Banks 'Making A Killing' On Government Toxic Asset Program

Remember the Public-Private Investment Program (PPIP)? The Treasury Department unveiled the program in March 2009 and intended it as a way to help banks unload hard-to-sell (toxic) mortgage securities. In short, private investors partnered with the government to get bad loans off the banks' books -- and everyone, including taxpayers, was supposed to come out ahead on the proceeds of the asset sales.

But some of the nation's largest banks have actually bought more risky home loans instead of getting them off their balance sheets.

In other words, the program that was supposed to help banks dispose of these toxic assets instead made those assets so marketable that banks bought more -- which has pushed Wall Street's titans to even greater exposure to the stalled housing market. The banks apparently decided that the government's entry into the mortgage security market was simply a guaranteed money-making opportunity

Bank of America, Citigroup, Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs added $2.75 billion of this kind of mortgage debt from March 2009 up till December 2009.

The Public-Private Investment Program was introduced in March by Geithner as a means of helping struggling banks by reviving the market for unpackaged loans and mortgage securities that aren't backed by government-supported institutions, such as Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac. Under the program, asset managers were supposed to raise money from investors and, with additional capital and loans from taxpayers, buy as much as $1 trillion in toxic assets from U.S. banks, freeing up money for lending.

It's "absolutely ridiculous" that banks, which were expected to reduce their holding of such volatile mortgage securities, bought them before the government program was running and may now profit, said Michael Schlachter, managing director of Wilshire Associates, the Santa Monica, California- based investment-consulting firm. "Some of them created this mess, and they are making a killing undoing it."

Eric Petroff, director of research at Wurts & Associates, a Seattle-based investment advisory firm, told Bloomberg: "Any time the government says, 'We're going to buy something in the securities market,' they're putting out a sign that says, 'Free money, come and get it'."

Israel Distributing Gas Masks To Its Citizens.

Israel is distributing its entire population with gas masks, though no reason has officially been given by the Israeli government.

No indication or threat has been made against Israel from any country that an attack is planned. No country in the Middle East is believed to be likely to engage in chemical or biological warfare with Israel, either.

The gas mask distribution has, however, raised questions as to Israel's potential plans to launch an attack on Iran's nuclear facilities. Such an attack could cause an unconventional response from Iran. Iran's chemical and biological weapons capabilities are currently not known.

Rumors in the Middle East abound that Israel is preparing to rein in Hezbollah through another war on Lebanon. Hezbollah, however, is also not believed to hold any chemical or biological weapons.

The only country in Israel's region currently believed to have access to a major chemical or biological weapons program is Israel itself, though the country unlikely to utilize them in an attack.

Despite the lack of a viable threat, Israel has begun issuing the gas masks to each of its residents. The Israel Defense Forces are managing the distribution. The IDF has engaged the Israel Postal Company to aid in the distribution, a departure from the use of Home Front Command for previous distributions.

Secret US Memo Urges War On Iran.

A secret memo by US Defense Secretary Robert Gates urges Washington to consider the use of military force against Iran if diplomacy fails to scrap the country's nuclear program.

In what seems to be a new twist in US efforts to tackle Iran's enrichment activities, The New York Times reveals that a three-page memorandum, which has been circulating in Washington since January, has advocated military action against Tehran.

The classified memorandum, according to unnamed government officials quoted by the Times, warns that Washington lacks an effective policy in dealing with Iran's nuclear program and should therefore come up with new options.

One senior official has said that the memo accuses Iran of weapons development and lays out a set of military alternatives to counter Iran's progress in nuclear science and technology.

Jordan's King Warns Mideast War 'Imminent'.

http://rense.com/general90/jordd.htm

Mahathir: US preparing for attack on Iran.

http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=115061&sectionid=351020104

Health Insurance Companies Invest Billions In Fast Food Chains.

Did you ever wonder how health insurance companies drum up future business? It's easy: Just invest in companies whose products cause chronic degenerative disease, driving people towards more health care needs and therefore more health insurance.

