(Oct. 2008)

WHO REALLY OWNS YOUR  MONEY?  Part One: The DTCC and CEDE do

As the average American's wealth continues to be whittled away by tumultuous markets, the rising cost of living, and the disastrous lack of leadership being displayed in the Nation's Capitol, folks are just beginning to realize they have no idea who or what is in control of their wealth.

Many assume that the players they see and hear about on TV - like Hank Paulson, Ben Bernenke, or Alan Greenspan - work for the US Government, because that is who signed their paychecks. It is an easy mistake to make, as they look like Civil Servants in most every way: They are appointed by the President, they are confirmed by the full Congress of the United States, and they are paid with US Tax Dollars. Civil Servants then, right?

Well, no - not necessarily.

Most folks know absolutely nothing of the basic facts about how our finances are administered. They are unaware that the Federal Reserve is a privately owned company who's shareholders are not citizens nor patriots, and who have no interest in the continued success of the United States beyond what we were able to offer them as a Super Power over the better part of the last century.

Just watch as the financial power centers are slowly shifted from the United States to the far east, particularly China, who's system of government-controlled "free trade" has made them the fastest growing Empire in history. They don't have to worry about what a Congress or constituents might think, no protesters to drive by, no subpoenas to dodge. Oh, and the environmental and human rights laws...

Totalitarianism geared towards textbook Fascism is a much more favorable environment for Capitalism to thrive in than is our Representative Democracy, which has outlived it's usefulness since the development of the Multinational Conglomerate.

After years of unrestrained borrowing and spending, during which time the vast majority of our fundamental production capabilities and jobs were displaced and reestablished over-seas using subsidies provided by American tax dollars, the United States has lost it's title as the best place in the world to keep and grow your money. We have essentially lost our AAA rating with the world. We are insolvent, and the world is running on us.

How can we tell?

How about the $700BB withdrawal they are working on for Wall Street and foreign-owned banks? How about the GSE bailout? And the record number of recent trips banks have made to the discount window - the one they opened up to gamblers 9investment banks) months ago? FDIC funds for Indy Mac and others? And how many transactions like Countrywide's $11.5BB loan from the Federal Home Loan Bank System do we know about? Or all the treasuries being auctioned to provide liquidity?

And we are still borrowing and spending - just like they keep asking us to. Aren't you glad your Social Security is not in the stock market right now? They already talked us into 401K's that are quickly losing their value, both in the markets and through inflation and devaluation. And they have already tricked us into taking all the equity out of our homes to finance our lifestyles, which are lavish by world-wide standards. What freedoms and advantages we enjoy in our lives are not the norm, and those freedoms and advantages are being eroded so rapidly as to be almost imperceptible.

The false confidence that we as a people collectively hold that this State of Grace that we have enjoyed and have been blessed with for so long in this country will somehow continue unabridged for perpetuity is our hubris, and now our tragedy is realized as the final chapters of our great saga reveal our fate.

The foundations for this wholesale withdrawal of our Nation's wealth were first laid when the Federal Reserve System was developed, which will be covered in later posts. The crisis at hand today demands we look at some of the relevant parts players that are acting to subvert our Rights, our Middle Class, our National Security and the Constitution of the United States, before we get into the history.

I was worried that nihilistic, neo-liberal ‘neo-cons" were setting the stage for Fascism under some delusion called the Project for the New American Century dreamed up by the Bush family and their minions, but I was wrong. They started setting up all the mechanisms in earnest by the early 1990's under President Bill Clinton, who I always thought was too chummy with George Herbert Walker Bush-41 and was really a closet Right-Winger.

Isn't he singing McCain's praises now when he is supposed to be bucking for Obama? It will not surprise me a bit when McCain dumps Sarah Palin and announces - no, not Joe - but Hillary C as his running mate. Probably just paranoia, but I would not put it past the Clintons or old Turd-Blossom Carl Rove.

