Text 6921, 379 rader
Skriven 2014-09-07 14:20:00 av TIM RICHARDSON (1:123/140)
     Kommentar till en text av JEFF BINKLEY
Ärende: INCOME INEQUALITY
=========================
On 08-13-14, BOB KLAHN said to JEFF BINKLEY:


BK>...


HF>>New favorite quote, replacing Mrs. Thatcher's "The trouble with
HF>>Socialism is that sooner or later you run out of other people's
HF>>money."


BK>An old one, and it's the same problem with modern American
BK>capitalism. After all, the banks, investment houses, hedge
BK>funds, do not produce one penny's worth of actual wealth. The
BK>survive on other people's money.


Which is pretty much what the leftist democrats do as well:



More Swiss Banks Give Eric Holder One-Finger Salute

John Ransom | Sep 01, 2014


More Swiss banks are dropping out of the U.S. banking program that the IRS
supposedly uses to prevent American citizens from stashing cash overseas to
avoid taxes. Known for 100 years as the original tax haven, free from the
prying eyes of governments around the world, Swiss banks have provided banking
services that guaranteed anonymity to arms dealers, Nazis, and law-abiding
Americans alike.


Offshore banks, especially Swiss banks, are not generally used to evade taxes
however. The government already has enforcement mechanisms in place to prevent
tax evasion by the use of offshore banks by American citizens. No smart rich
person, with competent advice, would attempt such a thing. Instead rich
people - like the few doctors left who have money-- use offshore banks to
protect assets from lawyers and lawsuit seekers who would try to take those
assets away.


If assets are stashed overseas, they are generally immune from attachment by
lawyers. In the asset protection world, this is known as a lawsuit avoidance
strategy.


But using as an excuse their hunt for tax cheats-- and the war on terror-- the
United States has been pushing overseas banks for access to private banking
information from banks with no legal obligation to cooperate with a government
that has no jurisdiction over them.


Like banks in Switzerland.


Now, however, some Swiss banks are having second thoughts.


From Reuters:


At least 10 Swiss banks have withdrawn from a U.S. programme aimed at settling
a tax dispute between them and the United States, Swiss newspaper NZZ am
Sonntag said on Sunday, quoting unnamed sources.

Around 100 Swiss banks came forward at the end of last year to work with U.S.
authorities in a programme brokered by the Swiss government to help the banks
make amends for aiding tax evasion.

The key here is the phrase "make amends". There is no mention of illegality
here because Swiss banks fall under Swiss laws. But instead we are presented
with a "Golly, gee, we sure are sorry that we broke no laws that we are bound
to enforce, so have some cash anyway"�-type pledge from Swiss banks that make
it seem like the U.S. government and Swiss banks are really swell friends who
need to make up.


And since U.S. banks are playing the same game with Obama and Eric Holder, I
think the Swiss banks ought to be applauded for stopping that type of
nonsense.


No one should evade taxes, but the heavy hand of the government is prying into
areas into which they have no legal right to go.


Like Switzerland. And home mortgages.

Why? Money, that's why.

Because the program cited in the Swiss banking example is a variation on a
scheme that the government is using here at home


There's a growing need for banking reform in the United States. But it's not
the type of reform that Obama and his pals favor. Instead, using all the
coercive powers of the federal government, the administration from "Chicago"�
has engaged in a greenmail campaign, long ago perfect by liberal special
interests.


Growing up in Chicago I was witness to how Jesse Jackson Sr. and Operation
PUSH would shake down companies for money in return for not being "hit" by
special interests with the tag of being racist by the King of Black people.


It worked, keeping the Reverend Jackson and his various community organized
confidence schemes in funds that he still lives off of.


So it's hardly surprising that the Emperor of Black America, Barack Obam --who
is at least Chicago-plated-- would bring this tactic to D.C.


Under Obama's attorney general, Eric Holder, the administration has tagged
banks as the bad guys - banks that are mostly the creation of the Obama
administration genetic experimentation in banking. The government mixed
Countrywide with Bank of America, JP Morgan with Bear Stearns, selling off
parts of one bank to government-funded banks that were guaranteed by the Obama
administration to make profits.


