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About the monetary system: Interest rates should be reversed with the rich paying more and the poor paying less.

March 4, 2012 in Banks, Corporate Greed, Insurance Rackets, Wall Street

It is set up to perpetuate the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer. This will never end until we remove most members of Congress who continue to support this system because it works for them. That is fact. Overall, this means stop voting for Democrats or Republicans. Realize that they are merely two heads of the same counterfeit coin.

Most of us know by now that the way money is created is by extending credit. The government and banks are the ones endowed with the power to create money. The rich don’t need credit. They can afford to pay for whatever they want. It’s the poor who need credit/money. However, you can only get credit if you have assets to post as collateral. But you only have assets if you are rich. Therefore, the rich get cheap money (loans at low interest rates) while the poor, when they can obtain a loan, often pay in interest many times the value of the loan. In other words, those who can least afford it pay the most. It would make much more business sense, not only for the poor, but for all of us, if the wealthy paid higher interest rates for their loans and the poor paid lower rates.

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More on the Monetary System in the USA

Many Americans knew what was coming down the pike with the creation of the Federal Reserve and they didn’t like it.  The cartoon below was created a year or so before the signing of the Federal Reserve Act. The Plan originally called for the establishment of a National Reserve Association with 15 regional district branches and 46 geographically dispersed directors primarily from the banking profession. The Reserve Association would make emergency loans to member banks, print money, and act as the fiscal agent for the U.S. government. State and nationally chartered banks would have the option of subscribing to specified stock in their local association branch. The plan was proposed by a Republican by the name of Aldrich. Since the Aldrich Plan essentially gave full control of this system to private bankers, there was strong opposition to it from rural and western states because of fears that it would become a tool of certain rich and powerful financiers in New York City, referred to as the “Money Trust”.

Typical with their hand-in-glove side show, the Democrats stepped in and worked out a compromise to the Republican proposal (private sector take all) and proposed a compromise.  The Glass-Owen bill was created by two Democrat Senators.  However, unlike the Aldrich plan, which gave controlling interest to private bankers with only a small public presence, the new plan gave an important role to a public entity, the Federal Reserve Board, while establishing a substantial measure of autonomy for the (regional) Reserve Banks which, at that time, were allowed to set their own discount rates. Also, instead of the proposed currency being an obligation of the private banks, the new Federal Reserve note was to be an obligation of the U.S.

If you haven’t noticed, that’s how the Democrat and Republican leaderships for the rich have been working for over a hundred years.  First the Republican propose an outrageous scheme that is so one-sided for the rich that public outrage arises from the people.  Then the Democrat leadership steps in and proposes a “compromise”.  And we feel better because “it could be so much worse.”    In the end, the majority of the people get the shaft–only instead of the full shaft, we only get 2/3′s of it.  A recent example of this is the Obama Administration’s compromise for health care.  A few Americans, as long as they can afford to pay the premiums, get a few breaks on coverage.  However, the bill did nothing to bring down the over all cost for insurance premiums that Americans must pay AND it mandated that all Americans currently without insurance purchase it in 2016 from the very crooks who are currently ripping them off–50 million new customers for the crooks who are already ripping us off.  This is a solution?  You bet it is–for Wall Street and for the members of Congress–most of who own stock in these health insurance companies.

Proclaim the Queen!

    What are the consequences of allowing Corporations to regulate themselves?

    January 17, 2012 in 2012 Elections, Wall Street

    Another example of the “doubling-down head-banging logic”  is the nonsense that deregulation of corporations is what we need.  All you need to do is take a look at their current records and remember that this is their behavior even in the face of the half-assed regulations that we currently have and ask yourself:  What would it look like with no regulations?

