Citigroup

Citigroup Enforces Gun Control Restrictions On Customers

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– Citigroup Enforces Gun Control Restrictions On Customers:

Seemingly following Andrew Ross Sorkin’s suggestions, and echoing the virtue-signaling from Dick’s Sporting Goods et al., megabank Citigroup is setting restrictions on the sale of firearms by its business customers.

As a reminder, Andrew Ross Sorkin wrote in the NY Times that banks could control guns, if Washington won’t.

Liberty Blitzkrieg’s Mike Krieger exclaimed that even in today’s world replete with plutocrat public relations masquerading as journalism, it’s rare to encounter an article simultaneously pandering, authoritarian, childish and dumb. Nevertheless, I found one, and it was unsurprisingly published in The New York Times.

The title of the piece more or less says it all, How Banks Could Control Gun Sales if Washington Won’t, but let’s go ahead and examine some of the author’s suggestions in greater detail. For instance:

Read moreCitigroup Enforces Gun Control Restrictions On Customers

Banking Giant Tells Clients to Prepare for Government Collapse, Third General Election

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– Banking Giant Tells Clients to Prepare for Government Collapse, Third General Election:

Citigroup has warned clients that Theresa May’s position as prime minister is “unsustainable”, warning them to prepare for the government to collapse within a matter of months.

The multinational banking corporation believes the parliamentary majority which the prime minister secured through her deal with Ulster’s Democratic Unionist Party is “not comfortable enough for crunch votes”, according to a report in The Times.

Read moreBanking Giant Tells Clients to Prepare for Government Collapse, Third General Election

Forget Deutsche Bank, These 2 American Banks Are Now “The Most Systemically Dangerous In The World”

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– Forget Deutsche Bank, These 2 American Banks Are Now “The Most Systemically Dangerous In The World”:

Back in the summer we wrote about an IMF report that flagged Deutsche Bank as the “most important net contributor to systemic risks” (see “‘Deutsche Bank Poses The Greatest Risk To The Global Financial System’: IMF“).  Those who read our site frequently were likely not terribly surprised by the IMF’s conclusion.

Among the G-SIBs, Deutsche Bank appears to be the most important net contributor to systemic risks, followed by HSBC and Credit Suisse. In turn, Commerzbank, while an important player in Germany, does not appear to be a contributor to systemic risks globally. In general, Commerzbank tends to be the recipient of inward spillover from U.S. and European G-SIBs. The relative importance of Deutsche Bank underscores the importance of risk management, intense supervision of G-SIBs and the close monitoring of their cross-border exposures, as well as rapidly completing capacity to implement the new resolution regime.

That said, we suspect the latest ranking of global systemically important banks (G-SIBs) by the Financial Stability Board may be a bit more surprising to our readers, among others, as it features two of America’s largest banks right at the very top. 

Read moreForget Deutsche Bank, These 2 American Banks Are Now “The Most Systemically Dangerous In The World”

War On Cash Intensifies: Citibank To Stop Accepting Cash At Some Branches

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– War On Cash Intensifies: Citibank To Stop Accepting Cash At Some Branches:

Less than a week after India’s surprise move to scrap its highest denomination cash notes, another front in the War on Cash has intensified down under in Australia.

Yesterday, banking giant UBS proposed that eliminating Australia’s $100 and $50 bills would be “good for the economy and good for the banks.”

(How convenient that a bank would propose something that’s good for banks!)

This isn’t the first time that the financial establishment has pushed for a cashless society in Australia (or anywhere else).

Read moreWar On Cash Intensifies: Citibank To Stop Accepting Cash At Some Branches

Warren Buffett Exits Entire Credit Default Swap Exposure, As Citi’s Appetite For Derivative Destruction Surges

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Continue to prepare for collapse. (And maybe support this website if you can.)

