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US government securities seized from Japanese nationals, not clear whether real or fake
AsiaNews ^ | 06/08/2009 | unattributed

Posted on 06/11/2009 2:07:42 PM PDT by 1rudeboy

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To: 1rudeboy

Nothing to worry about.
Obama has already destroyed the bond market.

Just ask the GM bondholders what they think.


21 posted on 06/11/2009 2:42:19 PM PDT by Bon mots
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To: sanchmo

Yea, that caught my eye too.

To be fair, the Fed was rumored last December to be considering selling their own bonds. But the idea brought forward so much controversy that the Fed appeared to drop it.


22 posted on 06/11/2009 2:47:35 PM PDT by NVDave
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To: 1rudeboy

Fake
There are no such half billion dollar securities
They might have been taken to Switzerland to try and use as collateral on a trading account


23 posted on 06/11/2009 2:49:54 PM PDT by dennisw (Weakness is a Crime! Don't be a Criminal - Bernarr MacFadden)
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To: dennisw

Pure speculation, but maybe North Korea is involved?

They both try and counterfeit US money, and through selling drugs, etc.,. must reap in huge sums.

With the succession in N. Korea in doubt, and with war a possibility, any number of individuals in the ruling circles there might want to hedge their best and move their loot.


24 posted on 06/11/2009 3:05:53 PM PDT by CondorFlight (I)
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To: dennisw
"There are no such half billion dollar securities"

I have never seen a physical long bond, only the short ones. I know that the short bonds only come in denominations as high as $1 million.

But, when countries like China hold almost a trillion dollars, and Japan well over a half trillion dollars in long bonds, is it not possible that there's denominations greater than $1 million?

It seems very far-fetched to me as well, but who knows.

25 posted on 06/11/2009 3:20:40 PM PDT by Big_Monkey
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To: 1rudeboy

Look very carefully at the bottom right corner. If it says, “Printed in the DRNK”, chances are they are fakes. If they are signed by Kim Jun Il, that’s a dead give away.


26 posted on 06/11/2009 3:34:53 PM PDT by Islander7 (If you want to anger conservatives, lie to them. If you want to anger liberals, tell them the truth.)
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To: NVDave

Here’s a few ways to interpret that, in order of decreasing probability and increasing hilarity:
1. The reporter and editor are so clueless as to let such an obvious mistake make it to publication.
2. The report is accurate because the counterfeiters were so dumb they wrote the wrong thing on the papers.
3. The Federal Reserve covertly worked with Asian governments to secretly issue Fed-Bonds to bypass Congressional authorization and bungled the thing Inspector Cluseau style.

Actually, the whole mix of events - from massive numbers of bearer bonds to the unprofessional manner of movement to the apparently Japanese nationals - sounds more like a North Korean counterfeiting operation than anything else. If so, I hope the other deliveries that we didn’t catch are obvious forgeries.


27 posted on 06/11/2009 3:41:17 PM PDT by sanchmo (If something cannot go on forever, it will stop)
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To: Big_Monkey

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2269335/posts?page=178#178

Not sure if the story is fake or accurate. There are definately scammers out there with fake $500 million treasury bonds, so it could be accurate in that sense. The scammers use these bonds as loan collateral, or margin for trading calls. It is amazing that some banks will take them.


28 posted on 06/11/2009 3:42:52 PM PDT by dennisw (Weakness is a Crime! Don't be a Criminal - Bernarr MacFadden)
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To: 1rudeboy

If anyone has a magnifying glass, let me know if they read "United States of Amelica Tleasuly Bond"

29 posted on 06/11/2009 3:47:39 PM PDT by sanchmo (If something cannot go on forever, it will stop)
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To: sanchmo
"I'm so 'ronley"
30 posted on 06/11/2009 3:54:45 PM PDT by norraad ("What light!">Blues Brothers)
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To: CondorFlight

North Korea seems likely. They have used Japanese nationals for espionage. They have engaged in counterfeiting US instruments in the past.


31 posted on 06/11/2009 3:55:52 PM PDT by MediaMole
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To: 1rudeboy

If they are issued by Obama they are definitely fake. Us money is currently not worth anything and the US government is the biggest counterfeiter on the planet.


