EXPLOITATION, INC.: David Rockefeller and Adventures in Global Finance

Preamble

[New comments added as of 20:30 PM, same date]

We seldom hear pertinent, nor factual news, anymore, but when we do the stories are fed to us as discrete events, having no connection or bearing with one another.

Throughout this post I intend to fill in the back story and elaborate the connections between these various news bytes.

Sometimes the information provided may appear circumstantial, but courtroom convictions occur on such evidence, and when there is an overwhelming amount of circumstantial evidence, the conclusion becomes glaringly obvious.

In the past several weeks the American public has witnessed the release of two reports: one from the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction, and another from the Rockefeller Foundation. Though seemingly unconnected, I will show the connections to previous events and distinct connections to each other, along with expanding the purview of events.

Mission: Unaccounted For

The Special I.G.’s report happened to contain the first “official” mention of the money route from Iraq to Timothy Geithner’s New York Federal Reserve Bank, and back to Iraq’s Trade Bank, whereby 96%, or $8.7 billion, went unaccounted for? (Please remember Timothy Geithner’s name – I will be revisiting his connection to David Rockefeller later on.)







This is especially strange as J.P. Morgan Chase had been awarded the contract to coordinate and manage the Iraq Trade Bank; no doubt as a reward for their colluding with Enron in hiding billions of dollars worth of loans to them. (In 2003, J.P. Morgan Chase paid a paltry $135 million fine to the S.E.C. but in 2005, J.P. Morgan Chase would pay $2.2 billion to settle an investors’ lawsuit for the very same reason.)







Now Chase has long been considered the Rockefeller’s bank (due, no doubt, to that family’s substantial holdings in it, along with their long-time management of it), and the merger with J.P. Morgan hasn’t usurped their subtle influence.

It is important to understand that the Trade Bank of Iraq was established partially to replace trade guarantees created by the U.N. oil-for-food program. This is pertinent as around that same period, an official and independent inquiry had been convened to investigate possible corruption and missing monies involved with that United Nations’ Oil-for-Food Program.







Curiously, a recent law school grad, Miranda Duncan, was added to the investigation team. Now one might be perplexed as to why someone inexperienced should be involved with such an internationally politically sensitive inquiry – unless they were aware that Ms. Duncan (also known as Miranda Kaiser) was the granddaughter of David Rockefeller!

Later, Ms. Duncan (a k a Ms. Kaiser), together with the team leader, attorney and former F.B.I. agent, Robert Parton (former member of the F.B.I.’s elite hostage rescue group), resigned in protest over what they claimed was the mishandling of the investigation.

Some of the documents pertaining to the inquiry and in possession of Robert Parton were subpoenaed by a congressional committee; but in rushes Paul Volcker, former Federal Reserve Chairman, with a long affiliation to the Rockefeller family (he had worked for Chase as both a financial economist and later as a vice president, as well as serving on the powerful Rockefeller Trust Committee).

Now it has been suggested that Volcker has been brought in to whitewash the U.N. inquiry and Ms. Duncan’s protestations. Volcker does immediately contact the congressional committee and successfully quashes the subpoenas and no further publicity is forthcoming regarding Ms. Duncan’s questioning the credibility of their investigation.

Robert Parton and Miranda Duncan will quickly drop out of sight; they had relocated to Montana where they purchased a ranch together.

Frankly, I have no idea the interest of David Rockefeller in the U.N. Oil-for-Food Program and subsequent inquiry but, suffice to say, wherever oil is concerned, one usually finds a Rockefeller!

Also, the Rockefellers have long been financial supporters of the United Nations, which makes it all the more confusing that when the G.A.O. undertakes its own financial inquiry into the matter, the U.N. refuses to hand over any documents involved?

It is important to understand that over a period of decades, from the 1920s to the 1970s, the Rockefeller’s vast fortune (conservatively estimated in 1964 at between $5 billion to $10 billion, but even then it had been well hidden or sheltered) was constantly being restructured in a system of trusts and foundations in order to both avoid taxation and hide their true worth.

Through those trusts and foundations, the Rockefeller family is both invested and controls a sizable number of corporations; oil companies, pharmaceutical companies, mining and precious metals companies, etc.

This investment and control also extends through J.P. Morgan Chase (previously through Chase Manhattan prior to the merger with J.P. Morgan) and Citigroup – which had previously had Rockefellers as CEOs and on their board, as it handled, and most likely still handles as no business articles have ever indicated otherwise, a chunk of the Rockefellers’ business interests.

Another important aspect to that unaccounted for $8.7 billion: during that time frame the chairman of the Export-Import Bank was Philip Merrill, extremely wealthy publisher and Cheney appointee.

From a FAQ from the Iraq Revenue Watch site:

Ex-Im Bank Chairman Philip Merrill is currently consulting on the oil securitization proposal with State and Treasury department officials.
Companies involved in reconstruction projects would want the Ex-Im Bank- backed proposal to move ahead as early as this winter, to be assured of continuous funding.

Under the proposal, an Iraq Reconstruction Financing Authority (IRFA) would be established initially within the Development Fund for Iraq, and subsequently allowed to operate under an Iraqi government.

After Mr. Merrill has stepped down from that position with the Ex-Im, he becomes the victim of a most unusual “suicide.” While out on his sailboard or yacht (newspaper stories differ on the vessel description), he evidently shoots himself in the head with a shotgun, then dives or falls overboard with a rather heavy anchor, swims 11 miles from his boat, or yacht, and then weighs his body down with the anchor.

All the more extraordinary given his age, overweight and out-of-shape physical condition?

Back to that U.N. Oil-for-Food inquiry: GE (General Electric) is fined for bribes and kickbacks for their participation in it. Later, connections will be established between them and David Rockefeller.

General Electric (GE) today announced that it had reached a settlement with the Securities and Exchange Commission over charges of illegal kickbacks its subsidiaries paid to win contracts in the United Nations’ Oil-for-Food Program. As a result, GE has agreed to pay a $1 million penalty and give up the estimated $22.5 million in profits plus interest earned on the transactions.

The SEC charged GE…

Recap

To review: the United Nations’ oil-for-food program was essentially rolled over into the J.P. Morgan Chase-managed Trade Bank of Iraq, which held its money on account at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York (FRBNY), and at some various point in the process $8.7 billion went unaccounted for.

Timothy Geithner was head of the FRBNY at the time, and a very old and dear college buddy of his, one Daniel Zelikow, just happened to be a managing director at J.P. Morgan Chase and, according to his press comments appeared to be involved with coordinating this Trade Bank situation.

We know of his friendship with Secretary Geithner from this Washington Post article.

Also, that a Rockefeller relative (Miranda Kaiser) and former FBI agent, Robert Parton protested the UN inquiry but then drop out of sight. It may appear innocuous that Ms. Kaiser was assigned to this inquiry, yet boots on the ground equals ears on the ground, and as can be seen from her foundation bio, she is well cocooned in the family fold.






An article in the Canada Free Press sums it up nicely:


Keeping Miranda Duncan mum seems to have been Volcker's next paradigm.

When Miranda Margaret Duncan, one of two senior investigators who resigned in protest from Volcker's independent inquiry into the oil-for-food scandal last April, she cited the "whitewashing" of UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan's involvement in the scandal as her reason.

Volcker's first Miranda move was to publicly deny the "whitewashing" charge.

Volcker's second move--approved by Annan--was to legally block Duncan from ever giving testimony to U.S. Congressional committees investigating the oil-for-food scandal.

In addition to Duncan being kept legally mum by Volcker, she's reported to be told to keep her lips sealed by her grandfather, David Rockefeller.


And we know of Volcker’s very strong connections to David Rockefeller (and we will learn of even more later).

And some very choice remarks from an article from Corporate Watch, dated February 4, 2004:

But critics say that the occupation authorities and multinational banks may be shackling a future Iraqi government with an unknown quantity of debt. "The oil figures are very murky and secretive," said Nomi Prins former investment banker and author of the forthcoming book Other People's Money: The Corporate Mugging of America. "That same oil for which no one has the appropriate...information is being used to collateralize multiple things. You're effectively leveraging oil for which the revenues are non-transparent."



And also these further comments:

According to Prins, the foreign ownership of Iraqi banks will make it practically impossible for locally owned banks to participate in the forging of a new economy. The Iraqi banks that are able to avoid a foreign take over will then have to compete with foreign banks and their many subsidiaries that have an unlimited source of capital and lending abilities that, if it doesn't cause the local banks to crash, could force surviving Iraqi-owned banks to operate in step with the foreign model, creating a free market that's not so free.


Now we come to that Rockefeller Foundation report (Scenarios for the Future of Technology and International Development), which reads like a subtle advertisement for Monsanto (and yes, Robert Zoellick, president of the World Bank, and formerly with Monsanto, is connected to David Rockefeller – more on that later).

