Below: Lloyd Blankfein, CEO of Goldman Sachs

Gary Kaminsky made a "gun" gesture to former Goldman Sachs employee/whistle-blower Greg Smith, whose book came out today. The New York Times said no one from Goldman who leaves the company every criticizes the firm; this is a first. Clearly, if you do, you can expect threats that are so acceptable in this cowboy culture that CNBC allows them to be broadcast.

I wanted to thank Teresa Ghilarducci for having the insight to write a badly needed piece about such an obvious but psychologically opaque set of facts. The article in included below.

One thing I wish she might have addressed is part of the motive behind the shift of pension plans into retail accounts in the market, (401k accounts). From an institutional trader's perspective, the addition of trillions of dollars from these tiny accounts, owned and overseen by "dumb money", as they call it, created the capacity for huge movements in the market, that could be easily manipulated through media stories. They very likely helped to create the momentum of the dot com bubble, as well as that of the 2008 crisis, which emptied most Americans 401k accounts. Profits can not be made in the market unless their is momentum, and momentum is increased by more accounts, and uninformed account owners who trade on fear or greed.

Interestingly, the 2008 crisis, based in the real estate market, was likely no accident, but done with the knowledge that most middle class Americans were relying on the value of their homes to make up for shortages in their 401Ks. They had no idea how faulty a plan this was, given the lack of regulation on the creation of derivatives, like credit default swaps and CMO's, (also an inheritance from the leadership in the 1980s).

And now the right side of congress wants to take away social security. The media is creating stories to demonize the Baby Boomers for taking away the future prosperity of later generations through their need of social security, instead of discussing the unethical actions of corrupt former government leaders, for transferring their pensions into the markets through 401k plans, providing fuel for the banks trading profits. Compassion and humanity are touted as irrelevant in American culture, unless it makes a profit. What will happen with this mass of elderly Americans, with no income? It is a daunting image to consider, especially in a culture beaten into destroying their capacity for heart, and in an ever deepening fall from grace.

A Former Financial Adviser at Morgan Stanley Smith Barney

February 10, 2012

Below: Raw video footage, from independent journalist Tim Poole, (@timcast), of the protest in front of the hotel where the conference was taking place. In an odd turn of events, some of the attendees from the conference, came out to participate in what one called "a counter-protest". This began as a confrontation but as the later videos show, the two sides ended the day peacefully, with members of both sides, standing around discussing issues that concerned them. I have to admit, I have never observed two such disparate groups just talking, as they did. The videos start out showing how the attendees, had very little understanding of the issues that concern the Occupy Movement. They yelled insults at them that were filled with stereotypes. They used inflammatory speech using the odd term "rape" as a single dismissive, which to outsiders just seemed bizarre. Hopefully at the end of the day they had a better understanding of what the Occupy Movement is about, and why it may be helping us all get to know each other a little better.

Below: Conservative attendee, and Occupy critic, Andrew Breitbart, in some sort of stupor, loses it...

Below: An hour later. After a journalist was arrested, (the only arrest). Also showing the same attendees now mingling with the Occupy protesters. Included in the crowd, is FBI informant Brandon Darby.

Below: Another video by streamer @occupykstreet shows a more detailed conversation between Occupiers and attendees. Watching this made me realize how some conservatives such as these #CPAC12 attendees seem to be unaware of how they exclude those who are not similar to themselves. Even as one talks about education not being a right, he  is unaware of how his use of language reveals his  level of education, and he uses it to "talk over" those with less facility. It seemed arrogant. Later, FBI informant Brandon Darby, talks about himself. He and another attendee seem unable to engage Occupiers as equals. I think this points to the difference between those who desire to be part of  the 1% and those who self-identify as the 99%. The Occupy movement is made up of a diverse group of individuals from all walks of life. It has no leaders by design. This differs from those who prefer the accolades of the 1%, who seem to want to exclude the Other, whether it be by dress, education, wealth, or employment.

Below: Elaine Brown and protester @OaklandElle presented thoughtful insights to the city counsel of Oakland. This meeting was held to consider moving forward on a resolution that would give additional force to police, to stop the public, including union members from protesting, if it interfered with business, at the Oakland Port, or elsewhere. Elaine Brown, spontaneously singing, "We Shall Overcome", at the end of the video, had more impact than any words could convey. The resolution did not pass.