    For example, consider the history of human and environmental abuse of just one of these hundreds of multinational corporation:  Chevron

    They pollute the environment and ruin the health of people in other nations.
    The petrochemical company Chevron is guilty of some of the worst environmental and human rights abuses in the world. From 1964 to 1992, Texaco (which transferred operations to Chevron after being bought out in 2001) unleashed a toxic “Rainforest Chernobyl” in Ecuador by leaving more than 600 unlined oil pits in pristine northern Amazon rainforest and dumping 18 billion gallons of toxic production water into rivers used for bathing water. The toxic crude oil and formation water seeped into the subsoil, contaminating surrounding freshwater and farmland. As a result, local communities have suffered severe health effects, including cancer, skin lesions, birth defects, and spontaneous abortions. Indigenous communities have been dispossessed of their lands, and millions of hectares of rainforest have been destroyed to make way for the company’s pipelines and oil wells.

    There is evidence that they even murder to protect their profits.
    Chevron is also responsible for the violent repression of nonviolent opposition to oil extraction. In Nigeria, Chevron has collaborated with the Nigerian police and military who have opened fire on peaceful protestors who oppose oil extraction in the Niger Delta. In 1998, two indigenous Ilaje activists were killed by Nigerian military officers flown in by the company while protesting at an oil platform in Ondo state. In 1999, two people from Opia village were killed by military personnel paid by Chevron, after soliciting a meeting to complain about the company’s harmful effects on local fishing. And in 2005, Nigerian soldiers fired upon protestors at Escravos oil terminal, leaving one protestor dead.

    The harm they do is not limited to people outside the USA.  They destroy the environment and the health of Americans as well.
    Additionally Chevron is responsible for widespread health problems in Richmond, California, where one of Chevron’s largest refineries is located. Processing 350,000 barrels of oil a day, the Richmond refinery produces oil flares and toxic waste in the Richmond area. As a result, local residents suffer from high rates of lupus, skin rashes, rheumatic fever, liver problems, kidney problems, tumors, cancer, asthma, and eye problems.

    SOURCE

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    Where, I ask you, is the evidence that corporations like Chevron would act better if they were given free reign to do as they please to people and the environment?

    Seriously, what the hell makes anyone think that deregulating and lifting the legal responsibility for corporations to adhere to human and environmental responsibilities would make them better citizens when in fact,  giving them free rein to be even worse criminals than they already are will most likely make them worse criminals than they already are.

    As Americans and as citizens of the world, we need to start asking important questions because its a cinch that members of Congress and the Corporate sponsored pundits are not going to ask them.

    But asking the important questions is just the first step.  We must answer them and then take action accordingly.

    Here is another important question that Americans should be asking:  Based on their voting records for the past 20 years which have consistently been for Wall Street and the rich, what the hell makes you think that voting for a Democrat or a Republican will bring you anything other than more of the same?

     

    Proclaim the Queen!

      Judges are criticizing the SEC for being too easy on Wall Street Crooks

      December 23, 2011 in 2012 Elections, Wall Street

      For the second time in the past month a federal judge has criticized the Securities and Exchange Comission for beig too soft with corporate enforcements.

      A federal judge in Milwaukee told the SEC that its proposed settlement with the Koss Corp. is too vague and asked the agency to provide more facts by January 24. In October the SEC charged Koss Corp., a headphone-manufacturer, with accounting fraud.

      Wednesday’s ruling from U.S. District Judge Rudolph Randa is the latest in a string of actions by federal judges to challenge the way the government agency enforces regulations.

      Last February, SEC chairwoman Mary Schapiro said that the agency doesn’t have enough money to satisfactorily police Wall Street or draft new regulations required by the Dodd-Frank financial reform law.

      Excuse me if my sarcasm is showing, but I can’t help but wonder if these judges themselves are not putting on a show.  Still we can hope.

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      CONSIDER THE SOURCE MARY SCHAPIRO:  ANOTHER WALL STREET SHILL APPOINTED BY BARACK OBAMA

      ILWQ COMMENTS – Mary Schapiro who Obama put in charge of the SEC is just another one of his corporate stooges for Wall Street.  Why on earth would anyone expect anything more than a hand slap for Wall Street criminals from the former CEO of Duke Energy, one of the largest Wall Street criminals of all?

