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abitare (99.38)

Watch and Despair: Bernake: Why are we still listening to this guy?

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August 26, 2009 – Comments (4) | RELATED TICKERS: GS , JPM , C

Vox Day's post: Madness

Those whom the gods would destroy, they first make mad:

Ben Bernanke's self promotional media blitz culminating with Orwellian Madness "Bernanke Saved The World", was a stunning success for Bernanke in his bid to be reappointed Fed Chairman. Unfortunately, Bernanke's win is everyone else's loss.

Watch, and despair....

Also (via GWashington blog) Zero Hedge Claims that the Federal Reserve ITSELF Traded Over a Trillion Dollars Worth of Derivatives in March Alone

You know Zero Hedge, the popular website which has broken major stories like Goldman's dominance of high-frequency trading.

Some say that Zero Hedge occasionally breaks stories before adequately fact-checking them. I don't know whether that is true or not, but I do know that - in the months I've been reading the site - ZH has broken a number of major stories which:


(1) Were later covered by the world's biggest financial news outlets

and

(2) Have caused Congress members, Senators, the New York Stock Exchange and others to take action to change reporting requirements and to shut down questionable practices

Zero Hedge is now claiming that the Federal Reserve itself traded over a trillion dollars worth of derivatives in March alone:


Federal Reserve Disclosed Trading $1.4 trillion in OTC "Other" Derivatives in March 2009 *corrected

What is interesting here is that prior to March 2009 such trading was not reported in detail. The March disclosure by category is what is completely new. These Fed OTC derivatives have $1 trillion+ in capital in "Other". It is unclear what aspect of the credit capital markets this is allocated to or propping up: is it CDS? And if so, what entities are the contracts written on? At this time, it is unclear what relationship, if any, these $1.4 trillion in Federal Reserve OTC derivatives have to the unusual market activity many of us have been observing.
If Zero Hedge is right about this one, it will end up being one of the biggest stories of the year.

See this.

Update: The Zero Hedge author who wrote the original story clarified that the $1.4 trillion figure is not just for March, but for the reporting period:
Just a clarification -- this data was reported in March 2009, but includes data over the reporting period, not just March. Regardless this is quite the bombshell!

4 Comments – Post Your Own

#1) On August 26, 2009 at 5:25 AM, abitare (99.38) wrote:

Update: Mish and Paul Farrell break more news Fools can use:

Ben Bernanke "World's Most Dangerous Man"

Sometimes you are pleasantly surprised by things you find in mainstream media. This is one of those times.

Please consider Dismantle Bernanke's 'Happy Conspiracy' ... now! by Paul Farrell of MarketWatch.

Any good behaviorist would tell you Bernanke's got some dangerous biases isolating him from reality (remember two years ago when he was denying the meltdown). His brash claims and radical, secretive policies present a grave danger to American capitalism and democracy.

In fact, Bernanke now appears to be America's (and the world's) most dangerous man, far more dangerous than Hank Paulson and the "Goldman Conspiracy" ever was. He's now acting like the supreme dictator of that larger conspiracy Jack Bogle called the "Happy Conspiracy" in "The Battle for the Soul of Capitalism: How the Financial System Undermined Social Ideals, Damaged Trust in the Markets, Robbed Investors of Trillions -- And What to Do About It."

This indictment of Bernanke as a dictator leading Wall Street's "Happy Conspiracy" became clear after reading "Dismantling the Temple," William Greider's brilliant essay in The Nation magazine. Greider is the author of "Secrets of the Temple: How the Federal Reserve Runs the Country." Greider's essay is an absolute must-read for anyone interested in the future of capitalism, the decline of democracy, the next mega-meltdown, and the real "Great Depression 2" ... from which Bernanke cannot save us.

The same clueless Congress that did nothing when Paulson and the Goldman Conspiracy nearly bankrupted America is now about to give Bernanke's out-of-control "Happy Conspiracy" even more power, and another bigger chance to destroy our capitalism.

Here are his "six reasons why granting the Fed even more power is a really bad idea:"

1. More power rewards failure, creating 'moral hazard'
2. Fed policies will continue destabilizing U.S. and global economies
3. The Fed's not objective, cannot investigate its own systemic flaws
4. The Fed cannot be trusted to protect taxpayers against Wall Street
5. More Fed power means more companies want 'too big to fail' status
6. The Fed will be a rich-man's club dominating everything from the top 

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#2) On August 26, 2009 at 2:10 PM, OldEnglish (28.09) wrote:

Brutal. Twenty years ago, it would have been impossible to document and widely distribute such a powerful message. Excellent post.

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#3) On August 26, 2009 at 2:21 PM, prose976 (< 20) wrote:

My question is:  Why does the mainstream media not jump on all his imbecilic assessments and blow this guy right out of the water.  He's being touted as some kind of genius.  This guy doesn't know any more about what's really going on with the market (other than the spin he needs to create to push his own veiled insider agenda), than the average joe.  What a fraud.  And Obama re-appointed this clown.

Actually, I'm glad Obama is sealing his own fate, making these kinds of mistakes and colluding with criminals.  It confirms my opinions of his incompetence (or competence at being a socialist fraud himself).

Where the he** is the mainstream media with all this?  Being hushed by the Media Czar?

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#4) On August 26, 2009 at 2:31 PM, StopLaughing (< 20) wrote:

Bernanke will not be independent until after the confirmation hearing in Congress. After he is confirmed he is free to go his own way.

He is kind of a Monetarist and kind of a Republican? Obama is some mix of Socialist, Facist, Keynsian and Democrat. Bernanke will fix Obama's agenda in due time but it will be after the confirmation hearings. Bernanke (with help from Paulson) threw the election to Obama. He can throw the 2010 Congressional elections just as easily. 

Watch Bernanke go his own way after the confirmation.

 

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