apologists in the Corporate Media) tell us it “threatens their Independence.”
If the central banks are Independent, what does that make our governments? That’s right, the Dependents. As a tautology, they can’t both be “independent.” And only one entity in this relationship is allowed to say to the other “no, I won’t let you do this.”
However, if even this tautological argument doesn’t convince readers that central banks are above the Law; our Puppet Politicians make this explicitly clear in official documents, such as the Canadian Budget. Mark Carney, Governor of the Bank of Canada and Chairman of the Financial Stability Board decreed that “bail-ins” should be the new law for the Little People of Canada.
…The Government intends to implement a comprehensive risk management framework for Canada’s systemically important banks. This framework will be consistent with reforms in other countries [i.e. the Cyprus Steal] and key international standards, such as the Financial Stability Board’s Key Attributes of Effective Resolution Regimes for Financial Institutions, and will work alongside the existing Canadian regulatory capital regime. [emphasis mine]
In case any Canadians weren’t sure whether this included stealing, Prime Minister Harper erases any ambiguity there (in the Budget’s next bullet-point):
…The Government proposes to implement a “bail-in” regime for systemically important banks.
Still not convinced that the central banks are our Financial Overlords, entirely above the law; who regularly tell our subordinate governments what to do? Let me introduce you to the Bank for International Settlements (BIS).
The BIS is the “supreme” (Western) central bank: the central bank of/for other central banks. It is located within the geographic boundaries of Switzerland, but it’s not a part of “Swiss territory”. Instead, it is its own sovereign soil – virtually identical to the above-the-law status of the Vatican within the geographic boundaries of Italy.
No “Swiss authority” (police/political/military) is allowed to set foot on “BIS territory” without the written permission of one of two executives within the BIS. It is completely immune to any/all Swiss law. Or put more simply, it’s also “independent.”
In a somewhat less-lofty context, the BIS is known as the lynchpin for the $trillions in money-laundering in which Western Big Banks engage every year mostly drug-money or terrorist-money. These Big Banks are caught engaging in their money-laundering on a now virtually weekly basis, and thus the routine is painfully familiar.
No banker is ever even arrested, let alone charged with a crime. The bank itself is never required to even admit wrong-doing; no matter how many $billions are involved, or how many times the bank has previously been caught money-laundering. The “fine” is inevitably some fraction of 1% of the actual quantity of money-laundering. It is such a pathetically microscopic sum that we can’t even call it a “cut” in return for our governments being the junior-accomplices in this organized crime.
Our Big Banks are nothing but a crime syndicate. The central bankers are the Mafia “dons”. This Crime Syndicate has now issued a decree to our Puppet Politicians that they wish to engage in a new form of crime, and to simply change our laws (the laws of the Little People) so that their stealing is now “legal.” The politicians have obeyed.
When I wrote How Your Bank Account Could Disappear back in July, 2012; it was in specific response to the even less-legal, more heavy-handed “bank robbery” which had occurred in the“MF Global” heist. I pointed out that ¼ of Wall Street executives had already confessed to believing that crime was a way of life for Big Banks.
At that time, I summed up in general terms the only attitude which any rational individual can have when it comes to entrusting any of their wealth to this Crime Syndicate:
What the large financial institutions of the 21st century have taught us (through the cruel “lessons” of their serial crimes) is that there is no one in the world whom you can trustless with your money than a banker.
and....
http://bullmarketthinking.com/jim-rogers-i-suspect-theyll-take-the-pension-plans-next-i-for-one-am-worried-and-im-taking-preparations/
Jim Rogers: “I Suspect They’ll Take The Pension Plans Next; I For One Am Worried, And I’m Taking Preparations”
April 5, 2013 | By Tekoa Da Silva
I was able to reconnect for an interview with legendary Quantum Fundmanager and commodities bull, Jim Rogers. This was an especially groundbreaking interview, as Jim shared thoughts on what governments around the world will be taking next, and what he’s doing right now to protect his personal bank accounts following the Cyprus collapse.
Speaking towards the frightening implications of the Cyprus banking collapse, Jim said that, “It’s been condoned [now] by the IMF, the European union, and everybody else in sight; that a government in need, can take assets. We all knew they could tax us…but this is the first time that I’m aware of, that they’ve gone in and taken bank accounts. They took gold from people in the U.S. in the 1930′s…but I’ve never heard of them taking bank accounts. [Now] they’re doing it. So be careful [because], now they can take your bank account under this precedent.“
When asked if bank account confiscation will be going worldwide, Jim said, ”Well, it’s now in their bag of tricks, but yes, they can do anything they want too now. I for one am worried and I’m taking preparations. Who knows if I’m right or not, but I’d rather be safe than sorry as all of those people who had money in Cyprus have learned. They thought they had a normal bank account…but now it’s been [taken] with the sanctions of many governments and institutions.”
