Rash of World Banking Resignations Has Many Wondering

 

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81 RESIGNATIONS FROM WORLD BANKS
AmericanKabukiBlogspot.com - 022712

Apparently the central banks are having a stir-up, to say the least. At the latest count, 81 bank CEO's and executives have resigned. This is a clear indicator that something is up, but what? The proverbial shinola is about to hit the fan in one form or another.

See the bank CEO / Executive resignation list here.

One thing is certain, Benjamin Fulford will have his own story to tell over the mass resignations.

Stay tuned for more to come...
 

Wealthiest Americans Doubled Wealth Under Bush Tax Cuts
Class Warfare In America

The Effort To Destroy The Middle Class
NewsFocus, by Tim Watts - 111410

Since 1992, the bottom 90% of Americans have had their incomes rise by a mere 13%, compared with an outlandish increase of 399% for the top 400.

Under the Bush II tax cuts for the wealthy, the richest 400 Americans doubled their personal wealth, while at the same time cutting their tax rate in half.


In case you haven't noticed, there is a growing sentiment among a great many in this country, questioning the devastating economic collapse and how it is that so many incredibly intelligent people from the Federal Reserve, the central banks, the Wall Street financial sector, and the government, all failed to see this giant economic tsunami coming. With all of its close ties with the US government, you would think that the vaunted brain-trust of Goldman Sachs would have seen this coming. Well, perhaps I should maybe rephrase that a little... you would have hoped that Goldman Sachs and the other megalithic titans of the financial sector would have warned the government. By their own admission, they excel at the business of recognizing financial trends, yet we're expected to believe that these self-professed money masters didn't see this coming, until it was too late. ... (Read More)

The Real Redistribution of Wealth: Forbes 400 Triple Wealth In Just 5 Years

See also:

Economic Warfare
Engineered Collapse

Time for an Economic Bill of Rights
 


All efforts have been made to enrich the top 1%, while letting the middle class struggle helplessly.

The Current Depression Was Carefully Engineered
Economic Statistics Paint A Damning Picture Of Forethought And Treason
NewsFocus, by Tim Watts - 091411

Let me start this piece out by stating that the current economic depression that we are currently in was meticulously orchestrated and skillfully engineered. If you haven't come to this conclusion on your own yet, perhaps you are not paying close enough attention to the cold hard facts that have come forth from this economic nightmare. The proof is in how the Fed handled, or mishandled, the matter. The notion that our best and brightest economic minds did not see this coming is pure bullshit. The fact that no one has been indicted or jailed for allowing this is disturbing on every level.

Plenty of folks are pointing the accusing finger at unscrupulous Wall Street practices, and rightfully so. Wall Street and its soulless parasitic minions of greed are a huge part of the collapse. The truth is, this meltdown was a mammoth raging tsunami nearly a mile high that couldn't be missed. This in itself is a telling indicator that the fix was in. There were so many destructive mechanisms in place, that it is impossible for the financial brain trust of Wall Street and the Federal Reserve to deny foreknowledge of this catastrophe, suggesting that those on the inside were well aware of the danger that was lurking.

Many causes for the economic collapse have been suggested, but the U.S. Senate issued Levin–Coburn Report found that the crisis was not a natural disaster. This was a contrivance of man that was no accident.

Like an arsonist madly dousing our economic system with gas, the risky, destructive financial time bombs were purposefully laid with full knowledge of the inferno to come.

 ... (Read More)
 

Making Money On Poverty: JP Morgan Makes Bigger Profits When The Number Of Americans On Food Stamps Goes Up

How would you feel if someone told you that one of the largest banks on Wall Street makes more money whenever the number of Americans on food stamps goes up?  Unfortunately, this is something that is actually true.  In the United States today, one out of every seven Americans is on food stamps.  In fact, the number of Americans on food stamps has increased by a whopping 14 million since Barack Obama entered the White House.  All of this makes JP Morgan very happy, because JP Morgan has been making money by the boatload on food stamps.  Right now, JP Morgan Chase issues food stamp debit cards in 26 U.S. states and the District of Columbia.  The division of JP Morgan Chase that issues these debit cards made an eye-popping 5.47 billion dollars in net revenue during 2010.  JP Morgan is paid per customer, so when the number of Americans on food stamps goes up, they make more money.  But doesn't this give JP Morgan an incentive to try to keep the number of Americans on food stamps as high as possible?  Of course it does.  JP Morgan is interested in making money as rapidly as possible. If JP Morgan can get more Americans enrolled in the food stamp program and keep them enrolled in it for as long as possible, that is good for business. ... (Read More)
 

Inside Job

Twenty minutes that explains the Wall Street and Federal Reserve swindle of America.
(See the full documentary)

35 Facts About The Gutting Of America’s Industrial Might That Should Make You Very Angry
TheEconomicCollapse - 111611

Did you know that an average of 23 manufacturing facilities were shut down every single day in the United States last year? As World War II ended, the United States emerged as the greatest industrial power that the world has ever seen. But now America's industrial might is being gutted like a fish and both political parties seem totally unconcerned. 

Yes, we will always need trading relationships that are fair and balanced with other countries that have economic systems that are similar to our own. However, the truth is that most of our trading relationships are neither "fair" nor balanced. 

For example, China manipulates currency rates so that Chinese products are much cheaper than they should be, they brazenly steal our technology and we let them get away with it, they deeply subsidize their most important industries and they exploit their citizens by allowing them to be paid slave labor wages. How in the world does that resemble the "free market" at work? Predatory nations such as China do everything that they can to distort the free market. 

So why in the world would any rational economist ever recommend that we should keep trading with other countries that are cheating us blind? 

After you read the facts in this article about the gutting of America's industrial might, hopefully you will get very angry. We need the American people to start getting very upset about these very important issues. (Read More....)
 

The Milking of America

You need to hear what this former broker has to say.

22 Statistics That Prove The Middle Class Is Being Systematically Wiped Out Of Existence In America
BusinessInsider.com, by Michael Snyder - 071510

The 22 statistics that you are about to read prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that the middle class is being systematically wiped out of existence in America.

The rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer at a staggering rate.  Once upon a time, the United States had the largest and most prosperous middle class in the history of the world, but now that is changing at a blinding pace.

So why are we witnessing such fundamental changes?  Well, the globalism and "free trade" that our politicians and business leaders insisted would be so good for us have had some rather nasty side effects.  It turns out that they didn't tell us that the "global economy" would mean that middle class American workers would eventually have to directly compete for jobs with people on the other side of the world where there is no minimum wage and very few regulations.  The big global corporations have greatly benefited by exploiting third world labor pools over the last several decades, but middle class American workers have increasingly found things to be very tough. ... (Read More)
 

The Daily Show Looks at Class Warfare
As always, Jon Stewart hits this one right on the money. (Pun intended)





 

Four US Banks Hold A Staggering 95.9% of U.S. Derivatives: The $600 Trillion Time Bomb That's Set To Explode
MoneyMorning.com, by Keith Fitz-Gerald - 101611

Do you want to know the real reason banks aren't lending and the PIIGS [Portugal, Ireland, Italy, Greece, Spain] have control of the barnyard in Europe?

It's because risk in the $600 trillion derivatives market isn't evening out. To the contrary, it's growing increasingly concentrated among a select few banks, especially here in the United States.

In 2009, five banks held 80% of derivatives in America. Now, just four banks hold a staggering 95.9% of U.S. derivatives, according to a recent report from the Office of the Currency Comptroller.

The four banks in question: JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM), Citigroup Inc. (NYSE: C), Bank of America Corp. (NYSE: BAC) and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (NYSE: GS).

Derivatives played a crucial role in bringing down the global economy, so you would think that the world's top policymakers would have reined these things in by now - but they haven't.

Instead of attacking the problem, regulators have let it spiral out of control, and the result is a $600 trillion time bomb called the derivatives market.

Think I'm exaggerating?

The notional value of the world's derivatives actually is estimated at more than $600 trillion. Notional value, of course, is the total value of a leveraged position's assets. This distinction is necessary because when you're talking about leveraged assets like options and derivatives, a little bit of money can control a disproportionately large position that may be as much as 5, 10, 30, or, in extreme cases, 100 times greater than investments that could be funded only in cash instruments.

The world's gross domestic product (GDP) is only about $65 trillion, or roughly 10.83% of the worldwide value of the global derivatives market, according to The Economist. So there is literally not enough money on the planet to backstop the banks trading these things if they run into trouble. ... (Read More)
 

Bank Bailouts Explained

See more of the economic collapse explained
 

The Economic Elite vs. The People of the United States of America
AmpedStatus.com, by David DeGraw

“The American oligarchy spares no pains in promoting the belief that it does not exist, but the success of its disappearing act depends on equally strenuous efforts on the part of an American public anxious to believe in egalitarian fictions and unwilling to see what is hidden in plain sight.” — Michael Lind

Yes, of course, we all have very strong differences of opinion on many issues. However, like our Founding Fathers before us, we must put aside our differences and unite to fight a common enemy.

It has now become evident to a critical mass that the Republican and Democratic parties, along with all three branches of our government, have been bought off by a well-organized Economic Elite who are tactically destroying our way of life. The harsh truth is that 99% of the US population no longer has political representation. The US economy, government and tax system is now blatantly rigged against us.

Current statistical societal indicators clearly demonstrate that a strategic attack has been launched and an analysis of current governmental policies prove that conditions for 99% of Americans will continue to deteriorate. The Economic Elite have engineered a financial coup and have brought war to our doorstep. . . and make no mistake, they have launched a war to eliminate the US middle class.

To those who feel I am using extreme rhetoric, I ask you to please take a few minutes of your time to hear me out and research the evidence put forth. The facts are there for the unprejudiced, rational and reasoned mind to absorb. It is the unfortunate reality of our current crisis.

Unless we all unite and organize on common ground, our very way of life and the ideals that our country was founded upon will continue to unravel.

Before exposing exactly who the Economic Elite are, and discussing common sense ways in which we can defeat them, let’s take a look at how much damage they have already caused. ... (Read More)

NewsFocus: This is a must read folks. Our economic situation is much worse than our elected officials are letting on or telling us. Every American needs to know this.
 

Dylan Ratigan Calls It Like It Is
A System Set Up For The Central Banks And Those Who Control Them
NewsFocus, by Tim Watts - 081011

MSNBC's Dylan Ratigan airs the dirty laundry on what really ails America, a corrupt financial system that has been bleeding this country bone-dry by design. (See the clip below.) Our corporate media needs more people like Dylan Ratigan. See more of Dylan further below on this Economy page.

The U.S. Is Being Extracted By Design By The Central Banking Cartel
 
Dylan Ratigan is the only one in the media with the guts and the spine to say this.

Please take some time and learn about the corrupt Federal Reserve and the people behind it, specifically the Rothschilds and the Rockefellers. Folks, it's not run by the U.S. Government. It is privately owned by the ultra-rich bankers that have bilked this country for everything we own, and now they've perpetrated the current orchestrated economic disaster in an attempt to take over the entire world with their New World Order. This system needs to die. "We the People" need to take back our money from the Rothschilds, the Rockefellers, the JP Morgan family dynasty and all those who were in on the Federal Reserve and World Bank fraud, and then put these people in prison for life! Please, learn about what the Rothschilds did to swindle England of its sovereignty, and then the United States. JFK was the last President to stand up to these corrupt "banksters," and for it he was killed after his most courageous "Secret Societies" speech. We can only pray that these same evil powers do not go after Mr. Ratigan for exposing their fraud, as they did Lou Dobbs for his expose on the North American Union, a step already underway which will lead to the banking cartel's planned New World Order. These secret rulers of the world are out to screw us and then kill us.

This isn't discussed in our history books, nor talked about by our "bought-and-paid-for corporate media, because they are all owned by this corrupt and immoral crooked cabal of thieves.
 

The Federal Reserve Audit
$16-Trillion Secretly Given By Fed. "Oh Lucy, you got some 'splainin' to do."

Sanders.Senate.gov - 072111

The first top-to-bottom audit of the Federal Reserve uncovered eye-popping new details about how the U.S. provided a whopping $16 trillion in secret loans to bail out American and foreign banks and businesses during the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression. An amendment by Sen. Bernie Sanders to the Wall Street reform law passed one year ago this week directed the Government Accountability Office to conduct the study. "As a result of this audit, we now know that the Federal Reserve provided more than $16 trillion in total financial assistance to some of the largest financial institutions and corporations in the United States and throughout the world," said Sanders. "This is a clear case of socialism for the rich and rugged, you're-on-your-own individualism for everyone else." ... (Read More)

GAO Audit Proves that Federal Reserve Bank is Crooked Gather.com

$8.4 Trillion Hidden Profit For Federal Reserve Cartel MarketOracle.co.uk

NewsFocus: I suspect that there is a much larger sum involved here, because these elite bankers are very adept at controlling their own money game. If they have allowed $16-trillion to be uncovered, it is a worthy bet that they are hiding far more than that. Case in point: The Rothschild family has hidden its immense wealth from the world for years. They control the fiat money game, so they know how to hide wealth. Since they also control the Federal Reserve and the World Bank, it is entirely within their realm to hide the extent of their latest money bomb on the world. For the record, this audit says nothing about the Federal Reserve's money laundering and financial scams that have been perpetrated since the Fed's inception in 1913. NewsFocus is willing to wager that the $16-trillion bailout scandal is but just the small tip of an enormous, still submerged, mammoth monetary iceberg.

To read the GAO report, click here.

Fed’s $16 Trillion Dollar Secret Slush Fund Props Up Our Way Of Life
InvestmentWatchBlog.com, by Silver Shield,on July 25th,2011

“It is well enough that people of the nation do not understand our banking and monetary system,for if they did,I believe there would be a revolution before tomorrow morning.”
 -Henry Ford

While the world waits with baited breath on the Contrived Drama of the Debt Ceiling,the real show has already been played out,secretly and behind the scenes. The first audit of the privately owned and foreign owned Federal Reserve by the GAO,has turned up $16 Trillion dollars of loans all over the world to prop up the global fiat empire. This massive money creation is over and above Hank Paulson’s $700 billion dollar heist of the American public. It is also in addition to QE1 and QE2 that resulted in an illusionary recovery of the economy. All of this money printing has done nothing to create any economic growth and it never will. The scary part is that this was done with no oversight or accountability. ... (Read More)

Blackmail in Washington
Information Clearinghouse, By Serge Halimi, 080611

What are the real reasons for the recent increase in the US public debt?
Continue
 

 
Dylan Ratigan On The Horribly Corrupt Federal Reserve System
Part 1 Part 2

Read what most Americans do not know about the Federal Reserve
 

NewsFocus: The People To Trust On Financial News

Dylan Ratigan
See YouTube video clips  |  Dylan Ratigan website  |  Dylan's MSNBC page

Max Keiser
See YouTube video clips  |  Max Keiser website  |  Max's RT News page

See more video clips from Ratigan and Keiser further down on this Economy page.
 

The Day the Middle Class Died
Information Clearinghouse, By Michael Moore - 080611

From time to time, someone under 30 will ask me, "When did this all begin, America's downward slide?" They say they've heard of a time when working people could raise a family and send the kids to college on just one parent's income.
Continue

Average US income drops $3,500 from 2008

More Americans using food stamps than ever before: 45.8 million

Barack Obama and the Debt Crisis:
A Successful Con Game Explained
Information Clearinghouse, By Bruce A. Dixon - 080411

The object of the supposed “crisis” was to short circuit public opinion, - in order to deal fatal blows to Medicaid, Medicare, social security, job growth and public expenditures for the common good. It worked. We've been conned.
Continue

The Beast Is Starved:
Welcome to the Next Great Depression
Information Clearinghouse, By John Atcheson 080411

The dirty little secret is that we never had a debt “crisis.” We had a jobs crisis.
Continue
 

The Great Global Debt Depression: It's All Greek To Me
GlobalResearch.ca, www.andrewgavinmarshall.com, by Andrew Gavin Marshall - 071511
 

In late June of 2011, the Greek government passed another round of austerity measures, ostensibly aimed at getting Greece “back on track” to economic progress, but in reality, implementing a systematic program of ‘social genocide’ in the name of servicing an endless and illegitimate debt to foreign banks. Right on cue, protests and riots broke out in Athens against the draconian measures, and the state moved in to do what states do best: oppress the people with riot police, tear gas and bashing batons, leaving roughly 300 people injured.

 

Is Greece simply a case of a country full of lazy people who spent beyond their means and are now paying for their own decadence? Or, is there something much larger at stake – and at play – here? Greece is, in fact, a microcosm of the global economy: mired in excessive debt, economically ruined, increasingly politically repressive and socially explosive. This report takes a look at the case of the Greek debt crisis specifically, and places it within a wider global context. The conclusion is clear: what happens in Greece will happen here.

 

This report examines the Greek crisis, as well as the larger global economic crisis, including the origins of the housing bubble, the bailouts, the banks, and the major actors and institutions which will come to dominate the stage over the next decade in what will play out as ‘The Great Global Debt Depression.’ ... (Read more)

NewsFocus: This is a must read article regarding debt and the world economic crisis.
 

The Symbolic Nature Of Money
Dont-tread-on.me, by Jim Koconis,on July 18th,2011

NewsFocus: A must read on how today's "money" is created from nothing.

It doesn’t take much imagination to recognize that virtually all of the social problems we wrestle with are directly related to economic injustice. It’s true that people are not always well intentioned,but very few would resort to crime if given an honest opportunity to exchange their labor for a fair wage allowing them the dignity to purchase a decent standard of living. And,ultimately,that is what economic justice is all about. When the cost of basic food,shelter,and healthcare exceeds the wages we earn,we have the most fundamental of all human crisis to deal with –the crisis of staying alive! (Read More)

See also: The Dangers of Legal Tender
 

The Federal Reserve Gave $9-TRILLION Dollars To The Rich!
They Helped Every Mega-Wealthy Person They Could, But @#%* The Rest of Us
NewsFocus.org - 021411

Update: This figure is now up to at least $16-Trillion!  (see update above)

The enemy isn't Democrats or Republicans, it's the mega-bankers who run the show. Make sure you know who your real enemy is folks. If they're willing to commit atrocities against "we the people," plus steal all of our wealth, what makes them think it won't come back to them and their financial institutions, or their families? They blindly believe they can enrich their own lives off of ours without any consequences to themselves. In life, attitudes like that generally find out that what goes around, eventually comes around. One thing's for sure, karma is going to be a bitch if you're rich.

As Jesus once said, "It's easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle, than for the rich to enter into the kingdom of heaven." The trouble is, the only God these people know is money. This clearly explains their lack of morality or humanity. And don't say, "but the rich give lots of money away to the poor." That's indoctrination from the rich. They only give money away because they get tax breaks to preserve their fortunes with. They give away a little to save a lot. The mega-wealthy are self-absorbed, inbred parasites of society. They have historically been the cause of all war and suffering down through the ages, because they are the only ones who profit from it. Damn the rich and God bless the poor.

 
One huge reason why Grayson was sadly ousted. RT News reports
 

Obama Sides With Corporate Rich, Screws Over Warren
Proving Once Again That This Administration Is Bush III
NewsFocus.org - Op/Ed

Anyone from the far right that hates Democratic President Barack Obama is either ignorant of politics, or questionably racist. Obama constantly sides with the nefarious banking cartel and the wealthy corporate cabal, refuses to protect American rights, and does nothing to pull back from Bush-era policies. He is a wolf in sheep's clothing. He is undeniably the black sheep of liberalism. (Pun intended, but with no racial bias.)

The passing over of Elizabeth Warren is not only unbelievably shameful, but is also cowardly and two-faced. It was a spineless and gutless decision which sided with the "haves" of America, rather than the "have nots." Obama has proven once again that he is not here to offer us hope or change, but a rather a continuation of the fascist takeover of America. NewsFocus wholeheartedly endorses Elizabeth Warren for Senate.

Dumping Elizabeth Warren
CounterPunch - Ralph Nader - ‎Jul 18, 2011‎
To dump Elizabeth Warren, the most qualified, most motivated and most articulate candidate for the directorship of the Consumer Financial Regulatory Bureau is an act of political cowardliness by President Obama and a boon to ...

Elizabeth Warren Makes It Personal
The Atlantic - Nancy Scola - ‎071911
Elizabeth Warren is ready to name and shame. After 10 long months spent crafting a brand-new federal agency in her image and likeness, years before that willing the institution into statutory existence, only to be passed over on Sunday ...

Elizabeth Warren's Dream Becomes A Consumer Bureau She May Never Lead
Bloomberg - Drake Bennett, Carter Dougherty - ‎Jul 7, 2011‎
Elizabeth Warren has infuriated bankers and alienated half of Washington, all in the name of a new consumer protection agency she may not get to run. ...

Warren ponders Senate race Worcester Telegram

Obama's Progressive Blacklist
Beyond Chron - Randy Shaw - ‎‎071911
And now we can add Elizabeth Warren, who Obama bypassed to head the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, to this progressive blacklist. As with Jones, the usual defenses will be raised, but the blacklisting of progressive appointees cannot be ignored. ...

America needs Elizabeth Warren at Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Baltimore Sun

Elizabeth Warren Calls Mortgage Abuse Probes Insufficient
Main Justice - Channing Turner - ‎Jul 15, 2011‎
Elizabeth Warren, a senior advisor to President Barack Obama and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, and who currently heads the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection, told the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee that the government may ...

