KING OF TYRE
Part XVIII
Rise or Fall of American Empire?
by
Doug Krieger
Part 2
“WHAT HAVE YOU TO DO WITH ME, O TYRE?”
We
have upon us the King of Tyre – the heartland of Canaan and the curse borne
upon his sons (Gen.
9:25). Think it not a quaint aside for the prophet Joel to announce his
end of days’ calamity void of Tyre’s complicity in the crime of the ages – for
when the “sun and moon will grow dark, and the stars will diminish their
brightness…and…The LORD also will roar from Zion and utter His voice from
Jerusalem; the heavens and earth will shake” – then, most assuredly has the
“day of the LORD” come “near in the valley of decision.” Therefore, it is
with pointed interest to the eschatologist that Tyre’s definitions
encapsulated within Joel’s prophetic outbursts are all the more potently
perceived when connected to the announcements discerned in Isaiah, Jeremiah
and Ezekiel; to wit:
“For behold, in those days and at that time, when I bring back the captives of Judah and Jerusalem (and these are the “latter days” and Israel’s ingathering which we now witness), I will also gather all nations, and bring them down to the Valley of Jehoshaphat (lit. ‘Yahweh is Judge’); and I will enter into judgment with them there on account of My people, My heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations; they have also divided up My land . . . indeed, what have you to do with Me, O TYRE and Sidon, and all the coasts of Philistia? Will you retaliate against Me? But if you retaliate (i.e., “repay Me”) against Me, swiftly and speedily I will return your retaliation (i.e., “repayment” – for Tyre only comprehends the language of commerce) upon your own head; because you have taken My silver and My gold, and have carried into your temples My prized possessions. Also the people of Judah and the people of Jerusalem you have sold to the Greeks (for Tyre traffics in the “bodies and souls of men”), that you may remove them far from their borders . . . Let the nations be awakened, and come up to the Valley of Jehoshaphat (i.e., that final platform where the returning Savior shall dispense with this fool and his fallacious prophet, along with his inebriated hosts); for there I will sit to judge all the surrounding nations. Put in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe, come, go down; for the winepress is full, the vats overflow—for their wickedness is great…multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision! For the DAY OF THE LORD is near in the valley of decision. The sun and moon will grow dark, and the stars will diminish their brightness” (Joel 3:1-2, 4-6, 12-15; Revelation 14:17-20).
The “Judgment of the Nations” is the finality – the conclusion of the matter – it is the DAY OF THE LORD. In sum, it is that horrid chronological constriction between the 1,260th day and the 1,290th day of Daniel 12 when the Wrath of God and the Lamb is poured out upon the earthlings . . . when Babylon the Great is burned with fire and her smoke ascends and is seen by all, especially the Merchants of the Earth from afar. It is the time of His Coming – the fulfillment of Joel 2:30-32, Matthew 24:29-31 and the vindication of the saints of the Most High (Revelation 14:17-20; 16:16; 19:17-21). And, in the midst of all this is the sinister figure of TYRE – on the ready to repay, to retaliate. The same winepress that is full in Joel is at capacity and overflowing in Revelation 14:17-20—make no mistake, these are the same events; therefore, TYRE’s image is called out for judgment – for cosmic thievery and his Daughter of Tarshish is destroyed in Revelation 18; along with all her enchantments and merchandise; likewise, those made wealthy through the violence of her trading shall stand afar off and wail over her demise…for no one buys her wares any longer!
BLUEPRINT FOR A MODERNIZED FINANCIAL REGULATORY STRUCTURE
Now,
I’m exceedingly unsure that you may not be getting the picture here. It
appears you may have left the courtroom wholly indifferent or confused at all
the poetic justice heaped upon Tyre, Babylon and Rome, as well as the ships of
Tarshish, who distinctly bear the image of their forebears. Therefore, as we
consider the magnitude of the Latter Day commercial empire, whose forecasted
demise is recorded by the Old Testament prophets and reiterated in John’s
Revelation—the Revelation of Jesus Christ—it becomes virtually impossible to
look too far to “assess the damage” inflicted by Tyre’s impress upon the
fallen state of things today (viz., RESISTANCE IS FUTILE – you are currently
being subsumed by the collective – and you don’t even know it!).
