Habitação Os desabrigados economizam dinheiro dos contribuintes, descobriram os programas de bem-estar, foram os maiores objetivos de cortes no orçamento nos últimos anos, já que os estados procuram economizar dinheiro de qualquer maneira. Mas a pesquisa sugere que todos acabam por pagar a pobreza, a fome e o sem-abrigo, especialmente quando são deixados sozinhos. A evidência mais recente para apoiar essa idéia vem por meio do Condado de Los Angeles, onde os pesquisadores acabaram de avaliar o Projeto 50, uma iniciativa de um ano para abrigar membros da população crônica de pessoas sem residência de L. A. O programa custou 3.045 milhões para implementar, de acordo com o Los Angeles Times. Mas resultou em 3.284 milhões de poupanças por meio da redução do encarceramento e dos custos médicos para as pessoas que participaram. Isso é um ganho líquido de 238.700, de acordo com a LAT. Além disso, 94 pessoas anteriormente sem-teto, três quartos de todos os que participaram, agora têm um lugar para viver. Está longe da primeira vez que os pesquisadores encontraram evidências de que os problemas sociais generalizados colocam um alto custo para os contribuintes - e que oferecer assistência aos membros mais vulneráveis da sociedade pode ter benefícios econômicos e humanitários. Um estudo de 2009 da Universidade do Sul da Califórnia examinou os casos de quatro sem-teto que foram colocados em habitação de apoio permanente - e descobriu que, para cada pessoa, o custo dos serviços públicos caiu em mais de 20 mil por ano, eles gastaram em um estábulo residência. E um programa de divulgação em Seattle, que encontrou habitação para 95 pessoas sem-teto com alcoolismo, descobriu que o grupo tinha custos combinados de mais de 8 milhões antes do início do programa - incluindo custos de encarceramento, uso de abrigo e serviços médicos e de desintoxicação - Mas os custos combinados de apenas 4 milhões depois que o programa estava em andamento por um ano. Enquanto isso, há evidências de que outros tipos de privação também têm um alto custo social. A pobreza da infância mostrou afetar as pessoas que ganham poder mais tarde na vida, até o ponto em que um estudo do Centro para o progresso americano de 2007 argumentou que os efeitos a longo prazo da pobreza infantil custaram aos EUA cerca de 500 bilhões por ano. E o Center for American Progress também argumentou que a fome crônica, um problema que aflige quase um em cada seis americanos, tem um preço nacional de cerca de 167 bilhões por ano. Quando você adiciona todas as despesas de cuidados de saúde, despesas de caridade e perda de produtividade no local de trabalho, que podem ser rastreados até a falta de comida disponível. De Nossos ParceirosTagged with cartel Bank Crimes Pay: Under the Thumb of the Global Financial Mafiocracy Por: Andrew Gavin Marshall 27 de novembro de 2015 Originalmente publicado em Occupy Em 13 de novembro, o Reino Unido Kingdoms Serious Fraud Office (SFO) anunciou que estava cobrando 10 banqueiros individuais , Trabalhando para dois bancos separados, o Deutsche Bank e o Barclays, com fraude sobre o equipamento das taxas Euribor. O último anúncio resplandece novamente nos escândalos e nos comportamentos criminosos que passaram a definir o mundo da banca global. Até à data, apenas um punhado dos maiores bancos mundiais tem sido repetidamente investigado, cobrado, multado ou resolvido em relação a uma sucessão de grandes golpes financeiros, começando com a fraude hipotecária e o escândalo Libor em 2012, o escândalo Euribor e o Forex (estrangeiro Troca). No coração desses escândalos, que envolvem a manipulação de taxas de juros em trilhões de dólares em transações, há um punhado de bancos que, coletivamente, formam um cartel no controle dos mercados financeiros globais e a fonte de crises econômicas e financeiras mundiais. Bancos como o HSBC, o JPMorgan Chase, o Barclays, o Bank of America, o Citigroup, o Deutsche Bank, o Royal Bank of Scotland e a UBS estabelecem o poder financeiro global que reconhecemos como fraude. Os dois, afinal, não são mutuamente exclusivos. Em termos mais explícitos, este cartel de bancos funciona como um tipo de máfia financeira global, manipulando mercados e defraudando investidores, consumidores e países, exigindo sua libra de carne sob a forma de pagamentos de juros. Os bancos forçam as nações a impor medidas de austeridade e reformas estruturais sob a ameaça de cortar o financiamento, enquanto eles lavam dinheiro da droga para outros cartéis e sindicatos do crime organizado. Chame-os da Mafiocracia global. Em maio, seis grandes bancos globais foram multados em quase 6 bilhões pela manipulação do mercado cambial, que administra mais de 5 trilhões em transações diárias. Quatro dos seis bancos se declararam culpados de acusações de conspirar para manipular o preço de dólares dos EUA e os euros trocados. Esses bancos eram Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase, Barclays e Royal Bank of Scotland, enquanto dois bancos adicionais, UBS e Bank of America, foram multados, mas não se declararam culpados pelos encargos específicos. Os comerciantes de Forex no Citigroup, o JPMorgan Chase e outros bancos conspiraram para manipular os preços da moeda através de grupos de salas de bate-papo que estabeleceram, onde usaram arrogantemente nomes como 8220The Mafia8221 e 8220The Cartel.8221 O FBI disse que as investigações e acusações contra os grandes bancos revelaram comportamento criminoso em Uma escala maciça. O banco britânico Barclays pagou a maior multa individual em cerca de 2,3 bilhões. Mas como um comerciante no banco escreveu em uma conversa de sala de chat em 2010, se você não está traindo, você não está tentando. As multas totais, embora numericamente grandes, eram apenas uma pequena fração da capitalização de mercado global de cada banco, embora a multa no Barclays totalizasse cerca de 3,4 da capitalização de mercado dos bancos, a porcentagem mais alta de longe entre o grupo. Apesar das acusações de conspiração criminal cobrindo os anos de 2007 a 2013, os bancos e seus principais funcionários continuam a culpar os pés de comerciantes individuais. Axel Weber, ex-presidente do Bundesbank alemão (banco central da Alemanha), que agora é presidente do maior banco da Suíça, UBS, comentou que a conduta de um pequeno número de funcionários era inaceitável e tomámos medidas disciplinares adequadas. Olhando para a maior escala de multas e fraude bancárias em cerca de oito anos desde a crise financeira global, os números aumentam substancialmente. Além de uma liquidação de 2012 para fraude relacionada à hipoteca no mercado imobiliário dos EUA, que totalizou cerca de 25 bilhões, vários grandes bancos pagaram multas individuais relacionadas à fraude hipotecária e de encerramento, incluindo uma multa de 16 bilhões para o Bank of America e 13 bilhões para JPMorgan Chase. Além disso, são aplicadas multas relacionadas à manipulação da taxa Libor (a taxa de juros a que os bancos se emprestam) e a manipulação Forex, bem como o branqueamento de capitais, violando sanções, manipulando o preço do ouro, manipulando o mercado de eletricidade dos EUA E ajudando a evasão fiscal, entre outros crimes. De acordo com um artigo de pesquisa publicado em junho, o custo total dos litígios (multas, penalidades, liquidações, etc.) pagos por 16 grandes bancos globais desde 2010 atingiu mais de 300 bilhões. O Banco da América pagou o máximo, totalizando mais de 66 bilhões, seguido por JPMorgan Chase, Lloyds, Citigroup, Barclays, RBS, Deutsche Bank, HSBC, BNP Paribas, Santander, Goldman Sachs, Credit Suisse, UBS, National Australia Bank, Standard Chartered e Socit Gnrale. Praticamente todos esses bancos também aparecem em uma lista de dados, compilados até 2007, revelando que eles estão entre as instituições financeiras mais interconectadas e poderosas do mundo. Este grupo central de corporações faz parte de uma rede de 147 instituições financeiras que os cientistas suíços se referem como super-entidade, que, por meio de suas diversas participações, controlam e se detinham coletivamente e cerca de 40 das 43 mil maiores corporações transnacionais do mundo. Em outras palavras, os grandes bancos, junto com grandes companhias de seguros e empresas de gestão de ativos, simplesmente não agem como um cartel em termos de atividades criminosas, mas formam uma rede funcionalmente interdependente de controle financeiro e corporativo global. Além disso, os bancos trabalham em conjunto em várias associações industriais e grupos de lobby onde representam oficialmente seus interesses coletivos. Os maiores bancos e instituições financeiras europeias são representados pela mesa redonda de serviços financeiros europeus (EFR), cuja composição é composta por CEOs ou presidentes de cerca de 25 das principais instituições financeiras do continente, incluindo o Deutsche Bank, AXA, HSBC, Allianz, RBS, ING, Barclays, BNP Paribas, UBS e Credit Suisse, entre outros. Nos Estados Unidos, o Financial Services Forum (FSF) representa o maior americano junto com alguns bancos e instituições financeiras europeias. A participação nos Fóruns é composta por menos de 20 executivos, incluindo os CEOs ou Presidentes de empresas como Bank of America, Morgan Stanley, JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, UBS, HSBC, AIG, Bank of New York Mellon, State Street Corporation, Deutsche Bank e Wells Fargo, entre outros. E em uma escala verdadeiramente global, existe o Instituto de Finanças Internacionais (IIF), a principal associação global que representa o setor financeiro, com uma participação de quase 500 instituições diferentes de