Bail-In and the Financial Stability Board: The Global Bankers’ Coup

Written on December 14th, 2014 in politics Comments Off

Published on Dissident Voice, by Ellen Hodgson Brown, December 12, 2014.

On December 11, 2014, the US House passed a bill repealing the Dodd-Frank requirement that risky derivatives be pushed into big-bank subsidiaries, leaving our deposits and pensions exposed to massive derivatives losses. The bill was vigorously challenged by Senator Elizabeth Warren; but the tide turned when Jamie Dimon, CEO of JPMorganChase, stepped into the ring. Perhaps what prompted his intervention was the unanticipated $40 drop in the price of oil. As financial blogger Michael Snyder points out, that drop could trigger a derivatives payout that could bankrupt the biggest banks. And if the G20’s new “bail-in” rules are formalized, depositors and pensioners could be on the hook.  

The new bail-in rules were discussed in my last post. They are edicts of the Financial Stability Board (FSB), an unelected body of central bankers and finance ministers headquartered in the Bank for International Settlements in Basel, Switzerland. Where did the FSB get these sweeping powers, and is its mandate legally enforceable?

Those questions were addressed in an article I wrote in June 2009, two months after the FSB was formed, titled “Big Brother in Basel: BIS Financial Stability Board Undermines National Sovereignty.” It linked the strange boot shape of the BIS to a line from Orwell’s 1984: “a boot stamping on a human face—forever.” The concerns raised there seem to be materializing, so I’m republishing the bulk of that article here. We need to be paying attention, lest the bail-in juggernaut steamroll over us unchallenged.

The Shadowy Financial Stability Board: … //
… The Amorphous 12 International Standards and Codes: … //

… The Commitments Mandated by the Financial Stability Board Constitute a Commercial Treaty Requiring a Two-thirds Vote of the Senate:

Are these commitments legally binding? Adoption of the FSB was never voted on by the public, either individually or through their legislators. The G20 Summit has been called “a New Bretton Woods,” referring to agreements entered into in 1944 establishing new rules for international trade. But Bretton Woods was put in place by Congressional Executive Agreement, requiring a majority vote of the legislature; and it more properly should have been done by treaty, requiring a two-thirds vote of the Senate, since it was an international agreement binding on the nation.

“Bail-in” is not the law yet, but the G20 governments will be called upon to adopt the FSB’s resolution measures when the proposal is finalized after taking comments in 2015. The authority of the G20 has been challenged, but mainly over whether important countries were left out of the mix. The omitted countries may prove to be the lucky ones, having avoided the FSB’s net.

(full text).

(Ellen Brown is an attorney, founder of the Public Banking Institute, and author of twelve books, including the best-selling Web of Debt. In The Public Bank Solution, her latest book, she explores successful public banking models historically and globally. Her 200+ blog articles are at EllenBrown.com. Read other articles by Ellen, or visit Ellen’s website).

Links:

Scots income tax transfer runs into difficulties, Dec 13 2014;

Peter Temin: Lessons From the Great Depression, on nakerd cpitalism, by Yves Smith, Dec 13, 2014: In this video, Peter Temin, a highly respected expert on the Great Depression*, discusses some of the revealing parallels between that era and our current financial and economic plight with Marshall Auerback …;

NSA spying scandal: How Germany’s federal prosecutor discredited SPIEGEL, on Spiegel Online International, ba Rüdiger Ditz, Dec 13, 2014: In 2013, SPIEGEL reported the tapping of chancellor Angela Merkel’s mobile phone by the NSA. Now the case is back on the agenda, after Germany’s federal prosecutor attempted to publicly undermine the credibility of SPIEGEL …;

Veiled threat? Tougher regulations against wearing niqabs in court – UK judge, on Russia Today RT, Dec 12, 2014: Britain’s most senior female judge has called for tougher regulations forcing women to remove traditional Islamic veils while giving evidence in court …;

Suisse: Un djihadiste revenu de Syrie condamné à des travaux d’intérêt général, dans 20 minutes, le 11 déc 2014;

Réserve d’interprétation du Conseil Constitutionnel sur la rétroactivité de la contribution exceptionnelle sur les hauts revenus, dans JuriTravail, par Olivier Stoloff, Avocat, le 10 déc 2014;

How Superstar Companies Like Apple Are Killing America’s High-Tech Future, on INETeconomics.org/blog, by Lynn Parramore, Dec 09, 2014;

… und noch das:

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