On page 18 of this report, please note the Pandora-like prediction (please see excerpt below).



Thanks to a rather bizarre news blackout, few Americans are aware that Baxter International, the major pharmaceutical firm (which J.P. Morgan Chase appears to own a chunk of from reading their SEC filings), accidentally sent out a highly contaminated samples of seasonal virus flu (normal highly contagious variety) with the deadly avian virus.

(I say “news blackout” as I happened to read about it in numerous European newspapers, and several Canadian newspapers, but couldn’t find a single American news story on it. Curiously, Baxter’s stock price appeared unaffected and, in fact, performed well during that period.)

From a news article referenced at the Actions Not Words site:

Baxter International Accidentally Release Bird Flu (H5N1) Virus

On February 24th it was reported that Baxter International Inc. in Austria had contaminated samples of human seasonal flu with the deadly bird flu virus raising concern about the potential spread of the deadly disease.
“The virus material was supposed to contain a seasonal flu virus and was contaminated after “human error,” said Christopher Bona, a spokesman for Baxter, in a telephone interview.”


“Austria, Germany, Slovenia and the Czech Republic - these are the countries in which labs were hit with dangerous viruses. Not by bioterrorist commandos, but by Baxter.


“In other words: One of the major global pharmaceutical players seems to have lost control over a virus which is considered by many virologists to be one of the components leading some day to a new pandemic.”


Human flu (H3N2) can be easily passed from human to human while the bird flu (H5N1) cannot. The risk with this event is posed because a virus can “steal” genetic material from other organisms that they encounter. This can create a new hybrid strain of influenza virus with bird flu H5N1 genetics and the ability to spread from person to person.


Despite this breach in bio-security, WHO maintains an agreement with Baxter Pharmaceuticals to produce the world’s pandemic vaccine. They would also have been in a prime position to capitalize from their own “mistake” which could have resulted in a more deadly bird flu pandemic.


It is crucial to provide a little background material on the extensive Rockefeller financial holdings, so from Source Watch we find:

The Rockefeller empire, in tandem with Chase Manhattan Bank (now JP Morgan Chase), owns over half of the pharmaceutical interests in the United States. It is the largest drug manufacturing combine in the world. Since WWII, the pharmaceutical industry has steadily netted increasing profits to become the world's second largest manufacturing industry; after the arms industry.


And business stats show there has been a stupendous growth in vaccine profits from 2001 to 2007. (According to the most recent data I’ve examined.)



Now the history of the Rockefeller empire is replete with murder and mayhem; after all, that is how John D. Rockefeller acquired his fortune: through fraud, deception, blowing up competitors’ refineries (those Rockefellers almost have a genetic predisposition against actual competition), murdering striking workers and a host of other atrocities.

Probably the very first historic drive-by shooting in America can be linked to the Rockefellers. When the miners went on strike at a Rockefeller-owned mining company at Ludlow, Colorado, earlier in the 20th century, it was Rockefeller-financed thugs who drove through the mining camp, spraying the miners’ tents and houses with gunfire. (Please see photo below.)



Click Image to Link to Historic Background


Later, state militiamen would be brought in to randomly shoot at the camp from a nearby hilltop, officially killing 27 men, women and children.

This would later become known as the Ludlow Massacre. The unofficial number of fatalities was considerably higher as a number of the dead had been removed during nightfall by the Rockefeller thugs in order to keep that “official” body count low.

One seriously doubts it is simply a morbid coincidence that the street address of one of their companies, Rockit Solutions, is 333 Ludlow Street.

From their web site:

…a wholly-owned subsidiary of Rockefeller & Co., Inc., provides the leading wealth data aggregation and reporting solution for single-family and multi-family offices, high net worth individuals and financial institutions.


Most egregiously, during and in the aftermath of those horrendous events members of the Rockefeller family were vocal in their support of that barbaric slaughter!

The Rockefellers have stridently promoted, both financially and politically, any and all wars and any other military ventures from which they would profit. (Chronic war mongers, war profiteers and death profiteers!)

During World War II and the Nazi occupation of France, almost every foreign-owned bank in Paris was shut down, save for the Chase bank.

They had replaced the American bank manager with a Swiss neutral, and thus were allowed to remain open, and turn over the depositor records to the Nazi command as later indicated in a 1945 U.S. Treasury Department report.

During the ‘50s and ‘60s, the Rockefeller family, spearheaded by David Rockefeller, and through their Chase Bank, heavily and successfully lobbied for and promoted the removal of tariffs and trade restrictions.

