Many wise people fear that the human mind is a universal code held in their safes by the greediest of people, all kinds of worldwide political castes – bigger and lesser emperors – bankers and corporations. Whom does it suit to have people who are not free individuals, and do not have sane minds and pure hearts? Well, those who are slaves to greed! Sadly, the world’s biggest media, the biggest publishers, are increasingly becoming a might weapon in the hands of shadow rulers, those who want to rule people. While watching ‘Mr. Smith Goes to Washington’, we can identify with the plot and the characters, because just like human kindness, greed is eternal.

Some might say that bankers are gamblers. I know I did so on occasion, but life teaches us that this analogy is wrong. Why? Because I actually respect professional gamblers who put their own money on stake. Wall Street bankers, on the other hand, gamble away their clients’ money. They don’t stand to loose anything of their own, thus they are not gamblers. If we take a look at legendary gambler Doyle Brunson and a bank manager, what we see is two different worlds. Doyle Brunson earned every last cent he has gambling with his own money, and when his chips tower higher and higher, it’s not due to robbing the poor of their money, but because he is doing his job better than other professional gamblers. What about bankers? They enrich themselves on the backs of the poor, and even when they lose money, they never become poor. Why? Because the tax payers are the ones to pay back their debts, which is always backed by the story that the bankruptcy of major banks would account for an even worse recession in the U.S.A. and the world. So, the citizens can and must file for bankruptcy, but the same rule does not apply to banks, which are clearly double standards, which is pernicious for any free market.

If we know that corruption is the malignant tumor of every society, we should ask ourselves why is it that banks and corporations profit the most from societies infected by corruption? Many underdeveloped countries are infected by corruption, through dictatorships of political castes, thus losing billions of dollars, but little is it known that there are increasing amounts of money flowing from underdeveloped countries into banks and corporations of the developed world. According to data published by the World Bank, corruption that takes forms of bribery and stealing on behalf of state officials account for losses of between 34 and 56 billion dollars per year in underdeveloped countries. This accounts for a mere 5% of the total amount of money disappearing from public funds. On the other hand, multinational companies steal more than 980 billion dollars a year from underdeveloped countries through tax evasion. Still, this is not covered by the official definition of corruption. This huge outflow is facilitated by suspicious financial system in underdeveloped countries riddled by corruption, as well as by the creation of tax oases into which money from underdeveloped and corrupt countries is transferred. In such tax oases, companies exist only fictively, which is also the case for anonymous accounts and false foundations.

The world’s biggest banks became so powerful as to be able to control the systems of most of the world’s countries, which is particularly the case for underdeveloped countries. Over the last few years, they managed to achieve deregulation in many parliaments around the world through their powerful lobbies, which led to an increase of monetary flux through banking systems that are beyond control. Journalists have discovered that the world’s biggest banks make hundreds of billions of dollars by laundering the dirty money of drug cartels, and all kinds of dictators and corrupt politicians.

If we know that the MMF’s shadow master is a consortium of the biggest banks and corporations, who manage to squeeze money out of underdeveloped countries in a suspicious manner, it is no wonder to see that an MMF representative claimed that the corrupt Croatian government has done a good job by introducing pre-bankruptcy settlements, even if any beginner in economy knows that this very “law” makes corruption bloom in Croatia. It should be said that small and beautiful Croatia is blessed by nature. It is a country of a thousand islands surrounded by a clear azure sea. At the heart of Croatia, there is Gorski Kotar, a forested mountainous area with the cleanest freshwater in the world). There are endless fertile plains in the eastern part of the country, but despite all these nature’s blessings, people going through garbage bins are becoming a common sight in the cities, which is a major defeat for all those politicians that gained the people’s vote at the last elections. The Croatian political caste have closed their eyes instead of fighting corruption. When they vote for new laws, they do it for the good of their tycoon pals, and not for the greater good. What is the MMF doing about it?

I wonder whether the MMF has the power and honor to look at the man in the mirror. And so, the MMF is praising the corrupt Croatian caste when they decrease the social rights of the already poor citizens, when they decrease the already low hourly wage, and when they take away all the basic workers’ rights, and we know that there is no spending without reasonable wages. If there is spending, then there is also production, and how is there supposed to be spending if there is no one to spend? Without jobs, there is no spending, and so it goes on in a circle. Furthermore, the MMF has only praise for this spectacular robbery in Croatia, called pre-bankruptcy settlements. Yes, you might not believe it, but the MMF delegate has praised the government of the Republic of Croatia for that law, claiming that pre-bankruptcy settlements are a great idea!!! Kolakusic, a famous crime fighter and a judge at the commercial court, said that this is ‘a particularly cunning law that reads like a manual on how to abuse it’. In the honorable judge’s own words: “I have noticed that this is a particularly cunning law, which facilitates countless abuses. There are three statewide subjects simultaneously participating in it: the Financial Department, the commercial courts and the administrative courts, and neither is responsible for anything. Such a law, such cunning… I simply couldn’t believe that something like this is possible.”

So, this “law” has nothing in common with the free market and healthy laws. Its purposes is to pillage taxpayers. Where are the spoils going to? To the banks! They are not interested in the fact that the state might go bankrupt tomorrow, and that the people will bleed in the street in pursuit of one revolution or the other, because both the banks and the political elite will take their loot and look for a new country and new victims. This inhumane and anti-commercial law rewards ignorance, irresponsibility, laziness, embezzlement, pillaging, corruption… and it punishes honesty, diligence and creativity. To put it simply, crooks are forgiven hundreds of millions in tax debt, while honest entrepreneurs have their small family businesses shut down for a few more undeclared kuna found in their counters.

One doesn’t need to be a financial genius to understand that a crook who gained the ownership of a factory by cheating can never create new jobs; all he will do is destroy the factories and the existing jobs, and this is how we reach local and global economic crises. So, how can the MMF claim to adhere to the rules of the free market? In a genuinely free market, there is no protectionism on behalf of the government (l’etat c’est moi). It is left to the free market. So, if a company doesn’t make profit, it must file for bankruptcy, and then a new company will rise from its ashes, with a new brand, and new creative people and visions, who will make profit and create new jobs. Freedom is in the genes of every human being, and this is also true for the economy, lest we forget that people deal with economy since their moment of birth.

People dispiritedly say that profit became the epicenter of life. I will never stop believing that people are the epicenter of life. Compassion, kindness, love and faith, those noble values eternally hover above humans like a sacred aureola and an everlasting guardian of the spirit. Yes, we can create a better profit-making system, but it’s all for naught if we disregard people. Some scientists, politicians and businessmen would say that the more people control their emotions, the wealthier and more intelligent they become. My message to them is: The moment you become the master of your emotions, know that you have lost them for good. They don’t say for nothing that one should listen to their hearts and souls when faced with a horrible dilemma. “Write down the thoughts of the moment. Those that come unsought for are commonly the most valuable.” (Francis Bacon) Isn’t that the case with emotions too? Those who take joy in the golden rays of the sun are much wealthier spiritually and much happier than those who only feel joyous about the glow of the gold. Why? Because the most valuable things in life are for free. You can’t buy praised, pure and noble love with no amount of money, but you can have it if you haven’t lost your emotions.

Walter William Safar