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May 31, 2012
from truthdig:
The Stakes in the Walker Recall
Posted on May 30, 2012
By E.J. Dionne, Jr.
Recalls and impeachments are a remedy of last resort. Most of the time, voters who don’t like an incumbent choose to live with the offending politician until the next election, on the sensible theory that fixed terms of office and regular elections are adequate checks on abuses of power and extreme policies.
The question facing Wisconsin’s citizens is whether Gov. Scott Walker engaged in such extraordinary behavior that setting aside his election is both justified and necessary.
Voters don’t have to get to this large question. Walker’s opponents forced next Tuesday’s recall vote by using the state’s laws in an entirely legitimate way. They gathered far more petition signatures than they needed, signaling that discontent in the state was widespread.
The result has been a fairly conventional campaign in which Republican Walker once again confronts his 2010 Democratic opponent, Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett. At this point, preferring Barrett, an affable moderate liberal, to the conservative firebrand Walker is reason enough to vote the incumbent out, but the broader case for recall is important. .................(more)
The complete piece is at: http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/the_stakes_in_the_walker_recall_20120531/?ln
E.J. Dionne: The Stakes in the Walker Recall
from truthdig:
The Stakes in the Walker Recall
Posted on May 30, 2012
By E.J. Dionne, Jr.
Recalls and impeachments are a remedy of last resort. Most of the time, voters who don’t like an incumbent choose to live with the offending politician until the next election, on the sensible theory that fixed terms of office and regular elections are adequate checks on abuses of power and extreme policies.
The question facing Wisconsin’s citizens is whether Gov. Scott Walker engaged in such extraordinary behavior that setting aside his election is both justified and necessary.
Voters don’t have to get to this large question. Walker’s opponents forced next Tuesday’s recall vote by using the state’s laws in an entirely legitimate way. They gathered far more petition signatures than they needed, signaling that discontent in the state was widespread.
The result has been a fairly conventional campaign in which Republican Walker once again confronts his 2010 Democratic opponent, Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett. At this point, preferring Barrett, an affable moderate liberal, to the conservative firebrand Walker is reason enough to vote the incumbent out, but the broader case for recall is important. .................(more)
The complete piece is at: http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/the_stakes_in_the_walker_recall_20120531/?ln
May 31, 2012
from truthdig:
Hope Burning
Posted on May 30, 2012
By Robert Scheer
So now we have Rambo Obama, a steely warrior who, according to a lengthy leaked insider account in The New York Times, hurls death-dealing drones at anyone who threatens the good old USA. Including children. Those children are presumed guilty by virtue of proximity, and the Times plays along, not even modifying a targeted terrorist with the word “alleged,” as once had been the paper’s convention: “When a rare opportunity for a drone strike at a top terrorist arises—but his family is with him—it is the president who has reserved to himself the final moral calculation.”
Obama as the cool triggerman is an image useful to White House operatives as they buff the president’s persona for the coming election. But what it reveals is the mindset of a political cynic whose seductive words cloak the moral indifference of a methodical executioner. Forget Harry Truman, who obliterated the civilian populations of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, or Lyndon Johnson, who carpet-bombed millions in Vietnam. The Democrats have got themselves another killer, one whose techniques are as devastatingly effective, but brilliantly refined.
The story obviously was planted in The New York Times to benefit the Obama political campaign. Otherwise, why would the president’s former chief of staff, William Daley, and three dozen current and past intelligence insiders provide the newspaper with the most sensitive details of national security decision-making?