Embarrassing? It should be – but then again, since America doesn’t play a “bit part” in Bible prophecy, as Hal Lindsey has so vacuously announced…. Allow me once more, to draw your fine attention to the 800 lb. gorilla atop our California King-size bed (the largest of the largest beds available—but still the gorilla can be felt bouncing hither, thither and yon all over your luxurious layout).
Tyre’s latest bout with financial consolidation—until one can no longer “buy or sell” without the mark of the Beast – for “who is like Tyre” – and “who is like the Beast?”—simply blows any misconception as to what’s really going on here and who’s pulling the strings. Like most Babylonians, we are caught up in the glittering party atmosphere, much like Belshazzar, king of the Chaldeans, utterly oblivious to the financial realities of our time, until the handwriting on the wall openly spelled his/our demise:
MENE, MENE, TEKEL, UPHARSIN –
“MENE: God has numbered your kingdom, and finished it;
“TEKEL; You have been weighed in the balances, and found wanting;
“PERES: Your kingdom has been divided, and given to the Medes and Persians” (Daniel 5:25-28).
But for now the dancing and prancing swirling around this festive lot – indifferent, and, frankly inebriated by Babylon’s cup, to the pending cataclysm descending upon our ball – belies the fact that the King of Tyre is about to make his final move . . .
A bit of a background will do from the most recent article appearing in our “Economic Section” written by Joan Veon: THE FINAL GLOBALIZATION OF THE U.S. BANKING SYSTEM (which we shall digest at length later on). You are encouraged to read the article in its entirety; however, these incriminating comments will suffice as we add escalatory evidence to our condemnatory verdict upon Tyre and his sundry and prophetic designations.
Initially, as I heard over the wires yesterday (week of July 11, 20008) the New York Stock Exchange rebounded over news of a peculiar tone wherein, in sum, the USA’s Central Bank, the Federal Reserve (a.k.a., the Fed), will ostensibly take over the regulatory functions of virtually the entire financial systems throughout the country to help “stabilize” these same financial markets. These efforts were enunciated in March, 2008 (although the dialogue for such “reform” commenced in March, 2007) at the public eruption of the subprime fiasco among investment bankers, by Secretary of the Treasury, Henry M. Paulson, Jr. on his Blueprint for a Modernized Financial Regulatory Structure; to wit, allow me to assist you in deciphering the financial gobbledygook designed to obfuscate the blatant Fed takeover from the masses, especially those unfamiliar with such financial manipulations by those in high places and, simultaneously, wholly ignorant of the King of Tyre and his pursuits to subsume the global marketplace under one gargantuan umbrella of control—for you see, as Al Gore has so articulated on other matters: Currently, there is no controlling authority! Well, hold on to your pocketbooks before the supreme pickpocket absconds with the funds and you discover there is a “controlling authority.”
“In March of 2007, after convening industry leaders and policymakers for a conference on capital markets competitiveness…The conference participants concluded that our current financial regulatory system could more effectively promote stable and resilient markets and a more competitive financial services industry.” (Remarks by Secretary Henry M. Paulson, Jr. on Blueprint for Regulatory Reform, Secretary of the Treasury, Henry M. Paulson, Jr., Press Room, US Department of the Treasury, March 31, 2008) (Note: And just HOW—via the Fed—will be discussed hereunder – but first…)
The
evolution of this massive financial regulatory takeover by the Fed, of course,
and although it’s taken some time to come to this sublime and final takeover
(nigh 100 years), commenced back at Jekyll Island, Georgia, in 1910.
Wikipedia has some interesting tidbits to the creation of this, “The Creature
from Jekyll Island” (by G. Edward Griffin):
“At the end of November in 1910, Senator Nelson W. Aldrich and A.P. Andrews (Assistant Secretary of the Treasury Department), along with many of the country's leading financiers; who together represented about one-sixth of the world’s wealth, arrived at the Jekyll Island Club to discuss monetary policy and the banking system, an event which some say was the impetus for the creation of the Federal Reserve.
