Category: Corruption

London Bankers Discover Taxes in Switzerland Too

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Yes, all those bankers who are trying to move to Geneva to avoid the UK Bonus tax have discovered that Switzerland has a 44% tax rate, and that the posh private schools for their kids are already full:

Geneva, touted as a haven for London bankers facing heavier U.K. taxes, may lure fewer than predicted thanks to a housing shortage, crowded schools and a 44 percent income-tax rate.

Barclays Plc President Robert Diamond this month joined a chorus of financial leaders in arguing that the U.K.’s 50 percent tax on bonuses would drive bankers away from London. The Swiss Private Bankers Association said the “arbitrary” tax will boost the allure of Geneva, whose bankers oversee about 10 percent of the world’s foreign-held private wealth.

“It’s a joke, it’s lobbying,” said Tim Dawson, an analyst at Geneva-based brokerage Helvea AG. “People are dreaming if they think the London investment banking world is going to move. There is more office space in Canary Wharf than in the whole of Switzerland,” he said, referring to London’s second financial district.

I also think that the bankers “misunderestimate” the degree to which people actually want them there, making city centers prohibitively expensive for ordinary people while they make demands for subsidies from lawmakers.

If there is a lesson from the Minaret fiasco in Switzerland, it’s that they don’t like foreigners there, whether they are hard working immigrants from the Middle East, or parasites from London.

Slavery is Legal in the United States Again

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The Supreme Court has refused to rule on an appellate case that not only declared that, “torture and religious humiliation are permissible tools for a government to use,” but also ruled that anyone unilaterally declared an enemy combatant is not a “person” under the legal definition of the law.

This is quite literally the identical legal reasoning behind the Dredd Scott case:

“Another set of claims are dismissed because Guantanamo detainees are not ‘persons’ within the scope of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act – an argument that was too close to Dred Scott v. Sanford for one of the judges on the court of appeals to swallow,” he added.

The Dred Scott case was a decision by the United States Supreme Court in 1857. It ruled that people of African descent imported into the United States and held as slaves, or their descendants — whether or not they were slaves — were not protected by the Constitution and could never be citizens of the United States.

And still, Obama is appointing sane conservatives to the bench, only to see them filibustered and delayed by the ‘Phants, because sanity has a known liberal bias.

Not feeling hopey changey right now.

H/t naked capitalism.

More Change We Can’t Believe In

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Well, isn’t that special?

Kenneth Feinberg, AKA the “pay czar”, has folded like wet broccoli on AIG salaries:

Feinberg said the insurance company also will be allowed to pay the employee incentive payments worth about $4.3 million, made up of an annual long-term restricted stock grant worth about $1 million and a stock grant valued at about $3.3 million on the grant date.

That’s just marvelous.

Maybe we should return to the days of Dwight Eisenhower, and raise the maximum marginal tax rate to 91%, it would help deal with the pillaging parasites.

Someone Else Who Tries to F%$# Us Like a Bitch

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I’m not kind of bummed that I riffed on that scene in Pulp Fiction yesterday, because there are so many people who want to f%$# us all like a bitch.

Case in point, Verizon, who is claiming to the FCC that charging exorbitant cancellation fees should be supported because it helps the poor:

Verizon defended its early termination charges for cellphone contracts Friday, telling federal regulators that the high fees help the poor by making it more affordable for them to access the mobile internet.

The Federal Communications Commission asked the nation’s largest wireless carrier earlier this month to explain why it had raised the fees for breaking a mobile phone service contract to $350 for its smartphones. In a response that gave no ground to an increasingly active FCC, Verizon said the fees were a necessary and good way to subsidize expensive smartphones so that users don’t have to pay for the hardware up front, so long as they sign a two-year contract.

That arrangement “enables many more consumers, including those of more limited means, access to a range of exciting, state of the art broadband services and capabilities (.pdf),” Verizon VP Kathleen Grillo wrote. “The company’s pricing structure therefore promotes the national goal of fostering the greater adoption and use of mobile broadband services.”

Verizon raised the fees in November, with a $10 discount for each month of the service contract fulfilled for smartphones. Even so, if a customer cancels on the last day of their 2-year contract, they’d have to pay Verizon $120 for early termination.

It appears that in Verizon’s eyes, we all look like bitches that they really really want to f%$#………Without Lube.

What Does Matthew G. Saroff Look Like?

