I just tested it and things went through. The filters check for spam, so trying to put something like a link with no text or real commentary probably would be automatically deleted.
If you register, login and are not an actual spammer, writing real commentary, you'll end up bypassing the filters.
Could have been down too, some temporary server crash or something but so far I don't see anything wrong.
HSBC got its start from the Opium Wars in the 19th Century, one of the most tragic incidents in recent history where the British Empire was literally fighting the Chinese so that the British could sell opium to the Chinese. So we see banksters have changed very little in 200 years, but shall we deem them "job creators" for poppy growers, heroin producers, Iranian terrorists, and corrupt politicians? By all means, let us.
I will not delve too much into this issue now, but examine corruption around the globe, and not just inside DC and state capitol buildings. Now, who handles Karzai's finances? Will Karzai retire in the US as a member of the 1% after the Taliban possibly overthrows him? And where exactly did he get all that money (it wasn't from a public servant's salary). How should Americans, unemployed and struggling with homelessness and despair, feel about someone making extreme amounts of money overseas with the help of US foreign aid? Who is helping launder foreign aid that is stolen/misappropriated from NGOs and the World Bank and IMF? Who handles the money for any leader who makes more than his designated salary (and his relatives' wealth) in any nation torn apart by drug violence, terrorism, corruption, etc.? Myanmar is the largest producer of meth in the world (and our Dept. of State wants to ease sanctions - go figure), so where do the junta leaders bank? A local Burmese bank or . . . More of these questions will be posed in the future.
"Follow the money, follow the money." Go to FinCEN's website, the Treasury Department agency devoted solely to fighting money laundering. The DOJ has entire units devoted to fighting money laundering and corruption. So, with hundreds or thousands of officials and attorneys earning over $100,000, and those same people possibly making millions in OFAC and AML compliance in law firms and corporations after leaving "government service," the 99% should ask, "What the Hell is going on and why are banksters helping our enemies with no repercussions, while not stopped by the apparently clueless or complicit, and still making six or seven figure salaries while the average law-abiding American is suffering every single day with no respite."
They're on a lobbyist/economic fiction/propaganda roll at the moment and the White House isn't scared at all about the facts of STEM worker displacement, labor arbitrage, offshore outsourcing and use of the U.S. immigration system to displace America workers.
In fact, they just put up pure, absolute, debunked fiction on their blog claiming displacing U.S. workers "helps" the economy! Good frickin' God these people have no shame.
I'm not kidding, if one knows what they are talking about and of course the real labor economists results, are repressed as are the many other researchers with credible research, methods.....it's very clear, overwhelming evidence U.S. immigration system, especially guest worker visas are simply a tool used to displace U.S. workers, gain more control over that worker, wage repress, deny benefits and so on. It's almost a side thing that a few foreign guest worker visas are used for their claimed intent, to bring over rare talent and skills not found in the available workforce.
I think in terms of criminal charges, that should be one, when the office of the President of the United States puts up corporate lobbyists and their cohorts pure, absolute, debunked lies and claims they are truth. That's really offensive. No wonder the U.S. economy is down the tubes, these people cannot even report facts, statistics right! Oops, that damn fact gets in the way of our corporate lobbyist funder agendas! Let's plain lie and put up some bogus brew ha-ha instead!
Good God, this nation is in so much trouble and here we are, with a Presidential choice, once again, of worse and worser.
I think you are right, this announcement assuredly is not retro-active so I think it's just public relations fodder to appease the masses until the story falls out of the public consciousness. We'll see.
Geithner, well, what can one say. He refuses to label China a currency manipulator and look who keeps him around.
It's pretty clear the game they're going to play re: making LIBOR price manipulation explicitly illegal. So that they can please the gathering mobs who are more and more looking like late 1780s France is right around the corner, they will make it explicitly clear that any rate rigging from now on will be illegal. Of course, this type of activity was illegal under any and all price fixing, theft, conspiracy, corruption, mail and wire fraud, banking, and antitrust laws before. The same way state and federal laws have been applied in courts around the country for common crimes involving everyone outside finance, but every single time a bankster is involved, the authorities can never apply the same laws, claim the crime wasn't covered under the previous laws, and new regs and laws are needed (but another exception will be found when banksters can't help themselves again).
