Revolution Anyone?

"Last week Barclays paid $1.75 billion to buy Lehman’s North American investment banking and capital markets business. It emerged over the weekend that Barclays had agreed to pay $2.5 billion in bonuses to Lehman bankers in the United States in a move that has angered stricken staff in London."  London Times

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So.....  While we have been told by the future tumbril riders (Paulson et al) that we all should agree to cough up 700 billion dollars to bail out Wall Street, the British bank, Barclays made a deal to pay off the people who wrecked Lehman Brothers so that they won't suffer the consequences of their own greed and stupidity....

I never really appreciated before what this country and Britain as well, evidently, have become.  pl

http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/banking_and_finance/article4799674.ece

Comments

[Stormcrow]

Just about everybody I know of who lived through the dotbomb crash saw this same sort of behavior. Many, many times.

It lost its ability to surprise me half a dozen years ago.

[Strudel & Shotguns]

Indeed. Sign me up, sir!
For what it's worth, this online petition against the bailout has more than 10,000 signatures so far. Link: http://www.petitiononline.com/bailout/petition.html

I signed it.

[J]

Colonel,

It is now evident that the Bush-Cheney-Chertoff-Paulson 'Cabal' has been preparing for this for a number of months, namely the possiblity of revolution by the people against what has become our crooked White House and certain of their co-conspirator Crooks in the Congress as well as their co-Crooks in the Fed and on Wall Street. They (chertoff with a lower case 'c') has instituted the use of surveillance satellites upon our nation's citizenry. Also it has been disclosed in the press that portions of our military under the auspices of NORTHCOM are prepping to turn the broadsword of war inward upon our citizenry if/when ordered to do so by our Crooked White House. Remember that Bush has by his 'personal fiat' declared that HE IS 'all imperial power' and can declare anybody he so desires as an 'enemy of the state' including our fellow Americans. Under Bush/Chertoff/DHS we no longer have the protections afforded by our Constitution, and Posse Comitatus, well , that one Bush/Chertoff shredded it some time back. And Chertoff/DHS/NORTCOM are prepared at the drop of a hat to institute 'martial law' if/when the big Kahuna potentate Mr. B says so.

See Army Times: http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/09/army_homeland_090708w/
Brigade 'homeland tours' start Oct. 1
............They may be called upon to help with CIVIL UNREST and CROWD CONTROL or to deal with potentially horrific scenarios such as massive poisoning and chaos in response to a chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear or high-yield explosive, or CBRNE, attack. ........The 1st BCT’s soldiers also will learn how to use “the first ever nonlethal package that the Army has fielded,” 1st BCT commander Col. Roger Cloutier said, referring to crowd and traffic control equipment and nonlethal weapons designed to subdue UNRULY or dangerous individuals without killing them.

The broadsword of war, Bush/Chertoff/NORTHCOM appear to be prepared to turn inwards upon our citizenry.

[Mike Martin, Yorktown, VA]

Pat, the thought came to me late Friday that The Great Financial Bailout of 2008 to prevent economic collapse comes to us from the same administration that once frightened us so well with the threat of what Saddam Hussein could do to us with his WMD.

So much for bare-knuckle, market forces driven conservative capitalism, eh?

[WP]

I thought Lehman was in bankruptcy. It seems to me that the bonus money would belong to the bankruptcy estate. How can the management keep the creditor's money and not get charged with theft?

[Bill]

I hope that Lowes and Home Depot won't be affected by all this--we'll need to go there to buy our torches and pitchforks.

[Dave of Maryland]

In a revolution, those who have not governed well are replaced by those who cannot govern at all. The only exception is when a colony throws off its master. We did that a long time ago. Now where did I leave that cabal of colonels....

[George Lowry]

We are all Bobby Seale now.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_panthers#The_Ten_Point_Program

http://www.gilscottheron.com/lyrevol.html

[Ed Webb]

Revolution? Sadly, no. The masses are too dazed by infotaintment to really grasp what is being done to them. Indeed, many will vote for more of the same punishment at every opportunity. Moreover, no-one's selling a credible revolutionary alternative to the present system these days apart from the Islamists, and that's not a revolution I think likely or desirable in the US or Europe.

