“Plunderers of the world, when nothing remains on the lands to which they have laid waste by wanton thievery, they search out across the seas. The wealth of another region excites their greed; and if it is weak, their lust for power. Nothing from the rising to the setting of the sun is enough for them. Among all others only they are compelled to attack the poor as well as the rich. Robbery, rape, and slaughter they falsely call empire; and where they create a desolate wasteland, they call it peace.”
Tacitus, Agricola
IF the Banks are self-insured, and IF they are offering death related benefits to the employees, then this might make some sense, but it does not appear to be the case.Â
It seems that there is some perverse loophole in the tax laws and insurance calculations that makes it profitable for a corporation to ‘bet’ on the early deaths of its employees, for its own profit, as this article implies, and not as any hedge against the loss of their talent.
The failure of the Fed and the Regulators in general is to align the interests of the Banks with the success of Main Street, by making loans that encourage capital investment in sound projects and activities. Instead the Banks are incented to game the system, play the markets, and invest their innovation and energy into the financialisation of nearly everything, including the deaths of their own employees.
As the article reminds us, Senator Carl Levin said that JPMorgan has ‘the lowest loan-to-deposit ratio of the big banks, lending just 61 percent of its deposits out in loans.’ Apparently, said Levin, ‘it was too busy betting on derivatives to issue the loans needed to speed economic recovery.’
And gaming the markets as well Senator, and you can place a large portion of that blame on those in Washington who are only too eager to take soft bribe money in the form of large campaign contributions and other perks and revolving door payoffs from the Banks, Super PACs, and corporate interests.
Capitalism is turning ghoulish, and it is not just the western Banks that are joining in on the feast, but their political associates here and abroad who are enabling the death of whole countries for profit. Neo-Liberalism As Social Necrophilia: The Case of Greece.
‘And what rough beast, its hour come round at last, slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?’
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