News & Comment
Blogs and Opinion
Why Obama Must Take On Wall Street by Robert B. Reich, truthdig.com | January 29, 2010
What happened to all the tough talk from Congress and the White House early last year? Why is the financial reform agenda so small, and so late? Part of the answer is that the American public has moved on. A major tenet of U.S. politics is that if politicians wait long enough, public attention wanders. A larger explanation, I am afraid, is the grip Wall Street has over the American political process. The Street is where the money is and money buys campaign commercials on television. Wall Street firms and executives have been uniquely generous to both parties, emerging as one of the largest benefactors of the Democrats. Between November 2008 and November 2009, Wall Street doled out $42 million to lawmakers, mostly to members of the House and Senate banking committees and House and Senate leaders. In the first three quarters of 2009, the industry spent $344 million on lobbying — making the Street one of the major powerhouses in the nation’s capital. read more »Bernanke Whip Count Update: Bernanke Nears 50, 30 Senators Remain Undeclared by Bill Scher, OurFuture.org | January 27, 2010
While we at Campaign for America's Future and Open Left having been conducting our own "Bernanke Whip Count," so have the journalists at Hotline On Call. read more »Bernanke Whip Count Update: 38 Senators Still Up In The Air by Bill Scher, OurFuture.org | January 27, 2010
It's been 24 hours since Campaign for America's Future and Open Left launched the "Bernanke Whip Count," enlisting the grassroots to find out where Senators really stand, and help target our efforts to demand accountability before approving his nomination for another term h read more »Bernanke Cloture Vote on Thursday by Robert Borosage , OurFuture.org | January 27, 2010
On the pending vote to confirm Fed Chair Ben Bernanke to a second term, a senior administration official is quoted as complaining about the lack of support from Republicans. "Someone's learned the wrong lesson from the Massachusetts race and it's not President Obama," he says. Oh, really? read more »Financial Reform: We Can't Afford To Lose by Isaiah J. Poole, OurFuture.org | January 26, 2010
"There's a lot of populism going on in this country right now, and I'm tired of it." read more »Financial Reform: We Can't Afford To Lose by Isaiah J. Poole, OurFuture.org | January 26, 2010
"There's a lot of populism going on in this country right now, and I'm tired of it." read more »Wall Street's Bonus Binge in Perspective by Sam Pizzigati, OurFuture.org | January 24, 2010
A relative handful of Americans, a key congressional panel forecasts, will take home more this year than half the nation's taxpayers combined. read more »Out Of Alignment: Wall Street Bonuses And The Public Good by Joseph E. Stiglitz, | January 21, 2010
Our financial system failed to perform the key roles that it is supposed to perform for our society: managing risk and allocating capital. A good financial system performs these functions at low transaction costs. Our financial system created risk and mismanaged capital, all the while generating huge transaction costs, as the sector garnered some 40 percent of all of corporate profits in the years before the crisis. read more »Wall Street Rumble: A Fight We're All Ready To Have by Isaiah J. Poole, OurFuture.org | January 21, 2010
It does not matter whether today's pronouncement on financial reform by President Obama was prompted by Tuesday's election disaster in Massachusetts or was a long-building unleashing of his inner populist. What matters is the potential for real White House leadership on changes that must happen if we are to have a stable, growing economy on Main Street. read more »It’s Official. Corporations Rule. by Eric Lotke, OurFuture.org | January 21, 2010
People have been wondering for years who runs our country. People or wealthy corporations? Today the Supreme Court settled the debate. 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.
