Everybody should (please!) just shut up about the Boston Marathon Bombing until something concrete is known. Stupid speculation about who did the bombing and why is going to hurt innocent people.
And no, Obama and Congress, this is not a reason to further restrict civil liberties in the United States, although that may be your immediate spastic reaction. But the government has quite enough power already. Let's not have another reprise of the awful Patriot Act that gutted Americans' freedoms.
Let's not go of half-cocked against anyone. The results of doing so are never pretty and almost inevitably bring damage to ourselves. Witness the Iraq War, which was a spastic reaction an an international scale.
One lesson we could take from this bombing is a lesson about empathy. People all over the world suffer from bombing incidents. On Monday Democracy Now! reported "Dozens Dead in Wave of Bombings Across Iraq," and "Somalia: At Least 30 Killed in Militant Attacks." One reads these types of reports everyday on that news site, although one rarely hears much about bombings in the rest of the world on most other U.S.news outlets. We must think about the dead and wounded, mostly innocents, in other countries. They hurt too. They mourn their dead and injured with a grief as deep as anything an American feels They are human beings just like us.
Along those lines, it's time to stop U.S. sponsored attacks everywhere in the world, even if we are striking against terrorists, because when we drop a drone bomb or missile on someone in a foreign country that is not officially at war with the United States, we ourselves are the terrorists. It's time to resort to legal means of response to illegal acts against Americans. Yes, that's an old-fashioned idea. But it used to work pretty well, and it will work in the present case.
Tuesday, April 16, 2013
Monday, December 31, 2012
Taxmageddon is upon us! It's the Fiscal Cliff!
Seems too late to stop us from going over the fiscal cliff. Good,
say I.
The fiscal cliff,
or better, the fiscal bluff (don't know who coined that, but it is much better
than the idea of a sudden drop off that ‘fiscal cliff’ brings to mind, and it
also calls up the idea of a poker bluff, which I like) is more likely because because
negotiations to avoid going over the bluff or cliff or whatever have broken
down due to John Boehner's House having gone home.
Both sides, of
course, wanted very badly to screw the common man in favor of their rich
campaign donors and the various lobbying interests, especially President Obama
with his bunk about a "Grand Bargain." As part of this vaunted grand
bargain our taxes would supposedly be maintained at the present level for rates
lower than $250K and would go back to Clinton era levels on those earning more
than that amount. However, there was much uncertainty. Obama expressed himself
willing to cut Social Security through the chained CPI scheme (it is a CUT) and to move the level of
increase in tax rates to $400K. Then Nancy Pelosi made similar noises, after
having said Social Security was off the table—these people are absolutely shameless. Who
knows what else Obama would betray in order to get his cherished deal done—the sky is
probably the limit, given Obama's history, but it looks like we may have been
saved again as we were saved in 2010 by the very hard right's unwillingness
(thanks Tea Party whack jobs) to go along with any kind of raising of taxes on
their cherished rich.
So, John Boehner
responded to the President's offers by proposing his now famous Plan B, in
which he insisted that tax rates increase at a threshold of $1M. This was
unacceptable to his radical hothead hard right extremists and they voted
against it in the House, defeating the idea. Since Boehner was publicly embarrassed
by his own display of incompetence as a speaker (I guess he can't count votes
too good, the dummy) the House Republicans have decided to take their ball and
go home.
Impasse.
Fine. The package
of Bush Tax cuts will sunset tonight at midnight (December 31, 2012). Tax rates
will go back to the Clinton era levels, with the highest marginal income tax
rate being 39.6 percent. The highest marginal income tax right now is 35
percent, so this metric will change by 4.6 percent.
Other things in
the Bush Tax cut package will go away tonight too, such as Bush's changes
favoring wealthy people through the estate tax and by lowering capital gains
tax rates.
Estate taxes are
good because they prevent the development of a wealthy aristocracy of inherited
wealth here in what is ostensibly a nation based on merit and
personal initiative; the estate tax will go back to the Clinton era levels
of taxation.
