The EU/IMF raiding bank accounts in Cyprus to bail out the country's financial system sets a dangerous precedent and investors should "run for the hills" said investor Jim Rogers, chairman of Rogers Holdings, on "Squawk on the Street" Thursday.

Rogers said that with Cyprus, politicians are saying that this is a special case and urging people not to worry, but that is exactly why investors should be concerned.

"What more do you need to know? Please, you better hurry, you better run for the hills. I'm doing it anyway," Rogers said. "I want to make sure that I don't get trapped. Think of all the poor souls that just thought they had a simple bank account. Now they find out that they are making a 'contribution' to the stability of Cyprus. The gall of these politicians."

"If you're going to listen to government, you're going to go bankrupt very quickly," he added.

"I, for one, am making sure I don't have too much money in any one specific bank account anywhere in the world, because now there is a precedent," he said. "The IMF has said 'sure, loot the bank accounts' the EU has said 'loot the bank accounts' so you can be sure that other countries when problems come, are going to say, 'well, it's condoned by the EU, it's condoned by the IMF, so let's do it too.'"

Jim Rogers, a voice closely followed by market participants, began shorting financials, home builders and Fannie Mae in 2006, and is famous for co-founding the Quantum Group of Funds with billionaire George Soros. Quantum is famously regarded for "breaking" the Bank of England and forcing a devaluation of the pound.

*

The rest of the article and video of the interview.

This is pretty bad but serves as a reminder why Geithner and Bernanke should go:

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Now, how about the crime bosses from Goldman-Sachs?

Update: More sources on the matter

• Lehman Bankruptcy: 'Repo 105,' Firm's 'Accounting Gimmick,' Was Like 'A Drug,' Emails Show
• Report Shows How, Collapsing, Lehman Hid Woes
• Lehman Senior VP Warned Auditors About Repo 105

_______________________________________________________________

• The Treasury prepares a record-setting debt auction.
• The Senate passes a "cash for clunkers" bill.
• The House ponders new revenue streams. Among the options: a new tax on soft drinks, a higher tax on alcohol, an increase in the income tax, an increase in the payroll tax, and a VAT.
• A jury tells a Minnesota woman to pay record labels $1.92 million for swapping 24 songs online.
• The Pentagon perceives public protests as "low-level terrorism."
• Ayatollah to protesters: Cut it out.

With Reason, Hit and Run.

_______________________________________________________________

• American Medical Association announces opposition to Obama's health care plan.
• Washington Post says Holocaust Museum shooter lonely, broke, and seen as a bit nuts . . . even by other white separatists.
• Economic downturn hits members of Congress, too. Also, strip clubs.
• Obama wants to bring back pay-as-you-go.
• Nation's top college grads skipping financial sector, heading to Washington to work for the federal government, instead.
• U.S. will pay Pacific island nation of Palau $200 million to take Chinese Uighurs detained at Gitmo but cleared of enemy combatant status.
• Cintonista Terry McAuliffe gets trounced by relatively unknown state senator Creigh Deeds in the Virginia gubernatorial primary.
• Ten banks to repay TARP loans.
• Gitmo detainee and terror suspect Ahmed Ghailani arrives in New York for appearance in federal court.
• Car bomb kills at least 28 in Southern Iraq.

With Reason, Hit and Run
_______________________________________________________________

Conflict of interest, anyone? In addition to managing $1.3 trillion of its private clients’ funds, money manager BlackRock is a government adviser, helping with the rescues of Bear Stearns, Citigroup, and AIG, running a Federal Reserve program to reboot the housing market, and helping to evaluate Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. “BlackRock has become so ubiquitous that some lawmakers, federal auditors and watchdog groups are now asking if the firm does too much, and if its roles as government adviser, giant federal contractor and private money manager will inevitably collide,” writes The New York Times. “The potential for a conflict of interest is great and it is just very difficult to police,” said Senator Chuck Grassley. Writes the Times, “Without naming BlackRock, federal auditors have warned that any private parties that purchase distressed assets on the government’s behalf could use generous federal subsidies to overpay, artificially pushing up the price of similar assets that they manage for their own portfolios.”

