>>> THE PLUNGE PROTECTION TEAM <<<

[link to www.ernharth.com]

Ye Olde Plunge Protection Team Going Global.

John Crudele has a fine article updating folks on recent news making the rounds (Wall Street Journal: ) that new Treasury Secretary and former Goldman Sachs CEO, Henry Paulson, is ratcheting up the day to day operations at the shadowy Working Group on Financial Markets (referred to often as just “the Working Group”).

Created by an executive order from Ronald Reagan in 1988 in response to the massive and sharp plunge of the U.S. equity markets in 1987, it is dubbed by critics as the “Plunge Protection Team” (PPT). The stated goal of the order was to “enhance the integrity, efficiency, orderliness, and competitiveness of our Nation’s financial markets” as well as “maintaining investor confidence.”

As best can be discerned from the shadowy group is that the PPT every now and then deems it necessary to intervene in the open market to correct the fallibility of market emotion. Traders in the trenches often talk about mysteriously large and loud “Hail Mary trades” that appear in the options markets providing support at key levels for the various indexes. Many chalk a few of these up to the PPT.

Well, we’re told by the Wall Street Journal that Paulson wants the PPT to meet every six weeks instead of its ordinary every couple of months. He’s stressed that he wants the team to expand its work on global competitiveness of the US markets. Easing the absurd regulation is not a bad thing, although one might question why this is not a matter for a less secretive part of the administration that handles the economy.

But the WSJ also points out the real kicker: “Mr. Paulson is having the Working Group look at the systemic risk posed by hedge funds and derivatives, and the government’s ability to respond to a financial crisis, officials said… He has ordered his chief of staff, Jim Wilkinson, to oversee the creation of a Treasury command center to track markets world-wide and serve as an operations base in a crisis. The center would revive a market-monitoring room closed in a 2003 budget cut. Mr. Wilkinson has relevant experience: A former spokesman for the U.S. in Iraq, he was a White House aide during the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.”

Woahhohhhoahhh!

Get that right? A “command center” for intervening in global markets? What is it that they’re fearing that were not being told about? How will they go about doing what they do and who will be in charge and why? Don’t forget, higher ups in the Federal Reserve supported intervention in the markets to fix problems back in the day when the PPT was created.

From where do you think the purchasing power to save the market and the economy - all of us, from all our imperfections — will come? As G. Edward Griffin points out in his book, The Creature from Jekyll Island (the insidious details of Federal Reserve and Central Banking), the preordained name of the game is bailout!

Skeptics point out that the collapse that started in 2000 proves there is no PPT or, for that matter, its sibling, the “Greenspan Put”. But defenders point out that such intervention never has the power to totally halt a market hell-bent on making a downward move, but it can shore up a market that is thinking about it. But once the dam breaks, then you really have to look out.

Are you taking note?

MORE INFO HERE:


[link to www.godlikeproductions.com]


[link to godlikeproductions.com]

Rigging the Market: the secret maneuverings of the Plunge Protection Team.

by Mike Whitney.

[link to www.informationclearinghouse.info]

09/14/06 "Information Clearing House" -- -- “Every individual…generally, indeed, neither intends to promote the public interest, nor knows how much he is promoting it. By preferring the support of domestic to that of foreign industry he intends only his own security; and by directing that industry in such a manner as its produce may be of the greatest value, he intends only his own gain, and he is in this, as in many other cases, led by an invisible hand to promote an end which was no part of his intention.” Adam Smith, “The Wealth of Nations”

The Plunge Protection Team is a working group of high-ranking officials from the Dept. of the Treasury, Wall Street, and the Federal Reserve. Its purpose is to establish the protocols for preventing another incident similar to the stock market crash of 1987. In the event of a steep decline, the team is prepared to buy large amounts of equities in an effort to stabilize the market.

Some people believe that the government has no right to interfere in the activities of “free markets”. Others think it is a prudent way of staving off economic collapse. Still others believe that the intrusion of government, aided by the privately-owned Federal Reserve and the NYSE, naturally favors the larger institutional investors and creates an uneven playing field for small investors.

Whatever side one is on, it is proof-positive that “free markets” are merely a public relations myth with no basis in reality. The preservation of the system takes precedent over the lip-service to ideology; the “invisible hand” will always be overpowered by the manicured and mettlesome fingers of banking elites and Wall Street big wigs. This is their system and they’re not going to let it be obliterated by some foolish commitment to principle.