The capital gains
tax rate will rise from 15% back to the Clinton era level of 20%. How can this
be bad? Come on, why should money made through investing capital be taxed at a
lower rate than money earned through the honest work performed by working
people? There's no moral justification for the existence of the privileged
tax rates our government extends to the earners of capital gains. Low capital
gains taxation is favoritism by the government of one class of citizen, the
wealthy, over all the other citizens who don't have enough money to earn any
kind of capital gains breaks. Those kinds of breaks should be done away with
entirely, but I'll take the 5% raise in rates for now.
Taxes are at their
lowest level in more than 60 years, and the economy
seems about to tank (that's the subject for many a 2013 post, I'll bet). Lowering taxes on corporations and rich people never
increases investment in the productive sector, no matter what
FOX/CBS/CNN/NBC/MSNBC and all the other lying media says. Trickle down is bunk.
I'll be glad to pay my extra share of taxes starting tomorrow. I fail to see
what there is to be worried about just because the Bush Tax laws sunset.
Trickle down does not work (read
the report for yourself). Rich people and corporations do not create jobs. DEMAND creates jobs. Washington
knows this, but Washington counts on the fact that most Americans do not
understand this basic fact in order to continue enriching the rich oligarchs
and their parasites in the political, media, and corporate elites.
The deal they have
set up about cuts to defense on one hand and cuts to social programs on the
other will now play out. They are caught a trap of their own devising. The
screams will soon begin. But remember, Washington D.C. politicians set this
disaster up, and they can defuse the bomb. Else they'll be hoist, as will we
all, on their own petard. They had all better start thinking about the common
good, or we'll soon be in the middle of a politically caused great depression.
The screaming will
resound from all quarters, and we haven't even considered the phony Debt
Ceiling Crisis the Republicans will soon take up anew.
Paul Krugman had
this to say about that phony Debt Ceiling Crisis today:
It sure looks as if we’re going over the fiscal cliff, but that may be the least of our problems. The debt ceiling is a much bigger and more dangerous issue, and it looks very much as if Republicans are set to destroy the full faith and credit of the United States if they can’t get their way.
The key thing to remember — and what the GOP hopes you won’t understand — is that raising the debt ceiling only empowers the president to spend money that he’s authorized to spend by Congressional legislation; nothing more. Conversely, a party that refuses to raise the debt limit is saying that it’s prepared to inflict vast damage on America in order to achieve things that it couldn't achieve through actual legislation — in effect, that it’s prepared to use vandalism to subvert the constitutional process.
Emphasis added above is
mine.
And so it goes . .
. bienvenido a 2013, 2012 fue pésimo.
Monday, December 24, 2012
What makes me so damn mad about Democrats . . .
These people leave me beside myself with anger because they are such liars about their desire to help the citizens of the United States. If they are sincere, they have a damn funny way of showing it. Just the other day Barack Obama made noises, after having solemnly promised through his surrogate Joe Biden not to touch Social Security, about how he is OK with cutting Social Security (see, that is exactly what this chained CPI indexing scheme he was talking about will do, it's a CUT), and then we saw Nancy Pelosi follow along with him, after she herself had come out against monkeying with Social Security.
They have sold out, but as usual. they've sold us out to a lesser degree than the Republicans.
Democrats have the advantage right now in their dealings with the Republicans about the so-called Fiscal Cliff. Now we all, as followers of the news, should understand that the fiscal cliff is a fiscal bluff, a manufactured crisis that is to be used to screw the average man out of even more money in favor of the oligarchs. I don't want to get into that here, it's already been discussed to death about how this is strategy right out of the pages of Naomi Klein's The Shock Doctrine.
On to my point about what makes me so damn mad about Democrats, it's really simple, when the Democrats have the advantage, they NEVER press it.