[WP]

Here is the Lehman bonus sale document
http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/blogs/dealbook/lehmanSALE.pdf

It is an interesting read that shows how the guys that led the world into this debacle get taken care of.

[Murph]

Colonel,

Does anyone really believe that Barclays is paying the $2.5 Billion out of the goodness of their heart, or, as part of some Trilateral conspiracy ?

It's obvious why they're paying the $2.5 Billion - it's to make sure the people who can make the deals, and make their investment, stay on board to make it happen. They would not be paying this amount if they did not believe they would profit from the expense.

[David W.]

First thought: Fix him up with a monocle and a top hat and tails, and 'Hanky Panky' is a dead ringer for Daddy Warbucks, or the Monopoly caricature.

Second thought: This is exactly the type of scenario that the unnamed Bushco operative taunted us with (paraphrased): 'We are history's actors. We act, and you react.'

Third thought: How is the proposed plan not taxation without representation? Many commentators are already calling this proposal unconstitutional.

Final thought (for tonight): We are a long way from revolution when the citizens of this country are too stupified to even take to the streets in protest. (150 years of anti-union rhetoric, and the recent vilification of France have put that to rest, or so 'they' hope)

Protest is the key, by any means necessary--do not go gentle into that good night!

[greg0]

I'm not surprised that the privileged elite expects handsome rewards regardless of performance. The latest Democratic counter proposals seem reasonable but we haven't yet heard the screams of indignation from the other side yet.
Here is a bit of Richard Read's reporting: "U.S. taxpayers will live for years with the costs of bailouts in the making now. As a result, younger Americans are less likely to attain their parents' living standards."
Makes me think the true revolution is in the near future with the young ones.

[Curious]

Here we go... right as predicted... (seriously, how else it supposes to go with injecting $1T new money into the system?)

http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2008/09/quelle-surprise-traders-say-dollar-may.html

Traders Say Dollar May Be "Crushed" By Bailout Plan

Our mantra of late has been that the serial bailout plans from the Treasury and Fed will undermine the US's AAA rating and exact a considerable toll on the dollar. Indeed, Liam Halligan tells us in the Telegraph today that "Default by the US government is no longer unthinkable."

Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson's plan to end the rout in U.S. financial markets may derail the dollar's three-month rally as investors weigh the costs of the rescue.

The combination of spending $700 billion on soured mortgage-related assets and providing $400 billion to guarantee money-market mutual funds will boost U.S. borrowing as much as $1 trillion, according to Barclays Capital interest-rate strategist Michael Pond in New York. While the rescue may restore investor confidence to battered financial markets, traders will again focus on the twin budget and current-account deficits and negative real U.S. interest rates.

``As we get to the other side of this, the dollar will get crushed,'' said John Taylor, chairman of New York-based International Foreign Exchange Concepts Inc., the world's biggest currency hedge-fund firm, which manages about $15 billion.

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get ready for massive nose bleeder inflation people. Brazilian style. (at least it won't be zimbabwe style)

btw, anybody live through nixon's stagflation/price control era? ...

[Leila Abu-Saba]

I am one of the dazed masses, because I read that number 2.5 BILLION and I just don't believe it. The bank sold for 1.75 billion and the bonuses are 2.5 BILLION? It's a typo. It's impossible. Cannot be.

In fact I won't tell my husband because he won't believe me, and he won't read about it anywhere else.

I'm just stunned. Oh lord, save me. Because i can feel my liver starting to hurt...

[greg0]

Who's talking about a revolution? Interesting comments following this blog...
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/larisa-alexandrovna/welcome-to-the-final-stag_b_127990.html#comments
Excerpt: "It seems this time around, the Bush family is trying the more subtle approach to open bloodshed: first create a crisis, then under the guise of addressing that crisis, overthrow democracy. Yes, it does sound terribly conspiracy-theory-esque when explained just this way. But what else does one call a criminal conspiracy to destroy Congressional powers permanently, alter Judicial powers permanently, and steal public funds?"

[Paul]

A dependable plumb to determine how far we have fallen: consider that the most popular financial news outlet is led by the likes of Erin Burnett and Maria Bartiromo. Intelligent people actually pay attention and take advice from these fast- talking empty vessels.

If Burnett and Bartiromo garner attention it follows that Ms Palin will be irresistable.

[Chris]

A bailout is an understatement for what just happened last week.