Pfc. Bradley Manning was held for many months in solitary confinement for allegedly disclosing information of far lower security classification. The difference is that the top secrets in the news article are ones the president wants leaked in the expectation they will burnish his “tough on terrorism” credentials. This is clearly not the Obama whom many voted for in the hope that he would stick by his word, including the pledge he made on his second day in office to ban brutal interrogation and close the prison at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba. “What the new president did not say was that the orders contained a few subtle loopholes,” the Times now reports concerning the early promises by Obama. “They reflected a still unfamiliar Barack Obama, a realist who, unlike some of his fervent supporters, was never carried away by his own rhetoric.” ...............(more)
The complete piece is at: http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/hope_burning_20120531/
Robert Scheer: Hope Burning
from truthdig:
Hope Burning
Posted on May 30, 2012
By Robert Scheer
So now we have Rambo Obama, a steely warrior who, according to a lengthy leaked insider account in The New York Times, hurls death-dealing drones at anyone who threatens the good old USA. Including children. Those children are presumed guilty by virtue of proximity, and the Times plays along, not even modifying a targeted terrorist with the word “alleged,” as once had been the paper’s convention: “When a rare opportunity for a drone strike at a top terrorist arises—but his family is with him—it is the president who has reserved to himself the final moral calculation.”
Obama as the cool triggerman is an image useful to White House operatives as they buff the president’s persona for the coming election. But what it reveals is the mindset of a political cynic whose seductive words cloak the moral indifference of a methodical executioner. Forget Harry Truman, who obliterated the civilian populations of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, or Lyndon Johnson, who carpet-bombed millions in Vietnam. The Democrats have got themselves another killer, one whose techniques are as devastatingly effective, but brilliantly refined.
The story obviously was planted in The New York Times to benefit the Obama political campaign. Otherwise, why would the president’s former chief of staff, William Daley, and three dozen current and past intelligence insiders provide the newspaper with the most sensitive details of national security decision-making?
Pfc. Bradley Manning was held for many months in solitary confinement for allegedly disclosing information of far lower security classification. The difference is that the top secrets in the news article are ones the president wants leaked in the expectation they will burnish his “tough on terrorism” credentials. This is clearly not the Obama whom many voted for in the hope that he would stick by his word, including the pledge he made on his second day in office to ban brutal interrogation and close the prison at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba. “What the new president did not say was that the orders contained a few subtle loopholes,” the Times now reports concerning the early promises by Obama. “They reflected a still unfamiliar Barack Obama, a realist who, unlike some of his fervent supporters, was never carried away by his own rhetoric.” ...............(more)
The complete piece is at: http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/hope_burning_20120531/
May 31, 2012
LONDON—The former top media adviser to Prime Minister David Cameron was charged with perjury Wednesday, after denying in court any knowledge of widespread phone hacking by reporters at Rupert Murdoch’s News of the World.
The charges against Andy Coulson, a former editor of the tabloid weekly, damage Cameron because they call into question his judgment in employing a man so closely linked to the paper which was under suspicion of obtaining stories by illegal means.
Scottish police detained Coulson at his home in London early on Wednesday and drove him to Glasgow for hours of questioning before charging him.
Prosecutors said Coulson’s arrest followed his appearance before the High Court in Glasgow in 2010 over a News of the World story published when he was editor. ..................(more)
The complete piece is at: http://www.thestar.com/news/world/article/1202689--former-media-adviser-to-u-k-pm-david-cameron-held-by-police-over-suspected-perjury?bn=1
David Cameron’s former media adviser charged with perjury
LONDON—The former top media adviser to Prime Minister David Cameron was charged with perjury Wednesday, after denying in court any knowledge of widespread phone hacking by reporters at Rupert Murdoch’s News of the World.
The charges against Andy Coulson, a former editor of the tabloid weekly, damage Cameron because they call into question his judgment in employing a man so closely linked to the paper which was under suspicion of obtaining stories by illegal means.
Scottish police detained Coulson at his home in London early on Wednesday and drove him to Glasgow for hours of questioning before charging him.
Prosecutors said Coulson’s arrest followed his appearance before the High Court in Glasgow in 2010 over a News of the World story published when he was editor. ..................(more)
The complete piece is at: http://www.thestar.com/news/world/article/1202689--former-media-adviser-to-u-k-pm-david-cameron-held-by-police-over-suspected-perjury?bn=1
May 31, 2012
from Consortium News:
Double Standards on Civilian Deaths
May 30, 2012
Whenever U.S. forces inflict massive civilian casualties, it’s a “mistake” or the fault of the targets because they were “hiding” in populated areas. Yet, when civilian deaths occur in the country of a “designated enemy,” all ambiguity is swept aside and no excuses are accepted, a double standard addressed by John LaForge.