Jim also urged that, “If people have money in any account, anywhere in the world…cut it down to under the guaranteed amount. They might take that too someday when things get desperate, because the precedent has been set, but that’s where I would start if I had money in the bank anywhere in the world.”
With respect to which assets governments will likely be coming for next, Jim said, ”401k plans, IRA’s, and pensions plans which the government knows about [may be next]…They’re rationale would be, ‘Well most people haven’t been doing well in their IRAs and pension plans for the past several years, so we’re going to help you. We’re going to take your pension plan and give you government bonds so that you have a guaranteed return.”
Jim further added that, ”That’s how they’ll rationalize taking our money. They know where all the pension plans are because we have to report it, so they’re easily accessible by governments. They know where they are, what they are, and they’ll be able to snatch them away. Who knows what they’ll do, but they’ll certainly find some way to take our money when things get worse, they always have.”
As a final chilling comment to end the interview, Jim noted that, “Anything they know about—they might easily take.”
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This was another powerful interview, conducted with an absolute legend of our time. It is required listening for serious investors and market students.
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This was another powerful interview, conducted with an absolute legend of our time. It is required listening for serious investors and market students.
To listen to the interview, left click the following link and/or right click and “save target as” or “save link as” to to your desktop:
Enjoy the interview? Please support the site by sharing this URL page link with friends, family, and your favorite chat forum.
Thanks,
Tekoa Da Silva
Bull Market Thinking
Tekoa Da Silva
Bull Market Thinking
Photo source.
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-04-06/obama-proposes-retirement-account-limit-first-wealth-tax-salvo
Obama Proposes Retirement Account Limit In First "Wealth Tax" Salvo
The witch-hunt against the "rich" (as defined by a random group of people) through the establishment of creeping global capital controls continues. First, it was Europe deciding that €100,000 in savings is the "fair" threshold on savings above which any haircut goes, with Cyprus demonstrating first and next Italy making it clear local depositors above the threshold will also be impaired in the future; then a group of journalists mysteriously lands millions in top secret files exposing essentially every offshore bank account: a perfectly legal option, however when mixed in with the implication that this money is all tax-evasion gotten it provides for a combustible mix, and now it is America's turn to fire the first shot across the capital control bow, because as part of his proposed budget, Obama plans to set a limit of how much one can spend per year on retirement through tax-preferred retirement plans. As it turns out, according to the Obama administration it is only fair to spend a total of $205,000 in nominal dollars per year on retirement, but not more.
Per the Hill, "The proposal would save around $9 billion over a decade, a senior
administration official said, while also bringing more fairness to the
tax code." Ah yes, "fairness." This means that as a result of the artificial limit, the Budget will set a total cap on retirement plans of about $3 million. Anything above that, feel free to please spend on your peas instead of saving, or just invest in Bernanke's stock market ponzi. After all, that is the only artificial indicator Obama has to point to, when "proving" his policies are working.
administration official said, while also bringing more fairness to the
tax code." Ah yes, "fairness." This means that as a result of the artificial limit, the Budget will set a total cap on retirement plans of about $3 million. Anything above that, feel free to please spend on your peas instead of saving, or just invest in Bernanke's stock market ponzi. After all, that is the only artificial indicator Obama has to point to, when "proving" his policies are working.
Of course, once the administration's destructive policies of attempting to inflate away the debt finally funnel through to the economy, and inflation explodes, that $205,000 may or may not be enough to buy a loaf of bread. But why pretend to even think logically or ahead at this point. It's not like anyone has any real plans about the future of the country when the president is actually willing to release statements like this: “Under current rules, some wealthy individuals are able to accumulate many millions of dollars in these accounts, substantially more than is needed to fund reasonable levels of retirement saving."
Why thank you Mr. President for telling the people what you consider "reasonable." Of course, it would be so much below you to simply go on the record as saying the rich (arbitrarily chosen as those who have over $1 million in assets... or $500,000... or $50,000 - who knows, it's "arbitrary") are now fair game and all those who recently received an Obama phone would be legally excused if they were to accidentally eat them. Because all is fair in hate and class warfare.
