#MSM -> #FED | Federal Reserve Confirms Security Breach, Calls #Anonymous Hack Claim 'Overstated' - #OpLastResort

A Federal Reserve spokesperson confirmed a temporary security breach of its computers to The Huffington Post on Tuesday morning.

“Information was obtained by exploiting a temporary vulnerability in a website vendor product,” the spokesperson told HuffPost in a phone interview, adding that the problem was “fixed after discovery and is no longer an issue.”

According to the spokesperson, who asked not to be identified by name, the breach “did not affect critical operations.”

The confirmation comes in the wake of a claim by hacker group Anonymous on Sunday that it had stolen sensitive information on 4,000 American bank executives from Federal Reserve computers.

Although the security breach has now been confirmed, the spokesperson called Anonymous’ claim “overstated,” and would not comment on the nature of the data obtained other than to confirm that contact information was taken.

Earlier this week, ZDNet reported that “login information … credentials, IP addresses, and contact information of American bank executives” were listed in a spreadsheet posted to a government site that Anonymous had hacked.

Even if the breach might not have been as serious as publicized by Anonymous, it is the first actual leak of information achieved by the group’s Operation Last Resort. Launched in January, OpLastResort is the Anonymous response to the suicide of Internet activist Aaron Swartz. The group demands “reform of computer crime laws” and investigation of “overzealous prosecutors.”

Federal Reserve computers have been hacked before. In 2010, a Malaysian man was arrested in a credit card scheme after managing to hack into and damage 10 computers associated with a Federal Reserve training system, Bloomberg News reported at the time. However, no data or information was accessed or compromised in that attack, a spokeswoman told Bloomberg.

In 2011, Federal Reserve developers discovered a cross-scripting bug in Adobe ColdFusion software, which is used by some Federal Reserve Bank websites. Such cross-site scripting allows an attacker to gain high-level access privileges to sensitive information by way of injecting malicious client-side scripts.

“Web developers working for the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta discovered the cross-site scripting vulnerability as part of an internal development project,” ThreatPost, an Internet security blog, reported at the time.

In December 2011, Adobe released a patch for ColdFusion that fixed weaknesses it said could be exploited in “a cross-site scripting attack.”

In an e-mail to HuffPost, Adobe senior communications manager Wiebke Lips wrote that the company could not comment on the specific breach confirmed Tuesday by the Federal Reserve. According to Lips, a patch released Jan. 15 by Adobe “addressed four vulnerabilities” that had been observed in active attacks against ColdFusion customers.

“These types of attacks are often referred to as ‘zero-days’ because a fix is not available at the time of the attack,” Lips wrote. “As soon as these vulnerabilities were reported to Adobe, we immediately addressed them in the software and provided the fix.”

According to an Adobe security bulletin, the recent patch for ColdFusion fixed loopholes that could have enabled a hacker to “circumvent authentication controls, potentially allowing the attacker to take control of the affected server … could result in information disclosure from a compromised server.”

Although it is unclear whether hackers used the recently patched vulnerabilities as a vector for attack, if a third party gained access to sensitive information through ColdFusion, it would follow that computers belonging to the Federal Reserve may have been compromised because their software was not up-to-date.

The Federal Reserve spokesperson would not elaborate on its security systems other than to say that measures against attacks were “absolutely” in place.

More

HERE (“Fed Confirms It Was Hacked By Anonymous”)

#OpESR #OTB > First #Audit Results In The Federal Reserve’s Nearly 100 Year History Were Posted Today, They Are Startling! [Video] #OpBlackHeath

Excerpt;

The first ever GAO (Government Accountability Office) audit of the Federal Reserve was carried out in the past few months due to the Ron Paul, Alan Grayson Amendment to the Dodd-Frank bill, which passed last year. Jim DeMint, a Republican Senator, and Bernie Sanders, an independent
Senator, led the charge for a Federal Reserve audit in the Senate, but watered down the original language of the house bill (HR1207), so that a complete audit would not be carried out.

Ben Bernanke, Alan Greenspan, and various other bankers vehemently opposed the audit and lied to Congress about the effects an audit would have
on markets. Nevertheless, the results of the first audit in the Federal Reserve’s nearly 100 year history were posted on Senator Sander’s webpage. What was revealed in the audit was startling:

$16,000,000,000,000.00 (TRILLION) had been secretly given out to US banks and corporations and foreign banks everywhere from France to Scotland (see page 131 of GAO Report). From the period between December 2007 and June 2010, the Federal Reserve had secretly bailed out many of the world’s banks, corporations, and governments. The Federal Reserve likes to refer to these secret bailouts as an all-inclusive loan program, but virtually none of the money has been returned and it was loaned out at 0% interest.

~

GAO (Government Accountability Office) report Of the Federal Reserve;

[link to www.gao.gov]

See page 131

~

[ The real deficit is $25,000,000,000,000.00 (TRILLION)! ]

#Anonymous - Fed Reserve Caught Red Handed

#Anon #NewZ(http://www.youtube.com/user/TheAnonymouse01) Bankers Jumping Ship as Corrupt Banking at the Highest Levels Exposed

