Jew from Bronx heads Empire State Bank

Jew from Bronx heads Empire State Bank. Blankfein’s own rise to the top of Goldman underscored for him just how fast things could change…. Blankfien was the son of working class Jewish parents. Born in the Bronx he grew up in Linden Houses, a project of East New York, one of the poorest neighborhoods in Brooklyn. In public housing you could hear neighbors conversations through the walls and smell what they were making for dinner. His father was a postal clerk, sorting mail, his mother a receptionist. As a teenager Blankfein sold soda during the Yankee games. He graduated as valedictorian of his class from Jefferson High school in 1971, with the help of scholarships and financial aid attended Harvard, the first member of his family to go to college. His perseverance revealed itself in other ways…. On Friday June 27, 2008, Lloyd Blankfien, exhausted after a nine hour flight to Russia, took a stroll around the square outside his hotel in St Petersberg. He had just arrived in the city on the firm’s Gulfstream, along with his wife and Gary D Cohn Goldman’s president and Chief Operating officer. A history buff Balnkfien had finished David Fromkin’s ‘A Peace to end all Peace- The fall of the Ottoman Empire and creation of modern Middle East’ during the flight….If all around him the financial world was in a state of chaos, Blankfien had reason to feel contented about Goldman on the eve of its board meeting. The firm was once again proving itself to the be the best on Wall Street, weathering –so far at least- the toughest market anyone could remember. What better place to gather than Russia? What China was to manufacturing, Russia was to commodities and commodities were king at that moment. Oil most critically was going for $140 barrel and Russia was pumping out millions of barrels a day. For a moment, it could make anyone forget about the problems back in the United States. Every year the board of Goldman took a four day break abroad and since being handed the reigns of the firm from Hank Paulson (Who became Financial Secretary for Bush) Blankfein had insisted that they meet in one of the new emerging economic giants- Brazil, Russia, India or China….. As Blankfein wandered back to his hotel he pondered his fears: What if oil process were to slide, say to $70 a barrel? What then? What about Goldman itself? Despite his proven success, Blankfein admitted to being paranoid as he often described himself….. As the current market troubles unfolded Goldman was mercifully spared the kids of hit that Lehman, Merrill, Citi and even Morgan Stanley were taking. His team was smart, but Blankfein knew that lack played a big role in their accomplishments. Certainly Goldman had its share of toxic assets, it was highly leveraged (Word means extent of indebtedness-Ed) and it faced the same funding shortfalls cause by a seized up market as did its rivals. To its credit it had steered clear of most noxious of those assets-the securities (That word is an oxymoron-Ed) built entirely on the creaky foundation of sub prime mortgages (the Hebrew root of this word is –death-Ed) … Blankfien couldn’t help but notice all the Mercedes clogging up the streets as he walked back to his hotel room. That was only the most visible sign of the conspicuous consumption taking place. Flushed with profits not only from oil and gas but from iron, nickel and a host of other increasingly valuable commodities, Russia’s so called oligarchs were buying up super yachts and English soccer teams. Ten years ago Russia could not pay its debts: today it was a fast growing, $1.3 Trillion economy. P170, 166-168 Too Big to Fail A.R. Sorkin 2009. Sorry I cannot help myself. Blankfein has read a book I want to read but fear that there aren’t many copies here in my nation. The Jewish New York Times journalist who wrote the ground breaking intro to the Middle East- ‘From Beirut to Jerusalem’ has a chapter called Hama Rules and in it explains without using that Arabic word- the concept of Balad. A place like Mt Zion or Mecca which has influence across the entire region. Thus the idea of nation states is absurd and the establishment of them is the current situation as natural forces are at work to make the entire Middle East into one unit again….(and my Editor has just said- we shall see!) But coming back to write this from watching the Evening News- A brave French editor shot for expressing his views about the prophet- Peace be upon him- Muhammed… but relevant to this post the price of oil is now below $50 a barrel and just as we read here Russia is in deep deep trouble. So how come that the oil price is essentially for this century anyway- collapsed? Well some suggest that Arabia over pumping is a deliberate attack upon Russia relevant to what was happening in Ukraine six months ago. You see well if you are reading this blog… We cannot limit our thinking just to financial issues. There are powerful spiritual thing going on as the military and political issues in our very unstable world become apparent as well. So what is happening and will there be come back on USA for what is happening in Russia now? God alone knows but as I write this a verse pops into my head “for what so ever ye sow ye shall reap’ If what is happening right now is some high stake game made in Empire State- New York the cost on New York could be a high one…. Please consult with the expert on NY Jewish matters- Our Eternal Jew!

