It’s Real –> Financial Transactions over $600 to the IRS

Posted on August 9, 2022August 9, 2022 by Denise Simon

There are countless payment platforms known as digital wallets (apps) now. PayPal, QuickBooks, Wise, Venmo, Zelle, Stripe, ApplePay, GooglePay, Xoom are just a few. Included should also be online sales apps like Marketplace by Facebook and OfferUp. Digital money is moved there also. All digital transactions get reported…..leading up to $600.00, in fact $600.00 has nothing to do with the whole matter..

Perhaps it is a good time to quit using them and going to the old fashion cash method which would put cashiers in a panic….

Why go to cash? Well, after the Senate passed the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 and it was revealed that the IRS would be more than double it’s size…perhaps they need all those people to investigate all transactions leading up to that pesky $600.00.

The following website has a great summary

by Jon Miltimore

A proposal from the Biden Administration that would require banks to monitor personal accounts and report all financial transactions over $600 to the IRS is under fire.

On Tuesday, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen defended the proposal on CNBC’s “Squawk Box,” calling the collection of financial information “routine” after some in the banking community criticized it as an unprecedented invasion of privacy.

“It’s just a few pieces of information about individual bank accounts,” the secretary said.

‘A Massive Search Without a Search Warrant’

Others disagree with Yellen’s description of the Treasury Department’s proposal, however.

Last month, economist Peter Jacobsen noted the change would give the IRS an “unprecedented look into the finances of many Americans.”

“Even the powerful political will behind the 2002 ‘Patriot Act’ only led to requirements that banks report suspicious transactions of $5,000 or more,” Jacobsen observed.

More recently, a former Kansas City Fed president argued the policy was a dangerous trap that was being laid for the middle class.

“It’s a massive search without a search warrant,” said Thomas Hoenig, who served as president of the Kansas City Fed from 1991 to 2011. “It will be the middle class and the upper middle class who will be caught in this.”

Hoenig also pointed out that, in contrast to wealthier Americans, most in the middle class do not have lawyers and accountants they can rely on to help them navigate matters with the IRS.

“In the collection of the data, there will be false positives,” Hoenig said. “That means individuals will be approached by the government about what they’re doing and they will have to spend additional funds to defend themselves. It’s a really bad idea.”

Hoenig also said the regulation would “cost billions,” since banks will have to collect the data and present it in a usable format for the IRS.

‘We Are Owed’

The Treasury Department regulation is being proposed as the Biden Administration seeks to whip up enough votes to push through a $3.5 trillion reconciliation spending bill. The legislation, Americans are told, will be financed through taxes on “the rich.”

The great economist Ludwig von Mises, however, once warned that individuals should be wary of collectivist policies in sheep’s clothing.

“The masses favor socialism because they trust the socialist propaganda of the intellectuals,” Mises observed. “The intellectuals, not the populace, are molding public opinion.”

One of the great lies that has been perpetuated for decades is that the welfare state can be financed if only the rich would pay “their fair share.” This message, unsurprisingly, polls quite well; but a brief look at history shows that there are limits to what the rich can shoulder in taxes—the welfare states of Europe are financed heavily by middle-class taxes—and the rich in the US already pay an astonishing percentage of the federal tax burden.

Yellen understands this, which is why the Treasury Department’s policy is designed to raise revenue by enforcing greater tax compliance—from everyone.

“There’s an enormous tax gap in the US estimated at $7 trillion over the next 10 years in terms of a shortfall of tax collections to what we believe we are owed,” says Yellen.

Yellen’s last words—what “we are owed”—are telling. They show that when it comes to bureaucrats getting property they see as theirs, something as abstract as “privacy” will not stand in their way.

Defenders of the Treasury Department policy say the IRS would be monitoring annual cash flows, not individual transactions, so that makes the policy okay.

“A simple way for the IRS to get a sense of where that might be is just a few pieces of information about individuals’ bank accounts,” Yellen said. “Nothing at the transaction level that would violate privacy; simply aggregate inflows into the account over the year and aggregate outflows. And that would really help the IRS target their auditing resources, which we have proposed to greatly expand.”

