US Universities Doing “Land Grabs” in Africa; Displacing Local Farmers

Harvard and other major American universities are working through British hedge funds and European financial speculators to buy or lease vast areas of African farmland in deals, some of which may force many thousands of people off their land, according to a new study.

Researchers say foreign investors are profiting from “land grabs” that often fail to deliver the promised benefits of jobs and economic development, and can lead to environmental and social problems in the poorest countries in the world.

The new report on land acquisitions in seven African countries suggests that Harvard, Vanderbilt and many other US colleges with large endowment funds have invested heavily in African land in the past few years. Much of the money is said to be channelled through London-based Emergent asset management, which runs one of Africa‘s largest land acquisition funds, run by former JP Morgan and Goldman Sachs currency dealers.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/jun/08/us-universities-africa-land-grab?CMP=twt_fd

Analyst Warns of Dow Drop and War at End of 2012

And then he dropped a bomb.

The question was, What would trigger the DOW dropping to 500?

Nenner replied, “Well, I don’t want to depress you, but I should tell you that I also do war and peace cycles and it shows that were going to have a major war at the end of 2012, beginning of 2013. And I think that’s going to do it.”
Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/former-goldman-sachs-analyst-charles-nenner-major-war-2012-dow-5000-2011-3#ixzz1GJFrtp2k

WikiLeaks Already Announces Next “Dump”: A Major Bank/Financial Institution

The next Wikileaks will be about a major U.S. Bank. 

Wikileaks founder Julian Assange told Forbes that early next year, a major U.S. bank will suddenly find itself turned inside out.

And now everyone’s clamoring to find out which bank will be the subject of the massive data breach.

Will it be the biggest US bank? Asked Forbes’ Andy Greenberg, who interviewed Assange.

“No comment,” said Assange.

The one clue we get is this:

“With regard to these corporate leaks, I should say: There’s an overlap between corporate and government leaks.”

Perhaps that means it’s a bailed out bank. But really, no one has a clue.

Here’s the bulk of what Assange did say:

Tens of thousands of its internal documents will be exposed on Wikileaks.org with no polite requests for executives’ response or other forewarnings.

The data dump will lay bare the finance firm’s secrets on the Web for every customer, every competitor, every regulator to examine and pass judgment on.

Early next year, the Wikileaks document, which Assange compares to containing the damning e-mails that poured out of the Enron trial, will hit. 

Obviously this is huge news. We’ll have to wait for more information.

Click here to read the full interview in Forbes >
Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/the-next-wikileaks-will-be-about-a-major-bank-2010-11#ixzz16jDM4fpL

Economic Scenarios: Bad and Very Bad !!

Right now, Goldman Sachs’ Jan Hatzius is speaking on a panel and just told the audience there are only two economic scenarios for the U.S. right now: bad and very bad.

Those scenarios are summed up as followed (via Jim Pethokoukis):

Bad: 1-2% GDP growth and an increase to 10% unemployment

Very Bad: Double-dip recession, based on Bush tax cut expiring and declining home prices

Goldman Sachs put together as presentation explaining their new bearish view on the economy, and it doesn’t make for easy reading. But if you want an understanding of the the terrible scenarios they’ve envisioned, check it out here. 

Click here to see the presentation >

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/jan-hatzius-very-bad-scenario-2010-10#ixzz11V4HwX7m

Illinois’ Shore Bank Probe Nixed

Judicial Watch: Kagan’s Possible Ties to Saudis, binLaden, and Goldman Sachs

from Judicial Watch:

In a disturbing revelation for a Supreme Court nominee, Elena Kagan took millions of dollars from the Saudis as dean of Harvard Law School and a chunk of it reportedly came from 9/11 mastermind Osama bin Laden.

The bin Laden family has donated millions of dollars to the Ivy League university over the years, including generous endowments for the school’s Islamic law program and others to finance scholarships for students from Muslim countries. The family has a fondness for Harvard because Osama bin Laden’s brother, Abdullah, received a master’s degree from the school in the 1990s and a doctorate in 2000.

When Kagan took over as dean of the law school in 2003, she launched an aggressive and unprecedented fundraising campaign that raked in a whopping $476.5 million, the most lucrative in the law school’s history. Renowned as a prolific fundraiser, Kagan was tapped to head the law school after spending a few years as a professor there when her job in the Clinton White House ended. In addition to the $476.5 million generated by the targeted campaign—dubbed “Setting the Standard”—Kagan helped raise an extra $60 million for the Harvard Law School Fund.

A chunk of the cash came from the Saudis—and probably the bin Ladens—who have bankrolled many key programs at the Cambridge Massachusetts school over the years. In fact, Harvard has accepted so much cash from the bin Ladens that the Cambridge City Council passed a resolution calling upon the university to donate compensation money for victims of the 2001 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. Harvard officials refused.

Kagan’s Saudi/bin Laden money connection probably served as an inspiration in protecting the Saudi kingdom against a lawsuit for financing the 2001 terror attacks. Thousands of family members of 9/11 victims sued Saudi Arabia and several members of its royal family for actively aiding in financing the attacks through front groups posing as charities. As Solicitor General, Kagan blocked the lawsuit, citing the “potentially significant foreign-relations consequences of subjecting another sovereign state to suit.”

Another skeleton in Kagan’s closet is her financial ties to Goldman Sachs, the global investment firm embroiled in a major fraud scandal. For four years Kagan worked as an “advisor” at the Wall Street titan that donates generously to Democrats. She received a $10,000 annual “stipend” for her advice even though she was quite busy at the time raising money at Harvard and serving as dean of its law school.

