From: whgiii@amaranth.com ("William H. Geiger III")
Date: Sat, 19 Oct 1996 10:34:41 -0700 (PDT)
To: cypherpunks@toad.com
Subject: Re: Blinded Identities [was Re: exporting signatures only/CAPI]
Message-ID: <$m2n21036-.199610161232.HAA14016@mailhub.amaranth.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain


In <Pine.SUN.3.94.961015211026.16787C-100000@polaris>, on 10/15/96 at 09:20 PM,
   Black Unicorn <unicorn@schloss.li> said:

>On Mon, 14 Oct 1996, William H. Geiger III wrote:

>> In <Pine.SUN.3.94.961014035114.28315K-100000@polaris>, on 10/14/96 at 04:01 AM,
>>    Black Unicorn <unicorn@schloss.li> said:

>> >Banking is as much about confidence as any business can be.  Anonymous or not, the
>> >presence of funds which
>> >infringe on regulations in one area or another are frightening to normal banking
>> >customers.
>> 
>> BULL!!!!
>> 
>> There are only two things the banking customers care about:
>> 
>> 1. Will my money be there in the morning?
>> 
>> 2. What is my rate of return?

>Both of these are affected by large scandals at banks.

scandals=unwarranted media hype.

True scandals of interest to the investment & banking community are along the lines of fraud, theft, embezzlement, poor or risky investment. Items that directly relate to 1 & 2. The S&L debacle in the US during the 80's is a good example.

The rest is just crap to either:

A: Sell more newspapers, and/or

B: Increase government power.

>In the case of the first example, runs on banks are hardly unheard of in relation to
>major and even somewhat minor revelations about the source of deposit funds where
>that source is criminal.  (Again, I cite Union Bank of Switzerland which saw a three
>day run of almost $200 million after
>disclosures about UBS accounts which were used for kidnapping randsom.
>DeBeers was one depositor which explicitly attributed their account
>closures to the news).

>The rate of return is directly affected by costs to the bank.  Legal costs (even in
>Switzerland) of defending against government and private party discovery and
>compelled disclosure are severe.  Need I even discuss the cost to the "legitimate"
>BCCI account holder?

What about the cost to Switzerland's banking industry due to the fact that they nolonger uphold their investors anonyminity?? Their industry has lost Billions due to their cow-towing to US and other governments snooping into investors accounts. What "cost" does that have to the account holders of their banks??

>And if customers are unconcerned about elements ther than #1 and #2,
>why are such pains taken to invest in offshore institutions where the
>costs (in sweat alone) can be higher?

Because it is justified by avoiding government interference in their financial activities which in the long run increases their rate of return well above the added cost of doing so.

>> The rest of it is a bunch of Govenment & Media hype & bull shit!!

>The above incidents are easily found with a quick trip to the library.

<sigh> Why so I can re-read the unwarranted media & government attacks on banking institutions because, god forbid, they actually took someone's money without running them over the coals first. Dam those nasty banks all to hell, they don't report every transaction of their investors to every government that may be interested.  

>The bottom line is that until anonyminity is not seen as some kind of
>invariably criminal act with respect to banking, legitimate and
>illegitimate money will be as like charged particles.

No the bottom line is money is money. Their is no such thing as "legitimate" or "illegitimate" money. Banks should not be forced to play policemen, their job is processing money.

Next time, get a CLUE.

>Next time, stick to web consulting.
 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Who died an made you god of the banking industry?? Last time I looked Walter Wriston was still alive and well. :) (Incase you are too clueless to know who that is I am sure a trip to your local library should help.)

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