SLICKER THAN AN OIL SPILL

Oil Price Catastrophe

Why has our resident oil expert in the Bush administration, Vice President Cheney, been absolutely silent about the world wide oil scam resulting in higher prices when all economic statistics say the price should be going down? His old oil company Halliburton has moved their headquarters from America to Dubai in the United Arab Emirates. Is Cheney fleeing the country too when he is out of office and moving to the safety of the Arab world to rejoin the company?

Maybe that is why he is in the Middle East right now, looking for a house when he retires in 11 months. Right now someone is making billions of dollars in blood profits and someone in Washington, D.C. better pay attention. Our crooked financial institutions are reaping millions of dollars in oil profits to offset the millions of dollars in mortgage losses. Giant oil companies refuse to build more refinery capacity to keep the supply low and profits up yet they benefit from billions in tax shelters.

When the financial institutions get caught cheating which is about once a month now they are rewarded with minimum fines, no jail time, they still get their million dollar salaries and bonuses, and as if that is not enough, they get a tax deduction on their fines. What has happened to our world?

Bush says everything will be okay. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson can’t even tell us if we are in a recession. And our oil expert is dead silent on oil. Maybe these are signs the lame duck is lamer than we think? You don't think Henry Paulsen is related to Pat Paulsen do you?

J.P. Morgan Chase buyout of Bear Stearns – A Trillionaires Delight

Somewhere in the trillionaires room of Heaven three old codgers are sitting around a table smoking cigars and chuckling over the J. P Morgan Chase & Company buyout of Bear Stearns for a paltry $2.00 a share. Not so much because the price had been over $130 a share a few weeks earlier but because the Federal Reserve Board put up $30 billion of the government’s money to guarantee the sale.

Yes, Mayer Amschel Rothschild, J. P. Morgan and John D. Rockefeller, patriarchs of three of the most powerful family fortunes in history have waited nearly two centuries to see their dreams fulfilled. Perhaps such patience is why their families have remained successful by steadfastly maintaining the rules of the game as set down by their founders.

It was 248 years ago, in 1760 that Mayer Amschel Rothschild created the House of Rothschild that was to pave the way for international banking and control of the world’s resources on a scale unparalleled and somewhat mysterious to this date. He disbursed his five sons to set up banking operations throughout Europe and the various European empires.

"Give me control of a nation's money and I care not who makes the laws."
Mayer Amschel Rothschild

In time the House of Rothschild was able to take control of the Bank of France and Bank of England and relentlessly pursued an effort over two centuries to control a national bank in the USA. By 1850 it was said the Rothschild family was worth over $6 billion and owned one half of the world’s wealth.

From oil (Shell) to diamonds (DeBeers) to gold (from 1919 until 2004 a Rothschild was permanent Chairman of the London Gold Fixing committee which met twice a day in the Rothschild offices in London) the Rothschild’s quietly accumulated a foothold in critical industries and commodities throughout the world.

A master at building impenetrable walls around his family assets the current value of the Rothschild holdings are estimated to be between $100 and $300 trillion, yes that is trillion dollars! Now for a point of reference the current United States National Debt is $9.4 trillion.

J. P. Morgan began as the New York agent for his father’s business in London in 1860 and by 1877 was floating $260 million in US Bonds to save the government from an economic collapse. In 1890 he inherited the business and in 1895 bought $200 million in US Bonds with gold to again save the US economy.

“If you have to ask how much it costs, you can't afford it.”
J. P. Morgan

By 1912 he controlled $22 billion and had started companies such as US Steel and General Electric while he owned several railroads. Morgan was also an American agent for the House of Rothschild in London and used the Rothschild resources to help people like John D. Rockefeller.

Rockefeller, who started Standard Oil in 1863 with the help of Morgan, grew his company into the largest oil company in the world and by 1916 Rockefeller was the first billionaire in American history. In 1909 he had set up the Rockefeller Foundation with $225 million and donated nearly a billion more dollars to various causes. The Rockefeller family fortune is estimated to be around $11 trillion today.

“The way to make money is to buy when blood is running in the streets.”
John D. Rockefeller

So what did they have in common these extraordinary capitalists? They all were dedicated to owning a national bank in America so they could determine the fiscal policies of the nation and earn interest on the debt of the nation.

Rothschild agents in 1791 formed the First Bank of the United States but intense opposition to foreign ownership by President Jefferson and others helped kill it by 1811. A Second Bank of the United States was formed in 1816 once again by Rothschild agents and this time they secured a 20-year charter. However, President Andrew Jackson was also opposed to foreign ownership and withdrew the federal deposits in 1832 as part of his plan to kill the bank charter in 1836.

An attempt to assassinate Jackson in 1834 left him wounded but more determined than ever to stop the central bank. Thirty years later President Lincoln refused to pay international bankers extremely high interest rates during the Civil War and ordered the printing of government bonds. With the help of Russian Czar Alexander II who also blocked a similar national bank from being set up in Russia by the international bankers they were able to survive the economic squeeze.

