Almost two years after the mortgage crisis and stock market crash, no one seems to wonder about the “September surprise” that shifted the 2008 presidential election to an unknown leftist politician who had been elected to the Senate only two years before. A pulp-fiction writer could hardly have created a more contrived and bizarre story. But this was not make-believe. No, it is now our own gritty reality show that we only wish we could turn off.
The week of Sept. 15, 2008, was a debacle of huge proportions. On Monday, Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy while other lending institutions lined up like dominoes teetering on the edge of bankruptcy. But the week was hardly over. On Thursday, an electronic run on the banks occurred. In an unprecedented move, the Treasury and the Federal Reserve had to act together to stop what had become a full-fledged panic. On Saturday, Sept. 20, The Wall Street Journal recounted events of that previous Thursday:
“Instead of lining up at bank windows, investors were unloading financial assets on their PCs. Credit markets had seized up, to the point that even routine daily settlements had stopped until banks had the actual securities or cash in hand.”
“Investors were rushing out of these [Treasury and Federal Reserve] funds — $105 billion out of $1.8 trillion on Thursday alone — which in turn caused the funds to redeem their commercial paper investments.”
“Issuers of that paper then had to find new funders, which in a pinch are banks. But jittery banks were refusing to accept paper from even worthy companies amid the panic, creating a larger credit breakdown. In response, Treasury will now insure nonbank money-market fund deposits for the next year, to slow money-fund redemptions.”
For such a large and coordinated exodus of funds to occur in U.S. markets, something more than individual “investors” at their PCs had to be in play. Large and well-managed hedge and mutual funds were undoubtedly behind much of the move.
A few months later on a C-Span interview, Rep. Paul Kanjorski, House Capital Markets Subcommittee Chair, described that day:
“On Thursday at about 11 o’clock in the morning the Federal Reserve noticed a tremendous drawdown of money market accounts in the United States, to the tune of $550 billion was being drawn out in a matter of an hour or two. The Treasury opened up its window to help. It pumped $105 billion in the system and quickly realized that they could not stem the tide; we were having an electronic run on the banks. They decided to close the operation, close down the money accounts and announce a guarantee of $250,000 per account so there wouldn’t be further panic out there.”
The $550 Billion withdrawn in an hour or two that Rep. Kanjorski refers to in his statement has never been independently confirmed or refuted.
In mid-September, John McCain was ahead of Barack Obama in some polls by about 3 percent. By Oct. 10, the S&P 500 Index had lost 25% of its value from what it had been a month before. The crash was a major calamity for the McCain Campaign. And now, with Obama in the White House, it has become a calamity for us all.
The fact remains that the identities of those who withdrew their money that week were never disclosed. And, knowingly or not, they created a panic that altered the course of the election. One can only wonder whether something more than normal market forces was at work.
Courtesy of Barney Frank and Chris Dodd, the crisis came about by the uncertain value of subprime securities held by Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, banks, saving and loans, and other lending institutions. A declining market in itself is not noteworthy, but to induce a panic in the midst of a presidential campaign, if ever proven, would be reprehensible and an outrage to the American electorate.
While the stock market collapse was a disaster for your average IRA or 401(k) account, some investors benefited handsomely. It is widely agreed that hedge funds profited by selling short the collapsing market in 2008, and chief among them was Soros’ fund. Soros may have personally had the motivation, method, and opportunity to trigger the crash.
Soros’ overseas-based hedge fund evades much scrutiny, and its activities that week left almost no trail. Could Soros and his hedge fund be behind many of the withdrawals of that week, and particularly on that Thursday? We need to know. The massive outflow of U.S. funds to offshore accounts that critical week during the campaign could be a coincidence, but it is doubtful.
Soros is a multi-billionaire answerable to no one. Hastening a market meltdown to give the election to Barack Obama would fit his pattern of profiting while destroying the social order of his target country. Triggering a crash in 2008 would also serve his political investments.
