Archive for the Kleptocracy Category

First Annual Noble Prize In Eco-nomics (October 10, 2016)

Posted in Awards / Incentives, Banks and Banking System, Courage, Credit Unions, Crime/Punishment, Economics, Economics Nobel, FDIC, Journalism, Kleptocracy, Law, Newspapers, Nobel Prize, Noble Prize, Noble Prize in Eco-nomics, Press/Media, Rule of Law, Song Reference on October 10, 2016 by e-commentary.org

. . .

K          “An award dedicated to acknowledging and celebrating the work of someone on the planet who really knows something about eco-nomics.”

J          “Novel.  Appropriate.  Necessary.  And unprecedented.”

K          “The recipient of the first annual Noble Prize In Eco-nomics is . . . Professor William Kurt Black, Esq. professor of law and economics with the University of Missouri at Kansas City.  With decades of substantial and substantive real world experience, Professor Black examines and explicates the workings of banks and the banking system in the United States and the world with insight and conviction.  In his classic, timely and timeless magnum opus The Best Way to Rob a Bank is to Own One, he advances the conservative notion that those in the banking industry who commit systematic and rampant fraud should be convicted.  In an inspiring TEDxUMKC presentation available at TED the national public forum, he notes that bankers deploy banks as weapons of mass destruction against the public.  Unlike so many other law professors and judges who explore the interface of law and economics, he contends that law and economics should serve more than the interests of the wealthy and the powerful.  A felicitous contributor to the public discourse and dialogue, Professor Black’s continuing academic and personal commitment to the common weal and greater good is a good thing.”

. . .

[“This is Walter Kingsbury Brinkley, XYZ News, New York.  Earlier today, the highly coveted Noble Prize In Eco-nomics was awarded to Professor William K. Black, Esq. of the University of Missouri at Kansas City.  In his most celebrated work, Professor Black contends among other observations that the adoption of the rule of law in America is a swell idea.  In a related development, the Swedish bankers convened and announced the 2016 Nobel Prize in E-con-omics given to the individual who has or individuals who have done the most during his, her or their career to advance the interests of the wealthy and powerful.  . . . “]

[See the e-commentary at “Announcing The First Annual Noble Prize In Eco-nomics (May 2, 2016)”, “Award Deadlines (Livelines?) (July 25, 2016)”, “From e-con-omics to eco-nomics? (August 1, 2011)” and “Skip the Nobel in Economics (Oct. 6, 2009).”]

Bumper stickers of the week:

“Yes, as through this world I’ve wandered I’ve seen lots of funny men; Some will rob you with a six-gun, and some with a fountain pen.”  “The Ballad of Pretty Boy Floyd” by Woody Guthrie (c) 1958 (renewed) Woody Guthrie Publications, Inc.

Give a man a gun and he can rob a bank; give a man a bank and he can rob the world.

Government Bureaucracy 101 (September 26, 2016)

Posted in Bureaucracy, Global Climate Change, Global Warming, Government Regulation, Hypocrisy, Journalism, Kleptocracy, Newspapers, Press/Media on September 26, 2016 by e-commentary.org

. . .

K          “When you find the need for the government to be there, it is nowhere to be found; when you need the government to be off your back, it finds a way to be in your face.”

J          “To be or to be.  That is the quandary.”

. . .

J          “I find that so many individuals today do not want to work and do not want government to work so they go to work for the government and do not work and then the government does not work.  They rationalize their studied indifference by saying they are getting government off our backs.  At least this species of overpaid and underworked bureaucrats is not in your face, only in your pocket book.”

K          “So many times the bureaucrat with all the resources of the bureau could have done something in the face of a clear need for action.  If there is any possible downside to the bureaucrat or the activity requires effort, nothing is ever done.  At all.  And those terrified and overpaid bureaucrats include judges who are often the worst offenders.”

. . .

K          “That is still a problem.  There are those times when there is a need for the government to work.  I am trying to make the government work.”

J          “Sounds like a romantic to me.”

. . .

K          “Some bureaucrats in the Environmental Protection Agency are trying diligently to protect the environment.”

J          “There are exceptions.”

. . .

[See the e-commentary at “Go East, Young Person (August 25, 2014)” and “‘Titters’ v. ‘Self-Unemployed’ (September 1, 2014).”] 