Read it at The New York Times

_______________________________________________________________

in REYKJAVIK

THOUSANDS of Icelanders have demonstrated in Reykjavik to demand the resignation of Prime Minister Geir Haarde and Central Bank governor David Oddsson, for failing to stop the country's financial meltdown.
It was the latest in a series of protests in the capital since October's banking collapse crippled the island's economy. At least five people were injured and Hordur Torfason, a well-known singer in Iceland and the main organiser of the protests, said the protests would continue until the government stepped down.

As crowds gathered in the drizzle before the Althing, the Icelandic parliament, on Saturday, Mr Torfason said: "They don't have our trust and they are no longer legitimate."

The value of the Icelandic krona has been cut in half since January.

Four Nordic countries, as well as the International Monetary Fund (IMF), have pledged to lend the country a combined $4.6 billion to help revive its deflated economy. The loan would be the first by the IMF to a Western nation since 1976.

One young man climbed on to the balcony of the Althing building, where the president appears upon inauguration and on Iceland's national day, and hung a banner reading: "Iceland for Sale: $2,100,000,000" – the amount of the loan the country is getting from the IMF.

A separate group of 200-300 people gathered in front of the city's main police station, throwing eggs and demanding the release of a young protester being held there.

Police in riot gear used pepper spray to drive back an attempt to free the protester during which several windows at the police station were shattered. The pro-tester was later released after his fine was paid.

As daylight began to wane, demonstrators drifted away into the nearby coffee shops. Here, as currency tumbles, the price of a cup of coffee has shot up by about one-third since before the crisis struck.

The demonstrators accuse the government – elected last year – of not doing enough to regulate the banking industry and have called for early elections.

Iceland's next election is not required until 2011.

Opposition parties tabled a no-confidence motion in the government on Friday over its handling of the crisis, but the motion carries little chance of toppling the ruling coalition which has a solid parliamentary majority.

Gudrun Jonsdottir, a 36-year-old office worker, said: "I've just had enough of this whole thing. I don't trust the government, I don't trust the banks, I don't trust the political parties, and I don't trust the IMF.

"We had a good country and they ruined it."

BACKGROUND____

ICELAND'S three biggest banks – Kaupthing, Landsbanki and Glitnir – collapsed under the weight of billions of dollars of debts accumulated in an aggressive overseas expansion, shattering the country's currency. Iceland's government seized control of all three institutions in early October.

This week, the North Atlantic island nation, which has a population of only 320,000, secured a package of more than US$10 billion (about £6.7 billion) in loans from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and several European countries to help it rebuild its shattered financial system.

Despite the intervention, however, Iceland still faces a sharp economic slowdown and surging job losses while at least one-third of Icelanders are also at risk of losing their homes and life savings.

Geir Haarde, the Icelandic prime minister, has promised that the government will use the IMF money to bring back a flexible interest rate scheme and rewrite financial laws, particularly legislation relating to insolvency.

Iceland was the first country to ask the IMF for help as the turmoil in the credit markets in October hit home.

The UK government used anti-terrorism legislation to freeze money deposited by UK savers in Icelandic banks in order to ensure that their money was protected.

_______________________________________________________________

The Panic of 1907 was a financial crisis that occurred in the United States when its stock market fell close to 50 percent from its peak the previous year. Primary causes of the run included a retraction of market liquidity by a number of New York City banks, a loss of confidence among depositors, and the absence of a statutory lender of last resort. The crisis occurred after the failure of an attempt in October 1907 to corner the market on stock of the United Copper Company. When this bid failed, banks that had lent money to the cornering scheme suffered runs which later spread to affiliated banks and trusts, leading a week later to the downfall of the Knickerbocker Trust Company—New York City's third-largest trust. The collapse of the Knickerbocker spread fear throughout the city's trusts as regional banks withdrew reserves from New York City banks. The panic would have deepened if not for the intervention of financier J.P. Morgan, who pledged large sums of his own money, and convinced other New York bankers to do the same, to shore up the banking system. By November the contagion had largely ended. The following year, Senator Nelson W. Aldrich established and chaired a commission to investigate the crisis and propose future solutions, leading to the creation of the Federal Reserve System.

Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panic_of_1907
_______________________________________________________________

Today, across the country, people will join together to protest the Federal Reserve system. Activists will demand an END to private banker control over the nation’s money supply and the return to a hard, commodity backed monetary system.