Look here, if the question is Medicare, for example, the Republicans' position is clear, they want to eliminate or at least cut Medicare, but knowing they can't get anyone to go along with outright elimination or even an honestly named cut, they push for things like raising the eligibility age. The Democrats on the other side of the bargaining table hem and haw and say they might be amenable to raising the age eligibility. Understand, the Democrats have the advantage. Here's what makes me go nuts: You NEVER NEVER, NOT EVER hear a Democrat say the obvious thing, which is "No, I don't think so, but here's my counter-offer, let's LOWER the eligibility age to 50 years old!" You just never will hear this at all, not ever, not even one damn time.
It makes me nuts! If you or I were playing poker with these weak, weak, cowardly Democrats (Barack Obama, I am talking right to you) either of us would clean their pockets out in short order.
Look here Obama, Biden, Pelosi, and Reid, when the Republicans ask for cuts to social security, you say "NO, what we Democrats want is a RAISE to benefits and PERMANENT solvency to the Social Security program, and we are going to get it by REMOVING THE CAP completely to the maximum taxable earnings amount. We want ALL taxpayers of ALL income levels to contribute into Social Security, and we are not taking no for an answer! And furthermore, don't ever bring up Social Security in the context of balancing the budget! You KNOW it has absolutely nothing to do with budget deficits, so shut up about it for once and for all."
That is how you let Republicans know where you stand. You don't chicken out and throw the negotiations to the enemy at the first sign of resistance, like dear leader Obama does at the beginning of every deal with Boehner and McConnell.
Do Democrats think Americans are stupid? I've been around a long time. I've seen real negotiators, guys like LBJ and Nikita Khrushchev. I know the difference. Obama, you are no LBJ.
I am disgusted with Democratic weakness and with lesser-of-the-two-evils politics. I am sick of being played for a chump.
Update: This is excellent, especially the laws posted at the beginning of the post: Are you enjoying the “good cop, bad cop,” kabuki theater of the absurd?
Update II: A Brief History of Conservatism. The deficit BS examined by Driftglass. The comments are as good as the post.
They have sold out, but as usual. they've sold us out to a lesser degree than the Republicans.
Democrats have the advantage right now in their dealings with the Republicans about the so-called Fiscal Cliff. Now we all, as followers of the news, should understand that the fiscal cliff is a fiscal bluff, a manufactured crisis that is to be used to screw the average man out of even more money in favor of the oligarchs. I don't want to get into that here, it's already been discussed to death about how this is strategy right out of the pages of Naomi Klein's The Shock Doctrine.
On to my point about what makes me so damn mad about Democrats, it's really simple, when the Democrats have the advantage, they NEVER press it.
Look here, if the question is Medicare, for example, the Republicans' position is clear, they want to eliminate or at least cut Medicare, but knowing they can't get anyone to go along with outright elimination or even an honestly named cut, they push for things like raising the eligibility age. The Democrats on the other side of the bargaining table hem and haw and say they might be amenable to raising the age eligibility. Understand, the Democrats have the advantage. Here's what makes me go nuts: You NEVER NEVER, NOT EVER hear a Democrat say the obvious thing, which is "No, I don't think so, but here's my counter-offer, let's LOWER the eligibility age to 50 years old!" You just never will hear this at all, not ever, not even one damn time.
It makes me nuts! If you or I were playing poker with these weak, weak, cowardly Democrats (Barack Obama, I am talking right to you) either of us would clean their pockets out in short order.
Look here Obama, Biden, Pelosi, and Reid, when the Republicans ask for cuts to social security, you say "NO, what we Democrats want is a RAISE to benefits and PERMANENT solvency to the Social Security program, and we are going to get it by REMOVING THE CAP completely to the maximum taxable earnings amount. We want ALL taxpayers of ALL income levels to contribute into Social Security, and we are not taking no for an answer! And furthermore, don't ever bring up Social Security in the context of balancing the budget! You KNOW it has absolutely nothing to do with budget deficits, so shut up about it for once and for all."
That is how you let Republicans know where you stand. You don't chicken out and throw the negotiations to the enemy at the first sign of resistance, like dear leader Obama does at the beginning of every deal with Boehner and McConnell.
