"Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one's courage." - Anaïs Nin

The fact that Sanader intervened in the bank at least 13 times was uncovered by the heads of the Hypo Alpe Adria bank in a report on the banks status they were obliged to send to the Austrian national bank. Events surrounding the bank, following many years of agony that were marred by various scandals, ignited an unbelievable drama in Austria only a few days ago. At the end of the dramatic sequence of events it was decided that the bank would returned to state ownership, and that prior to this all of its co-owners would have to deposit onto the banks account hundreds of millions of euro, but also that some of the losses would be recuperated from the Austrian taxpayer through the state budget.

That was the primary reason for establishing the Soko Hypo special investigation unit, which will be comprised of ten financial and business experts. The unit could finally shed some light on the numerous suspicious business transactions of the Hypo Alpe Adria bank, in which, at various levels, a number of influential Croatians, led by former Prime Minister Ivo Sanader, Ivic Pasalic and Vladimir Zagorec, were involved. When reporting on the issue, the Austrian media have begun using the opportune acronym K.u.K. - Kroatien und Korruption (Croatia and corruption). In Austria the dramatic outcome of the Hypo Alpe Adria bank crisis, created an altogether new situation, which could assist Croatian authorities in the search for money stolen from funds intended for Croatia's defence. Because of the bank's large losses in Austria, previous investigations had already been initiated, but the circumstances were somewhat different. Informed financial circles in Austria confirmed for Nacional that during those investigations there may have been some calculating, so as to not directly harm Austrian interests, and the Hypo Alpe Adria bank's business in Austria, as well as in Croatia. An Austrian political source confirmed for Nacional that these circumstances are different this time around. It is predicted that the special investigation unit will, this time around, not calculate at all in its investigation of illegalities, specifically with regards to those connected to the bank's business dealings in Croatia.

Nacional learned from informed legal sources that last week the competent Austrian institutions once again contacted the Croatia State Attorney's Office, in an effort to intensify cooperation that is ongoing since the extradition of Vladimir Zagorec as a result of the gem scandal. A date has not yet been set as to when Soko Hypo representatives will meet with representatives from the Croatian State Attorney's Office, but it will happen very quickly. "We agreed to intensify our already good cooperation and concluded that the issue in question is very serious, in which we must reciprocally assist one another, because that is the only way to bring things to a conclusion. Our Austrian colleagues told us that they too could not complete their investigations without Croatian assistance, and we informed them that we could not resolve some of our open issues without Austrian help. We cannot do this individually, both sides are aware of this, and now we can begin to talk of the launch of a new phase of cooperation, which will certainly lead to good results," an informed legal source in Croatia told Nacional.

And that isn't even the real issue.  The real issue is that, as I understand it, if you can't produce the note, then the MBSes don't legally exist.

So the assets don't exist.  So the creditworthiness isn't there anymore.  And presumably there's leveraging involved here.  And credit moves trigger options in other deals.

And those are just the cases where they thought they were putting out legitimate MBSes.  Which it now seems they were not (seriously, read that).

So, yeah, I'm thinking this is pretty much Armageddon.

Be nice to America. Or we'll bring democracy to your country.

In the end, we are probably thinking of this as a problem for the monied classes, when it is probably just another chess move in the game of squeezing all the assets out of the middle class. They probably don't see any of these marbles dropping on the floor as a problem at all.

Thus, the answer is, "Which ship?" Certainly not the one that they are on.

U.S. Constitution: Article I
  Clause 18. Necessary and Proper Clause
The Congress shall have Power To lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defence and general Welfare of the United States; but all Duties, Imposts and Excises shall be uniform throughout the United States;

bla bla bla

To make all Laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into Execution the foregoing Powers, and all other Powers vested by this Constitution in the Government of the United States, or in any Department or Officer thereof.

Article 2
  Clause 2
Bla bla...but the Congress may by Law vest the Appointment of such inferior Officers, as they think proper, in the President alone, in the Courts of Law, or in the Heads of Departments.

And thus is the basis for the whateverthefucktheywanttodotoprotecttheirdonorsClause

Never underestimate their intelligence, always underestimate their knowledge.

Frank Delaney ~ Ireland

Another market crash led by a slaughter of the financials, that's what's next.

Unless Obama pulls a TARP within days.

By laying out pros and cons we risk inducing people to join the debate, and losing control of a process that only we fully understand. - Alan Greenspan

So we have a step forward in analyzing your equation.

;-)


Ever since I learnt about confirmation bias I've started seeing it everywhere

Although the creator of DSM-III had this to say about the secrecy with which DSM-5 is being drafted:

Robert Spitzer, the head of the DSM-III task force, has publicly criticized the APA for mandating that DSM-5 task force members sign a nondisclosure agreement, effectively conducting the whole process in secret: "When I first heard about this agreement, I just went bonkers."

above-average creativity

that is absolutely the most terrifying disease, one we should all fear and medicate into oblivion!

how can we hope for the triumph of the banal and victory of the mediocre unless we scythe these 'tall poppies' down to the level of the honest weeds that thrive around our ankles?

get treatment early and often, until your creativity comes down to a readout tolerably close to zero. only then you too can raise the proud banner of sanity and feel normal.

a rapid jump from vonnegut straight into huxley world...

It's a fine line between homage, parody, and consumer opportunism. Jess Walter

Kudos to Dr. Wagers and the other authors for their intellectual honesty.  

Ever since I learnt about confirmation bias I've started seeing it everywhere