By Don Quijones: Don Emilio Botín, for decades the undisputed Capo of Spanish banksters,
is dead. By contrast, the bank he leaves behind him, Grupo Santander,
is both alive and kicking – at least to all outward appearances. It is
now the largest bank by market capitalization in the Eurozone as well as
one of the thirteen leading banks in the world – no mean feat given
that when Botín III took the reins of the family business from his
father, Santander was merely a midsized domestic bank with just a tiny
smattering of overseas operations.
Now its operations quite literally span the Western hemisphere, with
the mother country accounting for just 7% of the group’s profits.
Brazil’s stuttering economy is its biggest source of lucre, last year
bringing in roughly 23% of the Group’s total profits, with the U.S. and
Mexico accounting for 10% each. In Europe, its biggest market is the UK
(17% of profits), though the bank has interests throughout the
continent, most notably in Germany (6%) and Poland (6%).
However, it is the New World, not the Old World, on which Santander
now has its sights firmly set. Last year, Latin American markets
represented 51% of the group’s total operating revenues. Despite its
recent slowdown, the region remains Santander’s main strategic target
for business growth. According to the Group’s own website, it has carved
out leadership positions in the continent’s “most dynamic and solid
economies” – economies such as Brazil, Mexico, Chile, Uruguay, Peru,
Puerto Rico and that hyper-dynamic, super-stable economy called
Argentina.
ArabianMoney: The world’s three economic superpowers are heading for a major
collapse in asset values because their economic models favor consumption
instead of productivity, warns Steen Jakobsen, a chief economist at
Danish investment bank Saxo Bank.
‘We’re still not wise enough to realize that our current model is a
‘Ponzi’ scheme rushing toward its inevitable ‘Minsky moment’, he said in
a research note. The term ‘Minsky moment’ refers to a phrase coined for
the Asian debt crisis of the late 1990s by Pimco’s Paul McCulley.
Debt mountain
Unsustainable debt will be the cause of the crash, according to Mr.
Jakobsen, and will occur when the cash returns on assets become
insufficient to service the debt taken on to acquire those assets in the
first place. He gives no timeframe for his thesis but says that the
problem of huge debts has been swept under the carpet by central bankers
and policymakers and will come back as low inflation or even deflation…
By Michael Krieger: I finally had a chance to listen to the hour long interview of former bank examiner and whistleblower, Carmen Segarra, with “This American Life.” In the event you haven’t taken the time to listen for yourself, I can’t emphasize enough how important it is that you do.
Whether you listen to it yourself or not, I think it’s worthwhile to share what I believe are the most important takeaways from the “Goldman Tapes,” since you cannot solve a problem unless you understand it clearly at its core. First, a little background. Carmen Segarra is the woman who worked at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York as a bank examiner. She was assigned specifically to Goldman Sachs, and was ultimately fired for asking too many questions.
“In
such condition there is no place for industry, because the fruit
thereof is uncertain, and consequently, not culture of the earth, no
navigation, nor the use of commodities that may be imported by sea, no
commodious building, no instruments of moving and removing such things
as require much force, no knowledge of the face of the earth, no account
of time, no arts, no letters, no society, and which is worst of all,
continual fear and danger of violent death, and the life of man,
solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short.”
—Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan
By Mumia Ali: The proverbial ink was barely dry on my column discussing the travails of Ray Rice
when another NFL star, this time Adrian Peterson, was taken out to the
metaphorical woodshed for his literally doing the same to his four-year
old son; as a result, he was temporarily benched by the Minnesota
Vikings franchise (which has since been lifted/UPDATE: it appears that I
might have spoken a bit too soon).
Of course, the Cathedral will attempt to spin this as yet another
example of the NFL’s (Black) male personnel running amok, gratuitously
violent, out of control, and in need of being put in a veritable Phantom
Zone for somatic reconditioning. No doubt, Peterson’s and Rice’s
actions are troubling; but they only foreshadow a much, much deeper set
of problems that beset the Black community in the United States, and
that threatens the rest of the country as a whole, if not brought up to
the light of day for honest examination, forthright discussion, and an
earnest desire to heal these wounds for the Good of All, and not just
the Selected Few.
Two asylum seekers have been severely beaten and abused by security
guards in a German town. The police compared the brutal actions to those
committed by US guards in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, against the prisoners.
RT: The seekers were abused
in shelter home in a small community of Burbach, North
Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany, reported
the country’s press. The scandal has prompted the German
government to publicly condemn pictures showing the abuse.
The alleged suspects filmed all the guards’ actions on
smartphones. A local journalist received a DVD showing the abuse.
Police authorities immediately opened investigation into the
case.
One video shows an asylum seeker lying on the floor and one of
the members of security staff pinning his neck down with his
boot. The other guard is sitting near-by, seeming posing to the
camera.
