Quote :

"In a humiliating fall for one of the financial world's leading figures, the chief of the International Monetary Fund, who on Saturday was staying in a $3,000-a-night suite in a Manhattan hotel, slumped Monday in a packed courtroom while a New York City judge ordered him held without bail on sexual assault charges. Dominique Strauss-Kahn, 62, a member of France's Socialist party, was widely considered the strongest potential challenger next year to President Nicolas Sarkozy. On Monday, he appeared haggard and unshaven as his celebrity lawyers sparred with an assistant prosecutor over whether $1 million cash his wife was able to pull together over the weekend would be enough to ensure that Strauss-Kahn would not flee the country. Strauss-Kahn is charged with five felonies including attempted rape involving a 32-year-old hotel maid who told police she entered his suite thinking it was unoccupied, only to be confronted by a naked guest who chased her, assaulted her and forced her to perform a sex act on him. The accuser provided a powerful and detailed account, which was corroborated by evidence gathered during a hospital examination, Assistant District Attorney John McConnell said in court."

Quote :

"Strauss-Kahn has been accused of sexual indiscretions in the past. In 2008, shortly after he took the helm at the IMF, an affair with a subordinate, Piroska Nagy, led to an IMF investigation into whether he abused his authority. The fund concluded that "there was no harassment, favoritism or any other abuse of authority" but that his actions "reflected a serious error of judgment." In a statement at the time, Strauss-Kahn said, "I very much regret the incident, and I accept responsibility for it," adding that he apologized to the IMF and his family. Meanwhile, a lawyer for 31-year-old French novelist Tristane Banon said she will probably file a complaint alleging Strauss-Kahn sexually attacked her in 2002, the Associated Press reported."

Quote :

"Strauss-Kahn is widely credited with resuscitating an IMF that had largely lost its relevance, by persuading European leaders to provide loans to teetering nations when the financial crisis spread in fall of 2008. "He was one of the first to recognize and spread the message of what to do at the highest levels," says Jan Randolph, a sovereign debt analyst for IHS Global Insight."

http://www.usatoday.com/money/world/2011-05-16-dominique-strauss-kahn-imf-in-court_n.htm

It would come as no surprise to me that the leader of an organization like the IMF, who I'm sure knowingly is in the business of getting newly created money to "the right people," would engage in this kind of morally outrageous behavior.

5/16/2011 10:05:00 PM

It's no surprise to me that you would think that his behavior has a rat fuck to do with his position as head of the IMF.

5/16/2011 10:30:27 PM

The IMF doesn't typically "create" money, it collects it and redistributes it from members. But whatever.

5/16/2011 10:30:59 PM

It would come as no surprise to me that you have no god damn idea what the IMF does d357r0y3r. Do you not realize that generally the IMF is in the business of forcing governments to impose fiscal austerity?

You're coming down with a case of face syndrome, where you basically take any story out of the news and fit it into your worldview regardless of whether or what reality may be.

5/16/2011 10:37:50 PM

No, the IMF is in the business of bailing out western bankers stupid enough to trust kleptomaniacs with their money.

5/16/2011 10:54:31 PM

He will get out of it durr.

5/16/2011 11:19:29 PM

Quote :

"The IMF doesn't typically "create" money, it collects it and redistributes it from members. But whatever."

The IMF's purpose is essentially to push worldwide inflation (and I'm using inflation in the way that the Austrian school does - an expansion of the money supply). While it doesn't directly create the money, it does attempt to direct money created by central banks and encourage the money creation itself. They call it "increasing world reserves."

Quote :

"It's no surprise to me that you would think that his behavior has a rat fuck to do with his position as head of the IMF."

And it's no surprise to me that you don't see the connection. When we talk about monetary issues (i.e. the issuance or creation of money, and determination of interest rates or expansions/contractions of the money supply), we are discussing a moral issue; these "policymakers" set out to create "liquidity," which means devaluing currencies. This intervention destroys savings, and thus, anyone that encourages inflation (such as DSK) is guilty of encouraging wealth destruction.

Quote :

"It would come as no surprise to me that you have no god damn idea what the IMF does d357r0y3r. Do you not realize that generally the IMF is in the business of forcing governments to impose fiscal austerity?"

Sounds like you may have some reading to do yourself.