The ruse works like this: The Obama administration in conjunction with various
"community organizations"� have been chatting up the terrible wrong-doing that
banks did in the 2008 financial crisis. These evil banks loaned the banks'
capital to people for whom default was more likely, leaving the bank with
large losses. The banks did this because if they didn't they'd be hit with
charges of racism by government types, community organizations and the various
enforcement arms of various governmental units.


And for a while everything was lovely. The banks made more profits-- with an
implied guarantee from the federal government that they wouldn't lose money--
the government got their hooks deeper into banks, the real power in capitalist
America. But when the economy slowed down and home prices stopped making
ridiculous gains year after year, the scheme fell apart. That in part is why
we had the 2008 financial crisis in the first place.


So after taking control of the banking system by bailing it out, Holder and
Obama have now been going around engaging in "settlement" talks with U.S.
banks over supposed abuses in regards to risky mortgage loans that banks took
loses on. In return for the quid pro quo of not pursuing criminal charges
against JP Morgan employees, for example, Holder and Obama have agreed to take
a $13 billion settlement from JP Morgan for loans in made in 2005-2007 by a
company that Obama made JP Morgan-- Bears Sterns-- buy with government money
during the financial crisis.


$9 billion of that settlement goes to the federal government.


But it's the criminal charges part that is so worrisome.


It's why the Swiss should be applauded.

There are too many here in this country that would trade their liberty for a
$13 billion settlement that means they - or their employees - won't have to
tangle with a greedy government that has the coercive power to put them in
jail. And while the Swiss banks don't have anything like that at stake, they
do have the one thing that Swiss banks are supposed to care about: Money.


By giving Eric Holder the finger it means they won't be parting with any.


For me it's just refreshing for one party, like Swiss banks, to be doing
exactly what they should be doing under the law that applies to them.


I remember when that was the rule, not the exception.


Hopefully it spreads here at home.


Time to Scrap Labor Day for 9/11 Day


Note: I'll be running this column on Labor Day until I get my way. It's much
easier than holding my breath.


For labor unions around the country, this last Labor Day served as a painful
reminder that when they decided to go all-in for Obama in 2008, they alienated
the rest of us non-government, non-union members- the 99 Percent- who have to
go out and earn our keep every day. And that alienation is being expressed in
political defeats by unions around the country.


I'm wondering if the unions are starting to regret their investment in Obama.


Unions dumped $450 million into the Obama effort in 2008, according to the New
York Times, hoping that they'd buy political clout with Obama that they don't
actually own on Main Street. But besides the auto bailout, and a few years of
government stimulus spending, the strategy has been pretty much a disaster.



"This is not about payback,"� the A.F.L.-C.I.O.'s director of government
affairs told the New York Times. "We're looking to work with the new
administration on a shared set of priorities that focus on lifting workers and
improving the economy."


I think he meant "lifting workers' wallets."�


Because on the other counts, I think you can call their strategy a failure: No
payback for unions and no improving economy.


And just another fine job for liberals, who don't seems to be able to
accomplish even those things that they say they desire.


Instead, the mass of the country has turned on unions, union members, bloated
union benefits and even- gasp!- public teachers- who used to be as iconic in
America as baseball, hot dogs, apple pie and, um… Chevrolet?


The laundry list of failures for the union agenda is really staggering. They
spent the most money ever. They elected the greatest president EVER.


But what did they really get? The union has faced the longest string of
defeats since the losing streak that started at the First Battle of Bull Run.


Well, they wanted to be in politics. Congrats, Mr. Union. You are now in
politics.


Card check? The union equivalent of forced busing and segregation? Voters
completely rebuked unions on that one.


Then there was Madison, WI and the recall rebuke when Scott Walker took on
teachersâ€Ö unions. What do you call it when voters vote a governor back in by
recall with a wider margin than he originally received in the general
election?