CEO of AIG for a dollar

CEO of AIG for a dollar ‘Hank Paulson hustled down the stairs and out the side exit of the Treasury building, briskly heading for the White house. He and Ben Bernanke had scheduled a meeting with President Bush to brief him on the extraordinary steps they were about to take… were escorted to the Oval Office where Paulson delicately walked the president through the terms. As Paulson explained the deal, however detailing the points in the Wall Street jargon. Bush clearly looked perplexed. Bernanke jumped in and said “Mr President, lets step back for a minute” Donning his professional hat he explained how deeply entwined AIG had become in the banking system. More important, he tried to appeal to the Everyman in bush, emphasizing how many citizens and small businesses depended on the firm …. The President then posed a question that in it’s own way went to the heart of the problem: “an insurance company does all this?” This one did. At around 4.00 pm that afternoon the Fed’s offered clattered through an AIG fax machine –which should have been replaced and shipped to the Smithsonian a decade earlier) An army of lawyers on AIG’s eighteenth floor were anxiously waiting it. After the tree page document finally appeared a lawyer grabbed it and made copies. “Well you finally get your chance to work for the Federal government” “What do mean?” Asked Willumstad. “They own you now” the lawyer said with a grin. And they did. The Federal Reserve was providing AIG a credit line of 85billion- which the hoped would be enough to avert catastrophe and keep it afloat. But in exchange for the loan, the government was taking a large ownership stake- 80%.... (From an earlier page) Ken Wilson his special advisor raised an issue they had yet to consider; “Hank (Paulson) how the hell can we put 85 billion into this entity without new management?” – a euphemism for asking how the government could fund this amount of money without firing the current CEO and installing its own. Without a new CEO, it would seem that the government was backing the same inept management that had created the mess. “you are right. You’ve got to find me a CEO. Drop everything- Get me a CEO” Wilson back at his office began scrolling through his computer address book. After years as a financial consultant at Goldman Sachs, he knew the top people in the industry. But even before getting to the B’s a named popped into his head. Ed Libby, the former CEO of Allstate and a Goldman board member. He was the perfect candidate, currently on the beach… But Wilson didn’t have his phone number. So he called Chris Cole at Goldman Sachs who had been at AIG all weekend… there was no time for small talk Wilson reached Libby …. “Do you have time to take a call from Hank?” Wilson asked and Libby assented enthusiastically. “You have to hang up” Wilson told Paulson who was on the phone; “I’ve got your CEO”… Willumstrad had no illusions that a government rescue would mean anything other than his ouster, but he was stunned by the speed of events. The government had just made it’s offer moments ago- and it already had completed an executive search to find his successor?... “Is it okay if I ask who it is” “Its Ed Libby” Paulson said… After the call Willumstrad slumped in his chair, and then he looked over at Beattie- the lawyer and laughed “Well you are wrong I won’t be working for the Federal government after all” (And Ed Libby soon took over AIG working for a salary of one dollar) p 400-401, 396-397, 403 Too Big to Fail A.R. Sorkin 2009. And for those Charismatics and Pentecostals in the audience here the key words in these pages is ; ‘But even before getting to the B’s an name popped into his head’ – Each one of us has a unique combination of experience and talents not to mention the various things that God has called us to. As a teenager I was perplexed as I began to see the size of the calling God had given me- and the at least 10 different talents which never could in any human way fit into any job description- And yes I have spent most of my life cleaning toilets sweeping floors and so on… But … Well when we have given up. When in the case of Libby we are ‘on the beach’ or in the case of Moses looking after sheep right beside that mountain in Midian- Then and only then when it is impossible well God knows your number and we are on the way to doing something taking a lifetime of training, multigenerations of breeding and there we are- Your Calling which you need by faith to secure- Because the call up to duty will come. Ready when he calls!

