G20 London Protest Royal Bank of Scotland
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Showing posts with label economy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label economy. Show all posts
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
Unmasking the Fed
Time for a real change
It's called the Federal Reserve Bank, but it's neither "federal" nor a "reserve" nor a "bank."
In actuality it's a privately owned entity that has monopolistic control over the US money supply.
Rammed down the throat of Congress during the WW I era (the same period that gave us personal income tax, the draft, and the Pentagon), the reality of the Federal Reserve has been one of the best kept secrets in America.
Until now.
Thanks to the Internet, and specifically video on the Internet, more Americans understand the reality behind the Fed than at any time since the Fed's creation.
Spread the word.
A country that leaves the control of its money supply in the hands of a few bankers is not a free country.
From Brasscheck TV
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Making Congress READ the Laws They Pass
Everyone is wrong about the AIG bonuses.
By counterspinyc- Democratic Senator Chris Dodd of Connecticut inserted language into the scam-stimulus bill permitting the AIG bonuses that everyone is now bloviating about. He did so at the request of the Treasury Department. A Congressional majority then voted for the Dodd proposal, and President Obama signed it into law. Those upset about the AIG bonuses should focus on the fact that Congress authorized them.
All the Congressional grand-standing about how bad the bonuses are is rank hypocrisy. One of two things is true . . . Either those who voted for the scam-stimulus bill knew about the bonus provision, in which case they ought to be "falling on their own swords," instead of castigating the government-appointed CEO of AIG, or . . .
They didn't know about the bonus provision, in which case they ought to introduce DownsizeDC.org's "Read the Bills Act," so they'll know what they're passing before they cast their votes.
But, the politicians aren't the only guilty parties in this stupid controversy. The American people are also at fault. Here's why:
read more digg story
By counterspinyc- Democratic Senator Chris Dodd of Connecticut inserted language into the scam-stimulus bill permitting the AIG bonuses that everyone is now bloviating about. He did so at the request of the Treasury Department. A Congressional majority then voted for the Dodd proposal, and President Obama signed it into law. Those upset about the AIG bonuses should focus on the fact that Congress authorized them.
All the Congressional grand-standing about how bad the bonuses are is rank hypocrisy. One of two things is true . . . Either those who voted for the scam-stimulus bill knew about the bonus provision, in which case they ought to be "falling on their own swords," instead of castigating the government-appointed CEO of AIG, or . . .
They didn't know about the bonus provision, in which case they ought to introduce DownsizeDC.org's "Read the Bills Act," so they'll know what they're passing before they cast their votes.
But, the politicians aren't the only guilty parties in this stupid controversy. The American people are also at fault. Here's why:
We're constantly told that Congress doesn't respond to public pressure and that,
therefore, what DownsizeDC.org is trying to do won't work. And yet, we see
Congress respond to public pressure repeatedly. The only problem is that it's
always pressure about the wrong things! The way to prevent problems like the
bonus-authorization provision is to pass the "Read the Bills Act" (RTBA).
read more digg story
Monday, March 16, 2009
Americans Want Justice for Wall Street Crooks: Ralph Nader
By RALPH NADER
Indicators of avoidance are what come to mind while absorbing the various rescue, recovery, stimulus and guarantee programs coming out of the Obama Administration to slow and reverse a splintering and shattering economy. If the Obamites do not act now, when the political time is ripest, to put into motion forces of deterrence and prevention, the casino capitalists of tomorrow will again be able to de-stabilize our economy.
The other day I saw Alan Greenspan, former chairman of the Federal Reserve, just about predicting another round of recklessness in about fifteen years. But he called it "human nature" not casino capitalism.
read more digg story
Indicators of avoidance are what come to mind while absorbing the various rescue, recovery, stimulus and guarantee programs coming out of the Obama Administration to slow and reverse a splintering and shattering economy. If the Obamites do not act now, when the political time is ripest, to put into motion forces of deterrence and prevention, the casino capitalists of tomorrow will again be able to de-stabilize our economy.
The other day I saw Alan Greenspan, former chairman of the Federal Reserve, just about predicting another round of recklessness in about fifteen years. But he called it "human nature" not casino capitalism.
read more digg story
Financial Times says Legalizing Drugs can Help U.S. Economy
By Harvey Morris - The US spends $1,400 a -second in the war on drugs, according to a recent -Harvard study, while the savings and revenue that could be generated by legalising narcotics would equal a 10th of Barack Obama's -fiscal stimulus plan.