      I had Mary’s number back in December of 2009, even before two years ago when I wrote in a post: “. . . Mary Schapiro–the chairman of the SEC--a woman who has been an SEC commissioner (regulator since 1988 having served Reagan, Bush I, Clinton and Bush II).  A lot of experience.  Kinda makes you wonder why SHE didn’t catch Madoff if she is so hot as a regulator.

      But never mind that.  Look at her history as Director of Duke Energy since 1999.  When she took over, Duke Energy ranked 46th as the worst polluter in the USA.  Today, after 9 years of Mary’s leadership, Duke Energy now ranks as the #13 worst polluter in the USA.  That’s some regulating, Mary.  They also love cutting off the tops of mountains–another great recommendation for Mary and her respect for the environment and people.  She’ll be a perfect fit for the SEC.

      Schapiro is another Wall Street toady who believes in “self regulating” markets. Right. As the head of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) she twiddled her thumbs while the financial giants increased their leverage to gigantic levels and spread their derivatives contagion to every part of the system.

      Schapiro also missed the Madoff scandal, the auction-rate bond fraud, the blow up at Lehman Brothers, and the    .  .  . ”

      Maybe things will change–but not before we throw them all out and replace them with non-millionaire, non-Wall Street investors.

      Thanks in great part of Occupy Wall Street, most of us know that the huge problem is our financial system–especially the Wall Street Casino that is fueled by the greed of the rich. The economic woes of the USA are systemic and anyone with half a brain  knows this.  The financial system of the USA is broken for the majority of us.  It scams and robs us daily.  Wall Street is a corrupt system that works for the rich few, for 12% of Americans while it is destroying the economy of our nation and American lives with it for the rest of us who compromise the majority.

      And yes, that number is 12%, not 1%.  The 1% could not do what they are doing to the rest of us without the willing assistance of the other 11% of the wealthiest who are invested in Wall Street. The only solution for America is for Americans to take all their investments out of Wall Street and invest them locally in their communities NOW before it is too late.  If you think that Wall Street can be improved working from the inside out, then you are either uninformed or totally in denial.

      The Chief Operating Officer of the SEC enforcement division is Adam Storch  a former Goldman Sachs employee.   For the five years prior to his appointment by the Obama administration in Oct of 2009, Storch worked at Goldman Sachs, most recently as vice president in Goldman’s Business Intelligence Group.  The position, along with the division, was created as a reaction to the subprime mortgage crisis.  If Storch is not a fox in the henhouse, there has never been one. If you think that the system can or will be improved from the inside out, you are dreaming.

      Furthermore, its operations are based on broken economic cliche drivel that was originated over 50 years ago in the late 1950′s by a Chicago economist by the name of Milton Friedman.  This economic ideology for the rich is so entrenched in our culture that many Americans equate it with our founding fathers instead of a loud-mouthed economics professor from the University of Chicago in the late 1950′s.  It’s time we had an economic ideology that works for the world–not just the rich from DC, New York and Chicago.

      Proclaim the Queen!

        The Cynicism and Evil-Doing of Wall Street Corporations has no bounds

        December 11, 2011 in Wall Street

        Here are a few good reasons to not own stock in Pepsico or Coca-Cola and to not purchase their products.

        PepsiCo

        Deception with Purpose: Pepsico’s Water Claims in India

        India Resource Center

        Pepsico, one of the largest food and beverage companies in the world, has begun claiming that it has achieved “positive water balance” in India, that it is “Giving Back MORE WATER Than We Take”. Wonderful as it may sound, Pepsico’s claims of achieving “positive water balance” simply do not add up. Pepsico’s claims are misleading and do not stand up to scrutiny.

        Claims of “positive water balance” as in the case of Pepsico and “water neutral” in the case of Coca-Cola are business and reputational risk management maneuvers, assisted by risk management companies such as Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu, and implemented through sophisticated public relations efforts to “bluewash” the company’s image. Pepsico’s claims of “positive water balance” fail for a number of reasons, some of which are detailed in the link to the article above at India Resource Center.

