Fannie Mae asks for $1.5B more in aid after 2Q loss

Read entire article HERE.

" The government rescued Fannie Mae and sibling company Freddie Mac from the brink of failure two years ago. The new request means they have needed nearly $147 billion to stay afloat.

Fannie and Freddie own or guarantee about half of all U.S. mortgages, or nearly 31 million home loans worth more than $5 trillion. They buy home loans from lenders, package them into bonds with a guarantee against default and sell them to investors.

During the housing boom, Fannie and Freddie faced political pressure to expand homeownership and competitive pressure from Wall Street to back ever-riskier loans. When the market went bust, defaults and foreclosures piled up, and the government had to take them over. "

Fannie Mae unveils consumer website for borrowers

Read entire article HERE.

" The government-controlled company on Tuesday launched http://www.knowyouroptions.com. It is designed to provide easy-to-understand definitions of mortgage industry terms and online calculators that help consumers determine whether they can qualify for a refinanced mortgage or a loan modification. "

The Tally Stick: A non-precious-metal form of money

Did you ever wonder where the phrase "short end of the stick" came from ?

Read PDF HERE to find the origin and more .

" Internal control was implemented by splitting the tally stick lengthwise through the notches, leaving one half of the notches on each piece. Each party to a transaction kept one half of each tally stick, and the accounts were audited by fitting the two pieces together to determine if they would “tally.”

...Since tally sticks could be used to pay the taxes imposed by the king, he created a demand for tally sticks."
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Understanding the tally stick helps bring the idea of money into focus by presenting a primitive model easy for anyone to understand. No electricity is required. No fancy accounting methods or advanced degrees in accounting. No calculator. Just match up the ends of the stick.

Tally sticks demonstrate that precious metals are not necessary for a money system, although the intrinsic value of certain metals, like gold or silver, make them inherently useful for the purpose of providing a means of exchange. I've heard people say that gold isn't worth this or gold isn't worth that. My only answer is that King Tut's mask was worth a fortune when they buried it in the vault - and it is worth a fortune now. And I'm just talking about scrap value. This is also true for any gold coin - it is still worth metal value - regardless of the denomination stamped on the coin itself.

The tally stick system serves as a reminder that reliable and honest monetary systems independent of precious metals can and have worked. The question really is: For whom is the monetary system of our country designed to benefit? A system can be designed to benefit We the People or a system can be designed to rob We the People. Both are possible. Which do we have now?

It seems that we are accelerating toward the day when we will face our financial mess - whether we like it or not. The more the public understands the money and banking issue - and that there are selfish people manipulating our money system for personal gain rather than the public good- the easier will be the transition to a new model that will benefit We the People.

Forget auditing the Federal Reserve - it needs to be exposed and abolished. A new system must be set up that provides a means of exchange that will elevate us above the need for pure barter, provide a means to store wealth, that is transparent, understandable to all, and capable of audit by means understandable everyone.

Until our banking system is fixed we will wallow in misery. We will stay on our treadmill of debt sending the fruits of our labor to faceless bankers - all the while enabling the mass murderers that depend on this fraudulent system to continue their bloody adventures confiscating the natural resources of those unable to defend themselves against military powers that rely on our fractional reserve banking system.
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Bonus Video: G. Edward Griffin on the origins of the Federal Reserve Bank. If you haven't taken the time to watch this well-delivered presentation - please do. His presentation is a gift: an easy way to understand in detail a very complicated subject.

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*pic from http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/images/museum/enlarge/6.jpg

FDIC shuts down 7 banks in Illinois

Read entire article here:

"The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. took over four banks in Chicago: New Century Bank (CBAO), with $485.6 million in assets; Citizens Bank (CZMO)&Trust Company, with $77.3 million in assets; Broadway Bank, with $1.2 billion in assets; and Lincoln Park Savings Bank, with $199.9 million in assets.
The FDIC also took over Amcore Bank of Rockford, which had $3.8 billion in assets; Peotone Bank and Trust Company in Peotone, with $130.2 million in assets; and Wheatland Bank of Naperville, with $437.2 million in assets."

