Socialist Networking

Last year Facebook opened to public trading with disastrous results.

The offering tanked as a result of outside forces, computer glitches, and mishandling of the situation by NASDAQ and the Security Exchange commission (SEC). Here is what happened: "What happened with Facebook's IPO was that there were so many cancels and resubmitted orders that the normal cycle of a few milliseconds, cycling regularly to get to the cross, turned into a "loop." "You'd think NASDAQ would have planned for this eventuality better. They tried. They actually tested their live systems with a test security they labeled ZWZZT and had members send in orders. The problem was, they limited the number of test orders to 40,000. Why? Who knows, "It's a helicopter."

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On May 18, 2012, the initial number of orders submitted into the Cross Application was 496,000 - roughly 12.4 times more. In the SEC's words, The time that had elapsed during the price/volume calculation and validation check was 20 milliseconds, which is significantly longer than usual for an IPO cross, which usually takes 1 to 2 milliseconds. This additional length resulted from the larger than normal volume of orders received during the DOP." [...] "NASDAQ tested for 40,000 orders believing that the FB IPO would be hugely popular. But what they forgot about, because they forgot that they (the exchanges and the SEC) let buggers, I mean bugs - in the form of high-frequency traders with their faster computers - into the machinery that is supposed to facilitate smoothly debuted IPOs and...The orderly initiation of secondary market trading after an IPO (which "they" say is)one of the most fundamental functions of a national securities exchange, and affects not only the market for those individual companies but also investor confidence in the markets as a whole. Of course there's nothing in the findings that remotely points to why there were hundreds of thousands of orders submitted and cancelled, over and over, and who might be behind most of those orders and cancellations." This put the computer trading out of phase (the computers had to be checked by another computer to validate the orders coming in), and a "Code Blue" was called out by desperate programmers. The SEC ignored the problem: "Nor does it matter that when the exchange restarted their machines after they executed a "failover" that bypassed the validation check - the one that the Sr. VP never knew existed - they didn't realize that they were 19 minutes behind and 38,000 orders upside down. What does matter in all this - at least to me - is that the SEC won't admit that the problems just might have been caused by ghosts in the machines that they back-doored in because they are tools of the crony capitalists." So, mismanagement by the NASDAQ and SEC tanked the Facebook IPO. That was a little over a year ago. Interestingly enough, Federal regulators have approved a compensation plan where the NASDAQ will pay pennies on the dollar to firms that lost money on Facebook as a result of their incompetence. Curious; outside forces did great damage to Facebook, and now Facebook has been implicated in the PRISM data mining scandal. Writing in HotAir, Allahpundit observes the curious nature of this scandal. While he concentrates on a denial by Google CEO Larry Page, he links a very similar sounding Facebook post by Mark Zuckerberg using almost identical terminology. There are weasel words - many of them - in the Google statement that suggests either the company is voluntarily participating in the program or is being systematically hacked by the government. Here is the statement by Zuckerberg:

"I want to respond personally to the outrageous press reports about PRISM: Facebook is not and has never been part of any program to give the US or any other government direct access to our servers. We have never received a blanket request or court order from any government agency asking for information or metadata in bulk, like the one Verizon reportedly received. And if we did, we would fight it aggressively. We hadn't even heard of PRISM before yesterday. When governments ask Facebook for data, we review each request carefully to make sure they always follow the correct processes and all applicable laws, and then only provide the information if is required by law. We will continue fighting aggressively to keep your information safe and secure. We strongly encourage all governments to be much more transparent about all programs aimed at keeping the public safe. It's the only way to protect everyone's civil liberties and create the safe and free society we all want over the long term."

Please note the similarity to the Google denial. Also, note the weasel words "direct access", "part of any program", "a blanket request or court order", "in bulk". Note the "follow the correct process" and "all applicable laws", "required by law". As Allahpundit points out;

"If Google's being cute in using weasel words to hide its complicity, it'll look even worse when the truth of their compliance comes out. So maybe they're not being cute. Maybe they're really not participating in this voluntarily."

Or they are lying, or something is wrong with the reporting in some fundamental way. One wonders if both the U.K. Guardian and the Washington Post would so endanger their credibility. It makes one wonder; are the disastrous Facebook IPO and the NSA's PRISM scandal somehow linked? Facebook was intimately involved in the Arab Spring, after all; Google VP Wael Ghonim used Facebook to organize the Egyptian rebels against Hosni Mubarak (see here and here ) and in fact the rebel leaders were trained on the use of social media at the White House. There were definite ties between the Administration and Facebook. (And to George Soros, someone who could have interests in manipulating the Facebook IPO.) BUT Facebook donated more money to the GOPthan to Democrats early in 2012. Zuckerberg is notoriously independent, and the political machine that put Barack Obama in office is notoriously cutthroat. Was it perhaps necessary to bring Zuckerberg and Facebook in line? George Soros, billionaire donor to Barack Obama, could well have an interest in tanking the IPO. He certainly has done such things in the past. There are other supporters of the Regime who would do likewise. A big part of the problem with the IPO was a series of purchases and cancellations - as though someone, someone who knew what they were doing, consciously tried to cause a crash. Soros broke the Bank of England by shorting the Pound and did likewise to Russia. Could he or others like him have taken this action against Facebook? Soros cleaned up on Facebook stock AFTER the initial disaster. Considering that Soros has done this sort of thing repeatedly, Is it possible that Facebook got the message and has to play ball with the government? The power that the U.S. government can exercise over business is truly staggering. Companies can prosper or face annihilation based on regulations or new laws that government can impose on a whim. Zuckerberg is no fool; he would have gotten the hint from the disastrous public offering. Someone made a mess of it, and that someone was not Facebook. And now Facebook stands accused in the NSA data mining scandal. This is all speculation at this point, but it is speculation that must be considered given the facts that are public. I suspect Facebook was the victim of a good old-fashioned Chicago protection game, and they were compelled to play ball with the NSA. How many others? The NSA apparently did something similar to this to Qwest CEO Joseph Nacchio, who is now in jail.