The Plunge Protection Team was first uncovered in comments by Clinton advisor, George Stephanopoulos on Good Morning America on Sept 17, 2001. Here’s what Stephanopoulos said:

“Well, what I wanted to talk about for a few minutes is the various efforts that are going on in public and behind the scenes by the Fed and other government officials to guard against a free-fall in the markets….perhaps the most important the Fed in 1989 created what is called the Plunge Protection Team, which is the Federal Reserve, big major banks, representatives of the New York Stock Exchange and the other exchanges and they have been meeting informally so far, and they have a kind of an informal agreement among major banks to come in and start to buy stock if there appears to be a problem. They have in the past acted more formally… I don’t know if you remember but in 1998, there was a crisis called the Long term Capital Crisis. It was a major currency trader and there was a global currency crisis. And they, with the guidance of the Fed, all of the banks got together when it started to collapse and propped up the currency markets. And, they have plans in place to consider that if the markets start to fall.”

Stephanopoulos comments are hardly shocking. They simply underscore the fact that “deregulation” has created an economic monster which requires more and more tinkering from the stewards of the system. Without the stopgaps provided by the Plunge Protection Team and the actions of similar organizations which forestall business bankruptcies, (bailouts) the whole over-leveraged system would quickly crash and burn. The irony is that the same corporate kingpins and banking moguls who’ve benefited the most from removing the rules for prudent investment are now trying to create a safety net for when it inevitably begins to unravel.

It won’t work. The numbers are too large. Trillions of dollars are presently held in shaky hedge funds and derivatives markets. If the market takes a steep and sudden downturn, there’s nothing anyone will be able to do.

John Crudele of the New York Post has done extensive research on the Plunge Protection Team (aka; the Working Group on Financial Markets) and provides the blueprint for “rigging” the markets when catastrophe hits. The idea came from an a former member of the Federal Reserve Board named Robert Heller who suggested that “instead of flooding the entire economy with liquidity, and thereby increasing the risk of inflation, the Fed could support the stock market directly by buying market averages in the futures market, thus stabilizing the market as a whole.”

Whatever happened to the idea of completing the “market cycle” and allowing markets to self-correct? What about the ethical question of whether government manipulation should be permitted in a “free market”? And, who gives the government and the privately-owned banks the right to interfere in the equities markets and snatch up zillions of futures in order to prop up the unstable and debt-ridden system.

No doubt, the supporters of these drastic measures are the same “market purists” who appear frequently on the business channel extolling the virtues of the “free market” in the most lyrical language as though they were gazing at the subtle and wondrous workings of the universe. Once the pretense is stripped away, they're exposed as unprincipled phonies trying to stitch together a faltering system on its last legs.

Crudele added that, “Over the next few years, people like me (meaning those who watch the financial world with a critical eye rather than a blind one) suspected that Heller’s plan was indeed in effect. Whenever the stock market was in trouble someone seemed to ride to the rescue.”

Crudele is probably right; there are back-channel ways to move the markets. Fed-master Bernanke even confirmed the role of the Plunge Protection Team in recent testimony to Rep Ron Paul (R-Texas). The larger question is whether the group operates in the public interest or merely tends to the needs of establishment elites who hold all the levers of power. Certainly, no one would object if the main goal was simply to remove some of the disruptive bumps in market activity. What’s worrisome is the conjugal relationship between the state and the privately-owned banking establishment which is designed to operate exclusively in the interests of its shareholders. This is a basic conflict of interest and puts the small investor at a real disadvantage. He has no way to lobby government to mettle in the markets. He must make his investment decisions on reasonable evaluations from publicly available information.

The same rule applies to bailouts as does to interfering with the equities markets. Bailouts only serve the interests of the ruling elite and undermine the credibility of the system. Whenever a major corporation or a hedge fund finds itself slipping into fiscal quicksand, the Counterparty Risk Management Policy Group (CRMPG) leans on the federal government to throw them a lifeline. The CRMPG is a mix of hedge funds and mega-banks who are the “self appointed” caretakers of the system. Here’s their statement:

“Since we know that financial shocks will occur in the future, and we no that no approaches to risk management or official supervision are fail-safe, we also know that we must preserve and strengthen the institutional arrangements whereby, at the point of crisis, industry groups and industry leaders, as well as supervisors, are prepared to work together in order to serve the larger and shared goal of financial stability.”

