BNP Paribas is the largest bank in the Eurozone and 10th largest bank worldwide. This French financial behemoth is headquartered in Paris, with global headquarters in London. It owns subsidiaries all over the world, including BankWest in the U.S..
BNP was a major recipient of U.S taxpayer funds courtesy of the Federal Reserve and U.S. Treasury Department during the financial crisis years – to help restore them to ‘financial health.’ BNP has been involved in some distinctly ‘shady’ (and blatantly illegal) schemes in the past. They have recently ‘rolled the dice’ on an $80 million derivatives trade – and came up empty…
ZeroHedge (Feb 6, 2019): BNP lost $80 million in S&P500-linked derivative trades around Christmas; the massive trading loss emerged after Antoine Lours, BNP’s head of US index trading, put on positions on the S&P 500 which then quickly started losing money.
“BNP Paribas escaped the 2007–09 credit crisis relatively unscathed reporting a €3 billion net profit for the year of 2008, and €5.8 billion for 2009.” (Source: Wikipedia)
Thanks in no small part to U.S. taxpayers…
Background – Exhibit A:
Zero Hedge Feb 13, 2014: US Taxpayer “Bailed Out” BNP Paribas Probed By DoJ & Fed“TARP Recipient BNP Paribas got $4.9bn of bailouts from the U.S. Taxpayer – Today, as the WSJ reports we learn BNP Paribas has been funding transactions in Iran, Syria and other countries subject to U.S. Sanctions since 2002. The bank set aside $1.1 billion to settle investigations by the Department of Justice and the Federal Reserve but as the NY Times reports, investigations are playing out on multiple fronts – centering on whether the firm did “a significant amount” of business in “blacklisted” countires (and routed the deals through the US financial system).”
Via WSJ, – “…an internal probe conducted over the past few years “a significant volume of transactions” between 2002 and 2009 that could be “considered impermissible under U.S. laws and regulations...” “involving entities that were doing business in U.S.-sanctioned countries, such as Iran, Cuba, Sudan and Libya during the 2002 to 2009 period.
“BNP Paribas SA on Thursday became the latest bank to disclose the extent of its litigation problems in the U.S., saying it has set aside $1.1 billion against potential penalties related to transactions in countries under sanctions...
Oct. 19, 2011 (Bloomberg) — “BNP Paribas SA was sued by the U.S. over allegations the Paris-based bank aided a grain export fraud scheme involving commodity payment guarantees provided by the Department of Agriculture.
A corporate banker in BNP’s Houston office allegedly helped a scheme that defrauded the Agriculture Department of at least $78 million through deals he made with four U.S. grain exporters, according to a complaint filed yesterday in federal court in Houston.”
“The credit crisis accelerated after BNP Paribas SA, France’s biggest bank, announced in August 2007 that it would halt withdrawals from three funds because mortgage-market turmoil “made it impossible” to value certain assets. BNP began taking Federal Reserve loans in December 2007 when the Term Auction Facility opened. By April 2008, its Fed debt reached $29.3 billion. In 2009, BNP became the euro region’s largest bank by deposits, purchasing Brussels-based Fortis’s units in Belgium and Luxembourg for 10.4 billion euros ($15.2 billion). It issued 5.1 billion euros of preference shares to the French government in March 2009, and reimbursed the state by October. In December 2010, when the Fed disclosed the loans, BNP said it used the TAF “to assist in recycling and facilitating liquidity.”
Peak Amount of Debt on 4/18/2008: $29.3B
_______________________________________
BNP Paribas received $4.9 billion in TARP funds from the U.S., and they went on to rake in a tidy $29.3 billion credit extension from the Fed via the Term Auction Facility… “to assist in recycling and facilitating liquidity.”
They were meanwhile funding significant transactions (Bloomberg) “involving entities that were doing business in U.S.-sanctioned countries, such as Iran, Cuba, Sudan and Libya during the 2002 to 2009 period.” And they ran a “grain export fraud scheme” which ‘cooked’ the U.S. Department of Agriculture for a cool $78 million.
Begging the question: If BNP Paribas is deserving of direct liquidity infusions from the U.S. government and the Fed, then would it not be perfectly reasonable for U.S. citizens to also qualify for their own direct liquidity extensions “to assist in recycling and facilitating liquidity” at the family level.
………………………………………….
The Leviticus 25 Plan is the most powerful and dynamic economic acceleration plan in the world – delivering citizen-driven economic growth and citizen-centered healthcare.
The inspiration for this plan is based upon Biblical principles set forth in the Book of Leviticus, principles tendering direct economic liberties to the people.
The Leviticus 25 Plan – An Economic Acceleration Plan for America
The Leviticus 25 Plan vs the Fed’s 2008-2010 secret emergency lending programs – A critical perspective, in planning for America’s future.
