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This is the third part of a four part series detailing Glenn Beck's potential conflict of interest in gold. Beck has come under fire for promoting gold on his television show where his sponsorship from Goldline International has not been disclosed until just recently. Beck's sponsorship from Goldine on the radio is obvious but has not been so openly disclosed on television.
For part one of the series, "Glenn Beck and Gretchen Carlson have something in common at Fox News" click here.
For part two of the series, "Glenn Beck endorses gold but customers have complaints on markups" click here.
Part three will focus on Glenn Beck's endorsement of Goldline and the various implications this has for Beck. As can be seen in the video below Beck has proudly endorsed Goldline going as far as to tell his viewers to "trust the people at Goldline." In the video Beck also states that he has personally looked into Goldline to make sure it was a reputable company before recommeding it. Beck's face is also featured prominently on Goldine's website. Until recently Beck was mentioned as a "paid spokesman" though just in the last few days tha title has been change to "radio sponsor." The New York Times suggests that Beck's title was changed to allow him to pass through the Fox News' conflict of interest rules.
So who is Goldline? Their own website describes them as company specializing in selling "Rare Coins and Precious Metals to Investors Since 1960" however the company was actually bought in January by CIVC Partners and Key Management. To my knowledge this fact has never been disclosed by Glenn Beck and the purchase is not prominently displayed in Goldline's on the homepage of Goldline's website. The ownership interest of CIVC may be important since Goldline, along with Glenn Beck, continually emphasize the fact that Goldline has been in business since 1960 in order to encourage consumer trust in the company. Since early this year however the company is owned by CIVC Partners and management. The press release indicates that CIVC and Key Management will be intimately involved in the growth of Goldline saying,
Management is extremely excited to partner with CIVC. We believe this relationship will allow Goldline to expand its products and services to clients and create new opportunities in the numismatic and collectible fields,"
So who is CIVC Partners? This is where things get interesting. As mentioned above the company is private investment firm with equity of about $1 billion dollars. Before 1994 CIVC Partners was a subsidiary of a large bank called Continental Illinois Bank and Trust Company. Continental became infamous when the FDIC had to bailout the bank in the 1980's because it was "too big to fail." In fact Continental was the bank responsible for the coinage of the phrase "too big too fail" after the FDIC rescued it. Before Bank of America or Citigroup there was Continental Illinois which was the the biggest bank to be bailed out in Unites States history until 2008. So Beck, in endorsing Goldline Beck, is really endorsing a company owned by a former subsidiary of the bank which brought about the "too big to fail" doctrine.
What caused Continental Illinois to implode? The bank engaged in risky lending behavior and at least one of the bank's executives engaged in fraud. A detailed reading of press accounts detailing the inner workings of Continental Illinois reveals that the bank was the model for bank failure that would later reappear in the late 2000's.
In 1994 Continental Illinois, along with CIVC Partners, was acquired by Bank of America. That would be the Bank of America that received over $20 billion in bailout funds from the federal government following the recent financial crisis.
From here the story gets more interesting. In 2004 testimony was given alleging that Bank of America used CIVC to hide its investments in subprime mortgages (yes those subprime mortgages that helped cause the financial collapse) and to support predatory lending activity. Among CVIC Partners current investments is a 7% share of a bond insurer called FGIC (Financial Guaranty Insurance Company). FGIC has recently run into financial trouble due to risky deals involving credit default swaps among other things . In the article linked above Moody's called FGIC's credit rating "just a notch or two above junk."
Remember that when encouraging his listeners to invest with Goldline Beck consistently emphasizes that the people of Goldline can be trusted. What is not mentioned is the fact that Goldline is now owned by a company that:
(1) was once was part of one of the largest bank failures in the United States
(2) indirectly received bailout funds,
(3) allegedly engaged in risky lending, and
(4) currently has a significant investment in a company with a low credit rating because of risky investments including credit default swap instrutments.
