Kevin Hayden – TruthisTreason.net

Source: The American Dream

Wouldn’t it be great if a Republican presidential candidate could just buy the support of just about every major conservative talk show host in America?  Well, it may not be as far-fetched as you may think.

Hayden’s Note:

This is a very important article to read, especially towards the end. Look at the campaign contributions, the media influence, and how easily Mitt has purchased his popularity.  Staggering.  I truly thought he would be running on the Democratic ticket!

Clear Channel owns more radio stations (850) than anyone else in the United States.  They also own Premiere Radio Networks, the company that syndicates the radio shows of Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, and Glenn Beck, among others.  Needless to say, Clear Channel basically owns conservative talk radio in the United States.  So who owns Clear Channel?  Well, it turns out that Bain Capital is one of the primary owners of Clear Channel.  Yes, you read that correctly.  The company that Mitt Romney ran for so long is one of the “big bosses” over virtually all conservative talk radio in America....

Kevin Hayden – TruthisTreason.net

Source: Economic Policy Journal by Robert Wenzel

Here they are - the Financial Stability Board has released a list of 29 banks that it considers global systemically important financial institutions (G-SIFISs) and thus, considered Too Big To Fail.

The initial list of G-SIFIS:

Belgium: Dexia
China: Bank of China
France: Banque Populaire, BNP Paribas, Crédit Agricole, Société Générale
Germany: Commerzbank, Deutsche Bank
Italy: Unicredit
Japan: Mitsubishi, Mizuho, Sumitomo Mitsui
Netherlands: ING
Spain: Santander
Sweden: Nordea
Switzerland: Credit Suisse, UBS
UK: Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds, Royal Bank of Scotland
US: Bank of America, Bank of New York Mellon, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan, Morgan Stanley, State Street, Wells Fargo

Hayden’s Note:

It should be pointed out that most of the US “Too Big to Fails” are the major share holders of the Federal Reserve system and the foreign banks are the very ones that Ben Bernanke sent hundreds of billions of dollars to in the last major “bailout.”  The very bailout in which he refused to answer Congressional questions in regards to which foreign banks received American taxpayer money (but was later discovered in the partial audit co-sponsored by Ron Paul)....

Kevin Hayden – TruthisTreason.net

Source: Washington Post via Cryptogon.com

The amount of customer funds missing from accounts at the bankrupt brokerage MF Global “may be as much as $1.2 billion or more,” the trustee overseeing the firm’s liquidation said Monday.

Hayden’s Note:

MF Global.  The Mutha’ F****** Global Collapse.

That would be roughly double previous estimates of about $600 million.

In a statement, trustee James W. Giddens said the estimate is preliminary and “may well change.”

MF Global collapsed while under the leadership of Jon S. Corzine, who was previously governor of New Jersey, a U.S. senator, and the head of Goldman Sachs. MF Global made costly bets on European government bonds.

A variety of federal and industry authorities, including the FBI, have been trying to track down money that should have been kept in customer accounts.

“At present, the Trustee believes that even if he recovers everything that is at US depositories, the apparent shortfall in what MF Global management should have segregated at U.S. depositories may be as much as $1.2 billion or more,” the trustee said in the Monday statement....

Kevin Hayden – TruthisTreason.net

Mario Monti, who will lead the Italian government after Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi resigned, has an interesting resume.  Let’s take a look at who will be in charge of Italy’s new economic direction and dealings with, among other things, the soon-to-be acquired Libyan oil.  Prior to the NATO invasion, Italy relied upon Libya for 85% of their oil.  I’m sure they’ll be getting a much better discount package nowadays, having taken part in the NATO operation to “liberate” the country and assassinate its leader.

• European Chairman for the Trilateral Commission, a Rockefellar think-tank.
• Prominent member of the secretive Bilderberg Group.
• International adviser to Goldman Sachs and Coca-Cola.

 ...

Kevin Hayden – TruthisTreason.net

Source: New York Times

Rajat K. Gupta, a former Goldman Sachs director and McKinsey & Company chief executive, surrendered to the Federal Bureau of Investigation on Wednesday morning to face charges of insider trading, the latest development in the government’s multiyear crackdown on illegal activity on Wall Street.

Hayden’s Note:

This article reads like a typical resume of the Global Elite and is a corrupt melting pot of insider information across the spectrum.  Harvard, American Airlines, Goldman, the FDA, Proctor & Gamble, Bill Gates …  Makes me think of the massive insider trading that occurred just prior to 9/11 against American Airlines and United.  Hmmm.  Wonder if he was a part of that, too…?

