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In Florence during the Renaissance, the Arte del Cambio – the guild of mercantile money-changers who facilitated the city’s international trade – made the cheating of clients punishable by torture. Rule 70 of the guild’s statutes stipulated that any member caught in unethical conduct could be disciplined on the rack “or other corrective instruments” at the headquarters of the guild. |
But financial crimes weren’t merely punished; they were stigmatized. Dante’s Inferno is populated largely with financial sinners, each category with its own distinctive punishment: misers who roll giant weights pointlessly back and forth with their chests, thieves festooned with snakes and lizards, usurers draped with purses they can’t reach, even forecasters whose heads are wrenched around backward to symbolize their inability to see what is in front of them. |
Counterfeiting and forgery, as the historian Marvin Becker noted in 1976, “were much less prevalent in Florence during the second half of the fourteenth century than in Tuscany during the twentieth century” and “the bankruptcy rate stood at approximately one-half [the modern rate].” |
In England, counterfeiting was punishable by death starting in the 14th century, and altering the coinage was declared a form of high treason by 1562. |
In the 17th century, the British state cracked down ferociously on counterfeiters and “coin-clippers” (who snipped shards of metal off coins, yielding scraps they could later melt down or resell). The offenders were thrown into London’s notorious Newgate prison. The lucky ones, after being dragged on planks through sewage-filled streets, were hanged. Others were smeared with tar from head to toe, tied or shackled to a stake, and then burned to death. |
The British government was so determined to stamp out these financial crimes that it put Sir Isaac Newton on the case. Appointed as warden of the Royal Mint in 1696, Newton promptly began uncovering those who violated the financial laws of the nation with the same passion he brought to discovering the physical laws of the universe. |
The great scientist was tireless and merciless. Newton went undercover, donning disguises to prowl through prisons, taverns and other dens of iniquity in search of financial fraud. He had suspects brought to the Mint, often by force, and interrogated them himself. In a year and a half, says historian Carl Wennerlind, Newton grilled 200 suspects, “employing means that sometimes bordered on torture.” |
When one counterfeiter begged Newton to save him from the gallows – “O dear Sr no body can save me but you O God my God I shall be murderd unless you save me O I hope God will move your heart with mercy and pitty to do this thing for me” – Newton coldly refused. |
The counterfeiter was hanged two weeks later. |
Until at least the early 19th century, it remained commonplace for counterfeiters and forgers to be put to death; between 1792 and 1829, for example, notes Wennerlind, 618 people were convicted of counterfeiting British paper currency, and most of them were hanged. Many were women. |
Bloomberg provides details of one "peasant revolt" stemming from a Libor-like currency manipulation scheme: |
During the “Good Parliament” of 1376, public discontent over [manipulation of currency exchange rates similar to the current Libor scandal] came to a head. The Commons, represented by the speaker, Peter de la Mare, accused leading members of the royal court of abusing their position to profit from public funds. |
A particular target was the London financier Richard Lyons .... |
Initially the government bowed to public pressure. Lyons was imprisoned in the Tower of London and his properties and wealth were confiscated. Other leading courtiers implicated in these abuses, such as Latimer and the king’s mistress, Alice Perrers, were banished from court. |
Once parliament had dissolved and the public outcry had died down, however, the king’s eldest son, John of Gaunt, acted to reverse the verdicts of the Good Parliament. Latimer and Perrers soon reappeared at the king’s side and Lyons was released from the Tower and recovered his wealth, while the “whistleblower” de la Mare was thrown in jail. The government also sought to appease the wealthy knights and merchants that dominated parliament by imposing a new, regressive form of taxation, a poll tax paid by everyone rather than a tax levied on goods. This effectively passed the burden of royal finance down to the peasantry. |
It seemed as though everything had returned to business as normal and Lyons appeared to have gotten away with it. In 1381, however, simmering discontent over continuing suspicions of government corruption and the poll tax contributed to a massive popular uprising, the Peasants’ Revolt, during which leading government ministers, including Simon of Sudbury (the chancellor and archbishop of Canterbury) and Robert Hales (the treasurer) were executed by the rebels. This time, Lyons did not escape; he was singled out, dragged from his house and beheaded in the street. |
