Wonder When They’ll get Round To Making Blogging Illegal?

June 5, 2015June 3, 2015 fasab Crime, Current Events, Legal, Politics, Rants $250, 000 fine, avoid, bank accounts, Bank Secrecy Act of 1970, capitulate, caught by a law, charged by the Feds, charges against him, cheer, committing a crime, communist states, compulsory for US banks, connections, control, corrupt political system, corrupt politician, corruption, criminalize ordinary people, currency, Current Events, de facto criminals, democracy, Dennis Hastert, deposits, education, enacted so many laws, enrich himself, fact, facts, federal bank reporting requirements, Federal Court, federal felonies, file a “currency transaction report”, five years in federal prison, former Speaker, fraud, government law enforcement agencies, Hastert, heinous crime, helped to create, high school student, I could care less, in office, indicted, information, invasive, irony, Justice Department, law abiding people, leaks, legislation, lying to the FBI, making blogging illegal, member, money, money-laundering, national security, Opinion, paying off, penalties, personal gain, political graft, political leverage, political power, politicians, politics, punish, pursued, Rants, routine, sexual abuse, shocks, Soviet era, specific transactions, spend you own money, structuring cash withdrawals, stupid bureaucrats, suspicious activity report, tax evasion, terrorist threats, those in charge, Thoughts, to terrorize, transfer it, unnecessary, US House of Representatives, Western governments, withdrawals, wrong idea

“Fight Against Stupidity And Bureaucracy”

While he was a member of the U.S. House of Representatives, the former Speaker, Dennis Hastert, used his political power and connections to enrich himself. No shocks there. He is just one among many politicians who routinely do likewise.

But unlike most of the others, Hastert was charged by the Feds with five felonies, each of them carrying a minimum of five years in federal prison and a $250,000 fine.

But, before you get the wrong idea and start to cheer, Hastert’s use of political leverage for personal gain has nothing to do with the charges against him.

What he did when in office was merely corruption and we live in a corrupt political system that those in charge like to call ‘democracy’.

No, Hastert has apparently committed a far worse crime than political graft. And it wasn’t anything to do with the leaks doing the rounds that he had been paying off a high school student for alleged sexual abuse decades ago. He hasn’t been charged with anything related to that either.

Instead, he has been pursued and indicted for the heinous crime of

…wait for it…

“structuring” cash withdrawals from his bank accounts so as to avoid federal bank reporting requirements, and lying to the FBI about what he was doing with his money.

Now, I could care less what they do to a corrupt politician like Hastert. There is a certain irony that he has been caught by a law that he probably helped to create.

But the problem is that many of us could be similarly indicted simply because most of us don’t even know we are committing a crime in the first place.

Stupid bureaucrats have enacted so many laws in recent years, using misleading cover titles such as ‘money laundering’, ‘terrorist threats’, or ‘national security’, that they have turned millions of law-abiding people into de facto criminals, without them even knowing it.

The piece of invasive and unnecessary legislation that Hastert has been caught breaking is the ‘Bank Secrecy Act of 1970’, which makes it compulsory for U.S. banks to file a “currency transaction report” for deposits or withdrawals of more than $10,000 in currency. Banks suspicious of specific transactions are further required to file a “suspicious activity report.”

If the banks don’t capitulate to this government nonsense then they face penalties. This means that the banks comply, over-zealously so as not to ever infringe the regulations – which many of them don’t even understand. Now as a matter of routine they report ALL large cash transactions as suspicious, whether they really are or not.

Hastert didn’t intend or commit any money laundering, fraud or tax evasion. But the authorities don’t care about that. He had a legal and legitimate agreement in place with another individual and he withdrew his money in smaller amounts because he didn’t want this private arrangement to become public knowledge. The Justice Department even admits as much. But the authorities don’t care about that either.

So why have they charged Hastert when they know he really did nothing wrong apart from infringe on a stupid law that was never intended to catch the likes of him?

They did it to terrorize the rest of us.

What most western governments are about nowadays is control. The type of control that used to pervade communist states in the Soviet era. They want to criminalize ordinary people by making trivial and harmless acts into major felonies.

Woe betide you now if you want to spend you own money or transfer it to someone else. It’s your money, you earned it, you saved it up, but touch it in a way not specified by the government and you’re in Federal Court, you criminal bad person you!

All these spurious and unnecessary laws give government law enforcement agencies the ability to punish anyone at any time because there are so many regulations that everyone is in breach of something.

Wonder when they’ll get round to making blogging illegal?

Think I’m joking???

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I Told You They Were Coming!