Below: Occupy Oakland attempted to attend the Citizen's Police Review Board (CPRB) Meeting, at Oakland City Hall, after the massive unfounded arrests, on January 28th, 2012, and months of repressive and violent behavior by the Oakland Police. The board cancelled their meeting,  because they knew Occupy wanted to present to them. Because this was an urgent matter to the Occupy group, they organized their own meeting, on February 9, 2012, renting a theater to hold the event. They invited members of the board and city counsel. Only a handful showed up.

As you can see from the two videos below, the group was very thoughtful and indeed had an urgent need to request help. Clearly, there has been an effort to squash the Occupy movement in Oakland. Not because it is uncivil, but because it makes others uncomfortable with this side of truth.  Luckily for all of us, Oakland shows it's resilience.

#CPRB #OO

#OO #NDAA #J28 #OWS #Occupy

Protesters from the Occupy Movement in Oakland had been marching towards a vacant building they hoped to occupy as a new home and community center. The event was called Move-in Day, and was scheduled to include a party, with music and teaching events. The Police blocked them from their first attempt, with rubber bullets, tear gas, and flashbang grenades. They retreated to a city park, to re-group. At one point their numbers were over 2,000.

At dusk they set out for their second choice of a vacant building to occupy and to host the event. When they got to the YMCA, the police "kettled" them by blocking all streets and circling them. Using a speaker or bull horn the police announced that the protesters would ALL be arrested, for failing to disperse, and that they must "submit to arrest" NOW. Some protesters ran into the YMCA after employees opened the doors for them. A few employees lead them to exits located elsewhere in the building. Other protesters scaled a fence, and ran to safety.

Those unable to escape, submitted as instructed. There were hundreds of them. Their march had been peaceful. Previous marches in Oakland and elsewhere also resulted in "kettling", but usually the police allowed marchers to exit through specific openings in the "kettle blockades". Arrests usually were in the low teens at these previous events.

But this time was different.

This march came after a week of protests from the Occupy Movement at major banks in the Bay area, attempting to draw attention to unfair banking practices which they feel have hurt the majority of Americans, while allowing 1% of Americans to increase their wealth. It also came after President Obama signed a unique version of the annual military spending Bill, (the NDAA), which included add-ons allowing the indefinite detention of American citizens without legal representation, or a court hearing. This Bill was signed silently, on New Years eve, without public discussion, by President Obama.

The hundreds of protesters arrested last night, were taken away in multiple buses. It was a chilling sight. Where would they be detained? How long will they be held? Will they be charged or merely detained?

I had to wonder if these initial mass arrests were being carried out because the protesters had occupied the banks in the Bay area during the previous week. Had the banks used their influence to take harsher actions against the protesters? Or was it a way to reduce the number of the protesters available for future actions? There was some discussion that those arrested may be issued a special Order to "stay away" from Oakland because they had been arrested multiple times.

When the mainstream press finally published their articles on these events in Oakland, they reported distorted and false facts. They said the majority of arrests, over 300, occurred at an earlier march. Clearly,to the 5000 people watching the livestreaming video from Spencer Mills, (@oakfosho) or the thousands watching the other streams, this was not the case. Look at the people arrested below. The majority of arrests occurred at the 2nd march, after dusk, ending in front of the YMCA. The mass arrest was an Orwelllian scene, occurring after the entrapment by police and the command "submit to arrest".

The mainstream media are emphasizing an event at City Hall in Oakland as the event that triggered the police action. This is false. If you were one of the thousands watching the livestreaming in Oakland last night, you saw that this occurred after the mass arrest. They are also reporting it was a large group of protesters who undertook the action at City Hall. Again, this is a false report. It was a small group that splintered off from the main group, after the arrests. Look at the video footage from @punkboyinsf on Twitter. He covered this event. The majority of the thousands of protesters at the march were unaware of this event. A small group, entered City Hall, after the mass arrests. They burned an American flag in a symbolic gesture. They damaged property in City Hall. Again, this occurred after the mass arrests. It was however a useful event for the corporate media, who seem to want to support a re-telling of facts that support police action, however wrong it may have been. This only makes matters worse.

Above: More protesters being held after arrest to the right of the YMCA.

Above: The red circle highlights the table where police sat with laptops, processing the arrested protesters. A line of protesters being loaded into a bus, can be seen in the foreground.

