"You might think that parking your money in a big bank like JP Morgan Chase would insulate you from fraud. It’s just the opposite. The big banks are the biggest perpetrators of financial fraud – fraud that affects millions of us, either directly or indirectly, on an ongoing basis. While they are wrist slaps when properly scaled, you can see the list of 'settlements' made between the government and the big banks here. These 'settlements,' the aftermath of Wall Street's near production of a second Great Depression, entailed not a single criminal indictment. The top two repositories of banksters, based on the number of settlements, are Bank of America and JP Morgan Chase.
The banks engage in fraud for two reasons. First, they profit from swindling the public. Second, they can get away with it via a simple technique. They buy off the regulators with promises of enormously lucrative jobs when they leave government service, and they buy off the politicians with huge direct and indirect campaign contributions."
Laurence Kotlikoff,
When Banksters Buy Regulators and Prosecutors, Forbes, October 21, 2014
"It’s bad enough that
two trial lawyers have written a book [cited above] comparing Dimon’s leadership of the bank to the Gambino crime family, and
Bloomberg News spilling the secrets coming out of the Chicago precious metals trial, but now Dimon is likely to see new headlines linking his name to questionable payments to Tony Blair and unknown others."
Pam and Russ Martens,
JPM Whistleblower Cites Payments to Tony Blair, Wall Street on Parade, August 3, 2022
“Berlin. I used to love this old city. But that was before it had caught sight of its own reflection and taken to wearing corsets laced so tight that it could hardly breathe. I loved the easy, carefree philosophies, the cheap jazz, the vulgar cabarets and all of the other cultural excesses that characterized the Weimar years, and made Berlin seem like one of the most exciting cities in the world.”
Philip Kerr,
Berlin Noir: March Violets
“We'll always have Paris.”
Howard Koch, screenwriter,
Casablanca
Stocks were in risk on mode today, for whatever reason one wishes to imagine in order to rationalize its irrationality.
The Dollar was up marginally.
Gold and silver were hit lower again as is customary ahead of a non-farm payrolls report.
The amount of criminality and corruption in the US financial system should never be underestimated.
Why the American people allow themselves to be so easily distracted by divisive social controversies while being robbed blind by the kleptocracy is almost amazing.
But there is historical precedent. We know it, but we just cannot see it in ourselves, yet.
We are canning tomatoes tonight, and I did the blanching and peeling on eight quarts of San Marzanos.
Even with all the lack of rain, a proper drought in the past month, the garden is doing very well.
I have a huge pot of green beans that I am making 'West Virginia style.' My wife's maternal grandmother was from there and she always called them that.
Basically you fry bacon and saute an onion in a big pot and then steam the green beans down into them all, cooking out the liquid so that the beans are sauteed as well. Its very good especially if you have more mature beans that are not suitable for steaming. Try to pull off the strings before cooking.
My mind kept returning to Paris today. The last time I was there was in 1992, when I was attending a graduate business seminar at ESSEC concerning the proposed European Union. I think the slogan at the time was 'EU 92.'
The queen was tagging along on this trip and had a grand time, although she never went on a business trip again with me, as leaving the newly born young man with her parents was jarring for her.
Daisy gave the young man his first face licks today He was beaming.
Have a pleasant evening.