Lincoln said, "The money powers prey upon the nation in times of peace and conspire against it in times of adversity. The banking powers are more despotic than a monarchy, more insolent than autocracy, more selfish than bureaucracy. They denounce as public enemies all who question their methods or throw light upon their crimes. I have two great enemies, the Southern Army in front of me and the bankers in the rear. Of the two, the one at my rear is my greatest foe. Corporations have been enthroned, and an era of corruption in high places will follow. The money power of the country will endeavor to prolong its reign by working upon the prejudices of the people until the wealth is aggregated in the hands of a few, and the Republic is destroyed."

Both Lincoln and Alexander II were assassinated. In 1881 James Garfield became president and he was dedicated to restoring the right of the federal government to issue money like Lincoln did in the Civil War and he was also assassinated.

Finally along came 1913 and the US was again suffering from a weak economy and there was a threat of another costly war, a world war this time, and business tycoons J.P. Morgan, John D. Rockefeller and E.H. Harriman were part of a group that got Woodrow Wilson to sign into law the Federal Reserve Act creating a network of 12 privately owned banks as part of a new Federal Reserve network.

One of the largest stockholders in the new Federal Reserve was the House of Rothschild through their direct and indirect holdings. A few years later it was disclosed that the Rothschilds also owned about 20% of J. P. Morgan. In time Morgan would merge with the Chase Manhattan Bank of the Rockefellers.

Years later John F. Kennedy opposed a private national bank and was assassinated in 1963 and Ronald Reagan opposed a private national bank and in 1981 an attempt was made to assassinate him. Coincidence or not the opposition to a privately owned national bank was a common characteristic to all these successful assassinations and assassination attempts.

Which brings us full circle to the present bailout of Bear Stearns by J.P. Morgan Chase & Company and we find the Rothschild, Morgan and Rockefeller families are all conveniently part of the same group benefiting from the bailout and the $30 billion guarantee by the Federal Reserve. This is the third time the J. P. Morgan Company has come to the rescue of the American banking system and economy.

FERRARO – A BLAST FROM THE PAST

Geraldine Ferraro, in a blast from the past, became the latest Clinton campaign official to shoot off their mouth about Barack Obama and then desperately attempt to deflect the underlying intent of her remarks by reinforcing the very thing she said she didn’t do. Sound complicated, well it is.

Remember Ferraro, the VP candidate with running mate Walter Mondale who lost every state but Mondale's home in Minnesota in a landslide when running against Ronald Reagan in 1984? Mrs. Ferraro made it a point to point out to Diane Sawyer in a Good Morning America interview today that she is now a highly successful person and paid to give speeches, yes paid to give speeches.

Do we really care? Does that mean she did or didn’t mean what she said, just because she got paid? According to the International Speakers.com Ferraro gets paid between $20,000-30,000 for speeches like this. Perhaps the Obama controversy was a way to hype the speech coverage to justify the cost? Ferraro was appointed ambassador to the United Nations Committee on Human Rights during the Clinton administration thus her loyalty to the Clintons.

On Good Morning America she apologized again this morning to those who thought it racially insensitive for her to suggest that Barack Obama wouldn't be the Democratic front-runner if he were not black. But she also declared: "It wasn't a racist comment. It was a statement of fact."

During a hostile and aggressive interview with Sawyer she also bashed the Obama campaign for criticizing her, saying that "every time" someone makes a negative comment about Obama, they are accused of racism.

Last Tuesday night she had even stronger words for the Daily Breeze, the newspaper in Torrance, Calif., whose interview with her last Friday started the whole mess. "Racism works in two different directions," she said. "I really think they're attacking me because I'm white. How's that?"

The Obama campaign has called on Clinton, who has distanced herself from Ferraro's comments, to remove her from her finance committee. But that hasn't happened yet. A defiant Ferraro said today she would step down from the committee if asked, but would not stop raising money for Clinton.

Her exact words in the original Daily Breeze article dated 3/7/2008:

Geraldine Ferraro lets her emotions do the talking
By Jim Farber Staff Writer

When the subject turned to Obama, Clinton's rival for the Democratic Party nomination, Ferraro's comments took on a decidedly bitter edge.

"I think what America feels about a woman becoming president takes a very secondary place to Obama's campaign - to a kind of campaign that it would be hard for anyone to run against," she said. "For one thing, you have the press, which has been uniquely hard on her. It's been a very sexist media. Some just don't like her. The others have gotten caught up in the Obama campaign.

"If Obama was a white man, he would not be in this position," she continued. "And if he was a woman (of any color) he would not be in this position. He happens to be very lucky to be who he is. And the country is caught up in the concept." Ferraro does not buy the notion of Obama as the great reconciler.

"I was reading an article that said young Republicans are out there campaigning for Obama because they believe he's going to be able to put an end to partisanship," Ferraro said, clearly annoyed. "Dear God! Anyone that has worked in the Congress knows that for over 200 years this country has had partisanship - that's the way our country is."

As our conversation came to an end, Ferraro said of her upcoming talk in Torrance, "It's going to be very up to date. It's going to be my version of the inside story."

Ferraro aside, it is a good thing perceptions aren't implied by pictures alone in this Democratic slugfest. Pictures can be misleading. Oh my gosh, is that Bill and Hillary dressed as African Americans?

You don't suppose they are Muslim too?

IS OIL BAILING OUT THE SUB-PRIME MORTGAGE MESS?

The Big Fix?

