Max Keiser
Encyclopedia
Timothy Maxwell "Max" Keiser (born January 23, 1960) is an American broadcaster, film-maker, and former equities broker. Keiser is the host of On the Edge, a program of news and analysis hosted by Iran's Press TV
. He also hosts Keiser Report, a financial program broadcast on RT - formerly Russia Today
. Keiser hosted the New Year's Eve special, The Keiser's Business Guide to 2010 for BBC Radio 5 Live.
Keiser formerly hosted The Oracle with Max Keiser on BBC World News. Previously he produced and appeared regularly in the TV series People & Power
on the Al-Jazeera English network. He also presents a weekly show about finance and markets on London's Resonance FM
, as well as writing for The Huffington Post
.
In addition to his broadcasting work, Keiser is known for his invention of "Virtual Specialist Technology" - a software system used by the Hollywood Stock Exchange
.
.
. The Hollywood Stock Exchange allows traders to exchange virtual securities such as "MovieStocks", and "StarBonds" and convertible virtual currency, the Hollywood Dollar.
Keiser is also the co-founder of HSX films that went on to make almost a dozen films, including "Mixed Signals", "Six-String Samurai", "Dancer, Texas Pop. 81", and "girl". The company then sold to Ignite Entertainment/Lionsgate.
. He also produced and hosted the weekly talk show, Buy, Sell, Hold for CBS radio's KLSX
in Los Angeles. Currently, he presents The Truth About Markets on Resonance 104.4 FM
in London and on RDU 98.5 in Christchurch, New Zealand.
Films include "Rigged Markets", Money Geyser, Death of the Dollar, Peaked, Extraordinary Antics, Savers vs Speculators, Banking on It, Private Finance or Public Swindle?, Focus on Locusts.
featuring interviews with well known alternative economists.
network. The 30-minute program is produced three times a week. Stacy Herbert appears in the first half of each show with headlines and commentary. In the second half Max Keiser interviews a guest..
An episode broadcast in September 2011 featured an interview with comedienne Rosanne Barr who stated that her solution to the financial crisis was to "bring back the guillotine".
" against Hank Paulson on Al Jazeera
in response to the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP). In a later-broadcast Keiser said "Paulson Stinks". Keiser has advised investors to buy Silver bullion and physical silver, promoting the metal as a store of value.
Karmabanque which sought to profit from any decline in equity-value of companies that are susceptible to boycott from environmental groups. The hedge fund's progress was followed monthly in The Ecologist
magazine. Its targets included Coca-Cola
and McDonald's
. The Karmabanque hedge fund project was designed to simultaneously short-sell companies while funnelling profits from this activity into environmental and ethical-business pressure groups which further act to drive down the price. Describing the project, Keiser states "The Internet allows people, activists, from all over the world to gather, or swarm, and hit a company where it hurts most -- in their stock price."
and Venice
Italy to find out how CIA agent Robert Seldon Lady
and his fellow agents spent $500,000 on a procedure known as extraordinary rendition
- a practice which is illegal and caused an Egyptian citizen, who had been granted asylum in Italy, to be abducted in order to face torture in Cairo. The CIA was prosecuted for the case and CIA station chief Robert Lady was found guilty in a Milan court and sentenced on November 9, 2009 to nine years in an Italian prison, according to the Guardian Newspaper. This verdict was upheld on appeal. The US refuses to extradite Mr Lady to Italy.
. Keiser has started a campaign called "Crash JP Morgan buy silver", where people buy silver, thus raising its price and leaving JP Morgan with a huge short position
to cover, the margin of which are collateralized by JP Morgan's own stock price, bankrupting itself. Based on the collateralization of silver by the price of its shares, and, of course, his allegation that JP Morgan's position is an overwhelmingly large naked short position, Keiser predicted that the a per ounce silver price exceeding JP Morgan's stock price will not only crash JP Morgan, but unsettle the underpinnings of the dollar, which he claims are essentially confetti.
Adweek
magazine described Keiser as "the most visible character in an underground movement that has spurred hundreds of blog posts and videos, and played some small part in driving up the price of precious metals." However, Keiser's prediction that JP Morgan would go bust if Silver hit 47 dollars has failed to materialise, drawing criticism from the financial community.
