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NeptuneCafe presents
The Global Brain at Work
NewsScope; March 2, 2009. This week AIG (American International Group) will announce the largest quarterly loss in history – about $60 billion. Since September 16 when AIG's sterling credit rating was cut, the U.S. government has pumped $185 billion into the insurance company, arguing that it's just too big to fail. U.S. taxpayers, through their government, now own 80% of AIG, which currently trades at pennies per share.
NewsScope; February 16, 2009. President Obama got most of what he wanted last week when Congress approved a nearly $800 billion stimulus package. While that facet of the financial crisis may eventually work out, the banking crisis remains unresolved after Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner unveiled a half-baked plan last Tuesday. In reaction, banking stocks shifted sharply downward, dragging the rest of Wall Street with them.
Bernard Madoff and Charles Ponzi
NewsScope; December 23, 2008. On December 12 Bernard Madoff, the former chairman of Nasdaq, was accused of running a Ponzi scheme where investors were paid steady profits from the cash infusions of new investors. Madoff was arrested and charged with bilking his wealthy clients of some $50 billion. Astrologically, Madoff and Charles Ponzi ("the greatest swindler in American history") have very similar horoscopes.
NewsScope; December 9, 2008. Last Friday the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that 533,000 jobs were lost in November, the biggest monthly decline since December 1974. Since the recession officially began last December, 1.9 million jobs have been lost. To head off the downward spiral of deepening recession, President-elect Obama is proposing a large stimulus package to re-build America's infrastructure and "create millions of jobs."
Astrologically, the stressful social conditions can be attributed to the ongoing Saturn-Uranus opposition and Pluto's entrance into Capricorn. Saturn and Uranus are in Virgo and Pisces respectively, and are being activated this week by the Full Moon in Gemini-Sagittarius. As previously forecast, this mutable Grand Cross is leading to a temporary bail-out of the Big Three automakers, since the Full Moon lands right on the U.S. Mars.
Ponzi's Wall Street invest-ment scam began to unravel in July 1920 at a time when he was taking in $250,000 a day. He was arrested on August 13, 1920 as transiting Saturn and Uranus opposed each other while aligning with his deceptive Pisces Sun. Madoff was also arrested under the planetary influence of Saturn opposite Uranus, which aligned with his Neptune, the planet that rules fraud.
Charles Ponzi (March 3, 1882; Lugo, Italy; time unknown) was also born with Mercury retrograde and square Pluto. Ponzi's Mercury at 25º Aquarius is exactly conjunct the U.S. Moon, giving him keen insights into how to cheat the American public. Ponzi also has four planets in Taurus, including his Saturn at 8º Taurus, which is the same location as Madoff's Sun, and opposite the U.S. Scorpio Ascendant.
Bernard Madoff (April 29, 1938; New York, NY; time unknown) was born with four planets in the financially savvy sign of Taurus. His Mercury is retrograde in the promotional sign of Aries, and forms a close square to Pluto, which is the underlying dynamic that allowed him to develop such a complex scheme. Pluto at 27º Cancer is exactly in line with the U.S. Pluto, the nation's ruling planet.
AIG was founded on December 19, 1919 (Shanghai, China, noon) when the Sun was in late Sagittarius and conjunct the Galactic Center. In 1949, following China's communist revolution, AIG relocated to New York. Over the last two years, a renegade investment branch leveraged the company's fortunes by insuring toxic assets, the securities built around the mortgage loans. During this time, transiting Pluto was conjunct the AIG Sun.
AIG's horoscope features some extremely dynamic squares, which naturally pushed it into becoming the 12th largest corporation in the world by 2007. A T-square made from Pluto squaring Mars on one side and Chiron on the other describes the intense ambition and drive to succeed. A close square between Venus and Neptune reveals a deceptive tendency to hide the true risks.
Transiting Pluto is just now entering AIG's T-square. Pluto is currently squaring AIG's Chiron revealing the depth of its woundedness. Concurrently, the ongoing Saturn-Uranus opposition hits AIG's Sun, further
Pluto's entry in Capricorn marks the beginning of a new era of government. Many astrologers have cited the more invasive, tyrannical side of Pluto in Capricorn, like the Orwellian Big Brother. However, with the economic crisis weighing on society, government action is necessary and welcome. And because the economic
collapse is global, governments are acting in concert with other governments, which moves us collectively toward a global government.
Over the next few years, transiting Saturn and Uranus will form a T-square with Pluto. This indicates that our present economic crisis is just beginning. There will likely be no V-shaped recovery in 2009, or even 2010. One might sense a collective unconscious at work (the global brain), one that creates deep crisis in order to bring conflicting parts into a holistic, organic new world order. The only alternative is chaos.