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Original Courtesy of Quentin Tarantino, with typography by mdaisey

What?

What country are you from?

What, what?

What ain’t no country that I ever heard of. They speak English in what?

What?

English, muthahf%$#er, do you speak it?

Yes.

Then you know that I’m saying!

Yes.

Describe what Matthew G. Saroff looks like!

What?

Say what again! Say what again! I dare you! I double dare you muthahf%$#er! Say what one more God Damned time!

He’s white! He’s bald! …… He could stand to lose 40 pounds!

Does he look like a bitch!

What?

(Bang! screaming)

Does … he … look … like … a … bitch!?!?!

Nooooo!!!!!

Then why are you trying to f%$# him like a bitch David?

Axelrod promises to push for drug re-importation after healthcare reform
By Kevin Bogardus – 12/20/09 09:59 AM ET

A senior White House adviser said Sunday that the Obama administration will push forward on safe re-importation of pharmaceutical drugs after the healthcare reform bill is finished.

As a candidate in 2008, President Barack Obama promised to allow cheaper drugs to be re-imported into the United States from Canada and other countries. He also co-sponsored legislation that would allow re-importation as an Illinois senator. The Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, a key White House ally in the healthcare reform push, has lobbied heavily against re-importation, though, and would likely not support the final bill if it was included in the package.

Speaking on CNN’s “State of the Union,” David Axelrod, Obama’s top political aide, said the White House still favors drug re-importation and wants to move forward on it.

Do I look like an idiot? After fighting tooth and nail to keep drug re-importation out of the healthcare bills, you are going to fight to bring it back, like you promised during the campaign, just like you promised to repeal “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell”, promote marriage equality, and to go after people who broke the law in the Bush administration?

Barack Obama and His Evil Minions™ are trying to f%$# anyone who wants to improve healthcare, and that means that they are trying to f%$# Matthew G. Saroff, and Matthew G. Saroff don’t like to be f%$#ed by anyone except Mrs. Saroff.

Not Enough Bullets: Credit Card Companies Edition

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In particular First Premier Bank Credit Cards, which is charging 79.9% interest:

Here’s something you don’t see every day: A credit card with a $75 dollar annual fee, a $300 limit, a $29 penalty for being late or over limit… and an interest rate of 79.9 percent? Welcome to First Premier Bank, a sub-prime credit card issuer.

First Premier is just following the new regulations found in the Credit Card Reform Bill passed by Congress and signed by our President this past year. Apparently, Congress set out to curb the abuse that has become all-too-common in the credit card industry… you know, like exorbitant fees and interest rates from 20-40%… so they asked the banking lobby to come up with something acceptable and this is the result. So, there should be no one surprised when other credit card issuers follow suit as expected.

You know, it’s this kind of crap makes cynicism rule in politics.

Why the Naked CDS Should Be Banned: Part McCMLXXVII

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Yes, once again we have Goldman Sachs that great vampire squid wrapped around the face of humanity,* using naked Credit Default Swaps, (CDS) which are basically insurance policies, with the crucial differenc being that you can insure your neighbor’s home, and collect when you burn it down, something forbidden in other insurance products since 1746.

You see Goldman Sachs bought naked CDS, and then interfered in its reorganizing its debt so that it could collect:

International Brotherhood of Teamsters President James Hoffa said Goldman Sachs Group Inc. is creating derivatives trades that would profit from the bankruptcy of YRC Worldwide Inc., the trucking company trying to avert failure with a debt exchange.

The most profitable securities firm in Wall Street history “is actively soliciting bond trades for clients and underwriting credit-default swaps to benefit from a failed exchange and resulting bankruptcy,” Hoffa, the union leader, wrote in a letter dated yesterday to Goldman Sachs Chief Executive Officer Lloyd Blankfein.

YRC, the biggest U.S. trucker by sales, is extending the exchange offer deadline to Dec. 23, after investors holding 75 percent of its debt initially agreed to the exchange, below the 95 percent required by bank lenders. As of 5 p.m. in New York yesterday, participation fell to 57 percent, the Overland Park, Kansas-based company said in a statement. The company said it believes some bondholders have withdrawn because they want to tender their notes only on the expiration date.

The company has faced opposition to its plan to exchange $536.8 million of notes for equity from bondholders who also own derivatives that pay out in a default, according to people familiar with the matter. The Teamsters’ pressure comes as Goldman Sachs is under fire from other labor groups over its role in the subprime mortgage crisis.

