Wall Street Captures Press & Politicians & Make Chimps Of Us All

"O Oysters," said the Carpenter,
"You've had a pleasant run!
Shall we be trotting home again?'
But answer came there none--
And this was scarcely odd, because
They'd eaten every one.

from The Walrus and the Carpenter by Lewis Carrol  http://www.jabberwocky.com/carroll/walrus.html

 

 

Now Public is the best news website to come along in a decade, maybe ever. It provides us with a paradigm shift in the way we get the news.  It is a forum that offers real people access to report the real news, without being swayed by media moguls who spoon feed us their own agendas. We no longer have access only to stories that Drudge & Google deem newsworthy. See article: Google this week admitted that its staff will pick and choose what appears in its search results. It's a historic statement - and nobody has yet grasped its significance http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/12/12/googlewashing_revisited/

Rick Santelli comes out guns a blazing, shooting away at the people who were lured into home ownership by cagey snake oil salesmen, dangling low interest teaser rates at them, along with kitchen islands and white picket fences they couldn't resist. He provides a great smoke screen for the real beneficiaries of the TARP, who are gleefully slapping each other on the back, counting their bonuses, or as James Gorman of Morgan Stanley likes to call them, "awards, they are not bonuses",  licking their chops, while they ready their yachts for some extended Mediterranean fun. I hear there is a fire sale on Fire Island, with houses cut in half, while the rest of us are left smoldering at the stake, our local fire departments undergoing budget cuts.

Where is the TARP for the people who were flooded out of their homes in Cedar Rapids, Iowa in June? Unfortunately, they were not too big to flood.

The pampered press are whining and dining at the feet of the politicians and and financial thieves who have destroyed the world as we knew it. They are completely and effectively Captured.  Only now, after the damage has been done, have they even begun to cover the story, but still, only those parts that suit them. There is nothing objective about some of the reporting. It is as slanted as the ski slopes the politicians are throwing their latest fundraisers on. See: Lawmakers take fundraising to slopes http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2009-02-19-fundraising_N.htm

Simon Johnson said about the Congressional Hearing whitewash "They, the Committee members, know the bankers too well." The same can be said of much of the press. Where were they when the lights went out. We have been warning them for years about the impending disaster.

Overstock.com CEO Patrick Byrne has been raging about it for years against the manipulation in the market. Many more of us have spoon fed them about it, writing letters to the press, Congress and the SEC. Dr. Byrne barely gets a mention in the press. You can't even search the search engine news and come up with Deep Capture's latest financial news pieces. Last week they broke a story

Email Exposes Short Seller Plot to Destroy a Public Company
February 17th, 2009 by Mark Mitchell

Excerpt

A few years ago, a clique of influential journalists went to extraordinary lengths to cover up the problem of illegal short selling. In the face of indisputable data and evidence, the journalists insisted, over and over, that “naked” short selling (hedge funds manipulating stock prices by flooding the market with phantom stock) rarely occurred. And they said short sellers (who profit from falling stock prices) don’t set out to destroy public companies.

Moreover, if a person were to criticize illegal short selling, the reporters would smear that person’s reputation with a savagery that was almost without parallel in contemporary journalism.

At the time, these journalists were working at major news organizations like The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, and CNBC, but most shared a common history: they had been founding editors or top employees of TheStreet.com, a financial news website. The few who had not worked for TheStreet.com were close colleagues of TheStreet.com’s owner, Jim Cramer, who is best known as the eccentric host of CNBC’s “Mad Money” program.

Having studied more than 1,000 stories by these journalists, I can assure the reader that nearly every one of them was sourced from a tight network of hedge fund managers, and that a great many of the stories were false or misleading. Moreover, most of the people in this network (including Jim Cramer himself) are tied in important ways to two famous criminals from the 1980s – Ivan Boesky and “junk bond king” Michael Milken.

And though I realize that is hard for some people to absorb this, I will continue to provide evidence that a surprising number of the “prominent investors” in this network have had dealings with associates of organized crime – the Mafia.