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        COCA-COLA

         

        Coca-Cola in Guatemala

        On February 25, 2010, another human rights abuse lawsuit against Coca-Cola was filed in the Supreme Court of the State of New York and later moved to federal district court. “This case involves a campaign of violence – including rape, murder, and attempted murder – against trade unionists and their families at the behest of the management of Coca-Cola bottling and processing plants in Guatemala.”

        It should be noted what happened in the ’70s and ’80s in Guatemala City: According to “Soft Drink, Hard Labor” published by the Latin America Bureau (UK) in 1987, “For nine years the 450 workers at the Coca-Cola bottling plant in Guatemala City fought a battle for their jobs, their trade union and their lives. Three times they occupied the plant — on the last occasion for 13 months. Three General Secretaries of their union were murdered and five other workers killed. Four more were kidnapped and have disappeared. Against all the odds they survived.”

        Read more about Coca-Cola’s crimes in Guatemala.

        Coca-Cola in El Salvador

        In addition to abuse of workers, Coke has been involved in the exploitation of children by benefiting from hazardous child labor in sugar cane fields in El Salvador. This was first documented by Human Rights Watch in 2004 and in footage taken in 2007 for a nationally-televised British documentary and highlighted in Mark Thomas’s book “Belching Out the Devil: Global Adventures with Coca-Cola,” published in 2009 in the U.S.

        Representatives of the International Labor Organization interviewed company representatives at Colombian Coca-Cola bottling plants in 2008 to ascertain whether they exercised any control of suppliers of raw materials (such as sugar) to ensure that they did not use child labor. The manager at the Coke plant in Cali said that their suppliers should not use child labor, but added “that the enterprise [Coca-Cola] did not yet exercise oversight over this issue.”

        Read more about Coca Cola’s crimes in El Salvador.

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        Proclaim the Queen!

          War is their Cash Cow and they use our Children as cannon fodder.

          December 10, 2011 in 2012 Elections, Wall Street, War

          If you are still among those who buy into their patriotic hogwash and nationalistic propaganda, then perhaps you will believe it a little less after reading this:

          and when they are done, the bodies of our children who died in their fake wars are dumped in a landfill

          The Air Force dumped the incinerated partial remains of at least 274 American troops in a Virginia landfill, far more than the military had acknowledged, before halting the secretive practice three years ago, records show. The landfill dumping was concealed from families who had authorized the military to dispose of the remains in a dignified and respectful manner, Air Force officials said. There are no plans, they said, to alert those families now.

          Read William Rivers Pitt’s full article:  The Final Indignity, the Last Insult, the Real America They don’t care what happens to us as long as their stock portfolios continue to swell.

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          Look at the defense spending increases and this does not even include Homeland Security–the government agency we pay taxes to feel us up at airports:

          And, if you still believe that there is a difference between a Democrat or a Republican on their stance regarding war, you need a history lesson:

          1. In 2006 the American people elected a Democrat majority in BOTH houses on a clear mandate to end the war in Iraq and bring the troops home no later than the end of December 2008.

          2. This Democrat majority continued to rubber stamp George Bushes unfunded requests for military appropriations.

          3. In July of 2007, only a few months after being in office, this Democrat majority in both Houses voted, not to bring troops home, but to send 100,000 more over there.

          4.In 2008 we elected a Democrat for President and indeed eventually  in 2010 he did bring home the 100,000 that the Democrats send over to Iraq in 2007.  Now in December of 2011 the remaining 50,000 America soldiers will leave Iraq, but only because the Iraqi people are telling us to get the hell out.  It wasn’t like the Obama administration didn’t try every trick in to book to keep them there.

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          And the fake wars and killing and cynical disposal of our children will continue as long as those who profit from war are allowed to vote for it.

          The current jerks in Congress are raising hell about cuts to the Defense Budget that amount to 15%.  They claim that it is “unprecedented.”  Apparently they are unaware of history.  Perhaps they are blinded by their own greed because no war means less money in their pockets.

