“Entrepreneur Access to Capital Act,” HR 2930
By Carolyn A. Betts
House Passes Crowdfunding Bill
On November 3, 2011, the House of Representatives passed the Entrepreneur Access to Capital Act (H.R. 2930). This law is intended to facilitate “crowd-funding” for financing small business entrepreneurship. Wikipedia describes crowd funding as “the collective cooperation, attention and trust by people who network and pool their money and other resources together, usually via the Internet, to support efforts initiated by other people or organizations”. Sponsor of the bill Congressman Patrick McHenry (R. NC) explains crowdfunding on his website:
- “The basic idea is to raise money through relatively small contributions from a large number of people – combining the best of microfinance and crowdsourcing”
Continue reading the article . . .
Related Reading
Crooks Lick Their Chops Over ‘Crowdfunding’ Bill
Morningstar (22 Nov 11)
Businesses Also Seek ‘Crowdfunding,’ so Watch Out
The Baltimore Sun (14 Nov 11)
Solari Report Blog Commentaries
Crowdfunding Bill Would Allow People to Invest in Local Businesses
(9 Nov 11)
Crowd Funding
(14 July 11)
Crowdfunding: Raising Money From Strangers
(4 May 11)
By Catherine Austin Fitts
Thrive is a documentary invitation to a website and a conversation about what it will take for us to thrive. It is:
- A formidable intellectual achievement. It builds the most coherent and powerful presentation yet on what is happening globally and what we can do about it. The film is beautifully shot and scored – a highly professional creation representing the contributions of many talented artists, musicians and technologists.
- An extraordinary act of personal courage and generosity. The creators of Thrive have made a globally significant contribution at great personal expense and risk. Their leadership in doing so is inspiring. Once you watch Thrive you will never again say “Why is no one doing anything?” Indeed, through the film you are introduced to many people who are doing plenty.
Here is the initial feedback from our network:
“Wow. . Thrive is stunning. It’s so well done in every aspect, and really has the potential be a game changer.”
About the Author
Catherine Austin Fitts is president of Solari, Inc. Ms. Fitts served as Assistant Secretary of Housing during the first Bush Administration, lead financial advisor to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development during the Clinton Administration and is a former managing director and member of the board of Dillon, Read & Co. Inc. Biographical information.
Summary
Media revelations are unfolding daily regarding losses in the U.S. mortgage market. These losses are not a new phenomenon. Rather, they represent the latest phase in an ongoing tradition of institutionalized fraud in the U.S. mortgage system and the federal credit system that directly and indirectly guarantees it. An understanding of this history can mobilize public support for reforms that address root causes by reversing the profitability enjoyed by those responsible.
Where is the Money? Let’s Get it Back!
by Catherine Austin Fitts
Republished Article
Original (5 Nov 2008)
Large banks now claim recent losses in the US mortgage market totaling over $100 billion. While amounting to only a small percentage of banking profits over the last decade, this is still a lot of money. It may pale by comparison, 
however, to the losses the banks’ customers, the communities drained by predatory lending and investment practices and the citizens who stand behind the federal credit may incur.
Municipalities from Australia to Montana are reporting losses on U.S. mortgage and structured investments sold to them by the banks. (1) (2) Just as small towns in the Norwegian Arctic Circle reported losses of $167 million on investments packaged by Citicorp, Citicorp’s departing CEO exited his job with a $100 million compensation package.
By Carolyn A. Betts and Catherine Austin Fitts
In response to our Special Solari Report on the two largest US precious metals exchange-traded funds “GLD & SLV: Disclosure in the Precious Metals Puzzle Palace“, a Solari Report subscriber asked us about two Swiss-based exchange traded funds offered by the bank of the Swiss canton of Zurich, Zürcher Kantonalbank. Here is our briefing, providing summary information regarding these ETFs and a response as to whether they are available for purchase by US investors.
A Review of The Student Loan Scam: The Most Oppressive Debt in U.S. History – and How We Can Fight Back by Alan Michael Collinge
By Carolyn Betts and Catherine Austin Fitts
The Preface begins:
“The truth is that I never considered student loans to be an especially interesting topic. College debt, I believed, was a necessary evil – to be repaid expeditiously and then forgotten even more quickly. However, what I once thought of as an uninteresting issue has come to dominate my life.”
This highly informative book was written by a 1998 graduate of Cal Tech with three degrees in aerospace engineering who, after a student loan nightmare that took him from an original relatively modest $38,000 Sallie Mae loan to an obligation of $80,000 by 2002 and $103,000 by mid 2005. At that point he started the website www.studentloanjustice.org in an effort to hook up with others in similar straits, share stories and become politically active in restoring consumer protections for student loans.