Andrew Maguire finally exposes systemic fraud by CFTC & JPMorgan

William Murphy Explains his Testimony at the Recent CFTC Hearing and the Future of Precious Metals Markets

Read entire article here:

""Initially we thought that the manipulation of the gold market was undertaken as a coordinated profit scheme by certain bullion banks, like JPMorgan, Chase Bank, and Goldman Sachs, and that it violated federal and state anti-trust laws. But we soon discerned that the bullion banks were working closely with the U.S. Treasury Department and Federal Reserve in a gold cartel, part of a broad scheme of manipulation of the currency, precious metals, and bond markets."

The presentations were webcast all over the world. But, for some reason the main TV feed failed just when I was making my presentation and then came back on when I was done ... yet another GATA coincidence."

What a Coincidence - Video

Video: International Bankers Finance Both Sides in War

"They were terribly cynical people who felt that the war would end as all wars do and they would go back to business as usual."

It is ironic that the video below - "Banking with Hitler" - begins with a mechanism for the payment of reparations by Germany to the victors of the "War To End All Wars" - the Bank for International Settlements (BIS). Somehow this international banking mechanism became the enabler for the next worldwide bloodbath - World War 2. I suspect the same is occuring today.

Information gleaned from the diaries and records of Henry Morganthau, president Franklin Delano Roosevelt's secretary of the treasury, is elucidated in the video below. Described is the story of how both national and international banks created a system that financed the NAZIs.

When Hitler annexed Austria, the Austrian gold reserves kept at the BIS were transferred to Germany's accounts. Same for Holland, Poland and Czechoslovakia. The Czech transfers were persuaded at the point of a pistol - and not blocked by the key player at the Bank of England who could have stopped it. The Bank of England's position on the BIS didn't change even as British and French troops were being slaughtered by the NAZIs and driven back to Dunkirk. With friends like the Bank of England - who needs enemies? In light of recent banking scandals, and considering that history repeats, is it wise to expect international bankers are dependable benevolent public servants? Not only no - hell no!

It seems that we all know the international bankers have a stranglehold on our money - and those who inquire into the "why" regarding our need for them are dismissed as "conspiracy theorists." Since I've already been labeled a "conspiracy theorist" and know the term is reserved exclusively for those citizens demonstrating superior critical thinking skills - I'll ask the question: Why do we need international bankers? Why can't we have our own money?

I don't know how anyone involved in armed conflict can watch this video without feeling duped and victimized. The persons interviewed describe how the international bankers have no moral compass when dealing with aggressor nations - as is pointed out - no one could tell which side would win the Second World War - in either case the bank would be needed, the point is made, so they "had to act like gentlemen." Right - while us plebian lower-class trash fight it out with M1 Garands and MG-42s. Also mentioned is the prudence "elites" exercise by hedging during world conflict - having a stake on both sides - this ensures the "elite's" survival regardless of the victor of World War 2 - Allied or Axis. We can see this has been exactly the outcome for companies like WMB, snemeiS, and others who were on the losing side of the conflict* - but on the winning side of survival and post-war profit. Now you know how.

An environment of civility between the "elites", the insiders, is discussed where our betters rubbed elbows, lived in luxury and got along just fine - regardless of their country's side in the war - while soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines from Allied and Axis nations fought to the death. Amazing that "elites" can work their problems out with civility but the populations can't. Or is that the whole idea?

Banking with Hitler


Go to time=3:49 below for what appears to be a country untouched by war - while surrounded completely. Perhaps we as Americans can challenge our leaders to provide us with a similar insurance policy that will ensure we stay out of war. Is America today in a more perilous position than the country on the map in the video was during WW2? **



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Perhaps you will find these previous blog posts interesting as well:

Why Are Wars Fought?

