How 2,000 Greek Elites Used HSBC's Criminal Schemes to DodgeTaxes While the Poor Starved

Bankers aren't to big to jail in Iceland

Basically the Bankers and Billionaires Club are a pack of criminals. The best explanation of the sordid Swiss HSBC version comes from the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists [ICIJ]. It's easy to read with near zero jargon. In it, among other disgusting revelations, i learned how over 2,000 Greek oligarchs used HSBC to dodged billions in taxes while Greece was being crippled by forced austerity measures, including pay cuts and tax increases for the working class.

It includes [in a sidebar] the story of Hervé Falciani’s long, strange journey from bank computer expert to jailed fugitive to candidate for office to spokesman for whistleblowers. Falciani exposed how governments everywhere are losing $3 trillion a year through tax dodging by the global elites - enough to end extreme world poverty many times over - and how the mega-rich often cause damaging financial crises with wild speculation, get bailed out by taxpayers, then argue that public spending on schools and hospitals should be slashed to meet the resulting deficits - austerity.

The banks are corporations, they serve only one master - their rich shareholders. The big banks profit from doing business with tax dodgers and criminals around the world including a long list of arms dealers, blood diamond dealers, big time international drug dealers and a bunch of prominent donors to the Clinton Foundation, including the Canadian businessman Frank Giustra.  

Another short, sweet, easy to read article by Charles Hugh Smith today sheds light on why gimmicks lenders press on borrowers to maintain the artifice that the loan is being serviced are financial frauds. Saying, "Sometimes the best way to summarize a complex situation is with an analogy. The Greek debt crisis, for example, is very much like the subprime mortgage crisis of 2007-08. Please read it if/when you have the strenght. It's an open window to understanding why Iceland jailed it's criminal bankers and why your country should too.

As of a few minutes ago the Eu - Greece talks have once again broken down because the Greeks refuse to comply with the Trioka and German demands for submission. There will be more meetings, more communiques by fork tongued servants of the Bankers and Billionaires Club. Fortunately for all of us around the world there will be no deal because Syriza represents Greece's working classes not the criminal bankers and oligarchs.