Bumper stickers of the week:

The system works for most journalists, so most journalists report that the system works.

“When you find the need for the government to be there, it is nowhere to be found; when you need the government to be off your back, it finds a way to be in your face.”

“I find that so many individuals today do not want to work and do not want government to work so they go to work for the government and do not work and then the government does not work.” 

“All government, in its essence, is a conspiracy against the superior man: it’s one permanent object is to oppress him and cripple him. . . .  The most dangerous man to any government is the man who is able to think things out for himself, without regard to the prevailing superstitions and taboos.  Almost inevitably he comes to the conclusion that the government he lives under is dishonest, insane and intolerable, and so, if he is romantic, he tries to change it.  And even if he is not romantic personally he is very apt to spread discontent among those who are.

The notion that a radical is one who hates his country is naïve and usually idiotic.  He is, more likely, one who likes his country more than the rest of us, and is thus more disturbed than the rest of us when he sees it debauched.  He is not a bad citizen turning to crime; he is a good citizen driven to despair.”

H.L. Mencken

National Financial Literacy Month: Teaching Financial Literacy In The “Debt Age” (April 25, 2016)

Posted in Awards / Incentives, Consumerism, Economics, Economics Nobel, Federal Courts, Kleptocracy, Nobel Prize, Noble Prize, Schooling on April 25, 2016 by e-commentary.org

. . .

K          “But do they really want them to be financially literate.”

J          “Who wants a citizenry to be financially literate.  Illiteracy is so profitable.”

K          “What would they teach.”

. . .

K          “For a few hours, they should teach them simply to consume less.  That is the answer.  Devour less.  That goes against the spend and spend and spend and consume and consume and consume mantra they are fed every waking moment on every medium everywhere they venture.”

J          “The same corporations and institutions that ceaselessly propagandize them to spend then underwrite a few hours of instruction advising them, in effect, not to spend.”

. . .

K          “You could teach supply and demand, yet supply and demand no longer drive or dictate price.”

J          “Price/earnings ratios remain a sound financial metric in an economy with accurate price discovery.  With all the government and private sector manipulation and intervention, they are not relevant or reflective metrics of reality.”

. . .

K          “Markets do not exist.  The ‘stock market’ is a Racket.  What few insider trading cases are prosecuted are overturned and repudiated by obliging federal appellate courts doing their job protecting the Kleptocracy.”

. . .

K          “Personal finance courses would at core contradict all the carpet bombing saturation advertising inflicted on the public.  And look how the consequences define our age.  We have evolved from the ‘Stone Age’ to the ‘Bronze Age’ and now to the ‘Debt Age’.”

J          “Still prudent to avoid debt at any cost unless the return is nearly certain.  The debt one assumes to spend time around a college may not be worth the return.”

K          “To the individual and also to society.  Buying a used car and not eating at a restaurant are sound pieces of financial literacy advice.  However, someone must buy new cars and frequent restaurants on occasion.”

J          “The loans for new cars exceed the expected life of the cars.  Restaurants are moving to computer ordering and eliminating the wait staff.” 

. . .

K          “All prices are manipulated and manufactured.  What would you teach.” 

J          “Most current economic curricula in America’s colleges and universities is a secular religion built on inaccurate assumptions and the conviction that growth can continue forever.”

K          “To educate the Nobel Prize winners in Economics in economics, night classes in financial literacy could be offered.”

J          “The classes for them would need to be scheduled around their daily teaching schedules propagandizing the religious orthodoxy.”

. . .

[See the discussions of the “Save” program and the “Credit Abuse Resistance Education” program.]

[See the e-commentary at “Consume, Don’t Invest (Nov. 9, 2009).”]

Bumper sticker of the week:

“The more flak you get the closer you are to the target.”  World War Two bomber’s observation

The FBI File:  The American Imprimatur Of Success (January 18, 2016)

Posted in Awards / Incentives, Civil Rights/Civil Liberties, FBI, Genius, Kleptocracy, Police on January 18, 2016 by e-commentary.org

. . .

K          “In grammar school, they extol the sacrifices and accomplishments of Woodrow Guthrie, Martin King, John Kennedy and their like and ilk.”

