The Big Con

War Profiteers R Us - Kleptocracy In Action

Philip Palij — Thu, 29 Nov 2012 09:35:56 -0500

Kleptocrats Vs America

Operating a Protection Racket

Philip Palij — Wed, 26 Sep 2012 18:09:21 -0400

Reading Liz Rose's presentation of the "Rhetoric or Resources: It is Time to get Serious" report by Bart Dzivi I managed a wry smile. Here was yet another report, worthy and earnest making the case for action against systemic fraud at the highest level within the American Financial system. It calls for urgent action in order to prevent criminality escaping justice through the statute of limitations. The call for justice is based on the assumption the Department of Justice would prosecute if the true facts were officially known, a reasonable assumption in a society based on the rule of law and democratic accountability.

With respect to the US government that assumption is no longer valid. Its toleration of latent criminality within the institutions of power is legend.

Latent Criminality

In criminology, the part of criminality that for some reason is not reflected in the criminal judiciary statistics and does not become the object of criminal judicial proceedings. In latent criminality, crimes remain unknown to the authorities who have the duty to institute criminal proceedings because the criminals conceal their actions or because the victims and witnesses are unwilling to appeal to the authorities. Latent criminality also includes crimes that became known to officials or the competent authorities but were not registered because of the shortcomings of the system of crime accounting or as a result of negligence on the part of the officials.

The level of latent criminality differs for different crimes and is minimal for serious crimes (for example, assaults upon life or health of a person); the level is somewhat higher in connection with such forms of crime as theft. The existence of latent criminality makes crime analysis more difficult and adversely affects crime prevention.

The Free Dictionary

You can go back a very long way in US history and find evidence of criminality, unrecognised and unpunished and in some respects encouraged and rewarded in the halls of power. You can understand why whistle-blowers are an anathema in such a regime, a junta, a closed circle of the elite political class for whom the laws exist but are not enforced.

To support this view let me introduce one of the most powerful pieces of investigative reporting giving an historical perspective to the crimes of today by author Lamar Waldron. It's about a thoroughgoing criminal the gullible American people "freely" chose to elect, govern them and then to systematically abuse them: President and un-prosecuted criminal Richard Nixon.

If there is no other book you get this year to place on your shelf as a reference then this is the one. It is a well researched, detailed, annotated narrative of the US government's sleazy inner workings. It shows how criminal links between the White House, the Mob and the CIA are cultivated, nurtured and developed for the sake of political expediency and mutual profit.

To Liz Rose and Bart Dzivi, don't hold your breath, the report is fine but I am not sure you understand that the class of people you are asking to prosecute for their crimes are the running the government and making the decisions about who should be prosecuted. Your report is no more than a letter to oblivion.

Read the book, understand the connections, how they are made, then review the actions of subsequent presidents with your new found knowledge.

If Bush and Cheney and Rumsfeld and Rice and Powell have not been impeached or imprisoned for lying their country into a war with Iraq for no good reason, with thousands killed, then what chance does this report stand of bringing to book a few fraudsters?.

You will have noticed the DOJ doesn't like getting involved. I wonder why? I leave you with this quote from the book.

Time Magazine reported that in 1973 the Nixon "White House had received a $1million underworld bribe".......

The Mafia got something in return for their money: a Justice Department official complained that Nixon "pardoned organized crime figures after millions were spent by the government putting them away". Over eight hundred organized crime indictments had to be voided because Nixon's first Attorney General John Mitchell used "improper procedures" to get court approvals for wiretaps. - Lamar Waldron

Why Isn’t Wall Street in Jail?

Philip Palij — Sun, 03 Jun 2012 07:16:19 -0400

Over drinks at a bar on a dreary, snowy night in Washington this past month, a former Senate investigator laughed as he polished off his beer.

“Everything’s fucked up, and nobody goes to jail,” he said. “That’s your whole story right there. Hell, you don’t even have to write the rest of it. Just write that.”

This Is What Tyranny Looks Like

Philip Palij — Thu, 24 May 2012 05:29:39 -0400

Land Of The Free? Don't fool yourselves - You've been had!

"If you want to see what tyranny looks like, consider what happened to the estimated 75,000 protesters who took on the military-industrial complex at last weekend’s NATO summit in Chicago, after the mayor revoked protesters' attempts to lawfully assemble."

WALL STREET CON: "Interest Rate Swaps" Are Bankrupting Local Governments

Philip Palij — Sun, 25 Mar 2012 12:54:35 -0400

The “toxic culture of greed” on Wall Street was highlighted again last week, when Greg Smith went public with his resignation from Goldman Sachs in a scathing oped published in the New York Times. In other recent eyebrow-raisers, LIBOR rates—the benchmark interest rates involved in interest rate swaps—were shown to be manipulated by the banks that would have to pay up;

Goldman Sachs: Lloyd Blankfein 'disappointed' by claims of 'toxic' greed

Philip Palij — Wed, 14 Mar 2012 16:44:50 -0400

Lloyd Blankfein, the chief executive of Goldman Sachs, has defended the firm after an employee attacked a "toxic" and "destructive" culture at the leading investment bank that is increasingly focused on making money from clients, in an article in the New York Times.

Legal Fees Mount at Fannie and Freddie

Philip Palij — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 02:54:11 -0500

Taxpayers have advanced almost $50 million in legal payments to defend former executives of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in the three years since the government rescued the giant mortgage companies, a regulatory analysis has found.

Memo
To: DOJ Funky fascist America Dept
Subject: Accountability

How come they can do this? Please resume obfuscation, ambivalence and sitting on hands posture, please re-read our no-accountability memo.

Sincerely,
Corporate America

On the Trail of Mortgage Fraud

Philip Palij — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 02:41:20 -0500

When is a crime not a crime?

When criminality subverts the system, challenges the system, becomes the system. From the Kleptocrats' point of view it is the systematic breakdown of each and every law which gets in their way; preventing the ascent to power of their enhanced moral values.

The Kleptocrats are really America's third political party.

Occupy Philadelphia: “Scrooges” Accountable in Day Long Caroling Tour

Philip Palij — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 18:23:36 -0500

Tis the season, the message is right, the spirit is willing and they are doing it in Philadelphia. The David and Goliath site tells of occupiers filling the air with harmonies, with a smile, with gusto and oodles of determination.

Real people real hope and real change, not some Wall St stuffed shirt specialising in lip service posing as a President.

The Writ of Habeas Corpus

Philip Palij — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 05:33:10 -0500

Habeas corpus (Latin: "you may have the body")[1] is a writ, or legal action, through which a prisoner can be released from unlawful detention, that is, detention lacking sufficient cause or evidence. The remedy can be sought by the prisoner or by another person coming to his aid. Habeas corpus originated in the English legal system, but it is now available in many nations. It has historically been an important legal instrument safeguarding individual freedom against arbitrary state action. It is a writ requiring a person to be brought before a judge.