mais de 70 países ao redor do mundo, incluindo bancos, companhias de seguros, Empresas de gestão de ativos, fundos soberanos, bancos centrais, agências de classificação de crédito, hedge funds e bancos de desenvolvimento. Além desses vários grupos e associações, muitos dos mesmos grandes bancos e seus altos executivos também servem como membros, líderes ou participantes em grupos e fóruns muito mais secretos, por exemplo, a Conferência Monetária Internacional (IMC), uma reunião anual de centenas Dos melhores banqueiros mundiais hospedados pela American Bankers Association, que convida políticos selecionados, banqueiros centrais e ministros das finanças a participar de suas discussões fora do registro. Além disso, existe o Institut International d8217Etudes Bancaires, ou IIEB, que reúne os principais funcionários de dezenas de instituições financeiras europeias para discussões com banqueiros centrais, presidentes e primeiros ministros em sessões fechadas com praticamente nenhum Cobertura na mídia. Essas instituições financeiras são grandes proprietários da dívida pública, o que lhes dá uma alavancagem ainda maior sobre as políticas e prioridades dos governos. Exercendo esse poder, eles normalmente exigem o mesmo: medidas de austeridade e reformas estruturais8221 projetadas para promover uma economia de mercado neoliberal que, em última instância, beneficia os mesmos bancos e corporações. Os bancos, por sua vez, criam as próprias crises que exigem que os governos os resgatem, acumulando grandes dívidas que os bancos se transformam em novas crises, pressionando reformas econômicas em troca de novos empréstimos. O ciclo de crise e controle continua e, ao mesmo tempo, os grandes bancos e as instituições financeiras envolvem conspirações criminosas, fraudes, manipulações e lavagem de dinheiro em grande escala, inclusive atuando como o braço de serviços financeiros dos maiores cartéis da droga do mundo. Organizações de terroristas. Bem-vindo ao mundo governado pela Mafiocracia financeira global, porque se você não está preocupado, você não está prestando atenção. Este é um mapa visual que desenhei, descrevendo algumas das instituições e conexões no mundo da diplomacia financeira global e da governança. Eu estou apontando para levantar 500 para completar e publicar para todos para ver e ler um exemplo de capítulo de introdução ao meu livro sobre a Mafiocracia Global e o Império da Economia. O capítulo forneceria uma amostragem do assunto, estilo e abordagem para discutir esses problemas complexos de uma maneira que é compreensível e acessível para o maior público possível. O capítulo da amostra seria concluído relativamente cedo (na próxima semana ou duas), desde que o objetivo de financiamento seja alcançado para que eu possa me permitir colocar o tempo para completar o rascunho. Então, qual é o assunto e o foco do livro 8211 Traduzindo o mundo da Economia e Finanças no inglês básico, desmantelando a linguagem 8216 técnica técnica de 8216expertos8217 em uma dialética mais direta e honesta 8211 Uma introdução à Mafiocracia Global: os bancos, corporações, ativos Empresas de gestão, fundos de riqueza soberanos, companhias de seguros e holdings que se possuem coletivamente e a rede mais ampla de instituições corporativas e financeiras globais, manifestando-se como um cartel relativamente pequeno de cerca de 150 grandes instituições financeiras que exercem um poder financeiro incomparável no mundo moderno. Como o cartel evoluiu O que as instituições são dominantes nele Quem são os indivíduos e os grupos que lideram essas organizações Como é o cartel8217s riqueza e poder acumulados e exercidos Qual o papel do cartel no mundo das finanças, economia e política globais 8211 Atrás do As principais instituições corporativas e financeiras são indivíduos e famílias, unidades menores de poder concentrado que possuem as maiores ações e orientam as operações do cartel global. Estes oligarcas individuais e dinastias familiares 8211 dos Rockefeller nos EUA, aos Wallenberg na Suécia, Agnellis na Itália, Desmarais8217 no Canadá, à Casa de Saud na Arábia Saudita, Oppenheimer na África do Sul, entre outros 8211 controle e influência Grandes porcentagens de riqueza dentro de suas respectivas nações e no mundo das redes globais financeiras e corporativas. Como essas dinastias e oligarcas emergem. O que eles possuem e controlam. Como é que suas riquezas e poder são organizados e exercidos. Quais são suas ideologias, crenças e objetivos 8211 Império e Economia: quando as pessoas pensam no Império, eles geralmente imaginam que as antigas potências coloniais europeias se arriscam Para a África, América Latina e Ásia, onde eles ocupariam e colonizariam as terras, regiões e povos estrangeiros para o seu próprio benefício imperial. Enquanto o colonialismo formal é em grande parte um anacronismo histórico, injustificável e cada vez mais insustentável no mundo moderno, o próprio Império nunca desapareceu. Embora os componentes militares e manifestamente políticos do império e do imperialismo permaneçam relevantes no mundo moderno (pense: militares dos EUA, CIA, Departamento de Estado, OTAN, etc.), o meio de imperialismo mais efetivo e evoluído do mundo é exercido através da economia e Esferas financeiras. Nesses reinos, o império é mais eficaz porque sua ideologia, objetivos, ações e efeitos estão escondidos por uma linguagem vaga e obscura, economistas, ministros das finanças, banqueiros centrais e outros tecnocratas que afirmam estar separados da política e apenas interessados em economia. . O Império é mais evoluído nessas esferas porque se tornou a vanguarda da Mafiocracia global e do sistema imperial, levando o aparelho político e muitas vezes militar do império, muito mais institucionalizado e avançado a uma escala global do que qualquer paralelo nas esferas política e militar. 8211 Diplomacia e governança financeira global: quais são as instituições que gerenciam e moldam a ordem econômica imperial. No mundo da diplomacia financeira e da governança, as instituições que exercem poder e autoridade incríveis (e cada vez mais expansíveis) permanecem em grande parte desconhecidas ou incompreendidas ao público em geral . O livro examinará algumas das origens, evolução e caráter de muitas dessas instituições, incluindo: o Fundo Monetário Internacional (FMI), Banco Mundial, Banco para Pagamentos Internacionais (BIS), Organização de Cooperação e Desenvolvimento Econômico (OCDE), Mundo Organização de Comércio (OMC), bancos centrais e ministérios das finanças, entre outros. Quais são os papéis, funções e objetivos específicos dessas instituições? Como eles exercem o poder Em cujo interesse eles operam Quem os dirige 8211 Poder do Estado: as instituições que compõem o mundo da diplomacia financeira e governança dependem principalmente do poder do Estado para a legitimidade e Poder político. Se é um banco central, um ministério das finanças, o FMI ou outras agências, o papel dos poderosos Estados-nação, como os Estados Unidos e outras nações ricas, é central para o sistema e as estruturas do Império de Economia global. A centralidade do poder do Estado se torna ainda mais evidente através do exame das origens e da evolução de grupos menos formalizados de nações, como o Grupo dos Sete (G7), o Grupo dos Cinco (G5), o Grupo dos Dez (G10 ) E o Grupo dos Vinte (G20), os principais fóruns políticos para o sistema de governança global e império. Quem atende a esses fóruns O que as instituições estão representadas Quais são as ideologias e os interesses concorrentes? Que efeito eles têm? O que é o papel do mercado emergente 8217 nações da China, Rússia, Brasil, Índia, Turquia e África do Sul dentro deste sistema. 8211 The Global Financial Mafia : Qual é o relacionamento e a interação entre o poder do Estado, os vários grupos das nações, as instituições internacionais, os ministérios das finanças e os bancos centrais com o cartel global de bancos e corporações e os oligarcas e dinastias familiares que controlam o cartel. Em que fóruns os indivíduos Quem lidera essas várias instituições interage, coopera, se comunica, socializa e organiza. Em vários grupos de reflexão e fundamentos globais e nacionais, fundamentos, fóruns, conferências e eventos sociais, políticos, ministros das finanças, banqueiros centrais e tecnocratas superiores se encontram, muitas vezes em segredo, com as cabeças De bancos e corporações, patriarcas e matriarcas de poderosas dinastias familiares e outros oligarcas. Entre esses eventos e fóruns estão: o Grupo Bilderberg, a Conferência Monetária Internacional (IMC), o Fórum Econômico Mundial (WEF), a Comissão Trilateral, o Instituto de Finanças Internacionais (IIF) e o Grupo dos 30, entre outros. Esses fóruns e eventos fornecem líderes políticos e chefes de instituições influentes com um fórum privado onde eles podem ter discussões difíceis, muitas vezes secretas sobre questões importantes de importância global para as populações de suas respectivas nações e o planeta como um todo. Coletivamente, este grupo e as instituições que o dominam, compõem a Mafiocracia Global: um sistema político, social e econômico global dominado por relativamente poucas nações e instituições que operam em grande parte no interesse de um pequeno cartel criminal de bancos e corporações, um Mafia financeira global. 