Seriously out of her depth

Seriously out of her depth ‘Some of Gregory’s (Number two at Lehman- friend and protector of President Fuld) hiring decisions , meanwhile struck people as highly unorthodox. In 2005 he took the head of the firm’s fixed income- Bart McDade who was and expert in the world of debt and made him Head of Equities, a business he knew little about….’People need broad experience, it is the power of the machine it is not the individual’ Gregory explained. Of all the individuals who Gregory anointed none was more controversial that Erin Callan, a striking blond who favored ‘Sex and the City’ style stilettos (And Ed we can leave it there Ok!) When he chose the forty one year old Callan as the firm’s new Chief Financial Officer-CFO in Sept 2007 Lehman insiders were stunned. Callan was obviously bright, but she knew precious little about the firm’s treasury operations and had no background in accounting whatsoever. Another woman at the firm, Ros Stephenson, perhaps the only banker besides Fuld who could get Roberts kingpin Henry Kravis on the phone was furious about the appointment and took her complaint directly to Dick Fuld, who as always backed Gregory. Callan yearned to prove to her colleagues that she was a seasoned street fighter just like Fuld. (Yes I saw the I think it was a girl, on West Side Story- she was good too!-Ed) If anything her path to the top of the financial industry had been even more improbable than his story. One of three daughters of a New York Police officer, she graduated from New York University Law School in 1990 and took a job for the Wall Street firm Simpson Thatcher as an associate in their tax department. Lehman Brothers was a major client. After five years at Simpson she took a chance one day and phoned Lehman, she caught a break early when a change in the tax law sparked a boom in securities that were taxed as if they were debt. Callan as a tax expert was adapt at structuring these complex investments for clients… She quickly catapulted up the ranks overseeing the firm’s global finance solutions and global finance analytic groups within a few years. Hedge funds were becoming the top Walls Street clients and in 2006 Callan was entrusted with the critical job of overseeing the firm’s investment banking relationship with them… Soon she caught the eye of Joe Gregory, an executive who believed strongly in the value of diversity. He recognized that the world was changing and that Lehman as well as the rest of the financial community could no longer be the sanctuary of white men only- (Our Editor agrees!) and a woman would be good for Lehman…. With that it became clear to Freidheim that the leak had been her idea. Like a growing group of executives up and down the organization Friedheim had come to the conclusion that Callan was in the wrong job and he had become tired of her perky self assurance. She performed for the media as though she were on some kind of reality show….And he had been furious back in April when Craig in the Wall Street Journal article had crowned her ‘Lehman’s straight shooter’ as if the rest of them were a pack of untrustworthy liars . Callan just didn’t know where to draw the line. She kept a model of a private jet on her desk (Our Pastor doesn’t have one yet but commuting up and down the country seriously needs one-Ed) and revealed details of her personal shopper to the press blithely unaware of the resentment it inspired (Yes and last I looked Jesus was on his donkey) The worst was when she framed a photograph of herself in the Portfolio magazine that pronounced her, ‘The most Powerful Woman on Wall Street’ and hung it on her office wall. Gregory had to tell her to take it down. P29-30, 111-112 Too big to Fail A R Sokin Penguin New York 2009. A Jewish friend of mine- OK I’ll be honest here- not dropping any names mind you- the only Jewish friend I am liable to have! He said ‘the meek shall inherit the earth’ And I was talking to my son about this as we discussed the predicted drop in world population from the current 7 billion to under 2 billion far less than it was when I was a boy - And he was telling me that he expected in those times to being given land. And as I was painting in the rafters I repented of those British Aristocracy in the time of King Henry who had been given Church Lands after Henry disestablished the Catholic Church and became head of the Church of England. Yes there are people who actually know exactly what needs to be done to sort out problems on the land and it is a wise move for them to as my Jewish friend was predicting- To inherit the earth… But Yes on what we have been reading here- Meek. One of those magic words which when as a translator I begin to put it back into the text… Well the entire message of the book changes. And the proud? Well to quote Dr Martin Luther King. ‘Someone said some time Pride comes before a fall –USA!’ No! Liar! He didn’t say that but Brother Jeremiah Wright prophet pastor of President Obama he said things along those lines- so what are we personally gonna do about that this coming year 2015? Pride or meekness? Which?

