Goldman Sachs: Something to think about...

you're not paranoid if they really are out to get you.

And you say, “No.  How is that possible?  How can that be?  How can Goldman Sachs be running at 545 times leverage relative to its assets?”  And the answer is, because Goldman Sachs and the United States government are, for all intents and purposes, the SAME. FISCAL. ENTITY.  And if anybody has any explanation other than that, I would love to hear it.  And again, I would just encourage you to look at the people who are populating the United States government, the bureaucracy, the federal reserve banks.  And look at their CVs.  Where did these people come from?  They came from Goldman.  ‘Kay?  Again, I don’t like the whole conspiracy theory worldview, but sometimes it’s real.  And when it is real, you have to be brave enough to face it.  That’s it.  Ann Barnhardt

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Michael Snyder:  5 U.S. Banks Each Have More Than 40 Trillion Dollars In Exposure To Derivatives

When is the U.S. banking system going to crash?  I can sum it up in three words.  Watch the derivatives.  It used to be only four, but now there are five “too big to fail” banks in the United States that each have more than 40 trillion dollars in exposure to derivatives.  Today, the U.S. national debt is sitting at a grand total of about 17.7 trillion dollars, so when we are talking about 40 trillion dollars we are talking about an amount of money that is almost unimaginable.  And unlike stocks and bonds, these derivatives do not represent “investments” in anything.  They can be incredibly complex, but essentially they are just paper wagers about what will happen in the future.  The truth is that derivatives trading is not too different from betting on baseball or football games.  Trading in derivatives is basically just a form of legalized gambling, and the “too big to fail” banks have transformed Wall Street into the largest casino in the history of the planet.  When this derivatives bubble bursts (and as surely as I am writing this it will), the pain that it will cause the global economy will be greater than words can describe.

If derivatives trading is so risky, then why do our big banks do it?

The answer to that question comes down to just one thing.

Greed.

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