Is the entire western world on the verge of being MF Global'd?

leedswillprevai

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I think the answer is yes, we have balance sheets made up of nothing but meaningless notional derivative numbers. The banks in Canada are hailed as some of the best but their exposure to derivatives is incredibly big, particularly with the big 4.

We have had MF Global, a trading house which has gone under lose 1.2 billion of it's clients money, their accounts have been transferred but no one knows where the money went. Corzine went before the senate in recent days to apologise for what has happened but hey, he has no idea where it's gone :nono:. A man who was formerly from Goldman Sachs (the stench just continues doesn't it).

Think that's a one off blip? okay, perhaps then I should draw your attention to congress woman questioning Ronald Rumsfeld back in 2006 why there was 1.2 trillion unaccounted for in the pentagon's budget, he didn't know either.

They have stolen/are stealing from the pension funds....In this King World News exclusive interview, Harry Markopolos the Whistleblower who brought down Bernie Madoff's $65 billion Ponzi scheme reached out to KWN with the latest fraud he and his team have uncovered.

Markopolos stated, “The Bank of New York is going to go down, Eric. Between Bank of New York Mellon and State Street, these two institutions have stolen between $6 to $10 billion from tens of millions of Americans retirement savings accounts. It's been a hell of a crime spree for the bank, but now they are being brought to justice.”

Markopolos also told KWN, “The New York Attorney General filed suit on Tuesday (against Bank of New York Mellon) for stealing money from pension funds on currency transactions. This theft has been from tens of millions of Americans, policemen, firemen, librarians, municipal workers, judges and the list goes on and on and they've been doing it for decades.

To get a feel for just how leveraged banks are with the derivatives by the way, consider this...BAC quietly moved $53 trillion in derivatives from its holding company to its subsidiary that holds $1 trillion in customer deposits and is insured by the FDIC. If any part of these derivatives blow up, the Taxpayer will then be on hook for the $1 trillion in deposits. So the leverage is 53/1.

Private debt has become public debt, look at Ireland for instance. The exposure courtesy of the leverage is :eek:.

Next up let's look at the supposed Quantitative Easing programmes which took place in America, we had QE1, QE2 but nah, no QE3, or did we? While the media continues to play it's role of see no evil hear no evil, it has continued. I am not particularly intelligent but I know when the media is complicit in the lie.

So let's just refer to the money supply...http://www.econmatters.com/2011/12/jim-rogers-qe3s-already-started-im.html. When America sneezes, well....you know the rest. Also in regards to America consider the much publicised 700 billion bailout of the banks but I have been reading more about this because my experience is that typically the headline figure is the one reported and made into the main event. This was back in 2008 ...They weren't alone. According to Bloomberg's data, 97 different financial institutions around the globe turned their ‘discount window' into profits during the two years of the financial crisis. The most suspicious part – the US government insisted on keeping every single transaction a secret. In one day alone at the end of 2008, the Federal Reserve gave out $1.2 trillion dollars to banks – the most on any day before or since.

Republican Presidential candidate Ron Paul (R-TX) could do a much better job of explaining the almost criminal nature of the FED than this Whiteout Press author ever could. With his pledge to abolish the FED, Rep Paul might explain – imagine you Joe Citizen walk into your city hall and ask for a $10 billion dollar loan at zero percent interest. They give you, and only you, that loan because you're ‘special'. You then loan that $10 billion out to others at 5, 10 or 20 percent yearly interest for things like homes, which are guaranteed by the taxpayers, so there's no risk of nonpayment. When that $15 or $20 billion is paid back to you, you pay back the FED the original $10 billion and keep the rest.

MF Global is a tiny drop in the ocean compared to what is coming. Not all Americans stick their heads in the clouds....WASHINGTON — An estimated 650,000 consumers have closed their bank accounts and opted for credit union membership over the past four weeks, according to CUNA, bringing the approach to Saturday's Bank Transfer Day to a crescendo.

In a survey of 5,000 of its credit union members CUNA estimates that at least 650,000 consumers across the nation have joined credit unions since Sept. 29, the day Bank of America unveiled its now-rescinded $5 monthly debit card fee. Also during that time, CUNA estimates that credit unions have added $4.5 billion in new savings accounts, likely from the new members and existing members shifting their funds. In 12-18 months time, let's see if this post is born out.