For the full article: http://www.judicialwatch.org/blog/2010/may/kagan-has-saudi-bin-laden-money-ties

Call for Investigation into ShoreBank Bailout: Ties to Schakowsky, Obama, Jarrett, and GoldmanSachs

Yesterday we pointed out how insolvent South Chicago bank ShoreBank was rescued in the last minute by a consortium of banks led by Goldman Sachs, after early unwillingness to provide rescue funding to the bank was overcome once the President allegedly got involved. Today we learn from Fox Biz’ Charlie Gasparino that congressional republicans, led by Spencer Bachus, are calling for an investigation into what could turn out to be another crooked scam to bail out an administration darling, because GM and Chrysler were not enough, even as over 70 banks have failed year to date, which however do not have the privilege of being in the president’s very good graces.

Some excerpts from Gasparino:

On Bachus calling for an investigation into the Shorebank bailout:
“The congressional republicans are now going to call for an investigation into the bailout of Shorebank. As you know all these private sector banks came in at the last minute and threw in about $150 million. GE Capital, not exactly a bank, gave $20 million as well. Mr. Bachus thinks it’s suspicious so he is calling for an investigation.”

On why Bachus is targeting Shorebank:
“These are all banks that received substantial federal money. And he’s looking for why they are doing it [bailing out Shorebank].”

On when the investigation will happen:
“He’s [Bachus] writing the letter to the President today.”

On the White House’s stance:
“They’ve denied any political pressure.”

On the political pressure to bailout Shorebank:
“They [the banks] did tell me that they wouldn’t have given money to the banks unless there was some sort of political overtone. There was no reason to bail this out other than its connections.”

http://www.zerohedge.com/article/congressional-republicans-calling-investigation-shorebank-bailout

Truth or Sarcasm, Geithner Quips about “Never Having a Real Job”

     Somehow, those of us in the private sector, already knew this!!

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2010/04/25/geithner_i_never_had_a_real_job.html

A Wicked Web: Al Gore, Global Warming, Goldman Sachs, Derivatives, & Obama

Whether Wall Street colossus Goldman Sachs has committed a crime remains to be seen, but the investigation may well uncover the environmental lobby and its public figurehead. For nearly a decade, Goldman Sachs has been a quiet but major investor in cap and trade. And Goldman’s main investment partner has been Al Gore.

About a decade ago, Goldman executives recognized that personal fortunes could be made with the invention of a carbon trading system through the passage of a U.S. cap-and-trade bill.  This area was well suited to Goldman Sachs, the architects behind the complex world of futures trading and exotic derivatives.

Goldman joined Al Gore in 2004 and capitalized his investment company, Generation Investment Management. Strangely for a man who was a heartbeat away from the presidency, Gore decided to register his company in London — not the United States.

In November 2004, Gore unveiled GIM. Standing at his side was David Blood, the CEO of Goldman Asset Management. Blood was to become his co-founder (the new company was quickly nicknamed “Blood & Gore”). It was established with the initial capital of $206 million, much of it from Blood clients at Goldman Sachs.

Gore also turned to Goldman Sachs guru (and later Bush Treasury Secretary) Henry Paulson to help him establish GIM. At the time, Paulson himself was an eco-warrior of sorts, serving as chairman of the board of the Nature Conservancy.

Today, seven of Gore’s GIM chief partners are from Goldman Sachs. The company is now valued at $2.2 billion.

It doesn’t stop there. The Goldman Sachs/Gore team then established the Chicago Climate Exchange (CCX), a new cap-and-trade carbon trading platform, and partnered with the UK-based Climate Exchange, Plc (CLE), a holding company listed on the London Stock Exchange. CLE does carbon trading in Europe. In late 2004, they also created the Chicago Climate Futures Exchange (CCFX).

In September of 2006, Climate Exchange Plc acquired the remainder of CCX it didn’t own and placed £12.2 million of new shares with Goldman Sachs.

Goldman is reported to have made an investment of $23 million in the venture. Between Gore and Goldman, they are the largest investors in the Chicago Climate Exchange, owning 20% of it.

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Full Link: http://pajamasmedia.com/blog/will-obamas-goldman-sachs-attack-expose-al-gore-or-other-dems/

I feel “Comfortable” with Eric Stein heading the Proposed Consumer Financial Protection Agency— Don’t You?

Eric Stein.

Remember the name. He is deputy assistant secretary for consumer protection at the Treasury Department. He was also a key player in the Center for Responsible Lending — a front group funded by billionaire John Paulson who worked with Goldman Sachs to package mortgages into securities.

In the house of cards that was the mortgage securities market — Stein was the Jack of spades. While Paulson was the bag man for the CRL operation, Stein was it’s hatchet man. Stein harassed and threatened banks into making bad loans. Paulson primed the pump and Stein fueled the fire.

Stein promoted policies that, in his words, encourages other lenders to make suststainable loans to borrowers with blemished credit.” In other words, they would buy loans from banks to make such loans Then the loan would be kicked up to Fannie Mae. Paulson got rich. Taxpayers got bilked.

Rather than being promoted to protect consumers, he needs to explain his role in creating and sustaining the crisis.

Eric Stein must reign. Today.

http://biggovernment.com/publius/2010/04/23/eric-stein-must-resign/