“Forbes magazine founder Bertie Charles Forbes wrote several years later:
“Picture a party of the nation’s greatest bankers stealing out of New York on a private railroad car under cover of darkness, stealthily riding hundreds of miles South, embarking on a mysterious launch, sneaking onto an island deserted by all but a few servants, living there a full week under such rigid secrecy that the names of not one of them was once mentioned, lest the servants learn the identity and disclose to the world this strangest, most secret expedition in the history of American finance. I am not romancing; I am giving to the world, for the first time, the real story of how the famous Aldrich currency report, the foundation of our new currency system, was written... The utmost secrecy was enjoined upon all. The public must not glean a hint of what was to be done. Senator Aldrich notified each one to go quietly into a private car of which the railroad had received orders to draw up on an unfrequented platform. Off the party set. New York’s ubiquitous reporters had been foiled... Nelson (Aldrich) had confided to Henry, Frank, Paul and Piatt that he was to keep them locked up at Jekyll Island, out of the rest of the world, until they had evolved and compiled a scientific currency system for the United States, the real birth of the present Federal Reserve System, the plan done on Jekyll Island in the conference with Paul, Frank and Henry... Warburg is the link that binds the Aldrich system and the present system together. He more than any one man has made the system possible as a working reality.[7]” (Wikipedia)
Now, back to Paulson’s speech—he continues by giving us a history lesson on how we got to where we are today and, ipso facto why his blueprint is a mandatory device of supreme worth—much like the initial efforts at the creation of our Federal Reserve:
“Our current regulatory structure was not built to address the modern financial system with its diversity of market participants, innovation, complexity of financial instruments, convergence of financial intermediaries and trading platforms, global integration and interconnectedness among financial institutions, investors and markets. Moreover, our financial services companies are becoming larger, more complex and more difficult to manage. Much of our current regulatory system was developed after the Great Depression and it has developed through reaction --- a pattern of creating regulators as a response to market innovations or to market stress.” (Ibid. Paulson’s March 31, 2008 speech)
Obviously,
Secretary Paulson alludes to limiting the control by the Fed over the banking
system espoused by the banking reformation efforts under the initial Emergency
Bank Act passed in March 1933 (Note: Shortly after Franklin D. Roosevelt was
sworn in as President of the USA), and formalized by the Glass-Steagall Act of
that same year wherein the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) was
created (Note: The
Banking Act of 1935 made the FDIC a permanent agency of the government.),
and investment bankers were severely limited as to their abilities to take
public deposits (e.g., from working Americans opening up “bank/savings
accounts” at such investment banks like Bear Stearns of today). Listen to
this interesting exchange in Wikipedia:
“Senator Glass, co-sponsor of the bill that became the Glass-Steagall Act, and Senator Robinson: Mr. Glass: Here [section 21] we prohibit the large private banks whose chief business is investment business, from receiving deposits. We separate them from the deposit banking business. Mr. Robinson of Arkansas: That means if they wish to receive deposits they must have separate institutions for that purpose? Mr. Glass: Yes. The Court also rejected the argument that a bank and its holding company should be treated as a single entity for the purposes of sections 16 and 21, stating that the structure of the Glass-Steagall Act itself indicates the contrary. Id. at n. 24.” (Wikipedia-Glass-Steagall Act) (Please see a complete chronology of various so-called banking reforms leading up to where we are today here.)
The Paulson history lesson continues as he deftly excoriates the outmoded, out-dated, financial regulations of yesteryear:
“We have five federal deposit institution regulators in addition to state-based supervision. We bifurcate securities and futures regulation. And regulation of one of our largest financial services industries, insurance, is almost entirely at the state level. The bulk of these regulatory responses made sense at the time they were created, but as we look at today's financial markets, the lack of a comprehensive design is clear.” (Ibid.)
Clear to whom? Apparently, clear to the federally-sanctioned, privately held Fed (another hybrid akin to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, by the way). Now, take careful note how Paulson apprises “attempts” to reform the financial industries, but to no avail—his history lesson continues into the modern era of globalization, with the help of sensitive elites like Phil Gramm of Texas adding respectability to Paulson’s elitist conclusions…
“The
1991 Bush Administration study, known as the ‘Green Book,’ made the case for
many of the changes adopted in the last comprehensive financial regulatory
overhaul, the
Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act of 1999. That Act made important changes to our
financial regulatory structure by allowing broader affiliations of financial
services firms through a Financial Holding Company structure. But, it
also maintained separate regulatory agencies across the traditional
securities, futures, insurance and banking industry segments. This
functional division is at odds with the increasing convergence of financial
service providers and products. It creates jurisdictional disputes among
regulators, and it is a likely result that some financial services and
products are exported to more adaptive foreign markets.” (Ibid.)
