04.18.10
Gemini version available ♊︎United States Government Looking to Recruit Microsoft to Brainwash the Public for Big Banks
Summary: Amid lawsuit over fraud at Goldman Sachs, Microsoft is approached with a request for viral games that play ball for Big Banks
IT IS common knowledge that violent video games are sometimes being produced to help recruit children for the army and incite them against particular nations. Consoles are often used as tools of indoctrination, famously for glorification of war and weaponry. Similarly, Microsoft has been misusing public schools to brainwash children and glorify intellectual monopolies such as patents.
The following new report from USA Today contains this interesting part:
Bowles has been in touch with Microsoft’s Steve Ballmer about creating a deficit-reduction video game that would enable anyone with a computer to take a stab at balancing the budget, much like the 1994 commission did.
Updated for 2010, Kerrey says, such a game could “go viral.”
“Steve Ballmer Tasked With Fixing The Deficit — With A Video Game,” says TechDirt which summarises and expands.
According to Bowles, the commission has contacted Microsoft’s Steve Ballmer about Microsoft creating “a deficit-reduction video game” that would allow the average American to attempt balancing the budget. Details are scarce, but it would appear that the likely browser-based game would act to “virally” educate the public on how reducing the deficit isn’t easy. In other words, it’s a PR move designed to seemingly justify why we continue to fail — instead of solving the problem. And here we were busily waiting for a Tea Party MMORPG, or Halo 4: Die Deficit Die.
Perhaps now is the time for Microsoft to help its like-minded friends at Goldman Sachs. The confidence in Wall Street has sunk to another low now that Goldman Sachs is sued for fraud. Here is some financial news, with special focus on Goldman Sachs (whose crimes are coming to light only very recently):
• Text of SEC’s complaint against Goldman Sachs
• SEC Charges Goldman Sachs With Fraud On Subprime Mortgages
• Breaking – S.E.C. Sues Goldman Sachs for Fraud
The SEC has filed civil charges against Goldman Sachs and its banker Fabrice Tourre for its role in structuring subprime mortgages, which it structured at the behest of hedge funders like John Paulson.
• Burns Discusses SEC Fraud Lawsuit Against Goldman Sachs: Video
• SEC Sues Goldman Sachs; US “Shocked, Shocked,” to Find Wall Street Fraud
Finally the chickens are coming home to roost on the greatest short scam of the last decade.
• Goldman Sachs case shows need for reform – Lincoln
Fraud charges filed against Goldman Sachs Group Inc (GS.N) further illustrate the need for strong financial reform, Chairman Blanche Lincoln said on Friday.
• Goldman Sachs Executives Should Resign, Bove Says
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. Chief Executive Officer Lloyd Blankfein and finance chief David Viniar should resign over fraud allegations, according to Dick Bove, an analyst at Rochdale Securities.
• Goldman Sachs’s ‘Fabulous Fab’ Loses ‘Survivor’ Bet
• Goldman Sachs CDOs a ‘Concern’ for Crisis Panel, Angelides Says
• Gold Drops Most in Two Months as SEC Sues Goldman, Dollar Gains
• Gasoline Declines Most in Seven Weeks After U.S. Sues Goldman
• Copper Prices Tumble as SEC Sues Goldman Sachs, Dollar Climbs
• Cotton, Orange-Juice Drop as Stocks Fall After SEC Sues Goldman
• Raw Sugar Tumbles 5.3% as Commodities Drop on SEC-Goldman Case
• Stocks, Oil Drop as Dollar Gains After SEC Sues Goldman Sachs
• Gold, Commodities Fall on Goldman Sachs Fraud Case
• Financial Shares Tumble After Goldman Sachs Charged With Fraud
• Stocks in U.S. Retreat After Goldman Sachs Fraud Lawsuit, Google Earnings
• European Stocks Sink, Erasing Weekly Gain, as SEC Sues Goldman
• Deutsche Bank Drops in Frankfurt After SEC Sues Goldman Sachs
• DAX Index Drops After SEC Charges Goldman Sachs; Banks Retreat
• Swiss Stocks Slide as SEC Charges Goldman Sachs; Banks Decline
• Argentina’s Stock Market Continues Slide On Goldman Fallout
• Brazil Stocks Fall Most in Two Months on China Concern, Goldman
• Mexico peso down as Goldman news hits risky assets
• Yen Rises as U.S. Stocks Drop on Goldman Sachs Fraud Charge
• Goldman Sachs Credit Swaps Jump Most Since 2008 After SEC Suit
• Goldman Sachs SEC Suit ‘Scandalous Story,’ Economist Stein Says
“If the facts are as the SEC allege, they were selling an extremely dangerous product to innocent buyers who trusted the good name of Goldman Sachs,” Stein said in the interview.
• Abacus Allowed Goldman to Shuffle Mortgage Risk Like Beads
From July 2004 through April 2007, as credit markets boomed, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. created 23 financial transactions called Abacus, the word for a relatively crude counting tool involving the shuffling of beads.
• Buffett’s Goldman Sachs Warrants Drop by $1 Billion
The value of Warren Buffett’s options to buy Goldman Sachs Group Inc. shares dropped by $1.02 billion after regulators sued the bank for misleading clients on the sale of securities tied to the subprime mortgage market.
• Goldman Sachs case likely to increase calls for Wall Street reform
Reporting from Washington and New York
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. was once a darling in Washington, handing out millions of dollars in campaign contributions and supplying so many executives for key federal positions — including two recent Treasury secretaries — that some people called the firm “Government Sachs.”
• Goldman Sachs’ Revolving Door
A CBS News analysis of the revolving door between Goldman and government reveals at least four dozen former employees, lobbyists or advisers at the highest reaches of power both in Washington and around the world.
The letter, co-signed by CEO Lloyd Blankfein and President Gary Cohn, also mentioned that Goldman repaid its $10 billion debt to the government in June 2009, as a U.S. Treasury recipient of the Troubled Asset Relief Program.
The CEO of Goldman Sachs has also famously insisted that he is “Doing God’s Work”. █