Are Big Banks a Bunch of Organized Criminal Conspiracies?

[xchrom]

http://www.alternet.org/corporate-accountability-and-workplace/are-big-banks-bunch-organized-criminal-conspiracies



***SNIP

Loan Sharking

You want to get really, really pissed off? Then read " Major Banks Aid in Payday Loans Banned by States" by Jessica Silver-Greenberg in the New York Times (2/23/13). In sickening detail, she describes how the largest banks in the United States are facilitating modern loansharking by working with Internet payday loan companies to escape anti-loansharking state laws. These payday firms extract enormous interest rates that often run over 500 percent a year. (Fifteen states prohibit payday loans entirely, and all states have usury limits ranging from 8 to 24 percent. See the list.)

***SNIP

Money Laundering for the Mexican Drug Cartels and Rogue Nations

HSBC, the giant British-based bank with a large American subsidiary, agreed on Dec. 11, 2012 to pay $1.9 billion in fines for laundering $881 million for Mexico's Sinaloa cartel and Colombia's Norte del Valle cartel. The operation was so blatant that "Mexican traffickers used boxes specifically designed to the dimensions of an HSBC Mexico teller's window to deposit cash on a daily basis," reports Reuters. They also facilitated "hundreds of millions more in transactions with sanctioned countries," according to the Justice Department.

***SNIP

Too Big to Indict?

Wait, it gets worse. Why weren't criminal charges filed against the bank itself? After all, the bank overtly violated money laundering laws. This was no clerical error. The answer is simple: " Too big to Indict," screams the NYT editorial headline. You see federal authorities are worried that if they indict, the bank would fail, which in turn would lead to tens of thousands of lost jobs, just like what happened to Arthur Anderson after its Enron caper, or like the financial hurricane that followed the failure of Lehman Brothers. So if you're a small fish running $10,000 in drug money, you serve time. But if you're a big fish moving nearing a billion dollars, you can laugh all the way to your too-big-to-jail bank.

Fleecing Distressed Homeowners

The big banks, in collusion with hedge funds and the rating agencies, puffed up the housing bubble and then burst it. Nine million workers, due to no fault of their own, lost their jobs in a matter of months. Entire neighborhoods saw their home values crash. Tens of millions faced foreclosure.

[99Forever]

1. In a word:

Yes.

[Demeter]

33. Or the next best thing.

Whatever that is.

[leveymg]

2. Don't see how any honest institution could survive swimming with all those sharks.

[Octafish]

3. They've been operating that way.

And getting away with it, too -- thanks to a most generous compensation program for employees/former regulators and regulators/former employees.

Thank you, xchrom, for an excellent article -- a must-read.

[marmar]

4. k/r ........

Mobsters have nothing on the Banksters.

[irisblue]

5. yes

[Little Star]

6. Why yes they are, now that you mention it. k&r

[hobbit709]

7. do you want that answer in one word or two?

[xchrom]

8. oh make it 2. nt

[hobbit709]

9. In that case: FUCK YES!!!

[xchrom]

10. ...

[theKed]

11. Lets not forget

Extortion in the hundreds of billions of "bailouts"
Bribery through lobbying of congress
Racketeering
The list goes on.

I support, and have advocated, the writer's position on nationalizing the too-big-to-jail banks. It's long past due.

[City Lights]

12. Absolutely!

Enemies of the State!

[lonestarnot]

13. Yes they are!

[Prospero1]

14. When organized crime truly succeeds...

it ceases to be called such.

[woo me with science]

23. Yup. It becomes "government." nt

[bemildred]

15. Yes. So are most governments. nt

[Hotler]

16. For those fuckers on Wall St.

http://www.guillotine.dk/Pages/Gallery.html
although I think that would be too quick and easy. I think public caning might be more painful and more rewarding to watch.

[They_Live]

17. It's called

White Collar Crime. If you get caught you might have to pay a small fine.

[jschurchin]

18. Two Words

Without question.

[Dryvinwhileblind]

19. Everything is rigged, gamed & predictable...

...for every honest individual, there are forty thieves. Until the masses rise to intimidate by sheer numbers, numbers that no institution, or agency can stop, or ignore, this will never change. It is way past self evident all Men, women, and children, while "created equal", this too is also rigged. Hell of a note to know that virtually our entire reality/history/legacy is based on lies. Lies, injustice, and the amerikan way.....gamed, juiced, rotten to the core, from top to bottom. Et tu?

[kenny blankenship]

29. ...including our "democracy"

It's all geared for maximum corruption. In other systems, like Italy or Mexico, for example, you have a lot of little thieves: distributed corruption. You see officials on the take everywhere, from the beat cop all the way up to the President. In the US, there is a much greater concentration of impunity and thievery in fewer hands. Thievery in the ranks would mean the top dogs aren't getting all the cake they're entitled to, so there's far less apparent thievery here. It's inefficient and fails to maximize profits so it's suppressed. In this way, we avoid the impression of widespread corruption and there's much less apparent chaos. This produces the veneer of normalcy we call "stability". The government labels itself the agent of hope and change, but in reality it is merely a front man for the banks. Small wonder, since the Change Agent's start in public life was acting as a front man for real estate developers looking to gentrify (push out the poor people) Chicago's south side neighborhoods.

[Dryvinwhileblind]

31. ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

[woo me with science]

44. "Way past self-evident"

Indeed.