As Mises’ quote implies, government officials are often guilty of saying one thing and doing another. But in this case, Yellen is being refreshingly candid in what the Treasury Department is after.

The government wants to monitor the inflows and outflows of (private) individual bank accounts so the IRS can do more audits with “greatly expanded” resources to allow the federal government to collect trillions of dollars they are “owed.”

Take Yellen at her word—but don’t believe for a minute these audits will only fall on “the rich.”

Exactly When Does Fentanyl get Included in Title 42?

Posted on June 27, 2022June 27, 2022 by Denise Simon

President Biden is completely absent and indifferent to this crisis and so is the Department of Justice. Just consider this from two days ago…

SANTA ANA, Calif. (KABC) — A Fullerton man is facing several felony charges for possessing enough fentanyl to kill 12 million people, nearly four times the population of Orange County, authorities announced Friday.

According to the Orange County District Attorney’s Office, 60-year-old Alfonso Gomez-Santana was arrested Wednesday when California Highway Patrol Officers pulled him over near South Lemon Street and Orangethorpe Avenue in Fullerton. Officers found four kilos of fentanyl inside his vehicle and 20 more kilos in his home. They also found $250,000 worth of fentanyl pills and 122 grams of methamphetamine, according to authorities.

source

The district attorney’s office said it takes about 2 milligrams of fentanyl to be considered a lethal dose.

“It is unconscionable that someone who has the ability to kill 12 million people is facing just a handful of years in jail,” said Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer in a news release. “Fentanyl is a national epidemic that killed more than 100,000 Americans last year and it’s not going to stop unless we have the tools as prosecutors to hold these drug dealers and drug manufacturers accountable for peddling death. Every parent in America should be petrified that one day they are going to walk into their child’s bedroom and find them dead because their child thought they were experimenting with recreational drugs and instead drug dealers sold them a deadly dose of fentanyl. This is not fear-mongering; this is reality – and if we don’t start strengthening penalties for drug dealers it’s going to be the reality for you or someone you love.”

Gomez-Santana has been charged with one felony count of sale or transport of a controlled substance and two felony counts of possession of sale with intent to sell.He faces a maximum sentence of six years and eight months in jail if convicted on all counts.

In November, Orange County prosecutors issued a warning to drug dealers, manufacturers, and distributors, saying if their deals result in someone’s death, they could be charged with murder.

Now to the matter of Title 42….

There are many chapters inside Title 42….all under the code dealing with public health….it was originally launched in 1944 to prevent the spread of communicable diseases and is managed by the CDC. In short, it is to prevent entry into the United States anything that is a threat to U.S. health law. So how does fentanyl get into the United States? Mostly trafficking through the southern border and in other cases through the U.S. Postal system. We know precisely how the supply chain operates and who is responsible. Really you say?

Yes….learn about the King Pin Act –>

FACT SHEET
Overview of the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act

Introduction
The Administration has released the names of three Mexican organizations against which the President has decided to impose sanctions pursuant to the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act (the “Kingpin Act”) (21 U.S.C. 1901-1908, 8 U.S.C. 1182). Kingpin Act targets, on a worldwide basis, significant foreign narcotics traffickers, their organizations, and operatives.

Background
The Kingpin Act became law on December 3, 1999. Its purpose is to deny significant foreign narcotics traffickers, their related businesses, and their operatives access to the U.S. financial system and to prohibit all trade and transactions between the traffickers and U.S. companies and individuals. The Kingpin Act authorizes the President to take these actions when he determines that a foreign person plays a significant role in international narcotics trafficking. Congress modeled the Kingpin Act on the effective sanctions program that the Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (“OFAC”) administers against the Colombian drug cartels pursuant to Executive Order 12978 issued in October 1995 (“Executive Order 12978”) under authority of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (“IEEPA”).