See also: Evidence of Insider Trading Shortly Before September 11th, Re-examined

In charging Mr. Gupta, the government will tie up one of the biggest loose ends resulting from the investigation into the Galleon Group, which began nearly five years ago at the Securities and Exchange Commission. Since then, more than two dozen people have pleaded guilty or been convicted of swapping illegal tips around company earnings and other major corporate events....

Kevin Hayden – TruthisTreason.net

Alessio Rastani, a trader, talks to the BBC rather candidly about the inevitable crash of the Eurozone, the stock market and puts things into simple terms.

“This economic crisis is like a cancer….if you just wait…it’s going to keep growing… and it will be too late.”

“Governments don’t rule the world…Goldman Sachs rules the world.  Goldman Sachs doesn’t care about this rescue package and neither do the other big funds.”

He then goes into some simple strategies, such as hedging and protecting your current assets and predicts that within 12 months, millions of peoples’ savings will be wiped out.  He also comments on the 1930′s Great Depression and notes that it was used by a select few to become rich.

However!… I certainly would not be putting my faith and money into US Treasury Bonds OR the US Dollar.  Gold, silver, land, firearms, long-term food and other tangibles will be worth far more than 30-year bonds if a collapse occurs.  Why do you think the Federal Reserve is only investing in short-term bonds?  There will be no Treasury Bonds in 30 years....

Kevin Hayden – TruthisTreason.net

Source: Telegraph

A senior executive with the Libyan Investment Authority, the $70 billion fund used to invest the country’s oil money abroad, said Tony Blair was one of three prominent western businessmen who regularly dealt with Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, son of the former leader.h

Saif al-Islam and his close aides oversaw the activities of the fund, and often directed its officials on where they should make its investments, he said.

The executive, speaking on condition of anonymity, said officials were told the “ideas” they were ordered to pursue came from Mr. Blair as well as one other British businessman and a former American diplomat.

“Tony Blair’s visits were purely lobby visits for banking deals with JP Morgan,” he said.

Hayden’s Note:

It’s interesting to note that after resigning as Prime Minister of the UK, a position he held for 10 years and was a good little Globalist puppet, he was appointed as the official Envoy of the Quartet on the Middle East. In May, 2008, Blair launched his Tony Blair Faith Foundation.  This was followed in July, 2009 by the launching of the Faith and Globalisation Initiative with Yale University in the USA, Durham University in the UK and the National University of Singapore in Asia to deliver a postgraduate programme in partnership with the Foundation....

Kevin Hayden - TruthisTreason.net Source: SHTF Plan by Mac Slavo Economist Bob Chapman, of The International Forecaster, has long advocated precious metals as one of the few wealth preservation assets against a wave of destruction that will wipe out everything from stocks, to bonds, to the US dollar itself. In his latest interview with the Corbett Report, Chapman shares his views on what to expect over the next several months: The Federal Reserve knows that they can’t solve the problem. They have instructions to carry this thing out as far as they can, or until the powers behind government decide to pull the plug, so to speak. … One of the things you have to notice here, and this is pure psychological warfare, and if you’re not trained in it you don’t know what these

Kevin Hayden - TruthisTreason.net

Originally written Oct 18, 2010 @ 06:40

We have all watched in predicted horror as the financial infrastructure of America has been disassembled in a predetermined fashion by the likes of Goldman Sachs, the Federal Reserve and other Globalists.  There are a variety of reasons why this is happening, none of which we have the power to change or alter in time to save us.  Therefore, I will focus on what is to come and how we might handle it in order to survive it.

With the Federal Reserve actually suggesting that inflation might be the cure to the weak economy, massive unemployment numbers and a crashing dollar, one has to stop and ponder.  The chairman of the Fed, Ben Bernanke, was a child prodigy, scored a near perfect SAT score, focused his studies around the Great Depression and is a statistical genius.  So why is he so willing to abuse the Dollar and essentially sign the death warrant for America?

For several years, many prominent people have been predicting this exact scenario.  Gerald Celente, Ron Paul, Peter Schiff and others including the Web Bots Project, have detailed how this orchestrated financial implosion will occur.  Many of these “predictions” or trends analysis are from late 2009 or early 2010.  Most, if not all, are eerily starting to come true....

