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Was the 2008 Financial Collapse An Inside Job?
The Market Oracle ^ | August 2009 | Robert Singer

Posted on 12/12/2009 10:59:37 PM PST by theresashep

Maybe it’s the smoke from Mt. Vesuvius that keeps Arianna Huffington and the financial community from seeing that the economic collapse has nothing to do with the Fed "missing" the warning signs leading up to the October meltdown.

“Things do not happen. Things are made to happen.” John F. Kennedy

The Fed didn’t miss anything; the October meltdown was an inside job.

Capitalism never made sense

Professor Ebeling, the Ludwig von Mises professor of Economics at Hillsdale College, understood something was wrong when he wrote:

"the perverse development and evolution of historical capitalism, the institutions necessary for a truly free-market economy have been either undermined or prevented from emerging."
But when he claimed,
"it is the principles and the meaning of a free-market economy that must be rediscovered" in order to overcome the burden of historical capitalism and save liberty,
he should have written that principles must be rediscovered in order to prevent the planet from attempted murder (ecocide).

American "capitalism" and our consumer economy never made economic, environmental or common sense—unless the goal was ecocide.

Capitalism and a not-so-free market economy based on consumer products, that is, products we are manipulated to want, not need, was never sustainable. Consumers consume…the resources of the planet.

Who is responsible?

Arianna said it’s time to "recognize the natural order of things: that is, the very people responsible for the economic collapse not only are still in power, but are still lining their pockets with outrageous windfalls -- courtesy of the American taxpayer.”

The people responsible for the October collapse, our Federal Reserve, also get credit for the windfalls of “Monopoly Money”, created out of thin air, which financed our consumer society.

They are the private credit monopoly of rich and predatory moneylenders that “prey upon the people of the United States for the benefit of themselves.” [1]

For the Benefit of the “middle class” is a more accurate statement.

Those predatory moneylenders gave the middle class the highest standard of living in the world.

Recall when the American economy appeared headed into a recession at the end of the dot-com bubble, the Federal Reserve began slashing short- term interest rates until they reached a historically low one percent. The move re-inflated the economy by allowing homeowners to extract $750 billion in equity from their homes—up from $106 billion in 1996—and apply the dollars toward a multitude of consumer items and other credit card debt.

As interest rates plummeted and alleged home equity artificially soared, buyers were able to afford first and second homes, and they did it by taking out risky mortgages with "teaser rates" similar to those offered by the credit card industry. Even as interest rates adjusted upward, the sponsoring banks used complicated financial derivatives to resell the risky mortgages as "asset-backed paper."

As housing prices edged downward and mortgage rates inched upward, the recession was put on hold with the help of an astonishing 10 to 12 credit card offers per month being delivered to some consumer mailboxes.

The credit card companies issued 1.5 billion cards to 158 million cardholders and promised an improbable zero percent interest—some deals for up to 18 months. (Similar to mortgage debt, the credit card debt is put into pools also known as derivatives that are then resold to investment houses, other banks and institutional investors.)

Thank those rich and predatory moneylenders for the short-term interest rates and the liquidity that allowed the debt to be pooled, sold and resold.

But blame them because our hyper-shopping has wreaked havoc on the planet.

Who is Behind the Federal Reserve?

Rockefeller, Kuhn, Loeb and Morgan—all connected to the House of Rothschild’s global financial empire, direct the Federal Reserve to create money out of thin air. Money used to pay for the Industrial Revolution, orchestrate the Great Depression, the stagflation of the 1970’s and the dot-com and the housing market bubbles, all of which resulted in 60 years of unprecedented prosperity for the middle class.

These scoundrels, all connected to the House of Rothschild, at the beginning of the 20th century, owned or controlled one-sixth of the world’s real wealth: raw materials, commodities, copper, iron ore, petroleum, lead, silver and gold.

So how do they get rich exchanging real wealth for about $500 trillion of the Monopoly money they printed? They don’t, they are the losers, not the middle class!

