Crony Capitalism

David Petraeus – How This Leaker of Classified Information is Peddling KKR Funds as Opposed to Serving Jail Time

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David Petraeus, as much as anyone else in America, personifies the completely corrupt, unjust, and fraudulent application of the rule of law in these United States today.

I continue to think that the unequal application of justice in America is the single most important issue that must be faced. So many of our problems would be solved overnight if the masses weren’t locked up for Orwellian “victimless crimes,” and rich and powerful criminals were thrown in jail up for extended periods for their far more societally destructive actions.

The case of David Petraeus has been discussed here before, most recently in the post, Some Leaks Are More Equal Than Others – Hypocritical D.C. Insiders Line up to Defend General Petraeus from Prosecution. Here are a few excerpts:

The decimation of the rule of law in these United States has been the key theme at Liberty Blitzkrieg for several years now. The reason I put such an emphasis on this horrible development, is because I think it trumps all others in significance. While the world will always have crime and corruption, the inability for a society to deal with rich and powerful people who engage in such practices thrusts a spear directly into the heart of any given civilization or society. It results in an exponential increase in elite criminality, and a concurrent death spiral downward into a culture primarily defined by a depraved, unaccountable oligarchy. These are symptoms of a fallen society, and these symptoms are evident all around us.

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Meet Cyber P3 – The U.S. Military’s Public-Private Partnership to Create Corporate/Government “Cyber Soldiers”

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At a time when the Pentagon arguably is losing a battle with industry for top tech talent, the Army is offering companies the resumes of its best cyberwarriors.

The initiative is designed to pump out 3,500 to 5,000 Army reserve soldiers. So far, 21 private employers have signed up to transition service members into civilian careers at Citibank, Microsoft, Fox Entertainment and Chevron, among other companies. 

“We’re looking at how do we marry up cyber soldiers with their civilian career,” like a reservist doctor in private practice, Nelson said. “If they do that on a full-time basis and they are immersed in cybersecurity on their civilian job, they are going to be very perceptive cyber soldiers.”

– From the Defense One article: The Army Is Sharing Its Top Cyber Warriors With Hollywood and Wall Street

If there’s one thing I’ve learned over the years, it’s that whenever you hear the term “public-private” partnership, brace yourself for a screw job of epic proportions. It’s in exactly the same vein as the classic observation uttered by the late comedian, George Carlin, about politics:

The word bipartisan means some larger-than-usual deception is being carried out. 

It makes perfect sense if you think about it. If you’re a large corporation, there’s nothing better than guaranteed profits; and there’s no better way to guarantee profits than by going into business with the one entity that can do this: government. On the other hand, if you are an ambitious and greedy politician, what better way to earn a fortune while ostensibly engaging in “public service” than by lining the pockets of big corporations, which will then line your pockets in return in various opaque ways. Extraordinary fees for speeches is one preferred way of doing this, as is the classic revolving door that gives the person a cushy corporate job after leaving government.

In many ways, the Clinton Foundation is proving to be the shadiest public-private partnership of them them. Naturally, it isn’t marketed that way, but when the founders of it consist of a former President, and his former Secretary of State and Presidential candidate wife, you can see that this is a money-making scheme masquerading as a charity. I’ve covered this angle in detail over the past few months (links at the end), but right now I want to highlight a much anticipated book that is about to be released by Peter Schweizer titled, “Clinton Cash: The Untold Story of How and Why Foreign Governments and Businesses Helped Make Bill and Hillary Rich.” One thing we found out from the New York Times is that:

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Warren Buffett the Slumlord – Predatory Loans, Kickbacks and Preying on the Poor at Clayton Homes

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The disastrous deal ruined their finances and nearly their marriage. But until informed recently by a reporter, they didn’t realize that the homebuilder (Golden West), the dealer (Oakwood Homes) and the lender (21st Mortgage) were all part of a single company: Clayton Homes, the nation’s biggest homebuilder, which is controlled by its second-richest man — Warren Buffett.

Buffett’s mobile-home empire promises low-income Americans the dream of homeownership. But Clayton relies on predatory sales practices, exorbitant fees, and interest rates that can exceed 15 percent, trapping many buyers in loans they can’t afford and in homes that are almost impossible to sell or refinance, an investigation by The Seattle Times and Center for Public Integrity has found.

Berkshire Hathaway, the investment conglomerate Buffett leads, bought Clayton in 2003 and spent billions building it into the mobile-home industry’s biggest manufacturer and lender. Today, Clayton is a many-headed hydra with companies operating under at least 18 names, constructing nearly half of the industry’s new homes and selling them through its own retailers. It finances more mobile-home purchases than any other lender by a factor of six. It also sells property insurance on them and repossesses them when borrowers fail to pay.

Former dealers said the company encouraged them to steer buyers to finance with Clayton’s own high-interest lenders.