I want to thank a good friend for an article she sent over that led me on this rabbit trail. Jill Thanks! It will boggle the minds of most of you but everyone should see it and make themselves read and understand it.
I am going to go over this piece that will leave one with a greater understanding of why so many CEO’s of banks or financial institutions are resigning. This is but one story of who knows how many that are or have gone on out there either in the past or currently. Most importantly we have to ask — where is all the money going?
This will not be a short piece but I assure you I will make it fun and very easy to understand. It is a true labyrinth in the creation of monetary instruments and shenanigans that the elite go through to make it and use it. While you may not think this is important or that you can do anything about it, understand that just us understanding what they are doing exposes the corruption and that alone will cause the end game. Soo with out further ado, I will start.
I would like you all to watch this 11 minute video. It is a man in parliment in London bringing the scheme to the attention of the chamber and asking for a delegation to be set up to look into it. It appears that 15 Trillion is in a void of non compliance and England or two of its banks are on the hook for it. He is genuinly concerned — He is the whistleblower if you will. Here is the piece but please watch the chamber fill until it starts (about two minutes) and then fast forward the thing to 17:20 where Lord Blackheath speaks and notice the attendance then and listen then for the next 11 minutes. This is important but I will talk about attendance later. I am going to ask you to read the transcript of this after you watch it. If you have the ability of two screens, you can watch and read the transcript below at the same time.
Link: http://www.parliamentlive.tv/Main/Player.aspx?meetingId=10093&wfs=true&am……
I would like you take the time to read the transcript now of that same speech verbatim. There is not trickery here but the more you digest the facts, the more it will come together. When you are done reading this, I will then go over it with my edits or notes and it will all come home.


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group suspects Obama White House of working with these lobbyists to defend genetically engineered (GE) crops and the attempts get these GE crops planted in wildlife refuges across the United States Part of the information which is currently being withheld by the Obama administration is part of an email from January 2011 from a lobbyist to a top White House policy analyst This lobbyist was with the Biotechnology Industry Organization, or BIO, which regularly represents the interests of companies specializing in GE seeds like Syngenta and the infamous multinational giant Monsanto.
revolution inflation ron paul obama zeitgeist disaster riots protests jobs alex jones prison planet info wars nature fukushima default debt stock market crash peter schiff max keiser rt oath keepers tsarion Occupy Wall Street End the Fed alan watts truth movement we are the 99% we are change anonymous marine soldier occupy marines a new alliance Tear Gas OWS zuccotti park TSA oakland


FAIR USE NOTICE: This video may contain copyrighted material. Such material is made available for educational purposes only. This constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in Title 17 U.S.C. section 106A-117 of the US Copyright Law.

Source: youtube.com

$15,OOO,OOO,OOO,OOO FRAUD EXPOSED in #UK House of Lords -> #Parliament #Euro #Europe #England #Scottland <- #SpreadThis #ShareThis

$15 TRILLION is equivalent to the the federal debt of the U.S. Treasury Department. Lord James of Blackheath has spoken in the House of Lords holding evidence of three transactions of 5 Trillion each and a transaction of 750,000 metric tonnes of gold and has called for an investigation.

I think there are three possible conclusions that may come from it. I think there may have been a massive piece of money laundering committed by a major government which ought to know better and that it has effectively undermined the integrity of the British bank the Royal Bank of Scotland, in doing so. The second alternative is that a major American department has an agency that has gone rogue on it because it has been wound up and has created a structure out of which they are seeking to get at least 50 billion Euros as a payoff. And the third possibility is that this is an extraordinarily elaborate fraud which has not been carried out but which has been prepared in order to provide a threat to one government or more if they don’t pay them off. So there are three possibilities and this all needs a very urgent review.

My Lords, it starts in April and May of 2009, with the alleged transfer to the United Kingdom, to HSBC of a sum of 5 trillion dollars and seven days later, in comes another 5 trillion dollars to HSBC, and then 3 weeks later another 5 trillion. 5 trillion in each case. Sorry. A total of 15 trillion dollars is alleged to have been passed into the hands of HSBC for onward transit to the Royal Bank of Scotland and we need to look at where this came from and what the history of this money is. And I have been trying to sort out the sequence by which this money has been created and from where it has come from for a long time.

http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld201212/ldhansrd/text/120216-0002.h…

Source: youtube.com

US Federal Reserve bank, Goldman Sachs, root cause of Greece’s debt crisis

Privately owned (not a branch of the United States government) US Federal Reserve banks tactics akin to the ones that fostered the subprime mortgages in the United States have caused the debt crisis shaking Greece and has undermined the euro by coaching European governments to resort to securities fraud to hide their mounting debts.  Even as the crisis is now nearing the flashpoint, banks are searching for ways to help Greece forestall the day of reckoning.

As worries over Greece rattle world markets, records and interviews show that with the US Federal Reserve bank’s help, the nation engaged in a decade-long effort to skirt European debt limits. One deal created by Goldman Sachs helped obscure billions in debt from the budget overseers in Brussels.

In early November of 2009 — three months before Athens became the epicenter of global financial anxiety — a team from Goldman Sachs arrived in Athens with a very illegal proposition for a government struggling to pay its bills.

The bankers, led by Goldman’s president, Gary D. Cohn, held out a financing instrument that would have pushed debt from Greece’s health care system far into the future, much as when strapped homeowners take out second mortgages to pay off their credit cards.

In 2001, just after Greece was admitted to Europe’s monetary union, Goldman helped the government secretly borrow billions. That deal, hidden from public view because it was treated as a currency trade rather than a loan, helped Athens to meet Europe’s deficit rules while continuing to spend beyond its means.

Athens did not pursue the latest Goldman illegal proposal, but with Greece groaning under the weight of its debts and with its richer neighbors vowing to come to its aid, the deals over the last decade are raising questions about the US Federal Reserve banks’ role in the world’s latest financial drama.

As in the American subprime crisis and the implosion of the American International Group, financial derivatives played a role in the run-up of Greek debt. Instruments developed by Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase and a wide range of other US Federal Reserve banks encouraged politicians to hide from their shareholders, the public, additional borrowing in Greece, Italy and possibly elsewhere.

