Elizabeth Warren Confronts the Atrocity of Drug Money Laundering by Big Banks

[Hash Zeppelin]

Elizabeth Warren tackles an issue I have been talking about on here for years.

http://www.alternet.org/news-amp-po...ty-drug-money-laundering-big-banks?paging=off

Elizabeth Warren Confronts the Atrocity of Drug Money Laundering by Big Banks

March 10, 2013 |

Heavens to Betsy. Sen. Elizabeth Warren leapt from the gate of her first term pummeling Ben Bernanke on too-big-to-fail financial institutions. Then she demanded to know why American banks were never brought to trial. Finally, last Thursday, looking for all the world like a school principal called to sort out teenage hooligans, she queried regulators as to why HSBC bankers who launder money for drug lords and terrorists should go free. Quoth the senator:

"If you're caught with an ounce of cocaine, the chances are good you're going to jail. If it happens repeatedly, you may go to jail for the rest of your life. But evidently, if you launder nearly a billion dollars for drug cartels and violate our international sanctions, your company pays a fine and you go home and sleep in your own bed at night.”

Game on! Naturally, the left is swooning. Elizabeth Warren says what we all wish we could say to the besuited jerks who defend a crooked industry. Except, instead of snatching them by the lapels and screaming obscenities as we might do, Warren sits calmly and repeats her inimitably direct questions like a blond Terminator. The big banks and their lackeys can’t stand her, and it looks as if the feeling is mutual.

Americans love her because we have serious unfinished business with the banking industry. We remember how the White House chose to protect the bankers from the pitchforks in the wake of the financial crisis. We’ve gritted our teeth as bankers have charted a course to record-breaking profits as the rest of us slogged through a shitty economy.

Now it feels like the day we hoped for. The one the banking industry feared as it tried to thwart Warren's victory in 2013. There's a new sheriff in town, a real champion for the 99 percent who will not accept a two-tiered justice system and who dares look the criminal and the complicit in the eye. That Warren's showdown in the Senate Banking Committee corral came just a day after Attorney General Eric Holder fessed up to the fact that some banks are so big and powerful they are really above the law felt like balm on a freshly salted wound.

Economist Robert Johnson, executive director of the Institute for New Economic Thinking, who served as chief economist to the Senate Banking Committee under the leadership of William Proxmire, praised Warren's resolve in an email to me: "Elizabeth Warren has chosen to do something novel as a US senator: represent the people. In our money-drenched political system that is akin to defying gravity. God bless Elizabeth Warren."

Warren is certainly making welcome noises in these early days of her tenure. She is breaking a taboo in speaking up so forcefully this early in the game, as newbie senators are generally expected to keep their heads down. Cynics cannot deny the fact that it actually matters tremendously that someone knowledgeable is at the table. If regulators know they'll be cross-examined by a person who knows what they're up to, they may think twice about what they're (not) doing. They can't completely ignore congressional pressure, particularly as Warren is a majority member of the Senate. On HSBC, unfortunately, the case is probably closed. But banks certainly hate the negative light Warren shined on them with her latest confrontation. And that's welcome news. This is not small potatoes.

However, Warren will need to follow up her tough talk with serious legislative proposals that she could build support for as she takes the lead on banking issues. As Yves Smith has pointed out on Naked Capitalism, the real test of her tough-mindedness “will come through the letters, speeches, and positions she takes on banking matters outside the formal Committee sessions."

Early in the 20th century, a largely forgotten group of independent-minded populists came to Washtington to speak up for the needs of ordinary citizens against financial predators, like Nebraska's George W. Norris and South Dakota's Peter Norbeck, who appointed one Ferdinand Pecora as Chief Counsel to the U.S. Committee on Banking and Currency and thereby opened up a can of whup-ass on Wall Street following the crash of '29.

America hasn't seen the likes of these politicians in a long, long time. If Warren can withstand the forces that will want to pull her into the general White House PR machine, we might just get one.

Here is the video of what they are talking about.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=7cKTBy7_S_I#!
^Senate Banking Committee Hearing - Bank Money Laundering

 

[Agaricus]

Good news. I'm just waiting for someone like her to push reinstating Glass Steagall or something similar. The banks need to be cut down to size. A slice at the knees, a slice at the neck.

 

[Hash Zeppelin]

^unfortunately we need to separate our currency from the federal reserve to cut down the size of the too big to fail banks.

