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On Bullying Friends
Lost in last week's Taper Talk and generally bad markets was a development that I think has some legs. The Swiss Parliament basically told the US Department of Justice to fuck off. I'm very surprised by this outcome - I would have bet against this result. There will be repercussions.
The details can be found here. The quick story is that after many years of pressure from the US DOJ, the Swiss Government was forced to offer up new legislation that would (1) end banking secrecy, (2) force the Swiss banks to open their books, (3) force the banks to pay pay fines and (4) obligate the banks to identify the names of specific employees who assisted US customers in evading taxes. Eveline Schlumph, the Finance Minister and former President, championed the proposed laws in the political debate. She fell flat. The Swiss said "no" with a 126 to 67 vote.
I believe that this outcome came as a surprise to the tough guys at the DOJ. They have been beating the Swiss Banks to death for years. The most recent example is Wegelin Bank. This 270 year old bank was forced into selling its "good' assets at a cheap price and then just shutting down what was left in a matter of weeks. That's how powerful the DOJ is.
It's 100% certain that the DOJ is going to retaliate for the "No" vote in Switzerland. It has to; there is too much at stake. The only question is which Swiss Bank comes under the DOJ rifle scope. I think the DOJ is going to come out swinging for the fence and target a big bank. Credit Suisse, Julius Baer and the Cantonal Bank come to mind.
If the DOJ indicts a Swiss bank, it can prevent it from making dollar based wire transfers. The DOJ will order all US banks to not make transfers on behalf of the targeted institution . At that point, the bank is functionally shut out of all dollar based business. No global bank can operate for long without the ability to make transfers in dollars.
This possibility has been discussed openly in Switzerland. That's why I'm surprised at the vote outcome. The Swiss parliament has taken a step that could result in a hammer blow to one of the country's important institutions.
A fallback position for a Swiss Bank that is indicted is for the Swiss Central Bank (SNB) to assume the role of the indicted bank, and make all of the necessary dollar based transfers on its behalf. The SNB's Thomas Jordan has indicated he's lukewarm to this approach. Jordan understands that if he pushes against the DOJ, the outcome will be an indictment of the SNB.
It's possible that some last minute deal will be pulled out of the hat. But any attempt by Schlumph to ram through a solution over the objections of the Swiss Lower House will create a different set of problems. I'm not sure how this ends up. There are several scenarios that lead to trouble. The US Treasury has already labeled the SNB as a currency manipulator; the peg policy of the SNB could come under more criticism if the Swiss don't play ball with he DOJ. The thought that the SNB could get hit with an indictment if it comes to the aid of an indicted Swiss bank, is a black hole of uncertainty.
I think that most Americans would support the move by the DOJ to go after untaxed offshore accounts. A very small group of people are evading taxes; that means that everyone else has to chip in for them. The Swiss understand this, but they do not like being bullied. Make no mistake, the DOJ is playing the bully in this story.
Assume that Canada told the USA that it had to change its immigration laws. That this had to be done ASAP, and under terms that were not at all acceptable to Americans. If the the USA did not bow-down and accept the Canadian terms, then Canada would end all oil exports to the USA and divert the crude to China.
I don't think that scenario would go over very well in America. From the Swiss perspective, the DOJ muscle is no different.
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The Swiss were Nazi collaborators. Fuck them. Take them down and then go after the corrupt Vatican.
Yes Canimal. The swiss invaded Russia and occupied England for some time. Fortunately, America drove them back.
You missed the point the Swiss are not Nazi collaborators they just told them to fuck off.
The Swiss kept the Nazis at bay then and they do it again now!
The US government should be excluded from any dealing with humans.
That's what the cheesepopes led everyone to believe to aid in their shakedown of the Swiss-and their control of the MSM aided their efforts.
Israeli journalist Barry Chamish and others, have talked about how those 'Holocaust compensation' payments by the Swiss and others, are kept by the wealthy Jewish organisations
While the elderly survivors of World War II in Israel live in terribly poverty, and die off one by one, waiting for payments they never receive
Some of those poor elderly Jews in Israel, have even used their family German and European citizenship rights, to go back to Europe, even Germany, to get some decent care and living conditions
Because Israel is so brutal even to its own lower classes of Jews
Talking about this kind of fraud by Jewish organisations involving Switzerland, they nearly murdered Barry Chamish in Israel and he felt he had to escape just to stay alive
it will be JB, if it happens
First thing that comes to my mind is the Lower House wants to get a few more (tiny) concessions, maybe in pure save-face attempt.
