Marc Rich, Lonely and Cold, Dies in Hiding

Marc Rich

"[Marc Rich] a beautifully sinister executive who could frame deals with the artistry of a pool shark"~~author, A. Craig Copetas.

"Marc Rich is to asset concealment what Babe Ruth was to baseball,"~~Arthur J. Roth, New York state commissioner of Taxation and Finance.

To his critics, he was a white-collar criminal, a serial sanctions breaker... who admits to bribing officials in countries such as Nigeria and to assisting the Israeli intelligence agency, Mossad.

LUCERNE, Switzerland (Reuters) - Billionaire Marc Rich, who invented oil trading and was pardoned by President Bill Clinton over tax evasion, racketeering and busting sanctions with Iran, died on Wednesday in Switzerland aged 78...

Belgian-born Rich, whose trading group eventually became the global commodities powerhouse Glencore Xstrata, died in hospital from a stroke, spokesman Christian Koenig said.

At the cream-painted, red-roofed villa, with views of the nearby mountains and grounds sloping down to the banks of the lake, security guards and other staff could be seen but there was no sign of family members.

"He will be brought to Israel for burial," Avner Azulay, managing director of the Marc Rich Foundation, said by telephone. Rich will be buried on Thursday at Kibbutz Einat cemetery near Tel Aviv.

Many of the biggest players in oil and metals trading trace their roots back to the swashbuckling Rich, whose triumph in the 1970s was to pioneer a spot market for crude oil, wresting business away from the world's big oil groups.

To his critics, he was a white-collar criminal, a serial sanctions breaker, whom they accused of building a fortune trading with revolutionary Iran, Muammar Gaddafi's Libya, apartheid-era South Africa, Nicolae Ceausescu's Romania, Fidel Castro's Cuba and Augusto Pinochet's Chile.

In interviews with journalist Daniel Ammann for his biography, "The King of Oil", the normally obsessively secretive Rich admitted to bribing officials in countries such as Nigeria and to assisting the Israeli intelligence agency, Mossad.

Explaining Rich's route to riches in an interview with Reuters in 2010, Ammann said: "He was faster and more aggressive than his competitors. He was able to recognize trends and seize opportunities before other traders. And he went where others feared to tread - geographically and morally."

A U.S. government web site once described Rich more simply, as "a white male, 177 centimeters in height ... wanted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the U.S. Customs Service and the U.S. Marshall Service." In 1983, he was on the FBI's 10 most wanted list indicted for tax evasion, fraud and racketeering. At the time, it was the biggest tax evasion case in U.S. history...

"Marc Rich is to asset concealment what Babe Ruth was to baseball," said Arthur J. Roth, New York state commissioner of taxation and finance.

He remained under threat of a life sentence in a U.S. jail until Clinton pardoned him during the last chaotic days of his presidency, a move that provoked moral outrage and bewilderment amongst some politicians.

Clinton later said he regretted granting the pardon, calling it "terrible politics."

"It wasn't worth the damage to my reputation," he told Newsweek magazine in 2002.

Rudolph Giuliani, a former New York mayor and a prosecutor on the Rich case, said: "I'm shocked that the president of the United States would pardon him."

Clinton said the fact that Rich's ex-wife, Denise, had donated funds for his presidential library was not a factor, but he had acted partly in response to a request from Israel...

In one biography, "Metal Men: Marc Rich and the 10-billion-dollar Scam," author A. Craig Copetas described Rich as "a beautifully sinister executive who could frame deals with the artistry of a pool shark".

Rich inherited his business acumen from his father, who became a millionaire by setting up an agricultural trading firm after emigrating to the United States.

Rich, who was born Marcell David Reich in Antwerp on December 18, 1934, started his career at Philipp Brothers, a top global commodities trader after World War Two.

Thought for Today

“The word treason has been batted around in recent days, [but] we need to ask who has betrayed who?… Is this [Snowden’s revelations] betraying the citizens of the world, or betraying some elites that are in power in a certain country?”~~~Ricardo Patino, Ecuador's Foreign Minister.

Obama, War Criminal???

