Vice President Al Gore as he traveled to Marrakech, Morocco, in April for the signing of the new world trade agreement. Gore appeared hours after U.S. planes enforcing an allied ‘no fly’ zone over northern Iraq accidentally shot down two U.S. helicopters, killing 15 Americans and 11 foreign officials. ‘I want to extend condolences,’ Gore said, ‘to the families of those who died in the service of the United Nations.’” (Los Angeles Times, 6/12/94)
Filed under Quotes
“It is the sacred principles enshrined in the United Nations charter to which the American people will henceforth pledge their allegiance.” President George Bush addressing the General Assembly of the U.N., February 1,1992.
Filed under Quotes
“… when the struggle seems to be drifting definitely towards a world social democracy, there may still be very great delays and disappointments before it becomes an efficient and beneficent world system. Countless people … will hate the new world order … and will die protesting against it. When we attempt to evaluate its promise, we have to bear in mind the distress of a generation or so of malcontents, many of them quite gallant and graceful-looking people.” H. G. Wells, in his book entitled The New World Order (1939)
Filed under Quotes
“The drive of the Rockefellers and their allies is to create a one-world government combining supercapitalism and Communism under the same tent, all under their control…. Do I mean conspiracy? Yes I do. I am convinced there is such a plot, international in scope, generations old in planning, and incredibly evil in intent.” Congressman Larry P. McDonald, 1976, killed in the Korean Airlines 747 that was shot down by the Soviets
Filed under Quotes
This series examines Bertrand Russell’s 1931 book The Scientific Outlook. Bertrand Arthur William Russell, 3rd Earl Russell (1872-1970) was a renowned British philosopher and mathematician who was an adamant internationalist and worked extensively on the education of young children. This included running an experimental school in the 1920′s with his second wife Dora Black. He was the founder of the Pugwash movement which used the spectre of Cold War nuclear annihilation to push for world government. Among many other prizes, Russell was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1950 and UNESCO’s (United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization) Kalinga prize for the popularization of science in 1957.
Part 1 of this series examines science as power-thought and the use of scientific technique to increase the power of an elite scientific minority over the unscientific masses. Part 2 examines the composition of the society of experts who will use scientific technique to dominate the masses. At the forefront of this society of experts is the expert “manipulator”, whom Lenin is the archetype. This society also aims to conceal its power and influence behind political veils like democracy. Part 3 explores the application of scientific technique to education with an emphasis on the distinction between education for the “governing class” and “working class”. Part 4 looks at the use of education, the Press, radio and Hollywood as forms of propaganda. Part 5 examines the use of behaviourism, psycho-analysis and physiological manipulation as applied to education. Part 6 examines the application of scientific technique to the reproduction of human beings including the separate breeding techniques to be applied to the “governing class” compared with the “working class”. This also includes the creation of a “priestly class” within the ruling governing class. Part 7 explores the changes to freedom and equality in the scientific society. This includes changes in the relationship between individual freedom and the collective good, freedom of speech and the Press, freedom to choose ones own career and the freedom to have children. Part 8 examines the changes to free trade and labour in the scientific. Including the removal of competition and the choice between pre-determined work or prison. The final article describes the creation of two artificial societies including the design and implementation of a new religion specifically for that new planned society. The two societies described are: Japan following their 1867 revolution and Russia following the Bolshevik revolution.
Filed under Documents
<!– –>December 28, 2008 “Baltimore Chronicle” — On June 15, 2007, Ron Paul introduced HR 2755: Federal Reserve Abolition Act. There were no co-sponsors, no further action was taken, and the legislation was referred to the House Committee on Financial Services and effectively pigeonholed and ignored.
It’s a bold and needed measure to “abolish the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System and the Federal reserve banks, to repeal the Federal Reserve Act, and for other purposes.”
The bill provides for management of employees, assets and liabilities of the Board during a dissolution period, and more as follows:
On November 22, “End the Fed” protests were held in 39 or more cities nationwide (including New York, Chicago, Los Angeles and Washington, DC), but you’d hardly know it for lack of coverage. Attendee demands were simple and emphatic:
“End the Fed! Sound Money for America!” is their slogan, and writer and US policy critic Webster Tarpley puts it well:
“….the privately owned central bank….has been looting and wrecking the US economy for almost a hundred years. We must end a system where unelected, unaccountable cliques of bankers and financiers loyal to names like Morgan, Rockefeller, and Mellon set interest rates and money supply behind closed doors, leading to de-industrialization, mass impoverishment, and a world economic and financial depression of incalculable severity.”
In theory, the Fed was established to stabilize the economy, smooth out the business cycle, manage a healthy, sustainable growth rate, and maintain stable prices. In fact, it failed dismally. It contributed to 19 US recessions (including the Great Depression) and significantly to the following equity market declines that accompanied them as measured by the Dow or S & P 500 average – the S &P’s inception was 1923; it became the S & P 500 in 1957:
The Fed is also directly responsible for monetary inflation and the decline in the US standard of living since its year end 1913 inception and especially since the 1970s. From the late 18th century to 1913, virtually no inflation existed under the gold standard except during times of war. Using government data, it now takes over $2000 to equal $100 of pre-Fed purchasing power. In other words, a 1913 dollar is worth about a nickel today.
At that time, a dollar was defined as 1/20 of an ounce of gold or about an ounce of silver. The Fed then changed the standard away from precious metals to the full faith and credit of the government. Ever since (except for periods such as the 1930s) inflation eroded the currency’s value and (more than ever) continues to do it today.
It’s why one analyst calls the dollar “nothing more than a popular symbol for the tangible substances it once represented – gold and silver.” Its true value represents the world’s waning confidence in America’s ability to honor its debt obligations, and with good reason.
