Palast Hunts The Vulture (+ some info on Waters' Stop Vulture Funds bill)

[EFerrari]

Published on March 03, 2010 Comments (1)
by Greg Palast
(OfficialWire)
LONDON, ENGLAND



Some vultures have feathers, but some have fancy offices and huge homes. Tonight, BBC investigative reporter Greg Palast follows the trail of one "vulture fund" chief, from a locked office door in New York to mud-brick houses in Africa.

How strange. When I arrive at the offices of Eric Hermann at hedge fund FH International, just outside New York City, the company's corporate sign is unbolted from the wall and the suite number removed from the door.

But wait ... I hear noises inside the office. Huh? I knock on the locked door and out steps the office building's security manager.

"Guys, they don't want to be interviewed. They don't want to be seen. So we are going to have to ask you to leave the building."

http://www.officialwire.com/main.php

* * *

Thom had Greg on and talked about this story today and they brought up the Maxine Water's anti-vulture bill. This issue is rarely given space in our media. Look at this, it's unbelievable:

Liberia Ordered to Pay $20 Million to Vultures
Posted on December 10, 2009 by Haley Dillan
Topics: Governance, Humanitarian Aid, Justice
Countries: Liberia, United Kingdom

In 1978, the poor West African country of Liberia borrowed $6 million from a New York bank. The Liberian government promised to use the money to buy and develop an oil refinery, and to pay the money back in seven years.

Today it's not clear if either of those things ever happened.

Two years after the loan, the Liberian government was overthrown in a coup, which later led to a 14-year civil war. Meanwhile, the loan was bought and sold several times, according to allAfrica.com.

But now two investment funds say they hold the note and are entitled to $20 million from the current government of Liberia — a claim upheld by a London court. Today Liberia is led by a democratic government whose president is working with the IMF and World Bank to settle old debts. The Guardian says Liberia struck deals with most of its private-sector creditors, but these two funds are refusing to settle, demanding full payment through the courts.

http://www.globalenvision.org/2009/12/10/liberia-ordered-pay-20-million-vultures

Maxine Waters introduced the Stop Vulture Funds Act in 2008. This is a list of current co-sponsors:

List of Cosponsors: Stop VULTURE Funds Act (H.R. 2932)

List of Cosponsors as of 3/5/2010*

Rep Baca, Joe - 9/30/2009

Rep Bachus, Spencer - 6/18/2009

Rep Baldwin, Tammy - 12/3/2009

Rep Bishop, Sanford D., Jr. - 10/29/2009

Rep Brown, Corrine - 7/9/2009

Rep Cohen, Steve - 9/17/2009

Rep Conyers, John, Jr. - 6/18/2009

Rep DeLauro, Rosa L. - 11/5/2009

Rep Eshoo, Anna G. - 3/4/2010

Rep Filner, Bob - 7/9/2009

Rep Fudge, Marcia L. - 9/17/2009

Rep Green, Al - 9/17/2009

Rep Grijalva, Raul M. - 7/28/2009

Rep Gutierrez, Luis V. - 6/18/2009

Rep Hastings, Alcee L. - 10/8/2009

Rep Hinchey, Maurice D. - 6/18/2009

Rep Honda, Michael M. - 7/9/2009

Rep Jackson, Jesse L., Jr. - 7/28/2009

Rep Lee, Barbara - 6/18/2009

Rep Lewis, John - 7/31/2009

Rep McCollum, Betty - 11/5/2009

Rep Meeks, Gregory W. - 6/18/2009

Rep Moore, Gwen - 6/18/2009

Rep Moran, James P. - 7/9/2009

Rep Norton, Eleanor Holmes - 6/18/2009

Rep Payne, Donald M. - 6/18/2009

Rep Richardson, Laura - 9/30/2009

Rep Schakowsky, Janice D. - 6/18/2009

Rep Stark, Fortney Pete - 9/30/2009

Rep Wasserman Schultz, Debbie - 6/18/2009

http://www.jubileeusa.org/vulturefunds/cosponsors.html

I think what this link says is that it's sitting in a House Subcommittee since last July:

http://www.thomas.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/D?d111:1:./temp/~bdiNJi:@@@C|/bss/111search.html

You'd think that someone in Congress would want to move on this bill which tries to prevent our tax money being funneled to criminals when the public believes it is giving aid to poor people.