The number of immoral politicians and financiers has reached a critical mass ;

As the world
edges closer to
economic Armageddon,
reports of scandals in
government, banking
and financial institutions
grow increasingly common.

Many people suppose these
scandals to be a result of
economic troubles.

I.e., the public
is under economic
stress and looking for
someone, anyone, to blame.

Therefore, the public
is hungry for "scandals
of the rich and famous"
and our news/infotainment
industry is happy to provide
whatever the public
will pay to believe.

But the truth is
that the current rash
of scandals is not the
result of the economic
crises-it's the cause
(or at least evidence of the cause).

We're heading towards
an economic collapse because
the people in government and
finance who claim to be trustworthy
are actually immoral, greedy, and
unworthy of anyone's trust.

We're heading for an economic
calamity because the number of
immoral politicians and financiers
has reached a critical mass and is
finally too great to be ignored,
denied or survived
http://adask.wordpress.com/2010/04/12/taking-delivery/#more-632

Back about A.D. 1995,
President Bill Clinton's
reputation for lying inspired
the "$6 Bill"-a joke "paper dollar"
that included pictures of Bill Clinton
on one side and Monica on the other,
a few witticisms, and a big, bold number
"6" in each of the four corners.

The $6 Bills were so obviously a joke
that they couldn't be construed
as counterfeits.

Even so, a friend of mine conducted
an "experiment" in which he paid for
hotdogs and cokes at several
convenience stores with "$6 Bills".

The clerks (primarily immigrants)
accepted the joke "dollars"
and even gave change
http://adask.wordpress.com/2010/04/12/moral-economics/

The indictment
of Goldman Sachs is as deceptive
as the "financial reform" bill that
'President' 'Obama' and the liberals
are pushing on Capitol Hill, says
Zubi Diamond, author of the
blockbuster book,
Wizards of Wall Street.

Diamond is warning
legislators not to fall for the 'Obama'
Administration's claim that the legislation
somehow punishes Wall Street
for bad financial practices.

Diamond, who has emerged
as a major critic of the unregulated
hedge fund industry, says he was not
surprised that the Securities and Exchange
Commission (SEC) named hedge fund
short-seller John Paulson as a key player
in the Goldman Sachs scheme to defraud
investors but failed to indict him.

Diamond says
that Paulson is being let off the hook
because he is a member of the most
powerful special interest group working
the corridors of power in Washington,
D.C.-the Managed Funds Association
(MFA).

He says the major media are afraid
of taking on the MFA, which calls
itself "the voice of the global
alternative investment industry,"
because of its tremendous
financial clout.

"The SEC charges
against Goldman Sachs are a ruse,
a ploy, and a smokescreen to get the
Dodd financial reform passed,"
he said.

The bill, he argues, fails to hold the
multibillion dollar hedge fund short
sellers accountable for their illegal
market manipulations.

One of these short sellers,
not named in the Goldman suit,
is billionaire George Soros, known
as the man who "broke the Bank
of England" by betting against the
British pound and who was convicted
of insider trading in France
http://www.newswithviews.com/Kincaid/cliff408.htm

The fraud charges
against Goldman Sachs & Co.
that rocked financial markets
are no slam dunk, as hazy evidence
and strategic pitfalls could easily trip
up government lawyers.

Yet that hardly matters,
experts say, because the
allegations will kick off a
new era of litigation that
could entangle Goldman
and other banks for years
to come.

The charges against Goldman
relate to a complex investment
tied to the performance of pools
of risky mortgages.

In a complaint filed Friday,
the Securities and Exchange
Commission alleged that Goldman
marketed the package to investors
without disclosing a major conflict
of interest : The pools were picked
by another client, a prominent hedge
fund that was betting that the housing
bubble would burst
http://www.gata.org/node/8556

Kitco Daily
http://www.kitco.com/