corruption

I got an e-mail the other day from a friend who knows I follow events in the U.S. with some fascination – especially the financial situation, which in my opinion is moving from dire to bleak. If you aren’t shocked and furious after reading the following editorial, I can’t imagine what would do it.

The Federal Reserve just created more money than ever in the history of the US, and gave it to for-profit banks, many of which aren’t American. How much? $16 trillion. You are reading that right. Trillion. The money went to US and foreign banks – Citigroup got $2.5 trillion, Goldman (which isn’t a bank in any sense) got $800 billion Banks in the UK, France, Switzerland, Germany, Belgium… Everyone got hundreds of billions or trillions, bailouts which were never authorized by Congress or anyone but the Fed. Free money, from the American taxpayer, at unprecedented levels, for use however they felt like – and I’m guessing, it was to make big profits.

Here’s the eerie part. None of this was reported. The GAO report linked in the article was ignored. Or if it was, it was so low key as to be invisible. I spent an hour online scouring the news services and couldn’t find anything. No, instead I found the same blurb over and over – that the Fed was going to be handing the Treasury a check for $85 billion, the largest amount of interest ever. Apparently the US media didn’t think it was noteworthy to point out that $85 billion was pennies, whereas the banks it had passed the money to made 2%, 3% or more. It was a news blackout that would have made Stalin-era Russia proud.

To put it all into perspective, the US total GDP is roughly $14 trillion. That’s everything, including what companies like Microsoft, Apple, Ford, Amazon, Ebay, etc. all collectively generate. Every business in the US. Real estate. You name it. And the Fed created well over a year’s total GDP worth of money for the express benefit of its bank friends, at the direct cost to the US population. The country paid to keep Barclays and Credit Suisse and Goldman profiting while it struggles to make ends meet. And there was no coverage. It’s as though it never happened.

This is the biggest financial boondoggle in history. And it went unreported.

How scary is that, and what does it tell you about the media, as well as the government? Think long and hard.

The GAO report I have linked to below via the article says that the loans were repaid. Want to bet that means that the original term of the loan was repaid…with yet another loan from the Fed, but a “new” loan? That’s what crooks typically do in rigged games, where they limit audits – as the Fed did with the GAO. It’s Enron accounting – the “old” loan was “repaid” with the proceeds from a “new, different” loan. The boys on Wall Street invented dodgy tricks. Which is why they won’t allow a real audit. Simple. If you have something to hide, you bluster and obfuscate and deny access. Why anyone would believe that the Fed is any different is beyond me.

I write conspiracy thrillers where a flawed protagonist fights insurmountable odds, usually against a system run amok. They’re racing reads, but in the end we all know, or hope, that they’re fiction. How much is actually fiction I never disclose – I prefer to leave that to readers to decide. Like Robert Ludlum, the line between reality and fantasy is blurry. Deliberately so. But this isn’t a solicitation for you to buy my books. It’s an alarm. A wake up call.

Here is the article on the $16 trillion.

This is real. This is your future. And nobody is telling you. You’re being conned by the largest, most powerful, richest cartel the world has ever known – and you are paying for it. While most can’t keep their heads above water, and are effectively indentured servants for the government’s taxes, the mortgage bank, the car lender, and the insurance company, US and foreign banks were handed more money than anyone can reasonably imagine to use to make even more money.

If this sickens you, or if you didn’t know this, please hit the Stumbleupon button (little green one below) and e-mail this blog URL to everyone you know. It’s about time someone told you the truth, even if it hurts. Or do nothing, and wonder why your children will live in relative squalor.

Disclosure: I live in Mexico, a country with its own corruption problems, which are pervasive and non-trivial. But compared to what just happened with the Fed, Mexico is a Swiss bank in terms of integrity, and the Fed is a Moroccan rug merchant. No exaggeration. None required. So don’t attack me. I’m just alerting you to the biggest story of your lifetime, and your children’s lifetimes. What you do from here is up to you. Most will likely try to pretend it didn’t happen, or doesn’t matter. That didn’t work so well for the Romans.

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