The Word of God?

I quote as you see from the most secular nonreligious writers and historians I can lay my hands on. Some of my writers are in the case of my very first post 'Hampton News' homosexuals or my now deleted long running Seven Pillars of Wisdom was a brilliant Homosexual who in the divine revelation he got at a time when he could have converted to Islam- Chapter 33 of that book literally remade the way that wars are fought... Totally brilliant and as I say the code word that begins that is Barak- the groaning of the camels as they kneel down and then heaven and earth are joined as Col Lawrence gains divine revelation... I'm raving shot me quick! But yes- The Word of God is a spiritual concept a feeling for some four or more thousand Semetic word currently preserved variously but some times with identical meaning in Hebrew and Arabic and we -students of Jeff Benner 'Ancient Hebrew Lexicon' are wondering about the spiritual power and meaning of a word and this weeks word is 'Shabetah- Seven which is one of those join heaven to earth words like Barak. OK chorus line now Sing it! But what in Gods name has this got to do with New Zealand being vitally joined to New York in her hour of trial? Well... Amos speaks about a drought and last time I turned on Hillsong TV and heard the son of the pedaphile who began it all - Brian saying "The Best is yet to come" yes attempting to make sense of what he is saying- Serious Drought as Amos claims of the hearing of the Word of God. Thus what are we here now going to do about that? Well Isaiah is always good value and in Isaiah 28 where is talking about according to Moses found at the ends of the earth herding the nations- Ephraim; Well Ephraim's glory fading he goes back to Word on word looking at the Hebrew and line on line finding out what it actually says! Exactly what I have been doing since when ever I began my wwww.paul-bibletranslation.blogspot.com and if you look at my first attempts at Hebrew! Ahh!!! But keep going by faith- only by Faith. And when will Jews from New York come to teach us Hebrew? .... Yes Faith that is all we have and word on word is what is happening right now. Well at least in my world. Look thinking about a single word is worth it. Hey in the most unexpected place you find him- Who? Well this bloke talked about in Revelation 19:10 The word of God when we need to know. Him. I began this year by shocking myself and quoting- Well I quote Homosexuals why not him as well- quoting Rick Joyner 1988 The Harvest chapter six where hesuprises me and would no doubt suprise himself if he re-read it by saying we will not at this time recognize Jesus- he is in disguise no doubt working with the UN in Gaza loving Palestinians... My word for this year is: When you are working with as a brother the last person on earth you would ever expect to work with- then you are in the right place right time and God's Kingdom is happening 2015

Losing your head over it!