Press TV
Press TV is a 24-hour English language global news network owned by the Iranian government. Its headquarters are located in Tehran, Iran, with bureaux in Beirut , Damascus , London , Seoul and Washington DC ....
. He also hosts Keiser Report, a financial program broadcast on RT - formerly Russia Today
Russia Today
Russia Today may refer to:* Russia Today, an English language 24-hour television news channel from Russia. It was launched in 2005 and is not related to an online news service of the similar name operated by EIN News...
. Keiser hosted the New Year's Eve special, The Keiser's Business Guide to 2010 for BBC Radio 5 Live.
Keiser formerly hosted The Oracle with Max Keiser on BBC World News. Previously he produced and appeared regularly in the TV series People & Power
People & Power
People & Power is the flagship current affairs programme on Al Jazeera English, broadcast twice a week, on Wednesdays and Sundays, and repeated throughout the week....
on the Al-Jazeera English network. He also presents a weekly show about finance and markets on London's Resonance FM
Resonance FM
Resonance 104.4 FM is a London based non-profit community radio station run by the London Musicians' Collective .The station is staffed by four permanent staff members, including programme controller Ed Baxter and over 300 volunteer technical and production staff.Until September 2007, ResonanceFM...
, as well as writing for The Huffington Post
The Huffington Post
The Huffington Post is an American news website and content-aggregating blog founded by Arianna Huffington, Kenneth Lerer, and Jonah Peretti, featuring liberal minded columnists and various news sources. The site offers coverage of politics, theology, media, business, entertainment, living, style,...
.
In addition to his broadcasting work, Keiser is known for his invention of "Virtual Specialist Technology" - a software system used by the Hollywood Stock Exchange
Hollywood Stock Exchange
The Hollywood Stock Exchange, or HSX, is a web-based, multiplayer game in which players use simulated money to buy and sell "shares" of actors, directors, upcoming films, and film-related options....
.
Early career
Keiser has been involved with markets and finance for 25 years. He started his career as a stock broker on Wall Street after graduating from New York UniversityNew York University
New York University is a private, nonsectarian research university based in New York City. NYU's main campus is situated in the Greenwich Village section of Manhattan...
.
Hollywood Stock Exchange
Keiser is the creator, co-founder and former CEO of HSX Holdings/Hollywood Stock Exchange, later sold to Cantor Fitzgerald. Max co-created the Hollywood Stock Exchange with Michael R. BurnsMichael R. Burns
Michael R. Burns joined Lions Gate Entertainment's Board of Directors in 1999 and became Vice Chairman in March 2000.Previously, Burns served for nine years as managing director and head of Prudential Securities’ Los Angeles investment banking office. While at Prudential, he specialized in raising...
. The Hollywood Stock Exchange allows traders to exchange virtual securities such as "MovieStocks", and "StarBonds" and convertible virtual currency, the Hollywood Dollar.
Keiser is also the co-founder of HSX films that went on to make almost a dozen films, including "Mixed Signals", "Six-String Samurai", "Dancer, Texas Pop. 81", and "girl". The company then sold to Ignite Entertainment/Lionsgate.
Broadcasting career
Keiser presented "Rumble at the Box Office" for NBC's Access HollywoodAccess Hollywood
Access Hollywood is a weekday television entertainment news program covering events and celebrities in the entertainment industry. It was created by former Entertainment Tonight executive producer Jim Van Messel, and is currently directed by Robert Silverstein. In previous years, Doug Dougherty and...
. He also produced and hosted the weekly talk show, Buy, Sell, Hold for CBS radio's KLSX
KLSX
KAMP-FM 97.1 FM, known on-air as 97.1 AMP Radio, is a Rhythmic Contemporary radio station in Los Angeles, California. The station is owned by CBS Radio.The station had long been known as KLSX before the call sign changed on June 30, 2009....
in Los Angeles. Currently, he presents The Truth About Markets on Resonance 104.4 FM
Resonance FM
Resonance 104.4 FM is a London based non-profit community radio station run by the London Musicians' Collective .The station is staffed by four permanent staff members, including programme controller Ed Baxter and over 300 volunteer technical and production staff.Until September 2007, ResonanceFM...
in London and on RDU 98.5 in Christchurch, New Zealand.