With neighbouring Mexico descending towards the -status of a narco-state and with US jails crammed with small-time drug offenders, experts in the field have launched a debate on whether a 40-year crackdown, and the more than $1,000bn (£716bn €773bn) that has been spent on it, has had any impact on -narcotics abuse or on the violent trade that feeds it.
Government ministers and officials gathered in Vienna for the highest-level international conference in 10 years on the drugs question last week issued a declaration re-affirming a commitment to combating narco-trafficking.
But differences emerged at the United Nations' Commission on Narcotic Drugs over whether the emphasis should be on prevention or cure.
read more digg story
With neighbouring Mexico descending towards the -status of a narco-state and with US jails crammed with small-time drug offenders, experts in the field have launched a debate on whether a 40-year crackdown, and the more than $1,000bn (£716bn €773bn) that has been spent on it, has had any impact on -narcotics abuse or on the violent trade that feeds it.
Government ministers and officials gathered in Vienna for the highest-level international conference in 10 years on the drugs question last week issued a declaration re-affirming a commitment to combating narco-trafficking.
But differences emerged at the United Nations' Commission on Narcotic Drugs over whether the emphasis should be on prevention or cure.
read more digg story
Sunday, March 15, 2009
Friday, March 13, 2009
Time Magazine: Can Marijuana Rescue California's Economy?
Time examines legalizing marijuana as a possible solution to California's economic Crisis.
By Alison Stateman / Los Angeles
Could marijuana be the answer to the economic misery facing California? Democratic State Assembly member Tom Ammiano thinks so. Ammiano introduced legislation last month that would legalize pot and allow the state to regulate and tax its sale — a move that could mean billions for the cash-strapped state. Pot is, after all, California's biggest cash crop, responsible for $14 billion in annual sales, dwarfing the state's second largest agricultural commodity — milk and cream — which brings in $7.3 billion annually, according to the most recent USDA statistics. The state's tax collectors estimate the bill would bring in about $1.3 billion in much-needed revenue a year, offsetting some of the billions in service cuts and spending reductions outlined in the recently approved state budget.
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By Alison Stateman / Los Angeles
Could marijuana be the answer to the economic misery facing California? Democratic State Assembly member Tom Ammiano thinks so. Ammiano introduced legislation last month that would legalize pot and allow the state to regulate and tax its sale — a move that could mean billions for the cash-strapped state. Pot is, after all, California's biggest cash crop, responsible for $14 billion in annual sales, dwarfing the state's second largest agricultural commodity — milk and cream — which brings in $7.3 billion annually, according to the most recent USDA statistics. The state's tax collectors estimate the bill would bring in about $1.3 billion in much-needed revenue a year, offsetting some of the billions in service cuts and spending reductions outlined in the recently approved state budget.
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Should Hard Times Permit High Times?
Advocates of legal pot compare marijuana laws to alcohol prohibition, approved during prosperous times in 1920 only to become unpopular during the Great Depression. Prohibition was finally repealed in 1933, in part due to the cost of reining in illegal booze and the need to recoup lost tax revenue in tough economic times.
New America Media, News Report, Marcelo Ballvé
NEW YORK -- In 1977, President Jimmy Carter asked Congress to decriminalize marijuana possession (it never did). The next year, the Ladies Home Journal described a summer jazz festival on the White House's South Lawn where "a haze of marijuana smoke hung heavy under the low-bending branches of a magnolia tree."
The late 1970's may have been the high-water mark for permissiveness regarding marijuana. But advocates of decriminalized pot believe a confluence of factors, especially the country's economic malaise, are leading to another countrywide reappraisal of the drug.
"There is momentum of the sort I haven't seen since I've been involved in this," says Ethan Nadelmann, executive director of the New York-based Drug Policy Alliance, which supports easing marijuana laws.
He says incidents like then-candidate Barack Obama's early admission of pot use or the flap over Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps's bong-smoking may lead to initial public hand-wringing, but in the end they tend to legitimize pot use. So does the growing recognition of medical marijuana.
But, he adds, "the economic crisis is the single most important factor" in this new shift in perceptions.