[Edited on May 16, 2011 at 11:29 PM. Reason : ]

5/16/2011 11:28:56 PM

Quote :

"The IMF's purpose is essentially to push worldwide inflation (and I'm using inflation in the way that the Austrian school does - an expansion of the money supply)"

I'd be interested to hear more about this.

5/17/2011 12:13:25 AM

Think about the IMF's recent role in the European debt crisis. They pushed to have indebted countries receive short term loans. Where does the money come from? A lot of it comes from the United States, which means it comes from the Federal Reserve. Of course, we can't even pay our own bills, much less someone else's. Debt is created in the form of a bond, which is money creation. On one hand, the IMF releases reports saying the United States needs to slash entitlement spending by 35% and raise taxes on all Americans (unlikely), but they haven't stopped taking dollars.

It was about a year ago that the IMF said governments needed to aim for more inflation: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704337004575059542325748142.html

[Edited on May 17, 2011 at 12:48 AM. Reason : ]

5/17/2011 12:43:51 AM

Well, the article I just read suggested no small amount of opposition to pro-inflationary policies. Not that it matters. Unless you have something that demonstrates that the IMF does something other than borrow currencies, you've got nothing on your original statement. They don't make money. They may collect it. They may even borrow it. But they don't invent it out of thin air to a greater extent than any other financial apparatus.

[Edited on May 17, 2011 at 12:54 AM. Reason : article I just read = the one you posted]

5/17/2011 12:52:49 AM

fucking Socialists.

5/17/2011 1:10:26 AM

Quote :

"But they don't invent it out of thin air to a greater extent than any other financial apparatus."

You're somewhat right about that. Our global monetary system is based on a lot of debt, and that means someone isn't getting paid when all of this pans out. We live in interesting times.

My original statement was not that the IMF creates money - it was that the IMF plays a role in distributing money created by central banks. It looks like you aren't denying that. I'm certain that the IMF, including and especially DSK, know where the money comes from, which makes them just as guilty as the people that created it. I would compare it to a pawn shop owner that knowingly buys stolen goods, though this is on a much grander scale.

[Edited on May 17, 2011 at 1:19 AM. Reason : ]

5/17/2011 1:15:32 AM

Is the IMF secretly run by Osama bin Laden? I'm just asking questions.

5/17/2011 9:28:53 AM

Guilty without a trial, ITT.

5/17/2011 9:39:10 AM

Quote :

"Strauss-Kahn has been accused of sexual indiscretions in the past. In 2008"

Quote :

"Strauss-Kahn is charged with five felonies including attempted rape involving a 32-year-old hotel maid"

Quote :

"his celebrity lawyers sparred with an assistant prosecutor over whether $1 million cash his wife was able to pull together over the weekend would be enough"

What a wife. Of course she's probably living the ultra-high life doing her own thing.

5/17/2011 9:40:22 AM

Quote :

"I'm certain that the IMF, including and especially DSK, know where the money comes from, which makes them just as guilty as the people that created it. I would compare it to a pawn shop owner that knowingly buys stolen goods, though this is on a much grander scale."

Of course, and that's why he assaults women. No wait, I'm still not seeing the connection. In fact it's almost as if you completely made up the connection between creating currency and assaulting women just like you completely made up the connection between the IMF and creating currency.

5/17/2011 9:58:45 AM

You're an authoritarian, so I wouldn't expect you to see any problem with stealing people's wealth or encouraging that practice.

It brings up a good point, though. I have to question the morality of any person that thinks it's okay to force their will on others, including you. I say live and let live; you say live how I tell you to live. While you disguise the threat of force with "but it's for your own good," I have to admit that I'm offended and disgusted by many of your views.

5/17/2011 10:33:29 AM

Quote :

"I wouldn't expect you to see any problem with stealing people's wealth or encouraging that practice."

What right do you have to exclude others from the world's resources just because you've arbitrarily laid claim to them?

5/17/2011 12:37:18 PM

It's referred to as homesteading. When you combine your labor with resources, you've created property.

Let's go with your line of reasoning, though. I'm sure you wouldn't mind if I showed up to your house, kicked you out, and started using your possessions that you bought. You arbitrarily laid claim to all of that, after all. Who are you to say that I can't use it permanently? Furthermore, you're a resource just like anything else on this earth. I should be able to kill you or injure you without consequence, should I not? If not, why not?

