Letter Bomb Sent to Deutsche Bank CEO

Bankers in the U.S. are being warned as a result of confirmed reports that a letter bomb was sent to the CEO of Deutsche Bank in Frankfurt, Germany.  NBC in New York has reported that a warning issued by the NYPD to bank security officials in New York includes the following:

“We have received a report of a confirmed mail (package) explosive device that was addressed and sent to … Deutsche Bank in Frankfurt, Germany. The package was detected by X-ray technology inside the mail room. The package did not detonate.”

The FBI has issued a statement saying that the Bureau is, “working with German authorities to assess the incident in Frankfurt and any potential threat to facilities or people here.” NYPD has increased security around the Deutsche Bank locations in NYC, although the FBI says there have been no specific threats received against banks here in the U.S… yet.

One question comes to mind: Is anyone surprised?

Actually, I am surprised.  I’m surprised that it’s taken until now for this to happen.  I don’t have any idea from where this letter bomb was mailed, or what the motive of the sender was, but I do know that the banks have exhibited a wholesale disregard for regular people in this country, and I imagine elsewhere.  The 99% thing isn’t just a U.S. thing, right?  Right.

For example, the primary criticism of the new Greek government is how bank-friendly they are.  The new Prime Minister is a guy named Papademos, who is a former European Central Bank vice-president.  Imagine our president was Jamie Dimon, and you’ll get the idea.  It would seem that we’re not even close to cornering the oligopoly market.  And let them eat cake produces a predictable outcome, does it not?

Last year, roughly 76% of the unemployed in this country were receiving checks… next year that percentage is going to be roughly 48%.  And participation in food stamps in this country… it’s steadily rising… somewhere between one in seven, and headed towards one in six… in 2005 about 11 million… this coming year over 50 million, give or take.  Look it up for yourself, you’ll see.  But,  I know… some of you are thinking… well, that won’t affect me, I’m not on food stamps.  But that’s not the point.

What’s happening is going to impact EVERYONE, and if you think you’re somehow immune, perhaps you should consider learning more about what happened during the 1930s.  No one came through it unscathed.  And no one that did live through it ever recovered.

Of course, not everyone lived through the 1930s, and not everyone will live through this either.  A few days ago, 38 year-old Rachelle Grimmer shot her two children before turning the gun on herself inside a Laredo, Texas food stamp office.  She had been denied food stamps several times since last July, when she first applied.  The first time they turned her down the Texas Department of Health and Human Services said her application was incomplete, and later they said they weren’t able to reach her… I don’t know… maybe her phone had been turned off because she couldn’t pay the bill.  I’d imagine that’s happening a lot more these days, what do you think?

Intuitively, I think we all know that suicide rate are up, although it’s hard to find published data because no one likes to admit it.  The State of Vermont, however, has compiled and released figures as of November 4, 2011.  The state’s Department of Mental Health, says there has been a 15 percent jump in suicides in the last two years. I wonder why.

I wrote an article in May of 2010… We’re on the Brink of a New Age of Rage… maybe it will seem more relevant today.

Our stimulus spending is over, state budgets are going to be increasingly under pressure, state taxes will rise, services will be cut… unemployment will worsen… our standard of living will come down a few notches… foreclosures will steadily increase… and as we sit here today, we don’t even have anything on the drawing board that MIGHT start to turn things around.

It’s as if we can afford to worry about something else… like whether our neighbors at risk of foreclosure are irresponsible borrowers.  I hope those doing that are enjoying themselves because it’s a damn expensive hobby.

Mandelman out.

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