Part 3 "Our Enemy: the Journalist" [3/4] [3/4] Whitewash [The Predictable Agenda Revealed] All these developments suggest that the world's existing ["]defences["] against ["]dirty["] money are ["]inadequate["]. [And we all know what their definition of "adequate" would be.] [*]Banking secrecy is a serious problem[*]. As the table shows, bankers in a number of "high-priority" centres can still be prosecuted [heaven forbid!] if they hand over confidential information to officials investigating laundering cases. [So, absent probable cause that a _real_ crime has been committed, "officials" must be allowed to engage in fishing expeditions without repercussion. Therefore, we must give these "officials" carte blanche access to: 1) private (actually public) bank data. 2) safe deposit boxes (send a spare key to FATF when you rent a box). 3) private records (unrecoverable encryption made a felony). 4) physical warrantless searches of "suspected currency smugglers" (on the spot or no-knock). Carte Blanche access is the ultimate goal. All done "confidentially" you understand. I won't tell the victim if you don't. And people would wonder why I don't have a domestic bank account.] It also shows that several of these centres have yet to extend their anti-laundering regimes to cover non-bank financial institutions. [the operative word being _yet_.] No wonder some financial poLiceman claim they are being asked to fight laundrymen with one hand tied behind their backs. [a straightjacket and possibly rope + oak tree would be appropriate <g>] As if that were not bad [good] enough, the current approach to tackling the [non-]problem of onshore and offshore laundering havens is flawed, too. The FATF has done some useful work, [like what exactly?] but it has not been tough enough with slowcoaches. It only censured Turkey several years after it became a member. [Turkey should tell this ATF to go take a flying leap] And it has yet to take action against Austria, another member, which still has anonymous savings accounts [which due to their membership in the reconstituted Holy Roman Empire they will eventually sell out or at best phase out with grandfather clauses] for its citizens [and many non-citizens as well, leave our Sparbuchen alone thank you very much] despite an FATF [*]edict[*] banning anonymity. [A most curious use of language: "despite an edict banning anonymity". And just who is it that supposedly granted FATF the authority to issue _edicts_ (as in dictate, force, coerce) or _ban_ a single goddamn thing?! Apparently a collective "hive" of enthroned, unaccountable, power-usurping bureaucrats are justifying their existence by rendering decisions "for" the little people and sees itself fit to spew forth proclamations unbeknownst to many under imaginary authority it has granted unto itself. How very regal of them. Is said edict (banning anon accounts) an example of the "useful work" this _anonymous_ journalist refers to? The irony is delicious. Does this represent the type of government-by-edict rule that he/she/it finds so agreeable? Perhaps she-he-it spends too much time attending WTO meetings and schmoozing with those-who-know-better to discuss the latest nuances of negotiated edict proclamations. You (anonymous, E-Communist writer) need to get out more, buckwheat. How about putting this edict thingy up for a vote of the Austrian people? An antiquated idea I realize but it would give you and your associates an opportunity to further propagandize the great unwashed to the cause of Total State Control. OTOH, then these aspiring fiscal tyrants would have to crawl out of their committee meetings and explain to the rabble why it is so urgent that private banking be abolished (confidentially, of course). Besides which, owners of anonymous accounts like them just the way they are and would find another way to keep their property out of your greedy little paws regardless (even if you did somehow manage to convince 50.0001% of the vooters to help you fight non-crime. "We" don't have to show you no steeenkin' passport).] Some anti-laundering campaigners say that criticism of members in evaluation reports is often watered down for diplomatic reasons [how can an evaluation be watered down when it starts with zero substance?]. "Every report was put through so many whitewashes", complains Sue Thornhill, [parasite, ] a consultant on laundering to the British Bankers Association. The FATF's fans [such as they are outside the GovernMedia sphere of influence] admit that some plea-bargaining goes on, but insist that it does not let countries off lightly. [What is this utter nonsense: "plea-bargaining" (?) "does not let countries off lightly" (?) Are representatives of "guilty" nations hauled off to some FATF Star Chamber and forced to perform lewd acts with smart cards?!?] Whatever the truth, [the truth being that money laundering is not a crime; acknowledgment of which would run counter to your basic philosophical premise and thus be dismissed as extremist libertarian kookery] there is an even bigger problem with the task force's approach [the problem is the existence of FATF and