Remember those trees we chopped down so just about anyone in America could afford their dream house, or those mountains we blew up so we could have that fat station wagon in our driveway? All of those resources “now used up”, were once owned or controlled by the scoundrels of our history books.

Their real wealth, not yours or mine has been "cut, mined and hauled away so Americans could trash the planet with houses, second houses, cars, RVs, TVs and DVDs— the cheap stuff we associate with the good life that put the planet on the downward spiral to ecocide.

The middle class should be thanking those scoundrels for all that "stuff"—but blame them for conning us into trashing the planet.

The Story of Stuff

The Story of Stuff, an animated video about the underside of our consumer society, believes the scoundrels are a bloated corporation sporting a top hat with a dollar sign etched on its front.

Film narrator, Annie Leonard argues our environmental damage is the result of the greedy corporations externalizing costs (shift them onto the public and the environment) so they can make more money.

But that premise is contradicted on film when Annie stands in line to buy a radio for $4.99 and correctly realizes the price couldn’t possibly capture the cost of the radio but incorrectly concludes that the greedy corporations pollute the environment so they can make more profit. [2]

If profits were the motive, then why wasn’t the radio $5.99? A price anyone would consider a "throw away" or loss leader.

We have come to believe that everything wrong in America is about someone getting rich while we are getting swindled.

That our economy runs on profits is a true statement, but imagine how much those moneygrubbers would have made if the radio was $5.99.

That $1.00 would be 100% pure profit.

The swindlers and scoundrels downward-manipulate the costs, that is, they manipulate the prices lower, not higher as you would expect, so the corporations can still make a profit selling you a radio for $4.99. [3]

Annie should be asking herself why those scoundrels intentionally sold their raw materials cheaply so just about everyone could afford the American Dream, a nightmare for the Planet.

Ecocide Results in Cognitive Dissonance

The premise that anyone would intentionally damage the planet, which future generations will inherit, results in Cognitive Dissonance (CD). CD is the discomfort felt at the discrepancy between what you already know or believe, and new information or interpretation that contradicts a strongly held belief system.

But what if the murder of the environment was the goal from the beginning and not the unintended consequence, then we were "conned" into shopping for stuff to intentionally weaken the planet? [4]

Now the world around you will finally make sense.

Hot, flat, and crowded Thomas L. Friedman will finally know what planet George W. Bush is on. Bush lost the war on terrorism and the war in Iraq, but is winning the war waged on the environment.

Dubya was deadly serious about Ecocide when, after rejecting the global climate change targets of the July 2008 G8 summit, he said, "Goodbye, from the (then) world's biggest polluter." [5]

Ecocide Eliminates the Stupid Explanations

We see the collapse of GM and Chrysler as the result of failed public policy, government action, inaction and conclude the leadership is inept, arrogant or just "stupid" because only Ecocide could explain an industry that failed to keep up with the competition and adjust to new market demands.

Did Detroit forget the Volkswagen Beetle was the most successful car in history?

An incredible 21,529,464 Beetles were produced with the same body style and the same taillight. [6] The policies and decisions for the last 31 years aren’t inept or stupid if the goal was pollution.

The Beetle as a mobile pollution device was a failure.

Its effects on the environment were minimal compared to the Detroit lineup of egocentric gas-guzzlers, all designed with a different taillight and eco-unfriendly accessories.

The “Evil” Federal Reserve made sure that shiny new automobile with the V8 engine, chrome wheels and bumpers was so cheap just about everyone in America could afford the mobile pollution device of their dreams.

Ecocide Explains Why Alaska is in the Picture

Most analysts point to the oil shock of the mid-1970s, set off by the Arab oil embargo of 1973 as the turning point for the US economy and automobile industry.

Why didn’t our then-President Richard Nixon and the rest of the U.S. government promote mass transit, renewable energy, and high-mileage vehicles?

Because the objective that makes the most sense was to disturb 800 miles of the most pristine country in Alaska with the Trans-Alaska Pipeline.

In 2008 we had a similar shock when $4.50 a gallon gasoline convinced Americans they should give up their last Arctic wilderness. [7]

Ecocide Explains why Electricity is so Cheap

Electricity radically transformed and expanded our energy use. To a large extent, electricity defines modern technological civilization and made the Industrial Revolution and therefore our consumer society possible.