With their subsequent removal, the profits of the Rockefeller multinationals were greatly increased.

They also formed the Council of the Americas to promote legislation which would ultimately be known as N.A.F.T.A.


Now there is a reason the J.P. Morgan Chase/Trade Bank of Iraq affair may sound familiar to people knowledgeable in world or economic history. Something in a similar vein may have happened before concerning an oil-producing Middle Eastern country and David Rockefeller.


Historic Background

Back in the late '70s of the 20th Century, during the Carter Administration, American embassy hostages were seized in Iran.

Now the official story was that the hostages felt the need to strike back at the United States of America due to their allowing their deposed Shah of Iran into America for required medical treatment.

More historically sophisticated individuals considered the prevailing reason to be an insurance policy against American intervention in Iran's internal affairs; something the US had done more than once in the past (CIA-led overthrow of their democratically-elected Prime Minister Mossadegh in 1953.)

While that may have been the mindset among the more enlightened then, and now, it may have been due to ongoing American intervention of the worst sort aimed at their next-door neighbor, Afghanistan.

Prior to the Soviet invasion and in fact, 5 to 6 months prior to the Iranian hostage-taking, President Carter had signed a directive for covert intervention into the internal affairs of a secular, and to women living in Kabul at that time, an almost cosmopolitan Afghanistan by comparison to the later and present times.

The particular details aren't all known, but what is known is that the elements within the Carter Administration, working with elements in Saudi Arabia, relocated Islamic fundamentalist extremists, of the Wahabist sect, along Afghanistan's northern border with the Soviet Union.

This particular religious sect evidently is at extreme odds with the prevalent Sh'ia religion in Iran, and proved the impetus for a Soviet invasion.

We know this now from the published memoirs of Secretary of Defense, Robert Gates (about his C.I.A. career and titled From the Shadows) and an interview between Brzezinski (at that time President Carter's national security advisor) and French news magazine, Le Nouvel Observateur. (Major thanks to globalresearch.ca site and the French news magazine.)

Reprinted below:







Now, since David Rockefeller, and his two disciples Henry Kissinger and Henry's past student, Zbigniew Brzezinski, were urging President Carter to allow in the Shah, one might infer they were in actuality precipitating the matter, but it is highly more likely, and highly more believable to suspect the Iranian revolutionary students who took those hostages were aware of the covert U.S. intervention in Afghanistan then taking place.

The following information comes from pp. 340 to 348 of James A. Bill's most excellent book, The Eagle and the Lion: The Tragedy of American-Iranian Relations. While those pages are invaluable, I would heartily recommend reading the entire book.

The dates mentioned might be confusing given the multiple variables, so a timeline is presented below:



As one can observe from the timeline, the hostages are taken approximately five months after the intervention directive date (one can't always assume it began afterwards -- it may have been going on for quite sometime already).

Next, the Iranian assets in American banks are frozen. Please take note of the dates and quantities on the graph below, also from the aforementioned book on p. 341.







Also, and perhaps quite importantly, it should be noted that those Iranian assets were frozen by Carter's Treasury Secretary G. William Miller, had long been on Chase's International Advisory Committee and had a long association with David Rockefeller.

And because the US Treasury had frozen Iran's assets and they were unable to access those funds to make the requisite interest payments on their outstanding loans, their assets on deposit were allowed to be confiscated --- not by the U.S. government, but by the banks holding their deposits: Chase, Citicorp, etc. (Chase was reputed to have made at least $2 billion from that transaction!)

Once one loan was declared in default, Chase then utilized existing contractual "cross-default" clauses to declare all other loans in default. Chase Manhattan profited quite handsomely from the Iranian Hostage Crisis (as they did from Vietnam, the Korean War, World War II, etc., etc., etc.)

The perhaps still existing question of whether they caused this hostage crisis to occur, or simply were opportunistic is really besides the point, given that a begrudging Jimmy Carter and Kissinger's student, Brzezinski, were beholden to their principal political supporter and financial backer, David Rockefeller.


The present day visible or overt embodiment of the minimalist Rockefeller wealth – surely not a remotely accurate picture – appears via their Rockefeller Financial Services, formerly known as Rockefeller and Company.

A wealth management company, it is ostensibly the chief component in their remaining wealth. (Highly suspect, given all other factors and that a very conservative estimate of their wealth in 1964 was between $5 billion to $10 billion – and please keep in mind what an awesome amount that was back in that year!)