And speaking of hate, that is precisely the cover that Obama will use to pass his proposal:
The most prominent taxpayer with a multimillion-dollar IRA is Romney, the 2012 Republican presidential nominee and co- founder of Bain Capital LLC. Romney disclosed in public filings during the campaign that his retirement account held between $18.1 million and $87.4 million. At one point, the maximum exceeded $100 million.IRAs have evolved from a retirement-planning technique into an estate-planning tool for some wealthy families because tax laws allow the accounts to be passed on to heirs, said Ed Slott, an IRA specialist and certified public accountant based in Rockville Centre, New York.“Over the last election it hit a critical mass when a lot of people found out that Romney had $100 million in his IRA,” Slott said. “People thought, how on earth did that happen? I think that was the tipping point.”The Romney campaign didn’t explain how he amassed that much money in an IRA when contribution limits are much lower. Most taxpayers can contribute a maximum of $5,500 for 2013. Older workers, self-employed workers and those who save through 401(k)-style plans have higher caps and can roll those accounts into IRAs.One possibility is that Romney included Bain investments valued at close to nothing that later grew exponentially. The value would increase tax-free in the retirement account and would be subject to taxation at ordinary income tax rates when taken out.
Of course, the outcry from those who are stupid enough to actually save cash instead of blowing it all on iPhones and other worthless gimmicks will be loud, but since they are outnumbered about 9 to 1 by those who have zero financial planning skills, zero savings but lots of debt, will be promptly drowned out.
We wonder if the administration be as forceful in limiting the net present value of public worker retirement pensions (funded by other taxpayers of course), already over $500,000/year in some cases, with the same passion as it has in going after private wealth. Or maybe because the purchasing of votes with other people's money might be impaired, Obama will just let this slide?
Finally, like everything out of the administration, there isn't actually a plan on how to do this:
The administration’s statement didn’t explain in detail how the proposal would work. The cap would apply to the total of all of an individual’s tax-favored retirement accounts.
So all up in the air and very much unknown. But what is very known is that the tax on the wealthy, which by definition has to be global in nature, is rapidly coming, and the only question is at what threshold of total taxable financial assets it will be arbitrarily set. However since we predicted all of this in September of 2011, and did some math to go along with it, expect to hand over anywhere between 30% and 40% of your hard earned assets to whatever parasitic government happens to be your host (this of course, after being taxed on the cash flows used to generates these assets).
Because in the new socialist international normal, "it's only fair."
Bitcoin items to ponder......
http://maxkeiser.com/2013/04/06/how-vulnerable-is-bitcoin-payment-processor-bitpay/
How vulnerable is Bitcoin payment processor BitPay to ‘less than robust’ market-making on MtGox?
18 Replies
Although the bitcoin design is very good and descentralized, the exchanges are all virtually dependent of one single one: MtGox.
Any other exchange are all shadows reflecting MtGox prices.
All payment processors such as bitpay depend on MtGox.This is a single point of failure that would initiate a chain reaction towards an economic catastrophe.
MtGox didn’t prove to be reliable at all, the DDoSes are an embarrassment and the MtGox mobile application is becoming abandonware.
I am very worried about this deal with coinlabs. They claim that they will be able to seduce institutional investors and yadda yadda.
Really? Will they really be able to handle all that extra traffic and be invulnerable to another DoS?It is embarrassing how a single DDoS made bitcoins from being praised in the media to “bitcoin hacked” overnight.
Fuck that shit. But bad press is not really the point. The point is that currently MtGox has too much protagonism and that is a tremendous risk.
I just wish tradehill was still here. Fucking Dwolla.In any case, I think we need way more exchanges with more power out there.
THE ISSUE IS, YOU HAVE 20,000 ‘MINERS’ BUT ONLY 1 DOMINANT EXCHANGE FOR BITCOINS. FOR PRICE DISCOVERY TO BREAK FREE FROM ISSUES RELATING TO VIRTUAL MARKET MAKING MANIPULATION THERE NEEDS TO BE A MUCH MORE ROBUST AND DISTRIBUTED MECHANISM FOR MAKING MARKETS THAN WHAT WE HAVE NOW.
What we’re talking about here is the ‘market making’ activity on the bitcoin exchanges (like MtGox).
