Gaia: Transforming the "Capital" in Capitalism ~ Change The System

Re: The Limits of Money

http://goodworld.gaia.com — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 22:46:20 GMT

I think this is a misleading idea. Tools do not have to be discarded just because they have limitations or are being misused.

Money does not have to be created as a debt. That is a misuse of a very useful social tool.
The proper origin an use of money just have to be governed by the wealth creating capacity of an economy. The detailed economics is fully described in the literature of Social Credit. Very briefly, wealth (goods and services) and aggregate value of tokens (money) have to be in balance: Total value of wealth waiting to be exchanged=total value of tokens of exchange. If wealth creation drops aggregate value of tokens need to drop to avoid inflation. In the reverse case, growth in productive capacity due to new technology requires a corresponding increase in the value of tokens to avoid deflation.
This balance is freshly represented in a work, People's Capitalism, by James Albus and a YouTube presentation.

Just one other point regarding the problem of interest believed to be the strongest argument:

The moment money is created, there is a debt that can never be repaid. How would you pay for the interest on a million dollar if there was only a million dollar created?

This is not that simple, because the banks create money to pay for the goods and services they buy from the economy at large. Whether they charge themselves interest is neither here or there.

Re: New Money Conferences at Chicago, Mexico & Seattle Feb-Apr 20

http://seek2know.gaia.com — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 17:18:51 GMT

Wishing all of you joyful holidays and thanks for your participation.

I have added more info and books in my blog. Steaphen Zarlenga has been endorsed by Dennis Kucinich recently.

Here is the Vimeo of upcoming conference on future of money in 2009.

You can help spread the word and the new consciousness of open sustainable currency of the people by the people and for the people. That would be the real foundation of democracy of free market of free people. Gratitude & peace

mita
http://openmoney.ning.com/profile/Mita

Re: Imagine your ideal dream economy and new currency here~

http://seek2know.gaia.com — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 16:48:53 GMT

Hi Peter

Hope all is well with you. I have not posted here for long as I was busy with my DEEP CONSCIOUS CAPITALISM blog, which I am framing more from my buddhist perspective which sees all the problems and sufferings coming from dualistic mind set and some people have taken advantage of that. The gold standard
has to go because there is simply not enough gold to meet the needs of exploding commerce relying on debt-based usury based fiat currency.

I am reading the book 'web of debt' by Ellen H. Brown, J.D. and she gives the fascinating currency history behind all revolutions and wars both in United States and other countries around the world (compiled from many sources of course). Her book is endorsed by Bernard Lietear, author of Future of Money and developer of EURO.

She explodes the myth that fiat money production is regulated by GOvernment. " Our money system is not what we have been led to believe. The creation of money has been "privatised", or taken over by a private money cartel (see Amero in my blog). Except for coins (3% of our money supply), all our money is created as loans advanced by private banking institutions, including the "private" Federal Reserve. Banks create the principal but not the interest (componded) to service their loans. To find the interest new loans must continually be taken out, expanding the money supply, inflating prices and robbing you of the value of money." She explores a workable alternative , on ethat was tested in colonial America and is grounded in best economic thought, including the writings of Benjamin Franklin, Thimas Jefferson, and Abraham Lincoln.

My view is that currency itself is non-dual and we need a common definition and shared understanding of currency taking the interdependence of all life into account ..one that takes us off the path of divisive conflict and public private debate. I'll add more in my blog next year. Somwhere here in the POD I addressed why we need to get off gold standard and the commodity notion of money, especially in view of the current US and global financial market crisis.

Thanks for your participation.

Cheers
mita

Re: Imagine your ideal dream economy and new currency here~

http://seek2know.gaia.com — Sat, 12 Apr 2008 11:56:24 GMT

Thankyou Peter for putting your thoughts together and your contribution. I am going out soon and it will take me some time to digest. Hope to respond in near future.

BTW, yesterday I had a spirited conversation with Chris Lindstorm of unMoney Convergence coming up in Seattle April 14-16. Unfortunately I cannot go, as I am trying to wrap up things and get my ducks in line before leaving for India soon (may 2- June 9th) .

If you or anyone in this group is interested to participate via Skype, Chris said there will be opportunities to do so in both days. Also you may share your ideal currency idea there.
All the best.