          From Foreign Policy.com, we have the following statistics on cuts to the defense budget–15% is a measly cut.

          Eisenhower cut the defense budget by 27%
          Nixon cut the defense budget by 29%.
          Bush Senior by 17%
          Reagan by 10%

          and look at the money they rake in for supporting war and then tell me how this is not a conflict of interest:

          Look to the various Wall Street investments of Congressional members into War Profiteers and you’ll find the root cause for endless wars.

          Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass) $28,872,067 $38,209,020
          Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen (R-NJ) $12,081,050 $49,140,000
          Rep. Robin Hayes (R-NC) $9,232,037 $37,105,000 (no longer in Congress but serves as chairman of the NC Republican party)
          Rep. James Sensenbrenner Jr. (R-Wis) $5,207,668 $7,612,653
          Rep. Jane Harman (D-Calif) $2,684,050 $6,260,000 (no longer in Congress, but this explains her stance as a hawk)
          Rep. Fred Upton (R-Mich) $2,469,029 $8,360,000
          Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-WVa) $2,000,002 $2,000,002
          Rep. Tom Petri (R-Wis) $1,365,004 $5,800,000
          Rep. Kenny Ewell Marchant (R-Texas) $1,163,231 $1,163,231
          Rep. John Carter (R-Texas) $1,000,001 $5,000,000

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          AND WHAT CAN DO YOU DO ABOUT IT?

          You can stop buying into the phony three-ring circus of the “two-party” system.

          You  can run for office yourself as an Independent.

          You can support non-milionaiare, non-Wall Street investor vultures.

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          Proclaim the Queen!

            More proof of who the 1% Senate Represent

            December 10, 2011 in 2012 Elections, Wall Street

            and it’s not you and it’s not me

            They would rather protect Wall Street and their own personal Stock portfolios.

            Today, obstructionists in the Senate blocked an up-or-down vote on the nomination of Richard Cordray to head the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). Fifty-three senators voted for Cordray, while 45—all Republicans—voted against ending debate on his nomination. Massachusetts Sen. Scott Brown (R) voted for Cordray, and Maine Sen. Olympia Snowe (R) voted present.

            The new agency, which was created by the Wall Street Transparency and Accountability Act, is limited in its powers and cannot fully protect consumers—until a director is confirmed. Which is exactly why 44 Republican senators have no intention of letting any director be confirmed. In May, they signed a letter to President Obama threatening to block any nomination to head the agency.

            The 44 GOP senators who would not allow an up-or-down vote on Richard Cordray’s nomination have received millions from Wall Street this year. And they are shameless in admitting their goal is to force “structural changes” that prevent the bureau from doing its job: protecting consumers from Wall Street abuses. This shows just how much Wall Street greed dominates in Washington these days—particularly within the GOP.

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            ILWQ COMMENTS

            And if you think that  Elizabeth Warren didn’t have anything to do with Scott Brown’s vote, you are wrong.It appears that at least he realizes what is coming down the pike in 2012–even if the other douche bags don’t.

            Wall Street and their goons are fighting being forced to do the right thing all the way to the end of their careers in 2012.

            Proclaim the Queen!

              Yes, Wall Street Corporate America is hoarding $3.6 trillion

              December 7, 2011 in 2012 Elections, Wall Street

              According to a recent report from a group of University of Massachusetts economists, Corporate America is sitting on top of the solution to the nation’s employment crisis. If they only loosened their death grip on a portion of that pile of money they are hoarding, America could begin to heal economically according to the report.

              19 Million Jobs for U.S. Workers

              Abstract:
              Robert Pollin, James Heintz, Heidi Garrett-Peltier and Jeannette Wicks-Lim show that since 2009, U.S. commercial banks and large nonfinancial corporations have been carrying huge cash hoards and other liquid assets, totaling $1.4 trillion. Small businesses, by contrast, have been locked out of credit markets. The authors examine the impact on job creation of mobilizing these excess liquid assets into productive investments, finding that U.S. employment could expand by about 19 million jobs by the end of 2014, with unemployment falling below 5 percent. The paper discusses policies to transform these hoards into job-generating investments, both for the national economy and, specifically, the Los Angeles and Seattle regions . . .