Under the Federal Reserve System (besides inflation), we’ve had rising consumer debt; record budget and trade deficits; a soaring national debt; a high level of personal and business bankruptcies; today, millions of home foreclosures; high unemployment; the loss of the nation’s manufacturing base; growing millions in poverty; an unprecedented wealth gap between the rich and all others; and a hugely unstable economy now lurching into crisis mode.
In a November 24 Wall Street Journal op-ed, Hong Kong-based author and equity strategist Christopher Wood believes “The Fed Is Out of Ammunition.” With trillions in personal wealth erased, “there is little doubt that we are witnessing a classic debt-deflation bust at work, characterized by falling prices, frozen credit markets and plummeting asset values.”
He notes how “over-investment and over-speculation” on borrowed money got us here. Today, the Fed can control the supply of money but not its velocity or the rate it turns over. The current collapse set it in reverse with no signs of an impending turnaround.
Wood believes monetary and fiscal measures won’t work. There are no easy solutions – “not as long as politicians and central bankers (won’t) let financial institutions fail,” and let market forces wash out excesses over time.
The Fed and Treasury will spend trillions of dollars to correct things, “but will merely compound (the problem) by adding debt to debt.” The current crisis will end up “discrediting mechanical monetarism – and with it the fiat paper-money system….The catalyst will be foreign creditors fleeing the dollar for gold. That will in turn lead to global recognition of the need for a vastly more disciplined global financial system” with gold very likely playing a part.
Absent a hard money currency has led to the kind of monetary madness that Nouriel Roubini calls “crazy” policy actions – an explosion of quantitative easing in the trillions with no end of it in sight.
Roubini: “The Fed Funds rate has been abandoned…as we are already effectively at (zero interest rates) that signal a liquidity trap….Even (a sharp) fall in mortgage rates….will be of small comfort to debt burdened households as only those (that) qualify for refinancing will be able to” net out a “modest” monthly mortgage saving of about $150.
The Fed’s “desperate policy actions….will eventually lead to much higher real interest rates on the public debt and weaken the US dollar (the result of a) tsunami of implicit and explicit public liabilities and monetary debt.” It will get foreign investors to “ponder the long-term sustainability of the US domestic and external liabilities,” and why not. They keep growing exponentially, and with nothing restraining a runaway Fed, dollar debasing may continue to the point where no one will want to hold them. It’s gotten some analysts to recommend moving a portion of savings out of them into gold – the ultimate safe haven in times of crisis.
Abolish the Fed and Return the Nation’s Money Creation Power to Congress Where It Belongs
Ron Paul has been in the vanguard of the Abolish the Fed movement, and on September 10, 2002 on the House floor said:
“Since the creation of the Federal Reserve, middle and working-class Americans have been victimized by a boom-and-bust monetary policy. In addition, most Americans have suffered a steadily eroding purchasing power because of the Federal Reserve’s inflationary policies. This represents a real, if hidden, tax imposed on the American people….”
“It is time for the Congress to put the interests of the American people ahead of the special interests. Abolishing the Federal Reserve will allow Congress to reassert its constitutional authority over monetary policy.”
“Abolishing the Federal Reserve and returning to a constitutional system (as mandated) will enable America to return to the type of monetary system envisioned by our nation’s founders: one where the value of money is consistent because it is tied to a commodity such as gold….I urge my colleagues (to co-sponsor) my legislation to abolish the Federal Reserve.”
Paul introduced his legislation in the 106th, 107th, 108th, and 110th Congresses. Each time, it died in committee. On November 22, he attended the End the Fed rally in Houston and addressed the crowd.
He called the current economic crisis as bad or worse than in the 1930s and said: “we know who caused it. It was the Federal Reserve that gave us all this trouble.” He explained that we had a “free ride for decades because we’ve had a system that was devised where the dollar could act as if it were gold.”
Not after August 1971 when Nixon closed the gold window, ended the 1944 Bretton Woods Agreement, and no longer let dollars be backed by gold or converted into it in international markets. A “new economic system” was created. It let us “spend beyond our means, live beyond our means, print money beyond our means,” and it caused our current dilemma.
We created “an appearance of great wealth. But it was doomed to fail,” and it became apparent in the past year: “the failure of the dollar reserve standard that was set up in August of 1971. It has ended. The only question” is what will replace it?
There’s all kinds of talk, including setting up a new international fiat currency “with the loss of US sovereignty in total. We have to stop this move towards one world government and a one world currency.” Otherwise our freedom and Constitution will be lost. When it was written, it contained prohibitions.
Article I, Section 8 gives Congress alone the right to coin (create) money and regulate the value thereof. The founders also wanted gold and silver to be legal tender, not fiat money, nor should there be a central bank. In 1935, the Supreme Court ruled that Congress cannot constitutionally delegate this power to another body. By creating the Federal Reserve System in 1913, Congress violated the Constitution it was sworn to uphold and defrauded the American public. Today’s crisis is the fruit of its action, but watch out.
“The writing is on the wall, and the end of this system” approaches. “They cannot patch it up, they can’t up it back together again. They know it and we know it. The only argument is what is it going to be replaced with?”
For now, “Central banks in the West especially have been dumping gold to artificially lower (its price) to pretend the dollar is of great value. They’re still doing it, but they’re running out of time (and) out of gold.” It’s shifting to stronger economic powers, ones who’ve been saving money, loaning it back to us, “and are ready to buy up America if we continue to do this. So it is a contest (between fiat) money and hard money, and that is such an important issue.” It reflects what Daniel Webster once said:
“There can be no legal tender in this country….but gold and silver. This is a constitutional principle….of the very highest importance.” Gold, however, wasn’t the original monetary system standard. Silver was, the silver dollar, and only a constitutional amendment can change it.