A permission slip to give the unions detention.

How about that union fiasco with the National Labor Relations Board trying to
stop Boeing Corporation from opening a $1 billion plant in South Carolina
because it wasn't a union shop? Another union disaster where they had to lower
their colors.


Then unions were rebuffed on the most sacred ground. In December 2012,
Michigan voters embraced right to work laws that are tough on union organizers
because it allows workers a choice to have unions take dues from their
paychecks or not.


Yes, in the stronghold of the United Auto Workers, voters said enough.I say
the same thing today. Enough.


It's past time to do away with the throwaway holiday of Labor Day. Let the
Marxists keep May Day, if they wish.


Instead, perhaps on the first Monday in September we should remember things
that matter, like those people who died in the 9/11 tragedy.


Let's restore some solemnity to our country; give people time off to grieve,
to reflect.


Let's make it a holy day, not just a holiday.


If you agree, please contact your state legislative representative through
this link and forward to them the resolution below:


A Resolution Setting Aside One Hour on Labor Day


In Order to Memorialize the Events of September 11th, 2001


Whereas, the people of the state of ________________________ remember the
tragedy that befell our country on the 11thof September in the Year 2001; a
tragedy which was wholly unprovoked by any policy or action of any citizen or
government of the United States;


Whereas, eleven years has passed since the murder of our innocent citizens,
who were our brothers, our fathers, our sisters, our mothers, our sons and our
daughters;


Whereas, U.S. troops remain in harm's way as a result of the cowardly attack
on the 11thof September, 2001;


Whereas, the people of the state of ________________________ are desirous of
memorializing the great sacrifices made by those who gave their lives as a
result of the cowardly and unprovoked attack on the 11thof September, 2001, an
attack made on peaceful citizens who were laboring towards peaceful pursuits;


Whereas, the people of the state of ________________________ wish to thank
those law enforcement officers, public safety officers, soldiers, sailors and
airmen who labored through the crisis of the 11thof September, 2001 and those
who labor to keep us safe today;


Whereas, the people of the state of ________________________ understand that
the common experiences that are shared by all Americans make up the dynamic
American community and create the historical experience of being American;


Whereas, the United States has seen fit to set aside the first Monday of
September, in every year, as a day to celebrate and honor the dignity of labor
and it was labor in which our fellow citizens were engaged when they were
attacked;


Whereas, we hold that religion has a special place in society in helping
sanctify the dignity of labor and the sacrifices of our fellow citizens;


Whereas, therefore, we here assembled do instruct and ask the members of the
________________________ Legislative delegation to introduce a suitable joint
resolution in the ________________________ Legislature inviting all
________________________and, in the name of the ________________________
Legislature, to set aside one hour on the day commonly reserved for Labor Day,
in the Year 2013, and all subsequent years, to repair to their respective
houses of worship and worship their Creator, each in their best understanding
of their Creator and give thanks to Him for His help during our hours of trial
and to memorialize the dead of the 11thof September, 2001, and those who
subsequently gave their lives that our nation might live;


Whereas, we ask religious organizations to make available to their congregants
special services on that day and continue to do so in perpetuity, year after
year for as long as it's deemed necessary to hold the day in remembrance;


Whereas, we call upon our non-religious fellow citizens to only remember in
their heart, the whole day, the tragedy of September 11th, 2001 and to be
tolerant of those citizens who wish to memorialize and dignify the deaths of
their fellow citizens as their conscience dictates.


Whereas, since it is fitting and proper that we do so, we here assembled do
instruct and ask the members of the ________________________ Legislative
delegation to contact their colleagues in the legislatures of the several
states that make up our national Union and invite them to introduce similar
resolutions, so that all Americans may remember together the events and
sacrifices consequent to the events of September 11th, 2001, for as long as
it's deemed necessary to hold the day in remembrance.


Whereas, we submit this resolution to the people of the state of
________________________ and to the judgment of humankind under our Creator;


Be It Resolved by All Here Assembled.







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