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Enough Is Enough: Fraud-ridden Banks Are Not L.A.’s Only Option
by Ellen Brown
“Epic in scale, unprecedented in world history.” That is how William K. Black, professor of law and economics and former bank fraud investigator, describes the frauds in which JPMorgan Chase (JPM) has now been implicated. They involve more than a dozen felonies, including bid-rigging on municipal bond debt; colluding to rig interest rates on hundreds of trillions of dollars in mortgages, derivatives and other contracts; exposing investors to excessive risk; failing to disclose known risks, including those in the Bernie Madoff scandal; and engaging in multiple forms of mortgage fraud.
So why, asks Chicago Alderwoman Leslie Hairston, are we still doing business with them? She plans to introduce a city council ordinance deleting JPM from the city’s list of designated municipal depositories. As quoted in the January 14th Chicago Sun-Times:
The bank has violated the city code by making admissions of dishonesty and deceit in the way they dealt with their investors in the mortgage securities and Bernie Madoff Ponzi scandals. . . . We use this code against city contractors and all the small companies, why wouldn’t we use this against one of the largest banks in the world?
Obama's Abominable State of the Union
by Stephen Lendman
Obama's State of the Union address reflected beginning-to-end empty rhetoric. More on his comments below.
Throughout five years in office, he's been consistent. Duplicity defines his agenda. He says one thing. He does another.
In his first State of the Union address, he promised "to get our economy growing again, save as many jobs as possible, and help Americans who'd become unemployed."
He called jobs creation his "number one focus." He promised tax relief for ordinary Americans. He promised help for "8 million Americans paying for college."
Graduates are more indebted than ever. Outstanding debt tops $1 trillion. It's second only to mortgage debt.
For millions of young Americans, it represents many years of debt bondage. For too many, it reflects lifetime debt.
Deadlocked Syrian Peace Talks
by Stephen Lendman
So-called Syrian National Coalition (SNC) officials are US stooges. They have no legitimacy whatever.
They're self-serving. They represent Western interests. They're mindless of fundamental Syrian rights.
It showed in Geneva II talks. It didn't take long. On Saturday they began face-to-face. On Monday they deadlocked.
America bears full responsibility. SNC stooge delegates take orders from Washington. They act accordingly.
On January 28, the Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) headlined "Coalition delegation of so-called 'opposition' rejects statement by Syrian official delegation which rejects arming terrorist organizations in Syria."
America has been arming extremist hired gun killers throughout three years of conflict. Congress secretly authorized supplying more weapons.
Mad as hell about poverty wages
Joslyn Stevens
Enough is enough! What is happening economically to the American people is unbelievably outrageous and criminal. 46.5 million people live below the federal poverty level while the government continues to waste billions on surveillance, wars, and gutting crucial social welfare programs. At the same time no meaningful discussions are being had about how to address poverty in America by ending and redirecting the unnecessary corporate welfare that is contributing to our economic ruin.
How can the working poor climb out of poverty when the federal minimum wage is stuck at $7.25/hr and the tipped minimum wage is at $2.13/hr? The $10.10/hr members of congress have proposed is still not enough to significantly help alleviate poverty and is a pathetic attempt to appear as though they give a damn about the working class. That congress has raised the minimum wage only three times in 30 years speaks volumes about where their priorities lie.
Hate the Super Rich
Joel S. Hirschhorn
There are times when hatred is a needed, logical and moral stance to take. Evil, injustice and corruption are fine examples of what to appropriately hate. For the overwhelming majority of people it is now rational to hate the super rich, notably the thousands of billionaires holding most of the world’s wealth and wielding power over political and economic systems. They have been successfully raping the global economy and while doing that have kept increasing their wealth as well as economic inequality afflicting ordinary people. One dollar, one vote describes the new reality.
Before discussing some basic reasons to hate the super rich consider some facts about them.
How many billionaires are there? According to the inaugural Wealth-X and UBS Billionaire Census 2013, the global billionaire population reached a record 2,170 individuals in 2013, with a combined net worth of $6.5 trillion. What happened after the most recent global economic meltdown? Some 810 individuals became billionaires since the 2009 global financial crisis. In other words, plain millionaires moved up to billionaire status.
International Data Privacy Day
by Stephen Lendman
It's commemorated annually on January 28. More on its significance below.
This year's DPA comes when revelations show unconstitutional NSA spying. Privacy no longer exists.
Other fundamental freedoms are eroding. They're disappearing in plain sight.
America was never a democracy. Today it's more police state than free society. Unconstitutional mass surveillance is official US policy.
What Bush began, Obama accelerated. He governs secretly. His administration is the least transparent in US history.
Unprecedented Inequality under Obama
by Stephen Lendman
It's unprecedented in modern memory. Obama declared war on social America. He's gone all out to destroy it altogether. More on this below.
On Tuesday, he'll deliver his annual State of the Union address. Expect empty promises. Expect duplicitous rhetoric.
Expect beginning-to-end demagogic boilerplate. Expect a litany of lies. Expect pledges without follow-through.
Expect business as usual to continue. Expect deepening poverty, unemployment, underemployment, homelessness, human suffering and deprivation.
Mass Surveillance Called Illegal
by Stephen Lendman
In 2004, Congress established the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board (PCLOB). It did so to advise executive branch officials on these issues.
It was virtually moribund. It accomplished nothing under Bush. Nor during Obama's first term. In November 2013, it held its first meaningful hearing.
On January 23, it condemned mass surveillance. It called it illegal. It refuted administration claims. More on what it said below.
Pervasive spying is longstanding policy. It's worse than ever now. NSA watches everyone everywhere all the time.
Fake Syrian Peace Talks Continue
by Stephen Lendman
Talks were stillborn when announced. Syria is Obama's war. He launched it. He continues it. He wants regime change.
He wants Washington in charge of Syria's future. He wants Syrians having no say. He wants pro-Western stooge governance replacing Assad.
He wants what Syrians won't tolerate. The so-called Syrian National Coalition (SNC) is a US construct.
Its leaders and representatives are beholden to Washington. They have no legitimacy whatever. Most aren't Syrians. They live abroad.
Long Odds to Save Their Country The Syrian Team in Geneva
by FRANKLIN LAMB
Damascus.
As a new workweek begins here is Damascus many citizens across a fairly broad spectrum appear to be backing, and even exhibiting a kind of pride for their diplomatic team at the Geneva II conference. It might appear flippant for this observer to suggest that returning to Damascus after recent events in his neighborhood of Haret Hriek in Dahiyeh, South Beirut sort of feels like one has arrived in a peaceful holiday local rather stress free, but others have told me the same thing once they crossover from Lebanon. Damascus is currently the most quiet and ‘normal’ appearing that I have found this historic city for more than two years.
Damascenes to a person it appears, despite differing political views, are hoping for breakthroughs that just might bring an end to the carnage that has left virtually no one unaffected and has driven 9.5 million people from their homes, killed close to 140,000 and with more than 18,000 missing. These and many more tragedies creating a major humanitarian crisis both within Syria and among this birth place of civilization’s neighbors.
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