Elizabeth Warren: Government Hasn't Sufficiently Probed Foreclosure Abuses (VIDEO) Huffington Post

Speculation mounts that Warren may run for Senate
Forbes - Andrew Miga - ‎071911
WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama's decision not to pick Elizabeth Warren to head a new consumer protection agency is pumping up speculation that Warren might challenge Republican Sen. ...

Dems rally behind Warren as Brown rival Boston Herald
 

Madoff: 'Whole US Government Is A Ponzi Scheme'
MSNBC - Feb 28, 2011
How did Madoff 's Ponzi scheme begin? .... Madoff: 'Whole government is a Ponzi scheme'. Jump to related. U.S. business.

NewsFocus: And Then Bernanke Says Ponzi Schemes Are A Good Thing! Wow.

Bernanke Tries To Explain Why A Ponzi Scheme Is A Perfectly Acceptable System For Post Civil-War America, Fails Blacklisted News
 

It's Time To Stand Up And Just Say No!

How much more will we let the central bankers get away with?
(Graphic by Tim Watts)

Solution: Dissolve The Federal Reserve!!!
Return The Authority To Create Money To The U.S. Treasury Dept

THE AMERICAN DREAM
Truly One of the Best Presentations Ever On The Way It Really Is In The U.S.
NewsFocus, by Tim Watts - 021311

This may be a cartoon, but don't let the medium fool you. This is hands down one of the absolute best presentations I have ever seen that explains exactly how we have been taken over by the big central banks (and Federal Reserve). I could not agree any more with the subject matter. This video is right on the money (pun intended). This is an award worthy presentation regarding the way the power structure really is in America, a hidden history that few know about. A five-star, two-thumbs up, Must See production.

The American Dream
 
Must See TV For Everyone!

Federal Reserve Earned $45-BILLION In 2009 Washington Post

Learn More About The Federal Reserve Cartel
 

'Inside Job' Wins Big At Oscars
Director Charles Ferguson points out no one has gone to jail over economic disaster.

 
 
The Big Banks’ Battle Against Consumers and Homeowners
CrooksandLiars.com, by Mike Lux - February 12, 2011 09:00 AM
There is a battle going on — a big one — and big battles have a lot of fronts. The big banks are doing whatever they can to fight back against consumers and homeowners who are desperately trying to curb the bankers’ abuses. The number of different fronts that have been opened up keeps growing. Here are just a few of the most important ones:
...
 

This Is A Huge Cover-Up That No One Will Cover
20/20 Hindsight: Censorship on the Frontline

A Financial Software Whistleblower Tells All

You will be amazed (and disgusted) at how this has been kept from us.

World Food Prices Hit New Record
Agence France-Presse - 020311

ROME – World food prices hit a new record high in January after rising for a seventh consecutive month, the UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) said Thursday, warning the poor would be hit hardest.

The FAO Food Price Index, which monitors monthly price changes for a basket of commodities, averaged 231 points in January -- up 3.4 percent from December and its highest level since FAO started measuring food prices in 1990. ...

The Era Of Cheap Food Is Coming To An End. Blame Wall Street Hedge Funds
The Food Bubble: How Wall Street Starved Millions and Got Away With It

Wall Street Execs Responsible For Food Shortages
 
From Democracy Now!

World food prices hit record high: UN agency
Rising food prices have been cited among the driving forces behind recent popular revolts in north Africa, including the uprising in Egypt and the toppling of Tunisia's long-time president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali. ...
 

Corporate Communism: Out of Order
 
Hooray for Dylan Ratigan for telling it like it is. Hopefully people are paying attention.


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We Can't Let the Banksters Walk Away from Their Crimes
Danny Schechter

"It boggles the mind that $150 billion is vaporized…there haven’t been any arrests, any indictments, nor any convictions at any major bank or at any of the government-owned financial institutions Fannie, Freddie and AIG.”
Read More

E-mails Suggest Bear Stearns Cheated Clients Out of Billions
012611
Lawsuit alleges the bank took extreme measures to defraud investors, and now JPMorgan may be on the hook

NewsFocus: For some great insight on the economic crisis, and the people who caused it, see the outstanding documentary from Danny Schechter, "Plunder: The Crime of Our Time." As always, Schechter is "right on the money."

(Buy the DVD at www.PlunderTheCrimeOfOurTime.com.)
 

Cashocracy
 
A very good review of a failed system.

Davos: Where The (Big) Money Is
Luisa Kroll - 012611
By Forbes’ count, 69 billionaires from 20 countries are expected to attend the annual World Economic Forum confab, which starts tomorrow in the Swiss Alps town of Davos.
Read More

Jon Stewart Reveals The Money Scam Behind The Federal Reserve
It Takes A Comedic News Show To Do What Network News Won't

The Big Bank Theory
Comedy Central - The Daily Show - Mon - Thu 11pm / 10c

Rachael Maddow On Giving Tax Breaks To The Filthy Rich
One of the absolute smartest political pundits out there, bar none.

Bernie Sanders Message On The Rich Ignored By Media

Listen to the facts that Sanders and Maddow deliver on the ultra-rich.

The GOP Tax Bonus For The Rich Ignores Failed Reaganomics.

Only those with soulless greed could ever promote such a horrible idea.
 

A Simple Explanation Of Our Screwed Up Economy
If You're A CEO, A Republican, Or A "Stupid" Democrat, Please Pay Attention

Must See! A Common Sense Understanding of Our Economic System

You have to admit, he understands the problem pretty well.

 

The Bush-Cheney Record:

An economic review of the last eight years in America.
 

Update: The Senate Fails Us All Miserably Once Again
Federal Reserve Scores Big Wins Against Wall Street Reform
CNN, By Jennifer Liberto - 051310
The Senate voted 90-9 on Wednesday to strip from the overall reform bill a provision reshaping the Fed as supervisor of only the nation's largest banks. The Senate, agreeing with chairman Ben Bernanke, now plans no change in the Fed's current regulatory power over banks -- which includes large banks and smaller, state-chartered banks that choose the Fed as their regulator. ...

Ron Paul Slams Audit The Fed Vote (Bill Is Neutered) Washington Post

Senate Passes Amendment for One-Time Only Audit of Fed WSJ

Senate Backs 1-Time Only Fed Audit Investor's Business Daily

NewsFocus: If this doesn't reek of a brokered sham, you're not paying attention. Since when does a regulatory or legal institution ever make a one-time audit? Well, when you're a mighty central bank of your own, with tons of on-the-take politicians in your back pocket, it's not that hard to make the law work for you, instead of working to protect us. Learn about who truly owns the Federal Reserve and you will soon understand why this corrupt system owns it all. The IRS can audit any one of us at will, whenever they want, but the Federal Reserve gets a one-time only audit? Seriously? This is an outrage!

From The Boo Hoo Hoo Dept:
Bernanke Says Audit Measure Threatens Fed Reserve Independence BusinessWeek 
Volcker warns audits would harm Fed independence Reuters
NewsFocus: Well, DUH!! That's what we want you parasitic, soul-less weasels! <sigh>

We Must End Fed Secrecy!
OpEdNews - Bernie Sanders - ‎050710‎
I hope that the Senate will vote on my amendment to end secrecy at the Federal Reserve. ...

Spitzer: Federal Reserve is a Ponzi Scheme and an Inside Job

Ponzi Scheme: The Federal Reserve Bought Approximately 80 Percent of US Treasury Securities Issued ...

Plan for Congressional Audits of Fed Dies in Senate
Wall Street Journal - Sudeep Reddy, Michael R. Crittenden - 050710‎
Last-minute maneuvering in the Senate allowed the Federal Reserve to sidestep legislation that would have exposed ...

Plan for Congressional Audits of Fed Dies in Senate

Senator Drops Proposal to Audit Fed's Monetary Policy Decisions
BusinessWeek - Craig Torres - ‎050710
(Bloomberg) -- Senator Bernard Sanders dropped a proposal to audit the Federal Reserve's monetary policy that the central bank had ...

The weird relationship between 'Audit the Fed' and breaking up the banks
Washington Post (blog) - Ezra Klein - 050710
As the FinReg process has pushed forward, controversy has centered around two amendments: Bernie Sanders's proposal to audit the Federal Reserve and a ...
 

New Movie From Sony Pictures: Inside Job

The story of an orchestrated collapse of our economy for the benefit of the rich.

From Academy Award® nominated filmmaker, Charles Ferguson ("No End In Sight"), comes INSIDE JOB, the first film to expose the shocking truth behind the economic crisis of 2008. The global financial meltdown, at a cost of over $20 trillion, resulted in millions of people losing their homes and jobs. Through extensive research and interviews with major financial insiders, politicians and journalists, INSIDE JOB traces the rise of a rogue industry and unveils the corrosive relationships which have corrupted politics, regulation and academia. ...
 

The Senate Hearts Big Banking! They Voted To Protect Behemoth Banks, 61-33. We Won't Forget

It wasn't even close

I'd suggest that anyone who hasn't done it yet should find a small bank and move their accounts. Clearly, the people we elected aren't going to do anything about these monster banks:

A move to break up major Wall Street banks failed Thursday night by a vote of 61 to 33.

Three Republicans, Richard Shelby of Alabama, Tom Coburn of Oklahoma and John Ensign of Nevada, voted with 30 Democrats, including Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada, in support of the provision. The author of the pending overall financial reform bill in the Senate, Banking Committee Chairman Christopher Dodd, voted against it. (See the full roll call.)

The amendment, sponsored by Sens. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) and Ted Kaufman (D-Del.), would have required megabanks to be broken down in size and capped so that their individual failure would not bring down the entire system. ... (Read More)

 

Bill Moyers: Plutonomy And Democracy Do Not Mix

 
Plutocracy and democracy don't mix. Plutocracy, the rule of the rich, political power controlled by the wealthy.  -Bill Moyers
 
15 Mind-Blowing Facts About Wealth And Inequality In America
Gus Lubin - 050710
Real average earnings have not increased in 50 years.
...

A Historic Breakthrough For U.S. Billionaires
Sam Pizzigati - 051110
In 2010 America, schools, students, and teachers share the pain. The heirs to our mega rich, meanwhile, don’t have to share anything.
...
 

 

'Plunder' Movie Trailer

Another great movie to look forward to on the Wall Street crime syndicate.

Danny Schechter interview on The Real News Danny Schechter interview on The Real News
 

American Capitalism: Economic Dysfunction
If You Think Our Economic System Is Fair And Just, Or The Best There Is, You Might Want To Think Again After Reviewing A Few Facts

When 10% of America Controls All The Wealth, Is That Good For All?

NewsFocus, by Tim Watts 092809

Is It Time To Reform Capitalism Too?

With far-right conservatives doing their best to rail against the perils of socialism, let us intellectually weigh the merits of arguably the most dangerous economic system to man and society, capitalism. ... (Read More)


This is not a pretty picture for humanity. We can do better as a society.
 

We're Being Manipulated Yet Most Don't Even Know It
Most Aren't Aware of The Tools Used Against Us To Bring About Change
NewsFocus, Op/ed by Tim Watts 100709

The Hegelian Principle is alive and well and working against us all right now. Where, you ask? How about our economic downturn? What unpopular reforms might spring forth from this arguably orchestrated worldwide disarray? How about a change of currency, or the possible formation of a new world order? These radical ideas are currently being considered. What about the health care fiasco? HR-676 and a single-payer plan is what we need, yet all we hear about is a public option that will create more revenue for the insurance industry. Whether or not it is a cheaper option, regulated by the government, the insurance industry will indeed prosper with the addition of 46-million new customers.

Perhaps "Change" was a calculated ruse to prepare us for a grand transformation. Considering what is occurring right now in America, it is reasonable to entertain the concept of a premeditated ruse. We are all hopeful for change, but let's make sure it benefits "We the People" and not simply the ultra-wealthy.

As the old saying goes, be careful what you wish for.

See also: Naomi Klein on Disaster Capitalism
 

Former Reagan Under-Secretary For US Treasury Says Economic Growth Impossible
Banks Own US Government; $60-Trillion Dollar Debt With Crash Coming

 

Pew Survey: 70% Of Americans Have Financial Problems, Up 9% from 2009. Meanwhile, Congress Ignores Unemployment Crisis

Food-Stamp Tally Sets Record, Nears 40-Million People
Nearly 1/7th of 300-Million Americans Can't Afford To Feed Themselves

Reuters - 050710

The Agriculture Department said 39.68 million people, or 1 in 8 Americans, were enrolled for food stamps during February, an increase of 260,000 from January. USDA updated its figures on Wednesday.

USDA: 40.5 Million On Food Stamps Expected By End of Year

Unemployment Rate Rises To 9.9%
Washington Post - 050710
Some 800,000 workers reentered the job market last month. Many of them did not find jobs, so the unemployment rate increased from 9.7 to 9.9 percent.

Broader U-6 Unemployment Rate Increases To 17.1% In April
Wall Street Journal - 050710
The U.S. jobless rate rose to 9.9% in April, the first increase in three months, but the government’s broader measure of unemployment ticked up for the third month in a row, rising 0.2 percentage point to 17.1%.

U.S. Food Prices ‘Spiraling Out of Control’
The Trumpet - 050710
U.S. food prices jumped by 2.4 percent in March 2010 in the largest monthly leap in more than 26 years, and the sixth consecutive monthly increase.
 

 
Iceland's Bankers Jailed And Sued
RawStory - 051310
Bankers, execs rounded up as Iceland seeks culprits for econ crisis. ...

NewsFocus: Now this is the way you do it in a just society. Hey Congress, wake up!!
 

 
Was the Market Pushed?
Danny Schechter - 051110
The Wall Street Journal headline on the day after we almost lost the U.S. stock market reported that the wise men on the Street were "baffled" by the big drop Thursday. The Financial Times called the event "Shambolic" as if only a shaman can decode it. ...

 
 

Capitalism & Other Kids' Stuff

 
Bernanke's Biggest Bailout
Mike Whitney - 050410
The right-wing think-tank, the American Enterprise Institute, is helping the Federal Reserve to develop a strategy to transfer $1.25 trillion in toxic mortgage-backed securities (MBS) and non performing loans onto the public's balance sheet. ...
 
 
Wall Street's Bailout Hustle
, By Matt Taibbi
Goldman Sachs and other big banks aren't just pocketing the trillions we gave them to rescue the economy - they're re-creating the conditions for another crash.
...

10,000 March In Showdown On Wall Street; Mainstream Media Ignores Them

The only mainstream media coverage I saw of the "Showdown on Wall Street" Thursday was on MSNBC's Dylan Ratigan Show. Possibly everyone else was off covering a gathering of a dozen teabaggers, and could not spare the time to listen to working Americans:

More than 5,000 union members and others delivered a crisp message with their march from City Hall to the Bowling Green Bull. In contrast to recent protests on the right, the event was noticeably lacking in loaded and ahistorical symbols like Gadsen flags, and refrained from vilifying individuals in favor of calling out institutions. Of hundreds of signs hoisted, only one was branded with the Obama logo. The signs were non-partisan and dealt with real problems -- namely, this country's rogue, unregulated finance sector. ...

NewsFocus: I hope the Republican Senators blocking financial reform get the message, but I seriously doubt it. Big money talks and the sluts from Capitol Hill will whore themselves for every dime they can steal. Absolutely pitiful that this wasn't covered by all the media. Proof once again that our media is bought and paid for at the top.


 

 

General Motors Blatantly Lies About Loan Payback
GM Repays Federal Loan With (Our) Government Money!
San Francisco Chronicle - Kathleen Pender - ‎Apr 26, 2010‎
In his letter to Geithner, Grassley said that "it is unclear how GM and the administration could have accurately announced yesterday that GM repaid its TARP ...

GM's big lie Worcester Telegram
GM misleading with debt claim Denver Post
GM's phony loan repayment CrooksandLiars
GM still in the red with taxpayers St. Louis Post-Dispatch

GM's Disingenuous New Commercial The Atlantic
Like a crock: GM's misleading ad The Union Leader
Pay Up, GM. Then Get Lost. The Money Times
GM TARP Repayment An "Elaborate Money Shuffle" Says Senator Newsroom Am.
GM: Who Do You Think You Are Kidding? Repaying Us With Our Own Money? CNBC

NewsFocus: Not only does Congress need to kick some serious GM butt here, but the FTC needs to get involved regarding "truth in advertising." General Motors blatantly lied in a very disingenuous and deceptive ad. No more kid gloves Congress, okay?

The Highly Disingenuous Ad From General Motors

Some would prefer to call this nothing but a bald faced lie.

Congratulations, GM! All TARP Funds Repaid 5 Years Early  (But not so fast...)

NewsFocus: Yes, this is indeed good news, but it does beg the question, how did they do it this fast if they were truly in such dire shape? Did they really need a government bailout, or just a bank loan with normal interest to pay, like the rest of us are forced to get? That's an inordinate amount of money to pay back so quickly. Perhaps this highlights the outrageous profit margins of industry. How did GM do this so quickly?

UPDATE: Ah yes, as we suspected here (see comments above) GM is being most disingenuous about the repayment of their loan. They did it with our money!
 

 

Interview with Dr Michael Lardelli: The peak of oil production is passed
IntelDaily.com, - May 3, 2010

Dr Michael Lardelli from the University of Adelaide looks at how the bulk of the world’s oil production comes from a relatively small number of very large fields discovered decades ago. The rate of world oil production has been maintained at current levels only by finding and bringing on line an increasing number of smaller fields, but the financial cost and the energy required to find and develop these new fields is constantly increasing. According to Dr Lardelli the so-called peak of oil production was actually in 2008.

Click here to download the interview or listen now.

The peak of oil production is passed (transcript)

 

Dean Baker: Deficit Hawks Peterson and Rubin Are Telling Us To Tighten Our Belts While They Get Rich. Hypocrites!

Progressive economist Dean Baker calls out Pete Peterson, the billionaire pushing the deficit "crisis", and his sidekick Robert Rubin for their immense hypocrisy:

Peter Peterson and Robert Rubin are both enormously wealthy men. (They joked about dividing their lunch tab based on their net worth.) They are lecturing the country on the need to cut Social Security and Medicare benefits for retirees who have a tiny fraction of their wealth. Many of the victims of the cuts that they would push are people who are already struggling.

 
 

 
20 Things You Will Need To Survive When The Economy Collapses And The Next Great Depression Begins
IntelDaily.com, by Michael T Snyder - April 30, 2010
Today, millions of Americans say that they believe that the United States is on the verge of a major economic collapse and will soon be entering another Great Depression.  But only a small percentage of those same people are prepared for that to happen.  The sad truth is that the vast majority of Americans would last little more than a month on what they have stored up in their homes. ...
 
 
Fiscal Sustainability Facts And Solutions

1) Social Security, at current rates, is not expected to run short of money before 2037.

2)The simplest way to "fix" Social Security, if you're worried about a "problem" 27 years in the future, is simply to remove the contribution limit. End of problem. Period. Social Security is not in crisis.

3) The reason politicians want to "fix" Social Security is to increase the SS surplus, so they can use it for other things.

4) Medicare has more serious issues. However the simplest way to fix healthcare in the US is to move single payer, which would reduce healthcare per person by one-third. It has worked for every other country in the history of the world that has done it. It will work for the US. Since we've admitted now that everyone deserves health care, and since it's cheaper, and better, why not use the next round of healthcare to fix Medicare by fixing health care?

The unspoken entitlement is the US military. The US spends about half the entire world's military budget. There is, actually, no one in the world who can invade or seriously threaten the US in any fashion. (Is Canada going to invade? Mexico?) You can easily slash the military budget in half and still be so far ahead of any possible combination of enemies that it isn't even close. ... (Read More)
 

 

Alan Grayson On No Accountability From Wall Street
 

 
GOP Senators Block Debate On Finance Bill
Los Angeles Times - Janet Hook - ‎042610‎
The 57-41 vote marks the first showdown over the financial overhaul. Sen. Bill Nelson, a Democrat, voted with the opposition. By Janet Hook, Tribune Washington Bureau Senate Republicans, in a resolute show of unity, delayed consideration of ...

Senate Blocks Financial Regulation Bill USA Today

NewsFocus: Well, now it's time for the gloves to come off America. The elected "hired dogs" that we sent to Washington to do our bidding, have decided that no matter how corrupt Wall Street is... no matter how much they ruined the economy... no matter how much they ruined American families, depleted lifetime savings, drained our 401Ks, etc, our Senate, with fierce instigation from the GOP, has decided to turn their back on "We the People" and side again with the big money interests that line their pockets with illegal bribes and campaign contributions. Wow. Have they not read history? Have they no idea what happens when the people rise up in anger. (see the French Revolution) The guillotine is getting off too easy for these parasites of humanity who no longer have any regard for the lot of us. Time to wake up America. We have an ugly fight on our hands. (Hey Tea Party, are you with Americans on this, or siding along party lines?)

Poll: Most Americans Support Stricter Bank Regulations. Will The GOP Ignore Them?

Republicans warn of delay on financial overhaul

Financial regulation showdown likely between Dems, GOP

Republicans Vow To Block Wall Street Reform Bill  (Seriously? Wow.)
Financial Times - Edward Luce - ‎042510
Barack Obama's Wall Street reform bill faces a moment of truth on Monday when opposition Republicans get the first of many opportunities to kill it in the Senate. Senior Republicans said on Sunday they would probably carry ...