Losing your head over it In the Bible John the Baptist- He wasn’t a Baptist anymore than a good Muslim who is water boarded by the American Government becomes through that ancient sometimes deadly if the head is held down too long-procedure- A Baptist….it is just an name to distinguish him from another John in the bible. … John the Baptist literally lost his head- it being cut off his body IS style- for talking publicly about inconvenient truth. Jesus claims that His True Apostles are known for doing that- (Matthew 10) so I guess judging by how useless The Church is these days the Apostles must have died out some time ago…. And so St Paul was killed in Rome. St Peter crucified upside down and Jesus right way up but they both died regardless and all this for speaking out and upsetting the authroties! So I do admire the next person we will read about- and while he may not be a Christian- he could in time prove to be a brother especially if he deals in truth! ‘In Mid May David Einhorn had a speech to write. Einhorn, a hedge fund manager controlling 6 billion of assets was preparing to speak at the Ira W. Sohn Investment Research Conference where each year a thousand or so people would pay as much as $3,250 to hear prominent investors tout or trash stocks…..their entrance fee going to a good fund- The Tomorrows Children Fund…. Greenlight was known for its patient, cerebral approach to investing; (Einhorn said) “We start by asking why a security is likely to be miss valued in the market, once we have theory we analyze the security to determine if it is in fact cheap or overvalued. In order to invest we need to understand why the opportunity exists..”…. Einhorn called in the seven analysts who worked for him to assign a special project. “We’re going to do something we don’t usually do research wise “ Instead of painstakingly investigation of an individual company or particular idea, they were going to conduct over the weekend August 11/12 2007 – a crash investigation of financial companies that has subprime exposure. He knew that this was where the problem had started, but what concerned him now was trying to understand where it might end. Any banks that held investments in falling real estate values (Note: Those who have studied the 20th Century may have been aware of appalling problems corruption and so on which appears to have had little lasting effect or damage to Business or the community as a whole- the reason is that with in many parts of the world and the economy growth doubling and doubling again the evidence of the mistake, corruption, disaster can be quickly built over… Here the problem comes when there is decline and falling values- And some suggest that the whole of this 21st Century will be about declining population, growth, resources and so on… Making mistakes very serious events-Ed) –which had likely been packaged up neatly as part of securitized products that he suspected some firms didn’t even know that they owned- could be in danger. The project was code named ‘The Credit Basket’. By Sunday night the team had come up with a list of twenty five companies for Greenlight to sell short, including Lehman Brothers… where they already held a short position on the hunch that their share price at $64:80 per share was too high…. As the banks reported their quarterly results in September Einhorn paid close attention concerned by some of the things he was hearing in Lehman’s Sept 18 conference call… ‘This is crazy accounting. I don’t know why they put it in” Einhorn said “It means that the day before they go bankrupt is the most profitable day in the history of the company, because you’ll say all the debt was worthless . You then get to call it revenue. And literally they pay bonuses of this, which drives me nuts”. Six months later ? Einhorn listened intently to Lehman’s earnings call on March 18 2008 and was baffled to hear Erin Callan offering an equally confident prognosis…. He suspected that Callan was in over her head- or the firm was exaggerating its figures… (Speaking at the Conference he) recounted how he listened intently to Callan’s performance during her now famous earnings call the day after the Bear Stearns’s fire sale. “On the conference call that day. Lehman Chief Financial Officer Erin Callan used the word ‘great’ fourteen times (And my Editor tells me that I haven’t used it much and should do) ‘challenging’ six times; ‘strong’ twenty four times and tough- once. She used the word ‘incredible’ eight times he noted but I would use the word incredible in a different way to describe the report”…. With a projection screen displaying the relevant figures behind him he told how he had questioned Callan about the fact that Lehman had taken only a $200 million write down on a $6.5 billion worth of especially toxic asset known as collateralized debt obligations CDO’s even though the pool included $1.6 billion of instruments that were below investment grade. “Ms Callan said she understood my point and would get back to me and in a follow up email Ms Callan declined to provide and explanation of the modest write down and instead stated that based on current price action Lehman could expect to recognize further loses in the second quarter…. Clearing his throat audibly Einhorn ended his speech with a warning. “My hope is that Mr Cox –SEC and Mr Bernanke Fed Reserve and Mr Paulson Treasury Sec will pay heed to the risks of the financial system that Lehman is creating and that they will guide Lehman towards recapitalization and recognition of losses – hopefully before taxpayer assistance is required”… Within minutes of Einhorn leaving stage, news of the speech had been broadcast throughout the financial circles. Lehman was in for some serious pain when the market opened…the shares would fall as much as 5 percent. P101-108 Too Big to Fail A.R.Sorkin 2009.

