Republicans acting as if they took out Credit Default Swaps on the US Government.

[seafan]

Seriously.

Nothing else explains the coordinated effort by Republicans in DC and in states with brand-new GOP governors and GOP-dominated legislatures.

Starve federal and state governments.

Fire workers.

Strip workers' collective bargaining rights.

Steal money from workers' pensions.

Block access to health care.

Allow Wall Street to continue raping the populace.


Run up the nation's credit card for decades, refuse to pay for it, and now demand that we the people give up our Medicare and Social Security protections to pay for it.



Who is going to profit if the U. S. defaults on its debt?


Looks like Eric Cantor stands to profit nicely if there is a U. S. default on its debt. It's probably why he walked out of debt negotiations last week. Gotta do his part in pushing the U. S. Government over the cliff.


June 27, 2011

When Eric Cantor shut down debt ceiling negotiations last week, it did more than just rekindle fears that the U.S. government might soon default on its debt obligations -- it also brought him closer to reaping a small financial windfall from his investment in a mutual fund whose performance is directly affected by debt ceiling brinkmanship.

Last year the Wall Street Journal reported that Cantor, the No. 2 Republican in the House, had between $1,000 and $15,000 invested in ProShares Trust Ultrashort 20+ Year Treasury EFT. The fund aggressively "shorts" long-term U.S. Treasury bonds, meaning that it performs well when U.S. debt is undesirable. (A short is when the trader hopes to profit from the decline in the value of an asset.)

According to his latest financial disclosure statement, which covers the year 2010 and has been publicly available since this spring, Cantor still has up to $15,000 in the same fund. Contacted by Salon this week, Cantor's office gave no indication that the Virginia Republican, who has played a leading role in the debt ceiling negotiations, has divested himself of these holdings since his last filing. Unless an agreement can be reached, the U.S. could begin defaulting on its debt payments on Aug. 2. If that happens and Cantor is still invested in the fund, the value of his holdings would skyrocket.

"If the debt ceiling isn’t raised, investors would start fleeing U.S. Treasuries," said Matt Koppenheffer, who writes for the investment website the Motley Fool. "Yields would rise, prices would fall, and the Proshares ETF should do very well. It would spike."
.....

Vultures.


Who else?

We are ruled by charlatans and cowards. Our economy is in the tank, we know what to do about it, and we're just not going to do it. The charlatans prefer instead to stand by and let people suffer because that's politically useful, while the cowards let them get away with it because it's politically risky to fight back. ----Kevin Drum

The alternative is a failure of historic proportions. Those who gamed the economy to near devastation—so much so that the nation turned to an untried young leader in desperation and in hope—would once again inherit the Earth. Unless and until there’s a purging of the crimes that brought our president to his unlikely Inauguration Day, much more in America than the second term of his administration will be at stake. -----Frank Rich

[Rex]

1. Well, I do hope if the system goes belly up that the Founders

will rise from their graves and feast on the originators of all this crime and corruption...I would say eat their brains, but it seems that area is reserved for something else.

[sinkingfeeling]

2. Maybe they have.

[CrossChris]

3. In essence, they did. They know breaking our gov.= a plush reward in the global, private sector

They are swapping money for America, which they like in theory, but never in practice.

[freshwest]

4. You nailed it.

[Octafish]

5. Best way to predict the future is to make what you want happen.

Spot-on in every way, seafan. The little lord pissypants Cantor is making a buck while helping crash the system.

Works for Wall Street in both bull and bear markets.

Remember what Flushbo the Vulgar Pigboy said? "I want Obama to fail."

Whose companies are raking in record profits and dishing out record CEO pay... without hiring Americans?

Most importantly: Thank you for another outstanding post, seafan. Readers get smarter clicking on your threads.

[seafan]

7. We are all hostages to this diseased right wing.

Since 1963, the caustic effect of the right wing on this country is proving incalculable.

Since we are forced into this hellish place, it remains very important to formulate and maintain trusted associates and friends.

I am surely honored to place you in that group, Octafish. Thank you for your dedication to the truth.

[hifiguy]

6. You can bet your bottom dollar that

their masters have, and some of them probably have also done so personally.

A healthy parasite makes for a dead host. Time to destroy the parasites and hang them by their heels from the flagpoles. It was a just enough end for Mussolini and is actually better than these creatures deserve.