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Aug 3, 2012

Iran Is Willing To Do Anything To Get These State-Of-The-Art Missiles From Russia


S-300
While the world went back and forth about Iraq's weapons of mass destruction in 2002, Saddam Hussein was planning for the worst and did all he could to acquire a batch of Russian S-300 surface-to-air missiles.
Say what you will about Saddam Hussein, but the man had a pretty well-defined sense of self-preservation and knew the S-300s were all that stood between him and spending his final days in a "spider hole."
Perhaps thinking it's staring down a similar fate as Iraq, Iran has been doing everything it can to acquire the same missiles in the hope of developing the ability to thwart any potential attacks.
Tehran actually pinned down a deal to buy the highly capable missiles from Russia in 2007, but then presidentDmitry Medvedev quashed the deal three years later citing UN sanctions prohibiting the exchange.
Iran obviously disagreed with the decision and took Russian defense contractor Rosoboronexport to international arbitration court in Geneva last April, and sued them for $900 million.
The court sided with Iran and not only granted it their requested damages, but tacked on another $4 billion fine for good measure.
Iran doesn't want the money so much as it wants those S-300s, and has now come out saying it'll forget all about the $4 billion if Russia simply agrees to fulfill its original contract.
The S-300 is the best anti-ballistic missile, anti-aircraft ordnance Russia has to offer and has enjoyed nearly 50 years of improvements and modifications. They're what China has lined up along the no-nonsense Taiwan Strait.
They're very effective, very hard to jam, and very difficult to stop. They're reputed to be one of the most advanced "multi-target anti-aircraft missile systems in the world ... [with] a reported ability to track up to 100 targets simultaneously while engaging up to 12 at the same time."
If Iran's acquisition of the S-300s didn't put the brakes on a possible attack scenario, it would certainly send military planners back to the drawing board to reconsider any eventual attack scenarios.
Forgiving the $4 billion may not be enough to spur Russia's desire to do the deal, but if it actually finds itself abandoning its Syrian base in Tartus all bets may be off.
Ilya Arkhipov at Bloomberg reports a Russian Think Tank believes that if Syria falls to the opposition, the Kremlin may be prompted to give Iran what it wants.
Russia is nearly as reluctant to see an attack on Iran as Tehran, and will likely do what it can to keep that from happening.
In the meantime, the pressure is building within Iran as a new round of deep and biting sanctions received approval from House and Senate negotiators Monday.
None of this is good news for the Iranian people who are already struggling to maintain their way of life and put a decent meal on the table.

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Jim Willie: Conflicts & Pressure Points

By: Jim Willie CB, GoldenJackass.com


2 August 2012
Some extremely powerful differentials in power are setting themselves up, in a manner never seen before in modern history. Those who dismiss the uniqueness of the situation are those who continually are surprised by events as they unfold. The pressure features the managers of the system, complete with corruption and fraud with official coverups in a never-ending sequence of crime scenes, pitted against the forces of justice and fair markets. Not a single fair market exists in USDollar terms. In pure Orwellian style, every single market has a US-based or London-based financial engineer at a control panel doing duty in price intervention. The Western defenders of the syndicate do not wish for the price structure to reflect the reality of physical shortage or the bounty of paper-based surplus, for the currencies to reflect true toxic value, and for the discovery price systems to reflect the raids of private accounts. The system is broken, and the pressure is building.

When young in school, the principles of entropy and enthalpy were introduced in chemistry classes. The ENTROPY was taught as the thermodynamic property toward equilibrium and dissipation. In layman’s terms it was the tendency for a system to seek greater randomness. Sometimes the dissipation comes from the scattered heat, but often the spread of physical items. Like smoke from a fireplace to spread about the neighborhood, like for the odor of nail polish remover to dissipate about the house or porch, like for the toys from a children’s playbox to relocate in every corner of the house, like for pet mice to scatter from a shoebox in a bedroom closet, like for the heat from a car engine to spread across the driveway and around the yard. Extend toward information to spread on grapevines about the office building.

The ENTHALPY was taught as a measure of the total energy of a thermodynamic system. It includes the internal energy, and the amount of energy required to contain a system by displacing its environment when establishing its volume and pressure. Enthalpy is a thermodynamic potential, which is layman’s terms can be thought of as the tendency for an object or system to seek its lowest potential energy. Like a tree toppling in the wind, like a group of items moving from the top of the stairwell to the bottom, like tattered roof parts falling to the ground, like wall ornaments hitting the floor during a storm or tremor. Extend toward a market removing its props, where all channels of data enter the room to effect change toward an equilibrium. Transfer the concept the the financial system. The lower potential energy comes from the extraordinary coils and loaded springs that hold the artificial price structure in place, even the information devices that distort truth. Enthalpy is more recently defined as the amount of heat content used or released in a system at constant pressure. Notice the rising heat within the current distorted financial system. Enthalpy is usually expressed as the change in enthalpy. The pressure in the financial markets is building. Heat is soon to be released in great volumes. The victim will be the USDollar, the USEconomy, the USTreasury Bond, and the price structures all held with great artificial forces. The system seeks the familiar randomness of fair equilibrium-based structures, not the 8am daily whack to the gold price from the London fix, not the regular 10am or 3pm rescue to the S&P500 stock index, not the regular ceiling placed on a 1% upleg in the gold price from capping efforts. The most prominent energy relief valve is the USTBond 10-year yield, which had moved below the 1.5% mark comfortably, as the Jackass forecasted. Its move toward 1.0% would signal systemic failure, as capital needs would give way to the vortex of the Black Hole of USTBonds described in May.

Consider in brief terms the many extreme conflicts and pressure points. None of these existed five or ten or fifteen years ago, yet all are somehow considered part of the New Normal landscape. Give credit to Mohamed El-Erian for his contribution to Orwellian logic, the new spokesman for established normality and revisionist equilibriumn stasis. Nothing normal here, even if declared by the Harvard escapee. The conflicts and pressures come from every conceivable financial arena and marbled office, every nook and cranny.

EURO CENTRAL BANK VS MARGIN CALLS
The European Central Bank is in a pickle. The opened their windows to accept all manner of toxic paper as collateral for newer fresher toxic paper. Market forces reduce the value of the sovereign bonds. The stream of debt downgrades is making life difficult within their chambers. The pressure rises for acquiring cash funds, as the resistance grows toward fair pricing of garbage paper bearing ink and signatures adorned in fancy calligraphy. The debt downgrades force many borrowers at the EuroCB window into a corner. They must deal with margin calls in the same way speculators do at the COMEX on futures positions. Thus the natural tendency toward lower potential energy. So conclude the ECB is nothing more than a purveyor of leveraged toilet paper with ornate trim, whose officers have dropped their pants, yet few notice. What holds constant is the utterly ghastly odor emanating from the window, where greater dispersion is underway of fecal effluence. It will end ugly, as the ECB will simply dispense paper currency to hold the system upright and to avoid collapse. They long ago became a Weimar apprentice. The conflict and pressure will grow until the pressure spills over.