May 19, 2013May 18, 2013 fasab bankers, banking, Banks, Business, Crime, Current Events, Factoids, Investing, Politics, Rants America, Australia, bank accounts, bankrupt government, bankrupt Spain, Banks, bargain properties, bureaucrats, buy-to-let sector, cash rich investors, confiscated, Current Events, Cyprus, desperate, destroy, developers, education, Europe, events, fools, foreclosed, foreclosed homes, foreclosure mechanism, foreign investors, glut, greedy bureaucrats, home, home loans, Home sales, idiots, Misc, Miscellaneous, morons, mortgage market, mortgagee, on the market, Opinion, Personal Writing, policy, political morons, politicians, politics, Random, rant, Rants, real estate market, rent, rent-free, rental sector, renting out homes for free, residency, return, return on their capital, seize homes, spain, Spanish families, Spanish government, Spanish property, Spanish real estate, steal, steal homes, steal money, stupid, stupid people, stupid rules, stupidity, Sunday Sermon, tax pensions TWICE, theft, Venezuela, yields, Zimbabwe

“Fight Against Stupidity And Bureaucracy”

Time for another Sunday Sermon, otherwise known as a rant!

First it was Cyprus where the bankrupt government tried to steal money right out of people’s bank accounts. If you want to read that again click here and here.)

Then it was the turn of the greedy bureaucrats in Australia who decided to tax pensions TWICE, once when you put the money in and again when you tried to take it out! (For the original post click here.)

Now in bankrupt Spain the politicians are at it, however, this time they aren’t proposing to steal some of the money in your bank account – oh no, this time they want to steal your entire home!

Yes, you read it right, the Spanish government has announced this past week that they want to seize homes that have been foreclosed on by banks and developers.

Not that I have any sympathy with the banksters, not by a long chalk! But theft is theft, and theft by governments is perhaps the most evil of all simply because the victims have little or no remedies available – other than pack up and go somewhere else.

As usual the politicians and bureaucrats are trying to dress this theft up as something helpful. They say they will rent the confiscated foreclosed homes to Spanish families who will be allowed to live there rent-free for up to three years.

Sounds great, but as usual what these political morons have failed to do is think their policy through.

If they go ahead with this plan to steal homes the consequences will not be what they think.

First of all it will destroy what is left of the mortgage market in Spain because no one will want to make home loans on Spanish real estate if there is no viable foreclosure mechanism should things go wrong for the mortgagee.

Second, it will go a long way to killing off the buy-to-let sector, which is the thing that has been keeping the real estate market afloat in these financially strained times. Home sales, not just in Spain, but in many countries have been boosted considerably by cash rich investors picking up what they consider to be ‘bargain’ properties at a level that yields a decent return on their capital. Where will they get that return if the government kills the rental sector by renting out homes for free?

And third, it will also kill off the recent Spanish drive to attract foreign investors by offering residency to anyone who spends around $200,000 buying up the glut of Spanish property currently on its real estate market.

If these things were happening in Zimbabwe or even Venezuela everyone would be calling it a disgrace. But it is happening in Europe and Australia and America. And it will get worse the more desperate the politicians and the bureaucrats become as they make the mess they created worse, not better.

Who on earth put idiots like these in charge?

It wasn’t you was it?

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Cyprus Theft Update

April 3, 2013 fasab Banks, Business, Crime, Current Events, Factoids, Politics, Rants, Uncategorized, Unusual $, 40 winks, America, American citizen, attempted theft, backfire, bank, bank accounts, banking, banksters, Berlin, big corporations, bleak scenario, brown stuff, Brussels, bureaucracy, bureaucrats, citizens, cling to power, currency, Current Events, Cypriot parliament, Cypriot people, Cyprus, desperate governments, desperate measures, dollar, economy, education, Europe, European Union, events, fallout, fee, financial mess, financially stronger nations, France, funds, Germans, Germany, government, government bonds, governments, greedy banksters, highly paid, hit the fan, humongous debt, income, incompetent politicians, Ireland, larceny, leader, London, lose it all, majority, Merkel, Misc, Miscellaneous, money, money grab, money is safe in a bank, money managers, morons, Musings, Obama, offshore, offshore locations, Opinion, opinion poll, panic, penny will drop, pension plans, pensions, political administration, politician, politicians, politics, powers that be, protect what you have, Random, Rants, sad commentary, savings, savings in the bank, shafted, spain, stealing, stocks, strategy, stupid bureaucrats, stupid politicians, suspicion, T-Bills, taxes, theft, thieving governments, thieving hands, trend, trust, UK, US corporations, US dollar, Washington, Western governments, your own circumstances

“Fight Against Stupidity And Bureaucracy”

Anyone who has been following this story that I posted about a few days ago, (here if you missed it), will know that the European Union bureaucrats made an attempt to steal the savings of the Cypriot people right out of their bank accounts.

With at least one eye on their chances of being re-elected, the Cypriot parliament rejected the proposal out of hand. The proper thing to do no doubt, but there is also no doubt that this will not be the end of it. Indeed the fallout continues.

Western governments are desperate because of the financial mess that they and their bankster accomplices have created. And desperate governments are known to take desperate measures to try to patch things up.

Look out for more attempts by these governments to steal your money, whether it be in the form of savings in the bank, government bonds, stocks or in pension plans. Nothing is safe from the clutches of these thieves.