NewsFocus: First it was the bailout (even though Bush already gave one). Then it was health care reform they tried to block. Now, the GOP wants to block financial reform. You have to ask yourself, why? After all the bitching about the state of the economy, why would anyone possibly try to stop the reform of Wall Street? The NY money weasels nearly destroyed this country, as well as the world economy, and now the Republican Senators want to actually block reform? Seriously? Are you kidding me?

Hoo boy. The American people will see these obstructionists in 2010 at the ballot box.

William Black: Key Component in Financial Crisis - Fraud - Is Not Being Addressed

Krugman: McConnell's Been 'Trying to Stop Reform with Possibly the Most Dishonest Argument' 'In the History of Politics'


Update: Financial overhaul bill may soon make its way to full Senate
Los Angeles Times - 042810
With Democrats having agreed to some concessions related to bailouts, Republicans are expected to allow the bill to move to the Senate floor and work for amendments there.
Senate advances Wall Street bill USA Today
US Republicans allow Senate financial reform debate BBC News

 
Bill Moyers Tackles Financial Reform
Part 1 Part 2

 

 
Buffett Backs Goldman
Wall Street Journal - Scott Patterson, Erik Holm - 050210
OMAHA, Neb.— Warren Buffett offered a vigorous defense of Goldman Sachs Group Inc. Saturday, saying the embattled firm hadn't engaged in improper activity and shouldn't be blamed for the losses of its clients. ...

Buffett backs Goldman CEO, says Berkshire happy with investment in firm Washington Post

NewsFocus: This astounding statement proves a clear lack of judgment, not to mention poor moral character on the part of the ultra-rich, the 1% who own it all and make our lives miserable, profiting from their unscrupulous business ethics and soul-less avarice. I always knew Warren wasn't to be trusted and he very much solidified that sentiment for me and countless others with such a moronic and insensitive comment. Time to boycott Dairy Queen and Geico, as well as any other Berkshire-Hathaway investment holdings.
 

 
Fun Fraudonomics Facts
Fraud Is As American As Apple Pie
NYPress.com, by Mark Ames, Wednesday, April 28,2010

Ever since I got kicked out of Russia and forced back home, I’ve been collecting all kinds of news articles about fraud, in a document file titled “America Is Russia.” Here’s a sampling.

Accounting Fraud: Last year, America’s leading banks were insolvent. So Tim Geithner and Larry Summers forced an accounting rule change called “mark-to-model,” which let banks essentially scrape a pile of dogshit off the sidewalk, fling it into a vault, and mark it “worth 1 billion dollars.” Voila! The banks are making record profits. ...

Confessions Of A Wall St. Nihilist: Forget About Goldman Sachs, Our Entire Economy Is Built On Fraud
The big dirty secret of why you should worry about a fraud crackdown more than Goldman Sachs—revealed for the first time by an anonymous private equity 'hypocrite' and 'liar.'
NYPress.com, By Mark Ames - 042810

There was a strange moment last week during President Obama’s speech at Cooper Union. There he was, groveling before a cast of Wall Street villains including Goldman Sachs chief Lloyd Blankfein, begging them to “Look into your heart!” like John Turturro’s character in Miller’s Crossing…when out of the blue, the POTUS dropped this bombshell: “The only people who ought to fear the kind of oversight and transparency that we’re proposing are those whose conduct will fail this scrutiny.”

The Big Secret, of course, is that every living creature within a 100-mile radius of Cooper Union would fail “this scrutiny”—or that scrutiny, or any scrutiny, period. Not just in a 100-mile radius, but wherever there are still signs of economic life beating in these 50 United States, the mere whiff of scrutiny would work like nerve gas on what’s left of the economy. Because in the 21st century, fraud is as American as baseball, apple pie and Chevrolet Volts—fraud’s all we got left, Doc. Scare off the fraud with Obama’s “scrutiny,” and the entire pyramid scheme collapses in a heap of smoldering savings accounts. ...
 

 

Justice Department Investigation Into Goldman Sachs Goes Beyond SEC Cases
But since it's all a giant shell game anyway, and it's likely that the other Wall Street firms are using the exact same practices, why are the stock prices dropping? It's almost as if investors need to believe this was an aberration, and they're clutching the idea like a security blanket. Bad Goldman Sachs!And here's the real problem: Without factual information and accurate risk assessment, capitalism is a game completely rigged in favor of the insiders. If enough people wake up and stop investing, well, that's a whole other catastrophe:

The Justice Department's criminal investigation into Goldman Sachs goes beyond the financial transactions targeted by the Securities and Exchange Commission in the civil fraud suit brought against the firm last month, law enforcement sources said Friday. ... (Read More)


 

 
Court: Wal-Mart Must Face Suit Over Women's Pay
NPR, by The Associated Press - April 26, 2010
A sharply divided federal appeals court on Monday exposed Wal-Mart Stores Inc. to billions of dollars in legal damages when it ruled a massive class action lawsuit alleging gender discrimination over pay for female workers can go to trial.

In its 6-5 ruling, the 9th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in San Francisco said the world's largest private employer will have to face charges that it pays women less than men for the same jobs and that female employees receive fewer promotions and have to wait longer for those promotions than male counterparts. ...
 
 
The Max Keiser Report
This Is The One Financial Analyst Who Gets The Big Picture
NewsFocus - 042810

People should be paying attention to Max. He speaks the economic truth, no matter how painful it may be for some to hear.


More Max Keiser  |  Max On YouTube
 

 
 
Dylan Ratigan and Senator Bernie Sanders: Break Up The Huge Central Banks!
Dylan and Bernie Bernie Sanders


More from Dylan Ratigan
 

 

75% Blame Bush For The Economy (And rightfully so)
RawStory.com, by Diana Sweet - 042210
A new Gallup poll conducted March 26-28 shows that 75% of Americans surveyed still place most of the blame for the current economy on former President George W. Bush.

But the blame Obama chorus is beginning to rise, as the poll shows. The poll shows a "significant uptick" since last July in the percentage of Americans blaming Obama at least a moderate amount (from 32% to 50%), but a decrease, however slight, for George W. Bush (from 80% to 75%). ...
 

 

Big Surprise, Huh? Ratings Agencies Blessed Bad Bond Deals To Pull In High Fees

Here's what the Beltway crowd still doesn't seem to get: If any of us stole from the company till, or forged documents, we'd be in jail right now. So average Americans, smarting from the fallout of these far-reaching and fraudulent deals that left so many people out of work, are wondering why there seems to be a separate standard of justice for Wall Street bankers. How do you respect your government when jail time only applies to the pot dealer down the street?

When are some of the bigwigs behind these scams going to prison?

WASHINGTON — A Senate panel investigating the causes of the nation's financial crisis on Thursday unveiled evidence that credit-ratings agencies knowingly gave inflated ratings to complex deals backed by shaky U.S. mortgages in exchange for lucrative fees. ... (Read More)
 

 

The RealNews Network - Is The Euro About To Crash?

 
US Charges Goldman Sachs With Fraud
RawStory.com, by John Byrne - 041610

The Securities and Exchange Commission has charged investment banking titan Goldman Sachs with civil fraud over a pre-packaged mortgage instrument they say was designed to fail.

Goldman Sachs created the derivative -- called Abacus 2007-AC1 -- in response to a request from a hedge fund manager who predicted that the housing market would collapse and wanted to bet against it. The trader, John Paulson, later earned $3.7 billion for his wager.

According to the New York Times, which first revealed details of the Abacus case, the instrument was among 25 Goldman created so that clients could bet against the housing market ...

Alakazam! Dylan Ratigan Explains Goldman's Crooked Magic Trick  

Dylan Ratigan is awesome and always tells it like it is. See more here.

GOLDMAN CEOs BRAG ABOUT BETTING AGAINST MARKET:
Sold investments like 'Frankenstein turning against his own inventor'

Goldman Sachs Emails: We Made Money On The Housing Collapse. Aren't We Clever?

SEC Accuses Goldman Sachs of Civil Fraud. When Do We See Criminal Charges?

Goldman Sachs fraud charges 'just the tip of the iceberg'

SEC Board Was Split Along Party Lines On Goldman Sachs Charges. Guess Which Side Defended Goldman Sachs?

SEC To Look Into Similar Wall St. Mortgage Deals

The Goldman Sachs Credo: So What if We Lie? It's Nothing Personal, It's Just Business

Goldman Sachs set to pay £3.5bn in bonuses

Goldman Sachs, the world’s biggest investment bank that is now assailed by accusations of fraud, is poised to reignite controversy over bankers’ bonuses by paying its staff more than £3.5 billion for just three months’ work.

A volcanic cloud over Wall Street

The charges against Goldman could have far wider consequences

The End is Nigh: How Goldman Sachs Triggered the Apocalypse
ZeroHedgee.com, by
- 041710
In case you’re wondering, that whistling sound you hear is the sky falling.  When Erin Burnett stays late to host a special report on something, you know it’s a “game-metamorphosizer”.  Why else would all bank stocks tank because a firm they’re not affiliated with was charged with non-criminal fraud in one transaction after months of SEC digging?  Why else, at this very moment, are traders in Tokyo and Hong Kong counting down the minutes to when they can sell every last security on the planet ahead of the rest of the world this weekend?  Why else would the price of gold – the ultimate refuge in times of uncertainty – be falling? 

The simple fact that the market knows is that there is no uncertainty:  Armageddon is upon us, and thus all the gold in the world has no value. 

In its infinite wisdom, the always-rational, level-headed market knows that Goldman is finished once and for all.  In fact, it’s already just a memory. ...

Goldman case likely to unleash many suits

Goldman Sachs had 9 months warning

Gold: Euro, China and Goldman Sachs
 

 
McConnell Announces GOP To Block Wall St. Reforms - To Reform Wall St. Huh?

In keeping with Frank Luntz's talking points, Mitch McConnell will block Wall St. reform -- by claiming to reform Wall Street. Hey, why not? It's not as if gobblety gook hasn't worked before! And I'm sure it had nothing to do with his recent meeting with Wall Street bankers:

Mitch McConnell has rounded up the necessary votes to block Democrats from bringing Wall Street reform to the Senate floor, a spokesman for the Senate Minority Leader said on Friday afternoon.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said on Thursday he planned to bring the bill to the floor next week where it would be debated and amendments added. McConnell has now persuaded 41 Republicans to vote against debating reform. ... (Read More)
 

 
To Rob A Country, Own A Bank
TheRealNews.com
After 9/11, the attacks, the Justice Department transfers 500 white-collar specialists in the FBI to national terrorism. Well, we can all understand that. But then, the Bush administration refused to replace the missing 500 agents.
 
 

The Great American Con Job:
American Finance And The Federal Reserve

This is why we are where we are today. This system only benefits the bankers.

 
Greenspan's Testimony:
Two hours of buck-passing  
Mike Whitney
What a shameful, cowardly man. Instead of regret or contrition, all he thinks about is covering his ass. ...

Where Alan Greenspan makes my head explode CrooksandLiars
 

 
Fed warns of double-dip recession risks despite signs of recovery
Independent.co.uk, by Stephen Foley in New York - 041510
The risk of a double-dip recession in the world's largest
economy remains, and interest rates will stay low for an extended period of time, the chairman of the US Federal Reserve told lawmakers in Congress yesterday. ...
 
 
15 Mind-Blowing Facts About Wealth And Inequality In America, Business Insider
The gap between the top 1% and everyone else hasn't been this bad since the Roaring Twenties
TheBusinessInsider.com


Bad capitalism lets 1% take all the wealth in the United States.


The abhorrent greed of the rich has created undeniable economic disparity in the US.
 

 
What Do We Get For Our US Tax Dollars?
Steven Hill
We like to think of Europeans as poor overtaxed serfs but the benefits they receive show the shortcomings of the US system.
...

Thought for April 15: More than 53% of Your Tax Payment Goes to the Military
OpEdNews.com, by Dave Lindorff - 041210
If you're like me, now that we're in the week that federal income taxes are due, you are finally starting to collect your records and prepare for the ordeal. Either way, whether you are a procrastinator like me, or have already finished and know how much you have paid to the government, it is a good time to stop and consider how much of your money goes to pay for our bloated and largely useless and pointless military. ...

Tax Day 2010: Most of every dollar you pay in federal taxes is spent on...
 

 
Now we know the truth. The financial meltdown wasn't a mistake – it was a con

The global financial crisis, it is now clear, was caused not just by the bankers' colossal mismanagement. No, it was due also to the new financial complexity offering up the opportunity for widespread, systemic fraud.
...
 
 
Banks Feasting On Bankrupt Customers
MSN.com, by David Weidner, MarketWatch - April 2010
For those who underestimate the power of the banking lobby as financial "reform" weaves its way through Washington, one need only look back five years ago to see how influential banks are at pressing their agenda.

In 2005, Congress yielded to an eight-year, $100 million campaign by banks to change personal
bankruptcy law. In effect, the Bankruptcy Abuse and Consumer Protection Act made it harder for individuals to wipe away their debts under Chapter 7 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code. More had to file under Chapter 13. ...
 
 
March Foreclosures Surge To Absolute Record, At 369,491, 19% Jump from February
ZeroHedgee.com, by - 041710
RealtyTrac reports the next catalyst that will surely take the Dow to 12,000 by 9:31 am tomorrow. "Foreclosure filings were reported on 367,056 properties in March, an increase of nearly 19 percent from the previous month, an increase of nearly 8 percent from March 2009 and the highest monthly total since RealtyTrac began issuing its report in January 2005." ...
 
 
A Greater Threat Than Terrorism
Outsourcing the American Economy
Paul Craig Roberts
In effect, the US is giving away its technology, which is rapidly being captured, while US firms reduce themselves to a brand name with a sales force.
...
 
 
Too Big To Jail? DoJ: Wall St. Bailout Buds 'Co-Conspirators' In Plot To Rip Off State, Local Governments
CrooksandLiars.com, by
Municipal bonds are where a lot of the political kickbacks and corrupt deals are typically hidden, so I can't say I'm surprised. In fact, it's sort of funny that the governments dealing with these guys apparently thought they could trust them, considering how crooked the business is. Lie down with dogs, rise up with fleas, as the nuns used to say:

March 26 (Bloomberg) -- JPMorgan Chase & Co., Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. and UBS AG were among more than a dozen Wall Street firms involved in a conspiracy to pay below-market interest rates to U.S. state and local governments on investments, according to documents filed in a U.S. Justice Department criminal antitrust case. ... (Read More)

NewsFocus: And this is how they show their appreciation to our government for generously bailing them out of their own business failures. Absolutely sickening. These companies should be closed and the executives prosecuted for collusion.
 

 
Social Inequality in America: Widening Income Disparities
y Vi Ransel
Reforms, regulatory agencies and elections themselves are America's Circus Maximus, mere flourishes on the veneer of democracy painted over the naked concentration of power accrued to the few who hold the reins of the corporate mechanism, the most stunningly efficient means ever invented for accumulating and concentrating wealth, which is then translated into political power. ...
 
 
Whistle Blower Comes Forward With Solid Proof The Price Of Gold And Silver Is Being Manipulated By Major Financial Institutions
IntelDaily.com, by Michael T Snyder - April 12, 2010
(The Intelligence Daily) — For a long time many of us have had very serious suspicions that the prices of gold and silver were being highly manipulated. But now, thanks to the mind blowing testimony of one very brave whistle blower, the blatant manipulation of the world gold and silver markets is being blown wide open.  What you are about to read below is absolutely staggering.  Once the American people learn how incredibly corrupt the world financial system is, it is going to change everything.  The government that we are all trusting to guard the integrity of the financial system is failing to do that job.  It turns out that the Commodities Futures Trading Commission has been sitting on solid evidence that the elite banking powers have been openly and blatantly manipulating the price of gold and silver.  Even though they were basically handed a “smoking gun”, they have done absolutely nothing with it.  But now the information has gone public and the CFTC is red-faced. ...
 
 

Long-Term Unemployment At Post-WWII High
In March 2010, over 44 percent of unemployed Americans met or exceeded that standard—the highest rate since World War II. ...

The Escalating Unemployment In America

Don't worry, so long as we bail the rich people out, things will be just fine.  :o(

Black America: Sinking to a New “Bottom”?: Official labor statistics show Black unemployment rose to 16.5 percent in March, up from 15.8 percent the month before, while white joblessness remained steady at 8.8 percent. ...
 

 
The Guy Who Brought Down AIG, and Maybe the World Economy, Gets Off Scott-Free, and Gets to Keep $315 Million in Loot
WashingtonsBlog.com - April 2010
Jospeh Cassano, the guy who brought down AIG - and maybe the world economy - with trillions in risky derivatives deals which AIG couldn't back up, is getting prosecuted ... and the government will claw back all the money he made, right?

Uh, no.

In reality, Cassano is walking away Scot-free with $315 million. ...
 

 
If Municipal Bonds Crash, Our State And Local Governments Go With Them. Are They Next?


This kind of corruption is what I attempted to explain to City Hall reporters when I was working in my city's mayoral primary, but they weren't all that interested in it. Too much like math, and besides, it challenged their version of how the world works. They don't seem to have much of a feel for systemic, inherent corruption - they prefer to see it as an occasional crime of greedy individuals.

Municipal bonds are where all the serious money is hidden - where politicians get kickbacks, where political deals are made, and even where the big bribes are. (Local reporters said it was of no interest to them that the mayoral candidate they'd endorsed had been a municipal bond salesman working for a company that received a record SEC fine for bribing officials in another city. They told me - and I'm not making this up - that his background in finance meant he was well qualified to handle the city's finances.) Now, add another dozen layers of deceptive and even fraudulent practices on the part of the banks to the whole mess, and you have a very toxic cesspool. ...
 
 
American Debt Threatens Status as World Power
CBSNews.com - 040810
Can America Still be the World's Greatest Power, as the World's Greatest Borrower?
 
 
Transcript Reveals Anger of AIG Employees toward politicians, public
WashingtonPost.com, by By Brady Dennis - Thursday, March 4, 2010

During the national furor that erupted last year after American International Group paid more than $165 million in bonuses, the voices of those vilified for receiving the payments remained silent, at least in public.

But behind closed doors, employees at AIG's Financial Products division -- the very unit whose trading had hastened the insurance giant's collapse -- were defiant, saying they were merely getting what they were due, recoiling at public accusations that they were behind their capitalizing on the company's massive taxpayer bailout.

"I will stand behind every action I have taken in this company from Day One," one employee said, according to a newly obtained transcript of a conference call the division's head held last March with some of his staff. ...

Outrage Over Latest Round of Bonuses for AIG Employees Truthout.org
 

 
Report Shows How, Collapsing, Lehman Hid Woes
March 12, 2010, 2:24 am
It is the Wall Street equivalent of a coroner’s report — a 2,200-page document that lays out, in new and startling detail, how Lehman Brothers used accounting sleight of hand to conceal the bad investments that led to its undoing.

The report, compiled by an examiner for the bank, now bankrupt, hit Wall Street with a thud late Thursday. The 158-year-old company, it concluded, died from multiple causes. Among them were bad mortgage holdings and, less directly, demands by rivals like JPMorgan Chase and Citigroup, that the foundering bank post collateral against loans it desperately needed. ...
 

 

Stiglitz: The Fed Is Corrupt And Dominated By Big Banks

 

 
Big Banks Are Getting Bigger
WashingtonsBlog.com - 031510
Fifteen Years Ago, the Combined Assets of the 6 Biggest Banks Totaled 17% of GDP... By 2006, 55% ... Now, 63%
 
 

Dylan Ratigan With Elliot Spitzer On Wall Street Scandal

These people need to be investigated to the fullest.

 
"We are on the verge of a global transformation. All we need is the right major crisis and the nations will accept the New World Order. " --David Rockefeller
 

U.S. Taxpayers on the Hook for $5T of Fannie, Freddie Debt … No Matter What Barney Frank Says
by Aaron Task - Mar 08, 2010

House Financial Services Chairman Barney Frank caused a bit of an uproar Friday when he suggested the U.S. government does not guarantee the debts of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

Rep. Frank later recanted and backed a Treasury Department statement reassuring investors that, yes, Fannie and Freddie Mae debt is guaranteed by the U.S. government. "Going forward," he said in a statement, we "will make sure that there are no implicit guarantees, hints, suggestions, or winks and nods...we will be explicit about what is and is not an obligation of the federal government."
 

But after years of winks and nods, there's no doubt that Fannie and Freddie now enjoy an explicit guarantee, according to most observers. The U.S. government placed Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in conservatorship in September 2008: "This means that the U.S. Taxpayer now stands behind $5 trillion of GSE debt," according to the Congressional Research Service. ...
 

 

:60 Minutes On Wall Street Hustle

Someone should have figured this out long ago.

Wall Street's Bailout Hustle
y Matt Taibbi
Goldman Sachs and other big banks aren't just pocketing the trillions we gave them to rescue the economy - they're re-creating the conditions for another crash.
Continue

This Is One of the Biggest Wall Street Frauds Ever
Porter Stansberry
Once this fact becomes common knowledge, it will probably mean jail time for several leading Goldman executives and the end of the firm. ...