– Buffett Exits Entire Credit Default Swap Exposure, As Citi’s Appetite For Derivative Destruction Surges:

It was considered one of the bigger paradoxes for years. Back in 2003, Warren Buffett famously dubbed derivatives “financial weapons of mass destruction” and yet over the next several years went ahead and entered a number of the contracts, including both equities and credit, ostensibly by selling CDS to collect up monthly premiums. However, at least when it comes to CDS, after several years of Berkshire trimming its credit derivative exposure, it is now completely out. Meanwhile, Citi is loading up on any CDS it can find…

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Citigroup Has More Derivatives than 4,701 U.S. Banks Combined; After Blowing Itself Up With Derivatives in 2008

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Derivatives-at-Bank-Holding-Companies-March-31-2016-OCC-Report

– Citigroup Has More Derivatives than 4,701 U.S. Banks Combined; After Blowing Itself Up With Derivatives in 2008:

According to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), as of March 31, 2016, there were 6,122 FDIC insured financial institutions in the United States. Of those 6,122 commercial banks and savings associations, 4,701 did not hold any derivatives. To put that another way, 77 percent of all U.S. banks found zero reason to engage in high-risk derivative trading.

Citigroup, however, the bank that spectacularly blew itself up with toxic derivatives and subprime debt in 2008, became a 99-cent stock during the crisis, and received the largest taxpayer bailout in U.S. financial history despite being insolvent at the time, today holds more derivatives than 4,701 other banks combined which are backstopped by the taxpayer.

Read moreCitigroup Has More Derivatives than 4,701 U.S. Banks Combined; After Blowing Itself Up With Derivatives in 2008

Deutsche Bank Derivative Implosion have been confirmed by the pending sale of $1.1 TRILLION in derivatives to 3 US big banks (Videos)

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– Deutsche Bank Derivative Implosion have been confirmed by the pending sale of $1.1 TRILLION in derivatives to 3 US big banks:

JPMorgan, Goldman Said to Discuss Buying Deutsche Bank Swaps

~Lender looking to complete sale of $1.1 trillion swaps book

~Deutsche Bank has sold about two-thirds of book since 2015

Deutsche Bank AG, the lender exiting some trading operations, is in talks with JPMorgan Chase & Co., Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Citigroup Inc. to sell the last batches of about 1 trillion euros ($1.1 trillion) in complex financial instruments, people with knowledge of the matter said.

Read moreDeutsche Bank Derivative Implosion have been confirmed by the pending sale of $1.1 TRILLION in derivatives to 3 US big banks (Videos)

Financial Armageddon Approaches: U.S. Banks Have 247 Trillion Dollars Of Exposure To Derivatives

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Nuclear-War

– Financial Armageddon Approaches: U.S. Banks Have 247 Trillion Dollars Of Exposure To Derivatives:

Did you know that there are 5 “too big to fail” banks in the United States that each have exposure to derivatives contracts that is in excess of 30 trillion dollars?  Overall, the biggest U.S. banks collectively have more than 247 trillion dollars of exposure to derivatives contracts.  That is an amount of money that is more than 13 times the size of the U.S. national debt, and it is a ticking time bomb that could set off financial Armageddon at any moment.  Globally, the notional value of all outstanding derivatives contracts is a staggering 552.9 trillion dollars according to the Bank for International Settlements.  The bankers assure us that these financial instruments are far less risky than they sound, and that they have spread the risk around enough so that there is no way they could bring the entire system down.  But that is the thing about risk – you can try to spread it around as many ways as you can, but you can never eliminate it.  And when this derivatives bubble finally implodes, there won’t be enough money on the entire planet to fix it.

Read moreFinancial Armageddon Approaches: U.S. Banks Have 247 Trillion Dollars Of Exposure To Derivatives

S&P Puts Too-Big-To-Fail US Banks On Ratings Downgrade Watch

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– S&P Puts Too-Big-To-Fail US Banks On Ratings Downgrade Watch:

Having watched the credit markets grow more and more weary of the major US financials, it should not be total surprise that ratings agency S&P just put all the majors on watch for a rating downgrade:

*JPMORGAN, CITIGROUP, GOLDMAN SACHS, STATE STREET CORP, MORGAN STANLEY MAY BE CUT BY S&P

Despite all the talking heads proclamations on higher rates and net interest margins and ‘strongest balance sheets’ ever, S&P obviously sees something more worrisome looming. This comes just hours after Moody’s put Bank of Nova Scotia on review also (blaming the move on concerns over increased risk appetite).