Buyers told of Clayton collection agents urging them to cut back on food and medical care or seek handouts in order to make house payments. 

To maintain its down-to-earth image, Clayton has hired the stars of the reality-TV show “Duck Dynasty” to appear in ads…

– From the excellent Seattle Times article: The Mobile-Home Trap: How a Warren Buffett Empire Preys on the Poor

In so many ways, Warren Buffett and modern America are the same thing. An idea packaged and marketed so brilliantly, most of humanity unquestionably believes the myth. Warren Buffett and the U.S. both sell themselves as encompassing the very best of human qualities; highly successful, extraordinarily intelligent, yet at the same time, extremely ethical. It’s that last part that’s actually most important to the continued power and prestige of both the man and the nation-state. However, when you look beneath the surface, it becomes increasingly clear that neither of them actually come close to what’s printed on the package.

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NYC Residents Will Pay $2-3k a Month for “Micro-Apartments” as Luxury Car Sales Outpace Regular Car Sales

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Screen Shot 2015-03-02 at 11.23.29 AMIn the past five years, global registrations of the seven largest ultra-premium car brands–a group that also includes Aston Martin and Lamborghini–have surged by 154 percent, far outpacing the 36 percent gain in overall car sales worldwide. 

Rolls-Royce registrations have risen almost five-fold. Almost 10,000 new Bentleys cruised onto the streets last year, a 122 percent increase over 2009, while Lamborghini rode a 50 percent increase to pass the 2,000 vehicle mark.

– From the Bloomberg article: Hyper-Luxury Cars Are Now Selling Faster Than Normal Ones

It’s an oligarch’s world, you’re just living in it.

One of the main reasons “hyper-luxury” cars are outselling regular cars, is because all of the wealth gains from the oligarch recovery are going to, well, oligarchs. This has been a regular theme here at Liberty Blitzkrieg, and is further evidence that global policies implemented since the oligarch created financial melt-down, have been used to cover up its criminality, and further advance the status quo’s consolidation of wealth and power. A continuation of this trend presents the greatest threat to liberty, free markets and an evolution of human consciousness on the planet today.

First, let’s take a look at how the average standard of living in my hometown of NYC is being impacted by the oligarch recovery. From the New York Post:

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Annaly’s CEO Accurately Compares Central Bankers to Witch Doctors; Possible “Blood-Letters”

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Screen Shot 2015-02-27 at 11.05.28 AMThe story of bloodletting is intertwined in the mysterious fabric of medical lore; it originated from magic and religious ceremonies. The physician and priest were one and the same since disease was thought to be caused by supernatural causes. Witch doctors and sorcerers were called on to drive out the evil spirits and demons. Bloodletting was a method for cleansing the body of ill-defined impurities and excess fluid. The early instruments included thorns, pointed sticks and bones, sharp pieces of flint or shell, and even sharply pointed shark’s teeth. Miniature bow and arrow devices for bloodletting have been found in South America and New Guinea. A small bloodletting instrument resembling a crossbow was once used in Greece and Malta. Wall paintings dating from 1400 B.C. depict the use of leeches for drawing blood from human beings.

– From a PBS article: A Brief History of Blood-Letting

On a conference call today to discuss the mortgage-investment firm’s earnings, the chief executive officer talked about “blood-letting,” a “popular prescription for many ills” until the late 1800s, and the similarly abandoned view that life could be created by spontaneous generation to explain her “healthy dose of concern” over the potential results of all the stimulus.

“My hope is that as policy makers of the world continue to prescribe their remedies for the ailing economic patient, that they do not render it worse off,” she said. “As with their predecessors, I suspect there is no doubt in the minds of our central bankers that they are the smartest they’ve ever been. Yet, I fear they are not the smartest they will ever be.”

– From the Bloomberg article: Annaly’s CEO Sees Central Bankers as Possible Blood-Letters

One of my greatest frustrations during the post-financial crisis period has been the unwillingness of the rich and powerful to call out central banking for what it is: financial slavery. While I accept that many are simply ignorant or brainwashed, there are plenty who know exactly what’s going on and are merely trying to make as much money as possible from the Federal Reserve created scam before the music stops. For those with influence in society, this is a highly unethical choice.

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Hillary Clinton Exposed Part 1 – How She Aggressively Lobbied for Mega Corporations as Secretary of State

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That approach, which Mrs. Clinton called “economic statecraft,” emerged in discussions with Robert Hormats, a former Goldman Sachs Group Inc. investment banker who has worked in Democratic and Republican administrations and became an undersecretary of state. “One of the very first items was, how do we strengthen the role of the State Department in economic policy?” he says.

Early in Mrs. Clinton’s tenure, according to Mr. Hormats, Microsoft’s then Chief Research Officer Craig Mundie asked the State Department to send a ranking official to a fourth annual meeting of U.S. software executives and Chinese government officials about piracy and Internet freedom. Mr. Hormats joined the December 2009 meeting in Beijing.

