Ten Top Rules For Robbing A Bank: 1) Decide to rob a bank; 2) Have a plan; 3) Have a back-up plan; 4) Establish clear communications; 5) Choose your partners carefully; 6) Expect the unexpected; 7) Shit happens; 8) Don’t get greedy; 9) Remember, shit happens; 10) Hang up and know when to walk away. Logan Lucky 2017 starring Daniel Craig & Hillary Swank & Canning Tatum & Adam Driver & Riley Keough & Katie Holmes & Farrah Mackenzie & Katherine Waterson & Dwight Yoakam & Jack Quaid & Seth MacFarlane et al, director Steven Soderbergh, list on wall
In the late ’70s banking wasn’t a job you went into to make large sums of money. It was a fucking snooze. The Big Short 2015 starring Christian Bale & Ryan Gosling & Steve Carell & Brad Pitt & Hamish Linklater & Rafe Spall & Jeremy Strong & John Magaro & Finn Wittrock & Tracy Letts et al, director Adam McKay
In 2008 it all came crashing down … but there were some that saw it coming … the giant lie at the heart of the economy. ibid.
I want to short the housing market. ibid.
It’s time to call bullshit. Every-fucking-thing. ibid. Carell
I know what you’re thinking: what the fuck is a synthetic CDO? ibid.
These people are crooks and they should be in prison. ibid. short-seller
2,400 times a year. 44 times a week. 9 times a day. Every 48 minutes. A bank is robbed here. This is the bank robbery capital of the world: Los Angeles. Den of Thieves 2018 starring Gerard Butler & Pablo Schreiber & O’Shea Jackson junior & 50 Cent & Evan Jones & Cooper Andrews & Maurice Compte & Kaiwi Lyman-Mersereau & Dan Olivieri & Lewis Tan et al, director Christian Gudegast, caption
Ray: I need our six thousand bucks … I’ve got a brilliant idea. I’m gonna make us rich.
Frenchie: How you gonna make us rich? Rob a bank? Small Time Crooks 2000 starring Woody Allen & Tracey Ullman & Elaine May & Elaine Stritch & Hugh Grant & Michael Rapaport & Tony Darrow & Jon Lovitz & Brian Markinson & George Grizzard & Kristine Nielson et al, director Woody Allen
Bank robber picks up phone: Mum?
Rozzer: This is Rotzinger. Chief of police. Get your butt outta there now.
Robber: You know, I was in Nam with a jerk like you. Quick Change 1990 starring Bill Murray & Geena Davis & Randy Quaid & Jason Robards & Tony Shalhoub & Philip Bosco & Phil Hartman & Jamey Sheriday & Stanley Tucci & Kurtwood Smith & Bob Elliott et al, director Howard Franklin & Bill Murray
He’s getting further away every second. ibid. Rotzinger
You’re a world class bank robber drunk on your own power and expertise. ibid. her to him
At the twilight of the British empire, bankers, lawyers and accountants from the City of London set up a spider’s web of offshore secrecy jurisdictions that captured wealth from across the globe and funnelled it to London. The Spider’s Web: Britain’s Second Empire ***** Youtube 1.18.01 2017
The British empire: the largest empire the world has ever known. For over 300 years Britain ruled, its armies conquered, and its bankers proclaimed the might of its currency. But one day it all began to fall apart. One by one countries declared their independence from Britain and no amount of force could reverse the tide. As British elites saw their wealth, privileges and empire disintegrate, they began to search for a new role in a changing world. And they found one in finance. This is a film about how Britain transformed from a colonial power to a modern financial power and how this transformation has shaped the world we live in. ibid.
Britain’s overseas jurisdictions – the last remnants of empire. Accountants and lawyers from London arrived in the Cayman Islands and other dependencies and began to draft a set of secrecy laws and regulations. ibid.
The City of London adapted and survived … Its Lord Mayor is selected by the heads of medieval guilds. ibid.
‘Over and over again we have seen that there is another power than that which has its seat at Westminster. The City of London, a convenient term for a collection of financial interests, is able to assert itself against the government of the country. Those who control money can pursue a policy at home and abroad contrary to that which is being decided by the people.’ ibid. Clement Attlee
BCCI: Extensive financial fraud, money laundering and terrorist financing … The Bank of England did nothing. ibid.
‘The Trust lies at the core of the British secrecy model.’ ibid. expert
International banks from across the globe set up branches in London and Britain’s offshore jurisdictions in order to take advantage of this new system. ibid.