J          “Artists, patriots, visionaries.  The usual suspects in America.”

K          “Only a few keep reading and realize that the true mark and measure of greatness in America is to be monitored and harassed by the FBI.”

J          “Nobels, Pulitzers, Grammys and Oscars are SO overrated.”

K          “How about calling it a ‘Hoover Award’ because he and his clan were hoovering information long before data mining was all the rage.”

J          “Outrage?”

. . .

K          “Some of the rank and file in the FBI have quietly and patiently collected a file on the real economic criminals in America, yet they are not allowed to act.”

. . .

J          “The machine gun demonstration at the end of the tour made an impression on a young mind.”

K          “Amazing that they still call it the ‘Hoover Building’ despite all the revelations.”

J          “I thought about becoming ‘Efrem Zimbalist, III’ every week.”

K          “Me too.”

. . .

[See the e-commentary at King Daze (January 20, 2014).]

Bumper sticker of the week:

FBI:  America’s Stasi?

Schooling The Apparatchiks For The Kleptocrats (December 7, 2015)

Posted in Bureaucracy, Education, Kleptocracy, O'Bama, Schooling, Wall Street on December 7, 2015 by e-commentary.org

. . .

J          “Harvard and Yale are in business to make a profit and provide the foot soldiers to protect those making a profit.  Columbia has stepped up its game.  Both Eric Holder and Lonny Breuer each bagged a pair of degrees from Columbia and dutifully served Wall Street while on the public pay roll.  First Covington & Burling, then time in the Department of Justice (?), and then back to C & B to protect the Owners.  They did their time in government, but they did not encourage the criminal banksters to do their time in government custody.”

K          “I have said for some time that Morningside Heights is in business to protect its friends down the road in Manhattan.  Once Wall Street took a controlling stake in O’Bama, Inc., it was game over.  The game was over on or before January 20, 2009, yet it did not make that night’s sports highlights.” 

J          “The grand irony is that rather than quash any and all prosecutions of Wall Street fraud, Holder and Breuer could have aided and abetted their past and future colleagues by allowing them to get rich quashing government subpoenas.” 

K          “And then toss in Glenn Hubbard, a deceptive and dishonest errand boy for the banks and corporations.  Where is he proselytizing and propagandizing?”

. . .   

K          “On the other hand, Columbia also provides a haven for Joseph Stiglitz and James Hansen.”

J          “And William Kunstler did not toil and moil for C & B.”

. . .

[See the e-commentary at America’s Fraud Factories (October 18, 2010)On Merit and the Meritocracy (January 11, 2010)Close the Harvard Business School (February 23, 2009) and Higher Education Tomorrow (November 27, 2006).]

Bumper stickers of the week:

Politicians should dress like race car drivers.  At least we would know who their corporate sponsors are.

74 years today.

They Can Print Money (November 2, 2015)

Posted in Bail In, Bailout/Bribe, Bankruptcy, Banks and Banking System, FDIC, Federal Reserve, Kleptocracy, TARP, Wall Street on November 2, 2015 by e-commentary.org

. . .

Q          “The FDIC can simply print money.”

B          “Maybe.  However, the response to the Big Jolt may be . . . nuanced?  By the government?  Let me explain.  Or at least confuse the issue.”

. . .

Q          “By any metric – economically, morally, psychologically, ethically, metaphysically, generationally – TARP was a grand fraud perpetrated on the American people.  And the central message is crystal clear – everyone in power knows that there are no limits or restraints of any kind to government criminality at the top.  They can simply print money.”

B          “Maybe.  During what I call the Financial Crime of 2008, the government could have nationalized the banks, but those in power allowed the banks to nationalize the government, in particular the Federal Reserve and the Treasury Department.  The Fed and Treasury now have carte blanc to do anything that serves the interests of their Owners on Wall Street and with the Big Banks.  However, the FDIC may not have that absolute freedom and immunity from liability and accountability.  The bureaucrats in the bureaucracy at the FDIC bureaucracy may behave like bureaucrats.  Some risk-averse bureaucrat may seize up and say that she or he will not make the decision to commit the agency to exceed its authority because he or she may not have enough stroke to obtain immunity.”

Q          “The most risk-averse course of action still is to print money or create electrons.”