Exposing the Great American Bubble Barons
Join Us in the Investigation

y Kevin Connor
Today's super-rich are not robber barons, but bubble barons: they extract their fortunes from intensifying cycles of imaginary wealth creation and destruction, live at a far remove from their businesses, and evade accountability in the public spotlight. ...

 
Jon Stewart With Michael Lewis On Wall Street Greed
The Daily Show With Jon Stewart | Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
 
 

Ten Geopolitical & Economic Predictions for 2010
IntelDaily.com, by Gregory R. Copley - February 3, 2010

A great – and still growing – divergence appeared in 2009 between public statements by leaders and their public performance. The politicized, romanticized theater of increasingly populist “democratic” leaders and media seemed to be of a different planet from activities taking place in the real world.

While a large part of the global population appears still transfixed by words, there is a growing perception that great fissures already rend the global strategic architecture.

This is a trend which will compound during 2010. ...

Our World Balances on a Sea of Debt
Darius Guppy
The banks that control the world’s supply of money are no better than counterfeiters – and their system of juggling debt has left the global economy teetering on the brink of ruin. Convicted fraudster Darius Guppy offers a provocative personal view.
 

 
Madoff Tipster Markopolos Cites SEC’s ‘Ineptitude’
Bloomberg.com,
By Jesse Westbrook, David Scheer and Mark Pittman 020410
 Harry Markopolos, a former money manager who sought to convince regulators for nine years that Bernard Madoff was a fraud, said the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission suffers from “investigative ineptitude.”

Markopolos told Congress today that he contacted the SEC in 2000 after examining Madoff’s investment strategy and determining in four hours that returns exceeding 10 percent weren’t possible. Markopolos, in almost a decade of communication, said only one SEC staff member understood Madoff’s scheme and “the threat it posed to the public.” ...
 

 
"Real" Unemployment Could Surge to 25%

Lekas sees the headline unemployment rate rising to 10% in February and climbing to 15% or 16% by mid-year. Even more dire, he sees the "real" unemployment figure surging to 25%. ...
 
 

Capitalism & Other Kids' Stuff

 
The Case against Greenspan and Bernanke
yBy Mike Whitney
Greenspan and Bernanke are either criminally negligent in failing to execute their regulatory duties or complicit in aiding and abetting the banks and other financial institutions in the sale of fraudulent loans to investors and homeowners. Which is it? ...

 
 
Online Poll on Taxing Wall St. Hacked; Allegedly Tied To Goldman Sachs


Of course Wall Street's most powerful company wouldn't stoop to rigging an online poll, right? In fact, one of their spinners said the bank had “just received this information and is investigating fully”. Yeah, I think they're going to join O.J. Simpson in looking for the perpetrators!

Around 3:41 pm yesterday, the technical team watching the vote counter on a grass root campaign's website noticed that the “no” votes increased dramatically. ... (Read More)

And This Is What It's All About
Obama's Proposal To Tax Wall St. Has Their CEOs Pleading With Legislators
Obama's tax proposal has disturbed Wall Street so much, according to this New York Times story, that the CEOs are going over the heads of their own lobbyists to plead their case directly with senators. (Perhaps even lobbyists draw the line at outright bribes?) This was my favorite sentence in the entire story: "The big banks, the lobbyists say, have become increasingly alarmed that the legislative process may move in unexpected directions outside their control." ...

Why we need to tax Wall Street transactions

 

 
How Goldman Sachs helped sink AIG
NewYorkTimes.com

Firm bet mortgage market would crash and cashed in from taxpayers. ...
 
 
Markets Fail When Humans Are Unregulated
by Paul Craig Roberts
The failure to regulate financial markets has produced enormous losses to all Americans except the super-rich. But the U.S. government is guilty of an even greater failure.
Continue
 
 

Major Global Banks Split on Regulation Battle
Truthout.org, by Mary Susan Littlepage - Friday 29 January 2010

The world's top banking gurus aren’t sure how to fight back against a global push for tougher financial regulation, with commercial and investment banks struggling to reach common ground, according to a recent Reuters report.

“Top executives from Wall Street and Europe's leading banks have been holding behind-the-scenes talks at the World Economic Forum in the Swiss ski resort of Davos, sources close to the negotiations said, but a deal has proved elusive,” Reuters reported.

Both Wall Street's largest banks and some major European ones have argued to support each other against politicians who are calling for tougher procedures to regulate the industry in the wake of financial crises. ...
 

 
The Bernanke Reappointment: Be Afraid, Very Afraid
y Prof Michael Hudson
When banks “provide credit” by writing loans, what they are selling is debt.
Continue

The Crisis Is Not Over
y Paul Craig Roberts
Readers ask if the financial crisis is over, if the recovery is for real and, if not, what are Americans’ prospects. The short answer is that the financial crisis is not over, the recovery is not real, and the U.S. faces a far worse crisis than the financial one. Here is the situation as I understand it:
Continue
 

 

Senator Sherrod Brown Speaks Out On Bonuses By Bailout CEOs

They begged for our money and now they're keeping it for their bonuses.
 

 

World bankers meet in Sydney as recovery fears intensify

The world's top central bankers began arriving in Australia for high-level talks as renewed fears about the strength of the global economic recovery gripped world share markets.

G7 finance ministers dine near Arctic Circle
RebelNews.org - 020710
The trustees of the world's richest nations sat down for a dinner meeting at a hotel restaurant in Iqaluit just 300 kilometers (185 miles) from the Arctic Circle.
 

 
The Power Of Money
SEC Considered National Security Status For AIG Details
Reuters.com,
by Matthew Goldstein - -012410
(NEW YORK) - U.S. securities regulators originally treated the New York Federal Reserve's bid to keep secret many of the details of the American International Group bailout like a request to protect matters of national security, according to emails obtained by Reuters. ...
 
 

If A Bank's Too Big To Fail, Break It Up!
Telegraph.co.uk - Jeremy Warner - ‎Jan 11, 2010‎
To keep the bonuses flowing, they chose reckless balance sheet expansion over common sense. The banking system must not be allowed to outgrow itself in this ...
Break up the banks to stop bumper bonuses says Cable Liberal Democrats

The average top executive's salary at a big American company was more than 170 times the average worker's earnings in 2004, up from a multiple of 68 in 1940.

Economic And Political Advice From The Movie 'Network'

You've Got To Get Active When Let Down By The System

Banks Gear Up To Oppose Proposed Reforms - To The Tune of $26M

That's mere chump change to these guys! I just have to wonder if the Democrats are still dumb enough to roll over for them:

Banks are mobilising a smooth-running lobbying machine in Washington to battle Barack Obama's plans to limit the size and scope of Wall Street institutions, as financial services firms gear up to stop a shake-up that could slice away large chunks of their operations.

Their influence on Capitol Hill is broad – the top eight US banks spent $26m (£16m) on lobbying efforts last year, an increase of 6% on 2008 despite their financial woes, according to Congressional records. And in the first 10 months of 2009, the financial industry donated $78.2m to federal candidates and party committees – more than any other business sector – according to political research institute the Centre for Responsive Politics. ... (Read More)

Banks face political heat over bonuses
Financial Times - ‎011210
Bankers on both sides of the Atlantic yesterday struggled to quell anger over their bonus pay-outs as Congress prepared a new probe into executive ...
Top Bankers Set for Washington Grilling CBS News
US banks brace for firestorm as bonus payouts due AFP
Obama wants banks to shoulder bailout burden with new tax Globe and Mail
Financial-Crisis Panel Set To Grill Wall Street Executives CNNMoney.com
Goldman Sachs seeks to block vote on pay, foundation says
Reuters
Goldman Sachs Readies Bonus Bonanza, Braces for Backlash ABC News
Circus May Be Needed For Financial Reform Forbes
Even my parents think I'm overpaid, admits RBS chief executive The Guardian
Success of Obama bank fee idea tied to public anger Reuters
Obama wants Wall Street to pay for bailout WFIE.com
Bonus Uproar Shifts Wall Street Pay Practices KPCC
US financial crisis panel to open BBC News

Goldman Sachs CEO Blankfein gets stock-based $9 million bonus

The amount, although eye-popping by Main Street standards, is smaller than the stock-based bonuses his rivals received for 2009. On Friday, J.P. Morgan Chase said it would award $17 million to chief executive Jamie Dimon.

 

 
Geithner: We're 'Deeply Serious' About Medicare, Social Security Reform

Of course, Geithner is pushing the Very Serious Idea of reforming Social Security and Medicare. Doesn't everyone?

Considering that the Greenspan commission didn't actually work - at least, not the way that Geithner says it did - it kind of leads me to wonder what he actually means. ...

NewsFocus: "Ruh roh Raggy." Here's Comes Another Fleecing
 

 
Rothschilds & Rockefellers: Trillionaires Of The World
Infowars | Jan. 17, 2010

“Money is Power”, or shall we say, “The Monopoly to Create Credit Money and charge interest is Absolute Power”. (Alex James)

Amsel (Amschel) Bauer Mayer Rothschild, 1838: “Let me issue and control a Nation’s money and I care not who makes its laws”.

Letter written from London by the Rothschilds to their New York agents introducing their banking method into America: “The few who can understand the system will be either so interested in its profits, or so dependent on its favours, that there will be no opposition from that class, while, on the other hand, that great body of people, mentally incapable of comprehending the tremendous advantage that Capital derives from the system, will bear its burden without complaint and, perhaps, without even suspecting that the system is inimical to their interests.” ...
 

 
The very word "secrecy" is repugnant in a free and open society; and we are as a people inherently and historically opposed to secret societies, to secret oaths and to secret proceedings. We decided long ago that the dangers of excessive and unwarranted concealment of pertinent facts far outweighed the dangers which are cited to justify it. Even today, there is little value in opposing the threat of a closed society by imitating its arbitrary restrictions. Even today, there is little value in insuring the survival of our nation if our traditions do not survive with it. And there is very grave danger that an announced need for increased security will be seized upon by those anxious to expand its meaning to the very limits of official censorship and concealment. --President John F. Kennedy 4/27/61
 

Geithner to AIG: Let's Keep This Under Our Hat, Okay?

This is pretty interesting, don't you think? It pains me that wacky Darrell Issa is the one who gets to point the finger, but oh well:

Jan. 7 (Bloomberg) -- The Federal Reserve Bank of New York, then led by Timothy Geithner, told American International Group Inc. to withhold details from the public about the bailed-out insurer’s payments to banks during the depths of the financial crisis, e-mails between the company and its regulator show. ...
 

 

Crashiversary

 
The Fed Seeks To Keep Names Of Bailout Beneficiaries Secret
CrooksandLiars.com, b
Not only did they want us to bail them out, they want to keep the names of the beneficiaries a big secret. While there's at least a theoretical chance that this information could affect stock prices, Wall Street seems to be doing quite well in spite of hanging by a thread, doesn't it?
 
 
Big Paydays For Fannie and Freddie bosses
CNNMoney.com - Chris Isidore - 122409‎
Top executives at mortgage finance giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, both of which have been under government control since last year, received millions of dollars ...
US agrees $6m pay cheques for Fannie and Freddie bosses BBC News
Regulator approves mlns for Fannie, Freddie execs Reuters
Million-dollar pay for bailed-out execs RawStory

Taxpayers get stuck with the exorbitant bill from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac
 

 
Something's Not Right Here
InformationClearinghouse.info, By Bill Moyers - Mat Taibbi - Robert Kuttner  - 122809
Truth is, our capitol's being looted, republicans are acting like the town rowdies, the sheriff is firing blanks, and powerful Democrats in Congress are in cahoots with the gang that's pulling the heist. This is not capitalism at work. It's capital. Raw money, mounds of it, buying politicians and policy as if they were futures on the hog market.
Continue


 

 
The Woman Democrats Need
MichaelMoore.com, by Ethan Porter (Boston Globe) January 24th, 2010
On the day after Tuesday’s electoral loss, the Obama administration brought an unfamiliar face to the White House - Elizabeth Warren, the Harvard Law professor noted for her staunch advocacy on behalf the middle class and fierce criticism of the bank bailouts. Perhaps the administration will take a more aggressive approach to Wall Street, along the lines of what Warren wants. But for Democrats to truly take ownership of the economic crisis, Warren will need to play a more prominent role. Not just her ideas, but the force of her personality is needed. ...



More Moore From Capitalism: A Love Story
 

 
'How Wall Street wins on the Hill'
Huffingtonpost.com - 122909
Grim, Delaney: Irate US public no match for mix of corp. money, influence. ...

Banks with political ties got bailouts, study shows Reuters

Lining Up for the Wall Street Gravy Train
InformationClearinghouse.info, By Mike Whitney 010110
The banks are not only taking depositors money and using it in high-risk derivatives transactions and currency "carry trades", they're also propping up the long daisy-chain of insolvent creditors whose default could domino Lehman-like through the entire financial system. Funny how the media skips little tidbits like this when they give their rosy evening roundup.
Continue

Goldmann Sachs and Jobless Jack
 
 

 
US in fiscal peril with $12.1 trillion debt
USA Today - Richard Wolf - ‎Dec 30, 2009‎
Influential experts from former Federal Reserve Board chairman Alan Greenspan to former comptroller general David Walker have joined the cause. ...

Too Big To Fire? 92% Of Managers At Top Bailout Recipients Are Still In Same Jobs

Chief Bernanke Aide Called For Keeping Derivatives Unregulated

BusinessBanks 'Making A Killing' On Government's Toxic Asset Program
 

 

Banks Hoard $1 Trillion in Reserves…and the Federal Reserve "Solution"
AllGov - ‎Dec 30, 2009‎
The financial sector has continued to limit credit throughout 2009, reaching the point where the Federal Reserve is now proposing to sell term deposits to ...

You bail me out, I'll bail you out
Banks are investing more in the government than the economy
Houston Chronicle - Loren Steffy - ‎Dec 30, 2009‎
The structure of the bank bailouts engineered by the Treasury and the Federal Reserve gives banks no incentive to lend. More than a year after enacting the ...
The Real Reason Banks Aren't Lending Motley Fool

Fed: Foreign central bank US debt holdings rose
Reuters - Chris Reese, Chizu Nomiyama - 123009‎
NEW YORK, Dec 31 (Reuters) - Foreign central banks' holdings of US Treasuries and agency debt at the Federal Reserve rose in the latest week, data from the ...

Is The Dollar A Ponzi Scheme?
Liberty Maven - ‎Dec 31, 2009
While it is (comparatively) well-known that the US dollar, while a currency, is a solely an instrument of credit issued by the Federal Reserve. ...
After all, it's just another Ponzi scheme The Nation
 

 

Balloon Bank

Society would never allow this, unless it was run by the bankers.
 

 
Only Way Out- Nationalize The Federal Reserve!
NATIONALIZE THE FEDERAL RESERVE
Banks Only Care Is Profit. Return The Power To Print Money To 'We The People'
By Nathan Diebenow, Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Let Private Predator Banks Die: Lawyer
DALLAS, Texas — Still pissed off at the Wall Street bailout? President Barack Obama’s stimulus package? Private bank nationalization? The new homeowner mortgage bailout? Also afraid that the federal government won’t have enough money to fund Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security in the future? Well, Ellen Hodgson Brown has a solution for you. Nationalize the Federal Reserve. ...

Spitzer: Federal Reserve is 'a Ponzi scheme, an inside job'
The Raw Story.com, by Daniel Tencer - July 25, 2009
The Federal Reserve — the quasi-autonomous body that controls the US’s money supply — is a “Ponzi scheme” that created “bubble after bubble” in the US economy and needs to be held accountable for its actions, says Eliot Spitzer, the former governor and attorney-general of New York. ...

Learn More About The Federal Reserve Here:
Return The Control Of Our Money To The US Government
The Federal Reserve Sets The Rules When It Comes To Our Monetary System
NewsFocus, By Tim Watts 031209

What Most Don’t Know About Our System of Currency

The Takeover of the United States of America
For over two hundred years, the United States of America has been the beacon of democracy and freedom for the world, or so we have been led to believe. While sadly unbeknownst to many, our democracy was infiltrated long, long ago. If that is a statement that you personally take issue with, you are encouraged to please take the time to read this paper and see if there isn’t something hidden that you just might not know about regarding our beloved country. Please consider the following. (Read more)

Alan Greenspan Admits There Is No Authority Above The Federal Reserve

75% of Americans Favor Auditing The Federal Reserve
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
So much for the ongoing secrecy of the nation’s independent central banking system. A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 75% of Americans favor auditing the Federal Reserve and making the results available to the public. ...

REP. FRANK: HOUSE WILL SEEK FED AUDIT
Powerful chairman says central bank's lending powers to be 'curtailed'

Google Video: An Explanation Of The Federal Reserve

The Federal Reserve Must Die, Part 1
Paper money eventually returns to its intrinsic value -- zero. – Voltaire
SeekingAlpha.com, by James Quinn 082409
The Federal Reserve in collaboration with the giant banks has created the greatest financial crisis the world has ever seen. The foolish notion that unlimited amounts of money and credit created out of thin air can provide sustainable economic growth has delivered this crisis to us. ...
The Federal Reserve Must Die, Part 2

The Federal Reserve Must Die, Part 3

Outlaw the Shadow Banking System!
Guess Who Said It?
Global Research, by Matthias Chang, March 10, 2009
When I read the remarks of President Obama and Prime Minister Gordon Brown after their meeting at the Oval Office on March 3, 2009 and the speech of the latter to the Joint Session of Congress on March 4, 2009, I realized that a growing antagonism has emerged between certain factions of the ruling elites in the City of London and in Washington DC. ...

The Federal Reserve is Bankrupt
How Did It Happen and What are the Ugly Consequences
Global Research - by Matthias Chang - 2009-03-10

The Federal Reserve is bankrupt for all intents and purposes. The same goes for the Bank of England! This article will focus largely on the Fed, because the Fed is the "financial land-mine"

How long can someone who has stepped on a landmine, remain standing – hours, days? Eventually, when he is exhausted and his legs give way, the mine will just explode! The shadow banking system has not only stepped on the land-mine, it is carrying such a heavy load (trillions of toxic wastes) that sooner or later it will tilt, give way and trigger off the land-mine! ... 

Congressman Ron Paul and HR 1207

Ron Paul wants a thorough and complete audit of the Federal Reserve


Congressman Kucinich Rails Against Federal Reserve Banking

Jan 26, 2009 ... Amazing… all because of the federal reserve… they want global ... time and time again not to work with a substantial national deficit. ...

Congressman Kucinich Proposes Nationalizing The Federal Reserve

The good congressman has this one right on.

Banks Own The US Government
There are smart ways to raise money and regulate the market, but Wall Street is working to kill any meaningful financial reform
The Guardian - by Dean Baker - 2009-06-30
Last month, when the US Congress failed to pass a bankruptcy reform measure that would have allowed home mortgages to be modified in bankruptcy, senator Dick Durbin succinctly commented: "The banks own the place." That seems pretty clear. After all, it was the banks' greed that fed the housing bubble with loony loans that were guaranteed to go bad. Of course the finance guys also made a fortune guaranteeing the loans that were guaranteed to go bad (ie AIG), and when everything went bust, the taxpayers got handed the bill. The cost of the bailout will certainly be in the hundreds of billions, if not more than $1tn when it is all over. ...

Whose Country is it anyway? A political-economic oligarchy has taken over the United States of America
Global Research, by Prof. John Kozy - July 4, 2009
A political-economic oligarchy has taken over the United States of America. This oligarchy has institutionalized a body of law that protects businesses at the expense of not only the common people but the nation itself. ....

The Privately Owned Federal Reserve Runs Our Country
Unemployment On The Rise
The International Forecaster, by Bob Chapman, July 16, 2009
We hope people are starting to realize that the privately owned Federal Reserve runs our country, not our branches of government. The new proposal to give the Fed new powers is the worst possible thing that could be happening to our country. It is a total centralization of banking and financial power. ...

Federal Reserve Says They Don't Know Where $500-Billion Went

Alan Grayson asks Bernanke which foreign banks received half a trillion $.

Faulty Forecasting
InformationClearinghouse.info, By Ralph Nader
Unlike sloppy plumbers and carpenters who pay a price for their mistakes, Wall Street forecasters seem to be paid very well despite being chronically wrong. 
Read More

Monetary reform: reclaiming $1 trillion every year through public creation of money
August 22, 9:11 AMLA County Nonpartisan ExaminerCarl Herman
Without knowing how money is created and managed, all other topics concerning money are out of context. This is crucial: regarding trillions of dollars of economic power, you have no idea where money comes from. It’s time for you to learn. When people don’t know how money is created and managed, the only thing between them and tyranny is trust in ethical government. American democracy is founded upon cautious distrust of government. To compensate for temptations of power and personal profit in government, the US Constitution is designed with checks and balances. However, because checks and balances can be thwarted if politicians are unethical, the only real protection of liberty is citizen responsibility. American democracy is dependent upon our taking personal responsibility for understanding our most important economic and political issues. This is one of them. ...

America's brightest historical minds speak to you about monetary reform. Part 1
August 22, 9:21 AMLA County Nonpartisan ExaminerCarl Herman
My previous article discusses money and credit creation and the trillion dollars/year benefit of monetary reform. Here is the discussion of this topic from sourced historical quotes from many of our brightest minds, part 1 of 2 starting with Benjamin Franklin and ending with Thomas Edison (my personal favorite in his explanation to the New York Times in 1921). ...