Secrecy jurisdictions are heavily used for fraudulent and grey area financial activities, areas where secrecy is not just desirable but a necessity. ibid.
The Cayman Islands is the first largest financial centre in the world. It hosts 80,000 registered companies, over three-quarters of the world’s hedge funds and $1.9 trillion in deposits. It has a population of 60,000, roughly equivalent to New York’s homeless population. ibid.
Accountants form the backbone of the offshore system; they administer the structures that allow individuals and corporations to shift their money offshore and evade taxes. ibid.
In Britain secrecy and complexity in finance and government help to obscure corruption in public office. ibid.
How is money created? Where does it come from? Who benefits? And what purpose does it serve? For centuries the mechanics of the monetary system have remained hidden from the prying eyes of the populace. 97% Owned: Economic Truth, 2012
In 2010 the total UK money supply stood at £2.15 trillion. 2.6% of this total was physical cash. ibid.
Seigniorage: Profit made by a government by issuing currency. The difference between the face value of notes and coins, and their production costs. ibid.
When banks issue loans to the public, they create new commercial bank money. ibid.
‘It’s basically an accounting trick … banks create money.’ ibid. Professor Richard Werner
Between 1998 and 2007 the UK money supply tripled. ibid.
Banks are no longer restricted by how much they can lend. ibid.
‘It’s generally speaking when you have debts owned by the poor to the rich that suddenly debts become a sacred obligation more important than anything else.’ ibid. Dave Graeber, interview Democracy Now
The [indebted] country becomes a vassal state, allowing large corporations to exploit its natural resources and workforce. ibid.
The system is neither stable nor fair … The system is designed to make certain people very rich. ibid.
The banks caused the financial crisis and now the rest of us are being asked to pay for it. ibid.
Central banks have the power to create economic, political and social change. Princes of the Yen: Central Banks and the Transformation of the Economy, 2014
In 1957 the former Class A war crimes suspect Kishi Nobusuke became prime minister of Japan. ibid.
With money from crime syndicates, industrial corporations and CIA slush funds Kishi built the Liberal Democratic Party into a powerful political machine. ibid.
In one area the ministry did not have actual control, and that was the quantity of credit creation and its allocation, which was decided by the Japanese Central Bank, the Bank of Japan. ibid.
The Bank of Japan could dictate the number and value of loans that banks issued. ibid.
The credit boom caused not only a boom in real estate but also in the stock market. ibid.
Like all bubbles, the Japanese bubble was simply fuelled by the rapid creation of new money. ibid.
More than five million Japanese lost their jobs and did not find employment elsewhere. ibid.
By 2011 Japan’s government debt would reach 230% of GDP, the highest in the world. ibid.
Banks and their regulators were heavily criticised for their actions. ibid.
In 1988 monetary policy was put into the hands of the newly independent Bank of Japan. ibid.
The deepest recession since the great depression. ibid.
‘The IMF policies are clearly not aimed at creating economic recoveries in the Asian countries … The agenda is clearly to crack open Asia for foreign interests.’ ibid. Richard Werner
The Savings and Loan crisis from the 1980s when 1,000 criminally fraudulent bankers went to prison. The Veneer of Justice in a Kingdom of Crime, 2016
2008: A $13 trillion crisis … The catastrophic failure in the United States Justice Department is the work of the treasonous criminals who are running it. ibid.
There was always something odd about the DOJ’s announcement that it wouldn’t prosecute Goldman Sachs. ibid.
The DOJ doesn’t investigate crimes of global banks for fear of ‘collateral consequences’. But who determines those consequences? … The exoneration of Goldman reflects the overthrow of America’s constitutional republic by a criminal king ruling over his subjects. ibid.
Is Wall Street too big for jail? ibid.
In the Eurozone one country after another needs to borrow money from the other Euro countries in order to save the banks. But who actually gets this money? Where does it flow? The Secret Bank Bailout, 2013
How can democracy work without public information? ibid.
Deutsche Bank: 11.6 billion … Deutsche bank would have been immediately bankrupt if it had not been for the AIG bailout. ibid.
In the three years up to the beginning of 2008 Spanish borrowers accumulated 332 Euros of new debt from French and German banks alone. ibid.
Nowhere did the property boom go so drastically wrong as in Ireland. ibid.
‘Was the ECB acting illegally?’ ibid. Independent Irish MP