17 Jan 2012

Second MF Global Unveiled As Canadian Regulator Accuses Barret Capital Of Commingling Client Funds


Tyler Durden's picture
When we learned of the MF Global client theft scandal, in the aftermath of its sudden bankruptcy filing, the one thing we predicted would happen (in addition to Jon Corzine never going to prison) was that many more brokers, banks and broadly financial intermediaries would be discovered having dipped in client accounts, or otherwise "commingled" capital in direct violation of the first rule of banking. Sure enough, a little over two months since, the second notable company to have been alleged to have abused client capital for own purposes has emerged. And it comes to us courtesy of sleep Canada whose "banks are all fine." As the Winnipeg Free Press reports, "One of Canada's investment regulators has accused Barret Capital Management, a firm specialized in futures and options on metals and other exchange-traded commodities, of using client money for its own purposes. The Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada warned Monday that Barret clients are at risk due to the firm's "ongoing misappropriation of their money to fund losing trades and ongoing misinformation about the value and holdings in their accounts." IIROC has set a hearing for Tuesday morning to suspend Barret's membership in the organization and stop Barret from dealing with the public. In requesting the expedited hearing, the regulator alleged Barret made "significant misrepresentations to clients including through manipulating account values, misrepresenting account values and holdings by way of false account statements or otherwise providing false information to clients and by manipulating on and off book payments to clients." Where the story gets even more interesting is when one takes a look at just what it is that the company engages in, and how it fits into the scenario analysis conducted in the MF Global aftermath.
From the company's blog, which has all about 5 entries:
Barret Capital is an Investment Dealer that specializes in futures and options on metals, energies and all other Exchange-traded commodities, located in Toronto Ontario.
And the website's About Us section:
Dedicated to guiding commodity investors in Canada to safer, more focused investments in hard assets like gold and silver

Buying hard assets like gold and silver will protect you from the instability of today's market place. As a member of the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada and the Canadian Investors Protection Fund, we are a full service boutique firm dedicated to guiding novice and experienced commodity investors in Canada towards smart investments, including buying and selling gold, silver and other hard assets.

Our expert brokers, staff and management will guide you from beginning to end, ensuring that you become an educated commodities trader who makes more profitable trades in the exploding gold, silver and commodities market.

We offer our commodity investors in Canada the following services:

    Buying and selling gold, silver, and other commodities
    Buying in derivatives or hard assets
    Providing on-demand market quotes
    Offering delivery and storage options
    Placing stop-loss orders
    Offering online account views
    Providing regular research reports
    Consulting from bullion specialists
    Liquidating holdings

If you are a commodities investor in Canada, contact us today to learn more on how buying and selling gold and silver can help you profit from a booming commodities marketplace.
And finally, per the President's message, the fallout may next impact carrying broker Laurentian Bank:
At Barret Capital Management Inc., we pride ourselves in being a full service, commodities futures Investment Dealer located in the heart of Toronto, Ontario. The decision to choose Laurentian Bank Securities as our carrying broker was an integral one, as Barret Capital Management Inc. is able to provide its clients with the best of two worlds: personal attention to your financial objectives that you'd expect from a boutique commodities futures firm, along with the breadth of knowledge, information and integrity that a large carrying full service brokerage bank can provide.

Our Toronto commodities futures brokerage is special because we believe in building real relationships with our clients. At the end of the day, taking care of your individual interest is at the core of everything we do.
What all this means is that as expected MF Global may have been the first, but certainly will not be the last, to use client capital to prop up its books. And while Barret is not Goldman, it is merely the next company which could no longer perpetuate the lie. Of course, the bigger one is, the harder it is to be caught. Once caught, however, the ripple effects spread fast and furious. 
In Barret's case, this latest incursion in fiduciary duty will simply make paper investors even more skeptical of keeping precious metal "investments" in a paper intermediary, something we warned about when we discussed the fallout from MF Global on HSBC gold claims. Because those too are just the beginning.
Finally, while still unclear what the premise behind the regulatory allegation is, readers will recall our final warning that as in MF Global's case, the fundamental weakest link in the system, was the rehypothecation of assets to make funding appear sufficient and credible, when in reality it is nothing but hot air.  Specifically, we said: "Canadian banks, which as it also turns out, defended themselves against Zero Hedge allegations they may well be the next shoes to drop, as being strong and vibrant, yet which have all the same if not far greater risk factors as MF Global."
This was merely the first. We expect many more, Canadian, and otherwise banks, to follow suit, in a world in which broker funding is virtually nonexistent at this moment. Source

Why you don't tip in Iceland.