EU TROIKA BANKERS VS PIIGS PEOPLE
The battle between bankers and people has been clear for over two years. The Greek Model is stark and clear. The bankers wish to redeem their toxic sovereign bonds by whatever means. The European Commission of babblers from Brussels has not shown any restraint, despite their forum being discredited as an empty chamber of voices. The finance ministers continue to talk a good game but with nothing under their belts to impress eager hands from the private sector in search of satisfaction, even a cheap thrill from a quick redemption. The Euro Central Bank has conspired to accumulate a mountain of worthless bonds in its basement, sure to disappoint their masters in the castles. Their balance sheets are running negative in the $trillions. On the other side is the people, the depositors at banks, the taxpayers to fund the government offices, even if their disheveled outposts resemble a tsunami on the day after in Athens. The stock investors and bond investors have been ravaged by the Troika who pay homage to the bankers with one vacant bailout after another. My forecast 12 to 18 months ago was that the bailouts would continue until the streets witnessed protest and violence. That has come. The pressures build for public release of anger. The dissipation is of people to the streets, out of their confined offices which no longer seem to harbor the function of added value in production terms. Random violence has grown common. The conflict and pressure will grow until the pressure spills over.

LIBOR BIG BANKS VS LILLIPUTIAN VICTIMS
The LIBOR scandal is best described as an assault on the center of Western banking, where the discovery process as part of justice will pry open every conceivable filing cabinet, computer hard drive, email box, and contract in a drawer. Permission is granted to search. The process will relieve the pressures upon distorted markets and inherent collusion. The brush fires will extend from the basic LIBOR forest to the narco money laundering fields to the Allocated Gold account basements to the raided GLD fund vaults.The extended brush fires will be enabled by the dispersion forces known to the crowbar. As the light is directed to the scummy basements and putrid laundry fields, the potential exists for serious systemic change as the pillars of syndicate controls are slowly removed. That process will come by means of erosion, faltering, and dismantlement. The other side is chockfull of victims, the lists becoming gradually clear. Any recipient of a swap contract is a loser. Any underwriter to an adjustable rate mortgage is a loser. Any financial engineer who re-geared complex machinery via swaps is a loser. They will all line up in lawsuits, sure to capture attention. The gaggle of class action cases will be just as important as the collection of high profile cases.

The armada of smaller victims will form like Lilliputians to tie down the oversized Too Big To Fail banks. Oh, how the Jackass despises that moniker! It means too big to control, too big to enforce the law, too big to succeed, standing as the billboard of failure on the flipside to the Fascist Business Model. Pressure will be relieved and lower potential energy will be realized as the big banks suffer massive lawsuit awards as pent-up grievances are addressed. Their control of the system cannot continue under such circumstances. The greater de-centralization of bank power will be the manifestation of much higher randomness. Systems might seek some concentration of power, but not like what the West has formed. The banks will eventually serve a noble but boring cause, of acting like utilities in bill payments, cash dispersal, and currency conversion. They will also manage credit dispensation. The age of the investment banker will revert to regional offices. The conflict and pressure will grow until the pressure spills over.

US BANKS VS LONDON BANKS VS EURO BANKS
The first real evidence of bankers from one region attacking the bankers from another came not from the LIBOR scandal, but from inside word about Deutsche Bank. My banker source from Central Europe informed that in the wake of Josef Ackerman being deposed as CEO without ceremony, the once venerable bank has turned state’s evidence and is working closely with the Intl Court of Hague, the Interpol special fraud division, and other key investigators. The DBank officials wish to avoid prison time as they assist in attacks on London bankers and New York bankers for multi-$billion criminal activity. The new sheriff from the East is busy at work and has lined up some formidable snitches. The same source mentioned how Diamond of Barclays would cooperate in London to avoid prosecution, but he would be eaten by US wolves. He mentioned how DBank in Germany would avoid prosecution in the homeland but would be devoured by the US wolves. The stage is set for vast attacks, retaliation, and exposures. The result will be the bankers from all three camps decimated, discredited, and scattered to the wolves and their thirst for justice. They will tear each other apart with grand gestures laden in attack, appearing as self-preservation.

Back in May, the Jackass wrote about how the Wall Street bankers would undermine Europe in order to deflect blame, as they would accelerate the sovereign bond bust in Europe in order to redirect attention from the USTBond bubble and wecked machinery to support it. That process is moving along as scheduled. What follows will be a grand amplification though, as each camp betrays the others in a battle for survival. Irony will win, as each will deliver mortal blows to the others, leaving all three camps in ruin. The public will not be aware of the source of informational grenades and computer file howitzers. The pressures between camps cannot be ameliorated by subsidiaries of foreign origin. The loyalties will be tested. Immunity offered by one group of authorities will not count for anything as the other authorities will ignore such deals and proceed with deeply damaging assaults. The jurisdiction lines will become battle lines in a banker war already begun. Defensive maneuvers will deliver deep wounds across the oceans. All camps will lose their banker helm positions of strength. The conflict and pressure will grow until the pressure spills over.

EASTERN TRADE PARTNERS VS USDEPT TREASURY
A battle for trade standards has been building for five years. The dominant industrial producers in the East, the developing nations, have been gaining numbers and building strength. They oppose the USDollar standard, which funnels all flow through the mighty swift gates of US control. A recent important event saw the Chinese offer their $3 trillion in reserves, mostly held in USTBonds, as a core to a trade fund for usage by the many partners in global trade. The US is left handcuffed, unable to respond. The bank bond fraud, the unbridled USFed hyper monetary inflation, the heavy handed usage of banks as weapons (see SWIFT bank code tactic), the favored treatment by the inflitrated IMF and World Bank, these all invite retaliation. The pressure builds to conform to the USDollar reserve standard or face isolation if not military rebuke. The East rallies in response around the new global leader in China. They are developing a new trade settlement system. It is ready for prime time usage. They await the collapse of the USDollar flagship running aground in the troubled bubbly USTBond waters, contaminated by the acidic sovereign bonds, weighed down by arrogance. A vast differential in potential energy has set up a very dangerous global situation. The US$-based system is on its last legs, yet half the Western population cannot see the clear message.

