But not for long.
Posted on 12/17/2008 12:29:56 AM PST by TigerLikesRooster
15 December 2008
Rogue Nation
Explanations of significant losses at investment firms are often attributed to rogue traders. These are traders who have schemed to defeat security measures. These rogues extended their trading portfolios credit exposure far beyond the limits of compliance, racking up substantial losses to be taken, if not risking the actual solvency of their firms. If they do not incur losses they are often not discovered. It is the losses that precipitate the collapse.
Nick Leeson of Barings, Toshihide Iguchi of Resona Holdings, Yashuo Hamanaka at Sumitomo, John Rusnak at Allied Irish Banks, Luke Duffy of Australia National, Chen Jiulin of China Aviation, and Jérôme Kerviel with Société Générale are examples of rogue traders operating since 1995 with combined losses of approximately $12 billion disclosed.
All of them together cannot begin to match one of the great Ponzi schemes in history. This was recently disclosed to be the work of Bernard Madoff, a highly respected executive and former chairman of the NASDAQ, who was apprehended when he confessed to losses of $50 billions.
Not all of his investors were innocents. His returns were literally too good and too mysterious to be true. Many thought that Madoff was trading on insider information or some other fraudulent scheme that was cheating the 'little people.' They did not realize it was they who were being cheated. It is the basic principle of a confidence scheme that you rely on naivete, or the greed and moral indifference of your victims.
(Excerpt) Read more at jessescrossroadscafe.blogspot.com ...
Ping!
Anyone who has been trading credit default swaps and derivatives in the last few years is a rogue trader.
I think it was Cramer last night.
He said -— what is it called when you issue insurance that you cannot make good on? This is called fraud. This is what credit default swaps are
Dick Fuld was a rogue trader and he ran Lehman Brothers!
Madoff is just the tip of the iceberg. His ponzi scheme just had fewer fig leaves covering the nasty parts than most hedge funds "invested" in derivatives and "insured" by scam winkers like AIG.
“The last bubble to fail that will expose these remaining Ponzi schemese is the US dollar and the Treasury bonds. They are the products of a nation that has been overtaken by a rogue culture of sociopaths and swindlers.
Bernie Madoff was no rogue trader. He was successful for as long as he was because he blended in, he was one of the crowd, he was an independent player within the greatest financial swindle in history, the US financial markets and ultimately the US dollar.
Experience suggests that you will ignore this warning, wishing to think of yourself as an insider. After all, it is the weak, the naive, the unsuspecting, the under-developed, the unsophisticated others that are the victims, and indeed they are. After all, what can stop this? The returns are so good, and have been paid steadily for so many years. And you are among the smart ones, the elect.
The endgame will come and strike the astonished like lightning.
You will not realize what has happened until you wake up one day and the accounts are empty, the returns cannot be paid, the promises are proven false, and the principal is gone.
And you will be facing the teeth of the storm with pockets full of empty promises and worthless paper, and no one will be able or willing to help.
And those responsible will say that you were lazy and foolish, and need to be smarter and work harder like them. Those who you imagined were shepherds will be revealed as ravening wolves.
How do we know this? It is already happening again.”
Tiger-— right on target again... good reading.
Have you seen the currency markets today? The US Dollar is getting hammered. But it is just piling on yesterday's rout.
But not for long.
Good article.
>>“The last bubble to fail that will expose these remaining Ponzi schemese is the US dollar and the Treasury bonds. They are the products of a nation that has been overtaken by a rogue culture of sociopaths and swindlers.<<
Bernie Madoff fits smoothly into both groups, sociopaths and swindlers and the Americans who salute the flag, sing the national anthem, march in patriotic parades, cheer Fourth of July speakers – normally good Americans.
“If America is destroyed, it may be by Americans who salute the flag, sing the national anthem, march in patriotic parades, cheer Fourth of July speakers – normally good Americans, but Americans who fail to comprehend what is required to keep our country strong and free, Americans who have been lulled away into a false security.”
- Ezra Taft Benson, An Enemy Hath Done This
“such a parcel of rogues in a nation” — Robert Burns
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