As for Geithner, what an overly sensitive twit. How would he react if he was forced to walk through crowds of average citizens in Athens or Madrid without any taxpayer-funded protection? Would he converse with people or is he only good enough to meet with head honchos in Davos and DC secret chambers? But that's the nature of these politicians, big bureaucrats, business "leaders," and others. They surround themselves with those who don't dare disagree with them (e.g., Obama got scared by being called out by an unemployed engineer's wife about H-1B visas) because they aren't used to dissent. Odd, apparently some Americans are not used to defending their activities. But that's why they literally avoid the public and contradictory opinions at all costs. They want to hear they are right 100% of the time, that they really are as smart as they think they are, and that they do deserve to be richer than everyone else because they are better and brighter. Any information or data that goes against that makes them uncomfortable and must be dismissed ASAP.
I plain don't believe it, but there is a report at the bottom that suggests there will be. I don't buy it, nothing about monitoring, how will they guarantee Libor isn't manipulated and so on.
Right, on the local news, if someone sticks up a 7/11 with a gun, we'll see it on the local news and that person is gonna get 20 years for armed robbery. Yet if a Bank does it or even an individual through "financial instruments" nothing happens.
You might register so you do not go into the comment moderation queue. I love reading what you have to say, as do others.
It is Saturday, July 21st, 2012. Hezbollah has just killed civilians overseas in Bulgaria through Iranian conduits. Iran launders money through HSBC. Which US Congressmen help launder money/accept money from HSBC? Well, according to the US Senate/opensource.org and other sources, these Congressmen accepted money from HSBC:
•HSBC Holdings to Brian M. Higgins (D) in 2012
•HSBC Holdings to Ed Royce (R) in 2012
•HSBC Holdings to Frank D. Lucas (R) in 2012
•HSBC Holdings to Geoff Davis (R) in 2012
•HSBC Holdings to Gregory W. Meeks (D) in 2012.
Let them return all contributions ASAP. If not, surely they know they accept money from terrorist money launderers, as sure as Congressmen and other officials know that accepting $ from JP Morgan, Goldman, Wells Fargo, BOA, is accepting money from criminals (robosigning, Jefferson County bankruptcy/bribery, derivatives fraud, LIBOR collusion, etc.). If you accept money from them, you are helping launder money - good luck with that!!
Now, as patriotic Americans, 300 million of us expect Bloomberg, Obama, Holder, Boehner, and every other government official and citizen to no longer tolerate bankster crimes and to speak out against them, to pursue RICO prosecutions against banksters because they are easily provable to any prosecutor (SARs and CTRs are there for a reason - they make your case), and to treat banksters as they would treat every other citizen because no double standard should exist under the US Constitution. Are there double standards for banksters, US corporate oligarchs, and their political puppets? Not as we read the Constitution. Let those in the war against terror and international drug cartels know, so that they may know their enemies both foreign and domestic, no matter how big their bank accounts and how many vacation homes they may own, everyone is equal under the law.
Will Mayor Bloomberg pursue these banksters tomorrow with the same vigor as he pursued unarmed Occupy Wall Street American citizens who were sprayed in the face with mace? Will Mayor Bloomberg lash out against HSBC today or will he defend another international bank as his own police force sprays American citizens in the face with mace while they express their First Amendment rights? Who would Thomas Jefferson be proud of, Mayor? Will CNN and Fox News address both D and R politicians who accepted donations from HSBC? If these "Americans" will not do their jobs, let them step aside and forfeit their six and seven figure salaries so that those who care about this country, many of whom are unemployed, do what they know and protect their fellow citizens. If money laundering is hard to prove, then you have no business being a prosecutor. Placement, layering, and integration are the three stages for any prosecutor with a brain from an American who cares about the 99% - I am the 99%.
"Wealth does not equal patriotism nor wisdom.It simply means you obtained wealth by whatever means possible - whether by inheritance, cruelty, or by other means."
There are some in the press trying to claim this week's initial unemployment claims number is a fluke. As we point out, repeatedly, one cannot look at just a week's worth of data on this economic metric. That's why we have so many graphs removing statistical noise and showing the moving monthly average over time.
So, if one looks at the larger timeline, we see initial unemployment claims are simply not dropping as needed. Both these past two weeks can be a "fluke" but this week's numbers are more in line with the slope of the graph, in other words, the headline of this post is reasonable. It's not auto layoffs, it's not the hot weather and so on. America is simply not creating enough jobs.