And that's exactly what the health insurance industry is doing. A new article published in theAmerican Journal of Public Health reveals that U.S. and Canadian health insurance giants own nearly $2 billion worth of stock in fast food giants like McDonald's, Burger King, KFC, Taco Bell and others.

So profits made by health insurance companies are reinvested in industries that make people sick and diseased, bringing them back to buy more health insurance down the road. It's a pretty clever business model for an industry that seems focused on the almighty dollar and obviously has no concern whatsoever for the actual health status of its customers. If anything, these health insurance companies hope you get sicker!

Corporate conspiracy to keep you sick and diseased

These unholy alliances among corporate giants that conspire to keep you sick are more common than you think. In addition to health insurance companies owning billions of dollars worth of shares in fast food companies, pharmaceutical companies now own major shares of popular vitamin companies -- the ones that produce the cheap, useless chemical vitamin supplements sold at places like Wal-Mart and Walgreens.

Investors in the mainstream media are some of the same companies that own medical imaging equipment manufactures that produce mammography machines and CT scans, too. And did you know that the American Dental Association owns patents on materials used in mercury fillings, which is one of the reasons why the ADA continues to push for installing toxic mercury into the mouths of children? (http://pnwf.org/Dentistry_Mercury_C...)

This ownership of fast food companies by the health insurance corporate giants demonstrates a deeply disturbing fact about the entire sick-care industry: It really is about profits rather than health. If they can make an extra buck feeding you the very junk foods that are causing cancer, heart disease, diabetes and strokes, they will absolutely jump on that profit bandwagon no matter what the cost in human lives, pain and suffering.

The bigger picture: What are YOU invested in?

There's an even bigger story to all this, by the way. While it seems altogether contradictory that health insurance companies would invest in fast food chains, the disturbing truth is that many institutional investors hold billions of dollars worth of shares in pharmaceutical companies. Your very own mutual funds may hold large positions in Big Pharma. Even your employer may be investing your pension funds in vaccine-pushing corporations.

Right now might be a good time, in fact, to review whatever investments you might have and make sure you're not inadvertently investing in the types of corporations whose actions you oppose.

If you own mutual fund shares, you might be surprised to find out where your money is being invested. You actually have to research it a bit to find out where these mutual funds redirect your money. Most of them invest in Big Pharma in one way or another.

Remember that every dollar pumped into the pharmaceutical industry is another dollar that will be used to further expand the medical enslavement of the population through vaccines, medications, chemotherapy and other dangerous chemical treatments. The best way to protect the health of future generations is to starve Big Pharma of investment dollars and revenue by refusing to buy their products or stock shares.

Activists: Uzbekistan Orders Forced Sterilizations.

Human rights think tank alleged that Uzbek government has instructed health workers to surgically sterilize women as part of a campaign to reduce birth rate of the authoritarian ex-soviet nation.

Previous human rights, UN and US State Department reports also have alleged that women in the Central Asian country have been forced or duped into sterilization.

Uzbekistan's government retains strict Soviet-style control over health institutions in the predominantly Muslim nation of 27 million, whose population has been growing quickly.

Goldman Sachs Set To Pay £3.5 Billion In Bonuses.

world's biggest investment bank that is now assailed by accusations of fraud, is poised to reignite controversy over bankers' bonuses by paying its staff more than £3.5 billion for just 3 months' work.

This bumper payout will equate to about £110,000 a head for the firms 32,500 employees worldwide, with a handful of top traders expected to be in line for multi-million-pound bonuses.

Close to £600 million is expected to be paid to the group's 5,500 London based staff for the first 3 months of this year which is on a par with their remuneration in the last year of the boom (2007).

This revelation has come in-spite the fact that Goldman Sachs is preparing for a legal battle with the US government over claims it defrauded investors of $1 billion.

There is a likelihood that both the UK government and the government of Germany will file a charge sheet against them.

Fannie Mae wants $11 Billion more after showing a loss of $15 Billion.

1. Fannie Mae plans to tap $11000000000 ($ 11 Billion) in new government aid after posting another massive quarterly loss.

2. Fannie Mae's new request for $ 11 billion from the Treasury Department will bring the total for Fannie & Freddie to nearly $ 96 billion.