Hummm…. “creates jurisdictional disputes among regulators” – hence, the need for an UBER-REGULATOR known as the Fed. The “Gramm” aforementioned is the same Gramm who this week (early July, 2008) made this most elitist, yet heart-felt declaration.
“‘You've heard of mental depression. This is mental recession,’ Gramm told the paper, citing continued — if slowed — domestic economic growth. ‘We may have a recession. We haven’t had one yet.’
“‘We have sort of become a nation of whiners,’ Gramm said. ‘You just hear about this constant whining, complaining about a loss of competitiveness, America in decline.’” (McCain Distances himself from Gramm’s remarks on economy, Ken Hermann, statesman.com, July 11, 2008)
Let’s whine some more: Just whose greedier – Gramm or the Fed? So, how do we bring these banking practices, supported by a nation of whiners of the Wild West, back under control—and control by whom? Secretary Paulson SETS THE TRAP in his most recently held speech of July, 2008—hearkening back, as he did in the speech to the great work and effort that has been made since “The Blueprint” was given its initial public début:
“Our regulatory community (which must be done away with—by the way) is working cooperatively through some very challenging times. Last week I reiterated my support for the important and consequential recent actions taken by the Federal Reserve. The Fed must have the necessary information to perform its role as it temporarily provides liquidity to non-banks (i.e., Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae – now in default and ready to collapse as of July 11, 2008—perhaps the greatest economic boondoggle in American history!). But it would be premature to assume these institutions should have permanent access to the Fed's discount window and permanent supervision by the Fed. (Editor’s Note: Instead, let me propose that the Fed acquire both hybrids for pennies on the dollar—especially when their stock utterly collapses!) We will learn lessons from the experience of this temporary facility (“temporary” as in “forever”), and those lessons will inform a path forward (as in “what’s mine is mine and what’s yours is negotiable as long as I eventually get it at the right price”).
“Our first and most urgent priority is working through this capital market turmoil and housing downturn, and that will be our priority until this situation is resolved. With few exceptions, the recommendations in this Blueprint should not and will not be implemented until after the present market difficulties are past.” (Paulson Speech on Overhaul Plan, July 11, 2008 – The American Banker) (Editor’s Note: As in “by the time—the very short time at that—these investment banks and housing hybrids are brought to their knees by the subprime crisis . . . and as we draw attention to all the other financial crises of the past and pending future . . . and the Fed acquires the lot of them for a pig and a poke….”)
Baloney—that is precisely what the Fed wants in its greedy paws right here and now—total control of ALL FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS! Have you see the obnoxious ad on television: I WANT MY MONEY AND I WANT IT NOW! Hint: That’s the FED operating and screaming out of that window in the ad. By the way—this “thing” called the “Federal Reserve” is neither “Federal” (It’s a privately held corporation of individuals and entities—bankers themselves.) nor a true “Reserve” – having loaned out nigh all its money to these bandits operating out of the Fed’s peculiarly-named “window” (i.e., the Fed has about $800B and that’s it—and most of it has been loaned to these losers like Bear Stearns to survive their foolish and dangerous gambling habits in “derivatives” and subprime lending—where interest payments were just too tempting to turn down).
WHAT SUBTERFUGE IS THIS!! “…until this situation is resolved…the recommendations in this Blueprint should not and will not be implemented until after the present market difficulties are past.” Utter contemptuous balderdash of the worst order! The full intent is to implement the changes in the Blueprint—and what be those changes? But first…
The extensions of unmitigated greed were given to Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae—American’s largest mortgage “houses” back when Bush, Jr., unleashed them to “package” or “bundle” these subprime mortgages (which Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac got from Wells Fargo, Countrywide, WaMu, etc.) and sell them in the marketplace – both foreign and domestic markets – but folks stopped buying their bundles because even a fool can figure something like this out—it’s a monstrous DUH! For a good read on how Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae went south—go here. But if you want to see how the elites wish this were resolved, then go to the July 10, 2008, Los Angeles Times Article entitled: How to Fix Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac: Nationalize ‘em, Los Angeles Times Blog – William Poole).
And, who in the world is this fellow, William Poole?
