How to Launder Money and the "Rule of 72"

How dirty drug money is laundered internationally:
[From National Geographic, Vol.183, No.1 Jan.1993, pg105]
Titled: The Power of Money, by Peter T White, Asst. Editor,
quoting his sources as the "Center for International
Documentation of Organized and Economic Crime, located
in Cambridge, England.

[begin this section]
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This as a real-life example:

A U.S. organized crime group with a lot of hot cash forms a cozy
relationship with the central bank of a British Commonwealth
country. Diplomats of that country carry the cash out of the
U.S. If it's $10,000 or more, they are supposed to report that
to U.S. Customs, but they don't; they "externalize" the cash.
It goes into the central bank and then into various dummy companies
in different countries in return for shares in those companies.
The money is thus "agitated," so it'll be just about impossible for
investigators to follow. Then, to "repatriate" the money, dummy
companies in the U.S. sell their worthless shares to investors in
Britain - who are in fact in on the scam - and behold, the money
is back in the U.S., clean! Now it buys legitimate businesses,
banks, political power.

An operation like this, involving highly placed officials, and
businessmen, will cost quite a bit, maybe 35 percent, but once
the system is in place, people will want to use it - not only
drug profiteers but also arms dealers, terrorist organizations,
intelligence agencies...

A prime haven for such shady customers was BCCI, the Bank of
Credit and Commerce International, headquartered in Luxembourg
and the Cayman Islands with branches in 72 countries. It is said
to have secretly controlled the First American Bank of Washington, D.C.
After BCCI collapsed in 1991, having defrauded depositors of several
billion dollars, it became known as the Bank of Crooks and
Criminal International.
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[End, this section]


In the very next section, there is an interesting little number
used by the bank/finance crowds, it's number "72".

[begin this section]
===========================================================
- the rule of 72. No one is certain who first developed the rule,
but the principle is quite simple: Divide any number into 72 and
the answer tells how long it will take for a sum to double in
financial terms.

Are you charged 18 percent interest on the unpaid balance of your
credit card account? Eighteen goes into 72 four times - so the
debt would double in four years. Say your annual raise is 6
percent; that number goes into 72 twelve times, so in twelve
years your salary will double. The same holds true of any
investment. And what if inflation runs at 6 percent a year?
Then after a dozen years your money will be worth half as much,
so in a sense you'll be back where you started.
===============================================================
[end this section]

I wonder if the money-changers figured this into setting annual inflation rates!
Kind of keeps the middle class down, and stuck in a rut.

"We conclude that the Reserve Banks are not federal instrumentalities
for purposes of the FTCA (Federal Tort Claims Act), but are independent,
privately owned and locally controlled corporations"
Lewis v. U.S. F.2d (1982)

545 PEOPLE, THAT'S ALL!

This is worth reading.

Remember all of the promises that were made in the past about lowering taxes, smaller government, fixing the tax code and reducing the national debt?
None of it has happened, maybe this guy has the right idea....

545 PEOPLE
By Charlie Reese

Politicians are the only people in the world who create problems and then campaign against them.

Have you ever wondered why, if both the Democrats and the Republicans are against deficits, we have deficits?

Have you ever wondered why, if all the politicians are against inflation and high taxes, we have inflation and high taxes?

You and I don't propose a federal budget. The president does.

You and I don't have the Constitutional authority to vote on appropriations. The House of Representatives does.

You and I don't write the tax code, Congress does.

You and I don't set fiscal policy, Congress does.

You and I don't control monetary policy, the Federal Reserve Bank does.

One hundred senators, 435 congressmen, one president, and nine Supreme Court justices 545 human beings out of the 300 million are directly, legally, morally, and individually responsible for the domestic problems that plague this country.

I excluded the members of the Federal Reserve Board because that problem was created by the Congress. In 1913, Congress delegated its Constitutional duty to provide a sound currency to a federally chartered, but private, central bank.

I excluded all the special interests and lobbyists for a sound reason. They have no legal authority. They have no ability to coerce a senator, a congressman, or a president to do one cotton-picking thing. I don't care if they offer a politician $1 million dollars in cash. The politician has the power to accept or reject it. No matter what the lobbyist promises, it is the legislator's responsibility to determine how he votes.

Those 545 human beings spend much of their energy convincing you that what they did is not their fault. They cooperate in this common con regardless of party.

What separates a politician from a normal human being is an excessive amount of gall. No normal human being would have the gall of a Speaker, who stood up and criticized the President for creating deficits. The president can only propose a budget. He cannot force the Congress to accept it.

The Constitution, which is the supreme law of the land, gives sole responsibility to the House of Representatives for originating and approving appropriations and taxes. Who is the speaker of the House? She is the leader of the majority party. She and fellow House members, not the president, can approve any budget they want. If the president vetoes it, they can pass it over his veto if they agree to.

It seems inconceivable to me that a nation of 300 million can not replace 545 people who stand convicted -- by present facts -- of incompetence and irresponsibility. I can't think of a single domestic problem that is not traceable directly to those 545 people. When you fully grasp the plain truth that 545 people exercise the power of the federal government, then it must follow that what exists is what they want to exist.

If the tax code is unfair, it's because they want it unfair.

If the budget is in the red, it's because they want it in the red.

If the Marines are in IRAQ , it's because they want them in IRAQ .

If they do not receive social security but are on an elite retirement plan not available to the people, it's because they want it that way.

There are no insoluble government problems.

Do not let these 545 people shift the blame to bureaucrats, whom they hire and whose jobs they can abolish; to lobbyists, whose gifts and advice they can reject; to regulators, to whom they give the power to regulate and from whom they can take this power. Above all, do not let them con you into the belief that there exists disembodied mystical forces like "the economy," "inflation," or "politics" that prevent them from doing what they take an oath to do.

Those 545 people, and they alone, are responsible.

They, and they alone, have the power.

They, and they alone, should be held accountable by the people who are their bosses provided the voters have the gumption to manage their own employees.

We should vote all of them out of office and clean up their mess!

Charlie Reese is a former columnist of the Orlando Sentinel Newspaper.

What you do with this article now that you have read it is up to you, though you appear to have several choices.

1. You can send this to everyone in your address book, and hope they do something about it.

2. You can agree to vote against everyone that is currently in office, knowing that the process will take several years.

3. You can decide to run for office yourself and agree to do the job properly.

4. Lastly, you can sit back and do nothing, or re-elect the current bunch.

YOU DECIDE, BUT AT LEAST SEND IT TO EVERYONE IN YOUR ADDRESS BOOK, MAYBE SOMEONE IN THERE WILL DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT!