Western Media Credibility In Free Fall Collapse

Guest Post by Paul Craig Roberts

The latest from the Gallup Poll is that only 32% of Amerians trust the print and TV media to tell the truth. http://www.gallup.com/poll/195542/americans-trust-mass-media-sinks-new-low.aspx
Republicans, 18 to 49 year old Americans, and independents trust the media even less, with trust rates of 14%, 26%, and 30%.

The only group that can produce a majority that still trusts the media are Democrats with a 51% trust rate in print and TV reporting. The next highest trust rate is Americans over 50 years of age with a trust rate of 38 percent.

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Political Corruption Sanctioned by Mainstream Press?

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The press is cleverly twisting the Hillary e-mail scandal to her benefit by narrowing their focus on what qualifies as “secret” instead of the fact that she conducted all national security business from her private e-mail server to avoid getting subpoenaed. There is no question whatsoever from a legal perspective that what Hillary did was outright criminal and conducting the business of the Secretary of State from a private server from which she then deleted 31,000 emails was at minimum obstruction of justice if not treason to the United States.

What Hillary did was far more direct treason than what Edward Snowden was accused of. Even Snowden has come out and stated bluntly that others go to jail for what Hillary did. How can Hillary claim privacy when she and the Obama Administration have supported the grabbing of every email by the NSA? Why has the press not demanded the NSA turnover all the emails Hillary erased when they have everything?

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GOVERNMENT USING SUBPRIME MORTGAGES TO PUMP HOUSING RECOVERY – TAXPAYERS WILL PAY AGAIN

It seems hard to believe, but your government is purposely recreating the mortgage debacle of 2007 and putting you on the hook for the billions in losses coming down the road. In their frantic effort to generate the appearance of economic recovery they are willing to gamble with taxpayer’s money while luring unsuspecting blue collar folks into buying houses they can’t afford. During the previous housing bubble, greedy Wall Street bankers, deceitful mortgage brokers, and corrupt rating agencies colluded to commit the greatest control fraud in the history of mankind. This time it is your government, aided and abetted by the Federal Reserve, that is actively promoting the lending of money to people incapable of paying it back. And again, you the taxpayer will be on the hook when it predictably blows up.

The FHA, created during the first Great Depression, is supposed to be self-sustaining through mortgage insurance premiums charged to homeowners, just like Fannie, Freddie, Medicare, Social Security, and student loan lending were supposed to be self- sustaining through taxes, fees, and interest. This agency was supposed to promote homeownership for lower income Americans, but has been used by politicians as a tool to capture votes, payoff crony capitalist benefactors, and as a Keynesian stimulus tool designed to kindle a fake housing recovery. They entered the fray at the tail end of the last Fed/Wall Street created housing bubble, insuring a huge number of subprime mortgage loans from 2007 through 2009. The taxpayer has already had to bail out this incompetent, politically motivated, joke of an agency to the tune of $1.7 billion in 2014.

Edward J. Pinto, a former Fannie Mae official, estimates that under standard accounting practices the agency is already insolvent to the tune of $25 billion. Mark to fantasy accounting hasn’t just benefitted the criminal Wall Street cabal, but also the bloated pig government housing agencies – Fannie, Freddie and the FHA. The FHA’s share of new loans with mortgage insurance stood at 16.4% in 2005 and currently stands at 44.3%. This is a ridiculously high level considering the percentage of first time home buyers is near all-time lows and low income buyers have lower real median household income than they had in 2005. Distinguished congresswoman Maxine Waters, who once declared: “We do not have a crisis at Freddie Mac, and particularly Fannie Mae, under the outstanding leadership of Frank Raines.”, prior to them imploding and costing taxpayers $187 billion in losses, thinks the FHA is doing a bang up job. Her financial acumen is unquestioned, so you can expect another bailout in the near future.

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MADOFF: SCHUMER WOULD COME TO HIS OFFICE TO COLLECT “CONTRIBUTIONS”

Good article about Madoff in Politico called: Bernie Madoff speaks: Politics, remorse and Wall Street

Here are a few juicy tidbits:

  • Madoff described in detail the “never ending” fund raising solicitations from politicians, and was harshly critical of President Barack Obama, even though he said he voted for him in 2008. The politician he said he admires the most is Sen. Ron Wyden, the Oregon Democrat.
  • He warned that he is sure there are other “bad players like myself” getting away with another massive Ponzi scheme. And he offered one piece of advice to investors: Stay away from the stock market.
  • Madoff and his wife Ruth made several hundreds of thousands of dollars in political donations since the 1990s, according to Federal Election Commission records. The recipients were mostly Democrats, and the roster included Sen. Chuck Schumer, ex-New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine, Rep. Joseph Crowley, Sen. Jeff Merkley and Hillary Clinton during her Senate bid.
  • Madoff said Schumer, whom he described as a “personable guy,” would ask him for money a couple of times a year. “They would come up [to Madoff’s office] just to say hello and collect the money,” he said. Approached in a Senate hallway last week, Schumer seemed willing to talk to a reporter — until the subject of Madoff came up. “I’m not commenting,” the New York Democrat said as he walked away. “I am not commenting.”
  • Even though he’s donated to Clinton, Madoff doesn’t think she would make a good president. “I certainly wasn’t impressed with her as secretary of state,” he says. “Our foreign policy is a mess.” Madoff voted for Obama in 2008, but now says he is “terribly disappointed” in the president and would not have voted for him a second time. “His policies are too socialist.”

 

Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2014/03/bernie-madoff-interview-104838.html#ixzz2wWMySMQt