Houston, Aug. 16 (Bloomberg) – Enron Corp.’s former law firm, accused of helping the energy trader misstate billions in income, is trying to attract clients by promoting its experience with off-the-books finances.

Vinson & Elkins’s web site says its lawyers are "well-versed" in helping clients choose offshore entities to achieve "off-balance-sheet treatment" of transactions for accounting purposes. As part of its credentials, it cites work done for Enron, which has said it hid debt in such partnerships.

"We have nothing to lie low about," said Harry Reasoner, a Vinson & Elkins partner who has been lead spokesman for the firm on its representation of Enron, its once largest client. Vinson & Elkins did nothing illegal in advising Enron, including its review of the off-the-books partnerships, Reasoner added.

Some members of the U.S. Congress have criticized Vinson and Elkins for failing to disclose Enron’s misuse of the partnerships. Congress is investigating whether other companies used similar vehicles to mislead investors. The I.R.S. is investigating as well…as part of a two-year effort to crack down on abusive tax shelters.

"It is surprising to me that Vinson & Elkins would use their legal work for Enron as an example of their expertise," said Representative Peter Deutsch, a Florida Democrat. He criticized the firm in March congressional hearings for "failing to pursue aggressively" issues raised in August 2001 by Sherron Watkins, an Enron vice-president who warned the company’s chief executive officer that the partnerships were used to hide losses.

Vinson & Elkins looked into her allegations and concluded in October there was no need for further investigation.

Enron is accused by shareholders, employees and congressional investigators of using partnerships called "special purpose entities" to disguise loans as energy trades involving prepaid financing provided by Citigroup Inc. and J.P. Morgan Chase and Co.

Vinson & Elkins’s web site also says that the firm "represented a major energy company in derivatives-based financings covering prepaid crude oil or natural gas forward-sale transactions and separate prepaid crude oil or natural gas forward purchase by a major international bank. Each of the forward contracts was sold to offshore special purpose entities."

Enron work done by Vinson & Elkins is included in the same "Structured Finance" section of the web site as this passage, Reasoner said. Client confidentiality rules prevent the firm from specifying which work was for Enron, he said.

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As the title to my essay says, and as Sonny and Cher sang in the 60's..."and the beat goes on". This sort of "in your face...screw you" attitude (in light of the ongoing investigations into these matters) is one of the things that got America into the mess it's currently in, and it's obvious that no lessons have been learned, at least not by this bunch. The contents of this above story regarding Enron's former law firm shows plainly that the lawyers and accountants are already dancing on the graves of the dead even before the corpses have cooled off.

It is also becoming more obvious to me all the time that the top government, financial, economic and military leaders of the United States (and probably Britain and Israel) are operating totally detached from the nations and peoples that they purport to "preserve, protect and defend".

And Citigroup, JPMorgan/Chase, Goldman Sachs and Bank of America (and probably Enron while it was still around, plus others we haven't heard about yet), are instruments through which the United States government projects domestic and foreign financial and monetary policy. There is no other explanation for the perverse derivatives situation that exists at these financial institutions.

As has been mentioned by James Sinclair and others, no company directors or top executives would ever allow their financial gonads to be put on the line unless there was some sort of implicit backing from the lender of last resort, which in this case would be the Treasury Department and the Fed. It would be financial suicide unless they were backstopped by the organization with the deepest pockets of all.

(It is also my opinion that most of these same companies, JPMorgan/Chase, Citigroup, Bank of America et al, and maybe Goldman Sachs as well, are already technically bankrupt, and are on government life support right now.)

All of these above named organizations (plus a few others) ARE "The Working Group on Financial Markets" more commonly known as the "Plunge Protection Team". Formulated after the market meltdown in 1987, it was signed into law by Executive Order in 1988 by that stalwart of free enterprise and free trade, President Ronald Reagan.

"The boys" now have their finger in every financial pie in America (and probably more than a few abroad as well). You can start with the U.S. stock markets. And, of course, they control the gold, silver and currency markets, I’m sure that with a little more digging, we would unearth short positions in other key commodities as well…the petroleum complex comes to mind.

One of the topics that I’ve been going on about ad nauseam since last year, is an essay that was written about eighteen months ago by British economist Peter Warburton. It is entitled "The Debasement of World Currency: it is inflation, but not as we know it". In it, Warburton spells out how inflation is devaluing all currencies, and the central banks of the world are desperate to keep investors from deserting the paper market by opting out of the financial system entirely by putting their money in hard assets. I will (once again) quote three paragraphs from this essay, but the whole article is worth reading.