8211 Top-Down: Essas instituições, indivíduos e ideologias serão examinadas e discutidas não como uma conta seca e histórica, mas em termos de contar uma série de histórias. Quero tentar apresentar esta informação e análise do mesmo modo em que me atrai mais, um fantástico, interessante, muitas vezes horrível e chocante conto de intriga, império, política de poder, pequenos tiranos, luta, dominação, destruição E império. Quero que as pessoas que lideram e participem deste sistema se tornem tão familiares para o leitor quanto são para mim, para ver uma imagem e ler histórias sobre personalidades e complexidades daqueles que governam e exercem o poder. O que emerge é uma história ou série de histórias, dignas da intriga e do interesse em relatos históricos e ficcionais de famílias imperiais e impérios antigos, de mundos míticos, contos de fantasia e sociedades de ficção científica. Obtenha uma visão do nosso mundo de cima para baixo. 8211 Bottom-Up: paralelamente às instituições, indivíduos e ideologias que dominam e moldam o nosso mundo de cima para baixo, também há processos, pessoas, protestos e movimentos de massa ou revoluções que moldam e recriam e re-imaginam a Mundo de baixo para cima. Enquanto os ministros das Finanças europeus da Irlanda se encontram em segredo, fora das conversas recorde em castelos distantes localizados no Luxemburgo, decidindo o destino da Europa e dos seus cidadãos, manifestam-se manifestações e manifestações em massa nas ruas de Atenas, Madrid, Lisboa, Roma e Frankfurt, Em que as populações se opõem e rejeitam as decisões tomadas em lugares distantes por tecnocratas em grande parte não eleitos que não atendem seus interesses. Qual o papel dos protestos e dos movimentos populares em moldar e mudar o mundo moderno Como as instituições e os indivíduos dominantes vêem e respondem a tais eventos e processos Eles temem o potencial das pessoas Qual é esse potencial, ou o que poderia ser O que é? A história ascendente da Mafiocracia Global e do Império da Economia 8211 Uma série de histórias: a história, os principais atores, as instituições e a evolução é melhor entendida quando contada como uma história, com personagens com os quais os leitores e os observadores podem se relacionar, entender, encontrar Um interesse, intrigado e até mesmo horrorizado. Parece que a melhor maneira de explicar o mundo excessivamente e desnecessariamente complicado da economia e das finanças é explicá-lo como não seria lido em uma publicação de livros didáticos ou indústria, nem reportagem na imprensa financeira, nem através da linguagem seca e enganosamente maçante E retórica de economia, acadêmicos, ministros das finanças, banqueiros centrais, tecnocratas e políticos. Não, este é um mundo melhor compreendido através das histórias, personagens, desafios, triunfos, desastres e guerras travadas pelas personalidades e pessoas que moldaram e mudaram esse mundo. Um sistema de civilização humana 8217 é, afinal, um produto dos seres humanos e, portanto, é tão falho, complexo, conflituoso e intrigante, como são os contos mais humanos do surgimento e queda de reis, rainhas, imperadores, ditadores ou Os triunfos e as tribulações da pessoa comum8217, aqueles nas ruas, nas escolas, movimentando-se pelas cidades, cidades e nas favelas urbanas. Os seres humanos entendem lutas humanas e histórias humanas. Assim, este livro não é uma história de economia e finanças, é uma história de seres humanos, luta, sofrimento, sucesso e complexidade. Em suma, é uma história como qualquer outra. Preciso da sua ajuda para escrever essas histórias e completar este livro, o que será o primeiro de uma série. Por enquanto, meu objetivo é escrever um capítulo de amostra, tirando das muitas milhares de páginas de pesquisa que fiz nos últimos meses e anos. Este capítulo ficaria disponível on-line para que todos pudessem ler, para realmente obter uma melhor compreensão do foco, da abordagem e dos objetivos deste livro. Para fazer isso, preciso da sua ajuda. Se isso é algo que você gostaria de ler, considere doar ou compartilhar e promover isso através de mídias sociais e outras avenidas. Meu objetivo é levantar 500 no curto prazo. Se esse objetivo for atingido, o capítulo da amostra será completado (em forma aproximada) e publicado on-line para que todos possam ler em abril de 2015. Muito obrigado por todo o apoio e encorajamento. Andrew Gavin Marshall O cartéico da droga da Super-Entidade Bancária Global: o mercado livre da capital financeira Por: Andrew Gavin Marshall Banqueiros HSBC testemunhando antes do Senado dos EUA sobre o branqueamento de capitais em dinheiro da droga (foto cortesia de The Economist, 21 de julho de 2012) Este ensaio é o Produto da pesquisa realizada para o primeiro volume do Projeto Livro The People8217s. Doe para ajudar o primeiro volume a chegar: o estudo das instituições, idéias e indivíduos de poder e resistência em um instante do mundo de hoje, olhando a crise econômica global, a guerra e o império, a repressão e a globalização. Propagação de movimentos anti-austeridade e resistência. Gostaria de apresentá-lo, o leitor, a algumas realidades do nosso sistema bancário global, apoiando-se na retórica dos mercados livres, mas funcionando, na realidade, como um cartel global, uma super-entidade na qual os principais bancos do mundo possuem Um ao outro e possui as ações de controle das maiores corporações multinacionais do mundo, influenciam os governos e as políticas com os políticos em seus bolsos traseiros, envolvem rotineiramente fraude e suborno e lavam centenas de bilhões de dólares em dinheiro da droga, para não mencionar armas e terroristas financiamento. Estes são os demais para falhar e muito grande para presos bancos, o centro da nossa economia global, o que chamamos de mercado livre, o que implica que os bancos e corporações globais reinarão gratuitamente para fazer o que quiserem, participarem de atividades descaradamente criminosas, Roubar trilhões em riqueza que está escondida no mar e nunca mais do que uma bofetada no pulso. Este é o verdadeiro mercado livre, um cartel bancário global altamente lucrativo, que funciona como uma máfia financeira mundial. A pesquisa científica revela a existência de uma Super-Entidade financeira global Em outubro de 2011, o New Scientist informou que um estudo científico sobre o sistema financeiro global foi realizado por três teóricos de sistemas complexos no Instituto Federal Suíço de Tecnologia de Zurique, na Suíça. A conclusão do estudo revelou o que muitos teóricos e observadores notaram há anos, décadas e até mesmo séculos: uma análise das relações entre 43 mil corporações transnacionais identificou um grupo relativamente pequeno de empresas, principalmente bancos, com poder desproporcional sobre o economia global . Como afirmou um dos pesquisadores, a Realidade é tão complexa, devemos nos afastar do dogma, seja suas teorias de conspiração ou o mercado livre8230. Nossa análise é baseada na realidade. Com base em um banco de dados que alistou 37 milhões de empresas e investidores em todo o mundo, os pesquisadores estudaram as 43.060 empresas transnacionais (TNCs), incluindo os donos de ações que as ligam.1 O mapeamento do poder foi através da construção de um modelo que mostra quais empresas controlaram quais outros Empresas através de participações. A rede de propriedade revelou um núcleo de 1.318 empresas com vínculos com duas ou mais empresas. Este núcleo foi encontrado com cerca de 80 de receita global para todo o conjunto de 43 mil TNCs. E, em seguida, veio o que os pesquisadores chamaram de super-entidade de 147 empresas bem apertadas, que se possuem e possuem, coletivamente, 40 da riqueza total em toda a rede. Um dos pesquisadores observou: Com efeito, menos de 1% das empresas conseguiram controlar 40% de toda a rede. Esta rede representa um grande risco para a economia global, pois, se uma empresa sofre distress8230 isso se propaga. O estudo foi realizado com um conjunto de dados estabelecido antes da crise econômica, portanto, à medida que a crise financeira forçou alguns bancos a morrer (Lehman Bros.) e outros a se fundirem, a super-entidade ficaria ainda mais conectada, concentrada e Problemático para a economia.2 As 50 principais empresas incluídas na lista da super-entidade (a partir de 2007): Barclays Plc (1), Capital Group Companies Inc (2), FMR Corporation (3), AXA (4), State Street Corporation (5), JP Morgan Chase amp Co. (6), UBS AG (9), Merrill Lynch amp Co Inc (10), Deutsche Bank (12), Credit Suisse Group (14), Bank of New York Mellon Corp (16), Goldman Sachs Group (18), Morgan Stanley (21), Socit Gnrale (24), Bank of America Corporation (25), Lloyds TSB Group (26), Lehman Brothers Holdings (34), Sun Life Financial ( 35), ING Groep (41), BNP Paribas (46) e vários outros.3 Nos Estados Unidos, cinco bancos controlam a metade da economia: JP Morgan Chase, Bank of America, Citigroup, Wells Fargo e Goldman Sachs Group coletivamente Realizou 8,5 trilhões de ativos no final de 2011, o que equivale a cerca de 56 da economia dos EUA. Estes dados foram de acordo com banqueiros centrais na Reserva Federal. Em 2007, os ativos dos maiores bancos totalizaram 43 da economia dos EUA. Assim, a crise tornou os bancos maiores e mais poderosos do que nunca. Porque o governo invocou muito grande para falhar, o que significa que os grandes bancos serão salvos porque são muito importantes, os grandes bancos têm incentivo para assumir riscos cada vez maiores, porque serão resgatados no final. Essencialmente, é uma apólice de seguro para o comportamento criminal de tomada de risco. O ex-presidente do Banco da Reserva Federal de Minneapolis afirmou, os participantes do mercado acreditam que nada mudou, que também - grande para falhar está totalmente intacto. Lembre-se, o mercado significa o cartel bancário (ou super-entidade, se você preferir). Assim, eles criam novas bolhas e compram títulos do governo (dívida