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$6 Trillion In Fake US Treasury Bonds Seized In Switzerland

ackthpt writes "If you're going to steal, steal big, right? Italian anti-mafia prosecutors have announced the seizure of $6 trillion of allegedly fake U.S. Treasury bonds, an amount that's almost half of the U.S.'s public debt. The probe focusing upon money laundering has also include financial dealings alleged to direct money to Nigerian sources to buy plutonium. Sound like a movie plot, yet? $6 Trillion, that's a lot of lettuce."

199 comments

  1. Please clue me in. by grub · · Score: 4, Interesting


    The U.S. embassy in Rome has examined the securities dated 1934, which had a nominal value of $1 billion apiece, they said in the statement.

    I'm admittedly not a financial/bonds guy, but wouldn't $1 billion securities raise some eyebrows? In the same way that trying to pay for a Slurpee with a $1000 bill would.

    --
    Trolling is a art,
    1. Re:Please clue me in. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      If they were smart criminals, they wouldn't be caught. If anything,m they'd be committing legal acts in political office.

        That's the sad thing, these aren't dangerous criminals, they can only cheat the dishonest.

    2. Re:Please clue me in. by __aaltlg1547 · · Score: 1

      I'm sure they were thinking they'd only have to sell one at a steep discount to be fabulously rich the rest of their lives.

    3. Re:Please clue me in. by superwiz · · Score: 5, Informative

      Generally, no. Bonds are issued in fairly large denominations. But in this case, it would raise eyebrows because of the date. $1billion dollar bond would not be issued in 1934. No financial institution would have lent money in such one large chunk against 1 financial paper. Today bonds are issued in at least 100 million issues, but as someone pointed out, today they are registered, so it doesn't matter what the original issue is.

      --
      Any guest worker system is indistinguishable from indentured servitude.
    4. Re:Please clue me in. by KingAlanI · · Score: 1

      yeah, $1 billion is a ridiculously high denomination - they'd probably make denominations of a thousand or a few thousand for the high rollers.

      --
      I listen to both RIAA and non-RIAA stuff if I like the music, tangential business/politics nonwithstanding.
    5. Re:Please clue me in. by VinylRecords · · Score: 5, Informative

      The plan allegedly was to sell them to developing nations and dupe their governments. The mafia would create a circus theater filled with distractions to make them look like a legitimate outfit. Office space, limousines, fancy suits, lots of showmanship. They'd use foreign diplomats and politicians on their payroll to get presidents or warlords of a foreign country into a face to face meeting.

      They get a leader of some inexperienced government, possibly even a wealthy warlord, of a developing nation, and try to get them to transfer $1 billion worth of wealth in exchange for a $1 billion U.S. treasury bond. It is actually very creative. Had they not been caught they might have been able to pull this off. Though I don't see how any bank would have not raised a million red flags for this transaction and the reports are that the criminals wanted to move the money through Swiss banks.

      This isn't the first treasury bond scam nor will it be the last. Organized crime loves this scam. Every year a few individuals are arrested with fake bonds on them that are valued at billions of dollars. The Italian police found a bunch of fake $1 billion bonds during a routine car stop a few years ago.

    6. Re:Please clue me in. by martin-boundary · · Score: 1

      However, just 10 years earlier in 1924 the Germans, who live next door to Switzerland, experienced hyperinflation. This got so bad that they had to change currencies and literally remove 12 zeros from the old one. Maybe the counterfeiter got his 2's and 3's mixed up?

    7. Re:Please clue me in. by phantomfive · · Score: 5, Informative
      Here is a story with a picture of the bonds. Kind of cool to look at, even if not real. You are right though, here is a quote from the story:

      Creating fake Treasuries is a “common scam, especially in Italy,” he said. The tipoff was the “astronomical” face value of each bond, he said. Fake bonds in high denominations are more common in Europe, where people are less familiar with the face value of U.S. Treasury bonds than in the U.S., he said.

      --
      "First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
    8. Re:Please clue me in. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Looking at the bond at your given link, it looks like they added 4 zeroes to the $100,000 note (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Large_denominations_of_United_States_currency#.24100.2C000_bill).

      So be on the lookout for $10,000 Washington notes.

    9. Re:Please clue me in. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Banks are greedy motherfuckers, too. I worked for one (big one) doing due diligence. I personally delivered files on unsavory corporate raiders who gutted many companies and left behind ecological disasters that had to be then cleaned up by the EPA on taxpayer dime. But since none of them were ever convicted of anything, the bank smiled politely and opened their accounts.

    10. Re:Please clue me in. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      And they would've gotten away with it too, if it hadn't been for you meddling kids!

    11. Re:Please clue me in. by repapetilto · · Score: 2

      What is stopping them from being held responsible?

    12. Re:Please clue me in. by pz · · Score: 1

      and try to get them to transfer $1 billion worth of wealth in exchange for a $1 billion U.S. treasury bond

      My guess is that they'd try to get them to transfer some lesser amount to make the deal more attractive, say $500 million worth of assets. What despot isn't desparate for more cash?

      --

      Put my fist through my alarm clock with its ding-dong death inside my ear. - The Blackjacks.
    13. Re:Please clue me in. by the_other_chewey · · Score: 2

      And a hyperinflation in Germany would affect the face value of US Treasury bonds exactly how?

    14. Re:Please clue me in. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      very insightful, and I was with you until:
      "off. Though I don't see how any bank would have not raised a million red flags for this transaction "

      hahahahahaha. Everything you said about suits and diplomats -- this is what makes banks know that everything is above the table, ethics and technical legalities aside ;-)

    15. Re:Please clue me in. by WrongSizeGlass · · Score: 1, Troll

      Maybe they were thinking of the old Italian Lira. At the time of the Euro changeover a 500,000 lire note was worth € 258.23.

    16. Re:Please clue me in. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Most of what they do is legal and the rest is practically impossible to prove.

    17. Re:Please clue me in. by cvtan · · Score: 1

      If you're going to make a fake bond, why not make 1 bond worth $6 trillion? It would be so much easier to carry.

      --
      Sorry, but gray text on gray background is making my eyes bleed.
    18. Re:Please clue me in. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Informative

      However, just 10 years earlier in 1924 the Germans, who live next door to Switzerland, experienced hyperinflation. This got so bad that they had to change currencies and literally remove 12 zeros from the old one. Maybe the counterfeiter got his 2's and 3's mixed up?

      The German reichsmark was issued in both metal coins and as paper. Already during WWI the real world value of these different forms of payment began to diverge. The German hyperinflation only affected ther paper money (papiermark) - bonds sold abroad were denominated in goldmark and as such stable.

      the hyperinflation ended with introduction of the rentenmark - which by a fairly complex scheme was looking as much like a gold currency as a currency can do without being backed by gold (rentenmark could be exchanged for bonds that paid the papiermark value of one goldmark at maturity) and was trading 1:1 with goldmark. As prices stabilized the rentenmark was converted 1:1 into the new reichsmark.

      The goldmark was never affected by all these shenanigans and during the peroid of hyperinflation big business transactions were often conducted in goldmark (or foreign currencies).

    19. Re:Please clue me in. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      >What is stopping them from being held responsible?
      They are the US government. They don't need to honor their debt bonds. What are you gonna do about them?

    20. Re:Please clue me in. by TapeCutter · · Score: 1

      You know. I'd pay real money to have one of them framed on the wall or printed on a T shirt.

      --
      And did you exchange a walk on part in the war for a lead role in a cage? - Pink Floyd.
    21. Re:Please clue me in. by Pinky's+Brain · · Score: 1

      The fact that corporate fraud divisions are structurally understaffed? At least that's true where I'm from.

    22. Re:Please clue me in. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Damn! That was President "Hope and Change" Obama's secret retirement fund. Welcome to the Jungle! www.youtube.com/watch?v=o1tj2zJ2Wvg

    23. Re:Please clue me in. by azalin · · Score: 1

      And a hyperinflation in Germany would affect the face value of US Treasury bonds exactly how?

      Well it paved the ground for this guy who stole Charlie Chaplins beard and his pals. They later engaged in a little tour across europe that indeed did affect the US economy. But beyond that, probably not much.

    24. Re:Please clue me in. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Extensive lobbying.

      People think banks are over-regulated, that that caused the subprime mortgage crisis.

      It was exactly the opposite. They had free reign to do what they wanted, and what they wanted to do was make money.

      I think Obama should order the DOJ to get some more perjury convictions, or even suggest that the state Attorneys General do it, then negotiate a settlement.

    25. Re:Please clue me in. by TheRaven64 · · Score: 1

      It's a fine line to pick the exact ratio that's believable. If you're offering 10% above market rate, then people will likely just believe that they got a good deal. If you're offering 100% above the market rate, then they'll think that there's something a bit fishy going on. You need to offer a good enough deal that they thing they're getting the better of you, but not such a good one that they become suspicious. This is where most 419 scammers fail: people are far more likely to believe that they can get $100 due to a bank error than $1,000,000.

      --
      I am TheRaven on Soylent News
    26. Re:Please clue me in. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      And it says the picture is dated February 17, 2012. The future is here.

    27. Re:Please clue me in. by microbox · · Score: 2

      Regulatory capture.

      --

      Like all pain, suffering is a signal that something isn't right
    28. Re:Please clue me in. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      >Fake bonds in high denominations are more common in Europe, where people are less familiar with the face value of U.S. Treasury bonds than in the U.S., he said.

      I suppose this is because americans know them to be worthless.

    29. Re:Please clue me in. by flyingsquid · · Score: 1

      The plan allegedly was to sell them to developing nations and dupe their governments. The mafia would create a circus theater filled with distractions to make them look like a legitimate outfit. Office space, limousines, fancy suits, lots of showmanship. They'd use foreign diplomats and politicians on their payroll to get presidents or warlords of a foreign country into a face to face meeting.

      They get a leader of some inexperienced government, possibly even a wealthy warlord, of a developing nation, and try to get them to transfer $1 billion worth of wealth in exchange for a $1 billion U.S. treasury bond.

