Another Twat American Billionaire

San Francisco billionaire, Tom Steyer, vows to block Keystone XL pipeline

As the New Word Ordure gets underway, very rich American twats are openly asserting their intention to dictate public policy, national interest, public interest or the wishes of the majority be damned.

Tom Steyer, is the founder of Farallon Capital Management, L.L.C., a pioneer in “absolute return” investing, that produces a positive return regardless of the directions of financial markets. He evidently has the Midas touch, but why does that grant him the right to dictate public policy? Simple. Because he's incredibly rich, so his opinion counts for more than that of 300 million Americans.

For American billionaires with an axe to grind, their time has come. They can deploy as much cash as they like to elect friends and destroy foes, to  dictate policy or prohibit it, and to shape public discourse.

Naturally, the new rulers are taking good care to control the flow of money in perpetuity. Thus, reports the New American:

A former insider at the World Bank, ex-Senior Counsel Karen Hudes, says the global financial system is dominated by a small group of corrupt, power-hungry figures centered around the privately owned U.S. Federal Reserve. The network has seized control of the media to cover up its crimes, too, she explained. In an interview with The New American, Hudes said that when she tried to blow the whistle on multiple problems at the World Bank, she was fired for her efforts. Now, along with a network of fellow whistleblowers, Hudes is determined to expose and end the corruption.

Which is pretty much to be expected. The bankers and financiers have had the upper hand now for more than half a century, as this report on the Bank if International Settlements makes clear.

Before the Nazis took the first step toward conquering Czechoslovakia in the late 1930s, Czech leaders had sent a portion of their gold reserves to their account with the little-known BIS, or Bank for International Settlements, believing it would keep the loot safe.

So when, in 1939, officers of the Czech national bank were ordered under threat of death to transfer 23.1 metric tons of gold from their BIS account to the BIS account of Germany’s Reichsbank, they believed that BIS officials would recognize that the orders had been given under duress and refuse the transfer.

What they didn’t count on was that the BIS didn’t care. Montagu Norman, the governor of the Bank of England and a BIS founder, said that “political considerations must not affect BIS transactions.” And with that, the Nazis looted over 23 tons of Czech gold “without a shot being fired.”

In “Tower of Basel,” veteran journalist Adam LeBor writes that the BIS might be the most important and influential bank in the world, and yet few even know of its existence.

Founded in 1930 by Norman and Reichsbank head Hjalmar Schacht to coordinate German reparations payments from World War I, the BIS quickly came to serve as a central bank for the world’s central banks, setting key policies for global banking and eventually playing a major role in the creation of the European Union.

But this massively influential and powerful bank is also shrouded in secrecy and accountable to no one.

There are, not doubt, legitimate reasons to challenge the desirability of the Keystone pipeline. But when some very rich shit baldly states that he's gonna stop the pipeline whatever the Hell anyone else thinks, you know America ain't no democracy and that all indications to the contrary are part of a charade.

Not that billionaire bastards always get their way. Sheldon Adelson, who made his money with casinos,  spent $150 million to oust Obama from the White House and failed, which is a good joke.

But next time, Adelson threatens he'll spend twice as much, though that ain't much at all to a guy worth $22 bill. And of course, the object of the expenditure is to ensure lower taxes for billionaires, so in fact the expenditure can be considered an investment — and tax deductible.