“Many creative writers keep journals; the sociologist’s need for systematic reflection demands it.” -C. Wright Mills

Next week Bradley Birkenfeld, a former UBS banker, begins a forty month sentence, a punitive vengeance by the rich men and women whose illegal Swiss bank accounts he revealed to the US government.

Fourteen thousand multimillionaires and, we know, billionaires had illegal accounts for years. They hold positions of authority in the United States. And the Justice Department has essentially given cover to every single one of them. And Birkenfeld explained how you could catch them. And instead of letting Birkenfeld wear a wire, they want Birkenfeld to wear stripes. Instead of letting Birkenfeld go back to Switzerland and help with law enforcement, they’re putting him in jail for forty months, more than everyone else.

I mean, they’re sending a message: if you want to blow the whistle on this level of wealthy and powerful individual in the United States of America, be prepared to go to jail.