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Peak Crony Capitalism: First Citi Writes US Financial Laws, Now Boeing Tells Ex-Im Bank What To Do

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– Peak Crony Capitalism: First Citi Writes US Financial Laws, Now Boeing Tells Ex-Im Bank What To Do (ZeroHedge, March 13, 2015):

Today’s most under the radar news, just as Citigroup was to Congress, and the swaps push out language, so Boeing, that primary recipients of the generosity of America’s Export-Import (Ex-Im) Bank, has been caught red-handed drafting the rules of none other than the Ex-Im bank itself! According to the WSJ: “when the Export-Import Bank sought to respond to critics with tighter rules for aircraft sales, it reached out to a company with a vested interest in the outcome: Boeing Co., the biggest beneficiary of the bank’s assistance.” Or nothing more than a criminal conflict of interest, which, once again, is at the expense of America’s infinite bailout piggybank: it’s taxpayers.

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Citi Warns Of “Dancing”, “Music” And “Complicated Things” For The Second Time

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USS-QE-Titanic-2013-01

– Citi Warns Of “Dancing”, “Music” And “Complicated Things” For The Second Time (ZeroHedge, Feb 21, 2015):

 

“When the music stops, in terms of liquidity, things will be complicated. But as long as the music is playing, you’ve got to get up and dance. We’re still dancing.”
– Citigroup CEO Chuck Prince July 9, 2007

“Depressingly, our instinct is that those new forecasts are more likely too conservative than too aggressive. Longer-term, sweet dreams really aren’t made of this.”
– Citigroup Strategist Hans Lorenzen February 20, 2015

Read moreCiti Warns Of “Dancing”, “Music” And “Complicated Things” For The Second Time

Is Citi The Next AIG: 70 Trillion Reasons Why Citigroup And Congress Scrambled To Pass The Swaps “Push-Out” Rule

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citigroup

– Is Citi The Next AIG: 70 Trillion Reasons Why Citigroup And Congress Scrambled To Pass The Swaps “Push-Out” Rule (ZeroHedge, Jan 5, 2015):

Something stunning and unexpected took place in the third quarter: Citigroup, or rather its FDIC-insured Citibank National Association entity, just surpassed JPM and is now the biggest single holder of total derivatives in the US. Furthermore, as the charts below show, while every other bank was derisking its balance sheet, Citi not only increased its total derivative holdings by $1 trillion in Q2, but by a whopping, and perhaps even record, $9 trillion in the just concluded third quarter to $70.2 trillion!

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Flashback:

– GAO Audit Of The Federal Reserve Reveals $16 TRILLION In Secret Bailouts (Sott.net, Sep 1, 2012)::

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The list of institutions that received the most money from the Federal Reserve can be found on page 131 of the GAO Audit and are as follows..

Citigroup: $2.5 trillion ($2,500,000,000,000)
Morgan Stanley: $2.04 trillion ($2,040,000,000,000)
Merrill Lynch: $1.949 trillion ($1,949,000,000,000)
Bank of America: $1.344 trillion ($1,344,000,000,000)
Barclays PLC (United Kingdom): $868 billion ($868,000,000,000)
Bear Sterns: $853 billion ($853,000,000,000)
Goldman Sachs: $814 billion ($814,000,000,000)
Royal Bank of Scotland (UK): $541 billion ($541,000,000,000)
JP Morgan Chase: $391 billion ($391,000,000,000)
Deutsche Bank (Germany): $354 billion ($354,000,000,000)
UBS (Switzerland): $287 billion ($287,000,000,000)
Credit Suisse (Switzerland): $262 billion ($262,000,000,000)
Lehman Brothers: $183 billion ($183,000,000,000)
Bank of Scotland (United Kingdom): $181 billion ($181,000,000,000)
BNP Paribas (France): $175 billion ($175,000,000,000)
and many many more including banks in Belgium of all places

View the 266-page GAO audit of the Federal Reserve (July 21st, 2011):

Sources:
US Government Accountability Office (GAO)
FULL PDF on GAO server.
Senator Sander’s Article

Comment: It’s not “socialism for the rich”; that’s an oxymoron.

It’s corporatism, i.e. fascism, as defined by Benito Mussolini.

