Quote Michael Hudson in a Counter Punch piece:
Goldman Sachs "helped Greece conceal the rise in public debt, by mortgaging assets in a convoluted derivatives deal....so Greece’s obligation appeared as a cross-currency swap rather than as a debt. The government used off-balance-sheet entities and derivatives similar to what Icelandic and Irish banks later would use to indulge in fictitious debt disappearance and an illusion of financial solvency.

The reality, of course, was a virtual debt. The government was obligated to pay Wall Street billions of euros out of future airport landing fees and the national lottery as “the so-called cross currency swaps ? mature, and swell the country’s already bloated deficit.” (Beat Balzli, “How Goldman Sachs Helped Greece to Mask its True Debt,” Der Spiegel, February 8, 2010.

Using derivatives to engineer Enron-style accounting enabled Greece to mask a debt as a market swap based on foreign currency options, to be unwound over ten to fifteen years. Goldman was paid some $300 million in fees and commissions for its aid orchestrating the 2001 scheme.

JPMorgan Chase and other banks helped orchestrate similar deals across Europe, providing “cash upfront in return for government payments in the future, with those liabilities then left off the books.”

Goldman Sachs also helped to screw with Russia's economy as well.

m1tmc, look past the arcanum and you'll see that we're the same. You agree with me on many things although you slap a "conservative" label on your opinions and I consider the same ones "lefty". I - and I suspect you as well - subscribe to the "old fashioned" and "naturalistic" values placing people over profits, i.e., human needs over corporate greeds. And we both abhor the influence of money in politics.

Keep comin' around, we're a people's democracy movement like Tunisia, Egypt and Tianemen Square more than we're the Bolsheviks. We're the "cowboys and the hippies and the rebels and the yanks", we're America all got together again.

Kend: The Bush administration stole the Social Security funds (or should I say "borrowed" but never intended to pay back) to pay for his stupid illegal Republican wars. And I don't care how they do it...sell the damn Pentagon and White House to the Chinese for all I care...our government OWES us our Social Security because we all contributed to it all our working lives. You just can't renege on that deal.

The Republicans have been trying all these years to destroy our Social Programs so you are just not credible, Kend, when you try to put the whole thing onto Obama...although, I have to say that Obama didn't exactly pull out of the Middle East like he should have..which would have saved the country from continuing to run up the wasteful military spending the Republicans started. We would all be a hell of a lot safer too...our military would not have murdered so many innocent civilians...creating millions of potential terrorists (blow back). But, of course, if Obama had acted to save our country all that money, and kept us out of all that debt, the Republicans would have ripped him up for being weak and unpatriotic. They probably would have assassinated him by now....just like JFK.

Obama inherited most of the war mongering inertia that may not have been so easy to stop...but I don't think Obama tried very hard. Maybe he was afraid of the assassin's bullet. I'm sure he knows by now how hateful the right-wingers are.

There is just no way you are going to convince any of us that Obama did all of this himself and that it wasn't the Bush administration that was the main cause of all this massive debt.

You make a lot of leaps, Kend. I can do that too - with much more plausibility. Obama breaks his campaign promises because it's not as easy as it looks. He has to deal with a viciously obstinate obstructionist congress as well as trecherous and powerful bussiness organizations. That's not to mention the simple phenomena of the vested interests of a governing official being different from those of those of one running for election or those of the people. Just as the vested interests of an insurgent revolutionary seeking to overthrow the status quo are different from those of one who has already succeeded in doing so and who is now of the ruling party and thus finds himself replicating the tyrranny he just unseated. That's why Occupy Wall Street was leaderless and why you never trust a politcian. They always sell you out.

As to the money to pay for a good social system, it was here before the question is, "What happened to it?" or, more precisely, "Who stole it and where did they stash it?". But we have a pretty good idea.

DAnnemarc: You are right, of course! There are a lot of very intelligent people that are so busy trying to raise a family, work their jobs, and just don't have the time to spend on doing much research. In addition, many may not want to risk losing their jobs by developing anything but a spirit of "teamwork" and making their wealthy employers even wealthier.