Visit NeptuneCafe's Obama Front Page
Part One - danger from the housing market
Part Two - hedge fund investors, market timing
Part Three - the end of the free market system
Pluto in Capricorn plus Saturn opposite Uranus equals financial chaos. Here are the astro-details.
Geithner (August 18, 1961) spent several hours before Congress explaining the plan that would save the banks, as the Sun and Neptune were conjunct in Aquarius (and opposing his Sun-Uranus-North Node). The vagueness involved in a Sun-Neptune combination triggered a wave of uncertainty over such proposals as the creation of a public-private bank that would market toxic assets. Economists wondered, is this the beginning of the nationalization of the banks?
Since the nationalization of banks runs contrary to every capitalistic, free-enterprise notion, the inevitable move toward that shift must be veiled in Neptunian vagueness. Throughout 2009, transiting Neptune will be opposing Geithner's Sun as it conjoins the U.S. Moon, making it difficult for the American public to see exactly what's going on. It's possible that Geithner's intent is for government to bail out the largest banks at the taxpayers' expense, while smaller regional banks are allowed to fail.
Astrologers considering the potential effects of Pluto in Capricorn have generally concluded that government would become much more controlling in all of society's affairs. Now, as transiting Pluto is opposing the U.S. Venus in the 8th house – the financial sector – the nationalization of the top 20 banks is becoming a distinct possibility. Pluto symbolizes the extreme measures that need to be taken to resolve desperate situations.
The Nationalization of U.S. Banks
The Global Brain at Work
Bank of America on the Edge
NewsScope; February 23, 2009. Last week Bank of America's stock fell to $3/share, a breath-taking plummet from its $40 price only four months ago. BofA, like Citicorp, is becoming known as a zombie bank – kept alive only by TARP funds. Today's Bank of America is the result of many acquisitions and mergers, but still operates under Federal Charter 13044 granted to the Bank of Italy on March 1, 1927.
A horoscope for this date (set for noon, San Francisco, CA) features the Sun conjunct Jupiter in Pisces, and reflects BofA's fundamental expansionist nature, though the square to Saturn regularly brings contractions. The Sun-Jupiter is also trine Pluto, further explaining BofA's huge corporate ambitions. Since Pluto is exactly conjunct the U.S. Sun, BofA has done quite well, becoming the largest retail bank in the country.
NewsScope; February 23, 2009. Last week Bank of America's stock fell to $3/share, a breath-taking plummet from its $40 price only four months ago. BofA, like Citicorp, is becoming known as a zombie bank – kept alive only by TARP funds.
NewsScope; February 16, 2009. President Obama got most of what he wanted last week when Congress approved a nearly $800 billion stimulus package. While that facet of the financial crisis may eventually work out, the banking crisis remains unresolved after Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner unveiled a half-baked plan last Tuesday. In reaction, banking stocks shifted sharply downward, dragging the rest of Wall Street with them.
The Nationalization
of U.S. Banks
on the Edge
AIG - drags down the entire financial system.
Bernard Madoff and Charles Ponzi - An astro comparison of two scam artists on Wall Street.
The Global Brain at Work - How economic crisis is forcibly re-creating the global village.
This page has NewsScope business articles from December 2008 through March 2009
The Astrology of the Credit Crunch (archives)
Today's Bank of America is the result of many acquisitions and mergers, but still operates under Federal Charter 13044 granted to the Bank of Italy on March 1, 1927
BofA became the mammoth it is today when NationsBank acquired BofA on September 30, 1998. At the time, BofA had a progressed Mars-Pluto conjunction, which describes the aggressive, predatory deal that was publicly billed as a merger. Then, BofA purchased Merrill Lynch and all its toxic assets on September 15, 2008 just as transiting Pluto was squaring BofA's Mercury-Uranus conjunction, marking the beginning of BofA's decline.
BofA's Neptune at 25º Leo is exactly opposite the U.S. Moon, further associating its corporate dream with the American public. As transiting Jupiter, Chiron, and Neptune cluster together around 25º Aquarius over the next few months, BofA's viability will become a major concern for the economic recovery*. BofA's progressed Venus is nearing a conjunction with natal Pluto, indicating that a vast infusion of cash will be arriving within 18 months.
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weakening it. AIG's future prospects look grim, and its complete integration with global institutions marks it as the troubled center, capable of sucking the entire financial system into a black hole of debt.
AIG, Center of the Financial Galaxy
Over the next few years, transiting Saturn and Uranus will form a T-square with Pluto. This indicates that our present economic crisis is just beginning. There will likely be no V-shaped recovery in 2009, or even 2010. One might sense a collective unconscious at work (the global brain), one that creates deep crisis in order to bring conflicting parts into a holistic, organic new world order. The only alternative is chaos.
