Category FDIC

Jun 13 2023

The Rule of Law – Trump is Finished?


Armstrong Economics Blog/Rule of Law Re-Posted Jun 13, 2023 by Martin Armstrong

QUESTION: Marty; This seems that the onslaught against Trump is a desperate attempt fearing that he would stop the war and reverse climate change. I have been reading you for years. You have great sources but also a great insight into what is happening in this corrupt world. I used to question your warnings that the United States would end up in a civil war. I’m at the point I cannot see how it is not possible.

Are they really this stupid to go after Trump if he could still become president even if convicted?

FS

ANSWER: This is an absolutely desperate attempt to make sure Trump does not ever get back to the White House. Even if he does, the talk in DC is that they will use this conviction for impeachment. But that would not really pass the test since it would be before taking office unless they stretch it out until January after he is sworn in. Nevertheless, there is far too much on the line for the Neocons. They will assassinate him as a last resort. These people assume the public is stupid and it will all blow over in 30 days anyhow when football season begins. They really do believe like the Romans, give us sports and they can do as they like.

If we look at the indictment, 31 of the 37 counts brought against Trump allege he willfully retained national defense information, which is a violation of the Espionage Act. This is really a stretch for the intent of that act was espionage and nobody is making a case that Trump was handing it to an enemy. Nevertheless, the indictment was extremely dangerous and far more serious than what Nixon faced. They are not playing games.

They are desperately staging this to put him in prison. Still, there is no actual smoking gun as they say. Trump has spoken about the classified documents acknowledging that they were classified. This is a serious risk and only a jury with common sense would find him not guilty. They use conspiracy so they do not have to prove everything beyond a reasonable doubt. It will be a case arguing what they “think” was in his mind at the time. Even this is selective prosecution after Biden had classified documents thrown in his car.

They are already trying to recuse the judge. They want a hanging judge and that is how the government works. When Judge McKenna was protecting me, they made a recusal motion. He denied it. So they went to the Chief Judge and had the case removed and sent to a hanging judge – John F. Kennan – a former prosecutor. Here is my docket sheet. How they remove Judge McKenna was sealed. I was NEVER allowed to see how they did that. This was an outright violation of Due Process of Law. It does not matter. The Second Circuit Court of Appeals refused to ever address anything in my case whatsoever!

I confronted Judge Owen that he was altering the transcripts which is a felony. I forced him to admit it. Under the law, he should have recused himself for now he was a witness in my case. I tried to appeal that and the Second Circuit lost the appeal 3 times and then claimed I was out of time to appeal. On top of that, changing the transcripts is a felony in addition to obstruction of justice which they are charging Trump with. The Second Circuit ignored everything. I wrote to the SEC prosecutor Dorothy Heyl. I said since you people change transcripts, why not just make one up and claim whatever and throw in I killed JFK, and let’s get this over with. She obviously did not reply.

Now you can see what Thomas Jefferson was writing about. There is no rule of law in the United States. If they want you, you have ZERO constitutional or human rights. They even tried to kill me in the same place they killed Jeffrey Epstein. I was in the hospital in a coma but to their dismay, I survived.

Shakespeare’s famous line from Henry VI, “The first thing we do, let’s kill all the lawyers” must be put in its proper context. At that point in history, a charged person had NO RIGHT to counsel. The ONLY lawyers were actually the king’s prosecutors. So you can see, even Shakespeare understood how the rule of law is a joke. That is why we have the Sixth Amendment – the right to counsel. In my case, they attacked all the lawyers and removed them. When Richard Altman said he would defend me for free, the government claimed they were investigating him as my co-conspirator to throw him out of court. So much for Constitutional rights – it’s all fake!

Even Charles Dickens has written about how corrupt the legal system had become back in 1853. Dickens wrote in Chapter I, “In Chancery” of his celebrated Bleake House,

“Suffer any wrong that can be done you, rather than come here!”

Indeed, the current state of American federal courts has once again reached the lowest point completing the revolution of the wheel of political fortune. Perhaps this is in line with what we should expect as we move into 2032 where governments around the world will collapse from their own internal corruption. Trump should kiss the wife and kids goodbye, for he has little chance of defeating this corrupt system. As Herbert Hoover wrote:

“Sometimes when a government; is enraged, it burns down the barn to get the rat.”  

