Monday Open Thread 02-09-15

Good morning 99percenters!
A couple of news items and some B3 goodness from the great Jimmy Smith

'Biggest Banking Leak in History' Details Nefarious Tactics of Global Tax-Dodgers
Whether revelations result in crackdown on shadow banking system and tax avoidance by the wealthy and by multinational companies remains to be seen

A global investigation based on leaked banking documents has opened a crack of sunlight into the exclusive and highly-secretive world of Swiss banking and the manner in which the world's criminal elite hide their vast wealth, launder their profits, and avoid tax payments from governments around the globe.

Published by a consortium of international media outlets on Sunday, the trove of leaked banking documents—considered to be the largest of its kind in history—reveals how a Swiss division of the U.K.-based HSBC bank colluded with clients from around the globe to shield billions of dollars in assets as a way to maintain secrecy and avoid taxes in the clients' home countries

As the Guardian reports:

The HSBC files, which cover the period 2005-2007, amount to the biggest banking leak in history, shedding light on some 30,000 accounts holding almost $120bn (£78bn) of assets.

The revelations will amplify calls for crackdowns on offshore tax havens and stoke political arguments in the US, Britain and elsewhere in Europe where exchequers are seen to be fighting a losing battle against fleet-footed and wealthy individuals in the globalised world.

Le Pen says Washington attempting to start ‘war in Europe’

The leader of France’s rightwing Front National (FN), Marine Le Pen, has called Brussels “American lackeys” over the EU's Ukraine policy. She further accused Washington of attempting to start a “war in Europe” and expand NATO towards Russia’s borders.

"European capitals do not have the wisdom to refuse to be dependent on US positions on Ukraine," Le Pen told French journalists on Sunday.

"Regarding Ukraine, we behave like American lackeys," she said, before warning that “the aim of the Americans is to start a war in Europe to push NATO to the Russian border."

She went on to accuse European leaders of turning a blind eye to the Ukrainian government’s “bombing of civilians,” adding that both those in Crimea and Eastern Ukraine believed the country should be federalized.

Le Pen has regularly criticized the EU for its policy on Ukraine and its alleged lack of independence from Washington.

Moscow & Cairo to drop USD, use national currencies in bilateral trade – Putin

Russia and Egypt might soon exclude the US dollar and use their national currencies in the settlement of accounts in bilateral trade, Russian President Vladimir Putin said in an interview to Egyptian media ahead of his Monday visit to the country.

The issue of abandoning the dollar in trade is “being actively discussed,” Putin told Al-Ahram daily newspaper ahead of his two-day trip to Egypt. The Russian president was invited for a bilateral meeting by his Egyptian counterpart Abdul Fattah al-Sisi.

“This measure will open up new prospects for trade and investment cooperation between our countries, reduce its dependence on the current trends in the world markets,” Putin said.

“I should note that we already use national currencies for trade with a number of the CIS [Commonwealth of Independent States] states, and China. This practice proves its worth; we are ready to adopt it in our relations with Egypt as well. This issue is being discussed in substance by relevant agencies of both countries.”

Egypt is a long-time and trusted partner of Russia and the relationship between the two countries has been rapidly developing, the Russian president said.

Jimmy Smith _ The Cat (1964)

Jimmy Smith - Root Down

Jimmy Smith - The Sermon

Jimmy Smith w. Kenny Burrell - Organ Grinder's Swing - 1993

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NCTim's picture

Yeah right, a crackdown of tax avoidance. I would say the chances of Aaron Schock going to jail are higher.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/07/us/as-controversies-mounted-aaron-scho...

Have a great Monday!

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The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe. If you try it, you will be lonely often, and sometimes frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself. - Friedrich Nietzsche -

ass Schock's district is just south of us, I get to see his smug face on the local news all the time. I would love nothing more than to see that twerp go down.

I knew you'd get a kick out of the Jimmy.

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NCTim's picture

The dude has rocks in his head. The real estate deal and quid pro quo stuff is criminal. Somebody needs to put this shit in a bag.

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The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe. If you try it, you will be lonely often, and sometimes frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself. - Friedrich Nietzsche -

Tammany Tiger's picture

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about our practice of "recruiting" and "invitations". First, this is an open site, no invitation is needed to join, but we (CantStoptheSignal aka SouthernLiberalinMD) do recruit and invite people to join only as a way to get the site off the ground, and so far that practice has worked very well. We have found it advantageous to build a base of members by going to them rather than waiting for them to come to us. If any members have any friends that you think would like it here, by all means invite them, there is room here for everyone's opinions, unless of course someone is just trolling. Thanks.

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NCTim's picture

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The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe. If you try it, you will be lonely often, and sometimes frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself. - Friedrich Nietzsche -

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Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal's picture

Anybody can join. People are more likely to if somebody asks them.

I've considered posting a diary at GOS to spread the word, mostly b/c Markos and others often say "If you don't like it here, start your own site," and I thought of a diary entitled "If You Don't LIke It Here, Start Your Own Site" describing what we've done here and linking to the site. But that might be needlessly picking a fight.

