60 thoughts on “A bank made of BRICS vs. a buck made of straw”

1. Em, in the article you reference may be the answer to the link to the article that Deckard provided GONE:

   Media Censorship of Genuine Reform Options

   In my view, first and foremost would be to abolish the Federal Reserve and the ability of private banks to create debt-based money out of thin air (see A Proposal to Strip Banks of Their Power to Issue Money ). This would have the immediate result of eliminating the national deficit, as well as drastically cutting the national debt. Second and third on the list would be withdrawing from idiotic fair trade treaties like NAFTA and the TPPP, which have decimated US manufacturing, and rebuilding US manufacturing capacity by subsidizing renewable energy production and technologies and public transportation instead of US oil companies. Number four would be instituting a 1% financial transaction tax (FTT) on all investment bank transactions (e.g. derivatives trading and other speculative activities). As of 2011, forty countries had enacted an FTT.

   Thanks to the iron control corporate lobbyists exert over our “elected” leaders and the mainstream media, these options can’t even be mentioned in polite US society, much less seriously debated and enacted.

   So long as stubborn corporate resistance to rational economic reform remains persists, the best we can expect is that the US economy will continue to deteriorate and the value of the dollar will continue its downward slide. The only uncertainty is how long the American people will continue to submit to ruthless oppression and exploitation by Wall Street corporations. Not long, in my view.

2. Another related article from the New York Times:

   http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/16/world/emerging-nations-bloc-to-open-development-bank.html?rref=world/europe

   …while the bloc involves countries with varying levels of economic growth, vastly different political systems and an array of simmering issues like the hostilities between Russia and Ukraine and the territorial disputes between China and its neighbors, analysts caution that its potential clout should not be taken lightly.

   “They still have just shy of half the world’s population,” said Kevin P. Gallagher, a professor of international relations at Boston University, emphasizing the influence the countries already have within organizations like I.M.F. and the World Trade Organization. “They are a force regardless of their growth rate, which will remain faster when averaged than the West’s for years to come.”

3. @EmBee
   That VT article is excellent. Is the secret out now? I was in awe of t his comment:
   ProtectUSA1st
   July 16, 2014 – 4:15 pm
   ——”On 4/18/13 The German government has been storing about half of its gold supply with the USA FED, apparently in the NYC FED vaults. Germany decided to bring home all its gold, but the FED has said that isn’t possible to do, and it would need until 2020 to be able to accomplish the transfer.”
   ——“The Germany then asked to visit the FED vaults to inventory the gold & determine its actual existence, but the FED refused to permit Germany to examine its own gold. The reasons given were “security” &“ no room for visitors”….…They apparently came a second time, and… the FED did open only one of 9 rooms were permitted ….to look at the stack of gold, but were not permitted to either enter or touch. ….”
   —— Even more, the situation is the same with the supposed gold depository at Fort Knox. Nobody has seen the gold there for a very long time. The last audit, and the last public visit, was in 1953, just after USA President Dwight Eisenhower took office. —- No outside experts were allowed during that audit, and the audit team tested only about 5% of gold there. So, there hasn’t been a comprehensive audit of Fort Knox in over 60 years…”
   ——-”Goldman Sachs were proven to have been selling gold certificates to the public, ostensibly backed by real gold in their vaults, but the story leaked out that they in fact held no gold at all, ……Even worse, Goldman were charging customers storage fees for the gold that didn’t exist.”

4. http://pando.com/2014/03/19/banks-just-create-money-out-of-thin-air-the-truth-is-out-there/

5. An old post predicting something like this:

   http://renounceuscitizenship.wordpress.com/2012/04/20/peaceful-resistance-to-fatca-will-result-in-an-alternative-financial-system/

   Includes:

   People always overestimate what they can do in one year and underestimate what they can do in ten years.

   Let’s put this into perspective. The U.S. is one of the biggest debtors in the world. Evey year it goes “cap in hand” begging other countries to buy its debt. As you know, China is one of the biggest buyers of this debt. The debtor does NOT set the terms of the arrangement! This is why, there are numerous articles (whether true or not) that China will simply not comply with FATCA. I suspect that in the short run, many countries will claim to be complying with FATCA, but will be looking for a way to bypass the U.S. financial system. They will do this because the U.S. is a declining power (or to put it more kindly – other countries are becoming very relevant). This means that it’s survival will depend on it becoming less of a bully and playing more nicely (if it wants anybody to play with them at all).

