Alfred Woody's Kewl Blog [ 椼森 ]

Sunday, May 4, 2014

Preface: The “Great Recession” started in December 2007. More than 6 years later, the big banks are committing more crimes than ever.

You Won’t Believe What They’ve Done …

Here are just some of the improprieties by big banks over the last century (you’ll see that many shenanigans are continuing today):

Laundering money for terrorists (the HSBC employee who blew the whistle on the banks’ money laundering for terrorists and drug cartels says that the giant bank is still laundering money, saying: “The public needs to know that money is still being funneled through HSBC to directly buy guns and bullets to kill our soldiers …. Banks financing … terrorists affects every single American.” He also said: “It is disgusting that our banks are STILL financing terror on 9/11 2013“. And see this. This has been going on for decades. For example, Bank of America funneled massive amounts of money to BCCI – itself connected with the CIA – and, according to the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Terrorism, Narcotics and International Operations, BCCI in turn funneled huge sums of money to Bin Laden and other terrorists)

Financing illegal arms deals, and funding the manufacture of cluster bombs (and see this and this) and other arms which are banned in most of the world

Handling money for rogue military operations

Laundering money for drug cartels. See this, this, this, this and this (indeed, drug dealers kept the banking system afloat during the depths of the 2008 financial crisis). A whistleblower said: “America is losing the drug war because our banks are [still] financing the cartels“, and “Banks financing drug cartels … affects every single American“. And see this. This is actually a decades-old practice)

Funding the Nazis (while we’re referring to funding the original Nazis many decades ago, the U.S. is now backing the neo-Nazis in Ukraine, and banks are undoubtedly involved in some of the support)

Launching a coup against the President of the United States (an old – but vital – story)

Engaging in mafia-style big-rigging fraud against local governments. See this, this and this

Shaving money off of virtually every pension transaction they handled over the course of decades, stealing collectively billions of dollars from pensions worldwide. Details here, here, here, here, here,here, here, here, here, here, here and here

Manipulating aluminum and copper prices

Manipulating gold prices … on a daily basis

Charging “storage fees” to store gold bullion … without even buying or storing any gold . And raiding allocated gold accounts

Committing massive and pervasive fraud both when they initiated mortgage loans and when they foreclosed on them (and see this)

Pledging the same mortgage multiple times to different buyers. See this, this, this, this and this. This would be like selling your car, and collecting money from 10 different buyers for the same car

Cheating homeowners by gaming laws meant to protect people from unfair foreclosure

Committing massive fraud in an $800 trillion dollar market which effects everything from mortgages, student loans, small business loans and city financing

Manipulating the hundred trillion dollar derivatives market

Engaging in insider trading of the most important financial information

Pushing investments which they knew were terrible, and then betting against the same investments to make money for themselves. See this, this, this, this and this

Engaging in unlawful “frontrunning” to manipulate markets. See this, this, this, this, this and this

Engaging in unlawful “Wash Trades” to manipulate asset prices. See this, this and this

Manipulating corporate bonds through derivatives schemes

Otherwise manipulating virtually every market

Participating in various Ponzi schemes. See this, this and this

Charging veterans unlawful mortgage fees

Helping the richest to illegally hide assets

Cooking their books (and see this)

Bribing and bullying ratings agencies to inflate ratings on their risky investments

Violently cracking down on peaceful protesters

The executives of the big banks invariably pretend that the hanky-panky was only committed by a couple of low-level rogue employees. But studies show that most of the fraud is committed by management.

Indeed, one of the world’s top fraud experts – professor of law and economics, and former senior S&L regulator Bill Black – says that most financial fraud is “control fraud”, where the people who own the banks are the ones who implement systemic fraud. See this, this and this.

Even the bank with the reputation as being the “best managed bank” in the U.S., JP Morgan, has engaged in massive fraud. For example, the Senate’s Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations released a report today quoting an examiner at the Office of Comptroller of the Currency – JPMorgan’s regulator – saying he felt the bank had “lied to” and “deceived” the agency over the question of whether the bank had mismarked its books to hide the extent of losses. And Joshua Rosner – noted bond analyst, and Managing Director at independent research consultancy Graham Fisher & Co – notes that JP Morgan had many similar anti money laundering laws violations as HSBC, failed to segregate accounts a la MF Global, and paid almost 12% of its 2009-12 net income on regulatory and legal settlements.