By John LaForge
In the war fever being ramped up against Syria, there is broad public indignation over the massacre of more than 100 civilians in the town of Houla last weekend. Would that the U.S. diplomatic corps and the commercial press were equally outraged over our own military’s atrocities.
While details of the Syrian massacre are unclear and still subject to dispute, Canada, Switzerland, Bulgaria, Australia, Germany, Spain and the United States have expelled Syrian diplomats in protest. The State Department called the rampage “despicable” and complained about a regime that could “connive in or organize” such a thing.
However, the department was silent on the U.S. killing four years ago of just as many Afghan civilians, including 60 children, in Azizabad. A draft UN Security Council press statement said about the Aug. 22, 2008, bombing that member nations “strongly deplore the fact that this is not the first incident of this kind” and that “the killing and maiming of civilians is a flagrant violation of international humanitarian law.”
The crime wasn’t decried as a “massacre” by the State Department, which finds it easier to denounce indiscriminate attacks when the enemy du jour stands accused. .................(more)
The complete piece is at: http://consortiumnews.com/2012/05/30/double-standards-on-civilian-deaths/
Double Standards on Civilian Deaths
from Consortium News:
Double Standards on Civilian Deaths
May 30, 2012
Whenever U.S. forces inflict massive civilian casualties, it’s a “mistake” or the fault of the targets because they were “hiding” in populated areas. Yet, when civilian deaths occur in the country of a “designated enemy,” all ambiguity is swept aside and no excuses are accepted, a double standard addressed by John LaForge.
By John LaForge
In the war fever being ramped up against Syria, there is broad public indignation over the massacre of more than 100 civilians in the town of Houla last weekend. Would that the U.S. diplomatic corps and the commercial press were equally outraged over our own military’s atrocities.
While details of the Syrian massacre are unclear and still subject to dispute, Canada, Switzerland, Bulgaria, Australia, Germany, Spain and the United States have expelled Syrian diplomats in protest. The State Department called the rampage “despicable” and complained about a regime that could “connive in or organize” such a thing.
However, the department was silent on the U.S. killing four years ago of just as many Afghan civilians, including 60 children, in Azizabad. A draft UN Security Council press statement said about the Aug. 22, 2008, bombing that member nations “strongly deplore the fact that this is not the first incident of this kind” and that “the killing and maiming of civilians is a flagrant violation of international humanitarian law.”
The crime wasn’t decried as a “massacre” by the State Department, which finds it easier to denounce indiscriminate attacks when the enemy du jour stands accused. .................(more)
The complete piece is at: http://consortiumnews.com/2012/05/30/double-standards-on-civilian-deaths/
May 30, 2012
Europeans' economic future has been hijacked by dangerous ideologues
EU authorities, supported by Spain's government, are pushing a political agenda at the expense of economic recovery
Mark Weisbrot in Madrid
guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 30 May 2012
I have argued for some time now that the recurring crisis in the eurozone is not driven by financial markets' demands for austerity in a time of recession, as is commonly asserted. Rather, the primary cause of the crisis and its prolongation is the political agenda of the European authorities – led by the European Central Bank (ECB) and European commission. These authorities (which, if we included the IMF constitute, the "troika" that runs economic policy in the eurozone) want to force political changes, particularly in the weaker economies, that people in these countries would never vote for.
This is becoming more blatantly obvious here in Spain, where the government – run by the rightwing Popular party (PP) – shares the political agenda of the European authorities, perhaps even more than the IMF does. The PP government has taken advantage of the crisis to impose labour law changes that will make it easier for employers to get out of industry-wide collective bargaining agreements. They have also taken away rights that workers' had to challenge unfair firings. The goal is to weaken labour as part of a longer-term strategy to dismantle the welfare state; these changes have nothing to do with resolving the current crisis, or even reducing the budget deficit.