Paper currency as well, whether backed by gold or not, wasn’t the hard money authorized by the Constitution. Honest money is honest weights and measures of silver and gold. Federal Reserve Notes are paper fiat debt obligations. Fiat currency of any kind is a mechanism of wealth transference from the public to a privileged elite – through inflation and loss of purchasing power. It creates debt for the many and wealth for the few, especially when a private banking cartel controls it.
Our existing monetary system combines money, credit and debt into a dishonest system of empty promises in exchange for future ones. There is no eventual payment, only unfulfillable assurances to new generations that will be forced to pay for the debt now accumulated. It’s a moneychangers dream – ever-expanding debt and a continuing interest rate stream, masquerading as wealth creation for the people. It’s in fact a system of bondage and indebtedness benefitting the few at the expense of the many, a modern-day feudalism. It’s how an elite 1% got to own 70% of the nation’s wealth.
In the 1920s, Josiah Stamp, Bank of England president said:
“Banking was conceived in iniquity and was born in sin. Bankers own the earth. Take it away from them, but leave them the power to create deposits, and with a flick of the pen (today a computer keyboard) they will create enough deposits to buy it back again. However, take it away from them, and all the great fortunes like mine will disappear, and they ought to disappear, for this would be a happier and better world to live in. But if you wish to remain the slaves of Bankers and pay the cost of your own slavery, let them continue to create deposits.”
Creating the Federal Reserve System to let bankers and not the government control the price and amount of fiat money debased the currency and is the root cause of today’s financial problems. A return to honest gold and silver weights and measures is needed. The Constitution states that nothing but these metals are money and that paper bills of credit (like Federal Reserve notes) aren’t allowed. Even ones backed by gold as the Constitution doesn’t grant Congress the power to be bankers. It may only coin (create) and borrow money, not loan it out or give it away – and certainly not to bankers at the expense of the public interest.
Further, the Constitution contains no provision allowing Congress to enact legal tender laws. Article I, Section 10 forbids the individual states from making “anything but gold and silver coin a legal tender in payment of debts.” However, US Code, 31 USC 5103, establishes US coins and currency, including Federal Reserve notes, as legal tender and has been used to debase the currency ever since – the way Gresham’s Law works: bad (or debased) money drives out good (the kind with little difference between its nominal and commodity values).
For example, until 1964, US coins (except pennies and nickels) contained 90% silver. Starting in 1965, dimes and quarters were converted to their current nickel – copper composition. Half-dollars (now produced in limited quantities) had 90% silver. It then dropped to 40% in 1965 and by 1971 all US coins (except pennies and commemorative mintings) contained nickel and copper and no silver – a good example of debasing. As for paper currency, it’s just paper.
Under a private banking cartel’s control, it’s been misused, stolen, and corrupted the way New York Times columnist Floyd Norris suggests in his November 24 article headlined: “Another Crisis, Another Guarantee.” First the banks, then the auto companies, and who knows who’s next in line for theirs. “As the nation’s obligations rise into the trillions, at some point investors (and the public) may begin to question whether a government running huge deficits can also credibly promise that the dollar will not lose its value.” How can there be any faith and credit left when it’s vanishing and the Fed and Treasury operate like giant hedge funds.
It got UK-based Eclectica Asset Management chief investment officer, Hugh Hendry, concerned enough to say: “All (US) financials will be owned by the government in a year. I bet you. It’s not good,” but it’s coming. US taxpayers will be “paying for this for a long time,” and it’s deeply concerning considering the amount of money creation – with no end in sight as problems keep mounting and limitless amounts keep being thrown at them.
On November 25 the Financial Times associate editor, Wolfgang Munchau, also worries about the Fed’s “weapon of mass desperation” (so-called quantitative easing); focusing only on deflation and risking a currency crisis. He calls it a flawed, dangerous and shocking oversight – the possibility of “a mass flight out of dollar assets (at some point) and a large rise in US market interest rates, followed by a huge recession.”
A Bloomberg.com November 24 headline highlights the problem: “US Pledges Top $7.7 trillion to Ease Frozen Credit,” and it might as well have said there’s plenty more where that came from if needed. With another $800 committed to two new loan programs the total reached $8.5 trillion, according to Bloomberg or nearly 60% of US 2007 GDP of $14 trillion, and the numbers keep rising exponentially because the problems continue to mount.
Bloomberg puts it in perspective saying “the (current) commitment dwarfs (TARP and puts) Federal Reserve lending last week (at) 1900 times the weekly average for the three years before the crisis,” and with the added $800 billion it’s about 2100 times pre-crisis levels.
In addition, the Fed refuses to identify recipients of about $2 trillion of emergency handouts or what troubled assets (if any) it’s accepting as collateral. Call it lending or spending. They’re public tax dollars being spread around like confetti and debasing it all as a result.
The Free Lakota Bank
On November 21, this writer discussed how Lakotahs are treated in an article titled “Fate of Lakotahs Highlights America’s Failed Native American Policies.” On November 24, the following press release and follow-up information announced:
“People of Lakota Launch Private Bank for Only Silver and Gold Currencies.” All deposits are “liquid, meaning they can be withdrawn at any time in minted rounds. Some may confuse our economic system with isolationism….which it is not. Since we currently produce much more than we consume, we have the right to decide what medium of exchange to accept for our effort. And so we accept only value for value. Across our great land, over thousands of tribes and merchants participate in our system of trade. We invite others to trade with us and bring value back into our transactions.”
This is the world’s first non-reserve, non-fractional bank that accepts only silver and gold currencies for deposit. The Lakotas “invite people of any creed, faith or heritage to unite in an effort to reclaim control of wealth. It is our hope that other tribal nations and American citizens recognize the importance of silver and gold as currency and decide to mirror our system of honest trade.”