We all know how the investment banks, financial institutions and brokers tried to manipulate the American mortgage market and in their greed lost site of good business practices and created a stock scam called sub-prime mortgages which were then packaged and sold by Wall Street. With the feeding frenzy created by this illusion of housing prices raising ad infinitum the greed moguls and the greed mongers accepted millions of mortgages from people with no ability to pay them.

Stock was sold over and over again until the very citadels of our financial sector, the very banks and investment houses we rely on to protect our savings, protect our retirement and manage our economy were inundated with high risk holdings. Then a very unusual thing happened, truth prevailed. Housing prices stopped increasing because they were already way beyond the real value of the property.

Suddenly our trusted money managers were left holding billions and billions of dollars in inflated adjustable rate mortgages, and the home purchasers had no chance to make the escalating monthly payments. Mortgage defaults by the millions were set in motion and the money managers, also entrusted with our hard earned savings, retirement funds and stock holdings, lost billions and billions of real dollars, a total estimated at over $215 billion on mortgages alone.

Then the stock market prices collapsed as the backbone of our financial sector was swamped in losses and unable to explain how greed overshadowed laws and how they were willing to sacrifice the financial well-being of their clients to protect their own jobs, bonuses and buys out to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars. So where do the pillars of finance stand today?

To avoid bankruptcy and avoid sending the world into economic crises they secured massive amounts of money from China, other Asian countries and the oil rich Arab world. So what is the price they paid to be bailed out by foreign money? Better still, what is the price we paid for our financial citadels to be bailed out by foreign money?

Today we see the same laundry list of financial powerhouses trying to regain their strength and stability in the market and lo and behold what happens to the market? First the oil prices defy every law and principle of accounting and keep skyrocketing at a pace never seen before. Second, virtually all other sectors of the market with the exception of gold collapse, almost as if being forced down so SOMEONE can step in and buy stock at depressed prices to salvage their balance sheets.

If this were a thoroughbred race, yet another industry being taken over by the Arab oil money, one would say the big fix is on. Something very crooked is being done to make someone an awful lot of money and they are playing with grey areas of the law to make it happen.

Well Congress and the presidential candidates should ask who is benefiting from the spiraling oil and gold prices and the collapse of the stock market. Then Congress and the candidates should do something we haven’t seen in many years. Do something about it! If the financial institutions that lost $200 billion of our dollars, not theirs, have decided to artificially maintain high oil and gold prices and low stock prices so they can regain their credibility and stave off any investigations by a gutless congress and the more gutless international group called the World Bank then maybe it is time to repopulate the jails with people who deserve to be there.

Every financial institution in the world should be investigated to determine if they are profiting from the rigged oil prices of today. Expose their layers of hidden equity to see if they are owners of oil related companies or markets responsible for setting the oil and gold prices. See if they invested in such companies for themselves or if they allowed their little investors to benefit by including them in the holdings.

See if there is collusion between the oil producers, futures markets and banks and investment houses to prop up the oil price in order to offset the billions in sub-prime mortgage losses. And when you find the evidence, then do something about it. Oh yes, and while you are at it you better stop taking the millions of dollars in campaign contributions being thrown at you by these blood-sucking profit rich companies or you are also part of the corruption that has cast a dark shadow over the lands.

Public enemy number one in the oil crisis are the energy analysts and while there used to be just a conflict of interest involved because some analysts work for companies with major oil holdings, recently the government analysts like the U.S. Department of Energy have further fueled the oil price spiral with dismal forecasts for summer prices.

These analysts cannot explain what is happening in economic terms, as there is no justification for the profit gouging. So why are they not probing into the financial collusion that may exist and may be driving the prices up? If an analyst cannot tell us what is going on in the market then they have no business speculating on the future prices.

If there is market manipulation to virtually guarantee excessive profits then why is the U.S. Justice Department silent? What about the Federal Trade Commission or the Securities and Exchange Commission or the Interstate Commerce Commission or all the committees in the House and Senate looking out for our interests? Don’t any of them see that their continued silence is allowing the worst-case scenario to happen?

In the end, no matter what government action does or does not take place, every member of the House and Senate that ignored the public during this time of crisis should be thrown out of office for benign neglect of the public interest and if they accepted campaign contributions from these industries and they are proven guilty of price manipulations then the members of Congress should be impeached.

WHY BARACK OBAMA WILL BE THE 44TH PRESIDENT OF THE USA!

The Lincoln Connection

In his Second Inaugural Address March 4, 1865 President Abraham Lincoln said the following:

“With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation's wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan, to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations.”

Such words of Abraham Lincoln seem as valid today as they did 143 years ago so perhaps the hand of destiny may play a part in this election. Whoever wins will become president in time to celebrate the 200th anniversary of Lincoln’s birth on February 12, 1809. The fact Lincoln lived in Illinois throughout his career is another interesting parallel with Barack Obama.

What about experience to be president? Lincoln, one of our greatest presidents of all time who presided over the most difficult war and social change in our history was elected president after serving 8 years in the Illinois State Senate and 2 years as a Congressman. Barack Obama has served 8 years in the Illinois State Senate and 4 years in the U.S. Senate.

Lincoln freed the slaves in America with his Emancipation Proclamation in 1863 and his support of the Thirteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution in 1865 that was ratified after his death. He presided over the most devastating war in our history, the Civil War.