"Central banks are engaged in a desperate battle on two fronts"

"What we see at present is a battle between the central banks and the collapse of the financial system fought on two fronts. On one front, the central banks preside over the creation of additional liquidity for the financial system in order to hold back the tide of debt defaults that would otherwise occur. On the other they incite investment banks (Citigroup, JPMorgan/Chase, Goldman Sachs et al) to bet against a rise in the prices of gold, oil, base metals soft commodities or anything else that might be deemed an indicator of inherent value. Their objective is to deprive the independent observer of any reliable benchmark against which to measure the eroding value not only of the U.S. dollar, but of all fiat currencies. Equally, their actions seek to deny the investor the opportunity to hedge against the fragility of the financial system by switching into a freely traded market for non-financial assets."

"It is important to recognize that the central banks have found the battle on the second front much easier to fight than the first. Last November, I estimated the size of the gross stock of global debt instruments at $90 trillion for mid-2000. How much capital would it take to control the combined gold, oil and commodity markets? Probably no more than $200 billion, using derivatives. Moreover, it is not necessary for the central banks to fight the battle themselves, although central bank gold sales and gold leasing have certainly contributed to the cause. Most of the world’s large investment banks (Citigroup, JPMorgan/Chase, Goldman Sachs et al) have over-traded their capital (bases) so flagrantly that if the central banks were to lose the fight on the first front, then their stock would be worthless. Because their fate is intertwined with that of the central banks, investment banks are willing participants in the battle against rising go, oil and commodity prices."

In the third paragraph Warburton goes on to say; "Central banks, and particularly the U.S. Federal Reserve, are deploying their heavy artillery in the battle against a systemic collapse. This has been their primary concern for at least seven years. Their immediate objectives are to prevent the private sector bond market from closing its doors to new or refinancing borrowers, and to forestall a technical break in the Dow Jones Industrials. Keeping the bond market open is absolutely vital at a time when corporate profitability is on the ropes. Keeping the equity index on an even keel is essential to protect the wealth of the household sector and to maintain the expectation of future gains. For as long as these objectives can be achieved, the value of the U.S. dollar can also be stabilized in relation to other currencies, despite the extraordinary imbalances in external trade."

So with the "Greenspan put" firmly in place, and top insiders knowing that the fix was in on gold (and all commodity prices in general) plus interest rates; malfeasance ran wild. The days of "wildcat finance" as Doug Noland so aptly describes it...were on.

But after fifteen years of having their way with the markets, these halcyon days are now a thing of the past. The world's paper financial system is a disaster waiting to happen. Now included in this house of cards is the American dollar and the entire world economy, particularly that of that of the United States. Only through gargantuan interference on an epic scale, have the U.S dollar and the U.S. stock markets not followed those of Japan at a faster rate than they already are. Peter Warburton would surely agree that "the west’s" economies (and its financial system) are just about all out of aces.

But the "powers that be" are not going to go down without a fight. They will use (and have used), any method at their disposal…legal or illegal, overt or covert, to keep the consumer on the paper side of the street.

As a segue, I’d like to comment on the latest e-mail exchange between Ted Butler and Mr. Neal Wolkoff, CEO of the NYMEX/COMEX regarding the ongoing rigging of the silver market by the speculators that are masquerading as legitimate hedgers. It is becoming increasingly clear that there will be no justice forthcoming from the CFTC or the COMEX/NYMEX on any commodity matter where the rights of the rich and powerful shorts are threatened by the rule of law and common sense. It is only a minor stretch of the credible to include certain members of the Silver Users Association in this conspiracy; for without doubt, some of them will be found to be included in that group of "8 or less traders".

I took that aside into silver to emphasize the fact that at the top of the power spectrum in New York and Washington, that regardless of the name of the organization, everyone knows each other and everyone is aware of the facts. Forget the individual companies...they're all in this together...from the Fed, JPM, Citigroup, Enron, Goldman Sachs, NYMEX, United States Treasury, Merrill Lynch et al....they are all working side by side. At the top of the food chain, American business and finance is one gigantic fraud…a con game…if you will. "The House" has been rigged to bleed the world white for the benefit of the USA, and the banking system that runs it.

These guys are very powerful, but not omnipotent. They got greedy and careless, and their gargantuan egos got in each other’s way. Throw a huge amount of drug money laundering and other criminal activities on top of that…derivatives in the tens of trillions of dollars, an exploding money supply, and a credit market about to seize up, and you have the recipe for a disaster of biblical proportions.

Now they are trapped.