The billboards are too dominated by the corrupted press, which spews a banker message of resolve, recovery, and solutions. The chief negotiator and medical administrator remains Jack Daniels with his staff from Southern Comfort. They solve nothing. As the de-centralization of trade settlement becomes the norm, the dispersion of power centers will exert its powerful opposing forces. It will be a remarkable sight. The US might actually be left out almost completely from the process, and suffer walking through the doorway into the Third World. The Fascist Business Model has a portal to the Third World which is not well understood, as inefficiency and corruption push elements on the pathway. The USGovt officials will be powerless to stop the movement. The Chinese will be unfettered in pursuing the non-US$ solution. It is only natural to seek water from many alternate storage centers, to channel from the most available local supply locations, not just the USFed and the US big banks. The relief of vast differential forces is near. The Jackass has called it a Paradigm Shift in past work. Few comprehend it. The conflict and pressure will grow until the pressure spills over.

USFED QE3 VS FINANCIAL MARKET BEGGERS
Since 2008, a queer pathetic phenomenon has shown itself. The broken financial markets and their captains of futility seek constant and regular aid (if not sustenance) from the official offices. The call for more Quantitative Easing with its attendant destructive bond purchases in direct monetization initiative are heard more frequently. No calls for the system to remedy itself through proper pricing and seeking equlibrium due to supply versus demand, during a vast liquidation process. The desperation is evident and thick. Whenever the S&P500 stock index falters too much, the calls are heard louder for more intervention. Heaven forbid the move to proper pricing of assets, or even of the USDollar arbiter. The fund managers, the big investors, even the Wall Street office managers appear in regular pop-up interviews calling for urgent USFed bond monetization, to feed the badly needed liquidity infusions.Two or three years ago the conversation centered upon the many alphabet soup facilities devised by the USFed to accommodate the liquidity needs. Nowadays the facilities have folded like tributaries into the primary channel of QE. Little does the investment community realize that QE was followed by QE2, and Operation Twist was actually QE3, which morphed into QE4, while the entire nest of central bankers engaged in Global QE. In fact, the pathetic fact of financial life is that QE to Infinity is the working theme. That or collapse.

In my view, QE to Infinity assures the destruction. It is an implicit admission of central bank failure brought about by debt saturation. The group of major central bankers has failed in full view and in front of governmental panels. Chairman Bernanke is a bagholder. The modern nobility of economists is unspeakably incompetent, having lost their chapters on capital formation, having replaced them with chapters on controls and hidden intervention tools, with an appendix of banking system diagrams that appears like a perpetual motion machine (or vast money laundering system). The pressures are building for the hidden tools to work their way to the surface, much like pus does from a giant boil on the skin. The toxic condition of the banking system has proved to be prevalent acne on the body economic. The system strives toward more equilibrium in market price structures. In my view the stock market and bond market and currency market for the United States should be priced 50% lower across the board. Panic is nigh it seems. The lower potential energy from a lower priced asset structure is sought. The conflict and pressure will grow until the pressure spills over.

JPM INTEREST RATE SWAPS VS USTBOND CAVE-IN
In May the vast Interest Rate Swap structures were given attention in Jackass analysis. The USTBond tower cannot grow to the sky anymore than the Tower of Babel could in ancient times. Some irony must be pointed out, as the London Summer Olympic games chose to embrace some ancient Mesapotamian symbols in the music and hill props for the opening ceremonies. It was the established bankers issuing a FU flipped bird to the public. They are under assault, yet defiant and apparently in control. The Interest Rate Swaps permit the JPMorgan shop of horrors to apply props to the USTBond tower. Each month the USGovt debt grows higher. Each month the pressure on the IRSwap machinery grows, eventually to the point of breakdown. Imagine a crane operator who must climb to his cabin in the sky, where every six months the height of the cabin increases. Whereas one year ago the cabin was 150 stories high, six months ago it was 180 stories high, and today it is 210 stories high. If the dizzying altitude does not inhibit the crane, it is the difficulty is twisting its cantilevered arms to drop the materials. High winds are the new normal. So are collapses the new normal. Notice the increasing attention given to the IRSwaps.

The scrutiny of Morgan Stanley financial books and strategic positions is the untold story. The army of 900 highly paid financial accountants and analysts will soon reveal their verdict on health. Word will leak out, seeking greater dispersion along the information laws of thermodynamics. The pressure mounts, as the reality of actual solvent condition bounces off the strained leveraged machinery to keep it all in place, and to maintain a front of strength. The machinery cannot win. The tower will fall. The cracks are showing in the props. As my excellent banker source said in early June, a wrench was tossed in the JPMorgan machinery, and the assured collapse of the derivative mechanisms will proceed until its natural conclusion. The quarterly statements from the big US banks read more and more like an obituary, but their stocks trade against the painted expectations without mention of the word failure. The gears are breaking, but only those with ears can hear. The cables are snapping, ubt only those with eyes can see. The conflict and pressure will grow until the pressure spills over.

JPM GOLD SHORT GAME VS COMEX RIG & GLD RAIDS
JPMorgan serves as a symbol for the heavy controls, the corrupted devices, and the rigged game. They do not act alone, but rather serve as the visible syndicate fortress, replete with obnoxious arrogance. The gold market is the center of the corrupted control mechanisms. If the gold price were permitted to sit at a more accurate, more justified, more equitable price of $2500 per ounce right here, right now, it is an absolute guarantee that the USDollar would sink in shame below the 70 level in the DX index. It is an absolute guarantee that the USTBond would be offered above the 5% yield level amidst hue and cry. It is an absolute guarantee that the US-based price inflation index would be above the 5% level also, complete with screams of pain. What JPMorgan does in order to maintain the price structures, much like a master maestro, is to raid Allocated Gold accounts while at the same time raid the GLD exchange traded fund gold inventories. Their routine naked shorting in the COMEX arena is inadequate, as their strategy requires some physical metal even if stolen or seized or captured. They repeat the process in the silver market for Allocated Silver accounts and the SLV exchange traded fund inventories for silver.

A source for Bill Murphy of the GATA organization has told him that the powerful move in precious metals prices that took place between August 2010 and April 2011 was a direct result of certain restraints placed upon JPMorgan and their interference with the Gold & Silver markets. The story was never told properly. My view at the time was of colossal Chinese purchases overwhelming the system. The system has had the capability to put on a seeming infinite load of naked shorts. The JPMorgan machinery has actually doubled its naked short position in the last two years. Nothing stops them, surely not regulators in their pocket. Well, except the natural forces toward greater randomness and lower potential energy. A great deal of attention has come to the bar inventory of GLD and SLV funds, in addition to the rules that guide the raids from their back door via stock share shorting practices. It will be interesting to see if Eric Sprott will acquire as source for new silver bullion for his Silver Trust the actual inventory from the SLV fund itself. What a coup that would be!

