Author Archives: Thomas H. Greco, Jr.

Money as Debt 3, now available on YouTube

Posted on March 18, 2012 | 2 comments

Here is Paul Grignon’s latest video animation that explains the money and banking problem and it’s fundamental  importance to the future of civilization. Please note the opening quote of E. C. Riegel,whom I have acknowledged as the most important source of my own understanding. You can find links to Riegel’s writings elsewhere on this site, or click here.

While I don’t fully agree with Grignon’s analysis of the effect of interest in the money creation process, I highly recommend this video, along with his shorter video, The Essence of Money.

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Posted in Banking, Basic Concepts, The Debt Imperative, The Political Money System

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Goldman’s “Toxic” culture documented.

Posted on March 15, 2012 | 1 comment

This article documents what is probably merely the tip of the iceberg in the case against Goldman Sachs.–t.h.g.

13 Reasons Goldman’s Quitting Exec May Have a Point

By Cora Currier

An executive at Goldman Sachs left the firm today with a bang, penning a New York Times op-ed accusing the company of increasingly putting profits ahead of clients. Greg Smith started as an intern 12 years ago and last headed a derivatives department. Not surprisingly, Goldman quickly and strongly disagreed with his take.

There have obviously been plenty of unflattering headlines about Goldman in the past few years. We decided to look at just one aspect of their record: SEC charges levied against Goldman and its employees over the past decade.

April 2003: SEC charges Goldman Sachs over conflicts of interest among its research analysts. The company eventually settled for $110 million in fines and disgorgements.

November 2003: Former Goldman economist John Youngdahl pleads guilty to insider trading. The firm had to pay the SEC $4.2 million over profits it gained from the illegal dealings.

July 2004: Goldman settles with the SEC for $10 million over charges it improperly promoted a stock sale involving PetroChina.

January 2005: Goldman settles with the SEC for $40 million over charges that it violated securities law in promoting initial public offerings.

April 2006: Two former Goldman employees are charged with running an international insider-trading ring while they were at the firm. Eugene Plotkin and David Pajcin, both in their 20s, paid off insiders at other firms and stole early copies of Business Week to get an edge. They also tried (unsuccessfully) to use strippers to get information. Both eventually served jail time.

March 2007: A Goldman subsidiary, Goldman Execution and Clearing, settles with the SEC for $2 million over allegations that faulty oversight that allowed customers to make illegal trades.

March 2009: Goldman Execution and Clearing settles with the SEC for $1.2 million over improper proprietary trading by employees.

July 2009: The SEC charges a former Goldman Sachs trader Anthony Perez and his brother with insider trading based on information Anthony Perez obtained through his job at Goldman Sachs. He was fined $25,000 and his brother more than $150,000.

May 2010: The SEC hits Goldman Execution and Clearing with a $225,000 fine for violating a rule aimed at regulating short selling.

July 2010: Goldman settles with the SEC for $553 million over allegations that it misled investors about the collateralized debt obligation ABACUS 2007-AC1 by not disclosing the involvement of a hedge fund in its creation, or the fact that the hedge fund stood to benefit if the CDO failed. Goldman executive Fabrice Tourre was also charged.

March 2011: The SEC charges Goldman board member Rajat Gupta with insider trading. Gupta allegedly passed on information he learned as a board member to the hedge fund Galleon Group. In October, 2011, he was arrested and hit with criminal charges by the FBI. The case is pending.

September 2011: The SEC charges a Goldman employee, Spencer Midlin, and his father for insider trading based on information Spencer Midlin gained from his position at Goldman Sachs. The two men were ordered to pay $92,000.

February 2012: Goldman Sachs receives notice from the SEC that the agency may bring charges related to mortgage backed-securities.

This article was published at NationofChange at: http://www.nationofchange.org/13-reasons-goldman-s-quitting-exec-may-have-point-1331824190. All rights are reserved.

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Posted in Banking, Finance and Economics, The Political Money System

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Top level bankers resigning in droves. What does this mean?

Posted on March 14, 2012 | 27 comments

I have been seeing reports lately that an unusually large number of top level banking and finance executives worldwide have been resigning their positions. The American Kabuki website features a report titled, 320 RESIGNATIONS FROM WORLD BANKS, INVESTMENT HOUSES, MONEY FUNDS, and a Japanese website has posted some amazing graphs of resignations by region, by country, and by company.

Now, today, the New York Times is reporting that, “Greg Smith is resigning today as a Goldman Sachs executive director and head of the firm’s United States equity derivatives business in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.”

And Smith is not going quietly. The Times has published his Op-Ed article in which he explains the basis for his action. It begins with this…

Why I Am Leaving Goldman Sachs

By GREG SMITH

TODAY is my last day at Goldman Sachs. After almost 12 years at the firm — first as a summer intern while at Stanford, then in New York for 10 years, and now in London — I believe I have worked here long enough to understand the trajectory of its culture, its people and its identity. And I can honestly say that the environment now is as toxic and destructive as I have ever seen it.

To put the problem in the simplest terms, the interests of the client continue to be sidelined in the way the firm operates and thinks about making money. Goldman Sachs is one of the world’s largest and most important investment banks and it is too integral to global finance to continue to act this way. The firm has veered so far from the place I joined right out of college that I can no longer in good conscience say that I identify with what it stands for.

I urge everyone to read the rest of the article here.