More proof of the sheer audacity of criminal banks aka "job creating financial institutions" and the pure double standards now existing in the US of [fill-in-corporate sponsor]. If regulators and law enforcement actually go along with this without huge forfeitures, criminal prosecutions of CEOs and others, as well as seeking jail/prison time for price fixing and public theft + corruption, then they really are letting the people know that the US is a banana republic. RICO, RICO, RICO, but then these banksters bought protection. Next time someone is accused of a crime from petty theft to murder to racketeering, see if you can get your attorneys to group together with all other criminal suspects and defendants and seek a civil settlement with every other suspect, admit no guilt or wrongdoing, and a promise to be left alone by all police, prosecutors, and judges so you can commit more crimes. Surely the remedies and corruption available to the financial "best and brightest" dopes are available to the average American that is forced to fund their criminal behavior against their will through the FDIC and TARP and QE1, 2, . . . As someone forced to finance these banksters, I demand criminal prosecution - I don't want to help finance criminal activity by banksters lest I be deemed an accomplice along with the rest of the commoners.
I have no idea, beyond PR companies pushing these stories, why anyone is interested in CEOs, beyond this one being a pregnant woman. But generally, it's absolutely nuts and has been so ongoing 30 years, little "mini Gods", prime example was Steve Jobs.
Sign of the times, can anyone think of a CEO from the 1950's that was considered more omnipotent than God?
Good point, pregnant women, single mothers are hugely discriminated against in the workplace but as we all know, the rules do not apply for anyone labeled "executive" or "ruling class".
It's surreal, almost all Americans outside boardrooms are struggling to keep low-paying jobs or find any job or stay in their homes without losing them - weekly claims just prove it on a regular basis. People would literally work for free in an internship as a CEO with all the skills and experience CEOs are paid $20-$100 million to perform for the experience and recognition. What unemployed engineer or MBA with incredibly impressive skills wouldn't want to turn around Yahoo! for a tiny fraction of a CEO's pay? I mean we have people working for free in their 50s with PhDs in "internships" with no other options for paying jobs facing homelessness, so the logic carries. But the media and especially business media is going bonkers over the new CEO taking over Yahoo! and who stands to earn $70 million in stocks, salary, and other compensation. They look at one woman and ask questions about, "Can women have it all," stating "Isn't it great!" and already laying the groundwork for excuses if she is simply unable to turn around Yahoo! (after all, she's only one woman). Meanwwhile, how many men and women worker drones at Yahoo! will she fire, or will have to be fired to cut costs to help pay that compensation? How many workers are fired because they are pregnant, or won't get hired because they are over 35? At what point does the media care that America will live and die by what the average worker does and earns and how he/she is treated before getting hired and during a job, not what interlocking corporate boards do when they dump piles of cash on people no matter whether they succeed or fail? These boards and corporate HR all protect and enrich each other - as long as no one criticizes the way they work, they will stay protected and permanently above struggling America.
I fear nothing will change. In 2007-2008, everyone was blaming Lehman Bros. and Wall Street woes for initial cliff. As well as property bubble. Okay, fine. 2008 the MSM/political/corp. meme was "uncertainty" about election. Fine. 2009-2010 "uncertainty" about election + tax cuts. Fine. 2010 Republicans take House, no more "uncertainty" about election, but now they find new "uncertainty" about tax cuts + Obamacare despite new Congress and Pres. promising again and again jobs #1 focus. 2010-present "uncertainty" apparently previously unknown but now center on Eurozone, Wall Street still has its head up its ass/problems (because no one knew that?), apparently there's another election (because who can predict elections happening every 2 and 4 years except anyone who knows the electoral cycle for the last 200+ years), etc.
Here's what's not uncertain - large MNCs keep sending thousands of jobs overseas and pulling in record profits and both parties are okay with that, including both candidates for Pres. And, to top it off, the CEOs and banksters are certainly pulling in record salaries and bonuses on time with no uncertainty while blaming uncertainty for everything else - but they don't like being questioned about that paradox.