The bank states that it issues, circulates and accepts for deposit “only AOCS – Approved silver and gold currencies.” It calls paper not real money but “merely a promise to pay – a mortgage on wealth that does not exist, backed by a gun aimed at those who are expected to produce it. Since we deal only in real money, we do not participate in any central bank looting schemes.” When corruption is rewarded and “honesty becom(es) self-sacrifice….you may know that your society is doomed.” Even as victims of adversity, Lakotas are working to prevent it.
End the Fed
Privatized money control is the single greatest threat to democratic freedom. As former lawyer, economist, academic, and Canadian prime minister (from 1935 – 1948) William Lyon Mackenzie King once said:
“Until the control of the issue of currency and credit is restored to government and recognized as its most conspicuous and sacred responsibility, all talk of sovereignty of Parliament and of democracy is idle and futile….Once a nation parts with control of its credit, it matters not who makes (its) laws….Usury once in control will wreck any nation,” and indeed it has, far more now than ever.
It worried Thomas Jefferson enough to call banking institutions “more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies” at a much simpler time in our history. The right to create and control money belongs to the people through their elected representatives. For the past 95 years, powerful bankers accountable to no one have had it. They effectively run the country (and own it), and unless We the People change things, we’ll continue to be victimized by economic tyranny and the eventual political kind that’s coming.
Stephen Lendman is a Research Associate of the Centre for Research on Globalization. He lives in Chicago and can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.Also visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com and listen to The Global Research News Hour on RepublicBroadcasting.org Mondays from 11AM to 1PM US Central time for cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on world and national topics. All programs are archived for easy listening.
Mr. Lendman’s stories are republished in the Baltimore Chronicle with permission of the author.
Filed under Commentary, Documents
By MARCUS WOHLSENPerhaps they could genetically engineer a scientist who does not have a psychopathic lust for power?SAN FRANCISCO – The Apple computer was invented in a garage. Same with the Google search engine. Now, tinkerers are working at home with the basic building blocks of life itself.
Using homemade lab equipment and the wealth of scientific knowledge available online, these hobbyists are trying to create new life forms through genetic engineering — a field long dominated by Ph.D.s toiling in university and corporate laboratories.
In her San Francisco dining room lab, for example, 31-year-old computer programmer Meredith L. Patterson is trying to develop genetically altered yogurt bacteria that will glow green to signal the presence of melamine, the chemical that turned Chinese-made baby formula and pet food deadly.
“People can really work on projects for the good of humanity while learning about something they want to learn about in the process,” she said.
So far, no major gene-splicing discoveries have come out anybody’s kitchen or garage.
But critics of the movement worry that these amateurs could one day unleash an environmental or medical disaster. Defenders say the future Bill Gates of biotech could be developing a cure for cancer in the garage.
Many of these amateurs may have studied biology in college but have no advanced degrees and are not earning a living in the biotechnology field. Some proudly call themselves “biohackers” — innovators who push technological boundaries and put the spread of knowledge before profits.
In Cambridge, Mass., a group called DIYbio is setting up a community lab where the public could use chemicals and lab equipment, including a used freezer, scored for free off Craigslist, that drops to 80 degrees below zero, the temperature needed to keep many kinds of bacteria alive.
Co-founder Mackenzie Cowell, a 24-year-old who majored in biology in college, said amateurs will probably pursue serious work such as new vaccines and super-efficient biofuels, but they might also try, for example, to use squid genes to create tattoos that glow.
Cowell said such unfettered creativity could produce important discoveries.
“We should try to make science more sexy and more fun and more like a game,” he said.
Patterson, the computer programmer, wants to insert the gene for fluorescence into yogurt bacteria, applying techniques developed in the 1970s.
She learned about genetic engineering by reading scientific papers and getting tips from online forums. She ordered jellyfish DNA for a green fluorescent protein from a biological supply company for less than $100. And she built her own lab equipment, including a gel electrophoresis chamber, or DNA analyzer, which she constructed for less than $25, versus more than $200 for a low-end off-the-shelf model.
Jim Thomas of ETC Group, a biotechnology watchdog organization, warned that synthetic organisms in the hands of amateurs could escape and cause outbreaks of incurable diseases or unpredictable environmental damage.
“Once you move to people working in their garage or other informal location, there’s no safety process in place,” he said.
Some also fear that terrorists might attempt do-it-yourself genetic engineering. But Patterson said: “A terrorist doesn’t need to go to the DIYbio community. They can just enroll in their local community college.”
Filed under Uncategorized
Kurt Nimmo
Infowars
December 28, 2008
A Greek television show has revealed how Greek police posed as anarchists and destroyed property. Inciting violence and blaming it on legitimate activists is a favorite tactic of the state in order to crack down on protest and dismiss genuine grievances.
 |
|
In 2007, agents provocateurs attempted to incite violence in Montebello, Canada, during a peaceful protest against a Prosperity Partnership summit. A video and photographs later revealed the so-called anarchists were wearing the same military boots as the police. “Neither the RCMP nor the Surete du Quebec would comment on the video or even discuss generally whether they ever use the tactic of employing agents provocateurs, however it has been common practice at previous protests for authorities to employ police or special forces to intentionally infiltrate peaceful protests and cause violence,” Steve Watson wrote on August 22, 2007.
Other documented instances of agents provocateurs used against peaceful protests occurred in Seattle in 1999 at the World Trade Organization meeting, at the WTO protests in Genoa, Italy, and during protests in Miami in late November 2003. The United Steelworkers of America called for a congressional investigation in the latter case and stated that the police intentionally caused violence and arrested and charged hundreds of peaceful protesters. Earlier this year, MP George Galloway accused the London Metropolitan Police of engaging in “a deliberate conspiracy to bring about scenes of violent disorder” during President George W. Bush’s visit to the UK.