      Well, it was a pretty ingenious scheme, but it looks like Obama is going to have to find another way to pay off the U.S. debt...

    30. Re:Please clue me in. by Abreu · · Score: 1

      You mean moustache, not beard.

      --
      No sig for the moment.
    31. Re:Please clue me in. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Thousand dollar bills are still legal tender, my brother haas one.

    32. Re:Please clue me in. by jep305 · · Score: 1

      Actually, according to TFA, the US Treasury has never issued a bearer bond above $10,000 value.

      --
      In Reason We Trust
    33. Re:Please clue me in. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      They may have pulled it off, who knows. I doubt anyone would want to admit it.

  2. I know why the government is mad by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Troll

    They get pissed off easily when they have competition printing out worthless currency. RON PAUL 2012

  3. Wow by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    The sheer scale of this counterfeiting, $6 trillion dollars worth, and the truly baffling thing is how little coverage its receiving in the mainstream media.

    1. Re:Wow by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Why would it? If you photo copy some bonds, why is that news? Here, I can print up some while type this comment... where is my 15 minutes?

      Bonds are registered. It is nice having a piece of paper, but the paper is not important. Only bearer bonds are unregistered, and the US gov't hasn't use them for years. There are some old bearer bonds that were never redeemed, but the the total amount is less than $100M.

    2. Re:Wow by Cimexus · · Score: 1

      Yeah. $6 ~trillion~? Lol ... how did that NOT raise eyebrows earlier than this?

    3. Re:Wow by Sir_Sri · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Huh? This story seems to have hit the press the moment it was discovered, and they all sort of ignored the absurdity of it. It's the guy with a printer argument, only expensive printer and organized mafia, but it was absurd. 10 seconds of internet searches reveals US gpd in 1934 as under 100 billion dollars, so a 1 billion dollar bond is just nonsense. That they printed 6000 of them, which is maybe a few thousand dollars in forgery is hardly that significant.

      It doesn't seem like anyone important who saw them took them as actually legitimate. They found them and reported them as a result of some bad cheques (that were to the tune of 200k), and that was the end of it.

    4. Re:Wow by einhverfr · · Score: 1

      Presumably the bonds would be sold to third parties....

      Then eventually banks would own them but when it would be time to collect.... oops, not valid.....

      --

      LedgerSMB: Open source Accounting/ERP
    5. Re:Wow by mikelieman · · Score: 1

      cue "Sad Trombone"!

      --
      Technology -- No Place For Wimps! Grateful Dead and Jerry Garcia Chatroom -- http://www.wemissjerry.org
  4. Photos cast doubt on whether or not they are fake by Openstandards.net · · Score: 2, Interesting
  5. Nobody ever said crooks were that smart by Sycraft-fu · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Crooks come up with stupid plans all the time, and often let their own greed blind their judgement. Hell look at some of the people who scam the 419 scammers. The 419 scammers are counting on people's greed to overwhelm their good sense, and then fall victim to the same thing.

    Indeed such a thing would almost certainly raise eyebrows but the crooks likely didn't think it through.

    1. Re:Nobody ever said crooks were that smart by goose-incarnated · · Score: 3, Funny

      None of that makes any sense, so perhaps a new MI movie instead.

      --
      I'm a minority race. Save your vitriol for white people.
  6. Duh! by Guppy06 · · Score: 4, Funny

    Everyone knows the real ones are in China!

    1. Re:Duh! by metlin · · Score: 2

      ...and Japan.

    2. Re:Duh! by jd2112 · · Score: 1

      Japan is in worse financial condition than the US. They probably sold off any they had to China or some other country years ago.

      --
      Any insufficiently advanced magic is indistinguishable from technology.
    3. Re:Duh! by nedlohs · · Score: 3, Informative

      No they didn't, in fact they increased their holdings significnantly (by almost 20%) in 2011 - almost taking back the top holder spot from China (China held 5% more) at the end of the year.

      But don't let facts get in the way of your fantasies about the financial condition of Japan. Of course better to pick facts that aren't quite so published.

    4. Re:Duh! by metlin · · Score: 5, Informative

      Slashdot, where people's knowledge of technology is only surpassed by their knowledge and understanding of of economics.

      But here you go: major foreign holders of treasury securities. Holdings at the end of Dec 2011:

      China: 1100.7B USD
      Japan: 1042.4B USD

      And oh, here's the data on the Japanese GDP since 1960.

      FYI, it's grown from 4.6674T USD in 2000 to to 5.4588T USD in 2011. Sure, it fell for a while from the high of 5.2644T USD in 1995, but to state that their economy is not performing well only shows your stupidity.

    5. Re:Duh! by repapetilto · · Score: 1

      What is your definition of "economy performing well"?

    6. Re:Duh! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      In fact, Japan, Like China, had to do that. Both nations are manipulating their currancy against the dollar. As such, if they hold on to bills, they will suffer MASSIVE inflation. The only way out, is to either buy our goods (which both nations fight), OR invest it.

    7. Re:Duh! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      GDP?

      Heck as someone who lives in Osaka, I can tell you, 2011 was a great year.

    8. Re:Duh! by microbox · · Score: 2

      Japan is in worse financial condition...

      You should read about the myth of Japan's failure.

      --

      Like all pain, suffering is a signal that something isn't right
    9. Re:Duh! by jd2112 · · Score: 1

      Japan's debt as compared to GDP is significantly higher than the US.

      --
      Any insufficiently advanced magic is indistinguishable from technology.
    10. Re:Duh! by HornWumpus · · Score: 1

      Japanese hold most of their own nations debt as well as much foreign debt. They have insane savings rates, or perhaps Americans do.

      --
      John McAfee 'It was like that time I hired that Bangkok prostitute; to do my taxes, while I fucked my accountant'
    11. Re:Duh! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Japan's debt as compared to GDP is significantly higher than the US.

      Just talk and talk and talk. Never listen. Never learn something. After-all, the truth is black and white, and you have the truth. So why bother learning anything.

    12. Re:Duh! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      And you should read this:

      http://spikejapan.wordpress.com/2012/01/15/spiked-eamonn-fingleton/

      The single biggest tip off is the use of Shadowstats. If you take Shadowstats statistics to their rational conclusion, US Treasuries have a _negative_ interest rate. Which is to say that buyers of US Treasuries are paying money to lend money to the US Government.

      http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Shadow_Government_Statistics

    13. Re:Duh! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It is, but it is held primarily by the Japanese people. I believe foreign ownership of Japanese debt is only 8.3%. Additionally Japanese people have savings. I don't have time to look up the details, but Wikipedia seems to say that the average household savings in Japan was $76K USD. I think it might be slightly less now, but I think it's similar. This is cash savings, independent of property.

      The situation is very different in the US where 43% of the debt is foreign owned. Additionally, the average US household does not seem to have savings. I had difficulty looking up stats for this in the time I have, but it appears that average American family has more debt than assets. What assets they do have is primarily property.

      This is one of the reasons the yen is so strong right now. In my mind, the west is still in for a rough ride. I thought property prices were in a bubble when I left Canada 5 years ago, but I was absolutely shocked when I saw the prices of houses when I went to Vancouver island for Christmas. At least in that market, there is a lot of downside potential. Housing prices here in Japan are quite reasonable in comparison. My main concern for Japan is that manufacturing is still a very large part of the economy and energy prices (especially with the nuclear energy controversy going on) are really unstable.

    14. Re:Duh! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If you take Shadowstats statistics to their rational conclusion, US Treasuries have a _negative_ interest rate.

      It wasn't that long ago that people were paying more than face value for US Treasury bonds. That's an honest to God negative interest rate with no adjusting for inflation or anything else you can call hand waving. People were paying to lend money. There are reasons for this. The fact that you think it implies untruth is a big tip off.

  7. Never intented to be used directly. by Kaenneth · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I would guess the planned scam (Including the Nigerian connection) would be sending spam e-mails, etc. saying "as a nigerian prince, I inherited this billion dollar certificate. I just need a loan of $10,000 to pay for security, transport, etc. to have it redeemed, then you'll get $100,000 back..."

    The certificates themselves would never be 'redeemed' just used to bait greedy people into getting scammed.

    1. Re:Never intented to be used directly. by Openstandards.net · · Score: 2

      I'm pretty sure the letter to Nigerians, written from someone trying get their money back, promised trillions of dollars in bonds to be paid as soon as a small deposit of plutonium was deposited to help pay a lawyer who could sign over the bonds.

    2. Re:Never intented to be used directly. by crutchy · · Score: 1

      why would you need real fake bonds for a nigerian scam? even a pic of such "bonds" could be doctored from pics off the net.

  8. Movie Plot? by guttentag · · Score: 2

    The probe focusing upon money laundering has also include financial dealings alleged to direct money to Nigerian sources to buy plutonium. Sound like a movie plot, yet? $6 Trillion, that's a lot of lettuce."

    OK, it's the Libyans who want plutonium and used pinball machine parts, and you only need a couple heads of lettuce to generate 1.21 gigawatts of electricity with Mr. Fusion, not 6 exa-heads of lettuce. Get your Back To The Future quotes straight!

    1. Re:Movie Plot? by Bill+Currie · · Score: 3, Informative

      Discharge a AA nicad batery (~1200mAh) in 4.3 miscroseconds, and you have 1.2GW, so a few lettuce leaves poses no problem. Now, getting a GJ would take a few head of letuce.

      --

      Bill - aka taniwha
      --
      Leave others their otherness. -- Aratak

    2. Re:Movie Plot? by tibit · · Score: 2

      Wait a minizel, informafuckingwhat?

      That AA battery is a strawman like nobody's business. What you're claiming is that if you take about 5000J of energy and transfer it in 4.3us, you need the average power level of 1.2GW. That's very clever of you, but this is kinda middle school physics and I'm not impressed unless you're in middle school. But since you tossed in a physical object, rather than just numbers in some pupil's workbook, let's be real, mmmkay?