That's because the ailing economy is triggering a scramble for new government savings or sources of revenue. Nadelmann compares today's marijuana laws to alcohol prohibition, approved during prosperous times in 1920 only to become unpopular during the Great Depression. Prohibition was finally repealed in 1933, in part due to the cost of reining in illegal booze and the need to recoup lost tax revenue in tough economic times.
As he signed a law easing prohibition, President Franklin Roosevelt reportedly quipped, "I think this would be a good time for a beer."
Is our recession-plagued present a good time for a joint? Legalizing, taxing and regulating marijuana, would pull the rug out from under pot dealers in urban America, and create a crisis for them, but it would likely prove a boon for state budgets. In an oft-cited 2006 report on U.S. marijuana production, expert Jon Gettman used "conservative price estimates" to peg the value of the annual crop at $36 billion--more valuable than corn and wheat combined.
read more digg story
New America Media, News Report, Marcelo Ballvé
NEW YORK -- In 1977, President Jimmy Carter asked Congress to decriminalize marijuana possession (it never did). The next year, the Ladies Home Journal described a summer jazz festival on the White House's South Lawn where "a haze of marijuana smoke hung heavy under the low-bending branches of a magnolia tree."
The late 1970's may have been the high-water mark for permissiveness regarding marijuana. But advocates of decriminalized pot believe a confluence of factors, especially the country's economic malaise, are leading to another countrywide reappraisal of the drug.
"There is momentum of the sort I haven't seen since I've been involved in this," says Ethan Nadelmann, executive director of the New York-based Drug Policy Alliance, which supports easing marijuana laws.
He says incidents like then-candidate Barack Obama's early admission of pot use or the flap over Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps's bong-smoking may lead to initial public hand-wringing, but in the end they tend to legitimize pot use. So does the growing recognition of medical marijuana.
But, he adds, "the economic crisis is the single most important factor" in this new shift in perceptions.
That's because the ailing economy is triggering a scramble for new government savings or sources of revenue. Nadelmann compares today's marijuana laws to alcohol prohibition, approved during prosperous times in 1920 only to become unpopular during the Great Depression. Prohibition was finally repealed in 1933, in part due to the cost of reining in illegal booze and the need to recoup lost tax revenue in tough economic times.
As he signed a law easing prohibition, President Franklin Roosevelt reportedly quipped, "I think this would be a good time for a beer."
Is our recession-plagued present a good time for a joint? Legalizing, taxing and regulating marijuana, would pull the rug out from under pot dealers in urban America, and create a crisis for them, but it would likely prove a boon for state budgets. In an oft-cited 2006 report on U.S. marijuana production, expert Jon Gettman used "conservative price estimates" to peg the value of the annual crop at $36 billion--more valuable than corn and wheat combined.
read more digg story
Thursday, March 12, 2009
Conservatives Are Blind, Deaf and Dumb to Class Warfare
Are right-wingers really claiming that the U.S. has never been riven by class resentment? Get out your history books.
read more digg story
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Saturday, March 7, 2009
A War on the Rich?
The bogus GOP claim that Obama is bleeding the wealthy.
LOL...the middle class and the poor are paying for the wealthiest few of society...how can they even complain?!?!
By Daniel Gross
To hear conservatives tell it, you'd think mobs of shiftless welfare moms were marauding through the streets of Greenwich and Palm Springs, lynching bankers and hedge-fund managers, stringing up shopkeepers, and herding lawyers into internment camps. President Obama and his budgeteers, they say, have declared war on the rich.
On Tuesday, Washington Post columnist (and former Bush speechwriter) Michael Gersonargued in an op-ed that "Obama chose a time of recession to propose a massive increase in progressivity—a 10-year, trillion-dollar haul from the rich, already being punished by the stock market collapse and the housing market decline." The plans are so radical, "there will not be enough wealthy people left to bleed." CNBC's Larry Kudlowwrote that "Obama is declaring war on investors, entrepreneurs, small businesses, large corporations, and private-equity and venture-capital funds." Other segments on the financial news network warn of a tax on the rich, a war on the wealthy. My personal favorite was a piece from ABCNews.com, which had to be rewritten and reposted because the original was so poorly done. (The revised version isn't much better.) It quotes a dentist who is contemplating reducing "her income from her current $320,000 to under $250,000 by having her dental hygienist work fewer days and by treating fewer patients. [That way, she] would avoid paying higher taxes on the $70,000 that would be subject to increased taxation if Obama's proposal is signed into law."