Anyway, the point is of this series is to reveal some of the "undisclosed" workings of our financial system, which as it turns out has long been an un-natural, undemocratic and un-constitutional marriage of private power and public funds for generations, and to shed some light on these unprecedented actions of our Federal Government which are technically displays of classic Fascist principles:

Various scholars attribute different characteristics to fascism, but the following elements are usually seen as its integral parts: socialism, nationalism, class collaboration, populism, militarism, totalitarianism, dictatorship, collectivism, statism, social interventionism, and economic planning... Fascist governments nationalized key industries and made massive state investments. They thought private property was to be regulated to ensure that "benefit to the community precedes benefit to the individual." They also introduced price controls and other types of economic planning measures. Fascists promoted their ideology as a "third way" between capitalism and Marxian socialism.

The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation is the biggest Bank in the World that you have probably never heard it. They happen to be the registered owners of 99% of all paper (stocks, bonds, securities, etc.). Scary, but true. And they have a perfectly good reason for it - with electronic trading, it is impossible to make timely changes to registered ownership of the paper.

The DTCC retains registered ownership while you as the peasant investor have the designation of beneficiary of the instruments. More on all of that below. First, lets see what the DTCC has to say about itself:

DTCC, through its subsidiaries, provides clearing, settlement and information services for equities, corporate and municipal bonds, government and mortgage-backed securities, money market instruments and over-the-counter derivatives. In addition, DTCC is a leading processor of mutual funds and insurance transactions, linking funds and carriers with their distribution networks.

DTCC's depository provides custody and asset servicing for 3.5 million securities issues from the United States and 110 other countries and territories, valued at $40 trillion. In 2007, DTCC settled more than $1.86 quadrillion in securities transactions.

DTCC operates through six subsidiaries - each of which serves a specific segment and risk profile within the securities industry:

National Securities Clearing Corporation (NSCC)

The Depository Trust Company (DTC)

Fixed Income Clearing Corporation (FICC)

DTCC Deriv/SERV LLC

DTCC Solutions LLC

EuroCCP Ltd.

DTCC's customer base extends to thousands of companies within the global financial services industry. DTCC serves brokers, dealers, institutional investors, banks, trust companies, mutual fund companies, insurance carriers, hedge funds and other financial intermediaries - either directly or through correspondent relationships. Increasingly, DTCC's customers operate both in the U.S. and overseas, where DTCC continues to provide them with services.

In the U.S., DTCC provides critical services to the markets for U.S. Government and mortgage-backed securities, and to all U.S. equity marketplaces, including the New York Stock Exchange, The Nasdaq Stock Market, the American Stock Exchange, and regional U.S. markets, as well as electronic trading and communications networks (ECNs).

All services provided through the clearing corporations and depository are registered with and regulated by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The depository is also a member of the U.S. Federal Reserve System and a limited purpose trust company under New York State banking law.

Wow - can you believe these guys are this central to everything that is going on and we have not heard a peep out of them? Wouldn't you think that their expertise might come in handy right now? Maybe they are - but not for the benefit of you and me.

Why is there so much secrecy in our financial system? Why is so much of the system, and our wealth, controlled by so few people who are so far removed from the law and the Constitution? And how is it they have been getting away with it for so long?

(From a 2003 article The unknown 20 trillion dollar company, and you think mine are long! So here are excerpts) About the DTCC:

Jim McNeff, Director of Training for the DTC... stated "the DTC is a brokerage clearing firm and transfer center. We're a private bank for securities. We handle the book entry transactions for all banks and brokers. Every bank and brokerage firm must secure their membership with us in case they become insolvent, so your assets are secure with DTC". Yes, you read that correctly. The DTC is a private bank that processes every stock and bond (paper securities) for all U.S. banks and brokerage houses. The big question is this; Just who gave this private bank and trust company such a broad range of financial power and clout?

This is another in the list of Federal Agencies like the IRS, FDIC, SEC, and the like who have amazingly broad powers yet little oversight by or subordination to any branch of government. Have you eve heard of an audit by the GAO of the Federal Reserve? You won't, they are not a government agency, just the "Board" and it's "Chairman" are, formerly Alan Greenspan and currently Ben Bernenke. The Federal Reserve Board are only an "advisory council" for the President and the families that own the FED, but they are not the decision makers. (More on the Fed in subsequent articles).