other agencies of its ilk]. Every time it persuades a financial centre [against it's best interests] to crack down on laundering, crooks will move to new ones [as would any normal person who places a value on customer service]. As the amount of money that comes with them grows, so the incentive for these other havens to change their ways will dimish. [until they become fat and happy like Helvetia, then they begin to evidence a strange desire to look 'respectable' in front of the 'world community' and now readily strap on the knee-pads for their pimp: the United States] The FATF seems to be hoping that peer-group pressure is the solution. [Oh yeah? Just because your friends have abolished (de facto) bank secrecy and have ceased jailing informants and foreign moles does that mean you're going to do it as well? What would your mother say about that?] It has set up a regional Caribbean task [tax] force and is ["]supporting["] the creation of an Asia-Pacific anti-laundering group. [picture an enterprising cretin at FATF calling some string-puller over at the IMF: 'Tell them to give us all the access we want to foreign account holder data or else no more taxpayer coerced bailout for you Asians'...] But even if this attempt to sign up new members works, such an approach will take a long time. And there is a danger that many members will sign up to get the FATF's badge of respectability [and the cushy do-nothing jobs that go along with it for political hacks and career bureaucrats], and then drag their feet over implementing its recommendations. [confusing, are they _edicts_ or _recommendations_ ?] So are economic sanctions against refuseniks the answer? The sort of "economic warfare" envisaged by Senator Kerry is not. Banning citizen[-hostage]s of a few rich countries from dealing with known laundromats would hurt legitimate businesses, while crafty launderers would find ways round the restrictions. [Senator Kerry, (Looter-Taxachusetts): "Yeah right, that's a wimpy apologetic journalist pretending to present both sides of an issue, let's get real here, no _legitimate_ business would need to have an Aruban bank account when our local S&L offers backup withholding, full disclosure on request to any and all government employees, demands for SSN's and fingerprints, deposit insurance and CTRs, in short all the protection and benefits the surveillance state has to offer. So those who have the mistaken notion that all assets DO NOT belong to the state and DO NOT submit to the fact that those assets they are trying to keep from our grasp belong TO US and are only on temporary loan to individual shee, um, people need to be set straight and made an example of. I say we must pull another Panama and invade these small narco-terrorist haven countries and shut all their banks down permanently. If citizens of these pathetic excuses for states want a bank account, our good Bwoston banks are more than happy to serve them."] That leaves Mr Tanzi's proposed strategy as the only current proposal with something to recommend it. Of course, getting an international agreement on minimum anti-laundering standards will not be an easy task. But it is worth a try. For without a concerted global response [= global surveillance of every transaction = dictatorial global bureaucracies] to the problem of ["]dirty["] money, the world's money-laundering machine will be off on yet another devastating [to whom?] cycle. [Summary: Banking secrecy is a serious problem. Unreported asset possession is a serious problem. Non-governmental ComSec is a serious problem. Non-intelligence-agency laundering is a serious problem. Anonymous ownership transfers are a serious problem. Unreported cash transactions are a serious problem. Cash is a serious problem. Teenage fucking is a serious problem. Non-alcohol, non-prescription drug consumption is a serious problem. Contraband smuggling is a serious problem. The emerging e-cash threat is a serious problem. Anonymous accounts are a serious problem. Bearer shares are a serious problem. Multiple identities are a serious problem. Unregistered gun ownership is a serious problem. Inadequate government staffing is a serious problem. Inadequate international cooperation is a serious problem. Inadequate tax revenue is a serious problem. Freedom is a serious problem. Unacceptable. These activities will be stopped. You will be assimilated. These FATF swine need a good ass-kicking.]
E-Communist 25 St James's Street London SW1A 1HG www.economist.com
Fly Low S'n'S Pro:__Money Laundering__Self Medication__Militia Grade Arms__Realism________ __Indirect Taxation___________Adults___________Individual Irrevocable Right$ } Smurf N Sniff Non-Member, Gunfiscators of Canberra | } P.O. Bunker 6669 "We don't want to be like those paranoid | } Hohoe, Ghana Americans, this is a social DemoBracy." | } fn-fal@edict.gov.un +233 55 1234 boycott GovernMedia NLC | ANTI:_feral guVermin____Vooters__________blue hellmutts______nihilists______ __biometric herd management__"(The) children"__state granted privilege_____!---------------------------------------------------------------------------