November 21, 2008    We at ECrisis are not prophets of the Apocalypse nor are we saints or saviors. We are terrifically and heartbreakingly sad that no one in Ecuador and no one from the USA has the vigor or the integrity to act to prevent the disastrous Ecuadorean governmental activities, now bankrupting Ecuador both financially and ethically, leaving Ecuador welcome at no table and genuinely known as a lying, whining, manipulative, dishonest cartel state. It will take a long time to clear out the slime of the Correa-Chavez Russo-Iranian cartel which now rules the region and has ruled every domicile in theory for years.
 
Here is a photo of George Soros, recently called "the owner of the U.S. Democratic Party" on an NBC TV show, swearing to tell the truth before a ginned up panel of U.S. hedge fund runners, currently operating offshore, unregulated and untaxed, thanks to Bill Clinton- George Soros-Bob Rubin's so called White House Working Group on Hedge Fund concords of 1997-98. And here is Soros saying that it is not a bad idea for men like him to actually reveal his income and assets and legally pay taxes on them. Soros of course- if he had any truth telling to his acts at all- would be paying taxes for the last 30 years when his fortune comes from playing manipulative games with his income. We all know this but what is not done is critical thinking to conclude that Soros is no one to revere as some role model for How to Scam Global Systems. But scamming and gaming known laws, known morals and known ethics is what Soros spends billions of dollars doing and what US AID helps fund his thousands of paid contractors to do. It is a job corps for liars, ninnyhammers, dimwits and dunces who have now found a welcome home in the Andes, busy as they are enshrining an entire narcobloc of cartel runners for off the books crime.


George Soros, Jim Simons, John Paulson, Philip Falcone, and Kenneth Griffin are sworn in. Photograph: Tim Sloane/AFP/Getty

America's top hedge fund managers staunchly defended the conduct of their secretive, high-risk industry yesterday and warned Congress that knee-jerk regulation could push financial jobs across the Atlantic to London.

Once again, the U.S. Great Seal is seen with the eagle of freedom now carrying the dishonest Soros pledge to give one and all Something for Nothing if and only if the 200 year motto of E Pluribus Unum is replaced with Soros's unique socialism:

From Michael Ramirez, Investor's Business Daily

Here is a short summary:

guardian.co.uk, Friday November 14 2008
America's top hedge fund managers staunchly defended the conduct of their secretive, high-risk industry yesterday and warned Congress that knee-jerk regulation could push financial jobs across the Atlantic to London.

In a rare day of public scrutiny, the billionaire bosses of five leading hedge funds appeared before the house oversight committee to answer charges that their unregulated bets on financial markets have destabilized the global economy.

George Soros, Kenneth Griffin, Philip Falcone, Jim Simons and John Paulson - who have an estimated combined wealth of $29bn (£20bn) - faced grilling over their low rate of tax and their funds' minimal level of transparency.

They expressed a willingness to disclose more information about their investments to the securities and exchange commission but insisted that any such data must remain shielded from the public gaze.

Griffin, whose Chicago-based Citadel Group manages more than $20bn, told lawmakers that public transparency would be "parallel to asking Coca-Cola to disclose their secret formula to the world".

The 40-year-old added that periods of regulatory uncertainty had undermined the US's competitiveness with Britain: "It breaks my heart when I go to Canary Wharf and I look at thousands and thousands of jobs in London in the derivatives market which belong in America."

The hearing, part of an investigation into oversight of hedge funds, became tense at times when the billionaires were quizzed about their personal wealth. Elijah Cummings, a Democratic congressman, said a neighbour had accosted him to ask: "How does it feel to go before five folks who've got more money than God?"

Cummings called on the witnesses to explain why their income is often taxed as capital gains at 15% - below the rate paid by a "schoolteacher or a plumber".

Paulson, who personally scooped more than $3bn last year when his fund bet against sub-prime mortgages, said the comparison was unfair. "If one of your constituents, whether they're a plumber or a teacher, bought a stock and held that stock for more than a year, they would pay a long-term rate of capital gains tax."

