A STOCKED DECK
How US rigs marts as safeguard
Dear John: You have written pieces in the past on howthe US government has been rigging stocks to only go up in order to make itself look good.
I was wondering if you have any suggestions for further research in this area. Specifically, the potential mechanisms that may be used.
Of course, a lot of this is unknowable, as I’m sure more than just the Federal Reserve is involved, and many other clandestine actions are taken.
I’ve noticed more and more people coming around to the idea that it is just another political tool used by a government to exercise control and influence over its people. A.D.
Dear A.D.: It’s actually quite simple. But what’s going on — or what I suspect is going on — isn’t just to make the country look good. It’s to protect the country from financial crises.
If you are old enough to remember, there was a stock market crash in 1987 and a near-crash in 1989. President Reagan created the President’s Working Group on Financial Markets in 1988 to advise the government on — well — financial markets.
It became known as the Plunge Protection Team because people believed it was keeping the stock market propped up whenever there was an emergency.
And just in case you think that’s nutty, there was an article in the Wall Street Journal in November 1989 written by a guy named Robert Heller who had just left his seat as a governor at the Federal Reserve.
Look the article up for yourself. But Heller’s gist was that the Fed should rig the stock market whenever there is a crisis. He said the Fed already does this in the currency market, so stocks wouldn’t be hard to handle.
Heller said the Fed should buy stock index futures contracts to keep the market afloat and — this is important — that it should only act in emergencies.
Over the years, I believe, the Fed has had a very loose definition of an emergency, and has used this power pretty often.
So if anyone sees a conspiracy, it was hatched by a member of the Fed.
Dear John: I know you enjoy hearing about awful customer support.
This is the worst one I have ever experienced. It’s Century
Link internet/phone in New Jersey — worst customer service imaginable.
My phone and internet have been out for five days. While I was talking to the fourth customer service rep, he tried to sell me TV service as well.
I said, “So you’re trying to sell me TV service when you can’t provide the phone or internet service I have already paid for?” B.Y.
Dear B.Y.: As you know by now, I called and your service was immediately restored.
But the interesting thing about this is why it wasn’t working in the first place — you were late paying your bill.
When you did pay it on a Friday, the company couldn’t get your service going over the weekend. As you mentioned, a CenturyLink rep, who was very cooperative when I called, sent your call to customer service for reasons you, me and the company doesn’t understand.
Because CenturyLink was so good about this — and because you said such bad things about the company — I’m going to let your full letter run so the company has a free ad.