Below: Other stories on the events in Oakland.

Below: Tweets of protester, Miran Istina, a 19YO who has untreated cancer, because her insurance company would not pay, once she was diagnosed. She joined the occupy movement because of her experience. Last night, on 1/28/2012, she was beaten by a police officer, which sent her to the hospital.

Oakland Leaders Spin a Fictitious Story of the Events on J28.

During a news conference the following day, Oakland leaders called the Occupy Oakland protesters "domestic terrorists". This definition is all that is needed to detain someone arrested indefinitely via the terms of the 2012 NDAA Bill signed into law on December 31, 2011. They focused on one tiny event (The City Hall Event) carried out by a splinter group and falsely state it is the reason for the mass arrests.

They show footage of police detaining protesters after arrests, and falsely claim what viewers are watching are the protesters illegal activities and the police trying merely to protect the city. They falsely state the protesters tried to Occupy the YMCA, when in fact a YMCA employee gave opened the door, after one protestor showed their membership card. The protesters were frantically trying  to escape the illegal police blockade. They vilify the protesters, and sanctify the horrific actions by the police. It is very concerning.

During the days following the marches and mass arrests there were many other false statements about the Oakland Occupy Movement and the events on January 28th. They continually ignored abuses by police. It was a nauseating series of attempts to re-create facts in order to benefit their interests, which apparently include silencing the protests. 

Here is a partial list of those making false statements in the media:

Chris De Benedetti reporter with the Bay Area News Group
ABC News in Oakland
Oakland City Counsel Members
Oakland Police Officers and Leaders
Mayor Jean Quan
And many others, associated with the corporate mainstream press, or government.

Below: The news conference held by the Mayor and other civic leaders the day after the J28 events.

#Economy #housingcrisis #OWS #Occupyhomes

ALERT: A very unethical plan to package, slice and sell derivatives of hundreds of thousands of foreclosed  homes as investment vehicles.

#OccupyWallstreet #Occupy #OO #OccupyHomes

A plan is being formulated in part by the very same man who came up with the idea to turn mortgages into similar "investment instruments", (mortgage backed securities), Lewis Ranieri. He is the uneducated, overweight, greasy fingered, sandwich eating Wall Street veteran, that made his way from the mail room to vice chairman of Salomon Brothers. I derived this characterization of him from Michael Lewis's book, Liar's Poker.

His "abstraction" of the very mortgages underlying our homes lead to the mortgage and housing crisis. Now, the very same people who caused so much suffering and pain, wish to profit from the millions of foreclosed homes owned by Fannie Mae as well as banks.  The investors are lining up.

Please, can you people please wake up to the chaos you are causing?

The article is below.

An allegory exploring why banks in the US may want to foreclose.

#OWS #OccupyHomes

A home owner in Oregon, buys a home in 2007, with a market value of $220K, and a mortgage for $200k.

Goldman Sachs and other investors, notice the potential for profit through credit default swaps, and take positions where they can profit if the housing market crashes. It is then announced, in late September 2007,  primarily on the financial news, the housing market is about to crash.

Just before this announcement, the Federal Open Market Committee lowered the discount rate by a half-point or 50 basis points, on September 18th. This marked the first in a rapid series of large rate cuts which continued throughout March, 2008, signaling a possible recession, or worse in the US, and impacting the global markets. The public was not informed what this might mean.

During the same week, Goldman Sachs stock price sharply increased, as their reported earnings came in much higher than expected, shocking those on Wall Street. This was in sharp contrast with other banking and lending institutions, which showed steep declines in price during the same period. The public was not informed what this might mean. 

The house value of the home in Oregon, drops to $100k. Because of the housing and then credit crunch,the homeowners lose their jobs and can not pay their mortgage. They also can not sell their house because they are trapped in a home impacted by the rapidly declining market values, which are less then most mortgages for homes bought during the housing bubble. Unable to sell their home, their only option is to default to the bank.

Bank of America declines to work with them until they can recover, and forecloses on their home 4 yrs after they bought it, in 2011. Their house value is now $150K. Bank of America's books show they have a loss for the mortgage of $200K, and are not receiving payments because of the default for 1 year. This is merely a balance sheet issue.