      The middle school pupil would, obviously enough, claim if you discharge it all in 4ns, you'd get 1TW, right? That's even better than some feeble gigawatts, I tell ya!!

      Let's forget about the self-resistance and thermal capacity of a real AA nicad, or even about whatever circuit you use to do the discharge. Let's just focus on the fact that the damn thing has rolled electrodes and will have some real-life inductance.

      Pray tell, what inductance would we need to discharge such a battery so quickly? That's easy back-of-the-envelope stuff. Rounding everything one or two significant figures, you get 4000J when you discharge for 4us, at 1V, at an average current of 1GA. If you assume a triangular current shape, then you need to have dI/dt of 2GA/2us = 1E15 A/s. Letting us have a maximum of 10% of voltage drop on self-inductance, your maximum allowed inductance is 0.1V/(1e15A/s) = 1E-16 Henries, or 1E-7 nanoHenries.

      Now let's just remember that 1 inch of "generic" PCB trace has on the order of 10nH. Your battery would need to be on the order of 0.1um in size to have that small of self-inductance, and that's assuming it was a solid piece of metal.

      0.1um is the size of the smallest of bacteria.

      Never mind that you'd be looking at mutual forces between the outermost electrode layer and the ones underlying it on the order of 1E6N per mm of length of the electrode, I took a guesstimate reduction due to the fact that there are multiple layers wound together, so this is probably quote conservative.

      Yes, I'm pissed that someone would be called informative for being 6+ orders of magnitude off base (in terms of physically possible discharge times).

      --
      A successful API design takes a mixture of software design and pedagogy.
    3. Re:Movie Plot? by TrekkieGod · · Score: 2

      Let's forget about the self-resistance and thermal capacity of a real AA nicad, or even about whatever circuit you use to do the discharge. Let's just focus on the fact that the damn thing has rolled electrodes and will have some real-life inductance.

      Way to miss the point, dude. The GP was pointing out that Back to the Future's concept that it takes 1.21 GW to perform a time-travel trip is flawed in that it's a unit of power not energy. For how long does the flux capacitor need to draw 1.21 GW is important information. If it doesn't really need that much energy, then a few heads of lettuce would be plenty, as long as you have some system to store the energy you produce from that lettuce and then release it extremely quickly. Which, if you accept that the movie universe has the technology for portable fusion reactors that can perform useful fusion on organic material and aluminum cans, the quick discharge of energy is the least of the physics problems those engineers had to overcome.

      --

      Warning: Opinions known to be heavily biased.

    4. Re:Movie Plot? by tibit · · Score: 0

      You're right but you miss my point entirely. Geez, I know where 1.21JW came from, but that makes the GP funny not informative!. For it to be informative it'd hopefully have some basis in fact (even if the fact is to mention the plot in a movie, but that wasn't the point here). I'm worried someone would read that comment and think that you can actually discharge an AA-sized anything in a couple microseconds. It's impossible to do, even if you wanted to be destructive. At the involved geometries, inductance is too high, you don't even need to consider anything else.

      --
      A successful API design takes a mixture of software design and pedagogy.
  9. Re:Photos cast doubt on whether or not they are fa by NotQuiteReal · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Why do the photos have a 50 star flag over the "series 1934" label? The box itself isn't even correct... unless there is some good reason it doesn't have the period correct 48 star flag.

    --
    This issue is a bit more complicated than you think.
  10. Wow, Zero Hedge is going full on truther there by Sycraft-fu · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Seriously, that is the dumbest conspiracy theory I've seen. The fact aside all the truther bullshit of "9/11 was an inside job" there's no way the bonds were real on account of the amount. In 1940 the US debt was only about $43 billion dollars (the GDP was only $97 billion). So there weren't $6 trillion of bonds floating around. The debt didn't hit the $6 trillion mark until late 2002 (the GDP was about $10 trillion). However, dates of the bonds aside, the treasury doesn't issue physical notes anymore. They are all just electronic entries in a database. Far more convenient, secure, and trackable.

    Might want to lay off the conspiracy sites. Here's a hint: If someone starts going on about 9/11 being an inside job, they are a conspiracy nut.

    1. Re:Wow, Zero Hedge is going full on truther there by KingAlanI · · Score: 1

      yeah, and conspiracy theorists think you're the crazy one when you don't buy into their wild ideas. It can *drive* you crazy.
      though ZeroHedge is nothing compared to some of the stuff I've read.

      --
      I listen to both RIAA and non-RIAA stuff if I like the music, tangential business/politics nonwithstanding.
    2. Re:Wow, Zero Hedge is going full on truther there by Openstandards.net · · Score: 1
      The conspiracy theory is not what is interesting. It is the photos of these boxes and their contents that have been on the Internet for years now. The question Zero Hedge raises is why would they go through the trouble of creating counterfeit boxes? You can't cash the boxes, only the bonds.

      .
      It would be interesting to have independent scientific authentication on the boxes and their contents. Then, if they happen to originate in 1934, try to discover the story around them. Otherwise, if science proves they were created recently, we can quickly dismiss them as fraud. Right now, we have no idea how they determined they are fraudulent. There is also no evidence they were being used in a transaction, only conspiracy theory purported by the Italian authorities who admitted they found them in storage.

    3. Re:Wow, Zero Hedge is going full on truther there by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The question Zero Hedge raises is why would they go through the trouble of creating counterfeit boxes?

      Maybe because you're trying to convince some idiot that the bonds are genuine? Perhaps they'd fall for the old "if they're in genuine packaging, they must be real" gambit.

      Kinda like zerohedge did.

    4. Re:Wow, Zero Hedge is going full on truther there by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      In a system like ours, EVERYTHING is a conspiracy, the only possible question is: Which one is winning?

    5. Re:Wow, Zero Hedge is going full on truther there by quantaman · · Score: 1

      There's also the part where WWI was planned by freemasonry...

      Though I do feel reassured that my BS detector was going off even before I noticed all the other conspiracy theories showing up, I guess everything is still in working order.

      --
      I stole this Sig
    6. Re:Wow, Zero Hedge is going full on truther there by Openstandards.net · · Score: 3, Interesting

      That's what I thought. But, the more I dig on the boxes, the more historical they appear to be. Here is an interesting thread discussing them: http://www.thunting.com/smf/index.php?action=printpage;topic=2598.0

    7. Re:Wow, Zero Hedge is going full on truther there by Sycraft-fu · · Score: 1

      Ya zerohedge has always got my antennae twitching but I've never read much of it, despite people's love for linking it here and not been enough of an expert to really judge what he's saying.

      However this here shows that as is so often the case it is just another random Internet conspiracy nut that people have latched on to.

    8. Re:Wow, Zero Hedge is going full on truther there by Phat_Tony · · Score: 1

      Mod parent up.

      No 9/11 truther conspiracies there, but an interesting history predating this incident of other boxes out there exactly like this.

      --
      Can anyone tell me how to set my sig on Slashdot?
    9. Re:Wow, Zero Hedge is going full on truther there by X.25 · · Score: 1

      Might want to lay off the conspiracy sites. Here's a hint: If someone starts going on about 9/11 being an inside job, they are a conspiracy nut.

      What I am actually enjoying is seeing so many 'conspiracy theories' from past 20 years turning out not to be conspiracy theories at all.

      But blind mediocre nuts will just keep calling anything they don't like a "conspiracy theory".

    10. Re:Wow, Zero Hedge is going full on truther there by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Hilarious: I love the part about "intentional errors" for future deniability. They even predicted the 50 state flag in 1934 and put that on as an intentional error. And the elaborate justification for the use of Arial font is great. Yes, there were sans-serif fonts in use at the time, but there's a reason they look so out of place here.

      It's so amazing when the kooks take ownership of the con.

    11. Re:Wow, Zero Hedge is going full on truther there by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Perhaps you could explain why there are so many fucking stripes on a flag that should have 13 stripes.

    12. Re:Wow, Zero Hedge is going full on truther there by Openstandards.net · · Score: 2
      Not sure which image you are looking at, but the photo I see has 13 stripes: http://www.zerohedge.com/sites/default/files/images/user5/imageroot/2012/01/Chicago_Bonds_4_0.jpg

      Don't forget, these are raised stripes, not alternating colors. And the flag is in a box, so don't count the upper and lower thin lines.

      That said, the bigger issue is the stripes are staggered, which is very uncommon for the 48 state period. That alone convinces me that the box in this photo is probably counterfeit.

      I just find it interesting that there is a history of these boxes, particularly in the Philippines, dating back to at least the 1990s. In online discussions, there is a consensus that there are a lot of "fakes" out there. But, it is not clear whether or not these were copies of real originals, or just an incredibly elaborate fraud of unprecedented scale. Either way, I'd love to know the truth behind the origin of the boxes.

    13. Re:Wow, Zero Hedge is going full on truther there by Openstandards.net · · Score: 1

      correction: the bigger issue is the STARS are staggered

    14. Re:Wow, Zero Hedge is going full on truther there by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Name one.

    15. Re:Wow, Zero Hedge is going full on truther there by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      There is of course, the whole lawsuit as well (Case 2011-cv-8500, filed in NYC). Normally forgers do not launch a lawsuit to try and get their "forgeries" back.

      http://www.divinecosmos.com/start-here/davids-blog/995-lawsuit-end-tyranny

      I mean, common, 33rd level Templar knights! I thought the slashheads would be all over this one!

    16. Re:Wow, Zero Hedge is going full on truther there by TapeCutter · · Score: 1

      But blind mediocre nuts will just keep calling anything they don't like a "conspiracy theory".

      I don't like watermelons but it's not because of the conspiracy theories they promolgate.

      --
      And did you exchange a walk on part in the war for a lead role in a cage? - Pink Floyd.
    17. Re:Wow, Zero Hedge is going full on truther there by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Think.
      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Atbrn4k55lA

    18. Re:Wow, Zero Hedge is going full on truther there by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Think. Stop being a closed minded know-it-all.