Several times Soros broke ranks with his colleagues to adopt a more accommodating line. The Hungarian-born financier, who proposed the establishment of a not-for-profit credit-rating agency to scrutinise derivatives, said he would have no objection to paying a standard rate of tax on all his income: "I agree to it. I've no problem with it."

The 78-year-old, who is famed for betting against sterling on Black Wednesday in 1992, said he was open to greater oversight to ensure that banks and hedge funds do not use excessive leverage by borrowing too heavily on their assets.

Soros said the financial crisis had exposed flaws in the present regulatory approach: "The fact that Lehman Brothers was allowed to declare bankruptcy in a disorderly way really caused a genuine meltdown in the financial system - a cardiac arrest."

The hedge fund managers told Congress that they owed their profits during a downturn to hard work and detailed research that turned up evidence that US mortgages were overvalued. Simons said credit-rating agencies were the most culpable financial players in failing adequately to scrutinise mortgage-backed securities: "They allowed sows' ears to be sold as silk purses."
The witnesses remained unapologetic about the scale of their personal earnings, insisting that the hedge fund industry provides liquidity and "outside-the-box thinking" to the financial markets.

Falcone, who made millions by taking short positions in banks, said he was the youngest of nine children in a working-class Minnesota town, with a father who never earned more than $14,000 a year.

"I take great pride in my upbringing," said Falcone. "Not everyone who runs a hedge fund was born on Fifth Avenue - that is the beauty of America."

   If these scam artists can get Something for Nothing....why not you too? This is a seductive moral dishonesty and debases mankind through greed and laziness. Are you now so easily seduced?

Meanwhile, criminal mindsets are running and ruining the Andes.

"In Caracas, the vast majority of people live in fear of being victimized, pollsters and criminologists say." This unfortunate tidbit comes from this week's WASHINGTON POST. To this we add, as with all Ecuadoreans in the Venezuelan bloc of ridiculously dishonest states, the truism that Ecuadoreans, like Venezuelans, victimize themselves by refusing to stand on principles- any principles except nervousness, hypochondria and manipulative living, full of all of mankind's worst traits. No one likes Venezuelans because they are generically lazy, dishonest, dishonorable, dishonest and addicted to manipulative living- all about their own personal greed, such as it may be. Ecuadoreans are even worse and now lie in the complete category as repulsive. It is very hard to even look at Ecuadoreans today and not know what lies behind their eyes....none of it good. Further coverage from Caracas, which no one in Ecuador is honest enough to say, "... I see there are more criminals than police, and there is no safety in this country." Like Ecuadoreans retreating further and further in to their own self imprisoning, liberty  ending gulags of paid security teams for the well off but no domestic freedom whatsoever- living like rats in overpaid condo warrens of fear- the POST reports,""Most Venezuelans live in fear of being in a public space, of being victims in public transportation, and they live in fear of being victims in their houses."  It is clear that Ecuadoreans no longer value liberty, property rights except for their own square footage, and that liberty- so easily abandoned was never cherished to begin with nor once revered. When whole societies care nothing about looking out the window or knowing essential beauty- which surrounds every square inch of Ecuador, the abandonment of life's joy is internal and easily commandeered by the state which now lies about everything, shuttering all truth and function by horrible laws just as every Quiteno does today by personal choice because they just simply care nothing at all about essential liberty, believing that they have been gifted with great powers to manipulate all that exists. This has gotten Ecuadoreans in to a really disgusting place.

Rafael Correa wants you to believe that he is a clever guy by hiring this so called group of debt experts which were, as always useless and performed no real function except as cover for his political agenda to actually cancel Ecuadorean debt payments. Correa will say- as he does: the REPORT made me do it. When in fact,. Correa's own group jiggered and cherry picked their so called data to reach unfounded conclusions. This is fraud and is a scam. Correa's so called debt report carries no accreditation, no real facts and is a political witch hunt to seize more monies, place pro freedom actors under essential house arrest while silencing them and to further drive Ecuador in to the waiting arms of the Cubano Venezuelan -Russo-Iranian cartel masters, themselves bankrupt morally and financially.