This is how the law is just always abused. If a parent is against transgenderism, in California, Newsom wants to charge them with child abuse. That would allow courts to take custody of children awake from the parent under old laws. If a child under 18 cannot have sex consensually, how can then change their sex? Good luck with ANY California judge ruling in your favor. Kiss your children goodbye as well if they are brainwashed into thinking they should change their sex even at age 7 to 12.

A 17-year-old cannot consent to sex, but to vaccinate minors without parental consent was OK because a minor can consent to be vaccinated, but they could not even open a bank account. Epstein was a pedophile with a 17-year-old but a vaccine could have life-threatening consequences and that’s ok for a school to do that claiming even a 7-year-old gave consent? Thomas Jefferson warned that the United States will collapse because of the abuse of the application of the law. He knew history!

The other six counts against Trump claim he caused false statements to be made and conspired to conceal documents from investigators and obstruct justice. This is exactly what the FBI and the DOJ have been doing to protect Hunter Biden and the Big Man.

Our computer has been forecasting that a major Directional Change took place in 2022 and 2023  going all the way into 2026 is basically tearing the very fabric of society apart at the seams. It is not just Trump, it is WOKE. Everywhere you turn, this is the same agenda of the left under Marxism. They MUST destroy the family unit and the children are to look to the state as their real parent and great protector. Communism taught children to report their biological parents if they ever spoke against the state. Hello, California is joining Stalinism.

This is what they are doing right before our eyes. This whole transgender issue is to also reduce the population. Thank you, Bill Gates, Soros, Buffett, and the rest of you. I think the money has gone to your heads and you are all playing God because you, like Soros, perhaps believe God is dead or never existed.

Please Scotty – Beam me the heck out of this world. It has gone completely insane!

May 2 2023

JPMorgan Chase Acquires First Republic Bank with FDIC Backstopping Deal While Ignoring Current Banking Laws


Posted originally on the CTH on May 1, 2023 | Sundance 

The topline story from the announcement by JPMorgan Chase [SEE HERE] there are no banking rules/laws in the Biden Fed/Treasury system.

The Dodd-Frank laws are still on the books, but the FDIC decision to insure all deposits, regardless of size, now means those laws, rules and regulations are not required to be followed.  Additionally, as a result of JPMorgan gaining another $100+/- billion in deposit assets, the law(s) surrounding the 10% U.S. deposit maximum, within too big to fail banks, no longer exists. Noted in the announcement, “JPMorgan Chase is assuming all deposits – insured and uninsured.”

JPMorgan is also assuming assets consisting of $173 billion in loans and approximately $30 billion in securities.  The FDIC is going to assume risk (with a risk sharing agreement) for current First Republic Bank mortgage and commercial loans acquired by JPMorgan, guaranteeing JPMorgan a 5-year fed fixed rate on $50 billion in mortgage bonds.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) rule requiring the holding of 1.5% of deposits for all depositors up to $250k in all institutions is now essentially moot.  If the FDIC is guaranteeing all deposits, there’s no way for the insurance corporation to capture or hold $1.5% of all banking deposits.  The law is in conflict with the outcome action of the Fed/Treasury and ultimately the FDIC, ergo the law is nulled by the ignoring of it.

Mohamed El-Erian gives his take below, but seemingly missed the part of the announcement where JPMorgan states, “no systemic risk exception was required” in the deal.  This means the FDIC is completely free-range with the agreement, they are not even trying to justify why they would make a too big to fail bank even bigger. WATCH:

https://youtube.com/watch?v=xTZysExlglo%3Ffeature%3Doembed

.

The only reason the FDIC violated its own rules and banking regulations, was because the FDIC didn’t, likely -almost certainly- couldn’t, take the financial hit from a full takeover of First Republic Bank against the backdrop of the prior terms for Silicon Valley Bank (SVB).

When the FDIC made the (SVB) decision to guarantee all deposits regardless of size, they put themselves in a position of an insurance declaration they could never fulfill.  The FDIC cannot structurally guarantee all of the First Republic Bank (FRB) deposits; they need a structure to avoid the government regulators absorbing the bank.  This reality is also why the FDIC violated their own laws, rules and regulations in allowing JPM to exceed the legal U.S. deposits maximum.

In essence, what the FDIC is saying is they cannot maintain the premise of their charter without the big banks helping them.  The biggest banks now control all of the leverage, with JPMorgan Chase and Jamie Dimon now controlling more financial power than the government that is supposed to regulate them.

FUBAR… All of it.  Everything Biden touches turns to shit.