Goldine offers to hold people's investments for them once they have purchased products like rare coins. Surely those customers would like to know the financial condition and various allegations made against the company that owns Goldline.
Are these connections to Beck remote? They are no more remote than the connections Beck makes between the Obama administration and various "radicals." Beck continually says that we should judge President Obama by who he surrounds himself with and has gone as far as to apply that standard to second, third, or even fourth degree connections. Using two degrees of separation Beck can be connected to a company that has indirectly accepted significant bailout funds and allegedly engaged in risky lending behavior that helped lead to last financial crisis.
Comments
Every single conservative talk show, wether is radio or TV are trying to paint catastrophic scenario. They tell you gold should be bought cause America's future is bleak; At the same time, they are bad-mouthing Obama and hoping the economy gets worst. In my opinion all these talking heads have owned gold for a while now and are inflating the price of gold.They are well connected with the gold companies which are also making millions on gold sales and commission When they reach their target price, The talking heads will be the first one to get out and get a big profit while the poor gullible Americans will get burned and the gold companies again will get sales commission." Poor gullible conservative idiots".
Sandra:
10% UNEMPLOYMENT! HELLO!!! THINGS ARE BLEAK!!
And they call Glenn Becks 'connection' displays shaky? Really this is the best you got?
Cant attack the messege so you attack the messenger? And you people call conseratives stupid. If I were a liberal I would be appalled and ashamed that this is the best you could do.
Every single conservative talk show, wether is radio or TV are trying to paint catastrophic scenario. They tell you gold should be bought cause America's future is bleak; At the same time, they are bad-mouthing Obama and hoping the economy gets worst. In my opinion all these talking heads have owned gold for a while now and are inflating the price of gold.They are well connected with the gold companies which are also making millions on gold sales and commission When they reach their target price, The talking heads will be the first one to get out and get a big profit while the poor gullible Americans will get burned and the gold companies again will get sales commission." Poor gullible conservative idiots".
In the end, this doesn't really mean anything, but since it's being directed back at the King of Loose Connections, I must say I enjoy the irony.
Sandra,
10% Unemployment Up from 8% when Bush left office. Debt up to 12 Trillion from ~1 Trillion under Bush. Coming up Federalized health care, Federalization of CO2 ommisions, Federal Control of ALL of our nations water, Cap and Trade and its promise of 68$ more energy costs and $4.00 a gallon gas.
How can anyone with any intelligence call people against this gullible, idiotic or stupid?
fsddsf
Wow! This is one of the most petty, insignificant articles I've ever read! I want my five minutes back...
Rich - "Federalized health care"? How do you figure?
A little more research would reveal that Goldline has in fact NOT been in business since 1960. A company it acquired, Deak-Perera was the one in business since that time. Gold ownership was not even legal in the USA until 1975. The very name of Goldline came from a Deak-Perera program for metals storage, called...Goldline. It was administered through the DC offices of that now defunct firm. But, hey, it sure sounds good on the resume.
Jack Foster,
Read the fine print....it may be that Ryan charges 40% too. That'd be onlt 3 minutes you'd get back.
How can anyone with any intelligence call people against this gullible, idiotic or stupid?
Very simple! Those who possess any kind of knowledge do not fall pray to Fox news self-serving talking heads.
Their objective is to serve Murdoch's political agenda. They make up their own news in order to shock their un-informed and vulnerable audience. They then cheer them on with political pep rallies which they conveniently call "tea parties" and "freedom concerts". I find it insulting that these clowns try to commercialize and exploit our American patriotism. To make it simple for you they only care about ratings and book sales.
“Their objective is to serve Murdoch's political agenda.”
Yes, and…
MSNBC’s objective is to serve George Soros’ political agenda. They pull the same dirty tricks as the rest of the cable news companies, so what’s your point?
You don’t actually believe that there is ANY unbiased cable news channel, do you?