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Atbrn4k55lA

  11. DEAR KIND SIR by Shoten · · Score: 3, Funny

    (Okay, I originally typed this in all caps...because it's funnier that way...but Slashdot's code doesn't permit it.)

    I am the widow of A.Q. Khan from Pakistan. I am contacting you in good faith because I know you are a good person and will help me. I need your help in moving $6 trillion worth of plutonium out of the country. In exchange, you will receive a ten percent commission...

    --

    For your security, this post has been encrypted with ROT-13, twice.
    1. Re:DEAR KIND SIR by AliasMarlowe · · Score: 1

      I am the widow of A.Q. Khan from Pakistan. I am contacting you in good faith because I know you are a good person and will help me. I need your help in moving $6 trillion worth of plutonium out of the country. In exchange, you will receive a ten percent commission...

      Shouldn't that be "In exchange, you will receive some polonium."?

      --
      Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. - Voltaire
    2. Re:DEAR KIND SIR by crutchy · · Score: 1

      or pultominam

  12. Are Dr.Evil or something involved with this? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I mean, what they would do? Crash the economy with the bonds and then use a drill on a vulcan or something to Threat the world?

  13. How Now Brown Cow? by Tablizer · · Score: 1

    Don't they have serial numbers and a look-up verification system or something? How can that much fake mulah not stand out like a sore thumb sooner?

  14. Pretend they are real by tlambert · · Score: 4, Funny

    Pretend they are real and pay down the US debt?

    -- Terry

    1. Re:Pretend they are real by ColdWetDog · · Score: 2

      Pretend they are real and pay down the US debt?

      -- Terry

      Works for the US Government.

      --
      Faster! Faster! Faster would be better!
    2. Re:Pretend they are real by gewalker · · Score: 1

      What would you do if you won a million dollars? Apply it to my debts as far as it would go.

      Sadly, an extra 6 trillion dollars would only reduce the national debt by about 4 years.

    3. Re:Pretend they are real by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      1. Hand them to Goldman Sachs
      2. Lend 30x the face value from the Federal Reserve to GS based on them
      3. Federal Reserve keeps quiet about the money, can't warn people into the true amount of money till GS has spent it
      4. GS buys assets that earn real money with this borrowed money.
      5. GS borrows money against these new real assets and pays back money borrowed against fake asset. (i.e. a zero sum).
      6. Federal Reserve announces all the money it created with these fake assets has been paid back, so it made a good decision!

      Nah, that's movie plot dumb, nobody in their right mind would do such a thing. It would be like handing all the wealth in the world to Goldman Sachs. Not plausible.

    4. Re:Pretend they are real by Sir_Sri · · Score: 5, Informative

      The US federal debt is only 15 trillion dollars. 6 trillion would make a big difference. Of course these are government bonds, so the US government would be obliged to pay them back, er.. something, there's no one to pay if the government has them, but that's beside the point.

      With 6 trillion dollars or even half of that, you could get rid of basically all foreign debt the US has. Then your debt would be borrowed entirely from yourselves (which is mostly is now, but not completely). The reason Japan hasn't imploded, despite having 200+% of GDP in debt (compared to the US ~100%), and they've been like that for a decade, is they owe that money to themselves.

      Government debt is odd. Especially because it's in a currency you control. Mild inflation, with economic growth and a close to balanced budget deficit makes even big debts like the US has go away very quickly. That won't work for japan because their population is shrinking, and aging, but it will for the US because the population is at least flat, if not growing. But 6 trillion dollars could do a lot of interesting things for the US. Including just cover the deficit for the next 8 or 9 years. (900 billion this year, and progressively less after that, theoretically).

    5. Re:Pretend they are real by artor3 · · Score: 1

      Bonds are basically IOUs from the government. So you're suggesting that we pay our debts with IOUs.

      Trust me, Washington is waaay ahead of you.

    6. Re:Pretend they are real by ikkonoishi · · Score: 1

      If we pretend they are real then they would be PART of the US debt. The US debt IS treasury bonds.

    7. Re:Pretend they are real by janimal · · Score: 1

      Good point. In order for US to redeem these bonds, they would have to use them to pay back some sucker holding the real bonds and convince him/her that he/she doesn't need to redeem the new bona fide 1934 $1B ones, since they're now collector's items and will be worth far more in 30 years.

    8. Re:Pretend they are real by repapetilto · · Score: 1

      Agreed completely, it is odd. Now that we recognize this oddness, how could you and I benefit?

    9. Re:Pretend they are real by matunos · · Score: 1

      Pay down the US debt with US debt? That sounds as useful as putting a portable hole inside a bag of holding.

    10. Re:Pretend they are real by Troyusrex · · Score: 2

      The US federal debt is only 15 trillion dollars. 6 trillion would make a big difference.

      Yes, our government would use such a windfall wisely and never just take the money and splurge on $500 hammers, payouts to contributors and pet projects. /sarc

    11. Re:Pretend they are real by misexistentialist · · Score: 2

      The government has already issued $2-5 trillion (who's counting) with less than interesting results

    12. Re:Pretend they are real by aevan · · Score: 1

      But you see...the US owes 15 trillion, and the bonds are for 6 trillion...

      ...so I give the US the 6 trillion bond, forgive them the 6 trillion, they apply it to the 15 trillion and voila~ six and six is twelve against fifteen...

      ...now the US only owes 3 trillion!

    13. Re:Pretend they are real by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      A wonderful plan with no possible downside!

    14. Re:Pretend they are real by Kohath · · Score: 1

      Just wait a few years. There will be no need to pretend The value of the fake bonds and the real ones will be about equal.

    15. Re:Pretend they are real by urusan · · Score: 1

      Government debt is odd. Especially because it's in a currency you control. Mild inflation, with economic growth and a close to balanced budget deficit makes even big debts like the US has go away very quickly.

      While this would probably be a good recipe for solving the debt problem, it seems like the inflation part would be pretty regressive.

      One can think of (deliberate) mild inflation as a tax, with the money coming from the reduced value of the currency in everyone's pockets/bank accounts and going into whatever is causing the inflation (such as money printed by the treasury). At first glance this might seem to be similar to a flat tax, with everyone paying a percentage of their current money equal to the inflation rate. In fact, it initially looks a little progressive since wealthy people have more money laying around to depreciate in value while poorer people spend it all right away. However, peoples' reactions make all the difference.

      People who work rely on their wages and wages are sticky. Depending on the job, a person's real income might even decay exponentially (especially if they are being paid minimum wage to do a job worth less than minimum wage). This is the worst case, as the worker is paying an increasingly large "inflation tax" until their wages are finally increased by their employer. Even jobs with regular wage increases to counteract inflation will see decay between the increases, leading to a loss of income approximately equal to the inflation rate over each wage increase period. Only a person who gets a wage increase with each paycheck and spends it all immediately would be immune. This also assumes that there are no wage freezes, which have become very common lately. The only good news is that most of an ordinary middle class person's income is tied up in physical things with real value (house, car, etc.) and these things would appreciate in value along with interest (though of course they also lose value over time due to physical dedagration, but the point is that they are not affected by steady inflation).

      As for wealthier individuals, if they hoarded their money then they would be in a similar situation as the person who does not receive wage increases, paying more and more of the same dollar the longer they held onto it (though their situation would be better as they undergo constant increases in income). However, the reality is that no (permenantly) wealthy person would allow that to happen. Instead they put most of their money into physical things with lasting value and investments. Precious metals, property, rare/unique items, and many other expensive and hard to degrade things make good stores of wealth that are unaffected by inflation (though as a disadvantage are not very liquid). Stable or deflating currencies also make good stores of wealth. Productive property like factories, rental properties, and companies make things with value that usually more than pay for any physical dedagration they undergo. Owning an entire productive property is not needed, and in fact most such properties are split up into many smaller shares. The underlying physical stability of productive investments are reflected by the fact that they are valued in such a way to account for steady inflation...if there is a steady 5% inflation rate and real 6% return then the investor will get a nominal 11% return. All this leads to the very wealthy paying relatively little of the "inflation tax", though they likely pay the most in absolute terms simply because they have more money and can't keep it all tied up in these kinds of things all the time.

      It would be more equitable to minimize inflation (perhaps keeping it around 1% to encourage private investment) and instead impose a flat tax to pay for the debt. Of course, since this is more visible it would be very unpopular, so we'll likely end up using inflation as a hidden tax anyway...

    16. Re:Pretend they are real by Sir_Sri · · Score: 1

      Deliberate mild inflation is preferable to deflation, or to pegging a currency to an item which can have wild swings in value based on what other countries do to fuck with its value.

      And yes, when I said mild inflation the usually targets of 1-3% counts. The US economic growth just in general is 2-3% if you're not doing horribly, add to that 1-3% inflation and in not too many years debt becomes less of an issue.

      Inflation is actually good for a lot of people, so long as it is mild. Anyone with a mortgage at a fixed rate (and for a fixed value) benefits from inflation. Before I was born, when inflation spiked up into the 13, 14% range a lot of people my parents age got exceptionally lucky and bought houses etc. at 6% interest fixed rate. With 13% inflation the relative value of their debt was dropping by 7% a year. Now, banking on that to happen in general is dangerous, and 14% inflation just in general can be nasty.

      Not everyones wages decrease with inflation, not even necessarily minimum wage. That's why the minimum wage is revisited regularly. Where I lived it was just recently bumped up to around 10 dollars an hour for adults (Ontario Canada), which puts it back in step with inflation for the last however many years. Anywhere I've ever worked that wasn't on minimum wage you always negotiated your salary increases to be more than inflation or at least equal to it.

      The rich aren't hurt by inflation if they own stuff. Especially property. Because they can always just increase the rent. The poor *can* be hurt by inflation, but aren't necessarily.

      Precious metals make very bad stores of wealth. That's why we don't do it any more. Pegging your currency to a metal that might be mined somewhere else, or that might suddenly have an increase or decrease in demand screws you.