Implementation
The Kingpin Act requires that the Secretary of the Treasury, the Attorney General, the Secretary of State, the Secretary of Defense, and the Director of the Central Intelligence Agency coordinate to identify drug kingpins and propose them to the President for sanctions. The Department of Homeland Security and the Directorate of National Intelligence are also included in the process. The Act calls for the President to report to specified congressional committees by June 1 of each year on those “foreign persons [he] determines are appropriate for sanctions” and stating his intent to impose sanctions upon those Significant Foreign Narcotics Traffickers pursuant to the Act. While previous Presidential determinations have been tied to the statutory June 1 timetable, the President may also identify Significant Foreign Narcotics Traffickers at any other time pursuant to the Act.

Under the Kingpin Act, the President may identify foreign entities as well as foreign individuals as Significant Foreign Narcotics Traffickers, or “kingpins”: a foreign person is defined in the Act as “any citizen or national of a foreign state or any entity not organized under the laws of the United States, but does not include a foreign state.” Likewise, the President is not required to designate Colombian persons exclusively under Executive Order 12978, and may impose sanctions on a Colombian individual or entity under the Kingpin Act, which is intended to be global in scope.

The long-term effectiveness of the Kingpin Act is enhanced by the Department of the Treasury’s authority (in consultation with appropriate government agencies and departments) under the Act to make derivative designations of foreign individuals and entities that provide specified types of support or assistance to designated traffickers, or that are owned or controlled by such traffickers, or that act on their behalf. This authority broadens the scope of application of the economic sanctions against kingpins to include their businesses and operatives. Including this year’s action, the President has named a total of 78 Significant Foreign Narcotics Traffickers since the first set of kingpins was announced on June 1, 2000. The Department of the Treasury’s OFAC has issued a total of 496 derivative designations pursuant to its authorities under the Kingpin Act; these entities and individuals are subject to the same sanctions that apply to kingpins.

Individuals who violate the Kingpin Act are subject to criminal penalties of up to 10 years in prison and/or fines pursuant to Title 18 of the U.S. Code. Entities that violate the Act face criminal penalties in the form of fines up to $10 million; officers, directors, or agents of an entity who knowingly participate in a violation of the Kingpin Act are subject to criminal penalties of up to 30 years in imprison and/or a $5 million fine. The Kingpin Act also provides for civil penalties of up to $1.075 million against individuals or entities that violate its provisions.

So, most of us know about some king-pins….El Chapo was a king-pin…then there are the cartels that are making billions per month not only trafficking narcotics but people across our southern border.

It all begins in China and the CCP, the Chinese Communist Party. There are other countries for sure inside the supply chain map that include India, Laos, Myanmar, Cambodia, Thailand and more…the Chinese mafia is well connected to the Mexican mafia, hence the Mexican drug cartels.

The Sinaloa cartel has a sizeable network in China for narcotics including fentanyl but also for money laundering. Then in balance, China has a large network in Mexico. There are a couple of standout names of which you can research on your own but they include:

14K

Zheng Cartel

Broken Tooth

Tse Chi Lop’s Sam Gor Syndicate

Big Circle Boys

In closing but not the end of the story, the U.S. Treasury has a 33 page list of ‘sanctions pursuant to the Foreign Narcotics KingPin Designation Act. Sanctions dont work so well …..do they?

N Korea uses Stolen Cryptocurrency to Fund its Missile Program

Posted on February 7, 2022February 7, 2022 by Denise Simon

Sanctions kinda work and kinda don’t work…seems in the case of North Korea..they have failed.

In 2017, North Korea tested several missiles demonstrating what seemed to be rapid advances in its military technology.

The Hwasong-12 was thought to be able to reach as far as 4,500km (2,800 miles), putting US military bases on the Pacific island of Guam well within striking distance. source

Later, the Hwasong-14 demonstrated even greater potential, with a range of 8,000km although some studies suggested it could travel as far as 10,000km if fired on a maximum trajectory.

This would have given Pyongyang its first truly intercontinental ballistic missile, capable of reaching New York.

Eventually, the Hwasong-15 was tested, peaking at an estimated altitude of 4,500km – 10 times higher than the International Space Station.

If fired on a more conventional “flatter” trajectory, the missile could have a maximum range of some 13,000km, putting all of the continental US in range.

