Banks playing cop led to Spitzer case.

Banks in the United States are no longer private businesses serving their clients. They are police agents who willingly spy on you on behalf of the federal government. This has become much worse under the presidency of George Bush. The reality is that you bank is spying on you.

Apparently that is how Governor Eliot Spitzer of New York was caught hiring prostitutes. He transferred funds to the agency that ran the prostitution service. ABC News reports that this transaction “was initially reported by a bank to the IRS, which under direction from the Justice Department, brought in the FBI’s Public Corruption Squad.”

Please remember this when you have a U.S. bank account. Any and all financial transactions can be investigated by employees at the bank who may report you to the federal government if they feel it is necessary. They need not have evidence you have actually violated any law. They just have to find something suspicious and your entire life could be turned upside-down while police agents comb through your life trying to see if they can find something warranting prosecution. Considering the overabundance of bad laws, stupid laws, vaguely worded laws, etc., if they can’t find something to charge you with then they aren’t trying.

Politicians tell you that these laws are for “evil doers” (to quote the Moron in Chief). But Mr. Spitzer, as repugnant a politician as he is, wasn’t violating the rights of anyone. He was having some sex with a hooker -- hardly something on the level of 9/11. Mr. Spitzer now faces potential criminal charges because he transferred money to pay a hooker.

This just proves that individuals who have done nothing truly criminal, in the sense of harming others, can be prosecuted and turned into media fodder because of the “know your customer” laws that turn banks into police spies. You may think it will never come to your doorstep. I suspect that Mr. Spitzer thought so as well. But when you have government this powerful and lethal acting on “tips” that come from hundreds of thousands of bank employees then you can bet more individuals will be prosecuted for minor offenses merely because their bank’s employees now cops.