In dozens of deals across the Continent, US Federal Reserve banks provided cash upfront (money they received illegally by way of another securities fraud scheme they executed against the US public by way of bailouts from both George W Bush and Barry Obama) in return for government payments to the US Federal Reserve Banks in the future, with those liabilities then left off the books. Greece, for example, traded away the rights to airport fees and lottery proceeds in years to come.

Critics say that such deals, because they are not recorded as loans, mislead investors and regulators about the depth of a country’s liabilities – in other words accounting fraud.

While the US Federal Reserve Banks’ illegal handiwork in Europe has received little attention on this side of the Atlantic, it has been sharply criticized in Greece and in magazines like Der Spiegel in Germany.

While Greece did not successfully benefit from Goldman’s illegal proposal in November 2009, it has had to pay Goldman Sachs about $300 million in fees for arranging the 2001 securities fraud transaction, according to several bankers familiar with the deal. But that isn’t the the final payment. The deal, saddles the government of Greece with big payments to Goldman until 2019.

The Federal Reserve is the privately owned central banking system of the United States. It was conceived by several of the world’s leading bankers in 1910 and enacted in 1913, with the passing of the Federal Reserve Act. The passing of the Federal Reserve Act was largely a response to another orchestrated financial panics and bank runs, the most severe of which being the Panic of 1907. Few people know or even realize that the Panic of 1907 was orchestrated by the very same banks that caused the current US financial crisis. Back in 1907 bankers from several privately owned banks wanted control of the United States – financial control and in order to get this control they caused the financial panic of 1907. They are also solely responsible for the current US financial crisis. They created a false financial panic in order to get their hands on $trillions of US federal tax dollars. They were successful in defrauding the American people in 1907 as they were fraudulently placed in charge of all banking for the United States of America. They were successful in defrauding the American people again in October 2008 with the theft of $700 billion from the American taxpayers and a little more than 4 months later, February 2009, another $787 billion with Barry Obama’s US Federal Reserve Banks bonuses scheme.

Goldman Sachs received $12.9 billion in public funds through Bush’s Federal Reserve Banks Bailout Scheme then just 6 months later on 30th October 2008 it was reported that Goldman Sachs was preparing to hand out £7billion for salaries and 2008 year-end bonuses.

Short URL: http://presscore.ca/2011/?p=3088

A99 #OpESR RICO Class Action Lawsuit Against the Federal Reserve (by AmpedStatus)

Source: youtube.com

More Treachery at the Fed? - #EndTheFed

No one expects the Fed to announce a rate-hike at the end of the today’s FOMC meeting, but that doesn’t mean there won’t be a few surprises. The problem is that the recovery has stalled and the Fed can’t decide whether we’ve just hit a “soft patch” or if it’s something more serious. If it is more serious, then the Fed will need a contingency plan for kick-starting the economy. So, what’s it going to be; another round of Quantitative Easing (QE), rate caps on short-term Treasuries or something else altogether? That’s what the financial media will want to know, and only Fed chairman Ben Bernanke knows the answers.

But before we get to that, let’s look at the economy. First quarter growth has been revised to an anemic 1.8 percent and economists are currently shaving their estimates for Q2. Some think that the high number of “black swan” events (Tsunami in Japan, debt problems in the eurozone) are mainly responsible for the poor growth, but that doesn’t explain the sharp downturn in hiring, manufacturing, housing and consumer confidence. The US is experiencing a dropoff in demand at the worst possible time, just as Obama’s $800 billion fiscal stimulus and Bernanke’s $600 billion monetary stimulus are running out of gas. That means even less support for an economy that can barley stand upright as it is. Here’s an excerpt from an article by Nouriel Roubini with a rundown on the economy:

“…there are good reasons to believe that we are experiencing a more persistent slump…. the factors slowing US growth are chronic. These include slow but persistent private and public-sector deleveraging; rising oil prices; weak job creation; another downturn in the housing market; severe fiscal problems at the state and local level; and an unsustainable deficit and debt burden at the federal level….

If what is happening now turns out to be something worse than a temporary soft patch, the market correction will continue further, thus weakening growth as the negative wealth effects of falling equity markets reduce private spending.” (“That Stalling Feeling”, Nouriel roubini, Project Syndicate)

More and more mainstream economists have joined Roubini in thinking that recent sluggishness is more than a soft patch. They think we may be headed for a double dip recession. Surprisingly, former chief economic advisor to the president, Lawrence Summers, has joined the Cassandras and is warning of stiffer headwinds just ahead. Here’s a clip from Summers recent op-ed in the Financial Times:

“…the US is now half way to a lost economic decade…..the problem in a period of high unemployment, as now, is a lack of business demand for employees not any lack of desire to work is all but self-evident… When demand is constraining an economy, there is little to be gained from increasing potential supply. …

What, then, is to be done? This is no time for … traditional political agendas.

… The fiscal debate must accept that the greatest threat to our creditworthiness is a sustained period of slow growth. Discussions about medium-term austerity need to be coupled with a focus on near-term growth….

Substantial withdrawal of fiscal stimulus at the end of 2011 would be premature. Stimulus should be continued and indeed expanded by providing the payroll tax cut to employers as well as employees…

We averted Depression in 2008/2009 by acting decisively. Now we can avert a lost decade by recognizing economic reality.” (“How to avoid stumbling into our own lost decade”, Lawrence Summers, Financial Times)

Consider the irony of Summers—who designed Obama’s $800 billion stimulus package and rejected the warnings of other prominent economists who said the stimulus was “too small”—recanting in the FT and pleading for a second round. Pretty shameless, eh? But the point is the leading economic indicators are pointed down, hiring has slowed to a crawl, household spending and personal consumption have tapered off, wages remain flat, and lending is barley staying even. In other words, the Fed’s efforts to stimulate demand have failed. The economy is in another funk.