 

Western Banks Cut Off Liquidity To Russian Entities

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– Western Banks Cut Off Liquidity To Russian Entities (ZeroHedge, Dec 16, 2014):

As Zero Hedge first reported today, shortly before noon one (and subsequently more) FX brokers advised clients that any existing Ruble positions would be forcibly closed out because “western banks have stopped pricing USDRUB“, over concerns of Russian capital controls. Ironically, it was this forced liquidation of mostly short RUB positions that pushed the RUB higher, which in turn had a briefly favorably impact on energy commodities and risk assets, as the market had by then perceived the Ruble selloff as excessive. Of course, since nothing had actually changed aside from a temporary market technical, the selloff promptly resumed into the close of trading once the market finally understood what we had explained hours previously.

And unfortunately for the bulls, various falling knife-catchers, and those who hope the Russian situation will stabilize imminently with or without capital controls, it appears things in Russia are about to get a whole lot worse because as the WSJ reports, the next driver of the Russian crisis is likely to come from within the banking system itself because “global banks are curtailing the flow of cash to Russian entities, a response to the ruble’s sharpest selloff since the 1998 financial crisis.”

Presenting Russia’s banks: now cut off from the outside world as the second cold war goes nuclear, at least when it comes to the financial system:

Read moreWestern Banks Cut Off Liquidity To Russian Entities

Citi Pays $3.5 Billion To Keep Its Employees Out Of Jail For Yet Another Quarter

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Banksters - Get Out Of Jail Free Card

– Citi Pays $3.5 Billion To Keep Its Employees Out Of Jail For Yet Another Quarter (ZeroHedge, Dec 9, 2014):

Alongside the just announced revenue warning, Citi’s CEO Corbat also announced yet another $2.7 billion in legal, related charges in 4Q, as well as another $800 million in repositioning expenses. This simply means that for yet another quarter Citi will be charged with billions in recurring, non-one time “one-time, non-recurring” charges which will be dutifully added back to non-GAAP EPS by analysts at all the other banks (whose criminal employers are now engaged in the same racket with the US government). But what it really means is that it cost Citi some $3.5 billion to keep its employees out of jail for yet another 3 months.

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Citi Faces $270 Million Loss; ‘In Panic’ Over Chinese Port Commodity Fraud

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– Citi Faces $270 Million Loss; “In Panic” Over Chinese Port Commodity Fraud

Despite the near-record scream higher in Chinese stocks over the last few months, under the surface China is rattled and nowhere is that more evident than in the collapse of its commodity-backed ponzi-financing deals. Since we first uncovered the fraud at the port of Qingdao, another has appeared that is just as fraud-ridden – Penglai; and Citi and Mercuria Energy are arguing over who pays. According to Mercuria’s lawyer Graham Dunning, Citi was “in a state of panic,” when they uncovered the fraud. As Bloomberg reports, Dunning exclaimed “it appears that substantial quantities may be missing from the warehouses or may be the subject of multiple pledges,” and the bank says it is owed at least $270 million. Other ‘banks’ have been less forthcoming about their potential losses, but the government probe has so far uncovered almost $10 billion in fraudulent trade, including irregularities at Qingdao, according to the country’s currency regulator.

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If Gold Is A 6000-Year Bubble, Then What Is This?

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– Dear Willem Buiter: If Gold Is A 6000-Year Bubble, Then What Is This?  (ZeroHedge, Dec 4, 2014):

Citi claims gold is a 6000-year-old bubble, perhaps Mr. Buiter has not seen this chart?

gold-bubble

…and funny how Mr. Buiter never wrote any extensive essays about the bubbleness of Citi at any point between 1995 and 2007?

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“A friend asked me to choose one investment that I would want to leave to my great-great-grandchildren. I immediately answered that it would be gold coins. The reason I explained is as follows – corporations can disappear, stocks can collapse, governments can change and they can fall, booms and recessions come and go – but gold is intrinsic money, and no man or nation has ever doubted its value. And they never will.”

Richard Russell

“Remember what we’re looking at. Gold is a currency. It is still, by all evidence, a premier currency. No fiat currency, including the dollar, can match it.”