The expected protests in Atlanta, Baltimore, Birmingham, Boston, Buffalo, Cincinnati, Charlotte, Chicago, Cleveland, Dallas, Denver, Detroit, El Paso, Helena, Houston, Jacksonville, Kansas City, Little Rock, Los Angeles, Louisville, Memphis, Miami, Minneapolis, Philadelphia, Portland, Nashville, New Orleans, New York City, Oklahoma City, Omaha, Pittsburgh, Richmond, Salt Lake City, San Antonio, San Francisco, Seattle, St. Louis, and Washington, D.C.

More to follow.

***Update***

• article in RussiaToday, in the crisis chronicle section, Angry Americans protest against U.S. monetary policy
• Protestors in Downtown Jacksonville Want to Shut Down Federal Reserve
  (Florida)
• Protesters state their case in front of Federal Reserve Bank
  (San Antonio, Texas)
• Louisville rally protests government bailouts
  (Kentucky)
• "End The Fed" Protesters Gather Downtown
  (New York)
• Anti-federal reserve rally attracts more than 100
  (Utah)
• Group Protests Federal Reserve
  (Richmond, Virginia)
  

_______________________________________________________________

Growing Movement Strikes at Fed in Washington, DC
National “END THE FED” day of protest calls for sound monetary policy and an end to bailouts

On November 22nd, commemorating the secretive conception of the Federal Reserve System, a growing movement of citizens concerned with this country's fiscal policies will gather in 39 cities nationwide at each Federal Reserve location to demand an end to the Fed, return to sound monetary policy, and an end to corporate bailouts. In Washington, DC, they will gather across the street from the Board of Governors of the Fed at 20th and Constitution at 1pm. Denied a permit to protest on Federal Reserve grounds by the Fed's Public Affairs Office on the basis that it is private property, the rally with a stage and amplification system will be held across the street with a permit granted by the Parks Department. National coordination is being provided by Aaron Russo's Restore the Republic (restoretherepublic.net) and more information can be found at endthefed.us.
Speakers will include Gary Franchi of Restore the Republic to discuss his organizational plans for furthering this issue and the duty of all patriotic Americans to get involved. Kevin Zeese, former US Senate candidate, current Executive Director of Break the Bailout, (breakthebailout.com) will talk about building a broad coalition to stop further “theft from the taxpayers.” Tony Teolis, veteran of the First Gulf War, member of Veterans For Peace (veteransforpeace.org) will show how the Fed is the primary enabler of our destructive interventionist foreign policy. Rick Williams is a founder of BreakTheMatrix, (breakthematrix.com) and serves as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Basic Media, Inc. From the Center for Economic and Social Justice, (cesj.org) Norman G. Kurland, President of the Board of Directors, and former Congressman, the Hon. Rev. Walter E. Fauntroy will outline an alternative just economic system. Paul-Martin Foss, Legislative Assistant to Congressman Ron Paul, will explain pending legislation H.R. 2755 and what the movement can do to support it.
Organizer Debbie Krueger is a former Marine, and a mother of 5, living in Delaware. She was a real estate agent, when she witnessed the bottom dropping out of the housing markets across the country, and decided something needed to be done. Her research led her to the conclusion that the Federal Reserve System is at the heart of the crisis. “I am devoting my time to help shed light on the Federal Reserve, and to find solutions that will bring us back to financial policies that will benefit Americans the most."
Co-organizer and performer for the rally Jordan Page is a young poet, singer/songwriter, guitarist, political activist, and social commentator who has become an outspoken voice promoting freedom and liberty. The hyper-inflation of American currency, the funding of worldwide interventionist military policies, the unconstitutional income tax, the recent bailout, and the engineered economic depressions the Fed causes have all motivated Jordan's involvement in this most historic citizens' movement. “Please stand up for the Constitution on November 22nd and help us to support HR 2755 calling for the abolition of the Federal Reserve.”
Adam Kokesh will serve as master of ceremonies at the rally. He is from Santa Fe, NM and served in Fallujah, Iraq in 2004 and has been a vocal critic of the war since leaving the US Marines. He has continued to honor his oath to support and defend the Constitution by taking on those he sees as its domestic enemies, especially the Federal Reserve System. He has also advocated various forms of nonviolent resistance including not paying taxes. “As long as the Federal Reserver System has the power to create money from nothing, the individual income tax is nothing more than a means to oppress and enslave the American people. As with all forms of tyranny, Americans have a duty to resist this injustice.”
_______________________________________________________________

Senator James Inhofe (R-Oklahoma) summarizes the bailout.


