From The Ramparts

Something Fishy Is Going On

Something Fishy Is Going On

“The original purpose of the Plunge Protection Team was to prevent another 1987-type ‘Black Monday’ stock market crash. This seems like a reasonable way to address the prospect of a major economic collapse following a terrorist attack or a natural disaster. However, the systemic weakness in the market and the great uncertainty surrounding hedge funds and derivatives suggests that the PPL is probably being used to stabilize an over-leveraged and thoroughly debauched system. If that’s the case, then we need to know whether the PPT really operates in the public interest or if it is just a stopgap for big business to avoid a painful retrenchment?” Juicing the Stock Market The Secret Maneuverings of the Plunge Protection Team by Mike Whitney www.dissidentvoice.org March 4, 2007

Black folks generally don’t pay much attention to the stock market, the financial pages or the overall condition of the US or global economies. We have been brainwashed and conditioned to think this is White folks’ business or biness as we say. Since we’re not in the loop we are not aware how the system really works. Nor do we show much interest in what’s going within a global economic system that is ripping Africans off world wide and exploiting us around the globe. But this is all the more reason we should be up on what’s happening. Now I don’t pretend to be an economist by any means, but surely we ought to be paying attention to what is going on. If for no other reason that we don’t have a working alternative to a ruthless and predatory system that impacts the quality of our lives and the lives of our loved ones on a daily basis. One reason most of us don’t bother to read the financial section is because there are too many conflicting notions of what is happening, doublespeak, jargon and gobbledygook. Very rarely to they speak in plan simple terms. I suspect this is by design. This is so the vast majority of us black and white who are not actively involved in the stock market, bonds, investments or mutual funds will be unable to discern what is really going on! All we know about these things is what we see and hear on the television which as Chuck D says is merely “telling lies to our vision.” Here is a sample of the type of gobbledygook one routinely reads in the financial pages. “In Chairman Ben Bernanke’s semiannual monetary policy report on February 15 he outlined several reasons for the FED not to increase or to decrease the interest rate in the near-term. First, the U.S. economy is showing potential for consistent expansion at a moderate pace over the next year, with growth strengthening, imports increasing, and the housing market becoming less of a burden. Second, the core inflationary pressures are showing signs of decreasing. The primary reason for the decline was the drop in the price of crude oil toward the end of last year, which has led to lower prices for fuel at the pump, inputs for producers, and – thus - final products that you buy at the store. Therefore, since the economic growth is continuing at a moderate pace and inflation abating, the need to increase interest rates does not appear to be there.” http://www.gocurrency.com/forex-news/
What world do these people live in? What are they talking about when they say the US economy is “showing potential for consistent expansion... and the housing market has become less of a burden.” ? The last time I checked unemployment was rampant in the black community. Hasn’t anyone informed these “experts” US manufacturing jobs are way down, new housing construction has slowed to a standstill, mortgage defaults and foreclosures are at an all time high and mortgage companies that specialize in making loans to folks with shaky credit are going belly up on a daily basis?! The “experts” at least the mass media ones lie like a worn out rug. Things do not look good in AmeriKKKa but only a few are willing to tell us the truth.
During the last week in February the US stock market took a huge dive. The Asian markets also shuddered and lost significant ground. Given the precarious situation in AmeriKKKa: the mountains of personal and government debt, the abysmal savings rate and a central bank with the inflation throttle open all the way, the shock waves of four days in February when the US stock market took major dives should have set off major alarm bells. But almost miraculously the markets “righted” themselves and a disastrous ripple failed to materialize. The setback in Asia and the tremors in the US market didn’t result in a global economic tsunami. Was that the work of natural “market forces” or was a hidden hand involved? Knowing the white man as I do I suspect it was the latter. In fact so do many market watchers. An official mechanism for market manipulation has been in place for years. It’s called the President’s Working Group on Financial Markets. It’s other name is the Plunge Protection Team. Here is what Wikipedia has to say about it, “Plunge Protection Team, was originally the headline for an article in The Washington Post by staff writer Brett D. Fromson, published on Sunday, February 23, 1997. He did not invent the term. It was added later by a copy desk editor as