Mike Whitney – USA (the American writer)

(disambiguate from other persons with the same name, for ex.: MW cricket player Australia)

Linked with Haircut time for bondholders, and with Eastern Europe is about to Blow.

Mike Whitney is an American writer who runs his own landscape company in Snohomish, Wa, U.S., Mike Whitney regularly features on ukurnet and other websites (on the truth seeker).

Mike is a well respected freelance writer living in Washington state, interested in politics and economics from a libertarian perspective. (on market oracle).

He says: We said many times on this site that George Bush is a baby killer. We said it over and over. Today Mike Whitney has written an article here talking about baby killers. It is George Bush. He is responsible. We only need to do the calculations. Sixty percent of Iraqis are children. To date it is estimated that 300,000 Iraqi civilians have been slaughtered by Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld. Sixty percent of 300,000 comes to 180,000 children murdered by Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld. That’s a lot of baby killing. So the prime characteristic, the prime attribute of our current US president is that he is a baby killer. This attribute stands out above all others. This is what history will remember about Mr. Bush – that he was first and foremost a goddamn baby-killer! … (on World Prout Assembly, March 18, 2006).

Mike Whitney (asks Bede Vincent Curley): I have been beating the same dead horse for three or four years now and many people are getting tired of the endless iterations of collapsing markets, rising unemployment and growing pessimism. What’s needed is a vision of the future and a concrete plan of action, but I don’t have one. So, tell me, what is to be done? … (full text, March 16, 2009).

..

Mike Whitney – USA

… Whitney argued that Eastern Europe “is about to blow”. He pointed out that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) does not have the resources for a bailout of the size Eastern European economies need to stave off total collapse … Representatives of the World Bank at the G7 meeting in Davos stated that the world economic crisis will push the incomes of an extra 53 million people in the Third World below $2 a day, and that rising food and fuel costs have driven 130-150 million more into poverty, according to BBC News on January 29. The World Bank predicted a “lost decade”, where growth rates the world over would remain static or drop substantially. As the crisis deepens, the battle will increasingly be over whether the corporate elite — who are to blame for the crisis — force the rest of us to pay for it, or whether alternative systems can be built that place human need ahead of private profit. (full long text, 28 February 2009).

Find him and his publications(disambiguate from other persons with the same name):on the truth seeker; on Google Group-search; on inauthor Google-search; on Google Book-search; on Google Blog-search.

He writes:

