As seen in my last blog Open Letter to Dan Rather: How the ‘Big Sell-out’ by the American Press, Set the Stage for the Demise of Democracy in ‘America,’ the only “measure” of success of the “think tanks” is how many page views their website receives.
To make matters worse, all of the think tanks are promoting a dysfunctional status quoin Washington, as well as globally—and why Trump won the US elections. The lack of Good Governance in Washington is at crisis proportions, with the financial markets ripe for the ‘Crash of the Millennium.’ The Dow Jones will fall below 10,000, perhaps as low as 4,000 (see Paul Farrell’s op-ed Stock-market crash of 2016: The countdown begins), due to decades of ostrich-playing by of all the PhDs and MDAs in the think tank and press outlets which permeate the “Swamp.”
One of the jobs I have currently applied for in the IMF, a job for which I am highly, and even uniquely qualified, is as Results Management Based (RBM) Projects Officer in the Institute for Capacity Development Strategy & Evaluation Division. For years, I have heard RBM bantered around by economists in the IMF, always thinking NO ONE in Washington, know how to manage with effective RESULTS—because NO ONE understands what they are doing under human rights standards, quoting the UN report, Result-Based Management Handbook: Harmonizing RBM Concepts and Approaches for Improved Development Results at Country Level, “While RBM management is a tool to help reach a desired result, a human rights-based approach is a framework that helps define the results and the process by which results are achieved…” I guess I’ll see if I even get an interview!
One of the major points I made in my coverage of the IMF/WB Spring Meetings was my protesting over donor driven training by ICD. My concern is that civil servants within government agencies, at present, are under NO OVERSIGHT OR GOVERNANCE. (President Obama needs to heed his own words, and see that what he criticizes the East for, the West is doing as well.) By just teaching technical training without ASSURING EFFECTIVE TRAINING in ETHICS, INTEGRITY, and ACCOUNTABILITY, as opposed to bullying and human rights violation management, organizations of the IMF are only enabling and empowering governments to become more, and more oppressive—and why violence everywhere is escalating.
While I very much recognize the importance of capacity development, as it is exactly what I am attempting to do with my work. However, it is imperative that “Capacity” in integrity, accountability, and transparency be included in capacity building programs everywhere. And, in order to do so, all the employees in the Fund need to be above reproach in integrity, accountability, and transparency—which is NOT the case at present. The IMF has the opportunity to create a Real Results-Based model for dealing with bullying in the workplace, with the methodology I provided in my report workplace bullying in the IMF. Good governance is the SAME at any level—within a family unit, all the way to a country, or planet—a minimum of rules, uniformly applied to all members of the community. The systematic cover-up of bullying and abuses of power is a HR issue, and the HR community MUST stop playing ostrich to the elevated level of negligence, and slothfulness within their organizations. Corruption is not just accepting bribes. Corruption is also an OMISSION OF ACTION by civil servants, and public authorities who have an obligation to act.
For the past decade, I have been lobbying not only all the “experts” who should be “governing” (telling them exactly what they must do under the law, as well as human rights standards), but all the NGOs, as well. Not only do Congressional staffers need to be investigated, and held accountable for their negligence, and apathy for that negligence, but State Department, White House, and all the federal agencies, on top of the IMF, World Bank, and all the other international organizations in Washington, need investigating. As I recently stated in an email to the Center on Public Integrity in yet another one my efforts for the press to cover the elevated level of corruption in the courts, the Swamp needs DRAINING, but NOT by Trump, but by ME!
The ivory-tower existence of civil servants, who do not want to “bother” to do their job as provided for under the law, is CRIMINAL NEGLIGENCE. The antiquated norm that “civil servants” are “untouchable,” and cannot be fired, nor held accountable, is why ALL of the government and pseudo-government agencies in Washington need draconian house-cleaning. Until and unless, those who are charged with the task of “governing” understand their own actions under human rights standards, and manage with MEASURABLE RESULTS, economies will continue to crash-n-burn time and time again.
The Center for Public Integrity, just published an article Justice Obscured: Congress moves to increase judicial transparency in D.C., patting themselves on the back over legislation, requiring “broader disclosure” of judges. This initiative was the result of the Center for Public Integrity investigation in 2013, Justice Obscured: State supreme court judges reveal scant financial information, noting that the Center for Public Integrity was sent copies of all of my Family Courts in Crisisnewsletter in 2013 and 2014, and I quote from their article,
It took an actual act of Congress to steer local judges in Washington, D.C., toward broader disclosure of potential conflicts of interest.
The U.S. Senate passed a bill Tuesday that mandates increased transparency in the District of Columbia’s court system in response to a 2013 Center for Public Integrity investigation that gave the city a failing grade. The House approved the measure in September.
The legislation's passage was a rarity in the deeply divided Congress and a welcome victory for the city’s non-voting representative to Congress, D.C. Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton, who cited the Center’s probe in pushing for changes.