So, what is Bernanke going to say at today’s meeting?

Ahhh, that’s where the surprise comes in, but there was a clue in an article last week on Bloomberg News. Here’s an excerpt from the article:

“Federal Reserve officials are discussing whether to adopt an explicit target for inflation, a strategy long advocated by Chairman Ben S. Bernanke …. An inflation target could help quiet critics of record monetary stimulus and anchor public expectations for consumer prices should the Fed in coming months try to spur the recovery by keeping interest rates close to zero for longer.

“My sense is that this may be a done deal, though not one likely to be implemented soon, and perhaps not until economic conditions return to closer to normal,” said Laurence Meyer, senior managing director and co-founder of Macroeconomic Advisers LLC and a former Fed governor.

“The chairman is obviously for it, and it is hard to find anybody on the FOMC who now is really opposed to it.” (“Fed Officials Said to Discuss Adopting Inflation Target Backed by Bernanke”, Bloomberg)

So, an inflation target is a “done deal”? Really? But what does that mean?

Once the Fed sets an “explicit inflation target”, then (if the CPI is below the target and rates are already at zero, as they are today) the Fed can buy as many bonds as they please until their goal is reached. If that sounds a lot like Quantitative Easing; it’s because it’s the same thing. (Although this time it will probably involve rate caps on medium-term Treasuries) Is that what Bernanke is doing; announcing a third round of his controversial bond purchasing program without using the same name?

It sure looks like it. In fact, any mention today of “inflation targeting” at today’s FOMC meeting should be taken as a sign that Bernanke is planning another bond buying binge, despite the fact that the only people who really benefited from the program have been investors who’ve seen stock prices skyrocket from the money that’s shifted out of bonds into equities. All the gains from QE2 went to Wall Street.

As for inflation targeting, Bernanke is not just an advocate of the policy, he’s its biggest booster. He’s even written a book on the topic titled “Inflation Targeting: Lessons from the International Experience” with co-authors Thomas Laubach, Frederic S. Mishkin, and Adam S. Posen in 2001. There’s every reason to suspect that the neoliberal credo that Bernanke espouses in his book helped shoehorn him into the top-spot at the Central Bank. It certainly had nothing to do with his abyssal track record.

So, what’s so bad about an explicit inflation target anyway? Haven’t other countries used the policy effectively?

Yes, they have. But other countries (particularly in the EU) also have labor laws and a social safety net which tend to protect workers from the abuses of errant monetary policy. Not so in the US. If Bernanke executes his plan, high unemployment and slow growth will become a permanent feature of life in America. Here’s an excerpt from an article by Nobel prize winning economist Joseph Stiglitz mulling over the effects of inflation targeting in other countries:

“Today, inflation targeting is being put to the test — and it will almost certainly fail. Developing countries currently face higher rates of inflation, not because of poorer macro-management, but because oil and food prices are soaring, and these items represent a much larger share of the average household budget than in rich countries….Inflation in these countries is, for the most part, imported. Raising interest rates won’t have much effect on the international price of grains or fuel…” (“What’s wrong with inflation targeting?”, Joseph Stiglitz, Project Syndicate)

But Stiglitz is talking about “developing countries”. Does that same rule apply to the US?

Yes, it does. If the Fed achieves its target rate, then Bernanke will raise short-term rates regardless of the effects on growth or employment. That’s what inflation targeting is all about; it’s a hat-tip to investors that the Fed will preserve their wealth at all costs, even if the broader economy has to be sacrificed. Here’s a clip from an article by economist Dean Baker who draws the same conclusion as Stiglitz:

“Inflation targeting has led to an enormous economic and human disaster, likely costing the world more than $10tn in lost output and leaving tens of millions of people unemployed. If this experience is not enough to discredit a policy, it is difficult to imagine any possible set of events in the world that could lead the inflation targeters to change their minds….

….the central bankers and others directing policy place the interests of the financial sector at the center of their concerns.” (“Guess which policy your central bank will pursue”, Dean Baker, Guardian)

Get the picture? Inflation targeting is neoliberalism writ large, no different than “structural adjustment”, “debt consolidation”, “privatization of public assets” etc. It’s another subsidy for speculators while ordinary working people get kicked to the curb.

Here’s one last blurb from economist James Galbraith who’s even more skeptical of inflation targeting than Stiglitz or Baker. This excerpt is from Galbraith’s blistering critique of Bernanke’s book titled “The Inflation Obsession: Flying in the Face of the Facts”:

“….Inflation targeting in all cases coincided with high unemployment, and its main effect was to excuse central bankers from addressing this crisis…..(“The Inflation Obsession: Flying in the Face of the Facts”, James k. Galbraith, Foreign Affairs)

That’s it in a nutshell. Bernanke wants to absolve himself of any responsibility to enact policies that will create “full employment”. He’d rather shrug off the Fed’s dual mandate (“price stability and full employment”) and focus on inflation alone. That means that soaring unemployment and slow growth will be the norm for years to come.

There’s a reason why Stiglitz, Baker and Galbraith all oppose inflation targeting. It’s bad policy.


