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The Basel Committee on Banking Supervision (BCBS) is a committee of bank supervisory authorities from the G10 (i.e. the wealthiest 10 nations). They meet regularly at the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) in Switzerland and are in the process of putting together the international agreement known as the Basel Capital Accord (BCA). This sets bank supervision, risk-based capital and disclosure requirements for banks operating internationally.

While such an Accord might seem rather obscure and irrelevant to the general public, this is perhaps more a feature of the general ignorance, secrecy and complexity surrounding the operations of the international banking and monetary systems than anything else. but...

This Accord is of particular interest because of

Increasing Power of International Creditors over Debtors. International banks affected by BCA create the bulk of the money we all use in day-to-day living, especially the US currency which is the backbone of the international monetary system. The power of international creditors, particularly those responsible for money creation in the US Dollar, over debtors is increasing. This, in combination with the collapse of the gold standard and the original Bretton Woods structure in 1971, as well as the trend for western corporations to seek financing outside the banking sector, has lead to increasingly reckless behavior of these bank creditors. This is especially true where they can exercise their "powers" to access "collateral" (real assets) crucial to less powerful debtors - e.g. through IMF Structural Adjustment Programs internationally, and through predatory lending and foreclosures domestically. Such activities are increasing income and wealth gaps globally. Good supervision of, and appropriate capital standards for, powerful creditors can help curtail this recklessness.

Increasing Financial Consolidation: Both domestic and cross-border consolidation of financial services companies is continuing to escalate in the wake of global financial deregulation and the collapse of banks in various countries after financial crises. This is leading to the emergence of huge global "financial empires" domiciled in the same G10 countries that create the "hard currency", dominate institutions such as the IMF and set the rules for international banking. Also, the bigger a financial corporation becomes the more it becomes "too-big-to- fail". Big creditors at the heart of the international financial system are very likely to get bailed out no matter what they do, for their collapse could collapse the entire global financial system. This creates a tremendous "moral hazard" proportional to size and global reach. This further increases the powers of large western creditors over sovereign nations.

This is just an excerpt from a very interesting page I came accross. Read on, if your curiosity has awaken ... BIS...

According to the N.Y.Times, the bankers who basically initiated the financial crises ... even though it's you and me, or maybe not particularly you or me ... but the greed of all of us ... well, anyhow, these guys earned bonuses of 18.4 Billion $US in 2008, the year with tremendous losses for many people - and, taking in account what can be expected for this year, for much more damage and financial struggle to many more, more.

This money was given out to an approx. 150.000 bank managers and traders, according to Spiegel online, which divides down to about 122,000 $ per head. Great. 122,000 $ per year means 10,000 per month - average! bonus! - on top of a salery! Wow!

I have the impression, that by now, if a newspaper or magazine mentions an amount with just a 2-digit Billion number, we over-read it already... it needs at least 3 digits to get us stunning, isn't it? Oh, here goes the Citigroup with another xx Billions, ups, Funny Mae, Mac my ass...

Okay, if we look a little bit into it, we have to admit, that without our every one's greed, there wasn't a chance to install a system like this: banks lending out billions and billions and then selling the debt wrapped up in non-transparent packages, so they can lend more billions ... without need for accordingly more funds to cover all this up. And all of this is just possible, because all of us (not all, but many) try to get a share of it, try to make some profit on it...

More, more, more ... profit, profit, profit... greed, greed, greeeeed.....

This helped "these guys" a lot to achieve what they have achieved. So, now we lost a good amount of money. Many jobs are gone and will be gone (forever). Many lives put to struggle. We lost. Some didn't.

And here we go, come our politicians and tell us: We have to help these banks, restore trust (what?? - ah, between banks), we cannot let the economy down. Have to save jobs (car industry), have to "help out" ... for sure just temporarily ... to get back on our feet.

So, after we lost a good amount of money in shares, and some people pulled out of it or are simply out of money, now they use the tax money. All these billions which go into "the economy" come from tax payers, or better, the interest for all this money given out to thugs who ripped us off through all these years, has to be paid with tax payers money. Bye bye education. Bye bye social and health care. Bye bye fairness (did it ever exist?). Bye bye better live...

One can go on and on. It's so ridiculous! If you look at it with some distance, it's unbelievable, truly unbelievable!

But even more shocking is that no one is revolting. No one's crying out loud! No one's crying foul! There are no voices to be heard. No blockades, no demonstrations, No governments replaced, very few managers fired, no public disobedience, no economy related terrorist attacks!

We keep on watching TV. We keep on trusting those guys who put us into this mess to handle the getting out. We keep on getting fat, being bored, getting brain washed every day ... every day!

Well, I can't help you!
But I can stop: trusting, listening, buying things I don't need, supporting "those leaders", believing their words, supporting their reckless blood sucking strategies!