soberana), tornando o sistema financeiro global cada vez mais inseguro e em risco de um colapso maior do que ocorreu em 2008.4 Quando políticos, economistas e outros se referem aos mercados financeiros, eles são na realidade Referindo-se à super-entidade das instituições financeiras corporativas que dominam, coletivamente, a economia global. Por exemplo, o papel dos mercados financeiros na crise da dívida que assolam a Europa nos últimos dois anos é muitas vezes referido como disciplina de mercado, com os mercados financeiros especulando contra a capacidade das nações de pagar suas dívidas ou juros, as agências de classificação de crédito que degradam o crédito - signibilidade das nações, de rendimentos mais altos em títulos soberanos (maior interesse na dívida pública) e mergulhando o país em crise, forçando a sua classe política a impor medidas de austeridade e ajuste estrutural para restaurar a confiança do mercado. Este processo é chamado de disciplina de mercado, mas é mais precisamente, terrorismo financeiro ou guerra de mercado, com o termo mercado se referindo especificamente à super-entidade. Seja o que você chamar, a disciplina do mercado é, em última instância, um eufemismo para a guerra de classes.5 O Supra-Governo Global e o Mercado Livre Em dezembro de 2011, Roger Altman, ex-Secretário Adjunto do Tesouro sob a administração Clinton, escreveu um artigo para o Financial Tiempos em que ele explicou que os mercados financeiros estavam atuando como um supra-governo global, observando: Eles expulsam regimes entrincheirados onde os processos políticos normais não poderiam fazê-lo. Forçam austeridade, resgates bancários e outras grandes mudanças políticas. Sua influência diminui as instituições multilaterais, como o Fundo Monetário Internacional. De fato, deixando de lado as armas nucleares inutilizáveis, se tornaram a força mais poderosa da Terra.6 Altman continuou, explicando que, quando o poder desse supra-governo global é flexionado, o impacto imediato sobre a sociedade pode ser doloroso, um desemprego mais amplo, por exemplo, Resultados freqüentes e os governos falham. Mas, é claro, sendo um ex-funcionário do Departamento do Tesouro, ele passou a endossar o supra-governo global, escrevendo, os efeitos a longo prazo podem ser muitas vezes transformadores e positivos. Ominosimo, Altman concluiu: se este poder é saudável ou não está fora do ponto. É permanente, e não há como parar o novo papel policial dos mercados financeiros.7 Em outras palavras, o supra-governo global super-entidade dos mercados financeiros realiza a extorsão financeira, derruba governos e empobrece as populações, mas isso é, em última análise, positivo E permanente, pelo menos da visão de um ex-funcionário do Departamento do Tesouro. Do ponto de vista daqueles que estão sendo empobrecidos, as populações reais, positivas, não são necessariamente a palavra que vem à mente. Na era da globalização, o dinheiro ou o capital flui facilmente através das fronteiras, com bancos, hedge funds e outras instituições financeiras atuando como as vanguardas de uma nova ordem internacional de governança global. Where finance goes, corporations follow where corporations venture, powerful states stand guard of their interests. Our global system is one of state-capitalism, where the state and corporate interests are interdependent and mutually beneficial, at least for those in power. Today, financial institutions with banks at the helm have reached unprecedented power and influence in state capitalist societies. The banks are bigger than ever before in history, guarded by an insurance policy that we call too big to fail, which means that despite their criminal and reckless behaviour, the government will step in to bail them out, as it always has. Financial markets also include credit ratings agencies, which determine the supposed credit-worthiness of other banks, corporations, and entire nations. The lower the credit rating, the riskier the investment, and thus, the higher the interest is for that entity to borrow money. Countries that do not follow the dictates of the financial market are punished with lower credit ratings, higher interest, speculative attacks, and in the cases of Greece and Italy in November of 2011, their democratically-elected governments are simply removed and replaced with technocratic administrations made up of bankers and economists who then push through austerity and adjustment policies that impoverish and exploit their populations. In the age of the super-entity global supra-government, there is no time to rattle around with the pesky process of formal liberal democracy they mean business, and if your elected governments do not succumb to market discipline, they will be removed and replaced in what under any other circumstances is referred to as a coup. Banks and financial institutions provide the liquidity or funds for what we call free markets. Free markets in principle would allow for free competition between companies and countries, each producing their own comparative advantage producing what they are best at and trading with others in the international market, so that all parties rise in living standards and wealth together. The free market is, of course, pure mythology. In practice, what we call free markets are actually highly protectionist, regimented, regulated, and designed to undermine competition and enforce monopolization. The free markets serve this purpose for the benefit of large multinational corporations and banks. When we use the term free markets we are generally referring to the real economy, legitimate and legal. When it comes to illegitimate markets, for example, the global drug trade, we do not tend to refer to them as free markets but rather, illegal and run by cartels. Cartels, like corporations, are hierarchically organized totalitarian institutions, where decisions and power and exercised from the top-down, with essentially no input going from the bottom-up. Large multinational corporations, like large international cartels, seek to control their particular market throughout entire nations, regions, and beyond. Often, co-operation between corporations allow them to function in an oligopolistic manner, where the collectively dominate the entire market, carving it up between them. Major oil companies, agro-industrial firms, telecommunications, pharmaceutical, military contractors and water management corporations are well-known for these types of activities. Cartels have often been known to engage in a similar practice, though typically they are more competitive with each other. When interests are threatened which is defined as when a corporation or cartel is at risk of losing its total dominance of its market in a particular region conflict arises, and often violently so, with the potential for coups, assassinations, terror campaigns, and war. This is when the state intervenes to protect the market for the cartel or corporate interests. Thus, a market like the global drug trade functions relatively similar to those of the legitimate economy, pharmaceuticals, energy, technology, etc. The illicit trade in drugs is as much a free market as is the trade in automobiles or oil. And of course, the money ends up in the same place: the global supra-government of financial markets. Banking Cartel or Drug Cartel8230 or Whats the Difference In 2009, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime reported that billions of dollars in drug money saved the major banks during the financial crisis, providing much-needed liquidity. Antonio Maria Costa, the head of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime stated that drug money was the only liquid investment capital available to banks on the brink of collapse, with roughly 325 billion in drug money absorbed by the financial system. Without identifying specific countries or banks, Costa stated that, Inter-bank loans were funded by money that originated from the drugs trade and other illegal activities8230 There were signs that some banks were rescued that way.8 In 2010, Wachovia Bank (now owned by Wells Fargo) settled the largest action ever under the U. S. bank secrecy act, paying a fine of 50 million plus forfeiting 110 million of drug money, of which the bank laundered roughly 378.4 billion out of Mexico. The federal prosecutor in the case stated, Wachovias blatant disregard for our banking laws gave international cocaine cartels a virtual carte blanche to finance their operations. The fine that the bank paid for laundering hundreds of billions of dollars in drug money was less than 2 of the banks 2009 profit, and on the same week of the settlement, Wells Fargos stock actually went up. The bank admitted in a statement of settlement that, As early as 2004, Wachovia understood the risk of holding such an account, but despite these warnings, Wachovia remained in the business. The leading investigator into the money laundering operations, Martin Woods, based out of London, had discovered that Wachovia had received roughly six or seven thousand subpoenas for information about its Mexican operation from the federal government, of which Woods commented: An absurd number. So at what point does someone at the highest level not get the feeling that something is very, very wrong Woods had been hired by Wachovias London branch as a senior anti-money laundering officer in 2005, and when in 2007 an official investigation was opened into Wachovias Mexican operations, Woods was informed by the bank that he failed to perform at an acceptable standard. In other words, he was actually doing his