General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsEver Wonder WHY The Banksters Mitt Romney Represents Want Your Mom To Die?
No, they do not have billions of dollars invested in Coffins R Us. At least, I dont think they do. Not yet.
First, a pop quiz. When bundled mortgages turned to liquid shit in 2008, investors were desperate to find something to sell the suckers----uh hum, excuse me, their clients. What did they sell?
If you answered Their souls you are wrong. They sold those years ago. In 2009, they decided to start selling investors death. As in the early death of your Mom and Dad.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/06/business/06insurance.html
Oh my! Betting on death! What a great idea? Death, unlike rising real estate value, is inevitable. What could possibly go wrong with a scheme like that? From the NYT link above:
What is your worst enemy if you are an investor who has sunk millions into death? Effective, affordable health care. What do the majority of over 65 year old Americans have in common? Medicare, currently the nations premiere (and only) single payer universal comprehensive health care plan. How do you, the bankster who has invested in death, deal with that pesky Medicare (without denying your own mother her dialysis?). You get the GOP House to abolish Medicare and replace it with vouchers that rich Americans will use (along with some of their own money) to buy platinum plated health insurance, while poor, elderly Americans use the vouchers to buy cat food so they do not starve. And then, you approach the poor, no longer starving but still in dire need of health care seniors and tell them Hey. Yeah, you. Tired of eating cat food? Want to dine on steak instead? Sell me your life insurance policy, and I will make your last few years on earth golden years.
What a great idea! No wonder investors in other countries are hopping on the Death to Elderly Americans bandwagon!
Those looking to branch out can of course opt to invest in overseas equities, but for investors who are fearful of placing yet more of their assets into stockmarkets, life settlement funds could provide the diversification they desire.
The latest results from EEA Fund Managements Life Settlements Fund, designed to deliver an annual return of 8%, reveal it has met its goals, posting 8.7% in the twelve months to the end of January and 20.97% over two years.
The strategy is of course controversial. The fund achieves returns by buying life policies in the US from individuals with a maximum life expectancy of 8 years, before cashing them in when policy holders die
http://www.citywire.co.uk/new-model-adviser/traded-life-policies-are-controversial-but-they-are-proving-their-worth-in-the-crunch/a299873
The key letters in the excerpt above are UK as where the investors live and US as in where the old folks will die. Which makes sound business sense. British banksters can lobby Congress to abolish Medicare without touching their own cherished National Health Service.
What could possibly go wrong with making bets that some old person you do not know or give a rats ass about will die prematurely? The British know.
http://quatloos.com/life_settlement-life_settlements.htm
Scary.
We all know where Wall Street is giving its money. To the Republican Party. And we all know what the Republican Party wants to do, because last April all the Republican House members (except four) tried to do it----abolish Medicare.
So, you tell me. Do you want decisions about your mothers health to be made by a bunch of guys in London who really, truly need to make the payments on their Mercedes? If so, vote Romney and vote Republican.
Scuba
(53,475 posts)russspeakeasy
(6,539 posts)Doesn't make it right, it just means they have been around a long time.
McCamy Taylor
(19,240 posts)Read the link attached to my post number 5 for how the life settlements market is being used to run cons just like the mortgage cons.
russspeakeasy
(6,539 posts)seeviewonder
(461 posts)They have been around for decades.
LongTomH
(8,636 posts)The Shadow knows!
Sorry, I really couldn't think of a better reply. Every time I think the outright evil of the big money people has reached rock bottom, they drill deeper.
McCamy Taylor
(19,240 posts)Today's Fort Worth paper has an article on one seller of (toxic) life settlement investments. The doctor judging life expectancy was a fraud, and so all the old folks that were supposed to be dead years ago are still alive and the investors are having to pour in more money to keep paying premiums.
Remember how the banks rigged real estate prices? Getting mortgages for the homeless to drive up real estate and then getting suckers to buy the inflated real estate? What is to stop the Banksters from paying cash for life insurance for people who are going to die in 10-15 years and telling investors "They won't last another year?" Since the Banksters get paid to do transactions, they could care less if the investor loses his money later. However, eventually the toxic life settlements will draw scrutiny (as they have done in the Texas case). And the Banks could lose their shirts again---this time with no hope of bailout. Unless all the seniors suddenly start dying,because they have no health care.
http://www.star-telegram.com/2012/02/10/3726825/dfw-investors-learn-the-unspoken.html
Or, to put it more simply, the whole mortgage meltdown crisis could have been avoided, if the Banksters had a way to torch every single home that had a bad mortgage without drawing attention to themselves. The insurance would have paid everyone off, and no one would have guessed that the Banksters had conducted a huge scam.
You can not burn down millions of houses without being noticed, but you can lop three or four years off the life expectancy of Americans simply by denying them affordable health care.
dixiegrrrrl
(60,010 posts)They can go one step further and take over the funeral business so they can turn us into dog food when we die.