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Junkie USA: 70 Percent Of Americans On Prescription Drugs

“However, the second most common prescription was for antidepressants — that suggests mental health is a huge issue and is something we should focus on. And the third most common drugs were opioids, which is a bit concerning considering their addicting nature.”~~~Dr. St. Sauver, in his Mayo Press Release.

Researchers find that nearly 70 percent of Americans are on at least one prescription drug, and more than half receive at least two prescriptions.

Mayo Clinic researchers report that antibiotics, antidepressants and painkiller opioids are the most common prescriptions given to Americans. Twenty percent of U.S. patients were also found to be on five or more prescription medications.

The study is uncovering valuable information to the researchers about U.S. prescription practices.

“Often when people talk about health conditions they’re talking about chronic conditions such as heart disease or diabetes,” Dr. St. Sauver stated in a Mayo Clinic press release. “However, the second most common prescription was for antidepressants — that suggests mental health is a huge issue and is something we should focus on. And the third most common drugs were opioids, which is a bit concerning considering their addicting nature.”

Nearly one in four women ages 50-64 were found to be on an antidepressant, with 13 percent of the overall population also on antidepressants. Seventeen percent of people in the study were being prescribed antibiotics, and 13 percent were on painkilling opioids.

As a whole, women and older adults received the most prescription drugs. Antidepressants and opioids were most common among young and middle-aged adults.

The percentage of people who took at least one prescription drug in the past month increased from 44 percent in 1999-2000 to 48 percent in 2007-08, the Mayo Clinic reports. Expenditures on prescription drugs reached $250 billion in 2009, and accounted for 12 percent of total personal health care expenditures.

According to the CDC, the percent of persons using at least one prescription drug in the past month increased nearly 50 percent between 2007 and 2010.

And the researchers said prescription drug spending will only increase in the future.

********
Cocaine Use

According to The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), in 2010, the regions with a high prevalence of cocaine use remained North America (1.6 per cent), Western and Central Europe (1.3 per cent) and Oceania (1.5-1.9 per cent) — the latter effectively reflecting its use in Australia and New Zealand.

North America and Western and Central Europe remain the two main regions in terms of their high numbers of cocaine users, with nearly one quarter of global estimated cocaine users in Western and Central Europe (4.2 million past-year cocaine users) and more than one third in North America (5 million cocaine users).

Opioids

North America (3.8-4.2 per cent), Oceania (2.3-3.4 per cent) and Eastern Europe and South-Eastern Europe (1.2 - 1.3 per cent) are the regions with a higher than global average prevalence of opioid users. It is important to note, however, that in North America and Oceania prescription opioids are used more than heroin, whereas in Eastern Europe and South-Eastern Europe, opiates (heroin and to a lesser extent, “kompot”) are the main concern (prevalence of opiate use is estimated at 0.8 per cent).

Ecstasy

While “ecstasy” use had previously been declining, it appears that it started to increase in 2010. In Europe, overall trends in “ecstasy” use have remained stable but recent reports indicate an increase in the purity of “ecstasy” available in Europe and a possible resurgence in its use. European studies suggest that patterns of “ecstasy” use are becoming increasingly divergent and show higher prevalence of “ecstasy” use among club goers in comparison with such use among the general population.

In the United States, there are reports of a resurgence in “ecstasy” use among 12th grade students, in particular; however, there is a declining trend in the use of “ecstasy” in Australia (from 3.5 per cent in 2007 to 3.0 per cent in 2010).

Resources: CBS Atlanta, The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC)

Because They Know

Warren Buffet

After the massive crash that rocked global markets in 2008, as Congress, central bankers and major financial institutions met in secret to mitigate the crisis, billionaires like Warren Buffet were buying up shares of some of the hardest hit companies.

At the time, the world was literally on the brink of an unprecedented economic collapse. It was so serious, in fact, that members of Congress were told that should they fail to come to an agreement the fallout would leave the United States in such a state of disarray that martial law would be declared and tanks would be deployed to major American cities.

In the midst of it all, as if they had a private pipeline into the bailout meetings, the big boys were positioning themselves to profit. And profit they did, as the stock market rose from 6500 points in late 2008 to record highs as recently as last month. They made billions of dollars on the backs of bailouts funded by taxpayers who were themselves struggling to pay their mortgages and put food on the table.