      A flat tax would outright screw the poor, and should be avoided. That's what we did in canada essentially by adding a 7% sales tax to all goods and services (the so called GST). Which helped pad government coffers, and simply served to reduce the standard of living of the poor and increase their debt loads. We suddenly started to look a lot more like the US, and a lot less like a civilized country, and then the price of oil shot up and the whole economy changed.

    17. Re:Pretend they are real by crutchy · · Score: 1

      6 trillion US dollars doesn't seem like much for some reason. pre-hyperinflationary hyperinflation maybe?

    18. Re:Pretend they are real by urusan · · Score: 1

      Inflation is actually good for a lot of people, so long as it is mild. Anyone with a mortgage at a fixed rate (and for a fixed value) benefits from inflation. Before I was born, when inflation spiked up into the 13, 14% range a lot of people my parents age got exceptionally lucky and bought houses etc. at 6% interest fixed rate. With 13% inflation the relative value of their debt was dropping by 7% a year. Now, banking on that to happen in general is dangerous, and 14% inflation just in general can be nasty.

      This is a terrible example because it has nothing to do with steady moderate interest. Those people benefitted from unexpectedly high inflation. If the people selling those houses anticipated a 14% inflation rate then they would have never offered a 6% fixed rate.

      The most important thing isn't whether the inflation rate is low or high in absolute terms, but instead that the inflation rate is stable (and therefore predictable). If we were faced with a constant 14% interest rate, then we'd adapt by having monthly wage and price increases of 14% and setting nominal interest at 14% or more. That's not to say that it would be good to have such a high rate, as some of the side effects would be costly (like constantly changing the prices in stores).

      Not everyones wages decrease with inflation, not even necessarily minimum wage. That's why the minimum wage is revisited regularly. Where I lived it was just recently bumped up to around 10 dollars an hour for adults (Ontario Canada), which puts it back in step with inflation for the last however many years. Anywhere I've ever worked that wasn't on minimum wage you always negotiated your salary increases to be more than inflation or at least equal to it.

      The problem is that between the minimum wage increases there is an exponential decay in the income of minimum wage earners caused by inflation. They are especially hard hit by inflation and there's not much they can do to stop it...unlike higher wage earners who can ensure they get regular salary increases in their contract and wealthy people who can keep most of their money in investments. Plus, regular salary increases are rarely on a paycheck by paycheck basis so income decays between increases even for higher wage earners. The point is that wages are "sticky" and this sluggish response leads to more negative effects on wage earners.

      Precious metals make very bad stores of wealth. That's why we don't do it any more. Pegging your currency to a metal that might be mined somewhere else, or that might suddenly have an increase or decrease in demand screws you.

      While it's true that precious metals are not perfect stores of wealth, you can hardly say that they are "very bad" when there are many worse things to store wealth in. They're certainly better than things that quickly decay in value, like food or consumer electronics. In many ways they are better than fait currency, which can be "mined" at will by the governing body that issues them...whereas precious metal deposits have to actually be found before they can be mined. Probably the only things that are better stores of value are real estate, certain high grade collectables, and a few productive properties...all of which have low liquidity (a Yuan Dynasty vase is worth $1.2 million, but good luck finding a buyer).

      That said, precious metals are currently in a speculative bubble. It would be foolish to buy them as stores of value right now, much like how it was foolish to buy real estate in the recent past. Additionally, in the case of gold, the US government has a ton of gold that it could release onto the market if it ever felt like it.

      By the way, I'm not saying anything about the gold standard. I'm talking about individuals privately storing their wealth in non-monetary sinks. Whether a national currency has any value or not is irrelevant when value is stored this way.

      A flat tax would outright screw the poor, an

  15. Re:It's as the bad proposal similar to evil poker. by Zibodiz · · Score: 1
    I want to reply to this, but the only thing that comes to mind is "....huh?"

    It's as the bad proposal similar to evil poker.

    That, my friend, is the quote of the day.

  16. Dear American by Black+Parrot · · Score: 1

    I am a Nigerian widow who just inherited $6,000,000,000,000.00 from my late husband, and I need help getting it out of my country.

    etc.

    --
    Sheesh, evil *and* a jerk. -- Jade
    1. Re:Dear American by crutchy · · Score: 1

      i just inherited 6,000,000,000 bytes of porn from my late torrent software, and i need help getting myself off.

  17. False flag? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Maybe the U.S. government printed those fake bonds to covertly rob its enemies!

    It would have worked, too, if it weren't for those meddling kids!
    (*cue laugh track and Scooby Doo music while cops haul disgruntled mastermind to justice*)

  18. it's only 6 bills Mr. Burns used have one now cuba by Joe_Dragon · · Score: 1

    it's only 6 bills Mr. Burns used have one now it's in cuba

  19. Re:Photos cast doubt on whether or not they are fa by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I applaud your visual acuity if you're able to count the number of stars in any of those grainy photos. But if you're guessing that there's 50 based on their placement, it's worth noting that staggered 48-star layouts--albethey rare--have been known to exist.

  20. How much would that be in by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    bitcoin?

  21. To exchange for Plutonium from Nigeria? by theNAM666 · · Score: 1

    If true, this is the more interesting fact in the news. Unless one assumes, of course, that it is an exchange of fake plutonium for fake bonds. Ah, Nigeria-- a banana peel Republic economy.

  22. Re:How much would that be in... hamburgers? by theNAM666 · · Score: 1

    I have here a $1 billion FRN I will be happy to exchange on Monday, for a bitcoin mine today.

  23. Re:It's as the bad proposal similar to evil poker. by flimflammer · · Score: 1

    My poor brain. What did I just read?

  24. What a great idea! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    If we can print twice that many we can pay off the national debt!

  25. Re:It's as the bad proposal similar to evil poker. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Quantitative Easing IV, merging Toxic Assets of Obama, etc. They didn't lose anything under the zero for longer time. Did you forget it?.

    With this new data, China should inspect real numbers of money accounting this alledged fake US bonds and the real that they should have in their accountings. To be known that the accounts should be balanced for their strict political economies's rules.

    In 1934, the nuclear bomb wasn't discovered yet in U.S. and not detonated firstly. Did U.S. buy this nigerian technology of plutoniums for detonating their 2 nuclear bombs over two Japan's cities with its exchange of U.S. $6 trillion in 1934? You could understand the why of this possible reality. It could possibly explain the relations between french researchers and the country Niger[ia] before of 1934, and later, americans were very interested in sucesses that happened on this african land.

    JCPM: there are who did want infinital printing of money for an infinity of richness but they did fail: the gold never is infinite, so that with their planned traps of "With infinital money that we did fabricate, we did buy ALL the gold of the world!!!". In 1934, was a political advantage "not Minting" the U.S. money?. And Fortune 50 Magazine should be fake, not?. Why to seize the surprised treasure?. Period.

  26. Re:Photos cast doubt on whether or not they are fa by Phat_Tony · · Score: 1

    I'm more interested in why it has 25 stripes.

    --
    Can anyone tell me how to set my sig on Slashdot?
  27. Probably to try and dupe people by Sycraft-fu · · Score: 1

    Remember that's what they are trying to do. However the boxes are fake. How can you tell? Easy: The flag. The stars are staggered, not ordered. From 1912 to 1959 the US flag had 48 stars, which were in 6 rows of 8 stars, all on a nice ordered grid. The staggered flag we see now didn't come until later. Our current 50 star flag was in 1960. There were earlier staggered flags, but not in the same 6-5 configuration.

    Then there's the fact that it has like 25 stripes. The flag has always had 13 stripes.

    This was a half-assed forgery done by someone who didn't do their homework. When the government stamps the flag on shit, they tend to get it right.

    We don't need to try and prove they are fake, there is no way they are real. There weren't bonds issued in that amount, or anywhere near it, in 1934, the boxes feature obvious errors, they are forgeries.

    1. Re:Probably to try and dupe people by durrr · · Score: 1

      Or some subgroup of the US government actually discreetly made those bonds, in a hush-hush but valid manner, traded them for a shitton of various valuables to some foreign instance. But their ridiculous face value and general invisibility means they can easily claim they are forgeries.

      But of course no government would ever do that now would they? Because being government they are per definition on moral highground and would never do something malicious or fraudulent to further the agenda of their own person or special little circle of friends. Sortof how nazi germany totally didn't end up cooking a few million jews due to some whim of their leadership.
      Oh wait...

    2. Re:Probably to try and dupe people by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That's exactly what they want you to think, but if you open your eyes you will see that it is clearly a subgroup of Iranian intelligence trying to make it look like a subgroup of the US government discreetly made those bonds. The clearly ridiculous face value means the US could easily claim them as forgeries, but Iran knew that intelligent people like yourself would see that and suspect the US of actually having issued them, so Iran made the bonds and setup the plot with the mafia (who are just stooges in this).

      But wait, that is just what THEY want you to think. It goes much deeper, since really this whole thing was setup by a subgroup of the LGBT community in order to frame Iran for trying to frame the US for lying about allegedly fraudulent bonds. You see, the LGBT community is no friends with the type of morality espoused by the Iranian leadership, so what better way to cast aspersions on them then with a multi-trillion dollar bond frame up? They knew that clever people like you and me won't fall for the obvious straightforward and "facutally correct" story, and that we would immediately suspect the US of lying about the bonds being fraudulent, and then figure out that Iran must be framing them (I mean, it is obvious after all). Unfortunately they did not count on us figuring out that they set the whole thing up to begin with. We are just far too clever, and our critical thinking skills are just second to none.

  28. Not really an interesting story by Sycraft-fu · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Because the scale means it was pretty much automatically ineffective. Also the instruments they counterfeited were never real. There are no billion dollar bonds floating around from 1934, and certainly not $6 trillion worth.

    Effective counterfeiting requires that you are cloning an instrument that actually exists and people would accept, and that you pass it off in amounts that doesn't raise suspicion.

    It's amusing, but it isn't as though these were some supergenius criminal masterminds who came close to making $6 trillion. They are some idiot criminals who had a scam pretty much doomed to fail.