Here's what's certain so all the talking heads and political sock puppets can retire and stop wasting our time and money - both parties need to bring jobs back to the US, punish and/or disincentivize outsourcing and other destroyers of America's future, reinstate Glass-Steagall, punish criminal wrongdoing in corporate America like every other crime, and raise enough taxes so that those enjoying the US legal system and govt. protection through incorporation here can also help fund American localities, counties, states, and the fed. govt. and ease the burden on those currently struggling. And politicians in both parties that are blatantly corrupt and/or tax cheats need to be made an example of with prison time (e.g., Rangel - really, writing tax code?). "Job creators" admit they aren't job creators, they are enjoying record profits and admit they are only in it to make profits, so only an idiot would continue to look to them to create jobs in the US- they won't and have no reason to.
There are structural and cyclical problems that all the tax cuts and QE "fixes" won't do anything for - they only enrich those in banking and the top tiers that have access to the free cash from the Fed and/or access to lobbyists. As has also been discussed here and elsewhere repeatedly by blogs and the millions of unemployed, there is no skills shortage, so move on from that canard. There is no educational problem here that prevents hiring, so move on from that lie. The rest of America is dying every single day these fundamental issues aren't addressed. Every educated, caring citizen knows what they are and lives them every day.
Bob, there is a $10k per diem limit on cash This is why couriers are used. Whether by insured air or by personal couriers, securities not cash or even checks are the preferred medium of moving money without detection.
I would imagine electronic transfers, manipulated, hidden or even a flash stick with account data or something, not good old fashioned paper "money" on air-o-planes.
Regardless, that's why so many of the post titles here are Mafia, Banksters, run amok, and so on, they are just doing whatever the hell, with impunity and they might, have to fork up a pay to play fine.
I'm going to have some good FMN videos on the latest attempts to get any reforms, regulations through.
Once the TSA boys see what looks like a diplomatic pouch or facsimile, they let it slide. If examined, all they see are stock and bond certificates signed over.
I used to talk to some of the regular guys who worked for BBH. All the insiders at BBH can tell you how the big Wall Street firms all have a diplomatic pouch which gets on the airline everyday and travels to the West Indies, Switzerland and Belgium. The money is often securities and on a no-questions-asked basis.
So I have to wonder about the low-tax crowd. We all know money leaves our shores every day by the carry trade. The one percent have been given privileges and tax preferences which they use to increase the carry trade. The fascinating thing is how this election cycle has so many excellent poster boys for this phenomenon.
Like everything else with America's law enforcement + regulatory regime, punishments and outcomes will depend on the size of the offenders. Like the SEC, CFTC, DOJ, Congress, and state AGs, the amount of protection given to consumers and the punishment given to offending banks, billers, and debt collectors will depend on the offender. If the offender is large enough to donate to Congressmen + have its own lobbyists, its own PR staff, and law firms staffed with former regulators, then it will be subjected to, at worst: 1) a few scripted moments in a Congressional hearing regarding billing and debt collection practices; 2)a wrist slap from the Protection Bureau; 3) a solemn promise to try to never do it again in the next 30 days; and 4) a fine that is a fraction of the profits gained from the infrations.
All smaller transgressors will face possible investigations and possible massive fines. In some cases when the Protection Bureau wants to appear like it actually enforces the law, it may bankrupt a very small shop and seek immediate headlines.
For example, examine the massive differences in how money laundering for violent cartels is prosecuted depending on whether it's done by individual suspects and small companies vs. large banks; trading with Iran is prosecuted whether it's done by an individual, a small firm, or a multinational (ranges from being labeled a traitor and going to federal prison + forfeiture all the way to a wrist slap and keeping profits); securities fraud with lifetime bans for individuals vs. minor wrist slaps for large firms by FINRA and the SEC; price-fixing small vs. large firms; commingling and theft of funds by a solo attorney or small brokerage vs. MF Global; etc. for precedent regarding the two standards.
Folks, we've outdone ourselves with this month's retail sales overview. Check this out, even if you read it before! The updates include real quarterly retail sales and plotting that against real personal consumption. This has implications for Q2 GDP.
I like going into this report is just detail after reading so much bogus stuff out there claiming cell phone sales are gonna save the economy and all sorts of ridiculous rot. That's why this post is graph-o-rama, to show it is the auto industry, sales which are the backbone of the economy, to this day, not cell phone sales.
I just tested it and things went through. The filters check for spam, so trying to put something like a link with no text or real commentary probably would be automatically deleted.