Iran to return US secret drone... as a toy

Reports say the US is to get its top secret surveillance drone back from Iran. The catch is, the device, intercepted in December, has been reduced to 1:80 of its original size and is being marketed as a popular toyIranian state radio was quoted by Associated Press as saying on Tuesday that the US RQ-170 Sentinel stealth drone toy models would soon be on sale in Tehran. 
They are expected to sell for 70,000 rials – around US$4. One of the models will even make it to the White House in response to a formal request from Washington last month asking Iran to return the top-secret device. 
State radio reports that the model will be of the original aircraft, but one eightieth of the actual size. The top secret US drone was intercepted over the Iranian town of Kashmar, some 225 kilometers from Iran’s border with Afghanistan, in early December. Engineers with the Iranian military confirmed they had managed to hijack the system inside the craft with ease and bring it to a safe landing without incident. Since then, the Obama administration has asked Iran to return the drone, but Tehran has refused, claiming that its incursion into Iranian airspace had rendered it Iran’s property. Reports also suggest the trophy might be put on public display after a thorough examination, and in a year or two it may be put up for auction. Source
Angelo: 70,000 rials, more like UK£4, €5 or US$6;)


Additional:

TEHRAN — For the American government, the crash of the RQ-170 drone in Iran was an embarrassment. For the Iranian government, it was a propaganda victory. And for at least one company, according to state radio, it could be a windfall. An Iranian firm, seeking to capitalize on the frenzy that followed the crash of the drone — and American calls to have it returned — is now producing miniaturized toy versions of the craft. Most of the toys, which come in several colors and are made of Iranian plastic, have already been snapped up by Iranian government organizations, according to the group that manufactures them. At least one model — a pink one — has been reserved for President Obama. “He said he wanted it back, and we will send him one,” said Reza Kioumarsi, the head of cultural production at the Ayeh Art group. Ayeh Art group designs “cultural products” — mugs with verses of the Koran printed on them, for instance, and small buttons picturing mosques. This month, the firm began producing a 1:80 scaled model of the RQ-170, the sophisticated drone that was being operated by the CIA when it crashed in eastern Iran. The firm is now making 2,000 of them a day. “This is not made in China,” Kioumarsi stressed. The toys come with a transparent plastic stand emblazoned with a quotation from Ayatollah Khomeini, the founder of the Islamic Republic: “We will put America under our feet.” The products made by Ayeh Art Group are not widely known in Tehran, but Kioumarsi said he was confident that the model drones would sell like hotcakes. The Iranian government, meantime, has shown no indication that it will be returning the real RQ-170 to the United States. Last week, the Foreign Ministry demanded an apology first. Source

MR. DAISEY AND THE APPLE FACTORY





Ron Paul Latest Debate Highlights +

Economics of Suicide - Keiser Report


The great unmentionables: Ron Paul, Vermin Supreme and blackstonesucks.com. In the second half of the show, Max and Stacy discuss Treasury Secretary Geithner trying to coax China into committing economic suicide and learning your maths in America by counting slaves. Source

Reggie Middleton: State Education - An army of slaves or a slave army of rule followers


Excerpts from Capital Account's Interview of Reggie Middleton & his views on education, class struggle and the dumbing down of America. Reggie uses his 5 year old daughter as an example of someone who was labeled as unable to read at advanced kindergarten level, yet somehow can parse emails from PhDs, MBAs and other clients of Reggie's BoomBustBlog.
Even if you have seen this popular interview with Lauren Lyster already, this remix is well worth your time.
The first 3 and a half minutes are quite telling.... Source


Angelo: "An army of slaves or a slave army of rule followers." having some experience of the difference in the quality and type of UK education, I found that statement to be a powerful crystallisation of my own view. Even in private education there is a difference in the intent. I saw a good example of this in the difference of the quality of teaching and curriculum in sciences. In the best school, science was taught for 'O' levels as three distinct subjects, physics, chemistry and biology, whereas in the worst school under a name I do not recall for unified sciences there simply appeared a basic diagram of the internal combustion engine and that was the study for that week! Leaders and free thinkers or car mechanics and menial workers? I have much respect for Reggie and am inclined to believe that he is pointing to the US parallel. Our countries share these issues.