A most unfortunate event took place over a year ago when their CEO, James Mcdonald, died in an alleged suicide. I use the word “alleged” as details weren’t forthcoming, simply that he died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound while in his car, behind an auto dealership, on a Sunday afternoon.

Virtually all the newswires and newspapers used the same verbiage, presumably due to the lack of forthcoming details in the matter.

After a year, and with the help of global executive-search firm, Russell Reynolds Associates, Reuben Jeffery III was selected as their new CEO.

Mr. Jeffery, with 18 years at Goldman Sachs, and coming from a position with the Center for Strategic and International Studies, would seem to be a respectable choice.

The only thing most peculiar about this new hire is why they would search so long for him given his long affiliation with David Rockefeller and his membership on David Rockefeller’s Trilateral Commission.

Now, any article or post which neglects Mr. Rockefeller’s Trilateral Commission, and its members, both present and past (members are encouraged to resign upon accepting public service appointments), would be sorely remiss.

Below please note the first page of their membership list.



Holy Creepers! Yup, on the membership list we find Reuben Jeffery II; I hadn’t been imagining it!


We also find:

E. Gerald Corrigan – Managing Director, Goldman Sachs Bank (to be expected)

Martin Feldstein – the legendary Harvard economics prof (Who had been a director at HCA when they paid a settlement of $1.7 billion for Medicaid and Medicare fraud, and also a director at Eli Lilly when they paid the largest criminal fine at that time for the illegal marketing of a drug, and certainly we can’t forget that he was a director at A.I.G. Financial Products when they pulled the largest insurance swindle in human history, i.e., selling all those CDSes without having the necessary capital on hand to cover it. Certainly a background any Harvard econ prof should take pride in?)

Henry Kissinger (to be expected)

John Negroponte (also known as “Mr. Phoenix Program” and “Death Squad” John). Interestingly, Mr. Negroponte had visited Pakistan a few weeks prior to the unfortunate assassination of Benazir Bhutto, who had been implicated in the U.N. Oil-for-Food Program, as well as mentioning, in an offhand way on the internationally-syndicated David Frost Show, that a professional assassin who had been used in the past by both the CIA, MI-5, the Pakistani ISI and the Syrians, had assassinated Osama bin Laden. Evidently, Mr. Frost was too geriatric at that time and didn’t pick up on the gravity of her remark.

Charles Rose (also known as Charlie Rose, America’s worst TV interviewer)

Paul Volcker (Say, wasn’t he that UN inquiry damage-control guy?)

Philip Zelikow - now that name sounds familiar (Complaints about him recently surfaced regarding his strident redirecting and misdirecting of the proceedings of the 9/11 Commission. Now I wonder if he’s a relative of Daniel Zelikow?)

Robert Kagan (Congratulations are in order on your daughter’s recent appointment to the US Supreme Court!)

Zoe Bird – President of the Markle Foundation (Long a sabbatical respite for members of the American intelligence establishment. Political pundits believe that most, if not all, of the Obama Administration position papers originate from the Markle Foundation and the Center for a New American Security: sort of a celestial convergence of neolib and neocon. Check the bottom of page 931 of the 9/11 Commission report [National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States] to see the Markle Foundation’s recommendation for the adoption of a national ID card.)

Condoleezza Rice (to be expected)

Catherine Bertini – former Executive Director, U.N. World Food Program (Hmmmmmm…..????)

Nani Beccalli-Falco – President and CEO, GE International (another GE connection?)

C. Fred Bergsten – Director, Peterson Institute (to be expected)

Karan Bhatia – V.P. and Senior Counsel, GE

And listed under former members in public service

Timothy Geithner – Secretary, US Treasury, former head of the N.Y. Federal Reserve Bank, good buddy to Peter G. Peterson, Henry Kissinger, and…oh yeah…that guy, Daniel Zelikow.

Larry Summers (a k a “Larry The Hut”)

Diana Farrell (Recently read a post where she was described as the “queen of jobs offshoring” – and I couldn’t agree more! The non-economist who is one of President Obama’s economics advisors.)

General James Jones – National Security Advisor (Wasn’t he also former Joint Chiefs of Staff chief, as was his father, I believe? Guess it’s a hereditary job?)

And also the following Obama appointees: Stephen Bosworth, Lael Brainard, Kurt Campbell, Thomas E. Donilon, Michael B.G. Froman, Richard Holbrooke (former director of A.I.G., by the way), Steve Koonin, Susan E. Rice, Dennis Ross, Anne-Marie Slaughter, and James B. Steinberg.