* * * * *

If you read the news, you probably missed it. Not a word about it in the press.  Apparently it is no longer newsworthy when a Canadian Company, Fairfax Financial, is targeted for systematic destruction by a group of hedge funds.  CNBC never mentioned it, to my knowledge. Hard email evidence, but no folks, there is no story here. I am told that newspapers have been told NOT to mention the DeepCapture.com website. I can't remember the last time I saw Dr. Byrne on CNBC. But let Rick Santelli utter the words the media choose to portray, and the press uses their connections are all over it and splash it EVERYWHERE. Sometimes, even the most trusting of us just have to say, WTF is going on here.

Why does CNBC Michell Caruso Cabrera get to ask why they are bothering UBS for helping 52,000"Americans" avoid billions in taxes, and nobody calls her on the carpet for it.

Why can CNBC Erin Burnett call President Bush a monkey with little coverage, and no consequences? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9HgvQgGDJuw

CNBC parades Cramer out on a daily basis. He is clearly a stock analyst. Some think he is front running.  Some think he is pumping and dumping for profit. He hides behind the cover of calling himself a journalist, throwing US Subpoenas on the floor, while former SEC Commissioner Chris Cox gives speeches saying he will not be going after the "journalists", during the time the ship sank on his watch. Fortunately for Cramer and Cox and themanipulators, the protocol has been rewritten and the robber barons no longer go down with the ship.

TheStreet.Com - Captured Journalist Heaven See CNBC Cramer throw his subpoena on the floor in the video here >> http://www.deepcapture.com/jim-cramer-discusses-subpoena-with-
herb-greenberg-the-worst-business-journalist-in-america/

Cramer trashed Dendreon, a company I am invested in, that has an non invasive, non toxic immunotherapy, Provenge®, for prostate cancer which shows 20% survival for men with late stage prostate cancer, who have no other choices, helping to send the share price down, effectively destroying their research for breast cancer, colon cancer, etc. The FDA is captured too, as stated by Harry Markopolos, Madoff Whistle Blower.

Congressman Alan Grayson: Are you familiar with the concept of capture when you are talking about regulation? What is that? Do you know that concept?

Harry Markopolos: Yes. It’s basically when the regulator is in bed with the industry they purport to regulate and do not regulate the industry. In fact, they consider the industry the client, not the public citizens.

Congressman Alan Grayson: And have you seen that in action.

Harry Markopolos: Yes. At the Food and Drug Administration and at the SEC.

Excerpt starts at 14:14  http://www.cnbc.com/id/15840232?video=1021435842

You can read more about Cramer and Dendreon Here>>

TheStreet.Com - Captured Journalist Heaven

http://www.CareToLive.com,

* * * * *

Barrons

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 2009

FEATURES MAIN

Cramer's Star Outshines His Stock Picks

Excerpt

OTHER CAREFUL, HONEST EXAMINATIONS of the CNBC star showed the same underperformance -- including several independent studies by finance researchers, and a 2007 review by Barron's that found the only way to reliably profit from Cramer's stock picks was to short them (see "Shorting Cramer," Aug. 20, 2007).

That seems to be what smart traders have done, from the evidence of options-market activity examined by a finance professor, who found that betting against Mad Money's Buy recommendations can yield 25% in a month.

The recent performance of Mad Money's stocks resembles past periods in another striking way. Our research reveals that the stocks Cramer picks as Buys have been rising versus the market for several days in advance of his show, while his Sells have been falling. This doesn't prove there is a leak in the tight security surrounding CNBC's show. It could merely mean that Cramer and his staff are heavy-footed in their research. Or it could mean that his stocks are primarily momentum plays. That is the network's explanation. "Jim likes to recommend 'what is working'," said CNBC communications vice president Brian Steel in a written response Friday. "So it is no surprise there would be movement in these stocks prior to Jim mentioning them."

In any event, these pre-show moves are the probable cause of Cramer's underperformance. As the stocks revert to the market's trend in the weeks after the show, Cramer's followers get hurt.

Read Article Here>> http://online.barrons.com/article/SB123397107399659271.html?mod=googlenews_barrons

* * * * *
Deep Capture http://www.deepcapture.com/   just did a piece called

Would CNBC Let Gasparino Say This On-Air?

February 21st, 2009 by Mark Mitchell

Charles Gasparino, the CNBC reporter, published an op-ed in The New York Post yesterday.

Here’s the interesting bit

Earlier this year, high-flying hedge fund Paulson & Co. retained [former Federal Reserve chief Alan Greenspan] for its “advisory board.” The firm is a noted “short seller” of banks and financial stocks - meaning it makes money when these companies’ shares fall.

The thing is, Greenspan is making public comments that inevitably influence public policy and the markets - and some of those comments may well have led to his clients making a nice profit.

In a recent speech to the Economic Club of New York, Greenspan said the recession would likely “be the longest and deepest” since the Great Depression and that Congress might have to allocate more money to save the beleaguered banking system on top of the billions already gone for the Troubled Asset Recovery Program.

Then he told the Financial Times: “It may be necessary to temporarily nationalize some banks in order to facilitate a swift and orderly restructuring” of their troubled balance sheets.

Such a move would wipe out stockholders, sending shares of banks even lower - thus likely benefiting Paulson. It would also protect bondholders, helping another Greenspan client, the large bond-firm Pimco.

The question is: Why didn’t Gasparino, or anybody else, say this on CNBC? Hedge fund crony Paul Kedrosky appeared on the network to criticize Greenspan’s relationship with Pimco, but there was no mention of the former Fed chairman spewing negativity for Paulson’s short selling operation.

Continue Reading Here >> http://www.deepcapture.com/would-cnbc-let-gasparino-say-this-on-air/

and on the Huffington Post:

How 9,000 Business Reporters Blew The Mother Of All Meltdowns

Diane Tucker
Independent writer/producer/director
Posted February 15, 2009 | 10:31 PM (EST)
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/diane-tucker/how-9000-business-reporte_b_167142.html

* * * * *

High Noon: Geithner v. The American Oligarchs

View the Bill Moyers / Simon Johnson video here or read the transcript here >>http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/02132009/watch.html

February 13, 2009

Excerpts

BILL MOYERS: The battle is joined as they say — and here's the headline that framed it: "High Noon: Geithner v. The American Oligarchs." The headline is in one of the most informative new sites in the blogosphere called: baselinescenario.com. http://baselinescenario.com/ Here's the quote that grabbed me:

"There comes a time in every economic crisis, or more specifically, in every struggle to recover from a crisis, when someone steps up to the podium to promise the policies that — they say — will deliver you back to growth. The person has political support, a strong track record, and every incentive to enter the history books. But one nagging question remains. Can this person, your new economic strategist, really break with the vested elites that got you into this much trouble?"

And here's the man who asked that question. Simon Johnson is former chief economist at the International Monetary Fund. He now teaches global economics and management at MIT's Sloan School of Management and is a senior fellow of the Peterson Institute. He is co-founder of that website I quoted — baselinescenario.com — where he analyzes the global economic and financial crisis.

...

BILL MOYERS: Do you think that Obama understands how these guys play the game? Let me play you the recording of a conference call "Huffington Post" released this week. One of the top officials of Morgan Stanley is speaking to his colleagues. Here it is.

JAMES GORMAN: I'm going to turn to a topic that I suspect is near and dear to everybody's hearts, which is retention. There will be a retention award. Please do not call it a bonus, it is not a bonus it is an award. The award will be based on '08 full year production. Clearly it would have been cheaper to do it off '09 but we think it's the right thing to do and we've made that decision.

SIMON JOHNSON: What he's basically saying is business as usual. Go about your daily lives. Get the bonuses. Re-brand them as awards. But it really shows you the arrogance, and I think these people think that they've won. They think it's over. They think it's won. They think that we're going to pay out ten or 20 percent of GDP to basically make them whole. It's astonishing.