It's hard to overstate how absurd these claims are. First, let's talk about the "massive increase in progressivity" that Gerson deplores. It consists largely (but not exclusively) of returning marginal tax rates to their levels of 2001, before Gerson and the epically incompetent Bush administration of which he was a part got their hands on the reins of power. Obama wants to let marginal rates for families with taxable income (not total income, but taxable income) of more than $250,000 revert from 33 percent to 36 percent, and to let the top rate—currently 35 percent on family income above $357,000—revert to 39 percent. (Here are the current tax tables.) There's also talk of capping—not eliminating, but capping—deductions on charitable giving and mortgage interest.
Obama's proposals don't mean the government would steal every penny you make above the $250,000 threshold, or that making more than $250,000 would somehow subject all of your income to higher taxes. Rather, you'd pay 36 cents to the government in income taxes on every dollar over the threshold, rather than 33 cents.
read more digg story
LOL...the middle class and the poor are paying for the wealthiest few of society...how can they even complain?!?!
By Daniel Gross
To hear conservatives tell it, you'd think mobs of shiftless welfare moms were marauding through the streets of Greenwich and Palm Springs, lynching bankers and hedge-fund managers, stringing up shopkeepers, and herding lawyers into internment camps. President Obama and his budgeteers, they say, have declared war on the rich.
On Tuesday, Washington Post columnist (and former Bush speechwriter) Michael Gersonargued in an op-ed that "Obama chose a time of recession to propose a massive increase in progressivity—a 10-year, trillion-dollar haul from the rich, already being punished by the stock market collapse and the housing market decline." The plans are so radical, "there will not be enough wealthy people left to bleed." CNBC's Larry Kudlowwrote that "Obama is declaring war on investors, entrepreneurs, small businesses, large corporations, and private-equity and venture-capital funds." Other segments on the financial news network warn of a tax on the rich, a war on the wealthy. My personal favorite was a piece from ABCNews.com, which had to be rewritten and reposted because the original was so poorly done. (The revised version isn't much better.) It quotes a dentist who is contemplating reducing "her income from her current $320,000 to under $250,000 by having her dental hygienist work fewer days and by treating fewer patients. [That way, she] would avoid paying higher taxes on the $70,000 that would be subject to increased taxation if Obama's proposal is signed into law."
It's hard to overstate how absurd these claims are. First, let's talk about the "massive increase in progressivity" that Gerson deplores. It consists largely (but not exclusively) of returning marginal tax rates to their levels of 2001, before Gerson and the epically incompetent Bush administration of which he was a part got their hands on the reins of power. Obama wants to let marginal rates for families with taxable income (not total income, but taxable income) of more than $250,000 revert from 33 percent to 36 percent, and to let the top rate—currently 35 percent on family income above $357,000—revert to 39 percent. (Here are the current tax tables.) There's also talk of capping—not eliminating, but capping—deductions on charitable giving and mortgage interest.
Obama's proposals don't mean the government would steal every penny you make above the $250,000 threshold, or that making more than $250,000 would somehow subject all of your income to higher taxes. Rather, you'd pay 36 cents to the government in income taxes on every dollar over the threshold, rather than 33 cents.
read more digg story
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Today's Cartoon: Any Minute Now
American Progress sent this cartoon by Mike Peters…I thought this is a great cartoon reminding us who got us into this mess in the first place…
Peace,
soul
Any Minute Now
Supply side tax cuts failed to deliver jobs and growth between 2001 and 2007, writes Joshua Picker.
More: Before the Bush Recession
From the Cartoonist Group
View more cartoons in the cartoon archive.
Subscribe to additional American Progress newsletters.
Technorati Tags: Bush Administration,Bush,economy,political cartoons,political satire,editorial cartoons,cartoons,taxes
Friday, February 20, 2009
Marijuana is Quickest Path to Millions
Marijuana is the quickest way to make a million dollars today. This page tells about the huge number of people who are becoming millionaires in the marijuana business. It also includes links to pages where you can calculate how long it takes to make a million dollars by growing or selling marijuana.
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Smoke This Recession: Tax The Booze And Legalize The Pot
Money's tight, baby. City's in trouble. State's deep in the hole. Nation's broke. Solution? Upend the system. Think differently. Get creative. Demolish Ye Olde Ways. And maybe get a really nice buzz on while you're at it.