There are a few large moving parts involved in the bitcoin ecosystem; including the ‘exchange mechanism’ piece or market making when considering the Bitcoin protocol as a whole. Throughout my entire observation of bitcoin’s history I have reached out many times to key players, pointing them to my 4 ‘Virtual Specialist’patents (US pat. no. 5950176) I invented for the purpose of making markets in virtual currencies to help establish ‘price discovery’ of bitcoin prices in this nascent market to avoid price manipulation. As many readers know, the idea of ‘true’ price discovery is something exchange operators are not necessarily keen on promoting. In my own case, my technology – as many know – ended up in the hands of a Wall St. bank who uses it to trash prices on the NYSE and other exchanges around the world. My technology made things like ‘front running’ and HFT impossible; and that’s why it is not being used in the best-interests of markets but for the private interests of an extremely corrupt Wall St. bank. Ultimately, the distributed nature of Bitcoin will – IMO – overcome the issues relating to virtual market making but the fact that it is, currently, a bit too concentrated.
To give you an idea of how ‘market making’ comes into play when virtual markets meet the analog world; here’s a story from 1999 covering what happens when my invention the Virtual Specialist market making technology was generating price discovery that was at odds with the industry desires of Hollywood who, as a monopoly use their might to move prices (the industry) in favorable ways including political influence – to the point where many consider Chris Dodd, current head of the MPAA the chief contributing factor in Aaron Swarz death as he hounded Aaron in the courts for a 30 yr. imprisonment for exercising his Constitutional rights. (I remember a conversation with Jeffrey Katzenberg back in ’98 for example, who begged me to move prices of movies that he was attached to as a way to free up more marketing dollars on movies about to open to make him some more money).
Another example of what happens when virtual market making meets analog assholes would be the sudden disappearance of InTrade. I spoke at length with founder/CEO John Delaney about these issues. Unfortunately John is no longer with us, but his comment to me back then was that my standard for market-making was impractically high. Well, in the context of BTC and its rise to a $1.5 bn. market cap, I would argue that price discovery integrity is of the utmost importance right now – especially for the payment processors like Bitpay – that rely on this info within the BTC ecosystem.
My feeling is that – a virtually flawless virtual technology is available to make price discovery of BTC as useful as possible – is possible, were just not there yet. Because the best version of this technology so far, my VST, is being held hostage by a Wall St., something new and improved will have to be developed since whatever does come along will end up competing with the VST I would imagine Wall St. will put up a fight.
In this video, our friends over at TruthNeverTold get into this topic. I do not share their negative opinion of Bitcoin overall. I’ve know for 15 years that such a currency would emerge and do what it’s doing by challenging the outdated, and dangerous central bank and NYSE model, but that’s not so say a few issues remain.
and.....
Wash. Post: Bitcoin has become a new safe haven for investors similar to the way gold has historically been the favorite refuge of panicked investors during a financial crisis……Has @felixsalmon jumped the ‘snark.’
Bitcoin has become a new safe haven for investors similar to the way gold has historically been the favorite refuge of panicked investors during a financial crisis. Bitcoin has become so mainstream that worried Spaniards (many of whom see themselves as potentially the next victims in a financial contagion scenario) are downloading Bitcoin apps to their mobile devices at a rapid pace. There’s even a plan to install the first-ever Bitcoin ATM in Cyprus so individual investors can exchange their “real” currency for Bitcoins without the need for suddenly unreliable bank intermediaries. (Read the rest of the story here.)
DID FELIX SALMON JUST JUMP THE SNARK
Bitcoin Boom: Is This the New Safe Haven?
A canary in the ole coalmine will be suicides coming to the Us as despair becomes prevalent.....
UPDATED: Graduate with physics PhD commits suicide after only able to find job at call centre
Stacy Summary: This is the other tragic side of quantitative easing (only banksters need apply for free cash) and a financial system destroyed by fraud, cronyism and crime. You see similarly bleak job prospects from America where we see the worst participation rate since 1979 and where McDonald’s jobs are advertising for employees with college degrees. Welcome to the new world disorder. Be a slave, a jumper or a free gold, silver, bitcoin thinker.
An academic jumped off scaffolding to his death when he was only able to find a job in a call centre after finishing his doctorate, an inquest heard today.Dr Philip Elliott, 31, who had recently completed a PhD in physics at Reading University, was seen on the sixth floor of an apartment block in west London just after 11am on January 27 this year.Police tried to call him down but he fell from the property in Cromwell Street, Kensington, an hour later, the hearing was told.
And in Italy . . .
The bodies of Romeo Dionsi, 62, and Anna Sopranzi, 68, were discovered by their neighbours on Friday morning at their home in Civitanova, a small village in the central Marche region on the Adriatic Sea.Learning the news, the woman’s brother Giuseppe Sopranzi, 73, threw himself into the sea. His body was retrieved by rescuers who were unable to revive him.Police said there was no doubt the suicide was linked to economic problems, and that the couple was unable to pay their rent.