[redqueen]

20. "The real truth of the matter is, as you and I know, that a financial element in the larger centers

has owned the Government ever since the days of Andrew Jackson." - FDR

[raouldukelives]

21. Nothing will ever happen.

Only someone with the biggest blinders in history could not see the damage wrought by the banksters and Wall St. Climate change, destruction of vital lands, extinction of species, poisoning of our waters, elimination of safety nets and education, violent takeovers of third world countries and the deaths and suffering of millions and still say "Hey! I'd like a piece of that! How can my retirement dollars help you accomplish these fantastic gifts to the world!"
The plain fact is people know and they don't care. Or that is, they care more about the money than doing what they know is right.

[99Forever]

28. I think for many of us...

... that we both know and care, very much so, but are both so busy just trying to survive and aware that like has happened many times over, nothing we attempt to do with have even a minimal effect.

So, rather than sitting on the sidelines playing critic of the rest of us, how's about you come up with a plan to actual get something done to change the landscape.

I'm all ears. Have at it.

[raouldukelives]

47. For those that know and care I am certainly no critic. Only a reminder of a hard truth.

The plan to change the landscape is pretty simple. If you know something is being done that it is bad for the environment, for people and for human enlightenment, refuse to help them do it. Even if it pays well.
But that is just preaching to the choir.
A real change to the landscape requires either change from the top down or the bottom up. I am almost certainly convinced no change will come down from the top. In the face of that, the choices are either hope for a change or be the change. We have to opt for the latter of course, as liberals. But the majority of the country seems to not care less and it is of them that I speak. Those that care not how the money is made, only that it comes. How can we change them without education? Without media airwaves? Only by a groundswell of people who want to see the change and are willing to suffer for it.

[kenny blankenship]

22. Yes, in symbiosis with the administration.

They can't do it alone.

[LeftInTX]

24. Why ask?

[Duer 157099]

25. That's rhetorical, right? n/t

[DeSwiss]

26. Yep, Fractional Reserve Banking.....

...is called FRAUD by us non-bankers.

K&R

[FarCenter]

27. Not compared with hedge funds and private equity funds and insurance companies

[Wednesdays]

30. There's a typo in your headline

You accidentally included a question mark.

[Fire Walk With Me]

32. How about installing ex-employees in European Parliaments and banks?

Plutonomy's plan for America resembles Greece, Italy, Spain, Ireland, Portugal...
Goldman Sachs timeline, conquests:

2010:

Voila! Greek Gov't Appoints Ex-Goldman Exec As New Debt Chief

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2010/02/19/838682/-Voila-Greek-Gov-t-Appoints-Ex-Goldman-Exec-As-New-Debt-Chief#


2011:

Arrest the Criminals at Goldman Sachs and in the Greek Government (video: Greg Palast)

http://www.v2load.com/videos/aQp22WN0cpg/


Also Italy's Prime Minister; the former attorney general of Ireland during the bailout; the head of the European Central Bank; and more:

http://acampadabcninternacional.wordpress.com/2011/12/09/what-price-the-new-democracy-goldman-sachs-conquers-europe-acampadabcn-takethesquare-acampadasol-15m-occupy/

The 2008 economic collapse was planned, a smash-and-grab to destablize the country. Disaster Capitalism. The Shock Doctrine. What has been done to Greece, Portugal, Italy, Ireland, Spain, is being done to America.


And why not America?

Citi Offered Jack Lew A Big Bonus To Secure A 'High-Level' Government Position
http://www.businessinsider.com/citis-government-job-bonus-for-jack-lew-2013-2#ixzz2Lz2XMamr

"It's not uncommon for a U.S. Treasury Secretary to have served on Wall Street, but what's interesting about this next one is that his bank gave him a pretty significant financial incentive make the leap."


From:

http://occupyobservations.blogspot.com/2013/02/the-leaked-2006-citigroup-plutonomy-memo.html

[KG]

34. does the ursus defecate in the glade?

[jtuck004]

35. That picture must have been cropped too much. It should also show the capitol

of several states, and the one in D.C. Read "Broke, U.S.A" by Rivlin, and you will discover that many banks and payday loan companies have no need of avoiding state laws. Instead, the laws, many to avoid such usury, were deliberately gotten rid of to facilitate this ongoing crime.

The banks could not do this without collaboration in the criminal conspiracy by our elected officials, many of whom mouth that they are on our side.

[Stainless]

36. 28.99% interest for a line of credit for health care!

I made the mistake of applying for a "no interest for 24 months" line of credit offered by a large bank in collusion with an oral surgeon. The acceptance statement specified: Purchase APR: 28.99 %. This tells me that banksters are indeed greedy criminal bastards.

[woo me with science]

37. K & R

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

38. "Some will rob you with a six-gun, some with a fountain pen." Woody Guthrie

[Dustlawyer]

39. THEY RUN THIS COUNTRY, get it through your heads!

Democrats and Republicans are 2 teams used to keep us busy and fighting each other. Corporate media lies to us and does not report truth!

[woo me with science]

46. Yes, they do, now. nt

[johnnyreb]

40. kick for the crimes specified n/t

[demosocialist]

41. ummmmmm yes.... doi

[HiPointDem]

42. of course

[slackmaster]

43. The bigger they are, the more crooked they are.

Bank of America is the worst. I would go so far as to call it a criminal organization.

[indepat]

45. No more certain than the sun rising in the east tomorrow imo