The 'Swamp', TARP, Tax Evasion, & Money Laundering

[WhiskeyGirl]

Politicians 'Send us to Washington and we'll drain the 'Swamp'...How can you drain the swamp when you've been part of it for decades?  If only Americans had a trillion dollars for every wrinkle removed, every facelift, and every nail clipping...

Naming the names...

"Offshore Tax Crackdown Scorecard: UBS, Credit Suisse, HSBC" - from the title of the this artile...

How many of these banks got TARP, Federal Reserve, AIG, and other US taxpayer money?  Who did that money REALLY benefit?

Is this an exhaustive list of names?  Maybe thousands?  Tens of thousands?  Who are the people in the article that they get their names published?  Others do not?  Where is the complete list?

The crackdown has led to criminal charges against UBS, the largest Swiss bank, at least two dozen former UBS clients, four former UBS bankers, and five bankers at Credit Suisse Group AG (CSGN), Switzerland’s second-largest bank. Three former clients of HSBC Plc, Europe’s biggest bank, have been charged.

...In the fall of 2008, the bank had “thousands” of accounts with $3 billion in assets not declared to the IRS, according to the indictment. Credit Suisse said it is cooperating in the U.S. investigation of the bankers.

...The clients had deposits of almost $400 million in the accounts. HSBC said it doesn’t condone tax evasion and is cooperating with the U.S.

read more here - http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-05-23/offshore-tax-crackdown-scorecard-ubs-credit-suisse-hsbc.html

Every month, billions of dollars in remittances are sent to countries like Mexico and India.  Why isn't the government following that money trail?  What about all those accounts and account holders in India and Mexico?  In one month, more than $3 billion is transferred...

According to the World Bank's migration and remittance fact book for 2011, India continues to be the largest remittance receiving country in the world with an estimated USD 55 billion received during the year 2010.

source - http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2011-05-27/news/29589902_1_muthoot-finance-agent-locations-remittance

India RECEIVED more than $55 billion in 2010.  Why isn't Washington looking at ACTIVE transfers?

[WhiskeyGirl]

The money these migrants send home — in the form of remittances, usually through money-transfer services like Western Union — each year is considerable. Migrants from developing countries sent more than $325 billion in remittances last year.

All this is well documented and exhaustively studied by academics and development experts. What's less well known, perhaps, is the enormous savings these migrants have amassed. Preliminary estimates by the World Bank suggest that annual savings of the diasporas from developing countries could be in the range of $400 billion. For those from Africa, the figure is estimated at $52 billion.

These savings are mostly held as cash under the mattress or in low-yielding bank accounts in the countries of destination. Imagine if some of those savings were channeled into development efforts in poor countries. If one in every 10 diaspora members, whether rich or poor, could be persuaded to invest $1,000 in his or her country of origin, developing countries could potentially raise $20 billion a year for development financing.

read more here - http://www.npr.org/2011/05/25/136643087/foreign-policy-better-immigrant-money-management

How many of those working and sending home money are here illegally?  Collect welfare benefits?  Use bogus/stolen identity/Social Security numbers?  File tax returns and get more back then they pay in?

Why isn't Washington going after those billions?
Why is the US sending any foreign AID to these countries?  We're broke.  Americans don't have billions to hold in the mattress.

[WhiskeyGirl]

How much of the mortgage fraud was due to illegal aliens and those with bogus identities?

I only hear of the plight of Main Street Americans.  I've never heard of how many of these failed mortgages, failed for decades, over and over, went to illegal aliens and/or people who got home with bogus/fake/stolen identities?  Can't collect?  Can't track these people down?

Was that the intention?  Lower standards?  Implement liar loans to attract more illegals?  Give illegals already here an incentive to stay?

It seems to me government should be in a good position to do some detective work.  How about cross referencing all that mortgage data in Freddie/Fannie with welfare case load data?  IRS tax refund data?  IRS worker data?  Drivers license data?

When that bogus home mortgage was made and for the next 10 years, 200 welfare recipients lived at that address...$900,000 in tax refunds...

How much of that bad debt cannot be collected due to bogus/fraud identities?   Nobody noticed as the debt got bigger and bigger each year?

Efforts to reform the twins was greeted with "You just don't want poor people to have homes..."  - by someone who helped a boyfriend get a job at the twins decades ago?  Maybe they talked shop?  Gee...we have a 90% failure rate on those liar loans...

How can you drain the swamp when you've been part of the problem for decades?  Problems that transcend political party?

[WhiskeyGirl]

The Fed to the 'rescue'...

WASHINGTON—The Federal Reserve on Thursday proposed new rules aimed at protecting consumers who send money to relatives in countries in the Caribbean, Latin America and elsewhere.

Ms. Bowdler believes the final regulations will be "very valuable for consumers" because they will mandate "common sense" practices so that immigrants won't get hoodwinked by companies. Ms. Bowdler says many consumers who send money abroad are low-income immigrant workers who speak English as a second language, and they are vulnerable to fraudulent practices.

How about common sense reforms that benefit American taxpayers?  The massive Federal debt?  Clean up welfare fraud?  Money laundering?  Tax avoidance?

"There's a lot of money moving in remittances, and we believe if we can make that a more competitive market, a more transparent market, a fairer market for families, some of that money is going to stay with the families instead of draining off to other institutions," she said at an October news conference.

How many of those 'families' also collect welfare?  Avoid income reporting to welfare agencies?

read more here - http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703730804576319534078038232.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

Where is the fairness for the American taxpayer?  They worry about fees on foreign families but not the devalued dollar and low interest rate for American savers?

How about worrying about future generations of American families being drained by big government in Washington?  Foreign 'immigrant' families seem to be feathering their foreign nests at the expense of those with skin in the game - Americans and those here legally...

just my humble opinions

[WhiskeyGirl]

Barney has been a proponent of creating a 'wild west' for internet gambling.  Later, it was determined that internet gambling seemed to be a form of money laundering.

What about these money transfers?  Remittances?  How much of that is really money laundering?  Tax avoidance?  Welfare fraud?

Washington enablers at it again?  What happened to draining the swamp?  How can you drain the swamp when it's expanded to the worlds biggest and most secret private bank - the Federal Reserve?

Where is the transparency? 

She said the final regulations will be "very valuable for consumers" since they will mandate "common sense" practices so that Caribbean immigrants would not be ripped off by companies.

"Many consumers currently do not receive written information about their remittance transaction until after payment is tendered," said the US Federal Reserve in a statement. "There is inconsistency in the type of information disclosed by different providers."

...

The World Bank estimates that the total volume of remittance transfers to the Caribbean and other developing countries reached US$325 billion last year, adding that the US is the largest remittance-sending country in the world.

Read more: http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/US-proposes-new-rules-on-remittances-to-Caribbean_8801465#ixzz1NphKtbVN

What about taxpayer rip-offs?  Welfare fraud? There is no consistency in identification required to vote in this country, some folks vote and register without ever having to show a government issued ID.  How many illegals get welfare for their families?  Never show a government issued ID?  Work and never have income because they work with bogus/fraud/stolen identities?

Why isn't the swamp in Washington WORKING FOR THE AMERICAN PEOPLE?  Why do they only seem to work for foreigners, illegal aliens, and special interests?