I have no agenda other than to say the writing is on the wall, don't trust the system blindly, there is no sentiment in business, the morality got washed away long long ago. It's up to you what you do, but as from today I now only have a very small amount of cash in the bank. The rest is now in hard assets and a credit union.
 
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Seriously, just grow up, I would have loved to have lived in a world where we have a stable, sound financial system, whereby I never had to consider taking my money out to safeguard any vestige of wealth but I don't. Let's see if what I have said is borne out in the next 12 months or so. If it isn't. then I am completely wrong and GREAT, if it is borne out, thank god I got my money out of the banks when I did. What you choose to do with this info is your own business.
 
Seriously, just grow up, I would have loved to have lived in a world where we have a stable, sound financial system, whereby I never had to consider taking my money out to safeguard any vestige of wealth but I don't.
Plenty of (knowledgeable) people would disagree with you...

Let's see if what I have said is borne out in the next 12 months or so. If it isn't. then I am completely wrong and GREAT, if it is borne out, thank god I got my money out of the banks when I did. What you choose to do with this info is your own business.
:hiya:
Sidicks
 
leedswillprevai said:
Seriously, just grow up

What part of my post was immature, condescending or in any way personal?

I'm just questioning how you can say you have no agenda at the same time as you are urging everyone to take their money out of the banks?
 
After 2003, the credit unions have to be regulated in the same way that banks are
As for hard assets, they are in the metals.
As to previous poster, sorry, it just seemed to be nit picking, I have no idealogical standpoint, this isn't a political issue. I am neither right, nor left, though I am sure some people on here. I don't care, my intentions are just to to warn people that things are spinning out of control. Now they look at the information presented and dismiss it, look at it and shrug their shoulders or act on that information. Again, what you do is what you live and die by and we'll see. Feel free to point out how wrong I have been in 12 months time. After all, I have been here for years.
 
Ron Paul is not Republican, he is libertarian, and advocating minimal governance in the US:

Ron Paul All Bark Advert

The UK would benefit from a large does of that.

I have always taken a cautious approach, and many cranks may dismiss your post as alarmist but from experience I have seen in the finance sector when they realise the game is up, they have to get the last mouthful from the dying carcass so to speak.

Before my previous employer was wound up, the traders were basically taking clients money for bonds they knew were junk and then phoning them the next day to say 'we have another that may do you a good return' knowing full well it was the same as the last. And the pension funds and other investors still piled in chasing the preverbial carrot.

Regarding Credit Unions, Its not unlike Building Societies in the UK. Credit Unions in the US are regulated in the same way as high street establishments but they are a mutual, the execs get a performance related share of investments, so the incentive is stability rather than outright profit. They also do not partake in risk or derivative trading as companies like MF Global did.

This capitalist system should work ok, and it does when the politicians are not involved as Building Societies are testament to. Provided the customer shares in the benefits, the society executives and employees can all take a healthy but fair slice of the pie. And if you fail, you get nothing and the customers boot you out.

Education and the NHS will also benefit greatly from this type of approach.

The shadow banking system is quite an apt description. There are no rules that say investment capital has to be returned as far as pension funds go, the old 'value of investments can go up as well as down, and you might not get back what you put in' is the caveat.

Whilst you might not agree, this is another adequate demonstration of the fact that Big Government and the Welfare state should be dismantled due to the endemic corruption of politicians and the banking sector, such are they intertwined that there is little or no possibility of change that will not come at the expense of the tax payers. A new system needs to arise from the anarchy of such a process, following a process not unlike Cromwell's crusade.
 
But if you don't trust banks, why would you trust credit unions?
:confused:



So you are planning to go to your local Sainsbury's and purchase your weekly shopping with some Silver?
:laugh:
Sidicks

I know you are something of a wind up merchant sidicks, but I will bite, yes I trust a credit union who is not engaged in all sorts of financial chicanery. Yes I trust an institution which is not leveraged many times over, which is not involved in derivatives.