After the downgrades comes the downward spiral - Wolfgang Münchau


In the wake of the collective downgrading of 9 eurozone countries, including France, it’s become clear that the EU’s policy of rescue funds coupled with fiscal austerity has exhausted itself. Its time for Angela Merkel and her partners to find a credible outcome, writes Wolfgang Münchau.
At the end of a briefly euphoric week, reality caught up.
On one level, Friday’s news was not really surprising. The French rating downgrade was a shock foretold. As was the breakdown in talks between private investors and the Greek government about a voluntary participation in a debt writedown. A proposition that was unrealistic to start with has been rejected. We should not feign surprise.
And yet both events are important because they show us the mechanism behind this year’s likely unfolding of events. The eurozone has fallen into a spiral of downgrades, falling economic output, rising debt and further downgrades. A recession has just started. Greece is now likely to default on most of its debts and may even have to leave the eurozone. When that happens, the spotlight will fall immediately on Portugal, and the next contagious round of downgrades will begin.
Europe’s insufficient rescue fund, the European Financial Stability Facility, now also faces a downgrade because it had borrowed its ratings from its members. The way the EFSF is constructed means that its effective lending capacity will thus be reduced. Even though the French downgrade did not come as a surprise, the eurozone member states have no plan B for this, just a few stopgap emergency scenarios. They may decide to run the EFSF and its permanent successor concurrently. They may also provide the latter with a full immediate allotment of its capital. But this will create gaps in national budgets in a bad year.
By downgrading France and Austria but not Germany and the Netherlands, Standard & Poor’s also managed to shape expectations of the economic geography of an eventual break-up. A downgrading of all triple A rated members would have been much easier to deal with politically. Germany is now the only large country left with a triple A rating. The decision will make it harder for Germany to accept eurozone bonds. The ratings wedge between France and Germany will make the relationship even more unbalanced. Read full article in Financial Times – registered users... Source
COUNTERPOINT

An anti-democratic intrusion

The far-reaching downgrade of nine Eurozone countries by Standard & Poor's is "as cheeky as it is contradictory," says German dailySüddeutsche Zeitung. "A monopoly is throwing stones at the policies of democratically elected governments," the paper says, calling for greater responsibility from these "self-appointed reviewers". For the paper:
The agency has launched its message, which no one had asked for, at the right time, two weeks before the next EU summit: 'Do as we tell you. You have no choice.' It has not hesitated to put the euro club at the same level as developing countries. Whoever lends money to Italy or Spain runs the same risk as if the money were sent to India, to Columbia or to the Bahamas. That is absurd, it is ridiculous. [...] But there is something more dangerous. Standard & Poor's [...] is trying to intervene directly in European policy. That is not the job of a rating agency. The Americans are pushing continental Europeans more and more to adopt Anglo-American principles in their economic and financial policies. In other words, to print money when needed in order to save banks and to initiate stimulus programmes. Whoever does not do so gets a bad rating.

The Road to the Gold Standard - Lew Lehrman

Historian Lew Lehrman explains how the U.S. could realistically return to gold-based currency. Source

Ennio Morricone - Ecstasy of Gold


'Guerrilla assault on Iran well underway'

The military showdown in the Persian Gulf seems even more inevitable, with the UK foreign secretary not ruling out military action against Iran. Applying even more pressure to the country, Europe may ban Iranian oil imports by the end of the month. Chris Bambery, London-based political analyst talks to RT suggesting there is already an ongoing guerrilla assault on the Islamic state. Source

Modern America: Occupy the Dream?

