tagged w/ Financial Meltdown
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DemocracyNow.org - A new political party has entered the fray as an alternative to Democrats and Republicans ahead of the 2012 elections. On Monday, former Salt Lake City Mayor Rocky Anderson announced will run for president with the newly formed Justice Party. Although hailing from a solidly Red state, Anderson has been known as one of the most progressive mayors of any major U.S. city in recent years. During his two mayoral terms from 2000 to 2008, Anderson was an outspoken champion of LGBT rights, environmental sustainability, and the antiwar movement in opposition to the Iraq War. Vowing to fight the influence of money over politics, Anderson kicked off his campaign on Monday with a pledge to limit individual donations to $100 a person. Anderson and the Justice Party say they hope to build a grassroots movement heading into the November 2012 elections. “We launched the Justice Party because the entire system is so corrupt,” Anderson says. “It's so diseased that we know that the public interest is not being served by anyone in the system right now, particularly, [by] the two dominant parties who have sustained this corrupt system and who are sustained by it.”
http://www.democracynow.org/2011/12/13/ex_salt_lake_mayor_rocky_andersonDemocracyNow.org - A new political party has entered the fray as an alternative to... more
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Icelanders rejected for a second time a plan to repay $5 billion to Britain and the Netherlands from a bank crash, results showed on Sunday, and the prime minister said economic and political chaos could follow.
Policymakers have said a 'no' in the Saturday referendum meant the dispute will end up in a European court. Economists have said the uncertainty is hurting efforts to drag Iceland out of recession, end currency controls and boost investment.
"The worst option was chosen. The vote has split the nation in two," Prime Minister Johanna Sigurdardottir told state television, saying it was fairly clear the "no" side had won.
State television said almost 60 per cent of voters had rejected the agreement, based on results from five out of six voting districts, including capital Reykjavik. Many voters were against taxpayers footing the bill for irresponsible bankers.
Just over 169,000 votes had been counted out of the 230,000 eligible voters.
The prime minister, who had predicted a no vote would cause economic uncertainty for at least a year or two, did not say whether the government planned to resign.
"We must do all we can to prevent political and economic chaos as a result of this outcome," she said.
The debt was incurred when Britain and the Netherlands compensated their nationals who lost savings in online "Icesave" accounts owned by Landsbanki, one of three Icelandic banks that collapsed in late 2008.
Sigurdardottir said Iceland would now defend its case before the court of the European trade body overseeing Iceland's co-operation with the EU, the EFTA Surveillance Authority (ESA). Economists have said this route could be much costlier.
Economic Affairs Minister Arni Arnasson told the television he would be in touch next week with ESA, which said last year, in a first stage in legal proceedings, that Iceland should pay compensation to Icesave depositors.
Icelandic lawmakers in February backed a repayment plan agreed with creditors, but the president refused to sign the bill, triggering the vote. In March 2010, Iceland rejected an earlier Icesave repayment blueprint in a referendum.
"I know this will probably hurt us internationally, but it is worth taking a stance," Thorgerdun Asgeirsdottir, a 28-year-old barista, said after casting a "no" vote.
Svanhvit Ingibergs, 33, who works at a rest home, said: "I had no part in causing those debts, and I don't want our children to risk having to pay them. It would be better to settle this in a court."
Iceland is still pulling itself out of the recession which hit it after its bank crash, and policymakers and economists have said solving the Icesave issue would help the country get back into international financial markets.
Getting such funding is also part of a plan to end the controls on capital flows it imposed in 2008 to stabilize a tumbling currency.
The controls have left an estimated equivalent to a quarter of Iceland's gross domestic product in the hands of foreign investors, many of whom are expected to want to pull out. Ratings agencies follow the vote closely. Moody's has said it may lower its credit rating on Iceland in case of a 'no'.
Standard & Poor's analyst Elieen Zhang said a 'no' vote "might possibly result in a lengthy legal process and further uncertainties regarding the ultimate fiscal cost."
http://www.vancouversun.com/business/Iceland+rejects+Icesave+debt+repayment+Britain+Netherlands+once+more/4591210/story.htmlIcelanders rejected for a second time a plan to repay $5 billion to Britain and the... more
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Japan was already teetering on a bad economic situation before the current disaster. Their markets were already trashed. Could this compound their problems and set in motion a ripple effect that will plunge the whole world into an economic meltdown?
Read the whole article, "Will Japan's Catastrophe Trigger a Worldwide Economic Depression?"and watch the included documentary video on www.conspiracywatch.net, at http://www.conspiracywatch.net/2011/03/will-japans-catastrophe-trigger.htmlJapan was already teetering on a bad economic situation before the current disaster.... more
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William Black: Regulations were deliberately weakened to create conditions for systemic fraud.
