Exporting Problems: Lessons From Central Banks, Big Business And Governments
Some valuable lessons can be learned from how Central Banks, Big Business and Governments shift their problems to the people of the world that can little afford them. In the US, the banking system was doing all kinds of shady deals that literally placed the world financial system on the verge of collapse. They came to the US government for bailouts with promises that it would solve the problems and restore things, but what they failed to say was restore things for whom.
The US government bailouts of over $1 Trillion were difficult for most people to comprehend the amount and the need for US citizens to become a lender to such corrupt organizations. However, after the first ever audit of the private corporation known as the US Central Bank, or more simply the Federal Reserve Bank we have now learned that $16 Trillion were used in secret bailouts. As U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders said "This is a clear case of socialism for the rich and rugged youre-on-your-own individualism for everyone else."
The net result is the private corporation, Federal Reserve Bank has exported its debt and bad behavior to the people of the world! Many people around the world lost their homes, life savings, good credit and other things including their self-respect, and the banks have lost nothing. In fact those banks have acquired assets for pennies on the dollar!
The British Petroleum (BP) Oil Disaster & The Obama Administration
After the private company, British Petroleum (BP) released 170 million gallons of crude and two million gallons of toxic dispersants into the Gulf of Mexico, creating an environmental catastrophe they worked with the Obama Administration to perform a CYA.
Obama appointed Kenneth Feinberg to head the Gulf Coast Claims Facility (GCCF) fund. Obama approved him because of his prior work shielding private corporations and the federal government from lawsuits. Feinberg earlier in his career had protected chemical giants Dow and Monsanto from the litigation of Vietnam veterans sickened by the defoliant Agent Orange. Also A.H. Robins, the pharmaceutical corporation from women maimed by the Dalkon Shield contraceptive device in the 1970s. More recently the Bush administration from lawsuits over the 9/11 terrorist attacks that might have lifted the lid on government secrets.
Immediately after Obama and British Petroleum (BP) established the fund and named Feinberg as pay czar. Feinberg launched a high-publicity media campaign advising victims that they would be crazy to sue. Under this program, you will receive, if youre eligible, compensation without having to go to court for years, without the uncertainty of going to court, since Ill be much more generous than any court will be, Feinberg said in July 2010.
Feinberg reports that about 300,000 of 800,000 claimants have received some compensation. Of the $20 billion GCCF fund, so far he has paid out a mere $3.8 billion. Feinberg claims that he has already processed nearly 80 percent of all claims.According to Mississippi Attorney General Jim Hood, the GCCF has paid only 3 percent of business claims and 9 percent of individual claims. According to several media accounts, claimants have received roughly 10 percent of what they requested. Those who accept money from the fund agree to waive in perpetuity the right to sue BP for further damages.
Additionally, Mr. Feinberg, representing the GCCF has reportedly forwarded several claims to the US Department of Justice for mail fraud investigation. One individual has been imprisoned for attempting to defraud BP. Not any Transocean or BP executive has faced criminal investigation, or received jail time. Of course, Mr. Feinberg as a government employee is immune to litigation for promises he made and or his actions.
Proposed Keystone XL Pipeline
Officials at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) state it will require years of massive clean-up efforts before work in the Kalamazoo River watershed is completed. The environmental damage from a pipeline spill by a Canadian pipeline company a year ago, was 3.2 million liters of thick tar sands crude spilled into a Michigan river. This heavy tar sands crude is heavier than water and contains more heavy metals, thus it is harder to clean up.
The Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper government and promoters Shell, Valero, ConocoPhillips, Canadian Natural Resources Limited and Cenovus Energy are lobbying the Obama administration to approve the tar sands oil pipeline known as Keystone XL.
The proposed $7 billion Keystone XL pipeline would carry 700,000 to 800,000 barrels of tarry, unrefined oil every day from the Alberta tar sands 1500 miles through the US heartland to refineries in Oklahoma and Texas. Spills from pipelines are not rare.
"The tar sands are huge in terms of their impact on the environment but also on Canadian democracy. Oil is starting to run the country now," said independent Canadian researcher Michelle Mech. "Average emissions for oil sands production and upgrading (well-to- pump) are estimated to be 3.2 to 4.5 times as carbon intensive as conventional crude produced in North America," concluded Mech's report, "A Comprehensive Guide to the Alberta Oil Sands".
The promoters of Keystone XL claim that it will reduce US reliance on oil imports from unfriendly countries. This is the same argument put forth by politicians every time they do something their handlers demand but the public rejects.
Oil demand is falling in the US thus according to environmental activists in the US and Canada the Keystone XL pipeline may simply allow tar sands oil currently landlocked in Alberta, Canada to be exported to Europe.
Canada was criticized by other nations at a major U.N. climate meeting recently after being caught underreporting carbon emissions from its tar sands oil production facilities, one of the country's biggest and fastest growing sources of global warming gases. Obama and Harper say they are worried about climate change, but neither the US nor Canada has cut emissions.
It does not matter if you believe in Global Warming or you think Global Warming is a hoax. What matters is to extract this dirty oil as it is known, and process it will generate an estimated 150 million tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions every year. That is more CO2 than the annual emissions of 85 percent of the world's countries. Norway, an oil-rich country emits a mere 50 million tons annually. Plus, lets not forget there are risks of pipeline spills in the US heartland.
The US State Department scheduled a second round of public hearings along the pipeline six- state route in September. Even if you are not a citizen of the US, you should voice your opinion on this because it will affect you, your children, your health and your financial future as governments collect carbon taxes from everyone.
Do you really need more taxation? Do we need to have 150 million tons of additional CO2 released into our air every year?Do we need another environmental disaster or have we had enough?
To contact the US State Department;
http://us.state.gov/
U.S. Department of State
2201 C Street NW Washington, DC 20520
1-202-647-4000
Copyright 2011 JD Durham