Those of us who are retired don't have to worry much about that and we have plenty of time to spend reading stuff. Since they are already trying to take away Social Security and Medicare we feel like we are already being attacked and are really in a war with those that are doing this to us. And it is not the very well off who are stupid by voting for Republicans...it's just the ones that are not so well off and are being harmed by the Republicans (and the Democrats who really aren't Democrats) that vote Republican and should know better. But then, with Democrats like the ones we have, who needs enemies (Republicans)? Those turn-coats are screwing us too!

Yeah, snakes have been seen as real demons by a lot of people and many people believe that if you dream of snakes it means that you will soon get sick. I suppose if you truly believe in that idea...your mind just might make your body sick. I know, I hate snakes myself..but I could pick them up...very carefully. But really, if there weren't any snakes, we'd be overrun by lots of mice...and that would probably bring on the Bubonic Plague. So now I feel bad for having killed a rattle snake a number of months ago. But, I would have hated even more if any of the children, that play in that area sometimes, would have gotten bitten.

Yes, the nano-themite can be painted on a surface when wet and it is very safe because it is not easily detonated when wet which might be part of the reason why they used it instead of a lot of normal explosives (which I believe they also used...but didn't have to use as much as they would have without nano-thermite). Nano-themite is even fairly safe...safer than normal explosives...when dry or in a solid form...like in a shaped charge...and it takes "special matches" to ignite nano-thermite. And those "special matches" can be controlled by a remote signal.

Normally, when they demolish a building using normal explosives...the building is not full of people when they install the explosives..and they plan to do the demolition right away....so it was very important not to have an accidental discharge before the time was right.

And also, I don't think painting the nano-thermite on the beams was done anyway. Nano-thermite, in another form like a putty, can be shaped around a vertical beam, in a diagonal fashion, to concentrate the explosive force so that it cuts the beams diagonally just like they do in a normal demolition (except they don't use nano-thermite in normal demolitions...just normal explosives). Nano-thermite is something our government has a lot of and, being high tech, costs a lot. Again, thermite has been around a long time...nano-thermite discovered just about 10 years before 911). NIST knows all about nano-thermite..having done copious studies on it...too bad they chose to completely ignore it in their "911 investigations".

Photos exist of these massive vertical core beams sticking up into the air and the diagonal cut was just so obviously there. Some tried to argue that the clean up crews could have cut it that way with a torch (they even suggest that the cleanup crews might have used nano-thermite--which is pretty ridiculous) to remove beams...but that would not make any sense at all because there would be absolutely no reason to spend all that extra cutting a much longer diagonal than a much shorted straight across cut just to remove beams. Those diagonal cuts are only done when demolition teams make them in order to bring the buildings down in their footprints...and that is exactly what happened.

Yes, I know there were an unusually high number of stock market transaction...well of course, it seems quite a few people knew what was going to happen...even little kids in school across the river told their teachers that those buildings wouldn't be there tomorrow. Certain important people were warned not to fly on that day.

And yes, I knew about the insurance that the owner, Silverstein, took out on the buildings just weeks prior to 911. But did you also know that the WTC towers had a really big problem that would have cost Silverstein a fortune to fix? The buildings were full of asbestos and it would have been very, very costly in removing the asbestos. But also having to keep the people out of the buildings while they did the clean up...which would have taken a very long time. That problem was solved in about 8-11 seconds the approximate time it took for the buildings to fall...near free-fall speed) on 911.

So when did they plant all of this nano-thermite and, perhaps, conventional explosives? For several weeks prior to 911 the office workers could hear lots of construction noises..banging, shaking, etc..they even closed off some floors and no one was allowed to go to those floors. The supposed excuse was that they were doing a rewiring job...yeah, I'll bet! They even told the office workers in the whole building to not come to work on a few days due to "construction".

