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[March 18 2008] Travus T. Hipp Morning News & Commentary: No Angels - Tibet, Genocide, The Dalai Lama, And The CIA

by: Travus T. Hipp - Cabale News Service

Publication date: 2008-03-18

Usage: Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0

Topics: Travus T. Hipp, Cabale News Service, KPIG, Politics, News, Alternative News, U.S. Foreign Policy, U.S. Domestic Policy, Breaking Politics News, Realpolitik, Republican Family Values, Social Justice, '08 Elections, 2008 Elections, Affluence, African American, African American History, Alternative Society, American Culture, American Economy, American Lifestyle, American Protectorate, Amoral, Amorality, Arms Industry, Authoritarian, Authoritarian State, Bailout, Baltic, Barack Obama, Ben Bernanke, Black Ops, Brad Delong, Broadcast Media, Bush Administration, Bush Family Ranch, Bush War, BushCo, BushWar, Campaign Speech, Capitalism, Capitalist, Capitalist Economics, Central Intelligence Agency, China, Chinese Government, CIA, CIA Black Ops, CIA Operations, Clandestine Planning, Class Struggle, Class War, Classist, Cold War, Color Line, Communism, Concentrated Wealth, Condoleeza Rice, Constitutional Freedom, Constitutional Law, Constitutional Reform, Constitutional Rights, Consumer Spending, Consumerism, Consumption, Corporate Ethics, Corporate Mafia, Corporate Society, Corporatism, Covert Operations, Cross-Border Incursion, Culture of Corruption, Dalai Lama, Democracy Promotion, Democratic Candidate, Department of Defense, Destabilization, Diplomacy, Diplomatic Negotiations, Diplomatic Pressure, Diplomatic Talks, Disinformation, Dog and Pony Show, Domestic Economy, Economic Bailout, Economic Depression, Economic Indicator, Economic Recession, Economic Stimulus, Economics, Empire, Ethics, Ethnocide, FCC, Federal Communications Commission, Federal Court, Federal Law, Federal Reserve Bank, Financial Liquidity, Financial Market, Fiscal Crisis, Fiscal Intervention, Fleeting Obscenities, Freedom Agenda, Genocide, Global Empire, Government Accountability, Government Disinformation, Gray Propaganda, Grey Propaganda, Gun Control, Henry Paulson, Historical Revisionism, History, Human Rights, Imperialist Economics, Integrity, International Diplomacy, International Politics, Invasion, Investment, Iran, Iran War, Iranian Weapons System, Judicial, Jurisprudence, Land Grab, Law, Law Enforcement, Liquidity, Low Intensity Warfare, Martial Law, Mass Demonstration, Mercenary, Middle East, Militarism, Missile System, Moscow, Myth, National Security, National Sovereignty, Nationalism, Neofascism, Neoliberal, New World Order, New World Police State, Obamamania, Obscenity, Occupation Army, Organized Resistance, Pacification, Paul Krugman, Pentagon, Permanent Bases, Persian Gulf, Philosophy, Police State, Political Activism, Political Philosophy, Politics of Resistance, Power Elite, Presidential Candidate, Project Censored, Quality Of Loans, Race-related, Racism, Refugee, Regime Change, Repressive Government, Risky Home Loans, Robert Gates, Russia, Russian Government, Second Amendment, Securitized Mortgages, Sino-US relations, Skull and Bones, Smoothly Functioning Market, State Department, State Terror, Supreme Court, Terrorism, Tibet, Tibetan, Tibetan History, Tibetan Independence, Totalitarian, Treasury, U.S. Diplomacy, U.S. Economy, U.S. Fiscal Policy, U.S. Governance, U.S. Government, U.S. Supreme Court, Under Reported News, Under-reported News, US Financial Markets, Vigilante, War Pigs, Warmonger, Warmongering, War-mongering

In The News: The US financial markets seem to have stabilized, but no one quite understands why. More.

Brad Delong, UC Berkeley economist has some notes...

Here's what happened:

First, some firms that lend money made some big, risky home loans.

The loans were risky because they ended up with lots of people who would only be able to pay them if house prices kept rising.

But the lenders weren't that worried about the quality of loans because they didn't hold on to them. They securitized them, meaning they packaged them with other loans and sold them to other investors.

Then the bubble burst and prices started to tank.

Then the loans started to go bad, but because they were squirreled away who knows where, no one knew quite what to do. So the part of the economy that provides credit froze up, and without free-flowing credit, our economy can't expand.

As the losses piled up, well, see the BS story above.

The Federal Reserve and the Treasury are trying to unfreeze the credit markets by injecting "liquidity", making a lot more cash available. But it hasn't worked because investors are too spooked to lend and borrowers don't want to invest anyway right now, what with the economy heading south with a vengeance.

All of which raises some very big, very good questions: What's the risk engendered by these bailouts for the rest of us?

There's a good argument to be made for the bailout (see Krugman today) but not if the fat cats get to skate on by unscathed.

At the heart of the bailout is the Fed taking on the very smelliest part of the BS portfolio: the mortgatge debt.

I'd like to know what we're getting in return
(and Mr. Paulson, the answer: "smoothly functioning markets" is unacceptable). In Full

A chart from the St. Louis Federal Reserve Bank that should make your hair stand on end (click it for larger):

Non-Borrowed Reserves of Depository Institutions 450px

Simply... No liquidity. The money's all spoken for, and then some.

(Note: If you click the image for the FRB site's chart, you will see it has been updated, with the timeline extended and somehow 'weighted' to 'flatten' it but STILL, despite their best efforts, showing a frantic scramble (or appearance thereof) to restore those looted reserves.)

Robert Gates and Condoleeza Rice are in Moscow for 2 days of negotiations on whether the Russians would do anything to stop the US from installing missile systems in the Baltic region... Ostensibly to prevent attacks by non-existent Iranian weapons systems...?...

Tibetan Tension: "Enforced normality", The Chinese government blames the Dali Lama's 'clique' for attempting to force international attention on Tibetan independence issues. Conversely, the Dali Lama says he will step down if the violence continues. More.

The CIA will buy liability insurance for 75% of it's employees world wide.

The Supreme Court: A MAJOR Second Amendment case regarding whether the 2nd DOES guarantee the right of civilians to bear arm will be heard, and they will also rule on an FCC policy regarding "Fleeting obscenities" in the broadcast media.

Barack Obama is scheduled to give a speech on race in a few minutes... It's time SOMEONE noticed it was an issue in the presidential 'race'.

--30--

"All The News You Never Knew You Needed To Know ...Until Now."
Travus T. Hipp - Cabale News Service

Recorded by The Buffalo In Da' Midst @ My Buffalo River Home
Courtesy of Cabale New Service and KPIG Radio