By Mark Morford, SF Gate Columnist - It is a time of strange bedfellows and bizarre contortions and extraordinary responses to extreme situations, all overslathered with gobs of panic and dread and oh my God, I might have to sell the Range Rover.
In other words, it is a time -- like you don't already know -- of plentiful alarmist rhetoric, resulting in weird outbursts of ingenuity and wanton ethics-loosening, all in a desperate effort to suck up some much-needed cash.
Translation: Money's tight, baby. City's in trouble. State's deep in the hole. Nation's broke.
Solution? Upend the system. Think differently. Get creative. Demolish Ye Olde Ways. And maybe get a really nice buzz on while you're at it.
Where to begin? How can the city/state refill their empty coffers and further gouge the populace to make ends meet? Increased bridge tolls? A new per-mile driving tax? Heavier parking fines? State parks abandoned and left to seed? Child's play, darling.
You want to raise funds in an instant? You want a sure-fire, double-barreled source of nearly limitless funds from a wary, burned-out citizenry? That's easy. Go after its biggest vices, its most beloved balms.
Up first: booze. Already local governments are quietly proposing jacking up the alcohol tax and loosening sales restrictions because, well, why the hell not? Aren't you, right this very moment, as you prepare your taxes and weep over your gutted portfolio and stare down one very bleak 2009, more in need of a drink or three than at any time in recent history except for the entirety of the last eight miserable, Bush-stabbed years? Well, there you go. Tax increases on cocktails, here they come.
read more digg story
By Mark Morford, SF Gate Columnist - It is a time of strange bedfellows and bizarre contortions and extraordinary responses to extreme situations, all overslathered with gobs of panic and dread and oh my God, I might have to sell the Range Rover.
In other words, it is a time -- like you don't already know -- of plentiful alarmist rhetoric, resulting in weird outbursts of ingenuity and wanton ethics-loosening, all in a desperate effort to suck up some much-needed cash.
Translation: Money's tight, baby. City's in trouble. State's deep in the hole. Nation's broke.
Solution? Upend the system. Think differently. Get creative. Demolish Ye Olde Ways. And maybe get a really nice buzz on while you're at it.
Where to begin? How can the city/state refill their empty coffers and further gouge the populace to make ends meet? Increased bridge tolls? A new per-mile driving tax? Heavier parking fines? State parks abandoned and left to seed? Child's play, darling.
You want to raise funds in an instant? You want a sure-fire, double-barreled source of nearly limitless funds from a wary, burned-out citizenry? That's easy. Go after its biggest vices, its most beloved balms.
Up first: booze. Already local governments are quietly proposing jacking up the alcohol tax and loosening sales restrictions because, well, why the hell not? Aren't you, right this very moment, as you prepare your taxes and weep over your gutted portfolio and stare down one very bleak 2009, more in need of a drink or three than at any time in recent history except for the entirety of the last eight miserable, Bush-stabbed years? Well, there you go. Tax increases on cocktails, here they come.
read more digg story
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
ACORN Initates Civil Disobedience to Stop Foreclosures
As resistance to foreclosure evictions grows among homeowners, community leaders and some law enforcement officials, a broad civil disobedience campaign is starting in New York and other cities to support families who refuse orders to vacate their homes.
read more | digg story
The community organizing group Acorn unveiled the campaign with a spirited rally on Friday at a Brooklyn church and will roll it out in at least 22 other cities in the coming weeks. Through phone trees, Web pages and text-messaging networks, the effort will connect families facing eviction with volunteers who will stand at their side as officers arrive, even if it means risking arrest.
“You want to haul us out to jail? Fine. Let the world see how government has been ineffective,” Bertha Lewis, Acorn’s chief organizer, said in an interview. “Politicians have helped banks, but they haven’t helped families in the way that it’s needed, and these families are now saying, enough is enough.”
At the onset of the foreclosure crisis, the problem was regarded by some as one of a homeowner’s own making, the result of irresponsible decisions made by families who chose to live beyond their means. But as foreclosures spread across the country, devastating even solidly middle-class communities, the blame has slowly shifted to the financial companies that made questionable loans and have received billions of dollars in federal aid to stave off collapse.read more | digg story
Activists Place Homeless in Vacant Houses
As President Obama is scheduled to announce his $50 billion foreclosure prevention plan today the Poor People’s Economic Human Rights Campaign is taking matters into its own hands and finding housing for homeless people in foreclosed and vacant homes. .