Alan Greenspan

Read moreIf Gold Is A 6000-Year Bubble, Then What Is This?

Former Goldman Banker Reveals The Path To The Next Depression And Stock Market Collapse

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From the article:

“Yet, our political-financial system has gone from the dysfunctional to the failed to the surreal. Speculation, once left to individuals and investors, is now federally sponsored, subsidized and institutionalized.  When this sham finally buckles and the next shoe falls and rates do eventually rise, the stock market will tank, liquidity will die, and the broader economy will plunge into a worse Depression than before. We are not there yet because of these coordinated moves and the political force behind them. But we are on a precarious path to that inevitability. “

– QE isn’t dying, it’s morphing (Nomi Prins, Nov 10, 2014):

A funny thing happened on the way to the ‘end’ of the multi-trillion dollar bond buying program known as QE – the Fed chronicles. Aside from the shift to a globalization of QE via the European Central Bank (ECB) and Bank of Japan (BOJ) as I wrote about earlier, what lingers in the air of “post-taper” time is an absence of absence. For QE is not over. Instead, in the United States, the process has simply morphed from being predominantly executed by the Federal Reserve (Fed) to being executed by its major private bank members. Fed Chair, Janet Yellen, has failed to point this out in any of her speeches about the labor force, inflation, or inequality.

Read moreFormer Goldman Banker Reveals The Path To The Next Depression And Stock Market Collapse

The Size Of The Derivatives Bubble Hanging Over The Global Economy Hits A Record High

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Related info:

– The Elephant In The Room: Deutsche Bank’s $75 TRILLION In Derivatives Is 20 Times Greater Than German GDP

– The Size Of The Derivatives Bubble Hanging Over The Global Economy Hits A Record High (Economic Collapse, May 26, 2014):

The global derivatives bubble is now 20 percent bigger than it was just before the last great financial crisis struck in 2008.  It is a financial bubble far larger than anything the world has ever seen, and when it finally bursts it is going to be a complete and utter nightmare for the financial system of the planet.  According to the Bank for International Settlements, the total notional value of derivatives contracts around the world has ballooned to an astounding 710 trillion dollars ($710,000,000,000,000).  Other estimates put the grand total well over a quadrillion dollars.  If that sounds like a lot of money, that is because it is.  For example, U.S. GDP is projected to be in the neighborhood of around 17 trillion dollars for 2014.  So 710 trillion dollars is an amount of money that is almost incomprehensible.  Instead of actually doing something about the insanely reckless behavior of the big banks, our leaders have allowed the derivatives bubble and these banks to get larger than ever.  In fact, as I have written about previously, the big Wall Street banks are collectively 37 percent larger than they were just prior to the last recession.  “Too big to fail” is a far more massive problem than it was the last time around, and at some point this derivatives bubble is going to burst and start taking those banks down.  When that day arrives, we are going to be facing a crisis that is going to make 2008 look like a Sunday picnic.

If you do not know what a derivative is, Mayra Rodríguez Valladares, a managing principal at MRV Associates, provided a pretty good definition in her recent article for the New York Times:

Read moreThe Size Of The Derivatives Bubble Hanging Over The Global Economy Hits A Record High

George Soros Sells All Shares Of Citigroup, Bank Of America And JPMorgan

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George-Soros

– George Soros sells all shares of Citigroup, Bank of America and JP Morgan (Intellihub, May 20, 2014):

Is this a sign of trouble ahead for the banking industry?

WASHINGTON — Just over 2 decades ago banker George Soros made his most famous investment by shorting the British pound and pocketing a billion dollars in the process.  Since then he has become famous for betting on stock market crashes and in some cases even rigging markets to fail for his own gain.

Just months ago, Soros made headlines by making a billion dollar stock bet against the S&P 500.  At the time this was said to be a sign of trouble ahead for the US economy, as Soros has seemed to have had advance knowledge of market crashes in the past.  As a result of this reputation, investors have begun to keep a close eye on his holdings.