This is going to be a major hot mess now for Main Street investment and borrowing needs.  The economy is going to feel the ramifications of this in less financing available to maintain domestic investment.

Last point. Look at the big picture, there’s no intervention protocol the legislative branch can trigger as a security against the reckless decisions of the FDIC (Fed and Treasury), without creating even bigger issues that could collapse the banking system.   If the legislative branch forced the FDIC to follow the laws currently on the books, the domino of banks starts to collapse.

Apr 30 2023

Scheme Finance – FDIC Asks Big Banks for Takeover Proposals and Bids for First Republic


Posted originally on the CTH on April 29, 2023 | Sundance

There’s something sketchy afoot in the world of high finance.  Following the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank, the most likely first contagion bank would have been First Republic Bank; both California banks carried similar vulnerabilities.  However, once the Treasury Dept agreed to cover all deposits, even those unsecured deposits over the $250k FDIC insurance protection, suddenly First Republic Bank survived.

After the FDIC announcement, a group of 11 larger banks lent First Republic a tranche of money ($30 billion) to secure its holdings and help stabilize it.  Approximately six weeks passed, suspiciously perhaps the burn rate for the tranche in combination with risk averse exits says I, and suddenly First Republic starts destabilizing again.  [Insert Suspicious Cat here]

The First Republic stock value collapsed further last week, and the FDIC is now trying to get a takeover bid secured before government regulators are forced into a position of receivership.   I’m not dialed in to the banking industry, but it looks to me like the six-week interim phase was an agreement to give the illusion of stability and afford time for highly exposed, ¹likely well connected, stakeholders to exit.

With the Treasury taking the prior SVB position, thereby securing all deposits regardless of scope, the FDIC is now on the hook if the collapse includes a govt takeover.  The FDIC seems to be playing hot potato and looking for a buyer.  Additionally, the FDIC is asking JP Morgan-Chase if they are interested.  JPMorgan holds more than 10% of all deposit funds in U.S. banking.  From a regulatory position, JPM cannot legally take any more institutional deposits.  So, what gives?  It is all sketchy, all of it.

(Bloomberg) — The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. has asked banks including JPMorgan Chase & Co., PNC Financial Services Group Inc., US Bancorp and Bank of America Corp. to submit final bids for First Republic Bank by Sunday after gauging initial interest earlier in the week, according to people with knowledge of the matter.

The regulator reached out to some banks late Thursday seeking indications of interest, including a proposed price and an estimated cost to the agency’s deposit insurance fund. Based on submissions received Friday, the regulator invited some of those firms and others to the next step in the bidding process, the people said, asking not to be named discussing the confidential talks.

Spokespeople for JPMorgan, PNC, US Bancorp, Bank of America and the FDIC declined to comment. Bank of America is considering whether to proceed with a formal offer, one of the people said. Citizens Financial Group Inc. is also involved in the bidding, Reuters reported, citing people with knowledge of the matter.

The bidding process kick-started by regulators — after weeks of fruitless talks among banks and their advisers — could pave the way for a tidier sale of First Republic than the drawn-out auctions that followed the failures of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank last month. Authorities are stepping in after a particularly precipitous drop in the company’s stock over the past week, which is now down 97% this year.

Unclear to some involved in the process is whether regulators might use a bid for a so-called open-market solution that avoids formally declaring First Republic a failure and seizing it. The stock’s drop — leaving the company with a $650 million market value — has made such a takeover at least somewhat more feasible.

[…] A group of 11 banks that deposited $30 billion into First Republic last month — giving it time to find a private-sector solution — have proved reluctant to band together on making a joint investment. A few proposals that surfaced in recent days called for a consortium of stronger banks to buy assets from First Republic for more than their market value. But no agreement materialized.

Instead, some stronger firms have been waiting for the government to offer aid or put the bank in receivership, a resolution they view as cleaner — and potentially ending with a sale of the bank or its pieces at attractive prices.

But receivership is an outcome the FDIC would prefer to avoid in part because of the prospect it will inflict a multibillion-dollar hit to its own deposit insurance fund. The agency is already planning to impose a special assessment on the industry to cover the cost of SVB and Signature Bank’s failures last month. (more)

¹This is pure speculation on my part, but if you were a well-connected California big fish and you had exposure in FRB, after the SVB collapse you might ask the govt to construct an exit plan to assist you.