Do Democrats think Americans are stupid? I've been around a long time. I've seen real negotiators, guys like LBJ and Nikita Khrushchev. I know the difference. Obama, you are no LBJ.
I am disgusted with Democratic weakness and with lesser-of-the-two-evils politics. I am sick of being played for a chump.
Update: This is excellent, especially the laws posted at the beginning of the post: Are you enjoying the “good cop, bad cop,” kabuki theater of the absurd?
Update II: A Brief History of Conservatism. The deficit BS examined by Driftglass. The comments are as good as the post.
Friday, December 21, 2012
The World Ends Today . . .
. . . According to the lunatic fringe and to their accomplices and abettors in our media.
BS is rampant in our world, and it may spell real doom if people continue to believe in stupidities like the Mayan Prophesy of the End of the World, or the second coming of Christ and the Resurrection.
People had better start understanding that we are biological machines, life forms living through lucky chance in a backwater of a vast universe which cares not about any of us individually nor all of us collectively.
We are alive for a short span of time, and we had better make the best of it while it lasts. Appreciate what you really are and what your fellow humans really are. Realize you have one life to live, and after you die there will be nothing remaining of you except the memory of you in the brains of your fellow humans.
The ephemeral nature of our existence is what gives it value. Because we won't be here one day soon, we should understand better the value of each of our living, dwindling moments. If one really understands this idea many good things can come of it.
If one understands that each life is unique and unrepeatable and of short duration, one must see that taking a life is a crime against the victim of unimaginably evil proportions. Everything that the victim has, was, or is, wiped out in a flash of the deepest immorality, an immorality that can be clearly understood not through the supposed wishes of some fictional god but by the clear intelligence of the human conscience, a conscience developed through millions of years of Darwinian evolution. Our human conscience reveals the evil done and we recoil from it because through the human value of empathy we apply the losses suffered by the victim of the crime to our own selves. We then understand down to the marrow of our bones the magnitude of depravity that is required in order to kill a fellow human being.
The idea can be applied further, to theft, for is not a theft a killing of a portion of the other's invested time? That time is lost, and the value cannot be used for furtherance of any of the victim's goals.
The principle applies to violations and injuries of all kinds such as rape, maiming, enslavement, and all the lesser crimes.
These thoughts came to humans in the prehistory of our development, and the golden rule came out of these moral constructions. The golden rule springs from understanding the inevitability of death and from our power of empathy. The morality that is ascribed to religions comes from our prehistoric development of golden rule thinking. Religion got its morality from humankind, not from any supposed god or other imaginary super being. Even the gods, all of them, sprang from the human brain.
You don't need a Bible, or a Koran, or a Talmud or any other dusty old tome. Dylan said you don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows, and you certainly don't need a preacher, priest, rabbi, or imam to know what's right and what's wrong. Use your brain, that's what you have it for. Stop believing in magical thinking and wishing for what ain't so to be true. All gods are fictions—if you claim otherwise, prove your case. Accept your human nature and accept the physical realities of the universe.
Don't allow yourself to be fooled by charlatans who want to use your own ignorance against you. Develop your bullshit detector, and think for yourself.
There is great beauty and solace to be found in reality. Our world is a beautiful place, let us cherish and protect every aspect of it. Let us cherish and protect the humans and other animals. Let us cherish and protect all living beings and the all elements of our natural world: our air, water and soil.
Let us put stupidity and ignorance behind us and let us advance from the infancy of our present state of development as a species to a state of maturity from which we can be proper stewards of our world and no longer be the implements of its despoilment and eventual destruction.
Everything about morality comes from two factors. Those factors are the realization of our own impermanence and from empathy Think about it.
BS is rampant in our world, and it may spell real doom if people continue to believe in stupidities like the Mayan Prophesy of the End of the World, or the second coming of Christ and the Resurrection.
People had better start understanding that we are biological machines, life forms living through lucky chance in a backwater of a vast universe which cares not about any of us individually nor all of us collectively.