   Came across this interesting comment this morning by todundsteuer*, which should be a separate post. The most relevant paragraph (The post is about: Senate Bill 1813 Passport Confiscation and “Stop Taxhaven Abuse”) is:

   The greatest threat to the effectiveness of both Charlie’s FATCAT and Carl’s STHA is the very real possibility that they will trigger a reaction that attempts nothing less than the establishment of an alternative world financial system parallel to that based on the Tokyo-NY-London-Frankfurt axis.

   Johannesburg, Dubai, Mumbai, Jakarta, Singapore, Sao Paolo, Shanghai suggest themselves.

   One highly-regulated, highly taxed, safe but stagnant and the other looser, lightly taxed, risky but freewheeling and dynamic.

   Just this week China unleashed its “new yuan” – signalling its intention to make the yuan a serious world currency. The establishment of an alternative financial system CANNOT be established on one year. An alternative financial system CAN be established in ten years! Furthermore, it will not be the world’s biggest debtors who control the new world order!

   Some advice to the U.S. and Senator Levin:

   Stop citizenship-based taxation – Repeal FATCA!

   *Here is this most insightful comment in its entirety:

   todundsteuer
   April 20, 2012 at 9:46 am

   The “Stop Tax Havens Abuse” (Section 100201 of MAP-21) is the legislative baby of Sen. Carl Levin (D. Mich.). His original draft legislation by that name was introduced in 2009 and was much more aggressive than this comparatively mild iteration.

   His original bill was aimed at the US tax code (Title 26 United States Code) and contained a list of countries that would be statutorily decreed to be what the bill defined as “offshore secrecy jurisdictions”. It did everything except authorize the 82d Airborne to take these countries “out”.

   Sen. Carl was said to have been dissuaded from pursuing his original bill in favor of allowing Charlie Rangel’s FATCAT bill (Yes, the original FATCA had a ‘T’ on the end for 2009.) Charlie was then the Chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee.

   FATCAT, as we all know, took the tactic of end-running governments by going after banks and the big money they represent. The theory being that if you have ‘em by the banks their hearts, minds – and governments will follow.

   As we can now see, Charlie Rangel’s approach is proving prophetic. At least 5 European governments are already lined up to play ball and Israel (and, according to rumor control: China) also making noises in that direction.

   Unlike Sen. Levin’s original “Stop Tax Havens Abuse” bill, the latest iteration has abandoned the anti-country approach and instead also takes the approach of threatening to kick the opponent in their banks – where it really hurts. His draft law also uses Title 31 of the USC (where the FBAR regulations are located) rather than the income tax title.

   The greatest threat to the effectiveness of both Charlie’s FATCAT and Carl’s STHA is the very real possibility that they will trigger a reaction that attempts nothing less than the establishment of an alternative world financial system parallel to that based on the Tokyo-NY-London-Frankfurt axis.

   Johannesburg, Dubai, Mumbai, Jakarta, Singapore, Sao Paolo, Shanghai suggest themselves.

   One highly-regulated, highly taxed, safe but stagnant and the other looser, lightly taxed, risky but freewheeling and dynamic.

   We shall see.

6. @Northernstar
   I can’t help but wonder why the German Government would store their gold supply with the US FED.

7. House Votes to Slash IRS Tax Enforcement Budget
   =======================================

   The GOP-controlled House has voted to slash the budget for the Internal Revenue Service’s tax enforcement division by $1.2 billion, a 25 percent cut that would mean fewer audits of taxpayers and make it more likely that people who cheat on their taxes will get away with it.

   http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory/house-gop-slashes-irs-tax-enforcement-budget-24567660

   House Ravages IRS, Guts $1.1 Billion from Tax Enforcement Budget
   http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2014/07/15/house-ravages-irs-guts-1-1-billion-from-tax-enforcement-budget/

8. Can black holes grow in size?

9. Well again I will never get a response from my forms 1040 and 8854 (the latter is filed after your renounce to clear you of any further US taxation). Can black holes grow in size? In other words, how much more unresponsive can they get beyond having never a response??

10. Thinking about the unseen gold.. maybe that is why Nixon took the dollar off the gold standard. Hmmmmm.

11. @kermitzii

    Consider no news being good news… don’t get all worried about it… u can’t control the outcome… u do the best u can… that is all u can do

12. @kermitzii
    No one ever gets a positive response from the IRS, e.g. they’ll never write you a letter saying all is well and you’re off the hook forever. It won’t happen. The best you can hope for is that you never hear from them again, because if you do, it won’t be good news.