They knew then what their friends at the Federal Reserve, Treasury and investment banks were planning to do. And they took the opportunity to make a killing.

Now, with the stock market indicating to the masses that the promised recovery has taken hold, and with mainstream analysts arguing that happy days are here again, those same moguls of finance who were undoubtedly tipped off in 2008, are making some very big moves yet again.

But these particular moves are exactly the opposite of what you might expect given that we’re at the beginning of a supposed recovery:

Despite the 6.5% stock market rally over the last three months, a handful of billionaires are quietly dumping their American stocks . . . and fast.

Warren Buffett, who has been a cheerleader for U.S. stocks for quite some time, is dumping shares at an alarming rate. He recently complained of “disappointing performance” in dyed-in-the-wool American companies like Johnson & Johnson, Procter & Gamble, and Kraft Foods.

In the latest filing for Buffett’s holding company Berkshire Hathaway, Buffett has been drastically reducing his exposure to stocks that depend on consumer purchasing habits. Berkshire sold roughly 19 million shares of Johnson & Johnson, and reduced his overall stake in “consumer product stocks” by 21%. Berkshire Hathaway also sold its entire stake in California-based computer parts supplier Intel.

With 70% of the U.S. economy dependent on consumer spending, Buffett’s apparent lack of faith in these companies’ future prospects is worrisome.

Unfortunately Buffett isn’t alone.


Fellow billionaire John Paulson, who made a fortune betting on the subprime mortgage meltdown, is clearing out of U.S. stocks too. During the second quarter of the year, Paulson’s hedge fund, Paulson & Co., dumped 14 million shares of JPMorgan Chase. The fund also dumped its entire position in discount retailer Family Dollar and consumer-goods maker Sara Lee.

Finally, billionaire George Soros recently sold nearly all of his bank stocks, including shares of JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup, and Goldman Sachs. Between the three banks, Soros sold more than a million shares.

So why are these billionaires dumping their shares of U.S. companies?

From Money News via StanDeyo.com

The simple answer is… they know.

They know that this market has been propped up by trillion dollar infusions from the Federal Reserve.

They know that Americans have lost 55% of their wealth since this crisis started.

They know nearly 25% of Americans are out of work (as opposed to the official 7.5% figures from the BLS) and that no meaningful jobs are being created.

They know that half of American households require government assistance, 100 million people are on welfare and nearly a quarter of them need nutritional assistance to put food on the table..

They know that the economic growth rates being disseminated to the people are completely bogus because they fail to account for the inflationary impact of the Fed’s monetary expansion.

They know this is wholly unsustainable, and they are getting out of Dodge before the next phase of this crisis takes hold and hammers the world yet again.

Ben Bernanke’s magic show will soon come to an end, and all of his tricks will be exposed for the statistical illusions they really are.

Billionaires know this and they are preparing for the inevitable. The government, likewise, is preparing for financial collapse and the potential for widespread violence that will follow.

You should be doing the same.

Sultan with a Gas Mask



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A Curse For Erdogan

Tai Yippie Kai Yay (motherfucker!) Erdogan has got an RSVP to one of The Pit's, Erdogan specific ghettos; the inferno's equivalent to East St. Louis. What a despicable creature you are Erdogan. What a vile mockery upon the human estate. You should be drilled through the ankles like Hector and dragged by a chariot around the circumference of Istanbul. One can only hope that the hand of the cosmos, delivers you into the hands of the populace.

Here are crimes that warrant the Braveheart treatment. You ruthless and depraved sonofabitch! You have put yourself on a par with Henry Kissinger and Benjamin Shitwityahoo. You are, plainly and truthfully speaking, a monster in the camouflage of human form. Those who serve you, are an extension of your will and, God willing, will share your fate. I note that I was not amiss in referring to you as a wannabe sultan yesterday.

You shall reap the whirlwind, Erdogan. You have damned yourself and wiped away all of the good you ever accomplished. You are a maggot in the afterbirth of these terrible times. I cannot find the words to fittingly portray you. You have impressed me in all the worst ways. May you be taken soon, you and all of your peers, who presently commit outrage after outrage, upon those you were put into the position to 'serve and protect'; like your American counterparts in their brutal excesses.