“The public deserves to have complete and appropriate information on the finances of judges charged with upholding justice in our city,” the Democrat said in a statement Wednesday.
The White House did not immediately respond to inquiries on whether President Barack Obama will sign the District of Columbia Judicial Financial Transparency Act before he leaves office, but Norton and one of the Senate sponsors, Sen. James Lankford, R-Oklahoma, were optimistic.
This legislation is so exemplary of the ‘window-dressing’ initiative going on in Washington, it is not even funny. For the past 5 months, I have been run through the gauntlet of DC Landlord/tenant court meticulously documenting and demonstrating the elevated level of criminality of lawyers, judges, and court personnel in the system.
Both of the legal clinics within the courthouse need to be investigated for the criminal negligence, along with the Legal Aid Society, and all the other "legal aid" societies in Washington. I have solicited assistance from Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton’s office in a constituent request, but as usual Holmes Norton staffers falsely claim that “there is nothing they can do”—implicating Holmes Norton in the cover-up of human rights violations. With the case I have built against DC Landlord/tenant court, any human rights lawyer who will file the paperwork can challenge the American government’s defense in Gonzales (Lenahan) vs. USA, 2011, Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. But, since all the NGOs are too busy producing ‘window-dressing’ legislation and jurisprudence, more on more public authorities become increasingly implicated in the cover-up of rampant human rights violations, and a total lack of rule of law in the “Swamp.”
When I originally published Family Courts in Crisis newsletters in 2013, I joined several free-lance journalism groups on Linkedin searching for journalists to write stories regarding the corruption in the courts, offering all of my research for free—but the only thing the journalists were concerned with was how much I would pay them to say whatever I wanted them to say. I even got bullied by several members of the group, telling me I should be ashamed of myself for trying to get them to write articles for free. I was offering them a wealth of meticulous research, yet they were not interested in the least. It is precisely because the journalism industry is flooded with unethical and negligent journalists—“experts” whose only question is, how much are you going to pay me—that the coverage of the US Presidential Elections was a farce, and conducted like a bad Reality TV show. Irresponsible journalism is of CRISIS proportions, and why a con-artist, salesman won out to one of the most highly-qualified person for the job who has ever run for the US Presidency, Hillary Clinton. In voting for Trump the American Electoral College “cut off their nose to spite their face.” If the press had been covering the REAL issues the USA, and world face, economies around the world would not be on the brink of collapse.
Financial markets are up all over the globe, but these markets are being artificially inflated by the same “game-players” who created the entire mess the last time, in 2007-08, and the time before that in the '90s, and the time before that in the ‘80s. The names of the players in the game keeps growing, ever since the game-players started their antics in the ‘70s. But, the Game has stayed the same, with economists in the IMF playing ostrich to the “Rules” of the Game, and why financial global markets are going to crash 50-80%--and will NOT rebound, as everyone will try and rational, when they do. EVERY single financial market is based on high-risk, high-yield investments, with bankers coming up with more and more cons and schemes, designed to milk citizens of their hard earned money, so the “Club” on Wall Street, now joined by Silicon Valley, can gamble with everyone’s savings and lives. The reason that savings accounts in banks is so ridiculously low, 0.01%, is that ALL the investment monies in the banking system are going into high-risk investments—and why markets are so erratic and inflated. The movie, “The Big Short” provides an excellent explanation of how the bankers built their “House of Cards” the last time around, quoting one of the main characters Mark Baum (Steve Carell),
We live in an era of fraud in America. Not just in banking, but in government, education, religion, food, even baseball... What bothers me ins't that fraud is not nice. Or that fraud is mean. For fifteen thousand years, fraud and short sighted thinking have never, ever worked. Not once. Eventually you get caught, things go south. When the hell did we forget all that? I thought we were better than this, I really did.
Unfortunately, We are NOT better than this! Because not only were all of the criminals who created the last market crash, and financial crisis, NOT HELD ACCOUNTABLE the last time around; but, the whole disgusting pot has gotten bigger and badder in the past decade.
At the Annual Meetings, Michael Lewis, author of the “The Big Short” in his One-on-One with Christine Lagarde, asked Lagarde if she was not afraid of being the “fall guy.”
Unfortunately, when markets around the world start to free-fall, losing 50-80% of their values, and the world facing a depression with millions having once again lost their homes, savings and jobs, I fear many will be looking for a “fall-guy” to save their own hide! While financial market collapses, will not be Christine Lagarde’s fault in the literal sense, but it is the “fault” of old guard, and career economists in the IMF and World Bank, along with other PhD and MBA “club” members in the American government, in “The Game,” for the past 4 decades. During the Annual Meeting Lead Counsel of the IMF stated, and I quote from my blog, Cost of Corruption: Open Letter to Lead Counsel at the IMF, Sean Hagan – IV, Part 12 in the IMF/WB Annual Meeting 2016
The role of whistleblowers in pointing out corruption. There is an environment where it has been encouraged. There is also some tension between the pursuit of information, which is essential to the public, and that pursuit sometimes stepping over legal boundaries.