13. I have just posted the following on the Jamaica Gleaner web site (if it makes it out of moderation) at http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20140717/cleisure/cleisure3.html
    ___________________________________________________________
    Thank you for this excellent letter. Whilst I do not think that every nuance is in fact so, I believe that you have a significant insight into the evil that is FATCA and its spawn. I do not think that this has anything material to do with tax evasion …. as the estimated costs of enforcement / compliance are estimated at something like 10 times the taxes that the IRS expect to collect. Indeed the expected tax (separate from cruel and unusual penalties and before deducting the costs of enforcement) collection (some $796 million per annum) is a mere drop in the bucket compared to the US tax base or even to its deficit. My view is that this is an imposition of an invisible Berlin Wall around the US … not to keep the rest of us out of the US economy (although that will be its effect over time) but to keep Americans contained within their own borders … aka Capital Controls … perhaps you remember our experience with Exchange Control in the 1970s / 1980s enforced at the time by our very own Financial Intelligence Unit – a most distasteful time that pushed ordinary middle class Jamaican citizens into breach of the laws of our country to fight for survival of their own families – to pay for overseas education, to travel, to even do business (remember the “no funds” import licenses?). In addition, I believe that the intent of FATCA is to have a “nuclear force” weapon forever pointed at every other country in the world …. the 30% withholding from every transfer of funds out of the US to an Institution in any other country that does not comply with US rules (McCain and Levin have already made it clear in correspondence that this is a driving intent and demand that no FATCA IGA be put in place with Russia whilst they are involved in the Ukraine). Finally, I believe the ultimate goal is to populate the NSA databases with the financial account information of the entire world (outside the US) – the next step is to include the details of all designated “US Persons” (not just citizens and green card holders), the spouses and children of such “US Persons” (regardless of their citizenship or residence), the business partners and businesses of such “US Persons” if those “US Persons” own at least 10% of the business, the employers of any “US Persons” if those “US Persons” are in a senior role such that they have signing authority on the employer’s financial accounts and every person regardless of citizenship that has signing authority on any accounts with an aggregate balance of the equivalent of US$1 million in any institution. This is an evil worthy of Hitler or Stalin. This is in clear contravention of the Sovreignty, Constitutions and Charters of Rights of every country on earth. This FATCA DEMANDS that Discrimination based on National Origin, place of birth and other factors be forcibly introduced into every country on earth EXCEPT the US. This behavior is NOT in accordance with the US Constitution. FATCA needs to be rejected wholesale by the entire world.

    There are those who are seeking to fight this evil. In the US, the noted lawyer Mr Jim Bopp is mobilizing a Constitutional challenge against the institution of FATCA and the Republicans Overseas have adopted resolutions calling for the repeal of FATCA. Mr Rand Paul is standing strong against FATCA like legislation. Mr Jim Jattras of reprealfatca.com has work tirelessly to spread the word about this evil. In Canada, where the Charter of Rights looks very similar to our own here in Jamaica, a Constitutional Challenge is being mounted by a coalition of individuals of all political persuasions who object to the over ride of the Canadian Constitution and Canadian Sovereignty that FATCA represents … http://www.adcs-adsc.ca/Contact.html

    There are a wealth of resources that can be found on the web sites isaacbrocksociety.ca and maplesandbox.ca

    I believe that given that Canada is the largest trading partner with the US, a developed country with huge geographic and mineral resources and with a Charter of Rights similar to our own …. we Jamaicans and other Commonwealth countries should band together and aid the Canadian fight to overturn FATCA.

    To the extent that any material tax is involved – it arises as a result of the improper basis for the US tax system (shared in this respect by only one other country in the world; Eritrea) – that is to say a Citizenship Based Taxation (“CBT”) system (ok … a Document Based System as they also link Green Card holders into this … and foreign descendants of such people …. and so on). ALL other countries (other than the US and Eritrea) have a form of RESIDENCE based taxation if they have taxation at all (Cayman and Bahamas are examples of no tax) – ie – if you reside here then you pay tax here on your world wide income. The US say that if you have any US Taint then they dont care where you reside then you must account to the US for your world wide income. The US (and Eritrean) CBT systems are evil and are meant more as punishment to those seeking to escape their domination (post Civil War and see also Schumers more recent attempts to punish wealthy Americans for leaving the US).