Three Cheers
for unMoney Convergence

PS. Also I would love to have additional moderators for this POD, if you or anyone is interested to keep this Pod moving in the right direction. Chris mentioned about Cooperative banking in Spain (nondragon?)

Re: Imagine your ideal dream economy and new currency here~

http://pethere.gaia.com — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 15:47:21 GMT

Thanks Susmita.

It's very simple: free banking (non-regulated) with private currencies. Most likely people will settle with 100% banking (warehouse) with some commodity metals but are not limited to those if they prefer to use something else. Naturally electronic banking and cards can be used so not much needs to change in that front.

Henry Hazlitt fits here (see the full article)

"Private Coinage; Notes Fully Redeemable

Let us see where this leads us: Governments should be deprived of their monopoly of the currency-issuing power. The private citizens of every country should be allowed, by mutual agreement, to do business with each other in the currency of any other country. In addition, they should be allowed to mint privately gold or silver coins and to do business with each other in such coins. (Each coin should bear the stamp, trademark or emblem of its coiner and specify its exact round weight--one gram, 10 grams, or whatever. It would be preferably referred to by that weight--a goldgram, say, and not bear any more abstract name like dollar or ducat.) Still further, private institutions should be allowed to issue notes payable in such metals. But these should be only gold or silver certificates, redeemable on demand in the respective quantities of the metals specified. The issuers should be required to hold at all times the full amount in metal of the notes they have issued, as a warehouse owner is required to hold at all times everything against which he has issued an outstanding warehouse receipt, on penalty of being prosecuted for fraud. And the courts should enforce all contracts made in good faith in such private currencies.

At first glance this proposal would seem to be much more restricted and hampering than the Hayek scheme. But it would, in fact--if it could be achieved--lead to an almost revolutionary monetary reform. The competition of foreign currencies and of private coins and certificates would bring almost immediate improvement in most national currencies. The governments would have to slow down or halt their inflations to get their own citizens to continue to use their government's money in preference to the most attractive foreign currencies, or to private gold or silver certificates.

But something far more important would happen. As the use of the private currencies expanded, a private gold standard would develop. And because of the restrictions placed on it, it would be a pure, a 100 percent, gold standard. The government fractional-reserve gold standard--which was the "classic" gold standard--was finally stretched and abused to the point where, in my opinion, it can never be restored by any single nation or even by a "world authority."

Worthy of Trust

But this, when one comes to think of it, will be ultimately a tremendous boon. For though people will probably again never trust a fractional-reserve gold standard, they will trust a full gold standard. And they will trust it the more if it is no longer in the exclusive custody of governments--consisting of vote-seeking politicians and vote-seeking officeholders--but also in private custody. The gold reserves will no longer be held solely in huge national piles--subject often to the overnight whim or ukase of a single man (Franklin D. Roosevelt or Richard Nixon). Gold coins will circulate, and be held by millions, and the gold reserves will be distributed among thousands of private vaults. The private certificate-issuers would not be allowed to treat--as governments have--this gold held in trust as if it had somehow become their own property. (In the U.S., that engine of inflation known as the Federal Reserve System would of course be abolished.)

Permitting private gold coinage and private gold-certificate issues will allow us to bring the world back to a pure gold standard. This has hitherto been considered an utterly hopeless project. As long as we were operating on a fractional-reserve gold standard, any attempt to return to a pure or 100 percent gold standard would have involved a devastating deflation, a ruinous fall of prices. But now that not only the United States, but every other nation, has abandoned a gold standard completely, the former problem no longer exists. The beginning of the new reform would bring a dual system of prices--prices in gold, and prices in the outstanding government paper money. In the transition period, prices would be stated in both currencies, until the government paper money either became worthless, or the issuing government itself returned to a gold standard and accepted its outstanding paper issues at a fixed conversion rate. (An example of this was the German acceptance of a trillion old paper marks for a new rentenmark--and finally gold mark--after 1923.)

Subsidiary Coinage

Government-issued money did supply a uniform subsidiary coinage. It is hard (though not impossible) to see how a private currency could solve this problem satisfactorily. Perhaps governments could be trusted to continue to mint a uniform subsidiary coinage and keep a 100 percent gold reserve at least against this.

