Marco Man you don’t understand what I’m getting at here.
Say you find the Bin Laden constuction corperation liable, along with say Bank X and Bank Y.
Now Bank X is based in the US but has branches all over the world, including one in saudi arabia which works with funds for the Bin Laden company.
Bank Y is the bank used by the working class families in Saudi Arabia, and has branches throughout New York.
Ok these all exist and are found liable.
Now: Say Bank X is really Citybank group, a HUGE bank with hundreds of billions of dollars of money from average working americans in it.
CityBank Group has cash on hand of 100 billion dollars and 650 billion in customers assests (total worth 750 billion dollars)
And say Bank Y: Is a small bank slowly branching out into serving the US, but with lots of customers in NY city.
Lets say the Bin Laden group is found liable for 45 bilion dollars. Their total assests. What happens?
They go brankrupt. The largest construction company in the middle east suddenly ceases to exist. Look what happened when Enron went bankrupt (now what would happen with the Bin Laden corperation would probably be different… the company would be liquidated NOT to pay creditors, but to pay the plantifs). This means that in addition to the company going away all of the Bin Laden corperation’s creditors would lose their money. Most of their creditors would be banks.
So all of the banks would with money in the Bin Laden group would lose their investments.
Also, all those people employed by company would be unemployed and there would a massive negative shock to the economy. And the first thing to go in an economic downturn is capitol expendature (namely construction).
Now say in the law suit CityBank Group was found to have willfully transfered money to and from known terrorists or whatever else was needed to be proved. And the jury decides to punsh them with 500 billion dollars.
Now Citybank group only has 100 billion of cash on hand, so they pay that. Now they have to use something else to pay the other 400 billion. Well they can liquidate 400 billion of the 650 billion dollars people across the world have given to them. Banks keep most of their money available in forms of loans (ya know from It’s A Wonderful Life?). My paycheck that I deposite is in turn given to someone else in the form of a loan. So while they may have 650billion dollars under their contoll, maybe 600 billion is given out to people who took loans from them. So to get 400 billion dollars they sell 400 billion dollars with loans to other banks (banks can transfer who pays interest on loans).
So in terms of REAL money. Citybank group has 650 billion dollars of money which is owes people. But has only 200 billion dollars in the form of loans to people or buisnesses and another 50 billion dollars in stocks and what not.
Now imagine this: Prices rise. People need their money in cash not in the bank. They come to the bank and say people all over the nation withdraw 300 billion dollars. Citybank group only has 250 billion dollars.
This is what happened during the depression.
This is why we have the FDIC, up to 100,000-some odd dollars is insured by the federal government. But any money over that is lost.
Which is great if you’re a person like me with only 3,000 $ in the bank.
But what about those people with more than 100,000$ in the bank in various forms? Or what about those people all over the WORLD where their government doesn’t insure their deposits?
What will happen to their life savings that they trusted to the bank to keep safe for them?
Well folks, I’m sorry. It looks like 600 americans from 500 families who lost family members in a terrorist attack took your money.
Macro Man: If I still understand my basics of monitary policy, banking and financing this is what happens when banks lose money.
There is only SO MUCH MONEY in the world. When you sue places like corperations, they get their money from selling stock, selling products, selling parts of the company, or firing people so they make more money.
When you sue banks, which are corperations whose product is consumer’s money, you are taking money from people who depostied money.
So what I’m getting at, is when you sue an international bank for what people who transfered funds through it: you’re taking money from the working people who are being responsible and saving for their children’s education, saving for their old age. Or saving for an engagement ring.
So, let’s BANKRUPT TERRORISM!
GIMME YOUR MONEY!
But in reality who pays for it?
Will we really bankrupt terrorism by taking the life savings of a family who makes only 15 US dollars a day?
Or will we make another family who hates us with all of their hearts for turning them out into the street (since their bank has to call in their home loan).
Terrorism isn’t based off of money.
Haven’t you learned ANYTHING from the terrorist attacks?
How much did it cost to hijack 4 planes with boxcutters?
Terrorism is based off of a FEW people who can make an uneducated, largely hopeless body of people hate a population so much they are willing to sacrafice their lives to kill those who they hate.
…
Macro Man: What would your feelings be if at age 12 your parents came home and said: “Son/Daughter I have lost my job. The bank I have been putting my money in, no longer exists. They have no more money to give those who gave them their money. Our house, it was taken by the bank and sold to they could return my only 20$ so we can buy food. We need to leave now.”
What would you do when you figured out who was responsible for this?
Would you understand that the people responisble for destroying the life your family had did this so they could, ‘bankrupt terrorism’. Or would you only understand that each of those people recieved almost 2 BILLION dollars. When 20$ was all that your family had.
THIS is the point I’m trying to make.
Actions have consequences.
Actions that make good moral sense in your world have consequences that exist BEYOND your line of thought!