America's brightest historical minds speak to you about monetary reform. Part 2
August 22, 9:26 AMLA County Nonpartisan ExaminerCarl Herman
My previous article discusses money and credit creation and the trillion dollars/year benefit of monetary reform. Here is the discussion of this topic from sourced historical quotes from many of our brightest minds, part 2 of 2, beginning with New York City mayor John Hylan and ending with Congresspersons Dennis Kucinich and Ron Paul. ...
 

 
National Irish Bank moves to cashless banking
IrishTimes.com  - 123009
National Irish Bank has written to thousands of its customers this month informing them of a “new style of banking” in which branches will not handle over-the-counter cash transactions.

NewsFocus: And so it begins. Globalist economic reform or a too for Big Brother?
 

 

Treasury Injects $3.8-Billion Into GMAC
AFP - 123009
The US Treasury announced Tuesday a 3.8 billion dollar fresh capital injection into ailing GMAC, the former finance arm of General Motors that became a bank to access federal rescue aid.

"Due to a variety of factors, including that the restructuring of General Motors and Chrysler were accomplished with less disruption to GMAC than banking supervisors initially projected, Treasury will commit 3.8 billion dollars of new capital to GMAC rather than the 5.6 billion dollars originally announced," the Treasury said in a statement.

The lower amount will result in a 1.8 billion dollar reduction in Treasury?s previously forecasted spending under the 700-billion-dollar Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP), the Treasury said.

The Treasury had previously injected 12.5 billion dollars in capital in GMAC. ...
 

 

Goldman Sachs admits 'improper' actions

Goldman Sachs Mortgage Bets Said to Draw Probe by Regulators BusinessWeek

How Goldman secretly bet on the U.S. housing crash
McClatchy News - 122509

WASHINGTON — In 2006 and 2007, Goldman Sachs Group peddled more than $40 billion in securities backed by at least 200,000 risky home mortgages, but never told the buyers it was secretly betting that a sharp drop in U.S. housing prices would send the value of those securities plummeting.

Goldman's sales and its clandestine wagers, completed at the brink of the housing market meltdown, enabled the nation's premier investment bank to pass most of its potential losses to others before a flood of mortgage defaults staggered the U.S. and global economies.

Only later did investors discover that what Goldman had promoted as triple-A rated investments were closer to junk.

Now, pension funds, insurance companies, labor unions and foreign financial institutions that bought those dicey mortgage securities are facing large losses, and a five-month McClatchy investigation has found that Goldman's failure to disclose that it made secret, exotic bets on an imminent housing crash may have violated securities laws.

"The Securities and Exchange Commission should be very interested in any financial company that secretly decides a financial product is a loser and then goes out and actively markets that product or very similar products to unsuspecting customers without disclosing its true opinion," said Laurence Kotlikoff, a Boston University economics professor who's proposed a massive overhaul of the nation's banks. "This is fraud and should be prosecuted."



 

What in the World Is Goldman Sachs Thinking?
Motley Fool - Rich Smith - ‎Dec 23, 2009‎
In the annals of investment banking, Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS) deserves a chapter all its own. Seldom has a company been so reviled ...


Welfare for the Rich: Taxpayers Help Goldman Sachs Build New Headquarters AllGov
 

 

Congress Considers Reinstating Glass-Steagall Act
CrooksandLiars.com, b

Very interesting - if Congress actually intends to pass this. (Or if the banks let them!) The repeal also removed protections that kept banking and insurance interests separate, which accelerated the Wall St. meltdown:

Dec. 28 (Bloomberg) -- A one-page proposal gaining traction in Congress could turn back the clock on Wall Street 10 years, forcing the breakup of banks, including Citigroup Inc.

Lawmakers in both parties, seeking to prevent future financial crises while soothing public anger over bailouts and bonuses, are turning to an approach that’s both simple and transformative: re-imposing sections of the 1933 Glass-Steagall Act that separated commercial and investment banking. ...


 

 
Congress lets 50 tax breaks expire
Most of the Fading Tax Breaks Likely Will Be Reauthorized Retroactively but That Still Means an Inconvenience for Taxpayers  (What About Those For The Ultra-The Rich?)
ABC News,
By Ashlea Ebeling, Forbes.com - 122709
When members of the U.S. Senate finally head home, they will be leaving the future of 50 individual and business tax breaks in limbo. All expire at the end of 2009. ...
 
 

So Far, 25 States Have Emptied Their Unemployment Funds
CrooksandLiars.com, b
You have to love how utterly shameless these Republican oligarchs are. In the middle of a massive recession, a Republican governor is complaining about "Rolls Royce" unemployment benefits in Indiana. By "Rolls Royce," I assume he means anyone who's getting enough money to pay for heat is living too damned high on the hog.

Maximum weekly unemployment benefit in Indiana: $360.

But that's not even news, is it? That the party that so happily poured billions of untracked dollars down the memory hole in Iraq is suddenly so thrifty when it comes to us cannot be a shock to any sentient being:

The recession's jobless toll is draining unemployment-compensation funds so fast that according to federal projections, 40 state programs will go broke within two years and need $90 billion in loans to keep issuing the benefit checks. ...

Koeppel: How banks fleece the unemployed Consortium Times
 

 

Social Security Update:

Social Security Administration Sends Letters Explaining No COLA
Reason Given Is No Rise In Cost of Living. (Say What!? Seriously?)
NewsFocus.org, by Tim Watts 121109

The Social Security Administration has sent letters out to Americans explaining why there will be no cost of living. According to SSA there was "no rise in the cost of living during the past year," although many of those needing their social security to exist upon would beg to differ on that SSA assessment. With many goods rising in price during the economic downturn, many are asking exactly where SSA is getting their figures from.

The explanation given by SSA reads as follows...

By law, Social Security benefits increase automatically to keep pace with inflation. When there is a period of no inflation, the law does not permit an increase in benefits, Based on the Consumer Price Index (CPI) published by the Department of Labor, there was no rise in the cost of living during the past year, so your benefit will remain the same in 2010. The CPI is the federal government's official measure used to calculate cost-of-living increases.

Far be it from the government to bail-out social security, helping those who need it most, instead of the rich Wall Street tycoons and mega-wealthy bankers who caused this economic disaster.

Many of those relying on their social security find the excuse from SSA to be highly disingenuous and insulting. A more honest approach might have been to simply admit that the government is strapped for money after the bail-outs to the rich, rather than attempting to say that the cost of essential goods has not risen.

The American people do know better. We get the greed thing. Slap in the face well taken.

What makes all of this worse, our formerly esteemed Congress took their 2009 cost of living increase and is now said to be planning on their 2010 increase as well. WTF?

Congress to take 2010 cost of living increase  KHQ News

Congress to take 2010 cost of living increase  MSNBC News

Bill floated to rescind pay increases ( For 2011, not 2010 !! )

Write your Congressman now and demand that they refuse a cost of living increase for the bogus reasons given by Social Security.

Our elected representatives have some temerity. Absolutely unbelievable.

The Rich Get Bailed Out And The Poor Get The Shaft
Congress Had Better Cap Their Own Salaries For Two Years After This

Millions Face Shrinking Social Security Payments
The Associated Press
 - Stephen Ohlemacher - ‎082309‎
WASHINGTON — Millions of older people face shrinking Social Security checks next year, the first time in a generation that payments would not rise. The trustees who oversee Social Security are projecting there won't be a cost of living adjustment ...
No cost of living increase for Social Security DigitalJournal.com
 

 

10 Ways to Screw Over the Corporate Jackals Who've Been Screwing You
Tired of getting pushed around by faceless big business? Here are 10 ways to push back!
AlterNet, by Scott Thill, - December 19, 2009
The New Year is nearly here, and so much has happened. Wait, what's that? Nothing major at all has happened, you say? Oh right, we've been stuck in neutral since dumping the toxic trash of the Republican Bush administration and embracing Democratic promises of hope and change, neither of which have blossomed.

A year of our collective life has flown by and our global culture is still rife with schemers, screw jobs and sorry excuses for solutions. And we just sit back and take it, year after year. But no more. When you make that hefty list of New Year's resolutions, drop some of these bombs. Then duck. You'll get your change faster than you can say, "Teabag this!" ...
 

 

55 banks miss TARP payments in October
YahooNews, By Juan Lagorio Juan Lagorio Wed Dec 23,2009
(Reuters)
Fifty-five financial companies failed to pay dividends in November on money they borrowed from the U.S. government, bank research firm SNL said on Wednesday.

That number swelled from 33 companies that missed an August payment on government funds, according to an SNL analysis of government data. ...

Giant Banks Are Trying to Make Bailouts Permanent. They'll Succeed Unless We Raise a Ruckus
 

 
Pass Financial Regulatory Reform - Then Break Up the Big Wall Street Banks
Huffington Post (blog) - ‎Dec 15, 2009‎
They failed, largely due to the great work of Americans for Regulatory Reform, House Speaker Pelosi, Finance Chair Barney Frank and intensive lobbying from ...

Goldman Sachs to pay bonuses in stock AFP

Are the Democrats Fighting the Banks?
InformationClearinghouse.info, by Shamus Cooke
How pathetic. President Obama sat at a table surrounded by super rich bankers, pleading with them to lend money to small businesses and workers. The media mislabeled Obama’s groveling as “encouraging,” “imploring,” and “pressing,” but a man who refuses to take action is powerless; and powerless people can only beg. Continue

The Art of the Possible: Dodd's Banking 'Reform' Will Have Republican Input
CrooksandLiars.com

, b
I think it's pretty obvious that we need to change the procedural rules in the Senate, and hopefully get around obstructionist tactics while still allowing honest debate and compromise. We can't have a system where senators from sparsely-populated states maintain such disproportionate power (and that's not even getting into the reality of a Congress corrupted by K Street):

WASHINGTON - Senate Banking Committee chairman Christopher Dodd, who one month ago proposed an overhaul of financial regulations that was hailed by many consumer activists, has all but jettisoned that proposal following Republican objections and has initiated talks for a new approach designed to satisfy some of his fiercest GOP critics. ...
 

 
St. Louis Post: Best Documentary Michael Moore's "Capitalism A Love Story"
St. Louis Post-Dispatch, by Joe Williams - 122309
The St. Louis Film Critics group has named its award winners for 2009. ...

Best Documentary: “Capitalism: A Love Story
 
 
Fund Boss Made $7 Billion in the Panic
Wall Street Journal - Gregory Zuckerman - ‎122109
In this comeback year for investors, David Tepper may have scored one of the biggest paydays of all. Mr. Tepper's hedge-fund firm has racked up about $7 billion of profit so far this year ...
 
 
How The Fed Allowed Banking Crisis To Grow Unchecked
CrooksandLiars.com, b
The Post has an in-depth look at how the Fed was oblivious to the nation's looming major banking crisis, and the political maneuvering that will determine its future operation.

Fed's approach to regulation left banks exposed to crisis
Washington Post, by Binyamin Appelbaum and David Cho 122109
Foreclosures already pocked Chicago's poorer neighborhoods but the downtown still was booming as the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago convened its annual conference in May 2007.

The keynote speaker, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke, assured the bankers and businessmen gathered at the Westin Hotel on Michigan Avenue that their prosperity was not threatened by the plight of borrowers struggling to repay high-cost subprime loans.

Bernanke, who was in charge of regulating the nation's largest banks, told the audience that these firms were not at risk. He said most were not even involved in subprime lending. And the broader economy, he concluded, would be fine.

NewsFocus: And for this ignorant, moronic advice he gets to keep his big paying job and also gets Time Magazine's "Man of the Year." "Oh the horror Will Robinson. Oh the horror..."
 

 
NewsFocus Op/Ed: This is abhorrent, obscene, insulting, and truly disgusting!
I cannot say it loud enough. Nothing like rewarding a crook for his inept handling of our economy.

Bernanke: Time's Man of the Year
truthout - Robert Borosage - ‎121709‎
Time Magazine's naming Ben Bernanke "Man of the Year" is a little bit like celebrating an arsonist for his heroics in putting out a fire that he set. ...

And here we go again: <sigh>

Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein Named Financial Times Person Of The Year
Huffington Post (blog) - ‎122509
Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein has been named Person of the Year by the Financial Times. The investment bank "not only navigated the 2008 global ...
 

 
Eliot Spitzer: Geithner, Bernanke “Complicit” in Financial Crisis and Should Go
DemocracyNow.org, 120409
In an extended interview, we speak with former New York governor Eliot Spitzer about the financial crisis and how it was handled by Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner. Bernanke and Geithner “actually built and participated in creating the structure that now has collapsed,” Spitzer says and calls on them to be replaced. ...
 
 
How Bankers Destroy £7 For Every £1 They Create
InformationClearinghouse.info
Hospital cleaners are more valuable to society, say researchers ...
 
 

Obama slams 'fat cat bankers'
RawStory.com,  Saturday, December 12th, 2009 -- 10:11 am
US President Barack Obama has hit out at Wall Street "fat cats", expressing anger that banks bailed out by the government plan huge bonuses while millions of Americans battle poverty and unemployment.

"I did not run for office to be helping out a bunch of fat cat bankers on Wall Street," Obama said Friday in excerpts of an interview with CBS television to be aired on Sunday.

With unemployment still hovering at around 10 percent, amid a recession triggered in part by the excesses of financial institutions, Obama voiced frustration that "some people on Wall Street still don't get it."

Bankers might be feeling public’s wrath — literally
RawStory.com, by Daniel Tencer - Thursday, December 10th, 2009 -- 4:13 pm
A Los Angeles lawyer who had represented a failed subprime mortgage lender is found dead outside his home, having been shot in the head.

Three men allegedly invade the home of a former subprime lender, and are arrested after reportedly injuring three people inside.

Vandals target the home of the former CEO of the Royal Bank of Scotland, smashing windows in the banker's home and car.

Those are just three notable incidents of violence aimed at people who were in some way linked to the financial crisis that has unfolded over the past year. And while in many of those cases it's unclear whether the incidents were politically motivated, or motivated by financial issues, or just a coincidence, the cases fit into a pattern of escalating crime and violence in the wake of the recession.

Banker Bonuses: Putting It All In Perspective

Via Ian Welsh, Dr. Peter Morici, a SUNY business professor, puts banker bonuses into perspective:

How much is $140 billion?

The U.S. economy grew at a $89 billion annualized rate in the third quarter. That was the first growth since the second quarter of 2008 and came to $22 billion in actual growth in the third quarter.

The bankers, after causing the greatest economic calamity since the Great Depression, are rewarded with six times the growth accomplished so far in the much heralded “economic recovery.”

Meanwhile, seven million families face foreclosure and 25 million Americans can’t find full time work. (Read More)
 

 

Kucinich: 'Class war is over, working people lost'
RawStory.com, by Sahil Kapur - Thursday, December 17th, 2009 -- 3:05 pm
WASHINGTON -- Reflecting on the growing divide between Wall Street and Main Street, Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) on Wednesday offered a powerful critique on the state of the economy in an open committee hearing.

"The class warfare is over -- we lost," Kucinich said before the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. "I want to make that announcement today. Working people lost.  The middle class lost." ...
 

 
A Smart and Simple Tax
InformationClearinghouse.info, By William John Cox
It is time to discard our stupid and complex system of taxation and replace it with a smart and simple tax that balances the burden of taxation with the benefits of government.
Continue
 
 

House Strikes at Wall Street
Wall Street Journal - Damian Paletta, Robin Sidel - ‎121209
WASHINGTON -- The House of Representatives, in a display of anti-Wall Street sentiment, passed sweeping legislation Friday that rewrites the rules governing financial markets, aiming to restrict the operations of big ...
House votes to reform financial regulations Washington Post
SCENARIOS-US financial reforms could shrink Fed's role Reuters

House passes broad Wall Street regulatory overhaul
InformationClearinghouse.info
In a separate vote Friday, Democratic leaders failed to revive legislation that would let bankruptcy judges rewrite mortgages to lower homeowners' monthly payments. The measure was rejected by a 241-188. ...

Not One House Republican Votes To Tighten Regulation on Financial Industry

Without one Republican vote, the House passed a deeply flawed bill that attempts to control the excesses of the financial services industry - while also letting them escalate many of the same crazy practices that led to this crisis. The Republicans, of course, thought the bill was too stringent. ... (Read More)
 

 

Taibbi: Obama’s sellout to Wall Street creates ‘permanent bailout’
RawStory.com, by David Edwards and Daniel Tencer - Thursday, December 3rd, 2009
If passed as it is, the financial reform bill winding its way through Congress will create a "permanent bailout mechanism," and will give complete control over future bailouts to the White House, says columnist Matt Taibbi.

In a video preview of an upcoming Rolling Stone article, Taibbi explained how the Obama administration started selling out to Wall Street interests almost as soon as the 2008 election was over.

"The really big thing that's in these bills that's really, really scary is that it kind of outlines a permanent bailout mechanism," Taibbi said. "If it survives in the way that it was originally conceived, it's basically going to formalize an arrangement whereby the government is expected to bail out the top 20 to 25 largest financial companies. ... It will be entirely up to the White House to determine whether or not these companies are in trouble in the future, so there won't be any congressional role in deciding when and when not to give a bailout."  ...

Matt Taibbi: Obama's Big Sellout to Wall Street - CrooksandLiars.com
 

 
Capitalism Gone Awry
Michael Moore's Action Plan: 15 Things Every American Can Do Right Now
Americans need to take control and act to stop the pillaging of America.
 
 

The Ten Brands That Will Disappear In 2010
24/7WallSt.com - December 2, 2009
24/7 Wall St. has prepared its list of the ten brands that will disappear in 2010. This list is based on a review of each firm’s financial situation and other operating data, the current and ongoing value of its brand, and whether the company that controls that brand can sell its assets.

This year a number of famous brands have closed or their parents have announced that they will be shut down shortly. This includes decades-old magazines like Gourmet and famous car brands like Pontiac. The recession took whatever economic value these brands had left and destroyed it.

The brands on the 24/7 list for 2010 include companies that have been in trouble for years. Some have been in slow decline and others were irreparably damaged by the credit crisis. Most of these companies will be bought and the rest will simply be closed. ...
 

 

Law Professor: Walking Away From Mortgages Is The Only Way to Get Banks to Negotiate
CrooksandLiars.com, b

I've been saying this all along to people: The only real obstacles are in your head. There's no reason in the world to keep throwing good money after bad.

And he's right. Banks won't negotiate with borrowers until more people start to do this:

Go ahead. Break the chains. Stop paying on your mortgage if you owe more than the house is worth. And most important: Don't feel guilty about it. Don't think you're doing something morally wrong.

That's the incendiary core message of a new academic paper by Brent T. White, a University of Arizona law school professor, titled "Underwater and Not Walking Away: Shame, Fear and the Social Management of the Housing Crisis."

White argues that far more of the estimated 15 million American homeowners who are underwater on their mortgages should stiff their lenders and take a hike.


 

 

Drug money saved banks in global crisis, claims UN advisor
Drugs and crime chief says $352bn in criminal proceeds was effectively laundered by financial institutions
The Observer, by Rajeev Syal - Sunday 13 December 2009
Drugs money worth billions of dollars kept the financial system afloat at the height of the global crisis, the United Nations' drugs and crime tsar has told the Observer.

Antonio Maria Costa, head of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, said he has seen evidence that the proceeds of organised crime were "the only liquid investment capital" available to some banks on the brink of collapse last year. He said that a majority of the $352bn (£216bn) of drugs profits was absorbed into the economic system as a result.

This will raise questions about crime's influence on the economic system at times of crisis. It will also prompt further examination of the banking sector as world leaders, including Barack Obama and Gordon Brown, call for new International Monetary Fund regulations.
 

 
Oh The Greed: Four Stories That Will Make You Angry

Billions More in Easy Money for Wall Street
Are We Too Ignorant About Finance To Stop It?
The Nation, by William Greider
Corporate Accountability and WorkPlace: A permanent security blanket for big boys of finance will further inflame public opinion. Only the public isn't likely to know.

TARP Audit Finds Geithner Gave Away The Farm
CBS News - Jill Schlesinger - ‎Nov 17, 2009‎
OK, so let's get this straight: the financial world is melting down, Uncle Sam had just saved the bankers' butts and now Tim Geithner the President of the ...
Geithner in the doghouse over AIG debacle guardian.co.uk
AIG, Geithner And Backdoor Bailouts Atlantic Online
Fed Busting New York Times

Did Summers Take Bailout Banks' Cash?
Banks steered 'millions' to firm run by WH economic director.

Lehman Bros., Bear Stearns CEOs Walked Away With Millions
CrooksandLiars.com, b

Via Raw Story. You know, I not only want the money back, I want these people put in jail. They took the money and ran from their own culpability:

The CEOs of Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers, the two investment banks that collapsed during last year's financial meltdown, walked away with hundreds of millions of dollars in compensation even as the company's shareholders lost everything, says a new report from Harvard Law School.

The top five executives at Bear Stearns made a total of $1.4 billion from bonuses and equity sales between 2000 and 2008, while the top five executives at Lehman Brothers made around $1 billion during that same period -- the period during which the companies ran up the bad investments that would see them collapse in 2008, according to "The Wages of Failure" (PDF), a report from Harvard Law School's Program on Corporate Governance.
 

