Monday, September 16, 2013

13-09-17 FATCA: a Tool of the Electronic Surveillance State

Most here probably don't even know what FATCA is. (read below).  It was the pretex under which all my money in bank accounts in Israel was seized on January 1, 2013, purportedly on behalf of the US government, after I refused to sign "Waiver of Privacy" to the US government on all my banking transactions.

There were only a couple of problems:
1) It was done with no legal process at all, either in Israel or in the United States.  The Israeli Bank HaPoalim refused to issue any paper on it either.  They only told me by phone of their actions.
2) At the time (and also now) FATCA was not in effect, either in the US or Israel -- it had never been promulgated, and thererfore was not enforceable in the US, and there was no international agreement between the US and Israel regarding its effect in Israel.

Regardless, Stanley Fischer, Governor of Bank of Israel refused to register my Consumer's Complaint against a bank that unlawfully seized hundreds of thousands of dollars of my personal property, and the Israeli Supreme Court refused to register my Petition against Fischer, to Compell an Officer to Perform his Duties.

Eventually, I got my money back after seeking protection by the German Consul in Israel.

The case documented:
a) The role of Stanley Fischer as an agent of the US government and the banking cartel at their worst in Israel, in establishing the banks above the law, just as his student Bernanke did in the US.
b) Conditions in Israel as a corporatist province of the US - an Israeli bank was permitted to make up the law, adjudicate it, and enforce it as it wills.
c) The strange transformation since WWII, where Germany now is a center of liberty, whereas the US is a center of oppression.

jz
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Financial Data Provided to ‘Intel’ Agencies Considered ‘Not Inherently Confidential’ under U.S. Law

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James George Jatras for RepealFATCA.com
  
September 16, 2013
Washington, DC


Those familiar with the U.S. “Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act” (FATCA) – and in the United States, that’s not many people – think of it as either a as sledgehammer attempt to curb “offshore tax evasion” or (more accurately) as a costly, counterproductive, and indiscriminate burden on the global economic system; a compliance nightmare that only benefits tax lawyers, accountants, and software firms; a job-killing disincentive for foreign investment in the United States; a crude extraterritorial overreach in violation of every principle of sovereign legality; an abuse of the U.S. Senate’s constitutional treaty authority; a blatant violation of WTO and other trade commitments; and a financial “drone strike” against Americans living abroad

FATCA is all that and much, much more.  But in light of sweeping revelations about the email, telephone, and internet surveillance activities of the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA), it’s time to take a look at FATCA’s implications for personal electronic privacy and the growing power of U.S. intelligence agencies’ global “surveillance state.”
READ MORE:

13-09-16 US: Misc News of the Abuse: Police Kill Unarmed Former Football Player Seeking Help After a Car Crash

Because there is nothing more effective than random acts of violence to keep the People terrorized and subued! jz
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Police Kill Unarmed Former Football Player Seeking Help After a Car Crash

By Sy Mukherjee, Think Progress

Jonathan Ferrell, 24, had pulled himself out of a wrecked car before seeking help, only to be shot fatally by the police. READ MORE»
http://act.alternet.org/go/37787?t=9&akid=10940.1117888.ffpppu

13-09-16 US: Misc News of the Abuse: Dash Cam Video Shows Florida Police Busting Up Woman's Face


 Because there is nothing more effective than random acts of violence to keep the People terrorized and subued! jz
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Dash Cam Video Shows Florida Police Busting Up Woman's Face

Alex Kane, AlterNet

The police brutality victim's attorney said a lawsuit would go after the police for the incident. 

READ MORE»

http://act.alternet.org/go/37785?t=5&akid=10940.1117888.ffpppu

13-09-16 Fukushima!

And the news, regarding issues that are critical to the People of the US, again, is coming from RT!  It looks like the US gov wants to do nothing, and therefore the issue is blocked out. jz

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Scientific estimates predict that the radioactive plume travelling east across the Pacific will likely hit the shores of Oregon, Washington State and Canada early next year. California will probably be impacted later that year. Because the ongoing flow of water from the reactor site will be virtually impossible to stop, a radioactive plume will continue to migrate across the Pacific for many decades.