Internal word from the Monaco source who spoke with Murphy indicates that a repeat of August 2010 is soon to occur. JPMorgan is out of time, and their illegal devices will be halted. The event for release of the Gold & Silver prices could occur again in August. The actual enforcement is not clear. But be assured that forces pitted against evil are involved. The JPMorgan machinery might be stalled in ways unclear even to those informed within the gold community. Confirmation of the Murphy source has come from a highly reliable Jackass source. An exciting move is coming for the precious metals markets. Any delay to the revelations of criminal action in the gold market by JPMorgan will be a result of threats and intimidation by the big bank against the whistle blowers. My main hope is that as the price rises, the exposure of corrupt controls is also made more available for public view. The people must see what has occurred to both the gold market and the currency market. The potential energy is growing to incredible levels, as a corrupt lid has been placed on the true money of the world for seveal millenia, gold. The conflict and pressure will grow until the pressure spills over.

USECONOMIC RECOVERY VS PROPAGANDA REALITY CHECK
The final example of cumulative strain concerns the USEconomy. At the start of the new year, it seemed a political propaganda plank was trotted out. Obviously, it was laughable on its face. The supposed recovery is not occurring. The constant deterioration of the economy is the constant of reality, much as described without hesitation or restraint by the Jackass. No amount of political need for continuation of an incumbent administration can compensation for the pressures of reality and exposure to the altered markets, even to the vastly deteriorating USEconomy. The national economy is approaching a freefall that later will produce a collapse. The many indexes like the Philly Fed, other regional indexes, the Institute for Supply Management, retail sales, and capital investment all look dismal. The sources of the problem are too numerous to cite, but they include a broken investment bank system, an insolvent banking system, a ruined bond market for all sovereigns, and debt beyond saturation levels. The true refuge is Gold & Silver, the constant over the ages, which will return to the core center of banking and trade. The justice meted out will be trade systems dictating to banking reserve systems, or else face obsolescence.The pressures of reality for citizens living their lives, raising their families, and managing their households, will continue. They know of the mess facing the nation, and tolerate on a reduced level the propaganda. The sitting administration has not bothered with the story of recovery anymore, but Wall Street does in laughable fashion. The conflict and pressure will grow until the pressure spills over.

SYSTEMIC UPHEAVAL
Such upheaval is known by many names. The system is turned upside down. Those in office face the nasty consequence of the more universal legal system at work. Some will seek asylum in foreign nations, including the old refuge of Paraguay. History from the 1940 era repeats itself, since the evildoers merely found rooted sanctuary in New York, WashingtonDC, and London, if truth be known. About five years ago, a remarkable fact came to light, about fractures within most agencies, departments, and ruling bodies within the United States. Deep divisions grew as cracks spread across the power structure. My best description has been of Loyalists versus Constitutionalists in the layout of the struggle. The Loyalists had devotion and showed fealty to the Syndicate in charge, with the power of men prevailing over the rule of law. Their calling card has been the endless wars and the ample flows of ill-gotten gains where the underworld dominates, the cancerous banking system replete with bond fraud and contract fraud perpetrated with impunity and official protection, the vast monopoly of contraband and its flows into financial structures, the extensive application of control mechanisms to protect the system and to sustain it. The deep divisions are not resolvable without tumult and upheaval. The hope and prayer is for an orderly transition without the loss of live by innocent masses, nor the undue loss of wealth by the ignorant masses.

The locations of the divisions include the USDept Treasury, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Central Intelligence Agency, the Pentagon Chiefs of Staff, the USDept Justice, the Securities & Exchange Commission, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, the Congressional finance committees, and more. Many of the divisions extend from conflicts between elected officials and appointed officials. Refer to elected representatives versus the embedded syndicate. The USDept Treasury for instance does not have significant turnover from one election to the next. In fact, when a new Treasury Secretary is to be appointed and approved, the syndicate message is to have in place someone with experience, to avoid on-the-job training. Translate to mean a syndicate henchman to continue the nefarious inner works. Numerous scattered reports have come from deep within the power centers of the United States. A reaction has come against the steady stream of executive decrees. The new sheriff in town from the East is taking charge with a team of international cops. Too many violations at the top have occurred. The claim that the United States is a beacon of freedom is much like Vladimir Lenin proclaiming a paradise for the proletariat in Russia. The US leadership is in the process of being exposed. The ugly rancid underbelly will be in view soon on the global stage.

Many quiet leaders are apalled at the course of events, who sit in offices that never receive much spotlight, but which harbor much power. The forces toward greater randomness go hand in hand with the movement toward free spirits. The forces toward reduced potential energy go hand in hand with the direction toward de-centralization of power. The entire broken system revolves around a toxic USDollar and its fierce defense by dark powers. Their failure is evident in the 0% official interest rate managed by force by the USFed central bank, together with the bust of sovereign European bonds. The USTreasury Bond ultra-low rates serve as a mockery to the asset pricing system. The strain with wars and press support add pressures from deep within the system. The conflict and pressure will grow until the pressure spills over. When it does, a new global system will be in effect, based upon Gold. The shiny inert yellow metal is the fair arbiter of trade, the true store of value, the timeless object of money. Gold has often showed its value during times of upheaval and radical systemic change. These are dangerous times, especially for those who refuse to heed the warnings. Gold is the refuge and core of stability, as the thermodynamic forces show themselves.

THE HAT TRICK LETTER PROFITS IN THE CURRENT CRISIS.

home:  Golden Jackass website              
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Jim Willie CB, editor of the “HAT TRICK LETTER”

Use the above link to subscribe to the paid research reports, which include coverage of critically important factors at work during the ongoing panicky attempt to sustain an unsustainable system burdened by numerous imbalances aggravated by global village forces. An historically unprecedented mess has been created by compromised central bankers and inept economic advisors, whose interference has irreversibly altered and damaged the world financial system, urgently pushed after the removed anchor of money to gold. Analysis features Gold, Crude Oil, USDollar, Treasury bonds, and inter-market dynamics with the US Economy and US Federal Reserve monetary policy.