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"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha

"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver

Big Al's picture

It's easy for me to say, but I'd be interested in seeing that one.

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that dairy! I'm afraid it would attract a flood of trolls here though, but I'm game if you are.

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Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal's picture

My feeling about trolls is that they only run GOS because Markos allows/fosters it, constantly bailing them out like an ideological version of the Fed and thus propping up their unsustainable bullshit. So if they come here, it won't be any fun, but they won't be able to do here what they do there.

I like mimi's idea as a coordinated action with the diary.

You know, we could seriously get in trouble with GOS authorities if we do this, which might actually be fun in a horrid way. LOL!

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"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha

"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver

trolls should be dealt with in a swift and decisive manner.

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mimi's picture

in our daily account's sig-lines ?

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Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal's picture

I'm somewhat sorry to lose my Emma Lazarus quote, but it's in a good cause!

Sure, I'll do that.

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"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha

"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver

do both.

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enhydra lutris's picture

You can't exceed 255 characters "after cleanup".

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That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --

the 255 character limit. Did you copy/paste the full url from this site or did you use the HTML code for a text link?

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enhydra lutris's picture

caucus99percent, but it was after my regular sig, like I use here, with a
after Roosevelt's name to generate a new line, so I can probably do it without the break - but those with longer sigs will have to do some work. I copied that code, btw, and have no idea what that "nofollow" is all about.

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That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --

NCTim's picture

The Republican philosophy in a nutshell: "Poor people work harder if you take things away from them, rich people work harder if you give them more stuff."

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The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe. If you try it, you will be lonely often, and sometimes frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself. - Friedrich Nietzsche -

Lady Libertine's picture

hey there. Still in lurk mode and working on my Fun Stuff - taxes - & trying not to scream too loudly! its coming along but ugh. Why didnt someone tell me you lose that Child Tax Credit the year they turn SEVENTEEN? wtf.

Welcome to all the newcomers! the more the merrier!

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Big Al's picture

in Europe, that's what's happening in Ukraine, which is in Europe, and it was started/instigated/caused by the U.S.
How far and wide it spreads is the question.
I'm thinking now that if the neocons gain power again, like under Bush, then there will be war with Russia. Problem
is, I think there would be with Clinton as well.

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mimi's picture

There is something like the Feed Aggregator. What should we do with it? Add news pieces that we think are good to know about?
I see here in the Open Thread you are posting also the news items. What is the difference to post those here to posting them in the News Aggregator? Who feeds that aggregator? I think it's great to have that. Kudos.

Is there a way to search my own comments? Can't seem to find a link that would allow me to do that. Am I blind or is that a "feature" of this site.

Am I right that one can not see who has rated a comment? If that is true, I applaud the decision.

Have a great day, all.

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mimi's picture

and saw all the subfolders and their content.

That is a terrific item to have. How did you do that? Who manages those feeds?

Ok, I am just shocked and awed... Smile

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der Spiegel inputted into it?

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Tammany Tiger's picture

Seriously, that magazine has published some excellent work.

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added it. if anyone has any news feed preferences, we can them, just let me know.

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Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal's picture

Which is great, IMO.

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"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha

"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver

mimi's picture

I think that shows learning a lesson from dailykos failing items, imo.

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There is something like the Feed Aggregator. What should we do with it? Add news pieces that we think are good to know about?
I see here in the Open Thread you are posting also the news items. What is the difference to post those here to posting them in the News Aggregator? Who feeds that aggregator? I think it's great to have that. Kudos.

No one feeds the aggregator. It is a RSS news feed. There are a few news sites and blogs that have been inputted into it, what the aggregator does is show the articles that appear on those sites as they are published there, so there's no need to visit the sites, one only needs to glance at the aggregator to view the most up to date articles. Our aggregator updates very hour so you get a constant up-to-date feed of all the news presented on those sites. It's a convenient way of keeping abreast of what's happening in the news world without having to visit the sites. If you see an article you are interested in, click the link and it will take you to the page it's on.

Is there a way to search my own comments? Can't seem to find a link that would allow me to do that. Am I blind or is that a "feature" of this site.

No unfortunately at this time there isn't, and I'm working on implementing a feature to that affect as certainly it's handy. Kos has a large budget and a team of coders to add features like that to his site, unfortunately it's just me here doing the best I can with no budget at all. There are a couple of programs that come close to doing that and I'm working on them, more about that in the near future. By the way, if anyone has experience coding php and css, I'd love to have you join the team.

Am I right that one can not see who has rated a comment? If that is true, I applaud the decision.

Yes, you are correct.

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mimi's picture

I just love the News Aggregators. A huge plus of this site imo. Will certainly use it all the time. Smile

For the rest of it, I just have to learn how navigate the site and get used to how it works. It's really exiting to see this growing.
"I like it that way" ... as you say in your "About Us" section.

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Unabashed Liberal's picture

are really nice, JTC.

Thank you!

(Sorry about initially posting this as a "diary"--thought it was a comment gizmo! I'll try to delete it.)

UL

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Everyone thinks they have the best dog, and none of them are wrong.

Mollie, it's starting to shape up, little by little.

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