“Poole, who was president of the Fed’s St. Louis branch until he retired in March, 2008, said in an interview with Bloomberg News this week that nationalization was ‘the only practical course’ for Fannie and Freddie.” (Ibid.)
Although Poole is featured as an odd curmudgeon of sorts—he’s owned lock, stock and barrel by that little consortium of bankers who own this profitable corporation, known as the Fed. There’s nothing that the Fed would like to do more than to take over both these two entities (valued at nearly $2T) for a pig and a poke! To the abyss with the multitude of stock holders who bought shares in Fannie and Freddie. During the Depression the filthy rich got richer after such “acquisitions” of this nature—even so, during this fiasco it is beyond the same—it is the final effort to control the world by the merchants of the earth under the leadership of the King of Tyre!
But the Fannie and Freddie charade goes on by Secretary of the Treasury, Henry Paulson:
“In Washington, Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson Jr. and others want Fannie and Freddie to get back on their feet on their own (Editor’s Note: Fat chance of that happening!). But if the companies try to raise massive sums of new capital by issuing stock, they will severely dilute the ownership of their current shareholders (that’s a big reason the stocks have nosedived).
“And what if, six months from now, the loan losses turn out to be so massive that any additional capital the companies raised in the interim is burned up?
“Politically difficult as it may be, Whalen says, if you make Fannie and Freddie government agencies (Editor’s Note: That is, “government” – wholly owned by the Hybrid Fed, juxtaposed to the Hybrids, Freddie and Fannie.) now, ‘you take a major source of instability out of the market. You don’t have to worry about it anymore.’ That would be one less issue for the housing market, which obviously has plenty.
“Given the dilution risks they already face, shareholders of Fannie and Freddie ought to welcome a buyout (Editor’s Note: By whom? Of course, by the Fed.) even at these depressed prices, Whalen says.
“In terms of stock market value, all that’s left of Fannie and Freddie now is about $18.2 billion, combined. Wall Street wouldn’t even notice that amount disappearing from the public market.” (Ibid.) (Note: But a whole lot of shareholders of Fannie and Freddie would!)
And to think that only today (July 11, 2008), Freddie and Fannie were touted about as having to guarantee half the nation’s mortgages—some $5 TRILLION DOLLARS! Please read with utter disgust (but save some for the greedy Fed circling Freddie and Fannie ready to strike when the victim is out of liquidity) the article by Katie Benner, July 12, 2008, in FORTUNE on-line: The $5 Trillion Dollar Mess.
“NEW YORK (Fortune) -- They own or guarantee $5 trillion worth of mortgages - nearly half of all the country's outstanding home loan debt-and they're crashing. Big time.
“Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are struggling with an investor loss of confidence so great that, while they're unlikely to go under, they could conceivably see their ability to function impaired. That would wreak yet more havoc on an already wrecked housing market- making loans tougher to come by and possibly pushing hundreds of billions of dollars in cost onto U.S. taxpayers.
“How could the companies end up in such awful straits? Given the way they were created and run, a better question might be: how could they not?
“The two companies are so-called government-sponsored enterprises (Editor’s Note: Just like the Fed.), created by Congress in 1938 (Fannie) and 1970 (Freddie) to help more Americans buy houses.”
Fundamentally, Freddie and Fannie just let greed take over as the subprime binge drinking at their two-year+ frat party continued unabated:
“Now the dwindling pool of mortgages, higher foreclosure risk, and a shaky interest rate environment have the companies on the ropes; and investors are beginning to lose faith in Fannie and Freddie.
“Both firms told Fortune that they have enough
capital 
to
weather the storm and continue to support the nation’s housing market.
“And yet, Fannie has fallen 32% this week (the infamous week after the 4th of July, 2008) and 65% since the beginning of the year. Freddie plunged 47% so far this week and is down 75% since January.
“Investors have lost faith that the companies can operate in their current incarnation without running into major problems.
“If investors abandon these companies, what do we learn from this odd Frankenstein of a business model?
“‘Nobody every believed that Fannie and Freddie were truly private and they never should have been,’ says Whalen. ‘Now we will all have to pay for a company that has gone astray.’” (Ibid.)
Behold, the mortgage lady saunters out and gingerly suggests that it’s time the half-breed firms quit playing games here and become wholly federal. Enter the Feds, once again, and secure the plunging stock for pennies on the dollar—another brilliant maneuver by the King of Tyre.