Jim Willie CB is a statistical analyst in marketing research and retail forecasting. He holds a PhD in Statistics. His career has stretched over 25 years. He aspires to thrive in the financial editor world, unencumbered by the limitations of economic credentials. Visit his free website to find articles from topflight authors at  www.GoldenJackass.com. For personal questions about subscriptions, contact him at  JimWillieCB@aol.com
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Analyst Presents A Terrifying Vision: THE DECLINE OF THE WEST

These Maps And Charts Show How The Average American Got Totally Screwed

from The Business Insider 
This charts, posted to Reddit, provide a sweeping analysis of inequality in the U.S.
Wage disparity in America surpasses that of even Russia and is more comparable to China or Mexico, according to the charts. 
Check it out: 
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HAPPY FRIDAY FOR 1% – THE 99% GET F$#KED AGAIN

Former CIA Army General: Martial Law Expected & “Warranted”

From EtfdailynewsAugust 2nd, 2012

Dominique de Kevelioc de Bailleul:  Lt. General William Boykin (retired) told TruNews Radio Tuesday that the U.S. economy of the United States “is just about the break” and collapse.  And when the dam gives way, severe food shortages and pervasive violence throughout America will warrant, in his opinion, an executive declaration of martial law.
“I’ll be very honest with you; the situation in America could be such that martial law is actually warranted, and that situation in my view could occur if we had an economic collapse,” said Boykin, a former CIA Deputy Director of Special Activities. 
“The dam is just about to break on our economy, and I think when it does, there’s going to be a major disruption of the distribution of food,” he added. “And I think what you’ll see particularly in the inner cities is you will see riots, civil unrest that ultimately might justify martial law.”
Though the U.S. is the world’s largest exporter of agriculture, in the case of a currency collapse, producers will withhold shipments to retailers and consumers unable to pay in a currency other than U.S. dollars.  For a time, barter will take the place of currency for those living in rural areas, but for the majority of Americans living in cities and adjacent suburbs, food shortages can emerge within 24 hours.
“I think those people that are not in the major cities are going to be far better off, but it could actually justify martial law,” Boykin continued.  “And I’m praying that we will not see that kind of collapse, we won’t see a disruption of the distribution of food in America.  That’s probably the single biggest problem.”
Recommendations by “prepper” organizations and a handful of governments (as in the case of Utah and some municipalities) to include storing enough nonperishable food to last a month to 90 days have become commonplace during the four-year-long economic recession, as the history of currency collapses throughout the world demonstrate that for a meaningful period of time food will not be available at grocery stores, food pantries and other collective emergency food supplies.
Recent examples of food shortages due to rapid currency devaluations include Argentina in 2002; Cuba, following the fall of the Soviet Union in 1989; and in Zimbabwe during its currency collapse of the late 2000s.
Although, the U.S. is not expected to match Zimbabwe in intensity and duration of inflation (89 sextillion percent in 2008), all nations undergo a period of profound dislocation of commerce during a currency devaluation, which may range from as little as several weeks to several months.  At that time, food becomes the king of all commodities while government reestablishes a new workable currency to reestablish normal commerce once again.
“If people can eat, they can survive for some period of time while we get through the economic crisis and reestablish currency, and systems, and all that,” said Boykin.  “But if they can’t eat, you know, they’re going to fight.  And that’s my big concern.”
From his intelligence, as well as from numerous publicly-available anecdotal testimonies and leaked government documents, the U.S. military has been preparing with local law enforcement for a coming crisis.  Boykin strongly advises the public to make preparations for the most likely scenario of a coming breakdown of the food distribution channels in America during a dollar collapse.
“For me, I have three months of food stored.  I have a bunch of other essentials that I have stored in my home,” he said.  “And my wife and I are preparing for this.
“Now a lot of people call us, you know, foolish, for that kind of attitude,” he added.  “But I would tell you that I’m not going to be unprepared, and I think people should be prepared now for some disruption. You know this economic collapse is a very strong possibility.  We need to get ready for it, and we need to be thinking through and developing plans for how we’re going to react to it.”
BeaconEquity.com is committed to producing the highest-quality insight and analysis of small-cap  stocks, emerging technology stocks, hot penny stocks and helping investors make informed decisions. Our focus is primarily OTC stocks in the stock market today, which have traditionally been shunned by Wall Street.  We have particular expertise with renewable energy stocks, biotech stocks, oil stocks, green energy stocks and internet stocks. There are many hot penny stock opportunities present in the OTC market everyday and we seek to exploit these hot stock gains for our members before the average daytrader is aware of them.
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[WTF] Russia Moved Nuclear Missiles to Cuba (?)

Cuban missile crisis part two?
Paul Joseph Watson
Infowars.com - Thursday, August 2, 2012
A report out of Pravda quotes President Vladimir Putin as saying that Russia has moved strategic nuclear missiles to Cuba in response to the United States’ continuing efforts to encircle Russia in Eastern Europe.
The article, written by Lyuba Lulko, explains how Russia is reviving its military operations in Vietnam, Cuba and the Seychelles.
In October 2001, President Vladimir Putin announced that the Lourdes radio-electronic center on the island had been shut down as a “gift” to President George W. Bush on the basis of promises given by Bush that the U.S. missile defense system would never be deployed in Eastern Europe.
However, with the missile defense system under the auspices of NATO now reaching “interim operational capability” in Europe at the end of May, that promise has been shattered.
“The Russian Federation has fulfilled all terms of the agreement. And even more. I shut down not only the Cuban Lourdes but also Kamran in Vietnam. I shut them down because I gave my word of honor. I, like a man, has kept my word. What have the Americans done? The Americans are not responsible for their own words. It is no secret that in recent years, the U.S. created a buffer zone around Russia, involving in this process not only the countries of Central Europe, but also the Baltic states, Ukraine and the Caucasus. The only response to this could be an asymmetric expansion of the Russian military presence abroad, particularly in Cuba,” the report quotes Putin as saying.
“With the full consent of the Cuban leadership, on May 11 of this year, our country has not only resumed work in the electronic center of Lourdes, but also placed the latest mobile strategic nuclear missiles “Oak” on the island. They did not want to do it the amicable way, now let them deal with this,” added Putin.
According to the report, Cuba, which was angered by the original decision to shut down the radio-electronic center, has agreed to allow Russia to locate the missiles on Cuban territory because of its fears over new U.S. military bases in Colombia.
Whether the quotes attributed to Putin are accurate or not remains to be seen. They appear nowhere outside of the original Pravda piece.
Once the primary mouthpiece of the Soviet Communist Party, Pravda’s influence has now declined rapidly. The online version is managed by former journalists who worked for the original newspaper but other than that the two versions are separate entities.
Speculation that Russia was re-building its nuclear infrastructure in preparation for a potential future conflict came with the news that 5,000 new nuclear bomb shelters were being constructed in Moscow to be completed by the end of 2012.
Officials justified the move by saying they wanted the entire population of Moscow to be able to reach a nuclear bomb shelter within minutes. China has also built huge underground bomb shelters, outpacing the United States whose bomb shelters from the cold war era still remain as they were at the time or have been decommissioned.
The prospect of Russia moving nuclear missiles to Cuba obviously harks back to the 1962 Cuban missile crisis, which marked the closest moment that the world came to World War III and a potential nuclear holocaust.
Given the gravity of Putin’s alleged statements, don’t expect to wait too long for Russian authorities to deny the quotes featured in the Pravda report.
*********************
Paul Joseph Watson is the editor and writer for Prison Planet.com. He is the author of Order Out Of Chaos. Watson is also a regular fill-in host for The Alex Jones Show and Infowars Nightly News.
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The Fed's Gold Is Being Audited... By The US Treasury