But apart from such comparatively minor problems, I can see no great difficulties in the way of a private money. The main problem is not economic; it is political. It is how we can get governments voluntarily to repeal their legal tender laws and to surrender their monopoly of money issue. I confess I cannot see how this political problem is going to be solved. But it is the urgent and immediate goal to which every libertarian, and every citizen who can recognize the great jeopardy in which we all stand, should now direct his efforts."

US FED Policies, impact of debt-dollar on citizens here & abroad

http://seek2know.gaia.com — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 15:59:43 GMT

It helps to view us from a third party perspective, since our media do not give us the true picture. Following is compiled from an Indian Business Journal.

Value of dollar compared to Euro depreciated 75% in real terms and 290% in terms of gold between 2002-2007

By repeated interest cuts by Alan Greenspan, from 20 per cent
to just 1 per cent in 20 years from 1981 to 2001, the US Fed got US
households addicted to buying regardless of needs. Fed policies simply shifted economic power from families to corporates by promoting compulsive household buying
The direct effect of the very policies forced the Federal government to take over household responsibilities by state-organised social security. It is a
fascinating story, even a frightening one, because the US Fed is, in
substance, today the central banker for the global financial system, whose
policies are adopted, or forced to be adopted, by many countries.

The US savings rate to GDP, which was 18 per cent in 1970s, first
came down to 9 per cent in 1990, then to an average of 2.8 per cent in 10
years from 1996 to 2005 and finally to a negative figure of 0.6 per cent in
2006.

US households have handed over all their money to the corporations and become indebted, like Indian farmers have. An average American is addicted to 13 credit obligations, 9 credit cards and 4 instalment loans! It is difficult to de-addict them today.

Wall Street obsession
As Fed cut interest rates, more and more US households threw their money in stocks in search of higher returns. In 1981, when Fed rate was 20 per cent, some 5.7 per cent US households had held stocks. When, in 1990, the interest rate was cut to 8 per cent and less, some 25 per cent households frequented Wall Street, a five-fold increase in 10 years. When, in the year 2001, Fed rates were 1 per cent, some 52 per cent of the US households became obsessed with Wall Street, a ten-fold increase in 20 years.
appreciation in house values, like appreciation in stock values, also
encouraged the households to borrow and spend. This has led to the sub-prime crisis in US.
Thus, the US Fed policy that intended to shift money from households to corporates and family responsibility from households to government seems to have worked to perfection.
US consumption drives global economy. But who funds the US
consumption? The very countries that sell goods to the US, like China and
Japan, Korea and Taiwan, Malaysia and Indonesia, Hong Kong and Singapore, and finally, India too. Their dollar reserves represent moneys lent to the US to help the US buy goods from them, like a shopkeeper lending money to his clients and asking them to buy his goods. It’s worse in fact. It is more like the shopkeeper selling his goods on credit against the client’s pro-notes.

After all, in the end, the $3.8 trillion securities held by other countries are
merely pro-notes of the US. Are they not just unpaid vendors? The pro-notes held by them are losing value by the day and hour against the euro, gold, oil and also against the rupee
Trade Liberalization: The Fed’s spend-beyond-incomes policy risked domestic inflation. To de-risk against it, the US government had to go for liberalised imports, cut the import tariffs and make import of foreign goods cheap in the US. So trade liberalisation became more a domestic compulsion of the US rather than, as it pretends, a global obligation.

Consequently, the US began buying more goods and services from the rest of the world, than it supplied to them. This led to in increasing deficit on the US current account with the rest of the world. Once this trend started, it intensified like virus. The numbers are startling. In five years from 2000 to 2004 alone, the deficit had aggregated to $2.5 trillion – more than eight times the aggregate for the previous 10 years ($300 billion between 1990-1999) ! Meaning that during the five years 2000-2004, the US has borrowed $2.5 trillion from other countries to settle its current account deficit.