All very noble, but the bottom line is they serve the limited interests of corporate plutocrats who need taxpayer money to paper-over their business failures. The CRMPG is just a fancy-sounding lobby designed to prevent their colleagues from slipping into bankruptcy. Bailouts are a fundamental contradiction to free markets. If privately-owned corporations cannot succeed on their own merits they should be allowed to fail.

The Plunge Protection Team and the CRMPG illustrate the collusive relationship between the banking establishment, the uber-corporations and the state. They’ve worked assiduously to remove the safeguards which have traditionally protected the average investor from hucksters and scam-artists, and paved the way for a full-system breakdown. The market is more vulnerable now than anytime since the late 1920s, a fact that was emphasized in a statement from the IMF just days ago:

“Financial markets have failed to price in the risk that any one of a host of threats to economic security could materialize and deliver a massive shock to the world economy. It is clear that risks are on the downside of a sharper than expected slowdown in house prices that would produce weaker-than-expected growth that would have implications for global growth and financial markets.” (“IMF: Risk of global crash is increasing” UK Independent)

The country now faces the growing probability of an economic tsunami triggered by the rickety hedge funds, the falling dollar, and the rapidly deflating real estate bubble. The solid foundation of government oversight and regulation has been eroded by the persistent attacks of the corporatists and banking giants. The entire system is now on shaky ground. When the scaffolding starts to fall, the futile maneuverings of the Plunge Protection Team won’t make a bit of difference.


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[link to www.telegraph.co.uk]

Economic storm brewing in America.
By Ambrose Evans-Pritchard
07/12/2006

"...The world economy is what matters, and I don't like the smell of it. Nor, apparently, does Hank Paulson, who made $700 million at Goldman Sachs before taking over the US Treasury this year. He has reactivated a crisis team with a command centre in Washington to cope with the "systemic risk" in a market melt-down.

His worry? 8,000 unregulated hedge funds with $1.3 trillion at hand, and derivative contracts now worth $370 trillion. "We need to be very careful here," he said.

A well-sourced article in Washington's Weekly Standard says Mr Paulson fears a 'serious crisis that would be a body-blow to the US economy..."

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I've a Chinese stock that has gone up, OVER 60% in O N E year, so she's . . . SOLD!!!

Somethins' gotta give, AND SOON! I KNOW that I'm not THAT lucky . . . !

:11:

There is soooooo much FUCKIN cash in the market right now that it would need another MICROSOFT to absorb the current fiscal over-abundance. Econonmic doom is truly unrealistic, and current buyers will laugh all the way to the bank. Sooooo much cash has been produced by THE FED that in almost every industry, almost every corpo is rolling in it. Now is the time time to invest! When they say sell, YOU FUCKIN BUY! Got it? Stop being their puppets and start fuckin acting like an adult. If your neighbor told you that the local bank was considering bankruptcy, would you just believe, or would you investigate? Start doing your own math! Start doing math that doesn't include ridiculous details that don't affect your investment. You are free to choose, still. So choose your own stocks or funds and get rich by defying the MASS MEDIA!

That wierd 500 point fall.

What was going on ?

Very suspect.

[link to www.financialsense.com]

[link to www.gata.org]

Jim Cramer explains how to manipulate the markets.
March 19, 2007.

Dear Friend of GATA and Gold:

A video interview conducted with CNBC market guru and former hedge fund manager Jim Cramer by Aaron Task of "Wall Street Confidential" on TheStreet.com is flying around the Internet, and with good reason.

In the interview, conducted December 22, 2006, Cramer candidly explains how hedge funds and other big stock traders such as he used to be aggressively and profitably manipulate markets, indifferent to the law and government regulators.

The interview is a little longer than 10 minutes and you can watch it at YouTube here:

[link to www.youtube.com]

A description of the interview that allowed your secretary/treasurer to date it can be found at SeekingAlpha here:

[link to seekingalpha.com]

If you want to understand what has been called the financialization of the United States, the looting of the country and the destruction of its productive capacity and working class by the financial elites that have taken over the government, you should watch this.