13--09-16 Misc News of the Abuse: License to kill - police shooting unarmed citizens

There is nothing more effective than random acts of violence to terrorize the People and keep them subdued.  jz
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From http://www.flickr.com/photos/10393857@N03/6727401311/
Here's a recipe for disaster: Take a young man (or woman), raise him on a diet of violence, hype him up on the power of the gun in his holster and the superiority of his uniform, render him woefully ignorant of how to handle a situation without resorting to violence, train him well in military tactics but allow him to be illiterate about the Constitution, and never stress to him that he is to be a peacemaker and a peacekeeper,

13-09-16 The Other American Gulag: Bagram Prison's Legal Black Hole...



The Other American Gulag: Bagram Prison's Legal Black Hole Locks Detainees in Nightmarish Limbo
By Samira Shackle, AlterNet
Is Bagram Prison about to become the next Guantanamo? 
http://act.alternet.org/go/37765?t=15&akid=10936.1117888.uBmKF4

12-09-16 Occupy!

By Rebecca Solnit, Tom Dispatch
Such transformative moments have happened in many times and many places—in these moments, the old order is shattered, governments and elites tremble, and civil society is born, or reborn. READ MORE»
http://act.alternet.org/go/37767?t=20&akid=10936.1117888.uBmKF4

13-09-16 The 21st century Greater Depression

I remember when I lived in Farmington, CT, a small village, meeting for the first time those, who called themselves "Depression Babies".  For example, the village plumber was a supersmart guy.  I asked him once how he ended up being a plumber.  He said he grew up during the Great Depression, and he ended up dropping out of high school to help provide for the family...  It is likely to be the case again.  A whole geeneration, or more, of lost opportunities.  And by the time the US would emerge from the 21st centuiry Greater Depression, it is likely to be a second tier nation at best... Furthermore, historians hold the Great Depression as one of the main causes of WW II, therefore, the 21st century Greater Depression poses high risks of a global disaster... jz
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We've Got a Billionaire Bailout Society—And the 99% May Never Recover From It In Our Lifetimes
Les Leopold, AlterNet
Our financial system is sucking up the wealth of the nation and using it to cover its losses. READ MORE»
http://act.alternet.org/go/37760?t=5&akid=10936.1117888.uBmKF4

13-09-16 Legacy of Teflon Stanley Fischer - first Governor of the State of Israel on behalf of the Banking Cartel

Fischer with his newly acquired Israeli ID in 2005
Stanley Fischer, PhD advisor to Bernanke in U of Chicago, left Citigroup before its collapse, and took the job of Governor of the Bank of Israel, which he held from 2005-2013.
It appears that his legacy is a real estate bubble and a looking banking crisis in Israel.

Sounds familar?

Today, following his departure, new reports were issued by Bank of Israel, which show how precarious the Israeli banking system is today: [1]
* About 35% of the volume of mortgages held by the banks are variable interest mortgages.
* The average mortgage almost tripled from 2003 to 2013, and most of the increase took place over the past 5 years.
* Between 2008-2012 average pay increased 20%, but average assessed real estate values increased by 54%
* From 2003 to 2013 average mortgage payment rose by more than 150%.
* Percentage of homeowners who spend over 40% of income in monthly mortgage payments is 17% - an all time high.
* Percentage of homeowners who spend over 50% of income in monthly mortgage payments is 8% - an all time high.
In conclusion the study says that any recession or significant inrease in interest rates is likely to cause a masive defaults, under which the banks would not be able to liquidate the assets, and will be exposed to heavy losses.

All of this took place in parallel to other government policies, which impoverished the majority of people in Israel, and concentrated control of the economy by a handful of "Tycoons".  A recent OEDC report says that income and asset distribution in Israel is inconsistent with nations under democratice regimes.

In parallel, in a recent sutdy 70% of Israeli adults reported that they would not be able to handle an unexpected expense of about $1,000.

And on the side, Fischer permitted to Israeli banks to enage in criminality, and placed them above the law. [2]

One is only left to wonder: Did the student Bernanke learn it from his teacher Fischer, or did Fischer leanrt it from Bernanke.

LINKS:
[1] 13-09-16 Bank of Israel study - concern of massive mortgage default
[2] 12-10-23 PRESS RELEASE – Petition alleges Bank of Israel Fischer patronizes criminality at Bank HaPoalim, BM


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13-09-16 William Butler Yeats