Source: http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2007/12/21/stories/2007122150250800.htm
_________
In my view this is what happens because of false perception of money and our financial systems and institutions of capitalism build to uphold and maintain that. Currency itself must not be privatized or monopolized in few hands in order for citizens to reamin debt-free and for them to create fair, equitable, transparent and sustainable market economy. thus the Vicious cycle of capital(dollar) issued as an instrument of all public/private Debt and circulated with usury (both inside and outside) leads us to dead-ends. And the time has come when no amount of financial innovation, shuffling or rearrangements is going to bail us out from this deluded and fraudulant system.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_8pLpI5rzKI&feature=related

Question is how do we as conscious citizens mindfully build a fair, sustainable and secure currency system based on right view (as in nobel 8 fold path of Buddha) of currency, economy and free market that serves our true needs and aspirations, nurtures our human potentials, builds community, restores dignity instead of preying on our fears, delusions, greed and aversions?

"All things are preceded by the mind, led by the mind, created by the mind." - Buddha

Re: Creative Capitalism: Transcript and video of Bill Gates at Da

http://seek2know.gaia.com — Sun, 02 Mar 2008 16:16:15 GMT

Thanks for the link c4~. I see Bill as a good person, evolving to greater understanding of capitalism, in the sense of emphasizing corporate responsibility and creative opportunity to help those who are suffering and dying and left out of the process.

Yet to say 'capitalism' is the only way, or market force is the only way to bring greater good, progress and well-being is to say 'bible' or 'vedas' is the only source of truth. Self interest leads to greater good, but which 'self'' is leading the way - the fragmented ego, alter-ego healthy ego, transpersonal self or buddha nature or non-dual self?

Attended a BPF regional meeting yesterday in Cincinnati with David Loy and other wonderful people. This is one member Richard's site.

http://dharmastudy.org/article/49/saturday-may-19th-canki-sutta

Perhaps I am hoping for the impossible, yet once there is seeing there must be engaging. We need to create mindful partnership models and bridges at all levels, stages, states and structures. And a debt-free, transparent, sustainable trust currency of the people, by the people, for the people that allows that.... higher creative potential in each individual and collective social evolutionary processes emerge in harmony and joy.

Cheers
mita

Creative Capitalism: Transcript and video of Bill Gates at Davos

http://coolmel.gaia.com — Sun, 02 Mar 2008 09:48:03 GMT

Below is a transcript and video of Bill Gates' speech at Davos wherein he called for Creative Capitalism.

Bill Gates: World Economic Forum 2008

Remarks by Bill Gates, Chairman, Microsoft Corporation
World Economic Forum 2008
“A New Approach to Capitalism in the 21st Century”
Davos, Switzerland
Jan. 24, 2008

see: http://www.microsoft.com/Presspass/exec/billg/speeches/2008/01-24WEFDavos.mspx

Here's the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ql-Mtlx31e8

Re: 'Money & Soul' from Wild River Review

http://seek2know.gaia.com — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 15:06:04 GMT

Hey Jamie

Good to see your face. Thanks for that inspiring link. Grameen bank's example puts traditional banking to shame and restores the dignity of women's worth and women's lives in some of the poorest areas in the planet. Dropping Knowledge asked Yunus "Are women better human beings?" (not my question)

Also came across this Neweconomist blog on different trends on women's wealth in the US and UK...interesting. Now do me a favor just put one two line wish of yours how you see new currency. I feel there is a new currency goddess in you ;)

'Money & Soul' from Wild River Review

http://ivysea.gaia.com — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 22:31:45 GMT

The current edition of Wild River Review continues their 'Money and Soul' series, with articles about Grameen Bank, FUDECE in Ecuador, DJ T'challah (Storied Music - You Can't Buy Soul), and more.

The lead-in to this edition starts with, " Can money buy soul? Or, can money ease the soul, allowing it a place to rest and flourish?"

Read more at Wild River Review.

Peace,
Jamie

Re: Imagine your ideal dream economy and new currency here~

http://seek2know.gaia.com — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 14:37:08 GMT

Great to hear from you Peter and thanks for the links.

Just took a little visit to your site, see much new material. Hope to browse a few like your section on economics.

i'm most interested in people's personal reflections, and wishes that grow out of their unique journey...since you seem to be doing a lot of that. You also seem to have travelled a lot and seen much.

So please jot down a few pithy reflections that comes from your heart here .

Thanks for sharing.

