Bankers and Speculators: Robbing American Workers (6-19-08)

"Large banks buy and sell future contracts for oil like other commodities. Typically, the oil is never delivered, but the sales help determine the price of actual crude oil...large banks and hedge funds now account for 80% of oil-contract trades and have pumped up the price of crude..." ("Speculators accused of driving up gas prices"; USA Today; 6-13-08; Paul Davidson)

Large banks and speculators (investment firms, insurance companies, hedge fund managers, etc) inflated the technology markets; made their billions, and got out right before that market collapsed. Then they moved these profits into the real estate and credit markets, made their billions, and got out right before these markets collapsed. Now it appears they have moved into the commodities market--specifically, oil. We are being given numerous explanations from our government and corporate media talking heads, why gas and oil prices are skyrocketing and causing food (and just about everything else) prices to go up as well. But let's keep it simple, folks.

"Because oil is priced IN DOLLARS, producers raise prices when the dollar is WEAK [falling in value because more of them are being pumped into the economy, as our government continues to spend more than they take in, and must borrow to make up the difference] to maintain profits. But the Federal Reserve [America's 12 largest banks], which has CUT INTEREST RATES seven times since September [of 2007, 9 months ago!], would be hard-pressed to reverse course and raise them in an anemic economy." ("Which way out"; USA Today; 6-13-08)

The Fed has been cutting interest rates to stimulate the economy because of the credit crisis caused by the loose lending practices of many of our large banks. These rate cuts have done little, if anything, to strengthen our weak economy. At best, they've postponed, temporarily, our financial day of reckoning. However, these interest rate cuts have served to do two things: drive up the cost of oil and gas, and produced enormous PROFITS for large banks and "speculators".

"They [the Fed] are PRIVATE credit MONOPOLIES which prey upon the people of the United States for the benefit of themselves and their FOREIGN customers, foreign and domestic SPECULATORS, and swindlers..." (Congressman Louis McFadden; June 10, 1932)

We are talking here about LARGE banks and LARGE speculators; not your local community bank or individual investor. Were talking about the "BIG BOYS"--like the Fed's 12 member banks, and those whom they are in bed with. They all create these "bubbles"; and then get out right before those bubbles "pop". How can they do this? Because the Fed, and those whom they are in "the business" with: know AHEAD OF TIME what THEY will be doing in the near future. It's called, "insider trading".

"This act [the Federal Reserve Act of 1913] establishes the most gigantic TRUST [a combination of firms or corporations for the purpose of reducing competition and CONTROLLING PRICES throughout a business or industry] on earth. When the President signs this bill, the INVISIBLE government by the Monetary Power will be legalized. The people may not know it immediately, but the worst legislative CRIME of the ages is perpetrated by this BANKING bill. To CAUSE high prices all [the Fed] will do will be to LOWER the re-discount rate [rates they charge other banks and lending institutions]...producing an expansion of credit and a rising stock market; then when...business men are adjusted to these conditions, it can check...prosperity in mid-career by ARBITRARILY RAISING the rate of interest...in EITHER case it will possess INSIDE INFORMATION as to financial conditions and ADVANCE KNOWLEDGE of the coming change, either up or down...They KNOW IN ADVANCE when to create panics to THEIR ADVANTAGE. They also know when to stop panic. Inflation and deflation work equally well FOR THEM [the Fed] when they CONTROL FINANCE." (Representative Charles Lindbergh, [R-MN]

This quote is about 70 years old; but still true today!

"...the federal government about 8 years ago [when Texas oil-man, George W. Bush, was elected President] permitted largely UNREGULATED over-the-counter trading and FOREIGN exchanges in the U.S.. That means investors can buy and sell UNLIMITED AMOUNTS of energy futures, skirting rules that curb speculation and skewing the [oil] market...some speculators sell [oil] futures back-and-forth simply to INFLATE the price and REAP WINDFALLS [huge profits]. 'They're gaming the system for MAXIMUM PROFITS', says Rep. Bart Stupak, D-MICH." (USA Today;6-13-08)

Have you heard much lately about the "credit crisis"? I haven't. Everybody's talking now about the "oil and gas" crisis. In September, 2007--before the SEVEN interest rate CUTS by the Fed were enacted--oil was $80 a barrel and the national average for gas was $2.81 a gallon. The Fed's interest rate cuts (making it easier to borrow money to invest in these oil futres] have now seen oil go up to as high as $140 a barrel; and the national average for gas (and I haven't checked in the last hour or so) is at about $4.04 a gallon. The large bankers and speculators are reaping these enormous profits, while working Americans are getting hosed at the gas stations and the grocery stores. It's almost as if our elected officials, and the large bankers (including the Fed) and speculators, are in cahoots together to rip off the American people!