But at least the big banks do good things for society, like loaning money to Main Street, right?

Actually:

The big banks no longer do very much traditional banking. Most of their business is from financial speculation. For example, less than 10% of Bank of America’s assets come from traditional banking deposits. Instead, they are mainly engaged in financial speculation and derivatives. (and see this)

The big banks have slashed lending since they were bailed out by taxpayers … while smaller banks have increased lending. See this, this and this

Virtually all of the banks’ profits comes from taxpayer bailouts. For example, 77% of JP Morgan’s net income comes from taxpayer subsidies

The big banks are looting, killing the economy … and waging war on the people of the world

And our democracy and republican form of government as well

Indeed, top experts say that fraud caused the Great Depression and the 2008 crisis, and that failing to rein in fraud is dooming our economy.

We can almost understand why Thomas Jefferson warned:

And I sincerely believe, with you, that banking establishments are more dangerous than standing armies ….

John Adams said:

Banks have done more injury to religion, morality, tranquillity, prosperity, and even wealth of the nation than they have done or ever will do good.

And Lord Acton argued:

The issue which has swept down the centuries and which will have to be fought sooner or later is the people versus the banks.

No wonder a stunning list of prominent economists, financial experts and bankers say we need to break up the big banks.

Still Report #245 – U.S. GDP is a Lie

Recently announced U.S. GDP numbers would be negative 4.6% if the effects of the Fed’s Quantitative Easing program were subtracted. As QE is tapered away, so will the artificial appearance of growth it produced.Please consider supporting us there for as little as $1 per month. Go to billstill.com, click on the Subscribe button. You can Unsubscribe at any time.

Mission Accomplished, The Economic Recovery Is An Illusion

The people of Italy have had it, they are protesting against austerity and unemployment. New York might be holding Italy’s gold and they might want it back. Cyprus lifts almost all capital controls, you just can’t move money out of the country. The unemployment rate dropped to 6.3% as a million people dropped out of the labor market. Most of the jobs created are temp, retail and health oriented. DHS fusion centers deemed a complete waste of money in stopping terrorism. Anti-Terrorism forces in Ukraine crack down on the people in Odessa. NATO ships arrive in Lithuania to reinforce the troops. Boston is holding a huge terrorist drill. Veterans today reports nuclear material heading into the US. Be prepared for a false flag.

The glory days of American manufacturing are not coming back: Steven Rattner

Steven Rattner, former Obama administration car czar and chairman of Willett Advisors, caused a stir in economic circles earlier this year when he rejected the popular belief that U.S. manufacturing was back on its feet.

"We need to get real about the so-called [manufacturing] renaissance," he wrote in his January New York Times oped. "For all the hoopla, the United States has gained just 568,000 manufacturing positions since January 2010 — a small fraction of the nearly six million lost between 2000 and 2009. That’s a slower rate of recovery than for nonmanufacturing employment."

Rattner reaffirmed his position at this week's Milken Institute Global Conference.
"Manufacturing jobs are increasing more slowly than jobs in the economy as a whole," he says in the video above. There’s actually more of a renaissance in other kinds of jobs."
Related: The U.S. should encourage more manufacturing here at home: New Balance CEO

Boston Consulting Group released a report last week calling the U.S. a "rising star" of global manufacturing. The report said that "overall costs in the U.S. are 10 to 25 percent lower than those of the world's ten leading goods-exporting nations other than China" making America No. 2 in terms of manufacturing competitiveness.

Related: 'Made in America' now cheaper than made in Brazil: Boston Consulting Group
Rattner attributes the increase in U.S. manufacturing jobs to one factor.
"Yes, jobs are back, but at lower wages," he argues. "We’re not going to restore the halcyon days of American manufacturing."
Rattner proposes that U.S. corporations and government officials turn their attention to other job-producing sectors that will boost hiring - ones that "add high value and we can do better than other people."