Peace

Re: Imagine your ideal dream economy and new currency here~

http://pethere.gaia.com — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 18:12:03 GMT

Below some ideas and resources:

http://reinventingmoney.com/library.html
http://circ2.home.mindspring.com/
http://www.timebanks.org/

Imagine your ideal dream economy and new currency here~

http://seek2know.gaia.com — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 04:55:21 GMT

Hello my friends. Our collective creative thoughts and dreams can energize the intention of this pod and give the collective intention experiment set in motion here a boost.

Tune into your power to imagine....give it a free reign here and jot down a few lines or phrases that comes up now in this present moment...

Note: See and feel what you like to see and experience instead of what you do not like and release it openly like zaadz seeds.

I imagine living in a healthy whole new economy where .....

My dream currency have these features ...

Thanks so much for your attention and help. I'm getting goose bumps writing it!!!

Peace & Joy
mita

New Money Conferences at Chicago, Mexico & Seattle Feb-Apr 2008

http://seek2know.gaia.com — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 04:18:50 GMT

I am posting after a long time. Please check my blog on Deep conscious capitalism for latest posts.

Also if you happen to live nearby Chicago or Seattle check out these conferences on open money and transparent debt free money. If you cannot attend you can still participate by registering.

http://unmoney.planetwork.net/

http://openmoney.ning.com/mexico

"Whoever controls the money system controls the nation."
Stephen Zarlenga, Director

FREE Monetary Seminar for Chicago Area People,
Wednesday February 27, 2008

http://www.monetary.org

Also I was invited to present by the newly formed Central KY Healing Arts Association
on March 4, 6-8 PM at public Library.

NEXT GROUP MEETING: March 4, 2008 from 6-8pm at the Tates Creek Library Public Library meeting room. Susmita Barua will be speaking to attendees.

The topic is DEEP CONSCIOUS CAPITALISM
How to change the system mindfully

Susmita is a spiritual visionary, sacred activist and life coach and this is a topic she has been passionate about for past seven years.

See the blog Engaged Buddhism on her site http://www.seek2know.net
http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/CentralKYHealingArtsAssociation/

Also see my new blog and Ron Paul's upcoming book The Revolution: a manifesto
http://aha2008.wordpress.com

Peace & Joy

Financial Pyramid Building Techniques by Microsoft

http://seek2know.gaia.com — Thu, 03 Jan 2008 18:37:29 GMT

Following is quoted from the updated 2007 blog of Bill Parish, Owner of Investment Management and Research Services. There is a lot to think about if some of what he has uncovered is true.
-------------
The fundamental problem is that Microsoft is incurring massive losses and only by accounting illusions are they able to show a profit. Specifically, Microsoft is granting excessive amounts of stock options that are allowing the company to understate its costs. You might ask yourself, what would happen to Microsoft's stock price if the public suddenly realized that they lost $10 billion in 1999 rather than earning the reported $7.8 billion? If 80 percent of its stock value or roughly $400 billion is the result of a pyramid scheme, one might also ask what kind of effect this could have on the retirement system. It is also important to note that this is a relatively new situation that did not occur before 1995. Microsoft has always been a highly valued stock and that might have been justified prior to 1995.

This situation is not about stock valuation, product quality or whether or not Microsoft has monopoly power in its markets. Nor is it part of a pro or anti-Microsoft movement. This situation is instead a shining example of financial fraud and corruption enabled by bad government policy. If not quickly and aggressively addressed, we will all be losers as credibility in our financial markets is destroyed.

The Financial Pyramid At Microsoft Is Now Accelerating

One need only examine the State Teachers Retirement System of California to see the impact. This one system now owns more than 16 million Microsoft shares with a current market value of $1.4 billion due to its commitment of indexing based upon the S&P 500. If 80 percent of this value is the result of a pyramid scheme, based upon manipulating a breakdown in the accounting rules, that would imply a future loss of $1.1 billion to the teachers of California. It is unfortunate that teachers will bear this loss when they are already struggling to keep pace with inflation. To confirm this amount one need only contact James Wollman, CEO of the California State Teachers Retirement System. This is just one public retirement plan in one state.