5/17/2011 12:55:19 PM

Quote :

"It's referred to as homesteading. When you combine your labor with resources, you've created property."

So resources are anyone's for the taking? If so I would be best off laying claim to all the resources and then selling them

Quote :

"I'm sure you wouldn't mind if I showed up to your house, kicked you out, and started using your possessions that you bought."

That would be against the law.

Quote :

"Furthermore, you're a resource just like anything else on this earth."

Not really. I produce labor. If I were owned, then I would become a resource as I would require labor to produce anything.

5/17/2011 1:08:23 PM

Quote :

"So resources are anyone's for the taking? If so I would be best off laying claim to all the resources and then selling them"

Laying claim to the resources is not as simple as proclaiming, "they're mine," though. You actually have to labor and turn those resources into something valuable. A tree in the ground required no work on your part, unless you actually planted the seed. If you chop down the tree (which requires capital and energy), then you can sell the wood. Good luck chopping down every tree by yourself.

Quote :

"That would be against the law."

So the legality of an action is how we determine if it is moral behavior? The question is not whether the law prohibits it, the question is if you would have a problem if I did it. Do you not view the things you have worked for as yours?

Quote :

"Not really. I produce labor. If I were owned, then I would become a resource as I would require labor to produce anything."

But you reject the idea of self-ownership. If you are not entitled to your own body and its labor, then who is?

5/17/2011 2:19:13 PM

Quote :

"Laying claim to the resources is not as simple as proclaiming, "they're mine," though."

Sure it is. What amount of labor is required? 1 minute? 1 hour? 1 day? All you have to do is what people have done throughout history, just say it's yours.

Quote :

"If you chop down the tree (which requires capital and energy), then you can sell the wood."

You can't just go around chopping down trees. Those trees belong to someone, they are property of the owner of the land.

Quote :

"The question is not whether the law prohibits it, the question is if you would have a problem if I did it."

Oh, then the question is stupid and irrelevant to what right you have to property. Perhaps if I simplify our exchange you will see why:
You: you have no right to my property
Me: you have no right to your property
You: how would you like it if I took your property?

Perhaps you can see how absurd that is.

Quote :

"Do you not view the things you have worked for as yours? "

It doesn't matter how I view them, it matters how society views them. The fact is that the majority of people in the world do not own the things they make. You like imagining the world today as a reference, but the fact is that in the world today, you own what society says you can own, and you get what society says you can get. But in fairness, you would have nothing without society, so it's a mutual relationship.

Quote :

"But you reject the idea of self-ownership. If you are not entitled to your own body and its labor, then who is?"

No one, everyone, whichever.

5/17/2011 2:40:30 PM

It's interesting to compare how the French view what's going on compared to us. To them the media taking photos of the accused is cruel and unusual and comparable to medieval torture....


http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Global-News/2011/0517/French-outrage-over-inhumane-treatment-of-Strauss-Kahn-highlights-culture-clash

Quote :

"As International Monetary Fund head Dominique Strauss-Kahn sits in an American detention center cell on Rikers Island, his case has spurred a hot debate on French attitudes toward politicians and sexual misconduct. Many in France are angry over the way US authorities have handled the Strauss-Kahn case, particularly the "perp walk" – which would be illegal in France – and the lack of bail, which they say implies that he has been presumed guilty, CNN reported. "There's a general feeling of a media, a judicial fury – of a lynching," Jack Lang, France's former minister of culture and education and a Socialist Party lawmaker, told Europe 1 radio. Lang called the American justice system "inhumane." "For 48 hours now, only the side of the accusation has been heard ... and the versions given by police have been contradictory," he said. "The refusal to allow him out on bail, when no violent crime has been committed – even in America suspects are usually let go on bail if a violent crime has not been committed." "They do feel he hasn't been given a chance to show his defense," [Nathan King, a correspondent for France 24 television network] said. Robert Badinter, a member (like Strauss-Kahn) of France's Socialist party and a former justice minister, expressed dismay at the way the case was being handled in the US. Think you know Europe? Take our geography quiz. Sign up for our daily World Editor's Picks newsletter. Our best stories, in your inbox. He called Strauss-Kahn a friend and a man who many had rushed to accuse before even getting to the bottom of the situation. His comments were published in a roundup of reaction published by the French-language newspaper, Liberation. "Where is the respect of the presumption of innocence?" he asked. "I see [in this situation] the failure of a system. It is a deliberate destruction, it is disgraceful, it has nothing to do with American justice. Why wasn't he released on bail? Because he is French? Because is the director of the IMF?" Some have even gone so far as to speculate that his arrest was a plot by his political opponents who, working off of his reputation as the "Great Seducer," attempted frame him as a rapist – a possibility that Strauss-Kahn was concerned about even before the alleged assault, The Telegraph reports. In the then off-the-record discussion on April 28, the International Monetary Fund chief said he could imagine a scenario where he was framed for a rape he did not commit. … Mr. Strauss-Kahn then said there were three obstacles to his election: "Money (he is vastly wealthy), women, and my Judaism." Starting with the female question, the former Socialist finance minister said: "Yes, I love women, et alors?" Strauss-Kahn elaborated on that concern, telling journalists he could "easily imagine 'a woman [who I supposedly] raped in a car park and who had been promised 500,000 or a million euros to invent such a story.' ""