Until this vote stands for at least the next 3 months, it is dog and pony show.
The US and the DOJ have a lot on their plates right now and have lost enormous amounts of credibility. If there ever waas a time to say FU this is it.
Might makes right. Usually.
After a while its just hard to tell them apart.
Thomas Jefferson wrote in a letter to John Taylor in 1816: “And I sincerely believe, with you, that banking establishments are more dangerous than standing armies; and the principle of spending money to be paid by posterity, under the name of funding, is but swindling futurity on a large scale.”
Ms. Hudes says that the World Bank, in collusion with major banking institutions all over the world, is funneling the money to unscrupulous individuals, as well as to the executives of the bank itself. The bulk of funds never reaches the people for which it is intended.
more here..... http://guardianlv.com/2013/06/world-bank-corruption-deceit-and-greed/?sh...
Bruce your a woos!
Karen Hudes one of the main whistleblowers at the world bank has spilt the beans on the corruption between the CB's finance ministers.
Zoellick the bagman for Mittus Romney and the rest of the thieving bastards are on borrowed time.
Goldbackwardation is on its way and the swiss are well placed.
Fuck ussa obama holder.
Goldman & Bof Aml are right at the top of the shitpile
'nother kick at the current tower, tryin' to kick the tower over?
aXion jAxion don't give a crap, blazin' away in all directions.
whole criciz thang
- Ned
This is not about Switzerland. It's about controlling Americans, and making it impossible for Americans to escape their fascist government.
"I think that most Americans would support the move"
One again I find myself in the minority I guess. I don't believe someone should be taxed just because the majority thinks so.
Every tax dollar the IRS collects is a dollar in the NSA pocket. The new patriots are those who use every legal means necessary to minimize their payments to the IRS.
STARVE THE BEAST!!!
The vast majority of humans are fucking morons.
The total IQ of the planet is a constant.
The population is increasing.
:)
A most generous assessment IMHO
Almost weekly I hear about foreign governments setting up direct swap lines with China. Last week it was New Zealand.
F**k the DoJ, and I hope they all wake up with severed horse heads in their beds.
Tonight it was the UK and China.
I shit you not....
Edit above: delete "horse"
O poor horses. Thou brute! It's a good idea but we really should replace those with heads that are a little more deserving, no?
Thanks for the very interesting and important update, Bruce!
Time for the Swiss to go all yuan transfers.
Schweiz Uber Alles.
Fuck the DOJ.
this is an approach that is definitely being tried as simply put "lending has never reappeared" as it did during the 80's, 90's and 2000 "retrenchments." so sure...yuan funding. but honestly that's really renminbi...you have a massive shadow banking system in China which anyone "long yuan" has no knowledge of. sorry but with Japan devaluing i'm really not feeling the love from that quarter either. again i've gone over every way to beat this system and simply put i cannot find ANY currently...nor have i found much of any going on 4 years now. i tried my treasury "walk on the wild side" trade...and i've gotten slammed. all right fine..."saving rates at 4%." i'll believe that when i see it! until then "this is all about the dollar." i agree with Bruce..."bully, bully"...and with commodities ESPECIALLY gold and silver rolling over here.. .it's REALLY hard to argue with the Bucky. i mean didn't we have enough bank failures back in 2008? who the hell is in charge of Treasury here? that's YOUR market for YOUR debt Mr. Treasury Secretary!
Bruce, when I'd read your following quote: "I think that most Americans would support the move by the DOJ to go after untaxed offshore accounts. A very small group of people are evading taxes; that means that everyone else has to chip in for them", it left me with the feeling you're really riding the fence here.
Seems that you're unsure there's an elephant in the room called the U.S.
Hi Bruce ;
Thank you as always for your insights and work, another Nice article but I must admit that I don't agree with your conclusion.
I could agree with you about DOJ going after the Swiss banks for tax evasion if they were doing this for all other offshore tax heavens as well but they are not going after other offshore tax heavens.
Just in Cayman islands there is more than 1 trillion dollars parked. This money is cleared by big us banks and they don't like the competition from Swiss.
