The disastrous collapse of Lehman Brothers on 9-11-08 was the catalyst that changed the rules of the game for the big Wall Street financial players. The banks would henceforth be bailed out by the taxpayers, no matter what the cost. Was the Lehman bankruptcy the result of “market forces” or was it engineered? If the bank was pushed over the brink by invisible hands, whose hands were they and what goal was being served?
Read more here –
http://www.webofdebt.com/articles/economic9-11.php
Filed under: Ellen Brown Articles/Commentary |
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Checkout AntiSocialMedia.net and this link to a 23 minute presentation on naked short selling. At minute 11:00 the discussion talks about Lehman. Understand that before Lehman went, Bear Stearns was hit the same way. Naked shorting.
http://antisocialmedia.net/?p=165
Interesting title for this article. Seems as though you have other journalists asking the same question. In her article dated 27SEP2008, “Lehman Brothers Shipped Off $400B Just Before Bankruptcy Nice !”, Bloomberg News journalist Linda Sandler wrote “Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc.’s brokerage unit, in the months before its parent filed for bankruptcy protection, lost more than $400 billion in assets, according to the trustee overseeing customer accounts.” These are damning comments that have gone unrefuted, and that have never been withdrawn – just buried by the mainstream. Kudos to you for asking the “500 POUND GORILLA IN THE ROOM” question. Maybe you need to talk with Linda ?
Another great article Ellen. It appears certain to me that this has all been orchestrated, the problem is what to do about it?
Your book and articles are excellent and a real eye-opener on what is going on in our world with our debt-based money-system controlled by a corrupt banking/corporate elite, whose politicians are mainly puppets!
The problem is nothing is going to change unless something is done to force the politicians to act for the people, we know what the problem is, we now have to do something about it, somehow we have to break through the media’s wall of silence, grab the general population’s attention through publicity stunts,education or mass protest, this is what needs to be discussed how to take action to force these issues into the public mainstream forum!
If ordinary people knew how they were being enslaved and how corrupt the money system is there would be a revolution!
As an aside, I was under the impression that Lehman was based out of Chicago; while not subscribing to one conspiracy theory or another, was this something that could have been payback for some slight to the Chicago political system? The same system which has now established a beachhead at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.? Obviously, this debacle set into effect a chain of events that will likely never be corrected in our lifetimes. Not paranoid, just wondering out loud…
In the days prior to the American Revolution, commoners could only speculate about what was going on at court. The great mass of the people were not in the loop because they were not competent to rule themselves. Even our revolutionary founders, proud republicans, feared mob rule and instituted a republic, not a democracy.
The latter day aristocracy, represented by people like Tim Geithner and Ben Bernanke feel no need to be accountable to the public. Those in the financial class and all the wannabes live apart from the people and at best feel a kind of benevolent paternalistic concern for the masses, and at worst a gnawing fear and loathing of real democracy. Some like the cabal Ellen is alluding to, actively scheme to create a permanent global elite of wealth, a new global aristocracy, a glorious temple of global finance.
Personally, I feel a sense of humiliation, like a homeless wretch with his face pressed against the glass, trying to get a glimpse of what’s going on in there. I don’t want to care if Lehman Brothers was deliberately sacrificed. I don’t want to be concerned about what these people are doing. I wish they would all go and colonize Mars.
Why can’t we ignore these fools and set up a democracy with a government and financial system transparent and accountable? Why, why, why? Why must we be ensnared in this nasty little game of finance? Why can’t we just get rid of it?
We’re ensared in this game of finance because the financiers hold the means of production. Only by free access to the means of production can we generate our own wealth, independant of them. As a consequence we’re enslaved.
When our country was founded and for the following hundred years or so, anyone who didn’t like being ensnared could find good land in the wilderness, establish a home, and not have to worry about banks and corporations. It may have been a difficult life, but you could literally be a “free” person.
Now, all the land is owned by a person or corporation – or it’s designated as a national park with rules limiting access. In this day and age, only farmers who own their own land and produce enough wealth in excess of their own needs to pay property taxes are able to ignore the banks. Honestly, though, many such farmers are just one bad harvest away from a bank loan to re-establish themselves the following year. A second bad harvest before that loan is repaid will cost them their land and livelihood.