Electric power arrived barely a hundred years ago, but high costs and the Great Depression dried up most investment capital and delayed electric service to rural Americans until President Franklin Roosevelt signed into law the Rural Electrification Administration (REA) in 1935.

The REA loaned money created by the Federal Reserve at low interest rates and helped to set up electricity cooperatives.

Historically, energy is priced below its actual environmental and social cost in order to create excessive demand and discourage conservation. In other words such pricing diminishes the value of energy to users and causes them to use it irresponsibly and increase the amount of pollution coal-fired plants generate.

Why is electricity priced so cheap that "only the rich can afford to burn candles"?

Because cleaner alternatives like wind, solar or even natural gas don’t require mining companies to use dynamite to blast away 800 to 1,000 feet of 500 mountaintops and bury over 1200 miles of rivers and streams. [8]

Ecocide explains why 54% of electricity comes from the most abundant raw energy, coal and is the dirtiest source of power for much of the world. Coal-fired plants harm wildlife, generate smog, soot, acid rain, global warming, toxic air emissions and require billions of gallons of our most precious resource—water.

He ruined the Country

The private credit monopoly of rich and predatory moneylenders do not “prey upon the middle class” to get rich.

You don’t become wealthier by exchanging gold, silver and raw materials for about $500 trillion of the Monopoly money you print.

Moneylenders created the middle class and then conned us into trashing the planet because Ecocide was the goal not the unintended consequence.

American "capitalism" and our consumer economy make perfect sense if the goal was the attempted murder of the planet.

Maybe ecocide is what Wilson meant when he confessed that he "ruined the country." ____________________________________________________________________________ Robert Singer is an Entrepreneur and the author of a forthcoming book on the Federal Reserve.

His articles cover politics and the financial and environmental implications of our consumer society. The articles have been main headlined and can be found on numerous popular websites: Marketoracle, Silverseek, Goldseek, disinformation.com, Daylife, LAprogressive, Canadafreepress, Opednews, Daily.pk and many of the Wordpress sites. Richard Daughty, The Mogambo Guru, proclaimed him a Junior Mogambo Ranger (JMR).

Dem Bones is Connected To De Debt Bone by Robert Singer, an analysis of the Federal Reserve, can be found on numerous popular websites including G. Edward Griffin’s Unfiltered News. Edward Griffin is the author of the definitive work on the Federal Reserve, The Creature from Jekyll Island.

Meat, Milk and Motors: The New China Syndrome by Robert Singer, an essay about China first released in February 2009 has been widely posted and read on the Internet. Quotes from the article can be found in The Wall Street Journal Digital Network and was the Top World Story on the Pakistan Daily website for over a week.

Footnotes:

[1] Congressman Louis T. McFadden, Chairman of the House Banking & Currency Committee, speech on the floor of the House of Representatives, June 10, 1932.

[2] Corporations Rule the World, David Korten (1995): “If some portion of the cost of producing a product are borne by third parties who in no way participate in or benefit from the transaction, then economists say the costs have been externalized and the price of the product is distorted accordingly.

[3] Downward manipulation is an uneconomic aberration discovered in the precious metals market by the noted silver analyst Ted Butler. We are conditioned to believe that prices are always inflated so the greedy corporations can make more money but Ted Butler’s research confirmed the price of silver has been manipulated to stay at the $4-5 price range for years. The beneficiaries of this type of manipulation are the consumers since industrial users can sell their products cheaply and still make a profit the customers get to buy a lot more “radio” for their dollar. Silver, but No Silver Lining, Robert Singer.

[4] Ecuador Approves New Constitution: Voters Approve Rights of Nature, Mari Margil, Associate Director The Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund.

[5] China is now the world’s biggest polluter, Meat, Milk and Motors: The New China Syndrome, Robert Singer.