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              ILWQ COMMENTS:  Change for the 99% will only come when we address the root cause.  Treating symptoms does not alleviate the disease, the heart of the problem:  the sick and evil constructs under which Wall Street is allowed to operate.

              Everything in the report is true and members of the 99% who read this report are likely to become even more outraged at Wall Street, Congress, and the 1%.  However, the fact that the Wall Street rich and at least 44% of Congress are hoarding cash and increasing their personal wealth on the backs of the 99% is NOT  the problem.  It is a symptom of the problem.

              THE PROBLEM IS:

              Wall Street is a corrupt and foul system whereby people can get rich off the misfortunes of others without themselves even lifting a finger to work.  Until the guidelines under which Wall Street operates are changed, any improvements will merely be addressing symptoms.  According to the guidelines of Wall Street, cost should not be a part of doing business.  Thus, anything goes when it comes to reducing costs and I mean ANYTHING, not just firing people.  Their evil knows little bounds–up to and including deliberately starving millions of human beings to death* as Goldman Sachs appears to have done according to the opinions of many in 2008.)

              (*Note:  Frederick Kaufman published an article on this topic in Harpers Magazine in August, entitled The Food Bubble: How Wall Street Starved Millions and Got Away with It”  The article chronicles Kaufman’s attempt to get to the bottom of the 2008 food crisis, and the real reason behind why millions of people were shoved into food insecurity and starvation in 2008.)  Where is the justice for these people?  Where is their Nuremberg?  Many say that the executives of Goldman Sachs should be tried for crimes against humanity for what they did in 2008.

              Let me repeat that in simple terms:

              Wealthy Wall Street investors make money when people are fired so why would anyone in their right mind think that these people support job creation–and that includes the majority of Congress.

              and that is the root cause of the problem that is begging for a solution.  Any system whereby profit is created by doing harm to another is corrupt and needs to change. That is the major portion of the root cause.  Until that equation is altered, nothing of any significance will change.

              Here is the other portion of the problem statement of the root cause:

              Members of Congress who create and pass legislation increase their own personal wealth when Americans lose their jobs.  People who own the media, and people who deliver our media also increase their own personal wealth when Americans lose their jobs.

              For example, my own Congressman Pete Sessions, the Republican incumbent for the 32nd US Congressional District numbers among the millionaire Congressional members who have gotten richer on the backs of working Americans.  In 2008, Sessions reported a net worth of $3,376,000.  One year later in 2009 he reported a net worth of $4,904,000.  Thus in the time period in which 7.3 million Americans  lost their jobs, Mr. Sessions made $1,528,000 off his Wall Street investments.

              Go to Open Secrets and look up your own elected officials’ net worth.  Check out the amount in 2008 and then compare it to the amount in 2009.  Chances are you will find that in the two years that millions of Americans were losing their jobs and their homes that your elected officials were increasing their own personal wealth by hundreds of thousands of dollars, and in many cases, by millions.

              Will Americans continue to buy the nationalistic, political hogwash that corporate owned and sponsored media and their yes men like Pete Sessions spill out year after year, or will they finally wake up in 2012 and vote for Independents from neither party who are actually committed to change that will benefit the majority?  Time will tell.  As for me, today is the day I file my intent to run against Pete Sessions in 2012.

              And it’s more than voting for the right person and waiting for a political Messiah.  It’s about forming groups among ourselves at local levels and taking our lives back from these people instead of begging them for crumbs.  We need to work together to create better solutions now–solutions that don’t require obtaining permission from people who not only do not represent us but who also profit from our demise.  #Occupy is leading the way in those efforts.  Support your local #Occupy group in away way you can because at the moment, they are the closest thing that we have to a representative government.  It damn sure is not located in Washington D.C.