*We need politicians that will stop defending deregulation and start criminal investigations against the corporations that deliberately robbed America into the Great Recession.*William Black: Regulations were deliberately weakened to create conditions for... more
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"principal thesis is that the 2008 financial crisis is merely a hiccup in a larger trend of 'growth, change and transformation at unprecedented velocity'.""principal thesis is that the 2008 financial crisis is merely a hiccup in a... more
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A.I.G. was at the center of the web of bad business judgments, opaque financial derivatives, failed economics and questionable political relationships that set off the economic cataclysm of the past two years. When A.I.G.'s financial products division collapsed -- ultimately requiring a federal bailout of $180 billion -- those who had been prospering from A.I.G.'s schemes scurried for taxpayer cover. Yet, more than a year after the rescue began, crucial questions remain unanswered. Who knew what, and when? Who benefited, and by exactly how much? Would A.I.G.'s counterparties have failed without taxpayer support?
The three of us, as experienced investigators and prosecutors of financial fraud, cannot answer these questions now. But we know where the answers are. They are in the trove of e-mail messages still backed up on A.I.G. servers, as well as in the key internal accounting documents and financial models generated by A.I.G. during the past decade. Before releasing its regulatory clutches, the government should insist that the company immediately make these materials public. By putting the evidence online, the government could establish a new form of "open source" investigation.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/20/opinion/20partnoy.html?_r=1A.I.G. was at the center of the web of bad business judgments, opaque financial... more
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A fast and funny spoof at George's expense.
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Before the financial crisis hit, John Paulson was just your run-of-the-mill hedge fund operator, worth millions of dollars. But when the market crashed, Paulson made billions. How he did it lies at the heart of a new book called The Greatest Trade Ever. The book's author, Gregory R. Zuckerman, offers his insight.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=120183535Before the financial crisis hit, John Paulson was just your run-of-the-mill hedge fund... more
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Commissions are often created to defer tough decisions; to forge a consensus around a hard solution to a genuine problem; and, rarely, actually to delve into underlying facts. The Angelides commission (http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/16/business/16inquiry.html?_r=1), officially chartered by Congress this summer as the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission, has the chance to be that third kind of commission, gathering the missing empirical data on fundamental questions that can guide future decision-making.
We already know an awful lot more about what happened last year than we did in 1932, when the legendary Pecora commission(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pecora_Commission) was created to investigate the Wall Street crash. We know the fundamental violations of sound banking practice and regulatory failures that brought us to the precipice. Yet there are still critical areas that would benefit from the commission's detailed analysis: four structural issues that have not yet received adequate attention and one particular transaction that is still highly ambiguous.Commissions are often created to defer tough decisions; to forge a consensus around a... more
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Just when you think those that run our country have experience to do a good job, to provide for the common defense and promote the general welfare, along comes the status quo-which happens to be greed and money and power.
Nobody can overturn the money changers tables alone. Well Jesus did.
If we don't pay attention to the warnings and the warners....
October 20th, 2009 on Frontline is a chance to learn about how we got in this financial crisis. Just maybe then we can do something to avert it from happening again, if we can get experienced, conscious and conscience Americans to provide for the common defense and promote the general welfare of our country.Just when you think those that run our country have experience to do a good job, to... more
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'Sachs of Gold' bank, Goldman Sachs was given 70 billion taxpayer dollars because of Paulson and Geithner and through legalized theft, made 3 billion dollars profit in three months interest free.
That's right. They borrowed tax payer money, made profit and didn't pay a dime in interest!
How do we Americans get the interest we are owed?
Demand clawbacks. Call your representative today (which will only help if they aren't already on the 'Sachs of Gold' payroll).'Sachs of Gold' bank, Goldman Sachs was given 70 billion taxpayer dollars... more
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An interesting article on the inherent morality of capitalism.
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DEBTORS REVOLT BEGINS NOW!
When Rome fell, the maximum rate charged for interest was 33%.
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Yes, I know it sounds ridiculous.Just because a bunch of people use certain words to express themselves in fora(forums) doesn't mean that they're in some way foretelling the future,but...,but fact is that Cliff High was able to predict a number of specific and major events.Well, you'll be the judge of it! No wait, let time be the judge of it!Yes, I know it sounds ridiculous.Just because a bunch of people use certain words to... more
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As if it wasn't bad enough that Bernie Madoff investors were handing over their money to a con artist to manage, it seems they were also putting their trust in a drug-addicted gun freak, too. When Bernie Madoff's right-hand man Frank DiPascali pleaded guilty earlier this week to charges he helped engineer the $65 billion scheme and he agreed to cooperate with prosecutors, the deal also guaranteed DiPascali that the feds wouldn't come after him for the "use of controlled substances prior to 1992" and "for possessing illegal firearms up until last Friday." Between this news and the revelation that Bernie had a 20-year affair that no one knew about, the made-for-TV Madoff movie is getting spicier by the day, isn't it?As if it wasn't bad enough that Bernie Madoff investors were handing over their... more
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Pensioners battered a financial adviser with Zimmer frames before kidnapping and torturing him for losing 2million of their savings.