I'm undecided when it comes to whether the police should comment on ongoing investigations, I do think that if they have to it should be only one spokesperson with a clear concise statement. I think everything else just fuels the media, like in the Duke Lacrosse scandal, it doesn't help. But it also is part of the transparency of our system. Walking the accused through cameras, not having a clear statement, generating a circus-- makes it look unfair internationally.

About this whole should bail be applied when it's not a violent crime... Last I heard sexual assault is a violent crime, plus he was already bound for Paris on an Air France flight when he was taken into custody, could this lend the judge to think maybe he's a flight risk?. Should the courts only require him to give up his passports and stay in the US or is it justified to believe he might flee to France and refuse bail?

5/17/2011 4:08:34 PM

I should probably just drop this because it's getting off topic, but I'm going to call you on it anyway:

Quote :

"Oh, then the question is stupid and irrelevant to what right you have to property. Perhaps if I simplify our exchange you will see why: You: you have no right to my property Me: you have no right to your property You: how would you like it if I took your property?"

Forget the word property. Use "possessions" or "stuff" or "whatever." Tell me why you, personally, would have a problem with me coming to your house and stealing everything you own, or causing bodily harm to you. Don't tell me because it's illegal - that's not why it would bother you.

Here's what you know and are afraid to say: you wouldn't like it because you spent a lot of time working so you could buy those things. You would have preferred to do something fun instead of work, but that's not how the world operates. You labored for those goods, and so you feel some ownership over those things. You, and anyone else, would feel wronged if someone stole from you. Thus, you believe in property just as much as I do, you just can't admit it because it demolishes the ideology that you've spent years clinging to.

In other news:

IMF accuser in apt. for HIV vics

Quote :

"The hotel maid, a West African immigrant, has occupied the fourth-floor High Bridge pad with her 15-year-old daughter since January -- and before that, lived in another Bronx apartment set aside by Harlem Community AIDS United strictly for adults with the virus and their families. The Post has not been able to ascertain whether the maid, 32, has HIV/AIDS because of medical confidentiality laws."

For the record, I haven't assumed that DSK is guilty of rape or sexual assault, though it seems likely that they did have relations. This could have just as easily been a political setup, though DSK might have bigger problems than jail if the maid ended up having HIV.

5/18/2011 11:29:55 AM

^on The Today Show this morning her lawyer emphatically denied that she has HIV and he said that was "outrageous"

[Edited on May 18, 2011 at 12:06 PM. Reason : "]

5/18/2011 12:00:29 PM

Quote :

"You labored for those goods, and so you feel some ownership over those things. You, and anyone else, would feel wronged if someone stole from you. Thus, you believe in property just as much as I do, you just can't admit it because it demolishes the ideology that you've spent years clinging to."

I'd be just as mad if you took something I didn't work for. The fact that people like stuff in no way justifies a natural right to "property". Discuss the topic, don't make up irrelevant questions.

Quote :

"on The Today Show this morning her lawyer emphatically denied that she has HIV and he said that was "outrageous""

I wouldn't call it that outrageous, considering over 15% of the adult population in some west african countries have HIV. Although I don't think anyone but her needs to know.