From Zero Hedgeby Tyler Durden 08/02/2012



When we started reading the LA Times article reporting that "the federal government has quietly been completing an audit of U.S. gold stored at the New York Fed" we couldn't help but wonder when the gotcha moment would appear. It was about 15 paragraphs in that we stumbled upon what we were waiting for: "The process involved about half a dozen employees of the Mint, the Treasury inspector general's office and the New York Fed. It was monitored by employees of the Government Accountability Office, Congress' investigative arm." In other words the Fed's gold is being audited... by the Treasury. Now our history may be a little rusty, but as far as we can remember, the last time the Fed was actually independent of the Treasury then-president Harry Truman fired not one but two Fed Chairmen including both Thomas McCabe as well as the man after whom the Fed's current residence is named: Marriner Eccles, culminating with the Fed-Treasury "Accord" of March 3, 1951 which effectively fused the two entities into one - a quasi independent branch of the US government, which would do the bidding of its "political", who in turn has always been merely a proxy for wherever the money came from (historically, and primarily, from Wall Street), which can pretend it is a "private bank" yet which is entirely subjugated to the crony interests funding US politicians (more on that below). But in a nutshell, the irony of the Treasury auditing the fed is like asking Libor Trade A to confirm that Libor Trader B was not only "fixing" the Libor rate correctly and accurately, but that there is no champagne involved for anyone who could misrepresent it the best within the cabal of manipulation in which the Nash Equilibrium was for everyone to commit fraud.
Far more importantly, for all those financial novices who fail to grasp the simplest relationship between assets and liabilities, the allegation expounded by the "conspiracy theorists", as the LA Times calls them, has never been that the gold at the NY Fed is not there. It is by all means there: after all what safer place to keep it than 80 feet below the Federal Reserve itself, the same Fed which has exclusive access to the 1000+ strong Federeal Reserve Police whose "primary duty is to provide force protection to Federal Reserve facilities. Secondary responsibilities, depending on the particular location, may include liaison work with other law enforcement agencies and/or investigative work related to administrative matters."
And not only the gold belonging to the US: it is well known that the bulk of Europe's sovereign gold is also contained deep under downtown Manhattan: we wish them all the best when they attempt to repatriate the physical when they need it, such as the day after the EUR finally collapses.
No - what the "conspiracy theorists" allege is that claims existing in paper format on the physical gold held under Liberty 33 are orders of magnitude greater than the actual physical gold these claims supposedly have recourse to. Indeed, this too was a conspiracy theory until the failure of MF Global proved it to be a conspiracy "fact" and the entire asset-liabilityrehypothecation daisy-chain threatened to begin unwinding in November of 2011, at which point forced delivery of hard assets would expose the entire facade of the modern financial system to be a hollow sham.
So unless the Treasury will also conduct a full "audit" of every single paper trail and every physical bar is mapped to all of its existing obligors, then the entire operation is absolutely meaningless andsimply a waste of taxpayer money. Because the physical gold may well be there (and furthermore it is the gold at Ft. Knox that was questionable; never the gold held by the Fed, but who cares about details). The problem is if the paper claims on this gold are far greater than the actual deliverable physical gold for that moment when the latest attempt to kick the can down the rehypothecated road finally fails.
Of course, none of the this was addressed in the simplistic LA Times narrative whose sole purposes is to "frame" the issue for those uninformed and on the fence that, look officer, America is proactively doing something to address all those tinfoil hat nut job gold hoarders' allegations that the Fed actually is not in possession of its gold.
Here is what was addressed:
The Treasury Department has refused to disclose what the audit has revealed so far, saying the results will be announced by year's end. But as one former top Fed official said recently, the testing may finally prove that "Goldfinger didn't sneak in at night" and take the gold.

"The calls for audits are saying, 'We don't trust the government for the last 200 years,'" said Ted Truman, a former assistant Treasury secretary and Fed official. He called perennial questions about the country's reserves "the gold bug equivalent of the birther movement."

The Treasury's auditing operation, including drilling, is a first for the New York Fed. The department's inspector general previously audited and tested only gold it keeps under heavy guard at Ft. Knox, West Point and the U.S. Mint in Denver. These three locations hold 95% of the country's bullion.

In New York, about $21 billion in U.S. gold is locked inside the Fed's vault. It's stored alongside bullion from three dozen other countries and organizations such as the International Monetary Fund. All told, about 23% of the world's official gold reserves are stored in the central bank's vaults.
Of course, what attempt at framing would be complete with an actual quite vivid description of the frame.
The process involved about half a dozen employees of the Mint, the Treasury inspector general's office and the New York Fed. It was monitored by employees of the Government Accountability Office, Congress' investigative arm.

The bars were first weighed on a small electronic scale, then transferred to a table mounted with a long, thin drill used to burrow into the gold, said a person familiar with the operation who was not authorized to speak publicly.

Workers were careful to collect any stray gold bits, the source said. Based on the market price of about $1,600 per troy ounce, the Treasury removed more than $110,000 worth of gold samples.

A Mint spokesman said about 1 to 1.5 grams of each sample is destroyed in the assaying process, with the remaining granules returned to the government.
Gasp: will someone think of the sacrifices. Oh wait, that is precisely what one is supposed to think of. And none of what actually matters.
At this point, the Times piece almost grasps what the real issue is, once again courtesy of Ron Paul:
"If the gold is there and everything is in order, they should welcome an audit," Paul said in an interview.
He said he doesn't suspect that anyone has replaced the gold bars with fakes. He's more interested in examining paperwork that would show whether the gold has been used in any transactions that were never disclosed to the public, such as loans to other governments.

He is not alone. In Germany, there have been calls by some politicians to "repatriate" the country's foreign gold reserves and return to a gold standard as the euro common currency faces an uncertain future.