They now face the following irrefutable facts:

1) They have to keep the "jumper cables" on the American equity markets every hour of the day to keep them from imploding. 2) They have to keep one foot on gold and silver to keep their respective prices from exploding to the outer edges of the known universe. 3) The US$ needs constant propping because the trade deficit and government deficit spending are now well in excess of $600 billion per year.

4) The credit market is only a heartbeat away from seizing up.

5) If they increase interest rates they kill the economy stone cold dead, and the interest rate derivatives of some very major US investment banks blow up.

6) If they decrease interest rates, the dollar heads south, precious metals prices rise sharply, and the interest rate (and gold) derivatives of some very major US investment banks blow up.

7) If the Fed stops printing money (or even slows down) the credit bubble will implode.

8) When the price of gold and silver head north, the gold derivatives of some very major US investment banks blow up.

9) The American government, corporation, and consumer is in hock to the tune of $32 Trillion dollars…which will NEVER be repaid…EVER.

10) The housing bubble, and consumer spending bubble have peaked.

11) Income tax revenues at the city, state and federal level are falling precipitously, and are only going to get worse.

There is no way out…at least from what I can see.

They may be trying to save the country, but they are also trying to save themselves. That cannot be more apparent than the spin that keeps coming from Wall Street, The White House and Capitol Hill, and the Federal Reserve. They are trying to keep Mr. & Mrs. America calm and in the paper market at all costs. They are flat out lying to the American public...and by extension...the rest of the citizens of the world.

So is that their agenda...to "save" the financial and economic system that they have corrupted to benefit themselves (and the USA) at the expense of every other nation on earth? Maybe...maybe not.

Is George Bush going to war to cover up the previously mentioned misdeeds by throwing a crashing dollar, stock markets, and higher gold, silver and commodity prices on top of this "war"? Possibly. History is replete with instances of nations taking up arms against others to divert attention away from self-generated problems at home.

An officially declared war may give the President sweeping powers to do in war what he would never be allowed to do in peace time when it comes to taking more direct control of the economy, such as bailing out the big money centre banks (or seizing COMEX gold and silver stockpiles) in the name of "national security". Who knows, he may reach back in time and re-introduce "parity pricing" (1,2,3) for commodities…now THAT would be something.

Is it a fight over who controls oil in the Middle East, and the U.S. wants to make their move before things get entirely out of their control over there? It’s as good a reason as any, and I kind of like that one personally. The "powers that be" aren’t stupid, the world is running out of resources, especially petroleum products, and they may want to steal their share to prevent these oil field from falling into "enemy hands"…(read: China and Russia).

Whatever it is, the day-to-day concerns of the citizens that "they" represent will be tossed on this "bonfire of the vanities" on an unprecedented national and international scale that will certainly engulf the entire planet when all the "Kondratieff chickens" come home to roost after this is all over.

Maybe THAT'S the plan, because nothing else is making any sense out there right now. There's a lot of talk that's been floating around the chat rooms of the various web site that I've lurked at (over the last three years) talking about this New World Order, World Government and one currency for all.

The scheme is this...the central banks, major government leaders of the world (plus groups like CFR - The Council on Foreign Relations in New York), and the IMF and the World Bank, have hatched this plan to turn the world into one huge socialist state ruled by themselves, and one of the things on their "to do" list is crash the western "democracies". Apparently this "conspiracy" has been underway for almost fifty years. Most of the smaller "third world" countries (I dislike that phrase) are already permanently attached to an IMF teat as it is. Russia, and now China, both have their own personal IMF nipples to suck. As we know, the major player behind both the IMF and the World Bank is the United States. The only problem was how to make America give up her civil liberties (as defined by the Constitution) so they could bring down "the land of the free, and the home of the brave" with hardly a whimper.

I never gave this sort of paranoid rubbish much thought early on, and needless to say I had always considered Bob Chapman’s weekly compilations to be the ranting of the lunatic right. But my two and a half of years as a member of GATA have changed my mind quite a bit...about 180 degrees as a matter of fact.

It’s extremely difficult for most people (including me) to wrap their minds around the fact that their respective governments and banking system are (for the most part) working against the best interests of their own citizens. It’s taken nearly three years (plus two personal meetings with Mr. Chapman), and a book, to make me realize the ugly truth of what is really going on out there.

Earlier this year I ordered Ferdi Lipps new book, "Gold Wars", Fame 2001, from Amazon.com. Like any good marketing plan, this order prompted an inquiry from Amazon if I would be interested in a companion book entitled "The Creature from Jekyll Island", American Media 1994.

Well, I had certainly heard of this book, and my curiosity was piqued.

