It’s a tall order to keep up a good mood when you’re living in Switzerland these days. And read the newspapers. But what the heck..just take a double dose of Hugh Laurie and company and thinks will look brighter!
Writing wasn’t an easy feat for Shakespeare either:
Safe Sex
A friend gave this to me last year. It is hanging over my desk. I read it every day and am reminded… There are always more important things that I can be doing with my time other than dusting and vacuuming.
Which is why I stay so busy here at TheZoo, and why my house is so dirty….
Thanks again Shayne. You’ve put an awful lot of smiles on my face..
The coach never considered any other option.
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I can’t believe this. Oh, wait a minute, yes I can. After all, we gave the financial industry hundreds of billions of our tax dollars to make up for its bad financial decisions. But the banks need more money. They’re like drug addicts looking for a fix any way they can get it. Their latest ploy? Charge the unemployed for access to their unemployment benefits.
For hundreds of thousands of workers losing their jobs during the recession, there’s a new twist to their financial pain: Even when they’re collecting unemployment benefits, they’re paying the bank just to get the money — or even to call customer service to complain about it.
One estimate shows how banks in just one state will likely pocket over $6,000,000 per year. That’s $6 million in unemployment benefits being diverted to the banks, instead of the unemployed. Oh, and while the bank has the unemployment check and before the recipient gets the money – the bank gets to keep the interest.
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The NY Post has issued a editorial statement about “That Cartoon”. Here is the text of the editorial by Col Allan, in full, so you don’t have to visit their site if you have ethical reasons for not wanting to. (I don’t blame you. I went there so you don’t have to.)
Continue reading
This woman is seriously looney-tunes…
Bachmann begins by claiming the stimulus bill was just a payoff for those who supported President Obama throughout the election.
And, did you know that this country is running out of rich people? Did you know that Republicans were just nice guys? And that they don’t know how to fight back..? It gets worse. Much worse..
This is a segment of Countdown with Keith Olbermann where he plays some audio of Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) going off on President Obama’s Stimulus Bill while she is being interviewed on a radio station (the Chris Baker Show – KTLK), and then Keith discusses what she said with The Nation’s Chris Hayes.
Seriously wild stuff. The scary part is that there may be people in her state who actually listen to her…
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Fasnacht is Carnival and if you hear bands like the one above, you’re most probably in Switzerland or Southwest Germany. They’re called Guggemusig. In Basel (but will tell you about Basel next week) they force their way into the tiniest bars to play there and a hundred trumpets are blaring next to your seat – it’s fun! Today starts the serious endgame of this year’s Fasnet, Fasnacht, Fassenaacht, Karneval, whatever it is called where you are.
A handful of Republican governors are considering turning down some money from the federal stimulus package, a move opponents say puts conservative ideology ahead of the needs of constituents struggling with record foreclosures and soaring unemployment.
They actually believe it will help their electorial chances to deprive jobs for the working class and to allow their constituants to get tossed out of their homes. I wonder if their states allow for recalls, like California.
And, it doesn’t appear to be going oh so well…
Burris: ‘I will no longer engage the media’
(HT: houseofroberts)
The Swiss banks are renowned for their secrecy and their lenient stance when it comes to tax evasion and this makes Switzerland into the top destination for money from all kinds of sources. Websites like www.swiss-offshore-banking.com praise the advantages of the system:
The Swiss Banking system is second to none. Revered the world over, Swiss Bankers are known for their privacy, professionalism and discretion. Swiss banking laws are very strict and it is illegal for a banker to reveal the personal details of an account number unless ordered to do so by a judge.
This is long established in Swiss law. Any banker who reveals information about you without your consent risks a custodial sentance if convicted, with the only exceptions to this rule concerning serious violent crimes.
Swiss banking secrecy is not lifted for tax evasion. (emphasis by me) The reason for this is because failure to report income or assets is not considered a crime under Swiss banking law. As such, neither the Swiss government, nor any other government, can obtain information about your bank account. They must first convince a Swiss judge that you have committed a serious crime punishable by the Swiss Penal Code.
No more. In a landmark development the Swiss Bank UBS has agreed to hand over data of about 300 US citizens and their banking accounts to the IRS and pay a $ 780 mn fine on top of that. This hit Switzerland where it hurts most. The finance industry is one of the most important contributors to Swiss wealth the outcry is immense: The Zurich based NZZ writes:
Wenn die Schweizerische Finanzmarktaufsicht (Finma) tatsächlich, wie das Gerücht geht, unmittelbar davorsteht, in einer bisher einmaligen Aktion Daten von einigen hundert Kunden der UBS an die amerikanischen Behörden auszuliefern, oder dies womöglich schon getan hat, ist dies ein folgenschwerer Schlag für den Finanzplatz Schweiz, aber auch für den Rechtsstaat Schweiz.
If the Swiss financial oversight agency (Finma), as rumours have it, is set to hand out data on several hundred customers to US authorities, or possibly has already done so, this is a severe blow to Switzerland’s finance market as well as it’s legal system. (my translation and in case of errors, my bad) (article)
Well, it’s not an “if” anymore here’s the text of the agreement.
Switzerland’s neighbours, namely the Germans are waiting for a crack in the armour of the Swiss banking secrecy for quite a while now and the pressure on Switzerland was growing during the last months. After the fall of the tax haven Liechtenstein in the wake of the arrest of former Deutsche Post boss Zumwinkel, it looks as if Switzerland could be next. This comes at a most inconvenient moment. Swiss banks have suffered greatly from the banking crisis and there is a credit bubble in Eastern Europe on the verge of bursting which may lead to another wave of write-downs and will bring the Swiss economy and currency to the verge of desaster.
I can’t wait to read tomorrow’s newspaper and I brace for the opening of the Swiss stock exchange.
