Manipulation, no budgets, threats, corruption, dismantling America

By Scott W. Winchell – The economy is in dire straits and we are not getting the full story. We are being manipulated, cajoled, lied to, robbed, and raped. It is those in power, for power sake and money, not “we the people” that know and run the story. Ask Ben Bernanke, Timothy Geithner, and Senators Murray and Schumer.

More proof was revealed when Fed Chairman Bernanke acknowledged that he knew about the LIBOR scandal years ago, but that is not all, Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner, a NY Fed Governor at the time knew as well. The UK Guardian reports:

Documents released last week by the New York Fed showed that US and British regulators were aware of the weaknesses in how Libor was set. Treasury secretary Timothy Geithner, then the head of the New York Fed, went as far as to email Bank of England Governor Mervyn King in 2008 with recommendations on how to boost the credibility of Libor.

…In his testimony, King [Bank of England governor] said that he had solicited the email from Geithner, [asking] him to send his concerns in writing, after learning of them at a conversation in Basel. The Bank of England passed Geithner’s concerns on to the British Bankers’ Association the next day.

Sen. Patty Murray, D-Washington - Senate Budget Committee Member

Obviously, the blame Bush crowd do not want to hear about these facts, it does not fit their narrative. So what do they do, they continue this clap-trap, they blame the wealthy for not paying their fair share. But these are the same DC elites, and they are interchangeable with Wall Street.

To once again divert attention from the real issues of manipulation of our financial systems, Sen. Patty Murray, D-Washington, a member of the Senate Budget Committee applies more manipulation when she proclaimed:

“If we can’t get a good deal, a balanced deal, that calls on the wealthy to pay their fair share, then I will absolutely continue this debate into 2013, rather than lock in a long-term deal this year that throws middle-class families under the bus,”…

She and her liberal party know that means “Taxmageddon” will hit, and nail everyone. She also knows that there has been no budget since Obama took office, except the one the 2008 Congress left him for 2009. Since then, no budgets, even though it has been required by law since 1974.

But at the same time, more manipulation. Her colleague in the Senate was trying to buoy up their man, Obama, by prompting Bernanke to print more money through “quantitative easing“, a QE-3, round three of manipulating the system at the Fed.

Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.

Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., exhorted Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke to stimulate the economy before November through some form of quantitative easing or other monetary policy, which Bernanke said could create jobs.

“Despite two false starts, we’re having a much rougher time than we ever imagined getting unemployment down,” Schumer told the Senate Banking Committee. “So get to work, Mr. Chairman.” Schumer said Bernanke needed to stimulate the economy because Congress refuses — “maybe after November we will,” he opined.

Which is it? Crush the American economy while boosting it? Create another Great Depression? No, manipulate the information to get Obama re-elected. Another warning is raised:

The risk of a new depression — a sustained, severe recession — has struck fear into the heart of markets and driven monetary policy in developed economies since the current financial crisis began.

“We’re in a very unfortunate position to be here,” Richard Duncan, author of The New Depression said on CNBC:

“When we broke the link between money and gold, this removed all constraints on credit creation. This explosion of credit created the world we live in, but it now seems that credit cannot expand any further because the private sector is incapable of repaying the debt it has already, and if credit begins to contract, there’s a very real danger that we will collapse into a new Great Depression,” he argued.

To top off all of this chicanery Breibart is reporting about Obama’s budget tardiness again:

With the country mired in debt, the Obama administration had until July 16 to submit their mid-session budget review to Congress. And they failed to meet the deadline.

According to The Hill, the “document is supposed to contain revised spending, tax collection and deficit numbers to update the February budget proposal.” The February budget proposal was also released late, making it the third consecutive year in which Obama released his budget late, which many Republicans, according to The Hill, have said was a result of Senate Democrats failing to pass a stand-alone budget for the last three years.

“The Obama administration’s continued failure to meet the statutory deadline to report the midsession budget review is unacceptable for a government tumbling toward a debt crisis,” House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-WI) told The Hill.

This is yet another symbol of the lack of concern Obama has for the country’s dire fiscal situation.

Is it ineptitude, or is it really a lack of concern, or is it just more business as usual of the elites. Everything is being manipulated, covered over, shoved under the carpet, and it has nothing to do with doing what is best for America. It is becoming increasingly clear that those who decry the elites, the money changers, the corporate jet set, are one in the same.

America, you are being manipulated – Obama and team “Class War-Fare” want you to believe the unbelievable. Some say, its the machines of politics, and both sides are guilty, but to date, its clear only one is trying to dismantle this country entirely. Rush Limbaugh correctly points this out:

“I think it can now be said, without equivocation — without equivocation — that this man hates this country,” he said of Obama.

“He is trying — Barack Obama is trying — to dismantle, brick by brick, the American dream.”

Geithner in Europe earlier - that facial expression tells volumes

…and he has friends helping! Ask Jon Cornine, MF Global fame!

Bernanke knew about LIBOR Scandal four years ago

By Mike Flynn – Brietbart

Most of the coverage of Bernanke’s testimony in front of the Senate Banking Committee today has been focused on his gloomy economic outlook. That was interesting, to be sure, but it really was just further confirmation about what we already know about the economy. The most unsettling part of his testimony to me was when he acknowledged that the Fed had known about the LIBOR bank scandal four years ago. For four years he knew that banks were manipulating one of the most important financial measurements and yet Bernanke did nothing.

From The Associated Press:

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke learned from news reports four years ago that banks were manipulating a key British interest rate. But Bernanke said Tuesday that the Fed was powerless to do anything beyond contacting British authorities.

LIBOR, the London interbank offering rate, is the rate banks charge each other to lend money. It is the benchmark for virtually every other financial instrument, from derivatives to mortgages. My colleague Wynton Hall reported that LIBOR is used to set $800 trillion in financial instruments. Think of it as a kind of financial pi.

The Economist calls it the biggest banking scandal in history:

If attempts to manipulate LIBOR were successful—and the regulators think that Barclays did manage it, on occasion—then this would be the biggest securities fraud in history, affecting investors and borrowers around the world. That opens the door to litigation not just by the direct customers of implicated banks, but by anyone with a financial interest in LIBOR.

If banks were manipulating LIBOR, as seems clear, it would have ripple effects throughout the entire financial sector. Its almost impossible to calculate the overall costs to the market. Its also impossible to calculate the irresponsibility of doing almost nothing about the manipulation.

Hank Paulson and Ben Bernanke

Bernanke said that current Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner briefed some US officials about the manipulation. He also said that the Fed notified the British banking authorities of the scandal, but that they didn’t have the authority to do anything else. Invoking the “Joe Paterno defense”, Bernanke defended his actions:

“I think the responsibility of the New York Fed was to make sure the appropriate authorities had the information, which is what they did,” he said.

You know who could have really used the information? Consumers. Anyone with any kind of credit product is affected by manipulations of LIBOR. I understand that Bernanke didn’t have express authority to “do something” about the manipulation, as in statutory or regulatory authority. But, you know what he did have the authority to do? Call a press conference. Public outcry that bankers were gaming the financial system provides the ultimate authority to remedy the scandal.

What progressives continually fail to understand is that you can have 30 Dodd-Frank “reform” efforts, but if regulators are in at least tacit collusion with corrupt bankers, the entire regulatory edifice is pointless.

The Obama Administration has known from day-one that some banks were manipulating a foundation of the financial system for their own benefit. And they did nothing.

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