The noble cause is tax fraud, but in fact the real reason here is the US big banks, they want to make big bucks by clearing these money in their own tax heavens and using DOJ for this purpose to eliminate the competition.
<<they want to make big bucks by clearing these money in their own tax heavens and using DOJ for this purpose to eliminate the competition>>
...worth the risk of a 'controlled' bank collapse, a la Lehman and Bear Stearns?
A couple non-USian banks out of the shrinking pool, a nice stock-price crash (controlled, of course) to strike the fear of God into the sheeple, and then a new 'low' to jump-start the next rounds of QE...? What's not to love?
King Barackus may need to go on a "Spreading Democracy" tour to Northern Europe in the coming months. We have the shit spreader set to Ludicrous Speed now a days
He's going to spend $100M visiting the land of his birth-Africa-why not double down and see Europe on the second leg.
Actually the Yahoo news story stated that Obama will "not be visiting his birth country , Kenya" ,, but you can't blame them for their confusion regarding Dear Leader , he publicly stated he was born there up until 2007....
Hey! I saw the birth certificate that says he was born in Hawaii. I saw it on the internet doesn't that prove it? Of course I also saw the birth certificate that shows he was born in Kenya... Most likely he was born somewhere even if very few people can testify that they knew him when he was young, odd.
Interesting tidbits about what is contained in that Birth Certificate that haven't been explained. This is an excerpt of those questions.
"1. Back in 1961 people of color were called ‘Negroes.’ So how can the Obama ‘birth certificate’ state he is ‘African’ when the term wasn’t even used? The correct term would be “Malato” one black parent, one white parent
2. The birth certificate that the White House released lists Obama’s birth …as August 4, 1961 It lists Barack Hussein Obama as his father. No big deal, right? At the time of Obama’s birth, it also shows that his father is aged 25 years old, and that Obama’s father was born in “Kenya, East Africa”. This wouldn’t seem like anything of concern, except the fact that Kenya did not even exist until 1963, two whole years after Obama’s birth, and 27 years after his father’s birth.
How could Obama’s father have been born in a country that did not yet exist? Up and until Kenya was formed in 1963, it was known as the “British East Africa Protectorate”.
3. On the birth certificate released by the White House, the listed place of birth is “Kapi’olani Maternity & Gynecological Hospital”.
This cannot be, because the hospital(s) in question in 1961 were called “KauiKeolani Children’s Hospital” and “Kapi’olani Maternity Home”, respectively. The name did not change to Kapi’olani Maternity & Gynecological Hospital until 1978, when these two hospitals merged. How can this particular name of the hospital be on a birth certificate dated 1961 if this name had not yet been applied to it until 1978?
4. Why hasn’t this been discussed in the major media?
Perhaps a clue comes from Obama’s book on his father. He states how proud he is of his father fighting in WW II. I’m not a math genius, so I may need some help from you. Barack Obama’s “birth certificate” says his father was 25 years old in 1961 when he was born. That should have put his father’s date of birth approximately 1936. Now we need a non-revised history book—one that hasn’t been altered to satisfy the author’s goals—to verify that WW II was basically between 1939 and 1945.
Just how many 3 year olds fight in wars? Even in the latest stages of WW II his father wouldn’t have been more than 9. Does that mean that Mr. Obama is a liar, or simply chooses to alter the facts to satisfy his imagination or political purposes (still qualifies as a “liar”).
USAID Repackages Kenyan Assistance Schemehttp://www.tradeaidmonitor.com/2013/06/usaid-repackages-kenyan-assistanc...
The Obama administration is relaunching a strategy to hire contractors to oversee other vendors involved in its expansive aid program to Kenya— exactly one year after a cover-up of its related propaganda scheme to sell the unwieldy Kenyan aid plan to journalists worldwide.
U.S. Trade & Aid Monitor founder-editor Steve Peacock, via WND.com, first reported June 20, 2012, that the administration’s spending in Kenya had become so voluminous that the U.S. Agency for International Development was asking for more contractors to oversee the work.
Following exclusive reports on these matters—in addition to coverage of the government’s admitted inability to adequately manage programs that had “rapidly and exponentially” increased in Kenya—USAID pulled the plug on public access to documents governing those endeavors.
The Monitor, however, continues to offer access to the document—formally known as the Kenya Strategic Communications Plan 2012-2013—that the administration does not want the public to see.