  • … It couldn’t be much clearer than that. But don’t expect « compliance » from Geithner or Bernanke. They have no intention of reworking their plans to meet the demands of the G-20. No way. Multilateralism and cooperation might sound great in speeches, but it’s not what drives policy. The TALF (Term Asset-Backed Securities Loan Facility) and the « Public-Private Partnership » are another slap in the face of the international community. They violate the spirit and the letter of the G-20 communique. It will be interesting to see if foreign holders of US Treasurys endure this latest insult in silence or if there’s a sudden stampede for the exits. There’s a sense that the world is getting fed up with the Fed’s financial chicanery and would like to chart a different course. Enough is enough. (full text, March 16, 2009);
  • … It was securitization and the 25 to 1 leveraging of toxic assets at the hedge funds, investment banks and private equity firms, that brought on the current financial crisis. When trouble broke out in the subprimes, the secondary market shut down, and the flow of credit from nonbank financial institutions dried up. Unfortunately, the real economy has become addicted to easy credit and sky-high asset prices. Now that the bubble has burst, the phony prosperity of the Bush years has been wiped out in one fell swoop. The stock market has plunged to its 1996 level and housing prices are returning to the mean. The question now should be, do we really want to restore a crisis-prone credit-generating system (securitization) by providing a $1 trillion subsidy to profit-oriented hucksters who are largely responsible for the current recession? As Barak Obama stated last week, « Credit is the economy’s life-blood ». It should distributed through government-owned and regulated financial institutions that operate as public utilities. Credit is everyone’s business. It shouldn’t be controlled by speculators. (full text, March 5, 2009).
  • The Obama Team has a big problem on its hands; Timothy Geithner. Geithner was picked as Treasury Secretary because he is a trusted ally of the big banks and has a good grasp of the intricacies of the financial system. The problem is that Geithner can’t handle the public relations part of his job. His big debut in prime-time last Tuesday turned out to be a complete dud. He was thoroughly unconvincing and looked like a nervous teenager at a speech contest. He fizzled on stage for 25 minutes while the little red box in the corner of the TV screen–which shows the current Dow Jones Industrials–plummeted nearly 400 points. It was a total disaster and one that is sure to be repeated over and over as long as Geithner is at Treasury. Not everyone can be a charismatic orator like Obama and nothing short of a personality transplant will fix Geithner. He lacks gravitas and doesn’t inspire confidence. That’s a problem since, the administration’s main objective is to restore public confidence and get people spending again. They’re just shooting themselves in the foot by using him as their pitchman. Eventually, Geithner will either have to be tossed overboard or strapped to Obama like a papoose so he can share in the president’s popularity. Otherwise he will continue to be a millstone. (on after Amageddon, Feb 23, 2009);
  • … The banking lobby has already set the agenda.  All the hooplah about « financial rescue » is just a smokescreen to hide the fact that the same scofflaws who ripped off investors for zillions of dollars are back for their next big sting; a quick vacuuming of the public till to save themselves from bankruptcy. It’s a joke. Obama floated into office on a wave of Wall Street campaign contributions and now it’s payback time. Prepare to get fleeced. Geithner is fine-tuning a « public-private » partnership for his buddies so they can keep their fiefdom intact while shifting trillions of dollars of toxic assets onto the people’s balance sheet. They’ve affixed themselves to Treasury like scabs on a leper. Geithner is « their guy », a Trojan Horse for the banking oligarchs. He’s already admitted that his main goal is to, « keep the banks in private hands ». That says it all, doesn’t it? … (full text, February 18, 2009);
  • … Former Russian President Mikhail Gorbachev gave a good summary of events in an op-ed in Monday’s Washington Post: « For some time, relative calm was maintained in South Ossetia. The peacekeeping force composed of Russians, Georgians and Ossetians fulfilled its mission, and ordinary Ossetians and Georgians, who live close to each other, found at least some common ground….What happened on the night of Aug. 7 is beyond comprehension. The Georgian military attacked the South Ossetian capital of Tskhinvali with multiple rocket launchers designed to devastate large areas….Mounting a military assault against innocents was a reckless decision whose tragic consequences, for thousands of people of different nationalities, are now clear. The Georgian leadership could do this only with the perceived support and encouragement of a much more powerful force. Georgian armed forces were trained by hundreds of U.S. instructors, and its sophisticated military equipment was bought in a number of countries. This, coupled with the promise of NATO membership, emboldened Georgian leaders into thinking that they could get away with a « blitzkrieg » in South Ossetia…Russia had to respond. To accuse it of aggression against « small, defenseless Georgia » is not just hypocritical but shows a lack of humanity. » (« A Path to Peace in the Caucasus », Mikhail Gorbachev, Washington Post) … (full text, Aug 13, 2008);
  • … The Luck of the Irish: The Irish have plenty to celebrate today. They’ve thrown a spanner in the plans of the bankers and corporate mandarins who want to replace representative government and national sovereignty with their own skewed vision of Capitalist Valhalla; a Euro-Utopia where short-term profits always take priority over the needs of ordinary people. Bravo, Ireland. (full text, June 17, 2008);
  • Look around. The evidence of a withering economy is everywhere. In « good times » consumers shun the canned meat aisle altogether, but no more. Today, Spam sales are soaring; grocery stores can’t keep it on the shelves. Everyone is looking for cheaper ways to feed their families. The Labor Dept. assures us that core-inflation is only 4 per cent, but everybody knows it’s load of malarkey. Food prices are going through the roof. White bread is up 13 percent, bacon is up 7 percent and peanut butter is up 9 percent. Inflation is rampant and there’s no end in sight. The dollar is closing in on the peso and working people are struggling just to get by. The bottom line is that more and more people in « the richest country on earth » are now surviving on processed pig-meat. That says it all … (full text, June 2, 2008);
  • … Brimming oil tankers are presently sitting off the coasts of Iran and Louisiana. The Strategic Petroleum Reserve has been filled. Demand is flat. The world’s biggest consumer of energy (guess who?) is cutting back . As CNN reports: “At a time when gas prices are at an all-time high, Americans have curtailed their driving at a historic rate. The Department of Transportation said figures from March show the steepest decrease in driving ever recorded. Compared with March a year earlier, Americans drove an estimated 4.3 percent less — that’s 11 billion fewer miles, the DOT’s Federal Highway Administration said Monday, calling it « the sharpest yearly drop for any month in FHWA history » (CNN) … (full text, May 30, 2008;

… The psychology behind the PPT’s activities are explained in greater detail by Robert McHugh Ph.D. who provides a description of how it works in his essay “The Plunge Protection Team Indicator”:
“The PPT decides markets need intervention, a decline needs to be stopped, or the risks associated with political events that could be perceived by markets as highly negative and cause a decline, need to be prevented by a rally already in flight. To get that rally, the PPT’s key component — the Fed — lends money to surrogates who will take that fresh electronically printed cash and buy markets through some large unknown buyer’s account. That buying comes out of the blue at a time when short interest is high. The unexpected rally strikes blood, and fear overcomes those who were betting the market would drop. These shorts need to cover, need to buy the very stocks they had agreed to sell (without owning them) at today’s prices in anticipation they could buy them in the future at much lower prices and pocket the difference. Seeing those stocks rally above their committed selling price, the shorts are forced to buy — and buy they do. Thus, those most pessimistic about the equity market end up buying equities like mad, fueling the rally that the PPT started. Bingo, a huge turnaround rally is well underway, and sidelines money from Hedge Funds, Mutual funds and individuals’ rushes in to join in the buying madness for several days and weeks as the rally gathers a life of its own« . (Robert McHugh Ph.D., “The Plunge Protection Team Indicator”)
The powers of the PPT are greatly exaggerated; eventually the liquidity they provide has to be drained from the system. The popular myth that the Fed simply creates as much money as it chooses and spreads it around wherever it likes; is pure rubbish. The Fed has very defined balance constraints. The system is not quite as rigged as many people imagine. According to Bloomberg News, the Fed has already depleted most of its arsenal:
“The Fed has committed as much as 60 percent of the $709 billion in Treasury securities on its balance sheet to providing liquidity and opened the door to more with yesterday’s decision to become a lender of last resort for the biggest Wall Street dealers.” (“Bernanke May Run Low on Ammunition for Loans, Rates”, Bloomberg) … (full long text, March 20, 2008).

And also:

links:

Watch this video: US nationalizes banks, candidates talk economy, some minutes, Oct 16, 2008;

FIRST THOUGHTS: IS THIS WAR?

;

;

;

;

;

;

.