What enrages me, must interest me.
- Codex Compliance
- Oct 31, 2021
- 6 min read
Updated: Mar 3, 2022
There are a lot of things that make me a little angry, like when my takeout delivery is late, or people don't say thank you when I let them out at a junction, or when my phone disconnects from the car when I'm listening to Estonian folk music. I tend to not react harshly rather just chew on it for a few seconds. I'm a grown up, wiser and more patient in my old age. There are one or a few things that do make me furious though, one of those things is corruption in its many unfortunate forms. There is injustice bred from prejudice, from greed and from ignorance or a combination, the victims of these injustices will often be downtrodden and destitute, sometimes heard but more often not. As I prepare to embark on a new phase in my education and financial crime journey I wanted to make a note of it, to mark my ledger clearly, to share my understanding and to hold myself accountable so I become the kind of person who does something to help, to change the world for the better. I don't know if I can, I may fail but I'm about to try.
I found the more I came to know, the more I realise don't know.
I have worked and been interested in the world of financial crime for around 7 years. In that time I have expanded my knowledge of this sector, of geopolitics, and human behaviour in ways that I could have only imagined, actually the person I was before was nowhere near the vicinity of ever imagining it. He didn't know what was out there. He was insular and unfocused, defeatist not entirely without reason, definitely abundant in excuses and ignorance. As I allowed myself to let people and things in, the more I was able to get out of my experiences and allow myself to grow. And as I expanded my horizon, I found the more I came to know, the more I realise I don't know (that's along the lines of a quote from someone I'm sure) and at times part of me didn't want to know, because, you know, some of it's not very nice. Now I find myself without enough time in the day to follow various interests and lines of inquiry that I want to learn about. Curiosity is truly a good friend to have, though the harsh truths discovered confirm that ignorance can be what they say it is.
Over these years, working for a number of the worlds finest financial institutions, assisting with the global fight against the criminals, money launderers, crooked politicians, powerbrokers and terrorists, I thought I was fighting the good fight. For a while I bought into the narrative that the banks, regulators, government agencies, and supranational organisations were doing their best to fight to the good fight. But the more I saw, read, and learnt about the ways the world and big finance work, the less I believed that these financial gatekeepers were effective and even genuine in their efforts to make a difference. There may well be some people in these organisations that truly believe they are fighting the good fight and making the system more secure but really, they are flapping around and ticking boxes, even those who think they aren't ticking boxes are probably crossing them instead. Many doing the minimum to appease those to whom they are held. Regulators are malleable, banks and bankers aren't accountable, greed and consumerism rule, they have for a long time, the eternity of these systems they have existed in the vain they were created. An unjust, immoral and biased system it has almost always been, and there is nothing much that has changed. The supporting infrastructure of systems also remain largely the same, politics and ideologies drive the inequality machine.
I prefer the currently oxymoronic term 'moral capitalism'
So the systems of government are a problem, but will a utopian socialism bring an end to corruption? I don't believe that current human political types have the capacity to operate a successful version of socialism because the concentration of such power is irresistible to the greedy ones who can't help but take control. But I'd like to introduce cyber-socialism where intelligent machines govern us by rules we implement. That might work but I'm getting ahead of myself, off on a tangent thingy - essentially I welcome the rise the machines. I am a believer in the idea of democracy but not one that is born in the cradle of a cruel capitalism. I prefer a cuddly capitalism, and for it I prefer the currently oxymoronic term 'moral capitalism'*, and I think it can work though there are always weak links that lead to the cutthroats of the immoral. Capitalism as an idea is perfectly workable as we all know, the issue is that it invites the nastier parts of the human condition to come and play, the winners then are in a position to take all at the cost of the losers, and of course the majority who didn't know they were playing. Capitalism and democracy are potentially perfect bedfellows, as we have seen in many cases. But democracy often cannot say no to the lusty needs of capitalism, the achilles heel of capitalism is the greed and selfish nature of humankind. Any society that is governed by the corrupt, wielding and abusing their power for any gain (be it private, public or corporate), is one that will be inherently cruel, stranding many in dire straits. It's all so much effort, why not let one guy and his mates deal with all that politics stuff. Unfortunately that is many governments today, they were born of broken men, systems that are inherently toxic, and forever malleable for those in the know. It's all about money, ideals and power not liberty, equality and fraternity. The authoritarianesque folks are doing alright, but the kids are not.
Kleptocrats are the poster boys of corruption without consequence
Authoritarian regimes do whatever they please often with support from countries in the global north with vested interests and without scruples - an oversimplification, but I don't mind. People suffer while their rulers float around the globe in private jets made of diamonds, resting their heads in mansions made of gold. It does happen that scoundrel criminals are at times brought to justice, that those attempts are made are admirable, but they are often just circus shows of imaginary power, or too little too late. Kleptocrats are the poster boys of corruption without consequence. Billions siphoned and hopes of the masses spirited away for decades on end from one ruler to the next, the eternal spring of hope having been plugged up with dirty money. Kleptocrats are encouraged and incentivised by the lax/lack of controls in the financial systems of the global north, allowing them to loot with impunity. The banker types love the money that flows from the corrupt and criminal kinds, the bankers get paid massive amounts, they feel generous and altruistic, they do a fundraiser and send money to the needy, the needy never see the money because the greedy embezzle it to enrich themselves, then they send some on to the bankers to invest, and so on.
Enough with spouting the obvious already. Everybody in our circles know this, it's the future generations of politicians and citizens that need to know and have the requisite integrity and moral values to incite and maintain change - but can they do this in addition to trying to reach net-zero and stop the warming - or will we have to wait?!
Vexed, radically skeptical and yet pathetically hopeful I step into the academic arena
I find the sheer imperious acceptance of the current systemic flaws in government and finance so overwhelming that I am wondering why I bother, it's often disheartening, occasionally soul-crushing and once-in-a-while tear inducing (watch this - Collective: Unravelling a Scandal). Vexed, radically skeptical and yet pathetically hopeful I step into the academic arena to see if it offers me something more, some direction and a means to make a real difference - a masters degree in Corruption and Governance awaits.
I am enraged and interested on various levels, these feelings will exist in a symbiotic relationship balanced on the edge of a blade that I hope can slice open my mind in myriad new ways. Will my ensuing education soften my rage and allow some kind of placid acceptance, to simply coin words and throw paper axes at my enemies, to find my crown of laurels and then rest on it. Or will it fuel the fire, will it enrage me to new levels of intellectual insight, to action and practical solutions of some kind.
So I have successfully marked the beginning of a learning journey with rambling nonsense, hopefully it isn't contagious and doesn't infect my ascent into the scholar system. Will it hold my interest, will it consume me, or will it defeat me into taking my HGV license...wish me luck and stay tuned.
Al.
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