    Thank God the BRICS countries (which represent something more than 50% of the world’s population) as of yesterday have announced an alternative financial system to that dominated by the US presently. The BRICS New Development Bank is to be headquartered in Shanghai, with a Regional office in South Africa, the first Chairman is to be India and I believe the first President is to be Russian. This is expected in due course to be an alternative to the World Bank / IMF / Washington cabal. Check out http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-07-15/brics-announce-100-billion-reserve-bypass-fed-developed-world-central-banks

    And now I see Bunting and his assorted agencies wanting to get access to our personal phone records and to make it harder for us to defend ourselves with representation by our lawyers and accountants when we are accused of whatever wrongdoing du jour is invented that week. This sort of NAZI like, Gestapo type, Surveilance State is an abomination. This is NOT a healthy situation. Indeed I see Britain rushing through emergency legislation to allow the continued storage of telecommunications data despite the ruling by the EU courts that such data should not be retained. We are living in times that are reminiscent of Hitler’s Germany and Stalin’s USSR … and sadly I see no free democracies remaining to fight for freedom.

    The Magna Carta seems to be reduced to a mere wall decoration.

14. This won’t end well. You know you’re in big trouble when the IMF offers its “help”:

    IMF congratulates BRICS for new fund, offers help

    (Reuters) – The International Monetary Fund on Wednesday congratulated the five BRICS countries for creating a new reserves fund that intends to challenge Western dominance in the global lender.

    The IMF’s managing director, Christine Lagarde, said the lender would like to work with the BRICS in the new fund, which pools together $100 billion in reserves from Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.

    BRICS leaders on Tuesday launched the fund and a joint bank of the same size in a bold step to press for a bigger say in the global financial order centered on the IMF and the World Bank.

    The fund, known as Contingent Reserve Arrangement, aims to help BRICS countries with balance of payment difficulties.

    “IMF staff would be delighted to work with the BRICS team dedicated to this project with a view to reinforcing the cooperation among all parts of the international safety net,” Lagarde said in a statement.

    China, holder of the world’s largest foreign exchange reserves, will contribute the bulk of the reserves pool, or $41 billion. Brazil, India and Russia will chip in $18 billion each and South Africa $5 billion.

    http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/07/17/us-brics-imf-idUSKBN0FM01F20140717?feedType=RSS&feedName=GCA-Economy2010

15. Sleazy-pitiful is the description that pops into my head for the IMF “congratulations”.

16. This article from May suggests that the Fed’s “laundered” over $141B through Belgium, after some mystery country(s) dumped $104B in US Treasuries. Why?

    “As impelled as the Fed is to protect the large banks that sit on the board of directors of the NY Fed, the Fed has to protect the dollar. That the Fed believed that it could not buy the bonds outright but needed to disguise its purchase by laundering it through Belgium suggests that the Fed is concerned that the world is losing confidence in the dollar.

    If the world loses confidence in the dollar, the cost of living in the US would rise sharply as the dollar drops in value. Economic hardship and poverty would worsen. Political instability would rise.

    If the dollar lost substantial value, the dollar would lose its reserve currency status. Washington would not be able to issue new debt or new dollars in order to pay its bills.

    Its wars and hundreds of overseas military bases could not be financed.

    The withdrawal from unsustainable empire would begin. The rest of the world would see this as the silver lining in the collapse of the international monetary system brought on by the hubris and arrogance of Washington.”

    http://www.globalresearch.ca/the-us-dollars-fragile-reserve-currency-status-the-great-deceiver-the-federal-reserve/5382184

17. What is the IMF?
    http://useconomy.about.com/od/internationalorganizations/p/IMF.htm

    Killing the dollar : G20 & IMF Push for Global Fed, Global Currency.
    http://www.thenewamerican.com/economy/economics/item/14579-killing-the-dollar-g20-imf-push-for-global-fed-global-currency

18. @Deckard1138
    the IMF is like the wolf saying to the lamb …let me help you.

    The Federal Reserve is a private bank, not the governbank…. Many Americans have no idea.

    Time to read CONFESSIONS OF AN ECONOMIC HITMAN again…. I read it long ago. and learned the truth.