Mike Whitney is a frequent contributor to Global Research.  Global Research Articles by Mike Whitney

Federal Reserve Shipped Billions to Iraq Which Were Then Stolen... Involved in Other Unsavory Activities

CNBC reports today:

 

The New York Fed is refusing to tell investigators how many billions of dollars it shipped to Iraq during the early days of the US invasion there, the special inspector general for Iraq reconstruction told CNBC Tuesday.

 The Fed’s lack of disclosure is making it difficult for the inspector general to follow the paper trail of billions of dollars that went missing in the chaotic rush to finance the Iraq occupation, and to determine how much of that money was stolen.

 The New York Fed will not reveal details, the inspector general said, because the money initially came from an account at the Fed that was held on behalf of the people of Iraq and financed by cash from the Oil-for-Food program. Without authorization from the account holder, the Iraqi government itself, the inspector general’s office was told it can’t receive information about the account.

 The problem is that critics of the Iraqi government believe highly placed officials there are among the people who may have made off with the money in the first place.

As I noted last year:

In July 2009, Congressman Henry Waxman stated:

In a 13 month period from May 2003 to June 2004, the Federal Reserve sent nearly $12 billion in cash, mainly in $100 bills from the United States to Iraq. To do that, the Federal Reserve Bank in New York had to pack 281 million individual bills … onto wooden pallets to be shipped to Iraq. The cash weighed more than 363 tons and was loaded onto C-130 cargo planes to be flown into Baghdad…

The Los Angeles Times reported at the time:

Prior audits by Stuart W. Bowen Jr., the special inspector general for Iraq reconstruction, found that more than $8.8 billion in such funds could not be properly accounted for.

Bloomberg wrote:

A report from Waxman’s House Oversight and Government Reform Committee … described contractors being told to bring big bags to collect shrink- wrapped bundles of money and one episode where a Bremer staff member was allegedly told to spend $6.75 million in a week.

“We have no way of knowing if the cash that was shipped into the green zone ended up in enemy hands,” Waxman, a California Democrat, said at today’s hearing.

I’m not too worried about the money having fallen into enemy hands. I think it is much more likely that it fell into the hands of gleeful defense contractors, like these happy fellows:


In addition, ABC noted that there might have been a partisan bias:

Rep. Paul Hodes, D-N.H., claimed that recent college graduates with Republican ties were sent to Iraq instead of experienced government personnel.

Rodes challenged, “I want to know why half the U.S. staff had never been outside of the country before and had to get a passport for the first time?”

(I’m not trying to make this a partisan issue: under the current Democratic administration, I would guess that Democratic folks are favorably getting their palms greased).

$2.4 billion of these $100 dollar bills were loaded onto pallets, put on C-130s and shipped to Iraq in June 2004 alone:

Then, when the shipment date changed, officials had to scramble to line up U.S. Air Force C-130 cargo planes to hold the money. They did, and the $2,401,600,000 was delivered to Baghdad on June 22, 2004.

It was the largest one-time cash transfer in the history of the New York Fed

And guess who was the head of the New York Fed at the time this was going on?

Yup … Pallet Tim.

Note: I am not implying that the Fed’s shipment to Iraq were illegal (they were apparently part of a UN-sponsored Iraqi oil revenue arrangement). And I am not implying that Geithner is responsible for the theft of billions of dollars by defense contractors or others - he was never asked to oversee distribution of the funds once they arrived in Iraq, and he wasn’t head of the New York Fed when the shipments started.

Al Jazeera noted Sunday that the figure might actually be much higher:

[An] Iraqi parliament speaker, has told Al Jazeera that the amount of Iraqi money unaccounted for by the US is $18.7bn - three times more than the reported $6.6bn.

Just before departing for a visit to the US, al-Nujaifi said that he has received a report this week based on information from US and Iraqi auditors that the amount of money withdrawn from a fund from Iraqi oil proceeds, but unaccounted for, is much more than the $6.6bn reported missing last week.

“There is a lot of money missing during the first American administration of Iraqi money in the first year of occupation.

“Iraq’s development fund has lost around $18bn of Iraqi money in these operations - their location is unknown. Also missing are the documents of expenditure.

“I think it will be discussed soon. There should be an answer to where has Iraqi money gone.”

The Bush administration flew in a total of $20bn in cash into the country in 2004. This was money that had come from Iraqi oil sales, surplus funds from the UN oil-for-food programme and seized Iraqi assets.

Officials in Iraq were supposed to give out the money to Iraqi ministries and US contractors, intended for the reconstruction of the country.

***

The US has audited the money three times, but has still not been able to say exactly where it went.

***

“There is going to be a fairly wide net cast - some of them [involved in mishandling of this money] are thought to be US officials, but many here believe that it is the Iraqis who have filled their pockets.

“Safeguarding the money was up to the Americans … after the invasion, provisional authority here was run by the American military.

The Los Angeles Times reported on June 13th:

For the first time, federal auditors are suggesting that some or all of the cash may have been stolen, not just mislaid in an accounting error. Stuart Bowen, special inspector general for Iraq reconstruction, an office created by Congress, said the missing $6.6 billion may be “the largest theft of funds in national history.”

***

Theft of such a staggering sum might seem unlikely, but U.S. officials aren’t ruling it out. Some U.S. contractors were accused of siphoning off tens of millions in kickbacks and graft during the post-invasion period, especially in its chaotic early days. But Iraqi officials were viewed as prime offenders.

The Federal Reserve has been involved in other unsavory activities as well, such as loaning billions to Gaddaffi and covering up the source of funding for the Watergate burglars.

Geithner’s New York Fed also pushed to keep pay AIG’s CDS counterparties at full value, and then to keep the deal secret.