People & Power
Keiser produced ten short documentary films covering aspects of financial markets for Al Jazeera's series People & Power.Films include "Rigged Markets", Money Geyser, Death of the Dollar, Peaked, Extraordinary Antics, Savers vs Speculators, Banking on It, Private Finance or Public Swindle?, Focus on Locusts.
The Oracle with Max Keiser
A pilot episode was produced for Al-Jazeera English titled The Oracle. This was developed into a series for BBC World News. The series first aired on January 9, 2009 and ran for ten episodes. It explored financial current affairs from the perspective of prediction markets. It was intended to be a humorous take on financial news before it happens.On The Edge
A weekly financial commentary show which started in 2009 and is broadcast on Press TVPress TV
Press TV is a 24-hour English language global news network owned by the Iranian government. Its headquarters are located in Tehran, Iran, with bureaux in Beirut , Damascus , London , Seoul and Washington DC ....
featuring interviews with well known alternative economists.
The Keiser Report
Since September 2009, Keiser has hosted The Keiser Report with financial news and analysis, on the RTRT (TV network)
RT, previously known as Russia Today, is a global multilingual television news network based in the Russian Federation run by the state-owned state-run RIA Novosti....
network. The 30-minute program is produced three times a week. Stacy Herbert appears in the first half of each show with headlines and commentary. In the second half Max Keiser interviews a guest..
An episode broadcast in September 2011 featured an interview with comedienne Rosanne Barr who stated that her solution to the financial crisis was to "bring back the guillotine".
Financial punditry
Keiser has appeared as a financial pundit on a number of news-networks. His appearances are remarkable for the often incendiary nature of his remarks. For example, Keiser called for a "fatwaFatwa
A fatwā in the Islamic faith is a juristic ruling concerning Islamic law issued by an Islamic scholar. In Sunni Islam any fatwā is non-binding, whereas in Shia Islam it could be considered by an individual as binding, depending on his or her relation to the scholar. The person who issues a fatwā...
" against Hank Paulson on Al Jazeera
Al Jazeera
Al Jazeera is an independent broadcaster owned by the state of Qatar through the Qatar Media Corporation and headquartered in Doha, Qatar...
in response to the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP). In a later-broadcast Keiser said "Paulson Stinks". Keiser has advised investors to buy Silver bullion and physical silver, promoting the metal as a store of value.
Predictions
Throughout Keiser's shows he has been known for making predictions:- In the September 2004 issue of The EcologistThe EcologistThe Ecologist is a British environmental publication founded in 1970 by Edward Goldsmith. It addresses a wide range of environmental subjects and promotes an ecological systems thinking approach through its news stories, investigations and opinion articles. The Ecologist encourages its readers to...
magazine, Keiser correctly predicted the 2008 collapse of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac when he wrote, "My guess is that the two stocks that look the likeliest to implode at the hands of derivative-wielding Wall Street financial types (and other fundamentalists) preying on a US economy made weak by cheap money are Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac." - In 2006 he correctly predicted that sub-prime mortgage-backed securities would be the cause of recession by 2008.
- In 2007 he correctly predicted the break-down of Iceland's economy in 2008.
- In October 2011, during the Keiser Report, Keiser re-stated his previous prediction that Germany would return to the Deutsche Mark. In episode 192 (E192), he stated that he assisted in substantiating that prediction for posting on this page.
Karmabanque
Keiser founded the hedge fundHedge fund
A hedge fund is a private pool of capital actively managed by an investment adviser. Hedge funds are only open for investment to a limited number of accredited or qualified investors who meet criteria set by regulators. These investors can be institutions, such as pension funds, university...