If you register, login and are not an actual spammer, writing real commentary, you'll end up bypassing the filters.
Could have been down too, some temporary server crash or something but so far I don't see anything wrong.
Your site says the spam filter is not working and therefore posts are being blocked. Are there a list of key words to avoid?
HSBC got its start from the Opium Wars in the 19th Century, one of the most tragic incidents in recent history where the British Empire was literally fighting the Chinese so that the British could sell opium to the Chinese. So we see banksters have changed very little in 200 years, but shall we deem them "job creators" for poppy growers, heroin producers, Iranian terrorists, and corrupt politicians? By all means, let us.
I will not delve too much into this issue now, but examine corruption around the globe, and not just inside DC and state capitol buildings. Now, who handles Karzai's finances? Will Karzai retire in the US as a member of the 1% after the Taliban possibly overthrows him? And where exactly did he get all that money (it wasn't from a public servant's salary). How should Americans, unemployed and struggling with homelessness and despair, feel about someone making extreme amounts of money overseas with the help of US foreign aid? Who is helping launder foreign aid that is stolen/misappropriated from NGOs and the World Bank and IMF? Who handles the money for any leader who makes more than his designated salary (and his relatives' wealth) in any nation torn apart by drug violence, terrorism, corruption, etc.? Myanmar is the largest producer of meth in the world (and our Dept. of State wants to ease sanctions - go figure), so where do the junta leaders bank? A local Burmese bank or . . . More of these questions will be posed in the future.
"Follow the money, follow the money." Go to FinCEN's website, the Treasury Department agency devoted solely to fighting money laundering. The DOJ has entire units devoted to fighting money laundering and corruption. So, with hundreds or thousands of officials and attorneys earning over $100,000, and those same people possibly making millions in OFAC and AML compliance in law firms and corporations after leaving "government service," the 99% should ask, "What the Hell is going on and why are banksters helping our enemies with no repercussions, while not stopped by the apparently clueless or complicit, and still making six or seven figure salaries while the average law-abiding American is suffering every single day with no respite."
-Kurtz, I am no one and I am everyone
They're on a lobbyist/economic fiction/propaganda roll at the moment and the White House isn't scared at all about the facts of STEM worker displacement, labor arbitrage, offshore outsourcing and use of the U.S. immigration system to displace America workers.
In fact, they just put up pure, absolute, debunked fiction on their blog claiming displacing U.S. workers "helps" the economy! Good frickin' God these people have no shame.
I'm not kidding, if one knows what they are talking about and of course the real labor economists results, are repressed as are the many other researchers with credible research, methods.....it's very clear, overwhelming evidence U.S. immigration system, especially guest worker visas are simply a tool used to displace U.S. workers, gain more control over that worker, wage repress, deny benefits and so on. It's almost a side thing that a few foreign guest worker visas are used for their claimed intent, to bring over rare talent and skills not found in the available workforce.
I think in terms of criminal charges, that should be one, when the office of the President of the United States puts up corporate lobbyists and their cohorts pure, absolute, debunked lies and claims they are truth. That's really offensive. No wonder the U.S. economy is down the tubes, these people cannot even report facts, statistics right! Oops, that damn fact gets in the way of our corporate lobbyist funder agendas! Let's plain lie and put up some bogus brew ha-ha instead!
Good God, this nation is in so much trouble and here we are, with a Presidential choice, once again, of worse and worser.
I think you are right, this announcement assuredly is not retro-active so I think it's just public relations fodder to appease the masses until the story falls out of the public consciousness. We'll see.
Geithner, well, what can one say. He refuses to label China a currency manipulator and look who keeps him around.
It's pretty clear the game they're going to play re: making LIBOR price manipulation explicitly illegal. So that they can please the gathering mobs who are more and more looking like late 1780s France is right around the corner, they will make it explicitly clear that any rate rigging from now on will be illegal. Of course, this type of activity was illegal under any and all price fixing, theft, conspiracy, corruption, mail and wire fraud, banking, and antitrust laws before. The same way state and federal laws have been applied in courts around the country for common crimes involving everyone outside finance, but every single time a bankster is involved, the authorities can never apply the same laws, claim the crime wasn't covered under the previous laws, and new regs and laws are needed (but another exception will be found when banksters can't help themselves again).
