Damn you Hawkins....don't you know we have a reputation to uphold?
For the past few months, and I'm sure for many more months to come, the United States, and much of the rest of the world, too, has been fixated on what Donald Trump and his band of merry men have been up to. Is Putin using a condom? Where are Prez Trump's tax returns? Did he lie? On and on.
And in other Breaking News, we're still all hot and bothered about which bathroom transgender people can use, whether same sex marriage should be allowed or smacked down, whether Black Lives Matter more than any other lives, whether or not Kim's butt is getting bigger, whether you pronounce Qatar "Cut-er" or "kuh-Tar", etc. All those things together pretty much take up all 24 hours of our modern 24 hour news cycle.
But SURPRISE...there's more going on in the world than
"An international group of bankers, lawyers and stockbrokers - reportedly with links to the City of London [Europe's major financial center]- appears to have fiddled the tax system, employing practices which were at best unethical, at worst illegal [italics added]. Ultimately they may have deprived the state [Germany] of nearly €32bn (£28bn; $36bn)."
And they almost got away with it, until a young administrative assistant in Germany's central tax office noticed that she was receiving claims for huge tax rebates from a single US pension fund. BUSTED!
Closer to home, the US House of Representatives last week voted to gut most of the Dodd-Frank banking reforms put in place after the financial meltdown back in '08. The banksters have pretty much already poked D-F full of holes anyway, but this is just their way of kicking the rest of us in the teeth. While we were all looking left, they quietly ran right for the win.
If you're keeping count, since 2008 the 20 largest international banks have been fined over a QUARTER TRILLION DOLLARS for their illegal activities....and they're not the least bit ashamed of it!
Meanwhile we sit here glued to the TV wondering whether Trump's Atty Gen, Jeff "Goober" Sessions, had grits for breakfast this morning? *sigh*
Let that soak in for a minute.
S
I was going to mention Dodd-Frank and then you took care of that.
ReplyDeleteThe Republicans had hoped Trump would help with their agenda but he seems to be getting in the way of their efforts. It doesn't look like the Senate will go along with the gutting of Dodd/Frank. If they do they'll pay a price in the next election, for this and much more.
ReplyDeleteI do wonder what has happened in the last eight years in the banking world. Somehow they were allowed to invest in the Dow, yet not keep the depositors money lending to home owners and small business etc. Now things are in a very precarious place. Banking should be regulated and very hard, a good job for the IRS guys. By the way I do understand money is only credit and the laws by which it works. Scary times for sure.
ReplyDeleteYou did not mention that the NY Yankees are once again in first place where they belong! Do you even read the news?
ReplyDeleteHa! I must have missed that 30 seconds the networks allocated to sports. A sneeze or a yawn and you miss a lot. :)
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