Barack could become the first Black elected president thus fulfilling the dream of Lincoln when he freed the slaves that all people are entitled to equal opportunity as guaranteed under the Declaration of Independence of the United States in 1776.

Hillary’s Experience – the Double Edged Sword

Hillary has used a variety of techniques to establish that of all the presidential candidates she has by far the most administrative and presidential experience. A rather bold claim since she has never held an administrative position but rather been an advisor to her husband and thus the cause for concern.

While certainly exposure to the presidency as a first lady would be interesting, it also is no guarantee that you had a hands on role in the execution of the office. With Bill as president I’m not sure the hands on reference is even appropriate as it does not seem to be related to only policy issues.

But if you are claiming such experience as presidential then you must be willing to also claim co-responsibility for those issues and actions. Now this leaves Hillary in the quandary for the Clinton administration did not leave a legacy of unparalleled successes when it came to issues such as Iraq, terrorism, NAFTA, GATT, free trade and other sensitive matters.

There is a saying that it is not the experience that counts but what you learned from the experience and a lot of questions remain to be answered when it comes to the experience of the Clinton Administration. Many people believe that the experience of the Clinton Administration is part of the establishment and institutional politics we want to change.

Besides, experience is not a precondition to success as many an experience person has failed when cast into a new role and many an inexperienced person has done quite well by growing rapidly into a new role. Examples of the latter might be the inexperienced presidents John Kennedy, another Illinois man Ronald Reagan, and Abraham Lincoln as mentioned earlier.

The Barriers of Prejudice

Prejudice and bigotry are certainly alive and well in America but the more generations we put between us and the Civil War the less likely such misguided human emotions can impact on an election. Often time is the greatest healer and a lot of time has passed since the days of slavery and civil rights battles.

Most prejudice today is taught not experienced where previous generations lived through the days when hatred was preached in churches, people were murdered and secret societies hijacked our law enforcement system for their own spiteful purposes. Many of those descendants of the early participants half heartedly bought into the brainwashing and when they did more often than not the first thing they did was refuse to register to vote. Thus they are not even going to participate in the election.

Over the years the ballot has replaced the bullet as the vehicle for change in America and those choosing not to participate are exercising their right as a U.S. citizen and losing any chance to be a meaningful participant in the process.

The Youth Movement

As a card carrying Baby Boomer it gives me a warm feeling to hear that our youth are once again getting involved in the political process and in doing so have rallied around the young Black candidate as their standard bearer. Shades of the sixties and déjà vu all over again as Yogi Berra would say.

We had Kennedy and Civil Rights to support, Viet Nam to oppose, and the Cold War to remind us how wrong things were. Now kids have Obama to support, Iraq to oppose and the establishment to remind them how wrong things are and we hope there newfound voice of empowerment can keep up their interest and participation.

Only today there is competition for the attention of youth from cells phones, IPods, text messaging, the Internet, video games and all the distractions of the MTV and computer age so there is no sure thing that youthful enthusiasm can stay focused.



Americans are Not Ready for a Black President

Americans may not be ready but Americans may not be involved enough to stop it as many of those voicing concern about this issue have long ago dropped out of the political process because of their disgust for the president, congress or other institutions. One look at the demographics shows that about 50% of eligible voters are not registered to vote, about 50% of those registered to vote actually do vote, and while they are divided about equally between Democrats, Republicans and Independents, their loyalty to a party has been consistently slipping away. People simply do not see much difference between political parties.

The truth is that Blacks may be more determined than ever to take advantage of this window of opportunity because this may be one of the last opportunities they have before the Hispanic vote becomes a dominate force in U.S. elections. In 2006 estimates Whites make up 73.9% of the population (221.3 million) while Blacks are 12.4% of population (37.1 million). Hispanics, who may be of mixed ethnic background, are 14.8% of the population (44.3 million). But one half of all children in America under age 5 are Hispanic. When the diverse Hispanic population can consolidate as a unified voting block they will become a powerful force.

A final note regarding the Black issue is that with a White mother Obama may not be feared as much by some in the White community nor viewed as a radical standard bearer for African Americans. Right or wrong as an issue there is so much mixed blood in the American population that acceptance is much more likely today than in previous generations. The more we learn of our ancestry the more obvious the melting pot nature of America becomes accepted.

THE OIL PRICE CONSPIRACY - KINGS & PAWNS

No doubt about the pawns in this international game of chess. The general public, the six pack majority, the middle class, the poor, come to think of it about anyone without a major financial interest in oil fits the Webster’s definition of a pawn; “a person used to advance another’s purposes.”

So if most of us are pawns who are the kings? Think about it. If you believe Congress, the news media (at least the broadcast news media), the administration and the analysts you can pick between the major international oil companies, oil producers, China, or the gas guzzling Americans. There is no agreement and it is almost as if there is no thought about it.

The oil companies and oil producers are making record shattering profits. Are they the only ones benefiting from the astronomical profits being made in the oil industry? Hardly! No the river of greed flows in many directions including the financial houses underwriting the oil business and managing their money who also provide the depressing analysis that seems to drive the price up every day.

So why aren’t the network news people or our elected representatives in our nation’s capitol asking questions about it? Americans have reduced their use of oil. The inventories in America are the highest in years. Future demand is certain to go down with the 40% increase in hybrid cars and reduced driving. Weather has been warmer than normal thus reducing heating oil demand. Every economic indicator says the price should be dropping, not rising to record highs.