The goings on in Cyprus has already proven their intent and alarm bells have begun to sound among those who are awake and paying attention. The bureaucrats’ attempted money grab has already sparked off suspicion and panic throughout Europe and elsewhere as to the amount of trust people can have in their governments.

Even among the financially stronger nations the trend is clear. In Germany, for example, a recent opinion poll showed that the majority of Germans do not trust their leader, Merkel’s, pronouncements that their money is safe in a bank.

Throughout Europe those who can are moving their money to offshore locations away from the thieving hands of their own governments. Big corporations, including US corporations, are doing the same. It has already happened in Ireland and Spain and France and, to a lesser extent, in the UK too.

What a sad commentary on how these stupid politicians and bureaucrats have mismanaged our affairs.

Will it hit America as well?

That depends just how stupid the political administration in Washington really is – which is perhaps a kind way of saying, please err on the side of caution if you are an American citizen.

The $ as a currency will probably be okay for a while, despite the humongous debt that Obama is piling up, but eventually it will become impossible to print their way out of trouble.

All those highly paid morons and herd followers called ‘money managers’ who work for the various funds that you entrust your savings and pensions to, and who do little more than buy up T-Bills with it, may find that their strategy is going to backfire. Like the banksters, however, they will still charge you a fee for looking after your money whether they invest it wisely or lose it all.

But whilst the bureaucrats will never be able to figure out how to run an economy – their, “take more and more taxes out of less and less income” strategy will never add up – eventually the penny will drop with the good citizens and they will waken up and realize they have been completely shafted by incompetent politicians and greedy banksters.

Then the brown stuff will hit the fan – big time – and people will get real mad. And then the powers that be will have no choice but to turn on their own citizens if they are to cling to power. Preparations for this started under Bush and now Obama has added even more legislation to make this possible.

It is a rather bleak scenario, particularly for those who choose to ignore what is happening around them. But whether it happens in one year or another five, if the politicians and bureaucrats do not wise up – and their is little sign of them doing that especially when they have yet to realize how incompetent they are – it will happen.

So start to think seriously about your own circumstances and what you can do to protect what you have from thieving governments. Or just settle down and get another 40 winks assured in the knowledge that those in Washington, Brussels, London and Berlin know what they’re doing.

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Thou Shalt Not Steal (Exodus 20:15)

March 18, 2013 fasab bankers, banking, Banks, Current Events, Factoids, Politics, Rants, Uncategorized against the law, bailout, bank, bank account, bank accounts, Banks, banksters, bureaucrats, conspired in secret, Current Events, Cypriot parliament, Cyprus, debt, desperate Western governments, economies, education, electronically stored numbers, environmental issues, EU, EU bureaucrats, events, government, government stooges, governments, grand theft, incompetent management, intent, Misc, Miscellaneous, new taxes, Opinion, politics, precedent, punishable by imprisonment, raising taxes, Random, Rants, rob, rule, savings accounts, savings deposits, seized, Seventh Commandment, stolen, stupid policies, technology, Ten Commandments, testing the water, the Bible, the western world, theft, there for the taking, thieves, Thou Shalt Not Steal, Thoughts

“Fight Against Stupidity And Bureaucracy”

The Bible (Exodus 20:15) tells us that one of God’s Ten Commandments is that “Thou Shalt Not Steal”, and it is a rule that has been adopted almost universally. Theft is against the law and is punishable by imprisonment, or in some countries harsher treatment.

And rightly so.

I’ve written in this blog before about the fact that I hate thieves.

Maybe that’s part of what gets me so riled up about the banksters and the government stooges who won’t go after these thieves.

But it seems now that the governments themselves are testing the water for a grand theft of their citizens’ money.

I don’t just mean raising taxes, or hyping up environmental issues so they can bring in new taxes to eradicate problems that they themselves have created.

Yes, they are doing that, but it isn’t enough.

Governments throughout the western world have amassed so much debt by stupid policies and incompetent management of their economies that they are now contemplating out and out theft of YOUR money!

Don’t believe me?

Witness the goings on the other day with Cyprus and the EU.

If you haven’t heard, it all started Saturday when the people of Cyprus discovered that their government and a bunch of EU bureaucrats had conspired in secret to rob their savings accounts to pay for the country’s bailout.

Anyone with savings accounts of over 100,000 euros are to have 9.9% of its value seized, and those with less than 100,000 euros will have 6.75% stolen.

In other words if you are a Cypriot and have been careful and frugal with your money, as opposed to amassing large personal debt on credit cards and loans, you are to be punished by the government.

It all needs to be ratified by the Cypriot parliament, but whether or not they approve it on this occasion, the thinking and intent of the bureaucrats is clear.

They want to steal your money!

This is a big step. Previously raiding savings deposits was unheard of and unthinkable. Now it is an option that is very much on the agenda for desperate Western governments.

So be warned. If they set a precedent in Cyprus it could, and probably will, happen elsewhere.

And with the advance of technology it is soooo easy for governments to steal your money. If it is in a bank account it is just electronically stored numbers, there for the taking, or rather, the changing.

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