Four months after Occupy Wall Street grew into a nationwide phenomenon, America's Occupy activists plan to descend on Capitol Hill to “Occupy Congress” on Tuesday in what organizers hope could be the movement's largest gathering yet. A press release posted on the movement’s Facebook page pledges "the largest national unification of Occupiers to date." "Though our grievances are many, the common theme that runs through them will be amplified on the steps of Capitol Hill: corporations, special interests and money from the autocratic elite has created a government that is unable to govern for the people," the release stated. The pledge reveals how young Americans feel frustrated by the power wielded by giant corporations. For most of them, the dream of starting their own business looks set to stay just that.  Armed with college degrees and burdened with hefty student loans, they enter a marketplace dominated by giant corporations.  Robert Porter is a pharmacist. He works for a company that provides help to poisoning victims. He says he is glad to have a job that pays his bills, but sees no chance he could start a business on his own now.  “We used to be able to go out and graduate, start a business, have a drug store,” he told RT’s Gayane Chichakyan.“But I think those days are going away rapidly.  Personally, I don’t know any young pharmacists who are starting businesses like that. With competition from CVS, Rite Aid, Walmart, Target, there’s no way new pharmacists can compete and it’s a shame.” In the last few decades, thousands of independent pharmacies have been gobbled up by a handful of drugstore chains. Only a few remain, like this one which stands just a few steps away from a CVS.  Its owner says they survive because he gives his customers what big chains can’t give – a homely atmosphere.  But even dedicated pharmacists like Huseyin C. Tunc have to suffer giants stepping on their toes. Huseyin remembers how easy it was to start a pharmacy some 30 years ago.  “It was a lot easier back then to stay and survive,” he recalls. “30 years ago they could just go in and easily open a pharmacy. Now – no. Young pharmacists already come with a lot of student loans, they can’t obtain that kind of money.” His two daughters are also pharmacists. “I would much rather be in my own business, or at least a family business,” says Zeynap T. Tunc.  Most of Zeynap’s fellow graduates ended up working for big companies to at least have a steady paycheck. None of them started their own business. This is now a common tendency for the young in the US – and it’s in stark contrast to the situation in the 80’s.  Indeed, many are unable to find even a minimum of financial security.  According to a report by Peter Hart Research Associates, a quarter of workers under the age of 35 in the US cannot pay their monthly bills.  Another study shows the average net worth of those under 35 in 1984 was US$11,521, which is three times higher than the current figure of US$3,662 for the same age group.  “Millions of people’s quality of life is diminished for the profits of a handful of immense stores and corporations,” rages Richard Wolf, economics professor at New School University in New York.   For most young people in the US, starting their own business is not even a consideration. Most of them would be happy just to have a job which at least pays their bills. Many do not even have that. This is the poorest young generation in the US for decades. And the question many ask is, what kind of future can they build and what will they leave for the next generation? Source

