Large banks are protected from indictments by a variant of the too-big-to-fail theory.
Indicting a big bank could trigger a mad dash by investors to dump shares and cause panic in financial markets, says Jack Blum, a U.S. Senate investigator for 14 years and a consultant to international banks and brokerage firms on money laundering.
The theory is like a get-out-of-jail-free card for big banks, Blum says.
“There’s no capacity to regulate or punish them because they’re too big to be threatened with failure,” Blum says. “They seem to be willing to do anything that improves their bottom line, until they’re caught.”
Wachovia’s run-in with federal prosecutors hasn’t troubled investors. Wells Fargo’s stock traded at $30.86 on March 24, up 1 percent in the week after the March 17 agreement was announced.
Moving money is central to the drug trade -- from the cash that people tape to their bodies as they cross the U.S.-Mexican border to the $100,000 wire transfers they send from Mexican exchange houses to big U.S. banks.
So let me see - illegal drugs are plentiful and illegal drug money is corrupting our institutions. Reminds me of a poem.
Prohibition is an awful flop.
We like it.
It can't stop what it's meant to stop.
We like it.
It's left a trail of graft and slime,
It won't prohibit worth a dime,
It's filled our land with vice and crime.
Nevertheless, we're for it.
Franklin P. Adams, 1931
I'd say we are at the 1931 stage of the WODs. I don't expect things to move as fast as they did in 30s. Still, 1933 is approaching.
Engineering is the art of making what you want from what you can get at a profit.
MSimon wrote:What is so amusing is that we have some history to go by and yet the Rs are making the same mistake they did in the 20s.
The Democrats will of course capitalize on the change of attitude and sweep the elections - in some year in the not too distant future.
Way to go guys.
Just got diagnosed with early stage glaucoma. Assured by my doctor it can be managed with meds. He gave me drops, seem to work( I guess, pressure hasn't been checked yet) but they make my eyes red, will have to check webmd for other side effects if any. I have read that medical marijuana is good for glaucoma, know anything about that? Of course it is illegal in Ohio where I live.
MSimon wrote:What is so amusing is that we have some history to go by and yet the Rs are making the same mistake they did in the 20s.
The Democrats will of course capitalize on the change of attitude and sweep the elections - in some year in the not too distant future.
Way to go guys.
Just got diagnosed with early stage glaucoma. Assured by my doctor it can be managed with meds. He gave me drops, seem to work( I guess, pressure hasn't been checked yet) but they make my eyes red, will have to check webmd for other side effects if any. I have read that medical marijuana is good for glaucoma, know anything about that? Of course it is illegal in Ohio where I live.
Yes. The reports go back at least 20 years and the volume of them is quite large.
I had a different eye pressure problem but asked my doctor about med-pot. Both he and his nurse (a real cutie) were very supportive. However, their suggestion for my condition was to take a puff every 30 minutes or so. That seemed a bit excessive, especially when the alternative was essentially rest for 3 months to keep my blood pressure down - I do not have a blood pressure problem - but high pressure from exercise or work or just walking up the stairs - raised my ocular pressure.
Glaucoma increases pressure in the eyeball, which can lead to vision loss. Smoking marijuana reduces pressure in the eyes. Your doctor can prescribe other medications to treat glaucoma, but these can lose their effectiveness over time.
Standard treatments have unpleasant or dangerous side effects, and have little effect on intraocular pressures in end-stage glaucoma. Cannabis however lowers intraocular pressures dramatically, with none of the serious side effects. Patients who find that standard medicines do not help their conditions report that smoking cannabis quickly restores their vision. Many long-term glaucoma patients have successfully maintained their sight using cannabis for 20 or 25 years, and avoided the gradual painful deterioration to blindness that is otherwise inevitable.
However older generations, who are most at risk of glaucoma do not appreciate the euphoric side effects of smoked or ingested cannabis. There is also concern about the effects on the cardio-vascular system. These disadvantages are especially significant when one takes into account that a dose of cannabis needs to be taken about every 4 hours for the full benefits to occur.