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Posted in Banking, The Political Money System

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History, people power, and practical education

Posted on March 12, 2012 | 3 comments

The late progressive historian Howard Zinn is best known for his landmark book, A People’s History of the United States, which has been widely acclaimed and exposes to the light the “ceaseless conflict between elites and the masses whom they oppress and exploit.” Here’s an official description:

A classic since its original landmark publication in 1980, Howard Zinn’s A People’s History of the United States is the first scholarly work to tell America’s story from the bottom up—from the point of view of, and in the words of, America’s women, factory workers, African Americans, Native Americans, working poor, and immigrant laborers. From Columbus to the Revolution to slavery and the Civil War—from World War II to the election of George W. Bush and the “War on Terror”—A People’s History of the United States is an important and necessary contribution to a complete and balanced understanding of American history.

Reviews can be found at Amazon.com. The book is widely available and can now be viewed online at http://www.historyisaweapon.com/zinnapeopleshistory.html.

A few days ago, someone sent me a link to a TED talk in which Sanjit “Bunker” Roy describes the “Barefoot College, which is he founded. He tells a story that is both inspiring and informative, a model of what can be achieved when ordinary people share what they know and how communities can become more self-sufficient. You can view it here.

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Posted in Politics, Sources

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An interesting take on the Russian election

Posted on March 11, 2012 | Leave a comment

There’s been little said about it in the American media, but here’s an interesting take on the Russian election by analyst Adrian Salbuchi, interviewed on RT:

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Posted in Geo-politics

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Iran is next on the globalist “hit list”

Posted on March 6, 2012 | Leave a comment

Why do we accept this madness? Attacking one country after another to prop up a dying imperial system will only bring more misery and ultimate failure. It’s the same old pattern that the elite globalists have been using to force every country into line to accept the New World Order of neo-feudalism.

Under the political money system, governments can appropriate as much of their country’s economic product as they wish, without directly taxing the people. If the people were asked directly to pay for wars, we would have few or none of them.

Foster Gamble, the producer of THRIVE is trying to wake up the American people in the video below.

Rabbi Michael Lerner (Tikkun Magazine) and the Network of Spiritual Progressives are also trying to open people’s eyes and talk sense to those who would lead us once again into an unprovoked war. They are buying ad space in major American newspapers to make the case against the war. See the draft ad here.

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Posted in Geo-politics, The Political Money System

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Treasury Secretary Geithner facing possible indictment

Posted on March 5, 2012 | 3 comments

Here is a rather astonishing report from Fox news about the possible indictment of Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner. Is this an indication that the oligarchy is beginning to crumble, or will the powers that be simply make him the sacrificial lamb so they can continue their fraud and  tighten their grip on power?

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Posted in Banking, Politics, The Political Money System

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You have the power!

Posted on March 3, 2012 | Leave a comment

I sense a great stirring that is spreading around the world, even in the U.S.A., the center of the Empire.

It’s a stirring in which people are becoming aware of their power–and using it

It’s not merely protest and demonstration, it’s people taking responsibility for themselves and for the common good. And most of the inspiration and leadership is coming from the lesser developed parts of the world.

This TED talk by Bunker Roy describes the Barefoot College in which ordinary people, most of them illiterate and unschooled, share their knowledge and teach each other practical skills. Roy provides a new definition of what it means to be a “professional.” He says, a professional is someone who has three things:

Competence, Confidence, and Belief.

The proof is in their achievements. Watch it.

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Posted in Developing Alternatives, Education, Emerging paradigm

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The Occupy Movement Needs a Grand Strategy

Posted on February 29, 2012 | 4 comments

As the Occupy movement matures, it will need to clarify its overall objectives and develop a grand strategy for achieving them. It will perhaps find guidance in the work of Dr. Gene Sharp.

Gene Sharp is widely regard as “the world’s foremost expert on non-violent revolution,” but few people have ever heard of him. His book, From Dictatorship to Democracy: A Conceptual Framework for Liberation (1993), has reportedly been translated into more than 30 languages, and can be freely downloaded from the web. He has recently been written up by Thom Hartman (Gene Sharp’s Peaceful Revolution Techniques) and the BBC (Gene Sharp: Author of the nonviolent revolution rulebook).

Sharp’s book provides a large arsenal of “non-violent weapons.” Here is some of his advice:

  • Develop a strategy for winning freedom and a vision of the society you want
  • Overcome fear by small acts of resistance
  • Use colours and symbols to demonstrate unity of resistance
  • Learn from historical examples of the successes of non-violent movements
  • Use non-violent “weapons”
  • Identify the dictatorship’s pillars of support and develop a strategy for undermining each
  • Use oppressive or brutal acts by the regime as a recruiting tool for your movement
  • Isolate or remove from the movement people who use or advocate violence

 

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Posted in Emerging paradigm, Occupy Movement, Politics

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Public Banking Institute gains momentum; announces April conference

Posted on February 28, 2012 | 2 comments

Since its founding little more than a year ago, the Public Banking Institute has become a significant force that is helping to turn banking and finance away from fraud and predation back toward their intended objectives of promoting general prosperity and the common good. According to the PBI website,

PBI’s vision is to establish a distributed network of state and local publicly-owned banks that create affordable credit, while providing a sustainable alternative to the current high-risk centralized private banking system.

The current PBI newsletter features important news items and impressive articles by Ellen Brown and yours truly. It also announces PBI’s inaugural conference on, Public Banking in America, to be held in April in Philadelphia. I”m proud to be among the group of distinguished speakers slated to give presentations at this event.

You won’t want to miss it.–t.h.g.

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Posted in Banking, Emerging paradigm, Implementation Strategies, My activities, The Political Money System

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