Microsoft is a Cash Machine but Where Does the Cash Come From? Source LINK

IF YOU HAVE ANY PERSONAL EXPERIENCE PLEASE SHARE

---

Fudging Financial Statements and Deceptive Accounting Enron-style

http://seek2know.gaia.com — Thu, 03 Jan 2008 17:53:33 GMT

This is an old news, but the deceptive techniques are still continuing I'm sure in the high office towers of the corporate world and the world of investment banking and finance.

------

Citigroup Deals Helped Enron To Disguise Its Debts as Trades

By JATHON SAPSFORD and PAUL BECKETT
Staff Reporters of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

Citigroup Inc. arranged an unusual financing technique for Enron Corp. that enabled the energy trader to appear rich in cash rather than saddled with debt, according to internal documents of both companies.

Details of the controversial arrangement are only now coming to light as Congress turns to probing the role played by Enron's banks in enabling its illusory growth.

In a series of deals known as Yosemite, the documents show, Citigroup's complex scheme helped Enron borrow money over the past three years that was booked as coming from trades instead of loans. The deals, involving bond offerings and trades with an offshore entity, helped boost the company's weak cash flow to match its growth in paper profits, at a time when the gap between the two had grown to as much as $1 billion a year, according to one Enron memo.

Re: Mortagage Foreclosures Skyrocketting: Up 42% in 2006

http://raf.gaia.com — Mon, 31 Dec 2007 00:32:17 GMT

I haven't posted here for a while as I've been posting mainly on my blogs.

What I would say is we are experiencing the beginning of the fall out from the extended credit binge of the last 16 years. There will be at least 2 more years of pain for those in debt and for the rest of the economy. Asset values could fall further as the impact spreads throughout the system.

No amount of paper shuffling will cover over the cracks.

Simply put there has been too much money created and asset prices have inflated well beyond what the underlying economy can support.

In the UK now house prices are starting to fall. If the contagion spreads then it could become much worse. Gold will go through $1000/oz as people grasp at something tangible. The manipulations of the oil price will continue to cause inflationary concerns.

In short we are stuffed.

If people are haviung problems they need to see a debt counsellor or citizens advice. I work as a volunteer budget advisor and constantly see peopl struggling with debts they simply cannot pay.

It's time to batten down your hatches and make sure you don't take on any unnecessary debt. Do a budget and look at your cashflow.

Best wishes to all for 2008 :-)

Re: Mortagage Foreclosures HELP

http://seek2know.gaia.com — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 14:43:26 GMT

Good for you. Wish many people can do what you did. I got the following email in my box. Posting it here for whoever needs help. Please pass it to friends in need.

------------------
From: Allen Media Strategies <aaron@allenmediastrategies.com>
Date: Dec 18, 2007 8:16 AM
Subject: Mortgage Crisis of 2007/2008: Interview the Mortgage Survival Guide Authors

Mortgage Crisis Interview Opportunity: available through 12/14-12/22

The Bush administration has introduced a plan to freeze interest rates for some subprime mortgages. Their plan is to combat an avalanche of feared foreclosures, as an estimated two million subprime mortgages reset from lower introductory rates to higher rates. In many cases, the higher rates will boost homeowner's monthly payments by as much as 30 percent, making it impossible for many people to keep current with their loans and force them into foreclosure.

UNFORTUNATELY, THE WHITE HOUSE PLAN WON'T HELP MILLIONS OF HOMEOWNERS WHO ARE ALREADY BEHIND IN THEIR PAYMENTS AND ARE ABOUT TO SPEND THEIR LAST CHRISTMAS AT HOME, BEFORE LOSING IT TO FORECLOSURE. HOW CAN THOSE PEOPLE, INCLUDING MANY OF YOUR LISTENERS, GET THE HELP THEY NEED?

Book an interview today with Jeff Wynn and Frank Curtin, the authors of "THE MORTGAGE SURVIVAL GUIDE" and the driving force behind the 5000 Families Initiative (http://www.5000families.org/) .

The U.S. housing crisis has reached such epidemic proportions, that Wynn and Curtin are giving away their MORTGAGE SURVIVAL GUIDE program online, with no strings attached! The home-saving plan has proved so helpful that faith-based organizations in their home market of Dallas-Ft. Worth are already incorporating THE MORTGAGE SURVIVAL GUIDE into their community outreach offerings!