As for Geithner, what an overly sensitive twit. How would he react if he was forced to walk through crowds of average citizens in Athens or Madrid without any taxpayer-funded protection? Would he converse with people or is he only good enough to meet with head honchos in Davos and DC secret chambers? But that's the nature of these politicians, big bureaucrats, business "leaders," and others. They surround themselves with those who don't dare disagree with them (e.g., Obama got scared by being called out by an unemployed engineer's wife about H-1B visas) because they aren't used to dissent. Odd, apparently some Americans are not used to defending their activities. But that's why they literally avoid the public and contradictory opinions at all costs. They want to hear they are right 100% of the time, that they really are as smart as they think they are, and that they do deserve to be richer than everyone else because they are better and brighter. Any information or data that goes against that makes them uncomfortable and must be dismissed ASAP.
I plain don't believe it, but there is a report at the bottom that suggests there will be. I don't buy it, nothing about monitoring, how will they guarantee Libor isn't manipulated and so on.
Right, on the local news, if someone sticks up a 7/11 with a gun, we'll see it on the local news and that person is gonna get 20 years for armed robbery. Yet if a Bank does it or even an individual through "financial instruments" nothing happens.
You might register so you do not go into the comment moderation queue. I love reading what you have to say, as do others.
It is Saturday, July 21st, 2012. Hezbollah has just killed civilians overseas in Bulgaria through Iranian conduits. Iran launders money through HSBC. Which US Congressmen help launder money/accept money from HSBC? Well, according to the US Senate/opensource.org and other sources, these Congressmen accepted money from HSBC:
•HSBC Holdings to Brian M. Higgins (D) in 2012
•HSBC Holdings to Ed Royce (R) in 2012
•HSBC Holdings to Frank D. Lucas (R) in 2012
•HSBC Holdings to Geoff Davis (R) in 2012
•HSBC Holdings to Gregory W. Meeks (D) in 2012.
Let them return all contributions ASAP. If not, surely they know they accept money from terrorist money launderers, as sure as Congressmen and other officials know that accepting $ from JP Morgan, Goldman, Wells Fargo, BOA, is accepting money from criminals (robosigning, Jefferson County bankruptcy/bribery, derivatives fraud, LIBOR collusion, etc.). If you accept money from them, you are helping launder money - good luck with that!!
Now, as patriotic Americans, 300 million of us expect Bloomberg, Obama, Holder, Boehner, and every other government official and citizen to no longer tolerate bankster crimes and to speak out against them, to pursue RICO prosecutions against banksters because they are easily provable to any prosecutor (SARs and CTRs are there for a reason - they make your case), and to treat banksters as they would treat every other citizen because no double standard should exist under the US Constitution. Are there double standards for banksters, US corporate oligarchs, and their political puppets? Not as we read the Constitution. Let those in the war against terror and international drug cartels know, so that they may know their enemies both foreign and domestic, no matter how big their bank accounts and how many vacation homes they may own, everyone is equal under the law.
Will Mayor Bloomberg pursue these banksters tomorrow with the same vigor as he pursued unarmed Occupy Wall Street American citizens who were sprayed in the face with mace? Will Mayor Bloomberg lash out against HSBC today or will he defend another international bank as his own police force sprays American citizens in the face with mace while they express their First Amendment rights? Who would Thomas Jefferson be proud of, Mayor? Will CNN and Fox News address both D and R politicians who accepted donations from HSBC? If these "Americans" will not do their jobs, let them step aside and forfeit their six and seven figure salaries so that those who care about this country, many of whom are unemployed, do what they know and protect their fellow citizens. If money laundering is hard to prove, then you have no business being a prosecutor. Placement, layering, and integration are the three stages for any prosecutor with a brain from an American who cares about the 99% - I am the 99%.
"Wealth does not equal patriotism nor wisdom.It simply means you obtained wealth by whatever means possible - whether by inheritance, cruelty, or by other means."
There are some in the press trying to claim this week's initial unemployment claims number is a fluke. As we point out, repeatedly, one cannot look at just a week's worth of data on this economic metric. That's why we have so many graphs removing statistical noise and showing the moving monthly average over time.
So, if one looks at the larger timeline, we see initial unemployment claims are simply not dropping as needed. Both these past two weeks can be a "fluke" but this week's numbers are more in line with the slope of the graph, in other words, the headline of this post is reasonable. It's not auto layoffs, it's not the hot weather and so on. America is simply not creating enough jobs.