Police have gone to great lengths to subvert antiwar organizations. In 2003, two Oakland police officers working undercover at an anti-war protest were elected to leadership positions in an effort to influence the demonstration, according to the San Franciso Chronicle. “The ACLU said the Oakland case was one of several instances in which police agencies had spied on legitimate political activity since 2001.”
From COINTELPRO: The Untold American Story:
Over the years, FBI provocateurs have repeatedly urged and initiated violent acts, including forceful disruptions of meetings and demonstrations, attacks on police, bombings, and so on, following an old strategy of Tsarist police director TC Zubatov: “We shall provoke you to acts of terror and then crush you.”
In October, former Italian President Francesco Cossiga suggested the police be used as agents provocateurs to start riots and then have the police “beat the shit out of the protesters”. Cossiga was one of the founders of Operation Gladio, the CIA and NATO “stay behind army” that engaged in terrorist bombings and assassinations that were subsequently blamed on leftist organizations.
“Cossiga is essentially describing the problem-reaction-solution dialectic that he exploited when he was in government. Under the banner of Operation GLADIO, which was unveiled after parliamentary investigations in Italy, Switzerland and Belgium, NATO sponsored secret armies committed acts of violence and terrorism and blamed the attacks on left-wing political movements, allowing far-right governments to seize power in numerous European countries,” explains Paul Joseph Watson.
The Greek people now have evidence of a similar campaign as they attempt to mobilize against the neoliberal dominated Greek state and its bankster stooges who have brought economic misery to the country. As a matter of course, this vital information will not be brought out in the corporate media as it attempts to discredit peaceful political organizations.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=43oOQx-SilU&eurl=http://www.infowars.com/?p=6854
Filed under Police State
The fallout from Bernard Madoff’s alleged Ponzi scheme reverberated around the world as the list of investors facing losses widened. Among the biggest losers were charities, hedge funds, and banks in Europe and Asia. Below, see some of the most exposed investors and sort by the amount of potential losses. –Updated 12/26/08
|
Investor
|
Description
|
Amount of Exposure
|
Comment
|
|---|
|
Description
|
Comment
|
||
|---|---|---|---|
|
Fairfield Greenwich Advisors
|
An investment management firm
|
$7,500,000,000
|
More than half of Fairfield Greenwich’s $14.1 billion in assets under management, or about $7.5 billion was connected to Madoff.
|
|
Tremont Group Holdings
|
Asset management firm
|
$3,300,000,000
|
The investment firm is owned by OppenheimerFunds and Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Co. Tremont’s Rye Investment Management business had $3.1 billion invested, and its fund of funds group invested another $200 million.
|
|
Banco Santander
|
Spanish bank
|
$2,870,000,000
|
In euros, the figure is 2.33 billion.Of that, 2.01 billion euros belongs to institutional investors, Optimal Strategic hedge fund investors (international private banking customers); 320 mllion euros belongs to other private banking customers.
|
|
Bank Medici
|
Austrian bank
|
$2,100,000,000
|
The bank had two funds with $2.1 billion (1.5 billion euros) invested with Madoff. Bank Medici is 25% owned by Unicredit SpA and 75% owned by chairwoman Sonja Kohn.
|
|
Ascot Partners
|
A hedge fund founded by billionaire investor, philanthropist and GMAC chief J. Ezra Merkin
|
$1,800,000,000
|
The hedge fund had $1.8 billion under management as of Sept. 30, had substantially all of its assets invested with Mr. Madoff.
|
|
Access International Advisors
|
A New York-based investment firm
|
$1,400,000,000
|
The investment-advisory firm’s co-founder Thierry Magon de La Villehuchet, 65, was found dead in his Manhattan office on Dec. 24, 2008, in an apparent suicide.
|
|
Fortis
|
Dutch bank
|
$1,350,000,000
|
Fortis Bank and its subsidiaries have no direct exposure to Bernard Madoff Investment Securities LLC, but parts of the group do have a risk exposure to certain funds it provides collateralized lending to. If, as a result of the alleged fraud, the value of the assets of these funds is nil and the respective clients cannot meet their obligations, Fortis Bank Nederland (Holding) N.V.’s loss could amount to around EUR 850 million to EUR 1 billion. The continuity of Fortis Bank Nederland (Holding) N.V.and its subsidiaries is not at stake in any way.
|
|
Union Bancaire Privee
|
Swiss bank
|
$1,000,000,000
|
The bank’s exposure to Madoff — less than 1.26 billion Swiss francs — is less than 1% of overall bank assets.
|
|
HSBC
|
British bank
|
$1,000,000,000
|
HSBC provided financing to a small number of institutional clients who invested in funds with Madoff; some clients in its global custody business have invested with Madoff, but the company doesn’t believe these arrangements should be a source of exposure to the group.
|
|
Natixis SA
|
A French investment bank
|
$554,400,000
|
The company says it didn’t make direct investment in Madoff-managed funds; some investments made on behalf of customers could have ended up being managed by Madoff. Exposure is about 450 million euros.
|
|
Carl Shapiro
|
The founder and former chairman of apparel company Kay Windsor Inc., and his wife
|
$545,000,000
|
Mr. Shapiro, a 95-year-old apparel entrepreneur and investor, had $545 million with Mr. Madoff, creating what could become the largest personal loss yet in the scandal. A spokeswoman for the family confirmed that Mr. Shapiro’s charitable foundation, the Carl and Ruth Shapiro Family Foundation, invested $145 million with Mr. Madoff. Mr. Shapiro and his family had an additional $400 million or more invested with Mr. Madoff. Mr. Shapiro, a widely respected philanthropist, was one of Mr. Madoff’s earliest and largest investors.