We are alive for a short span of time, and we had better make the best of it while it lasts. Appreciate what you really are and what your fellow humans really are. Realize you have one life to live, and after you die there will be nothing remaining of you except the memory of you in the brains of your fellow humans.
The ephemeral nature of our existence is what gives it value. Because we won't be here one day soon, we should understand better the value of each of our living, dwindling moments. If one really understands this idea many good things can come of it.
If one understands that each life is unique and unrepeatable and of short duration, one must see that taking a life is a crime against the victim of unimaginably evil proportions. Everything that the victim has, was, or is, wiped out in a flash of the deepest immorality, an immorality that can be clearly understood not through the supposed wishes of some fictional god but by the clear intelligence of the human conscience, a conscience developed through millions of years of Darwinian evolution. Our human conscience reveals the evil done and we recoil from it because through the human value of empathy we apply the losses suffered by the victim of the crime to our own selves. We then understand down to the marrow of our bones the magnitude of depravity that is required in order to kill a fellow human being.
The idea can be applied further, to theft, for is not a theft a killing of a portion of the other's invested time? That time is lost, and the value cannot be used for furtherance of any of the victim's goals.
The principle applies to violations and injuries of all kinds such as rape, maiming, enslavement, and all the lesser crimes.
These thoughts came to humans in the prehistory of our development, and the golden rule came out of these moral constructions. The golden rule springs from understanding the inevitability of death and from our power of empathy. The morality that is ascribed to religions comes from our prehistoric development of golden rule thinking. Religion got its morality from humankind, not from any supposed god or other imaginary super being. Even the gods, all of them, sprang from the human brain.
You don't need a Bible, or a Koran, or a Talmud or any other dusty old tome. Dylan said you don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows, and you certainly don't need a preacher, priest, rabbi, or imam to know what's right and what's wrong. Use your brain, that's what you have it for. Stop believing in magical thinking and wishing for what ain't so to be true. All gods are fictions—if you claim otherwise, prove your case. Accept your human nature and accept the physical realities of the universe.
Don't allow yourself to be fooled by charlatans who want to use your own ignorance against you. Develop your bullshit detector, and think for yourself.
There is great beauty and solace to be found in reality. Our world is a beautiful place, let us cherish and protect every aspect of it. Let us cherish and protect the humans and other animals. Let us cherish and protect all living beings and the all elements of our natural world: our air, water and soil.
Let us put stupidity and ignorance behind us and let us advance from the infancy of our present state of development as a species to a state of maturity from which we can be proper stewards of our world and no longer be the implements of its despoilment and eventual destruction.
Everything about morality comes from two factors. Those factors are the realization of our own impermanence and from empathy Think about it.
Wednesday, December 19, 2012
How they cover up the crimes . . . and what to do about GUNS.
How they cover up the crimes:
HSBC commits its horrendous worldwide crimes, but then as if by magic, a terrible thing happens in America totally unrelated to the HSBC mess. Since this new thing is so horrific and riveting (Terror Porn, as David Feldman so aptly described it), all eyes are drawn to the spectacle. The media, almost as if complicit in HSBC's desire for everyone's eyes to look elsewhere, directs all attention at the new story and the American Public drops its attention from the HSBC crime story and moves on, completely forgetting about HSBC.
Twenty small children and six teachers murdered is a tragedy of national importance, but don't let the media do to the HSBC story what it always does to stories about crime and corruption among our elites. Don't let your attention be diverted. Keep your eye on the ball while you follow both stories.
We have to stop allowing elites to escape the consequences of their crimes.
Politicians, Bankers and white collar types who commit crimes are CRIMINALS. They must not be allowed to escape retribution.
If we allow two scales of law, one for everyday people and one for the special elites, the American idea and all the fine things it brings with it will die as dead as any of those poor little children gunned down by that maniac in Connecticut.
What to do about GUNS:
As for guns, well, I have made my opinion clear in previous posts, but let me restate it here.
That ought to do to start.