That would be both laughable and sad at the same time.
So you're saying I shouldn't buy anything from Goldline?
Sandra,
I don't rely on one news source. The writing is on the walls. Read the bills. Read the declaration by the EPA. I am basing my beliefs on Obama's own words. Then again I can think for myself and don't let someone with an agenda tell me how to think.
"Using 'two degrees of seperation' Beck can be connected to a company that has 'indirectly' accepted significant bail out funds and 'allegedly' engaged in risky lending behavior....."
The fact that you would use this as a comparison to Obama surrounding himselves with people who have:
bragged about being communists/
claimed their favorite political philosopher is Mao/
cheated on their taxes & he still thinks he's wise enough to be treasury secretary/
preached anti-American race baiting sermons and he liked him so much he had him perform his marriage and baptize his children and sat in his congregation for 20 years/
run a corrupt organization known as ACORN.
lead a terrorist organization known as 'Weather Underground'
These are a few of his 'direct' associations (not 'seperated by 2 degrees'....)And there are many many more.
Only if you are 'BLINDED' by leftist ideology could you 'not see' how ludicrous your comparison looks to 'NORMAL' people!
NDS (formerly News Digital Services)
SiVenture - UK-based smartcard consultancy
News Advanced Technologies
News America Digital Publishing
News America New Media
News Internet Services
Healtheon/WebMD (11%)
TheStreet.com (partial stake with New York Times)
Rivals.com (46%)
iSyndicate (partial stake with Scripps, NBC, InfoSpace, Vignette, and Microsoft)
News Digital Systems (UK)
Line One (33%)
Sportal (5% through BSkyB)
Orbis - interactive gambling software
News Interactive (Aust) - including NEWS.com.au, CareerOne, AustralianIT, FOX SPORTS, CARSguide and RealEstate.com.au
PDN Xinren Information Technology (50%)
News Outdoor Group (NOG), established in 1999 and headquartered in Moscow, includes -
News Outdoor Bulgaria
News Outdoor Czech Republic
News Outdoor Poland (Town & City)
News Outdoor Romania
News Outdoor Russia
Kamera (Turkey)
News Outdoor Ukraine
Other
Other holdings include -
Broadsystem - customer relationship management services
The Sunday Mail
Gold Coast Bulletin
Adelaide Advertiser
Cumberland Newspaper Group (20 titles in Sydney suburbs)
Leader Newspaper Group (30 titles in Melbourne suburbs)
Cairns Post Group (42%)
North Queensland Newspaper Group
Townsville Bulletin
Quest Community Newspapers (17 titles in Brisbane suburbs)
Northern Territory News
Sunday Territorian
Centralian Advocate
The Suburban
The Mercury
The Sunday Tasmanian
Tasmanian Country
Treasure Islander
Derwent Valley Gazette
Sunday Mail
Messenger Press Group
Sunday Times (Perth)
Fiji
The Fiji Times
Nai Lalakei (Fijian)
Shanti Dut (Hindi)
Papua New Guinea
Post Courier (63%)
Sports
New York Knicks (20% stake through partnership with Cablevision)
New York Rangers (20% stake through partnership with Cablevision)
Los Angeles Kings (NHL, 40% option)
Los Angeles Lakes (NBA, 9.8% option)
Staples Center (40% owned by Fox/Liberty)
National Rugby League Championship (50%) - Australian football
Radio
Analog and digi
TV Total
Cable Guide
The Weekly Standard
Maximum Golf
In Store
FSI
In Store (Canada)
FSI (Canada)
UK
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Pacific
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Film Production & Distribution
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Fox Filmed Entertainment
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Newspapers
News claims to be the world's leading publisher of English-language newspapers, with over 175 titles in the UK, Australia, Fiji, Papua New Guinea and the US. It employs around 15,000 people worldwide, printing more than 40 million copies a week.