5/18/2011 2:15:43 PM

Quite right. The defense of property is that society is dysfunctional without it.

5/18/2011 2:43:37 PM

I never talked about the defense of property. I pointed out that I want to keep other people's stuff just as much as I want to keep my own.

5/18/2011 6:21:05 PM

Only because you are a communist. Most humans value the stuff they own more highly than stuff they don't own. On TV I saw a shoplifter when confronted quickly abandon the store property in exchange for being allowed to leave but then refused to leave the store and had to be arrested because the store manager mistakenly seized her scarf thinking it too was store property.

5/18/2011 6:43:01 PM

Quote :

"I never talked about the defense of property. I pointed out that I want to keep other people's stuff just as much as I want to keep my own."

I don't really understand what you're getting at. You don't have anything of your own in the scenario you're describing. If everything is communal, you own nothing.

I like the idea of communal property, but people are too stupid and selfish for it to ever work on a societal scale.

[Edited on May 18, 2011 at 6:54 PM. Reason : .]

5/18/2011 6:52:38 PM

Quote :

"I like the idea of communal property, but people are too stupid and selfish for it to ever work on a societal scale."

No. I'd say people are too smart for it to ever work on a societal scale. What they lack is obedience to authority, which I think is a good thing. Sure, it means communal property doesn't work, but it also means perpetual servitude aka 1984 doesn't work either.

5/18/2011 10:23:00 PM

Quote :

"What they lack is obedience to authority"

I meant without the addition of authoritarianism (which I'm opposed to).

5/18/2011 10:46:01 PM

Quote :

"Most humans value the stuff they own more highly than stuff they don't own."

As your example shows, it's only a legal distinction. People want what they want.

Quote :

"If everything is communal, you own nothing."

It's not about what you own, it's about what you use.

5/18/2011 11:44:59 PM

WOMAN SET TO RUN IMF?

DIRTY?

5/19/2011 8:42:34 AM

Is there any non-circumstancial evidence that supports the charges?

5/19/2011 11:53:01 AM

With sexual assault/rape charges, isn't it often the woman's word versus the man's? If two people have consensual sex, and she calls it rape after the fact, how do you decide which person is lying in the absence of physical injury?

5/19/2011 12:27:32 PM

Quote :

"Several articles in the major media are discussing the high risk of sexual assault that housekeepers face in hotels. Sexual assault and harassment is rampant, maids are afraid to complain to management because of fear of losing their jobs and perpetrators think there is little chance they'll get caught. Dominique-Strauss Kahn, former chief of the International Monetary Fund, wasn't so lucky, however, because he picked the wrong place to prey on a worker - a union hotel in New York. "After he was arrested there was a lot of self-congratulatory praise and back slapping for how well this was handled in the United States, as opposed to how it might have been handled in some European countries, including France," said Tula Connell, a spokesman for the AFL-CIO. (A number of articles on the case claim matters involving sexual predation are more routinely swept under the rug in European countries.) "But speaking out publicly against so powerful a world figure from the vantage of a hotel-maid required guts and, in addition, it required a union." "

http://peoplesworld.org/union-helped-hotel-worker-stand-up-to-imf-chief/

5/24/2011 2:20:26 PM

^ The irony of course being that until this mess, he was considered the front runner Presidential candidate for France's Socialist Party which probably is more pro-labor than the current Sarkozy government.

5/24/2011 3:35:58 PM

American unions don't care about french politics.

5/24/2011 6:57:17 PM

pleads guilty

6/6/2011 9:46:52 AM

You left out a key word.

http://www.cnn.com/2011/CRIME/06/06/new.york.imf.case/index.html?hpt=hp_t2

[Edited on June 6, 2011 at 1:53 PM. Reason : x]

6/6/2011 1:53:10 PM

bump and grind

11/11/2011 11:09:23 PM

He might be dirtier than people thought... sounds like a sex-crazed power-hungry maniac.