Fiscal Pesántez abre indagación sobre posibles irregularidades en deuda externa
11/21/2008

Quito, EFE

El Fiscal General de Ecuador, Washington Pesántez, dijo hoy que abrió una indagación para determinar si existió "ilegitimidad" en algunos tramos de la deuda externa del país, hecho en el que estarían involucrados algunos ex presidentes.

"Se inició una indagación, hay cosas gravísimas que investigar, el informe habla de responsabilidades penales", dijo Pesántez a periodistas y precisó que esa investigación estará liderada por una "comisión interinstitucional de economistas y abogados".

Hoy mismo, la Comisión Especial de Auditoría de la Deuda Externa (CEA), creada por el presidente Rafael Correa en 2007, entregó un informe sobre una investigación que abarca los últimos 30 años en el que se habla de "ilegalidad e ilegitimidad", por lo que recomendó no pagar ciertos tramos de esos créditos.

Correa, que participó de la presentación del informe, dijo que su administración, además de intentar no pagar esa deuda "ilegítima, corrupta e ilegal", buscará a los culpables de ese proceso de endeudamiento externo irregular en el que estarían supuestamente involucrados ex presidentes del país y otros funcionarios.

Pesántez recordó que ningún ex funcionario está "exento" de las investigaciones y aclaró que "si es necesario dictar medidas cautelares" lo hará.

El ex presidente de Ecuador Sixto Durán Ballen dijo hoy "estar tranquilo" ante el anuncio del Gobierno de buscar a "los culpables de un proceso de endeudamiento externo irregular".

"Me siento tranquilo" dijo Durán Ballen, que gobernó el país entre 1992 y 1996, al asegurar que les "va a tomar mucho tiempo verificar sí es o no exacto" el informe de la CEA.

Durán Ballen dijo que las obras que se realizaron en su Gobierno "no se hicieron solas" y que fue una "bendición tener esos créditos".

Derechos reservados ® 2001-2008 GRUPO EL COMERCIO C.A.
Prohibida la reproducción total o parcial de este contenido sin autorización de Diario El Comercio

Here is Correa at his theatrical presentation, chock full of fake gravitas to tell the world that he is a serious thinker and an honest man when he is not:

Ecuador no quiere pagar un tercio de su deuda externa

20/11/2008 02:55 pm     NOTICIAS 24
 
El presidente de Ecuador, Rafael Correa (c), su vicepresidente, Lenín Moreno (d), el presidente del Consejo de Legislación, Fernando Cordero (i), escuchan hoy, 20 de noviembre de 2008, en Quito, el informe de la Comisión de Auditoría de la Deuda, creada por el Ejecutivo de Ecuador, sobre la deuda externa en el que se sugiere no pagar algunos tramos, informó este jueves a la prensa local. EFE/Jaime Echeverría

El presidente de Ecuador, Rafael Correa, reiteró hoy que en su gobierno no solo se buscará a los culpables de un proceso de endeudamiento externo irregular del país sino que también se intentará no pagar la deuda “ilegítima, corrupta e ilegal”.

La afirmación se produjo tras la presentación del informe de la Comisión de Auditoría de la Deuda, conformada por el Ejecutivo, en el que se habla de “ilegalidad e ilegitimidad” de la deuda, y en el que se recomienda no pagar ciertos tramos de la misma.

“Buscaremos no sólo sancionar a los culpables sino también no pagar la deuda ilegítima, corrupta e ilegal. Su peso debe ser trasladado por partes iguales a los responsables de adquirirla (…) con chantaje, con traición, y cada cual tiene que asumir su responsabilidad, pagar con sus bienes lo que corresponde”, dijo.

“Ya basta de tanto saqueo, latrocinio, de tanta inequidad”, agregó al señalar que hay cosas “realmente desastrosas” en el endeudamiento en el que se perjudicó sistemáticamente al Estado.

Señaló que entre 1976 y 2006 el proceso de endeudamiento de Ecuador “benefició al sector financiero y a empresas trasnacionales y afectó visiblemente los intereses de la nación”.

