News & Comment
Blogs and Opinion
Way Too Big To Save by Simon Johnson, baselinescenario.com | March 9, 2010
Listening to U.S. officials, talking to legal experts, and waiting for an intense Senate debate on financial reform to begin, you can easily form the impression that “too big to fail” adequately describes our most serious future systemic banking problems. It does not. Here are some mistakes to avoid. read more »Why Won't Robert Rubin Go Away? by Dean Baker, Truthout | March 8, 2010
As Treasury Secretary, Robert Rubin put in place all the pieces that set up the economy for the disaster that we are now living through. It may not seem just that someone like Rubin would be allowed to live out his life in luxury after the policies that he promoted and personally profited from led to so much suffering for so many people. But that is the way things work in the United States these days. However, what is even more infuriating is that he doesn't seem to have any intention of going away. He is still pontificating on the economy and desperately trying to rewrite history to exonerate himself. read more »Sallie Mae's Jets: Bank Shills Use "Socialism" Scare to Shaft Students, Serve the Wealthy by Richard (RJ) Eskow, OurFuture.org | March 8, 2010
Two noted shills for the banking industry - Republican Lamar Alexander and Rupert Murdoch's Wall Street Journal - just trotted out the "socialism" boogeyman, so here we go again: another lie, another con, another ripoff. "School loan socialism" is the new Death Panel. But, hey, somebody's gotta keep Sallie Mae's corporate jets flying. read more »Not As They Do: Conservatives and the Deficit, Pt. 3 by Terrance Heath, OurFuture.org | March 8, 2010
Conservatives who squawk about the deficit — and Democrats who should know better, but squawk anyway — tend to do so selectively. That is, they tend to focus only on spending. But spending is only half of any deficit equation. read more »Senator Dodd Doubles Down on a Losing Bet by Mary Bottari, OurFuture.org | March 8, 2010
Watching the devolution of the bank reform bill in the U.S. Senate has been painful. Banking Chairman Chris Dodd’s original proposal unveiled last year had numerous strengths, most significantly the removal of bank supervisory authority from the Federal Reserve. read more »Stiglitz's Smackdown, Elizabeth Warren's Teeth, and Robert Rubin's Virtual Reality by Richard (RJ) Eskow, OurFuture.org | March 4, 2010
Nobel Prize-winner Joseph Stiglitz said the Fed was "corrupt," Elizabeth Warren said she wanted to fight for the CFPA until there were "blood and teeth" on the floor, and Robert Rubin said "virtually nobody" saw the crash coming. read more »A Five-Step Guide To Real Financial Reform by Reid Cramer, | March 3, 2010
The next big battle in Washington — one that will heat up fast if the health care tussle is ever resolved — will be fought over reform of the financial sector. In recent weeks, President Barack Obama has gone on the offensive, calling for new restraints on Wall Street wheeling and dealing and vowing to veto weak legislation. The big banks and their lobbyists are vigorously resisting a rewrite of their operating rules and working hard to insert loopholes and exclusions that would gut the legislation. Obama can prevent that from happening by spelling out the benchmarks the legislators must meet to avoid his veto pen. The details of financial reform can be complicated. But it’s not hard to come up with the must-have provisions. Here are five that the White House should insist upon to make sure we get financial reform that works, not just window dressing. read more »The New Republicans by Steven D, boomantribune.com | March 3, 2010
You thought they couldn't possibly get behave as badly as they did under Bush. After all the old style Republicans lied us into costly, unnecessary and illegal wars. They turned record surpluses into record budget deficits. They gave massive tax cuts for the few at the top of the income chain at the expense of the many. Yet, few among the Old Guard have dared to publicly state for the record that they support the following "policies" which would cripple the Federal Government's ability to protect anyone without an "Inc." at the end of their name. read more »Elites Rule, Not You: When Bipartisanship Becomes Undemocratic by Richard (RJ) Eskow, OurFuture.org | March 3, 2010
At what point does "bipartisanship" begin to erode the democratic process? Here's my answer: When it's used to take decision-making power away from voters and place it in the hands of a governing elite - an elite which acts in secret so that its members cannot be held accountable to anyone for their actions. read more »Elites Rule, Not You: When Bipartisanship Becomes Undemocratic by Richard (RJ) Eskow, OurFuture.org | March 3, 2010
At what point does "bipartisanship" begin to erode the democratic process? Here's my answer: When it's used to take decision-making power away from voters and place it in the hands of a governing elite - an elite which acts in secret so that its members cannot be held accountable to anyone for their actions. read more »
The Latest
A culture of bullying and greed: Wanted - interns for Goldman Sachs... , independent.co.uk | October 17, 2012
WikiLeaks Is Down After Denial of Service Attacks, mashable.com | August 9, 2012
After five days of denial of service attacks, the WikiLeaks website has been knocked out. more »The Spreading Scourge of Corporate Corruption, The New York Times | July 11, 2012
Perhaps the most surprising aspect of the Libor scandal is how familiar it seems. Sure, for some of the world’s leading banks to try to manipulate one of the most important interest rates in contemporary finance is clearly egregious. more »Needy States Use Housing Aid Cash to Plug Budgets, The New York Times | May 16, 2012
Vermont Legislature Passes Resolution Challenging Citizens United, commondreams.org | April 21, 2012
Goldman Sachs: Lloyd Blankfein 'disappointed' by claims of 'toxic' greed, telegraph.co.uk | March 14, 2012
Legal Fees Mount at Fannie and Freddie, The New York Times | February 22, 2012
Taxpayers have advanced almost $50 million in legal payments to defend former executives of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in the three years since the government rescued the giant mortgage companies, a regulatory analysis has found.
Memo
To: DOJ Funky fascist America Dept
Subject: Accountability more »Apple investigates 'sweat shop' factories following suicide threat, telegraph.co.uk | February 13, 2012
The technology giant, which has faced criticism over working conditions at some of its suppliers’ plants in China, said today that it had asked the Fair Labor Association (FLA) to conduct “special voluntary audits” of several facilities, including factories owned b more »On the Trail of Mortgage Fraud, The New York Times | January 17, 2012
When is a crime not a crime?
When criminality subverts the system, challenges the system, becomes the system. From the Kleptocrats' point of view it is the systematic breakdown of each and every law which gets in their way; preventing the ascent to power of their enhanced moral values.
The Kleptocrats are really America's third political party.
Help Stop SOPA/PIPA Breaking The Internet, wordpress.org | January 14, 2012
You are an agent of change. Has anyone ever told you that? Well, I just did, and I meant it.