Kevin Hayden – TruthisTreason.net

Source: Zero Hedge

Last week we had Citigroup warning that the market bottom is about to fall out, as the Fed is more than likely to disappoint already very lofty expectations (according to various estimates from both Goldman and the second Tier banks, i.e., all of them, the market has priced in roughly $500 billion in QE3 already).

Today, Bank of America, which may or may not be with us much longer, has taken this desperate alarmism several notches further, and is warning that due to the gridlock in both the fiscal (“fiscal authorities have bombarded the markets with a quadraphonic message of hopelessness”) and monetary (“the Fed is out of bullets anyway”) stimulative pathways, the likely outcome of anything from DC will be nothig short of a disaster.

To wit: “rather than a repeat of 2010, when the Fed saved the day with QE2, we think we are moving closer to a repeat of 2008, when major policy errors devastated the economy.”  For once we actually agree with Bank of America: “In our view, the pressure to “do something” is now far more likely to result in more desperate or radical measures, even if it is bad policy.” Does this mean that we are looking at a TARP “vote down” market reaction this Friday if indeed the chairman disappoints?...

Kevin Hayden – TruthisTreason.net

TruthisTreason.net – Kevin Hayden

TruthisTreason.net – Kevin Hayden

Source: Zero Hedge

It may be time for the CME to hike some coffee margins as prices for the legal drug are starting to get out of control. According to Dow Jones, Smucker has just increased its average coffee product price by 11% in its 4th price hike in just the past year. This, along with all other comparable deflationary developments (according to some) could not have been foreseen by anyone, and will lead to the Fed’s Elizabeth Duke discussing next year how, very inexplicably, America’s low and middle classes are forced to choose between espresso shots and toilet paper.

From Dow Jones:

The food company, which also makes jams, jellies and Jif brand peanut butter, said the move is driven by sustained increases in green coffee costs. It disclosed similar price increases in February, August and last May.

The increase applies to such brands as Folgers, Dunkin’ Donuts and Millstone.

Smucker reported an 11% increase in U.S. retail coffee sales for the nine months ended Jan. 31, while profit during that period grew 12%.

...

TruthisTreason.net – Kevin Hayden

Source: Zero Hedge

Zero Sum trading (in which the banks make money and taxpayers lose it) continues: following previous reports of trading perfection at both D-grade trading “powerhouse” Bank of Countrywide Lynch, and FRBNY-lite JP Morgan, Goldman craps the bad by being the only big bank so far to post a trading loss day in Q1 (even if it was for $0-25 million). This is unacceptable. As a result SLP latencies will be cut from 0 nanoseconds to -10, as Goldman will proceed to a Tachyon based trading infrastructure. In beta tests, such “frontrunning to the future” trading has already posted solid results: in addition to the humiliating trading day loss, GS had 32 days with profits of “>$100 million.” And it still failed to impress… Now that HFT “girl around the block” Citi is no longer there for the taking by anyone with a growing liquidity rebate itch, this number will plunge.

Elsewhere, one wonders what caused the surge in daily trading VaR in the last days of March. Or perhaps at least someone appears to have made money on the Japan catastrophe....

TruthisTreason.net – Kevin Hayden

Source: Zero Hedge

Unprecedented strength in corn continues, with futures rising by 4.5% on Thursday, following strong demand for corn to make food and fuel. That demand has whittled down the corn supply, which was already at its lowest level in 15 years in the United States, the world’s top exporter of the grain. Per Reuters: ” Demand has been strong from the livestock and ethanol sectors, and from importing nations, including China which is believed to have purchased 1.25 million tonnes last week.

Hayden’s Note:

Just a quick, hectic sidenote – The “ethanol” demand is ONLY due to the Govt subsidies involved.  Corn is a horrible choice for ethanol.  Furthermore, we feed MOST of our corn supplies to livestock because it’s cheaper than grass.  Ironic, huh?  Corn actually kills cows, thus the requirement for constant, low-dose antibiotics in your meat supply.  This also means most of your processed foods, ie 95% of everything on the shelf, will go up in price due to using High Fructose Corn Syrup.  Brace for impact, people.

This week’s rally, triggered by the U.S....

Source: Zero Hedge

A just released report by Goldman’s Jeffrey Currie attempts to quantify the impact of the tsunami on the Japanese economy from a commodity standpoint. Currie summarizes his conclusions as follows: “Assuming that the broader power grid infrastructure has not been permanently damaged, we believe today’s events are likely to put upward pressure on residual fuel oil and diesel cracks, LNG, UK natural gas and rice; downward pressure on naphtha cracks and Dubai spreads relative to other crude grades.”