Washington’s Blog is a frequent contributor to Global Research.  Global Research Articles by Washington’s Blog

youranonnews:

90 days ago, we requested Ben Bernanke’s resignation as Federal Reserve Chairman. Mr. Bernanke has not complied with our request.

The Federal Reserve’s policies are systematically looting the country to enrich one tenth of one percent of the population. The Federal Reserve has deliberately driven tens of millions of people into poverty. The Federal Reserve is responsible for crimes against humanity. The Federal Reserve gave trillions of American taxpayer dollars, in secrecy, to the people who were most responsible for causing our economic crisis.

Our tax dollars were handed out as all-time record-breaking bonuses to top executives at the Too Big to Fail global banks. The Federal Reserve gave American taxpayer dollars to foreign banks and corporations. The Through bailout programs the Federal Reserve socialized financial losses onto American taxpayers and privatized profits into the hands of the global banks. The Federal Reserve aids and abets trillions of dollars in accounting fraud. The Federal Reserve routinely manipulates the stock market. The Federal Reserve deliberately caused inflation in the price of food, gas, and basic necessities, while devaluing the dollar. The Federal Reserve represents the central planning force behind a global banking cartel that has deliberately impoverished people throughout the world.

US politicians have not taken action to break up the Federal Reserve and the Too Big to Fail banks. US politicians have not taken action to prosecute the people who caused our economic crisis. US politicians have not taken action to end the system of political bribery, the campaign and lobbying racket, which allows global bankers to control our political process.

Democrats have failed us. Republicans have failed us. No one is defending our interests.

We cannot remain passive while our future is going up in flames. It is time for us to stand up for ourselves. It is time for you to stand up for yourself. We must restore the rule of law and fight back against the organized criminal class.

We must now launch Operation Empire State Rebellion.

The operation will commence on June 14th. As a first step, we are calling upon you to occupy a public space until Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke steps down.

Operation Empire State Rebellion. Engaged. Expect us.

(via fss34-deactivated20111226)

Source: youranonnews

» 20 Questions for Ben Bernanke

A game of 20 questions with the Fed Chairman…

1. The rescue packages in 2008-2009 were all aimed at restoring CONFIDENCE to the financial system.  Yet from 2001 to 2011 the DXY is down 41.5 and gold is up 473%. Does this not equate to a loss of confidence in the US monetary system? If not how would you explain this phenomena?

2. In March of 2009 you said the ONLY reason you care about Wall Street is because of the affect it has on Main Street. You wanted to become Fed Chairmen to make things better “for the average person”. You have been Chairmen since 2006, do you believe you have accomplished your goal? And if so how?

3. In March of 2009 you stated that “many mistakes were made leading up to the crisis of 2008″, chief amongst them was “enormous amounts of savings has flowed into the United States, and some other industrial countries. That savings has come from China and East Asia. It’s come from oil producers. And it has– and hundreds of billions of dollars, it has come into our financial system. And, you know, that would be great if we took that money and invested it wisely, and got a high return. But instead, our financial system– didn’t– didn’t do a good job”  What has changed since you made that statement? Is money being invested wisely…..getting a high return?

4. You believe that confidence in the financial system, is one of the most if not the most important aspect in creating a lasting recovery. Yet 2 years after the recession ended and the banks have been stabilized, the recovery remains tenuous at best. Could this be because “average people” do not trust a regulatory system that did NOT hold banks and the people therein accountable for their bad/fraudulent behavior leading up to the financial crisis of 2008?

5. What do you consider to be the mandates of the Federal Reserve? Is the “wealth effect” not the 3rd mandate of the federal reserve?

6. You have stated that you believe high food and fuel prices to be transitory. Can you define transitory? And define what you believe to be a return to normalcy for food and fuel prices.

7. In March of 2009 you stated that for QE1 the Fed was printing money. However, you have stated that QE2 is not printing money. Can you define the difference?

8. The recession has been over for 2 years. Yet job gains have been anemic. Why do you think this is? And how long until Americans will see a more normalized unemployment rate?

9. The disclosed portfolio of Maiden Lane I assets includes various eurodollar and interest rate swaps indicative of hedging. Does the Federal Reserve hedge its broader $2.7 trillion SOMA Balance Sheet? And if so how? If not, why not?

10. Has the Federal Reserve ever invested in domestic or international equity markets? If so, which Wall Street broker does the Fed use to conduct equity market interventions?

11. In the June 2003 FOMC Transcript Vince Reinhart disclosed that the Fed had sold derivatives on instruments held by the Fed’s balance sheet: “the Desk sold options on RPs for the weeks around the century date change that totaled nearly $0.5 trillion of notional value.” Has the Fed since then engaged in selling of derivatives on RPs or any other Fed assets? If so, which Wall Street institution does the Fed use as a broker to transact through?

12. The president recently announced that he will pursue oil “speculators” blaming them for the nearly 50% jump in Crude. Yet a simple correlation shows that broad commodity indices correlate nearly 100% with the size of the Fed’s assets. In light of this do you side with the president and blame speculators for the surge in energy prices, or believe this is some collusive cabal acting independent of the surge in free liquidity?

13. A quick look at your most recent balance sheet indicates that “Other Federal Reserve Assets” hit an all time high of $125.6 billion in the week ended April 20. Can you provide a break down of what these “assets” consist of?

