American Conspiracies: Lies, Lies, and More Dirty Lies That the Government Tells Us (33 page)

Roosevelt quote: Forum, February 1895. Mem. Ed. XV, 10; Nat. Ed. XIII, 9.

“perverse set of incentives”: “Former Wall Street Player Reveals the Inside World Behind Shady Bailouts to Bankers,” by Joshua Holland and Nomi Prins,
www.alternet.org
, October 30, 2009.

AIG employees & assets: “The 10 Worst Corporations of 2008,”
Multinational Monitor
, Nov.-Dec., 2008.

AIG intelligence background: “The Secret (Insurance) Agent Men,”
Los Angeles Times
, September 22, 2000. See also,
The Shadow Warriors: OSS and the Origins of the CIA
, by Bradley F. Smith, Basic Books, 1983.

AIG and Helliwell:
The War Conspiracy
, by Peter Dale Scott, Bobbs-Merrill, 1972.

Barbados company: See
www.fromthewilderness.com
, report by Michael Rupert.

AIG and aircraft: “Deep Politics of AIG: OSS, CIA, Drug Money Laundering,” at
www.ronpaulforums.com
.

AIG recent history: “AIG is a ‘special case,'” by Wayne Madsen, September 23, 2008,
http://onlinejournal.com
.

AIG in Asia:
L.A. Times
article, op.cit.

Greenberg and CIA: Madsen article.

Goldman Sachs's formula: “The Great American Bubble Machine,” by Matt Taibbi,
Rolling Stone
, July 9-23, 2009.

Creation of Federal Reserve:
The Journey to Jekyll Island
, by G. Edward Griffin, American Media (24th printing, May 2009), p. 23. The meeting on Jekyll Island took place in November 1910.

JFK and Federal Reserve: “President John F. Kennedy, the Federal Reserve and Executive Order 11110,” by Cedric X,
The Final Call
, Vol. 15, No. 6, January 17, 1996.

Greenspan on Federal Reserve: “AIG A Gold Standard for Fiascoes,” by Rhonda Swan, March 20, 2009,
Palm Beach Post
.

Reagan era: “Reagan Did It,” by Paul Krugman,
New York Times
, June 1, 2009.

Glass-Steagall Act: “Shattering the Glass-Steagall Act,” by William Kaufman, September 19, 2008,
www.counterpunch.org
; “Wall Street's Best Investment,” by Robert Weissman and James Donahue,
Multinational Monitor
, January-February 2009.

“bar-room brawl”: L. William Seidman, a longtime Republican adviser.

Bush Administration and economy: “White House Philosophy Stoked Mortgage Bonfire,”
New York Times
, December 21, 2008.

“red flags” at SEC: “Report Details How Madoff's Web Ensnared S.E.C.,”
New York Times
, September 3, 2009, citing a new report by the SEC's inspector general.

SEC ignoring expert: “First the Swindle, Now the Whitewash,” by Eamonn Fingleton,
CounterPunch
, Sept. 16-30, 2009.

Company hotline: “SEC Alerted About Allen Stanford in 2003: Report,” February 27, 2009,
www.reuters.com
.

SEC and Madoff: “SEC's Madoff Miss Fits Pattern Set With Piquot,” by Gary J. Aguirre,
Bloomberg
, February 2, 2009; “SEC Whislteblower Speaks on Madoff Fraud,” by Matt Renner, Dec. 22, 2009,
www.truthout.org
.

Spitzer investigation: Madsen article, op.cit.

Luxury spa retreat: “More pigs at the trough,” by Arianna Huffington, July 28, 2009,
www.truthout.org
.

Cassano's unit:
Market Ticker
, by Karl Denninger, March 31, 2009.

Office of Thrift Supervision/housing market: “The Big Takeover,” by Matt Taibbi,
Rolling Stone
,
www.truthout.org
, March 23, 2009.

Paulson and SEC: “Obama's Top Econic Adviser is Greedy and Highly Compromised,” by Matt Taibbi, April 10, 2009,
www.alternet.org
.

Goldman “lending lust”: “It's time to enshrine Hank Paulson as national hero,” by Matt Taibbi, June 8, 2009.

“strongest in decades”: Ibid.

Oil and commodities: Taibbi article,
Rolling Stone
.

Industry subsidies: “Former Wall Street Player Reveals the Inside World Behind Shady Bailouts to Bankers,” Alternet, op.cit.

John Thain: Taibbi, “The Great American Bubble Machine” (area rug); “Why an A**Hole Is Always in Charge,” by Greg Palast, January 25, 2009.

Paulson-Blankfein calls: “Paulson's Calls to Goldman Tested Ethics During Crisis,”
New York Times
, August 9, 2009.

Goldman check: “Former Wall Street Player,” Alternet.

Spitzer on “inside job”: “The Real AIG Scandal,” by Eliot Spitzer, March 18, 2009,
www.slate.com
.

$40 billion outstanding: “Why big US, Foreign Banks Got Billions from AIG Bailout,” by Greg Gordon and Kevin G. Hall, McClatchy newspaper, April 6, 2009,
www.truthout.org
.