"There are more and more countries that are not only cheaper" but also "getting more and more sophisticated" when it comes to manufacturing, he notes. "We’re not going to compete head to head on making manufactured goods with these low-cost places."

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Malaysia on US watch list for limitations on religious freedom

Malaysia has been placed on a watch list by an advisory body of the United States government over concerns about its limitation on freedom of religion, putting it on a par with countries like Afghanistan, Cuba, Indonesia, Laos, Russia and Turkey.

In its 2014 annual report, the US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) placed Malaysia on Tier 2, one level down from Tier 1 (countries of particular concern) which lists countries like Myanmar, China, Iran, Iraq, Pakistan and Sudan, among others.
"USCIRF found that the intertwining of religion, ethnicity, and politics in Malaysia complicate religious freedom protections for religious minorities and non-Sunni Muslims," the commission said in the report.
USCIRF is an independent US government advisory body that monitors religious freedom worldwide and makes policy recommendations to the American president, the secretary of state and Congress.
The commission noted that it had not reported on Malaysia since 2007.
"Renewed reporting stems from concerns about inadequate legal protections for religious minorities and ethnic Malays who wish to change their religion, bans on certain publications and groups considered religiously deviant, including Shia, and expanded efforts to arrest and harass members of such groups in the past two years," the report said.
In the report, USCIRF listed several conditions of freedom of religion that have marred Malaysia's image as a “moderate nation" and a “multi-faith model", including the ban on the use of the word Allah by non-Muslims and official promotion of religious hatred.
In October last year, the Court of Appeal overturned a 2010 High Court decision to allow Christians to use the word Allah in the Catholic weekly, Herald.
The word Allah, the court had ruled, belonged exclusively to Islam and that its usage by other religious groups could confuse Muslims and be used as a tool of conversion.
The Department of Islamic Development Malaysia (Jakim) received mention in the report for issuing official sermons criticising the Jews and Christians.
"In March 2013, it issued an official sermon stating that 'Muslims must understand Jews are the main enemy to Muslims'. In November 2013, Jakim published a sermon that discussed the 'despicable nature' of the Jewish race and stated that 'Israel is a nation of ruthless criminals'," the report said.
"After criticism, the sermons were removed and the government of Malaysia apologised. However, in January 2014, Jakim released another approved sermon stating that 'divisions among Muslims... are caused by Christians and Jews'."
Jakim officials, it said, seek to influence the content of sermons, use mosques to convey political messages, and prevent certain imams from speaking at mosques.
The commission also said the arrest of members from "banned" sects was also a condition that had earned Malaysia a mention in its report.
"Over the past several years, Malaysia has expanded efforts to monitor and detain followers of banned sects, most prominently Shia and Al-Arqam.
"Since 2010, over 200 Shia followers have been detained, including in Kuala Lumpur, Selangor, and Perak," it added.
The federal and state governments reportedly maintain lists of “deviant religious sects” deemed to threaten national security. Among the groups believed to be included are Shia, Ahmadis, Baha’i, Jehovah’s Witnesses, the Church of the Latter Day Saints, and Al-Arqam, USCIRF said.
"Enforcement efforts generally focus on conversions and proselytism, not assembly or worship, but members of such groups are vulnerable to arrests and detentions at any time, particularly if they are ethnic Malays."
Another condition mentioned in the report is the proposal to expand the powers of Jakim including by creating a religious police force for Islamic affairs departments nationwide.
"This proposal has been widely criticised, but Jakim’s powers to restrict freedoms have expanded in recent years," the commission said.
A case in point, it said, was the May 2013 arrest of Borders bookstore employee Nik Raina Nik Abdul Aziz for distributing Irshad Manji's controversial book “Allah, Liberty and Love," even before it was officially banned.
"In August 2013, on Jakim’s recommendation, police detained Maznah Mohd Yusof after deeming a video of her and her three dogs she posted on YouTube was 'insulting to Islam'. She was released on bail, pending an investigation."
The commission recommended that the US government "publicly acknowledge" that the increasingly religion-oriented politics undermine the efforts of those working to make Malaysia a religiously-pluralistic, Muslim-majority democracy.
It also called on the US government to undertake greater efforts to connect religious freedom and tolerance issues to US-Malaysia bilateral relations by:
* Urging the Malaysian government to cease the arrest of individuals involved in peaceful religious activity, such as Shia and Al-Arqam groups, and end government efforts to police religious belief and expression;
* Pressing the Malaysian government to bring all laws and policies into conformity with international commitments, including on freedom of religion or belief and freedom of expression;
* Encouraging Malaysian elected leaders to address the human rights shortcomings of the parallel civil-Shariah justice systems to guarantee that all Malaysians, regardless of ethnicity or religion, can enjoy freedom of religion or belief in line with international standards; and
* In the context of expanding US-Malaysia relations, insist in negotiations concerning Malaysia joining the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA) that religious and ethnic minorities benefit fairly from freer and expanded trade. – May 3, 2014.

