|
|
|
The New Print Edition of CounterPunch, Only for Our Newsletter Subscribers! General Petraeus' Fake War
|
home / subscribe / donate / books / archives / search / links / feedback / events / faq
The New Print Edition of CounterPunch, Only for Our Newsletter Subscribers!
General Petraeus' Fake War
How the Press and Congress Eagerly Swallowed It
EXCLUSIVE to subscribers in our latest newsletter, Gareth Porter dissects two years’ worth of successful lying by Gen Petraeus and his propaganda team. Guess what? The FBI AND DOJ didn’t specially target Muhammad Ali. Those G-men were just following normal procedures! Alexander Cockburn reviews the latest effort to “revise” the Sixties. Dick Cheney “didn’t understand the legalities.” James Abourezk describes his efforts to close down the lethal liquor operators that prey on the Pine Ridge Reservation. Whatever happened to the class war? Read Serge Halimi and find out. Get your copy today by subscribing online or calling 1-800-840-3683 Contributions to CounterPunch are tax-deductible. Click here to make a donation. If you find our site useful please: Subscribe Now! CounterPunch books and gear make great presents.
|
Today's Stories July 12, 2008 Nicole Colson July 11, 2008 Kevin Alexander Gray Sasan Fayazmanesh Peter Morici Mike Whitney Manuel Garcia, Jr. Robert Weissman Ramzy Baroud Kelly Overton Adrian Burgos Website of the Day July 10, 2008 Brian McKenna Paul Craig Roberts Saul Landau Ron Jacobs Joshua Frank Peter Morici Alan Maass Robert Weissman William Blum Alan Farago Website of the Day July 9, 2008 Ismael Hossein-Zadeh Luis Rodriguez Sheldon Richman Fatemeh Keshavarz Chad Hanson Sen. Russ Feingold Niranjan Ramakrishnan Dave Lindorff Stanley Heller Philip Rizk Website of the Day July 8, 2008 Nikolas Kozloff Laura Carlsen Mike Whitney Andy Worthington Patrick Irelan Chellis Glendinning David Macaray Dave Lindorff John Chuckman Phillip Doe Website of the Day July 7, 2008 Patrick Bond Kathy Kelly Andy Worthington Clifton Ross Elizabeth Schulte Ralph Nader Dave Lindorff Binoy Kampmark Stephen Fleischman Website of the Day July 5 / 6, 2008 Alexander Cockburn Jeffrey St. Clair / Patrick Cockburn Mike Whitney Robert Fantina Binoy Kampmark Rannie Amiri Eric Ruder Brian Cloughley William Blum Frank Barat Christopher Brauchli David Yearsley Ron Jacobs Karim Makdisi Wendy Thompson / N.D. Jayaprakash Ramzy Baroud Kelly Overton Richard Neville Poets' Basement Website of the Weekend
July 4, 2008 Kathy Kelly Dave Lindorff Paul Krassner Jackie Corr Laray Polk Dan Bacher Walter Brasch Charles Modiano Website of the Day July 3, 2008 Sharon Smith Andy Worthington Laura Carlsen Peter Morici Ramzi Kysia Martha Rosenberg Anne Landman Dave Zirin Kristin Bricker Website of the Day
July 2, 2008 Patrick Irelan Vijay Prashad Brian Cloughley Ralph Nader Robert Fantina Dave Lindorff Parvez Ahmed Robert Bryce Website of the Day July 1, 2008 Alexander Cockburn Mike Whitney Douglas Macgregor Steven Higgs Andy Worthington Binoy Kampmark Dave Lindorff Roger Burbach Richard W. Behan Gary Leupp Website of the Day June 30, 2008 Peter Lee Jeff Sommers David Macaray Martha Rosenberg David Price Alexandra Early June 28 / 29, 2008 Alexander Cockburn Jeffrey St. Clair Joan P. Mencher Nikolas Kozloff Jason Hribal Alan Maass Robert Fantina Bill Moyers / Mike Whitney Justin E. H. Smith Pham Binh David Yearsley Christopher Ketcham Jeremy R. Hammond Kathleen M. Barry Walter Brasch Brett Drugge Susie Day Website of the Day June 27, 2008 Franklin C. Spinney Jonathan Cook Brian Cloughley Saree Makdisi Liliana Segura Paul Krassner William S. Lind Candace Cohn Ron Jacobs Binoy Kampmark Website of the Day June 26, 2008 Patrick Cockburn Nikolas Kozloff William P. O'Connor Saul Landau Ashley Smith Dave Lindorff David Macaray Binoy Kampmark Matt Reichel Remi Kenazi Website of the Day
|
Weekend Edition Hello from Aspen, Wish You Where Here! Regards, John Devaney The Crash of the King of LiquidityBy ALAN FARAGO Key Biscayne's high-flying hedge fund operator, John Devaney, once called "The King of Liquidity," has crashed and burned. I've been gawking at the Devaney hedge fund wreck for a long time. The festive charitable giving to needy causes (inoculation from scrutiny by the mainstream press). The entertaining of then Senate majority leader Bill Frist and other luminaries. The mysteries of making a few hundred million trading asset backed securities formed from junk aka "the ownership society." That turns out to be one of the signature phenomenon of the current market cycle that shows no