Philipp Missfelder, a prominent German legislator in the country's ruling Christian Democratic Union party, visited the New York Fed in February seeking to inspect his country's gold.

Missfelder was not given access to Germany's gold bars, though it's unclear why, according to German magazine Der Spiegel. He declined to comment.
The LA Times' conclusion redirects however to more important things. Such as the Fed's current role of preserving "ze price stabeeleetee."
These days the New York Fed focuses on more pressing roles: implementing the country's monetary policy by expanding or tightening the money supply. It played a central role in propping up the financial system in 2008.
And so forth. The whole piece can be found here in its entirety.
One thing which will not be found after the jump, however, is this rather extensive explanation of a topic we touched upon: in essence how under the guise of the Fed "gaining its independence" in 1951, the Fed lost all of it.
Below we repost our article from April in which we explained every nuance of the tortured relationship between the Fed, the Treasury, and the US presidency, which finally hits a screeching crescendo in 1951... and afterwards was silent.
From Zero Hedge
Who Is Lying: The Federal Reserve Or... The Federal Reserve? And Why Stalin "Lost"
When one thinks of the early 1950's, things that often come to mind are fries and milkshake, muscle cars, Little Richard, and greased hair. Things that rarely come to mind are that the US and China were openly at war over a little piece of land called Korea, that the Treasury market did not exist, that short and long end rates were "fixed" by the Fed at 0.125% and 2.5% respectively, even as inflation was at the highest it has ever been in the post war period at over 20%. What absolutely never comes to mind, is that on March 3, 1951, the world as we know it changed forever, after a little noted event known as the Fed-Treasury Accord of March 3, 1951 took place, and mutated the role of the Federal Reserve, which set off on a path that would ultimately lead to the disastrous economic state the world finds itself in today.
Oh and another thing that never comes to mind, is that while the current iteration of the Fed, various recent voodoo economic theories, and assorted blogs, all claim that excess bank reserves are never an inflationary threat, it is precisely two Federal Reserve chairmen's heretic claims that reserves will light an inflationary conflagration, that forced then president Truman to eliminate not one but two Fed Chairmen, and nearly result in the "independent" Federal Reserve being subsumed by the Treasury to do its monetization and market manipulation/intervention bidding. Which then begs the question: who is telling the truth about the linkage of reserve accumulation to inflation - the Fed of 1951, or every other Fed since, now firmly under the control of the Treasury-banker syndicate. Because they can not both be right.
Why is March 3, 1951 such an important date? Because, more than anything, the confluence of events that led to the "Accord" signed on this day have extensive parallels to our current situation, as the attached paper by the Federal Reserve of Richmond shows in exquisite detail, yet 100% in reverse.
In a nutshell what happened in the late 1940s and early 1950s was that in the aftermath of WWII, and the outbreak of the Korean war, America found itself in a very odd situation... one never really encountered until today. The country had soaring inflation - as in real inflation, not just core inflation measured by hedonic adjustments and excluding all those thing that actually do go up in price. More importantly, it had the 1950's version of ZIRP - only then it was called a peg, in this case of 0.375%, and subsequently 0.125% on short end Treasurys, and 2.5% on long-dated paper. In other words, the monetary situation in 1951 was one where both the short and long end of the curve were artificially boosted (think ZIRP and Twist), just so holders of Treasury paper (at that time only insurance companies as banks were not allowed to invest in TSYs) did not experience losses and get further "demoralized" in addition to the war that Truman was currently waging.
In fact, the following quote from none other than Truman is as idiotic, yet as valid today, as it was 61 years ago:
[T]he Federal Reserve Board should make it perfectly plain. . . to the New York Bankers that the peg is stabilized....I hope the Board will...not allow the bottom to drop from under our securities. If that happens that is exactly what Mr. Stalin wants. (FOMC Minutes, 1/31/51, p. 9)
And this:
The FOMC met with President Truman late in the afternoon of Wednes- day, January 31.17    Truman began by stating that “the present emergency is  greatest this country has ever faced, including the two World Wars and all the preceding wars.. . . [W]e must combat Communist influence on many fronts.. . . [I]f the people lose confidence in government securities all we hope to gain from our military mobilization, and war if need be, might be jeopardized.”
This is arguably the earliest recorded iteration in modern history of a "the world will come to an end unless you don't do what I tell you" type of threat uttered by a member of the administration (ahem Hank Paulson) to a governing body. We will skip commenting on the supreme irony that according to Truman, Stalin would win if the US did not engage in the same central planning that ultimately brought the Soviet empire down. 
Yet what is so very different about this date in history, is that while it was the Treasury pushing tooth and nail for endless bond pegging by the Fed (apparently nobody had thought of QE back then yet, because it would have been all the rage), the body warning about the potential threat of runaway inflation from a surge in reserves, as well as the dangers associated with central planning was... The Federal Reserve.
Huh !!??
The same Fed that can not withhold its exuberance in encouraging ZIRP, Twist, LSAP, selling of Treasury Puts, and every other form of market intervention known to man, warning the president these very same actions would lead to ruin? And not only that but Truman being forced to get rid of not just Fed veteran Marriner Eccles (after whom the building in which centrally planned schemes are hatched every single day in yet another supreme irony), but also his successorThomas McCabe who also refused to follow the precepts of central planning... who in turn was replaced by a Treasury muppet, or someone who will gladly monetize US debt whenever needed, at which point the scene for the final outcome was set.
That is impossible you say. Oh, not only is it impossible but it gets much better.
Because not only did the two veteran Fed chairmen warn against the state's incursion into central planning, but they explicitly said something which the Fed, or at least its modern versions, have rejected over and over, especially during congressional committees: that a build of bank reserves is the surest way to spark hyperinflation.
But....but....but.... this is what fringe tin-foil hat blogs allege.... not Fed chairmen who between them have over 20 years of tenure.
Well, here are the facts:
“We have marched up the hill several times and then marched down again. This time I think we should act on the basis of our unwillingness to continue to supply reserves to the market by supporting the existing rate structure and should advise the Treasury that this is what we intend to do—not seek instructions” (FOMC Minutes, 8/18/50, p. 137).