AIG's overseas paybacks: “AIG a gold standard for fiascoes,” by Rhonda Swan, op.cit.

AIG losses: Taibbi article.

AIG bonuses: Taibbi article, op.cit.

Cassano fired but salaried:
Market Ticker
, op.cit.

Total financial support in trillions:
www.sigtarp.gov/reports/congress/2009/July2009_Quaraterly+Report+to+Congress.pdf
(p. 134).

$1.1 trillion; quote: “The Greatest Swindle Ever Sold,” by Andy Kroll, May 26, 2009, originally at TomDispatch. com,
www.truthout.org
. Economist quoted is Dean Baker, who co-directs the Center for Economic and Policy Research in Washington.

Big banks: “Banks ‘Too Big to Fail' Have Grown Even Bigger,” by David Cho,
Washington Post
, August 28, 2009.

Lewis/Cohan op-ed: “The Economy Is Still at the Brink,”
New York Times
, June 7, 2009.

Federal Reserve and economists: “Priceless: How the Federal Reserve Bought the Economics Profession,” by Ryan Grim,
The Huffington Post
, September 7, 2009.

Ron Paul and bill:
www.ronpaul.com
.

Federal Reserve: “Dismantling the Temple: How to Fix the Federal Reserve,” by William Greider,
The Nation
, August 3-10, 2009. Greider is also author of the classic
Secrets of the Temple: How the Federal Reserve Runs the Country
.

Bonuses to execs: “Letting the Banking Rats out of the Bag,” by Robert Scheer, August 11, 2009,
www.truthdig.com
.

Goldman employee earnings: “A Year After a Cataclysm, Little Change on Wall St.,” by Alex Berenson,
New York Times
, September 12, 2009.

Goldman profit surge: “Goldman to Make Record Bonus Payout,” by Philip Inman, June 21, 2009,
www.guardian.co.uk
.

Liddy and Goldman: “AIG Chief Owns Significant Stake in Goldman,”
New York Times Dealbook
, April 17, 2009.

Durbin on banking lobby: “Top Senate Democrat: Bankers ‘Own' the U.S. Congress,” by Glenn Greenwald, April 3, 2009,
www.salon.com
.

$5 billion: Sidebar to “Wall Street's Best Investment,”
Multinational Monitor
, op.cit.

Senators and Banks: “Senators Held Stock in Bailed-Out Banks,” by Reid Wilson and Kevin Bogardus, June 13, 2009,
www.truthout.org
.

TARP quote: “Good Billions After Bad,” by Donald R. Barlett and James B. Steele,
Vanity Fair
, October 2009.

TARP report: “Thievery Under the TARP,” by Robert Scheer, April 22, 2009,
www.truthout.org
.

TARP quote: “no problem here”: “Good Billions After Bad,” by Donald R. Barlett and James B. Steele,
Vanity Fair
, October 2009.

TARP program: Ibid.

GE Capital: “How a Loophole Benefits GE in Bank Rescue,” by Jeff Gerth and Brady Dennis, originally in ProPublica and
Washington Post
, June 29, 2009,
www.truthout.org
.

Goldman as Obama donor: Taibbi, “The Great American Bubble Machine,” op.cit.

Obama contributions: Center for Responsive Politics.

Summers and earnings: “Awake and Sing!”, by Frank Rich,
New York Times
, April 12, 2009.

Summers crusade: “Larry Summers, Tim Geithner, and Wall Street's Ownership of Government,” by Glenn Greenwald, April 4, 2009,
www.salon.com
.

Geithner's proposal: “Member and Overseer of the Finance Club,” by Jo Becker and Gretchen Morgenson,
New York Times
, April 27, 2009.

Geithner's phone contacts: “When Wall St. Calls, Geithner Answers,”
www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/10/08/business/main5371216.shtml%20
.

Geithner chief of staff: “Obama's top economic adviser is greedy and highly compromised,” by Matt Taibbi, April 10, 2009,
www.alternet.org
.

Blankenfein compensation: “AP Study Finds $1.6 billion went to bailed-out bank executives,” December 22, 2008.

TV ad spending: Organizing for America release, October 24, 2009, citing Associated Press.

“Medical Loss Ratio”: “The S-Word and Dr. Kevorkian's Accountant,” by Greg Palast, October 15, 2009,
www.truthout.org
.

Bonuses to traders: “Bankers Reaped Lavish Bonuses During Bailouts,”
New York Times
, July 31, 2009. Citing a report by New York attorney general.

IRS and wealthy Americans: “Tempo of Audits Drops for Wealthy,” by Lynnley Browning, March 23, 2009,
www.nytimes.com
.

Citigroup tax havens: “Report: Over 8 in 10 Corporations Have Tax Havens,” by Ken Thomas, January 16, 2009, citing GAO report.

Caymans as tax haven: “Lax Little Islands,” by David Cay Johnston,
The Nation
, June 1, 2009.

IBM workers: “IBM offers to move laid off workers to India,” by Paul McDougall,
Information Week
, February 2, 2009.