If the King had followed the rule of law - and kept Lyons and the boys in jail - everything would have calmed down. The monarchy - just like the present-day government - chose to ignore the rule of law, and protect the thieves and punish the whistleblowers. |
We have argued for years that the best way to avoid violence is to reinstate the rule of law. |
The Bloomberg article - written by a professor of the history of finance and a professor of finance at the ICMA Centre, Henley Business School, University of Reading - ends on a similar note: |
The question now is whether public outrage at the Libor scandal and other financial misdeeds will lead to fundamental reforms of the financial sector -- such as the separation of retail and investment banking or legislation to regulate the “bonus culture” -- or just more cosmetic changes that fail to address the structural issues. |
Will we have to wait for a 21st century peasants’ revolt before seeing any real change? |
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Comment viewing options |
Mon, 08/06/2012 - 08:59 | 2681296 Widowmaker |
Widowmaker's picture |
Washington, you're not fighting people, you're fighting incorporated ghosts -- no one ever sees a thing. |
Perhaps they will see the James Holmes' of the world coming to redefine record bonuses. |
"Goldman Sachs and College America ruin your life? Mine too!" |
Mon, 08/06/2012 - 08:26 | 2681236 Waterfallsparkles |
Waterfallsparkles's picture |
The only thing that will cause Revolt will be to stop issuing Welfare Checks. That would be one of the biggest Revolts ever. |
Mon, 08/06/2012 - 07:10 | 2681120 lakecity55 |
lakecity55's picture |
Powerful people, powerful plans.... |
The best plans by mice and men are often gone astray. |
They are not invincible. |
They require Participation. |
When Indians were not permitted to have unofficial salt, Gandhi went to the sea and collected natural salt. |
You retake your republic 1 step at a time. |
Break from the Matrix; then awaken another Sleeper. |
Mon, 08/06/2012 - 01:21 | 2680935 cynicalskeptic |
cynicalskeptic's picture |
Problem is that pitchforks and torches are ill suited to combat against militarized police equipped with tanks, predator drones and ever powerful surveillance. |
Peasaants could - on rare occasions - prevail against the local nobility by strength of numbers. But if the rest of the nobility felt threatened by a few local peasants revolting against a particularly egregious local lord, they'd band together and put the revolt down. Now numbers alone don;t work. A VERY few - can control far larger groups. The technological advantage is hughe unless the masses are willing to endure being pounded back to medieval times (as in Iraq and Afghanistan). Not sure Americans are willing to endure such deprivation. As long as they're fed and distracted, the Blue pill is preferred. |
Mon, 08/06/2012 - 03:35 | 2681028 AldousHuxley |
AldousHuxley's picture |
elites control police (force), politicians (power), and media (public opinion and education) |
However, elites have only one heart and lives. you just have to expose the truth and people will take care of it. |
Mon, 08/06/2012 - 06:24 | 2681099 zyphryx |
zyphryx's picture |
Not when the people are more concerned with the Kardashians, X-Box, People Magazine, & Katire Couric. I don't believe the PTB need to marshal troops & police to quelch a riot of the masses; they just need to change a judge on American Idol & the rioteers will forget what they were rioting about. |
Mon, 08/06/2012 - 09:08 | 2681339 johnQpublic |
johnQpublic's picture |
as long as people can talk shit from behind the safety of the computer screen they will be satisfied with themselves that they have done their share and will not feel the need to do anything more |
and none of you here can prove that wrong |
or does one of you unibomber types care to step up and out yourself? |
there will be no revolution |
Mon, 08/06/2012 - 00:13 | 2680897 ItsDanger |
ItsDanger's picture |
You'll see change when normal people are elected. Not the career politicians, lawyers, keep it in the family types. |
Sun, 08/05/2012 - 22:48 | 2680784 HardAssets |
HardAssets's picture |
The battle isn't against 'them', but our own - - that is the People's - - self awareness. 'They' can do nothing without our co-operation, because there are many more of us in the world than them. |
We need to keep reaching out to those around us, starting with our family and friends. People are beginning to understand that 'something isn't right' in our country and around the world. As things degrade, perhaps they will begin to see what we've been warning people about. |
One source of optimism for me is that 'perfect plans' usually never work out that way. 'Shit happens'. It wasn't all that long ago that the USSR was one of the two world's Super Powers. They had a vast Army with tanks that could over run all of Europe. They had a large Navy. They were a nuclear power with multiple warhead missiles aimed at the west. |