[Fed member] Sproul would state the idea that a central bank controls inflation through the monetary control made possible by allowing market determination of the interest rate: "[T]he Committee did not in its operations drive securities to any price or yield....[M]arket forces had been the determining factor, and that only in resisting the creation of reserves had the committee been a party to an increase in interest rates. That...was the result of market forces, and not the action of the Committee. (FOMC Minutes, 3/1/51, pp. 125–26)"
In response to Truman's ceaseless demands for pegging interest rates even as inflation was spiking over 20%, NY Fed president Sproul said that...
...this “would make the Federal Reserve System a bureau of the Treasury and, in light of the responsibilities placed in the System by the Congress, would be both impossible and improper” (FOMC Minutes, 1/31/51, p. 23).
In other words, pegging (i.e., ZIRP, Twist, LSAP)... is "impossible and improper"... is unconstitutional another word for it?
In retrospect perhaps we were a little too rought on Mr. Martin, who despite being a Treasury puppet, had these words to say:
In his speech accepting an appointment to the Board of Governors, Martin (1951, p. 377) said:

"Unless inflation is controlled, it could prove to be an even more serious threat to the vitality of our country than the more spectacular aggressions of enemies outside our borders. I pledge myself to support all reasonable measures to preserve the purchasing power of the dollar."
There are those who claim the Fed has become the bankers' puppet. It was not always so. In fact, the bankers loathed the Fed... Until the "Accord"
The banking community contributed to the Fed’s isolation by refusing to support its position. On February 2, the Board had met with the Federal Advisory Council, which represents the views of large banks. At that meeting, Eccles accused bankers of a lack of “courage and realistic leadership” (Board Minutes, 2/20/51, p. 389).

The Executive Committee refused to withdraw the FOMC’s letter to the President. Furthermore, it wrote a defiant letter to Senator O’Mahoney. The initial substantive paragraph began with the famous quote from John Maynard Keynes: “[T]hat the best way to destroy the Capitalist System was to debauch the currency” (FOMC Minutes, 2/14/51, p. 87).
It just gets better, as Marriner Eccles puts it into overdrive:
"We favor the lowest rate of interest on government securities that will cause true investors to buy and hold these securities. Today’s inflation. ... is due to mounting civilian expenditures largely financed directly or indirectly by sale of Government securities to the Federal Reserve.. . . The inevitable result is more and more money and cheaper and cheaper dollars." (FOMC Minutes, 2/7/51, p. 60)
Yet punchline #1:
[We are making] it possible for the public to convert Government securities into money to expand the money supply....We are almost solely responsible for this inflation. It is not deficit financing that is responsible because there has been surplus in the Treasury right along; the whole question of having rationing and price controls is due to the fact that we have this monetary inflation, and this committee is the only agency in existence that can curb and stop the growth of money.. . . [W]e should tell the Treasury, the President, and the Congress these facts, and do something about it....We have not only the power but the responsibility....If Congress does not like what we are doing, then they can change the rules. (FOMC Minutes, 2/6/51, pp. 50–51)
And #2 and final:
Governor Eccles and Representative Wright Patman, who was a populist congressman from Texarkana, Texas, went head-to-head:

Patman: Don’t you think there is some obligation of the Federal Reserve System to protect the public against excessive interest rates? 

Eccles: I think there is a greater obligation to the American public to protect them against the deterioration of the dollar. 

Patman: Who is master, the Federal Reserve or the Treasury? You know, the Treasury came here first. 

EcclesHow do you reconcile the Treasury’s position of saying they want the interest rate low, with the Federal Reserve standing ready to peg the market, and at the same time expect to stop inflation? 

Patman: Will the Federal Reserve System support the Secretary of the Treasury in that effort [to retain the 2 1/2 percent rate] or will it    refuse?. . . You    are    sabotaging    the    Treasury.    I    think    it    ought    to    be stopped. 

Eccles[E]ither the Federal Reserve should be recognized as having some independent status, or it should be considered as simply an agency or a bureau of the Treasury. (U.S. Congress 1951, pp. 172–76)
And there you have it folks, clear as daylight, every aspect of the tension of the "independent" Fed brought to the surface. Because the few men who dared to stand up against Truman,  the doctrine of central planning, "pegging" Treasury prices,  and the banking cartel whose sole prerogative has always and only been cheap and easy money, all got their just deserts:
Fed president #1:
Eccles also reported in his memoirs that shortly before this event he had completed a letter of resignation to the President. He then decided to postpone his resignation. Eccles had been Chairman of the FOMC from its creation in 1935 until 1948. He did not intend to leave Washington with the Federal Reserve under the control of the Treasury. According to a Truman staff member, Truman had failed to reappoint Eccles as Board Chairman in 1948 to show him “who’s boss” (Donovan 1982, p. 331).
And Fed president #2...
While in the hospital, Snyder conveyed to Truman the message that he felt he could no longer work with McCabe. Without a working relationship with the Treasury,McCabe could not function as Chairman of the Board of Governors. McCabe sent in a bitter letter of resignation, but resubmitted a bland version when asked to do so by the White House. McCabe, however, conditioned his resignation on the requirement that his successor be acceptable to the Fed.
As a reminder Snyder was the Secretary of the Treasury.
And whom did Truman replace McCabe with?
On March 15, the President appointed William McChesney Martin to replace McCabe.
Martin was undersecretary of the Treasury: the same institution that wanted all objectors to central planning scrapped. His position? Quote the Fed:
Truman and Snyder were populists who believed that banks, not the market forces of supply and demand, set interest rates. Truman felt that government had a moral obligation to protect the market value of the war bonds purchased by patriotic citizens. He talked about how in World War I he had purchased Liberty Bonds, only to see their value fall after the war.
Yet by keeping bonds pegged at ridiculously low prices during the late 1940s, and early 1950s, inflation exploded.
And that is what marked the beginning of the end, as while the Fed may have gained its independence, the US presidency, acting on behalf of the banks and populism (to keep capital losses to a minimum) made it all too clear anyone who steps out of line would be fired.
Call it a Stalinist putsch.
Actually hold on, did we say Stalin lost? Perhaps we may need to revise that. And while we got closure on that, we are still confused: is the real seed of inflation in reserves?
"Forced by the rate peg issue to make a stand on the role
of a central bank in creating inflation, Eccles expressed the nature of a
central bank in a fiat money regime. It was not private
speculation or government deficits that caused inflation, but rather
reserves and money creation by the central bank."
 [The Treasury-Fed Accord: A New Narrative Account, Richmond Fed, Robert L. Hetzel and Ralph F. Leach]
Ok, now we get it.
And should we listen to the Fed or the... Fed?
Read the full absolutely must read Rchmond Fed narrative of the 1951 accord here. We can only hope someone in Congress can ask Bernanke for his take on the allegations made by the man responsible for the name of the current Fed headquarters.


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currency world trade WTF WTO WW3 xe Xinjiang Yemen Yuan Yugoslavia Zimbabwe zionism zionist trolls zious
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