This is precisely why the Marine Insurance Act of 1746 was passed, and why the writing of new naked CDS instruments should be banned, and existing naked CDS contracts should be rendered unenforceable.

There is a difference between making money off of someone else’s misfortune, and making money by causing someone else’s misfortune.

*Alas, I cannot claim credit for this bon mot, it was coined by the great Matt Taibbi, in his article on the massive criminal conspiracy investment firm, The Great American Bubble Machine.

Not Like Vietnam At All…………

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After all, we aren’t seeing bogus body counts.

In the Vietnam war, there was a statistical anomaly: numbers ending in 5 and 10 were conspicuously absent, to the tune of millions of times beyond what random chance, IIRC, and it was a lecture almost 30 years ago it was greater than 5σ.

Well, we have another magic number in Afghanistan, 30* (also here and here):

Just how often has the U.S. and NATO killed the Taliban in groups of 30 during 2009? The answer may surprise you:

  • Adnkronos, 12/07/2009: “Up to 30 suspected militants were killed in a NATO airstrike on a Taliban hideout in eastern Afghanistan close to the Pakistani border on Monday. The airstrike targeted the village of Sangar Dara in the mountainous Watapur district of Kunar province , the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said.”
  • SF Chronicle, 12/04/2009: “Air strikes in two areas of the Mohmand border region killed 30 suspected militants, a military statement said. It said the strikes were “highly successful” but provided no further details, including whether any civilians were hurt.”
  • Xinhua, 11/04/2009: “The military said that the troops have killed 30 more militants during the last 24 hours, bringing the total fatalities to 400, as the operation in the country’s tribal area steadily progressed towards the Taliban strongholds in South Waziristan.”
  • Xinhua, 08/31/2009: “At least 30 bodies of suspected Taliban fighters were recovered in northwest Pakistan’s insurgency-hit Swat valley on Monday, witnesses said. The Pakistani army said they were killed in fighting with the security forces.”
  • Calgary Times, 07/04/2009: “The attack included an attempted suicide truck bombing of the base in the Zirok district of southeastern Paktika province, local officials said. As many as 30 Taliban insurgents might have been killed when troops called in air strikes, they said.”
  • Khaleej Times, 06/24/2009: “Thirty Taliban militants were killed in clashes with NATO and Afghan forces in separate incidents in southern Afghanistan, officials said Wednesday.”
  • Straits Times, 06/15/2009: “Security officials in the region said that about 30 militants were killed in Mohmand agency, close to the provincial capital Peshawar.”
  • Monsters and Critics, 05/28/2009: “In another incident, the Afghan Defence Ministry said Thursday that its troops, backed by international forces, killed 30 suspected militants in neighbouring Khost province Wednesday after the militants attacked their joint base.”
  • Monsters and Critics, 05/14/2009: “At least 30 Taliban fighters were killed Thursday when government artillery fire destroyed their hideout in north-west Pakistan, residents and officials said, as concerns about the fate of thousands of refugees in the region grew amid an escalating humanitarian crisis. Up to 30 suspected militants were in the compound when it was hit, and the Taliban have moved the dead and injured to an undisclosed location, he said.”
  • Reuters, 01 April 2009: “U.S. and Afghan forces have killed 30 Taliban fighters, including a local commander, in an operation in Afghanistan’s southern province of Helmand, the Interior Ministry said on Wednesday.”
  • IRNA, 02/17/2009: “Suspected US drone fired missiles on a training camp of Taliban militants in a Pakistani tribal region on Monday, killing around 30 people, witnesses and official sources said.”
  • New York Times, 01/01/2009: “On Wednesday, the Taliban came for revenge. A group of about 30 Taliban fighters swooped in on Mullah Salam’s house and opened fire. They killed at least 20 of his bodyguards, Afghan officials said. The Taliban claimed that they killed 32. Two of the attackers died.”

It appears that this is a holdover from Rumsfeld days:

We don’t know much about how it works, but in 2007, Marc Garlasco, the Pentagon’s former chief of high-value targeting, offered a glimpse when he told Salon magazine that in 2003, “the magic number was 30.” That meant that if an attack was anticipated to kill more than 30 civilians, it needed the explicit approval of then-Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld or President George W. Bush. If the expected civilian death toll was less than 30, the strike could be OKd by the legal and military commanders on the ground.