James Amburn, 56, was ambushed outside his home in Speyer, western Germany, bound with masking tape and bundled into a car boot.Pensioners battered a financial adviser with Zimmer frames before kidnapping and... more
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Castro Valley, Calif. -- "Boob play," "pics of kitty," "topless housecleaning" and "hypno role play." The list, scribbled in a lined yellow notebook, is followed by a double-underlined figure: $725.
It's 9 a.m. on a Friday and 30-year-old Marie is sitting on her couch clad in Donald Duck pajamas, munching on buttered toast and staring at her cellphone like she can will it to ring. If someone calls in response to the ad she posted this morning on Craigslist, she can add $75 to her projected income for the month.
Five months ago, before being laid off, Marie was bringing in $45,000 a year at Enterprise Rent-A-Car. Now, she operates out of two offices: her living room and a regularly changing hotel room. Her uniform is different, too: Instead of conservative business attire, she dons a lace bra and booty-hugging capris. The former corporate supervisor has become a sex worker.
She's applied for every strait-laced office gig she can find -- regardless of hours, pay or whether her University of California degree makes her absurdly overqualified. She went from being a manager to fighting for personal assistant positions. But last month, after innumerable unanswered cover letters, overdue bills and a delay in her unemployment checks, she entered a world of code words and cash wads. It was baptism by -- bodily fluids: She peed on a guy in her own bed for $100. Since then, she's been paid more times than she can count, or cares to count, for sex, blow jobs, hand jobs and sensual massage.
Of course, Marie is far from the only woman pushed into the sex industry by these harsh economic times. Strip clubs, X-rated Web cam companies and escort managers across the country have reported an increase in job applications in the last several months -- ironically, at the same time that business is largely going down. The same phenomenon was seen after the dot-com bust, when out-of-work techies turned to everything from S/M dungeons to porn sets. Both booms saw a series of salacious news items about good girls gone bad, a narrative that is at least as old as the Bible -- but I wanted to know what was unique about this particular cultural moment.
Industry insiders like to say that they're seeing more "normal" people, girls "with good minds." Mike of A&M Studios, a producer of X-rated video chats, says: "A couple years ago, we'd have a lot of strippers or people who might be on meth -- a lot of shiftier people." He continues, "Now we're seeing performers who are more educated and used to working on a regular schedule. There's been a shift to a very different class of people." Much as his phrasing gives me chills, it isn't just a cliché that women with limited job opportunities often turn to sex work.
The difference in these dark days is that middle-class advantages, like a solid college education and professional work experience, don't offer the same level of protection that they once did from being pushed to make such a choice. Not to mention, it's easier now to make the decision because the Internet has bulldozed the barrier of entry into the sex industry. Just a few clicks away from Craigslist's job board is an array of immediate, cash-upfront adult gigs.
Last month, it looked like that might change: Craigslist announced it would replace its raunchy erotic services section with a costlier and human-monitored "adult" section to appease a threatening state attorney general -- but, so far, the only difference is that there are fewer ads and more euphemisms. Instead of hand jobs and BJs, women offer "sweet treats," "pleasure," "play" or, most popular of all, sensual or erotic "massage." Those looking to hire simply put out a call for a "personal assistant" or a "female teacher" under "adult gigs." Craigslist still allows "normal" girls like Marie to easily gauge the going rates, pick up the lingo and become plucky entrepreneurs, soCastro Valley, Calif. -- "Boob play," "pics of kitty,"... more
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It's a terrible mistake to confuse the momentary solvency of the financial sector and the long-term health of our economy.
While we have addressed the credit collapse, we have not begun to tackle the far more daunting, and more significant, structural problems in the economy. Instead of focusing on the green shoots, let's examine the macro data that will determine our national prosperity in the next generation. These data are terrifying.
Start with the job front. Long term, nothing is more fundamental than good jobs to creating the middle-class wealth that must drive the economy. The creation of true middle-class jobs was the great success of our economy from 1950s through the mid-1990s. Consider the job data, in aggregate and by sector, from the past decade. (All data are from the U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics.)It's a terrible mistake to confuse the momentary solvency of the financial sector... more
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"This bill is the most important legislation for financial institutions in the last 50 years. It provides a long-term solution for troubled thrift institutions. ... All in all, I think we hit the jackpot." So declared Ronald Reagan in 1982, as he signed the Garn-St. Germain Depository Institutions Act."This bill is the most important legislation for financial institutions in the... more
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