    1. Re:Not really an interesting story by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      >Effective counterfeiting requires that you are cloning an instrument that actually exists and people would accept,

      Or, that you are the actual issuer of the instrument.

      Because, somehow, US government seems to be able
      to pass around these ridiculous bonds quite well.

      So, if you believe in stupid crooks, you don't need to think anymore.

      But if you believe in greedy bastards at federal banks, then you might think again, whether double issuing bonds might double your pot of gold?

      Never ascribe to malice that which can be explained by stupidity, except when there's gold involved.

  29. Austin Powers by JimboFBX · · Score: 1

    Didn't Dr. Evil demand that kind of money back in 1960 and it didn't exist yet?

  30. part of this? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    http://divinecosmos.com/start-here/davids-blog/1026-financial-tyranny-final

  31. Re:Photos cast doubt on whether or not they are fa by artor3 · · Score: 4, Informative

    It's even weirder than that... Here's the highest res shot of the front of the thing that I could find - link. (Caution -- source website contains industrial grade crazy. Just mousing over the link will get you on at least four watch lists.)

    Zoom in on the flag. It's grainy, but I'll be damned if there aren't eight rows, alternating between 6 and 7 stars each. That's 4 x 13 = 52 stars.

    Personally, I choose to believe that these are boxes sent back from the future year 1934 AA (after apocalypse), by future Americans who live in a 52 state US (50 + Canada + Mexico + Airstrip One - California [it finally sank]). In the future, the six trillion dollars barely buys a sandwich, but if they invest it several thousand years ago, they'll be rich! Unfortunately, the time traveler who was supposed to invest the money got distracted chasing after a bunch of loonies who were just trying to let all the animals out of the zoo, and the money ended up in the hands of the mob.

    Hey, it makes more sense than any theory from those Divine Cosmos people.

  32. Re:Photos cast doubt on whether or not they are fa by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The stars are hard to make out. Easier to count the stripes -- way too many of them.

  33. Crooks just didn't know what trillion means in USA by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I don't know about Italy, but many countries in the world use long scale, where your trillion has many more zeroes. Maybe the meant billion, but did not correct for the scale.

    http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long_and_short_scales

  34. tv eats you ALIVE! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Memorable quotes for
    Looker (1981)
    http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0082677/quotes [imdb.com]

    "John Reston: Television can control public opinion more effectively than armies of secret police, because television is entirely voluntary. The American government forces our children to attend school, but nobody forces them to watch T.V. Americans of all ages *submit* to television. Television is the American ideal. Persuasion without coercion. Nobody makes us watch. Who could have predicted that a *free* people would voluntarily spend one fifth of their lives sitting in front of a *box* with pictures? Fifteen years sitting in prison is punishment. But 15 years sitting in front of a television set is entertainment. And the average American now spends more than one and a half years of his life just watching television commercials. Fifty minutes, every day of his life, watching commercials. Now, that's power. "

    "The United States has it's own propaganda, but it's very effective because people don't realize that it's propaganda. And it's subtle, but it's actually a much stronger propaganda machine than the Nazis had but it's funded in a different way. With the Nazis it was funded by the government, but in the United States, it's funded by corporations and corporations they only want things to happen that will make people want to buy stuff. So whatever that is, then that is considered okay and good, but that doesn't necessarily mean it really serves people's thinking - it can stupify and make not very good things happen."
    -- Crispin Glover: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000417/bio [imdb.com]

    "We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." -- William Casey, CIA Director

    "It's only logical to assume that conspiracies are everywhere, because that's what people do. They conspire. If you can't get the message, get the man.'' -- Mel Gibson

    [1967] Jim Garrison Interview "In a very real and terrifying sense, our Government is the CIA and the Pentagon, with Congress reduced to a debating society. Of course, you can't spot this trend to fascism by casually looking around. You can't look for such familiar signs as the swastika, because they won't be there. We won't build Dachaus and Auschwitzes; the clever manipulation of the mass media is creating a concentration camp of the mind that promises to be far more effective in keeping the populace in line. We're not going to wake up one morning and suddenly find ourselves in gray uniforms goose-stepping off to work. But this isn't the test. The test is: What happens to the individual who dissents? In Nazi Germany, he was physically destroyed; here, the process is more subtle, but the end results can be the same. I've learned enough about the machinations of the CIA in the past year to know that this is no longer the dreamworld America I once believed in. The imperatives of the population explosion, which almost inevitably will lessen our belief in the sanctity of the individual human life, combined with the awesome power of the CIA and the defense establishment, seem destined to seal the fate of the America I knew as a child and bring us into a new Orwellian world where the citizen exists for the state and where raw power justifies any and every immoral act. I've always had a kind of knee-jerk trust in my Government's basic integrity, whatever political blunders it may make. But I've come to realize that in Washington, deceiving and manipulating the public are viewed by some as the natural prerogatives of office. Huey Long once said, "Fascism will come to America in the name of anti-fascism." I'm afraid, based on my own experience, that fascism will come to America in the name of national security."

  35. Shame by dutchwhizzman · · Score: 1

    It's a shame they seized this. It would have been so much more fun to actually have these con guys con other con people with the bonds before arresting them all.

    --
    I was promised a flying car. Where is my flying car?
  36. Re:Photos cast doubt on whether or not they are fa by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    52 stars?! It's from the future! When Mexico and Canada are part of the USA.

  37. Re:Photos cast doubt on whether or not they are fa by Openstandards.net · · Score: 3, Informative
    I only count 13 stripes: http://www.zerohedge.com/sites/default/files/images/user5/imageroot/2012/01/Chicago_Bonds_4_0.jpg

    But, the staggered stars does not coincide with the common 48 state pattern of that time.

    Based on what I've read, there are either lot of counterfeits of a real thing, or this was one incredibly engineered large scale counterfeit. These boxes have been found from all over the world recently, with highest concentrations in the Philippines, with people digging them up in the 1990s. There are quite a few stories to go with them, some more plausible than others. Yet, I cannot find any solid scientific evidence placing the origin of these boxes in history, other than when they were dug up or acquired and the condition they were in.

    Given how interesting this could be even if it all the boxes are fraudulent due to its large scale and long history, I think this is worth trying to understand better.

  38. Aimed too high by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    $640 million dollars in negotiable bearer bonds ought to be enough for anybody.

    - Hans Gruber

  39. Oh rly? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    This is so dumb, everybody knows the US treasury has the monopoly on 'fake' bonds. Bonds backed by taxation, reliant on non-existant growth.

  40. How about two? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Extraordinary rendition.

    Echelon

  41. And I thought... by ArsenneLupin · · Score: 1

    ... that the MAFIAA was against counterfeiting?

    1. Re:And I thought... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That's the Jewish controlled MAFIAA; this article is about the less successful Italian version.

  42. Bearer bonds by Compaqt · · Score: 2

    Can anyone comment on the infamous "bearer bonds" which Hollywood and movie bank robbers are so fond of?

    --
    I'm not a lawyer, but I play one on the Internet. Blog
    1. Re:Bearer bonds by um...+Lucas · · Score: 4, Informative

      Wiki it

      Short story is that bearer bonds pay to the bearer of them. There's no tracking of ownership. If you bought the bond and I stole it from you, you can't call the issuer to have them void that bond and issue a replacement. So literally, the bearer of the bond is the one who gets paid. Contrast that with a stock certificate - you have it, but the company knows who has them as well, or at least the transfer agent does. I steal your certificate, and you report it stolen to the transfer agent, and they void the old one in their records and issue a replacement to me.

      The us government stopped issuing them in the 80s, I believe.

    2. Re:Bearer bonds by alexander_686 · · Score: 1

      Lucas is right, but there is another twist.

      Bearer bonds would 1. have a face value (Maybe $1000) and 2. coupons ($50 per year ).

      As the coupon and/or bond came due you could take them in the bank, clip the coupons, and hand them over to the bank. The bank would then hand you cash and send in the fraudulent bond for remediation. By the time the bank figured out that they had been had, the fraudster would be long gone.

      The Great Gatsby implies that the fortune is from from fraudulent bearer bonds. (The bonds were of a par value that bearer bonds were never issued in. A fine point if you don't know the history.)

    3. Re:Bearer bonds by superwiz · · Score: 1

      If you look at a personal check, you'll see the words "pay to the order of". A check is an order to your bank to pay to whoever the check is made out to (out of your funds). It can be made out to "bearer", ie., the person bearing (carrying) the check. As soon as the check changes hands, its owner changes and so does the person who has to be paid when the check is presented. A more common way to write such a check is to make it to "cash". In fact, legally a check made out to "bearer" or "cash" should not require a presenter's endorsement. Because whoever is bearing the check is the one to whom the bank was ordered to pay the money (most bank won't honor such an order without an endorsement though). What does that have to do with the bonds? Well, the "bearer" has the same connotation in this context. A bond is a promise to pay at a future date (an IOU). A registered bond is a promise to pay to its rightful owner. A "bearer" bond is a promise to pay to whoever physically holds the bond.

      --
      Any guest worker system is indistinguishable from indentured servitude.
  43. The real deal by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Very interesting.. there appears to more of these “fake” bonds around. I think they are real. If you want to see more photos or read the whole story behind these bonds go to http://www.divinecosmos.com/start-here/davids-blog/1023-financial-tyranny?start=3

  44. I know this one by spiralx · · Score: 1

    It's that roman_mir guy isn't it? Trying to destabilise the Fed from his secret Swiss base.

  45. Re:Photos cast doubt on whether or not they are fa by michelcolman · · Score: 0

    Now that would be interesting... The US has too much debt, so they just declare papers worth half of that debt 'counterfeit'? "No, sorry, we won't pay for those, they are fake... In other news, 6 trillion dollars of US debt have never been collected!"

  46. Re:It's as the bad proposal similar to evil poker. by rvw · · Score: 2

    $6 trillion of allegedly fake U.S. Treasury bonds in Switzerland.

    LOLOLOLOLOL, how reliable is Switzerland and their swisse banks as to don't accepting fake U.S. Treasury bonds? Didn't they check the validity of the money when accepting them? Then, why did they have them fake inside?. LOLOLOLOL.