The 5000Families.org Mission is to help families resolve their mortgage problem and reach a higher quality of life through education, tools, and professional support specifically designed to have a measurable impact on families and their communities.

To book a telephone interview with Jeff Wynn or Frank Curtin regarding the mortgage foreclosure crisis, contact:

Aaron Leistner

Director of Client Services

Allen Media Strategies

Washington,DC

(703) 589-8960

aaron@allenmediastrategies.com

Re: Mortagage Meltdown: The real story is fraud 9/12/2007

http://grantdwalker.gaia.com — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 04:08:22 GMT

I read this article a few days ago. It was a bit of a surprise, I hadn't worked out the freeze myself. This could be getting close. My family and I are experiencing true freedom. No credit, no insurance, no car...no worries.

Re: Mortagage Meltdown: The real story is fraud 9/12/2007

http://seek2know.gaia.com — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 03:46:32 GMT

Mortgage meltdown
Interest rate 'freeze' - the real story is fraud

SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE DEC 9, 2007

New proposals to ease our great mortgage meltdown keep rolling in. First the Treasury Department urged the creation of a new fund that would buy risky mortgage bonds as a tactic to hide what those bonds were really worth. (Not much.) Then the idea was to use Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to buy the risky loans, even if it was clear that U.S. taxpayers would eventually be stuck with the bill. But that plan went south after Fannie suffered a new accounting scandal, and Freddie's existing loan losses shot up more than expected.

Now, just unveiled Thursday, comes the "freeze," the brainchild of Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson. It sounds good: For five years, mortgage lenders will freeze interest rates on a limited number of "teaser" subprime loans. Other homeowners facing foreclosure will be offered assistance from the Federal Housing Administration.

But unfortunately, the "freeze" is just another fraud - and like the other bailout proposals, it has nothing to do with U.S. house prices, with "working families," keeping people in their homes or any of that nonsense.

The sole goal of the freeze is to prevent owners of mortgage-backed securities, many of them foreigners, from suing U.S. banks and forcing them to buy back worthless mortgage securities at face value - right now almost 10 times their market worth.

The ticking time bomb in the U.S. banking system is not resetting subprime mortgage rates. The real problem is the contractual ability of investors in mortgage bonds to require banks to buy back the loans at face value if there was fraud in the origination process.

And, to be sure, fraud is everywhere. It's in the loan application documents, and it's in the appraisals. There are e-mails and memos floating around showing that many people in banks, investment banks and appraisal companies - all the way up to senior management - knew about it.

Read the rest here.

Any thoughts or insights? BTW Grant i hope things are going well and unburdened for you.
I can't imagine what many families facing foreclosures are going through.

Gaia: Transforming the "Capital" in Capitalism ~ Change The System

Re: The Limits of Money

Re: New Money Conferences at Chicago, Mexico & Seattle Feb-Apr 20

Re: Imagine your ideal dream economy and new currency here~

Re: Imagine your ideal dream economy and new currency here~

Re: Imagine your ideal dream economy and new currency here~

US FED Policies, impact of debt-dollar on citizens here & abroad

Re: Creative Capitalism: Transcript and video of Bill Gates at Da

Creative Capitalism: Transcript and video of Bill Gates at Davos

Bill Gates: World Economic Forum 2008

Re: 'Money & Soul' from Wild River Review

'Money & Soul' from Wild River Review

Re: Imagine your ideal dream economy and new currency here~

Re: Imagine your ideal dream economy and new currency here~

Imagine your ideal dream economy and new currency here~

New Money Conferences at Chicago, Mexico & Seattle Feb-Apr 2008

Financial Pyramid Building Techniques by Microsoft

Fudging Financial Statements and Deceptive Accounting Enron-style

Re: Mortagage Foreclosures Skyrocketting: Up 42% in 2006

Re: Mortagage Foreclosures HELP

Re: Mortagage Meltdown: The real story is fraud 9/12/2007

Re: Mortagage Meltdown: The real story is fraud 9/12/2007

Mortgage meltdown Interest rate 'freeze' - the real story is fraud

Mortgage meltdown
Interest rate 'freeze' - the real story is fraud