Then - - - in a relatively short time, and seemingly at the surprise of everyone - - they were no more. |
Sun, 08/05/2012 - 22:01 | 2680736 HardAssets |
HardAssets's picture |
How about taking away all their ill gotten gains - - - including the loot held by any and all their family members who benefited from it ? More effective, I would think, than some kind of physical vengence on such criminal psychopaths. |
Sun, 08/05/2012 - 17:14 | 2680167 dannynewmexico |
dannynewmexico's picture |
the system (finacial, governments etc all) is about to collapse!! |
stand back and watch and enjoy.... its going to happen whether or not you enjoy it or not...... |
Sun, 08/05/2012 - 16:45 | 2680122 Overdrawn |
Overdrawn's picture |
Just been reading this as well: |
Individualized Medicine: FDA Approved Ingestible Microchip Tracking Device |
The Food and Drug Administration has approved an ingestible digital senor that can track physical health with the assertion that patients are not taking their medication regularly and need a tracking device inside their body to assist them in their medical care. The mainstream medical industry has a term for this new type of spying: individualized medicine. individualized-medicine-fda-app roved-ingestible-microchip-tra cking-device/ |
Short 30 second video showing how it works inside you: |
Mon, 08/06/2012 - 01:23 | 2680936 cynicalskeptic |
cynicalskeptic's picture |
so...... you get zapped if you don't take your SOMA? |
Sun, 08/05/2012 - 16:33 | 2680077 OneTinSoldier66 |
OneTinSoldier66's picture |
Just want to say that there is no need to use Government force or coercion to regulate banks and bankers. To me, a good part of the problem is this thinking/believing that Banks need rules, regulation, and regulators. That's what the Banks' lobbyists and their representatives in Government want you to believe! |
If the Banks have to stand on their own two feet and have to make an honest profit(no place to turn for a bailout), what would they do? They would either make an honest profit, or go out of business. It's that simple. |
How would they go about making honest money? What form a Bank takes in order to make honest money is not the issue. The issue is whether or not it's done honestly. You would know if the Bank is making money honestly if it has to stand all by itself on it's own two feet. |
A question that might be tough for some is... should anyone ever lose a deposit they placed in a Bank? Personally, I believe everyone should be responsible for their own money. If you decide to place your money in a Bank that, unbeknownst to you was doing business fraudulently, that's not my fault or responsibility. While I do believe you should be able to do what you can to recover as much as you can and have the fraudster held accountable, I am not responsible for bailing you or the fraudster out! |
If Banks are so fraudulent, so criminal, and the behavior is so prevalent in the financial industry that almost none can be trusted, then to me, the solution is simple. Everyone should unplug from the Establishment and be their own Central Bank. |
Of course, if everyone were smart enough to do this then we'd be having Ron Paul for President. :-D |
Sun, 08/05/2012 - 17:17 | 2680128 spooz |
spooz's picture |
How do you know which bank to trust when you have an ongoing control fraud and all checks and balances have been compromised? So in this libertarian utopia, for which there is no historical example, would some mafioso types be running the money business in true bankster style? |
Sun, 08/05/2012 - 19:08 | 2680336 OneTinSoldier66 |
OneTinSoldier66's picture |
Hello Spooz, |
I don't have all the answers, even though sometimes I might like to think I do. Although I am libertarian, I know there is no such thing as utopia. |
How do you know which Banks to trust? Well, that would be a question of mine as well. As I said, I think everyone should be their own Central Bank right now. That means buy Gold and Silver. |
Anyway, I'll take the liberty to ask you what you think. :-) If, for money, we had something that was commodity-based, with weights and measures used to qualify and quantify it, so that money could be considered a real actual 'unit of account' for, let's say, accounting purposes... and there was no FDIC, nor any Federal Reserve money out of thin air System, or any other socialize the losses onto the masses(through force, coercion, propaganda) bailout type of system in place, what do you think would happen? |
I believe that money shouldn't be controlled in any way by the Government. There certainly shouldn't be any government agency that issues money 'out of thin air', 'monetize' the public debt into the money itself. That's what we have as a unit of account. A debt instrument. And the Banking Cartel lobbies the Government for more of it. I believe they wrote Dodd-Frank. That's the answer I get back anyway to the question 'who wrote it?', since I know our elected officials don't write the multi-thousand page laws they pass. |
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