Where are the outraged congressmen, senators, presidential candidates, governors and media, the so-called protectors of the people? Are they for real? Or are they simply in the pocket of the kings of the oil profits, the oil barons of the 21st century? Well the campaign contributions seem to indicate they have been bought off. So do the millions of dollars being spent on advertising by oil related industries.

The price of oil is set by two things primarily, the policies of OPEC, the Organization of Producing Countries, and the oil futures markets of which one of the largest is the London futures exchange. Saudi Arabia controls OPEC and Saudi Arabia has just said it will do nothing to reduce the price of oil. Thank you and goodbye.

Of course Saudi Arabia is one of the prime beneficiaries of the war in Iraq financed by the USA at a cost to date of about $500 billion, yes 500 billion dollars according to the Congressional Budget Office. The same Al-Qaeda terrorists after us hate the Saudis even though Osama Bin Laden is from Saudi Arabia. He says the Saudi kings sold out to us. More likely they sold out to the oil and finance companies.

Then there are the oil futures markets. The International Petroleum Exchange of London was one of the largest in the world but in 2001 a company that had been formed just a year earlier, a company called InterContinental Exchange (ICE), purchased it. How could one of the largest futures exchanges in the world be taken over by a relatively unknown company?

The company was taken over by 13 equity investors when it began and the gang of 13 has made ICE into one of the most profitable operations in the world buying and selling oil and other commodity futures. Who were the 13? Three of the largest oil companies in the world – Royal Dutch Shell, BP Amoco and Total Fina Elf, two of the top investment banks on Wall Street – Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley, two of Europe’s leading financial institutions – Deutsche Bank and Socit Generale, and six US energy companies – American Electric Power, Aquila Energy, Duke Energy, El Paso Energy, Reliant Energy and Mirant. Now ICE claims over 300 companies are equity owners.

ICE is doing what it is intended to do, making a lot of people and companies very, very rich and ICE has no responsibility for what happens to the pawns at the other end of the energy network. No one should be denied the right to make profits, even outrageous profits, as long as they were made using fair business practices.

So what about the investment banks and financial institutions owning part of ICE? Could that cause any problem? It depends on whether these institutions use their own analysts to try and manipulate the oil futures market and elevate the price of crude oil. When an analyst specializing in oil goes on TV and says the weather or war or the unstable economy in America is driving up the price of oil and we should brace ourselves for $4 a gallon gasoline, the oil price goes up.

If that analyst is from one of the many investment banks or financial institutions owning equity in ICE, and their analysis sends the oil price in an upward spiral, then one wonders if a conflict of interest may be present. What is Congress or the FTC or SEC doing to check on the potential for conflicts of interest between oil producers, financial institutions and the futures market? Does anyone even care?

New Goldman Sachs Headquarters NYC


Well hopefully when the presidential candidates are accepting the millions of campaign dollars from these industries they are not making promises to continue to ignore what is devastating to the Pawns across America and the world.

THE JOYS OF CAPITALISM – MORE PROFITING FROM CRIME

The pharmaceutical industry

Not to be outdone by the financial sector the pharmaceutical sector has its own share of fines and settlements for the false advertising of drugs, payoffs to doctors, kickbacks to doctors and pharmacy outlets, fraud in testing, fraud in billing including Medicare and Medicaid and on and on.

Maybe you will recognize some of your favorite drug suppliers from this partial list of companies and the millions and millions in settlements and fines. Just like the financial boys, these suits also take advantage of the admit nothing and pay to protect the business deductions so graciously granted by the feds.

While almost $10 billion is listed in recent actions every day we hear of yet another case to add to the scorecard. Welcome to the world of health care in America where even money may not get you a good deal.

Abbott $740,000,000
AstraZeneca $355,000,000
Bayer $446,300,000
Bristol Myers Squibb $965,000,000
Eli Lilly $690,000,000
Geneva Pharma $12,700,000
GlaxoSmithKline $177,500,000
Hoffmann-LaRoche $500,000,000
Johnson & Johnson $540,000,000
Merck $253,000,000
Perdue Pharma $600,000,000
Pfizer $450,000,000
Roche Holdings $693,000,000
Schering-Plough $345,500,000
Serona Labs $704,000,000
TAP Pharma $885,000,000
Warner Lambert $430,000,000
Wyeth Pharma $1,000,000,000

Total $9,787,000,000

HILLARY BACK FROM THE DEAD

One thing you never want to do is to count out the scrapper from Illinois, the other scrapper from Illinois that is. Clinton won 3 out of 4 states yesterday giving her victory in all the largest states to date and a bunch of big ones (New York, California, Texas, Ohio, Florida, Massachusetts, New Jersey and Michigan) while Barack has won a handful of the large states (Illinois, Georgia, Wisconsin and Virginia) but none of the largest states.

Forty of the fifty states have spoken and no one has a clue what is going to happen. There have been 28 primaries and 13 caucuses although Texas, to make things interesting, had one of each, and the delegate count and total vote are near deadlocked. For the record Obama has 86 more delegates than Clinton even after losing 3 states yesterday but that is the Democratic Party way. Michigan and Florida had primaries but were penalized and no delegates were allowed.