The reason the public doesn't know about DTC is that they're a privately owned depository bank for institutional and brokerage firms only. They process all of their book entry settlement transactions. Jim McNeff said "There's no need for the public to know about us... it's required by the Federal Reserve that DTC handle all transactions". The Federal Reserve Corporation, a/k/a The Federal Reserve System, is also a private company and is not an agency or department of our federal government, according to the 1998 Federal Registry. The Federal Reserve Board of Governors is listed, but they are not the owners. The Federal Reserve Board, headed by Mr. Alan Greenspan, is nothing more than a liaison advisory panel between the owners and the Federal Government. The FED, as they are more commonly called, mandates that the DTC process every securities transaction in the US. It's no wonder that the DTC (including the Participants Trust Company, now the Mortgage-Backed Securities Division of the DTC) is owned by the same stockholders as the Federal Reserve System. In other words, the Depository Trust Company is really just a 'front' or a division of the Federal Reserve System.

Don't we deserve to know why this is from someone, especially now, like the media or our elected officials? I guess not, so here is more:

"DTC is 35.1% owned by the New York Stock Exchange on behalf of the Exchange's members. It is operated by a separate management and has an independent board of directors. It is a limited purpose trust company and is a unit of the Federal Reserve." -New York Stock Exchange, Inc.

The banks and brokers are merely custodians for their clients. By federal law (SEC), they cannot hold any assets in the customer's name. The assets must be held in the name of DTC's holding company, CEDE & Co. That's how DTC has more than $19 trillion dollars of assets in trust... or is it really in "trust" if the private Federal Reserve System is technically holding it in their "unknown" entity's name?

Obviously, if stock and bond certificates you've purchased aren't in your name, then the "holder" (the Federal Reserve System) could theoretically refuse to surrender them back to you under a "national emergency" according to the Trading with the Enemy Act (as amended).

Between the market crash and terrorism attacks, I don't think the powers that be will have too much trouble manufacturing more "national emergencies" with which to further erode our Constitutional Rights. Remember the Patriot Act? They have not even begun to use that on us yet.

And it appears President Clinton has paved the way for a Gulag Society with his 1994 Executive Order 12919 (which I will also examine in subsequent articles). Right now though, the DTCC:

Simply put, the Depository Trust Company absolutely controls every paper asset transaction in the United States as well as the majority of overseas transactions, and they now physically hold (as of April 1999) 99% of all stock and bond book-entrys in their street name, not the actual owner's names.

REGISTERED HOLDER- A Registered Holder literally possesses, owns, and holds, his stock or bond with his name appearing on the face of the certificate. The company that issued the certificate has registered the owner's (holder's) name on their official books. This is the safest way to own a paper asset. You literally possess the fully registered certificate and only you can transfer or sell it. By all Rights and definition of law, you are the owner. You have it, you hold it, you possess it, and you keep it. You have the complete control over it.

BENEFICIAL OWNER- A Beneficial Owner is nothing more than a beneficiary, "One who is entitled to the benefit of a contract"- A Dictionary of Law, 1893. All book-entry stocks and bonds you purchase make you the beneficial owner, not the registered holder. The owner of a book-entry stock or bond is the entity or name that it is registered under.

Even the name of the shadow company that is the agent of who knows, possibly the IMF according to this article: CEDE. Can you believe that. CEDE. I kills me.

CEDE- To surrender possession of, especially by treaty. See Synonyms at 'relinquish'." -American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 3rd Edition of 1992.

And that is just the plan, just as soon as everything gets a little more chaotic in our once static lives. Living in an Empire at it's peak is like living in the eye of the hurricane - and if you lived your whole life there under the still, blue skies, you really have no idea what is heading your way.

It's quite obvious that the stock markets are going to 'crash and burn' at some future date and for some 'unknown' reason... The Great Depression is about to be repeated, and it will be as deliberate and manipulated as the first one that began with the stock market crash of 1929. We are, without a doubt, on the brink of the Mother of all economic Depressions.