|
|
Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC
|
British bank
|
$492,760,000
|
The bank had exposure of about 400 million pounds to Madoff through trading, collateralized lending.
|
|
BNP Paribas
|
French bank
|
$431,170,000
|
The company said it has no investment of its own in Madoff-managed hedge fund but it does have risk exposure (up to 350 million euros) through its trading business and collateralized lending to funds of hedge funds.
|
|
BBVA
|
Spanish bank
|
$369,570,000
|
The company reiterated it doesn’t have direct exposure to Madoff but would face losses of 300 million euros if Madoff funds were found not to exist.
|
|
Man Group PLC
|
A U.K. hedge fund
|
$360,000,000
|
Invested in funds directly/indirectly sub-advised by Madoff Securities
|
|
Reichmuth & Co.
|
A Swiss private bank
|
$327,000,000
|
The Lucerne-based private bank warned investors that around 385 million Swiss francs, or 3.5% of its assets under management, were affected.
|
|
Nomura Holdings
|
Japanese brokerage firm
|
$304,000,000
|
The 27.5 billion yen exposure is through Fairfield Sentry; That amount represents 0.2% of assets under management.
|
|
Maxam Capital Management
|
A fund of funds based in Darien, Connecticut
|
$280,000,000
|
The fund reported a combined loss of $280 million on funds they had invested.
|
|
EIM SA
|
A European investment manager with about $11 billion in assets
|
$230,000,000
|
The European investment manager with about $11 billion in assets. Overall, EIM assets at risk are less than 2% of what it manages.
|
|
AXA SA
|
French insurance giant
|
$123,200,000
|
Exposure is well below 100 million euros.
|
|
UniCredit SpA
|
Italian Bank
|
$92,390,000
|
The company’s total exposure is about 75 million euros. Dublin-based Pioneer Alternative Investments is indirectly exposed to Madoff via feeders; Italian clients have zero exposure.
|
|
Nordea Bank AB
|
Swedish Bank
|
$59,130,000
|
The amount of exposure is about 48 million euros.
|
|
Hyposwiss
|
A Swiss private bank owned by St. Galler Kantonalbank
|
$50,000,000
|
Hyposwiss said roughly 0.1% of its overall assets was invested in Madoff products through managed accounts. Another $100 million is exposed through clients who chose to invest in Madoff funds. St. Galler Kantonalbank said its financial situation and liquidity aren’t hurt by Hyposwiss’ exposure.
|
|
Banque Benedict Hentsch & Cie. SA
|
A Swiss-based private bank
|
$48,800,000
|
Banque Benedict Hentsch said its clients have 56 million Swiss francs at risk. Benedict Hentsch had also recently agreed to merge with Fairfield Greenwich Group, a major Madoff distributor. When the news of Mr. Madoff’s arrest broke, it scrambled to undo that deal.
|
|
Fairfield, Conn.
|
town pension fund
|
$42,000,000
|
The town’s employees board and police and fire board, which cover 971 workers, had $41.9 million invested with Madoff, said Paul Hiller, Fairfield’s chief fiscal officer.
|
|
Bramdean Alternatives
|
An asset manager
|
$31,200,000
|
The exposure is about 9.5% of assets.
|
|
Jewish Community Foundation of Los Angeles
|
The largest manager of charitable gift assets for Los Angeles Jewish philanthropists
|
$18,000,000
|
The amount invested with Madoff represented less than 5% of the Foundation’s assets.
|
|
Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd.
|
Israel-based insurance firm
|
$14,200,000
|
N/A
|
|
Baloise Holding AG
|
Swiss insurer
|
$13,000,000
|
N/A
|
|
Societe Generale
|
French Bank
|
$12,320,000
|
The company says its exposure, which is less than 10 million euros, is “negligible.”
|
|
Groupama SA
|
French insurer
|
$12,320,000
|
Exposure is around 10 million euros.
|
|
Credit Agricole SA
|
French bank
|
$12,320,000
|
Exposure is less than 10 million euros.
|
|
Richard Spring
|
individual investor
|
$11,000,000
|
A Boca Raton resident and former securities analyst, says he had about 95% of his net worth invested with Mr. Madoff. Mr. Spring said he was also one of the unofficial agents who connected Mr. Madoff with dozens of investors, from a teacher who put in $50,000 to entrepreneurs and executives who would put in millions.
|
|
RAB Capital
|
hedge fund
|
$10,000,000
|
N/A
|
|
Banco Popolare
|
Italian bank
|
$9,860,000
|
The company says it had indirect exposure of up to 8 million euros; maximum lost on funds distributed to institutional, private clients is about 60 million euros.
|
|
Korea Teachers Pension
|
A 10 trillion won Korean pension fund
|
$9,100,000
|
N/A
|
|
Swiss Life Holding
|
Swiss insurer
|
$78,900,000
|
Swiss Life said it has indirectly invested assets worth around 90 million Swiss francs through funds of funds managed by Madoff Investment Securities.
|
|
North Shore-Long Island Jewish Health System
|
health system
|
$5,700,000
|
Exposure represents less than 1% of the health system’s investment portfolio. A donor agreed to reimburse the system for any losses.
|
|
Neue Privat Bank
|
Swiss bank
|
$5,000,000
|
The bank invested in a certificate based on a hedge fund with exposure to Madoff
|
|
Clal Insurance Enterprise Holdings
|
An Israel-based financial services company
|
$3,100,000
|
N/A
|
|
Ira Roth
|
individual investor
|
$1,000,000
|
Mr. Roth, a New Jersey resident, says his family has about $1 million invested through Mr. Madoff’s firm.
|
|
Mediobanca SpA
|
via its subsidiary Compagnie Monegasque de Banque.
|
$671,000
|
Limited to $671,000 via its Compagnie Monegasque de Banque. via its subsidiary Compagnie Monegasque de Banque.