United States
New York Post
United Kingdom
The Times
Times Literary Supplement
The Sunday Times
The Sun
News of the World
Times Education (inc Times Education Supplement and Higher Education Supplement) - sold to Exponent Private Equity September 2005
Australia
The Australian
The Week
Granada TV High Street
Granada Food & Wine
Granada Health & Beauty
Granada Home and Garden
Fox Kids
Premium Channels
Sky Movies
The Movie Channel
Sky Sports
Sky Movies Gold
Sky Sports 2
Sky Sports 3
TM3 (66%)
Premiere World - 24% (owned through BSkyB)
13% of Breton cable tv group TV Breizh (Berlusconi's Mediaset has 13%)
Sky Italia (inc Telepiu and Stream) pay tv operation
FOXTEL (25%) - with Packer (25%) and Telstra
Arena (50%)
Channel V (50%)
FOX
FOX History
FOX Soap
FOX Talk
FOX Travel
FOXTEL Weather
FX
Nickelodeon (25%)
Sky News Australia (33.3%)
UK TV (60%)
Fox Sports
The Comedy Channel (80%)
Asia
Star TV
STAR Chinese
STAR Plus
STAR Movies
STAR Plus Japan
STAR Movies South
ESPN STAR Sports (50%)
STAR Sports
Channel V (50%)
Viva Cinema (50%)
Phoenix Satellite TV (17.6%)
Phoenix Chinese
Canada
minor stake in CTV Sportsnet
India
ISKYB
Asia Today (50%)
ZEE TV
EL TV
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Siti Cable Network (50%)
Italy
Fox Broadcasting Company (discussed in a supplementary note elsewhere on this site)
85% of Fox Entertainment Group Inc which includes ...
Fox SportsWNVW - New York City
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Fox Sports Arizona
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Fox Sports West
Fox Sports Detroit
Fox Sports Bay Area (with Rainbow Media Holdings)
Fox Sports Chicago (with Rainbow Media Holdings)
Fox Sports Cincinnati
Fox Sports Intermountain West
Fox Sports New England
Film Production & Distribution
Pacific Islands Monthly
Film Production & Distribution
Twentieth Century Fox
Fox Filmed Entertainment
Fox 2000
Fox Searchlight
Fox Family Films
Fox Animation Studios
Twentieth Century Fox Home
Twentieth Century Fox TV
Fox Studios Australia
Newspapers
News claims to be the world's leading publisher of English-language newspapers, with over 175 titles in the UK, Australia, Fiji, Papua New Guinea and the US. It employs around 15,000 people worldwide, printing more than 40 million copies a week.
United States
New York Post
United Kingdom
The Times
Times Literary Supplement
The Sunday Times
The Sun
News of the World
Times Education (inc Times Education Supplement and Higher Education Supplement) - sold to Exponent Private Equity September 2005
Australia
The Australian
The Weekend Australian
The Daily Telegraph
The Sunday Telegraph
Sportsman
Herald Sun
Sunday Herald Sun
The Weekly Times
The Courier Mail
The Sunday Mail
norm says:
“Their objective is to serve Murdoch's political agenda.”
Yes, and…
MSNBC’s objective is to serve George Soros’ political agenda. They pull the same dirty tricks as the rest of the cable news companies, so what’s your point?----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I'm not surprised you don't get the point Norm., Perhaps that is your modus operands.
Murdoch controls the media and he wants you to control American politics.
. it will take a couple of posts but here are some Here are some of the media outfit he owns.
Cliff Street Books
The Ecco Press
Quill
HarperAudio
Regan Books
Amistad Press
William Morrow
HarperTorch
Eos
HarperEntertainment
HarperSanFrancisco
HarperInformation
HarperBusiness
HarperResource
Branded Books Program
HarperFestival
Fox Broadcasting Company (discussed in a supplementary note elsewhere on this site)
85% of Fox Entertainment Group Inc which includes ...
Fox
Sandra:
Boohoo! Cry me a river...you don't like Fox News!
