from corbett report: Most people know “American International Group” as the recipient of the largest bailout in history, but there is much more to this giant insurance company than that. From ties to “Wild” Bill Donovan’s OSS to Arkansas money laundering to 9/11 insider trading, today we explore the allegations and connections that continue to haunt the once impervious AIG.
from forbes: In a statement released after the bell, the so-called budget deficit Supercommittee officially announced it failed to produce $1.2 trillion in budget cuts over the next decade. Their failure, anticipated by many, led to a substantial market plunge on Monday and will supposedly trigger the automatic sequester proposition, which is designed to enact $1.2 trillion in cuts, evenly split between defense and domestic spending.
Episode039 notes/references\links
from washington post: When it was time to give Egypt's embattled leader a gentle nudge, President Obama picked a seasoned diplomat who could deliver the message as a close friend. Frank G. Wisner, a former U.S. ambassador to Cairo, has known Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak for decades and has long advocated strong U.S. ties with him.
video: zbigniew brzezinski & fellow cfr member christiane amanpour discuss globalist stooge elbaradei as he prepares to hijack egyptian revolution*
from economic policy journal: The heavyweights want a report from the Treasury Secretary, including David Rockefeller and Lynn Forester de Rothschild (Forester was introduced to soon to be husband, Sir Evelyn de Rothschild, by Henry Kissinger at the 1998 Bilderberg Group conference in Scotland. They spent their honeymoon at the White House.) In addition to Rockefeller and Lady de Rothschild, on Friday afternoon, Treasury Secretary Geithner will also meet with the other members of the Board of Directors of the Peter G. Peterson Institute for International Economics to discuss the Administration’s agenda for economic growth and strengthening the global financial system. Here's the hefty list of the Institute's Board of Directors...
from allgov: Lehman Brothers managed to conceal from the outside world a multi-billion-dollar mess that was years in the making, according to an audit investigation released last week. But the size and scope of Lehman’s manipulative accounting has led some Wall Street critics to wonder what the New York branch of the Federal Reserve — led then by current Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner — knew about the scheming that eventually led to the venerable bank’s collapse in 2008.
from nytimes: Amid recession, high unemployment and tight household budgets, voters in Oregon have agreed to raise taxes on people with higher incomes, to pay for public education and social services. One of only five states with no sales tax, Oregon has long kept its corporate taxes relatively low. A statewide cap limits how much property taxes can rise, and before Tuesday voters had not approved a statewide income tax increase in nearly 80 years. Each of the two tax proposals, Measures 66 and 67, won decisively, in part because of support from large labor unions and because of how the taxes are directed.
from kurt nimmo: Earlier today House representative Edolphus Towns subpoenaed documents related to the so-called “backdoor bailout” of AIG, including documents from Timothy Geithner, the former New York Fed chief and current Treasury secretary. The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee is looking for information on payments made to AIG counterparties, including Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Barclays, Bank of America, Deutsche Bank, and Societe Generale. The subpoena “specifically requests all documents surrounding the decision to pay AIG’s counterparties 100 cents on the dollar,” according to AFP.
whole foods ceo denies climate change*
goldman's offshore deals deepened global financial crisis*
'sherlock holmes' & the ripper killings*
from afp: The US public debt topped 12 trillion dollars for the first time in history, Treasury officials disclosed Tuesday, moving past a key barrier that raised hackles in Congress. Treasury data showed Monday's outstanding debt at 12.031 trillion dollars, up from 11.999 trillion on Friday. The ballooning debt reflects the massive deficit spending by the government in an effort to revive an ailing economy over more than one year. The public debt topped 10 trillion dollars in September 2008. The debt is quickly approaching the statutory limit of 12.104 trillion dollars, meaning Congress would have to raise the ceiling to prevent a shutdown of government operations.
from independent: The wholesome Scandinavian image of furniture and lifestyle giant Ikea has been rudely shaken by a new book which claims the company is hostile to foreign employees and uses Stasi-style secret police methods to spy on its thousands of staff worldwide. The explosive charges are made by a former senior Ikea executive Johan Stenebo, a Swede who started working for the company at one of its German outlets outside Hamburg over 20 years ago and rose to a senior management position. He resigned last year. His book, entitled Sanningen om Ikea (The Truth about Ikea), contains wide-ranging allegations about a company which has become a global household name. Justifying the book to Gemany's Der Spiegel magazine, he said: "I did not want to go along with it any more, but I could not stay silent."
here is the amazing new video version of media monarchy's interview w/ richard grove of tragedyandhope.com ... download part1 & part2 from blip.tv ... hi-quality versions are available on archive.org w/ more versions on the way ... also thanks to 9/11 blogger for helping spread this important work.
from daily mail: A hedge fund manager who predicted the global credit crunch has said the financial crisis has been 'stimulating' and the culmination of his life's work. George Soros, who predicted the global financial crisis twice before, was one of the few people to anticipate and prepare for the current economic collapse. Mr Soros said his prediction meant he was better able to brace his Quantum investment fund against the global storm. But other investors failed to take notice of his prediction and his decision to come out of retirement in 2007 to manage the fund made him $US2.9 billion. And while the financial crisis continued to deepen across the globe, the 78-year-old still managed to make $1.1 billion last year. "It is, in a way, the culminating point of my life’s work," he told national newspaper The Australian.
from paul joseph watson: China has expressed support for Russia’s proposal to hand the IMF the power to create a new supra-national global currency in response to the call for an alternative to the U.S. dollar as the world reserve currency. Last week the Kremlin called for the “creation of a supranational reserve currency to be issued by international institutions as part of a reform of the global financial system.” The Russian proposal stated that the IMF should take the lead in establishing a “superreserve currency accepted by the whole of the international community.” China today expressed support for the initiative and said it was ready to discuss the proposal at the upcoming G20 meeting in London on April 2.
from webster tarpley: Myron Scholes, the creator of the infamous Black-Scholes model for pricing derivatives which won the Nobel Prize and then almost destroyed the world banking system with the Long Term Capital Management bankruptcy of 1998, has now partially understood that his derivative creations are a Frankenstein monster. He recommends wiping out the current crop of toxic cds derivatives. The only hope of world economic recovery is indeed by wiping out, freezing, deleting, shredding, and otherwise destroying ALL of the $1.5 quadrillion derivatives bubble. Otherwise, the London G-20 will repeat the failure of the 1932 Lausanne conference, which needed to wipe out reparations and war debts left over from World War I in order to end the First World Depression. To end the Second World Depression, wipe out and permanently ban derivatives now!
from ap: As a bartender and trainer at a national restaurant chain, Rebecca Brown earned a couple thousand dollars in a really good week. Now, as a dancer at Chicago's Pink Monkey gentleman's club, she makes almost that much in one good night. The tough job market is prompting a growing number of women across the country to dance in strip clubs, appear in adult movies or pose for magazines like Hustler. Employers across the adult entertainment industry say they're seeing an influx of applications from women who, like Brown, are attracted by the promise of flexible schedules and fast cash. Many have college degrees and held white-collar jobs until the economy soured.