No wonder the world watches in awe. Now if I were living in any country in the world watching this bizarre election I would have to say I don’t think democracy is for me. How can a political party be allowed to dictate the rules for elections in the land of the free? Probably the same way financial institutions and oil companies can dictate the price of oil in a free capitalistic society. Competition seems to have its limitations.


So Hillary finally halts for the moment the Obama machine. How about this analysis? Hillary loses 12 straight primaries before yesterday and only trails Obama by about 106 delegates. Then she wins 3 out of 4, two in rather large states, and still trails Obama by at least 86 delegates. The Democratic Party rules give credence to the saying “you can’t win for losing.”

On the Republican side McCain assured his party nomination and knocked his last opponent according to the media, Huckabee, out of the race by winning all four primaries. Somewhere along the line the media killed off the Ron Paul campaign although he never did quit himself and still shows up on all the ballots. When you don’t buy political ads from the media you can’t expect them to recognize your existence.

So now we get to wait 8 weeks for the Pennsylvania primary before there will be any significant shift in the delegate counts. We may well have to wait until August and the nominating convention to really figure out who will represent the Democrats. And even after all the votes and delegates are counted there is yet another group of 842 Super Delegates in the Democratic Party who will really decide the election in the end. Don’t you just love democracy?

THE JOYS OF CAPITALISM – PROFITING FROM CRIME

Once upon a time we were taught the amazing benefits of capitalism. How it can fuel the engine of state and raise the standard of living. How everyone had an equal chance to become the next American billionaire. How the accumulation of wealth had far reaching consequences and could be a tool for good.

That line of teaching dates back to the beginning of our nation and has been refined and updated over the years. Created by the public relations offices of corporate American and the Madison Avenue ad agencies whose lifeblood was the contracts they received from those corporations, it was not created for the common good.

There is a charade of benevolence, philanthropy and improved quality of life that may have resulted from the capitalism driving America but it was way down the distribution chain from the board rooms where the art of greed, the accumulation of power, the total disregard for law and the manipulation of governments ruled.

This is not to suggest that all corporations share the same outlook but once they join the elite group of major corporations in America the ethics, loyalty to the nation and upholding of the law seem to become secondary to the quest for the almighty dollar.

Yet it is more than that because questing for dollars is not bad in and of itself, it is the methods one chooses to use that become the choice between good and evil. The Bible says St. Michael cast Lucifer out of Heaven and down to Earth. Well Lucifer must having been wearing a suit and tie and he has certainly made himself at home here on Earth. Remember Lucifer; he’s the bad guy.

So what’s the point you might ask? Well let the facts speak for themselves. Today I am highlighting one of the most critical sectors of our capitalistic society, one upon which every aspect of your life in America is dependent.

Our first look is at the financial institutions which rule the nation from the powerful houses controlling the stock, commodities and real estate markets to the banks throwing credit cards at you. Like them or not you depend on them because they own you. Your homes are mortgaged to them, your pension, 401k, IRA and investments are managed by them, and probably about everything you buy is financed by them.

The really big boys have powerful names like Bank of America, Bear Stearns, Citigroup, Credit Suisse, J. P. Morgan, Merrill Lynch, Goldman Sachs, Lehman Brothers, UBS Warburg, and US Bancorp. Between them and a handful of others they rule the world financial markets.

So what do they have in common other than being the custodian of everything you have spent your life working toward? Well, how about criminal acts of such magnitude that they have been fined billions, yes billions, of dollars in the last 8 years. What were the crimes? Price fixing, fraud in stock deals, illegal charges to consumers, cheating on taxes, cheating stockholders, filing false financial statements, and cover-ups are just a sample of the actions charged against them.

AMERICA’S ELITE FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS
FINES BY GOVERNMENT AGENCIES

Citigroup $3,062,150,000
Bank of America/Citigroup $2,750,000,000
Credit Suisse $450,000,000
Merrill Lynch $418,500,000
Morgan Stanley $281,200,000
J. P. Morgan/Chase $2,290,000,000
Goldman Sachs $112,000,000
Lehman Brothers $130,000,000
Bear Stearns $130,000,000
UBS Warburg $180,000,000
US Bancorp/Piper Jaffray $32,500,000
American Express $32,350,000
MasterCard $1,000,000,000
VISA $2,000,000,000

Okay, that is just a sampling of what fines we could find and the total is already nearly $13 billion. That does not count the billions and billions of dollars in sub-prime mortgage losses many of the companies absorbed by backing highly suspect loans. Now don’t you feel better about how your money and investments are being managed?

Of course this isn’t even all of the tragedy of our obsession with capitalist promises. Most of the fines were negotiated with the government and settled without trials, a pretty good sign of guilt. However, the settlements also meant the companies did not have to plead guilty, just admit to the practices and pay the fines. Now that seems efficient doesn’t it? An organization called CorpWatch whose purpose is to hold corporations accountable for their actions explains it as follows.

“Ever wonder why it is that when a company gets caught lying to, and/or cheating investors that they so often settle the case quickly, agreeing to pay millions of dollars back but "without admitting or denying" they did anything wrong?

Simple -- because the IRS kicks back a big hunk of the fine to them in the form of a tax write off.