Again, I guess the part about I will bite, comes into play here. If you noticed I said I would keep a little in there for exactly this reason. The essentials and the essentials only
 
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Again, I guess the part about I will bite, comes into play here. If you noticed I said I would keep a little in there for exactly this reason. The essentials and the essentials only

So who is looking after your phyiscal metals for you?
:confused:
 
With 100% compensation of up to £85,000 per saver, per authorized institution via the UK government Financial Services Compensation Scheme, why do you not trust banks.

Do you expect the £ to collapse into hyper inflation? Hence the keeping of gold/silver.
 
Firstly, I don't know what the reality is of the fund pool and frankly in the event of a meltdown, you wouldn't get that money overnight even if everyone is fully covered.

Secondly, the dollar is disappearing down the toilet, the rates of returns from banks are lousy anyway, so I made the decision to invest in metals.

The cost of living which is the real measure of inflation is already in double figures. Hyper inflation is what we might see, yes.

I am not advocating the latter, that's up to you.
 
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the rates of returns from banks are lousy anyway, so I made the decision to invest in metals.
Which is all well and good but the price of gold/silver etc fluctuates and, for people with small investments who want security of all their capital along with ready availability, then it is not a good choice. On top of that the prices of gold and silver have been riding high the last few years and both seem to now have commenced a downward trend - is it just a short term dip or a long term change?
 
Firstly, I don't know what the reality is of the fund pool and frankly in the event of a meltdown, you wouldn't get that money overnight even if everyone is fully covered.

Secondly, the dollar is disappearing down the toilet, the rates of returns from banks are lousy anyway, so I made the decision to invest in metals.
In what currency are the metals priced?

The cost of living which is the real measure of inflation is already in double figures.
What 'basket of goods' is showing double figure inflation?

Hyper inflation is what we might see, yes.
I am not advocating the latter, that's up to you.

How are you investing in metals??
:confused:
Sidicks
 
Metals sidicks as you well know are denominated in dollars.

Food, electricity, fuel, etc, as you well know sidicks is in excess of 10%

I am storing them securely and no, not in a bank.
 
Secondly, the dollar is disappearing down the toilet

Metals sidicks as you well know are denominated in dollars.

Hmmmm

Food, electricity, fuel, etc, as you well know sidicks is in excess of 10%
Plenty of offers on food if you shop around.What proportion of a household budget is electricty / fuel?

I am storing them securely and no, not in a bank.
You personally are storing physical metals?
:confused:
Sidicks
 
If you were to point to me that supplier A is 10% cheaper than supplier B, that doesn't defeat the point because I could typically look at supplier A and realise that whilst more competitive, has increased their prices 10% from the previous year.

So your point is truly a non starter.
 
If you were to point to me that supplier A is 10% cheaper than supplier B, that doesn't defeat the point because I could typically look at supplier A and realise that whilst more competitive, has increased their prices 10% from the previous year.

So your point is truly a non starter.

My point is that by shopping carefully, your food shopping will not have significantly increased in value.

Yes, energy costs may have increased by more than 10%, but that only represents a proportion of the overall budget. You can of course do what we used to do years ago - put on an extra jumper, so as to mitigate the impact of the price increases.

I'm still struggling to see how real world inflation is "already in double figures"?
:confused:
Sidicks
 
Your cost of living hasn't risen by 10% huh?
In spite of the jumps, great for you, but I will repeat what even the times has touched upon. That is, that inflation is not really a measurement of the cost of living for people.
 
Your cost of living hasn't risen by 10% huh?
In spite of the jumps, great for you, but I will repeat what even the times has touched upon. That is, that inflation is not really a measurement of the cost of living for people.

And I'm simply asking you to justify your comments, which you don't seem to be able to do...
:confused:
Sidicks
 
My cost of living has increased by 10%, well, over 10%, asking others the same question, they will tell me a similar figure. When the papers conduct their own independent studies, lo and behold, they find the same thing.

Have you not noticed how the rise has been so dramatic, that prices are staying the same while foods are getting smaller? Look at the size of a chocolate bar and then look at the price, this is also masking the real price jumps.

What has your cost of living increased by?
 
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