Remember, this was penned in 2003. Pretty prophetic in light of this weeks news. So, how does your portfolio look now?

Your broker sends you a fancy accounting every month of your purported holdings, along with dividend and interest payments paid. The fact is, you only receive the benefit of ownership (interest and dividends) without holding title to your property. You are at the mercy of the registered owner, the DTC. If you don't believe this is true, then call your broker right now and ask them who's name is listed as the Registered Holder of your book-entry stocks and bonds. If you're lucky, the broker will tell you "why of course you're the Beneficial Owner", then you'll know the truth. He may emphasize to you that the stocks and bonds are being held in "safe keeping" for your own protection. This is broker language for "your stocks and bonds are held by the DTC in their street name as the creditor".

I tried it, and they don't like to talk about it. At all. I had the feeling they did not understand it completely either, but they swore it was only for expedience and nothing sinister. Fine. But why a private company, and why all the cloak and dagger mystery surrounding what is purported to be the most regulated, the most transparent of all industries?

The reality is that the very history of the Federal Reserve is much more akin to that of conspiracies, Masons and secret inner circles of power. I can't blame the conspiracy theorists, when you examine even the most tame of the accusations, you find a hell of a lot more mysteries than answers. One more point from the article that I am looking into:

A greater consideration is just exactly who does the DTC hold these securities for? As the owner, who has the DTC pledged these securities to? Our research points to the Federal Reserve System, an international private banking cartel with major offices found in Moscow, London, Tokyo, and Peking. By treaty with the United Nations and in compliance with the Bretton Woods Agreement, the DTC under regulation of the Federal Reserve System has pledged all those stocks and bonds to the International Monetary Fund (IMF). These are the same paper securities found in your IRA and pension fund accounts, as well as in your brokerage account. Remember, you don't own them.... you're just a beneficiary.

The truth is, the securities you purchased and paid for with your hard earned money is collateral for the United Nations which is backed by the Federal Reserve System and it's associated agencies, such as the International Monetary Fund. Is it any wonder that the UN can operate year after year with increasing budgets, but without sufficient funds? The UN has nearly $19 Trillion of backing and reserves, thanks to millions of duped Americans. We are financing the New World Dis-Order with our stocks and bonds.

Sounds so ominous, but then again it doesn't when we go back to some of the text that DTCC has provided about themselves and some of their initiatives on their own website. Remember, they technically own your securities, they are a private corporation that only serves banks, and they use whatever fees they collect to increase their world-wide monopoly. From DTCC:

DTCC Organizes GREAT Collaboration with Global Peers: More than 40 delegates from 11 infrastructure organizations across the globe came together in New York in July for the first annual Global Relations Exchange and Training (GREAT) workshop hosted by DTCC. The program is aimed at cultivating relationships among colleagues from international clearers and depositories, and fostering collaboration on key trends shaping operations practices in today's capital markets.

Robert Hegarty, managing director and practices leader, Securities & Investments and Insurance from the independent research firm the Tower Group, discussed in his presentation on securities industry trends the demographic shifts transforming the capital markets, and the challenges facing securities and investment firms and infrastructure organizations.

"There has been - and will continue to be - a major shift of wealth creation from the west to the east and, along with that shift, massive numbers of potential clients to win and service. Companies that don't embrace this new global marketplace will miss their opportunity to determine their future," said Hegarty.

Having several of DTCC's executives meet with these international delegates demonstrates the priority the organization places on gaining a more global perspective. "The sessions were extremely productive in helping us gain a better sense of the value foreign markets place on our services, and the potential business opportunities we all have outside our home borders," said Patrick Kirby, DTCC managing director, Asset Services.

The DTCC is bigger than GM, GE, Google, Microsoft and many other mega-companies - all added together. Are you sure you never heard of them? Maybe you should take a look for yourself, and then come back to YourMortgageOrYourLife.com for some more surprises.

www.nowpublic.com/tech-biz/who-really-owns-your-money-part-one-dtcc-and-cede-do-0