    In Quantum Mechanics, $100'000 is an infinitesimal measurement value that is 99.9999% statistically undetectable respecting to the current relative totality of the current U.S. debt of >$13'000'000'000'000.00

    Obama bought much plutonium under his bribery, and at same time, he did forbid to the Iran's president Ahmadinejad to fabricate its own plutonium. Period.

    In the obscurity's underground of Obama, he did prepare many ICBMs with plutonium's warheads for the comming World War III in this Spring 2012 announced precipitatedly by Israel & U.S..

    During this coming spring, instead of breaking out flowers, they will sprout nuclear mushrooms. What why is that?.

    JCPM: my/our arrow is into GRID of Quantum SAT solvers.

    My poor brain. What did I just read?

    I zhink ze lulz are taking over ze zlazzzhhhdod mahn! My dear!

  47. Rumor has it, they're not really fakes by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Rumor has it that these were not really fakes, but part of an elaborate CIA(?) US strategy to scam the world for double the money for the same bonds that has now come to light.

    Nobody in the baking world is stupid enough to buy into these kinds of papers without direct US government assurance of the papers' authenticity at before buying them. That someone has done so at one time, is practical proof of direct US government involvement in the bond scam, or the fact that most likely US government has issued these same bonds twice, in the cloak and dagger style operations of the time. Now they just have to say that they're fakes and all 6 trillion of their debt has disappeared.

  48. Yah, except for this thing called inflation by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

    Bzzt. The Google GDP numbers are not corrected for inflation, which means the Japanese economy has been either flat or slowly declining depending on the year you compare from. This is commonly known as their lost (two) decade(s). Japan is NOT in shape and hasn't been for a long time now, it's just that in a race to the bottom they don't stand out when the numbers are massaged just right (or enough new debt is taken on to paper things over at least until the next bureaucrat has to deal with them, who more than likely will keep trying to do the same).

    GDP is a useless statistic for a number of other reasons, such as that it does not reflect quality of life indicators like the size of the middle class etc. But mainly because it has become meaningless due to runaway leveraging through derivatives and unfettered rehypothetication. In other words, if your Zynga Dollars or your financial sector grows by 500%, and your GDP grows by 1%, your real economy (such as manufacturing, agriculture, you know, STUFF) just massively deflated.

    1. Re:Yah, except for this thing called inflation by microbox · · Score: 1

      The Japanese economy is doing fine when you consider that they made a self-conscious decision to stop growing the population. While the inflation corrected GDP shows only tiny year-on-year growth, there economy is booming when you measure wealth in other ways: technological penetration, education, life expectancy, ... you know, all the important stuff.

      Japan faulted under a ridiculous property market boom and bust, and now they are going steady.

      --

      Like all pain, suffering is a signal that something isn't right
    2. Re:Yah, except for this thing called inflation by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Well done, you completely sidestepped my point about the component size of the financial system, as well as quality of life. You see, increasing technological penetration is a means, not an end, which arguably goes for the others you mention as well. If that penetration is a tradeoff between convenience and freedom by way of loss of privacy, liberties through increased surveillance and self determination (DRM, ACTA, SOPA/PIPA, NDAA etc.), and your increasing education and life expectancy are great excuses for making you work longer for someone else's bonuses (especially if early retirement is touted to be financially untenable due to aging population while the major reason is that pension funds keep getting pillaged through market manipulation and the inflation tax), then none of these increase actual quality of life. As for technological penetration, don't let Apple's success for example fool you, if the new status symbol is no longer something out of reach like a house or even a car but a gadget, which happens to be made with slave labour and whose profits are stockpiled until further notice or go into a litigation warchest, whose quality of life are we increasing?

      Furthermore, if you simply must argue that wealth equals quality of life, then you should also mention that this supposed wealth is reaped by an ever decreasing minority (shrinking middle class/rising unemployment), that the wealth itself is worth less per unit every year (money supply/price inflation), and that there is really less wealth in total to spread around to begin with (austerity/deflation), not more. If the inflation corrected GDP shows tiny growth, and virtual stuff like the financial sector and social networks comprise a large growing part, then everything else within that tiny growth MUST be deflating. On top of that if you are unlucky enough to be under the thumb of the IMF et al, then your debt is increasing in contrast to your (shrinking) GDP too.

      If you have money in the bank today at say 2% interest, then no matter which inflation numbers you believe your money is realizing a negative return. Add to that a continuous adjustment of official inflation calculation (e.g. take out energy components, put in game clothing items) to skew this ratio. And not even the real inflation numbers include delayed externalities like coming oil price shocks, or the cost of environmental degradation as we get more and more desperate to fulfill our energy needs (think further gulf of Mexico style disasters, and a few decades down the road cigarette smoking style fallout from shale rock extraction, failing nuclear power plants etc.). BTW, did you know that we are moving toward *negative* interest rates? As opposed to getting a return on their money, investors are now happy with just a return OF their money (see MF Global).

      Specifically for Japan, whether you walk around with a Walkman or an iPod, or have 4 or 5 TVs in the house, live 80 or 90 years on average doesn't say diddly about how happy you are, given trends like the move towards care by robots, for lack of a (loving) family, or indeed a caring society. BTW, except for rare cases where the sociopolitical structure allows a top down enforcement of it (such as China) there is no such thing as a self-conscious decision to stop growing the population. You can incentivize it up to a point by taking away child support entitlements and the like, but our strongest evolutionary drive can really only be constrained by a lack of resources or quality of life effects such as stress or trauma from war. Judging by the social rigidity of old and frankly twisted escapism of modern Japanese culture, stress plays a major role there.

      The shrinking size of the middle class in itself should say enough. The trend is towards neo feudalism with wealth concentration and consolidation at the top and an increasingly poor, dumbed down and dependent labour force to service it at the bottom.

  49. Because forgers are smarter then the average /.er by SmallFurryCreature · · Score: 3, Insightful

    A few years ago two old forgers, father and son, were caught. They did masterful work but their real master stroke was in authenticating the items. How do you proof something is yours and is legit? Well, you shows that you, or rather, someone long death in your family, bought it legit at an auction.

    How? They used an old and real auction catalog, pointed to an item description that was similar to the item they had forged and went with a story like my father bought this item here, what do you think it is worth if we wanted to sell it? It worked wonders. The documents were 100% legit and therefor in no doubt, they just weren't related.

    If you want to sell these bonds, you have to come up with a convincing story of why you have trillions worth of bonds. You don't just dump them in a shopping bag and get payed. A scam is about the details and a period container complete with dust is a nice detail.

    Mind you, you would have to be bloody greedy to believe such a scam but there are plenty of greedy people on the planet.

    --

    MMO Quests are like orgasms:

    You may solo them, I prefer them in a group.

  50. Who was the Pu for and why? by WindBourne · · Score: 1

    First off, does Nigeria have Plutonium? Or just Uranium.
    Secondly, Mafia is not building nukes. So, who were they obtaining Pu/U for? Obviously, they want to sell this on the black market, but who is buying? The only nations that I can think of would be North Korea, Burma, and Iran.
    Of those, Iran is the likely suspect. If Iran is buying Pu on the black market, that says a lot. Basically, it means that they are trying hard to move their timeline up. The reason is that right now, they are breeding it in their reactor, but it will take some time.

    --
    I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
    1. Re:Who was the Pu for and why? by TapeCutter · · Score: 1

      First off, does Nigeria have Plutonium? Or just Uranium.

      AFAIK, neither, but it does have yellow-cake.

      --
      And did you exchange a walk on part in the war for a lead role in a cage? - Pink Floyd.
    2. Re:Who was the Pu for and why? by WindBourne · · Score: 1

      That was my thinking as well. Unless they bought Pu on the black market somewhere. Regardless, that means processing, which few nations have.

      --
      I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
    3. Re:Who was the Pu for and why? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      But as we all know, the cake is a l... nahh, I just can't do it. That joke's too old and tired by now.

    4. Re:Who was the Pu for and why? by crutchy · · Score: 1

      they have plenty of pu from their uranusum mines

  51. Big strategic money scams by US government by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    >they are forgeries.

    Yes, but the onus is in the point that you would need high level US government involvement and their assurances to pass them off as real. And that that happens to be something US government has received a very big benefit for doing, whether the scammed people were crooks or foreign governments. This is quite something that could have been done to economically scam Russia out of their money. Dates of the bonds are irrelevant as are the boxes used. The crime could have been very well done during the mad MKULTRA 40's or 60's and would fit quite well the american palate of spook jobs at the time. What better than to fool the kinks, japs and russos of the time out of their money with real, yet soon-to-be-fake bonds, eh? Economic warfare at it's best a'la CIA.

    The only difference to today's electronic bonds is that now it is much easier to claim that bonds are fake and dissappear them from electronic US-debt databank. No private individual has the clout to claim US government negated on their bond debts and taking them to court would be ridiculous as all proof is just dissappeared digital bits.

    Another part of the same strategic scam to benefit USA is the US dollar bills. Or the debt that magically just inflates away when US prints more bills. And the only way to force those bills on the world is by forcing everyone to use them to pay for oil. These are all key strategic elements that drive US economy and hegemony over the world to strip others of their wealth and they were thought and implemented long ago.

  52. This sounds familiar by haggus71 · · Score: 1

    Where have I heard this before? Fraud...Nigeria....Ahhh!

    "Hello, my friend. I am a Nigerian Prince with a great offer for you. I need $1,000 to regain my homeland. In return, I am willing to sell you a million dollars in US Treasury bonds..."

  53. This has all happened before by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    http://www.rense.com/general41/lost.htm

    2.5 Trillion In Lost 1930's
    US Treasury Notes?
    Naive Scam - Or Secret CIA Counterfeits?
    By Tim Luckhurst
    The Scotsman - UK
    9-20-3

  54. Re:It's as the bad proposal similar to evil poker. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Wow, did you just claim that the US bought nuclear technology from Nigeria in order to produce the two nuclear bombs that they dropped on Japan? Awesome!