Who are the rating agencies serving? Maximus Keiser


IMF executive Lipton has said European countries could be swept into a downward spiral of collapsing confidence, stagnant growth and rising unemployment.
Press TV interviews Max Keiser, journalist and broadcaster in Paris about the credit rating agency's role in having nations impose austerity measures on the people of Europe and the damage this is causing to sovereign nations. What follows is an approximate transcription of the interview.
Press TV: How will the downgrades affect Italy and Spain if they want to get loans?
Max Keiser: First of all, I think it's important to remember that just a year ago or so the rating agencies were telling the European nations that they needed to impose austerity or their ratings would be cut. So, the European nations imposed austerity and as a result their economies are shrinking. Now, the rating agencies are coming back to say, well, we're going to cut your ratings because your economies are shrinking because of the austerity measures that we recommended. Remember, these were the same rating agencies that only a few years ago were giving securitized packages of collateral debt obligations that were 98 percent triple C-rated junk a AA rating equivalent to the highest possible sovereign debt rating. So, clearly the rating agencies themselves are doing somebody's bidding. My guess is that they're doing the bidding of the hedge funds and the private equity groups and Wall street who need something new to trade to make the same kind of bonuses that they made over the past few years. So, by downgrading sovereign debt you increase volatility; this will create enormous trading profits for Wall Street and the City of London and that's the only real driving force here. The economies themselves have cash, that's not the problem. The issue is that they're being occupied by traders and private equity hedge funds who are playing with these countries' economies like they were toys and people are getting hurt, but, no, there's no political will to stop it.
Press TV: Let's speak about the French economy now because we know of course that the downgrading has also included France - How would it affect the French economy ahead of its first large scale bond auction we're going to be expecting on Thursday?
Max Keiser: Well, the French cost of funding today got cheaper. Bonds rallied on this news from the rating agencies. So that should tell you the disconnect between the rating agencies and reality. Anyone who plays with any stock in the rating agencies is an idiot because any European nation can issue a rating opinion on US debt and say, well, it's really BBB minus or BB minus - it's really junk. Any nation can do that and so the fact that they don't, shows you incredible asymmetry in the global banking system to favor a very small clique of hedge funds in the city and on wall Street who are simply playing trading games with these countries' sovereign debt. Unfortunately, people are getting hurt, but it's a collateral damage that they don't fact into their equations. 
Press TV: Let's refer to something said by the IMF's director manager and it's been in the news today - He said that a rise in liquidity would help banks deal with this crisis. Do you think more fiscal consolidation here is going to help?
Max Keiser: Liquidity is one of those buzz words that is used to deflect attention from insolvency. The various countries have an insolvency problem, brought about by going back to the year 2000 when Greece joined the Euro Zone, for example, Goldman Sachs hid billions of dollars of debt for them as a precursor to join the Euro and they set the stage for this crisis. Now people are suing Goldman Sachs for committing financial fraud, as they rightfully should. Liquidity or illiquidity is not the issue at all, that's just used as an excuse to create more debt that is used to create more fees that is used to create more bonuses. The problem is accountability in the banking sector. Until bankers start going to jail for committing financial fraud, the crisis will continue as I've been saying on this show for four years now.
Press TV: Do you think the Euro is doomed and would you agree that the impact would be huge, much huger maybe than the world can now perceive?
Max Keiser: Well, the Euro still has Germany and Germany benefits from the cheaper Euro in its export business... and it's Germany's call. I think Germany will tease this out for as long as it can to get the benefits of a cheaper Euro and then come in at the last moment and save the day. I think the US dollar is much more problematic. I personally own Euros and I would not touch US dollars. Now, it's important to remember that up until recently the markets used to have what are called bond vigilantes. This is when governments came in and flooded the markets with cash as they've been doing for the past few years it would be inflationary and that would be bad for the bond market. But the governments now are the biggest buyers of bonds; it's called quantitative easing. So, you no longer have bond vigilantes so you have no price signals in the bond market that tell you anything. This is what accounts for people sleeping through this crisis. The only market that seems to be aware of the crisis is the gold market, which continues to make new highs in Euros and made new highs in every single currency last year because the gold traders, or the gold vigilantes, know that these policies are going to lead to hyper inflation in many countries and the price of gold will ultimately, against all these currencies, double and triple again. Source/video

Thierry in Syria - French Journolist killed was Military Inteligence

Thierry points out some strange facts regarding the killing the of the French Journalist in Syria, and the privileged coverage afforded for the abducted 5 Iranian engineers. Source

Ron Paul Exposes EPA Landgrab! No Rule of Law

Last week the Supreme Court heard arguments in Sackett v. EPA, a case of blatant federal agency overreach and abuse of private property rights. Without any proof or reason, and no chance for appeal, the Environmental Protection Agency determined that a small single home lot was a "protected wetland." The owners, Mike and Chantell Sackett, were ordered to halt construction already underway, to remove all of the work already done, and plant trees and shrubs consistent with a wetlands environment. After making these costly changes, the Sackets then would have to wait several years for the EPA to decide if they would be allowed the use of their own property. Refusal to comply with these outrageous and arbitrary commandments would result in daily fines greater than the value of the property!
Outraged, the Sacketts sought relief through the courts, but court after court determined that they had no standing. The actions of the EPA were not subject to judicial review until a mountain of fees had already been assessed. This is just another example not only of how federal agencies wield enormous power over average citizens, but also how little practical protection our court system provides when such citizens are harmed by those agencies.
Constitutionally, when the government determines private property is needed for public use, it is taken through eminent domain. In that process the owner is due fair market value in compensation for any condemned property. The EPA not only refuses to compensate the Sacketts for effectively taking their land, they are assessing-- or threatening to assess-- ruinous penalties that greatly exceed the value of the land. They arrogantly claim the power to determine how certain property owners can use their land, while assessing fines or ordering actions that must be undertaken at the property owner's expense. All of this is done at the administrative level, with no judicial oversight. In short, the EPA does not believe the Constitution applies to them.
A decision on this case is expected this summer. My fervent hope is that the Supreme Court will thwart this rogue agency and stand up for property rights and the right of people to have their day in court when they find themselves
unwittingly accosted by the EPA. Source

"Survivalist Plans for WW3: Practical Solutions"