B          “Maybe.  The Owners have agreed that ‘bail ins’ are the answer to their self-created problem.  At some point, however, even J. Q. Public may say ‘bastante’ and swing by the bank and demand his or her deposits.” 

Q          “They will hand out a plastic card in lieu of physical cash.  Print money or produce plastic.  There is no difference.”

. . .

B          “Maybe.  Except that the fundamental problem today is not liquidity, it is solvency.  The system is insolvent.  Printing more money is akin to distributing cigarette butts.  The bucks, like butts, soon will not be cherished.”

Q          “At that point, we may be bartering cigarettes.”

B          “Maybe.  If they are available.”

. . .

[See the e-commentary at (M)End The Fed (July 11, 2011).]

Bumper sticker of the week:

Give a man a gun and he can rob a bank; give a man a bank and he can rob the world

USA, FDIC, Or NCUA? LCU? SPCU? (October 19, 2015)

Posted in Bail In, Bailout/Bribe, Banks and Banking System, Boycott Series, Collapse, Credit Unions, Debt/Deficits, Depression, Dollar - World's Reserve Currency, Federal Reserve, Gold, International Finance, Kleptocracy, Money, SDR - Special Drawing Rights, Silver on October 19, 2015 by e-commentary.org

. . .

B          “I want out of the Racket – the stock market Racket.  I want to hold my deferred compensation in the form of dollars, for what they are worth.  As I see it, Treasury Bills and Treasury Bonds are allegedly protected by the ‘full faith and credit’ of the United States.  What is that worth?  When the Big Jolt hits, what is Uncle Sam’s telephone number?  Or e-mail address?  unclesam@unclesam.gov?  A general promise by the Uncle when I have full faith that the credit of the United States is sketchy, provisional and conditional at best.  I won’t touch Treasury Bills or Treasury Bonds.”

C          “Another hollow and worthless promise.  I won’t touch Treasuries and refuse to deposit money in a bank.  The FDIC (Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation) allegedly provides insurance for banks, yet the agency is ‘stressed’ to put it mildly and will not pay all claims in the event of a significant bank run.  The NCUA (National Credit Union Association) allegedly provides insurance for credit unions and may provide some insurance protection for some time for some depositors.  I am willing to make a tentative commitment to the system and keep some of my funds in my Local Credit Union (LCU).”

B          “Depositing a healthy chunk of money in the Sealy Posturepedic Credit Union (SPCU) involves little counterparty risk and allows me to sleep peacefully at night.  When the Big Jolt hits, there will not be enough physical dollars.  Regular folks may accept regular dollars for two related reasons – inertia and habit – until the shock triggers them to do something and change their habits.  Regular folks will accept the few available physical dollars for four or six or eight weeks for transactions as long as other citizens accept dollars for transactions.  Then regular folks will only accept Sacagawea dollars and some coins for a few weeks, although coins like dollars of any kind are in short supply today.  After a few more weeks, some informed folks will accept silver coins minted before 1964 at a premium.”

C          “In the end, the Depression is our guide.  Twelve gauge shot gun shells may be another medium of exchange and twenty-two rounds may be used as change to support the emerging barter economy.  Cash of any kind is the threat to the those who run System.  The government now requires banks to obtain and record the identity of anyone making a cash deposit and are refusing to accept cash for some payments.”

B          “Banks do not need deposits to be able to loan money.  Yet today many banks are offering gimmicks and gewgaws to attract funds that they will be able to retain during a ‘bail in’ without any obligation to the depositor.”

. . .

C          “Junior’s paper route money stored in his piggy bank may be our only available liquid asset.”

B          “She may not stand for us withdrawing some of the Standing Liberty quarters from the collection she has accumulated with her baby sitting money.”

C          “We may need a bushel basket of Wheat Pennies to buy a pocketful of wheat.”

B          “When the banks are maneuvering to avoid a haircut, we may be required to go to our Barbers.”

. . . 

[See the e-commentary at Preserve Cash; Preserve (Some) Privacy (May 4, 2015), “Bail Ins” Are Globalized; “Bail Outs” Are Bailed Back In; No Bail For Bankers (December 29, 2014), Globalizing The Bail In (July 8, 2013), Bailouts: Out; Bail Ins: In; Slowly Boilin’ The Frog (April 15, 2013), Money “In The Bank” Or “Under The Mattress” (October 8, 2012), Boycott Big Banks – Vote Your Dollars (November 21, 2011), and Boycott Big Banks (February 1, 2010).]