    Please come back. Get a login and post more. I want to follow you. The way your mind works is fascinating.

  55. conspiracy nut? interesting... by whathappenedtomonday · · Score: 1

    Not to defend Zero Hedge or "truthers", but if you assume that the wikipedia definition of conspiracy theory is accurate, the official version is just that: a conspiracy theory.

    A conspiracy theory explains an event as being the result of an alleged plot by a covert group or organization

    --
    I hope I didn't brain my damage.
  56. "That's a lot of lettuce" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Its cabbage, "That's a lot of cabbage"

  57. Unfortunately ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    they didn't have laser printers back in 1934

  58. "In the obscurity's underground of Obama".... by TapeCutter · · Score: 1

    ...once you get past the title, there are enough quotes of the day in that post to fill a calendar.

    --
    And did you exchange a walk on part in the war for a lead role in a cage? - Pink Floyd.
  59. It's obvious by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The boss told his underling to make up some treasury bonds in million bill denominations, and the underling heard bill as mill.

  60. Re:Photos cast doubt on whether or not they are fa by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    There's 13 stripes, they're easier to see in http://www.divinecosmos.com/images/image/Chicago_Bonds_4.jpg . 52 stars though.

  61. Related US court case documents by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    There is a court case related to these bond scams or the epidemic of them:
    http://divinecosmos.com/media/Keenan_complaint_11-23-2011_SDNY.pdf

    You can actually get the papers from the government's pacer.gov site directly yourself too.

  62. not if you can change them into electronic format by decora · · Score: 1

    for example, the pension funds and retirement funds of the entire planet were conned into buying CDOs back in 2000-2008. those were essentially 'garbage securities' but everyone was too lazy to actually give a shit until 2008, when the government simply bailed out the crooks for 2 trillion dollars.

    if you slather over a bunch of electronic securities with mathematics and "well spoken men in armani suits", you can pretty much get away with anything.

    so whats the problem with paper securities? exactly what you say. the trick is to somehow get them infiltrated into the electronic system. id wager there is some way to do that though the same obscure off-shore accounts that corporations and rich people use every day to hide their misdeeds.

  63. Carl Icahn and Tronox maybe? by decora · · Score: 1

    do tell, do tell kind sir.

  64. nazi and soviet counterfeit programs by decora · · Score: 2

    Stalin had a plan to counterfeit dollars. Why not counterfeit bonds too? There was some very strange stuff going on in the KGB + SS back in the day. And lots of insane programs that were of low quality.

    of course now days, we pay people like Alan Greenspan and Ben Bernanke to counterfeit dollars, but we call it 'increasing money supply'. And our economy is wrecked worse than Stalin ever dreamed of. But whatever.

  65. Back to 1934, then did they trust it? by JCPM · · Score: 1

    packed in sealed tins, some said to be protected by canisters of poisonous gas

    Why the U.S. agents had tried to poison the bankers or their inheritage's families or their redeemers/owners with unauthorized poisonous gas made by U.S.?

    Because all was part of a conspiracy theory from U.S. for killing everyones, poor and rich peoples that manage the U.S. bills or U.S. bonds.

    If they failed the TRUSTABILITY IN GOD then they should assume their own consequences.

    Forensic researchers know that the ink used for printing these seized U.S. bonds contain "carbone atoms", so that they can test the "radioisotope C-14 decayment" evidence for proving the authenticity of these seized U.S. bonds that were dated from 1934. Now the question is the conflict of interests between trustability and fakeness, and if it resulted fake, when was it fake? In year 200x or in year 1934?. It's in the game of the God trustability that claimed the U.S. government during almost than one century.

    In 1934, the Plutonium, or the Uranium, or whatever rare Earth elements were unknown for almost peoples, so that for rare minerals, they were paid in very expensive prices for owning these "rare minerals" that didn't exist in another place of the Earth in 1934!!!.

    Oloro of Oro, the King of Yoruba, the Supreme King of the 9 tribal communities, what did happen there in 1934? The local goverment did raise the taxes them, and then bloody riots did ocurr inmediately, justly when Llorin was arrived, i believe it, i'm not sure. I don't know exactly the history, but "historians" and "witnesses" should investigate deeply their versions of the happened things 78 years ago.

    JCPM: i'm analyzing the meaning of "In God, we trust" & "E PLURIBUS UNUM" written in their U.S. currencies/bills, and the impact implications that can have them on the world since 1934 that the dispute could originate from now in 2012, when the bankers or the redeemers are deceptionated after of >78 years of "banking deposits" for NOTHING after of their commercial exchanges 78 years ago!!!.

    1. Re:Back to 1934, then did they trust it? by crutchy · · Score: 1

      plurbum snotus blowis my nosis.

      on the secret US missile bases on the far side of the moon, they have embedded computers inside the manhole cover that was shot into space mid last century to monitor the aliens on alpha centauri. but the germans sent the jews to pakistan to revive the supreme commander of the ewoks and dig out the ancient solaco spaceship that contained the dreaded mr hanky.

      Amen brother! this is his shoe... which is way more apologetic than the sacred gord.

      but in any case, as long as i.n.t.e.l.i.g.e.n.c.e stays of the shitty wall, the mongorians will be able to restore peace and order to the galaxy, and lieutenant coffee might ease off the button a little.

      on the other hand, microsoft bankruptsy is impractical due to limitations of the T-virus and 30+ suntan lotion, so the only motorvehicle suitable for faster than light travel would be a volkswagon beetle because the nazi party was the major sponsor of mr spocks jaba juice.

      timmah!!!!

  66. CIA and Obama have wiped out all US debt. by 140Mandak262Jamuna · · Score: 1
    This is a very clever scheme by Obama and CIA. Now Obama can claim ALL outstanding US Govt bond were fakes, forgeries and scams, and he has already paid off all the legitimate US Bonds. That news will hit the market on Oct 22, 2012. After the steadily improving economic picture, falling unemployment rates, killing Osama, the news that USA is debt free would be the final nail in the coffin. Obama will sweep all 50 states, and Democrats will win all the houses and senate of all the states, governorships too. In US Senate Reid will get filibuster proof, but not veto overriding number of senators.

    I tell you, the Chosen One is deep and he is the only one who can pull this off.

    --
    sed -e 's/Chuck Norris/Rajnikant/g' joke > fact
    1. Re:CIA and Obama have wiped out all US debt. by iggymanz · · Score: 1

      the debt-notes of the banking cartel that we falsely call money are of course all a scam and used by a very small group of elite to drain our wealth. we should be rounding up and arresting the banking cartel thugs for treason and acts of war.

  67. GDP at the time is not relevant by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I am not saying these bonds are real. Just, to all those goning on about debt and GDP at the time, there is another twist: The USA received shipments of gold for safekeeping from many Asian countries in the 30's, for example (no paywall :)) http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F10E13FC3558177A93C3A91789D95F408385F9

    So, if these bonds were real, they would be collateral for the aforementioned gold.

  68. Re:Photos cast doubt on whether or not they are fa by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    This article is from 1937, otherwise it would "fit", it seems that many countries were making mass shipments of gold to the US in the 30's for safekeeping.
    http://divinecosmos.com/images/image/nyt_feb_19_1937.jpg

  69. Financial Tyranny by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    This relates to the Keenan Lawsuit and matters related to the Financial Tyranny articles by David Wilcock... The key here is that when the authorities call the bonds "counterfeit" what they are really telling you is that they are based on something real and therefore contrary to the headline of that article, they are not "fake" after all!

    1. Re:Financial Tyranny by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The full article with details and the Cease and Desist Order are at...
      http://www.divinecosmos.com/start-here/davids-blog/1026-financial-tyranny-final

  70. NOT AGAIN !!!???!!! by Jeremiah+Cornelius · · Score: 1
    --
    "Flyin' in just a sweet place,
    Never been known to fail..."
  71. Timecube by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Don't you recognize the timecube guy when you read his writing?

    1. Re:Timecube by crutchy · · Score: 1

      but could he be the new apk?

  72. 5 years too late... by jayveekay · · Score: 1

    5 years ago they could have labeled these billion dollar financial instruments "Collateralized Debt Obligation" (aka CDO, a bundle of worthless subprime mortages) and sold the crap successfully. Same piece of paper crap whether its a fake TBill or CDO, but the latter is completely legal.

  73. Re:Photos cast doubt on whether or not they are fa by fatphil · · Score: 1

    To my eyes it looks like the bottom row with 6 stars, and the row above that with 7 stars. That doesn't match any US flag of *any* vintage, let alone a 50-state one (having 6 with 5 above). It be used for a 52-state flag, I think. Not that it matters, fake is fake is fake.

    --
    Also FatPhil on SoylentNews, id 863
  74. Re:Photos cast doubt on whether or not they are fa by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    So are all the stripes red, or are all the stripes white? They made the stars contrast to the blue field they're on, but it didn't occur to them to make the red and white stripes contrast with each other?

  75. More accurately by vuo · · Score: 1

    And more accurately, the U.S. budget deficit was $3.59 billion in 1934. Just four $1 billion bonds could cover it completely. $6 trillion in total means that there were 6000 of these fake bonds.

  76. Re:Because forgers are smarter then the average /. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Do you have a link on the family? maybe an article or book?

  77. Italians by NewYork · · Score: 1

    Italians seem to have unique solutions to their economic woes. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-14774526

  78. Re:It's as the bad proposal similar to evil poker. by crutchy · · Score: 1

    dirka dirka dirka... ah dirka dirka jihad.

    he has balls... i like his balls

    just don't get on his shitty wall

  79. How does this happen by hesaigo999ca · · Score: 1

    Would no one have noticed 6 trillion extra dollars floating around,
    I thought all the money was accounted for....so even if they were to fake them
    could they really use them, or they cloned other bonds, and were going to cash them in,
    sort of like using a cloned CC, where once the money is gone, its gone...?

    Can anyone help explain please?