North Korea continued to develop its nuclear and ballistic missile programs during the past year and cyberattacks on cryptocurrency exchanges were an important revenue source for Pyongyang, according to an excerpt of a confidential United Nations report seen on Saturday by Reuters.

The annual report by independent sanctions monitors was submitted on Friday evening to the U.N. Security Council North Korea sanctions committee.

“Although no nuclear tests or launches of ICBMs (intercontinental ballistic missiles) were reported, DPRK continued to develop its capability for production of nuclear fissile materials,” the experts wrote.

North Korea is formally known as the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK). It has long-been banned from conducting nuclear tests and ballistic missile launches by the U.N. Security Council. Since 2006, North Korea has been subject to U.N. sanctions, which the Security Council has strengthened over the years in an effort to target funding for Pyongyang’s nuclear and ballistic missile programs.

The sanctions monitors noted that there had been a “marked acceleration” of missile testing by Pyongyang.

The United States and others said on Friday that North Korea had carried out nine ballistic missile launches in January, adding it was the largest number in a single month in the history of the country’s weapons of mass destruction and missile programs.

CYBERATTACKS, ILLICIT TRADE

The monitors said “cyberattacks, particularly on cryptocurrency assets, remain an important revenue source” for North Korea and that they had received information that North Korean hackers continued to target financial institutions, cryptocurrency firms and exchanges.

“According to a member state, DPRK cyberactors stole more than $50 million between 2020 and mid-2021 from at least three cryptocurrency exchanges in North America, Europe and Asia,” the report said.

The monitors also cited a report last month by cybersecurity firm Chainalysis that said North Korea launched at least seven attacks on cryptocurrency platforms that extracted nearly $400 million worth of digital assets last year.

In 2019, the U.N. sanctions monitors reported that North Korea had generated an estimated $2 billion for its weapons of mass destruction programs using widespread and increasingly sophisticated cyberattacks.

The latest report said North Korea’s strict blockade in response to the COVID-19 pandemic meant “illicit trade, including in luxury goods, has largely ceased.”

Over the years the U.N. Security Council has banned North Korean exports including coal, iron, lead, textiles and seafood, and capped imports of crude oil and refined petroleum products.

“Although maritime exports from DPRK of coal increased in the second half of 2021, they were still at relatively low levels,” the monitors said.

“The quantity of illicit imports of refined petroleum increased sharply in the same period, but at a much lower level than in previous years,” the report said. “Direct delivery by non-DPRK tankers to DPRK has ceased, probably in response to COVID-19 measures: instead, only DPRK tankers delivered oil.”

North Korea’s humanitarian situation “continues to worsen,” the report said. The monitors said that was probably due to the COVID-19 blockade, but that a lack of information from North Korea meant it was difficult to determine how much U.N. sanctions were unintentionally harming civilians.

***

Missiles on display at a January 2021 military parade

“From 2020 to 2021, the number of North Korean-linked hacks jumped from four to seven, and the value extracted from these hacks grew by 40%,” Chainalysis said in a report.

The hackers used a number of techniques, including phishing lures, code exploits and malware to siphon funds from the organisations’ “hot” wallets and then moved them into North Korea-controlled addresses, the company said.

Chainalysis said it is likely that many of last year’s attacks were conducted by the so-called Lazarus Group, a hacking group which the US has applied sanctions against.

The group is believed to be controlled by North Korea’s primary intelligence bureau, the Reconnaissance General Bureau.

The Lazarus Group has previously been accused of involvement in the “WannaCry” ransomware attacks, the hacking of international banks and customer accounts and cyber-attacks on Sony Pictures in 2014.

“Once North Korea gained custody of the funds, they began a careful laundering process to cover up and cash out,” the report on last year’s cyber attacks added.

A United Nations panel that monitors sanctions on North Korea has accused Pyongyang of using stolen funds to support its nuclear and ballistic missile programmes as a way to avoid international sanctions.