The government has also mandated huge cuts in healthcare spending, at €7bn. This is comparable to cutting 25% of Medicaid spending in the US, something that would be both devastating to the poor and politically impossible. Another €3bn will be cut from education.
Of course, the deficit reduction is making Spain's current recession worse – the Spanish government has estimated that this years' budget tightening will by itself reduce GDP by 2.6%. In a country that has about 25% unemployment and more than half its youth unemployed, this will push hundreds of thousands more people out of work. ................(more)
The complete piece is at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/may/30/eurozone-crisis-spain-debt
Europeans' economic future has been hijacked by dangerous ideologues
Europeans' economic future has been hijacked by dangerous ideologues
EU authorities, supported by Spain's government, are pushing a political agenda at the expense of economic recovery
Mark Weisbrot in Madrid
guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 30 May 2012
I have argued for some time now that the recurring crisis in the eurozone is not driven by financial markets' demands for austerity in a time of recession, as is commonly asserted. Rather, the primary cause of the crisis and its prolongation is the political agenda of the European authorities – led by the European Central Bank (ECB) and European commission. These authorities (which, if we included the IMF constitute, the "troika" that runs economic policy in the eurozone) want to force political changes, particularly in the weaker economies, that people in these countries would never vote for.
This is becoming more blatantly obvious here in Spain, where the government – run by the rightwing Popular party (PP) – shares the political agenda of the European authorities, perhaps even more than the IMF does. The PP government has taken advantage of the crisis to impose labour law changes that will make it easier for employers to get out of industry-wide collective bargaining agreements. They have also taken away rights that workers' had to challenge unfair firings. The goal is to weaken labour as part of a longer-term strategy to dismantle the welfare state; these changes have nothing to do with resolving the current crisis, or even reducing the budget deficit.
The government has also mandated huge cuts in healthcare spending, at €7bn. This is comparable to cutting 25% of Medicaid spending in the US, something that would be both devastating to the poor and politically impossible. Another €3bn will be cut from education.
Of course, the deficit reduction is making Spain's current recession worse – the Spanish government has estimated that this years' budget tightening will by itself reduce GDP by 2.6%. In a country that has about 25% unemployment and more than half its youth unemployed, this will push hundreds of thousands more people out of work. ................(more)
The complete piece is at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/may/30/eurozone-crisis-spain-debt
May 30, 2012
Facebook Fed The 'Ignorant' Masses An IPO Lite
The Facebook IPO is an excellent reminder of the role that amnesia plays in the stock market.
It’s said that markets are efficient, and I guess they are in a narrow sense, in that stocks tend to incorporate all of the publicly available information about them. But the same principle certainly doesn’t apply to the way market participants interact with one another. So we have the spectacle of JPMorgan Chase repeating the mistakes of 2008 and losing $3 billion (and counting). For the rest of us, we have the Facebook IPO, in which an entire body of knowledge and memory of the IPO process was buried down the memory hole, totally forgotten.
How did a company best known for wasting people’s time (when it’s not violating their privacy) become the IPO stinker of our times? Because people forget that it’s been proven time and again that the only proven winners in IPOs are the issuers, insiders and underwriters, with favored clients like hedge funds and institutional investors the only ones able to benefit consistently from IPOs that perform well out of the starting gate.
In this case, the issuer made out like a bandit. Facebook reaped $16 billion that will allow it to compete with the Goliaths of the industry. Facebook management, meanwhile, has borrowed from the techniques of shoddy used-car salesmen everywhere by failing to give full value for all that money. .................(more)
The complete piece is at: http://www.forbes.com/sites/thestreet/2012/05/30/facebook-fed-the-ignorant-masses-an-ipo-lite/
Forbes: Facebook Fed The 'Ignorant' Masses An IPO Lite
Facebook Fed The 'Ignorant' Masses An IPO Lite
The Facebook IPO is an excellent reminder of the role that amnesia plays in the stock market.