So, since building 7 was not even hit by a plane and it came down in it's own footprint, at near the speed of free fall...just like a demolition...and Silverman, himself, may have slipped in saying "they decided to pull it"..meaning, perhaps, demolish the building...one has to ask oneself....how could they have sent in a demolition team into a burning building to place charges in the approximately 6 hours before it collapsed. It takes days or weeks to set up a demolition. The only way the building could have been demolished is by having already prepped it with explosives. Remember, never in the history of steel framed buildings has there ever been a complete building collapse right to the ground like that, planes or no planes, and buildings that had much hotter and longer burning fires. On 911 there were 3 of them...all coming down just like a demolition..at near free fall speed...and in their own foot prints.

These traitors had the motive, the means, and the opportunity. And their official conspiracy theory is so full of holes that I just don't understand how anyone can believe it! The only probability is that people just don't want to know the truth! The truth? You can't handle the truth!

It seems all Democrats are disappointed when the people they elected don't live up to there promises. The reason they can't is, when they get elected and are responsible for paying the bills, there isn't enough money. President Obama was elected twice telling you all they have to do is tax the rich, but the fact is the rich don't have enough money. If you took it all from them they couldn't pay the bills for a year. So now Obama and the rest of the Dems s that sold you a bill of goods are dangerously close to going down in history of bankrupting the United States. Obama now is thinking about his legacy and it really is shaping up to be a disaster. The truth is starting to rear it's ugly head about The real cost of Obama care, the debt is still increasing by trillions, and the economy still sucks, one in five are still out of work. The hundreds of billions you spent on green energy hasnt reduced green house gases by, well anything. But I guess you can look at the bright side everyone gets free birth control. Sorry, Women get free birth control Men still have to pay for theirs.

Palindromedary wrote ~ "I believe that most of the country now realizes (if they don't they are pretty stupid and ignorant) that the Republicans will always represent the wealthy to the extent that they will commit treason against the majority of Americans who are not so wealthy. "

"Pretty stupid and ignorant." Maybe. Your educational tax dollars and dumbing down media at work. But honestly, I think the American people are smarter than you may think. They're just really busy. Wasting their energy busting ass for boss man, some working two jobs just to make ends meet. Many are in debt over their heads and the majority have families to worry about. Most don't have time to read anything; and, many are coping with their situation with self medication. The controlling powers in this country have done quite a good job at taming and controlling the public.

Palindromedary also wrote ~ "It is like a snake swallowing its prey. The snake's teeth and jaws are a mechanism for drawing the prey into the snake's mouth and down it's throat and never the reverse. I'd say the lower teeth and jaw are like the Republicans and the upper teeth are the Democrats. And they are swallowing us whole...slowly...but surely!"

Interesting analogy, indeed--especially coming from a confirmed Atheist. I suppose you are aware that a snake is the metaphor used to describe Satan all over the Bible. Sorry! Let's not open that can of worms again. LOL

Slightly off topic, I closely scrutinized that paper from the Chemical Physical Journal about super thermite in the dust at the WTC. Quite frankly, it boggles my mind that it was published in 2009 and I am just learning about it Monday April, 2013. That's 4 years. If this article has any validity--and so far it seem very valid--how does it get by without media attention? Where is the outcry for further investigations? Where is the subsequent inquiries about who planted all this explosive paint?

I did some of my own investigation and found there is a disturbing number of Stock Market transfers that took place just before the attacks. There is also a purchase of a fortune of insurance by the owner of the WTC just prior to the attacks. In addition, purchases of defense industry stocks skyrocketed just before the attack. If the material was discovered in 2000 and immediately made available to every branch of the military, who on the inside may have participated in this event. There are so many valid suspects that it's almost impossible to place blame without a thorough official and public investigation.

My question to you, since obviously your insight and time spent scrutinizing this matter is far beyond mine, who or what could have planted that paint and been responsible for the murder of all those innocent people? If you don't want to answer that question, I understand. Don't worry about it.

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Print, tax, and borrow works really well when, "We the People," have control over it, as in Democratic Socialism. Problem is, in our current billionaire plutocracy, print, tax, and borrow only works out well for an elite few, the rest of us get screwed.

Print, Tax, Borrow! Worked well for Japan, Greece, etc.

Has any one read "The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money"? If so where has it ever worked?