Posted on 09/07/2010 9:30:46 AM PDT by butterdezillion
I am clueless on the economy. But I'm hoping some of the financial wizards here at FR can help me understand something pressing:
1. Is there any way that America can protect herself from the economic sabotage/terrorism that George Soros has done in other countries? If so, what?
2. What caused the electronic run on the bank in Sept 2007? Could the entire world economy collapse in a 24-hour time period, as the financial gurus allegedly told Congress in their private session with them? If that happened, how would life change for normal people?
Here's the description of Soros' past activities that I found at http://www.just-a-regular-guy.com/2009/02/08/550-billion-dollar-electronic-run-on-banks-in-september-08-the-real-reason-for-our-financial-crisis/ :
In 1992 Soros, through his Quantum Fund, bet the British pound would lose value because of the political and economic pressures in the UK at the time. He borrowed billions of pounds and converted them to German marks. When the pound imploded he repaid the pounds at the lower rate, pocketed the difference and became known as the man who broke the Bank of England. His profit: $1 billion on the backs of British citizens who saw their home values take a free fall and their life savings nearly evaporate almost overnight. Sound familiar?
In 1997 the financial crisis in Asia had threatened to spread worldwide and guess who was right dab smack in the middle of it? Soros stood accused by the Malaysian government of causing the collapse with his financial monkey business. In Thailand Soros was labeled an “economic war criminal” who “sucks the blood from the people.”
The next year this guy was up to his bifocals in the collapse of the Russian ruble which enabled him to swoop in and snatch up eastern European assets at rock bottom prices, a tactic he is well known for. Destabilize a country’s economy then pounce when the prices drop through the floor. What a neat fella this George Soros.
In 1999 when the U.S. House Banking Committee was trying to determine just how $100 billion had been diverted out of Russia, forcing the collapse of its currency and the default of its enormous loans from the International Monetary Fund, Soros was called in to testify before the panel. Of course he claimed no knowledge of what happened but did finally admit that he had used insider access in a deal that was barred to foreign investors to acquire a huge chunk of Sidanko Oil.
More recently George Soros was caught pulling off some more of his financial shenanigans in France. This time he actually got nailed and was charged with illegal insider trading in his attempt to takeover the Societe Generale bank. He was convicted and the conviction was upheld in 2 separate appeals, the last in June of 2006. France, well known for it willingness to surrender without a fight let Soros off with a $2.9 million slap on the wrist.
Soros is also heavily invested in oil distribution and the in the oil futures commodity market enabling him to pull whatever strings he likes to move the price of a barrel of oil in whatever direction he wants. At the same time, he is investing heavily in alternate energy industries, hence the sickening drumbeat of the phony climate change nonsense, so either way he comes out on top both politically and financially.
1. Cancel TV service because ALL of TV supports Obama and controls the masses of idiots. This will never happen because the public are fools.
1. Is there any way that America can protect herself from the economic sabotage/terrorism that George Soros has done in other countries? If so, what?
A: Yes. Don’t put the country in an untenable situation. That’s what Soros exploits. That means, eliminate the deficit and eventually the debt. Don’t print too many dollars.
Pretty simple to say. Easy for Conservatives or FReepers to do. But Republicans can’t / won’t.
Democrats want to Destroy Western Civilization, and are playing right into Soros’ hands.
bump for knowledgeable responses
Well, Soros had a lot to do with Obama’s election. He is probably behind a great deal of the policy being fomented today. My guess is unless things change in November, there will be nothing anyone can do.
The crash in ‘08 was a long time in coming. A lot of it had to do with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac overextending bad credit to unqualified borrowers. Despite what the government officials say, they were largely to blame. Now the government wants to get them under the umbrella of the FHA and create a “super FHA”. The upshot is the government will own the paper on 95% of the country’s mortgages. Thus, they will determine who gets a house and who doesn’t. Not good.
The USA is harboring a terrorist. Soro is an economic terrorist that should be returned to the nations he terrorized.
We have a different standard in the USA. We demand that other nations send us those that commit acts of terrorism against our nation but yet we allow thugs like Soros to live in the USA.
Soro is a liberal thug that acts like he cares for the poor. Yeah, he cares for the poor but then he collapses the economy of these poor nations. He should be sent to Maylasia and let their people deal with him.
“This will never happen because the public are fools.”
obummer and the democrat agenda = “fool’s paradise.”
“Democrats want to Destroy Western Civilization, and are playing right into Soros’ hands.”
You bet! Heck - the ‘rats are spurring Soros on! This is classic Cloward-Piven!
I agree with you. Someone like Glenn Beck needs to do a several hour special on self admitted former Nazi collaborator George Soros.
This story has links that covers the some of the economic threats he represents:
http://www.americanthinker.com/2010/08/covering_up_for_george_soros.html
It’s not just Soros.
Most of the western countries have abdicated sovereignty by putting their currencies up on the global financial casino.