The Federal Reserve’s ‘secret liquidity lifelines’ for major banks:
Bloomberg LP filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit on Nov 7, 2008 to gain access to information regarding special emergency lending programs that the U.S. Federal Reserve had been running to help borrower banks deal with cash shortages and collateral deficiencies. The Fed fought the lawsuit, but ultimately lost.
Bloomberg gained access to more than 29,000 pages of previously secret loan documents and Fed spreadsheets, and published the highlights of those programs in late 2011.
According to Bloomberg, the top 15 recipients of Fed’s ‘secret liquidity lifelines’ were: Morgan Stanley ($107 billion), Citigroup Inc. ($99.5 billion), Bank of America Corp ($91.4 billion), Royal Bank of Scotland Plc ($84.5 billion), State Street Corp ($77.8 billion), UBS AG ($77.2 billion), Goldman Sachs Group Inc. ($69 billion), JP Morgan Chase & Co ($68.6 billion), Deutsche Bank AG ($66 billion), Barclays Plc ($64.9 billion), Merrill Lynch & Co Inc. ($62.1 billion), Credit Suisse Group AG ($60.8 billion), Dexia SA ($58.5 billion), Wachovia ($50 billion).
………………………………………………………………………..
The Fed ‘flooded’ the financial coffers of these major U.S. and foreign banks (with U.S subsidiaries) with trillions of dollars in direct cash transfers, credit guarantees, and balance sheet transfers of (often ‘sewage grade’) agency debt and MBS – and the principles of those institutions ended up making out very well. None of the principles involved took a serious haircut.
Meanwhile, Main Street America did not fare well…
There were severe financial dislocations. 8.7 million Americans lost their jobs during the financial crisis years. 4.1 million American families lost their homes through completed foreclosures from September 2008 through December 2012, according to CoreLogic.
_________________________________
It is now time for a Round 2 “emergency lending program,” one that would restore financial security for millions of American families – via direct liquidity extensions channeled through a Federal Reserve / U.S. Treasury Citizens Credit Facility.
The Leviticus 25 Plan – An Economic Acceleration Plan for America
A coordinated series of major cyberattacks targeting “transportation nodes, telecommunications services, power grids, water facilities… and likely much more,” would wreak unimaginable societal upheaval across the U.S., with devastating consequences for millions of families – who currently have no financial reserves to help insulate them from financial hurricane that would be sure to follow.
America needs a dynamic, massive debt-elimination plan that would insulate the broad American public from the loss of homes, the temporary loss of jobs and income, and the loss of opportunity to provide for their families.
“Serving as FBI Director for the past seven-plus years has given me an unparalleled view of the threats to our country’s public safety and national security. From where I sit, these threats are more dangerous and complex than at any time I can recall since I began my career in law enforcement almost 30 years ago.
Our adversaries—whether they be violent gangs, child predators, cartels, hackers, hostile nation-states, or terrorists—are more emboldened, better resourced, savvier with technology, and more relentless than ever before. With a keystroke, a foreign hacker can shut down a hospital or take our critical infrastructure offline. A would-be terrorist can communicate with plotters overseas through encrypted apps to secretly plan an attack on U.S. soil. Cartels can manufacture loads of deadly drugs with a potency no one has ever seen before using chemicals acquired half a world away.
“Looking ahead, the challenges to our security will grow even more daunting, and our margin for error will continue to shrink.”
“The Chinese government, in particular, has engineered an unprecedented effort to gut American innovation, steal our most precious personal data, and meddle in our free and open society. History will mark this as the defining threat of our generation,” Wray wrote.
Wray urged the the United States to prioritize unity and vigilance, warning that the margin for error in combating these threats is shrinking rapidly.
According to outgoing FBI Director Christopher Wray in a Sunday [Jan 12, 2025] appearance on “60 Minutes,” – “The Chinese government is prepositioning on American civilian critical infrastructure to lie in wait on those networks to be in a position to wreak havoc & inflict real world harm at a time & place of their choosing.”
Wray described the CCP as “the greatest long-term threat” and the “defining threat of our generation” due in part to its state-funded cyber program that’s poised to “wreak havoc” on a whim – targeting water treatment plants, the electrical grid, natural gas infrastructure and other systems.
According to Wray, China has pre-positioned malware throughout American infrastructure.
He also says that Beijing has been listening to communications by high-level US officials.
According to a Feb. 5 assessment from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, China is the “most active and persistent cyber threat to U.S. Government, private-sector, and critical infrastructure networks.”
