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Strategies & Market Trends : 2026 TeoTwawKi ... 2032 Darkest Interregnum -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: elmatador who wrote (58765)	12/10/2009 8:29:46 PM
From: THE ANT	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 217713

No,still here.Wife in Brazil.Taking care of kids and house.Working two jobs.Home schooling one son.Waiting for Christmas visitors.Planning next vacation.Same old same old

To: elmatador who wrote (58765)	12/10/2009 9:00:18 PM
From: TobagoJack	4 Recommendations Respond to of 217713

Hello elmat, what have you done to the thread? Neutron bombed it, leaving the thread trails but less the people? In any case, just in in-tray Player 1: New coup of government wastrels against private wealth protection. Remarkably politicians talk of money laundering and financial crime instead of calling it just tax evasion what would be the more correct term, I presume. business.timesonline.co.uk December 10, 2009 HSBC whistleblower in hiding amid money-laundering investigation Adam Sage in Paris Swiss authorities have opened a criminal inquiry after allegations that a former HSBC employee gave stolen data concerning client accounts at the bank’s Geneva branch to French tax authorities. The whistleblower has also sparked a money-laundering investigation in France and a diplomatic tussle between Paris and Berne over the latest breach in Swiss banking secrecy. Eric Woerth, the French Budget Minister, faced claims that he had compiled a list of 3,000 French people suspected of holding Swiss bank accounts to avoid paying tax in France . Mr Woerth said that he had not paid for the information, but pointedly failed to deny that he had used it. Le Parisien newspaper said that the files contained details of thousands of clients of HSBC Private Bank in Geneva. The bank sought to downplay the controversy and said that “potentially fewer than ten people” were involved. It did, however, confirm that a former employee in its IT department had stolen data. The bank said that it had lodged a formal claim for theft with the Swiss police, prompting a full-scale criminal inquiry. The whistleblower is described as 38-year-old man with dual French and Italian nationality, who has been placed under police protection in southern France. He is said to have hacked into HSBC’s client database after foiling its security system and copying details of the accounts. Patrick Rizzo, the man’s lawyer, said that the man had been given a false identity and a new passport by the French authorities. Mr Rizzo described the Franco-Italian as an idealist who wanted to use transparency to fight financial crime, and added that he was collaborating with detectives in deciphering the documents. However, a policeman said that the whistleblower had made himself indispensable by coding the computer files using a system of his own invention. Le Parisien said that Eric de Montgolfier, the state prosecutor in Nice, had opened a preliminary investigation into claims that some French HSBC clients had been involved in money laundering. The inquiry has fuelled tension between France and Switzerland, with Paris refusing a request by Berne to hand over the suspect. Instead, a French prosecutor questioned the whistleblower on behalf of the Swiss authorities and sent a copy of his answers to Berne. Disclosure of the case sparked embarrassment in Paris after government claims in August that it held a list of 3,000 tax evaders with Swiss accounts containing assets worth about €3 billion (£2.7 billion). Christine Lagarde, the French Finance Minister, said that she had asked Mr Woerth whether he had bought the stolen files from the whistleblower. “He told me: ‘We don’t pay,’ ” she said. Despite the promise of an amnesty for tax exiles who bring their money back into France, only a few hundred people have done so. Last year, a former employee of LGT bank in Liechtenstein sold details of thousand of bank accounts to the German authorities for €4.2 million. Player #2: Martin Armstrong's argumentation for "real, tangible assets" that are movable (i.e. gold, paintings, etc.) appears to be making more and more sense....they are the ONLY items that cannot be printed away or taxed..... Player #3: Another interpretation-The French trained this guy at the equivalent of their FBI or CIA academy in state of the art IT. He's already French, so he blends in perfectly in Geneva anyway. He did his job, they’ve debriefed him, and now the only place the spy can't travel is Switzerland. France gets potentially billions in tax dollars v. the $ 100K or so they probably paid their spy for high-risk Jason Bourne style duty. Much smarter than the Germans, who could have sent their native spies to unlock the keys to the Zurich databases, but took the soft option instead and paid over $ 6 million usd for it. Player #4: nothing is 100% safe - after all, the state can always resort to confiscation. however, these movable assets are not so easily traceable, and enterprising people may find ways to hide them. Armstrong has a good point re. flight into such assets signifying declining confidence in the State. as an example, at the height of the Weimar inflation, one man reportedly bought an entire block of prime Berlin real estate for a single gold ounce. i'm not certain if this story is really true, but it would make sense in light of Armstrong's theory. the way forward seems to be to first destroy all remaining private sector wealth before proceeding to destroy the underlying currency system. or maybe it's going to be done in parallel, in a sort of pincer movement. it all reminds me fatally of the desperate Caesar of the Roman Empire in its final stages. they plundered private wealth by hook and crook, and finally they destroyed the currency with breath-taking efficiency. interestingly, although the period following the empire's collapse is nowadays referred to as the 'dark ages' there are indications that it was really a lot less dark than hitherto assumed. once the predatory State had expired, human progress and wealth creation resumed relatively unhindered for a while.