It’s said that markets are efficient, and I guess they are in a narrow sense, in that stocks tend to incorporate all of the publicly available information about them. But the same principle certainly doesn’t apply to the way market participants interact with one another. So we have the spectacle of JPMorgan Chase repeating the mistakes of 2008 and losing $3 billion (and counting). For the rest of us, we have the Facebook IPO, in which an entire body of knowledge and memory of the IPO process was buried down the memory hole, totally forgotten.
How did a company best known for wasting people’s time (when it’s not violating their privacy) become the IPO stinker of our times? Because people forget that it’s been proven time and again that the only proven winners in IPOs are the issuers, insiders and underwriters, with favored clients like hedge funds and institutional investors the only ones able to benefit consistently from IPOs that perform well out of the starting gate.
In this case, the issuer made out like a bandit. Facebook reaped $16 billion that will allow it to compete with the Goliaths of the industry. Facebook management, meanwhile, has borrowed from the techniques of shoddy used-car salesmen everywhere by failing to give full value for all that money. .................(more)
The complete piece is at: http://www.forbes.com/sites/thestreet/2012/05/30/facebook-fed-the-ignorant-masses-an-ipo-lite/
May 30, 2012
(Guardian) Rodel Jugao studied the menu's sushi options a moment, then pondered the Pacific ocean surf foaming just two blocks away. He shook his head. "Nah. I'm going for the chicken or beef."
This Los Angeles outlet of Sarku Japan, a restaurant chain, did excellent fish and Jugao, 33, was a sushi lover. But for this lunch he preferred to stay terrestrial. "It's concerning. You don't want food, you know, to glow."
He appeared to speak for many other diners in a city which adores sushi – on condition it's not radioactive.
A study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences journal on Monday found bluefin tuna contaminated with radiation believed to be from Fukushima Daiichi, the Japanese nuclear reactor which blew up in March 2011. Tiny amounts of caesium-137 and caesium-134 were detected in 15 bluefin caught near San Diego, in California waters, last August. ............(more)
The complete piece is at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/may/30/california-tuna-radiation-sushi-industry
California tuna connoisseurs shy away from sushi over Japan radiation fears
(Guardian) Rodel Jugao studied the menu's sushi options a moment, then pondered the Pacific ocean surf foaming just two blocks away. He shook his head. "Nah. I'm going for the chicken or beef."
This Los Angeles outlet of Sarku Japan, a restaurant chain, did excellent fish and Jugao, 33, was a sushi lover. But for this lunch he preferred to stay terrestrial. "It's concerning. You don't want food, you know, to glow."
He appeared to speak for many other diners in a city which adores sushi – on condition it's not radioactive.
A study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences journal on Monday found bluefin tuna contaminated with radiation believed to be from Fukushima Daiichi, the Japanese nuclear reactor which blew up in March 2011. Tiny amounts of caesium-137 and caesium-134 were detected in 15 bluefin caught near San Diego, in California waters, last August. ............(more)
The complete piece is at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/may/30/california-tuna-radiation-sushi-industry
May 30, 2012
Mexican authorities arrested four alleged members of the Knights Templar drug cartel after a series of firebomb attacks on a potato-chip company owned by the U.S. food company PepsiCo, the first attack on an American multinational firm in Mexico's ongoing drug war.
Five warehouses and parking lots owned by the popular Sabritas brand were attacked over the weekend in the states of Michoacan and Guanajato. Witnesses said masked men had thrown firebombs and incinerated warehouses and dozens of delivery trucks. No one was injured in the bombings, according to authorities.
The attorney general of Guanajato, Carlos Zamarippa Aguirre, alleged that the men arrested had confessed that the motive of the attacks was extortion. Aguirre said the suspects gave false names but were identified by fingerprints and at least one, the alleged cell leader, was already wanted on charges of kidnapping.
