Screw You and Your Family Too! -OR- The Battle of Wall Street: BIG BUSINESS v everybody else

When you sell a thing, you no longer own it.

Right?

Not so in the make-believe world of Wall Street!

In the make-believe world of Wall Street, when you sell a thing, you STILL own it!

Huh?

Well, Lehman Brothers “sold” $50 BILLION of their assets, but kept possession of them, and made it appear as if they no longer owned them. Normal folks would consider that fraud, or theft. So does a U.S. Federal Bankruptcy Examiner.

Financial regulators in the United Kingdom are investigating bankrupt American Lehman Brothers for hiding more than $50,000,000,000 ($50 BILLION) in their accounts, through criminal transactions nick-named “repo transactions.”

What could you do with an extra $200 or so?

The population of the United States is a little over 300,000,000. If that money ($50,000,000,000 – $50 BILLION) were to be forfeited and confiscated as part of a criminal suit and distributed to every man, woman and child in the USA, they’d each receive about $162 or so. How’d you like THAT kind of tax break?

If those lying bastards were to be penalized so severely, maybe they’d think twice before screwing the people and flouting the laws.

The so-called “repo transactions” (repossession) occurs when a loan is granted and an asset is given as collateral/security for the loan. The borrower pays interest on the loan by taking the collateral/security back at the time of redemption of the loan (the repossession) at a rate of interest. However, unlike typical loans – such as for automobiles or houses – the loan grantor never becomes the owner of the item given as collateral/security (the asset).

In other words, it’s a bunch of paper and promises that are really NOT “securitized” (backed by a security), though they appear to be. It’d be like giving a loan to Bill Gates based on who we know he is – a very wealthy man – if he were to offer his Redmond, WA mansion as collateral. The bank would NEVER actually take legal possession of his mansion, but would make it appear so on paper.

Anton Valukas, a U.S. Federal Bankruptcy court-appointed Bank Examiner  said that, “We have asked Ernst & Young to provide further information in relation to what happened in the U.K.”

America’s corrupt Wall Street traders are increasingly coming under verbal fire and intense legal scrutiny at home and abroad.

A report by the Bankruptcy Examiner unsealed last week demonstrated that Lehman Brothers used “Repo 105” transactions to hide $50BILLION from their balance sheet, and make itself appear less leveraged than they truly were.

Mr. Valukas reported that Lehman Brothers used a clause in an accounting rule to classify the “repos” as sales, even though they had to buy back the assets later. But before they could be recorded as sales, a legal opinion had to be obtained whether or not they were truly sales. However, since no U.S.-based attorney group could give a concrete definition of “sale,” the deals were channeled through the United Kingdom, where the Linklaters law firm gave a definitive answer under U.K. law.

Mr. Valukas further stated that evidence exists to support a malpractice claim against the accounting firm of Ernst & Young, which was Lehman Brothers’ auditor, because they failed to take steps to question Lehman’s failure to be honest and forthright by not telling about the $50 BILLION off-the-books transactions.

Do we REALLY need any more good reasons for a complete Government take over the U.S. financial system?

I don’t think so.

People rejoiced when Saddam Hussein was executed. How much more would they rejoice if Wall Streeters were also?