More proof of the sheer audacity of criminal banks aka "job creating financial institutions" and the pure double standards now existing in the US of [fill-in-corporate sponsor]. If regulators and law enforcement actually go along with this without huge forfeitures, criminal prosecutions of CEOs and others, as well as seeking jail/prison time for price fixing and public theft + corruption, then they really are letting the people know that the US is a banana republic. RICO, RICO, RICO, but then these banksters bought protection. Next time someone is accused of a crime from petty theft to murder to racketeering, see if you can get your attorneys to group together with all other criminal suspects and defendants and seek a civil settlement with every other suspect, admit no guilt or wrongdoing, and a promise to be left alone by all police, prosecutors, and judges so you can commit more crimes. Surely the remedies and corruption available to the financial "best and brightest" dopes are available to the average American that is forced to fund their criminal behavior against their will through the FDIC and TARP and QE1, 2, . . . As someone forced to finance these banksters, I demand criminal prosecution - I don't want to help finance criminal activity by banksters lest I be deemed an accomplice along with the rest of the commoners.
I have no idea, beyond PR companies pushing these stories, why anyone is interested in CEOs, beyond this one being a pregnant woman. But generally, it's absolutely nuts and has been so ongoing 30 years, little "mini Gods", prime example was Steve Jobs.
Sign of the times, can anyone think of a CEO from the 1950's that was considered more omnipotent than God?
Good point, pregnant women, single mothers are hugely discriminated against in the workplace but as we all know, the rules do not apply for anyone labeled "executive" or "ruling class".
It's surreal, almost all Americans outside boardrooms are struggling to keep low-paying jobs or find any job or stay in their homes without losing them - weekly claims just prove it on a regular basis. People would literally work for free in an internship as a CEO with all the skills and experience CEOs are paid $20-$100 million to perform for the experience and recognition. What unemployed engineer or MBA with incredibly impressive skills wouldn't want to turn around Yahoo! for a tiny fraction of a CEO's pay? I mean we have people working for free in their 50s with PhDs in "internships" with no other options for paying jobs facing homelessness, so the logic carries. But the media and especially business media is going bonkers over the new CEO taking over Yahoo! and who stands to earn $70 million in stocks, salary, and other compensation. They look at one woman and ask questions about, "Can women have it all," stating "Isn't it great!" and already laying the groundwork for excuses if she is simply unable to turn around Yahoo! (after all, she's only one woman). Meanwwhile, how many men and women worker drones at Yahoo! will she fire, or will have to be fired to cut costs to help pay that compensation? How many workers are fired because they are pregnant, or won't get hired because they are over 35? At what point does the media care that America will live and die by what the average worker does and earns and how he/she is treated before getting hired and during a job, not what interlocking corporate boards do when they dump piles of cash on people no matter whether they succeed or fail? These boards and corporate HR all protect and enrich each other - as long as no one criticizes the way they work, they will stay protected and permanently above struggling America.
I fear nothing will change. In 2007-2008, everyone was blaming Lehman Bros. and Wall Street woes for initial cliff. As well as property bubble. Okay, fine. 2008 the MSM/political/corp. meme was "uncertainty" about election. Fine. 2009-2010 "uncertainty" about election + tax cuts. Fine. 2010 Republicans take House, no more "uncertainty" about election, but now they find new "uncertainty" about tax cuts + Obamacare despite new Congress and Pres. promising again and again jobs #1 focus. 2010-present "uncertainty" apparently previously unknown but now center on Eurozone, Wall Street still has its head up its ass/problems (because no one knew that?), apparently there's another election (because who can predict elections happening every 2 and 4 years except anyone who knows the electoral cycle for the last 200+ years), etc.
Here's what's not uncertain - large MNCs keep sending thousands of jobs overseas and pulling in record profits and both parties are okay with that, including both candidates for Pres. And, to top it off, the CEOs and banksters are certainly pulling in record salaries and bonuses on time with no uncertainty while blaming uncertainty for everything else - but they don't like being questioned about that paradox.