Yet the thing we found more interesting than energy related bottlenecks was the disclosure toward the end of the report discussing the threat to the Japanese rice harvest: “In addition to the damage to energy infrastructure from the earthquake, the tsunami also impacted rice producing regions in Japan.

While Japanese rice inventories are large, this puts the 2011/12 crop production at risk and may in turn drive Japanese rice imports higher, posing upside risk to current prices.” Granted, Japan is not a big exporter of rice, but it is a top 10 consumer. Should the country’s consumption (which is estimated at around 9 million metric tons) need to be satisfied by a surge in imports, and with the price of rice already dependent on the margin on speculative money, this could be the catalyst that send the grain, which has plunged in price over the past month, finally break beyond any potential manipulative price suppression schemes....

Source: Zero Hedge

Hayden’s Note: If you aren’t visiting Zero Hedge on a daily basis, you should start.  Great website.

One of the most critical questions that has to be asked in light of yesterday’s revelation that among the banks providing banking and asset amangement services for Libya were Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan and Citigroup, is just how did Libya get an exemption for anti-money laundering provisions both in Europe and the US.

Oddly enough, this future mainstream debate arises not in the US, where any form of critical thinking appears to be immediately curbed by SEC Rule 201 (for all those calling for a hike in the SEC’s budget, we suggest the following contrarian thought experiment: let’s cut its budget to zero and see how long before anyone notices) , but out of the UK, where a reader writes in to the FT (oddly enough, partially owned by the Libyan Investment Authority) with the following very simple question: “It seems to me entirely implausible that Col Gaddafi could have earned billions of dollars through legal means.  And yet, if the AML procedures, to which we are all subjected, have not been applied rigorously to the likes of Col Gaddafi and his family, one is forced to ask what purpose they really serve.”  Or what purpose any regulation serves in general when fraud results in surging stock prices, and companies that adhere to the rules are promptly wiped out in this bizarro capitalist world....

Source: Global Research

This essay is about three recent books that explain how we lost our economy, the Constitution and our civil liberties, and how peace lost out to war.

Matt Taibbi is the best–certainly the most entertaining–financial/political reporter in the country. There is no better book than Griftopia (2010) to which to turn to understand how stupidity, greed, and criminality, spread evenly among policymakers and Wall Street, created the financial crisis that has left Americans overburdened with both private and public debt. Taibbi walks the reader through the fraudulent financial instruments that littered the American, British, and European financial communities with toxic waste. He has figured it all out, and what in other hands might be an arcane account for MBAs is in Taibbi’s hands a highly readable and entertaining story.

For the first 65 pages Taibbi entertains the reader with the inability of the public and politicians to focus on any reality. The financial story begins on page 65 with Fed chairman Alan Greenspan undermining the Glass-Steagall Act leading to its repeal by three political stooges, Gramm-Leach-Bliley. This set the stage for the banksters to leverage debt upon debt until the house of cards collapsed....

Source: Zero Hedge

The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced insider trading charges against a Westport, Conn.-based business consultant who has served on the boards of directors at Goldman Sachs and Procter & Gamble for illegally tipping Galleon Management founder and hedge fund manager Raj Rajaratnam with inside information about the quarterly earnings at both firms as well as an impending $5 billion investment by Berkshire Hathaway in Goldman.

Hayden’s Note:

This proves once again that the real enemy of the State is Wall Street.  How much insider trading goes unnoticed?  And by whom? 

The SEC’s Division of Enforcement alleges that Rajat K. Gupta, a friend and business associate of Rajaratnam, provided him with confidential information learned during board calls and in other aspects of his duties on the Goldman and P&G boards. Rajaratnam used the inside information to trade on behalf of some of Galleon’s hedge funds, or shared the information with others at his firm who then traded on it ahead of public announcements by the firms.

The insider trading by Rajaratnam and others generated more than $18 million in illicit profits and loss avoidance....

Source: Bloomberg

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. halted an offering of Facebook Inc. shares to U.S. investors on concern that “intense media attention” on the deal may violate rules limiting marketing of private securities.

Instead, the sale, first reported Jan. 2, will be restricted to non-U.S. investors, the New York-based bank said in an e-mailed statement today. Goldman Sachs and funds it manages had agreed to buy $450 million of closely held Facebook before the bank began seeking investors.