[6] World's 5 Most Successful Cars, http://www.cartype.com/pages/272/worlds_5_most_successful_cars

[7] An Economy in free fall, Why is the ANWR in this picture?, Robert Singer

[8] On March 25, Democrats introduced legislation that would prohibit the dumping of mining waste into streams. More than one million acres of Appalachia have already been affected by this practice, Senator Alexander says, "An estimated 1,200 miles of headwater streams have been buried under tons of mining wastes. More than 500 mountains have been impacted, and homes have been ruined and drinking water supplies contaminated." By Red Green and Blue - Red Green and Blue


TOPICS: Business/Economy
KEYWORDS: capitalism; economy; federalreserve; greenbullshiess; kook; octobercollapse; robertsinger; singer
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1 posted on 12/12/2009 10:59:38 PM PST by theresashep
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To: theresashep
Well, whatever else this mad man is talking about the following is just too stupid for words on many levels;

"Because cleaner alternatives like wind, solar or even natural gas don’t require mining companies to use dynamite to blast away 800 to 1,000 feet of 500 mountaintops and bury over 1200 miles of rivers and streams.

And hence the rest is most likely BS as well.

2 posted on 12/12/2009 11:22:49 PM PST by WHBates
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To: theresashep

Huh?


3 posted on 12/12/2009 11:24:02 PM PST by smokingfrog (Don't mess with the mocking bird! - http://tiny.cc/freepthis)
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To: smokingfrog

Find the emails proving it was staged and the democrats will be out of power for a long time.


4 posted on 12/12/2009 11:34:04 PM PST by excopconservative
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To: excopconservative

I doubt it... most people who vote for the dems do so blindly, cannot reasonably articulate why they support liberals beliefs and would be much too stupid to understand the complexity of such a scandal.


5 posted on 12/12/2009 11:54:50 PM PST by The Magical Mischief Tour
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To: theresashep
The author of this article is a fool's fool. It is non-capitalist nations that have destroyed the natural environment.

A "command economy" can be thought of as an economy being run by the Keystone Cops.

6 posted on 12/13/2009 12:01:56 AM PST by The Duke (Socialism is cool until somebody loses their paycheck.)
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To: theresashep

Is this guy on drugs?


7 posted on 12/13/2009 12:06:52 AM PST by piasa (Attitude adjustments offered here free of charge)
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To: theresashep
The planet is not 'trashed' and we are nowhere near the point of running out of resources.
8 posted on 12/13/2009 12:10:05 AM PST by piasa (Attitude adjustments offered here free of charge)
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To: theresashep

Welcome to Freerepublic.


9 posted on 12/13/2009 12:10:59 AM PST by Jeff Chandler (:: The government will do for health care what it did for real estate. ::)
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To: piasa

Hey, don’t talk to him like that. Didn’t you read: “Richard Daughty, The Mogambo Guru, proclaimed him a Junior Mogambo Ranger (JMR)”! How dare you!


10 posted on 12/13/2009 12:19:46 AM PST by 21twelve (Drive Reality out with a pitchfork if you want , it always comes back.)
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To: 21twelve
My bad...I should have seen that.

I wonder if the El Paso Navy has made him a commodore yet?

11 posted on 12/13/2009 12:22:11 AM PST by piasa (Attitude adjustments offered here free of charge)
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To: theresashep
Was the 2008 Financial Collapse An Inside Job?

Of course it was.

Follow the money...

George Soros owns the Corruptocrat party. Obamao is his hand picked boy-king. Once he picked him you will note that the Corruptocrats tossed Hillary, his former hand picked girl-queen, under the bus-she just didn't hate America enough for ol' George.

Every action the Corruptocrats have taken over the last year has been with three goals in mind:

1. The looting of the US treasury.

2. The destruction of the Dollar as a reserve currency and an instrument of international tade.

3. The dismantling of the US economy and the destruction of capitalism.

They get bonus points from George if the country disintergrates.

Now for those of you who do not know George Soros has already done this kind of thing to other countries-in fact he is kill on sight in some of them. he tried to do it to the UK and failed. Now he is doing it to the US using his employees Obamao, Nazi Nancy, Dirty Harry, Queen Barney and the rest of his merry band of Corruptocrats.