Bumper stickers of the week:

The U.S. government is pursuing an international currency war and a domestic war on currency.

SPCU/You > LCU/NCUA > Bank/FDIC > Uncle Sam/FF&C

Venturing A Few Unfounded And Unwarranted Predictions (July 13, 2015)

Posted in "L" Shaped Economy, Bankruptcy, Banks and Banking System, Collapse, Depression, Elections, Foreign Policy, Gold, Gold Standard, Kleptocracy, Money, Pensions, Quantitative Easing, Recession, SDR - Special Drawing Rights, Security State, Silver, Silver Standard, Supernova Dollar, Zero Interest Rate Policy on July 13, 2015 by e-commentary.org

. . .

3          “Pensions will be even more problematic.”

4          “When the stock markets reset catastrophically, pensions will need to be reset correspondingly.”

3          “We will need to muster the collective intellect and imagination to craft a provision allowing states to file bankruptcy.”

. . .

3          “Interest rates cannot be allowed to rise and will not be allowed to rise beyond a nominal .25 percent.  Any greater rise would result in devastating financial and economic consequences.  Some nominal rise will be imposed to proclaim that interest rates can indeed rise above zero without negative consequence.  Those citizens who planned to fund a retirement with interest-bearing instruments have been sacrificed and will continue to be sacrificed without even a vote or even a debate on the policy.”

4          “Sacrifices have to be made.  Few folks are concerned or even aware that the Federal Reserve rather than the market sets interest rates.  The way I see it the Petrodollar will continue to rise as other currencies decline and those with the wherewithal seek the safety of the Petrodollar.  At this time.  The Petrodollar’s status as the world’s reserve currency and fundamentally weak foreign economies are a double magnet for money.  When the world establishes its own world currency such as a system of Special Drawing Rights (SDR) and circumvents the Petrodollar, the Petrodollar will explode and decline precipitously in value.  As I describe it, the ‘Supernova Dollar.’  The last American export – the Petrodollar and resulting inflation – will not be imported by the world.”

3          “Along those lines, the physical dollar will disappear from circulation in the United States before it disappears from the world stage.  The U.S. government and large corporations are slowly discouraging and will ultimately outlaw the use of dollars as ‘legal tender’ and as a medium of exchange.  Possession of gold and silver bullion by private citizens also will be outlawed.  The government will outsource to large corporations the issuance and control of the Universal Electronic Benefit Transfer (UEBT) cards to its subjects.  Current credit and debit cards will be re-purposed seamlessly.  The IRS will send a statement each year or even each month dictating one’s tax obligation and deducting the amount owed directly from one’s government controlled account.  As a consequence, everyone’s inclinations, transactions, and movements will be monitored and manipulated as necessary.”

4          “On the other hand, possession of gold and silver in any form by foreign citizens and governments will be the law and settled practice.  The West has readily abandoned gold and silver to an East that has eagerly absorbed the precious metals at rates that have been manipulated down by the West.  And gold and silver will be a component of the Special Drawing Rights.”

3          “The West will no longer be able to use paper and electronic transactions to manipulate the prices of physical gold and silver.”

4          “If the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT) system and the Petrodollar are circumvented, the West will be less able to use paper and electronic transactions to manipulate prices.”

. . .

3          “The nations in the oil-producing regions will not fight over the oil they have but over the water they do not have with far less involvement of and intervention by the United States.”

4          “Nation-States will also disappear as thriving and functioning communities and be replaced by Corporation-States that dictate policy.  The United States Congress took the lead and sold out to become the ‘Citigroup-Congress’ recently.  More than just naming rights are involved.  Current nations are just entities that can be manipulated and maneuvered to go to war with each other when necessary.”

3          “Along those lines, shares in United States Senators will be sold more openly akin to shares in corporations.  The news will announce that shares in ‘Senator Larry Jenkins, Inc.’ are up 3.1 percent today on news that he will sell his vote for the Big Project.  The John Roberts Supreme Court has endorsed the two-step business plan.  If you pay a politician directly for a vote, you are in trouble; if you pay an intermediary that pays a politician for a vote, you are blessed.”