We let me quote a decent man who had a complete sh$# for a son, George Romney, Mitt’s dad, who described the misinformation handed to him by the military on Vietnam as “brainwashing.”

He was right, and Obama has allowed himself to buy into this crap.

*Yeah, there is also that whole #3 person on the chain of command of al Qaeda, who has a life span that rivals that of Ensign Liebowitz of star ship security on a landing party with Kirk, Spock, and McCoy.

Regulators Sell Out To Banks

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This time, it’s international regulators, who have pushed back the so called Basel requirements on capitalization:

Global regulators will give banks a grace period before forcing them to implement stricter capital rules, three people said on Wednesday, easing concerns that lenders might need to issue massive amounts of shares in the near future.

……………

The committee is expected to publish proposals this week for stricter financial regulations in response to the credit crisis. There had been fears that if banks implement the new rules quickly, they would have to raise substantial capital.

The three people with knowledge of the matter said the committee would stick to its plan to gradually implement changes starting in 2012, but will give banks a transition period to help them adjust to the rules.

My bet is that in 2010, start will be pushed off to 2013, and in 2011, it will be pushed off to 2014.

Rinse……Lather……Repeat.

What the Hell are We Doing In Afghanistan Again?

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Because Afghan President Hamid Karzai just gave a speech defending Kabul Mayor Abdul Ahad Sayebi, who was just sentenced to 4 years in prison at the Afghan anti-corruption conference:

Afghan President Hamid Karzai used a keynote anti-corruption speech on Tuesday to defend the most senior of his officials to be convicted of graft in years, a move that could anger Western backers who demand more accountability.

The president opened a three-day, anti-corruption conference, which had been billed by diplomats as a sign that Karzai took seriously the West’s concern over an issue seen as key to winning popular support against a resurgent Taliban.

That sound you hear is Eric Arthur Blair spinning in his grave at 4200 rpm.

Seriously, we need to get out now, because you can’t win hearts and minds with this corrupt ratf%$#.

Corruption Update: Another Bailout for Bob Rubin’s Old Firm

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Seriously. The fact that the IRS, or let’s be clear about, Timothy Geithner’s Department of the Treasury is allowing Citi to get an additional $32 billion in tax breaks so that it can repay the TARP more quickly:

The Internal Revenue Service on Friday issued an exception to long-standing tax rules for the benefit of Citigroup and a few other companies partially owned by the government. As a result, Citigroup will be allowed to retain billions of dollars worth of tax breaks that otherwise would decline in value when the government sells its stake to private investors.

By way of comparison, the government invested $45 billion in Citi, which has, through various means, converted into common stock at above market valuations.

So, it now appears that we are paying Citi to pay us back the TARP money, $32 billion in tax deductions, so that they can pay back the $20 billion that is still owed as debt, overpay their next CEO.

With the top corporate tax rate at 35%, this translates to about us paying them $11.2 billion to get back our $20 billion, which was earning us 8%, or $1.6 billion a year……Lovely deal, huh?

I’m calling corruption on this.

I’m not sure if anyone in the White House is personally getting rich on this, but, much like the recently deceased Yegor Gaidar in Russia, they are creating and maintaining a corrupt system.

I’m sure, like Gaidar, they see themselves as heroic, but they are looting the United States.

Not Enough Bullets: Porsche Cayenne Turbo Edition

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SEC & DoJ need to fix this.
It should read: Sorry Ass in Jail!

So, Morgan Stanley Vice-Chairman Rob Kindler drives a Porsche Cayenne with the License Plate 2BG2FAIL.

Just delightful.

I need to figure out how to go long on pitch forks and torches.

And maybe some rabid ferrets, and ground beef, and honey, and really nasty stinging ants.

But no guns or rope: I oppose capital punishment.

H/t Matt Taibbi

George W. Bush and Dick Cheney Fly to Uruguay, Request Asylum

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No, it hasn’t happened yet, but we have a start.

You see, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) and the National Security Archive have found some 22 million missing White House emails from the Bush era.

Yes, I know, it still has to go through the National Archives, where it will take years* to catalogue then and screen for classified material:

Computer technicians have found 22 million missing White House e-mails from the administration of President George W. Bush, according to two groups that are settling lawsuits they filed over the failure by the Bush White House to install an electronic record keeping system.