You may get the idea I don't like guns. You'd be right. And by the way, I am not some ignorant liberal who knows nothing about weapons. I spent 28 years in the military and I have fired all the weapons we had in the Coast Guard, from a .45 caliber pistol up to a 5"/38 cannon.
Guns are useful for only one thing, and that's killing. I have had a bellyfull of violence and it's time it stopped.
Use your brain, America. This ain't a wild west romance, this is real life and your very existence, or the existence of someone you love is ON THE LINE.
NRA, we are coming for you bastards.
Good Ideas Seen About What to Do:
. . . I like the idea of a ban on assault weapons (seems like a slam dunk) combined with mandatory liability insurance for all remaining legal guns. Let the insurance companies (who will have to pay steep claims if someone gets hurt or killed) determine who it wants to insure. by paulpsd7, FRIDAY, DEC 21, 2012 11:30 AM CST on Salon.
. . . " Why doesn't the US Attorney General just get it over with and declare the NRA a terrorist hate group? They certainly have no solutions to the problem other than to make more money for the gun manufacturers and incite even more violence." . . . IconDaemon, FRIDAY, DEC 21, 2012 11:36 AM CST, also on Salon.
I propose that (along with assault weapon ban) guns be licensed with each gun requiring liability insurance. The NRA could handle the insurance but be responsible for the payout if an person kills with an uninsured gun. Give them an incentive to be responsible. by sister h, FRIDAY, DEC 21, 2012 11:17 AM CST, Salon
HSBC commits its horrendous worldwide crimes, but then as if by magic, a terrible thing happens in America totally unrelated to the HSBC mess. Since this new thing is so horrific and riveting (Terror Porn, as David Feldman so aptly described it), all eyes are drawn to the spectacle. The media, almost as if complicit in HSBC's desire for everyone's eyes to look elsewhere, directs all attention at the new story and the American Public drops its attention from the HSBC crime story and moves on, completely forgetting about HSBC.
Twenty small children and six teachers murdered is a tragedy of national importance, but don't let the media do to the HSBC story what it always does to stories about crime and corruption among our elites. Don't let your attention be diverted. Keep your eye on the ball while you follow both stories.
We have to stop allowing elites to escape the consequences of their crimes.
Politicians, Bankers and white collar types who commit crimes are CRIMINALS. They must not be allowed to escape retribution.
If we allow two scales of law, one for everyday people and one for the special elites, the American idea and all the fine things it brings with it will die as dead as any of those poor little children gunned down by that maniac in Connecticut.
What to do about GUNS:
As for guns, well, I have made my opinion clear in previous posts, but let me restate it here.
- Guns must be totally regulated.
- Guns sales must be done only by licensed and inspected firearms dealers, dealers subject to Federal, State, and Local inspection and sanction. Random inspections will be done, apart from the initial inspections needed to establish a business.
- You must have a licence in order to possess a gun.
- You must pass Federal, State, and Local competency examinations to ensure your mental and physical ability to safely operate a weapon (that's right THREE levels of checks and if you fail one, NO LICENCE and NO WEAPON.
- You have to be thoroughly trained in gun use and safety before you get a licence. You have to pass a thorough course and be tested on your knowledge just like getting a licence to drive.
- You can't carry the gun in certain places.
- The gun itself has to be inspected, and it must conform to many regulations pertaining to its safety and use.
- Guns of all types should be limited to 6 rounds. No semi-automatic weapons should be allowed--that means each round must be enabled by physical action. This means you have to cock the damn thing to prepare each round. No machine-enabled firing allowed, period.
- All existing semi-automatic weapons in the hands of the public must be turned in or confiscated where necessary. If a semi-automatic weapon is used in a crime, the crime should automatically be raised to a Federal crime, with severe penalties for even the first infraction.
That ought to do to start.
You may get the idea I don't like guns. You'd be right. And by the way, I am not some ignorant liberal who knows nothing about weapons. I spent 28 years in the military and I have fired all the weapons we had in the Coast Guard, from a .45 caliber pistol up to a 5"/38 cannon.