Karmabanque which sought to profit from any decline in equity-value of companies that are susceptible to boycott from environmental groups. The hedge fund's progress was followed monthly in The Ecologist
The Ecologist
The Ecologist is a British environmental publication founded in 1970 by Edward Goldsmith. It addresses a wide range of environmental subjects and promotes an ecological systems thinking approach through its news stories, investigations and opinion articles. The Ecologist encourages its readers to...
magazine. Its targets included Coca-Cola
Coca-Cola
Coca-Cola is a carbonated soft drink sold in stores, restaurants, and vending machines in more than 200 countries. It is produced by The Coca-Cola Company of Atlanta, Georgia, and is often referred to simply as Coke...
and McDonald's
McDonald's
McDonald's Corporation is the world's largest chain of hamburger fast food restaurants, serving around 64 million customers daily in 119 countries. Headquartered in the United States, the company began in 1940 as a barbecue restaurant operated by the eponymous Richard and Maurice McDonald; in 1948...
. The Karmabanque hedge fund project was designed to simultaneously short-sell companies while funnelling profits from this activity into environmental and ethical-business pressure groups which further act to drive down the price. Describing the project, Keiser states "The Internet allows people, activists, from all over the world to gather, or swarm, and hit a company where it hurts most -- in their stock price."
Extraordinary Antics
In the Al-Jazeera short-film Extraordinary Antics Keiser travels to MilanMilan
Milan is the second-largest city in Italy and the capital city of the region of Lombardy and of the province of Milan. The city proper has a population of about 1.3 million, while its urban area, roughly coinciding with its administrative province and the bordering Province of Monza and Brianza ,...
and Venice
Venice
Venice is a city in northern Italy which is renowned for the beauty of its setting, its architecture and its artworks. It is the capital of the Veneto region...
Italy to find out how CIA agent Robert Seldon Lady
Robert Seldon Lady
Robert Seldon Lady is a convicted kidnapper and a noted member of the U.S...
and his fellow agents spent $500,000 on a procedure known as extraordinary rendition
Extraordinary rendition
Extraordinary rendition is the abduction and illegal transfer of a person from one nation to another. "Torture by proxy" is used by some critics to describe situations in which the United States and the United Kingdom have transferred suspected terrorists to other countries in order to torture the...
- a practice which is illegal and caused an Egyptian citizen, who had been granted asylum in Italy, to be abducted in order to face torture in Cairo. The CIA was prosecuted for the case and CIA station chief Robert Lady was found guilty in a Milan court and sentenced on November 9, 2009 to nine years in an Italian prison, according to the Guardian Newspaper. This verdict was upheld on appeal. The US refuses to extradite Mr Lady to Italy.
Crash JP Morgan buy silver
Max Keiser has labeled JP Morgan "the biggest financial terrorist on Wall St", in relation to their alleged manipulation of the price of silverSilver as an investment
Silver, like other precious metals, may be used as an investment. For more than four thousand years, silver has been regarded as a form of money and store of value. However, since the end of the silver standard, silver has lost its role as legal tender in many developed countries such as the...
. Keiser has started a campaign called "Crash JP Morgan buy silver", where people buy silver, thus raising its price and leaving JP Morgan with a huge short position
Naked short selling
Naked short selling, or naked shorting, is the practice of short-selling a financial instrument without first borrowing the security or ensuring that the security can be borrowed, as is conventionally done in a short sale. When the seller does not obtain the shares within the required time frame,...
to cover, the margin of which are collateralized by JP Morgan's own stock price, bankrupting itself. Based on the collateralization of silver by the price of its shares, and, of course, his allegation that JP Morgan's position is an overwhelmingly large naked short position, Keiser predicted that the a per ounce silver price exceeding JP Morgan's stock price will not only crash JP Morgan, but unsettle the underpinnings of the dollar, which he claims are essentially confetti.
Adweek
Adweek
Adweek is a weekly American advertising trade publication that was first published in 1978....
magazine described Keiser as "the most visible character in an underground movement that has spurred hundreds of blog posts and videos, and played some small part in driving up the price of precious metals." However, Keiser's prediction that JP Morgan would go bust if Silver hit 47 dollars has failed to materialise, drawing criticism from the financial community.
Criticism
- The GuardianThe GuardianThe Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
newspaper, in an item titled "Mad Max", described Keiser's Karmabanque hedge fund as a "fantastical scheme" and accused him of trying to exist "beyond the normal forces and controls of society."