4          “Notions of freely-established supply and demand for goods, services and commodities will yield to quotas per subject each month.  Without functioning markets and with regular and systematic market manipulation and intervention, notions of inflation and deflation will be antiquated.  World population will continue to grow and resources will continue to be more precious which under the old paradigm would fuel inflation.  However, people will simply do without.”

3          “Along those lines, capitalism is a system that socializes the costs of activities and privatizes the profits.  The end stage is the emergence of a very small cabal who control all resources and allow the subjects access to just enough resources to subsist in a police state that throttles any debate or dissent.”

4           “The treatment of Cyprus and Greece are intermediate stages in the process.”

3          “The future is not unpredictable.”

. . .

[See the efforts to eliminate cash at http://betterthancash.org/.%5D

[See the e-commentary at Monitoring The Masses: The Card And The Chip (January 12, 2015).]

Bumper stickers of the week:

If you do predict a definite event, do not pick a definite date.  If you do pick a definite date, do not predict a definite event.  Unless you want to.

In the past, if you could predict the future accurately, you could make a fortune.  In the present, you can predict the future astutely, but you cannot do much to protect your fortune or your future.  Even if you want to.

“The best way to predict your future is to help create it.”  Attributed to Abraham Lincoln

There are few warning signs on the off ramp down the road to serfdom.

What about global climate change?

Opportunity, Welfare And Unrest (June 15, 2015)

Posted in Collapse, Global Climate Change, Global Warming, Kleptocracy, Minimum Wage, Poverty, Slavery, Society, Wages, War, Welfare on June 15, 2015 by e-commentary.org

. . .

4          “They say that welfare is the bribe paid to the underclass not to revolt.  The bribe is no longer enough.  The underclass reasonably seeks more from the overclass.  Many of them do not want a bribe, they want opportunity.  There is no opportunity today and will be even less opportunity tomorrow.  There is more restiveness.  There is more restlessness.  There will be more unrest.”

6          “The war on poverty has become the war on those in poverty.”

4          “Always a war.  Could be a hot summer.  Or a hot winter.” 

6          “A hot winter?  Is that anthropogenic global climate change?

. . .

Bumper sticker of the week:

“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable.”  John F. Kennedy

Trans-Pacific Partnership / United Nations Convention On The Law Of The Sea (May 25, 2015)

Posted in Clinton, Foreign Policy, International Finance, Kleptocracy, O'Bama, Politics, Presidency, Trade on May 25, 2015 by e-commentary.org

. . .

5          “The United Nations Convention On The Law Of The Sea (UNCLOS) cedes minimal U.S. authority to international institutions; the Republicans vehemently oppose the treaty.  The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) concedes substantial U.S. sovereignty to international corporations; the Republicans ecstatically support the treaty.”

6          “Go figure.  If O’Bama supports something, the Republicans hate it.  If O’Bama opposes something, the Republicans love it.  O’Bama supports the TPP, the Republicans love it.  What is up?”

5          “What is up?  O’Bama is not allowing anyone other than a few Senators to review the language of the legislation.  That is surreal.”

6          “And perverse and undemocratic.  If the Republicans had pulled that stunt, they would have gotten hammered.”

5          “At the end of his administration, Clinton capitulated to the Republicans and signed the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) and the Gramm–Leach–Bliley Act (GLBA), the legislation that repealed part of the Glass-Steagall Act of 1933 and has led to reckless financial speculation.  The damage done by DOMA has been undone, but the damage done by GLBA will undo America.”

6          “O’Bama may be the first President in American history to switch political parties while in office.”

5          “Other than Clinton.  They will still hate O’Bama because he remains Black.”

6          “Historians so inclined will be able to uncover the critique of a few prophets with honor who chronicled the dismantling of America in real time.”

. . .

Bumper stickers of the week:

“A great civilization is not conquered from without until it has destroyed itself within.  The essential causes of Rome’s decline lay in her people, her morals, her class struggle, her failing trade, her bureaucratic despotism, her stifling taxes, her consuming wars.” Will Durant

George Carlin was right