Guns are useful for only one thing, and that's killing. I have had a bellyfull of violence and it's time it stopped.
Use your brain, America. This ain't a wild west romance, this is real life and your very existence, or the existence of someone you love is ON THE LINE.
NRA, we are coming for you bastards.
Good Ideas Seen About What to Do:
. . . I like the idea of a ban on assault weapons (seems like a slam dunk) combined with mandatory liability insurance for all remaining legal guns. Let the insurance companies (who will have to pay steep claims if someone gets hurt or killed) determine who it wants to insure. by paulpsd7, FRIDAY, DEC 21, 2012 11:30 AM CST on Salon.
. . . " Why doesn't the US Attorney General just get it over with and declare the NRA a terrorist hate group? They certainly have no solutions to the problem other than to make more money for the gun manufacturers and incite even more violence." . . . IconDaemon, FRIDAY, DEC 21, 2012 11:36 AM CST, also on Salon.
I propose that (along with assault weapon ban) guns be licensed with each gun requiring liability insurance. The NRA could handle the insurance but be responsible for the payout if an person kills with an uninsured gun. Give them an incentive to be responsible. by sister h, FRIDAY, DEC 21, 2012 11:17 AM CST, Salon
Tuesday, December 18, 2012
The United States Gets Owned by HSBC! U.S. Punked, read all about it!
HSBC, that's The Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation, originally founded by a Scotsman in British Hong Kong, now morphed into a huge holding and banking company that has its fingers in dealings on six continents, has committed crimes in support of terrorists, mafiosi, and drug cartels. This is a fact—it has been admitted publicly—and Attorney General Eric Holder's Department of Justice has inflicted a puny fine and no prosecutions on HSBC. They sent their point man, Assistant U.S. Attorney General Lanny Breuer, out to thump his chest about how tough they are on Banks because they inflicted a "record" settlement on HSBC. The amount is One Point Nine Billion dollars, which is nothing to an organization that is the world's sixth-largest publicly held company and third-largest bank. This money is a very small fraction of the money HSBC made on its criminal activities.
NO ONE IS GOING TO JAIL! Understand that. You can look into the future and see that we will have some of these same HSBC criminals in our government in a couple years, just like we have Rick Scott on the Governor's chair in Florida (he's the guy who headed Columbia/HCA, the company that defrauded Medicare of billions). The criminals at HSBC are literally laughing in our faces, my fellow citizens of the United States of America. They have harmed us all and have gotten away with it because of the weakness of the Barack Obama presidential administration.
Weakness is too kind a word. The administration seems to me to be criminally complicit, although I am no lawyer. But what can you say about an administration which allows crooks who deal with Al Qaeda, Mexican and Colombian Drug Cartels, and Organized Crime to get away free? What can you say when an organization violates The Bank Secrecy Act and the Trading with the Enemy Act and is allowed to walk with a puny slap on the wrist and a "now you behave or you'll get a time out!"
Eric Holder says the bank's operations would be imperiled if the criminals within the bank were prosecuted (!) It might affect world-wide banking operations (!) It would send the wrong message (!)
This is stupid on so many levels. Of course it would affect the banks's operations! It would make them think twice before engaging in criminal activity! How dumb does Eric Holder think the American public is? Holding crooks accountable is your job, ERIC HOLDER! Of course criminal prosecutions of one crime-ridden bank would affect the operations of the other banks contemplating crimes. Maybe they would not do crimes, ERIC! But holding HSBC accountable for its criminal activity would send the wrong message to the world's bankers, says DOJ Boss Holder through his boy Lanny Breuer. What kind of message does Eric Holder and Barack Obama think is being sent by letting HSBC off the hook? I'll tell you the message, it's clear:
These punks, Eric Holder and Lanny Breuer, who both came out of banking to go into government, are going to get big payoffs as they leave government and go back into banking. It will happen—that's how government works in the corrupt United States of America. The bought-and-paid-for United States of America. Banks own it, don't you forget it! Now bow your head, you citizens, you DO NOT count!