As people were getting thrown out of their homes across the country, and in the absence of any real government action thus far, some are taking action on the local level. The community organizing group, Acorn, recently unveiled a campaign in at least 22 cities to help homeowners resist foreclosure evictions. Meanwhile, the Neighborhood Assistance Corporation of America is bussing homeowners facing foreclosure to the homes of chief executives of financial institutions to protest outside. Sheriffs in some places have also taken a stand. In Wayne County in Michigan, Sheriff Warren Evans, suspended all evictions starting February 2nd until the federal government implements a plan to help homeowners facing foreclosures. And in Ohio Congressmember Marcy Kaptur, recently speaking on the House floor, encouraged homeowners facing foreclosures to stay in their homes.
read more | digg story
As people were getting thrown out of their homes across the country, and in the absence of any real government action thus far, some are taking action on the local level. The community organizing group, Acorn, recently unveiled a campaign in at least 22 cities to help homeowners resist foreclosure evictions. Meanwhile, the Neighborhood Assistance Corporation of America is bussing homeowners facing foreclosure to the homes of chief executives of financial institutions to protest outside. Sheriffs in some places have also taken a stand. In Wayne County in Michigan, Sheriff Warren Evans, suspended all evictions starting February 2nd until the federal government implements a plan to help homeowners facing foreclosures. And in Ohio Congressmember Marcy Kaptur, recently speaking on the House floor, encouraged homeowners facing foreclosures to stay in their homes.
Today we go to Minneapolis to look at a similar organizing effort. The Poor People’s Economic Human Rights Campaign recently revealed to the media its long-running project to move homeless people into many of the foreclosed and vacant homes on Minneapolis’ North and South Side. They are also seeking a city moratorium on foreclosures, short-sales and evictions.
read more | digg story
Friday, February 13, 2009
Foreclosure Protests at D.C. Offices Reflect Trend
By Darryl Fears,Washington Post Staff - Dozens of demonstrators with the community group ACORN barged into a District office that auctions foreclosed homes in upscale Chevy Chase yesterday and shut it down for an hour, chanting "No sales here."
In Rye, N.Y., and Greenwich, Conn., on Sunday, more than 300 people converged on the homes of two bank executives who opposed modifying loans to help homeowners and barraged the men and their neighbors with slogans.
And in Boston, Detroit, Memphis and Cleveland, protesters against foreclosures have gathered in recent months to confront bankers amid the worst housing crisis in three generations, demanding a moratorium on foreclosures until homeowners get a bailout similar to the one given to banks.
Many of the protests and acts of civil disobedience appear to be unrelated, and some organizers said yesterday they were unaware that a coalition of grass-roots groups called the Bail Out the People Movement is planning what they hope will be a massive demonstration on Wall Street on April 4.
Wall Street is being targeted because banks offered many people exotic loans that carried high interest rates they could not afford, said Larry Holmes, a coalition spokesman. Like other groups, the coalition is demanding a moratorium on foreclosures.
read more digg story
If you're interested in endorsing and/or attending these protests please read on...
Dear activists,
Events have called upon us to make history. Future generations will look back on this moment to see whether we were able to understand what is at stake, and rise to the occasion.
We call upon you to join with the Bail Out the People Movement and the many community leaders, activists and organizations that are part of it, to help organize the first National March on Wall Street on Friday, April 3 and Saturday, April 4.
Yes! This is a two-day event. The first phase of the march will begin on Friday, April 3; thousands traveling to New York City from all over the country will join us on Saturday, April 4.
We invite you to a planning meeting for the national march, on Wednesday, February 18, at 6:30 p.m. at the CUNY Graduate Center, 365 Fifth Ave., New York City. (between 34th & 35th St. - you'll need ID to get into the building. Trains: N, R, W, B, F to 34th St.; PATH to 33rd St.)
The Wall Street march will take place during the same week that the G20 countries are holding their second emergency global economic crisis summit meeting in London on April 2 and 3, which will be followed immediately by a 60th Anniversary of NATO summit meeting in Strasbourg, France on April 4. Both meetings will be the focus of strong protests against war and for economic justice.
In Rye, N.Y., and Greenwich, Conn., on Sunday, more than 300 people converged on the homes of two bank executives who opposed modifying loans to help homeowners and barraged the men and their neighbors with slogans.
