The United States authorities have offered to lift the threat of legal action against 11 Swiss banks in exchange for information, a Swiss paper reported on Sunday.
This is part of a very long story. The US Justice Department has been doing everything it can to get the names of US citizens who have Swiss bank accounts. The DOJ damn near busted UBS over this a few years back. Now they are going after the other Swiss banks. The lawyers at the DOJ don’t kid around:
“Give us the names or we’ll sue the shit out of you”.
Given what happened to UBS ($780mm in fines), the other banks have no choice but to fold and hand over the info.
This second story ratchets things up a bit and brings it home:(Link)
A federal district court judge has given the Internal Revenue Service permission to serve a “John Doe” summons on the California State Board of Equalization demanding the names of residents who transferred property to their children or grandchildren for little or no money, from 2005 to 2010.
The IRS has used John Doe summons to seek lists of American taxpayers unreported offshore accounts at Swiss Bank UBS and at HSBC’s bank in India.
These pushy techniques have worked well in Switzerland. The hard working folks at the DOJ/IRS are now bringing them to California. This means that the IRS can look at anyone’s real estate transactions. With John Doe warrants, they can go fishing/snooping wherever they like.
Think what you will of this. The country is starved for revenue. The outfit that is charged with collecting that revenue has an army of tough-minded lawyers behind it. It will have the power to turn over stones as it pleases. In the end this effort will raise some additional revenue. It will scare the crap out of a few folks as well. Some will cheer this. I see the John Doe warrants as a big and dangerous step on a very slippery slope. It sure won’t do much for Uncle Sam’s image.
Unrelated Note:
In my forecasts for 2011 I said:
-Kim Jong-Il will die. His son will take over. The heir is a nut, there will be more military exercises that results in shells landing on S. Korea soil. China will make public statements that it is trying to bring order; behind the scenes they will be applauding the chaos.
I got the first part right. I believe I will be right on the second part too. This could get very messy. Fast.
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Bruce: Great call on Kim Jong-Il (was he the "Great Leader" or the "Dear Leader"?:). I can only say I hope you are wrong on the second part though. I see four major political/economic risks in 2012:
ReplyDelete1) Eurozone disorderly collapse or something to do with the EZ banks. No explanation needed. Every day I read the Telegraph to see the latest (great paper by the way, check out Ambrose Evans-Pritchard's columns)
2) Israeli's attack Iran. Would be a disaster, but don't rule it out. And like the Iraq attack 30 years ago, they will not even tell the US in advance. Oil at US$250??
3) Your take on North Korea.
4) Let's not forget Pakistan. Nukes. Unstable state. Strong Islamist sympathies. Need we say more.....?
Two points:
ReplyDelete1. "The country is starved for revenue"
No it's not. The government IS. You're waffling on taxes and spending again. Do you want the government to tax and spend more or not??
2. "It sure won’t do much for Uncle Sam’s image"
I predict that, actually, it WILL. The mob will love it. They are envious of wealth. Whatever you hear about government being in the pocket of the bankers, deep down government works for the masses, services them and is elected by them. Most people will cheer the prosecution of anyone "rich" who doesn't "contribute"...
Good stuff. Found you by way of ZeroHedge.
ReplyDeleteBruce,
ReplyDeleteWhat laws have the Swiss violated that warrants the release of information from eleven Swiss banks?
I live in CA. A lot of my fellow citizens are quite liberal politically, and a number of them will express fear, quite vocally, that Christians (for example) want to impose their morality on the non-believers.
ReplyDeleteI'm not a Christian, and so far no Christian has imposed on my life-style. However, the CA government and the Federal gov't is starting to dictate what kind of light bulbs I use, whether or not my local grocery store can provide free shopping bags, what age my kid needs to attain if they want to avoid sitting in a car booster seat, ..., the list keeps growing.
Next it looks like they will be prying into every aspect of my financial life. I wonder if it will even be possible to get off the grid. Are we on our way to 1984?
Dear Bruce,
ReplyDeleteWhat a good set of predictions for 2011. The gold call was prescient! (Sure beats the snot out of the predictions of Nostradamus. Although to give him some credit he didn't likely make many predictions, if any, for 2011.)
Thanks for your hard work.
All of this information is valuable.Thanks for great sharing.
ReplyDeleteMeery Christmas Bruce, and thanks for the Blog. A great read as always.
ReplyDeleteBut I am not sure why China wants chaos in Asia..if they are so concerned with unemployment not rising to suppress dissent.
I would think chaos is bad for business, would lead to layoffs/business closures, lower GDP etc.
Perhaps you can expand on why you think this is so.
Uncle Sam or Saint Germain, the ascended master who overlooks America, is well aware of these tyrannical forces overtaking America. America is the land foretold in the Bible as the land of milk and honey. The wealth has been siphoned into the pockets of the 1%. These IRS ploys are not stopping the real culprits, but again work against what they perceive as the cheats at the price of putting into place the Patriot Act that allows the military to arrest anyone who speaks up against tyranny, as the military represent the powers that be. The IRS can use the military under the Patriot Act. And if America is Is-Real come again, it means that the country has sponsorship. Those who want to become real in their souls, to become the goodness and perfection of God will not be abandoned. Rather see how God came to the aid of David in fight with Goliath. The Federal Reserve is not omnipotent. Eventually cosmic law will intercede for those who wish to live in reality which is goodness and perfection and the Will of God in loving one another, as Jesus taught us.
ReplyDelete