3. Together Washington D.C. based Fannie and McLean Virginia based Freddie Mac own or guarantee almost 31 million home loans worth about $ 5.4 trillion (About half of all US Mortgage).

4. Fannie Mae posted a second quarter loss of $15.2 Billion i.e. $2.67 per share including $411 million in dividend pay outs.

5. The results were driven by $18.8 billion in credit losses due to declining housing market conditions, made worse by rising unemployment. Nearly 4% of the loans Fannie Mae owns or guarantees were delinquent as of 30th June 2009.

Paulson Reveals US Concerns of Breakdown in Law & Order

1. On 16th July 2009 the ex-US Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson revealed that the Bush administration and Congress discussed the possibility of a breakdown of law & order and the logistic of feeding US citizens if commerce and banking collapsed.

2. He further stated that it was important at the time not to reveal officials' concerns, for fear it would terrify the American people and lead to an even bigger problem.

3. In the days that followed the Lehman Brothers fiasco, a run on some of the safest investment instrument in the financial markets threatened it impossible for people to access their savings, eventualy leading to a 1930's depression.

List of Bankruptcies in July'09

In July 2009 a total of 7 major bankruptcies took place. Which is 1 less than the previous month. Now the figure stands at 71 major bankruptcies in 7 months at an average of 10.14~10 bankruptcies every month.

List of Bankrupted companies for the month of July:-

1. A1 Grand Prix Operations (UK)

2. Allied Carpets (UK)

3. Bashas' Retailers (USA)

4. Crabtree & Evelyn (USA)

5. Lear Corporation (USA)

6. SPV Gmbh (Ger)

7. Station Casinos (USA)

Russian Navy 'UFO Loves Ocean'

The Russian navy has declassified its records of encounters with unidentified objects technologically surpassing anything humanity ever built, reports Svobodnaya Pressa news website.

The records dating back to soviet times were compiled by a special navy group collecting reports of unexplained incidents delivered by submarines and military ships. The group was headed by deputy Navy commander Admiral Nikolay Smirnov, and the documents reveal numerous cases of possible UFO encounters, the website says.

Vladimir Azhazha, former navy officer and a famous Russian UFO researcher, says the materials are of great value.

Read more

“Fifty percent of UFO encounters are connected with oceans. Fifteen more – with lakes. So UFOs tend to stick to the water,” he said.

On one occasion a nuclear submarine, which was on a combat mission in the Pacific Ocean, detected six unknown objects. After the crew failed to leave behind their pursuers by maneuvering, the captain ordered to surface. The objects followed suit, took to the air, and flew away.

Many mysterious events happened in the region of Bermuda Triangle, recalls retired submarine commander Rear Admiral Yury Beketov. Instruments malfunctioned with no apparent reason or detected strong interference. The former navy officer says this could be deliberate disruption by UFOs.

“On several occasions the instruments gave reading of material objects moving at incredible speed. Calculations showed speeds of about 230 knots, of 400 kph. Speeding so fast is a challenge even on the surface. But water resistance is much higher. It was like the objects defied the laws of physics. There’s only one explanation: the creatures who built them far surpass us in development,” Beketov said.

Navy intelligence veteran, Captain 1st rank Igor Barklay comments:

“Ocean UFOs often show up wherever our or NATO’s fleets concentrate. Near Bahamas, Bermudas, Puerto Rico. They are most often seen in the deepest part of the Atlantic Ocean, in the southern part of the Bermuda Triangle, and also in the Caribbean Sea.”

Another place where people often report UFO encounters is Russia’s Lake Baikal, the deepest fresh water body in the world. Fishermen tell of powerful lights coming from the deep and objects flying up from the water.

In one case in 1982 a group of military divers training at Baikal spotted a group of humanoid creatures dressed in silvery suits. The encounter happened at a depth of 50 meters, and the divers tried to catch the strangers. Three of the seven men died, while four others were severely injured.

“I think about underwater bases and say: why not? Nothing should be discarded,” says Vladimir Azhazha. “Skepticism is the easiest way: believe nothing, do nothing. People rarely visit great depths. So it’s very important to analyze what they encounter there.”