And in Boston, Detroit, Memphis and Cleveland, protesters against foreclosures have gathered in recent months to confront bankers amid the worst housing crisis in three generations, demanding a moratorium on foreclosures until homeowners get a bailout similar to the one given to banks.
Many of the protests and acts of civil disobedience appear to be unrelated, and some organizers said yesterday they were unaware that a coalition of grass-roots groups called the Bail Out the People Movement is planning what they hope will be a massive demonstration on Wall Street on April 4.
Wall Street is being targeted because banks offered many people exotic loans that carried high interest rates they could not afford, said Larry Holmes, a coalition spokesman. Like other groups, the coalition is demanding a moratorium on foreclosures.
read more digg story
If you're interested in endorsing and/or attending these protests please read on...
Dear activists,
Events have called upon us to make history. Future generations will look back on this moment to see whether we were able to understand what is at stake, and rise to the occasion.
We call upon you to join with the Bail Out the People Movement and the many community leaders, activists and organizations that are part of it, to help organize the first National March on Wall Street on Friday, April 3 and Saturday, April 4.
Yes! This is a two-day event. The first phase of the march will begin on Friday, April 3; thousands traveling to New York City from all over the country will join us on Saturday, April 4.
We invite you to a planning meeting for the national march, on Wednesday, February 18, at 6:30 p.m. at the CUNY Graduate Center, 365 Fifth Ave., New York City. (between 34th & 35th St. - you'll need ID to get into the building. Trains: N, R, W, B, F to 34th St.; PATH to 33rd St.)
The Wall Street march will take place during the same week that the G20 countries are holding their second emergency global economic crisis summit meeting in London on April 2 and 3, which will be followed immediately by a 60th Anniversary of NATO summit meeting in Strasbourg, France on April 4. Both meetings will be the focus of strong protests against war and for economic justice.
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
The World Is Rioting Over the Economy - Why Aren't We?
Terrific piece by Joshua Holland!
By Joshua Holland, AlterNet. - Americans are rightfully angry about the economic decline, but with a few small exceptions, quietly so. Why? It depends on whom you ask.
Explosive anger is spilling out onto the streets of Europe. The meltdown of the global economy is igniting massive social unrest in a region that has long been a symbol of political stability and social cohesion.
It's not a new trend: A wave of upheaval is spreading from the poorer countries on the periphery of the global economy to the prosperous core.
Over the past few years, a series of riots spread across what is patronizingly known as the Third World. Furious mobs have raged against skyrocketing food and energy prices, stagnating wages and unemployment in India, Senegal, Yemen, Indonesia, Morocco, Cameroon, Brazil, Panama, the Philippines, Egypt, Mexico and elsewhere.
For the most part, those living in wealthier countries took little notice. But now, with the global economy crashing down around us, people in even the wealthiest nations are mad as hell and reacting violently to what they view as an inadequate response to their tumbling economies.
The Telegraph (UK) warned last month that protests over governments' handling of the crisis "are widespread and gathering pace," and "may spark a new revolution":
By Joshua Holland, AlterNet. - Americans are rightfully angry about the economic decline, but with a few small exceptions, quietly so. Why? It depends on whom you ask.
Explosive anger is spilling out onto the streets of Europe. The meltdown of the global economy is igniting massive social unrest in a region that has long been a symbol of political stability and social cohesion.
It's not a new trend: A wave of upheaval is spreading from the poorer countries on the periphery of the global economy to the prosperous core.
Over the past few years, a series of riots spread across what is patronizingly known as the Third World. Furious mobs have raged against skyrocketing food and energy prices, stagnating wages and unemployment in India, Senegal, Yemen, Indonesia, Morocco, Cameroon, Brazil, Panama, the Philippines, Egypt, Mexico and elsewhere.
For the most part, those living in wealthier countries took little notice. But now, with the global economy crashing down around us, people in even the wealthiest nations are mad as hell and reacting violently to what they view as an inadequate response to their tumbling economies.
The Telegraph (UK) warned last month that protests over governments' handling of the crisis "are widespread and gathering pace," and "may spark a new revolution":
A depression triggered in America is being played out in Europe with increasing
violence, and other forms of social unrest are spreading. In Iceland, a government has fallen. Workers have marched in Zaragoza, as Spanish unemployment heads towards 20 percent. There have been riots and bloodshed in Greece, protests in Latvia, Lithuania, Hungary and Bulgaria. The police have suppressed public discontent in Russia and will be challenged again at large gatherings this weekend.