Emails that circulated in Michoacan, however, suggested the attacks may have been revenge attacks by members of the Knights Templar who believe that Mexican authorities use the snack-food trucks to spy on the cartel. The company has nearly 15,000 delivery trucks in Mexico, many featuring a smiley face and the slogan, "You can't eat just one." Cheetos, Fritos, Ruffles and Doritos as well as Sabritas potato chips are sold under the Sabritas name in Mexico. .................(more)
The complete piece is at: http://news.yahoo.com/drug-cartel-barbecues-u-owned-potato-chip-company-170641683--abc-news-topstories.html
Drug Cartel Barbecues U.S.-Owned Potato Chip Company
Mexican authorities arrested four alleged members of the Knights Templar drug cartel after a series of firebomb attacks on a potato-chip company owned by the U.S. food company PepsiCo, the first attack on an American multinational firm in Mexico's ongoing drug war.
Five warehouses and parking lots owned by the popular Sabritas brand were attacked over the weekend in the states of Michoacan and Guanajato. Witnesses said masked men had thrown firebombs and incinerated warehouses and dozens of delivery trucks. No one was injured in the bombings, according to authorities.
The attorney general of Guanajato, Carlos Zamarippa Aguirre, alleged that the men arrested had confessed that the motive of the attacks was extortion. Aguirre said the suspects gave false names but were identified by fingerprints and at least one, the alleged cell leader, was already wanted on charges of kidnapping.
Emails that circulated in Michoacan, however, suggested the attacks may have been revenge attacks by members of the Knights Templar who believe that Mexican authorities use the snack-food trucks to spy on the cartel. The company has nearly 15,000 delivery trucks in Mexico, many featuring a smiley face and the slogan, "You can't eat just one." Cheetos, Fritos, Ruffles and Doritos as well as Sabritas potato chips are sold under the Sabritas name in Mexico. .................(more)
The complete piece is at: http://news.yahoo.com/drug-cartel-barbecues-u-owned-potato-chip-company-170641683--abc-news-topstories.html
May 30, 2012
(Guardian UK) It's just before 8pm in the Villeray district of Montreal. People wander in and out of the shops and bars, and traffic streams down the main road. But gradually the atmosphere changes, as clusters of people begin to congregate at the busy Jarry intersection. Some are in small groups, and others alone; hipsters in shorts and hi-top trainers mingle with parents in hiking boots and khakis. One thing unites them: they are all carrying pots and pans.
Within half an hour, the metro station is closed to traffic and the intersection is shut down. Hundreds of people are banging their pans, drowning out the sound of car horns from frustrated motorists. This clanking cacophony has become a nightly ritual all over Montreal: a remarkably successful street protest against a draconian emergency law enacted to crack down on what began as localised protest against tuition fees.
"This is about people power," said Carlos Luer, a 53-year-old children's worker who is attending the "casseroles" (pots and pans) protest for the first time. It wasn't the students' demands that brought him onto the street, but like thousands of others, he is motivated by bill 78, a loathed piece of legislation passed by the provincial government in Quebec in a failed attempt to stamp out the student protests ."This government said: 'Keep your mouth shut.' But they forget, these are the kids of tomorrow," Luer said.
This growing crisis has its roots in March 2011, when Quebec's finance minister, Raymond Bachand, announced that the government would increase tuition fees by C$325 (£203) a year for the next five years. Tuition fees in Quebec are lower than in any other province in Canada, and the government was facing a budget shortfall. .....................(more)
The complete piece is at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/may/30/quebec-protests-canada
Canada's 'casseroles protests' grow
(Guardian UK) It's just before 8pm in the Villeray district of Montreal. People wander in and out of the shops and bars, and traffic streams down the main road. But gradually the atmosphere changes, as clusters of people begin to congregate at the busy Jarry intersection. Some are in small groups, and others alone; hipsters in shorts and hi-top trainers mingle with parents in hiking boots and khakis. One thing unites them: they are all carrying pots and pans.