The propaganda plan, an addition to the project, explained “targeted opinion leaders” must be used to exert influence on the ideas.
“Journalists, editors and media personalities are also opinion leaders,” said the administration’s strategy. “They determine what gets written or talked about in the media.”
Shortly after the reports, the Obama administration sanitized the online FedBizOpps system of the issue.
The article had linked to the original online documents, but Kenyan journalist Dennis Itumbi notified this writer that the documents had been removed.
The official explanation, from USAID Press Officer Matthew Johnson, said that the documents were removed because they were for “internal purposes.”
Now the administration has relaunched its effort to hire contractors to oversee other vendors involved in Obama’s expansive aid program to Kenya.
But USAID did not simply pick up where it left off.
This time around, the agency repackaged the procurement strictly as a health care and food-aid initiative.
Noticeably absent from the revised solicitation are the previous references to existing programs whose aim is to strengthen Kenyan governmental and economic institutions.
"African Aid" is a $ pit that champagne socialist liberals ( douchebags like bono and george clooney) love to pour other people's $ down to somehow soothe their ill-placed white guilt. It usually involves giving $ to psychotic despots to buy weapons from the US to kill their fellow jungle bunnies with at the same time the CIA is supplying them all w/ drugs shipped via "African Aid supply planes". Oh yeah- if you have some oil you're really going to get the bone.
Un-fuckin-believable!
What sequester was he pissing about?
It won't affect spending on King O,Chewbacca and the baby gorillas. And Reggie Love flies w/ O on the DL.
Why is this surprising? This is apparently part of the excuse for the banking crisis to hit the globe shortly... some will be outlaws being sanctioned, others will be hacked, some will just have crap collateral... not every bank can fall apart for the same reasons, or we'd know the truth, it would no longer be a conspiracy theory. That's the beauty of the genius behind this global coup... there are many different story lines and many different timings, but in general, the aim is to collapse the banks so they can steal our money. Get ready.
Notice that the Caymans are off limits from DOJ scutiny; cuz that's where all the 535 (excepting a few) have their SECRET CAMPAIGN FUNDS AND ILLEGAL PROFITS FROM INSIDER TRADING.
Not to mention the CIA/Mexican Cartel joint accounts.
The CLintons as well.
Their profits from insider trading are perfectly legal. They exempted themselves from that rule.
Correct. A few weeks after passing the "Congress shall not do anymore trading on inside information" resolution, they passed another resolution repealing it--by unanimous voice vote. Not a single nay vote from either party---as if there really are two parties. There is not a single person of integrity left in that snakepit.
As long as you are a bought & paid for voted in parasite-on the .gov dole...it's all cool.
Note to the NSA: When the revolution comes, we'll be finding your cohorts, one..by..one. Then you better pray we don't find you. We have SPECIAL plans for you guys.
most americans have no privacy when it comes to banking matters, although we all wish we could afford some. a lot of cash has left this country since 9/11, and recovering most of it would be highly inflationary, since BB has printed replacement dollars for the thieves to steal all over again. when w bush 1 wanted to build the trillion dollar fence and further criminalize illegal immigrantion (obama wants to rebuild it) mexico threatened to legalize drugs. they had to pullback from that position, the bully won. i'm ambivalent, have they gone after the caribbean offshore banks? maybe that's where obama and the democrats stash their kickbacked campaign funds. the swiss hardly rise to the level of so what, but i understand we use the same bullying tactics against thebanks of terrorist nations. like which one is snowden in right now?
i find all the folks doing the Cayman Island thing and the CIA/drug cartel thing really "out there." you already have the media itself if you want to play that game. i really feel like these folks "exempting themselves" really are missing out on the Big Game when it comes to truly "cheating the system" (aka sticking it to the man.) why all the theatrics when we already have that as well?
http://seekingalpha.com/symbol/cmcsa?source=search_general&s=cmcsa that thing's got a market cap of north of 100 billion now. "and all the own is a subscriber base"!!! sorry but most of the people investing money these days simply don't get it. hell not even New York in my view. Comcast is out of Philly...and guess what...only Microsoft is a bigger media company in my view. not even the NSA impresses me all that much compared to these two companies. hell even Time Warner looks like it's sucking wind next to the (Roberts) family controlled Comcast.