Strategic Recon

When I get back to it- currently I'm painting the house; I will be in the first chapters of Joshua as Joshua takes up responsibility for leading Israel, and his approach from what I doing and what I remember comes next is to find out what the enemy is thinking and feeling and to himself wander around encountering no doubt the Senior Commander of All Armies also out doing his own recon too. So in my thinking last post and comments I have been looking at tiny little hill about as pathetic as the one President Roosevelt lead his men up as a Rough Rider in Cuba. But like that hill the strategic prize- Mutukaroa so that if you google that you get a map of the hill but then just keep pulling the map smaller and smaller until even Australia comes into view the strategic location of that time hill even in the world becomes important. St Paul doesn't agree with the idea but he is reasonable enough to say it; Some say all Days are the same. And some will want to tell you all locations are the same and a church can ignore the differences and have one central place and campuses all around instead as with Mutukaroa recognising that whoever holds this hill- not only controls the city, not only controls the North, not only controls the nation but as well has a good chance of making world trade and issue for other nations too. And for God that hill is Zion. And as a Rational Strategic thinking Geographer and Historian I agree with him! So what is the New York angle on this apart from Pentagon Strategic Planners over 100 years ago recognising that Mutukaroa is the place to take and hold.... Well like Auckland New York is a maze of water ways tidal flows, rivers that can be negotiated ... and road ways hills too- in fact mountain ranges and lakes... My suggestion is that travelling to- or travelling around New York- Now is the best time to be doing Recon. Let the Master Strategist- and I have to admit he is a Jew... Let him lead you and show you things. Lord why is this bridge important? Lord why am I coming along this way I have never been here before what do you want me to see. For some it will be a case of launching the boat and doing some cruising others travelling on the bike or even a car. Others travelling the subways and thinking about how to get around maybe when the trains don't run but the tunnels are still there to use... Recon. And for those of you into Tagging and Angels and Demons- Well establish strong angels at critical places- sure the people of this place can riot and burn but -this place. No Evil Stops Here and heavenly authorities will protect this strategic place and so on... Or just go for Sunday walks... Or maybe convene prayer meetings in park like atmospheres... Like our amazing little hill in Auckland New Zealand Mutukaroa!

Kick Back

Kick Back! Jesus appeared to St Paul before Saul was a saint and told him that it is hard to kick back against the cattle prod … or whatever it says I am Too Lazy to grab the Greek and see what it really says! Kick Back is when you tell a religious leader what Jesus has said from his throne and that leader typically sets out to do the opposite just to let everyone know- Jesus included! He is the Senior Pastor and his agenda OK- And the funny part is when in Matthew 7 verse 23- my favorite verse these days Jesus says ..So going back to a blog last month- My Testimony- I was saying how I got kicked off the mountain called Mutukaroa Waitangi Sunday morning 2011, same morning when another one of the three prophets who shared their prophecies of the Great Wellington Earthquake- chose that morning to get up at the Waitangi Prayer service and share with the Prime Minister publicly about the earthquake that we had seen or heard about in 1977- But Yea Nah the reason why Pastor Peter was especially nervous that Waitangi Weekend and moved then to have me expelled from the Christian religion related to an earlier event at the same church venue when a Pastor from Queenstown had come and preached - He may well have gotten it off the internet- USA Republican Political Agenda style sermon and as a Treaty Prophet I responded by after the stars and stripes audio visual complete with Dr Martin Luther King speaking about freedom I got up and gave an equally powerful prophecy about our nation being built on this three way covenant- Our Shabetah –Eternally Binding –Treaty. Now in real human history there is Time: It was Waitangi Weekend 2011. Place- in my case it wasn’t Waitangi but as significant –Mutukaroa –And the people involved. Myself Pastor Peter and Paul Adams ( and yea yea he got thrown out too that day- our pathetic Jewish would be leader- Jesus of Nazareth). So what on earth has any of this got to do with USA or New York?.... Well a book about Eugenics we looked at back in December ‘The War Lovers’ and Henry Cabot Lodge was working closely with Pres. Theo Roosevelt at a time when USA began to extend it’s international influence taking Cuba and the Philippines. But what isn’t quite so well known is the invasion plan to take New Zealand- the Americans actually sending the ships needed to do that as a military exercise- the plan which as any logical strategic invasion plan of New Zealand is centered on Mutukaroa. Literally that tiny mountain makes or breaks the viability of New Zealand as a multi-ethnic God of nations- Treaty Nation taken by invading racists to function. While next along- Mangakeikei has the cursed obelisk (One Tree Hill) proclaiming and celebrating the death of all the former native Maori so that in the view of John Logan Campbell Governor Grey and Colonel Nixon- All holidaying or living where I do- Mangere! Their view was that the Maori could be killed off or die off end of treaty! I’m raving! Sorry. So Yes Empire State- Made in New York -Long Island President plans to take New Zealand.