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Stanford brings out $20m in a big box at his press conference to announce the ‘Stanford 2020 for 20’ tournament.
(Thanks to nwmuse for researching the story)
While the Republican majority and the Bush administration in line with a number of crooked Democrats were busily creating the Ponzi scheme a.k.a. Bush’s economic policy, the fat cat crooks were equally busy in ripping off investors.
We all have heard about Madoff, of course, but here’s another one. His name is R. Allen Stanford, and he’s a Texas billionaire:
The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) lodged 25 pages of allegations with a court in Detroit yesterday, detailing a $9.2 billion fraud allegedly perpetrated by Mr Stanford and three companies he controls.
(read article)
Full text of complaint by the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Eschewing the prospect of a Madoff-style luxury arrest, Stanford decided to split the scene and fly to Antigua, but his credit card was refused. He has disappeared nevertheless. Meanwhile, desperate customers are trying to get their money back.
More than 600 people queued outside two branches of the tycoon’s Bank of Antigua in an attempt to withdraw their cash, even though the bank is not one of the companies involved in the alleged fraud.
Similar panic was reported in Panama, where bank regulators stepped in to take control of the Stanford Bank Panama – also not involved in the fraud allegations – after retail customers began a run on it.
(read more)
There are speculations that the damage done could be well in the vicinity of Madoff’s $ 50 billion fraud.
Stanford invested heavily into getting legislation focused away from money laundering as far back as 2000 and a couple of familiar names crop up in the bipartisan list of his beneficiaries:
Stanford’s [l]obbying disclosure reports in 2000 made it clear that the company had only one interest in federal policy: money-laundering legislation. Former Treasury Department official confirmed, in interviews with Public Citizen, that Stanford Financial vigorously opposed the legislation – along with several other Texas-border banking institutions – in meetings held on Capitol Hill. Between February 2000 and June 2001, Stanford Financial gave Republican party committees $208,000 and Democratic party committees $145,000.
But Stanford didn’t stop there. Stanford Financial and R. Allen Stanford gave another $95,000 to the 527 groups of three influential politicians – Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle ($40,000), House Democratic Caucus Chairman Martin Frost ($50,000), and Senate Minority Leader Trent Lott ($5,000).
In doing so, Stanford became the single largest contributor between July 1, 2000 and June 30, 2001 to the 527 groups of Daschle and Frost. (read more)
The New York Times has more details and the juiciest bit at the end of their story:
The current S.E.C. charges stem from an inquiry opened in October 2006 after a routine exam of Stanford Group, according to Stephen J. Korotash, an associate regional director of enforcement with the agency’s Fort Worth office.
He said the S.E.C. “stood down” on its investigation at the time at the request of another federal agency, which he declined to name, but resumed the inquiry in December 2008.
Another federal agency. Figures.
Honestly, I’m sure we will be busy writing about similar cases still. Whatever wealth may have been created during the Bush years – and Paul Krugman makes the case that none was – filled the pockets of crooks. Now that figures, too.
UPDATE: It now turns out that the SEC’s fraud charges may be the least of Stanford’s worries. Federal authorities tell ABC News that the FBI and others have been investigating whether Stanford was involved in laundering drug money for Mexico’s notorious Gulf Cartel.
UPDATE 2: Found! Accused Scammer Stanford Turns in Passport in Washington
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One can hope..
Rachel Maddow interviews Michael Isikoff on his current article in Newsweek concerning the authors of the “torture memos”.
The article from Newsweek by Michael Isikoff:
A Torture Report Could Spell Big Trouble For Bush Lawyers
On the Rachel Maddow Show last night former Guantanamo Bay prison guard Pvt. Brendan Neely talks about the abuse he witnessed there.
It’s clear from his words and body language that he is still struggling with what he saw and experienced at Guantanamo. It is also clear that these young people serving at Guantanamo were primed to believe that the prisoners being sent there were “the people who planned 9/11″ – before the prisoner/detainees who were caught up in the ‘terrorist’ sweep were delivered there.
I hope more and more people begin to speak up so we can finally begin to fix all that is broken.
To put this cartoon in context, from cartoonist John Cole:
87 months in federal prison probably isn’t long enough for Mark Ciavarella and Michael Conahan. The two former Luzerne County judges pleaded guilty Thursday afternoon in federal court to fraud and kickback charges relating to a privately owned juvenile detention center.
The two admitted to receiving $2.6 million in kickbacks from the center’s owners, but Ciavarella maintains there was no quid-pro-quo in the scheme. However, given the rate at which he shipped juveniles off to detention (roughly one in four, or about 2.5 times higher than the state average), it sure looks like some form of back-scratching was going on.
The feds didn’t include this quid-pro-quo in their case yesterday. But Assistant U.S. Attorney Gordon Zubrod says he and his team still firmly believe one occurred and will present that to a federal judge when Ciavarella and Conahan are sentenced later this year.
Jailing Kids for Cash – by Amy Goodman (also posted at TruthDig)
As many as 5,000 children in Pennsylvania have been found guilty, and up to 2,000 of them jailed, by two corrupt judges who received kickbacks from the builders and owners of private prison facilities that benefited. The two judges pleaded guilty in a stunning case of greed and corruption that is still unfolding. Judges Mark A. Ciavarella Jr. and Michael T. Conahan received $2.6 million in kickbacks while imprisoning children who often had no access to a lawyer. The case offers an extraordinary glimpse into the shameful private prison industry that is flourishing in the United States…
In the article by Amy Goodman, she writes about two young people and their experiences under these judges.. This is unbelievable. So, is this the ‘free market’ at work?
When the Dutch settled the Hudson Valley, they brought this aspect of their culture with them. This is almost a lost art as the effects of a warmer climate have reduced the ice buildup on the river. For more information look here.
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