32 posted on 06/11/2009 7:14:15 PM PDT by Cacique (quos Deus vult perdere, prius dementat ( Islamia Delenda Est ))
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To: MediaMole

In addition, these can be traded between other countries without ever having to come back to the US. That’s why counterfeit $100 bills worked just as well as the real ones in places like Uzbekistan and Myanmar until someone wanted to buy US goods.


33 posted on 06/11/2009 7:49:31 PM PDT by VanShuyten ("Do you call it 'unsound method'?" "No method at all," I murmured.)
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Comment #34 Removed by Moderator

To: JMack

Well, the first thing that makes this story dubious is that US Treasury bonds (30-year bonds) quit being issued as bearer bonds on paper in 1982. That means that the holder would have to have accumulated quite the stash of these from the early 80’s - and a limited set of years: 1980, 1981, 1982.

But the 30-year was most heavily issued from 1977 until the 30-year was pulled from offering at all by the Clinton administration, who “compressed” the US debt into the shorter end of the curve.

OK, so how much bearer bond debt was out there? The best indication I can give you comes from the Depository Trust Company. In 1991, they had 600 people clipping coupons on bonds held by the DTC in trust for their owners and mailing in the coupons - on about 21 million bonds. As of today, the number of bearer bonds still valid and on deposit with the DTC is about 700,000 and the face amount is about $3.5 billion (and dropping rapidly). So that gives you an idea of the relative rate of drop-off of the instruments among people who are above-board and legit.

Further, when you send in a coupon to get your payment on the debt, or you send in the bond to recover the face value, the US Treasury takes down all manner of financial ID for US citizens. The only way you’re going to make one of these bonds good is to take it to a bank that is willing to present it to the US Treasury without invoking your name as the true owner.

And here, I think I’ve found the US Treasury’s report on the bearer debt outstanding:

http://www.treasurydirect.gov/govt/reports/pd/pd_bearregsec.pdf

There isn’t (according to the Treasury) enough bearer debt outstanding to meet the figures in the press.

As to not breaking up the shipment: See above. They amount they have is close to, or above, the total amount of US Treasury Bearer debt left outstanding from the period in which it was issued. There isn’t enough paper outstanding.


35 posted on 06/11/2009 9:46:42 PM PDT by NVDave
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To: dennisw
But why sneak in? Use the diplomatic pouch or just convert to digital bonds and trade them. Could be some old money but Bill Gates/ Warren Buffett are each worth a paltry $70 billion. This is a doubler and it just doesn't make sense. Who, other than governments, can be that liquid without detection?
36 posted on 06/11/2009 10:00:08 PM PDT by April Lexington (Study the constitution so you know what they are taking away!)
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To: dennisw
I'm thinking Intel got wind of a sting and had them stopped at the border. There is no way an individual or group of individuals can have that much in liquidity and governments don't need to sneak money into Switzerland. I think this story is in error on the face value of the bonds.
37 posted on 06/11/2009 10:03:50 PM PDT by April Lexington (Study the constitution so you know what they are taking away!)
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To: NVDave
They could be paper certificates of non-bearer bonds, but then, why sneak. They are registered to someone so the USA will figure it out eventually. Maybe someone has looted a hedge fund and was trying to stash the bonds in a safe deposit box until the heat is off? I have suspected some of the Madoff cash ended up in Switzerland because the USA was going ape over Swiss secrecy during the heat of the Madoff case. Either something is up or something is not up.
38 posted on 06/11/2009 10:06:30 PM PDT by April Lexington (Study the constitution so you know what they are taking away!)
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To: April Lexington
Clarification... Madoff didn't have anything close to $143 billion...
39 posted on 06/11/2009 10:07:30 PM PDT by April Lexington (Study the constitution so you know what they are taking away!)
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To: April Lexington

Paper certs of non-paper or registered bearer bonds are like transporting your tax returns from 10 years ago. Why bother?

BTW — here’s what a real bearer bond looks like:

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_07Vo5mDNg18/SjG0o3s-hAI/AAAAAAAAACw/qZFWJmppPak/s1600-h/bond1small.jpg

The interest “coupons” on the bottom of the bond would be clipped off and sent in to receive payment, hence the missing coupons on the left.


40 posted on 06/11/2009 10:12:48 PM PDT by NVDave
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