job. In regards to the settlement, Woods stated: The regulatory authorities do not have to spend any more time on it, and they dont have to push it as far as a criminal trial. They just issue criminal proceedings, and settle. The law enforcement people do what they are supposed to do, but whats the point All those people dealing with all that money from drug-trafficking and murder, and no one goes to jail9 As the former UN Office of Drugs and Crime czar Antonio Maria Costa said, The connection between organized crime and financial institutions started in the late 1970s, early 1980s8230 when the mafia became globalized, just like other major markets. Martin Woods added that, These are the proceeds of murder and misery in Mexico, and of drugs sold around the world, yet no one went to jail, asking, What does the settlement do to fight the cartels Nothing it doesnt make the job of law enforcement easier and it encourages the cartels and anyone who wants to make money by laundering their blood dollars. Wheres the risk There is none. He added: Is it in the interest of the American people to encourage both the drug cartels and the banks in this way Is it in the interest of the Mexican people Its simple: if you dont see the correlation between the money laundering by banks and the 30,000 people killed in Mexico, youre missing the point. Woods, who now runs his own consultancy, told the Observer in 2011 that, New York and London8230 have become the worlds two biggest laundries of criminal and drug money, and offshore tax havens. Not the Cayman Islands, not the Isle of Man or Jersey. The big laundering is right through the City of London and Wall Street.10 Just as the too big to fail program acts as an insurance policy for the big banks to engage in constant criminal activity, taking ever-larger financial risks with the guarantee that they will be bailed out, the settlements and lack of criminal prosecutions for banks laundering drug money provides the incentive to continue laundering hundreds of billions in drug money, because so long as the fine is smaller than the profit accrued from such a practice, it comes down to a simple cost-benefit analysis: if the cost of laundering drug money is less than the benefit, continue with the policy. The same cost-benefit analysis goes for all forms of criminal activity by banks and corporations, whether bribery, fraud, or violating environmental, labour and other regulations. So long as the penalty is less than the profit, the problem continues. An article in the Observer from July of 2012 referred to global banks as the financial services wing of the drug cartels, noting that HSBC, Britains biggest bank, had been called before the U. S. Senate to testify about laundering drug money from Mexican cartels, holding one suspicious account for four years on behalf of the largest drug cartel in the world, the Sinaloa cartel in Mexico.11 In fact, a multi-year investigation into HSBC revealed that the bank was not only a major international drug money-laundering conduit, but also laundered money for clients with ties to terrorism. In July of 2012, as the Senate was publicly investigating HSBC, Antonio Maria Costa stated, Today I cannot think of one bank in the world that has not been penetrated by mafia money. The global drug trade is estimated to be worth roughly 380 billion annually, with most of the money made in the consumer markets of North America and Europe. Using the example of the 35 billion per year cocaine market in the United States, only about 1.5 of these profits make their way to the coca-leaf producers (mostly poor peasants) in South America (who became the target of our bombing and chemical warfare campaigns in the war on drugs), while the international traffickers get roughly 13 of the profits, with the remaining 85 earned by the distributors in the U. S. HSBC was accused of laundering the profits of the distributors.12 The U. S. Senate report concluded that HSBC had exposed the U. S. financial system to a wide array of money laundering, drug trafficking, and terrorist financing, including billions in proceeds from illegal drug sales in the United States. HSBC acknowledged, in an official statement, that, in the past, we have sometimes failed to meet the standards that regulators and customers expect. Among those standards that HSBC sometimes failed to meet, according to the Senate investigation, were financing provided to banks in Saudi Arabia and Bangladesh which were tied to terrorist organizations, while the banks regulator failed to take a single enforcement action against HSBC.13 Among the terrorist organizations which potentially received financial assistance from HSBC through Saudi banks was al-Qaeda. HSBC put aside 700 million to cover any potential fines for such activities, which is not uncommon for banks to do. Banks like ABN Amro, Barclays, Credit Suisse, Lloyds and ING had all reached major settlements for admitting to facilitating transactions and engaging in money laundering for clients in Cuba, Iran, Libya, Myanmar and Sudan.14 As executives from HSBC appeared in the U. S. Senate, the banks head of compliance since 2002, David Bagley, resigned as he testified before the committee, commenting, Despite the best efforts and intentions of many dedicated professionals, HSBC has fallen short of our own expectations and the expectations of our regulators.15 As Ed Vulliamy reported in the Observer . in May of 2012, a poor black man named Edward Dorsey Sr. was convicted of peddling 5.5 grams of crack cocaine in Washington D. C. and was given 10 years in jail. Meanwhile, just across the river from where Dorsey had committed his crime, executives from HSBC admitted before the U. S. Senate that they laundered billions in drug money, just as Wachovia had admitted to the previous year, with no one going to prison.16 The lesson from this is clear: if you are poor, black, and are caught with a couple grams of crack-cocaine, you can expect to go to prison for several years (or in this case, a decade) but if you are rich, white, own a bank, and are caught laundering billions of dollars (or hundreds of billions of dollars) in drug money, you will be fined (but not enough to make such practices unprofitable), and may have to resign. Too big to fail is simply another way of saying too big to jail. Of course, its not fair to put all the blame for international drug money-laundering on the shoulders of HSBC and Wachovia, as Bloomberg reported, Mexican drug cartels also funneled money through the Bank of America and even the banking branch of American Express, Banco Santander, and Citigroup.17 Even the FBI has accused Bank of America of laundering Mexican drug cartel funds.18 But its not just drug money that banks launder all sorts of illicit funds are laundered through major banks, many of which have been fined or are now being investigated for their criminal activities, including JPMorgan, Standard Chartered, Credit Suisse, Lloyds, Barclays, ING, and the Royal Bank of Scotland, among others.19 Another major Swiss bank, UBS, has been very consistent in committing fraud and engaging in various conspiracies, a great deal of which was committed against Americans, though the bank was given conditional immunity from the U. S. Department of Justice.20 Financial Fraud and the Get Out of J ail Free Card The major banks of the world have been caught in conspiracies of ripping off small towns and cities across the United States, which allowed banks like JPMorgan Chase, GE Capital, UBS, Bank of America, Lehman Brothers, Wachovia, Bear Stearns, and others, to steal billions of dollars from schools, hospitals, libraries, and nursing homes from virtually every state, district and territory in the United States, according to a court settlement on the issue. The theft was done through the manipulation of the public bidding process, something that the Mafia has become experts in with regards to garbage and construction industry contracts. In short, the banking system actually functions like a Mafia cartel system, not to mention, taking money from the Mafia and cartels themselves.21 Banks like JP Morgan Chase and Goldman Sachs engaged in bribery, fraud, and conspiracies which resulted in the bankruptcy of counties all across the United States.22 Still, they continue to be respected by the political class which refuses to punish them for their criminal activity, and instead, rewards them with bailouts and follows their instructions for policy. Over the summer of 2012, another major banking scandal hit the headlines, regarding the manipulation of the London inter-bank lending rate known as the Libor. The Libor rate, explained the Economist . determines the prices that people and corporations around the world pay for loans or receive for their savings, as it is used as a benchmark for establishing payments on an 800 trillion derivatives market, covering everything from interest rate derivatives to mortgages. Essentially, the Libor is the interest rate at which banks lend to each other on the short term, and is established through an honour system of where 18 major banks report their daily rates, from which an average is calculated. That average becomes the Libor rate, and reverberates throughout the entire global economy, setting a benchmark for a massive amount of transactions in the global derivatives market. Whereas the derivatives market is a massive casino of unregulated speculation, the Libor scandal revealed the cartel that owns the casino. The scandal began with Barclays, a 300-year old bank in Britain, revealing that several employees