- Keiser drew criticism at the 2000 ShowBiz Expo in Las VegasLas Vegas StripThe Las Vegas Strip is an approximately stretch of Las Vegas Boulevard in Clark County, Nevada; adjacent to, but outside the city limits of Las Vegas proper. The Strip lies within the unincorporated townships of Paradise and Winchester...
when he said of media content that "Everything is inescapably going to a price point called free." In response, Kevin Tsujihara, executive V.P. of New Media at Warner Bros.Warner Bros.Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc., also known as Warner Bros. Pictures or simply Warner Bros. , is an American producer of film and television entertainment.One of the major film studios, it is a subsidiary of Time Warner, with its headquarters in Burbank,...
, commented that "Piracy.com" will be the victor if superior content is available on sites supported by advertisements.
- In 2005, Steven MilloySteven MilloySteven J. Milloy is a commentator for Fox News and runs the Web site junkscience.com, which is dedicated to "debunking" what Milloy labels "faulty scientific data and analysis." On Fox News Channel he is billed as a "Junk Science commentator." He describes himself as a libertarian.Among the topics...
, the "Junk ScienceJunk scienceJunk science is a term used in U.S. political and legal disputes that brands an advocate's claims about scientific data, research, or analyses as spurious. The term may convey a pejorative connotation that the advocate is driven by political, ideological, financial, or other unscientific...
" commentator demanded that Keiser be removed from the panel of the Triple Bottom Line Investing conference, where he was scheduled to appear. Milloy accused Keiser of making threats against his organization and petitioned sponsors Calvert InvestmentsCalvert InvestmentsCalvert Investments, Inc., established in 1976, is an investment management company that is headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland and led by Barbara Krumsiek, the firm’s President and Chief Executive Officer. In addition to providing traditional investment management services, Calvert is one of the...
and KLD Research & Analytics to withdraw from the project. Robert Rubenstein founder of conference organiser Brooklyn Bridge stated that Keiser's comments “do not constitute a threat to person or property and are not related to the conference or the content that will be presented there”.
- Referring to Keiser's Karmabanque project, a spokeswoman for RyanAirRyanairRyanair is an Irish low-cost airline. Its head office is at Dublin Airport and its primary operational bases at Dublin Airport and London Stansted Airport....
said, "Since they put Ryanair on their list, our share price has gone up by 10 per cent. We are always delighted to be part of a list which includes Coca-Cola, Starbucks and Wal-Mart.", however on the same day The HinduThe HinduThe Hindu is an Indian English-language daily newspaper founded and continuously published in Chennai since 1878. According to the Audit Bureau of Circulations, it has a circulation of 1.46 million copies as of December 2009. The enterprise employed over 1,600 workers and gross income reached $40...
published an article in which Howard Millar, Ryanair deputy chief executive admitted that his company may be vulnerable to environmental pressure groups: "I am concerned that there is a continuing media campaign and the concern is that people might say 'maybe I will not fly on holiday and maybe I will make a different choice'."
See also
- Error accountError accountAn error account is a type of account used for storing compensation for errors in trading, a transaction that is not posted in a timely manner because of inconsistencies, such as an incorrect account or routing numbers to the wrong name on the account, producing a claim that needs to be resolved as...
s a term often mentioned by Max Keiser - Central bankCentral bankA central bank, reserve bank, or monetary authority is a public institution that usually issues the currency, regulates the money supply, and controls the interest rates in a country. Central banks often also oversee the commercial banking system of their respective countries...
or Reserve bankReserve BankReserve Bank can amongst other things be:*Reserve Bank of Australia*Reserve Bank of Fiji*Reserve Bank of India*Reserve Bank of New Zealand*South African Reserve Bank*Federal Reserve Bank *Reserve Bank of Vietnam... - Gold standardGold standardThe gold standard is a monetary system in which the standard economic unit of account is a fixed mass of gold. There are distinct kinds of gold standard...
where paper currency is backed up by the value of Gold - Hollywood AccountingHollywood accountingHollywood accounting refers to the opaque accounting methods used by the film, video and television industry to budget and record profits for film projects...
External links
- MaxKeiser.com Max Keiser's website
- MaxKeiserTV Max Keiser's YouTube channel
- chaostheorien.de Interview with Max Keiser at chaostheorien.de