Same craziness that takes at most $2T in mortgage values (at most) and spins it into ~$68T in derivatives, credit dafault swaps and other version of financial pixie dust.
If we became a nation that built things for ourselves again, we wouldn’t be subject to the whims of gambling billionaires...
If we had sound fiscal policies would we be able to withstand a worldwide panic?
I saw somebody writing about the derivatives market. Again, I’m totally clueless, but what I gathered from what was said was that we’ve got people gambling more than all the money the world has. So just like you can buy or sell shares in loans made to people who will never be able to pay those loans, you can buy shares in profits that are just somebody’s gamble and not based on anything real. Did I catch that right?
Does that mean that if my employer is making profits that are just pretend, eventually nobody will be willing to trade those pretend profits any more and he’ll be stuck with nothing? Is that what is meant by a crash?
I apologize for my ignorance; nothing like trying to explain the world economy to a 2-year-old.
Can anything be done to stop this madness? Either by Congress, or by the free market?
You have got to give Soros some credit for being
“smart” enough to play all sides.
He backs Obama, while he is tied with Romney in JET Blue.
Could Soros have had a role in Romney sacking Gov. Palin
during Election2008, too?
2. What caused the electronic run on the bank in Sept 2007?
A really really brilliant Chinese PhD from MIT (who is now back in the PRC) sold the idea to the investment industry that they could develop and sell third generation derivatives based on the value of American home mortgages. That is, the bankers didn’t own your mortgage, or even place a bet on the future value of a group of mortgages (first order derivative), but rather on two more degrees of separation from the actual value of American homes. At this point, they had perverted the concept of “value” to the point that any little burble in the (previously) climbing value of American homes would collapse their house of cards. Add this to Barney Frank’s favorite “Community Re-investment Act” which kept pushing up the cost of homes (not their true value) by underwriting loans to people who had no chance whatsoever of re-paying them. Now, jiggle the ladder just a little. Oops. The so-called value in the stock market just went away. This is another way of saying that the actual value of those homes was much lower than the purchase price.
Is it true that Soros helped fund McCain’s primary campaign?
Soros has said that he bought and paid for the democratic party; it is his to do with as he pleases. He’s also said that he believes he is God, and that he is afraid America will win the war on terror because then America and capitalism (the two great evils of the world, in Soros’ mind) will be strong. The guy is a nutcase. But if he aligns himself with the Islamists is there anything the rest of the world could do to keep him from controlling the world’s economy?
The post I quoted from in my post mentioned that Malaysia considers Soros a crook. The first place I actually saw anything about Soros was when I was checking out the Clinton connection with Chinese satellite technology. I found a translated version of the Chinese military overview - where they talked about using EVERY kind of tactic as a military weapon, including economic sabotage. They had learned from Soros, whom they hate with a passion.
Clinton once said, I think during Bush’s 2nd term, that we can’t get too tough with China because they own us.
Seems like Soros owns us, and China owns us. Soon the Islamists will own us... Will these forces hold each other at bay, or could any one of them - if they wanted - wreak so much havoc in the world economy that it would consummate the apocalyptic fears that Bush had when pushing for TARP and that Paulson and Bernanke impressed upon folks like Kanjorski at that private emergency joint session of Congress?
That jiggling the ladder - that’s what I’m wondering about. Are we so precariously perched that a little jiggle could send everything tumbling? Do you know what particular “jiggle” hit that day in September? How do we get off this teetering ladder to a place of some semblance of security?
Do we need people to just plain refuse to buy derivatives? Would that solve the problem?
I remember listening to somebody on NPR who said he knew the investments being made were risky but just figured there’s no way it could be that risky if so many others were doing the same thing. Is this a deal where we’ve got the blind leading the blind over a cliff - everybody thinking that somebody else would stop them if they got too close to the edge?
Now, to answer the question of “How do I protect myself and my family?”
1. Never let your wallet give in to your ego.
2. Keep your legal financial obligations to less than 50% of your take-home income.
3. Save 20% of your take-home income, starting with real goods you know you will use [non-trendy clothes, year’s supply of food]. Then, keeping up with required turnover of your purchases, start putting money into investments you UNDERSTAND. Maybe land in an area you can see yourself retiring to. Not your brother-in-laws get rich quick scheme. Not some hot stock tip that “just can’t lose.” PM me if you want to know what I personally invest in. I won’t bother the rest of the forum with that.
4. Spend the remaining 30% of your take-home income on “want-to-haves”. Keep your sanity.
I never know which group I’m going to get flak from regarding church donations, so PM me only if you care.
A return to sound money, a balanced budget and transparent markets would serve to largely neutralize the threat from Soros, who enriches himself by using nations’ financial profligacy against them. That’s far easier said than done of course, with a radical Congress and a President eager to command and control everything he can. Barring a return to a gold standard or to any real monetary valuation, our best bet to defeat Soros is not gold but a small quantity of lead, judiciously applied.
bflr
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.