That's right, you and I -- through the IRS -- subsidize corporate wrongdoing by providing substantial tax breaks to companies that settle shareholder lawsuits or regulatory actions in the right way.

For example, the Wall Street Journal reports that Merrill Lynch will likely harvest a fat $30 million tax write off this year -- a 30% kickback of the $100 million it agreed to cough up to settle fraud charges with New York prosecutors. The key here is that company officials insisted that the following magic words be included in their settlement agreement -- "without admitting guilt." The company had been charged with an elaborate pump and dump scheme in which its analysts falsely promoted stocks in companies underwritten by Merrill Lynch.

By being allowed to not admit guilt, the $100 million payment could be classified for tax purposes as "compensatory" damages rather than as a "fine" for wrongdoing.

This is a longstanding practice with both the SEC and IRS. And, in spite of the cascade of corporate evildoing, the IRS reinforced it in a similar case this April. The IRS ruling not only enshrines the practice but also appears to concede that getting caught and fined for lying and cheating is now a legitimate expense of doing business.

"It appears that the proximate cause of the litigation was the dissemination of false and misleading statements and press releases. Such dissemination of financial information is a routine business activity and therefore the expense of settling allegations regarding disseminating inaccurate information may be considered ordinary."(IRS ruling, April 2002)

Under the IRS's corporate tax rules settlements that result in a company having to pay "compensatory" damages are fully deductible as legitimate business expenses. This includes both compensatory as well as punitive "compensation."

The Political Connection

There you have it, the government rewards the corporations for criminal acts and regulatory violations. These are the same organizations pumping hundreds of millions of dollars into the political campaigns of our elected officials. Now just who is being protected?

Perhaps this massive infusion of dollars into campaigns of every major candidate has something to do with the fact they can get away with this practice. So when your favorite politician tells you he or she is looking out for you ask what they are doing to stop rewarding the criminals. If they look perplexed tell them the ones in the suits and ties.

AMERICAN IDOL PSYCHIC RESULTS

Thirty-two million people can't be wrong can they? More people watch every Idol show than watch the annual Academy Awards or Grammy Awards. Fox and Simon Cowell, the nasty judge and owner of the show, have made it the geatest money machine on television and that does not count the record contracts Simon signs with the aspiring stars, tours, merchandising, record sales and on and on.

In terms of TV ratings, this is number 1 and leaves elections, debates, news and sports except for the Super Bowl eating dust. So to help you follow the show this day, February 29, there are 20 contestants left including 10 guys and girls. In case you want to skip a few shows I will take you into the future to the finals with just four contestants left. Here are the four finalists.

David Archuleta - Murray, Utah

Brooke White - Mesa Arizona


Jason Castro - Rockwall, Texas






Syesha Mercado - Sarasota, Florida



And the winner, drum roll please, the cute little kid from Murray, Utah, David Archuleta who already won the Junior Singer Star Search competition when he was 12. A little Latin, his mom is from Honduras, and a lot Mormom, Utah you know, David will win in a tough battle with Brooke or whoever. Now, instead of being glued to the tube watching Idol you can spend about 6 hours more a week doing something important and still act informed about the Idol or idle news.

NEW YORK PHILHARMONIC & POINTER JUG BAND ORCHESTRA NEWS

A couple of bands made big news this week as the New York Philharmonic became the largest group of Americans to go to North Korea when performing a concert this week in that city with the strange spelling and having it broadcast nationwide to the communist nation.

They played the American and Korean national anthems and closed with a Korean folk song that brought tears to the audience eyes and a standing ovation for the Americans. Now whether this event has any effect on the rather strained relations between us remains to be seen but once again music may open doors the loud mouth politicians can't open.

Coltons Point Jug Band to Hold Tryouts

There is an unconfirmed rumor circulating that Robert Kopel, newly appointed admiral of the Point now that Admiral Gibby is being held under house arrest, has decide to hold open tryouts for positions in the legendary Coltons Point Jug Band.

Seems Mr. Kopel, hubby to the mysterious Ink Spot, is tired of the constant changes in the band as his prisoners keep finishing their sentences and get released. He is looking for a more lasting solution to the turnover in the band.

Now that the infamous Coltons Point Lighthouse is about to open and become the secret party center for Southern Maryland Admiral Kopel sees a bright future for the Jug Band and wants members he can count on. Stay tuned for audition schedules. The most recent performance of the jug band at the secret Lighthouse groundbreaking ceremony was a real jailhouse rocking good party.

CPT SPECIAL - WHO CAN YOU TRUST???

Diane Sawyer was born on December 22, 1945 in Glasgow, Kentucky. Soon after her birth, her family moved to Louisville, where her father, Erbon Powers "Tom" Sawyer, rose to local prominence as a politician and community leader.

She attended Seneca High School in Louisville and in 1963 she won the America Junior Miss scholarship pageant as a representative from the State of Kentucky. In 1967 she received her English degree at Wellesley College in Massachusetts.

Sawyer served as a local TV news reporter for WLKY-TV in Louisville, Kentucky and in 1970 White House press secretary Ron Zigler hired her to serve in the administration of President Richard Nixon. Her career exploded on CBS and then ABC where she became the highest paid female newscaster in history while anchoring the ABC Good morning America Show.