Cuestionó cómo entre 1976 y 1982, la deuda externa pública creció 18 veces hasta alcanzar los 2.904 millones de dólares, mientras que la privada creció en el mismo lapso 28 veces hasta llegar a 1.628 millones de dólares.

“Ello mientras la Reserva Federal norteamericana subía las tasas de interés del 6% hasta un usurario 20,5%. En este proceso existe una responsabilidad compartida”, dijo.

Correa mencionó que entre 1986 y 1992 el país suspendió el servicio de amortizaciones, parte de intereses y pagos directos.

Añadió que esos seis años pudieron ser aprovechados ya que se permitía la prescripción de deudas no pagadas durante dicho período, pero la Auditoría descubrió que Ecuador “renunció unilateralmente” al derecho de prescripción de la deuda externa comercial.


El presidente de Ecuador, Rafael Correa (d), recibe el informe de la Comisión de Auditoría de la Deuda sobre la deuda externa de manos del ministro coordinador de Política, Ricardo Patiño (i), hoy, 20 de noviembre de 2008, en Quito, en el que se sugiere no pagar algunos tramos, informó este jueves a la prensa local. EFE/Jaime Echeverría

Aseguró que esa renuncia carece de respaldo legal y subrayó que los ex funcionarios que adoptaron la decisión deben responder por el caso que ya se ha reportado a la Fiscalía de este país.

Según Correa, esa renuncia antecedió al “cínicamente llamado programa de reducción de deuda propuesto por JP Morgan en 1994 para transformar la deuda externa ecuatoriana en Bonos Brady”.

“De los 1.502 millones de dólares contratados para realizar ese canje, se debían emplear 641 millones para programas y proyectos de desarrollo, pero terminaron empleándose 1.009 millones para servir pagarés de una deuda que, de todas maneras, siguió creciendo”, manifestó.

Según el informe de la Comisión, para canjear los Bonos Brady por Global se habrían cometido varias ilegalidades, entre ellas, la falta de estudios por parte de la Procuraduría, que habría incurrido en “falsedad ideológica” al suscribir, sin mayor revisión, documentos redactados por acreedores y no por esa dependencia.

“La emisión de bonos Global 2030 y 2012 presentan graves presunciones de ilegalidad en la oferta de canje y en la contratación de los agentes financieros. Se firmaron contratos sin autorización presidencial y la oferta se firmó alterando las fechas en los documentos”, dijo Correa.

Añadió que en consecuencia, “todas las operaciones complementarias a ella, como la emisión de los bonos global 2015 -realizada en 2005- también serían ilegales”.

Según el informe, los organismos multilaterales de crédito promovieron “perniciosos sistemas de endeudamiento al operar en alianza con poderosos acreedores privados y empresas trasnacionales para respaldar deudas ilegítimas, como las negociadas en el plan Brady”.

Al resumir las conclusiones de la auditoría, el argentino Alejandro Olmos, integrante de la Comisión, dijo que se desconoce el destino de varios tramos de la deuda y que en el endeudamiento hubo complicidad de ex jefes de Estado, ex funcionarios estatales, diplomáticos y organismos financieros internacionales, entre otros.

Además, se quebrantó el orden jurídico del Estado, hubo contrataciones directas con operadores de bonos, se obligó al país a renunciar a defensas y, entre otras acciones, se eximió de responsabilidades a los acreedores en diferentes aspectos.

Vía EFE
 
Ecuadoreans need to stand up to this manipulative scam and demand better in their days. This starts at home with an  end to all addiction to manipulative living..
 
One important step forward is to stay informed. Here is an excellent documentary on the CHavez take over. This will be aired Tuesday on the US PBS TV, itself struggling to try in vain to prove that it is not itself chock full of liars and ninnyhammers in its overwhelming media propaganda. Occasionally PBS TV rises tyo try to have some credibility and to show fact based analysis. This is a good beginning: 

Watch this. Know what you vote for and know what you stand for.
 
-Pedro Camargo for ECrisis