I am surprised, though, that all this is coming out now.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/nov/11/dominique-strauss-kahn-prostitution-scandal

Dominique Strauss-Kahn linked to French prostitution scandal
Former IMF chief implicated in investigation into alleged pimping at luxury hotels in northern France

Quote :

"He is keeping a low profile in Paris, has grown a white beard, and polls show he is the least popular politician in France. Dominique Strauss-Kahn, forced to quit as head of the IMF and shelve aspirations to become the next French president, had hoped to find solace in France after criminal charges were dropped against him in New York over the alleged attempted rape of a hotel cleaner. But he is dominating the front pages again after his name was linked to a high-profile investigation into an alleged prostitution ring at a luxury hotel in Lille. The Hotel Carlton affair centres on allegations of pimping at top hotels in the northern French city, where women from France and massage parlours in Belgium were allegedly supplied for hotel customers and local officials. Eight people are under formal investigation, including a senior police officer, a local barrister and businessmen. Five have been imprisoned as the inquiry continues. The investigation raises questions about the links between police and business figures and the underworld of sex work in France and Belgium. Prostitution involving people over the age of 18 is not illegal in France but pimping and living off the benefits of it is. The affair took a new turn after Strauss-Kahn's name came up in statements made to investigators, according to a series of leaked transcripts published in the French media in recent weeks. Businessmen were alleged to have paid women to travel to Paris and the US to take part in "soirées" with Strauss-Kahn at his own request, including when he was head of the IMF and tipped to become the next French president. Le Monde reported that one senior French police officer had travelled twice to Washington DC last year with businessmen, including the head of a Lille-based construction firm, to accompany a group of women who worked in massage parlours in Belgium to see Strauss-Kahn. The former head of the IMF was said to have received three visits from the group in Washington. The last visit ended on 13 May, the day before he was arrested over the attempted rape of a hotel maid in New York. The senior Lille police officer and two businessmen deny involvement in prostitution. The first evening organised for Strauss-Kahn was said to have taken place at a luxury Paris hotel in 2009. One sex worker, whose testimony was published by the weekly Le Point, described being accompanied by businessmen on the train from Lille to Paris to meet Strauss-Kahn, who was wearing a bathrobe, and others in a duplex hotel apartment with a pool. She said she was paid €900 (£770) by a businessman on the way back to Lille that night. Other alleged encounters took place in 2010. A Belgian sex worker in her 30s, known as Jade, told the French newspaper, Nord Eclair, she was taken to Washington for an encounter with Strauss-Kahn in a hotel in January 2010 and paid by businessmen on her return to France. She said Strauss-Kahn showed her around the IMF building and posed for a photograph with her in his office the next day. But the saga took another twist this week when French media, including Liberation and Le Point, published text messages allegedly sent by Strauss-Kahn to a businessman in the case, which are being investigated by police. In one message, Strauss-Kahn, then head of the IMF, asked if the man wanted to accompany him to a "magnificent" swingers club in Madrid, suggesting he bring "material" – thought to mean women. In another, he said he was taking a girl, "une petite", to clubs in Vienna and would the man like to come with a "demoiselle", or "Miss". A few days later he asked if the "suite with pool" had been booked. The text messages do not explicitly refer to prostitution. Strauss-Kahn issued a statement through his lawyers on Friday demanding to be interviewed by investigative judges in the case as soon as possible, and denouncing a "media lynching". The statement said Strauss-Kahn was ready to "explain himself" not before the tribunal of public opinion but "in front of those running the judicial inquiry". Last month, his lawyers urged judges to interview him so he could answer what he deemed "hasty and malevolent" accusations. Strauss-Kahn's lawyer, Henri Leclerc, told the Guardian he had no comment to make on the case. He said his client had not yet been interviewed by investigators. If Strauss-Kahn had consenting, paid-for encounters with sex workers aged over 18, it would not be a crime in France. But the publication this week of text messages to one businessman mentioning meetings with other top Socialists, raised questions about whether the men could expect political access or favours in exchange for providing what one had termed "girlfriends, meaning prostitutes" for him. One businessman in the case said he paid for flights and costs. He is believed to have spent thousands of euros of company money on organising soirées for Strauss-Kahn, putting receipts marked with the initials DSK through his expense accounts. He told investigators Strauss-Kahn had not paid for anything. The French media questioned Strauss-Kahn's behaviour during a period in which he was tipped to become the next president of France. "The net is tightening around DSK," said the daily Le Parisien on Friday."

Sick how men in power treat women and use them as objects. Is this his vision on how to empower women and provide them with gainful employment?

If this is all true, fuck him.

11/12/2011 4:49:50 PM