Digging Deeper: February 2018

Sunday, February 25, 2018

'We Can't Continue to Run the World': Ron Paul's EXCLUSIVE Interview for Sputnik - Sputnik International

'We Can't Continue to Run the World': Ron Paul's EXCLUSIVE Interview for Sputnik - Sputnik International

"I think the deep state – the people behind the scenes and the shadow government, who control the monetary system, who control our foreign policy and the welfare state, and are connected to the media and the military-industrial complex. – I don't think the presidency is as important as it's made out to be. But everybody talks about it; it's a political thing, and they keep churning the issue and directing everybody to ask 'is Trump a good guy or a bad guy, and are we going to impeach him or what's going to happen', rather than [asking] what kind of philosophy do we have: why do we have this philosophy of welfare-warfare, spend money, run up debt and let the central bank print all that money............."

Saturday, February 24, 2018

Deeply indebted Lisa Marie Presley and manager in dueling lawsuits

Friday, February 23, 2018

The Last Word

Billy Graham once said. echoing D.L Moody, one of his heroes: "Someday you will read or hear that Billy Graham is dead. Don't you believe a word of it. I shall be more alive than I am now. I will just have changed my address. I will have gone into the presence of God."

Wednesday, February 21, 2018

Citigroup Drove Puerto Rico Into Debt. Now It Will Profit From Privatization on the Island.

Citigroup Drove Puerto Rico Into Debt. Now It Will Profit From Privatization on the Island.

“Citigroup repeatedly sold Puerto Rico and PREPA in particular predatory forms of debt that pushed the island deeper and deeper into unsustainable levels of debt.....Banks screwing things up and saying they’re going to come in and fix it is quite common. You have a list of approved underwriters and they become de facto advisers. So they make bad deals that go badly, but then are at the top of the list to clean them up.”

Big banks like Citi and Santander have been adroit about their dealings in Puerto Rico, insulating themselves from some of the risks shouldered by hedge and mutual funds. Investment banks don’t tend to own all that many Puerto Rican municipal bonds directly, instead making most of their money on the island by underwriting debt and collecting huge fees during restructuring agreements, putting their staffs to work figuring out ways to do more of the above. “The role banks have played is to constantly push the island to keep restructuring and refinancing its debt. Their interest isn’t based in holding the debt, but in making money off the fees they get for doing the deals,” Bhatti told The Intercept. The profit is in the churn.