Wikileaks - banks/business- Smedley Butler (lest we forget Smedley)

[underpants]

August 21, 1931, Butler spoke to an American Legion convention in New Britain CT. Looking back, he reflected on his career. His remarks stunned the audience. Few papers dared report even part of the speech:

"I spent 33 years...being a high-class muscle man for Big Business, for Wall Street and the bankers. In short, I was a racketeer for capitalism....

"I helped purify Nicaragua for the international banking house of Brown Brothers in 1909-1912. I helped make Mexico and especially Tampico safe for American oil interests in 1916. I brought light to the Dominican Republic for American sugar interests in 1916. I helped make Haiti and Cuba a decent place for the National City boys to collect revenue in. I helped in the rape of half a dozen Central American republics for the benefit of Wall Street....

"In China in 1927 I helped see to it that Standard Oil went its way unmolested....I had...a swell racket. I was rewarded with honors, medals, promotions....I might have given Al Capone a few hints. The best he could do was to operate a racket in three cities. The Marines operated on three continents..." (p 118).
http://www.eclectica.org/v1n1/reviews/wharton_plot.html

[David Zephyr]

1. K&R.

I hope I'm not the only one. K&R.

[Sonoman]

2. This is the part that never changes.

But they get a lot more medals, now.

And Butler's theatre was just the Western Hemisphere.

It never stops and it never will.

Sonoman

[pleah]

3. K&R