For the entities controlling investments money does not disappear.

[Lint Head]

The BOA Federal reserve transfer of funds is finally exposing the common practice of obfuscating the manipulation of pools of money. The majority of us have no idea what goes on in the conference rooms and boardrooms of financial institutions. You can go to a university and get you degree in economics and accounting with honors. But you will never have a true concept of what happens in the real world until you are in that conference room. It compares to a soldier training to kill but will never understand what the reality is until he actually kills someone. I know that is an extreme but what is happening is extreme.

When your 401K or any other investment loses money it does not disappear. Just like matter takes another form when it is burned or destroyed the flow of finances takes another form. That $25,000 that you lost on your 401K is actually transferred into someone else's pocket.

If you borrow money to get your business going and don't pay it back the lender can repossess. They may not receive full value but the entity controlling them almost always does. It's call playing the odds, dealing in bulk and buying low. Finance is a cynical practice and the possibility of negative human impact is not considered unless it touches the bottom line.

These practices are not illegal but need to be controlled to prevent negative impacts to the average person that trust these financial institutions that handle their money. That is why regulation is needed and important. Some people have gamed the system and need to go to jail.

My own opinion is that the current regulations in place need to be aggressively enforced and Glass Steagall needs to be brought back and even enhanced. The FDIC has become the lapdog of the mega banks and a tool to make sure the big banks don't lose money.

Moving your money to a credit union is good until money becomes worthless.

"Before World War I Germany was a prosperous country, with a gold-backed currency, expanding industry, and world leadership in optics, chemicals, and machinery. The German Mark, the British shilling, the French franc, and the Italian lira all had about equal value, and all were exchanged four or five to the dollar. That was in 1914. In 1923, at the most fevered moment of the German hyperinflation, the exchange rate between the dollar and the Mark was one trillion Marks to one dollar, and a wheelbarrow full of money would not even buy a newspaper. Most Germans were taken by surprise by the financial tornado." Copyright © 1981 by George J. W. Goodman. All rights reserved. (Better known as Adam Smith.)

[leveymg]

1. There's more money to be made during a financial panic than in a sustained Bull Market.

You just have to time your shorts and hedges well, and buy the right CDS on banks you intend to crash and loot.

[Lint Head]

2. I agree.

Too bad the poor and middle class can't time their shorts and hedges well, and buy the right CDS on banks they intend to crash and loot.

It's a small club that has that power.
:toast:

[leveymg]

4. Naked shorts should be outlawed - they create too much temptation.

Actually, it should all be totally transparent - who owns what (including options) should be data reported to the gov't, tracked, analyzed, and published in near real-time to detect and block vulnerabilities to those who seek to game the system - certain patterns of collusion to sink FDIC protected banks and SEC registered public companies stock are criminal and should be vigorously prosecuted.

Large-scale financial fraud should be treated as economic terrorism, and dealt with as such. Corrupt corporations should be given the death penalty, and their crooked executives imprisoned for long periods.

The NSA, CIA and FBI have the computing power available for this level of economic surveillance and analysis, and should use that power to protect the integrity of markets, shareholders and depositors in the public interest.

[Lint Head]

6. I hope you are a lawyer with the power to do this or have a friend you can talk to that is a lawyer.

[cyberpj]

7. Too right.

Most of us just went to work and raised a family and did what we were told was the smart thing to do regarding our 401ks. Now we'll all work longer (if we can) to try to replace what was stolen as the fraud continues to shake out of Wall Street.

In fact, most of us didn't really know or understand that regulations were removed and/or regulators were being wined and dined to look the other way.

It's one thing to be a worker bee; it's another thing altogether to really understand what that means as others steal all the honey and laugh at you for letting them get away with it and make you work even longer.

[spin]

3. Regulations are worthless unless violation is coupled with punishment ...

If a few rich fat cats end up in prison, and a few failing CEOs no longer get a golden parachute we will live in a better nation.

If a few people that run oil rigs are held responsible when safety violations cause a massive leak, we will see those regulations followed to the letter.

[Lint Head]

5. Regulations need teeth.

Transparency should come with communication that the average person can understand. Even people who do not participate in investments are negatively impacted by the corrupt practices of some financial institutions.

[snot]

8. K&R'd.

The unrec'er's are out.