CHRIS POWELL, Secretary/Treasurer
Gold Anti-Trust Action Committee Inc.

**********************************

GATA is a civil rights and educational organization based in the United States and tax-exempt under the U.S. Internal Revenue Code. Its e-mail dispatches are free, and you can subscribe at www.GATA.org. GATA is grateful for financial contributions, which are federally tax-deductible in the United States.

[link to www.nypost.com]

CRAMER REVEALS A BIT TOO MUCH.
by RODDY BOYD

March 20, 2007 -- Flamboyant Wall Street trader turned TV host Jim Cramer, not known for being the shy, retiring type, might have said too much in a video interview he did for a financial Web site.

The host of CNBC's daily program "Mad Money" had hedge fund-trading desks buzzing yesterday after he bragged about manipulating stock prices during his days as a trader.

In the video from TheStreet.com's "Wall Street Confidential" Webcast, Cramer boasts about manipulating the price of a high-flying stock down, and even acknowledges that doing so might have been illegal. The video is making the rounds on YouTube.

"A lot of times when I was short, I would create a level of activity beforehand that would drive the futures. . . . It's a fun game," Cramer said in the Webcast, which was moderated by TheStreet.com Executive Editor Aaron Task.

Cramer later said that "no one else in the world would ever admit that, but I don't care."

However, seconds later, he acknowledged, "I'm not going to say that on TV," referring to his show on CNBC.

A remarkably successful money manager when he ran the $450 million Cramer Berkowitz hedge fund, Cramer in the Webcast shared his "tips" on how to drive a stock price down so that a short-position - a bet that a stock price would drop - remains profitable.

He added that the strategy - while illegal - was safe enough because, "the Securities and Exchange Commission never understands this."

A call to Cramer was not returned.

they will protect the stock market always!! why would they want chaos? it will not bring order for a very long time, and it will not be them in control at the end. we cannot be controlled if we dont let them.



visualize it and it will be

GOLD MANIPULATION AND THE CORRUPT FED.

[link to www.financialsense.com]

Deepcaster Letter details how U.S. govt. manipulates major markets.

December 15, 2007

The Deepcaster Fortress Assets Letter has just published a brilliant and comprehensive analysis of U.S. government intervention in the stock, bond, currency, oil, and gold markets. Deepcaster's analysis specifies the mechanisms being used for the manipulation, draws heavily on GATA's work and that of its consultants Reginald Howe and Michael Bolser, and closely reflects GATA's thinking. This Deepcaster letter instantly becomes a basic reference work, and GATA is very grateful for having received permission to post it at our Internet site.

[link to www.gata.org]

FUCKING BIG PROP JOB ON WED !

SO FUCKING OBVIOUS !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Protect this plunge!

PPT ARE BUSY THIS YEAR !

[link to www.gold-eagle.com]

[link to www.sprott.com]

[link to trendfollowing.com]

Plunge protection Team , My own translation equals another group of banking elitist comprised mostly of Jews and always headed by a Jews, not unlike the Federal reserve and also without government oversight united for the sole purpose of manipulating money markets and corporate finance through regulatory manipulation to create the illusion of economic stability were none exist and for the profit of PPT doing the manipulation at the expense of all who required to abide by the regulatory laws.
I do not claim to be an economist but I am sure this forum has a few posters that have their own take on this topic.

Unusual Suspects.

We used to huddle in hushed tones and talk about “the invisible hand” or the “plunge protection team.” We did so for fear of being called conspiracy theorists or, worse, unpatriotic. The thought that there was a hidden force seemed bizarre. I was taught that nobody was bigger than the market. Most certainly, if there were games being played, it would eventually come out.

Still, some of the my most trusted and widely respected sources confided in me that they saw it as well. They did so in confidence as Wall&#8196;Street is a small place where credibility is the gateway of continuity. I, too, held my tongue for fear of retribution or consequence. Even still, to this day, there are folks that will view this column as financial sacrilege.

[link to www.minyanville.com]

I believe the "Plunge protection team" was working today...The markets mysteriously rallied in the last hour, after being down almost 200 points, to end positive....Give me a break!

Exactly. Only morons would think otherwise. So obvious. They stopped at nothing to get it right above 10K. I can't wait until this all blows up in their faces.