a sensational nickname for the subject of the article, the President's Working Group on Financial Markets in the United States. It includes the Secretary of the Treasury, the Chairman of the Federal Reserve, the Chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission and the chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. Founded in 1988 after the 1987 stock market crash, it theoretically ensures the stability of the financial markets, prevents liquidity problems, and ensures that stock market hiccups do not cause bank runs. Some Wall Street bears believe that it buys stock index futures or uses other methods to help keep the American stock markets afloat. Upon that suspicion, Plunge Protection Team or PPT for short, has become a catch phrase among those who warn about the danger of monetary inflation being used as a tool to more or less directly support stock market prices. The term, Plunge Protection Team, has also been used to include high ranking private bank officials. Private bank risks have increased with growth in the use of derivatives. Trying to prevent a sudden drop in stock prices might be a way to alleviate some of those risks without cutting back on the derivative contract sales that certain banks make a large percentage of income from. So they, especially those banks associated with the Counterparty Risk Management Policy Group of 1999 and the more recent CRMPG II, have also been suspected of conspiring as part of a broader PPT. Please see the article on derivatives for further explanation.” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plunge_Protection_Team
That’s a pretty straightforward explanation. What it means is, there is a special insider group formed by an executive order by a US president that has massive funds at its disposal to use as it sees fit to prevent panic runs on banks and stocks. While that may be a good thing, it also has its detractors. Many suspect this group or groups like it (including major private international bankers) manipulate the market whenever they want not just to head off a sudden downturn. “The pre-911 U.S. markets showed an astounding - yet confounding and puzzling - rise for the 4 months proceeding 911. The U.S. media dubbed it a ‘patriotic rally’. The European Press called it a ‘PPT [Plunge Protection Team] rally’. Obviously, the U.S. markets were manipulated and rigged to an inflated value in advance of the 911 disaster. Was this a coordinated measure in anticipation of what was to come? Only The Powers That Be can answer that question directly. Since 911, there have been at least three major long-term stock market rallies. In all 3 instances, when the markets opened all the indexes began to quickly plunge. In each incidence, by early afternoon the markets were brought back from the brink of collapse to the surprise of everyone, including historical analysts. An event that should have sent markets spiraling downward was the Enron, et al, unprecedented corporate accounting scandals. Yet despite this, an unprecedented accross-the-board markets rally began on July 24, 2002. Once again, the European Press called it a ‘PPT rally’.” Secrets Of The Plunge Protection Team The Four Derivative US Dictators By Michael Edward http://www.rense.com/general52/secretsoftheplunge.htm
The stock market is a giant Ponzi scheme that can be easily manipulated by massive buying or selling. Rich white boys do it all the time, coupled with insider trading. Lately I’ve been doing some research learning about Hedge Funds and derivatives which make up a significant portion of the new economic system. These items are just as shaky and tricky. It can be confusing because when you couple all that with what the US Federal Reserve Bank does: set credit and interest policies, create worthless money out of thin air and charge the US Treasury (US taxpayers) to do it and they charge interest for the US (us) to use this money, you have the makings of a fragile house of cards that could get blown away by a feeble wind.
Keep in mind the US government as we know it is broke, just like many of us! And the rest of the world knows it! Our conspicuous consumption and threats of military action are all that stand between AmeriKKKa being a wobbly imperial power or a third rate also ran. Given how the Iraqis, Afghans and humble folks in Columbia have stymied and flummoxed the US military and the precarious shape of the US dollar/economy, the days of US imperial domination appear numbered. How can I say that? Because the US government borrows over two billion dollars a day just to keep the lights on, pay salaries, pay its’ bills, do the corporate welfare thing and wage war. What would happen if the US citizens rose up and abolished the Fed or forced it to stop printing worthless monopoly money? What would happen if private bankers and foreign governments stopped lending the US money or buying its’ T Bills and notes? What would happen if the rest of the countries in the world suddenly stopped accepting US dollars as payment for stuff? I wonder what the talking heads the media dubs financial experts would say if someone asked them these questions?

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posted by Junious Ricardo Stanton @ 8:32 AM