Amazon's marketing plan worked like a charm on that day, and by the time they had finished with me, my Visa bill was more than double what I had intended.

I still haven't gotten around to Ferdi's book, and only slightly half way through "The Creature". But, I can tell you this it is NOT happy reading. I was thoroughly depressed by the time I got to the end of Chapter one. Anyone who knows that the truth is stranger than fiction should put this on their "must read" list.

I remember (over a year ago) a veteran poster on Gold Eagle trying to explain all this to an obviously rookie poster...that if he would just read this book, all would become clear.

He was absolutely right! It ALL becomes clear. It is depressing and terrifying at the same time. But when you look at what's going on in the world right now, everything seems to fit.

To say that I recommend this book (which is in its 12th printing) is an understatement.

How well this "grand plan" will work out, if at all, is open for discussion. Schemes such as this would certainly run into all kinds of problems…such as Murphy’s Law…plus the Law of Unintended Consequences. One of the new "flies in the ointment" with this whole scheme is that a lot of what is going on that we can't see behinds the scenes is totally illegal, unethical or immoral...or "all of the above". Crime (organized both within and without) appears to be rampant.

That brave woman, Catherine Austin Fitts (a frequent contributor at www.lemetropolecafe.com, paints a very dark picture of how criminal elements, including elements inside the US government itself, have infiltrated and compromised virtually every government department. Her comments on the goings-on in HUD were an eye-opener to say the least.

At first, I took them with a grain of salt, because being a Canadian and all, I just could NOT believe that this sort of thing went on in the "good old USA", until all this other garbage with Enron, JPMorgan/Chase et al came along. And that was also before I started reading "The Creature". Then I saw her on C-SPAN and realized that she was totally credible, and it was obvious that everything she had been saying was true.

So what it appears we have going on, if you mix all of this together, is a "creature" that has been slowly building itself up over time that now has totally corrupted and criminalized the top levels of government (both Republican and Democrat), banking, finance, and big business in the United States. The accounting firms, legal firms and watchdog agencies that are supposed to monitor and protect the citizens are complicit as well.

But the tentacles of this rot and criminal corruption spread far beyond the borders of the United States. I wonder if an economic and financial system crash will be piggybacked on top of this totally unprovoked war that will soon be fought in Iraq. George is sure in one hell of a hurry to get things going as quickly as possible...with Israel urging him on every step of the way.

President Bush is not the brightest bulb on the string, but the people around him are the ones really running the show anyway. I'm sure that they are aware that a totally unprovoked (and unsubstantiated) attack on Iraq will alienate the entire Arab-speaking world, plus do nothing for relations with their "new found friends" in China and Russia...or their "new found enemies" in Saudi Arabia.

And since they're aren't enough "bad guys" out there to invade other countries, like Hitler did Czechoslovakia or Poland, or as Japan did to Manchuria or Pearl Harbor...to provide the necessary moral outrage, and/or the political or military justification...it appears that the USA is prepared to precipitate a crisis themselves. They are manufacturing an "enemy of the state". When the events of 9/11 and Afghanistan didn't give them as much "bang for the buck" that they hoped, now all of a sudden this "new enemy" has cropped up. This is right out of "their" playbook in "The Creature".

Nothing in the U.S. Constitution, or the United Nations charter gives the United States the legal (or moral) grounds to do what it is about to do. Under these circumstances I don't see the Congressional approval forthcoming either. Maybe "All The President’s Men" will dispense with such niceties this time. If they did, it would precipitate a constitutional crisis overnight.

The U.S. has been trying to implicate Saddam in what happened on 9/11 since the day it happened with no results worth mentioning. That attempt has intensified since the war in Afghanistan faded from the TV screens at CNN and CNBC. But evidence or no evidence, they're going into Iraq anyway.

Don't get any idea that I'm any fan of Saddam or Osama, because I’m not. I'd gladly shoot them both myself if I had the opportunity. But these foreign affairs problems that the United States seem to acquire by sticking its nose into the political, economic and financial affairs of every nation on earth; whether it wants it or not, or needs it or not, has given rise to a ground-swell of anti-Americanism all around the world. As one person in Washington put it earlier this year...."The problem with American foreign policy, is that our State Department is creating terrorists faster than our military can kill them."

So the US and its "ally" Britain, are about to start a localized war which they both know could turn into a major regional conflagration within days or even hours, which would probably go nuclear as well. Maybe they’re counting on that.