BILL MOYERS: Why wouldn't they believe that? I mean, when I watched the eight CEOs testify before Congress at the House Financial Services Committee earlier this week, I had just finished reading a report that almost every member of that Committee had received contributions from those banks last year. I mean in a way that's like paying the cop on the beat not to arrest you, right?

SIMON JOHNSON: I called up one of my friends on Capitol Hill after that testimony, and that session. I said, "What happened? This was your moment. Why did they pull their punches like that?" And my friend said, "They, the Committee members, know the bankers too well."
* * * * *The puppeteers even throw funerals for the press.

See Secret to Hedge Fund Profits Revealed - Laws Don’t Apply to Rich http://my.nowpublic.com/tech-biz/secret-hedge-fund-profits-revealed-laws-dont-apply-rich

“But while it’s true that NBC flew Brokaw to Bloom’s memorial - which was held at the home of Steve Cohen, chairman of hedge fund SAC Capital Advisors”

Party’s at Stevies

Cohen’s mansion already boasts an ice rink (with Zamboni machines!), an indoor pool, a basketball court and, based on aerial views of the palatial manor, a tennis court and a two-hole golf course. He has already made copious additions to the home since he and his wife, Alexandra, bought it in 1998 for $14 million.

http://www.thinkfn.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=808&view=previous

* * * * *

Why aren't the press covering the amount of money given to the politicians by the lobbyist.

Stanford, Madoff, Wall Street, all padding the coffers of our Elite Politicians, to enable them to steal more easily, and the press knows nothing.

Over the last decade, Stanford has spent more than $7 million on lobbyists and campaign contributions to Washington politics in both parties, although the vast majority of the money has gone to Democrats.

http://www.abcnews.go.com/Blotter/story?id=6907429&page=1

Another lawmaker, Representative Pete Sessions, Republican of Texas, received $41,375 in such donations. He also went on two council trips, totaling more than $10,000 in expenses, according to Legistorm, a group that tracks lawmaker travel disclosure forms.

Mr. Sessions’s spokeswoman, Emily Davis, told Bloomberg News this week that Mr. Sessions did not know Mr. Stanford personally. But that account was called into question when the Web site Talking Points Memo published a photograph showing the two men talking during a trip to Antigua. (Ms. Davis declined to comment on Friday.)

http://www.theledger.com/article/20090221/ZNYT01/902213015?Title=Fraud-Case-Shakes-a-Billionaire-x2019-s-Caribbean-Realm
Here's a photogallery of an event he held at the Longworth House Office Building.

And here's another photo gallery of a junket to Antigua.

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/

and now this insult

Rogue Financier Stanford Linked to Fund Run by Bidens
Monday, February 23, 2009

June 11, 2008: Sir R. Allen Stanford, poses for photos in London. Federal regulators on Feb. 17, 2009 charged Stanford with 'massive fraud.'
A fund of hedge funds run by two members of Vice President Joe Biden's family was marketed exclusively by companies controlled by Texas financier R. Allen Stanford, who is facing Securities and Exchange Commission accusations of engaging in an $8 billion fraud.

The $50 million fund was jointly branded between the Bidens' Paradigm Global Advisors LLC and a Stanford Financial Group entity and was known as the Paradigm Stanford Capital Management Core Alternative Fund. Stanford-related companies marketed the fund to investors and also invested about $2.7 million of their own money in the fund, according to a lawyer for Paradigm. Paradigm Global Advisors is owned through a holding company by the vice president's son, Hunter, and Joe Biden's brother, James.

Read Article Here >> http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,499067,00.html

* * * * *

________

Here are some other great blogs that are helping to uncover the true story.

The Entire NSS Mess Explained In One Hour - A Primer   By bobo on 2/17/2009 8:55 AM   Judd Bagley, one of the brilliant minds at AntiSocialMedia.net, has created a must watch and distribute presentation that explains NSS, as well as the conspiracy behind the curtain. Comments (4) More…

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Bud Burrells latest Blogs Criminals, Their Facilitators and Problems of the DOJ.   By bburrell on 2/19/2009 11:23 AM   As is becoming more and more evident, the criminals here, with Madoff standing as a shining light to guide all others like himself, had to have had a lot of serious dirt on the many industry executives and their regulators. Why hasn’t there been a single indictment of their co-conspirators and facilitators? Going a step further, where have the promised super-ceding indictments promised in many of our cases never come down, not one?   More…

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* * * * *Open Secrets.org http://www.OpenSecrets.org

 

NOTE: All the numbers on this page are for the 2008 election cycle and based on Federal Election Commission data released on January 13, 2009.