Soros is obsessed with power. He wants a One World Government, redistribution of wealth, open borders, and universal health care. He is determined to change America forever by deconstructing its sovereignty and ability to defend itself. Soros was a huge backer of Barack Obama, and now his anointed president is determined to change America to their mutual view.
Soros made his fortune by short selling currencies and then pouring substantial amounts of his private wealth into organizations to subvert various nations. He nearly bankrupted the Bank of England by shorting the pound in 1992. He wrecked the Malaysian economy in 1998, and subsequently that of Indonesia as well. He is responsible for stirring-up instability in Africa, the Balkans, Eastern Europe, and the former Soviet republics.
Over the years, Soros has positioned himself to take control of the Democrat Party through the hundreds of 527 organizations he has helped financed. These organizations have become a “Shadow Party” unto themselves, and manipulate public opinion for their own end.
Among them: the National Education Association, ACORN, AFL-CIO, American Federation of Teachers, The Media Fund, the Open Society Institute, Planned Parenthood League, the Sierra Club, America Coming Together, the Huffington Post, Moveon.org. If a left-wing organization is in the news, it has probably received money from George Soros.
Why have the identities never been reported of those who withdrew funds that week? Shouldn’t there be even some curiosity about an event that wiped out the jobs and life savings of so many people? And why has there been no follow-up inquiry by into Rep. Kanjorski’s statement? There needs to be a public investigation concerning the amounts and offshore destinations of the funds withdrawn from U.S. markets that precipitated the crash.
Did an unwritten partnership exist between George Soros and Barack Obama? Could Soros, through Obama, be seeking a “velvet revolution” in the dismantling of our nation as he has done elsewhere? These questions need further investigation. With the Alinskyite tactics employed by Team Obama, none of this is beyond the realm of possibility.
Americans recoil at the thought of having their elections manipulated by outsiders. As long as Democrats control Congress, there surely will never be an effective inquiry into this affair. Perhaps a GOP victory this November will allow a thorough examination finally to begin. Add this to the many investigations the GOP will need to make when they finally take back Congress.
KnightsofMalta
Dan Spencer
Moe Lane
Steve Maley
Dan McLaughlin
Caleb Howe
I don't like to speculate on matters without much evidence...
kyoufuu (Diary) Wednesday, April 7th at 11:05AM EST (link)But I’ve always viewed the meltdown as too coincidental, too large and too well timed. My suspicions were always that Soros’ hands were on it. But, without any evidence and without anyone willing to conduct an investigation, we’ll probably never know.
“There are more instances of the abridgment of the freedom of the people by gradual and silent encroachments of those in power than by violent and sudden usurpations.” — James Madison
“I swear by my life, and my love of it, that I will never live for the sake of another man, nor ask another man to live for mine.”
+5 - Wishing there were a better way to recco a comment...
acat (Diary) Wednesday, April 7th at 11:41AM EST (link)other than +5.
This reads like straight conspiracy theory .,. but part of the reason people believe in conspiracy theories is that, every now and again, they prove correct.
This crash had very interesting timing – and the McCain campaign suspension is, IMO, where he lost it, so there’s no argument in my mind that this was a significant factor.
What I don’t know – what nobody to my knowledge knows – is what set off the collapse at that time. Why didn’t it wait for, say, November – when citizens started heavy christmas shopping? Surely that’d be a larger load than a random day in September?
Mew
——
“All that is gold does not glitter, not all those who wander are lost”. –Tolkein
Wasn't it also around the time McCain said "the fundamentals of the American economy are strong"?
kyoufuu (Diary) Wednesday, April 7th at 11:54AM EST (link)Because that one sure did bite him in the you-know-what. Nothing could prove him more wrong and show him to be out of touch than to have the whole economy collapsing.
I might be wrong with the time frame, however, which would make the whole point moot.