References:
HSBC money laundering report: Key findings
Slap on wrist for HSBC is itself a crime
Sinaloa Cartel Bought Narco Plane Via HSBC Bank
Outrageous HSBC Settlement Proves the Drug War is a Joke
What's the point of listing the references I consulted for this polemic—there are literally hundreds of stories about HSBC's crimes. Just enter "HSBC crime" on your Google search bar and go to town—you can read and read and read and read.
Update: The Ten most Outrageous Economic Crimes of 2012.
NO ONE IS GOING TO JAIL! Understand that. You can look into the future and see that we will have some of these same HSBC criminals in our government in a couple years, just like we have Rick Scott on the Governor's chair in Florida (he's the guy who headed Columbia/HCA, the company that defrauded Medicare of billions). The criminals at HSBC are literally laughing in our faces, my fellow citizens of the United States of America. They have harmed us all and have gotten away with it because of the weakness of the Barack Obama presidential administration.
Weakness is too kind a word. The administration seems to me to be criminally complicit, although I am no lawyer. But what can you say about an administration which allows crooks who deal with Al Qaeda, Mexican and Colombian Drug Cartels, and Organized Crime to get away free? What can you say when an organization violates The Bank Secrecy Act and the Trading with the Enemy Act and is allowed to walk with a puny slap on the wrist and a "now you behave or you'll get a time out!"
The whole thing makes me so angry that I feel physically sick.
Eric Holder says the bank's operations would be imperiled if the criminals within the bank were prosecuted (!) It might affect world-wide banking operations (!) It would send the wrong message (!)
This is stupid on so many levels. Of course it would affect the banks's operations! It would make them think twice before engaging in criminal activity! How dumb does Eric Holder think the American public is? Holding crooks accountable is your job, ERIC HOLDER! Of course criminal prosecutions of one crime-ridden bank would affect the operations of the other banks contemplating crimes. Maybe they would not do crimes, ERIC! But holding HSBC accountable for its criminal activity would send the wrong message to the world's bankers, says DOJ Boss Holder through his boy Lanny Breuer. What kind of message does Eric Holder and Barack Obama think is being sent by letting HSBC off the hook? I'll tell you the message, it's clear:
Bankers, you can commit any kind of crime you want and the Government of the United States will look the other way. "We look forward not backward!" that's their slogan in the United States government these days.
Bankers, you can do anything. You can launder money for the Sinaloa Cartel, or for Hamas, or for Hezbollah. Indeed, the question is, what would a banker have to do in order to go to jail? Crash the world economy? Nope, that doesn't work—there are no bankers behind bars for the disaster inflicted in 2008. Maybe a banker could murder someone in cold blood on live network television inside a bank's most prestigious offices while having a sexual orgy and being high on schedule one drugs—would that do it? I doubt it! Eric Holder would say punishing a Banker might send the wrong message, so we have to let him off with a little fine and maybe send him to the corner for an hour to think over what a bad, bad boy he has been.I am soooooooo angry. And mark my words, it will be covered up and the news cycle will bury this story. Nothing to see here, folks, now move along, please.
These punks, Eric Holder and Lanny Breuer, who both came out of banking to go into government, are going to get big payoffs as they leave government and go back into banking. It will happen—that's how government works in the corrupt United States of America. The bought-and-paid-for United States of America. Banks own it, don't you forget it! Now bow your head, you citizens, you DO NOT count!
References:
HSBC money laundering report: Key findings
Slap on wrist for HSBC is itself a crime
Sinaloa Cartel Bought Narco Plane Via HSBC Bank
Outrageous HSBC Settlement Proves the Drug War is a Joke
What's the point of listing the references I consulted for this polemic—there are literally hundreds of stories about HSBC's crimes. Just enter "HSBC crime" on your Google search bar and go to town—you can read and read and read and read.
Update: The Ten most Outrageous Economic Crimes of 2012.
Monday, December 10, 2012
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)