$11 billion flows in, you make your quiet withdrawals, and after exit the delayed outcome proceeds accordingly.

Mar 13 2023

C-Level Executives Sold Shares Weeks Before SVB Failed


Armstrong Economics Blog/Corruption Re-Posted Mar 13, 2023 by Martin Armstrong

A bank failure of this proportion has not been seen since 2008 when Washington Mutual failed. The majority of deposits in Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) are uninsured, meaning the FDIC’s $250,000 protection does not apply. Uninsured depositors will be provided receivership certificates and should receive an advanced dividend this week. The FDIC must sell off the remaining assets of SVC to determine how much it can provide to those uninsured depositors. The FDIC is encouraging borrowers to continue paying their existing loans. The bank was said to host $209 billion in assets and $175.4 billion in deposits as of December 2022. Washington Mutual held around $307 billion in assets when it went down.

Tons of people and businesses will be completely screwed over. Who could have seen it coming? Silicon Valley Bank CEO, CFO, and CMO sold off millions in stock over the past two weeks. President and CEO Greg Becker sold 12,451 shares on February 27 for $3.6 million at $287.42 per share. Later that day, he purchased options for the same amount of shares at $105.18 a piece. He did the same thing in December 2021, as this is not an uncommon albeit unethical practice. Banks commonly trade against their own clients. Becker sold about $3.57 million worth of SVB stock over the past two weeks and is now making TV appearances saying he did not see this coming.

There were signs of trouble, but the talking heads said otherwise. Forbes even listed SVB Financial Group as #20 on its list of America’s Best Banks in an article published on February 14, 2023. Talking/screaming head Jim Cramer came out last month to say that SVB Financial would become one of the top performers on the S&P. This is why you cannot listen to information based on biased opinions. I hesitate to call this negligence technical analysis.

Companies are now at a complete loss, many cannot make payroll, and this situation will only worsen once the uninsured depositors realize their IOUs are worthless.

Mar 13 2023

BREAKING – U.S. Treasury Steps In – All SVB Depositors Will Have Access to Their Money on Monday


Posted originally on the CTH on March 12, 2023 | Sundance 

BREAKING NEWS – The U.S. Treasury, Federal Reserve Board, FDIC and Joe Biden collectively announce that *all* depositors with Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) will have access to their funds – regardless of amount deposited.  Also, all senior bank management has been terminated.

This announced action appears to cover those under FDIC protection ($250k or less) and those above FDIC protection (deposits greater than $250k).  The only vulnerability is that SVB “shareholders and certain unsecured debtholders will not be protected.”

WASHINGTON DC – The following statement was released by Secretary of the Treasury Janet L. Yellen, Federal Reserve Board Chair Jerome H. Powell, and FDIC Chairman Martin J. Gruenberg:

Today we are taking decisive actions to protect the U.S. economy by strengthening public confidence in our banking system. This step will ensure that the U.S. banking system continues to perform its vital roles of protecting deposits and providing access to credit to households and businesses in a manner that promotes strong and sustainable economic growth.

After receiving a recommendation from the boards of the FDIC and the Federal Reserve, and consulting with the President, Secretary Yellen approved actions enabling the FDIC to complete its resolution of Silicon Valley Bank, Santa Clara, California, in a manner that fully protects all depositors. Depositors will have access to all of their money starting Monday, March 13. No losses associated with the resolution of Silicon Valley Bank will be borne by the taxpayer.

We are also announcing a similar systemic risk exception for Signature Bank, New York, New York, which was closed today by its state chartering authority. All depositors of this institution will be made whole. As with the resolution of Silicon Valley Bank, no losses will be borne by the taxpayer.

Shareholders and certain unsecured debtholders will not be protected. Senior management has also been removed. Any losses to the Deposit Insurance Fund to support uninsured depositors will be recovered by a special assessment on banks, as required by law.

Finally, the Federal Reserve Board on Sunday announced it will make available additional funding to eligible depository institutions to help assure banks have the ability to meet the needs of all their depositors.

The U.S. banking system remains resilient and on a solid foundation, in large part due to reforms that were made after the financial crisis that ensured better safeguards for the banking industry. Those reforms combined with today’s actions demonstrate our commitment to take the necessary steps to ensure that depositors’ savings remain safe. (LINK)

Will this action help stop any contagion related to California’s largest bank?

…The odds are, yes.

Despite Friday’s action to stop trading of FRB, with this action, I doubt First Republic Bank (FRB) is now at risk.