 

Bernanke Forgot About His Role In Causing the Great Recession
TPM, By Dean Baker - November 29, 2009, 8:39AM
Ben Bernanke's column in the Washington Post has to be absolutely infuriating to anyone old enough to remember the events of 2008. In this column, Bernanke lectures the public about the need for the Federal Reserve Board to preserve its independence from Congress, explaining that:

"The government's actions to avoid financial collapse last fall -- as distasteful and unfair as some undoubtedly were -- were unfortunately necessary to prevent a global economic catastrophe that could have rivaled the Great Depression in length and severity, with profound consequences for our economy and society. (I know something about this, having spent my career prior to public service studying these issues.) My colleagues at the Federal Reserve and I were determined not to allow that to happen."

It's nice to talk about the Fed's response to this crisis, but Mr. Bernanke's studies apparently did not tell him the obvious, that allowing an $8 trillion housing bubble to grow unchecked would lead to an economic disaster like what we are now experiencing. He and his colleagues at the Federal Reserve Board either could not see, or did not care about, this huge bubble. As a result, Ben Bernanke has been running around for much of the last year and a half telling us about his knowledge of the Great Depression.
 

 

Rep. Alan Grayson Passes Bill to Audit the Fed

Grayson on Auditing the Fed: We're About to See the Man Behind the Curtain in Emerald City
CrooksandLiars.com, b
MSNBC's Dylan Ratigan talks to Rep. Alan Grayson about the amendment passed by the House Financial Services Committee to allow an independent audit of the Federal Reserve. If Alan Greenspan is not happy about it, I take that as a good sign they did the right thing. It only took putting this country on the edge of financial ruin that we're not out of yet for the S.O.B. to ever admit he might be wrong about anything.

Lawmakers seek Fed audit after critical AIG report
The Associated Press - Daniel Wagner - ‎Nov 18, 2009‎
WASHINGTON — A group of House Democrats are stepping up demands for greater transparency from the Federal Reserve after reports that the Fed mishandled the ...

 

 
Goldman Sachs Doing "God's Work"?
HuffingtonPost.com, 110909
The only thing worse than Goldman Sachs amassing billions in bonus money for its executives, based on various government subsidies and bailout measures, ...

Goldman Sachs chief says 'we do God's work' as he defends... - Daily Mail
Goldman Sachs' God's Work Comments Are "Truly Unsettling" - Business Insider
I'm doing 'God's work'. Meet Mr Goldman Sachs - Times Online
 
 
Trickle-up Economics
Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice shame on me
InformationClearinghouse.info, By Paul Craig Roberts
Little wonder the US can’t afford health care for the uninsured and unemployed. It is far more important to finance multi-million dollar bonuses for investment bankers. I mean, what would we do without capitalism?
Continue
 
 

Geithner Asked to Resign
 
 

 

Elizabeth Warren: Hey, Isn't America's Middle Class "Too Big to Fail"?
CrooksandLiars.comElizabeth Warren is one of the few public figures who understands and acknowledges the enormous economic stress placed on the middle class, and actually cares what happens to them:

While the middle class has been caught in an economic vise, the financial industry that was supposed to serve them has prospered at their expense. Consumer banking -- selling debt to middle class families -- has been a gold mine. Boring banking has given way to creative banking, and the industry has generated tens of billions of dollars annually in fees made possible by deceptive and dangerous terms buried in the fine print of opaque, incomprehensible, and largely unregulated contracts.


 

 

Goldman Sachs Is Arming Themselves Against Angry Mobs. Guilty Conscience?

Apparently the Goldman Sachs management is starting to connect the dots? Alice Schroeder from Bloomberg writes:

Dec. 1 (Bloomberg) -- “I just wrote my first reference for a gun permit,” said a friend, who told me of swearing to the good character of a Goldman Sachs Group Inc. banker who applied to the local police for a permit to buy a pistol. The banker had told this friend of mine that senior Goldman people have loaded up on firearms and are now equipped to defend themselves if there is a populist uprising against the bank.
 

I called Goldman Sachs spokesman Lucas van Praag to ask whether it’s true that Goldman partners feel they need handguns to protect themselves from the angry proletariat. He didn’t call me back. The New York Police Department has told me that “as a preliminary matter” it believes some of the bankers I inquired about do have pistol permits. The NYPD also said it will be a while before it can name names ...
 

 

 Dylan Ratigan Has Some Fun "Celebrating" Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act

 

 
The Arsonists Who Lit The Economic Match Complain About The Fire Department.

Republicans blaming the Obama administration for this horrendous recession is like an arsonist blaming the fire department - and yet, there's a certain usefulness to their attacks. After all, liberals complaining about the administration's economic policies got us nowhere. Maybe they'll actually listen when Republicans do it! ...
 
 

Women Now Hold Half of U.S. Jobs - For Less Money Than Men
CrooksandLiars.com, b
When these stories come out, I have to laugh. Because women on the working-class end of the economic spectrum have had to work for a very long time. Pay raises haven't get pace with the cost of living, to the point where paychecks aren't worth what they were in the 70s. Women stepped in to pick up the slack.

No, what the Wall St. Journal means is that the sort of women who are married to the men who read the Journal have to work now. (It's a class thing!) But some things remain the same: Women still get paid less.

The composition of the nation's work force is approaching an unprecedented benchmark. Due in part to deep layoffs of men, women are poised to become the majority of workers for the first time. As of September, women held 49.9% of the nation's jobs, excluding farm workers and the self-employed, a rise of 1.2 percentage points from their 48.7% share when the recession began in December 2007. In 1970, women held 35% of jobs.

Male employment 'lowest on record'
 

 
Say What? SEC Head Is Ex-Goldman Sachs Employee
SEC unit hires ex-Goldman Sachs worker as chief operating officer
Los Angeles Times 101609

This Is What We Typically Call The FOX Guarding The Henhouse
This is government and Wall Street cronyism at its worst.

From Wall Street to Main Street to Skid Row
BBC News - ‎Oct 15, 2009‎
As Goldman Sachs makes quarterly profits of more than $3bn, and ponders paying bonuses, for the first time in 34 years social security payments to Americans will not increase...

Dylan Ratigan And Michael Moore Discuss The Greed of Goldman Sachs
 
Call your Congressional representatives. Demand our money back, with their profits.

How the Servant Became a Predator
Finance's Five Fatal Flaws
InformationClearinghouse.info, by William K. Black
Five fatal flaws in the financial sector's current structure have created a monster that drains the real economy, promotes fraud and corruption, threatens democracy, and causes recurrent, intensifying crises.
Continue

Geithner Aides Reaped Millions Working for Banks, Hedge Funds
Bloomberg News
Some of Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner’s closest aides, none of whom faced Senate confirmation, earned millions of dollars a year working for Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Citigroup Inc. and other Wall Street firms, according to financial disclosure forms.

JP Morgan Scores Big $3.6 Billion In Latest Quarter CNN News

The Rich Have Stolen The Economy
InformationClearinghouse.info, by Paul Craig Roberts
The political system is unresponsive to the American people. It is monopolized by a few powerful interest groups that control campaign contributions. Interest groups have exercised their power to monopolize the economy for the benefit of themselves, the American people be damned.
Continue

The People vs Wall Street
InformationClearinghouse.info
Amidst the economic wreckage, after 7 million job losses and approaching 2 million home foreclosures in the US alone, with businesses and consumers around the world still struggling to get finance after the long credit crunch, Wall Street is finally on trial. A little piece of Wall Street, at least.

Take America Back From the Banks!
InformationClearinghouse.info, by Dean Baker
Reining in the financial industry's power and greed will be a long, hard-fought war. But it is one that must be fought.
Continue

Barney Frank and the Planet of the Banks
InformationClearinghouse.info, by Ralph Nader
What planet is Congressman Barney Frank on, anyway? It is the planet of the banks and other financial firms that keep his campaign coffers humming, as their chairman of the House Financial Services Committee.
Continue
 

 
Gold strikes record high above $1,217 an ounce
AFP News
Gold struck a record price above 1,217 dollars on Wednesday as the US currency weakened, cementing the precious metal's surge over the past year as nervy investors seek safe-haven investments.
 
 

Does The Federal Reserve Try To Manipulate Wall Street?
Rep. Alan Grayson (D-FL) Goes After The Big Dog, The Federal Reserve

What sort of national calamity can we expect as the Fed gets pushed?
(View more of Grayson going after the Fed for "We the People")

It's Fun Watching Rep. Grayson At Work. He's The Kind of Democrat We Need CrooksandLiars.com, b Finally: Fed to name borrowers

Read More On Auditing The Corrupt Federal Reserve
(FYI: The Federal Reserve Is NOT Owned By Our Government)

UNMASK THE FED
We The People Demand Answers!
Where Did $2-Trillion Dollars of Our Money Go To?
Make Federal Reserve Chairman Bernanke Reveal Those Who Took Our Bailout Money.

This link will send a mass email on your behalf to all of Congress to let them know we're tired of the secrecy and we demand an accounting of where our tax-payer money went.
(Sponsored by the Committee to Elect Alan Grayson)
 

 
Gold Heading to $3000 Unless America Hits the "Reset" Button, Tice Says
Yahoo Finance
Gold will hit at least $3000 per ounce before the current rally ends says Tice, Federated's chief portfolio strategist for bear markets. The forecast falls roughly in between Peter Schiff's $5000 per ounce call and Jimmy Rogers' forecast of $2000.
 
 

UN Calls For New Reserve Currency
By AFP
The United Nations called on Tuesday for a new global reserve currency to end dollar supremacy which has allowed the United States the "privilege" of building a huge trade deficit. Continue

Price of gold soars on report of Arab states ditching dollar
RawStory.com, by Agence France-Presse - Tuesday, October 6th, 2009 -- 6:21 pm
The price of gold struck an all-time high Tuesday as the dollar fell on a news report of a plan by Gulf states to stop using the greenback for oil trading. ...

The Demise of the Dollar
InformationClearinghouse.info, by Robert Fisk
In a graphic illustration of the new world order, Arab states have launched secret moves with China, Russia and France to stop using the US currency for oil trading.
Continue

Saudi Bank Governor Denies Talks to Replace Dollar
Bloomberg News
Saudi Arabia hasn’t held talks with China and other countries on dropping the dollar as the currency for pricing oil, Saudi Central Bank Governor Muhammad al-Jasser said, denying a report in the U.K.’s Independent newspaper.

 

 
A Hidden $34 Billion Bank Subsidy? Study Exposes How Taxpayers Are Subsidizing Bank of America, Citigroup, Wells Fargo and Other Large Banks
Democracy Now, 100609
One of the key terms to come out of the nation’s economic meltdown has been “too big to fail.” The government has funneled billions of dollars to large financial firms by arguing that their collapse would deal an irreparable blow to economic recovery. A new study has calculated the tab of the “too big to fail” approach, and it amounts to a far larger taxpayer-funded subsidy than previously thought. The Center for Economic and Policy Research says the bailout has allowed “too big to fail” banks to pay significantly lower interest rates than those paid by smaller banks. According to one estimate, that’s meant a subsidy for the nation’s eighteen largest bank holding companies of $34.1 billion a year. That amount represents nearly half these companies’ combined annual profits. We speak to the study’s author, Dean Baker. ...
 
 
Banks Were Pushing Subprime Mortgages Behind The Scenes

Joe Nocera, who writes the Executive Suite column for the New York Times, has done an interesting thing today. He 1) points out banks are lying about their involvement in subprime mortgages, he 2) notes that Barney Frank is absolutely wrong to defend them and 3) offers documents that support his claim. This is something we used to call "journalism," and I'm happy to see it. ...
 
 
Bernanke Letter On G20 Summit Irritates French
TIME TO CHANGE BERNANKE'S MEDICATION?
Secret White House Letter To G-20

GregPalast.com - Tuesday, September 22, 2009, New York

I still get a thrill whenever I get my hands on a confidential memo with "The White House, Washington" appearing on the letterhead. Even when—like the one I'm looking at now—it's about a snoozy topic: This week's G-20 summit.

But the letter's content shook me awake, and may keep me up the rest of the night.

The 6-page letter from the White House, dated September 3, was sent to the 20 heads of state that will meet this Thursday in Pittsburgh. After some initial diplo-blather, our President's "sherpa" for the summit, Michael Froman, does a little victory dance, announcing that the recession has been defeated. "Global equity markets have risen 35 percent since the end of March," writes Froman. In other words, the stock market is up and all's well.

While acknowledging that this year's economy has gone to hell in a handbag, Obama's aide and ambassador to the G-20 seems to be parroting the irrational exuberance of Federal Reserve Chief Ben Bernanke who declared last week that, "The recession is very likely over." All that was missing from Bernanke's statement was a banner, "MISSION ACCOMPLISHED." ... (Read More)
 

 
Why Haven't Any Wall Street Tycoons Been Sent to the Slammer?
Truthout.org, by: Kevin G. Hall  |  McClatchy Newspapers - Sunday 20 September 2009
Washington - More than a year into the gravest financial crisis since the Great Depression, millions of Americans have seen their home values and retirement savings plunge and their jobs evaporate. ...
 
 
The Economy Is A Lie, Too
InformationClearinghouse.info, By Paul Craig Roberts
Americans cannot get any truth out of their government about anything, the economy included. Americans are being driven into the ground economically, with one million school children now homeless, while Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke announces that the recession is over.
Continue
 
 

Reporter Calls American System Corporate Communism
 
Some In The Media Are Finally Beginning To Catch On

 

Michael Moore's New Movie On Capitalism And The Economy

This will be his biggest hit of all, showing the rich getting richer.
(Also see, The Corporation)

Michael Moore On Nightline

Proving that unchecked American capitalism is the root of all evil.

More Michael Moore Video

The Leaked Memo That CitiGroup Would Not Like You To See
Featured In Michael Moore's Latest Movie, Capitalism: A Love Story
NewsFocus 100309


The richest 10% of Americans account for 43% of income and 57% of net worth.

How The CitiGroup Report Looks At Us Versus The Ultra-Wealthy
"Our whole plutonomy thesis is based on the idea that the rich will keep getting richer. This thesis is not without its risks. For example, a policy error leading to asset deflation, would likely damage plutonomy. Furthermore, the rising wealth gap between the rich and poor will probably at some point lead to a political backlash. Whilst the rich are getting a greater share of the wealth, and the poor a lesser share, political enfranchisement remains as was - one person, one vote (in the plutonomies). At some point it is likely that labor will fight back against the rising profit share of the rich and there will be a political backlash against the rising wealth of the rich. This could be felt through higher taxation (on the rich or indirectly through higher corporate taxes/regulation) or through trying to protect indigenous laborers, in a push-back on globalization - either anti-immigration, or protectionism. We don't see this happening yet, though there are signs of rising political tensions. However we are keeping a close eye on developments."

 

Read the CitiGroup report here


America's Teacher: An Interview With Michael Moore
The Shock Doctrine author interviews Michael Moore on the roots of the economic crisis and the promise and peril of this political moment
The Nation, by Naomi Klein - October 12, 2009 edition of The Nation.
On September 17, in the midst of the publicity blitz for his cinematic takedown of the capitalist order, Moore talked with Nation
columnist Naomi Klein by phone about the film, the roots of our economic crisis and the promise and peril of the present political moment. To listen to a podcast of the full conversation, click here. Following is an edited transcript of their conversation.-   -The Editors

Naomi Klein: So, the film is wonderful. Congratulations. It is, as many people have already heard, an unapologetic call for a revolt against capitalist madness. But the week it premiered, a very different kind of revolt was in the news: the so-called tea parties, seemingly a passionate defense of capitalism and against social programs.

Meanwhile, we are not seeing too many signs of the hordes storming Wall Street. Personally, I'm hoping that your film is going to be the wake-up call and the catalyst for all of that changing. But I'm just wondering how you're coping with this odd turn of events, these revolts for capitalism led by Glenn Beck. ... (Read More)
 

 

You're Getting A Payday Loan - And You Don't Even Know It. Banks Under Scrutiny for ATM Overdraft Fees

I went through this a few years ago. I deposited a check right before a holiday weekend at an ATM and they didn't clear the check for ten days - even though my online account already showed it as cleared. This is what debit cards do now: They let you take money out that isn't there.

They charged me $35 for every single one of my debit card transactions (it came to more than $400). When I called my bank's customer service hotline, they told me it was in my service agreement that it could take 10 days to clear something deposited at a "foreign" ATM - even though they all belonged to the same STAR network. I argued with them, but they wouldn't budge.

So I called their corporate communications officer, told them I was writing a story about my experience (noting I'd found a class-action suit filed against them for this very thing) and asked for an official statement to include in my piece. Magically, my charges disappeared and I got an apology. "You've been a customer for such a long time, we'll make an exception this time," I was told.

Isn't America great? ...
 

 
Soc. Sec. to go into red next year
The Associated Press - September 27, 2009
Big job losses and a spike in early retirement claims from laid-off seniors will force Social Security to pay out more in benefits than it collects in taxes the next two years, the first time that's happened since the 1980s. ...
 
 
Obama to take on Big Oil
RawStory.com 091909
Report: President Obama preparing push to end subsidies for oil companies. ...
 
 
Obama wants G20 to rethink global economy
Reuters - Jeff Mason, Dave Graham - ‎092009‎
The United States is proposing a broad new economic framework that it hopes the G20 will adopt, according to a letter by a top White House adviser. Obama ...
Obama hopes G20 will reshape the global economy Examiner.com
The G20: Bankers and the global economy guardian.co.uk

Globalization Goes Bankrupt
InformationClearinghouse.info, By Chris Hedges
The rage of the disposed is fracturing the country, dividing it into camps that are unmoored from the political mainstream. Movements are building on the ends of the political spectrum that have lost faith in the mechanisms of democratic change. You can't blame them. But unless we on the left move quickly this rage will be captured by a virulent and racist right wing, one that seeks a disturbing proto-fascism.
Continue
 

 
DoJ to hunt wealthy tax evaders
RawStory.com 092709

Expect new cases vs. banks and the wealthy 'every couple of weeks': DoJ.

IRS to Extend Leniency for UBS Offshore Disclosures
Bloomberg - Ryan J. Donmoyer - ‎092109‎
Sept. 21 (Bloomberg) -- The Internal Revenue Service will extend until Oct. 15 the ability of Americans with undeclared offshore accounts at UBS AG and other banks to avoid criminal prosecution and some fines if they disclose their ...
Offshore-bank users get until Oct. 15 to confess USA Today
IRS extends amnesty program for tax cheats The Associated Press
 

 

Congressman Ron Paul: Federal government is 'one giant toxic asset'
RawStory.com, by
By David Edwards and Daniel Tencer -  091409
The US economy has not really recovered from last year’s financial crisis, and the policies of the Federal Reserve, the US’s central bank, are ensuring that the suffering will continue much longer than necessary, US House Rep. Ron Paul told CNN on Monday.

“They claim there’s a recovery but the recovery ought to be measured by the people working. True unemployment is now 16 percent, and the people who lost money have not regained the money. The people who lost houses have not gotten their houses back. There is no recovery,” said Paul. ...
 

 

Big Bucks for Bailout Barons
NewsFocus: It's Beyond Greed- Corporate Avarice Prevails In The U.S.
The Nation, by Katrina vanden Heuvel - 09/02/2009

One year after the global banking system collapsed the Institute for Policy Studies (IPS) 16th Annual Executive Excess report -- "America's Bailout Barons" -- shows that the perverse system of executive compensation which contributed to the financial meltdown is still thriving for top bailout recipients.

As a result historic inequality in pay is still prevalent and the neo-Gilded Age tycoons are raking it in. According to the report, a generation ago top execs rarely earned more than thirty to forty times the pay of the average American worker. But now top execs make an average of 319 times more than the typical worker. For the top twenty financial industry execs the divide is even greater -- 436 times more than the average worker in 2008. In the past three years, the top five execs at the twenty US financial firms receiving the most Bailout Bucks took home pay packages worth a staggering $3.2 billion -- an average of $32 million each. In 2008 those cats averaged nearly $14 million each--even though their twenty firms laid off more than 160,000 people since January of that year. ... (Read More)
 

 
The Corporation
The Influence Of The Corporation On Society And Its Disparaging Affect On Us All
The Aim Of The Corporation Is To Protect The Owners Financially By Giving It Rights As An Actual Human, But What Type Of Human Would Actually Be?
(The rise of the new fascism: Corporatism)
NewsFocus 083009

The Corporation

Psychologists examine the corporate entity as a human being
and determine that it is a dangerous psychopath.

The award winning documentary delves into the mindset of the corporation, accepting it for what is has legally been set up for, as a human entity with the rights of an individual. What they set out to ascertain is, what type of an individual would the corporation be if it were psychoanalyzed as a person? The shocking conclusion is that the all pervasive and controlling corporate entity would be characterized as a pysochopath.

The Corporation
 

 
Concentration Of Wealth For The Rich Is The Greatest On Record
Thank You George W. Bush For Not Taxing The Top 1% Of The Rich
RawStory.com , by Daniel Tencer - 081609
The wealthiest 10 percent of Americans now have a larger share of total income than they ever have in records going back nearly a century — an even larger amount than during the Roaring Twenties, the last time the US saw such similar disparities in wealth.

In recent years, the fact that differences between rich and poor are the greatest they’ve been since the Great Depression has become a popular talking point among liberal-leaning economists. ...