“There are more instances of the abridgment of the freedom of the people by gradual and silent encroachments of those in power than by violent and sudden usurpations.” — James Madison
“I swear by my life, and my love of it, that I will never live for the sake of another man, nor ask another man to live for mine.”
John McCain had just started leading Obama in the polls
Xasteius (Diary) Wednesday, April 7th at 12:01PM EST (link)Link
Don’t leave the party, hijack it back!
The only poll that counts is the one at the ballot box.
I don’t want to be Reagan. I want to be a Chance/Soros hybrid.
Kowalski: fixed link
Xasteius (Diary) Wednesday, April 7th at 12:03PM EST (link)Fixed Link
Don’t leave the party, hijack it back!
The only poll that counts is the one at the ballot box.
I don’t want to be Reagan. I want to be a Chance/Soros hybrid.
There may yet be a real investigation
texasgalt (Diary) Wednesday, April 7th at 1:03PM EST (link)The meltdown was a win win for Soros. He won politically and his personal earnings for the year came in at 3.1 billion.
The bear market raids on the financials that ensued were or should have been criminal. When the Republicans get the house, there needs to be some serious and ruthless investigations.
We have another election coming up, and oh look, the market is rallying. But who is doing the buying?
Today, former Clinton Treasury Sec, Robert Rubin is testifying about “what happened.” What’s he gonna say other than: Well, I left before the roof caved in at Citi and the 100 million in bonuses I got – that was all straight up. It was the evil Republicans that did away with Glass Steagall . . . and don’t even ask me about Sarbanes-Oxley and mark to market.
The man behind the curtain
Jeff Lukens (Diary) Wednesday, April 7th at 6:32PM EST (link)I have come to believe that when it comes to anything regarding Obama, believe the worst and it will probably be true. The 2008 crash was so convenient to the furtherance of his campaign. It was too good for him to be true. It leads me to believe that there is a puppet master behind this puppet man. Soros is probably the man behind the curtain.
Soros’ crashing the British pound in 1992 provides the template. There is a pattern to his behavior and the 2008 crash fits that template. An investigation is indeed needed. With the Dems holding Congress and the MSM in the Obama camp, our only hope for getting to the bottom of this matter lies with the GOP taking control in November. We need to get busy….
If laws were broken, then the perps should be caught & held accountable
6eorge Jetson (Diary) Thursday, April 8th at 11:00PM EST (link)but I’m not buying the George Soros as the all-powerful wizard theme.
In Feb of 2008, the Bush Admin Hank Paulson and the Bush-appointed Fed Chief twisted arms to faciliate a soft crash for Bear Stearns. Rightly or wrongly–a separate argument–these parties decided to allow Lehman to fail. This decision was not in the control of Soros, nor was the extensive linkage of derivative contracts and hedge gains/losses that a the fall of Lehman put at risk.
Preying on the weak is what investment sharks do. If you don’t like it, don’t let yourself get caught with insufficient liquidity and reseverves to ride out the storm. The best explanation of $140 oil in the summer of ’08 was a large failing short position in oil derivatives that the sharks forced coverage by driving up the price, knowing after peeking over the Chinese Wall that the margin of the large short was about to run out.
Were some laws broken in the oil run-up? I suspect so. Not too shocking when so much money is at stake.
Might Soros have gamed the system with better than public knowledge of the perfect storm that was brewing that fall? It wouldn’t surprise me. But I’d be careful of “new regulations” to fight the last war.
If Soros did break laws, then if that can be proven, he should be held accountable. But I’m guessing that’s not going to be possible, and the best use of our resources is to look forward to winning in 2010 & 2012 and legally dismantling the socialist system that he and comrade Obama are busy building.
It was a coup, not a crash, but nobody wants to admit
Achance (Diary) Wednesday, April 7th at 12:17PM EST (link)that it could happen so they try to sell us single bullet theories for the same reason the original was sold; the truth is not something they think our political system could deal with.
