No wonder
Jefferson feared privatized central banking.
The TARP thing shows that We the People got something worse than ripped off.
We were left holding a bag filled with I.O.U.s, apparently to the tune of $62 trillion.
Credit Default Swaps and Bank Leveragenaked capitalism
April 16, 2008
EXCERPT...
A bank holding company, after all, is thinly capitalized and in many ways was the precursor of the hedge fund model. On a parent-only basis, (J.P. Morgan's) $314 billion asset balance sheet includes $200 billion representing investments in its subsidiary banks and non-bank units, supported by half as much equity and more than $200 billion in debt.
And remember that JPM's on-balance sheet capital does not even partially support the counterparty risk of its vast OTC derivatives businesses, thus the (Bear Stearns Companies) acquisition was a "must do" deal for Mr. Dimon. Think of it this way: JPM is essentially an uncapitalized, $76 trillion OTC derivatives exchange with a $1.3 trillion asset bank appendage. By the way, we are working to include factors for OBS securitizations in the next iteration of our Economic Capital simulation in The IRA Bank Monitor.
But you understand that Fed officials still believe, even today, that the US markets are not over-leveraged.
The story goes that shortly after Ben Bernanke was confirmed as Fed Chairman, he attended a dinner in New York attended by the heads of the major banks. All the big banksters were there. After dinner, Chairman Bernanke gave a speech and he at one point reportedly commented that the financial markets were "not very leveraged," causing audible laughter from the audience.
According to one attendee, Lehman Brothers CEO Dick Fuld eventually spoke up and, while declaiming any intention to disagree with Chairman Bernanke publicly, told the newly minted Fed chief that his comments about the degree of leverage in the financial markets were mistaken. JPM CEO Jamie Dimon, who also attended the dinner, was reported to second Fuld's comments.
Who would have thought that only several months later, Fuld and Dimon, both of whom are directors of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York BTW, would be calling upon Chairman Bernanke to rescue them from leveraged OTC swamp? Guess they're not laughing now - or are they?
SOURCE:
http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2008/04/credit-default-swaps-and-bank-leverage.html Thank you for the important information, slipslidingaway.
It illustrates clearly what we are up against:
Money does not give up power. Power does not give up money.
The People's roles:
indentured servitude and cannon fodder.