Another day, and more banking scandals.
PWC amended a report to US regulators to hide their banking client's abuse of US sanctions. They have been fined $25 million for doing so and have been barred from undertaking some work in New York for a limited period.
Standard Chartered are apparently unable to properly identify money laundering risk, also according to New York. They have also been fined, $300 million in their case. And they have been barred from handling some accounts for a period.
So more slaps on the knuckles and more fines that impact little ion the organisations in question. But no prosecutions and no sanctions on individuals.
So the abuse will go on. And on. And on.
And when it does no one should be surprised because that is what happens when a system has been captured for the benefit of a few.
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I suppose all we can say about these fines is that they at least put a bit of money in circulation and are probably the most significant contribution to growth.
I don’t know about captured, the more I read about the origins of banking and how it was introduced here from what we might call the Hague it seems to me it’s designed to be that way. The whole point of it is you have the many working against their own best interests largely for the benefit of the few. It seems entirely natural then this meme spreads through financial matters in general. I’m wondering lately if we’ll have to go back to some form of tally stick, perhaps this time an electronic version, if we’re to create/recreate a society which works well for the majority and not just a handful of parasites.
Michael Rowbotham points out (via a quote) that the purchasing power of workers wages actually declined between a measured period: 1563-1824 as debt financing developed alongside enclosures. It challenges a lot of accepted ideas about the wealth diffusion of early capitalism. So-Bill, the tally stick might well be a more just arrangement!
No doubt any just arrangement will be outlawed as was the case at Worgl. I maintain my pitchfork in good order therefore (there are many like it, but that specific one is mine). It would be nice if we could make existing arrangements irrelevant via the blockchain or similar, but… I’m not hopeful.
Standard Chartered settled for a $340 million* payment for ‘wire stripping’ payments around the sanctions in force against Iran, back in 2012.
Yesterday’s announcement displays remarkable leniency against a repeat offender.
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* Some media accounts list a figure of $317M. Whatever. The transaction volume was $250 Billion; the fine didn’t even confiscate the profits of the crime.
This is why I advocate nationalisation of the banks as opposed to reform. We tried reform and it didn’t work. The financial system, as well as much of the political system has been captured by the money men.
So radical action needs to be undertaken to clean up the system. Isn’t it more democratic for the government to be in charge of the creation of money in any case? When was the last time we had a vote on what decisions stock markets make or the banks make? What is democratic about letting private companies create nearly 100% of our money supply?
Either the banks are nationalised in toto or they have to learn to compete with nationalised banks. Either that or the government creates the credit for private banks and limit their profits; the rest distributed back to society.
What is interesting (but not surprising) is that there is no sign yet of any worthwhile prosecution here in the UK.
I’ve been reading little bits from Ian ‘Shredded’ Fraser about how the banks have been creating false loans and debts and using them to criminally take-over perfectly well-run companies simply, it appears, because they wanted to have them. Incredible. However, and I don’t think even Ian Fraser knows about this yet, it seems the banksters are going one better and using false documentation to steal property away from its owner. This chap Guy Taylor https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KM4n0R49V9Q is apparently having Bodenham Manor swiped from him today with the assistance of police, bailiffs, helicopter support etc (this is an old clip and in part it details an earlier attempt to do the same thing). Makes sense; if the banks know they can takeover companies with false paperwork referring to loans which never existed, why not get property that way too? One other thing we learn from the clip is that if suits turn up at your door claiming to be associated with High Court Enforcement Agents, the big boys of the bailiff world, they may not actually be from the high court or indeed from any court at all, instead they could be from a company calling itself that or similar. I checked at Companies House and there are indeed several calling themselves something to do with HGCEs. Beyond belief all this isn’t it? I advise all regular readers here and Richard too of course to Google Bodenham Manor and keep a weather eye on what’s going on there. In this case it seems to be a good thing the Freemen are involved as they’re helping publicise what’s happening. This could become a cause celebre and finally see bankers in jail where they belong. Something’s got to happen sometime to stop this outright looting of the country. I’m sure most people have no idea at all things have progressed this far.