had been involved in rigging the Libor to suit their own needs. More banks quickly became implemented, and countries all over the world began opening investigations into this scandal and the role their own banks may have played in it. By early July, as many as 20 major banks were named in various investigations or lawsuits related to the rigging of the Libor.23 Among the major global banks which are being investigated by U. S. prosecutors are Barclays, Deutsche Bank, Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase, Royal Bank of Scotland, HSBC, UBS, Bank of America, Bank of Tokyo Mitsubishi, Credit Suisse, Lloyds Banking Group, Rabobank, Royal Bank of Canada, Socit Gnrale, and others. Prosecutors in the U. S. U. K. Canada and Japan were investigating collusion between the major banks on the manipulation of the Libor. In June of 2012, Barclays paid a fine to US and UK authorities, admitting its culpability in the rigging with a 450 million settlement.24 With information and documents pouring out, implicating further banks and institutions in the scandal, a general consensus was emerging that the Libor had been manipulated since at least 2005, though, as one former Morgan Stanley trader wrote in the Financial Times . the rigging had began as early as 1991, if not before. The British Bankers Association was responsible for setting the Libor rate by polling roughly 18 major banks on their highest and lowest rates daily. Thus, rigging by one bank would require the co-operating of at least nine other banks in purposely manipulating their rates in order to have any effect upon the Libor. Douglas Keenan, the former Morgan Stanley trader, wrote that, it seems the misreporting of Libor rates may have been common practice since at least 1991.25 Rolf Majcen, the head of a hedge fund called FTC Capital told Der Spiegel that, the Libor manipulation is presumably the biggest financial scandal ever. As regulators were using words like organized fraud and banksters to describe the growing scandal, it was becoming common to refer to the major banks as functioning like a cartel or mafia.26 The CEO of Barclays, Bob Diamond, resigned in disgrace, as did Marcus Agius, the Chairman of Barclays (who also serves as a director on the board of BBC, and is married into the Rothschild banking dynasty). The cartel manipulated the Libor for a great number of reasons, among them, to appear to be in better health by rigging their credit ratings upwards.27 The Business Insider referred to the Libor rigging as a criminal conspiracy from the start, essentially designed to promote manipulation as the Libor was determined by an honor system for banks to properly report their rates.28 Imagine giving a pile of credit cards to a group of credit card fraud convicts and establishing an honour system. Could one truly be surprised if it didnt work out Well, the Libor scandal is effectively based upon the same logic, except that the repercussions are global in scope. Traders at the Royal Bank of Scotland referenced, in internal emails, to their participation in operating a cartel that made amazing amounts of money through the manipulation of interest rates, with a former senior trader at RBS writing that managers at the bank had condoned collusion. The same trader, who was later hung out to dry by RBS as a scapegoat, wrote in an email to a trader at Deutsche Bank that, It is a cartel now in London, where the Libor is established.29 The cartel, however, did not simply include the major banks, but also required the cooperation or at least negligence of regulators and central banks. Documents released by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and the Bank of England show correspondence between then-President of the NY Fed Timothy Geithner (who is now Obamas Treasury Secretary) and Bank of England Governor Mervyn King discussing how Barclays was manipulating the Libor rates during the 2008 financial crisis. While the NY Fed corresponded with both the Bank of England and Barclays itself on the acknowledgment of interest rate manipulation, it never told the bank to stop the rigging practice. An official at Barclays even informed the NYFed in 2008 that the bank was under-reporting the rate at which it could borrow from other banks so that Barclays could avoid the stigma of appearing to be weaker than its peers, adding that other participating banks were also under-reporting their Libor submissions.30 A Barclays employee told the New York Fed in an April 2008 phone call that, We know that were not posting um, an honest Libor8230 and yet we are doing it, because, um, if we didnt do it, it draws, um, unwanted attention on ourselves. The New York Fed official replied: You have to accept it8230 I understand. Despite its against what you would like to do. I understand completely. Several months later, a Barclays employee told a New York Fed official that the Libor rates were still absolute rubbish.31 While the New York Fed expressed sympathy for the poor and helpless global banks need to engage in fraud and interest rate manipulation in order to lie and appear to be healthier than it was, the Bank of England went a step further, when Paul Tucker, the head of markets at the BoE wrote a note to Barclays CEO Bob Diamond in 2008 suggesting that Barclays lower its Libor rate, thus encouraging the rigging itself, instead of just expressing sympathy for the need to commit fraud.32 The main British banking lobby group, the British Bankers Association (BBA), which was responsible for overseeing the Libor rate process (no conflict of interest there, right), was, in late September of 2012, stripped of its right to oversee the Libor, to be replaced with a formal regulator. The BBAs oversight of Libor dates back to 1984, when the City of London (Britains Wall Street) had begun an experiment to establish a new way of setting interest rates, asking the banking lobby group to set the rate in 1986 when the Libor began.33 The BBAs Foreign Exchange and Money Markets Committee is responsible for setting the Libor, and they meet every two months to review the process in secret without any minutes being published, and even the membership of the Committee is kept a secret. Spokespersons at Credit Suisse, Royal Bank of Scotland, and UBS refused to comment on whether they had any representatives on the committee, while Barclays, Deutsche Bank, HSBC, Bank of America and Citigroup didnt even respond to emailed inquiries about their involvement with the committee, as Bloomberg reported. A British regulator, in the understatement of the century, stated, There is an apparent lack of transparency, adding that the BBAs committee doesnt appear to be sufficiently open and transparent to provide the necessary degree of accountability to firms and markets with a direct interest in being assured of the integrity of Libor.34 When the fox guards the henhouse, it takes a great deal of stupidity to be surprised when some hens go missing. In an April 2008 meeting with officials at the Bank of England, Angela Knight, the head of the British Bankers Association, suggested that the BBA perhaps should no longer be responsible for oversight of the worlds most important number, which had become too big for the BBA to manage. No one at the meeting cared enough to do anything about it, however, and so nothing changed.35 Where was the incentive to change the system, after all Yes, massive fraud was taking place, and this was well understood by the banks committing it, as well as the regulators and central banks overseeing it. But on the plus side, everyone was getting away with it. So indeed, there was no incentive to change the system. From the point of view of those managing it, the Libor was functioning as it should. A cartel was established because a cartel was desired. The fact that it was all highly illegal, fraudulent, and immoral was and is beside the point. Mexican drug cartels do not worry about the legality of their operations because they are, by definition, illegal . They worry simply about getting away with their illegal operations. The same can be said for the global banking cartel. So long as they get away with criminal cartel operations, there is no incentive to change the system, and instead, there is only an incentive to expand and further entrench the cartels operations. Canadas antitrust regulator began an investigation into the international cartel of banks rigging the Libor, focusing on the role played by banks such as JP Morgan Chase, Royal bank of Scotland, Deutsche Bank, HSBC, and Citigroup, among others. A law professor at the University of Toronto who was hired by the regulator to study the case commented that, international cartels are of a significant concern for the Canadian economy.36 We have truly reached an impressive circumstance when the actual regulators of the banks refer to the banking system as an international cartel. A lawsuit was being filed by several homeowners in the U. S. who were attempting to sue some of the worlds largest banks for fraud, as the Libor manipulation sparked increases on their mortgages, resulting in illegal profits for banks. The class action lawsuit filed in New York in October of 2012 accused banks such as Bank of America, Citigroup, Barclays, UBS, JPMorgan Chase, Deutsche Bank and others of fraud over a period of ten years.37 For U. S. states and municipalities that bought interest-rate swaps before the financial crisis, the Libor rigging was poised to more than double their losses. Banks had sold roughly 500 billion of interest-rate swaps (in the derivatives market) to