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America Is Broke, And Funding Fantasy Wars at the Pentagon
By Chalmers Johnson, Tomdispatch.com.- Americans don't usually think of the Pentagon as a scam operation -- but it's never to late to wake up and smell the rip-off.
Like much of the rest of the world, Americans know that the U.S. automotive industry is in the grips of what may be a fatal decline. Unless it receives emergency financing and undergoes significant reform, it is undoubtedly headed for the graveyard in which many American industries are already buried, including those that made televisions and other consumer electronics, many types of scientific and medical equipment, machine tools, textiles, and much earth-moving equipment -- and that's to name only the most obvious candidates. They all lost their competitiveness to newly emerging economies that were able to outpace them in innovative design, price, quality, service, and fuel economy, among other things.
A similar, if far less well known, crisis exists when it comes to the military-industrial complex. That crisis has its roots in the corrupt and deceitful practices that have long characterized the high command of the Armed Forces, civilian executives of the armaments industries, and Congressional opportunists and criminals looking for pork-barrel projects, defense installations for their districts, or even bribes for votes.
read more digg story
Like much of the rest of the world, Americans know that the U.S. automotive industry is in the grips of what may be a fatal decline. Unless it receives emergency financing and undergoes significant reform, it is undoubtedly headed for the graveyard in which many American industries are already buried, including those that made televisions and other consumer electronics, many types of scientific and medical equipment, machine tools, textiles, and much earth-moving equipment -- and that's to name only the most obvious candidates. They all lost their competitiveness to newly emerging economies that were able to outpace them in innovative design, price, quality, service, and fuel economy, among other things.
A similar, if far less well known, crisis exists when it comes to the military-industrial complex. That crisis has its roots in the corrupt and deceitful practices that have long characterized the high command of the Armed Forces, civilian executives of the armaments industries, and Congressional opportunists and criminals looking for pork-barrel projects, defense installations for their districts, or even bribes for votes.
read more digg story
Saturday, January 31, 2009
The French Say No to Fat-Cat Bailouts
Vive La France! You have to admire the French. The ordinary people there know how to stick up for themselves instead of meekly bowing down and accepting whatever bitter gruel the elite tries to cram down their throats. ... Thursday, an estimated 2.5 million people came out to tell the government: "We are not going to pay for the greed and corruption of the elite!"
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Great advice for anyone losing their homes to foreclosure: Stay Put
Follow the law
Wall Street and its co-conspirators on Main Street had a great plan.
Step 1: Ram predatory loans down the market with fraud and deceptive marketing.
Step 2: Some of the loans will blow up, but in the aggregate it will all work out and besides, the loans will be bundled and sold off to investors (spreading the toxic waste), so who cares?
Great plan, but it had a few problems.
Problem #1: It destroyed the world financial system (minor detail)
Problem #2 (And he's where it get VERY interesting...) For a loan to be valid, the lender needs to be able to produce the paperwork.
Guess what?
In their mad greed to screw the American people and line their own pockets, Wall Street forgot that little detail.
Many of these loans and been sliced and diced and sold and re-sold so many times that not only is the paperwork not easy to lay hands on, in some cases, it's not clear who actually owns the loan.
Here's where property law comes in.
If the bank can't produce the documents and the real owner of the loan can't be identified, the contract is null and void.
You've got to hand it to Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur (and Ohio which produces a lot of great Congresspeople.)
By telling a bank to "produce the note," a homeowner can delay foreclosure by forcing the lender to prove the suing institution is actually the same which owns the debt.
Now, the banks own sloth and disorganization (and inherent dishonesty) can be used against it.
Final word: The media (and Wall Street and its criminal partners in Congress and the former Bush White House) love to call these loans sup-prime.
Here's the old fashioned word: predatory.
Many of the loans that were made in the past five years that have created so many problems would have been illegal until Bush & Co not only gutted lending laws, but also literally sued states to stop them from enforcing their own lending laws.
Former governor Elliott Spitzer was the ring leader of the state movement to enforce local lending laws...and you saw what happened to him.
He's no saint (and truth be told, he's kind of a jerk) but if every politician who went to hookers was busted, Washington and all the state capitals would be ghost towns
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