Feel free to distribute or cite this material, but please credit the Center for Responsive Politics. For permission to reprint for commercial uses, such as textbooks, contact the Center.

 

FOREIGN PARENT COMPANY: UBS AG
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: Switzerland
Official PAC Name:
UBS AMERICAS FUND FOR BETTER GOVERNMENT
Location: STAMFORD, CT 06901
Industry: Securities & Investment; Security brokers & investment companies
Treasurer: DYRVIK, PER
FEC Committee ID: C00012245
(Look up actual documents filed at the FEC)*Based on data released by the FEC on February 18, 2009 except for independent expenditure and communication cost, contributions to federal candidates, and contributions from individual donor data, which were released by the FEC on February 09, 2009.

________

PACs UBS Americas Expenditures Election cycle:
2008 2006 2004 2002

Recipient Amount Democratic National Cmte $30,000 National Republican Campaign Cmte $30,000 Republican National Cmte $30,000 Barney Frank For Congress $10,000 Cantor For Congress $10,000 Citizens For Action $10,000 Collins For Senate $10,000 Crowley For Congress $10,000 Elizabeth Dole Cmte $10,000 First State Pac $10,000 Friends of Dick Durbin Cmte $10,000 Friends Of John Boehner $10,000 Friends Of Rahm Emanuel $10,000 Hoyer For Congress $10,000 Larson For Congress $10,000 McConnell Senate Cmte $10,000 Melissa Bean For Congress $10,000 Moore For Congress $10,000 National Leadership Pac $10,000 Pennsylvanians For Kanjorski $10,000 Putnam For Congress $10,000 Reuniting Our Country Pac $10,000 Senate Majority Fund $10,000 Team Sununu $10,000 Tiberi For Congress $10,000 Friends Of Gordon Smith $9,000 Boucher for Congress Cmte $7,500 Maloney For Congress $7,500 Friends For Gregory Meeks $7,000 Earl Pomeroy For Congress $6,500 Tim Mahoney For Florida $6,000 Andrews For Congress Cmte $5,000 Bachus For Congress $5,000 Baker For Congress $5,000 Berkley For Congress $5,000

See full list here >> http://www.opensecrets.org/pacs/expend.php?cycle=2008&cmte=C00012245

* * * * *

  Other Now Public Stories by Rory Kearney

Wall Street Whistleblower Gets Head Bashed In With Brick
It's a Milken Madoff Mafia Markopolos World!
The Magic Madoff Show - Now You See It, Now You Don't
The Madoff Exception - Market Mystery Revealed
Hell Hath No Fury Like a Woman Ponzied
Care To Live Vs. The Prostate Cancer Advocacy Groups
Secret to Hedge Fund Profits Revealed - Laws Don't Apply to Rich
I'm Madoff As Hell And I'm Not Going To Take This Anymore!
More Prostate Cancer Smoke & Mirrors From the Broken FDA
Overstock.com CEO Throws Down the Gauntlet
Wall Street Bulldozes A Company, But FFH Won't Die!
TheStreet.Com - Captured Journalist Heaven
Madoff and the Smirking Larry Kudlow and Press
Canadian Company Fairfax Financial Attacked From Down Under
Liquidity Thy Name Is Madoff — Full Court Captured Press & SEC
Mad Dog Madoff Steals 50 Billion, Gets Bail - Tip of the Iceberg
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The Crisis in Consumer and Investor Confidence.   By bburrell on 2/14/2009 3:09 PM   One perspective for all. This whole thing is turning nasty. Generally, we choose up sides in elections. That isn’t working anymore. I’d like to hear others ideas. I am in a dark-side mood here.