The Ketchup War

[Flanders]

History names wars after all of all kinds of things. Some had two names.

The War To Make the World Safe For Democracy became The War To End All Wars.

So-called democracy was made so safe it gave us the Arab Spring and elected dictatorships.

I’m not sure what democracy had to with the following, but wars, skirmishes, police actions, violent Communist revolutions, terrorist-styled warfare, and mass murders done by governments to their peoples took off like sky rockets after WWI ended.

The Civil War is also known as The War Between the States. That one gave us Abe Lincoln and the destruction of states’ Rights.

The American Revolution is rightly called The War for Independence. Socialists were never satisfied with the decision in that one so they are doing their best to reverse it.

Now the country has this one looming on the horizon:

The thing about Kerry that Americans should fear is that he won’t fight for oil, or against communism and Islamic fundamentalism, but he would send Americans out to die for ketchup on a minute’s notice. Kerry’s first loyalty is to his wife’s fortune and, by extension, all of these Heinz processing plants in foreign countries.

I’ll tell you what Kerry will do should one of those countries threaten to nationalize a Heinz processing plant? The State Department will demand US troops be sent in. Hussein will oblige by sending the very people he and Kerry despise when they fight for the country.

http://www.usmessageboard.com/tea-party/267578-return-of-the-sock-puppet.html

Now that Warren Buffett bought Heinz weeks after Kerry was confirmed as secretary of state, I’m not sure if it will be called The Ketchup War, or The Heinz War, or The Kerry-Buffett War:

John Kerry May Have Made $670,000 On Today's Heinz Deal
Julia La Roche |Feb. 14, 2013, 9:29 AM

John Kerry Heinz Ketchup - Business Insider

Let’s face it, liberals won’t fight a war for Standard Oil, but they will expect all of us to fight for ketchup.

 

[Mr. H.]

Good'n.

 

[Political Junky]

I just saw, on TV, that Teresa Heinz Kerry owned 4% of Heinz.

 

[Mr. H.]

 

[Flanders]

To Mr. H.: Lol. Kerry mowing down everyone with the ketchup bottle is too much to ask for.

 

[Mr. H.]

S.E.C. Looks at Trades a Day Before Heinz Deal - Yahoo! Finance

Regulators are scrutinizing unusual trading surrounding the planned $23 billion takeover of the food company H. J. Heinz, raising questions about potential illegal activity in one of the biggest deals in recent memory.

 

[Flanders]

S.E.C. Looks at Trades a Day Before Heinz Deal - Yahoo! Finance

Regulators are scrutinizing unusual trading surrounding the planned $23 billion takeover of the food company H. J. Heinz, raising questions about potential illegal activity in one of the biggest deals in recent memory.

To Mr. H.: Interesting development if it’s sincere. I tend to believe it’s a farce. I suspect they know there is nothing to find; so why not make a little noise before saying all is well.

NOTE: From it’s inception in 1934 the S.E.C. has been a cloak of respectability covering Wall Street’s shady practices. Popular myth says Wall Street caused the Great Depression. Stock traders were always crooks to be sure, but they were not responsible. Nevertheless, the little reputation they enjoyed was badly damaged in 1929. Stock Market “results” used to be published on the same page as horse racing results. The S.E.C. was established to keep them honest in the future. I don’t think I have to list the thefts that went on right under the S.E.C.’s nose in recent years —— ending with taxpayers bailing out the crooks. At least taxpayers did not have to bailout the crooks in ‘29.

I’ve always said the S.E.C. should be shutdown. The Department of Education, the EPA, and the FCC (Ministry of Propaganda) are destructive federal bureaucracies. If there is such a thing as a useless federal bureaucracy the S.E.C. qualifies.

It’s too bad there is not a bureaucracy investigating any assurances Hussein might have given to his pal, Warren Buffett. With Benghazi in mind, I know that I would want some kind of guarantee that the US military would protect my assets in foreign countries before I spent 23 billion dollars.

 

[namvet]

old news

 

[Mr. H.]

Well, excuuuuuuuuuuse me!

 

[Mr. H.]

This seems a bit more "recent"...

SEC sues over Heinz option trading before buyout - Yahoo! News

(Reuters) - U.S. securities regulators filed suit on Friday against unknown traders in the options of ketchup maker H.J. Heinz Co, alleging they traded on inside information before the company announced a deal to be acquired for $23 billion by Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc and Brazil's 3G Capital.

 

[waltky]

Heinz was bought for $23bn by Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway fund and Brazil's 3G Capital...

FBI joins Heinz share trades investigation
20 February 2013 - The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is joining an investigation into suspicious trades ahead of the Heinz takeover deal last week.

The US financial regulator, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), is already suing unnamed traders for insider dealing. Last Thursday, Heinz was bought for $23bn by Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway fund and 3G Capital. Unusual trading activity in the shares was noticed the previous day. "The FBI is aware of trading anomalies the day before Heinz's announcement" a spokesman said. "The FBI is consulting with the SEC to determine if a crime was committed."

The SEC believes that some traders knew about the takeover before it was announced and made $1.7m from the knowledge. It obtained an emergency court order to freeze assets in a Swiss-based account. The traders in question made risky bets that Heinz's stock price would increase, using financial instruments called options. After the official announcement of the deal Heinz's share price rose by 20%.

"Irregular and highly suspicious options trading immediately in front of a merger or acquisition announcement is a serious red flag that traders may be improperly acting on confidential non-public information" said the SEC's head of the Market Abuse Unit, Daniel Hawke. There is no implication that Heinz or its new owners have committed any wrongdoing. The SEC said a bank account at Goldman Sachs was used. Goldman Sachs has said it is co-operating with the investigation.

BBC News - FBI joins Heinz share trades investigation