The Widening Gap In America's Two Tiered Society
InformationClearinghouse.info, By Emily Spence
If the U.S. populace somehow imagines that its members are viewed any differently than any other populations across the world that are used to produce maximal profits for the top economic class, there's a rude awakening in store ahead. Further, most legislators simply do not care whether middle and lower class interests are or aren't well served as long as they, themselves, can somehow make out well in the times ahead.  Continue

 
1,000 Banks to Fail In Next Two Years: Bank CEO
CNBC.com
The US banking system will lose some 1,000 institutions over the next two years, said John Kanas, whose private equity firm bought BankUnited of Florida in May.
 
 
The Goldman Sachs Influence Scam:

The Great American Bubble Machine
From tech stocks to high gas prices, Goldman Sachs has engineered every major market manipulation since the Great Depression - and they're about to do it again
Rolling Stone, by
MATT TAIBBI - Posted Jul 13, 2009 1:49 PM
The first thing you need to know about Goldman Sachs is that it's everywhere. The world's most powerful investment bank is a great vampire squid wrapped around the face of humanity, relentlessly jamming its blood funnel into anything that smells like money. In fact, the history of the recent financial crisis, which doubles as a history of the rapid decline and fall of the suddenly swindled dry American empire, reads like a Who's Who of Goldman Sachs graduates. ...
 

Max Keiser On Goldman Sachs Oligarchy - Pt 1

Max Keiser On Goldman Sachs Oligarchy - Pt 2

Stock Traders Find Speed Pays, in Milliseconds
How The Game Is Rigged And Fleeced By The Crooked Elite

New York Times, by CHARLES DUHIGG - July 24, 2009
It is the hot new thing on Wall Street, a way for a handful of traders to master the stock market, peek at investors’ orders and, critics say, even subtly manipulate share prices. It is called high-frequency trading — and it is suddenly one of the most talked-about and mysterious forces in the markets. Powerful computers, some housed right next to the machines that drive marketplaces like the New York Stock Exchange, enable high-frequency traders to transmit millions of orders at lightning speed and, their detractors contend, reap billions at everyone else’s expense. These systems are so fast they can outsmart or outrun other investors, humans and computers alike. And after growing in the shadows for years, they are generating lots of talk. ...

TARP's secret history: How Goldman bailed out Goldman...

How You Finance Goldman Sachs’ Profits
Information Clearinghouse.com, by Nomi Prins
This is perhaps the most important thing I learned over my years working on Wall Street, including as a managing director at Goldman Sachs: Numbers lie. In a normal time, the fact that the numbers generated by the nation's biggest banks can't be trusted might not matter very much to the rest of us. But since the record bank profits we're now hearing about are essentially created by massive federal funding, perhaps it behooves us to dig beneath their data.
Continue

Taibbi: Impending Rule Change Means Goldman Sachs Stock Manipulations Can't Be Tracked

Remember that Rolling Stone piece about Goldman Sachs I mentioned the other day? Here's another post from Matt Taibbi that should raise serious concerns about the stranglehold the company has on the economic markets...

 

Important Dates in the Monetary History of the US
Part I: 1606 to 1776 – Colonial Era

Prior to the signing of the Declaration of Independence, the American Colonies were subject to the rule of English Common Law and pronouncements of the English Crown and Parliament. Charters from the English Government delineated legal powers granted to the colonies, and at least one, Virginia’s Charter of 1606 , gave that colony the power to coin its own money. Others, however, did not have this power, and it was Massachusetts’ 1652 establishment of a mint, for example, that led in part to revocation of its Charter in 1684 and closure of the mint in 1688. ...
 

 

The Secret History of the Credit Card

Something every person should know about the credit card system.

 
Inverting the Economic Order
The Progressive Magazine, by Wendell Berry - September 2009 issue

My economic point of view is from ground level. It is a point of view sometimes described as “agrarian.” That means that in ordering the economy of a household or community or nation, I would put nature first, the economies of land use second, the manufacturing economy third, and the consumer economy fourth.

A properly ordered economy, putting nature first and consumption last, would start with the subsistence or household economy and proceed from that to the economy of markets. It would be the means by which people provide to themselves and to others the things necessary to support life: goods coming from nature and human work. It would distinguish between needs and mere wants, and it would grant a firm precedence to needs. ...
 

 
How the U.S. Uses Globalization to Cheat Poor Countries Out of Trillions
Confessions of an Economic Hit Man
By John Perkins
In his first book, Confessions of an Economic Hit Man, John Perkins told the story of his work as a highly paid consultant hired to strong-arm leaders into creating policy favorable to the US government and corporations, what he calls the “corporatocracy.” John Perkins says he helped the US cheat poor countries around the globe out of trillions of dollars by lending them more money than they could possibly repay and then taking over their economies. ...
 

Congressman Kucinich Grills AIG On Fraud

Kucinich rips apart AIG CEO for stealing millions.

 
Madoff Shows No Emotion as Judge Orders 150-Year Sentence
Bloomberg - Patricia HurtadoDavid Glovin - ‎062909
June 29 (Bloomberg) -- Bernard Madoff, standing with his hands clasped in front of him, showed no emotion as a judge ordered him to serve the rest of his life in a prison cell.
 
 
Why America Now Supports Taxing the Rich
Wall Street Journal Blogs - Robert Frank - ‎071009‎
A poll taken last month, and cited by the Wall Street Journal, showed 55% of respondents supported limiting tax deductions for the wealthy on charitable ...
 
 
The Financial Meltdown
We will never know the true inside story of what really went on
The International Forecaster by Bob Chapman
On Friday, we had the latest edition of the FDIC “Friday Night Financial Follies” as regulators on Friday shut down Bank of Lincolnwood, a small bank in Illinois, marking the 37th failure this year of a federally insured bank. More are expected to succumb amid the pressures of the weak economy and mounting loan defaults. ...

The Retreat of the Shadow Lenders, Why Deflation and not Inflation is the Order of the Day
webofdebt.com by Ellen Brown - June 18, 2009
While contrarians are screaming “hyperinflation!”, the money supply is actually shrinking. This is because most money today comes into existence as bank loans, and lending has shrunk substantially. That means the Fed needs to “monetize” debt just to fill the breach.

Our Economy Is Going to Keep Tanking...
Until We Stop Shoveling Billions to Rich People

CounterPunch - by Pam Martens 2009-06-02

For the past eight months, we have been a nation focused on bailouts and bankruptcies. For the past ten years, we have been a nation ignoring massive wealth transfer and wealth concentration through a rigged Wall Street.

As simple and clear as this picture is, some of the brightest minds in this country are unwilling to connect the cause and effect of wealth in too few hands to bankruptcies and a tanking economy.

Wealth-deprived consumers can't buy the goods and services being produced. This leads to repetitive cycles of layoffs and growing unemployment which leads to more wealth-deprived consumers leading to more overcapacity in production plants, more layoffs, more shrinking purchasing power.

The accompanying, and equally dangerous, problem is that concentrated wealth stifles the very innovation that is necessary to create new industries, new jobs and lead us out of the downward economic spiral.

Let's think about the individuals who tapped into Wall Street's rigged wealth transfer system and what they have done with their ill-gotten loot: typically, they own three or more homes, fancy cars, multiple country club memberships, airplanes, yachts, and numbered offshore bank accounts. The problem is, they just can't buy enough to compensate for the purchases they have deprived hundreds of thousands of other consumers from being able to make. ... (Read more)

Economic And Political Advice From The Movie 'Network'

You've Got To Get Active When Let Down By The System
 

 

The Great Bail-Out Scam
An open letter to Congress on the bail-out
NewsFocus, by Tim Watts 040209
For those not thinking properly on these large bail-outs…. “we the people” want some accountability. Congress is bankrupting us to save the poor business dealings of others. So in essence, let’s bankrupt our once great sovereign nation in order to save a smaller not so great for-profit corporation. There is no other way to parse that statement. ...
 

 

New American Hero: Brad Sherman Tells It Like It Is

And yet CNBC still seems to be clueless to it all.
I guess we know who not to get our financial advice from now.

 
CORRECT ME IF I'M WRONG...
Are We Helping The Wong People With The Bail-Outs And Stimulus?
NewsFocus, by Tim Watts 032209

It seems to this American that all of the corporate bail-outs deal with keeping the ultra-wealthy afloat. Someone please explain how giving money to uber-rich banks and corporations will save this country. We are dealing with the richest 1% of America while the other 99% with the real spending power are left to rot and die. Where is the common sense in that approach?

It would seem apparent to most that we've had enough of Reaganomics and the 'trickle-down" theory. It has been proven undeniably that this rationale is very clearly a gross financial myth, if not simply a bald faced lie from the fat cats that have gained all of their wealth off the middle-class and the poor.

The rich easily forget where they earned (stole) their money from, through the over-valuing of retail goods and services, ripping off the American consumer in the end process for obscene, outrageous profits. I like to refer to this as "unchecked capitalism."

The benchmark of American capitalism is that you charge 100% of what an item costs you in order to make your tidy profit. Many have now egregiously overstepped that rule with the sky as the limit principle for their unchecked, immoral avarice. For all the crap rhetoric that this country likes to spew about communism and socialism, it appears that unchecked capitalism has indeed truly been the worst evil for humanity and the world.

Fact: The Bush administration gave those 1% of America's most wealthy the largest tax breaks immediately upon coming into office. So what did Americans ever get in return? Oh yeah, our economy is in shambles.

Fact: More corporations leave for off-shore tax shelters, refusing to pay their fair share in an economy whose infrastructure they freely use and abuse on a daily basis. According to a 2008 Government Accounting Office (GAO) report, over 66% of these ultra-wealthy corporations and overpaid executives give nothing back to America by paying NO taxes whatsoever. With revenues of over $2.5 trillion dollars in untaxed income, this is, to coin a new term, taxation treason.

Fact: Rather than use bail-out money for what it was intended for, the wealthy elite have instead used it to, 1) get richer, 2) as a next egg for their own bad times, 2) grow more powerful by buying up smaller institutions and competitors, and 4) paying dividends to their top wealthy shareholders. All against the TARP and what the stimulus was intended for.

Fact: Wall Street pariahs fervently seek to destabilize markets and institutions through short selling and other outlandish financial schemes, all so they can make a buck for themselves, with no personal responsibility for the economic backlash they create.

Excuse me, but what is wrong with this picture?

If the term "criminal behavior" pops to mind, you're definitely on the right track.

For anyone to blame middle-class America for accepting loans that our government and private financial institutions enticed and teased them with is a wildly disingenuous accusation. As cold as it sounds or truly may be, rape has always been a hard case to to prove in a court of law when the victim eagerly urged and teased the predator on. So why do we accept this disgusting reasoning when it is now applied to inflated mortgages and loans in the current housing and financial crisis?

It would seem that if you seriously wanted to stimulate the economy, you would help the 99% of Americans who hold the true buying power in this country. That is where true economic recovery begins. It does not take a master economist to grasp the principle in this concept. Trying to appease the wealthy has already been proven to be a waste of time and money. It merely depletes the middle class and creates more of the poor and lower class.

Momma always said, don't trust bankers, lawyers, politicians or insurance salesman. I guess we can now add Wall Street investment brokers to that list as well.

Let the richest 1% wallow in the financial cesspool that they created. Throw the bail-out lifeline to the other 99% of Americans who truly need it.

There I said it. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

Sign me,

Just one more pissed off American.
 

 
News Video

School House Rock - Where The Money Goes

News Video

School House Rock - Wall Street

 
Do You Make Good Profits Or Bad Profits?
Explaining the difference between "good profits" and "bad profits." Another example of capitalism gone awry, or "unchecked capitalism.".
 
More News On This Site:  
 
This is truly laughable...

BofA's Lewis Against Reinstating Glass-Steagall Act

No, of course not. Because so far, that little arrangement has been working rather well for them - they got obscenely rich, and we got the tab
The Glass-Steagall Act of 1933 prohibited banks from having commercial- and investment-banking businesses under one roof, but the law was repealed in 1999 by the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act. The change followed the merger of Citicorp Inc. with Travelers Corp. Inc. to form Citigroup Inc. ...
 

 
News Video

The Credit Card Interest Rate Scam Explained

News Video

How To Get Out Your Interest Rates Lowered

News Video

Why It's Hard To Get Out of Debt

News Video

How To Get Out of Debt The Right Way

 
THIS IS UNDENIABLY A HUGE PART OF THE PROBLEM
If working families have to pay their taxes then so should big, wealthy corporations.  When major corporations avoid paying state taxes, families and small businesses pay more.  We shouldn’t be increasing  tuition, fees and property taxes on working families to fix the budget deficit while big, wealthy corporations dodge their taxes. -Wisconsin State Representative Spencer Black, 77th District

GAO STUDY: $2.5 Trillion In Corporate Money Goes Untaxed!
Nearly two-thirds of U.S. companies and 68% of foreign corporations do not pay federal income taxes, according to a congressional report released Tuesday. (August 2008) The Government Accountability Office (GAO) examined samples of corporate tax returns filed between 1998 and 2005. In that time period, an annual average of 1.3 million U.S. companies and 39,000 foreign companies doing business in the United States paid no income taxes - despite having a combined $2.5 trillion in revenue.
GAO-08-957 Tax Administration: Comparison of the Reported Tax Liabilities of Foreign and US Controlled Corporations 1998-2005 ...[PDF]

Study Says Most Corporations Pay No US Income Taxes
Reuters - Aug 12, 2008
Most US and foreign corporations doing business in the United States avoid paying any federal income taxes ...

Most Companies in US Avoid Federal Income Taxes
ABC News - Aug 2008
Most Corporations Pay No Income Tax. ... Two-thirds of U.S. corporations paid no federal income taxes between 1998 and 2005, according to a new report from ...
Most Corporations Don't Pay Income Taxes AfterDowningStreet.org

GAO finding: Majority of corporations pay no taxes
BuzzFlash - Major Mike - Aug 12, 2008
Corporations don't pay any taxes, only people pay taxes ...
Most Companies Pay No Federal Income Tax CBS News

Britain’s largest corporations pay no tax

Corporate Tax Breaks Put The Cart Before the Horse

U.S. Corporations That Pay No Taxes Still Get Tax Breaks

HOW TAX TREASON WORKS:
Corporations Today
How S Corporations Save Taxes
Controlled Foreign Corporation Tax Guide
Business Tax Planning for an Obama Presidency

A Study On Companies That Avoided Taxes In The 90s

  • Lyondell Chemical
  • Texaco
  • Chevron
  • CSX
  • Tosco
  • PepsiCo
  • Owens & Minor
  • Pfizer
  • J.P. Morgan
  • Saks
  • Goodyear
  • Ryder
  • Enron
  • Colgate-Palmolive
  • MCI Worldcom
  • Eaton
  • Weyerhaeuser
  • General Motors
  • El Paso Energy
  • WestPoint Stevens
  • MedPartners
  • Phillips Petroleum
  • McKesson
  • Northrop Grumman

Taxing Multinational Corporations 7/14/06

CTJ/ITEP Study of State Corporate Taxes 2/2/05

Corporate Income Taxes in the Bush Years 2/2/05

Congress Passes $210 Billion in New Corporate Tax Breaks 10/12/04

United States Remains One of the Least Taxed Industrial Countries 4/27/07

Corporate Welfare Will Cost Taxpayers More Than $170 Billion In 2002 4/17/02

Wal-Mart Rigs Tax System to Skip Out on $2.3 Billion in State Taxes 4/16/07

Wal-Mart: A Huge Corporate Welfare Tax Queen
These are the same people trying to fool you there is a "death tax" rather than an "estate tax" for the ultra-wealthy.

Corporate Welfare
Time, By Donald L. Barlett and James B. Steele 110998
How would you like to pay only a quarter of the real estate taxes you owe on your home? And buy everything for the next 10 years without spending a single penny in sales tax? Keep a chunk of your paycheck free of income taxes? Have the city in which you live lend you money at rates cheaper than any bank charges? Then have the same city install free water and sewer lines to your house, offer you a perpetual discount on utility bills--and top it all off by landscaping your front yard at no charge? ...
 


Anyone that still believes in the trickle-down theory (Reaganomics) needs to take a serious look at the state of our economy. Bush gave the wealthiest 1% of Americans the biggest tax breaks immediately after taking office and look what it did for our country.
 

 
News Video

School House Rock - Paying Taxes

News Video

School House Rock - Tyrannosaurus Debt

 

The Corporation

A Must See Psychoanalysis of the Modern Corporation

 
Hey, GOP... remember this one?
Bush Signs Landmark $700-Billion Bailout Legislation!
Reuters - ‎by Eddie Evans and Kevin Krolicki - October 3, 2008‎
President Bush Friday signed landmark US$700-billion legislation to help lenders unload distressed real estate assets off their books, a move aimed at curbing a spreading financial crisis. The White House confirmed that Bush had signed the bill, which was approved earlier by the House of Representatives, just before he was due to leave for a political fund-raiser in St. Louis and a weekend stay at his Texas ranch. ....

Remember $29-Billion In Financing For JP Morgan/Chase's Buyout of Bear Stearns
First We Had $200-Billion For Fanny Mae And Freddie Mac
Then We Had The First AIG Bail-Out For $85-Billion
Then There Was The Second AIG Bail-Out For $37-Billion (up to $148-B under Bush)
And Don't Forget The $25-Billion Auto-Bail-Out
We Gave Bank of America $118-Billion
And on and on and on. It's hard to keep up at this point.

There's Even More: Bush's Bailouts- $1.8-TRILLION and Counting

Bush Demands Congress Increase Deficit with Tax Breaks for Business

More Bail-Out News And Information
 

 

Love Him Or Hate Him: Glenn Beck Nails This One On The Head

What's the old saying?... A broken clock is right twice a day.

 
Congressman: Culprits Of Financial Collapse Should Be Arrested
Not treated as saviors and given more power to “fix” the problem that they created
PrisonPlanet.com, By Paul Joseph Watson - March 12, 2009
Congressman Ron Paul says that the people responsible for the economic crisis should not be hailed as saviors and given more power to fix the problem that they created, but arrested and criminally prosecuted. Paul told the Alex Jones Show that the only way the private Federal Reserve could be brought under control would come as a result of a mass uprising, noting that there is a lot more awareness in Washington about the Fed’s contribution to the economic crisis.

The Congressman has two bills before Congress, one to abolish the Fed altogether and another to audit the organization. “Today they’re protected, they’re in total secrecy and they’re protected by the law - if 1207 is passed we have an audit and they have to answer the questions and I figure, if we ever get that far and get the exposure and get the transparency that we need then people will wake up and realize, why do we have them at all,” said Paul. ...
  

 
Ben Bernanke On '60 Minutes'
U.S. News & World Report - ‎031609
Ben Bernanke's appearance on "60 Minutes" Sunday night was a great public relations move. Calling a lack of "political will" in stabilizing the banking ...
Fed chief defends banking bailout and predicts early recovery guardian.co.uk
 

Fed Chair Bernanke On :60 Minutes

A PR attempt to calm the country down, but how can we trust the Fed?
 

 
Jon Stewart Ices Jim Cramer With Earnest Anger, Not Bombast
Cramer's Day of 'Stewarts'... Martha meek in the morning, Jon right on at night
U.S. News & World Report - ‎17 hours ago‎ 031309
If you haven't seen it, the Jon Stewart-Jim Cramer interview from Thursday night was actually worth the hype. You know there's something going on when the people weighing positively for Stewart afterward range from TPM and James Fallows, who compares Stewart to both Edward R. Murrow and David Frost (so who plays whom in "Stewart/Cramer"?) ...

More Stewart vs. Cramer on the Media page  (Full video of interview)
  

 
Obama Will Move To Block Executive Bonuses At AIG
The Associated Press - ‎1 hour ago‎ 031609
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama says his administration will "pursue every legal avenue" to stop insurance giant American International Group from ...
Obama, voicing outrage, vows battle to block AIG bonuses CBC.ca
Obama will move to block AIG bonus payments Chicago Sun-Times
Obama Orders Treasury Chief to Try to Block AIG Bonuses New York Times

Rachel Maddow Show

Discussing the temerity and cluelessness of AIG.

AIG releases list of bailout benificiaries
guardian.co.uk - ‎31 minutes ago‎ 031609
Despite denials, Goldman Sachs tops lists of benificiaries from US taxpayer bailout of insurance giant AIG. Bowing to building pressure from the media, ...

Obama: AIG Bonuses an 'Outrage' to Taxpayers
Washington Post - By William Branigin  031609‎
President Obama today blasted the plan of insurance giant AIG to pay millions of dollars in bonuses to traders who helped bring the company to the brink of ruin, calling the payments an "outrage" that violates "fundamental values" ...
AIG Threatened with Subpoenas Over Bonuses
ABC News

AIG Still Living in Denial As It Pays Out Millions in Bonuses
By Mary Kane 3/15/09 11:33 AM
Bailed-out insurance giant AIG will no doubt be a heated topic of discussion today, with The Wall Street Journal and other news organizations reporting that the failed and essentially insolvent company is vowing to pay out $450 million in bonuses to its “top performers” — you know, the folks in the financial products unit, many of whom contributed to bringing the company to ruin and helped tank the entire economy in the process.