"When average consumers shop for a home mortgage, they don't end up chatting with the lending company's CEO. Nor are they likely to gain access to a special program for Very Important People. But things are different in Washington, where two U.S. Senators and other INSIDERS ended up in a VIP program at Countrywide Financial, the home-loan BEHEMOTH whose fast-and-loose lending practices helped fuel the housing meltdown....The list, as reported by Portfolio.com, included two sitting Senators, Chris Dodd, D-Conn, CHAIRMAN of the [Senate] BANKING Committee, and Kent Conrad, D-N.D., CHAIRMAN of the BUDGET panel. Both men have the ability to affect Countrywide's fortunes, and therein lies a problem with neither Senator seemed to consider when he took out his loans." ("Friends in high places"; USA Today; 6-18-08)

Dodd received two "sweetheart deals" on his refinance-loans on two homes. He sees no hint of impropriety. Conrad called an old friend of his with the federally-chartered mortgage giant Fannie Mae (Jim Johnson) who recommended him to the CEO of Countrywide Financial; who then knocked off $10,700 on a $1.07 million loan on a Delaware beach house. Conrad, like Dodd, said: "I had NO CLUE" that he was given special, preferential treatment. Now either these two men are LIARS; or they should immediately resign their positions as Chairmen of their respective committees because they are obviously, morons. Either way, this demonstrates how our government and "big bankers and speculators" are in bed with each other; and the Fed is comfortably under the covers with them as well.

The subprime mortgage crisis (banks loaning people money who they knew--or should have known--they probably couldn't afford), that's still not bottomed out yet, that has produced the plummeting home values for millions of Americans, is also producing a credit card crisis; which although bad for consumers, is GREAT for large bankers.

"Bankers encouraged customers to use their INFLATED home equity to pay off mounting card balances. In doing so, borrowers converted UNSECURED revolving loans into debt SECURED by their homes, which they now stand to lose if they can't pay their bills. Many financially squeezed borrowers ran up more credit card debt. Now, even with the economy ailing, banks have CONTINUED TO EXPAND credit limits...Banking officials...contend that higher card limits from 2001 through 2006 simply made GOOD BUSINESS SENSE." ("How rising home values placed your finances at risk"; USA Today; 6-18-08)

The Fed and other large banks artificially inflated home values by giving unqualified people the "subprime" loans; then turned around and increased credit card limits, based upon that imaginary "equity" in the home market. The Fed kept pumping up the mortgage and credit card "bubbles" (by issuing cheap credit to all the bankers) until they finally "popped". Now, the bankers are in a "win-win" situation: if the borrowers keep making their payments, they get their money; if they default, they get the property. They then can sit on the property and resell when the market eventually rebounds. Meanwhile, the Fed has kept the cheap credit flowing to the large bankers and "speculators" who can then turn around and invest it in oil-futures. Another "bubble" to make profits by screwing average Americans. Our elected leaders, of course, get their "cut" of the proceeds by sitting idly by and allowing this to go on while they publicly "posture", "debate", and try to use it for political advantage in this years election campaign. Does anyone genuinely believe any of our politicians are going to cut their own throats--or the throats of those who give them huge campaign donations and "sweetheart deals"--in order to give some relief to average working Americans?

In conclusion, the keyword to remember today is, "DEBT". Large bankers profit when average Americans go into debt. The more debt they take on; the more profits for the bankers and speculators. Likewise, when our government takes on more debt--and the current level stands at $9.6 TRILLION, not counting future committments like Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid (which makes it about $63 TRILLION)--the privately-owned and locally controlled "moneyed CORPORATIONS" of the Federal Reserve System, profits. The more money our government borrows; the more money is printed and put into circulation. The more money that is printed and put into circulation; the LESS that money is worth. The less that money is worth; the more corporations have to charge to maintain their current profit margins. Since both presdiential candidates' programs are estimated to increase federal spending by more than a trillion dollars a year; what do you think is going to happen to the price of oil, gas, and other commodities like FOOD, in the future? And NO ONE is addressing this fundamental reality! Drilling for more oil is not going to help this situation in any significant degree. (Do you really think the oil companies are interested in driving DOWN the price of oil?) Much like a flushed toilet; our elected leaders, the Fed and other large banking corporations, and speculators are raking in the profits: while average American working families are watching their childrens' and grandchildrens' futures spiraling downward into the porcelain abyss of financial insanity.

(You may contact me at Ray@thewildernessvoice.net)