They should be branded on their foreheads with the words, 'Made in Israel' because that is who is training them, by fiat of Howdy Doody Obama and his predecessor. What takes place within you now, you unfortunate soul? Do you reflect upon and contemplate what has been done on your orders? You will come to know the meaning of the word 'wrath', I promise you.

May your countrymen make a regular pilgrimage to piss on your grave. May the ingenious among your 'subjects' go immediately to Istanbul's oldest graveyard and dig you a grave, attended by a headstone and left open and waiting for the occupant. Let it be videoed and published round the world.

“Bring me the head of Erdogan”, sings the invisible judge, “bring me that poisonous, toxic head. Let a candle be lit and set atop it, in memory of the numbered dead. Let the head be set on a mound of dung, this headless man who should have been hung, drawn and quartered, flogged and whipped, then set on fire like flaming shit, until half past midnight on a frozen clock.

Tick tock, tick tock, go the hours and minutes till your fitting end. Toss the body to the scavengers to tear and rend. You whore of Ersatz Israel. You will surely burn in Hell”~~~Les Visible; Reflections in a Petri Dish.

Looking back... at things said in the light of today


“It is axiomatic that the principal purpose of government is the welfare of the people. It is this welfare that gives meaning to governance. Broadly, the peoples’ welfare can be defined in terms of life, liberty and property. Life must be sustained and protected, liberty must be assured and defended, property must be guaranteed and secured” Gani Fawehinmi, Senior Advocate of Nigeria's masses.

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Nestle Folds to Consumer Pressure over GMOs in South Africa



Nestle has gone on record in South Africa as saying that “it took consumer preferences into consideration and therefore all its infant cereals in South Africa used non-GM maize”, the African Centre for Biosafety (ACB) announced Friday.

“This can only be a result of the action that so many…took last year after we released the results showing that Nestle’s Cerelac Honey contained 77.65% GM Maize. This is a victory indeed!” ACB continued.

ACB recently released results of tests conducted on 7 baby formulas and cereals, by an independent and accredited GM testing laboratory. The results reveal that Purity baby cereals contain extremely high levels of GM content whereas Nestlé’s infant formulas and cereal indicate that Nestle appears to be going GM free. Aspen’s infant formulas also indicate GM avoidance. Shockingly, comparisons also reveal that Purity’s GM baby cereals cost 250% more than non-GM cereals, exploding the myth that GM free food is an expensive and impractical luxury.

PURITY’S BABY CEREALS

Purity’s Cream of Maize tested positive as containing 56.25% GM maize; and Purity’s Purity Baby First tested positive as containing 71.47% GM maize.

Neither of these baby foods were labeled as containing products derived from genetically modified maize. This is not the first time that Purity’s Cream of Maize cereal tested positive for GM. In 2008, consumer watchdog SAFeAGE revealed the product to contain more than 24% GM maize.

“Why has Purity not labeled its products? By failing to label, Purity has acted disingenuously and deprived parents of crucial information about their baby’s nutrition. Adult consumers in SA do not want to eat GM food, much less feed their babies with GM cereals, given that the safety of GM food is highly questionable” said Zakkiya Ismail, ACB’s Labeling Campaign Co-ordinator.

Purity has a long history of producing and marketing jarred baby food in South Africa. Food giant, Tiger Brands owns Purity. Tiger Brands was fined R98.8 million (roughly $10 million) in 2007 by the Competition Commission for colluding with other bread producers in a bread price fixing scandal. Tiger Brand products are ubiquitous and account for around 15% of goods sold at every major retailer in the country. Its products include popular brands such as Ace Maize Meal, Albany Bread, All Gold Tomato Sauce, Black Cat Peanut Butter, and Koo bottled and canned food.