14. A prevailing theme of over 80% of recent Permanent Open Market Operations has been the prompt refunding of Primary Dealer “On The Run” (just auctioned off) Treasurys back to the New York Fed, with the Fed purchasing up to over the old SOMA limit of any given CUSIP within a month of auction. Can you explain how this is substantially different from outright monetization of up to a third of any given issue? Can you also explain and quantify what the economic benefits to the Primary Dealers are from participating in such a process? Does the Fed keep track of how much in Mark To Market gains and losses are incurred by taxpayers as a result of the POMO reverse dutch auction? How much money have Primary Dealers made by “flipping” bonds from the Treasury back to the Fed?

15. At the time QE2 is over, the Fed’s balance sheet will be just over $2.8 trillion. The DV01 on that amount of holdings will be about $1.5 billion, or in other words a 1% rise in interest rates will be three times greater than the Fed’s total capital of $52.6 billion as of April 20. Does the Fed only have a capital buffer for a 33 bps rise in rates? What happens if rates increase by more? What is the basis by which the Fed’s total capital account is calculated?

16. As a result of rising interest rates, the principal repayments of agency MBS and agency debt (the mandate of QE “Lite”) have ground to a halt. In fact, in the most recent POMO schedule, the QE Lite component was a QE2 low $17 billion. If rates continue to rise (an indication of QE2′s failure according to some) the QE Lite mandate will be rendered irrelevant. Does the Fed model for what interest level will end the process of principal repayments on its agency portfolio?

17. The Fed is expected to continue the QE2 Lite mandate of keeping the size of its balance sheet constant, which means rolling maturing Treasurys. As of April 20, the Fed held $119 billion in Treasurys maturing in under a year. Assuming the full amount is “rolled” this is roughly one fifth of the full amount of of Treasurys to be purchased under QE2. If so, will replacement Treasurys be purchased in the open market and what maturities will the Fed be focusing on?

18. Recently the San Francisco Fed compared QE 2 to 1961′s Operation Twist whose purpose was to halt the exodus of gold as an interest rate arbitrage vehicle from the US to Europe. Is the Fed conserned that gold is once again being transferred offshore? Does the Fed have a “fair value” estimate for what the price of gold should be under the Fed’s current view of the economy?

19. The Fed focuses on CPI to inform its decision about the prevailing rate of inflation in the US. In the US, food and energy components of CPI are deminimis, accounting for under 20% of the overall inflation gauge. Other countries, particularly China whose currency is pegged to the dollar, and whose monetary policy has a major impact on the US as well, have a CPI where food and energy account for nearly half the overall inflation metric. Is it this discrepancy that the Fed will attribute the paradox of China tightening rates (and having done so for nearly half a year now) while the US continues to rely on a ZIRP policy and is still loosening via daily POMO operations? At what point will the Fed consider this parallel tightening and loosening for the world’s two largest economies, whose currencies are pegged, problematic?

20. In prior FOMC transcripts, Alan Greenspan indicated that gold had historically been used by the FOMC to gauge inflation expectations. Is it still used in that capacity, and if so what does it tell the Fed about where the market believes inflation is headed?

21. Bonus question: Per Frank-Dodd, the Fed is now regulator of all banks. Yet banks are still allowed to circumvent Mark To Market accounting. How comfortable is the Fed that the financial information provided it by the MTM-exempt institutions is credible, the institutions are actually risk-free, and that the Fed is conducting prudent monetary policy in the absence of real time financial data?

Why is the Federal Reserve Propping Up the Bank of Libya?

Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders has for months been leading the charge to expose the sweetheart deals the Federal Reserve has worked out for multinational banks and corporations at the same time that working Americans, small businesses, local governments and schools boards struggle to stay afloat financially.

Sanders has tried to make the point that it is simply absurd for the Fed to bail out foreign firms and bad banks and to provide them with low-interest loans at the same time that they are reaping massive profits – and at the same time that federal, state and local governments are supposedly broke.

The Obama White House and other members of Congress grudgingly went along with a proposal Sanders made, as part of last year’s Wall Street reform legislation, to force the Fed to reveal its previously secret bailouts and backroom deals. But, for the most part, official Washington has been slow to share the Vermont senator’s outrage.

They may change now that Sanders is exposing what may be the most unsettling Fed deal yet.

On Thursday, the senator asked Federal Reserve officials to explain why they provided more than $26 billion in credit to an Arab intermediary for the Central Bank of Libya. According to a review by Sanders’ office, the Fed made at least 46 emergency, low-interest loans to the Arab Banking Corp., in which the Central Bank of Libya owns a 59 percent stake.

Sanders is particularly interested in learning why the Libyan-owned bank and two of its branches in New York City were exempted from sanctions that the United States imposed several weeks ago on Libyan businesses controlled by Colonel Moammar Gaddafi and the dictator’s associates.

 At the time the sanctions were imposed, President Obama said: “The Libyan government’s continued violation of human rights, brutalization of its people, and outrageous threats have rightly drawn the strong and broad condemnation of the international community. These sanctions therefore target the Gaddafi government, while protecting the assets that belong to the people of Libya.”

But what’s the point of sanctions if they don’t crack down on the dictator’s bank?

“It is incomprehensible to me that while creditworthy small businesses in Vermont and throughout the country could not receive affordable loans, the Federal Reserve was providing tens of billions of dollars in credit to a bank that is substantially owned by the Central Bank of Libya,” says Sanders.

The senator is also asking Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner – a long-time Fed retainer — to explain the Arab Banking Corp. was borrowing money at almost zero interest from one arm of the government, the Fed, at the same time the Treasury Department was borrowing money at a higher interest rate. 

Good questions these. And Bernie Sanders ought not be the only one asking them. Congress should be grilling Geithner and Fed Ben Bernanke on the Fed’s Libyan connection and why sanctions don’t seem to apply to bankers with friends on Wall Street — and in Washington.