Well join the club…I don’t trust any of the cable news channels!
And just so you don’t misunderstand, I never said that I was a big fan of Fox News but you probably made the assumption I did.
So here is the point, again: don’t trust cable news. Do your own research to verify what you hear.
And for all arguments over Beck- he’s not even “news", he is “opinion.”
Sandra Gomez-Rusin,
While it's true that Rupert Murdock reportedly is worth approx. $4 Billion and owns alot of media outlets; George Soros is worth nearly twice that much at $7.2 billion and as thy say 'money talks'. He is a convicted felon who is a democratic political activist who has donated $5 million to to 'MoveOn.org,$3 million to 'Center for American Progress', is the $ behind 'Media Matters', etc., etc., etc.
It becomes obvious which one has more influence over the media when you google them. Nearly all of the 'headlines' for Murdoch are negative, where nearly all of the 'headlines' for Soros are positive! Who do you think you're fooling?
That last post was from me to Sanda....sorry, getting tired!
Yeah that nasty ol' Soros ... spent billions of his own money helping kill communism in Eastern Europe and replace it with capitalism and democracy. His sin in the US? Saying his goal was to defeat the re-election of George W. Bush.
On the other hand, Murdoch has repeatedly been in trouble for anti-competitive business practices and is generally considered by anyone who has worked for him to have all the qualities of a dog except loyalty. And while his personal net worth may be 'only' $4 billion, he had no problem coming up with more than $5 billion to buy Dow Jones and the Wall Street Journal from the Bancroft family.
If you really think some think tank founder and philanthropist has more clout than the single biggest media mogul in the world, I got some swamp land in Florida for sale.
Snark,
Where Murdock 'may' have been repeatedly in trouble (If you're anything like Witt, that could mean anything from 'his mommy washed his mouth out with soap' to 'executed' and it would depend on which side of the political spectrum we were 'attacking' or 'defending'....; Soros 'is' a convicted felon.
And he may have donated money to anti-communist, capitalist causes in the past, but right now he is a far left activist with a shady past and shady connections who buys huge amounts of political influence, including in the media, and is a driving force behind this radical 'fundamental change' in direction that has the majority of Americans VERY concerned and unhappy and feeling like they were duped by a very shrewd political machine!
Well,I'll give ya a really good price on that swampland, li'l lady.
Really good!
Care to detail that 'influence' Soros has bought in the media while you're writing that check? Or is your mouth writing one your butt can't cover?
Hola Gigi,
I think Snark may be Walrus or Wow in disguise. His rhetoric seems inspired by Moveon dot ORG.
You may be smart Snark.....but you can't mis-spell as good as me!!
Hey Jaime,
I was thinking it could be the dreaded TEG (knock on wood); because of the crudeness factor and the little sexist put-down...hmmmmmmm, either way I'm going to MoveOn (Pun Intended)
Good night friend.
Nite-Nite.
TEG ??? Sexist putdowns yes, But I wasn't under the impression that TEG could think...emote yes. Still I could be wrong.
LMAO... Don't feel bad, Snark; they compared you to the BEST!
Gigi is one aspect of a multiple personality; it runs away whenever confronted with an actual challenge that requires facts to respond.
Wow,
Good try, but anyone looking at these posts will see that I use facts...it's just that I find that libs in general don't care about facts or evidence. It's all emotional, fuzzy and indefinable. I'm just trying to get others who might stumble across this to do the research and not just buy what's said in these articles; hook, line, and sinker....Merry Christmas!
ROTFLMFAO @ Gigi's "...I use facts..."
Thanks. I needed that laugh.
Wow,
You demonstrated my point again. It's easy to laugh and say someone doesn't use facts if you don't take the time to point out what I said that wasn't 'factual'. You're much better at ridicule and insult than meaningful debate, but I'm sure you mean well. Merry Christmas.