Jen Easterly, director of the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, highlighted the geopolitical context of Beijing’s increasing cyberespionage in a Jan. 15 blog post titled “Strengthening America’s Resilience Against the PRC Cyber Threats.”
“A crisis in Asia, precipitated by an invasion of Taiwan or a blockade of the Taiwan Strait, could have very real consequences for the safety and security of American citizens here at home,” Easterly wrote.
Such an invasion, she wrote, could be followed by disruptive attacks against “everything, everywhere, all at once.” Those attacks could hit transportation nodes, telecommunications services, power grids, water facilities, “and likely much more,” she wrote.
______________________________
“He who will not apply new remedies must expect new evils.” – Sir Francis Bacon
The Leviticus 25 Plan is a dynamic economic initiative providing direct liquidity benefits for American families, while at the same time scaling back the role of government in managing and controlling the affairs of citizens. It is a comprehensive plan with long-term economic and social benefits for citizens and government.
The inspiration for this plan is based upon Biblical principles set forth in the Book of Leviticus, principles tendering direct economic liberties to the people.
The Leviticus 25 Plan – An Economic Acceleration Plan for America
The Leviticus 25 Plan has the raw power to quench such fatalistic views — effecting massive reductions in government outlays and generating enormous, ongoing tax revenue inflows. to bring about dynamic federal, state, and local budget surpluses.
The Leviticus 25 Plan will generate average annual budget surpluses of $36.568 billion for each of the first five years of activation (2026-2030) — vs current CBO-projected average annual deficits of $1.938 trillion.
This represents a monumental $2.304 trillion positive budget gain annually (2026-2030) for the U.S. federal budget, with major gains falling into line, also, for state and local government entities.
Note 1: Projected budget surpluses for 2026-2030 do not factor in the additional government tax revenue gains that would accrue from the massive shift in capital away from debt service and into productive economic activity.
Note 2: Projected budget surpluses for 2026-2030 do not factor in the additional government tax revenue gains that would accrue from significantly lower levels of debt deductibility on individual income tax filings.
Note 3: Projected budget surpluses from the Medicaid / CHIP recapture do not take into account the likelihood of fewer citizens actually qualifying for Medicaid / CHIP benefits.
Note 4: Projected budget surpluses from Interest Expense Reductions during each of the first five years of activation (2026-2030) is likely understated due to the fact that ‘debt held by the public’ is projected to increase by 8.5% per year, from $28.278 trillion in 2026 to $40.198 trillion in 2030.
Note 5: The Plan’s funding of individual Medical Savings Accounts (MSAs) with the $6,000 deductible provision per year would result in an enormous drop in the number of claims each year for Medicare reimbursement. Medicare payroll taxes would generate a growing revenue stream, due to stronger economic growth, while outlays would drop significantly from the reduced claims numbers – thereby providing the Fed with a powerful tool to recapitalize the Medicare Trust Fund, vis the Citizen’s Credit Facility.
While the economic picture presented by the CBO is hardly shocking, if as ridiculous as always, with zero recessions expected over the coming decade when the CBO projects GDP growing at a 1.8% annual pace, with inflation magically flat at 2.0%, unemployment rate a sticky 4.4% and a 3.2% fed funds rate (translating into 3.8% 10Y yield)…
… it gets more exciting when looking at how all this growth is going to be funded. And the answer, of course, is through trillions more in unsustainable deficits, although according to the CBO these are perhaps sustainable since they never seem to end.
So starting with the deficit projection, the CBO expects a 2025 federal deficit of $1.9 trillion, a number which grows to $2.7 trillion by 2035. And while it amounts to 6.2% of GDP in 2025, and then drops to 5.2% by 2027 as revenues increase faster than outlays, this modestly beneficial trend quickly reverses and in later years, outlays once again increase faster than revenues, and by 2035, the deficit once again equals 6.1% of GDP, a number which according to the CBO is “significantly more than the 3.8 percent that deficits have averaged over the past 50 years.” It goes without saying that the actual deficit number will be far, far greater because even a modest recession will assure a surge in government spending (i.e., much more debt-funded deficit) which however will not result in faster growth.
It gets better. In an attempt to entrap Trump, who will very [likely] extend the expiring TCJA, or Trump tax cuts, the CBO amusingly enough cuts its long-term deficit forecast by $1 billion, but not because of higher growth or anything like that, but because it forecasts “increases in projected revenues from individual income taxes” even as “legislative changes and technical (that is, neither economic nor legislative) changes boosted projected deficits.” As a result, the cumulative deficit from 2025-2034 is expected to decline by $1 trillion, from $22.1 trillion to $21.1 trillion.
That way, in one year when the Trump tax cuts are extended, the CBO will throw the book at trump and blame him when it once again revises its deficit forecast dramatically higher.