In The Student Loan Scam, we read blood-curdling personal stories from Collinge’s website that should make any parent of a college-bound student re-think any plans to saddle a loved-one with student loan obligations under current law. In the event the typical graduate with student loans does not get a $100,000 a year job right out of school and remain gainfully employed at an increasing salary for the next decade or more, student loan debts could result in financial ruin, loss of professional credentials and security clearances and, in some cases, suicide and debilitating depression.
We find out that the current student loan system is nothing like the one in place when the baby boomers were in college, when Sallie Mae was a quasi-governmental entity with its activities limited by its federal statutory charter. Those loans were made at favorable interest rates and had interest that started accruing only after graduation. Post-graduation, they were serviced in accordance with consumer-friendly servicing standards.
Aaron Russo was a fearless, talented, capable man. He loved life and people. He could not fathom why millions of Americans were adapting to fascism. I got to know Aaron while he was filming “America: From Freedom to Fascism.” If you have not seen it, I strongly recommend it, including the section regarding RFID chips.
Before his death, Aaron gave an interview about his conversations with a member of the Rockefeller family regarding plans to further centralize control of the human race.
In this context, Aaron was referring to RFID chips which are human microchip implants. Such an implant is “an integrated circuit device or RFID tag encased in silicate glass and implanted into a human’s body. Such subdermal implants can be used for information storage, including personal identification, medical history, medications, allergies, and contact information.”
I was proud to call Aaron my friend. If he said that he was told that plans were underway to create a system to integrate the financial system into centrally controlled chips planted physically in our bodies, than that is what he was told.
As you assess the advisability of your taxes and government resources funding more federal government databases, particularly those regarding our bodies which could function as a critical component to implement such a system, I would encourage you to listen to this interview with Aaron and integrate his knowledge and experience into your own.
~ View Parts I through VI of this article here.
I grew up next to a University campus. My parents loved to learn. Our home was filled with books and people from diverse backgrounds.
One of my mother’s best friends had narrowly escaped the German concentration camps. Many in her family did not and died in the camps. I also met people who escaped Germany at the end of WWII to avoid prosecution or persecution as Nazis. I became curious about the practical details of how the Holocaust could have happened. An avid reader, I searched through book after book looking for explanations.
Implementing an operation that will offend or warn your potential victims – such as stealing all their money and assets, destroying their civil liberties or even killing them – involves some serious logistical challenges.
~ View Parts I through VI of this article here.
In assessing the advisability of a national health database, it is valuable to understand that a national health database will be:
- one of many databases containing data about you that will feed programs like Main Core;
- exponentially increase the power of how Main Core can impact you and your future.
The Last Roundup: Is the government compiling a secret list of citizens to detain under martial law?
By Christopher Ketcham
Church Committee 2.0: Exposing Bush’s historic abuse of power
Salon has uncovered new evidence of post-9/11 spying on Americans.
By Tim Shorrock
Main Core: New Evidence Reveals Top Secret Government Database Used in Bush Spy Program
To give you a sense of the power of these applications in the 1980′s, try reading a fictional account of financial fraud, Black Money by Michael Thomas.
~ View Parts I through VI of this article here.
When I served as Assistant Secretary of Housing at the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) in the first Bush Administration, I discovered that the government was paying billions of dollars to large banks, defense contractors and universities to collect and manage data on the people and resources of the United States.
The lead defense contractor at HUD was paid approximately $150 billion to run the systems. (That was later to increase by even greater amounts.) No matter how much we paid to create and maintain rich databases, it was almost impossible for me to get any data that I needed to do my job. What I did get required a extraordinary effort on my part.
My efforts to get basic management and financial information was met with fear, lies and endless passive aggressive behavior. I soon learned that data about money in government was like cigarettes in prison. It was a currency, traded for power and position. Data that was supposed to be public was not easily available to government officials and it was certainly not available to the average person. Data that was supposed to be private appeared easily accessible to a variety of financial interests.
~ View Parts I through VI of this article here.
The Data Beast – Part VI
In Stanley Kubrick’s thriller, Eyes Wide Shut, we watch as Dr. Bill Harford (played by Tom Cruise) attends a private party given by a secret society whose members have the power, among other things, to kill with impunity.
If you have not seen Eyes Wide Shut, I strongly recommend watching it if you want to understand the real privacy issues related to the mandatory health records database proposed by the Administration.
~ View Parts I through VI of this article here.
Continue reading »