I was thinking this way almost contemporaneously and a lot of people who have more faith in markets and bankers than I do were telling me I was nuts. How do you like me now?
Here:
http://www.redstate.com/achance/2009/01/09/the-fundamentals-are-sound/
And here:
http://www.redstate.com/achance/2009/02/25/who-found-the-lost-money/
And I’d still like to round some people up and shoot them and trick their wives and daughters.
In Vino Veritas
5++ Art, I remember your diaries on this. nt
Danielle Davis (ocleverone) (Diary) Thursday, April 8th at 11:52AM EST (link)To me, “consensus” seems to be the process of abandoning all beliefs, principles, values and policies. So it is something in which no one believes and to which no one objects … There are still people in my party who believe in “consensus” politics. I regard them as Quislings, as traitors … I mean it. — Margaret Thatcher
*shakes head*
fate Friday, April 9th at 9:04PM EST (link)Mighty Christian of you.
Being Christian is not something with which
Achance (Diary) Saturday, April 10th at 10:30AM EST (link)I am burdened. And in your one month and three posts here, you’ve managed to make yourself look pretty trollish. Are you sure you’re in the right place? You have Democrat cant on health insurance down pretty well.
In Vino Veritas
Because Soros wreaked the economies of
Scope (Diary) Wednesday, April 7th at 1:11PM EST (link)many other countries, why wouldn’t he keep his eye on the biggest prize- The USA, where we believe in Free Markets, and, Free people. With the election of the most far left radical Progressive as President, who has installed supporters of Mao and Marx, and are avowed Communists as his team of Czars that answer only to him, Soros has almost realized his dream. You can call me a conspiracy kook all you want, but, I believe that Soros is the man holding the puppet strings of all the worst dregs that inhabit Washington today.
While Obama remains the president, there will be no investigations into Soros, or anyone else that may have played a part in the near destruction of America. Even if the Republicans win big in November, Obama still keeps his people in high places, including everyone at the Fed. By the time we have a Republican president, any and all information will be scrubbed and destroyed.
Rush just read from Paul Volcker's statement
redneck_hippie (Diary) Wednesday, April 7th at 2:33PM EST (link)that the financial meltdown was triggered in September when institutions had to reclassify their mortgage backed securities as “subprime.”
If anyone has access to Rush’s stack of stuff, they should be able to track down the specific quotes and source for this recent Volcker admission. According to Rush, by Volcker telling the truth about what really caused it and when, he obviously has future plans that do not include the federal government. Heh.
You can access that page as guest
Erick Brockway (Diary) Friday, April 9th at 1:53AM EST (link)Right here.
Note to lefties;
“Don’t be afraid to see what you see.” -Ronald Reagan
Activists taking Action
Join the RedState Strike Force
Thanks for correction. Greenspan
redneck_hippie (Diary) Friday, April 9th at 11:44AM EST (link)made the admission. Got him confused with Rush talking about Volcker’s statements on the VAT in the same broadcast. Multitask fail me.
One of the benefits of winning
Vassar Bushmills (Diary) Thursday, April 8th at 7:05AM EST (link)First we win, then we investigate, then we indict
I think it’s the prospects of those “what comes next’s” that make SOME Republicans fearful of winning. A dragnet will not be in their best interests. Once you’ve hugged a skunk you can never quite get rid of the lingering aroma.
I want Holder first
E Pluribus Unum (Diary) Saturday, April 10th at 8:14PM EST (link)I want him bad.
