Update no.636

Update from the Heartland

No.636

17.2.14 – 23.2.14

Blog version:  http://heartlandupdate.blogspot.com/

To all,

The follow-up news items:

-- The Spanish cannot leave well enough alone.  The Royal Navy’s Submarine Parachute Assistance Group (SPAG) was conducting a training exercise with the Gibraltar Squadron's patrol boat, HMS Sabre, within the British territorial waters of Gibraltar.  A Spanish warship entered Gibraltar waters in the vicinity of the SPAG exercise, forcing the British to prematurely terminate the exercise.  They filed a complaint with the Spanish government and the European Union.  This latest incident is just another escalation of Spain’s apparent motivation to rewrite three centuries of history [609, 623].

The public debate over the use of psychotropic substances continues with variation and breadth.  To further complicate the discussion, reports from Colorado suggest the legitimate TetraHydroCannabinol (THC) retailers are caught between the old world and the new order, between archaic federal laws and an innovative, state effort to find a more reasonable and stable environment.  Banks are reluctant to service THC businesses due to serious legal uncertainty regarding the application of federal laws.  A recent opinion illuminates the difficulty we face in this debate.

“Drug legalization claims are cloudy”

by Charles Lane

Washington Post

Published: February 19 [2014]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/charles-lane-drug-legalization-claims-are-cloudy/2014/02/19/fd577128-98cf-11e3-b931-0204122c514b_story.html?wpisrc=nl_opinions

Like so much of popular public opinions, Charles Lane espouses the common notion – if we just stay the course long enough in the so-called “war on drugs” and we make the punishment severe enough, we can stop illegal use of psychotropic substances.  Prohibition of private conduct will never work in a free society.  Do we really want to execute those who feel the need for the oblivion of psychotropic substances?  The policy has not stopped the drug trade in Singapore, and such action will not stop it here, either.  We cannot stop the consumer from obtaining his substance of choice.  Our focus should not be on the user or addict, but rather it should be on eliminating the criminal sub-culture that feeds the addict and the minimization of any collateral damage.  We must take a far bolder step than simple legalization.  Colorado and Washington have taken a rather large first step, but it is NOT sufficient to achieve our proper public domain objectives.  Charles Lane is too myopic from my perspective.

After a 12-year Pentagon review ordered by Congress into past historical discrimination in the awarding of the Medal of Honor, the nation’s highest commendation for combat valor, to non-Christian, Caucasian soldiers in service to this Grand Republic above and beyond the call of duty.  Next month, President Obama will preside over an extraordinary ceremony to award 19 Medals of Honor to veterans who served valiantly in World War II, Korea and Vietnam.  Unfortunately, most of the awards will be posthumous.  At least a handful of these extraordinary citizens are still alive to accept the awards they deserved decades ago.  May God bless them all.

News from the economic front:

-- The Federal Reserve Bank of New York offered data that indicates American household debt, including mortgages, credit cards, auto loans and student loans, rose US$241B in 4Q2013 (2.1%) to US$11.52T – the largest quarterly rise since the 3Q2007, just before the Great Recession began.  The figures suggest the confidence of American citizens in the economic stability and growth is growing.

-- With all the turmoil in Ukraine, it is no surprise that Standard & Poor’s downgraded Ukraine’s credit rating to CCC with a negative outlook, from CCC+.  Now, all the big three credit-rating firms have downgraded Ukraine’s debt this year.  The rationale provided by S&P indicated the political situation in the country has deteriorated to the point whereby the government’s ability to meet its debt-service obligations was increasingly at risk, and that it was now uncertain whether Russia would continue to provide the country with financial support over the course of 2014.

London Inter-Bank Offered Rate (LIBOR) Debacle [552]:

-- The British Serious Fraud Office (SFO) charged three former Barclays bankers – Peter Johnson, Jonathan Mathew, and Stylianos Contogoulas – with conspiracy to defraud in the continually expanding LIBOR scandal.  SFO Director-General David Green, CB QC, has described the investigation into the Libor conspiracy as “enormous.”  Green is apparently quite confident more individuals will be charged in connection with the LIBOR fraud allegations.

-- So we don’t lose focus . . . the infamous 16, involved, international banks are:

• ·      Barclays [UK] – US$454M fine [550]; Singapore sanctions [600]; three charged {Johnson, Mathew, Contogoulas} [636]
• ·      Bank of America [U.S.] – Singapore sanctions [600]
• ·      BTMU [Japan] – Singapore sanctions [600]
• ·      Citigroup [U.S.] – Singapore sanctions [600]
• ·      Credit Suisse [Switzerland] – Singapore sanctions [600]
• ·      Deutsche Bank [Germany] – US$654M LIBOR profit [578]; set aside €500M (US$641M) for LIBOR liability [589]; Singapore sanctions [600]
• ·      Lloyds TSB [UK]
• ·      HSBC [UK] – Singapore sanctions [600]
• ·      HBOS [UK]
• ·      JPMorgan Chase [U.S.] – Singapore sanctions [600]
• ·      Norinchuckin [Japan]
• ·      Rabobank [Netherlands] – fined €774M (£663M, US$1.06B); CEO resigned; 30 others censured [620]; three charged {Robson, Thompson, Motomura} [631]
• ·      RBC [Canada]
• ·      RBS [UK] – £390M (US$612.6M) in fines, 21 employees involved [582]; Singapore sanctions [600]
• ·      UBS [Switzerland] – US$1.5B fine, two charged {Hayes, Darin} [575]; Singapore sanctions [600]
• ·      West LB [Germany]

Added to the list by the Monetary Authority of Singapore [600]:

• ·      ING [Netherlands] – Singapore sanctions [600]
• ·      BNP Paribas [France] – Singapore sanctions [600]
• ·      Crédit Agricole [France] – Singapore sanctions [600]
• ·      DBS [Singapore] – Singapore sanctions [600]
• ·      Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation [Singapore] – Singapore sanctions [600]
• ·      Standard Chartered [UK] – Singapore sanctions [600]
• ·      United Overseas Bank [Singapore] – Singapore sanctions [600]
• ·      Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Ltd. [Australia] – Singapore sanctions [600]
• ·      Macquarie [Australia] – Singapore sanctions [600]
• ·      Commerzbank [Germany] – Singapore sanctions [600]

Others involved:

• ·      R.P. Martin Holdings Ltd. [UK] – two charged {Farr, Gilmour} [583]
• ·      ICAP [UK] – fined US$87M + three executives charged {Read, Wilkinson, Goodman} [615]

I trust none of us will lose sight of what these banks have done.  Lest we forget!

Comments and contributions from Update no.635:

Comment to the Blog:

“Perhaps the shortest comment I have left on this blog: the EU merely guards its own freedom in not allowing the Internet to remain in the hands of one nation, particularly the U.S.”

My response to the Blog:

            Short comments are better than no comments.

            I suppose that is one way to interpret the EU’s action.

My very best wishes to all.  Take care of yourselves and each other.

Cheers,

Cap                        :-)