The United States has been sacked by its own elites.

That was only the insult. You know what's the injury? Where the $700 billion is going to come from: a combination of Argentinization and Third World economic shock therapy a la World Bank/IMF.

[Clifford Kiracofe]

Resistance ... as when the French fought Nazi occupation.

Historians in the future may look at this period of American history as the overt follow on move toward the fascist state that some Wall Street types first attempted in the 1930s through their "American Liberty League." The crypto fascist organization was "bi-partisan" and modeled on European orgs.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Liberty_League

Techniques of the enemy?

1. Maintain an atmosphere of crisis and fear so as to have an ongoing "emergency situation."

2. Involve the republic in costly and unnecessary no-win wars.

3. Permit/create a financial crisis at home so as to further reinforce the atmosphere of "emergency" under which "emergency powers" can be usurped by the Executive.

4. The basics are outlined in Carl Schmitt's writings which are one basis, IMO, of the Shultz-Cheney cabal. [Neocons and Straussians are the small fry, Shultz is a vector of the "higher" transnational circles as is Rohatyn for the Dems.]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_Schmitt

5. For those with an interest in the hidden side of international politics, the influence of the 19th century occultist, Alexandre St. Yves d'Alveydre, and his fascist ideas are worth understanding in the present context. If one were really sophisticated, and had the means, then an analysis of the penetration of continental lodges by Martinism and its variants over the past century would be instructive:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexandre_Saint-Yves_d'Alveydre

[Grimgrin]

It makes me wonder what Lehman’s investment banking and capital markets businesses are actually worth, and whether the people receiving the bonuses had any control over the decision to sell to Barclays. It seems like corrupt business 101, sell an asset under your control cheap, in exchange for a kickback.

And if there's going to be a revolution, let's make it old school and bring back the guillotine. Whatever else you can say about revolutionary France, they got the method of dealing with the aristocracy right.

[Cold War Zoomie]

Sorry, but I've got tickets to the circus.

Now, where's that loaf of bread gone to?

[fnord]

Heresy, I know, but: Perhaps it is time that someone formed the social democratic party of the US on the model of Scandinavia/Canada? Because with all due respects, sirs and ladies, the capitalists seem to have gone insane and lost their perspective and it is obvious that some statecontrol of the markets is needed. Tax all incomes over 2 million hard, run it straight into healthcare and subsidized houseloans, put the state in as semiowner of vital logistics like natural resources and energylines and put a cap on how much a CEO can recieve in bonus. Just some ideas.

[J]

Colonel,

I propose some 'stringent strings' be attached to any such 'bailout', since the 'bailout' will incur an additional several thousands of dollars of debt upon each and every American.

1. Paulson has to resign as Treas. Sec., surrender ALL of his bank accounts, holdings, and assets and turn them ALL over to the Treas.. Once Paulson has accomplished that, then he is to proceed to a Federal lock-up (a.k.a. Federal 'Medium security' Prison) to be incarcerated there FOR THE REMAINDER OF HIS LIFE.

2. The heads of Lehman, AIG, Fannie, and Freddie to include their present and past CEOs, CFOs, Boards of Directors, ALL have to comply with the MANDATORY PROVISIONS contained in Item #1 above.

If such mandates are not met on the part of the criminal parties, then all bailouts are off!

[J]

Colonel,

Re: stringent strings for any 'bailouts

3. The Fed Reserve Chair Bernake, Greenspan, and all Fed Reserve members under both Bernake and Greenspan ALL have to comply with item 1 the same as the crook Paulson.

1. Paulson has to resign as Treas. Sec., surrender ALL of his bank accounts, holdings, and assets and turn them ALL over to the Treas.. Once Paulson has accomplished that, then he is to proceed to a Federal lock-up (a.k.a. Federal 'Medium security' Prison) to be incarcerated there FOR THE REMAINDER OF HIS LIFE.

[John Howley]

Latest NBC/WSJ poll puts Bush at 55 percent negative, 33 positive and 12 percent neutral.

Why would anyone running for office support anything proposed by such an unpopular president?

Yet Obama and McCain are both backing Bush's plan.

It's about "jobs for the boys." In the past, that meant supporting farmers or the steel industry or defense.

Now it means pumping up Wall Street because that's where "our" friends and relations and contributors all work.