 

[irishdude5186]

The banks are too big to fail because of over regulation preventing new entrants therefore lack of competition and the policy of the fed. Im not sure about fractional reserve banking but it smells like pure fraud and would ensure stable banking at the expense of cheap banking but who knows since we have never done full reserve banking it in a long time....long time

 

[mpd]

Obviously, she wants her cut or she is going to continue. Everyone goes to Washington to do well and some do richly well. She wants to be part of that clique.

 

[mrcreosote]

"Im not sure about fractional reserve banking but it smells like pure fraud "

Your sense of smell is unerring correct on this count.

Creating 'money' from credit is absolutely no different than if you were to create money on your printer.
Very good for you but not so good for the value of the remaining money in the system that gets devalued. You gained your value (or buying power) by stealing a bit from everyone who holds some of that currency. Theft, pure and simple.

Think of it as milk. Mostly water, but you add more water over time and milk becomes 'milkish'. Keep adding water and it becomes slightly clouded water but as long as everyone agrees it's still 'milk' then no problem.
The problems start when the brighter folks realize it ain't milk, it's milk polluted water and refuse to use it and/or there is not enough of it to go around in certain areas because it's all been 'collected' by The MilkMen.

That's what's starting to happen. Could last for years or could end tomorrow.

 

[jayjayfrank]

over regulation or under regulated and dangerous... it comes down to this:

when you have a lot of money you can pervert the government to your liking. money is speech and corporations are people. the big guys dont want little guys around and the little guys cant pervert government policies into their favor.

the rose colored ideals of a particular political party is far from the actual solution to this problem.

the only reason sen warren can say these things is because she 'tricked' her opponent into not taking corporate money leaving her the luxury of not answering to the people shes speaking against(big money)

warrens deal is this:

because The Big Money didn't pay for her to get into washington shes 'free' to say these things while her 'colleagues' are not and will never say the things she says.



if every 9/11 hijacker had a bank account and credit card... and the bank who gave them these accounts knew they were terrorists and would tell them how to transfer money so as not to arouse criminal suspicion AND THEN heres the good part, when The Good Guys check things out and find something wrong, and know they should do something... they dont do anything... beacuse now what it means to be The Good Guys is to 'not mess up other peoples shit' that is to say rich peoples shit.

we wont go after banks who help terrorists because Mr.Burns black card might get declined at St.Andrews and because Mr.Burns bank rolls 25% of the money going into washington fucking with him even if we get a terrorist will 'make us pay' a far higher price... a higher price for 'us' in washington.

but you see its cool. cause Mr.Burns lawyers will settle out of court with gov lawyers for about 1%(less even) of the price of the crime... this allows two out of the three parties involved to get paid and make money. the criminals make money, the lawyers and gov make money but the people loose their shirt.

/rant

 

[Hash Zeppelin]

the only reason sen warren can say these things is because she 'tricked' her opponent into not taking corporate money leaving her the luxury of not answering to the people shes speaking against(big money)

warrens deal is this:

because The Big Money didn't pay for her to get into washington shes 'free' to say these things while her 'colleagues' are not and will never say the things she says.

her and ron paul would mae a good ticket in my opinion. they both recognize the problems with the banking industry. They are in opposite parties but they are mature and will come to a good middle ground. They both dont like the drug war. they both are not sell outs. both are pro golden rule when it comes to foreign policy. There is very few politicians I would actually endorse but she is one.

The other good ticket would be Elizabeth Warren and Gavin Newsom. he is kinda of a democratic anarchist like me.

 

[ronbo51]

I'm all for the banks getting whacked, but why doesn't Granny Warren acknowledge the free pass that she is giving to Obama and especially the head lawman round these parts AG Eric Bagholder? This shit could end tomorrow if the bankers were indicted by the hundreds and willfully prosecuted. Yeah the banks just admitted they laundered. Whatcha gonna do now Granny? You going to read the riot act on national TV to Obama and Holder??? Thought so.

 

[Hash Zeppelin]

cause she doesn't want to be assassinated yet. lol. Obama will add her name to the kill list and drone strike her and say her plane crashed.

 

[mrcreosote]

She gets an A+ on the optics. Looks good, sounds good.

But don't forget that this is a Harvard tenured apparatchik of the "you didn't build that" theme and has all the Statist inclinations that comes with a collectivist bent.

I can live with that, but the jury is still out until I see some serious legislation that breaks up the big banks and ends the Fed. with a total overhaul of campaign funding and stopping the ability of lobbyists to funnel money.

Until I see that happening it's just another photo op. We shall see.
So far, only Ron Paul tried to get at the heart of the matter and we saw what happened to him.