She was the first journalist to get an interview with the president of North Korea in one of the latest of her many remarkable achievements. Only today she performed the sacred Fire Walk ceremony on the show, walking across 1000 degree coals as seen below. Diane is married to film director Mike Nichols. Sawyer remains one of the humblest of gifted TV personalities.

ELECTION UPDATE - Oprah's Boy Toy

Oprah's new boy toy and beneficiary of her overwhelming support, Barack Obama, has survived the last presidential debate with Hillary before the Texas and Ohio primaries next week. While Hillary was way ahead in the polls in the two states her lead has evaporated as her tactics have changed from day-to-day.

We predict Barack will win both states and lock up the nomination just as we predicted he will win the presidency in November. Somehow Obama has avoided the street brawl that Bill and Hillary have tried to induce and remained above the mud slinging.

Note the background of the following picture of the Democratic party poster kids and you will see the world famous revolutionary from South America Che Guevara, the man who helped put Castro in power. The real photo follows.



Now why in the world do you think they allowed Che to be featured with them? I mean he was a leading communist and anti-capitalist, he starred posthumously in The Motorcycle Diaries, and remains one of the most famous revolutionaries in the world.

CPT SPECIAL - WHO CAN YOU TRUST???

We are introducing a new feature of the CPT identifying for you the handful of prominent people in the world we believe you can actually trust. When these people happen to come from the finance sector it is even rarer that they can be trusted. So our first entry into the CPT Trusted Hall of Fame is Mellody Hobson.

Mellody (born April 3, 1969) is the president of Ariel Capital Management, LLC, a Chicago investment firm managing over $14 billion in assets. She is a regular contributor on financial issues to ABC’s Good Morning America. Hobson was born in Chicago, Illinois and graduated from Princeton University in 1991 with a degree in South African Studies. She joined Ariel soon afterward as the firm's senior vice president and director of marketing until ascending to president in 2000.

Hobson serves on the board of many organizations, including the Chicago Public Library, the Field Museum, the Chicago Public Education Fund, and the Sundance Institute. She is also a director of the Starbucks Corporation, The Estee Lauder Companies, Inc. and Dreamworks Animation SKG, Inc.

One of the world's most eligible bachelorettes, Mellody is dating George Lucas of Star Wars fame who also happens to be one of the few nice guys in Hollywood not caught up in the movie industry hysteria. Mellody, way to go girl!

MISSING OSCAR MOMENTS

Gone are the good old days when hosts were hosts and they had a great time at the Oscars. I mentioned Billy Crystal and Ellen DeGeneres should be rotating hosts and Whoopi Goldberg should be one as well. Remember when she hosted the awards and Cate Blanchett, one of our favorite foreign actressses was nominate for Elizabeth in her role as the Virgin Queen?



Then Whoopi showed up on stage in the same period costume.



She made some crack about how no one ever confused her with the Virgin Queen. Whoopi is one of a kind and has the acting credits as well.

THE TARNISHED GOLDEN OSCARS

The 80th Academy Awards seems to have taken the same train as the Grammy Awards and Network Evening News broadcasts when it comes to television viewers, the next great train wreck.

Early Nielsen numbers indicate it will be the worst watched Academy Award show in history, an astonishing 14% lower than the previous worst rated broadcast. That means 21% below last year. Following is the first awards ceremony.

This year the screen writers strike was settled just in time for the Oscars meaning we could count on a lot of stupid jokes again as only the professional Hollywood writers can generate.

The collapse in rating for the Oscars, Grammy Awards and even Network News demonstrates once again how out-of-touch the producers and sponsors have become. I guess they assume they are the experts, so we must like whatever they throw our way.

Wrong. The self-indulgent glamorizing of the gowns and jewelry on the red carpet has nothing to do with the merit of the awards and the creative nature of the performances. The various people involved in hosting related shows have simply worn out the public with Oscar overdose.

Enough of the stupid jokes, idle patter and not-so-subtle attempts to revive careers and TV shows via the Oscar ceremonies. The first flashback of an Oscar winner on the program was of Barbra Streisand. There was a room full of bonafide exceptional movie actors and actresses who had all won Oscars yet they selected Streisand to highlight? What was that all about? No offense Barbra but you are not in the same league as a Helen Mirren, Cate Blanchett and many others in attendance.

All four top acting awards went to foreigners. So many foreigners were up for awards that four of the five top actresses were from other countries. A stripper wins the best original screenplay and a couple of Minnesota maniacs win best-adapted screenplay. Diablo Cody was a stripper in Minnesota and the Coen brothers were also from Minnesota so it was a better year for the Golden Gophers than the Hollywood writers. Here is Diablo on strike.



Now the surprise of the evening came from Barbara Waa Waa when her show actually gave us a great look at some of the celebrities up for Oscars or at least associated with the Oscars. I mean Hanna Montana was not nominated but she was giving out an Oscar. Is that surprising since the Hanna Montana show, Miley Cyrus the singer, and her stage show, tour and movie are all owned by Disney? Disney also owns ABC who broadcast the Oscars.

Cut the show back to two hours, get rid of the red carpet nonsense, put Billy Crystal and Ellen DeGeneres as rotating hosts, and let the winners talk and people might start watching again. Of course when you have 28 minutes of commercials every hour even these changes might not be enough.