For those that don't know me, I'm Ed Corcoran, editor of Survivalist Magazine and survival expert. I help people learn to survive in the toughest situations and disaster scenarios. Those that I help, gain peace of mind that NO MATTER WHAT HAPPENS, they'll be able to survive anything and provide for family and friends closest to them even if they dismissed the repeated warnings. In most cases, the difference between life and death in a disaster or potentially dangerous situation can come down to seconds and having the confidence in skills necessary to think and react quickly. Source

Obama sued over indefinite detention and torture of Americans act

In the past, journalist Chris Hedges has worked for NPR, The New York Times and the Christian Science Monitor. In his latest endeavor, however, he is teaming up with an unlikely pair: a couple of attorneys that will help him take on the president.
US President Barack Obama is the target of a suit filed by Pulitzer Prize-winner Hedges, and the reasoning seems more than obvious to him. The decision to take the commander-in-chief to court comes as a response to President Obama’s December 31 signing of the National Defense Authorization Act, or NDAA, a legislation that allows the US military to detain American citizens indefinitely at off-site torture prisons like Guantanamo Bay.
Obama amended the NDAA with a signing statement on New Year's Eve, insisting that while the Act does indeed give him the power to detain his own citizens indefinitely without charge, that doesn’t mean he will do so. Specifically, Obama wrote that his administration “will not authorize the indefinite military detention without trial of American citizens.” Under another piece of legislation, however, the government is being granted the right to suspend citizenship of any American if the Enemy Expatriation Act joins the ranks of the NDAA as an atrocious act approved by the president.
“Once again, you just have to be accused of supporting hostilities which could be defined any way the government sees fit. Then the government can strip your citizenship and apply the indefinite detention section of the NDAA without the benefit of a trial,” journalist Stephen Foster Jr. wrote earlier this month of the Act.
In a blog post published on Monday to TruthDig.com, Hedges announces his effort to take Obama to court, and says his team of attorneys will challenge the president over the legality of the Authorization for Use of Military Force, a provision promised under the NDAA.
In his explanation, Hedges says the signing signals “a catastrophic blow to civil liberties.”
“I spent many years in countries where the military had the power to arrest and detain citizens without charge,” writes Hedges. “I have been in some of these jails. I have friends and colleagues who have ‘disappeared’ into military gulags. I know the consequences of granting sweeping and unrestricted policing power to the armed forces of any nation. And while my battle may be quixotic, it is one that has to be fought if we are to have any hope of pulling this country back from corporate fascism.”
Like other NDAA opponents, Hedges addresses in his explanation the issue that vague verbiage throughout the legislation creates an almost open-ended scenario for the government to grab anyone in America and put them behind bars. Instead, rather, the legislation leaves American authorities to go after anyone it can use the Act to attack.
As an international correspondent and world-renowned journalist, Hedges has traveled the globe and says he has been put in some hairy situations. Under the NDAA, he says, he might as well be considered a war criminal in the eyes of America.
Under NDAA, the military can enforce indefinite detention on anyone “who was a part of or substantially supported al-Qaeda, the Taliban or associated forces that are engaged in hostilities against the United States.” As Hedges and others point out, groups such as “associated forces” are never defined, nor are determinations like “substantially supported.”
“I have had dinner more times than I can count with people whom this country brands as terrorists,” writes Hedges.“But that does not make me one.” Regardless, any affiliation with a group branded as such could lead authorities to leap to such conclusions.
Everyone from presidential candidate Ron Paul to the American Civil Liberties Union have questioned Obama’s intentions in signing the NDAA, but Hedge’s lawsuit is the first legal filing lobbed at the president. Regardless of what the president intends by putting the NDAA into law, ACLU Executive Director Anthony Romero wrote, "Obama's action … is a blight on his legacy because he will forever be known as the president who signed indefinite detention without charge or trial into law.”
Hedges thinks he knows what those intentions are, however.
“I suspect the real purpose of this bill is to thwart internal, domestic movements that threaten the corporate state,” says Hedges. “The definition of a terrorist is already so amorphous under the Patriot Act that there are probably a few million Americans who qualify to be investigated if not locked up.” When that piece of legislation is coupled with NDAA, the end result could be catastrophic.
“I suspect it passed because the corporations, seeing the unrest in the streets, knowing that things are about to get much worse, worrying that the Occupy movement will expand, do not trust the police to protect them,” concludes Hedges. “They want to be able to call in the Army. And now they can.” Source