Oops! Almost forgot Robert Zoellick, Mr. Monsanto and president of the World Bank is also a past member.

Now why do those twin phrases, “The Usual Suspects” and “the gang’s all here” come to mind?

In ending, one would be flaky to ignore the connections of the economic meltdown to David Rockefeller and the Rockefeller family.

After all, the Rockefeller Foundation established the Group of 30 in 1978, and it was they who would work for the widespread adoption of securitization and credit derivatives.

Also, it was J.P. Morgan Chase which would give us the CDS, variants of the CDO, and be the guilty party in first mass producing those CDO and CDS deals, quite the contrary of the impression one might receive from reading Gillian Tett’s book on the subject!

Also, it was from J.P. Morgan Chase that spewed forth, like that Icelandic volcano, Eyjafjallajökull, that report titled, “Glass-Steagall: Overdue for Repeal.”

And it was from a Rockefeller-related bank, Citigroup, which gave us the structured investment vehicle (SIV).

Of course, Peter G. Peterson’s Blackstone Group, and its offshoot, BlackRock, had something to do with that meltdown, no matter what they claim to the contrary.

And Peterson was the handpicked replacement for David Rockefeller to head the Council on Foreign Relations, as well as other positions in Peterson’s financially successful career.

Peterson, in turn, was supposed to have handpicked Timothy Geithner to replace him at the New York Federal Reserve.

I haven't nailed down the probable money laundering process involved - still working on it - but I wouldn't buy any Global Development Bonds from any strangers in an alleyway, if I were you.

References

Bill, James A. The Eagle and the Lion. Yale University Press. New Haven and London. 1988. ISBN 0-300-04097-0

Britannica Concise Encyclopedia entry on David Rockefeller
http://www.answers.com/topic/david-rockefeller

Cattani, Gino and Tschoegl, Adrian E. An Evolutionary View of Internationalization: Chase Manhattan Bank, 1917 to 1996. Wharton, Financial Institutions Center
http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/papers/1129.pdf

Colorado Bar Association. Historical Background for the 2003 Colorado Mock Trial Competition. The Colorado Lawyer blog site.
http://www.cobar.org/index.cfm/ID/581/dpwfp/Historical-Foreward-and-Bibl...

Hoffman, William. David. May, 1971. Lyle Stuart, Inc. New York. Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 76-124504.

Lundberg, Ferdinand. The Rich and the Super-Rich. July, 1968. Lyle Stuart, Inc. New York. Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 67-10015.

McLeod, Judi. Keeping Miranda Mum. Canada Free Press. June 27, 2005.
http://www.canadafreepress.com/2005/cover062705.htm

Murray, Georgina, Dr. Abstract: A Transnational Capitalist Class: Does Corporate Australia have one? Griffith University, Global Association Conference, June 6, 2008
http://www98.griffith.edu.au/dspace/bitstream/10072/25986/1/55416_2.pdf

United Nations Security Council. Note verbale dated 18 June 2010 from the Permanent Mission of Iraq to the United Nations addressed to the President of the Security Council. July 8, 2010.
http://www.securitycouncilreport.org/atf/cf/%7B65BFCF9B-6D27-4E9C-8CD3-C...

Volcker, Paul A., Goldstone, Richard J., Pieth, Mark. Independent Inquiry Committee into the United Nations Oil-for-Food Programme. Second Interim Report. March 29, 2005
http://www.iic-offp.org/documents/InterimReportMar2005.pdf

Whyte, Dave. The Crimes of Neo-Liberal Rule in Occupied Iraq. The British Journal of Criminology. Sept. 30, 2006.
http://bjc.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/47/2/177

Meta: 

Comments

Charlie Rose?

Wow, that explains the gushing corporate agenda infomercials, disguised as interviews.

way to go

Bravo my friend. you truly get it. It's more than "democrats vs. republicans". These people are running things and choosing our destiny's. And yet those tea-bagger people would say this is ok and "as long as they leave me alone". But their actions affect us all. This is not democracy.
I wanna be a member!

White Collar Criminals

White collar criminals is a very soft word for our elected officials.I always thought I had a handle on things but with any average American we do not have the education to see through all Bulls**t.In all very few educated individuals take the steps and research and most important BALLS to even print this.I highly dought tea-baggers even know a bit of this they are so hung up on Health Care Reform and I know they don't even understand it.The red flag on that subject was the jobs they said would come from modernizing their computers to save money.No mention of drug prices,hospital billing or anything that would acually bring down prices.My career as a Union Ironworker is a litmus test for the economy,being what I build says alot,went from commercial buildings and large condos to bridges and you guessed it HOSPITALS.When O when will facts like these come out from standard media,well at least thanx to you guys at least my family freinds and I will be aware.