municipalities before the financial crisis, with roughly 200 billion of those swaps tied to the Libor. As one legal expert who studies derivatives told Bloomberg . Almost all interest-rate swaps begin with Libor. This prompted several states in the U. S. to begin their own investigations into how the Libor-rigging may have negatively affected them.38 Punishing the Worlds Population into Poverty: Life Under the Global Cartel While the global cartel of criminal banks rig rates, launder drug money, fund terrorists, engage in bribery, fraud and demand multi-trillion dollar bailouts from our governments (effectively selling their bad debts to the public), and then give themselves massive bonuses, they are also demanding through what is called market discipline that our governments deal with our debts by undertaking policies of austerity and structural reform, which are euphemisms for impoverishment and exploitation. Thus, after the cartel helped create a massive financial crisis, and after our governments rewarded them for their criminal activity, the cartel now demands that our governments punish their populations into poverty and open their economies, resources and labour up for cheap and easy exploitation by banks and multinational corporations. This is referred to as the solution for getting out of the Great Recession, and which is sure to great a Great Depression. Greece is now two and a half years into its austerity and adjustment reforms, with its debt growing as a result, poverty exploding, misery spreading, health, education, welfare rapidly declining, suicide rates and hunger increasing, as the Greek people are subjected to a program of social genocide. Market discipline demands austerity and adjustment, or in other words, class warfare creates poverty and exploitation.39 Countries that refuse to implement programs of austerity and adjustment are subjected to financial terrorism by the international cartel, as financial markets engage in market discipline by using the derivatives market to speculate against that particular countrys ability to pay its interest or debt, thus making its credit ratings decrease and borrowing rates increase, plunging the country into a deeper crisis. In any other scenario, this is called terrorism or in the very least, extortion: do what I say or I will punish you and destroy you. This is what former U. S. Treasury official Roger Altman referred to in the Financial Times as the new global supra-government who can force austerity, banking bail-outs and other major policy changes, and thus, have become the most powerful force on earth.40 Countries, regional, and international organizations all bow down to the dictates of the international cartel of the global supra-government, and so countries like Greece, Spain, Ireland, Italy, and Portugal, organizations like the European Union, European Central Bank, powerful states like Germany, France, Britain, and the U. S. and other international organizations like the IMF, Bank for International Settlements, and the OECD all demand and implement austerity measures and structural reforms. Either they follow the orders of the cartel which we commonly refer to as the invisible hand of the free market or they directly challenge the most powerful force on earth. In the global economy, a small country like Greece standing up to the global supra-government is much like a small Greek restaurant trying to stand up to the city Mafia. In the U. S. states that were defrauded in the billions of dollars by the cartel, and took on major debts as a result, are now the harbingers of austerity in America. Beginning in 2010, roughly 20 states across the U. S. began implementing austerity measures, and have been doing much worse economically as a result (the predicted effect of austerity). Even the institutions which are the most militant in demanding austerity measures, such as the European Union and the IMF, have acknowledged in recent reports that countries which pursue austerity to supposedly reduce their debts end up getting much larger debts as a result, and that such measures are actually extremely damaging to economies. This is not news, of course, since there is a rather large sample of data from the past 30 years of forced austerity and adjustment measures across Africa, Asia, and Latin America (at the behest of the IMF, World Bank, western governments, and of course, the cartel), which show quite clearly the effect that austerity and adjustment have in rapidly expanding poverty and facilitating exploitation. As austerity is hitting several U. S. states, jobs are lost and poverty increases with debt, standards of living decline and the recession deepens into a depression. The population is essentially punished for the crimes of the global cartel, while public employees, pensioners, welfare recipients, teachers and workers get the blame.41 In late October of 2012, the CEOs of 80 major corporations and banks in the United States banded together (as any well functioning cartel does) in order to pressure Congress, regardless of who the next President is, to pursue an agenda of harsh austerity measures and structural reforms. In a statement to Congress signed by the 80 CEOs, the American branch of the global cartel (its most significant branch), demanded that policies be enacted immediately, though implemented gradually, to give Americans time to prepare for the changes in the federal budget. Among the demands are to reform Medicare and Medicaid, healthcare, Social Security, increase taxes, and generally reduce spending. All of this amounts to a large federal program of austerity, to cut social spending and increase taxes on the population, thus impoverishing the population. This, in the words of the letter to Congress, must be bipartisan and reforms to all areas of the budget should be included.42 Among the signatories to the letter were the CEOs of ATampT, Bank of America, BlackRock, Boeing, Caterpillar, Dow Chemical Company, General Electric, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase, Merck, Microsoft, Motorola, Time Warner, and Verizon, among many others.43 This followed roughly one week after a group of 15 major global bank CEOs sent a letter to President Obama and the U. S. Congress lecturing the U. S. political class on moral authority, giving their formal orders to the U. S. political establishment, that regardless of Democratic or Republican administrations, they are losing patience with the democratic apparatus of the state, and warned: The solvency, productive capacity, and stability of the United States, as well as its moral authority as a global leader, require that its fiscal challenges be credibly met. Among the signatories to the letter were the CEOs of Bank of America, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase, Morgan Stanley and Wells Fargo. The Wall Street Journal . reporting on this letter, commented that even for a dying democracy, its embarrassing enough to see bankers telling our government what to do, but in this letter, we even see foreign bankers telling our government what to do, as other CEOs of the global cartel signed the letter, from banks such as UBS, Credit Suisse, and Deutsche Bank. The consequences of inaction on the U. S. debt, read the letter, would be very grave. In other words, the U. S. political class has received a threat from the global cartel that it is now time to implement austerity and adjustment measures, or to face the consequences of financial terrorism.44 Hiding the Loot: The Offshore Economy in the Age of the Global Plutonomy While people are being forced into poverty to pay off the bad debts of the super-entity global banking cartel of drug-money laundering banks which make up the global supra-government, the richest people in the world have been hiding their wealth in offshore tax havens, and of course, with the help of those same banks. James Henry, a former chief economist at McKinsey, a major global consultancy, published a major report on tax havens in July of 2012 for the Tax Justice Network, compiling data from the Bank for International Settlements (BIS), the IMF and other private sector entities which revealed that the worlds superrich have hidden between 21 and 32 trillion offshore to avoid taxation. Henry stated: This offshore economy is large enough to have a major impact on estimates of inequality of wealth and income on estimates of national income and debt ratios and most importantly to have very significant negative impacts on the domestic tax bases of source countries. John Christensen of the Tax Justice Network commented that, Inequality is much, much worse than official statistics show, but politicians are still relying on trickle-down to transfer wealth to poorer people8230 This new data shows the exact opposite has happened: for three decades extraordinary wealth has been cascading into the offshore accounts of a tiny number of super-rich. Roughly 92,000 of the super-rich, globally, hold at least 10 trillion in offshore wealth. In many cases, the worth of these offshore assets far exceeds the debts of the countries that they flow from, the same debts that are used to keep these countries and their populations in poverty and a constant state of exploitation.45 The estimated total of hidden offshore wealth amounts to more than the combined GDP of the United States and Japan, hidden in secretive financial jurisdictions like Switzerland and the Cayman Islands. The process of hiding this wealth is largely facilitated by the major global banks, which compete with one another to attract the