When Federal authorities discovered that the bank HSBC had knowingly laundering money for both drug cartels and terrorists groups, most of the world expected quick indictments to follow.

Instead, unfortunately for justice, the United states of america Justice Department determined that arresting the guilty parties at the bank because of its size would somehow jeopardize the United states and possibly even the global economy.

The same affair happened in 2009 when it was discovered numerous banks had been engaging in fraudulent practices that eventually led to the 2008 economic crunch. This fourth dimension, the president decided not to follow up, and for the same reasons.

Interestingly enough, the Huffington Postal service recently reported that the Federal Reserve admitted to maintaining an official government policy that big banks are just "too big to neglect."

This is nothing new. In 2022, US Attorney General Eric Holder testified before the Senate Judiciary Commission on the event. While being questioned by Senator Chuck Grassley (R-KS), Holder said:

"I am concerned that the size of some of these institutions becomes so large that it does become difficult for the states to prosecute them when we are hit with indications that if you lot do prosecute, if yous practice bring a criminal charge, information technology volition have a negative impact on the national economy, perhaps even the earth economic system and I think that is a function of the fact that some of these institutions have become too large."

The most recent "revelation" came during another congressional hearing final calendar week between William Dudley, president of the New York Federal Reserve Banking concern, and Senator Sherrod Dark-brown (D-Ohio).  Dudley spoke openly about the policy of withholding prosecution in such institutions. The purpose of the hearing, according to the Huffington Post, was to "explore the cozy relations between federal regulators and the banks that they supervise."

Elizabeth Warren

Perhaps Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass) explained this relationship all-time in an op-ed that as well appeared in the Huffington Post. While giving deference to the president in choosing his team, Warren sharply criticized his cozy relationship with the banks.

She specifically talked about Obama'due south option of Antonio Weiss for the mail of Nether Secretarial assistant for Domestic Finance at the Treasury Department. This particular position is responsible for overseeing the implementation of the Dodd-Frank Deed, as well as consumer protection. Weiss has worked with a number of large corporations in the past, however, doing their revenue enhancement inversions. Simply put, Weiss taught corporations how to avoid both paying taxes and following regulations, and he is now in accuse of drafting those regulations.

The fact is, however, that "banks" exercise non commit crimes; people commit crimes. Despite what the Supreme Court says, corporations are not people, because they cannot be jailed for crimes. When banking company employees step outside the law, the bank is not committing a crime. The individuals who planned and perpetrated the crime are responsible. The idea that absorbing and convicting a dozen or so individuals for committing crimes could jeopardize an unabridged business organisation that has tens of thousands of employees is completely ludicrous. The bank could simply hire new officers and move on.

It is not hard to find answers to the question of why the government takes such an unreasonable position. Nosotros need to wait at ii things: One, the financial contributors to the person responsible for appointing the regulators; and two, the people whom this person appoints.

Co-ordinate to Bloomberg, the president'southward height contributors were JP Morgan, Goldman Sachs Group, Wells Fargo & Company, and Chase & Visitor. In January 2022, Obama appointed Jack Lew, a former top CitiGroup official, to the post of Secretarial assistant of the Treasury. He as well appointed Nathan Sheets, who also worked for Citigroup, to the treasury'due south highest position for international finance. For the number 2 spot at the Federal Reserve, Obama chose still another Citi official, Stanley Fischer.

This is the principal problem with centralized institutions. People run them, and they have their own agendas, which may non be in the best interests of everyone else. The fact that big banks pool so many financial resource should daze more people. They openly bribe public officials with campaign contributions, including officials in the White Firm, and later they make the payoff, their own employees are put in place to "oversee" their institutional activities. This can only exist compared to the criminals guarding the police stations.

We need to proceed in mind that everyone who works in a bank, fifty-fifty at high levels, is not a criminal. At the same time, people with criminal intentions do seek positions of power. This is why decentralization of our financial organization is and so vitally important.

Campaign contributions by the banks, which continue them protected from prosecution, would not exist possible without the enormous amount of resources our business organization gives to them. If everyone would just take one-half of their avails and put them into whatever ane of the decentralized currencies, we could eradicate, or at least lessen, the ability that centralized institutions can have.


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