NESTLE’S INFANT FORMULAS AND CEREAL

Last year, the ACB tested Nestlé’s baby cereal Cerelac Honey, which contained 77.65% GM maize. This resulted in a huge public outcry. Now, the test results indicate a deliberate effort on the part of Nestle to avoid the use of GMOs in its baby products containing maize and soya products, as its formulas, Nan Pelargon and NAN AR Infant are both GM free. Nestlé’s Mixed Cereal, comprising of maize flour, contained extremely low levels of GM maize and GM soya that would not have triggered labeling. Curiously, however, soya is not listed as an ingredient on the packaging.
These results indicate that Nestlé is not using ingredients or products derived from GMOs in their baby cereals, and considering that 72% of maize grown in South Africa is GM, Nestlé must indeed be trying to avoid it. The traces of GM found in its cereal may well be attributable to contamination along the value chain. “Is Nestlé’ giving in to the demands of South African consumers?” asked Ismail.

NESTLÉ’S DOUBLE STANDARDS

The test results contrast starkly with Nestlé’s pro-GM stance, and its donation of $1.2 million to support an anti-GM labeling initiative in California last year. On 3rd May 2013, Nestlé’ was reported as having dismissed calls by US consumer groups for it to refrain from using GM ingredients in its baby formulas in the US.1 ”We call upon Nestlé’ to stop using double standards, and desist from using GM ingredients in all its food products, in all countries, as it does in European countries” said Ismail.

HUGE PRICE DISPARITY

The ACB is shocked to learn that Purity’s GM-laden cereals are 250% more expensive than Nestlé’s baby cereal that contains only traces of GM contamination. “This belies the claim of the food and biotech industry that segregation of GM and non-GM grains along the value chain and the labeling of GM products will dramatically increase costs, which will inevitably be passed on to the consumer. It appears as if Nestlé has found a way to either absorb such costs, if indeed they do exist, or source non-GM maize economically” said Mariam Mayet, Director of the ACB.

ASPEN’S INFANT FORMULAS

Nestlé’ is not alone in its avoidance of GMOs. Aspen’s Infacare Infant was tested to be GM free, and its InfaCare Gold Soya 1 to contain very low traces of GM maize and soya, also indicating possible contamination along the value chain. Multi-national company Aspen is a supplier of branded and generic pharmaceuticals and infant nutritional products. It recently bought Nestlé’s interest in Pfizer to distribute a portfolio of infant formulas to several countries in Africa.

“These latest findings make a mockery of the ‘beggars can’t be choosers’ argument of the pro-GM machinery in their opposition to GM labeling. They can no longer peddle the myth that the provision of non-GM food is an onerous luxury we cannot afford” said Mayet.

South Africans have been eating GM maize, soya and products preserved or containing GM cotton-seed oil for more than a decade without even knowing it. This is because up until 2011 there was no obligation to label GM foods and provide consumers with information to make a choice. This changed in October 2011 when the Consumer Protection Act came into force. According to the law, all foods containing 5% or more GM content must be labeled. Despite this law, only a handful of companies are beginning to label, the majority are not.

In March 2012, the ACB had four products tested for GM content: Cerelac Honey infant cereal, Wheat Free Pronutro, Impala Maize Meal and Future Life Energy Meal. Very high levels of GM content were found yet none of these products were labeled. It emerged that according to the food industry, it felt that it was not under any legal obligation to label GM food because the Consumer Protection Act is not clear as to whether the law applies to processed food.

The Consumer Goods Council of South Africa claimed that the labeling laws only apply to live GMOs such as whole kernels of maize. This view means that the majority of the food derived from GMOs on our market will not be labeled. This precipitated widespread consumer pressure on food producers and the government to ensure immediate labeling.

On the 9 October 2012 the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) published draft amendments to the regulations governing the labeling of GM food. According to the draft amendments, all locally produced and imported food containing 5% or more GM ingredients or components must be labeled as “contains genetically modified ingredients or components”. The proposed amendments convey the clear intention of government that the food industry must now step up to the plate and label their products. The final regulations have to date, however, not yet been promulgated.

Nevertheless, several products derived from GMOs are being labeled:

**Pioneer’s Sasko bread is labeled as “soyabean produced using genetic modification”
**Premier’s IWISA maize is labeled as “contains genetically modified organisms”
**Pioneer (Sasko’s) Food’s White Star maize meal is labeled as “produced using genetic modification”
**Pioneer Food’s (Bokomo’s) corn flakes are labeled as “corn 90% (genetically modified)”

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