The two groups made the announcement as they settled lawsuits that they filed against the Executive Office of the President in 2007.

But the public might not see any of the e-mails for quite some time because they will now go through the National Archives normal process for releasing presidential and agency records.

Of course, even if major revelations are present, that Barack Obama and Eric Holder will their do their level best to ensure that the rule of law is not enforced.

*My guess is that this will be finished a little bit after the 2012 elections.

Well Damn, This Takes Chutzpah*

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Damn! I need this image on speed dial!

TPM reads Esquire’s interview with Alberto “Abu” Gonzalez, and finds this plum:

We should have abandoned the idea of removing the U. S. attorneys once the Democrats took the Senate. Because at that point we could really not count on Republicans to cut off investigations or help us at all with investigations. We didn’t see that at the Department of Justice. Nor did the White House see that. Karl didn’t see it. If we could do something over again, that would be it.

So, the only problem with politically purging the US Attorney corps, in order to drive corrupt and politically motivated prosecutions, was that Democrats were in power, and they would not, like the republicans had when they were in power, refuse to investigate.

*I was considering using the phrase “huevos”, meaning balls, but I find the connotation both too complimentary: If there is anything that describes Alberto “Abu” Gonzalez, it is his complete lack of balls. He would never, ever say no.

Besides By Killing His Brother, Of Course

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The Washington Independent asks How to Hold [Afghan president Hamid] Karzai Accountable?

Truth be told, I’m not sure, but we know that his brother, Ahmed Wali Karzai, is heavily involved in the drug trade, and we know that this means that he is routinely dealing with people who fund the Taliban.

I would suggest that instead of dropping a Hellfire on him when he meets with those people, that a photograph be taken, and presented to him, with the explanation that they would have fired, but they recognized his brother, and that he might not be so lucky next time, so getting his act together on purging corruption, including his dope dealer brother, should happen sooner rather than later.

Barack Obama Pimps for Big Pharma

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It looks like debate on healthcare reform is foundering on White House opposition to an amendment to allow the reimportation of drugs from Canada

The White House, aided by Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.), is working hard to crush an amendment being pushed by Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.) to allow for the reimportation of pharmaceutical drugs from Canada, Senate sources tell the Huffington Post.

As a result, the Senate health care debate has come to a standstill: Carper has placed a “hold” on Dorgan’s amendment and in response, Dorgan tells HuffPost, he’ll object to any other amendments being considered before he gets a vote on his.

Note, though that this is not a bid at bipartisanship, as Dorgan’s amendment has a Republican co-sponsor, Olympia Snowe (R-ME),and significant ‘Phant support, John McCain (R-AZ), Charles Grassley (R-IA), John Thune (R-SD) and David Vitter (R-LA).

It appears that the Obama administration is afraid that Big Pharma will oppose the bill, but I don’t recall them actually having anyone electing Big Pharma president…..As we all know, the President of the United States is Olympia Snowe.

F%$# the Shareholders, They Are Worthless Punks

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I don’t think that. I own shares in a number of Vanguard®‘s funds, but it’s clear that’s what the banks, and the bankers think about their shareholders.

We know that the UK is allocating a special levy on bonus funds for financial institutions, which will shrink the size of the bonuses that bankers get. The banker’s solutions is to increase the size of the pools to maintain the same outrageous bonus levels.

The way that these bonuses are supposed to work is that you allocate a certain percentage of profits in a publicly held firm to a bonus pool, based on the needs of the firm, things like profits, the need for cash on hand, and things like dividends for the shareholders, who are, after the people who own the f%$#ing company.

Well, that’s not how the bankers think, so when that pool gets taxed, you just take it out of the hides of the shareholders, and financial reserves, etc.

This is way beyond mismanagement. This is theft, just like what Conrad Black went to jail for, and it should be treated as such:

Bonuses are supposed to be determined by the amount of money available after you settle accounts for the year. If you decide it by starting from how much you want to pay for yourself, you are doing what Conrad Black did, and he’s now in prison:”

Several of the big US banks, and some UK banks, conceded in private that they were nervous of cutting the bonuses of City staff, partly for fear of causing internal friction, and partly to avoid having top staff picked off by bolder rivals or hedge funds

Disgraceful. Particularly when these guys were the ones who f%$#ed up our system in the first place.

Banking is not a meritocracy, not that it was ever much of one, it’s a kakistocracy.