Separately, in February last year, the US charged three North Korean computer programmers with a massive hacking spree aimed at stealing more than $1.3bn in money and cryptocurrency. BBC

Democrat Legislation is Remaking American using MMT

Posted on November 9, 2021November 9, 2021 by Denise Simon

Government Jobs for Everyone….consider this –>

Modern Monetary Theory (MMT) is a heterodox macroeconomic framework that says monetarily sovereign countries like the U.S., U.K., Japan, and Canada, which spend, tax, and borrow in a fiat currency that they fully control, are not operationally constrained by revenues when it comes to federal government spending. MMT was pioneered by American economist and theorist Warren Mosler in 1992, along with Bill Mitchell, a university professor based in Australia and a key developer of the theory.

Modern Monetary Theory & Why Central Banks are lost in the ...

AIER: Modern Monetary Theory (MMT) offers some unconventional policy recommendations based on the United States’ monetary sovereignty. MMT proponents also advocate government guaranteed jobs paying a living wage for all Americans. What would be the consequences of such a guarantee?

The Public Service Employment program detailed in a 2018 paper from the Levy Economics Institute would be funded by Washington and administered by states. It would offer full and part-time jobs paying $15 per hour plus benefits. The program’s spending would be mandatory, like other entitlement programs. The jobs would “provide public services in nonprofit community organizations, public schools, and state and local governments.”

The program could accomplish three distinct ends. The first is stabilizing aggregate demand during economic downturns. The second is instituting work-relief in place of cash assistance. The third is implementing a “living wage” for all Americans.

When the economy slips into recession, businesses lay off some workers and cut others’ wages. Reductions in these workers’ spending produce second-round (and third-round) effects: landlords, for example, cut back their spending after not receiving rent. Many economists support macroeconomic stabilization.

Stabilization works much better when automatic. Discretionary stabilization spending, like 2009’s American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, can take months to enact. Laid off workers can start a guaranteed government job immediately.

Today unemployed workers receive cash assistance. While I do not advocate government make-work jobs, work-relief has two advantages over cash assistance. First, work requirements effectively control fraud, as revealed by the 1990s welfare reforms. People working while on the welfare rolls never showed up for mandatory job training.

Work-relief also denies recipients the leisure of staying home. People will compare the full value of their options. Suppose a person values the freedom of not working at $30,000 a year. If they also receive $10,000, only a $20 per hour job matches the full value of the cash assistance.

The MMT jobs program also implements a living wage providing a “just” level of compensation. Economics shows how workers in a competitive labor market get paid the value they create for businesses. The “problem” of low wages is then inadequate job skills.

The living wage is redistribution disguised as work. Market wages and salaries are not charity; the prices customers willingly pay for goods and services cover workers’ pay. Market-based salaries come entirely from voluntary payment and workers earn their pay by helping produce goods and services.

Guaranteed jobs effectively set a minimum wage because few Americans will work for businesses offering worse compensation packages (wages and benefits). Government jobs would be far more effective in assisting low-wage workers because a minimum wage ends up pricing many out of the labor market altogether.

Government jobs paying $15 an hour plus benefits would likely cost $40,000 per job annually. MMT proponents project 15 million government jobs would be needed even when the economy is strong. MMT can advocate such a budget-busting program because in its view monetary sovereignty renders Federal spending costless under most circumstances.

The biggest potential problem with the jobs guarantee, even at a lower wage, is whether people will have to work. What exactly is a government “guaranteed job?” The term job suggests a person must work satisfactorily or be fired. The guarantee suggests anyone fired must then be given another position.

Government guaranteed no-show jobs would blow up the labor market. If you had a “job” paying $30,000 plus benefits not requiring work, how much would you need to be paid to take a real job? Guaranteed $15 per hour no-show jobs would effectively be a $30 or $40 per hour minimum wage.

The United States is prosperous because we produce goods and services people want in large quantities. Yet production requires real work, not government make-work jobs. By diverting millions out of productive private sector jobs, the MMT jobs guarantee seems guaranteed to impoverish America.

Biden’s Nominee for the Treasury Dept is Member of a Facebook Marxist Group

Posted on October 25, 2021October 25, 2021 by Denise Simon

It used to be that anyone chosen to be in a presidential cabinet role experienced exceptional resume scrutiny before they were selected. It is likely that remains the case under the Biden administration and that should tell another part of the story….the Biden advisors are supporters themselves are Marxists. Further, the American people are forced to accept associated policies and legislation that is playing out today under this administration.