(With tweet shown stating Corruption can only be tackled with strong institutions and fool proof processes.)
If anyone feels particularly moved to talk about that tension in the role of whistle-blowers in fixing, in bringing attention to, in fixing corruption. If anyone does. We can start with Sean (Hagan, Lead Counsel at the IMF).
Sean Hagan (General Counsel and Director of the Legal Department at the IMF. Advises on legal aspects of the IMF operations, regulatory, advisory and lending functions. Published extensively on the law of the Fund and a broad range of legal issues relating to prevent and resolve financial crises, with emphasis on insolvency and restructuring of debt.)
Sure. First of all, I think we are all on the same page on this panel, on a Key issue which is the Rule of Law is essential. But, corruption is not going to be addressed by putting everyone in jail. It's not just about punishment it is about building values, and societal norms. And, that is a more complicated issue. So that's the first thing. And, I think that’s what I'm getting from Sergejus, and the person in the audience. And, you know, I think that transparency is critical in this; in changing societal norms. And, getting information out. You talked about the infrastructure.A quick question for Sean Hagan (by a World Bank employee and student at GWU)
In the legal perspective, in the international perspective, not local, do you think anything can be done to change the rules of the game. Like we lately heard how JASTA a new Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism was passed here in the US. Do you think that the such initiative, as a lawyer do you think such initiatives to change the rules internationally, to bring the sponsors of corruption to justice and protect whistle-blowers as well?
(See my activism website, www.warondomesticterrorism.com, and the contention of all of the bullying, terrorist secretaries in the IMF, who are SO convince that they enjoy TOTAL immunity for political persecution and suppression of freedom of speech of a properly registered CSO Rep at the IMF/WB Annual Meetings--and guess where I am heading with this in my "extremist" activism for PEACE, vs. ICD's "activities" promoting the status quo of violence in all its forms, both internally, as well as globally.)
So, yeh, I think that when you are dealing with corruption. You know, it’s not just about the country changing its own legal framework. There is a global responsibility. For every bribe that is taken, one is given. So often those bribes are given by multi-national companies. So I think there is a recognition globally that there needs to be in place a mechanism, which basically hold multi-nationals accountable for participating in these types of transactions. In the United States you have the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, the OECD has developed a Convention on Anti-bribery. They call it the SUPPLY side of Corruption.
That is the extent to which you need to basically hold the BRIBERS (so to speak) Accountable. And, I think that's critical. The second thing that I would say, is that there are efforts to create global standards. That would address this. For example, the Panama Papers. The Panama Papers as Emilia has so eloquently described, is essentially about the problem of Obfuscation, where essentially illicit money is hidden, beneath nominees of directors, trusts and you can't the beneficial are. Well there is a global standard established by the financial task force that requires national governments. It's not a treaty but it is a standard which countries have to comply with otherwise they'll get cut off from their financial system, which basically required banks and lawyers to find out who the beneficiar is. And, if they detect if their is a suspicious transaction to report it to the police. The issue that we have is that while the laws are in place, they are not really being implemented that well throughout the world.
So the KEY CHALLENGE for us is about IMPLEMENTATION. And, it brings this.. I completely agree with one of the previous tweets "It's All about Institutions." The rule of law is not just about good legislation. It's about having the institutions which will enforce them. As Cissy said if the laws are enforced by the police, the public prosecutor, and the courts. But, they're corrupt you don't really have rule of law. So you need to have institutions that have integrity, with a civil services that is Proud, and about being independent, from public interference and private influence. And, I think that's key. It's difficult to do, but you have to address that issue.
As seen time and time again. The “experts” in the IMF (World Bank, UN, etc.) have the rhetoric, and even realize that the problems are that of IMPLEMENTATION. However, ALL of the “experts” in power at present MUST REALIZE that until, and unless, they FIX THEIR INTERNAL MANAGEMENT PROBLEMS, they will continue to be criminally negligent and involved in serial human rights violations of populations EVERYWHERE. DONALD TRUMP IS RIGHT ABOUT ONE THING. THE SYSTEM IS RIGGED, BUT THE MAN IS SUCH AN IDIOT HE DOESN’T REALIZE HE IS ONE OF THE PRINCIPLE ACTORS IN THE RIGGING, IN BED WITH THE IMF, and its Institute for Capacity Development.
As Hagan pointed out, implementation of new laws, necessitates the rule of law, as well as a change in cultural norms. The problem is that NONE of the countries in the world are doing this--the most egregious being the USA. The courts EVERYWHERE are in a mess, as my cases Wilcox vs. Spain,Wilcox vs. USA, Wilcox vs. France, and Wilcox vs. the IMF(would anyone one else like to jump on the band-wagon?) so dramatically demonstrate, and the world is on the brink of disaster, but the Ostriches, Toads and Bellowing-cows keep on "party-hardying" while the TITANIC GOES DOWN!!