Wow says;
"LMAO... Don't feel bad, Snark; they compared you to the BEST!"
They're HUMBLE Too!! Walrus/Wow/Snark...The Hubris Hombre(s).
Okie dokie, gigi, let's start with the challenge the snark threw at you: You claim Soros "...buys huge amounts of political influence, including in the media..." and when asked to provide any kind of evidence for that statement................
you run away.
It's a pattern; when challenged on your assertions, you run away rather than present facts to support what you said.
It's not that you don't know anything - it's that so much of what you know is simply wrong.
Wow,
My post below to to 'Sandra Gomez-Rusin' answers his asinine 'challenge'. If he has 'factual evidence' that I'm incorrect, let him present it. Just asking for more 'details' is lazy.
Everyone 'knows' or can easily 'learn' who and what Soros is. If you agree with him, why don't you just debate why he's right?
I'm sure you are quite reasonable in 'real' life. Have a merry Christmas, even if you're not.
Wow,
Where are you? You were too hard on me weren't you? And now you feel bad; that's it, I'm sure.
I have to thank you for saying that I run away when challenged. All this time I thought you hated me because I have to have the last word. Go figure!
No unbias journalism here...
Mr Witt is definately reaching
gigi, you REALLY believe $5 million for a political group and $3 million for a think tank is comparable to $5 BILLION for Dow Jones and the Wall Street Journal????
Soros' money is chump change; Murdoch has written off more than that just in the advertising Fox lost from the Beck Boycott.
Heck, Soros' big issue was to defeat G.W. Bush's re-election - in case you missed it, he failed at that.
Murdoch, on the other hand, got his then-big news anchor appointed as Bush press secretary.
Only someone with astigmatic tunnel vision could see Soros as bigger than Murdoch.
Snark,
Soros was successful this time wasn't he? Speaking of Astigmatic tunnel vision!!
LMAO c'mon gigi - G.W. Bush and John McCain did more to get Obama elected than Soros - who backed BOTH Obama and Hillary until the Dem choice was clear.
And since you claim you use facts, you might want to look up how much Soros gave the obama campaign - and compare it to what Murdoch gave McCain - AND gave Hillary Clinton. LOL
Snark,
Of Course!!! If Soros fails, it shows he doesn't have any power, but when he succeeds, it's not because he has any power! Please give me a break!!!!
Afraid to go look up the campaign contributions, huh?
Once again, running away when confronted with facts that contradict your preconceptions.
Snark (perfect name for you, by the way)
Soros made enough contributions to win and he now funds (in addition to many other progressive outlets, some listed below) Media Matters to discredit every republican, twist their words, ridicule them personally, smear them, attack them, take their comments out of context, assign evil motives.....just like Witt!
All you have to do is google and you can read all of their sweet little headlines. He is an activist! and he is very powerful and he has more money than Murdock!
He would NEVER have a conservative debate his ideas, but Fox News has liberals on all the time.
Soros just uses the old standbys: lies, smears, ridicule, half truths, propaganda....If you like his ideas why don't you defend them? Just defend your ideas!!!
The truth is people don't like liberal 'ideas' so you must use these dispicable tactics. I'm done here. Say whatever you want. I don't use facts. I'm a coward. I run away. Who cares....I'm bored.
Haw haw haw - that whole $2,300 Soros contributed to Obama was 'enough to win' while Murdoch's $4,600 to McCain, the $15,000 to his various PACS that also fed the McCain campaign and the free advertising Fox News and Murdoch publications gave McCain/Palin was too little, huh?
Only in your delusional mind, gigi.
If anyone stumbles upon these comments and is interested in the TRUTH (which Snark for some reason wishes to distort or hide) all you have to do is google 'Soros Obama Connection'.
Then Google "Rupert Murdoch campaign contributions" and "George Soros campaign contributions" (newsmeat.com has great charts) and see the thing gigi doesn't want you to see! LOL
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