Posted on 08/19/2011 5:24:00 AM PDT by blueyon
More shades of 2008, as banks put out statements about how everything is going fine.
Yesterday The Fed said it had provided $200 million of liquidity to the Swiss National Bank in the form of forex swaps, starting speculation about funding tensions among Swiss banks.
(Excerpt) Read more at businessinsider.com ...
OK Some one tell me why we did this......to a bank outside of our country...
Obama now has $200 million in a private Swiss bank account, in case he needs to flee the US when the revolution begins.
"We" didn't do it. "The Fed", which is privately owned by banks did it. They only exist in our country marginally. They are citizens of the international financial market. Globalization is great. I read Thomas Friedman's book about it. It's going to make us all rich.
“”We” didn’t do it. “The Fed”, which is privately owned by banks did it. They only exist in our country marginally.... “
Ok but then why did we give them TARP money? That was our money correct? I am asking to understand the money flow
As far as I understand it (I may not..)
The Fed now permits US banks to borrow at no interest.
The US banks then deposit that money in overseas banks, where they earn interest on it (a win for them).
Those overseas banks use that money to loan (bail out) Greece, Portugal, Spain, etc., and stay liquid.
IOW, the USA is printing money to save the world banking system.
A win for everybody—until the whole house of cards collapses.
“....until the whole house of cards collapses.”
Exactly
Because the bankers put a gun to their heads and told us they'd shoot if we didn't give them guarantees for a few dozen trillion dollars. We should have told them to pull the trigger.
That was our money correct?
According to Washington D.C. all money is their money. The debt, however, is ours.
I am asking to understand the money flow
I'm not much help to you there. Someone will be along shortly to tell you that all the TARP money was paid back with interest and it was a good thing that didn't cost us a penny.
That's beautiful. And so true. Sigh.
First point: “We” did do it, notwithstanding the malarky about the Fed being “privately owned” - a term which is clearly being used to imply that these “private” owners control the Federal Reserve and run it for their own private gain. Nothing could be further from the truth.
The Federal Reserve banks are all controlled and regulated by the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve, all of whom are appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate. Since the Board of Governors controls the federal reserve system and the President and Congress control the Board of Governors, it necessarily follows that the President and Congress - that is, “We” - control the Federal Reserve.
Where the canard of private ownership comes into play is the fact that all banks regulated by the federal reserve are required to purchase shares in the corporation that represents the federal reserve bank in their region; however, they do not run that corporation for their own private gain - see the discussion above about the Board of Governors - and they do not have any of the primary indicia of ownership, inasmuch as (a) they cannot sell their shares nor can the borrow against them, and (b) they only get a statutorily set 6% dividend on their shares, any income over and above that amount is sent to the US Treasury.
In other words, the banks that own shares in each of the federal reserve banks are more like captive creditors than they are owners (and even as putative creditors, they have very little say in whether or not to lend, or to call their loans in).
“Private ownership” my great aunt’s arse.
Now, on the question you asked, I wish I could be more helpful/useful, but I cannot; however, there is a sometimes interesting, sometimes disturbing, discussion about this curiosity over on zerohedge.com: http://www.zerohedge.com/news/cue-panic-fed-resumes-liquidity-swap-lines-lends-200-million-swiss-national-bank-most-october-2
Some of the comments are quite interesting. Beyond that, I would say that the Fed did it because all of the central banks are busily playing a very strange game of international financial manipulation in concert with each other - one that is both economic and political - and for whatever reason, it was determined that the Fed should make this extension to the Swiss National Bank. That being said, there is no reason to believe that the extension was really to help the Swiss National Bank itself, and plenty of reason to suspect that it either (a) was done for purely political/rhetorical purposes, or (b) was done to provide some benefit to a third party in an opaque manner that would prevent the rest of the world from figuring out who really needed the help (or, perhaps, who had earned the vigorish).
Okay, let me correct what I so flippantly wrote previously. You are correct, the banks technically own the Fed but don’t run it. The banks own and operate the government, which runs the Fed.
Is that better?
No.
Damnit. Fine, the banks down actually own the government, however, they own enough congressmen to get favorable legislation passed in good times and keep it from being repealed in bad times. They also have an amazing ability to get their guys appointed to the Fed and Treasury.
You nailed it.
Think about the guys in Dumb and Dumber with all the IOU’s in the briefcase.
phantom money.
The bank/housing/mortgage trainwreck started when investors who bought the mortgage back securities figured out that they had been had.
This is pretty much the same flim flam just on a much larger scale. It is a very dangerous game of musical chairs and when the music stops, some country or countries will be left holding the bag and will be pissed.
Because the Federal Reserve, Treasury Dept., Wall St. VIPs and heads of international banking cartels all have each other on speed dial nowadays. It's a rather tight-knit clan.
Bernanke's in the middle of it all throwing hundreds of billions from our treasury around at will - with no oversight whatsoever - just because.
Because the Federal Reserve, Treasury Dept., Wall St. VIPs and heads of international banking cartels all have each other on speed dial nowadays. It's a rather tight-knit clan.
Bernanke's in the middle of it all throwing hundreds of billions from our treasury around at will - with no oversight whatsoever - just because.
“OK Some one tell me why we did this......to a bank outside of our country… “
Especially since the Swiss franc is shooting up in value so fast that the Swiss government is desperately trying to pull its value down by using the tactics of American government. What’s it going to do - Section 8 housing? Spend several trillion on infrastructure projects that never actually get built?
Can a bailout of the ECB with American taxpayers' money be far behind...?
A recommended read for anyone interested....
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