Read moreGeorge Soros Sells All Shares Of Citigroup, Bank Of America And JPMorgan

From Rothschild To Koch Industries: Meet The People Who ‘Fix’ The Price Of Gold

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Gold fix teaser_0

–  From Rothschild To Koch Industries: Meet The People Who “Fix” The Price Of Gold (ZeroHedge, May 14, 2014):

Earlier today many were stunned when the historic, 117-year old, London Silver Fix announced that in three months it would no longer exist. However, silver is only one half of the world’s two best known precious metals. Which is why we decided to take a long, hard look at that other fix: gold.

The reason for this particular inquiry is because in the aftermath of the rapid and dramatic departure of the world’s largest bank by outstanding notional derivatives, and Europe’s biggest bank by any metric, Deutsche Bank, from the precious metal fix, something felt out of place: almost as if the participants of the “fixing” process which for so many years took place in the office of none other than Rothschild on St. Swithin’s Lane in London, were suddenly scrambling to disappear without a trace.

In conducting our research we hope to not only memorialize just who are these particular individuals who “fix” gold using nothing but publicly available information of course – because after all it is not as if they have anything to hide or fear – but to connect some of the very peculiar dots behind the scenes of what to some, is the original, and most manipulated market in history – that of gold.

Read moreFrom Rothschild To Koch Industries: Meet The People Who ‘Fix’ The Price Of Gold

On The 100th Anniversary Of The Federal Reserve Here Are 100 Reasons To Shut It Down Forever

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New-World-Order-13

– On The 100th Anniversary Of The Federal Reserve Here Are 100 Reasons To Shut It Down Forever (Economic Collapse, Dec 22, 2013):

December 23rd, 1913 is a date which will live in infamy.  That was the day when the Federal Reserve Act was pushed through Congress.  Many members of Congress were absent that day, and the general public was distracted with holiday preparations.  Now we have reached the 100th anniversary of the Federal Reserve, and most Americans still don’t know what it actually is or how it functions.  But understanding the Federal Reserve is absolutely critical, because the Fed is at the very heart of our economic problems.

Since the Federal Reserve was created, there have been 18 recessions or depressions, the value of the U.S. dollar has declined by 98 percent, and the U.S. national debt has gotten more than 5000 times larger.  This insidious debt-based financial system has literally made debt slaves out of all of us, and it is systematically destroying the bright future that our children and our grandchildren were supposed to have.

If nothing is done, we are inevitably heading for a massive amount of economic pain as a nation.  So please share this article with as many people as you can.

The following are 100 reasons why the Federal Reserve should be shut down forever:

Read moreOn The 100th Anniversary Of The Federal Reserve Here Are 100 Reasons To Shut It Down Forever

White House Favors Former Bank Of Israel Governor Stanley Fischer To Be Fed Vice Chair

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FYI.

– The Markets Should Celebrate Stanley Fischer As Number Two At Fed, A Perfect Ten Strike (Forbes, Dec 11, 2013):

I know and admire the wisdom of Stanley Fischer, apparently to be appointed Vice Chairman of the Federal Reserve Bank. Fischer will add a serious complement of experience to maintain stability of the nation’s monetary policy as he understands only too well the absolute requirement of avoiding another meltdown. This appointment will strengthen the positive attitude of financial markets as Fischer is a strong asset for Yellen, and influential with other local Fed presidents as well as Finance Ministers and Central Bankers around the globe. Just recently, Larry Summers and a passel of other influential economists saluted Fischer with keenly read papers at the IMF to honor his influence in economic circles. And I know that Fischer has a very high regard for the former Treasury Secretary.

I believe his record as MIT Professor supervising Ben Bernanke’s thesis on the depression in 1979, his time at the IMF as chief economist, a few years at Citigroup and then a spectacular success steering the Israeli economy to superior economic growth at the Bank of Israel will be seen as a valuable counterpart to Janet Yellen’s huge challenge of easing us out of quantitative easing.

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– For No. 2 at Fed, White House Favors Central Banker in the Bernanke Mold (New York Times, Dec 11, 2013):

WASHINGTON — Stanley Fischer, the former governor of the Bank of Israel and a mentor to the Federal Reserve’s chairman, Ben S. Bernanke, is the leading candidate to become vice chairman of the Fed, according to former and current administration officials.