|
|
Fred Wilpon
|
owner of New York Mets
|
N/A
|
N/A
|
|
Steven Spielberg
|
The Spielberg charity — the Wunderkinder Foundation
|
N/A
|
N/A
|
|
JEHT Foundation
|
A New York foundation focused on electoral and criminal justice reform
|
N/A
|
The foundation, which stands for Justice, Equality, Human dignity and Tolerance, will close its doors at the end of January 2009. Major donors Jeanne Levy-Church and Kenneth Levy-Church had all their funds managed through Madoff.
|
|
Mortimer B. Zuckerman Charitable Remainder Trust
|
The charitable trust of real-estate magnate, who owns the Daily News and U.S. News & World Report
|
N/A
|
Funds exposed represented 11% of the value of that charitable trust.
|
|
Robert I. Lappin Charitable Foundation
|
A Massachusetts-based Jewish charity
|
N/A
|
The group, which financed trips for Jewish youth to Israel, was forced to close on Friday because the money that supported its programs was invested with Madoff.
|
|
Chais Family Foundation
|
A charity that gives away about $12.5 million annually to Jewish causes
|
N/A
|
The California-based charity group invested entirely with Madoff, and was forced to shut down operations on Sunday after years of donating some $12.5 million annually to Jewish causes in Israel and Eastern Europe.
|
|
KBC Group NV
|
Belgian banking and insurance group
|
N/A
|
No direct exposure; some indirect exposure through collateralized loans, but the exposure is very limited and immaterial to KBC’s earnings. KBC has also made some loan advances to institutional customers who have invested in funds managed by Madoff Investment Securities, but this shouldn’t have any material impact either, the company said.
|
|
Barclays PLC
|
British bank
|
N/A
|
The bank says it has “minimal” exposure” and is “fully collateralized”
|
|
Dexia
|
French bank
|
N/A
|
No direct investments in funds managed by Madoff,; private banking clients have total exposure of EUR78 million to funds primarily invested in Madoff funds. Indirectly, Dexia is exposed through partially collateralized lending operations to funds exposed to Madoff funds for a gross amount of EUR164 million. If the assets managed by Madoff Investment Securities were nil, the above mentioned lending operations could trigger an after tax loss of about EUR85 million for Dexia.
|
|
Allianz Global Investors
|
The asset management unit of German insurer Allianz SE
|
N/A
|
The unit says exposure “is not significant.”
|
|
Banco Espanol de Credito SA (Banesto)
|
A Spanish bank contolled by Banco Santander
|
N/A
|
Its clients have a total 2 million euro exposure; The amount is included in the 2.33 billion euros already disclosed by parent company Banco Santander.
|
|
CNP Assurances
|
French insurer
|
N/A
|
No direct exposure. Indirect exposure of 3 million euros via a fund of funds
|
|
UBS AG
|
Swiss bank
|
N/A
|
The bank says is has “no material exposure.” It declined to comment on press reports that its funds-of-funds for clients had $1.4 billion in exposure
|
|
Yeshiva University
|
A New York-based private university
|
$110,000,000
|
Although the university had “no direct investments” in Madoff’s firm, a portion of its endowment had been invested for 15 years with Ascot Partners, which had “substantially all its assets invested with Madoff.” Yeshiva’s investment represents about 8% of its endowment. J. Ezra Merkin had been a University trustee but has resigned in the wake of the scandal.
|
|
The Elie Wiesel Foundation for Humanity
|
The charitable foundation of Nobel laureate
|
$15,200,000
|
The foundation said it invested “substantially all” of its assets.
|
|
Leonard Feinstein
|
The co-founder of retailer Bed Bath & Beyond
|
N/A
|
N/A
|
|
Sen. Frank Lautenberg
|
The charitable foundation of the New Jersey Senator’s family
|
N/A
|
N/A
|
|
Norman Braman
|
former owner of Philadelphia Eagles
|
N/A
|
N/A
|
|
Jeffrey Katzenberg
|
The chief executive of DreamWorks Animation SKG Inc.
|
N/A
|
Mr. Katzenberg’s financial affairs along with those of Mr. Spielberg were managed by Mr. Breslauer, Mr. Katzenberg has suffered millions in Madoff-connected losses, say people familiar with the matter.
|
|
Gerald Breslauer
|
The Hollywood financial advisor to Steven Spielberg and Jeffrey Katzenberg
|
N/A
|
Along Messrs Katzenberg and Spielberg, Mr. Breslauer himself has likely sustained heavy losses in the Madoff affair. He customarily invests alongside his clients, say these people, and has sometimes been a larger investor than the people he represented
|
|
Kingate Management
|
hedge fund
|
N/A
|
Kingate’s $2.8 billion hedge fund Kiingate Global Fund reportedly invested heavily with Madoff
|
|
Julian J. Levitt Foundation
|
Texas-based charity
|
N/A
|
N/A
|
|
Loeb family
|
N/A
|
N/A
|
N/A
|
|
Lawrence Velvel
|
individual investor
|
N/A
|
Mr. Velvel is dean of the Massachusetts School of Law
|
|
Fix Asset Management.
|
hedge fund
|
N/A
|
reportedly invested heavily in Madoff’s portfolios
|
|
Genevalor, Benbassat & Cie.
|
money manager in Geneva
|
N/A
|
Members of the Benbassat family, which run the firm, have long known Mr. Madoff. In a statement on its Web site, Genevalor said it “has been reviewing the potential damages caused to its clients” by the alleged Madoff fraud. A statement from the Thema fund said it had assets with Madoff that were now frozen, but did not elaborate.
|
|
Banco Espirito Santo
|
Portugese bank
|
$21,400,000
|
The amount represents about 0.1% of assets under management.