Frank Rutherford

True to Form

Non accountable funds? Shrink-wrapped bundles of $100 bills? (straight from the Federal Reserve) Black budgets? Outsourcing government to conduct a war? Why are we surprised that these sumps of money disappear?

Back during WWII, David Rockefeller was in the OSS. At the training station (Vint Hill Farm), he was assigned to teach a trade-craft course -- How to pick pockets.

Now picture this kind of trade craft using computers and non-accountable funds, and financial elites in control.

Frank T.

mass psychology, sociology

I have a tendency to believe when it comes to herd behavior, even among elites, they act more like a pack of wolves than any conscious, targeted strategy.

Similar to genocide, it's only a large social group who can go so amoral and commit horrendous acts. Individuals acting alone, you might get a few serial killers out of the pack, but most would never behave in such a manner.

So, in other words, the sociological pack or body, acts and it's not a conscious, well planned action.

It's kind of the same thing in crowds, individuals would never stampede others, yet a crowd of people...will...

it's like a different animal. This is where I think conspiracy theory gets lost. They think so much is conscious, directed, planned and many events go under that herd, pack of wolves, sociological mass behavior, so it's behavioral vs. conscious, planned choices.

My 2¢ on how we get a few elites running the universe and hurting the national economy.

Your lack of reading comprehension is showing!

The very fact you have to fall back on that "conspiracy theory" nonsense suggests already how pre-programmed, propagandized, and weak of mind you are.

Now go back and note where I've mentioned the criminal conspiracies which corporate entities have been convicted of.

Can you count them? Can you even count? A serious question as you've apparently not comprehended those criminal conspiracies noted.

Read real slooowly this time.

Perhaps you are simply challenged in reading comprehension and don't fully understand what a criminal conspiracy is. (Highly involved and circuitous financial fraud requires considerable planning. Try it sometime.)

you need to stop

I'm sorry this is something like the 4th time where you have attacked me and I'm really not amused. I am not the enemy. Did I say your post was a CT? No. It's a general comment on how these things happen.

The rules of EP are NO PERSONAL ATTACKS, yet you continue to attack me, personal insults! and I am this sites main writer, owner, coder and admin.

I really am not interested in creating a space for authors so someone can insult and name call me over the least little thing and not even understanding what I'm saying as a general rule.

Try being a bit more laid back

You need to step back and try to stop being so ultra-senstive all the time.

I am attacking the nonsensical usage of the PopNeoCulture and PreProgrammed "Consiracy Theory" phrase -- from the Edward Bernays disinformation model. It ranks of a complete lack of any analytical thinking whatsoever!

You and anyone else who refused to use those neurons can't keep bringing that phrase to bear when the discussion concerns criminal conspiracies, which is bolstered by pointing out previous criminal conspiracies by the same culprits.

Ever heard of logic?????

Ever heard of rhetoric???

Evidently not.

Anyway, this will be my last post here so kindly quit bugging me to keep posting here!

site rules

All, please read the FAQ,

Be good to each other and respectful. Use your calculator and spreadsheet when in doubt.

and there are more issues in the admin forum.

Bottom line, name calling, direct personal attack, insults are unacceptable and inappropriate for this site.

The idea is to put the focus on facts and the topic at hand.

I had no idea it had gone this far.

This is an excellent post by James, as most all of his earlier posts are. I always looked forward to his comments and insights at this blog.

It has been a long time since I have written or commented here. I almost never check in anymore either. Reading this comment thread, I find that what James has layed out in terms of research and background, is both exhilarating and depressing at the same time.

Robert, can't you see that despite all your hard work and dedication, you have silenced important voices and thoughtful inquiries in the condemnation of "Conspiracy Theories"? Look around you and tell me what is CT and what is perversion! Look at the AZ shooting today, in the light of campaign rhetoric and right wing propaganda (a la Beck, Limbaugh, Hannity, Breitbart, Savage, Coulter, Bachman, Ingraham, Drudge, Palin, Armey, Koch Brothers, Peterson, et al, ad nauseum) and tell me WTF is "conspiracy theory" in today's hologram that is called AMERICA!