              Proclaim the Queen!

                Read between the Lines of the 60 minutes presentation on punishing Wall Street

                December 6, 2011 in Media, Wall Street

                On December 4, 2011, Truth Dig ran a piece titled “60 Minutes Shames Justice Department Over Wall Street”  The article even features a video of the segment.  Since I so rarely watch mainstream media any more, I watched the segment out of curiosity.  Truthdig is a site that usually posts news that supports a progressive viewpoint of the 99%. But they have either changed their format, or they have been sucker punched by CBS.

                60 Minutes is nothing short of Wall Street propaganda wrapped in package to look like unbiased quality journalism .  More and more, however, they are becoming even more blatant in the packaging of their propaganda.  For example, if you happened to watch their program a few days before Thanksgiving.  The American people were invited into the home of Eric Cantor, the man who sponsored two of the devastating trade agreements that Congress, backed by Barack Obama shoved through Congress about a month ago.  One of them, the Korean “Free” Trade agreement will, according to the Congressional Budget Office, remove 159,000 American jobs and will increase the trade deficit by $16 billion.  The 60 Minutes spot for Eric Cantor was nothing short of political advertisement for the Republican.

                So who was 60 Minutes really shaming?

                You didn’t have to be watching too closely to realize that they were not shaming Wall Street, nor were they shaming Wall Street wealthy investors.  In fact, the entire segment was designed to subtly portray Wall Street investors as victims, taken advantage of by greedy unscrupulous poor people and shady low class off-Wall Street players like Country Wide.  In addition, another purpose of the segment was to bash the Obama administration and the Justice department in particular.

                I watched the video and there was much they left out regarding the subprime market.  First and foremost is the one-sided way in which credit is set up to make those who can least afford it pay the most for their loans.  If you are young and/or part of the middle class or working poor, you are not likely to meet the stringent credit requirements for a loan. Thus you  pay much more money for your loans than a wealthy person. And because of this, you are taken advantage of. From 1998 to about 2003, many people were sold subprime loans with subprime rates who qualified for loans with prime rates.  There were many exotic mortgage products developed during this time that were loaded financial cannons.  Adjustable rate mortgages being the mainstay of these variations.  They were sold to people under many different false pretenses.  They could purchase the loan today and then simply refinance a year or so later was one of the scripts.  The truth about many of these homes that have been foreclosed on in the subprime market have seen interest rates rise to double their original monthly payment.  Add to this the fact that Wall Street CEOs have slashed jobs of Americans to maintain those dividend payments to wealthy investors.

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                If CBS and its 60 Minutes Segment were really serious about “Shaming”, they would have shamed the Goldman Sachs Commodity Index and Lloyd Blankfein,the CEO, for starving millions of human beings to death in 2008.

                The Day that 60 Minutes starts talking about crimes against humanity that Wall Street perpetrates and supports will be the day that I have any respect for them.  And believe, me I’m not holding my breath for that day.  If I am elected to Congress, among other things, I’ll work to reclaim the air waves for the American people.

                When there is a surplus of a commodity such as wheat, it is cheaper on the market–a good thing for the 99% and a bad thing for the boys on Wall Street and their wealthy investors.  So they create a bubble that inflates the value of the product or commodity.  They manipulate the market.  In this example from 2008, the Goldman Sachs traders bought and bought and bought wheat and then didn’t sell it.  This creates the appearance of a shortage of wheat on the market and thus drives up the price of wheat as they horde the supply.

                As a result, in 2008, a year of the largest wheat production in 100 years, millions more all over the world starved to death because they could not afford to purchase their daily bread.*  At the end of 2008, all the huge amounts of surplus wheat left over was sold as cattle feed to corporate livestock farms.  This single act of criminality on a global scale committed by Wall Street resulted in the unnecessary deaths of millions of human beings–more than the  number of deaths resulting from all World Wars–and yet no one has been punished for this evil act that was knowingly committed.  Where is the justice for the millions who starved to death because of greedy Wall Street bankers?  Where is their Nuremberg?