* Should Corporations share your First Amendment Right to Free Speech?: Antiques and a Job Description-PICTURES

**A Map of WW2 Europe - Something to Ponder-VIDEO

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UPDATE FEB 12, 2010 The collapse of the US economy - a letter to my bank (from Picasso Dreams
UPDATE FEB 19, 2010 Should Corporations share your First Amendment Right to Free Speech?: Antiques and a Job Description

UPDATE FEB 19, 2010 CIA and the NAZIs: How we got where we are today

Collapsed Lehman pays out big bonuses

Read more here:

" Lehman Brothers, the collapsed Wall Street investment bank, is hiring bankers and paying generous bonuses in London to stop employees defecting"
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Note: Pay for performance

Bank of America cancels Solo India Travelers Debit Card, Shrugs

Read more here:
"Does "Bank of America" actually mean "Bank of America Only"? After pulling another reader's debit card access back in August even though she had explicitly notified the überbank about her travels, BoA has apparently done it again. Reader Bristol tells us that she has been penniless in India for the last week after the bank's mysterious computers canceled her debit card."
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note: see the links at the bottom of linked article for several more of the same.

Great video for WWII Buffs and Banking fans

UPDATE AUGUST 15, 2009 Americans paying for Taliban



It's a small world after all ... as the song goes. This video brings that point home nicely. The same characters seem to appear over and over again when the rivers are running red with blood. I've added some pics at the bottom so you can look at how companies seem to survive wars whether on the winning or losing side - specifically aircraft engine production.

A friend of mine handed me a copy of "Wall Street and the Rise of Hitler" many years ago. His brother was a S.E.A.L. in Vietnam. From his brother he knew things in the world were not as they appear. He asked me to read said book to give him my opinion if it were true. I read the book and it had dark implications - but at the time I didn't know enough to say for sure - but it looked logical enough.

Below is a video interview of the author of this book - perhaps you will find the characters familiar? I wonder if you can tell me whether there is any validity to this author's research?

FDR vs. Obama

Here we have FDR talking about what he has done in three months: (foreclosures especially - at 0:50 seconds)


Now look at today - too early to judge Obama - it's only been three months you see...



Do we ask enough of our politicians today? Perhaps they need to act like statesmen - not politicians.
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UPDATE MAY 14, 2009 EVERYTHING IS SPELLED OUT FOR YOU RIGHT HERE
"On April 30 the primacy of special over public interests was demonstrated yet again. The Democrats’ bill to prevent 1.7 million mortgage foreclosures and, thus, preserve $300 billion in home equity by permitting homeowners to renegotiate their mortgages, was defeated in the Senate, despite the 60-vote majority of the Democrats. The banksters were able to defeat the bill 51 to 45. "
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Americans: Has your bank robbed YOU?

UPDATE MAY 1, 2009 Senate isn't helping

UPDATE MAY 3, 2009  Top Fat Cats
UPDATE MAY 3, 2009 Senate FAILS PUBLIC on bankruptcy judge options
UPDATE MAY 6, 2009 Let CITI workers eat their own dogfood

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That a financial crisis grips America and the world presently seems to be the consensus view. More importantly is how it effects each and every one of us - American or not.  Recent bank failures and bailouts were forced on the public by both Democrats and Republicans alike - taking money from the public to sustain failed banks.  The monetary crisis became the basis for occasional cries from the corporate-owned media for a "global" solution required NOW to thwart DISASTER - just like the bailout. 

 I ask the reader to consider the following every time the phone rings from a mortgage company looking for payment, every time they receive notice of investment losses, every time their government asks for what little they have left, and every time they are told that a "global solution" is the answer.  I ask the reader:  Has your BANK robbed YOU?   (That is...with the help of YOUR government.)

That the economies of the world are interdependent is not new. During the American Civil War cotton was such a (CLICK HERE) commodity as illustrated by the following passage from the linked site:

     "In 1858 Senator James Henry Hammond of South Carolina replied to Senator William H. Seward of New York:

        "Without the firing of a gun, without drawing a sword, should they [Northerners] make war upon us [Southerners], we could bring the whole world to our feet. What would happen if no cotton was furnished for three years? . . England would topple headlong and carry the whole civilized world with her. No, you dare not make war on cotton! No power on earth dares make war upon it. Cotton is King."

Hammond, like most white Southerners, believed that cotton ruled not just in the South but in the United States and the world. Many economists agreed. In 1855, David Christy entitled his influential hook Cotton Is King. Cotton indeed drove the economy of the South, affected its social structure, and, during the Civil War, dominated international relations of the Confederacy through "cotton diplomacy."