Thanks Zarapeth. This is an excellent summation of Henry George’s masterpiece, “Progress and Poverty”. He offers the clear and resounding solution to the problem of monopolization of land and resources by the wealthy few.
It is the land value tax, or LVT. Properly structured and enforced it would GRADUALLY return unused and unimproved land to the public domains.
Many people simply do not realize one primary economic fact: ALL WEALTH-CREATION ORIGINATES IN LAND AND RESOURCES THAT COME FROM THE LAND. (Land is defined here as equivalent to the Earth.)
Some day this system of land and resource management will be in effect. It is simply the natural and logical conclusion to problems involving social justice, and re-defining what things or assets should properly belong to the community as opposed to individuals and corporations.
Good comments.
Can’t argue with your assessment, Zarepheth.
We ignore our lords & masters at our peril. Monetary reform is the solution. Ellen is describing a way out of the trap. It is not difficult to understand, and would be easilly implemented through legislation.
But the American people have been content to be enthralled by a financial elite since the days of George Washington and Alexander Hamilton. That is difficult to understand. A winner take all mentality prevails. Ideals of social justice are less important than Reagan’s “right to get rich”.
This right to get rich is nakedly displayed in the health care debate, in which our progressive president declares that insurance companies have the right to grow wealthy at the expense of those who suffer ill health. Profit is more important than social justice. And the American people by and large agree.
I do not understand this mentality. Why do slaves prefer to remain slaves?
I’m guessing tha slave “want” to remain free out of fear. Fear of freedom and the responsibilities that go with it. Fear that they won’t have the skills to survive without a master. There is also Fear they they can’t win against their much more powerful masters.
There’s also ignorance. The masters have deliberately kept us in the dark about the true nature of money, wealth, and how they have absconded with portions of the commons.
Even if people know the truth, they may be comfortable where they are. In the U.S., most people are enslaved by debt, but that very slavery has given them velvet lined, golden cages. As long as they keep working, they can enjoy their plush, golden cage. Unfortunately, there are fewer and fewer people enjoying those plush, golden cages and even in the U.S. our masters are starting to put people into shacks or leave them on the streets to harvest their labor under “better” terms (for the masters, that is).
Excellent comments by Joseph and Zarepheth. In addition to the comments made above to the question of why slaves prefer to remain slaves, I would offer these suggestions:
There are subtle forms of mind control at work on subliminal levels, operating on us from birth to death in a very deliberate and calculated way.
Elephants chained from birth stop trying to break free, even though as adults they could easily uproot the stakes that hold them. Conditioning. US Southern slaves often remained on their plantations after emancipation because they knew of no other way to live.
From the beginnings of our nation there was a contest between the philosophies of Jefferson’s democracy and Hamilton’s financial aristocracy. We delude ourselves (or have been deluded) into thinking we follow Jeffersonian ideals, but the reality is that Hamilton’s new financial aristocracy has been ascendant all along, and is now in full bloom.
In other words, we have been deceived by masters of smoke and illusion. Trickery and extortion are now accepted norms of the “get rich quick” crowd.
Yes, very true from all. I remember reading Erich Fromm’s book Escape From Freedom in my early twenties. It helped me recognize a lot of the nonsense that passes as truth in today’s society.
Their goal is to control the world through a single currency and government. Thank you for spreading the truth about our debt based money system Ellen.
Knowledge is the path to enlightenment. Do not despair, for “it is not necessary to hope in order to persevere.”
Ezekiel 25:17. “The path of the righteous man is beset on all sides by the inequities of the selfish and the tyranny of evil men. Blessed is he who, in the name of charity and good will, shepherds the weak through the valley of the darkness. For he is truly his brother’s keeper and the finder of lost children. And I will strike down upon thee with great vengeance and furious anger those who attempt to poison and destroy my brothers. And you will know I am the Lord when I lay my vengeance upon you.”
sam,
Nice to see a relevant bibilical quote on these matters. The Bible is so full of human psychological truth. Its a shame its so often incorrectly used to re-inforce authority and put to actual destructive use.
I am reading this book and it is very good to understand the Federal Reserve secret role:
Deception and Abuse at the Fed,
Henry B. Gonzalez Battles Alan Greenspan’s Bank
by Robert D. Auerbach, University of Texas Press, 2008
The pdf is here:
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=3HELUL5W