They foreclose on over 1 million properties with similar conditions during a period of 4 years. In 2012, they encourage financial forecasters to tell the media that the housing market is booming, and that house values will likely increase more than we have seen in recent years. This causes the house value of the Oregon home they now own, to increase to $250K, one year after they foreclosed. They sell the house, making a $50K profit after covering their $200K mortgage loss from the default.

To capture the earnings from interest they would have made on the original mortgage, it would have taken them 30 years. But by foreclosing, they were able to reap a hefty profit in a much shorter period of time.

For the 1 million houses they foreclose on they can earn 50 billion dollars, in a few short years. This is equity which should have gone to the homeowners, and not to the banks. The banks were able to exchange future earnings in mortgage interest for current earnings, greatly increasing their profits when other countries are at a weakened state, reeling from the impact of the global financial crisis. This enhances the power of the US over other struggling countries through the suffering of American citizens.

Above: Image of Kappa Beta Phi Key

Below: A story about Kappa Beta Phi, a secret honor society, mentioned in a Wall Street Journal article that appeared on January 16, 2009, for Wall Street financial executives.

What is most troubling about this recent mocking of Occupy Wall Street participants and the need for Job Creation, is the membership of well known Financial forecaster, Meredith Whitney. Why is this of concern? Meredith Whitney is frequently a guest on CNBC, and in 2008, during the financial crisis, she won CNBC's "Power Player of the Year" over Jamie Dimon, Ben Bernanke, and Hank Paulson. She has the capacity to move market prices with her predictions and frequently does, including during the market crash. Apparently she can help crash the markets, and then feels fine participating with others that laugh at the victims it produces. 

Shanghai Market Drop, February 27, 2007

After the Chinese market drop, the Dow Jones Industrial Average in the United States dropped a staggering 416 points, or 3.29% from 12,632 to 12,216, the biggest one-day slide since the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.

This move foretold the upcoming global financial crisis.

Below:
Obama in Guy Fawkes Mask

About Guy Fawkes:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guy_fawkes

Below:
A reference to Gil-Scott Heron's poem and song, "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Revolution_Will_Not_Be_Televised

Below: Video by New Mainstream Media journalist, Spencer Mills, (@oakfosho). Beautiful footage of March to White House, on January 17th 2012, as part of the Occupy Congress event. The mainstream media did not cover this march, and said only 200 protesters attended. Clearly from watching this video, you can tell there are thousands. Spencer who was there estimated 2500-5000. You be the judge. It was a peaceful and emotional march.

Below: From first GA meeting of Occupy Congress, at Washington Memorial, Washington DC, from livestream of @punkboyinsf http://www.ustream.tv/occupysf#utm_campaign=t.co&utm_source=316210&utm_medium=social

Below: The New Mainstream Media: A teach-in and tech how-to  on evening of Jan 16th, for livestreamers covering the event on January 17th.

Below: The Amarillo13: A group of Occupy protestors from San Diego, thrown off of a Greyhound bus on their way to Washington DC, for occupy Congress for their political views. #occupycongress

Below:
A series of videos were livestreamed by Michael (above), covering the trip of 13 Occupiers from San Diego, to Washington DC, for the Occupy Congress event. They became known as the "Amarillo 13", after being kicked off their Greyhound bus by the driver who objected to their political views.  Their trip showed viewers a snapshot into the life of those in the Occupy Movement, their dedication and their humanity. It also showed the support they received across the country. Their stop in Nashville TN, was beautiful, as their streamer, Michael, ran several blocks, during a brief stop, to film the Occupy camp in Nashville. The Nashville camp was thriving and beaming in the middle of the night.

Below: Photo of Michael from San Diego, a livestreamer and member of the Amarillo 13, standing in front of an Occupy camp in Nashville TN.

Below: Screenshot of Occupier in beautiful Nashville camp, from Amarillo13 's stream (http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/19800946) on their road trip from San Diego, CA to Washington DC for Occupy Congress.

Below is the video segment when Amarillo 13, arrived in Nashville, and viewed their camp. There are other videos livestreamed during their trip on the site.

Below: Article on the Beauty of #OWS: A Message Entangled With Its Form

Below: Former Marine, who fought in Iraq, as did his family, confronts police in NYC, after observing them pulling unarmed protesters from a crowd and attacking them. His impromptu speech went viral on YouTube. He later became an Occupier, going to Occupy events across the country, including Occupy Congress, where he occupied Senator Carl Levin's office, who helped draft the #NDAA.