Kill the Terrorists
Protect the Borders
Punch the Hippies h/t IMAO
Amen
Jeff Lukens (Diary) Thursday, April 8th at 11:45AM EST (link)Our Government institutions are operating like houses of ill repute. Regardless of party affiliation most of our elected representatives are worse than prostitutes. Elected to represent the people walking in the front door, however, dealing out of the side and back door. Some of the appointed officials seem to bounce back and forth between Government Agencies and large financial institutions at will without even a phony whimper of protest from either side of the aisle. It’s no wonder confidence in the members of congress is in the lower percentile. Any investigation will be nothing more than window dressing with pompous blowhards spewing volumes of BS to assure the electorate that the orchestrated hearings are legitimate. The only way to find the truth is to have the FBI or the appropriate agency investigate and bring those deemed in violation of Federal laws before a Federal Grand Jury to be deposed under oath and be dealt with by the justice system and not tried by the MSM and the Tabloids.
At the time of the meltdown...
itrytobenice (Diary) Thursday, April 8th at 8:51PM EST (link)I read an article, probably in the WSJ, that said something was fishy in Denmark.
I agree. An investigation is warranted. Too bad our congresscritters are too stoopid to make a valid investigation and to understand the need.
Proper grammar saves lives.
Let’s eat Grandma.
Let’s eat, Grandma.
I subscribe to an online newsletter
sta46 Thursday, April 8th at 9:19PM EST (link)from W.C. Douglas, M.D. Periodically there are financial atricles in it along with the usual stuff. He is very conservative.
Sometime during the summer of 2008 there was an article touting the ability to make zillions of dollars in the upcoming months because there was going to be big action in the us dollar in OCTOBER.
the article went on to chronicle Soros’ activities vs the british pound and actually came right out and said that he and 3-4 others (I don’t remember the names but they are of his ilk) were planning a similar run on the dollar in October. I kind of passed it through my mind at the time because I thought it was just some sort of investment hype.
then it happened.
Truly, this newsletter said it was coming and named Soros by name. I do not know their sources or anything else about it but you might be able to get into the archived newsletters to find out. I am a computer idiot so I wouldn’t know where to start… but believe me, it was all right out there.
Poor Rubin, his hands were shaking
texasgalt (Diary) Thursday, April 8th at 11:01PM EST (link)during testimony given today about the meltdown and Citi’s collapse. He said he was sorry . . . but I guess not sorry enough to give back any of the 100+ million in bonuses he knocked down while at Citi.
Ruben’s a bad guy and former CEO Prince isn’t any better. In the late 90′s Ruben resisted any regulation or oversight of derivatives which eventually turned so toxic. Prince is the guy who said when questioned several years ago about the mortgage gaming going on, ” We (Citi) will dance as long as the music is playing.”
Here’s the lesson: If you are going to loot and destroy a company with financial shenanigans, make sure you are a high profile Democrat. Otherwise you may wind up like Skilling and friends at Enron.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100408/ap_on_bi_ge/us_meltdown_investigation_19
The investigation will show
mikerazar (Diary) Friday, April 9th at 2:02AM EST (link)that the managers of the firms ignored their fiduciary responsibility to their shareholders and creditors. They looted their firms’ treasuries.
http://www.americanthinker.com/2009/01/the_ten_trillion_dollar_black.html
The only regulation needed is to let the people who put up the money do the regulating. Sounds easy doesn’t it? But that is the last thing the socialists want.
We have a nation to save, people.
5!
6eorge Jetson (Diary) Saturday, April 10th at 1:00AM EST (link)nt
A Mere Coincidence...?
ntrepid (Diary) Friday, April 9th at 4:51PM EST (link)(Disclaimer: I’m sure the system was sufficiently unstable due to months, years, and even decades of abuse and poor leadership. Many “triggers” probably influenced the avalanche and its actual timing. I’ll point you towards one here.)
Look back almost exactly 120 days prior to the crash, inquiring minds may notice that CTFC Release 5511-08 (1) – titled Conditions Foreign Access on Adoption of Position Limits on London Crude Oil Contract – ordered increased “accountability” (i.e. sunlight) among our large investing entities in the name of maintaining “market integrity” and “the prevention of market abuse”. The effectivity of that June 17, 2008 “New Standard” was ordered as:
“The revised Commission staff foreign access conditions must be satisfied by ICE Futures Europe within 120 days.”
