Too Big To Follow the Rules.

Well, it's been awhile but there is finally something that has poked this bear (angry and grouchy, not big, hairy and gay) enough to get me to fire up another blog post.

HSBC

No I haven't hit a pile of random letters. HSBC is a bank. A really big bank. So big, they got a bag full of 3.5 Billion dollars in the storm of bank bail outs a little while ago. That's no pocket change.

Now you're probably asking yourself, Rory (I assume that when you're talking to yourself you address me) what has done it? What risky business practise is HSBC involved in that would drive you so mad? Is it something that will cause them to go broke again?

No. Actually it's quite the opposite. They're involved in a "risky" venture that will make them rich. Like, crazy drug lord rich.

What is it? Laundering money.............for drug lords...........and terrorists.

That's right. I'm not making it up. It's not exageration. HSBC was just fined 1.9 Billion dollars for laundering massive amounts of money for the worst of the worst on the planet.

Now don't get me wrong, 1.9 Billion is a lot of billions, but I want the juicy stuff. Jail time. The real deal. Who's getting what and for how long?

Nobody. Nothing. None time, none long.

So again, to re-iterate: Money Laundering - A crime.  Aiding terrorist organizations - A crime.   Aiding drug cartels - A crime.

The penalty for these crimes, some of the money you made from their proceeds. Not all of it, we may never know how much all of it was. But hey, the government wants a cut of that money you've got for helping out the guys shooting at our soldiers around the world and turning the mexico/us border into a scene out of Mad Max.

Now for the personal breakdown.

I launder a bit of money, I go to jail. I mule some drugs across the border or even cash, I go to jail. I donate money to a terrorist organization or throw a fund raiser for them......I probably disappear into a hole under a mine under Ontario never to be seen again until the government determines that I'm weak and old and no longer a threat.

HOWEVER....

If I run a bank and do all of the above, no sweat, skim a little of the action off the top and mail it to the feds and you're all good. If that's not punishment I don't know what is...
give us your wrist.......prepare for the slap on it........oooh wait, we forgot to put on our bank wrist slapping silken gloves covered in fluff and sheeps wool.....baby sheeps wool.......wrapped in cotton balls.

Plus, the crime is not the worst part. The reaction. That's the real gem.

In discussing the fine and lack of prison terms for anyone involved, a U.S. "Justice" departement official said something along the lines of the following. "HSBC may be too big to prosecute", "An in depth investigation into the behaviour of HSBC may result in involvement of many other financial industries in the investigation and damage to the international banking industry."

My mother would slap me in the face if all I could come up with for an excuse was something as lame and stupid as "all the other kids are doing it". And it's not even a kid coming up with that weak ass pile of B.S. It's the government charged with keeping them under wraps. It's like if you went to a parent of a bastard kid and they told you "all the other kids are bastards too so we've decided to let them loot and burn the town to the ground because we don't want to make them angry."

Let me translate. "They make a pile of money, donate a pile (more than likely), and while we know what they're doing is illegal, immoral, dangerous, and harmfull to our country, we can't do anything about it........because then you'd all realize that the banks holding your money are for the most part, helping, aiding, abetting, consorting with etc.........the same kind of people we deem to be enemies of the people and place on the fbi's 10 most wanted."

There is no good and evil anymore folks, just bought and paid for. Fuck 'em, each and every one.

Merry Christmas.