assets of the worlds super-rich. James Henry explained that the wealth of the worlds super-rich is protected by a highly paid, industrious bevy of professional enablers in the private banking, legal, accounting and investment industries taking advantage of the increasingly borderless, frictionless global economy more of that free market magic. The top ten banks in the world, which include UBS and Credit Suisse (based in Switzerland) as well as Goldman Sachs in the United States, collectively managed roughly 6.4 trillion in offshore accounts for 2010 alone. As the report revealed, for many developing countries the cumulative value of the capital that has flowed out of their economies since the 1970s would be more than enough to pay off their debts to the rest of the world, debts which are largely illegitimate as it stands. This trend is exacerbated in the oil-rich states of the world such as Nigeria, Russia, and Saudi Arabia. The report stated: The problem here is that the assets of these countries are held by a small number of wealthy individuals while the debts are shouldered by the ordinary people of these countries through their governments. With roughly half of the worlds offshore wealth belonging to the top 92,000 richest individuals, they represent the top 0.001, a far more extreme global disparity than that which is invoked by the Occupy movements 1 paradigm. Henry commented: The very existence of the global offshore industry, and the tax-free status of the enormous sums invested by their wealthy clients, is predicated on secrecy.46 Remember, free market means that those who own the market (the global cartel), and free to do anything they please. A 2005 report from Citigroup coined the term plutonomy, to describe countries where economic growth is powered by and largely consumed by the wealthy few, and specifically identified the U. K. Canada, Australia, and the United States as four plutonomies. Keeping in mind that the report was published three years before the onset of the financial crisis in 2008, the Citigroup report stated: Asset booms, a rising profit share and favourable treatment by market-friendly governments have allowed the rich to prosper and become a greater share of the economy in the plutonomy countries, and that, the rich are in great shape, financially.47 Its only everyone else that is suffering, which by definition, is a well functioning economy. As the Federal Reserve reported, the nations top 1 of households own more than half the nations stocks, and they also control more than 16 trillion in wealth more than the bottom 90. The term Plutonomy is specifically used to describe a country that is defined by massive income and wealth inequality, and that they have three basic characteristics, according to the Citigroup report: 1. They are all created by disruptive technology-driven productivity gains, creative financial innovation, capitalist friendly cooperative governments, immigrantsthe rule of law and patenting inventions. Often these wealth waves involve great complexity exploited best by the rich and educated of the time. 2. There is no average consumer in Plutonomies. There is only the rich and everyone else. The rich account for a disproportionate chunk of the economy, while the non-rich account for surprisingly small bites of the national pie. Citigroup strategist Ajay Kapur estimates that in 2005, the richest 20 may have been responsible for 60 of total spending. 3. Plutonomies are likely to grow in the future, fed by capitalist-friendly governments, more technology-driven productivity and globalization.48 Kapur, who authored the Citigroup report, stated that there were also risks to the Plutonomy, including war, inflation, financial crises, the end of the technological revolution and populist political pressure, yet, the rich are likely to keep getting even richer, and enjoy an even greater share of the wealth pie over the coming years.49 In February of 2011, Ajay Kapur, the author of the Citigroup report who is now with Deutsche Bank, gave an interview in which he explained that, the world economy is even more dependent on the spending and consumption of the rich, and that, Plutonomist consumption is almost 10 times as volatile that of the average consumer. He further explained that increased debt levels are a sign of plutonomies: We have an economy today where a large fraction of the population doesnt pay federal income taxes and, because of demand for entitlements, we have a system of massive representation without taxation. On the other hand, you have plutonomists who protect their turf and the taxation amounts are not enough to pay for everyones demand. So Ive come to the conclusion that budget deficits are biased toward getting bigger and bigger. Budget deficits are going to become a manifestation of a plutonomy.50 The plutonomy is largely characterized by a lack of a consuming and vibrant middle class. This is a trend that has been accelerating for several decades, particularly in North America and Britain, where the middle class population is heavily indebted. The middle class has existed as a consumer class, keeping the lower class submissive, and keeping the upper class secure and wealthy by consuming their products, produced with the labour of the lower class. The most advanced plutonomies in the world are the most advanced industrial and technological nations, where the major corporations and banks are highly subsidized and protected by the state, as is typical for a state-capitalist society. While the industrial and rich northern state-capitalist societies were able to industrialize and grow rich through highly protectionist measures, the poor south of the world (Africa, Asia, Latin America) were subjected to free market policies which opened up their economies to be exploited and plundered by the rich northern nations. No country has ever become an industrial power by implementing free market policies, but rather, by doing the exact opposite: heavy subsidies and state protection for key industries, technologies, and corporate entities. While the Third World was forced to implement free market policies in order to get loans, the predictable result took place: mass impoverishment and exploitation. The Third World states were run by tiny elites who dominated the countries politically and economically, and who hid their stolen wealth in foreign banks and offshore tax havens. Now, in the midst of the global economic crisis which has been ravaging the world for the past four years, the rich northern countries are themselves implementing the same free market policies, though designed to subject their populations to market discipline while maintaining and in fact increasing the protectionist and subsidized policies for the multinational corporations and banks. It is important to note that market discipline and actual free market policies are exclusively designed for the general population, not the elite. Workers, students, the elderly, the poor and the many are to be subjected to market discipline while the banks and multinational corporations continue to be heavily subsidized (as the largest national welfare recipients) and protected by the state. Thus, just as our banks and corporations have plundered the Third World with rapacious delight over the past three decades, now they will be able to do the same to the populations of the rich nations themselves. The state will transform, as it did in the Third World, into a typically totalitarian institution which is responsible for protecting the super-rich and controlling, oppressing, or, in extreme cases of resistance, eliminating the problem populations (i. e. the people). Welcome to the global plutonomy in the age of austerity, the result of living under and tolerating a global super-entity corporate-financial cartel. Truly, one must pause and, if only for a moment, appreciate the ability of this global cartel to function so effectively in spite of its blatant criminal activities, and face almost absolutely no repercussions. Something truly is wrong with a society when a poor black man caught with 5 grams of crack-cocaine goes to prison for ten years, while rich white bank executives admit to laundering billions of dollars in drug money and receive only a fine and a slap on the wrist (maybe). The lesson is clear: if you are a thief, steal by the billions or trillions, and then no one can do anything about it. If you are in the drug trade: handle only billions (or hundreds of billions) in drug money, and then you will get away with it. If you dont want to pay taxes, be a member of the top o. oo1 of the worlds super-rich and hide your billions in offshore tax-free accounts. If you want more, create a global economic crisis, demand to be saved by the state to the tune of tens of trillions of dollars, and then, tell the state to punish their populations into poverty in order to pay for your mistakes. In other words, if you want to indulge your criminal fantasies, lie and steal, profit from death and drugs, dominate and demand, be king and command, become the highly-functioning socially-acceptable sociopath you always knew you could be8230 think big. Think BANK. Serial killers, bank robbers and drug dealers go to jail bankers get bailouts and get an unlimited insurance policy called too big to fail. Andrew Gavin Marshall is an independent researcher and writer based in Montreal, Canada, writing on a number of social, political, economic, and historical issues. He is also Project Manager of The Peoples Book Project. 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