So, who is Saule Omarova? Apparently she is a person that all democrats approve of since not one person on the Left has expressed worry or criticism.Saule Omarova specializes in regulation of financial institutions, banking law, international finance, and corporate finance. Before joining Cornell Law School in 2014, she was the George R. Ward Associate Professor of Law at the University of North Carolina School of Law.

She is also part of the Berggruen Institute. What is that?

Founded in 2010 by philanthropist and investor Nicolas Berggruen, the Berggruen Institute develops the foundational ideas and critical analysis needed to unlock enduring progress for political, economic, and social institutions in the 21^st century. Since its inception, the Berggruen Institute has launched the 21^st Century Council, the Council for the Future of Europe, the Berggruen China Center, the Think Long Committee for California, and the signature Berggruen Prize for Philosophy and Culture.

In partnership with the University of Southern California Dornsife Center on Science, Technology and Public Life (STPL), Berggruen Fellowships offer scholars flexible periods of work and study in both the United States and China.

Saule Omarova Height, Weight, Net Worth, Age, Birthday ...

FNC:

Saule Omarova, President Biden’s pick to be the comptroller of the currency within the Treasury Department, appears to have joined a Facebook group for Marxist and socialist discussion in 2019, according to a post in the group called “Marxist Analysis and Policy.”

This week, the right-leaning American Accountability Foundation first resurfaced a 2019 post from the public Facebook group. A member posted, “Let’s welcome our newest members: Saule Omarova.”

The post links to a Facebook account that’s been in operation since at least 2017 with a profile picture that appears to be of Omarova. The account’s profile picture has 85 visible likes and 14 visible comments, some of which appear to be from people who would reasonably run in the same social circles as Omarova. Those include a University of Minnesota law professor and a Cornell engineering professor.

The White House announced that it is nominating Omarova – a Cornell law professor – to run the key post that regulates national banks last month. Since then, Omarova has drawn harsh scrutiny for her past comments that were very hostile toward the financial services industry. She’s also been attacked over her Moscow State University thesis about Marxism, which Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Pa., is demanding that she turn over to the Banking Committee.

FOX Business sent messages to both Omarova and the White House requesting confirmation that the Facebook account is authentic, and asking for comment. Neither responded.

The Facebook group’s description states that it is for socialism and against capitalism.

“This Marxist group is a platform for analysis, policy (sic) and polemics from the perspectives of a diverse range of Socialist and anti-capitalist views,” it says. “We are against exploitation, inequality, racial (sic) discrimination and ecological destruction at the core of Capitalist social relations. The working class has the potential and the ability to change Capitalism and in the process change itself. Only working people, by (sic) their own efforts, can free themselves from Capitalism. We stand for the self emancipation of the working class and Socialism.”

The group’s rules say, “No personal abuse will be allowed. Nor will racist or fascist comments be tolerated. Support for the Tory party is not acceptable. A culture of diverse Marxist, Socialist and radical views is the framework for the group.”

The posts in the group appear to indicate that it is a forum for serious ideological discussion, and not a parody forum. A post in the group from Oct. 19 promotes a lecture by a Dublin City University professor about “A Marxist Narrative, From Marx and Engels to COVID-19.”

Older posts include the “ACAB” (All Cops are Bastards) slogan, and celebrate the 2020 Seattle autonomous zone protest as at the center of the battle for socialism.

“Seattle emerged once again as the center of anti-capitalist mobilizations,” one poster wrote. “The protestors occupied 6 blocks, and declared them to be police-free areas. They operate like a ‘soviet’ with many radical anti-police, and anti-capitalist speeches.”

The poster added: “The radicalization of the youth and young workers in Seattle is very important. It shows a way for the protests in the rest of the country. This is one of these times that the masses radicalize very fast, and they are open for revolutionary socialist alternatives to the decaying capitalism.” More here

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Will anyone in the media ask Jen Psaki or ol Joe himself if they support Marxist’s ideology of if they themselves are Marxists?