THE SIEGE OF THE FEDERAL RESERVE - #EndTheFed

It’s Time.
WHO: YOU
WHAT: THE SIEGE OF THE FEDERAL RESERVE
WHEN: MARCH 28+
WHERE: 12 DISTRICT FED BANKS PLUS BOARD OF GOVERNORS IN DC
WHY: FREEDOM

These protests are in solidarity with our brothers and sisters in the UK and all those fighting for their economic and physical freedom in the world. The United States is need of a vocal and physical front; a demonstration that is too broad will fall short. Target the Federal Reserve. Organize protests at the 12 Federal Reserve banks. Our goal is to picket the Fed so that there is no movement into the building, and thus to paralyze their operations. We are under siege by the banks and their cohorts; we are entrapped in moats of debt, and they have turned our government against us. Democracy and liberty erode in the face of their assault. Thus it seems that there is no way to break the insidious monster that slowly strangles our economy, throwing millions into poverty and desperation. Class and money are irrelevant in the eyes of eternity. Stand up for your brothers and sisters who have no voice. Stand up for those who are being silenced. On March 28 we will place the great instrument of those who assault liberty, the Federal Reserve, under siege. We will not back down, and the longer we hold out, the more our ranks will swell, and the more effective we will become. Additionally, Arab leaders empowered by US dollars and equipment continue to abuse human rights and fight against the tide of change. The people of the United States cannot allow this transgression against liberty and democracy to endure. The silence of our government amounts to condoning tyranny and despots. The government does not speak for the people, and thus on March 28 we will make our voice heard. You are inspired, now be the inspiration.
Besiege these institutions in the hopes that:
The Fed Surrenders its Private Status
Quantitative Easing Is Ended
Assumes and Forgives the Debt of Homeowners in Danger of Foreclosure
Surrenders Control of the Monetary Supply
and
The United States Government supports with all its might revolutionaries in:
Libya
Saudi Arabia
Bahrain
Palestine
Yemen
Syria
Iran
Jordan
and where ever else the cries of freedom are met with the fists of tyranny

Gather all the support you can. Reach out to friends. Spread the word. Are you Federally Disturbed by the Federal Reserve?
The Goal: multi-day protest beginning on March 28 (6 AM) that will annoy the hell out of the Federal Reserve
The Means: Place the 12 banks under siege. Allow everybody in however. Peaceful disobedience. Shenanigans. Tomfoolery. Nothing illegal. BEGIN THE SIEGE ON MONDAY MARCH 28. STRENGTH IN NUMBERS.

WHERE:
Locations (courtesy of the Federal Reserve): http://www.federalreserve.gov/fraddress.htm

Demonstrations will take place at each of the 12 district banks and the Board of Governors in Washington, DC:
District 1: Boston: 600 Atlantic Avenue
District 2: New York: 33 Liberty Street
District 3: Philadelphia: Ten Independence Mall
District 4: Cleveland: 1455 East Sixth Street
District 5: Richmond, VA: 701 East Byrd Street
District 6: Atlanta: 1000 Peachtree Street NE
Distrcit 7: Chicago: 230 South LaSalle Street
District 8: St Louis: One Federal Reserve Bank Plaza
Broadway and Locust Streets
District 9: Minneapolis:90 Hennepin Avenue
District 10: Kansas City, MO: 1 Memorial Drive
District 11: Dallas: 2200 North Pearl Street
District 12: San Fransisco: 101 Market Street
Board of Governors:
20th Street and Constitution Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20551

Also: PLEASE PLACE THE BANK OF AMERICA HEADQUARTERS IN CHARLOTTE, NC UNDER SIEGE: THE ADDRESS IS 100 NORTH TYRON ST, CHARLOTTE, NC

If these locations are inaccessible to you, please look here for fed branches that may be closer: http://www.federalreserve.gov/branches.htm Branch locations: Cincy, Pittsburg, Baltimore, Charlotte, Birmingham, Jacksonville, Miami, Nashville, New Orleans, Detroit, Little Rock, Louisville, Memphis, Helena, Denver, Oklahoma City, Omaha, El Paso, Houston, San Antonio, LA, Portland ORE, Salt Lake City, Seattle

SPREAD THIS MESSAGE
freedoms domestically and internationally. Hooray beer!

some fun facts: http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/archives/11-reasons-why-the-federal-reserve-is-bad
FRB: Addresses and Phone Numbers of Federal Reserve Board and FR Banks
www.federalreserve.gov
Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System 20th Street and Constitution Avenue, NW Washington, DC 20551FRB: Addresses and Phone Numbers of Federal Reserve Board and FR Banks www.federalreserve.govBoard of Governors of the Federal Reserve System 20th Street and Constitution Avenue, NW Washington, DC 20551 

The Creature From Jekyll Island (by G. Edward Griffin) (by Nielsio)

The Creature From Jekyll Island
A Second Look at the Federal Reserve
by G. Edward Griffin

1994

The book (paperback):
http://www.amazon.com/Creature-Jekyll-Island-Federal-Reserve/dp/0912986395/re…

Youtube account of the person who made the original recording:
http://www.youtube.com/user/kg6dgv

Source: youtube.com

The Wall Street Economic Death Squad - Part I (by AmpedStatus)

The Amount of poverty and suffering required for the emergence of a Goldman Sachs, and the amount of depravity that the accumulation of a fortune of such a magnitude entails is left out of the mainstream media, and it is not always possible to make the people in general see this.

PART 2:

Source: youtube.com

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