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– Former Bank of Israel Gov. Fischer near Fed vice chair nomination: Reports (CNBC. Dec 11, 2013):

The White House is close to nominating Stanley Fischer, the former governor of the Bank of Israel, as vice chair of the Federal Reserve, various media outlets reported on Wednesday.

Fischer, 70, headed the Israeli central bank until earlier this year. He is a former head of the economics department at MIT, former number two official at the IMF and former chief economist at the World Bank.

Among his students during his 20-plus years teaching at MIT were outgoing Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke and former presidential advisor Greg Mankiw.

Read moreWhite House Favors Former Bank Of Israel Governor Stanley Fischer To Be Fed Vice Chair

Citi Warns ‘Fed Is Kicking The Can Over The Edge Of A Cliff’

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– Citi Warns “Fed Is Kicking The Can Over The Edge Of A Cliff” (ZeroHedge, Nov 14, 2013):

It is becoming increasingly obvious that we are seeing the disconnect between financial markets and the real economy grow. It is also increasingly obvious (to Citi’s FX Technicals team) that not only is QE not helping this dynamic, it is making things worse. It encourages misallocation of capital out of the real economy, it encourages poor risk management, it increases the danger of financial asset inflation/bubbles, and it emboldens fiscal irresponsibility etc.etc. If the Fed was prepared to draw a line under this experiment now rather than continuing to “kick the can down the road” it would not be painless but it would likely be less painful than what we might see later. Failure to do so will likely see us at the “end of the road” at some time in the future and the ‘can’ being “kicked over the edge of a cliff.” Enough is enough. It is time to recognize reality. It is time to take monetary and fiscal responsibility – “America is exhausted…..it is time.”

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Flashback:

– 25 Fast Facts About The Federal Reserve – Please Share With Everyone You Know:

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#10 According to an official government report, the Federal Reserve made 16.1 trillion dollars in secret loans to the big banks during the last financial crisis.  The following is a list of loan recipients that was taken directly from page 131 of the report…

Citigroup – $2.513 trillion
Morgan Stanley – $2.041 trillion
Merrill Lynch – $1.949 trillion
Bank of America – $1.344 trillion
Barclays PLC – $868 billion
Bear Sterns – $853 billion
Goldman Sachs – $814 billion
Royal Bank of Scotland – $541 billion
JP Morgan Chase – $391 billion
Deutsche Bank – $354 billion
UBS – $287 billion
Credit Suisse – $262 billion
Lehman Brothers – $183 billion
Bank of Scotland – $181 billion
BNP Paribas – $175 billion
Wells Fargo – $159 billion
Dexia – $159 billion
Wachovia – $142 billion
Dresdner Bank – $135 billion
Societe Generale – $124 billion
“All Other Borrowers” – $2.639 trillion

– GAO Audit Of The Federal Reserve Reveals $16 TRILLION In Secret Bailouts:

Comment: It’s not “socialism for the rich”; that’s an oxymoron.

It’s corporatism, i.e. fascism, as defined by Benito Mussolini.

Citigroup Written Legislation Moves Through U.S. House Of Representatives

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– Citigroup Written Legislation Moves Through the House of Representatives (Liberty Blitzkrieg, Oct 29, 2013):

Five years after the Wall Street coup of 2008, it appears the U.S. House of Representatives is as bought and paid for as ever. We heard about the Citigroup crafted legislation currently being pushed through Congress back in May when Mother Jones reported on it. Fortunately, they included the following image in their article:


Source (Mother Jones)

Unsurprisingly, the main backer of the bill is notorious Wall Street lackey Jim Himes (D-Conn.), a former Goldman Sachs employee who has discovered lobbyist payoffs can be just as lucrative as a career in financial services. The last time Mr. Himes made an appearance on these pages was in March 2013 in my piece: Congress Moves to DEREGULATE Wall Street.

More from the New York Times:

The House is scheduled to vote on two bills this week that would undercut new financial regulations and hand Wall Street a victory. The legislation has garnered broad bipartisan support in the House, even after lawmakers learned that Citigroup lobbyists helped write one of the bills, which would exempt a wide array of derivatives trading from new regulation.

Read moreCitigroup Written Legislation Moves Through U.S. House Of Representatives