Will this pending conflagration continue to be unprovoked as it is now? Or will another "triggering event" be needed to fan the flames? Will it be a "natural" event by the "enemy", or will it be a "set-up" event...like some historians say Pearl Harbor was that got America into war with Japan…or the sinking of the Lusitania, which Winston Churchill had a hand in…that got the USA involved in W.W.I in Europe?

Is it a worldwide plot to collapse the banking system and take over? Or is the New World Order just going to bring down "The West" and its financial system? Are they trying to precipitate a worldwide economic and financial crisis where they can "suggest" introducing a "world currency" and a "world government" that would solve all the world’s "problems"? Or is it just a second-string president trying to finish the job in Iraq that his second-string father left behind?

Or is it just "the boys" who are trying to save themselves from the last 15 years of corporate, financial and government malfeasance that they have imposed on their own citizens, as well as the citizens of the rest of the world?

Is it one of the above...none of the above...or a little of each? The purpose of this essay is not to give a definitive answer, but play an international game of "Let's Make a Deal" without Monty Hall around, and with just a couple of more doors to chose from. You pick...because I'm not sure. I’m just bringing all this up to alert the reader that while our attention is being diverted by this "nuke Saddam" frenzy, the real power game may be happening somewhere else, by someone else.

But I can tell you this. The United States is "marching off to war" in one hell of a hurry and I just have to ask…WHY????

I leave you with the words of a long since departed leader, Julius Caesar, in a similar circumstance that led to "The Fall of the Roman Empire." To give credit where credit is due, I stole this shamelessly from a post by Barnacle Bob on Gold Eagle just a few weeks ago. But since it's not his quote, I'm sure he won't mind.

"Beware the leader who bangs the drums of war in order to whip the citizenry into a patriotic fervor, for patriotism is indeed a double-edged sword. It both emboldens the blood, just as it narrows the mind. And when the drums of war have reached a fever pitch, and the blood boils with hate and the mind has closed, the leader will have no need in seizing the rights of the citizenry. Rather, the citizenry, infused with fear and blinded by patriotism, will offer up all of their rights unto the leader and gladly so. How do I know? For this is what I have done. And I am Caesar."
Caesar

These are not the only words of wisdom from "Barnacle Bob". This above quote was immediately followed by what the Supreme Court had to say in Miranda vs. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436 (1966) (USSC+). It speaks right to the heart of what is wrong with corporate and financial America today.

"Decency, security and liberty alike demand that government officials shall be subjected to the same (page #480) rules of conduct that are commands to the citizen. In a government of laws, existence of the government will be imperiled if it fails to observe the law scrupulously. Our government is the potent, the omnipresent teacher. For good or ill, it teaches the whole people by its example. Crime is contagious. If the government becomes a lawbreaker, it breeds contempt for law; it invites every man to become a law unto himself; it invites anarchy. To declare that, in the administration of the criminal law, the end justifies the means…would bring terrible retribution. Against that pernicious doctrine this Court should resolutely set its face."

All thoughts of these have been cast aside and long forgotten in the past fifteen years of corporate and government financial malfeasance…but now the war drums that sound for Iraq grow louder by the day. Words such as these, in those previous two quotes, will come back to haunt the good citizens of our neighbour to the south in the months and years ahead.

After the events of 9/11, some of America’s freedom quietly disappeared. The next "event" on U.S. soil will see a huge chunk of the rest of America’s freedoms go the same route.

If Thomas Jefferson, John Adams and Andrew Jackson were alive today, they would be appalled. As the old saying goes…"those who forget history are doomed to repeat it." It’s hard to believe that all these problems we have today boil down to the fact that the politicians and central bankers of the world could not bide by the constraints that were imposed upon them by the gold standard.

The world that emerges from what’s coming down the pipe will not be as safe or as certain as the one we have now; and whatever form it takes, we aren’t going to like it one bit.

My biggest fear is that the same hands (that are attempting to stoke this patriotic bonfire to an incandescent white heat) may entice her citizens to turn this conflagration into a funeral pyre for the Constitution of the United States.

However, before they get sweet talked into giving this Great Document the old "heave ho", they should consider the words of that great American patriot, Patrick Henry…"THE CONSTITUTION IS NOT AN INSTRUMENT FOR THE GOVERNMENT TO RESTRAIN THE PEOPLE, BUT RATHER IT IS AN INSTRUMENT FOR THE PEOPLE TO RESTRAIN THEIR GOVERNMENT."

But any way you slice it or dice it, the western world’s economies and its associated financial system are on their last legs. You and I know that they can’t keep the old apple cart up and going around the track forever, because sooner or later something is going to blow up in their faces. The "Powers That Be" know it too. It will all end badly, and you can start counting the days as of right now.