It sure looks like Goldman-Sachs and other Wall Street Firms are   
    engaging in fraud, and other possibly criminal activities. And   
    we are paying for it.   
      
    Read the full article at:   
      
    http://www.snipurl.com/metaldeal   
      
    Foreign agency making the rules under which US investment banks   
    make billions of unearned profits, by holding other people's   
    property and making them pay when they do.   
      
    **************************************************************************   
    July 20, 2013   
      
     A Shuffle of Aluminum, but to Banks, Pure Gold   
      
               By DAVID KOCIENIEWSKI   
      
    MOUNT CLEMENS, Mich.  -  Hundreds of millions of times a day,   
    thirsty Americans open a can of soda, beer or juice. And every   
    time they do it, they pay a fraction of a penny more because of   
    a shrewd maneuver by Goldman Sachs and other financial players   
    that ultimately costs consumers billions of dollars.   
      
    The story of how this works begins in 27 industrial warehouses   
    in the Detroit area where a Goldman subsidiary stores   
    customers' aluminum. Each day, a fleet of trucks shuffles   
    1,500-pound bars of the metal among the warehouses. Two or three   
    ...   
      
    This industrial dance has been choreographed by Goldman to   
    exploit pricing regulations set up by an overseas commodities   
    exchange, an investigation by The New York Times has found. The   
    ...   
    increases prices paid by manufacturers and consumers across the   
    country.   
    **************************************************************************   
      
    Notice something here? An overseas agency is making regulations   
    that increase prices in the US. That agency gets paid by the US   
    companies that make more money.   
      
    **************************************************************************   
    ...   
    The inflated aluminum pricing is just one way that Wall Street   
    ...   
    The maneuvering in markets for oil, wheat, cotton, coffee and   
    more have brought billions in profits to investment banks like   
    Goldman, JPMorgan Chase and Morgan Stanley, while forcing   
    consumers to pay more every time they fill up a gas tank, flick   
    on a light switch, open a beer or buy a cellphone. In the last   
    year, federal authorities have accused three banks, including   
    JPMorgan, of rigging electricity prices, and last week JPMorgan   
    was trying to reach a settlement that could cost it $500   
    million.   
    ...   
    **************************************************************************   
      
    Companies that never produce one penny's worth of actual   
    material profit by manipulating the markets for those   
    materials. Years ago it was said speculators are responsible for   
    the swings, and ever increasing price of oil. Seems that was   
    true all along.   
      
    **************************************************************************   
    In the case of aluminum, Goldman bought Metro International   
    Trade Services one of the country's biggest storers of the   
    metal. More than a quarter of the supply of aluminum available   
    on the market is kept in the company's Detroit-area warehouses   
    **************************************************************************   
      
    Why does that sound like cornering the market?   
      
    **************************************************************************   
    Before Goldman bought Metro International three years ago,   
    warehouse customers used to wait an average of six weeks for   
    their purchases to be located, retrieved by forklift and   
    delivered to factories. But now that Goldman owns the company,   
    the wait has grown more than 20-fold - to more than 16 months,   
    according to industry records.   
    **************************************************************************   
      
    How does that not constitute theft of the metal? Even if it's   
    later returned, holding it against the wishes of the owners is   
    theft.   
      
    How does this not make Goldman-Sachs and the othes, criminal   
    enterprises, prosecutable under RICO?   
      
    Now, continue this on. Not only do they make a profit by keeping   
    the material in the warehouses, but they also delay delivery of   
    necessary materials. That has to reduce the activity of those   
    who need those materials, thus prolonging the recession.   
      
    The next president needs to set out to put all those involved in   
    criminal enterprise in the financial sector in prison.   
      
    Oh, and JP Morgan is attempting to set up a group to buy up 80%   
    of the copper on the market, to back copper investment funds.   
    Since when is owning 80% of anything not cornering the market?   
      
      
   BOB KLAHN bob.klahn@sev.org   http://home.toltbbs.com/bobklahn   
      
   ... Democracy is the only legitimate form of government.   
   --- Via Silver Xpress V4.5/P [Reg]   
    * Origin: Fidonet Since 1991 Join Us: www.DocsPlace.org (1:123/140)