12 posted on 12/13/2009 12:43:03 AM PST by Nahanni
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To: Nahanni

You nailed it! Regarding Soros, I cannot help but to be reminded of that oh so famous comment on national television by the Wyoming attorney Gerry Spence in regard to “some people”. I won’t repeat it here but I think it does apply in this case.


13 posted on 12/13/2009 1:18:45 AM PST by flash2368
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To: theresashep

LOL - can anyone spot the Marxist damnation of the “bourgeoisie” in this supposedly “republican” article?

Yes!, that’s it! It’s the rotten Federal Reserve and the warmongering plutocrats, okay, everyone’s finally figured that out. But, but - they’re doing it on behalf of the middle class! They’re taking a hit on profits, destroying the planet, for the exaltation of the middle class! Not to force collectivism - no. Not to break the true economic success of freedom the middle class actually represents - no. But rather to exalt the middle class on behalf of their own plutocratian destruction, to serve their masters in the Burbs while they are forced to fly on private jets and suffer through filet mignon.

And then the article dares warn against cognitive dissonance? LOL! Some fourth class intelligence operative needs to back off of the keyboard and go somewhere and get laid.

Or his boss does. *snort*


14 posted on 12/13/2009 1:38:27 AM PST by Talisker (When you find a turtle on top of a fence post, you can be damn sure it didn't get there on it's own.)
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To: theresashep
Have no doubt it was staged; but a confusing read - or so I thought - as it was a struggle to sort 'sarc' from 'non-sarc'.

Beyond critical economic nuances; do at least remember, as we all no doubt do, that it was Congressman Chuck Shumer who first poked a hole in the Freddie & Fannie wall in early May,2008 (?) or sometime thereabouts. It started with a trickle. . .then a stubborn stream to then, what was experienced as an economic sunami as the 'wall' gave way.

Nicely timed and certainly the most covert and clever of October surprises - should one see the unfolding as that - when we found ourselves just beginning the 'Swim For Survival' at Election time.

As we are surrounded by 'Islamic Jihad'; so too; we are surrounded by a Leftist jihad. Our blindness to both efforts on American soil damning, as it is fashioning America's future, as we speak. (An attendant consequences around the planet)

Sink or swim; but the currents are being manipulated against us. . .and the water just continues to get deeper.

15 posted on 12/13/2009 2:17:50 AM PST by cricket
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To: theresashep

The financial collapse was LONG overdue. I am stunned that government manipulation put it off for so long.


16 posted on 12/13/2009 3:30:11 AM PST by Freedom_Is_Not_Free (Depression Countdown: 48... 47... 46...)
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To: theresashep
This article is quite a bit like reading "Through the Looking Glass", but this struck me as particularly out of touch with reality:

"Bush lost the war on terrorism and the war in Iraq, but is winning the war waged on the environment."

LOL!

Also:

"In 2008 we had a similar shock when $4.50 a gallon gasoline convinced Americans they should give up their last Arctic wilderness."

I'm sure this moron has never been to Alaska - it's still arctic wilderness, without a doubt! Given all the recent craziness in the lower 48, it's looking like a nice alternative despite the temperatures...

17 posted on 12/13/2009 3:50:39 AM PST by PreciousLiberty (In theory, theory and practice are the same. In practice, they're not.)
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To: Freedom_Is_Not_Free

They had to get the right people in the right place at the right time to install agenda,stimulus and health-care only a start of events to come it ain’t going to be pretty.


18 posted on 12/13/2009 3:57:54 AM PST by Vaduz
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To: theresashep

” “Things do not happen. Things are made to happen.” John F. Kennedy”

Sounds like John read “The Unseen Hand” by Ralph Apperson.


19 posted on 12/13/2009 4:49:32 AM PST by RoadTest (Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. John 3:3)
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To: theresashep

This author is all over the place.

Welcome to FR newbie. Not sure what your purpose is though.


20 posted on 12/13/2009 4:52:40 AM PST by caver (Obama's first goals: allow more killing of innocents and allow the killers of innocents to go free.)
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