“Goldman Sachs concluded that the level of media attention might not be consistent with the proper completion of a U.S. private placement under U.S. law,” it said in the statement. The move “was based on the sole judgment of Goldman Sachs and was not required or requested by any other party.”

Goldman Sachs, the biggest U.S. securities firm before converting to a bank in 2008, had been trying to sell as much as $1.5 billion in Facebook shares to investors inside and outside the U.S. before making the change announced today. The company didn’t say whether it still expects to raise that amount....

Source: Run to Gold.com

Usually when conspiracy and money are mentioned in the same sentence, most people’s brains automatically shut off at the thought of talking repitles or cloaked figures in dark rooms.  But this broad, deep and complicated article is for those whose brains have not been devoured or turned to mush by conspiring reptiles and will objectively address the fiat legal tender currency and fractional reserve banking conspiracy.

But this conspiracy is far worse than cloaked figures in dark rooms because this is a conspiracy of economics. But what is exciting is that some of the fundamental tectonic plates of economics have begun shifting and what has appeared to the perceptive is actionable, peaceful and extremely effective strategies to harness the economics in favor of the average person’s freedom.

Money, Illusions and Currency

“He who has the gold makes the rules.”

Currency is usually the most widely used medium of exchange in economic transactions. Currency can be composed of either money, money substitutes or illusions. The only significant element for money is that it must be a tangible asset and throughout history there has been a wide range of substances that functioned as money ranging from seashells to salt and giant stones to the King and Queen of commodities; gold or silver....

Kevin Hayden
TruthisTreason.net

Here is one of the easiest-to-understand explanations for the current economic woes we face as a Nation.  This hilarious six minute animation explains exactly who “the Ben Ber-nank” is and what Quantitative Easing is.  This is a must-watch.  Period.

...

Source: ALL Gov.

by Noel Brinkerhoff, David Wallechinsky

Kevin Hayden

TruthisTreason.net

Bernanke Asset Purchases Risk Unleashing 1970s Inflation Genie

For the second time since he became chairman in 2006, Ben S. Bernanke is leading the Federal Reserve into uncharted monetary territory.

Bernanke next week is likely to preside over a decision to launch another round of large-scale asset purchases after deploying $1.7 trillion to pull the economy out of the financial crisis, comments from policy makers over the past week indicate. This time, with interest rates already near zero, the Fed will be aiming to increase the rate of inflation and reduce the cost of borrowing in real terms. The goal is to unlock consumer spending and jump-start an economy that’s growing too slowly to push unemployment lower.

Estimates for the ultimate size of the asset-purchase program range from $1 trillion at Bank of America-Merrill Lynch Global Research to $2 trillion at Goldman Sachs Group Inc., with economists at both firms agreeing the Fed will likely start by announcing $500 billion after the Nov. 2-3 meeting. The danger is that once the Fed kindles price increases, inflation will be difficult to control....

Source: Wall Street Journal

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said he would use weekend meetings of G-20 finance ministers to advance efforts to “rebalance” the world economy so it is less reliant on U.S. consumers, to move toward establishing “norms” on exchange-rate policy, and to persuade others the U.S. doesn’t aim to devalue its way to prosperity.

Hayden’s Note:

I stumbled across this late last night and found it pretty interesting.  On the surface, it would actually help ease currency wars and import/export problems faced by America.  It would put many countries on a more-even playing field.  While that sounds good and all, it’s a fairy-tale.  By forcing different currencies to align in value by simple G-20 decree, you undermine sovereignty.  While I will always side with the choice of “more freedom” I have to say – something along these lines might be the only thing to save us.  It would help in our current trade wars and trade deficit, but the world would lose more freedom and choice as a result.  Unfortunately, if by sticking to the “more freedom” approach we fail as a nation and crash, then let it be a lesson for the rebuild....

Kevin Hayden

TruthisTreason.net

US Cities Face Half a Trillion Dollars of Pension Deficits

Big US cities could be squeezed by unfunded public pensions as they and counties face a $574 billion funding gap, a study to be released on Tuesday shows.  The gap at the municipal level would be in addition to $3,000 billion in unfunded liabilities already estimated for state-run pensions…

A Detailed Look At Global Wealth Distribution

Several graphs and an interesting editorial by Tyler Durden over at ZeroHedge.com.