Here's what's certain so all the talking heads and political sock puppets can retire and stop wasting our time and money - both parties need to bring jobs back to the US, punish and/or disincentivize outsourcing and other destroyers of America's future, reinstate Glass-Steagall, punish criminal wrongdoing in corporate America like every other crime, and raise enough taxes so that those enjoying the US legal system and govt. protection through incorporation here can also help fund American localities, counties, states, and the fed. govt. and ease the burden on those currently struggling. And politicians in both parties that are blatantly corrupt and/or tax cheats need to be made an example of with prison time (e.g., Rangel - really, writing tax code?). "Job creators" admit they aren't job creators, they are enjoying record profits and admit they are only in it to make profits, so only an idiot would continue to look to them to create jobs in the US- they won't and have no reason to.
There are structural and cyclical problems that all the tax cuts and QE "fixes" won't do anything for - they only enrich those in banking and the top tiers that have access to the free cash from the Fed and/or access to lobbyists. As has also been discussed here and elsewhere repeatedly by blogs and the millions of unemployed, there is no skills shortage, so move on from that canard. There is no educational problem here that prevents hiring, so move on from that lie. The rest of America is dying every single day these fundamental issues aren't addressed. Every educated, caring citizen knows what they are and lives them every day.
Bob, there is a $10k per diem limit on cash This is why couriers are used. Whether by insured air or by personal couriers, securities not cash or even checks are the preferred medium of moving money without detection.
I would imagine electronic transfers, manipulated, hidden or even a flash stick with account data or something, not good old fashioned paper "money" on air-o-planes.
Regardless, that's why so many of the post titles here are Mafia, Banksters, run amok, and so on, they are just doing whatever the hell, with impunity and they might, have to fork up a pay to play fine.
I'm going to have some good FMN videos on the latest attempts to get any reforms, regulations through.
Once the TSA boys see what looks like a diplomatic pouch or facsimile, they let it slide. If examined, all they see are stock and bond certificates signed over.
How are private banks obtaining diplomatic pouches? Thats a story onto itself.
I used to talk to some of the regular guys who worked for BBH. All the insiders at BBH can tell you how the big Wall Street firms all have a diplomatic pouch which gets on the airline everyday and travels to the West Indies, Switzerland and Belgium. The money is often securities and on a no-questions-asked basis.
So I have to wonder about the low-tax crowd. We all know money leaves our shores every day by the carry trade. The one percent have been given privileges and tax preferences which they use to increase the carry trade. The fascinating thing is how this election cycle has so many excellent poster boys for this phenomenon.
Like everything else with America's law enforcement + regulatory regime, punishments and outcomes will depend on the size of the offenders. Like the SEC, CFTC, DOJ, Congress, and state AGs, the amount of protection given to consumers and the punishment given to offending banks, billers, and debt collectors will depend on the offender. If the offender is large enough to donate to Congressmen + have its own lobbyists, its own PR staff, and law firms staffed with former regulators, then it will be subjected to, at worst: 1) a few scripted moments in a Congressional hearing regarding billing and debt collection practices; 2)a wrist slap from the Protection Bureau; 3) a solemn promise to try to never do it again in the next 30 days; and 4) a fine that is a fraction of the profits gained from the infrations.
All smaller transgressors will face possible investigations and possible massive fines. In some cases when the Protection Bureau wants to appear like it actually enforces the law, it may bankrupt a very small shop and seek immediate headlines.
For example, examine the massive differences in how money laundering for violent cartels is prosecuted depending on whether it's done by individual suspects and small companies vs. large banks; trading with Iran is prosecuted whether it's done by an individual, a small firm, or a multinational (ranges from being labeled a traitor and going to federal prison + forfeiture all the way to a wrist slap and keeping profits); securities fraud with lifetime bans for individuals vs. minor wrist slaps for large firms by FINRA and the SEC; price-fixing small vs. large firms; commingling and theft of funds by a solo attorney or small brokerage vs. MF Global; etc. for precedent regarding the two standards.
Folks, we've outdone ourselves with this month's retail sales overview. Check this out, even if you read it before! The updates include real quarterly retail sales and plotting that against real personal consumption. This has implications for Q2 GDP.
I like going into this report is just detail after reading so much bogus stuff out there claiming cell phone sales are gonna save the economy and all sorts of ridiculous rot. That's why this post is graph-o-rama, to show it is the auto industry, sales which are the backbone of the economy, to this day, not cell phone sales.
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