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Humanity Is in the Eye of the Beholder by PITT DICKEY Penn State child sex-abuse scandal like the LIBOR scandal? What is the LIBOR scandal? Allow me to explain. Extra credit if you make it all the way to the end of this column without either falling asleep, throwing up, or running screaming from the room. Is silence golden? Right now you are probably asking yourself, how is the Begin with the recent vile events at Penn State wherein formerly beloved Coach Joe Paterno looked the other way while his faithful assistant coach and full time pervert Sandusky molested little boys. Former FBI Director Louis Freeh's investigative report of Penn State was ugly as a warthog in heat. Sandusky himself resembles a warthog in heat but this is not a column about man/bear/pig cloning. Freeh's report showed that JoPa's nominal superiors, the President of Penn State and the Athletic Director had fi nally decided to tell the authorities about Sandusky's child molestation after Sandusky was caught raping a 10 year old boy in 2001. Prez telling him that JoPa had spoken to him and decided not to report Sandusky to the cops. The plan was changed to tell Sandusky not to bring his "guests" ( translation: little boy sex victims) to the locker room and offer Sandusky professional help in dealing with his criminal activities because keeping it hushed up would be more "humane." Gentle reader must decide if it was more "humane" to keep quiet and let Sandusky keep molesting little boys for the next 11 years to protect Penn State's reputation. The decision to remain quiet certainly had nothing to do with the free fl ow of football money. Just before reporting to the authorities, the AD sent an email to Penn State's Now, ponder the LIBOR scandal which sounds boring but is almost as loathsome as Penn State. LIBOR is an acronym for London Inter Bank Offering Rate. It is the interest rate that one bank charges another bank to borrow money. A few special big banks submit daily reports of the interest rate they pay to borrow from each other to the British Banker's Association. The Bankers' Association comes up with an average interest rate from the banks' submitted interest rates which theoretically represents the average cost of borrowing money for banks. For example, if Barclays has to report that it is paying 4 percent for money lent to it and the rest of the banks are reporting they are borrowing at 2 percent, this makes Barclays look fi nancially shaky. If the other banks think Barclays is more likely to default on its loans, they charge Barclays a higher interest rate. This makes Barclays self esteem droop. It looks bad to its peers. Poor Barclays. It is very sad and lonely bank. What to do? Barclays lies and says it too can borrow at 2 percent when it actually costs Barclays 4 percent for loans. This manipulates and distorts the LIBOR's rate so that Barclays will feel good about itself while faking out the fi nancial markets. In April 2008, the N.Y. Federal Reserve Bank which was then headed by current U.S. Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner learned Barclay's Bank was submitting lies to LIBOR about its actual cost of borrowing. A Barclays's agent sent an email to the N.Y. Fed saying "We know that we're not posting, um, an honest rate." The email indicated other banks were also submitting fake interest rates to the LIBOR. Geithner, wishing to be humane to Barclays, like Penn State's tenderness with Sandusky, decided not to report Barclay's LIBOR lies to the world. Such a report would embarrass Barclays because it meant Barclays and other major banks were in deep fi nancial poo. Why does the LIBOR matter to us common folk? The LIBOR is used to set the interest rates paid on credit cards, variable rate mortgages, government bond issues and student loans. Borrowers typically pay the LIBOR plus a set percentage rate. Worldwide, about $800 Trillion in various fi nancial instruments are based on the LIBOR. If the banks conspire to manipulate the rate down, they can conspire to manipulate the rate up. It's a fake rate. Just like Penn State was a fake paragon of virtue. If you lie on a mortgage application about your income you can go to jail for mortgage fraud. If bankers lie about the interest rates they pay, they get bonuses. Pretty sweet deal for the banks. Woody Guthrie's 100th birthday just passed. Woody wrote, "Some rob you with a six gun, and some rob you with a fountain pen." The Banks and LIBOR just proved Woody right again. Penn State, the Fed, Barclays and the other big banks were just being humane to us little people by keeping us in the dark. Now shut up and eat your peas. PITT DICKEY, Contributing Writer. COMMENTS? Editor@upandcom- ingweekly.com. Advertise and Promote Your Business All Year in UP & COMING WEEKLY'S 2012 "Best of Fayetteville" • Special Edition • Coming Sept. 12, 2012 Advertise, market and promote your business in the most popular and most read edition of the year! Published, Distributed and Online in the Fayetteville, Ft. Bragg and Cumberland County area all year long. Be among the "best of the best" when this popular and valuable edition and refl ection of our community hits the streets on Sept. 12th. RESERVE YOUR SPACE TODAY! For more information, rates and deadlines call (910) 484-6200 or visit our website at www.upandcomingweekly.com. WWW.UPANDCOMINGWEEKLY.COM 1240 Fort Bragg Road • Fayetteville, NC 910.484.6699 www.hilltophousenc.com AUGUST 1-7, 2012 UCW 7 5 p.m. - 9 p.m., Tues. - Thur. 5 p.m. - 10 p.m., Fri. - Sat. 11 a.m. - 2 p.m., Tues. - Sat. 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