19. IMF offers of good luck and *help* is basically a back hand way of saying… soon as we can… we will take u over… how dare u do this…

20. Once again, Sovereign Man (Simon Black) tells it like it is:

    July 17, 2014
    Malaga, Spain

    Like a lot of kids who grew up in the 80s, my parents enrolled me in organized basketball when I was around 9 or 10 years old.

    We weren’t really any good… just a bunch of kids from the Nintendo generation who would have rather been playing Jordan vs. Bird in our living rooms instead of dribbling through the real thing.

    In all honesty I have to say we went two straight years without winning a single game. It must be some sort of record for the sorriest team ever assembled.

    But there was this one kid… his name was Robbie… who thought he was some kind of basketball virtuoso.

    I mean, this guy really thought he was Michael Jordan even though he sucked just as much as the rest of us.

    But this self-delusion led him to believe that he was our team leader (we all hated him).

    And Robbie had obviously watched a lot of movies because he used to throw out these lame motivational lines all the time like, “Alright boys, we’ve got ’em right where we want ’em…” when we’d be down 24 to 6.

    And he was serious.

    Despite a long, painful, losing track record unblemished by even a single success, and faced with overwhelmingly more powerful and skillful opponents, Robbie still managed to believe that he was in control of the game, and of the other players.

    It was astounding. Robbie never let reality get in the way of his delusions.

    Sure, there’s something to be said for optimism and playing your heart out to the bitter end.

    But Robbie had taken clear denail of obvious facts and elevated it to an artform.

    Judging by what I’ve just read, I’m thinking Robbie might have grown up and gone to work for the IMF.

    Remember, the IMF was formed to be a critical component of the new dollar-dominated global financial system that was created after World War II.

    The US has far and away the most voting power with a 17.69% share, so nothing really happens at the IMF unless Uncle Sam approves it.

    This might have made sense back in the 1950s. Or even the 80s when Robbie was hogging the ball.

    But things have changed. Today, the US is barely the world’s largest economy. It is far and away the world’s biggest debtor. And it constantly punishes the world with destructive monetary policy that weakens the entire system.

    Nearly every other nation on the planet for YEARS has been pestering the IMF to catch up to reality.

    Think about it– the combined GDPs of the Brazil, Russia, India, China (plus South Africa, known as BRICS nations) is more than the US and Europe combined.

    They have 40% of the world’s population, at least 20% of its output, and on a net basis, almost none of its debt.

    Yet they have almost no say over the financial system that rules them all. It’s absurd.

    They warned the US and Europe for years: “Reform, or we will create our own system to compete with you.”

    Now they’ve followed through on their word.

    As I reported to you a few days ago, BRICS leaders met in the beautiful city of Fortaleza, Brazil earlier this week to form their new development bank and draft a reserve agreement.

    In doing so, they have put the IMF on a path to total irrelevance and taken a huge step towards launching a brand new financial system.

    In the summit’s press release, they stated:

    “We remain disappointed and seriously concerned with the current non-implementation of the 2010 International Monetary Fund (IMF) reforms, which negatively impacts on the IMF’s legitimacy, credibility and effectiveness. ”

    In response, the IMF has released a very brief statement congratulating the BRICS nations and saying that they will be “delighted” to work together.

    You have to admire them for trying to put a brave face on their looming irrelevance.

    But this is really just more self-delusion and total denial of reality: the IMF, and the entire dollar-based financial system it represents, are finished.

    The most powerful economies in the world have just aligned against them, and the IMF is ‘delighted’.

    It reminds me of Robbie: “we’ve got ’em right where we want ’em.”

    Back in reality, anyone paying attention can look at the score and know exactly how this game is going to end.

21. In keeping with Simon’s theme: the BRIC’s bank could be a ‘game changer’. Let’s just hope that Robbie doesn’t somehow buy the franchise.

22. Great analogy.

    In response, the IMF has released a very brief statement congratulating the BRICS nations and saying that they will be “delighted” to work together.

    Who asked them?

23. LOL, Calgary411. Just like who asked MP John Weston when he said he was “thrilled” about the FATCA IGA. The gentleman and the IMF are delighted and thrilled ‘too much’. Sometimes you’re better off not having an opinion too soon.

24. Summer reading:
    http://www.commieblaster.com/nwo-cfr-bilderberg/

25. Al Jazeera reporting:

    http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2014/7/15/brics-bank-announced.html?utm_campaign=wklynewsletter071714&utm_medium=email&utm_source=editorialnewsletter