Within half an hour, the metro station is closed to traffic and the intersection is shut down. Hundreds of people are banging their pans, drowning out the sound of car horns from frustrated motorists. This clanking cacophony has become a nightly ritual all over Montreal: a remarkably successful street protest against a draconian emergency law enacted to crack down on what began as localised protest against tuition fees.
"This is about people power," said Carlos Luer, a 53-year-old children's worker who is attending the "casseroles" (pots and pans) protest for the first time. It wasn't the students' demands that brought him onto the street, but like thousands of others, he is motivated by bill 78, a loathed piece of legislation passed by the provincial government in Quebec in a failed attempt to stamp out the student protests ."This government said: 'Keep your mouth shut.' But they forget, these are the kids of tomorrow," Luer said.
This growing crisis has its roots in March 2011, when Quebec's finance minister, Raymond Bachand, announced that the government would increase tuition fees by C$325 (£203) a year for the next five years. Tuition fees in Quebec are lower than in any other province in Canada, and the government was facing a budget shortfall. .....................(more)
The complete piece is at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/may/30/quebec-protests-canada
May 30, 2012
Published on Wednesday, May 30, 2012 by Common Dreams
Bust 'Em Up: Who Needs Wall Street Giants?
by Jim Hightower
JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs, Bank of America and the handful of other behemoths of Wall Street that dominate American banking — who needs them?
After enduring years of insatiable greed by the slick-fingered hucksters who run these gambling houses; after watching in dismay as their ineptness and avarice drained more than $19 trillion from America's household wealth since 2007 and plunged our real economy into the worst financial crisis since the 1930s Depression; after witnessing their shameful demands for trillions of dollars in taxpayer bailouts to save their banks and their jobs; and now after seeing them return immediately to business as usual, including paying multimillion-dollar bonuses to themselves — we have to ask: Huh!?!
Oh, no-no, cry the banking titans, don't even think of looking behind the curtain! Trust us, say these Wall Street alchemists, for we are essential to juicing the economy with our complex abracadabra investment schemes.
In fact, however, those schemes just move money around, spiraling real investment capital from the grassroots up to superrich global profiteers who create nothing but more wealth for themselves. Shell games at carnival sideshows are more honest than big-bank trading houses, for the hustles of such hucksters as JPMorgan, Goldman, B of A, etc. are based on financial illusions, off-the-books accounting, illegally leveraged borrowing, ridiculous tax subsidies and hide-the-pea secrecy. ................(more)
The complete piece is at: http://www.commondreams.org/view/2012/05/30
Jim Hightower: Bust 'Em Up: Who Needs Wall Street Giants?
Published on Wednesday, May 30, 2012 by Common Dreams
Bust 'Em Up: Who Needs Wall Street Giants?
by Jim Hightower
JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs, Bank of America and the handful of other behemoths of Wall Street that dominate American banking — who needs them?
After enduring years of insatiable greed by the slick-fingered hucksters who run these gambling houses; after watching in dismay as their ineptness and avarice drained more than $19 trillion from America's household wealth since 2007 and plunged our real economy into the worst financial crisis since the 1930s Depression; after witnessing their shameful demands for trillions of dollars in taxpayer bailouts to save their banks and their jobs; and now after seeing them return immediately to business as usual, including paying multimillion-dollar bonuses to themselves — we have to ask: Huh!?!
Oh, no-no, cry the banking titans, don't even think of looking behind the curtain! Trust us, say these Wall Street alchemists, for we are essential to juicing the economy with our complex abracadabra investment schemes.
In fact, however, those schemes just move money around, spiraling real investment capital from the grassroots up to superrich global profiteers who create nothing but more wealth for themselves. Shell games at carnival sideshows are more honest than big-bank trading houses, for the hustles of such hucksters as JPMorgan, Goldman, B of A, etc. are based on financial illusions, off-the-books accounting, illegally leveraged borrowing, ridiculous tax subsidies and hide-the-pea secrecy. ................(more)
The complete piece is at: http://www.commondreams.org/view/2012/05/30
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