MAS clarifies sticky points in MH370 report, says no contact after plane vanished from radar

Malaysia Airlines (MAS) has blamed its flight-following system for putting flight MH370 in Cambodian airspace when it was actually over Vietnam on the morning of March 8 when it vanished from radar screens.

Putrajaya's preliminary report on the lost MAS jetliner was released on Thursday, revealing a chaotic four hours after communications between Malaysia air traffic controllers, the flag carrier and other regional air traffic controllers before a hunt was initiated.
The Boeing 777-200ER aircraft with 227 passengers and 12 crew members is still lost as the search enters its 57th day today.
"Malaysia Airlines clarifies that what was referred to as signals was actually the aircraft displayed on the ‘Flight Following System’ screen. This was based on the aircraft projection at that point of time and not the actual aircraft position," MAS said in a statement last night, referring to the MH370 preliminary report.
The report has been sent to the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) last week but was only released to the public after orders from Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak.
"When KL-ATCC (Kuala Lumpur Air Traffic Control Centre) Watch Supervisor queried Malaysia Airlines OPS (Operations) on the status of MH370, Malaysia Airlines OPS informed KL-ATCC Supervisor that MH370 was still sighted over Cambodian airspace in the Flight-Following System, which is based on a flight-projection.
"The word 'Cambodia' was displayed by the Flight-Following System on the screen when zoomed-in, leading Malaysia Airlines to deduce that the aircraft was flying in Cambodian airspace. The Flight-Following System did not display the name 'Vietnam', even though the aircraft was over Vietnam airspace," the MAS statement said.
But the flag carrier insisted that "the responsibility of aircraft tracking monitoring resides with Air Traffic Control Centres".
"For airlines, it is normal to engage flight following systems to assist its pilots to manage in weather conditions or route diversions. Such airline flight following systems are non-primary and non-positive controlling.
"Flight following systems also do not trigger airlines of any abnormality. Such situations have to be pilot initiated.
"Unless otherwise, airlines’ operations control centres would continue to see the aircraft as flying on its normal route, based on projected or predicted positions and locations," it added.
Th airline said it was important to have visual depiction of the aircraft’s position, coupled with confirmation by air-to-ground communications, such as through ACARS (Aircraft Communications Addressing and Reporting System) or Satcomm or VHF or HF radio systems to make it work effectively.
In the case of tracking MH370, Malaysia Airlines’ flight-following system indicated that the aircraft was flying, MAS said, noting that there was no communication from or with the pilot.
"Malaysia Airlines OPS attempted to communicate with MH370 after we were flagged by KL-ATCC, but was never able to make contact," it added.
MAS also said about two tonnes, equivalent to 2,453kg, of cargo was declared as consolidated under one Master Airway Bill (AWB).
"This Master AWB actually comprised five house AWB. Out of these five AWB, two house AWB contained lithium ion batteries amounting to a total tonnage volume of 221kg.
"The balance three house AWB, amounting to 2,232kg, were declared as radio accessories and chargers," it said. – May 3, 2014.