|
|
Great Eastern Holding
|
Singapore insurer
|
$44,266,000
|
Great Eastern said S$7.7 million of its S$64 million exposure is invested from its Life Fund. Great Eastern is 87% owned ny Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp.
|
|
M&B Capital Advisers
|
Spanish brokerage
|
$52,800,000
|
The firm is run by the son and son-in-law of the chairman of Banco Santander. Through M&B, private and institutional investors bought more than $214 million in Madoff’s funds.
|
|
Royal Dutch Shell pension fund
|
Global energy and petrochemical company
|
N/A
|
The pension fund fund has an indirect investment that may be affected. The fund originally invested $45 million. The alleged fraud won’t affect the financial position and funding status of the fund.
|
|
Phoenix Holdings
|
Israeli financial services company
|
$12,600,000
|
Phoenix’s insurance unit invested $15 million over the last three years in funds managed by Thema, which made investments through Madoff. In November, the company requested to redeem $10 million. The payment was due Dec. 12 but Phoenix hasn’t received it.
|
|
Credicorp
|
Peruvian financial services company
|
$4,500,000
|
Credicorp’s Atlantic Security Bank unit has $1 million in direct exposure and up to $3.5 million in potential contingencies “related to transactions secured by these investments.”
|
|
Fukoku Mutual Life Co.
|
Japanese insurer
|
N/A
|
The company said it holds similar investments trusts to those held by Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. but declined to specify the balance. Sumitomo disclosed that it has about 2 billion yen, or about $22 million, exposed via trusts.
|
|
New York Law School
|
law school in New York City
|
$300,000
|
The school invested the money through its endowment entity. The school filed an investor lawsuit against J. Ezra Merkin, Ascot Partners and BDO Seidman.
|
|
Nipponkoa Insurance
|
Japanese insurer
|
N/A
|
The company said it holds similar investments trusts to those held by Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. but declined to specify the balance. Sumitomo disclosed that it has about Y2 billion exposed via trusts.
|
|
Sumitomo Life Insurance Co.
|
Japanese insurer
|
$22,000,000
|
Sumitomo Life didn’t invest directly in the Madoff fund but part of its investment trust holdings were linked to it.
|
|
Swiss Reinsurance Co.
|
Swiss insurer
|
$300,000
|
Indirect exposure, less than $3 million, is through hedge fund investments; no direct exposure.
|
|
Aozora Bank Ltd
|
Japanese lender
|
$137,000,000
|
Aozora entrusted 12.4 billion yen to investment funds, which invested with Madoff. Cerberus Capital Management LP owns a majority stake in Aozora.
|
|
UBI Banca
|
Italian bank
|
$86,000,000
|
The bank said the exposure is linked to proprietary investments. UBI Pramerica and Capitalgest Alternative Investments, the assets-under-management units, have no exposure.
|
|
Taiyo Life Insurance Co.
|
Japanese insurer
|
$221,000
|
Taiyo Life didn’t invest directly in the Madoff fund.
|
|
Caisse d’Epargne
|
French bank
|
$11,100,000
|
Caisse d’Epargne said EUR1 million was for Caisse Nationale des Caisses d’Epargne, the central hub, and “under EUR7 million” was from its regional level. Natixis reported exposure around EUR450 million on Dec. 15.
|
|
J. Gurwin Foundation
|
Charity
|
N/A
|
$28 million charity invested heavily in Madoff funds. Gurwin said, “We got a body blow. We did not get killed.”
|
|
EFG International
|
Swiss private bank
|
N/A
|
EFG clients have $130 million invested in Madoff through third-party funds sold by EFG. In addition, 0.3% of the bank’s total invested assets, held in custody, are invested in Madoff.
|
|
Fire and Police Pension Association of Colorado
|
Pension fund
|
N/A
|
Fund, with $2.5 billion under management, had $60 million invested with Fairfield Greenwich until six months ago
|
|
International Olympic Committee
|
Olympic organizer
|
$4,800,000
|
The IOC’s exposure represents about 1% of its total investment portfolio. Organizing committee confirmed they will be able to meet their obligations.
|
|
Support Organization for the Madison Cultural Arts District
|
Wisconsin cultural organization
|
N/A
|
$18 million invested with Fairfield Greenwich until September. A spokesman for the Overture Center in Madison, Wis., built with SOMCAD funds, said, “Speculation that SOMCAD could be on the hook is not outlandish.”
|
|
Credit Industrial et Commercial
|
French financial-services group
|
$125,400,000
|
The bank has no direct exposure to Madoff but could be affected through an intermediary.
|
|
Hadassah
|
U.S. women’s zionist organization
|
$90,000,000
|
N/A
|
|
United Association Plumbers & Steamfitters Local 267 in Syracuse
|
Local union pension and health care funds
|
N/A
|
The union is still trying to determine the extent of its losses. Its investments with Mr. Madoff go back 15 years.
|
|
Ramaz School
|
A Jewish school in New York
|
$6,000,000
|
N/A
|
|
Congregation Kehilath Jeshurun
|
A synagogue in New York
|
$3,500,000
|
N/A
|
|
The Maimonides School
|
A Jewish day school in Brookline, Mass.
|
$3,000,000
|
The school did not directly invest with Madoff, but the school was the sole beneficiary of a trust that lost about $3 million.
|
|
Yad Sarah
|
An Israeli nonprofit
|
$1,500,000
|
With a $21 million budget in 2008, Yad Sarah likely won’t expand operations or develop any new services or projects in 2009.
|
|
Loading data…
|
|||
Filed under Cover-up!, Economic Meltdown
From Hiroshima To Iraq-Uranium Wars: A Suicidal, Genocidal and Omnicidal Course
By Leuren Moret
12-28-8
1 Comment
Filed under Commentary, Cover-up!