                *Note:  Frederick Kaufman published an article on this topic in Harpers Magazine in August, entitled “The Food Bubble: How Wall Street Starved Millions and Got Away with It”  The article chronicles Kaufman’s attempt to get to the bottom of the 2008 food crisis, and the real reason behind why millions of people were shoved into food insecurity and starvation in 2008.


                Proclaim the Queen!

                  Of course Congressional members don’t mind Wall Street Corporations Not paying taxes

                  November 26, 2011 in Wall Street

                  At least 44% of Congress (the millionaires) get paid regardless–besides, although they like to gripe at the 35% income tax they are supposed to pay, I doubt that any of them have EVER paid 35% of their income in taxes–EVER!

                  ExxonMobil numbers among the  10 companies that have the most untaxed foreign income.  If you want to see the information in brackets that follows regarding the number of Congressional members who own this stock, you can go to Open Secrets

                  1. General Electric (GE)  [106 members of Congress own stock in GE - 52 Democrats and 54 Republicans]

                  Untaxed foreign profit: $94 billion
                  Tax Haven: US
                  Strategy: An army of 1000 former IRS accountants keeps GE’s taxes near zero

                  2. Pfizer (PFE) [63 members of Congress own stock in Pfizer- 31 Democrats and 32 Republicans]
                  Untaxed foreign profit: $48.2 billion
                  Tax Havens: Global
                  Strategy: HC Industry keeps more profits overseas than any other industry

                  3. Merck (MRK) [38 members of Congress own stock in Merck.
                  Untaxed foreign profit: $40.4 billion
                  Tax Havens: 140 countries
                  Strategy: Used more than $9 billion from abroad in 2008 tax-free to finance Schering-Plough acquisition

                  4. Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) [ 52 members of Congress own stock in this corporation]
                  Untaxed foreign profit: $37 billion
                  Tax Havens: Choose from 60 countries
                  Strategy: 48 consecutive years of dividend increases.

                  5. Exxon Mobil (XOM) [51 members of Congress own stock in Exxon Mobil]
                  Untaxed foreign profit: $35 billion
                  Tax Havens: Does most of its business on international soil
                  Strategy: 80% of the company’s 2009 earnings came from outside the U.S.

                  Proclaim the Queen!

                    Make pension funds whole from the crimes committed by the financial industry.

                    November 26, 2011 in Class War, Wall Street

                    Forget about taxes, start fining these jackasses and sending them to jail!

                    Jonathan Tasini of Working Life  has a promising solution to replace the one that New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo and state organized labor leaders are exploring to tap into the private and public pension funds of workers to help pay for an array of constructions projects, including the overhaul of the Tappan Zee Bridge. [What part of using people's pension funds (their own money) to pay their salaries don't these people think that workers will understand?  How absurd do their thefts from the 99% have to become before people start using pepper spray on them? Really!  How much more damned obvious do the crimes of the 1% have to become?]

                    Tasini’s first suggestion is good.

                    How about demanding passage of the “millionaire’s tax”, or as Mr. Tasini  likes to refer to it:  the “modest dues to live in a functioning society” bill? Because, if we had that tax, and a more progressive tax system in this state, then, duh, there would be public money for…rebuilding bridges. for example. The governor currently opposes demanding that the richest one percent pay a little more.  Poor babies.

                    But Tasini’s second suggestion is even better.

                    Second thing: public pension funds in New York state ALONE lost $100 billion because of the financial crimes on Wall Street. There is a bill in the state legislature, the Lancman Libous bill, which both the New York state comptroller and the New York City comptroller support, because it would enable the pension funds to sue to recover billions that were stolen from the pension funds during the financial collapse. Why not demand that tapping workers’ pensions funds be tied to supporting a law that would make those very same pension funds whole from the crimes committed by the financial industry?

                    Proclaim the Queen!