signs of bottoming yet: what an excruciatingly long time it is taking to play out. A year ago, the media began reporting the troubles afflicting the Key Biscayne hedge fund king: "A Miami-based hedge fund titan with a taste for the high life is getting a harsh lesson in humility as his fund racks up losses in the bond-market rout. ... The fund's portfolios are now said to be worth around $460 million, down from about $620 million." (New York Post, August 2, 2007) But according to The Miami Herald, "On Thursday, Devaney said the fund had lost about 90 percent of its value by September 2007." (Miami Herald, July 11, 2008) So, which was it? A year ago, was Devaney lying or not? Investors are suddenly realizing that down markets are an especially bad time to question whether there is any difference between fraud, theft, and a worthless investment portfolio with John Devaney. With hedge funds, there is no penalty for misrepresentation unless it is outright fraud and theft. The US Congress and White House have repeatedly blocked efforts to hold hedge funds to the same degree of accountability as other fiduciary agents. Most mutual fund owners don't have a clue how John Devaney made enough millions to hang Matisses on the walls of his Key Biscayne home. But they should, because what John Devaney does (did) along with 10,000 hedge funds is shaking the foundations of the world financial system. It is no surprise that hedge fund risk is manifesting in the collapsed fortunes of a Miami trader. The political origins of the housing boom--that many hedge funds fed from-- are right here, twined like a golden thread in the chain of campaign contributions links builders, lobbyists land speculators and Wall Street-- still freely circulating and immune to criticism by the media. If you are looking for particular scoundrels, start with key McCain economic advisor former Senator Phil Gramm, now vice chairman of the Swiss bank UBS, who helped speed the deregulation of the financial industries and who just lashed out at Americans as "a nation of whiners". That clunker dropped at the same moment Miami production homebuilders, like beleagured Lennar, and lobbyists like Sergio Pino and Rodney Barreto--Miami's local power brokers-- are begging for government bailouts of their own cratering investments in land outside the Urban Development Boundary. "Help us, help us," they cry, expecting their pockets to be lined by insider deals from big infrastructure "economic rescue plans", including new zoning changes to put more sprawl in western suburbs edging the Everglades. Never mind that the last tranche of buyers flushed out like dove, long ago, or, that critics used to be called "elitists", who complained about the costs of unsustainable growth. You don't hear that, anymore. But you also don't hear the history of what happened, or, most any other relevant news except iterations of the spin machine. Look no further of reason for investors shunning the US dollar. Yesterday, the Herald reported: "Devaney himself has lost more than $100 million, he said. His losses amount to about half his net worth, he added. But he still has a 126-foot yacht, the Dorothy Ann -- a present to his mother -- moored behind his Key Biscayne home." Devaney will never be forced out of his home like those foreclosed from ranch-style American dream homes sold by Lennar or Pino or Barreto. Like Pino or Barreto, Devaney's assets are happily shielded by laws and regulations they condemn when it comes to the accumulation of wealth in free markets, like inserting platted subdivisions in wetlands or polluting public lands with stormwater runoff into the Everglades. It's just the case that the pockets of wealth are drying down, like Everglades ponding in dry season. In a perverse way, that makes it easier for observers to see what is in them, or, what is just pretending to be there. Alan Farago lives in south Florida. He can be reached at: afarago@bellsouth.net
|
Now Available from CounterPunch Books!
Born Under a Bad Sky: RED STATE REBELS:
Edited by  Buy End Times Now! CounterPunch Books of the Crossroads: HOW THE IRISH INVENTED SLANG By Daniel Cassidy AMERICAN BOOK AWARD!  Click Here to Buy! Click Here for Dates & Venues Michael Neumann's Devastating Rebuttal of Alan Dershowitz  Click Here to Buy! Saul Landau's Bush and Botox World with a Foreword by Gore Vidal  Click Here to Order! How They Made a Killing on the War on Terrorism     
    
 
 Humanitarian Imperialism By Jean Bricmont               CITY BEAUTIFUL By Tennessee Reed                   |