3.5 Million On The Streets And Rising: As French Strikes Escalate, Just How Serious Is The Situation?

Even as everyone in America seems to have anywhere between 2 and 4 opinions on Fraudclosure now that the topic is firmly planted in the MSM newsflow, things in Europe are not looking any better, even though most people there shun McMansions for their grandmothers’ houses. Enter France, where an ongoing national strike (into its fourth day) was just extended by another 24 hours, and 3,500,000 people seem to have no interest in returning to work with any sense of urgency. Apparently the severity and penetration of the strike is much greater than (under)reported on US media, as seen by the following email from Goldman’s Natacha Valla to clients, which explains why things may soon turn much worse....

Kevin Hayden

TruthisTreason.net

Wednesday, October 5th 2010 brings us an assortment of economic news, including 12 signs that indicate the world financial markets are in serious trouble.  We’ll also touch on the new round of IMF bailouts and the fact that Goldman Sachs Group Inc. said the U.S. economy is likely to be “fairly bad” or “very bad” over the next six to nine months.  Also included are some brief links regarding Ben Bernanke’s latest statement and consumer bankruptcies.

Remember tangibles, food investment and metals!  Get into them now or never.

.

Goldman Sachs Says US Economy May Be ‘Very Bad’

“We see two main scenarios,” analysts led by Jan Hatzius, the New York-based chief U.S. economist at the company, wrote in an e-mail to clients. “A fairly bad one in which the economy grows at a 1 1/2 percent to 2 percent rate through the middle of next year and the unemployment rate rises moderately to 10 percent, and a very bad one in which the economy returns to an outright recession.”

Hayden’s Note:

The problem with their prediction is that the fairly bad circumstances of slow economic growth and 10% unemployment is already here.  Am I missing something?   And they consider the very bad circumstances to be another recession.  Well, we weathered the last one pretty well with the Administration denying unemployment ever rose above 9%… so I have the feeling someone is either lying or trying to play it soft....

Source: Giordano Bruno

Neithercorp Press

The Purpose Behind Engineered Economic Collapse

“From now on, depressions will be scientifically created.” — Congressman Charles A. Lindbergh Sr. , 1913

Everyone loves money. Even people like myself who abhor the abuse of money and commerce, who understand the fraudulent nature of the system we live in, still work hard and save so that we might attain a sense of stability within that system. Many people see money as a focal point to their existence. But is it really money that they are after, or is it something else entirely? In truth, money represents ‘security’ in the minds of the masses. Money affords us the ability to survive, and the more of it we have, the safer we all feel. Because we subconsciously associate the extension of our very life with the variable health of the economic structure in which we live, we tend to become unwitting devotees to its continued existence, even if it is corrupt and condemned to failure. We gullibly deny the system or the currency that supports it is doomed to the contrary of all evidence because, even though it has beaten us bloody, we have never known anything else....

Source: USA Today

via email

Goldman Sachs sent $4.3 billion in federal tax money to 32 entities, including many overseas banks, hedge funds and pensions, according to information made public Friday night.
Goldman Sachs disclosed the list of companies to the Senate Finance Committee after a threat of subpoena from Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Ia.

Asked the significance of the list, Grassley said, “I hope it’s as simple as taxpayers deserve to know what happened to their money.”

He added, “We thought originally we were bailing out AIG. Then later on … we learned that the money flowed through AIG to a few big banks, and now we know that the money went from these few big banks to dozens of financial institutions all around the world.”

Grassley said he was reserving judgment on the appropriateness of U.S. taxpayer money ending up overseas until he learns more about the 32 entities.

Goldman Sachs (GS) received $5.55 billion from the government in fall of 2008 as payment for then-worthless securities it held in AIG. Goldman had already hedged its risk that the securities would go bad....

Source: Raw Story

Firm’s stock sale nearly twice as large as any other institution; Represented 44 percent of total BP investment

The brokerage firm that’s faced the most scrutiny from regulators in the past year over the shorting of mortgage related securities seems to have had good timing when it came to something else: the stock of British oil giant BP.

According to regulatory filings, RawStory.com has found that Goldman Sachs sold 4,680,822 shares of BP in the first quarter of 2010. Goldman’s sales were the largest of any firm during that time. Goldman would have pocketed slightly more than $266 million if their holdings were sold at the average price of BP’s stock during the quarter.

If Goldman had sold these shares today, their investment would have lost 36 percent its value, or $96 million. The share sales represented 44 percent of Goldman’s holdings — meaning that Goldman’s remaining holdings have still lost tens of millions in value.

The sale and its size itself isn’t unusual for a large asset management firm. Wall Street brokerages routinely buy and sell huge blocks of shares for themselves and their clients....