You do the math.
My conspiratorial take: The veil of secrecy was about to lift and the players were given 120 days to ease out of potentially embarrassing positions relatively gently. They chose instead to play this big game of chicken either to milk every last possible dime out of the old system or because they didn’t believe the jig was really up. We all lost.
It wasn’t ideology and/or the election…it was greed, bad business, and poor citizenship.
Ntrepid
Proud Redstate “Old Timer”
(1) http://www.cftc.gov/PressRoom/PressReleases/2008/pr5511-08.html
See Also: http://www.redstate.com/ntrepid/2009/01/10/2008-oil-futures-truthers-there-may-never-be-a-smoking-gun-but-there-is-definitely-gsr-all-over-cftc-release-5511-08/
“Everybody has an agenda. Except for me.” – Michael Crichton, State of Fear.
Regulated markets can easily be abused; free markets much harder
mikerazar (Diary) Friday, April 9th at 7:33PM EST (link)nt
We have a nation to save, people.
Free Markets…
ntrepid (Diary) Friday, April 9th at 8:47PM EST (link)…operating in the cleansing sunshine that is. Dark markets cannot help but become corrupt.
Ntrepid
Proud Redstate “Old Timer”
“Everybody has an agenda. Except for me.” – Michael Crichton, State of Fear.
It is easy to police dark markets.
mikerazar (Diary) Saturday, April 10th at 5:21AM EST (link)In a free society, nobody should trade in any market which fails the fairness or transparency tests. That includes only lending to sound credit risks. The only role of government is to prosecute actual fraud, and even then, there is no substitute for due diligence and fiduciary responsibility.
Don’t ask how Bear Stearns (for example) could have been saved. Ask why any rational investor would have loaned them money based on shaky (at best) collateral. The only possible answer is fraud.
Sadly, many so called conservatives don’t really believe in free and open markets. One warning sign is how they blame mark-to-market accounting for the crisis.
Any fiduciary who ignores the mark-to-market value of a company and invests in it anyway, is a knave or a fool. ,
We have a nation to save, people.
I’m just not following this…
ntrepid (Diary) Saturday, April 10th at 9:30AM EST (link)I don’t disagree with anything you’ve said here but we seem to be on completely different wavelengths wrt my original comment.
Morning kid duty calls…maybe we can revisit this another time.
Ntrepid
Proud Redstate “Old Timer”
“Everybody has an agenda. Except for me.” – Michael Crichton, State of Fear.
Soro was invested in Lehman too
coolhand (Diary) Tuesday, April 20th at 10:21PM EST (link)While we are at it, we need to check Soro’s connection to Lehman Bros. too. He might have sold them short too.
an excellent post.
Robert Rupard (Diary) Tuesday, April 20th at 10:34PM EST (link)I believe that Central Banks and Soros collaborated to create this meltdown as you suggest. Unfortunately I think that the smokescreen of the “sub-prime” mortgage crisis keeps Americans focused on the wrong culprits. Soros and other left leaning bankers continue to conduct a false-flag campaign that has many elements. Now that interest rates are guaranteed to rise, we will see widespread defaults of municipal bonds worldwide. The domino theory is working well for these powerful people and who knows where it might lead. Read more in my post today at http://www.redstate.com/bufordpatriot/2010/04/20/shame-on-goldman-sachs/
Trying to make a difference for my kids.
Let Soros redistribute his wealth
coolhand (Diary) Thursday, April 29th at 7:22PM EST (link)I believe this to be true: that George Soros was, at least, one of the perpetrators of the 2008 crash. Having said that, and since Mr. Soros believes in redistribution of wealth, isn’t it just the height of irony (and hypocrisy) that doesn’t include the redistribution of his personal wealth!!!!! That much is true of all the Leftists who yammer for redistribution of wealth–yes, everyone else’s!