Credit Swiss - Too Big to Jail 5-27-14

27, May 2014

Credit Swiss - Too Big to Jail

Contrary to the Justice Department’s stated promise “to hold accountable those who helped bring about the last financial crisis . . . to ensure just and effective punishment for those who perpetrate financial crimes . .” - it has largely failed in its mission.

Its mortgage fraud department launched a much touted campaign - “Operation Stolen Dream” to punish the offenders. It did indeed indict 1,500 low level criminals with nearly $200 million in fines. But, the Justice Departments pronouncement to “get tough on crime” was largely a PR effort. Its dragnet swept up those guilty of liar loans, and small-time independent mortgage brokers all with a wink and nod of loan approvals by the ‘big-daddy banks.” Not a single bank official who approved these bogus loans was asked to don an orange suit and ankle chains.

Top executives of companies like Countrywide or New Century or Lehman Brothers evaded serious consequences. The Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force was another exercise in public relations.

The latest bank guilty of egregious conduct is Credit Swiss. Successive US administrations have largely ignored Switzerland’s secrecy laws which allow wealthy Americans to evade paying taxes. Credit Swiss agreed to pay $2.6 billion in fines but senior officials evaded criminal liability. Senator Carl Levin echoes the sentiments of many Americans when he stated “ it is a mystery to me why the U.S. government didn’t cough up the names of U.S. clients (22,000 as of 2006) with secret bank accounts.”

US Hypocrisy over Chinese Hacking 5-26-14

The brouhaha over Chinese hacking US corporations for commercial gain exposes us to charges of monumental hypocrisy. Are Americans and our allies supposed to believe that our (NSA) hacking is for the greater good and Chinese hacking is inherently evil? It’s nice to be assured by our government that when we hack, our hearts are pure and we would never hack for commercial gain. The criminal hacking charge that the United States has filed against specific foreign officials is largely political theater to demonstrate that we are ever vigilant to spying and blunt any criticisms that we are weak on industrial espionage. We have established the ground rules for hacking, namely military hacking is okay but hacking for commercial gain is verboten! There is little chance that the Chinese officials who were named in the indictment will ever see a day in a US court as no extradition treaty exists between our two countries. Furthermore, because of our profligate spending on military adventures, we are beholden to China for a staggering debt of $1.27 trillion in U.S. Treasury bonds. The White House press secretary, Jay Carney statement that “we don’t gather intelligence for the benefit of U.S. companies” defies credulity. Such statements do little to assuage growing anger of the NSA activities such as spying on Petrogas, Brazil’s offshore oil reserves and other trade secrets, Chinese Huawei, the giant Chinese maker of Internet switching equipment, and Pacnet, the Hong Kong-based operator of undersea fiber optic cables.

Follow on @call4socialjust

John Kerry & Israel 5-4-14

4, May 2014

John Kerry & Israel 

John Kerry recent comment warning Israel is in danger of becoming an apartheid state, predictably caused much consternation. While Israel can rightfully claim to be a functioning democracy for Jews it cannot claim to offer non-Jews the same citizenship rights. Professor Mazin Qumsiyeh of Bethlehem and Birzeit Universities exposes the myth of this touted claim in a recent letter to the Wall Street Journal (April 24, 2014).  Qumsiyeh, a US citizen echoes much of what was stated by Professor George Bisharat, at a recent NPR forum broadcast. Both charge Israel with systematically destroying churches, mosques and Palestinian homes to construct illegal Jewish settlements. Israel has over 50 Jim Crow type laws that discriminate over non-Jews and hundreds more in the occupied territories.  Nationality rights only apply to Jews; for example, American Jews can immigrate to Israel and are accorded all the rights of citizenship – a right denied to non-Jews. Jews have exclusive use of bypass roads, land, privileged access to private and public employment, special educational loans, home mortgages, preferences for admission to universities, and a host of other privileges. A wide disparity exists in costs and availability for critical resources such as water. Equal opportunity employment does not exist for non-Jews. Despite Israel's booming economy, Palestinian unemployment has skyrocketed. Vast disparities exist between Arab towns and Jewish towns in government spending on schools and medical systems condemning non-Jews to lives of incredible hardship and suffering.