Original source URL: http://worldvisionportal.org/WVPforum/viewtopic.php?t=160 Posted: Sat 07 Feb, 2004 Cooking the Books: U.S. Banks are Giant Casinos by Michael Edward While media financial reporters keep the current focus of the public eye on Martha Stewart, the insolvency of U.S. banks due to their derivative holdings is being swept under the carpet. Because banks have not been making a profit from traditional lending, derivatives became a fantastic way for them to net huge gains by trying to guess (gamble on) future prices of commodities or stocks. They were able to take these gambling risks because the Fed is supposed to back them from losses that would make them insolvent (more liabilities than assets). The worst part is that derivative transactions stay off the books and away from the prying eyes of investors and analysts. U.S. interest rates being kept low by the Federal Reserve System (which is neither Federal nor does it have any intrinsic reserves) is to simply hide the hundreds of $Billions ($100 Billion U.S. Dollars = $100,000,000,000) of derivative losses and the true insolvency of U.S. banks. The moment interest rates start to run up, U.S. banks will be left holding little paper value assets to offset their vast derivative gambling losses. U.S. stock markets are being manipulated to show overall value gains and "profits" is to keep U.S. banks "paper solvent". In reality, the public is being conned into thinking that U.S. banks are still solvent because they show "gains" in their stock "paper" value. If the U.S. markets were not manipulated, U.S. banks would collapse overnight along with the entire U.S. economy. U.S. banks are merging with each other to hide their derivative losses with "paper asset" bookeeping that incorrectly shows they are solvent with enough "assets" to overcome their losses. In reality, this is smoke and mirror accounting, a scam worth $Trillions. U.S. banks - with the privately owned Federal Reserve System at the helm - have turned into giant casinos by running a Casino Economy that is splintering into vast piles of insolvent firewood. The kindling was lit in the early 1990's, but now a bonfire is raging with great plumes of red-ink smoke. Can the Fed and the Fed-controlled media keep the public from seeing that red smoke with their manipulative mirrors? If the public would just open their eyes and wake up, they would see what's really going on, so here's something to focus your eyes on: The top 25 U.S. banks with the largest derivatives holdings (estimate based on OCC Q3-2003 report and updated from news releases since 10/03). Remember, $1 Billion U.S. Dollars = $1,000,000,000. RANK - BANK NAME - DERIVATIVES (in $US BILLIONS) 1 - JPMORGAN CHASE BANK - 33,700 ($33 Trillion, 700 Billion) 2 - BANK OF AMERICA - 13,800 3 - CITIGROUP - 11,000 4 - WACHOVIA CORPORATION - 2,457 5 - BANK ONE CORPORATION - 1,133 6 - HSBC - 1,043 7 - WELLS FARGO BANK NA - 911 ($911 Billion) 8 - FLEET BOSTON - 494 9 - BANK OF NEW YORK - 496 10 - COUNTRY WIDE FINANCIAL - 410 11 - STATE STREET - 320 12 - TAUNUS - 307 13 - NATIONAL CITY - 203 14 - ABN AMRO - 188 15 - MELLON - 153 16 - KEYCORP - 98 ($98 Billion) 17 - SUNTRUST - 82 18 - FIRST TENNESSEE BANK NA - 58 19 - U S BAN CORP - 54 20 - PNC BANK NATIONAL ASSN - 45 21 - DORAL - 31 22 - NORTHERN TRUST - 25 23 - CIBC DELAWARE - 25 24 - METLIFE - 22 25 - UTRECHT-AMERICA - 20 If you want to get a hint at how much red ink your U.S. bank casino is swimming in, look at their latest financial report and keep an eye out for an entry such as, "adjustment of derivative financial instruments" or "adjustment of non-interest instruments". If they list such an "adjustment" (most do not), this means they have written off the losses incurred from their derivative gambling. If you bank with one of the 25 banks listed above, you can expect worse than the 1986-1990 Savings & Loan bank collapses when people were unable to remove all or most of their money from their accounts until years later. This time, you can expect to loose whatever they claim to "hold" for you because the FDIC and the "Fed" have no means to replace the losses with any intrinsic value. If you choose to keep accounts with these U.S. banks, you have just become a high-stakes gambler, and the odds are stacked against you. Non-commercial reproduction allowed, otherwise copyright 2004 by WorldVisionPortal.Org -- -------------------------------------------------------- Escaping the Matrix website http://escapingthematrix.org/ cyberjournal website http://cyberjournal.org subscribe cyberjournal list mailto:•••@••.••• Posting archives http://cyberjournal.org/show_archives/ Blogs: cyberjournal forum http://cyberjournal-rkm.blogspot.com/ Achieving real democracy http://harmonization.blogspot.com/ for readers of ETM http://matrixreaders.blogspot.com/ Community Empowerment http://empowermentinitiatives.blogspot.com/ Blogger made easy http://quaylargo.com/help/ezblogger.html