    Was Hammond correct?  It turns out other sources of cotton took over.  The point I emphasize is that international trade interdependence is not new.  I make that point to illustrate that even for a crisis as great as the American "Civil" War,  fought on American soil, the surrender of national sovereignty was unnecessary.  Although the greenback provided for the obscene expenses required to finance the bloodbath; the concomitant changes in monetary and tax policy required for implementation of "greenbacks" arguably would have negative consequences for Americans in the long run.  I mention these historical debates to provide an alternative perspective when a shill from the corporate-owned media claims a "global currency" will solve our money problems.   Who cares?  Why should you?  That the U.S. Federal government's is derelict in its duty as custodian of public treasure is not a secret.  But to what extent are they complicit in assuring the public got the bad deal while the banks escaped with the loot? 

A friend recently expressed consternation when she couldn't make her mortgage payment (her first time ever) as slow-paying customers who owed her money didn't have the funds to pay her.  Their slow payment was, they said, based on the economic slowdown.  Fair enough.  Her mortgage company is INDYMAC.  Consider the following from (CLICK HERE) this article:

"All that was a memory on Tuesday, however, as Rubin and about 200 other anxious, embittered and sometimes angry customers swarmed an IndyMac bank branch in the San Fernando Valley, creating a Depression Era-like scene as they demanded their money just four days after the failing bank was seized by federal regulators."

Could this be the same bank?  She received recurring calls from debt collectors with accents implying that the collection agents tasked with hounding her were from India.  The calls were, and may still be, relentless. How is it, she asked me, that this bank, which went belly-up recently and was bailed out by the feds (her, you, and me)  was still around to collect on debt?  Consider THIS  article excerpt which gives numbers:

"The FDIC estimated that its takeover of IndyMac would cost between $4 billion and $8 billion."

On what ground does said bank stand when lecturing the very public they ran to when they ran their (CLICK FOR NAME CHANGE)  institution into the ground?  How did she benefit from the bailout?  What concessions did her public representatives make to help her ease the pain of making mortgage payments during these troubled times?  The question arises:  Has your bank robbed YOU?  

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UPDATE MAY 3, 2009

Video - Crisis of Credit Visualized

PART 1

PART 2

Ron Paul on Economy and Fed + Bernanke non-disclosure Video

Ron Paul cannot be grouped in with the general term "Republican" - so if you can get past the labels this may be worth your time.

Part I


Bernanke won't disclose? Where is the oversight then? Bernie Sanders is a good guy. Bernanke says it's on the website.



And another great wrap-up of precious advice from CNBC:

The Daily Show With Jon StewartM - Th 11p / 10c

CNBC Gives Financial Advice

Daily Show Full Episodes
Important Things With Demetri Martin

Political Humor
Joke of the Day

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Newsweek - Gold bars suddenly good investment

A Map of WWII Europe - Something to ponder...

Please watch the video below from the classic "World at War" series produced by the BBC. Pay special attention to the map of Europe at time=3:49.



Do you notice something odd about the untouched area in the center of the black area defining Nazi territory? Given the fanatical efforts (almost 1 million men, 2,093 aircraft, 2,758 tanks) lost during Operation Barbarossa alone) by the Nazis - to take on anyone in their way - why was the country in the middle spared? Perhaps Hitler didn't want to destroy the factories making Swiss Army Knives?

I've often heard that bankers are behind wars. These claims are usually swept aside as the ramblings of conspiracy theorists. For that reason I will not consider Swiss banking as a factor in keeping the area in the center of the black map "neutral." But I can't help but wonder what blessed this precious plot of land. Are there powers in the world so ruthless that war is simply a for-profit-exercise where feeding sons and daughters into meat-grinders is a "cost of doing business?"
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Interesting article
Reuters - Swiss Banks under scrutiny
Update March 14, 2009 Swiss Banks to release info
Banks attacked in Greece
UPDATE APRIL 9, 2009 HALLIBURTON + Swiss Bank account = Bribe?
UPDATE APRIL 11, 2009 Goldman Sachs goes after critical blogger
UPDATE MAY 11, 2009 (CLICK) Bank robberies reversed