 
US "in a deep mess" but we will fix it: Geithner
Reuters - ‎53 minutes ago‎ 031009
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner pledged on Tuesday to "do what is necessary" to jolt the United States out of recession but said the rest of the world should agree to act in a coordinated way.
Geithner Says Obama Committed to Fixing US Economy Bloomberg
Lawmakers Weigh Need for Second Stimulus to Spur Job Growth Wall Street Journal
Pelosi leaves door open to second stimulus
Reuters

Jon Stewart's Take On The financial Crisis

Why is it comedians get this but Congress doesn't?
 

 
Switzerland breaks with tradition on tax evasion
The Associated Press - ‎5 hours ago‎
GENEVA (AP) — Switzerland's days as a safe haven for the world's tax evaders are numbered. Under pressure from the United States and other troubled economies, the Swiss government announced Friday that it will cooperate in international tax
...

Switzerland eases banking secrecy
BBC News - ‎14 hours ago‎
Switzerland, the world's largest offshore financial centre, has agreed to accept concessions on bank secrecy. However, while it will now abide by international rules on bank data sharing, it said it would only respond to "concrete and justified"
...

Bank secrecy moves may force wealthy back onshore
Reuters - ‎9 hours ago‎
By Lisa Jucca - Analysis BERNE (Reuters) - Wealthy people who have stashed cash in undeclared accounts in Switzerland and other offshore centers may now seek ways to legitimize their money after Berne and other tax haven governments relaxed bank
...
 

 
Chicago Bank Hosts Lavish Party After Receiving Bail-Out
MSNBC 022509
Reports of lavish spending by a Chicago bank has lawmakers fuming and demanding your money back. Northern Trust sponsored a PGA event in California last ...

Lawmakers Press Northern Trust Bank On Party After Bailout
MSNBC - ‎16 hours ago 022509
The latest report of a bank holding a lavish party has some lawmakers pressing the bank to return the money spent on the events. Entertainment Web site TMX ...
Democrats demand bank return bailout funds UPI
Northern Trust under fire for lavish parties ABC7Chicago.com
Northern Trust not all bad
Examiner.com

CBS News Report On Lavish Bank Parties

The American people are not going to stand much longer for this.

There's even more greed:

Banks' golf-loving execs fiddle while Wall Street burns
San Jose Mercury News
, By John Ryan - ‎022509
Golf is going to have to live it up without Morgan Stanley. Will this economy show no mercy? No mercy at all? The investment bank announced ...

Morgan Stanley Will Not Suspend All Participation In Golf Tourney Chicago Tribune
  

 
US senator wants Fed to name loan recipients
Reuters - ‎30 minutes ago‎ 030309
WASHINGTON, March 3 (Reuters) - A US senator berated Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke on Tuesday for refusing to name banks that borrow from the central bank and introduced legislation that would require public disclosure. ...
 

 
Obama plays Robin Hood with budget
Chicago Tribune By Maura Reynolds- ‎1 hour ago‎ 022809
Washington Bureau WASHINGTON - From front to back and on nearly every page, President Barack Obama's new budget plan delivers a message that's seldom been heard in American politics for more than three decades: It's time for the
...
Obama's budget: Taxing for fairness or class warfare? Los Angeles Times
Typical family would get tax cut in Obama budget The Associated Press

Keith Olbermann Tries To Set The GOP Straight On Obama's Budget

Robert Reich weighs in with his two-cents worth on the Obama budget.

 

 
Monetize This! Resolving a Spiraling Public Debt Crisis
How Obama could take a Page from the Fed's Playbook
Global Research, by Ellen Brown  February 21, 2009

"Diseases desperate grown are by desperate appliances relieved, or not at all." – Shakespeare, "Hamlet"

Moody’s credit rating agency is warning that the U.S. government’s AAA credit rating is at risk, because it has taken on so much debt that there are few creditors left to underwrite it. Foreigners have bought as much as two-thirds of U.S. debt in recent years, but they could be doing much less purchasing of U.S. Treasury securities in the future, not so much out of a desire to chastise America as simply because they won’t have the funds to do it. Oil prices have fallen off a cliff and the U.S. purchase of foreign exports has dried up, slashing the surpluses that those countries previously recycled back into U.S. Treasuries. And domestic buyers of securities, to the extent that they can be found, will no doubt demand substantially higher returns than the rock-bottom interest rates at which Treasuries are available now.

 
May God Help Us All...

G7 Meeting: Italy's Giulio Tremonti calls for a "new global order"
By Andrew Willis 021609
Finance ministers and central bank governors of the Group of Seven industrialised nations (G7) met over the weekend in Rome to discuss the ongoing financial crisis and economic slowdown.

G-20 needs joint efforts, not talk of a 'new order'
International Herald Tribune, France - 12 hours ago
In this new economic game, the state will have a greater role to play. Never before has the question of our civilization been posed as clearly! ...

 
Clinton says US and China are in the same economic boat
Reuters - 022209
By Arshad Mohammed BEIJING (Reuters) - China and the United States are both dependent on a revival of the US economy and will rise or fall together, ...
Clinton urges stronger China ties BBC News, UK
 

Lansing Mayor Rips FOX Anchor On Financial Crisis

One thing is clear to the public, the American worker did not cause this mess.

 
Financial Crisis: Toxic Plans for Toxic Assets
by Stephen Lendman Global Research, February 16, 2009
Exit Paulson, enter Geithner with the latest "no banker left behind plan" - aka whatever Wall Street wants, Wall Street gets. Yet, the reception was underwhelming. The Dow plummeted 382 points while investors took shelter in bonds and gold. AP reported that "the new bank rescue plan landed with a thud on Wall Street" as investors worried that no end to the crisis is in sight. Editorial and op-ed commentaries were near unanimously negative and some especially critical. ...
 
 

House Finance Panel Rips Into Bankers Over Bailout

For some, the bankers conduct during this crisis is tantamount to treason.

 
Bailout Includes Executive Pay Limits For Some Firms
Allows More Than Presidential Pay With Half-Million Bar For Bail-Out Execs
Washington Post - 1 hour ago 020409 By David Cho, Binyamin Appelbaum and Howard Schneider
The Obama administration plans to slap a $500,000 limit on annual salaries of top executives at some of the financial firms at the heart of a government bailout program, part on effort to curb public ...

Obama reining in CEO pay Boston Globe
President Puts Bailout Companies On Notice CBS News

Obama sets executive pay limits for bailout companies
Reuters - 1 hour ago 020409
By Jeff Mason WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama imposed tough new rules on Wednesday to rein in corporate pay, capping executive compensation at $500000 a year for companies receiving taxpayer funds as he seeks to put the struggling US ...
Treasury Announces New Restrictions on Executive Compensation New York Times
Obama talks tough on CEO pay CNN
 

 

Keith Olbermann Rails Against Fat-Cat Corporate Greed

Time for greed to take a backseat to the US economy.

 
Where All the TARP Money Went
U.S. News & World Report, DC - 22 hours ago 021209
Yesterday’s interrogation of the eight bank CEOs by the 71 inmates of the House Financial Services Committee was surreal. The politicians all demanded to ...
 

Congress goes after the big bankers

 Congress asks, 'Why do you need bonuses'

Top bank officials, Treasury chief, grilled by Congress
Chicago Tribune, United States - Feb 12, 2009
Congress has said part of the remainder must be devoted to helping troubled homeowners facing foreclosure. "I just don't believe that's enough money to fix ...

 

House Panel Asks, 'Where's The Money?'

Bankers feebly try to defend why they're hoarding our money.

 
Vanity Fair Editor Uncovers Bail-Out Application
Apply To Get Your Cut of The Bail-Out Pie Today!
by Bruce Feirstein December 1, 2008, 9:47 AM
Well, it turns out that V.F. contributing editor Bruce Feirstein has discovered the über-top-secret Federal Bailout application—the one-page “EZ-CASH” form that’s been making the rounds at corporate board rooms, weekend ski chalets, and NetJets waiting rooms all across America. ...
 
Yeah, This Is Not A Good Thing People...

Time Magazine: The New World Order
A New Central Bank For The World Is Needed
By Justin Fox Thursday, Feb. 05, 2009
In recent weeks, the world has been politely standing by and watching how things play out with the fiscal stimulus and latest bank-bailout plans in Washington. ...

We Need a Bank Of the World
The financial crisis is global- Only an international central bank can deal with it.
NEWSWEEK, By Jeffrey E. Garten, Published Oct 25, 2008 (From the magazine issue dated Nov 3, 2008)
If George W. Bush's upcoming global summit on how to fix the world's broken financial system—an event proposed by several European presidents and prime ministers—is to be a serious effort, the leaders should begin laying the groundwork for establishing a global central bank. The idea of such an institution would have been a political nonstarter before the current debacle. ...

 

Paul Krugman Schools The Talking Heads On The Economy

Krugman displays a clear insight into the financial crisis

 
Richest 400 Earn More, Pay Lower Tax Rate
Forbes, NY - Jan 29, 2009
WASHINGTON, DC--The 400 highest-earning taxpayers in the US reported a record $105 billion in total adjusted gross income in 2006, but they paid just $18 ...

Income of 400 richest Americans doubled during Bush era!
Raw Story, MA - Jan 31, 2009
The 21st century Gilded Age party really got going before the US economy went bust. It was a party disproportionately enjoyed by high-income Americans, ...
 

 
Feds foil plot to wipe Fannie Mae data
Associated Press 013009
URBANA, Md. (AP) — The Justice Department says it foiled a plot by a fired Fannie Mae contract worker in Maryland to destroy all the data on the mortgage giant's 4,000 computer servers nationwide.
 
 

Bank of America: Bad For America?
Reports of Bail-Out Money Misuse
Brave New Films 012809
Bank of America is spending bailout funds like a drunken sailor, but not on anything that will serve as a life raft for our drowning economy. The largest bank in the US received a whopping $25 billion in bailout funds with another $20 billion on the way. And yet they just spent $4 billion on executive bonuses, invested $7 billion overseas, and dropped millions more on DC lobbyists. Meanwhile, they are laying off 35,000 workers and actively trying to block the Employee Free Choice Act.

Bank of America Flaunts Bail-Out Money

Anyone defrauding the bail-out needs to be indicted and prosecuted to the fullest.

CBS: 60 Minutes On Bank Of America

Our overrated financial industry; more abundant with greed than with morals.

 

Fed Vice Chair Is Grilled On Bail-Out Money

When they won't tell you who got our money, that is criminal, plain and simple.

 

Do You Suppose Anyone Has An Answer To This Question yet?

Congressman Kucinich asking the important question, who are you working for.

 

An Insight Into Money and the Federal Reserve

You can't understand the crisis unless you understand our money system.

Congressman Kucinich Explains Financial Crisis And The Federal Reserve

The Federal Reserve Is Not Owned By The US Government
 

 
The U.S. Economy is being Marched to the Gallows
Predictions of hyperinflation, dollar decline and civil unrest
 
 
Bailed-Out Firms Dodge Taxes By Being Offshore
 
 
Follow The Money: Was Part Of Bailout A "Bait And Switch?"
CBS News, NY - Jan 12, 2009
It took a full month for many in Congress and the American public to realize that billions in bailout funds were not going to be used the way they thought. ...
 
 
Fed. Reserve prez: 'Pull out all stops'
 
 
Willem Buiter Warns of Massive Dollar Collapse
 
 
AIG Execs Get Millions In Cash Awards
Payouts Are Being Called 'Retention Payments,' Not Bonuses
It seems AIG has done it again, this time by going out of its way to rename bonuses so they won't be reported as such...
 
Bush economy is the weakest in decades
 
 


Here's A Huge Part of the Financial Crisis

It's unpatriotic to exploit our country for profit while depriving "we the people" a tax.
Corporations and their executives need to be held accountable.
 

 
60 Minutes: Did Wall Street speculators create oil price bubble?
David Edwards and Muriel Kane
Published: Monday January 12, 2009
One of the most inexplicable economic events of the past year involved the doubling of the price of oil last spring and summer from $69 a barrel to nearly $150 -- driving gasoline and heating oil costs through the roof -- followed by its even more rapid collapse this fall to under $50

60 Minutes looked into various theories of what happened and concluded that "many people believe it was a speculative bubble .. and that it had more to do with traders and speculators on Wall Street than with oil company executives or sheiks in Saudi Arabia." (Story and video here )
 

W. And The Damage Done
The Harm To The Country And The World Is Unprecedented
By Vincent Rossmeier and Gabriel Winant 010808
President Bush inherited a peaceful, prosperous America. As he exits, Salon consults experts in seven fields to try to assess the devastation.

The $10 trillion hangover:
Paying the price for eight years of Bush
By Joseph E. Stiglitz and Linda J. Bilmes
In a new article in Harper’s Magazine, Linda Bilmes and Joseph Stiglitz estimate that the cost of undoing the Bush administration’s economic choices, from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan to the collapse of the financial system, soaring debt, and new commitments to interest payments and Medicare, all add up to over $10 trillion.
( See Democracy Now interview )

Cost of the Bush era: $11.5 trillion and counting
The outgoing administration has presided over 8 years of disasters and crises with some of the biggest price tags the nation has ever seen.
 

 
The Shadow Money Lenders: The Real Significance of The Fed’s Zero-Interest-Rate Policy (ZIRP)
By Matthias Chang - 2008-12-26
Financial engineering has accelerated the creation of credit.
 
 
The Great Depression of the 21st Century: Collapse of the Real Economy
By Michel Chossudovsky - 2008-11-15
The proposed bank "bailout" under the so-called Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) is not a "solution" to the crisis but the "cause" of further collapse.
 
 
Dude, where's my $700 billion?
Congress handed Wall Street a huge wad of cash to jump-start the economy. It didn't work -- so where did all that money go?
 
 
Bank of Spain Chief: World Faces "Total" Financial Meltdown
Dec 21 11:40 AM US/Eastern
The governor of the Bank of Spain on Sunday issued a bleak assessment of the economic crisis, warning that the world faced a "total" financial meltdown unseen since the Great Depression. ...
 
 
China Losing Taste for Debt From US
New York Times, United States - 3 hours ago
By KEITH BRADSHER HONG KONG — China has bought more than $1 trillion of American debt, but as the global downturn has intensified, Beijing is starting to ...
 
 
Unemployment Filings Reach 26-Year High
Washington Post - 7 hours ago 122408
By Annys Shin The number of people filing for unemployment benefits hit a 26-year high last week, as the deepening recession forced more employers to cut jobs.
US Initial Jobless Claims Rise to 26-Year High Bloomberg
 
 
Bush bars auto workers from striking
 
 
1/3 of Banks Predicted To Disappear Next Year
Many banks don't have enough money to survive in 2009, but mergers will keep their brands alive, said Ralph Silva of TowerGroup.
 
 
US Congress accepts pay increase
Despite Tanking Economy, Congress Accepts Cost of Living Raise
MINA, Canada - 22 hours ago 122308
Each member of Congress will receive a $4700 pay increase at the beginning of the year. Congress has set up for themselves an automatic “cost-of living ...
 
 
Bushes to retire in luxury
 
 

$50b Fund Fraud Hits America's Wealthy

Did Madoff act alone in fraud?

Madoff Trail Leads To Washington

Madoff investors hope for bailout
The Associated Press - 4 hours ago
NEW YORK (AP) — One week ago, Ronnie Ambrosino was a millionaire. Now, Ambrosino is among the long list of investors whose fortunes were allegedly wiped out.

European banks hit by US scam

Alleged fund crook under house arrest

Madoff’s Misconduct Said to Date to 1970s as Client List Surged
Bloomberg - 121908
By David Scheer Dec. 19 (Bloomberg) -- US regulators, trying to unravel the breadth of Bernard Madoff’s alleged $50 billion fraud, have found evidence of misconduct stretching back to at least the 1970s, two people familiar with the inquiry said.
Judge signs order protecting Madoff assets The Associated Press
Madoff agrees to extension of asset freeze guardian.co.uk

$1.4Bn Madoff Investor Found Dead
Body of 65-year-old co-founder of Access International Advisers found at his company's HQ ...

Fund manager tied to Madoff loss found dead: reports
MarketWatch - 51 minutes ago 122308
By Wallace Witkowski SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Thierry Magon de la Villehuchet, a fund manager who reportedly lost large sums in Bernard Madoff's alleged $50 billion Ponzi scheme, was found dead in a New York office building, according to media ...
Madoff Fund Operator De La Villehuchet Found Dead Bloomberg
French manager, possible Madoff victim, dead in NY guardian.co.uk

Wealth Creation, or a Ponzi Scheme?
Last week the Good Lord evidently realized that not enough people had been reading Hyman Minsky’s explanation of how financial cycles end in Ponzi schemes – the stage in which banks keep the boom going by lending their customers the money to pay interest and thus avoid default.
 

 
Exec guilty in tax shelter case
Former chairman of firm's tax division cost taxpayers up to $100 million.
 
 
AMEX gets $3.3 billion bailout
 
 

Tidy Up The Bailout
Boston Globe, United States - 16 hours ago 011509
IF TAXPAYERS are spending billions to bail out banks, they deserve to know how that money is used. US Representative Barney Frank has introduced legislation ...

Fed won't reveal names of recipients of $2 trillion
Andrew McLemore,
Published: Friday December 12, 2008

The Federal Reserve refused a request from Bloomberg News to reveal the recipient of $2 trillion in emergency loans paid for by U.S. taxpayers.

After Bloomberg filed an open records request through the Freedom of Information Act, the fed answered by arguing that it's allowed to withhold information, including memos and trade secrets. ( Continue reading )

Congress: Show us the money!
Legislation will force banks to tell what they did with $700 billion bailout funds.

Where Did The Bailout Money Go? Shhhh, it's a secret
Banks refuse to answer questions on what they did with the bail-out money. ...

Where's the bank bailout money?
CNN International - 19 hours ago 122308
NEW YORK (CNN) -- Banks have launched public relations campaigns to bring in customers and soothe nerves, with ads offering "peace of mind" and other ...

Bailout: Feds don't know where money went?
Jackson Clarion Ledger, MS - 16 hours ago 122308
The Associated Press, in a survey, found that not only do most banks that have received the $750 billion say they don't know how or if they have spent it, ...

Federal bailout: Fair to taxpayers?
Seattle Post Intelligencer - 21 hours ago 122208
The Associated Press asked 21 banks how they spent government funds and not one bank would give specific answers. "We're choosing not to disclose that," ...
 

 
Naomi Klein, Robert Kuttner and Michael Hudson Dissect Obama’s New Economic Team & Stimulus Plan
112508
On Monday Obama named New York Federal Reserve Bank President Timothy Geithner to the post of the Treasury Secretary. Former Treasury Secretary under Clinton Lawrence Summers was named the Director of the National Economic Council in the White House.
 
 

Helen Thomas - It's A Depression
By HELEN THOMAS HEARST NEWSPAPERS
WASHINGTON -- Few prominent economists will say it, but to me it looks and feels like we are in another Great Depression or a reasonable facsimile.The current meltdown is dubbed a "financial crisis." But a rose by any other name would still inflict the same hardship and suffering on most people and businesses.

The Worst Is Yet To Come
Anonymous Banker Weighs In On The Coming Credit Card Debacle
By Joe Nocera
A few weeks ago, I published an e-mail message sent to me from an executive who works in the banking industry — and had become disgusted by what he sees all around him. This weekend, that same banker sent me another e-mail message, which he has also agree to let me publish. It’s another wake-up call. Too bad nobody is listening.
Continue

Financial Meltdown: You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet
By Mike Whitney - 2008-11-25
 

 
Forbes- Paulson Worst Treasury Secretary
 
 
The Ten Worst Corporations of 2008
By Robert Weissman - 2008-11-24
 
 
News Video

Auto CEOs Give Their Reasons For Bail-Out

News Video

Harry Reid On Bail-Out

 

End the Fed Rallies

End the Fed, End Wall Street Bankster Rule, End the Derivatives Depression 
by Webster G. Tarpley / Global Research - 112308
The November 22 End the Fed rallies raise a vital issue: it is past time to abolish the unconstitutional, illegal, and failed institution known as the Federal Reserve System, the privately owned central bank which has been looting and wrecking the US economy for almost a hundred years.

Death of the American Empire
By Tanya Cariina Hsu / Global Research - 102308
"Banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies"
(Thomas Jefferson)
America is dying. It is self-destructing and bringing the rest of the world down with it.
Often referred to as a sub-prime mortgage collapse, this obfuscates the real reason.

How the Financial Crisis Was Built Into the System
In 1910, seven men held a secret meeting on Jekyll Island off the coast of Georgia. It's estimated that those seven men represented one-sixth of the world's wealth. Six were Americans representing J.P. Morgan, John D. Rockefeller, and the U.S. government. One was a European representing the Rothschilds and Warburgs.

 
News Video News Video

JP Morgan Behind CFR Origin

The Citi-Group Bail-Out

 
Movies & Documentaries
Why The Federal Reserve Violates The US Constitution
Phenomenon: The Secrets of the Federal Reserve
Money, Banking and the Federal Reserve
Zeitgeist - The Federal Reserve
Masters of the Universe
The Money Masters
Money as Debt
The Capitalist Conspiracy

The Secret History of the Credit Card
Bill Moyers - The National Debt  Part 1  |  Part 2
News Video News Video

 

 

Dennis Kucinich On Bail-Out

Ron Paul Schools Bernanke On Bail-Out

 

   
 

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Last modified: February 04, 2014