I know that when I look at AMERICA, I see class warfare and it is way too close to James Wooley's explanatons to dismiss off hand as CT.

I recently was made aware of a Native American fable:

An elder Cherokee Native American was teaching his grandchildren about life. He said to them, "A fight is going on inside me...It is a terrible fight, and it is between two wolves. One wolf represents fear, anger, envy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, pride and superiority. The other wolf stands for joy, peace, love, hope, sharing, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, friendship, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion, and faith. This same fight is going on inside of you and every other person too."

They thought about it for a minute and then one child asked his grandfather, "Which wolf will win?" The old Cherokee simply replied..."The one I feed."

.

Your censorship of content over the years has more or less relinquished you website to irrelevancy. Do you not see this?

excuse me?

Firstly, James was personally attacking me, which you are now. Secondly, none of his posts were censored and this one is particular fantastic, which I've said. There are rules on page load, formatting for site purposes, cross posting rules for SEO and Google purposes, but most sites have that.

Finally, this site has grown in readers consistently. November hit 100k and we literally had to move to more powerful server due to the reads and hits. James is more than welcome to write here, but he cannot just insult and attack me personally.

You might be aware of what is going on EP before just writing assumptions that are not true.

Interesting Choice of Words.

I admit to CRITICIZING you Robert, but I am definitely NOT "personally attacking" you. There is a difference but I wonder whether you can objectively appreciate it.

Anyway, I mean you no ill will and I concur that you have NEVER OVERTLY censored anyone, to my knowledge. I am also pleased that 100k reads exceeds your expectations, or at least makes you feel a sense of accomplishment. But I have to ask whether that is what your goal was when you started EP? If not at inception, has it changed now?

"Economic Populism" is after all, in the mind's eye of the writer, not the reader. Your criticism of the writer's perspective as "CT" (and therefore taboo), imposes a de facto censorship which naturally becomes confrontational, and therefore personal. Perhaps you should rename the site and then us "populists" will take our proper place in the scheme of things.

If I thought this post was CT you plain wouldn't see it

As site owner, admin and moderator, I would have removed a Conspiracy Theory post from the site and indeed I have in the past and will continue to do so. So, this entire "CT" thing is "CT".

As far as EP goes, good chat using real numbers is always nice but whatever this stuff and these attacks are, I just plain don't care. This site is not here for me to have to deal with other people's "issues" outside the topic at hand and this site is definitely not being read because someone writes their "personal issues" in the comments. If anything they are a huge distraction from the topic at hand, which is just one reason personal attacks are not allowed.

If you want to discuss economics, current policy, bills, statistics and theory, hey great.

Monopoly money

Isn't it all Monopoly money, though? We're talking about trillions of dollars that don't really exist. When formal the formal money supply collapses (which it has) ordinary people create local currency and bartering systems (which they're doing). They are also withdrawing their money from corporate banks and putting it in local banks and credit unions. And in a number of states they are creating their own state-owned banks (like North Dakota) so they don't have to rely on the corrupt money changers any longer. I blog about this and other radical common sense solutions at http://stuartbramhall.aegauthorblogs.com

Now we're talking The Money Party

This is outstanding. I'm actually going to print it out for further study. What an array.

Let me make sure I get one of the key points:

"The Special I.G.’s report happened to contain the first 'official' mention of the money route from Iraq to Timothy Geithner’s New York Federal Reserve Bank, and back to Iraq’s Trade Bank, whereby 96%, or $8.7 billion, went unaccounted for? (Please remember Timothy Geithner’s name – I will be revisiting his connection to David Rockefeller later on.)"

Money trail: Iraq=>Geithner (NY Fed)=>JP Morgan/Rockefeller interest (Trade Bank of Iraq).

If the money got from Iraq to the NY Fed (there's no disagreement on that), then it disappeared in either Geithner's Fed or JP Morgan's Iraq Trade Bank. It sounds to me like that solves the mystery.

This is a huge scandal so naturally it isn't covered.

Comment: Zelikow's involvement with this explains why they "trusted" him to give 110% to foil a real investigation by the 9/11 Commission. I've been wondering how they got him to sacrifice his name to that massive betrayal, which is already well known thanks to the book on the commission.

Question: Kaiser and Parton. My assumption is that Kaiser got wind of the fraud of the investigation from Parton and wasn't willing to take part (read, she has her own money). They fled to Montana where we can watch the news for an 'accident.'

This is just another day in 'the days of our lives' as we're crushed by these people who produce nothing but take everything.