News & Comment
Blogs and Opinion
One Free Market System for Wall Street, Another Free Market System for Main Street by Robert B. Reich, robertreich.org | February 12, 2010
Free market system? As I remember it, American taxpayers forked out hundreds of billions to keep JPMorgan, Goldman, and other big Wall Street banks afloat through most of 2009. Had we not done so, Dimon, Blankfein, and most other top executives on Wall Street would not have earned a dime last year. In fact, some would be out on the street, rather than sitting pretty on the Street. The free market system has been unleashed instead on average Americans. read more »The Real Uncertainty For Business: Where's The Credit? by Isaiah J. Poole, OurFuture.org | February 11, 2010
House Minority Whip Eric Cantor today reiterated the claim that "uncertainty" created by the work Democratic congressional leaders are doing to clean up the mess left by conservative economic policies is responsible for the anemic state of the economic recovery and lack of job creation. read more »In the Gritty World of Campaign Fundraising, The Power of Positive Progressivism by Richard (RJ) Eskow, OurFuture.org | February 11, 2010
Let's have a frank talk about an uncomfortable subject: Progressives need to raise campaign money in order to get elected and stay in office. Sometimes that money has to come from places that progressives aren't comfortable talking about. This gritty reality has too often led to the conclusion that the Left needs to bow down to Wall Street in order to succeed. It's a Washington truism. But is it true? read more »Palin Trumps Obama - On a Trojan Horse Filled With Bankers by Richard (RJ) Eskow, OurFuture.org | February 11, 2010
Never underestimate Sarah Palin. She did a better job articulating anti-banker sentiment at last week's Tea Party Convention than Obama's done. Its followers don't realize it, but the Tea Party movement is really a Trojan Horse filled with bankers and lobbyists. It's a brilliantly designed mechanism for channeling anti-bank rage to the banks' own benefit, with Palin et al. in the forefront. And it could work. read more »A College Test for Washington: Help Young People in Need, or Kowtow to Bank Lobbyists? by Richard (RJ) Eskow, OurFuture.org | February 9, 2010
It should be, as the President once called it, a "no-brainer": Overhaul our broken system for distributing federal student loans. Stop giving banks undeserved profits for administering these loans (an estimated $80 billion over ten years), since they take no risk and have managed the program poorly. Make sure our money goes directly to the young people that need them the most. Who could be against that? read more »Wall Street Whores by Isaiah J. Poole, OurFuture.org | February 8, 2010
I don't like to use the term "whore" lightly. But what else, in our current economic environment, would you call this? read more »Chris Dodd vs. Big Banks' Gambling Addicts by Isaiah J. Poole, OurFuture.org | February 2, 2010
Will Senate Banking Committee Chairman Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., be seduced by the siren song of bipartisanship and allow the nation's largest banks to gamble with what amounts to a taxpayer-paid insurance policy? read more »Chris Dodd vs. Big Banks' Gambling Addicts by Isaiah J. Poole, OurFuture.org | February 2, 2010
Will Senate Banking Committee Chairman Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., be seduced by the siren song of bipartisanship and allow the nation's largest banks to gamble with what amounts to a taxpayer-paid insurance policy? read more »Small Businesses Defy Chamber, Support Financial Reform by Isaiah J. Poole, OurFuture.org | February 1, 2010
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is spending millions of dollars in an over-the-top campaign to turn small business owners against strong financial reforms in general and the creation of a consumer financial protection agency in particular, But one poll indicates that the entrepreneurs the campaign is targeting aren't buying it. A woman running a Richmond, Va., business explains why. read more »At Davos 2010, Some Tough Talk on Greed by Sam Pizzigati, OurFuture.org | January 31, 2010
Labor leaders at last week's Alpine assembling of global bankers and CEOs came with a simple pledge: We're going to fight to cap your pay. 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.