Just brilliant!
_______________________________________________________________

After crashing Iceland, interesting activity of the bankers in Eastern Europe:

Romania's currency was under hard fire and the RON plunged, luckily the Central Romanian Bank had the means, presence of spirit to discover the speculators and stop them:
"It is for the first time that the governor of the National Bank of Romania speaks openly about a speculative attack on the currency market. He did not reveal who was behind the attacks but suspicion hovers around thee big international banks that do not have branches in Romania."
"The Financial Institutions that started the attack are amongst the ones that have received financial aid from the Occidental governments to be able to face the crisis."
http://www.standard.ro/articol_64320/...

Rumors have surfaced about the foreign speculators: US investment funds JP Morgan-Chase, UK bank RBS, Unicredit.

Hungary, Ukraine currencies crashed and now are in debt (slaves) to the IMF:
http://fistfulofeuros.net/afoe/econom... IMF said Turkey was likely to join the queue for bail-outs very soon.
Turkey's prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said over the weekend that his country would not "darken its future by bowing to the wishes of the IMF"

Romanian prime minister had a first reaction to the foreign financial terrorist attack:
I don't think is normal that foreign banks, saved (bailed-out) with public funds, engage in speculative operations to profit on the back of the Romanian tax payer."
"It is not moral what's happening. Of course Capitalism in essence is not moral ..."
"Romania should bring this to the attention of the European Union ..."

And in the Meantime IMF is starting more rumors about countries economies with the clear goal of destabilizing them. Using the crashed currencies and economies as excuse it has plans to "PRINT IT's OWN MONEY"

_______________________________________________________________

... Mr. Obama needs to stop the next asset bubble from being inflated by imposing a commodity standard on the Fed. A commodity standard (such as a gold standard) imposes discipline on a central bank because it forces it to acquire commodity reserves in order to increase the money supply. Today the government can inflate asset bubbles without paying a cost for it because the currency isn't linked to the price of a commodity.

With a commodity standard in place, the government would also have price signals that would alert it to the formation of a bubble. Why? Because the price of the commodity would be continuously traded in spot and futures markets. Excessive easing by the Fed would be signaled by rising prices for the commodity. In recent years, Fed officials have claimed that they cannot know when an asset bubble is developing. With a commodity standard in place, it would be clear to anyone watching spot markets whether a bubble is forming. What's more, if Fed officials ignored price signals, outflows of commodity reserves would force them to act against the bubble.

Article By GERALD P. O'DRISCOLL JR., The Wall Street Journal

_______________________________________________________________

Banking giant to raise rates on some of its credit cards.

Citigroup is cutting at least 10,000 jobs in its investment bank and other divisions throughout the world, the Wall Street Journal said, citing people familiar with the matter.

Citigroup Chief Executive Vikram Pandit and his deputies have instructed managers to slash their budgets for employee compensation by at least 25 percent, the paper said citing the people."We will continue to carefully manage our head count levels as we re-engineer the company in line with our stated goal and market realities," Citigroup spokeswoman Christina Pretto told the paper.

Meanwhile, Citigroup said it is raising rates for some of its U.S. credit card customers after losses in its global card division skyrocketed.A spokesman declined to say how many cardholders would be affected by the changes or if interest rates would be cut on some accounts. Citigroup had 182.7 million open card accounts during the third quarter.

The downturn in the economy has led to rising defaults on all types of loans this year, such as credit cards. Credit losses in Citigroup's global card division rose to $1.59 billion in the third quarter from $1.05 billion during the same quarter in 2007, as more customers missed payments. Credit losses include loans written off as not being repaid. Overall, the card division lost $902 million in its card division during the third quarter. It earned $1.44 billion in the unit during the third quarter in 2007.Customers will be able to opt out of the changes and instead use their cards until they expire. People who opt out can pay down balances under the old terms, the company said.

The company is dealing with broader problems in its operations amid the ongoing credit crisis. It has reported an overall loss each of the last four quarters, including a loss of $2.8 billion during the third quarter.

From MSNBC
_______________________________________________________________