As for the real reason why the US deficit is about to go exponential has little to do with taxes, and everything to do with the stratospheric levels of US debt, or rather interest on that debt, we find that while things are more or less normal for the next 3 years, then they go vertical, to wit:
“Federal outlays in 2025 total $7.0 trillion, or 23.3 percent of GDP. They remain close to that level through 2028 and then rise, reaching 24.4 percent of GDP in 2035 (if adjusted to exclude the effects of shifts in the timing of certain payments). The main reasons for that increase are growth in spending for Social Security and Medicare and rising net interest costs.”
Unfortunately, there is no such hockeystick effect to US government revenues which total $5.2 trillion, or 17.1% of GDP, in 2025, then rise to 18.2% of GDP by 2027, which according to the CBO is “because of the scheduled expiration of provisions of the 2017 tax act”, which obviously will not expire and instead will be extended, meaning revenues will not increase and while the CBO knows this, it will instead wait for 6-12 months before letting the hammer fall in its next, far uglier forecast.
But even without the 2017 tax act, the CBO projects that revenues as a share of GDP will then decline over the next two years, falling to 17.9% in 2029, and flatline around 18.3% in 2035. In reality, this number will be far lower, perhaps around 15% if note worse, due to the extension of the Trump tax cuts which means that the next CBO forecast will be substantially worse than the current one.
Alas, this one is also a disaster, and one has to look no further than the CBO’s debt forecast to see that. That’s because while debt held by the public (which conveniently excludes debt used to fund Social Security), is currently at $28.2 trillion, this number nearly doubles by 2035, when it is expected to hit $52.1 trillion.
But wait, wouldn’t debt only increase as GDP also increased, with the relative ratio improving? Actually no, because as the infamous CBO “chart of doom” shows, as debt held by the public rises each year, it does so at a faster pace than GDP; in fact, from 2025 to 2035, debt/GDP swells from 100% to 118%, an amount which as the CBO admits, is “greater than at any point in the nation’s history.”
Now the reason why the CBO published a report that saw a modest improvement in the US fiscal picture over the next decade is not because the US fiscal picture is actually improving, but on the contrary, was to entrap Trump and republicans. As ABC notes, “the analysis paints a difficult picture for an incoming Republican administration bent on cutting taxes in ways that further widen deficits unless they’re also paired with major spending cuts.” Indeed, Trump’s proposed extension of his 2017 tax cuts that are set to expire after this year along with new cuts could easily exceed $4 trillion and his nominee to be treasury secretary, Scott Bessent, warned Thursday that the economy could crash without them.
“We do not have a revenue problem in the U.S.,” Bessent insisted at his confirmation hearings. “We have a spending problem.”
He’s right, but the even bigger problem is that cutting any spending, whether discretionary or mandatory, would lead to unprecedented economic devastation for a country that is used to issuing debt and spending it like a drunken sailor.
While tax revenues as a share of the total U.S. economy are close to the 50-year average, government spending is poised to continue growing, largely because of the unprecedented $1.2 trillion in gross interest expense, a number that will almost certainly never go down again, because even if interest rates do drop briefly, the total amount of debt will just keep rising, more than offsetting any rate decline. Meanwhile, discretionary spending on national security and social programs will account for $1.85 trillion next year. The CBO already has spending in these categories on a downward trajectory as discretionary spending would equal 5.3% of GDP, down from the half-century average of 7.9%.
CBO Director Phillip Swagel told reporters at a press conference Friday that net interest costs are a major contributor to the deficit and “in the coming years, net interest costs are projected to be similar to the amounts of discretionary spending for either defense or non-defense” programs.
And all of that is, of course assuming no recession and a demographic picture that remains unchanged; alas both assumptions are ludicrous….
Unfortunately for the US, it is now way too late to change the inevitable outcome of an existence that has been driven by exorbitant debt-funded spending. Indeed, when it comes to normalizing or “doing no fiscal harm” that ship has sailed, and as much as we would like for there to be some happy ending, we are terrified at what will happen when the brightest minds in the room admit that the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has been a failure, and that nothing can prevent the inevitable US implosion.
The Leviticus 25 Plan – the most powerful economic acceleration plan in the world.
…………………………………….
“He who will not apply new remedies must expect new evils.” – Sir Francis Bacon
The Leviticus 25 Plan is a dynamic economic initiative providing direct liquidity benefits for American families, while at the same time scaling back the role of government in managing and controlling the affairs of citizens. It is a comprehensive plan with long-term economic and social benefits for citizens and government.
The inspiration for this plan is based upon Biblical principles set forth in the Book of Leviticus, principles tendering direct economic liberties to the people.
The Leviticus 25 Plan – An Economic Acceleration Plan for America