I'm not sure at all we can expect anything useful at all from the biggest collection of do-nothing criminal accomplices that we could possibly assemble.
We may be too far gone to even reverse course in the slightest and may have to wait until the inevitable collapse of the reserve currency dollar.

That's when the real fun begins.

 

[Hash Zeppelin]

^It wont collapse as Long as Oil is traded in dollars, and dollars are printed by the fed. All oil around the world is traded in dollars. it is like international treaty. therefore every time a country buys oil they have to buy dollars first. You cant trade gold for oil. every country that has tried it has been invaded or a coup happens. It is also illegal to make your own competing gold backed dollar in the U.S.A. It is a federal offense.

 

[festerous]

Chinese gold backed currency will become a reality sooner than most think.

 

[Hash Zeppelin]

^ooooh sounds interesting, Tell me more.

 

[Rob547]

She got my vote, that is all. I remember a lot of her campaign ads focused on the same, definitely would agree that someone needs to be making a fuss over this... and why would the people argue?

 

[SeaMaiden]

Good news. I'm just waiting for someone like her to push reinstating Glass Steagall or something similar. The banks need to be cut down to size. A slice at the knees, a slice at the neck.

Absolutely agreed. A huge part of the reason why we're in the mess we are is because of how credit & lending laws have been changed and manipulated.

Those who forget history are doomed to repeat it. Get your grow on.


Just read jayjayfrank's post. Helluva post, sir, helluva post. Cannot argue with it.

 

[mrcreosote]

^It wont collapse as Long as Oil is traded in dollars, and dollars are printed by the fed. All oil around the world is traded in dollars. it is like international treaty. therefore every time a country buys oil they have to buy dollars first. You cant trade gold for oil. every country that has tried it has been invaded or a coup happens. It is also illegal to make your own competing gold backed dollar in the U.S.A. It is a federal offense.

Happening as we speak.

http://www.caseyresearch.com/cdd/demise-petrodollar

http://www.examiner.com/article/dol...rrency-as-china-begins-to-sell-oil-using-yuan

Bye bye American Pie. Gonna start suckin' hard in the US as soon as them bucks start flying back because nobody needs them.
Too bad it's be the average Joe biting the weenie instead of the freaking crooks who forgot that 'Do unto others' gets done back to you.

 

[Frogmann]

over regulation or under regulated and dangerous... it comes down to this:

when you have a lot of money you can pervert the government to your liking. money is speech and corporations are people. the big guys dont want little guys around and the little guys cant pervert government policies into their favor.

the rose colored ideals of a particular political party is far from the actual solution to this problem.

the only reason sen warren can say these things is because she 'tricked' her opponent into not taking corporate money leaving her the luxury of not answering to the people shes speaking against(big money)

warrens deal is this:

because The Big Money didn't pay for her to get into washington shes 'free' to say these things while her 'colleagues' are not and will never say the things she says.



if every 9/11 hijacker had a bank account and credit card... and the bank who gave them these accounts knew they were terrorists and would tell them how to transfer money so as not to arouse criminal suspicion AND THEN heres the good part, when The Good Guys check things out and find something wrong, and know they should do something... they dont do anything... beacuse now what it means to be The Good Guys is to 'not mess up other peoples shit' that is to say rich peoples shit.

we wont go after banks who help terrorists because Mr.Burns black card might get declined at St.Andrews and because Mr.Burns bank rolls 25% of the money going into washington fucking with him even if we get a terrorist will 'make us pay' a far higher price... a higher price for 'us' in washington.

but you see its cool. cause Mr.Burns lawyers will settle out of court with gov lawyers for about 1%(less even) of the price of the crime... this allows two out of the three parties involved to get paid and make money. the criminals make money, the lawyers and gov make money but the people loose their shirt.

/rant

Amazing post Barney Frank ..errr.. Jay Jay Frank

 

[Hash Zeppelin]

Happening as we speak.

http://www.caseyresearch.com/cdd/demise-petrodollar

http://www.examiner.com/article/dol...rrency-as-china-begins-to-sell-oil-using-yuan

Bye bye American Pie. Gonna start suckin' hard in the US as soon as them bucks start flying back because nobody needs them.
Too bad it's be the average Joe biting the weenie instead of the freaking crooks who forgot that 'Do unto others' gets done back to you.

great post, thanks for the reading my friend! Even when I try to stay informed I need help. there is always so much to learn.

 

[Frogmann]

Yes indeed, great post mrcreosote!