Another video shows one more refugee sitting on the vomit-covered
mattress.
"These are pictures that most of us would associate with
Guantanamo Bay," Frank Richter, police chief in nearby city
of Hagen, told local media. "Both security guards are
grinning."
"Reciting a dictionary definition and pretending that this somehow alters the accumulated evidence of many decades is somewhat naive to say the least." Recently, Emma Watson gave a speech at the United Nations dedicated to inviting men to join women in the fight for gender equality, and made some excellent points, while other points were, at least to me, somewhat confusing. Stefan Molyneux
By Dr. Edward Rhymes: I
approach this writing with some trepidation because it will run counter
in some areas to the current debate regarding domestic violence. When
wading in these highly volatile and controversial waters, one finds that
disclaimers—like life jackets—must be affixed to the body of the
argument.
Violence against women
Girls younger than 15 are five times more likely to die in childbirth than women in their 20s. And pregnancy is consistently among the leading causes of death for girls aged 15 to 19 worldwide.
Incidents of domestic violence against women occur every 15 seconds in the U.S.
Add to those glaring examples of epidemic-like violence against women
figures the college/university campus date rape statistics, the
reported high rates of sexual assault in South Africa, the mass
kidnappings of girls in Nigeria, and the list could go on and on. These
are not trivial things. Yet, although violence against women and girls includes domestic violence, not all domestic violence features women and girls as the victims. Sometimes, the woman is the abuser.
"What's it like to be asexual? ...Naked pictures of Emma Watson, ...new weapon of on line misogynists?" Sargon of Akkad
What is the point of making the world a better place if you're going to die anyways? Stefan Molyneux
Submitted by Tyler Durden: When we first covered the Carmen Segarra lawsuit alleging the capture of the NY Fed by Goldman Sachs back in October 2013, we didn't have much hope for justice to get done. We said that "while her allegations may be non-definitive, and her wrongful termination suit is ultimately dropped, there is hope this opens up an inquiry into the close relationship between Goldman and the NY Fed. Alas, since the judicial branch is also under the control of the two abovementioned entities, we very much doubt it."
Sure enough, the lawsuit was dropped (and no inquiry was opened) but not before it became clear that the very judge in charge of the case, U.S. District Judge Ronnie Abrams, was herself conflicted, after it was revealed that her husband, Greg Andres, a partner at Davis Polk & Wardwell, was representing Goldman in an advisory capacity. Curiously, before she assumed her current office in March 2013, back in 2008 Abrams returned to Davis Polk herself as Special Counsel for Pro Bono. She had previously worked at the firm from 1994 to 1998. For the full, and quite amazing, story of how the "Judge" steamrolled Segarra's objections reads this Reuters piece.
As a result of this fiasco, some wondered just how far do Goldman's tentacles stretch not only at the money-printing (i.e., NY Fed) level, not only at the legislative level (see "With Cantor Down, Which Other Politicians Has Goldman Invested In?"), but at the judicial as well.
And then, on Friday, the Segarra case against the Federal Reserve branch of Goldman Sachs got a second wind, when as a result of another disclosure, ProPublica revealed "How Goldman Controls The New York Fed in 47.5 Hours Of "The Secret Goldman Sachs Tapes." That is to say, nothing new was revealed per se, because as anyone who has read this website for the past 6 years knows just how vast Goldman's network is not only at the Fed, but in that all important other continent too, Europe.
By Victor Zen (Sage Gerard): When Sheryl Sandberg spearheaded #BanBossy and wrote Lean In, I wondered how a woman worth over $1 billion could realistically identify with a woman making $15,000 or less a year. I don’t automatically emulate Elon Musk, Donald Trump, Warren Buffet, or Steve Jobs as men precisely because their advice may not be applicable to my circumstances. That, and I do not trust disturbingly rich people to be pragmatic about social issues.
I also found myself questioning the qualifications of the multi-millionare Emma Watson, who stood up on behalf of UN Women to deliver a speech for HeForShe, a campaign requesting commitment from men for the sake of women.
HeForShe exploded in traffic because many famous brands crawled into one big sweaty bed. JP Morgan is a sponsor, so money isn’t an issue.
We need a Jeff Foxworthy–inspired list of sarcastic “You know you’re oppressed if …” jokes, like “You know you’re oppressed when big banks give money to global organizations dedicated specifically to you.”
The speech went exactly as I expected: Watson prevaricates on feminism’s brand development crisis, then says through a choked voice that gender equality is important, which of course means more men need to participate in helping only women.
Janet Bloomfield: Here is what I uploaded to HitRecord in response to Gordon-Levitt's request that I explain what feminism means to me. Shoutout to Bremstone for the editing and effects!