Mr. Hormats says there was no relation between Microsoft’s donations and the State Department’s participation in the China conference.

Before every overseas trip, says Mr. Hormats, the former undersecretary of state, he helped prepare a list of U.S. corporate interests for Mrs. Clinton to advocate while abroad. 

– From the Wall Street Journal article: Hillary Clinton’s Complex Corporate Ties

If you can’t beat em, mock em. That’s essentially my motto going into the imperial spectacle known as the 2016 American Presidential election. With another Bush and another Clinton likely on the ballot, there’s basically only one candidate running, and I plan on proving this in no uncertain terms over the next couple of years.

Recently, I started a series known as “Jeb Bush Exposed” (read part 1 and part 2), so it’s only fair that I create a similar category for Hillary. Going forward, I plan on naming all future exposes on these two cronies in that manner, so all the stories are easily accessible as we head into next year’s charade.

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Welcome to the Oligarch Recovery – Majority of Public School Students are in Poverty for First Time in 50 Years

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Screen Shot 2015-01-17 at 11.59.09 AM“When they first come in my door in the morning, the first thing I do is an inventory of immediate needs: Did you eat? Are you clean? A big part of my job is making them feel safe,” said Sonya Romero-Smith, a veteran teacher at Lew Wallace Elementary School in Albuquerque. Fourteen of her 18 kindergartners are eligible for free lunches.

She helps them clean up with bathroom wipes and toothbrushes, and she stocks a drawer with clean socks, underwear, pants and shoes.

From the Washington Post article: Majority of U.S. Public School Students are in Poverty

It’s a recovery so lopsided only Timothy Geithner or an oligarch could love it. Since 2008, U.S. economic policy has concentrated on funneling as much money as possible to billionaires, keeping the poor alive and submissive through government programs, and squeezing the middle class to death while at the same time holding out the carrot of hope that things will return to how they were before (they won’t).

The latest evidence of this monumental cultural theft was highlighted yesterday in the Washington Post. Here are a few excerpts:

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Another Government Scam – Small Business Administration (SBA) is Exposed as Corporate Welfare to Big Businesses

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Screen Shot 2014-12-03 at 2.42.03 PMMany people have noted that the more insidious or corrupt a law or agency, the more positive sounding its name. The most egregious example during my lifetime, was naming legislation that stripped Americans of most of their civil liberties the “Patriot” Act.

In a similar vein, which red-blooded American could ever be opposed to something called the Small Business Administration (SBA). We all love small businesses and the entrepreneurial spirit, and even those who abhor big government have a hard time siding against an agency that supports the little guy. As such, the SBA is the perfect vehicle for cronyism, corruption and corporate welfare, which indeed appears to be its primary reason for existence.

My friends at Open the Books have published a key study on the SBA, and the results are ugly. The full report can be found here, but what follows is some analysis of the report by Stephen Moore at Investors Business Daily:

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Glenn Greenwald on Hillary Clinton: “Soulless, Principle-Free, Power Hungry…”

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Screen Shot 2014-11-14 at 10.08.22 AMOne attribute I like most about Glenn Greenwald is that he never pulls punches. One of his most prescient and cutting political lines came earlier this year when he made some observations on the upcoming 2016 Presidential election, in which two status quo, corrupt, bloodthirsty con-artists will compete for the Oval Office. While we don’t yet know which crony the GOP will put up, Hillary is pretty much a foregone conclusion for the Democrats. Greenwald observed:

Hillary is banal, corrupted, drained of vibrancy and passion. I mean, she’s been around forever, the Clinton circle. She’s a fucking hawk and like a neocon, practically. She’s surrounded by all these sleazy money types who are just corrupting everything everywhere. But she’s going to be the first female president, and women in America are going to be completely invested in her candidacy. Opposition to her is going to be depicted as misogynistic, like opposition to Obama has been depicted as racist. It’s going to be this completely symbolic messaging that’s going to overshadow the fact that she’ll do nothing but continue everything in pursuit of her own power. They’ll probably have a gay person after Hillary who’s just going to do the same thing.

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Tony Blair Gets Paid (Again) – Secret $61,000 per Month Contract with Saudis Revealed

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Screen Shot 2014-08-27 at 11.35.49 AMWhile thieving bankers and military-industrial complex executives feeding parasitically off the citizenry is bad enough, there’s really nothing worse than some two-bit, war criminal, faux humanitarian leveraging death and destruction to make a fortune after leaving “public service.” That in a nutshell is the resume of former British Prime Minister Tony Blair.

Mr. Blair is no stranger to this site. Back in August, I highlighted another one of his philanthropic activities in the post, Letter Reveals Tony Blair Advised Kazakhstan’s President on How to Spin Massacre of Innocent, Unarmed Protesters. Here’s an excerpt:

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