Comments on: Secret Banking Going By The Wayside

By: Mitch

Mitch — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 15:20:27 +0000

Unfortunately, I have to agree with you on this one for the most part. Laws can only protect people so far, and everyone has to be vigilant in watching and following their money when they invest. Still, if someone has been tasked to monitor something and some people, they should at least do their job.

By: tim vanovickoyo

tim vanovickoyo — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 14:23:45 +0000

it’s possible there may be too many laws for the “protection” of investors. there must be some. how many, I don’t know. Many investors believe that the the gov’t will protect them against the “bad guys” we have the SEC, FINRA, State Commerce Depts, Securities laws, various industry enforcement depts.
If the investor knew he was pretty much “on his own” with his investment dollar, he would not be so trusting and would be extremely careful. If the investor felt insecure, he would put his money in a FDIC account.
The gov’t keeps pushing this idea that “you are protected” so people are not afraid to invest. The gov’t continues to make more and new laws to protect the investor, but the “bad guys” will always be one step ahead.
So I have a tip for investors: imagine no one is watching out for your money except you, now go ahead and invest.

By: Mitch

Mitch — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 14:00:52 +0000

Exactly, Brandon; kind of reminds me of Clarence Thomas when he was the head of EEOC, yet didn’t prosecute almost anyone under it while he was there.

By: The Almost Millionaire

The Almost Millionaire — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 13:22:18 +0000

I here what you are saying. Especially with Madoff, as I've read that many people suspected he was up to no good and told officials who then did nothing. That sucks. Why are we taxpayers paying for government oversite if they are not going to oversee things? The Almost Millionaires last blog post..Should I buy a house?

By: Mitch

Mitch — Sun, 05 Apr 2009 19:27:02 +0000

Hey Brandon,

I only bring up political parties when I think it’s time; otherwise, I blame government in general when I feel it’s their fault.

In this case, I do blame the government to a degree. The current state of affairs couldn’t have happened if either there was still some sort of regulations, or if the SEC had done its job and investigated some of these companies when questions about them and challenges to what they were doing came up. It seems, based on many articles in these latest days, that not many people understood what AIG was actually doing, which brings up a big red flag for me. Also, some folks were warning the SEC about Madoff et al for years, since 1999 pretty much, and yet they didn’t feel it was proper to investigate any of these people.

Sometimes, I wish someone could call one of these companies with questionable transactions on the carpet ala the movie Trading Places did and say “prove to us that any of this is real money”. Now, that would shake things up a bit! lol

By: The Almost Millionaire

The Almost Millionaire — Sun, 05 Apr 2009 14:58:28 +0000

Spirited debate here my friends. I personally don't think that either party is to blame. When I see a problem, I usually look towards individual responsibility for the answer. Sadly that leads me to the fact that we are all to blame for the current state of financial affairs in our country. So to get out of it, we will need to individually need to make choices that are fiscally consertive and cast our votes for people that we believe share our ideals! Blessings guys! Brandon The Almost Millionaires last blog post..Should I buy a house?

By: tim vanovickoyo

tim vanovickoyo — Sun, 05 Apr 2009 14:04:42 +0000

sorry,I meant the liberals in the EU. I agree that we should not bully these countries just because that have better incentives for attracting money. If the Swiss get shut down, some other place will open for the rich. That is why the US must make it attractive for our citizens to keep their money here. Actually, the US is a big tax haven for foreigners, but not for it’s own citizens.

By: Mitch

Mitch — Sun, 05 Apr 2009 06:08:09 +0000

Well, I guess I’d begin my commentary back is in saying that it’s hard to blame what you call “liberal buffoons” for the mess we’re in right now, since it’s been conservatives and Republicans in this country who got us into the mess we’re in.

Having said that, I do agree that I really don’t want to see social liberalism in the financial form long term, because I don’t want the government to be in the position of controlling how people make money and how much they can make. Having said that, I obviously do believe that something had to be done when President Obama got into office, if only to try to stimulate things. FDR took the same hit from the opposing party, yet the people elected him to the office four times. That seems to be the one thing conservatives keep forgetting; it’s not about them, it’s about the people that voted them into office.

I’m still conflicted on the banking situation, though. I guess if I had to choose I’d say that there should be a world court where countries can file appeals, so to speak, with another government on specific criminal matters, and everyone acquiesces to whatever the court says. Demanding total compliance from every country because their laws have somehow left loopholes open that someone took advantage of in moving their money to another country’s banking system, in my opinion, is the originating country’s problem; let them fix their own laws and stop bullying other countries into action.

By: tim vanovickoyo

tim vanovickoyo — Sun, 05 Apr 2009 00:41:26 +0000

The USA cannot bow to the wishes of the EU and their high tax regimes. the reason why they want the Swiss banks out of the picture is so they can raise taxes. Soon, we will follow. Those rich people would gladly pay some taxes. But not when the taxes are spent by a bunch of liberal baffoons.
The other banks in the world should emulate the Swiss, not try to destroy them. If all countries were “tax havens”, the citizens would keep their money at home.
All these high tax liberal socialist countries would rather destroy the Swiss banks than to COMPETE with them. What happened to the US competitive spirit. Our desire to be competitive has been the reason why we are so great. Let’s COMPETE with the Swiss. Let’s have an incentive for our US citizens to keep their money in the USA. Let’s beat the Swiss at their own game. Do you think that if a Swiss citizen had money in one of our banks that the Swiss gov’t would demand that we release his name to them? They would try to find out why, and then would quickly install that benefit in their banks.
Senator Levin spent years trying to force the Swiss to give up the names of US citizens that have accounts at Swiss banks. If he would have spent all that time and our taxpayer money finding ways to COMPETE with them, we wouldn’t be talking about it today .And besides that, let the USA once and for
all quit meddling in the affairs of another country.
If the Swiss have no privacy, look for a WORLD WIDE SURGE IN TAXES.