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The Counter-Reformation in Banking Has Just Begun

Fri, 31 May 2013 00:00:00 -0700

ineteconomics.org - By Marshall Auerback - May. 31 (Speech) - The opportunity presented by the financial crisis of 2008 to reform the structures and practices that gave rise to the greatest economic downturn since the Great Depression has basically gone nowhere. In a nutshell, argues Haldane [Executive Director for Financial Stability at the Bank of England], “too big to fail” banks create no desirable advantages. In fact, these banks have become so large that they are impossible to manage, or regulate effectively as we have been “recovering.” They are inefficient as well as dangerous. They are “too big to manage,” and now even “too big to jail,” as no less a figure than U.S. Attorney-General Eric Holder recently conceded to Congress.

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Corporations Are Stealing Billions in Tax Breaks, While the Confused, Screwed Citizenry Turn On Each Other

Mon, 20 May 2013 00:00:00 -0700

AlterNet - By Robert Reich - May. 20 (Opinion) - As global capital becomes ever more powerful, giant corporations are holding governments and citizens up for ransom — eliciting subsidies and tax breaks from countries concerned about their nation’s “competitiveness” — while sheltering their profits in the lowest-tax jurisdictions they can find. Major advanced countries — and their citizens — need a comprehensive tax agreement that won’t allow global corporations to get away with this.

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Being a Democracy Hating, Corporate Power-Defending Newspaper Owner Runs Deep in the Koch Family

Sun, 19 May 2013 00:00:00 -0700

AlterNet - By Yasha Levine - May. 19 (Opinion) - There’s a rumor going around that the Koch brothers are interested in buying up the Tribune Company, which includes the Chicago Tribune, Los Angeles Times, the Baltimore Sun… And there’s a lot of speculation about what would happen if they did. Some worry, and rightly so, that the Kochs—whose combined wealth makes them the biggest billionaires on the planet—would integrate the Tribune Co. with the rest of their free-market thinktank-industrial complex, and turn its newly acquired news media property into a gigantic business propaganda machine. Half the reporters at the Los Angeles Times even took a vote saying they’d quit if the Kochs bought the paper

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Large Corporations Seek U.S.–European 'Free Trade Agreement' to Further Global Dominance

Mon, 13 May 2013 00:00:00 -0700

AlterNet - By Andrew Gavin Marshall - May. 13 (Special Report) - A corporate world order is emerging, and like any parasite, it is slowly killing off its host. Unfortunately, the "host" happens to be the planet, and all life upon and within it. So, while the extinction of the species will be the end result of passively accepting a corporate-driven world, on the other hand, it’s very profitable for those corporations and their shareholders.

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Why American CEOs Get Paid Way More Than CEOs Anywhere Else (Hint: It's Not Performance Based)

Fri, 19 Apr 2013 00:00:00 -0700

AlterNet - By Dean Baker - Apr. 19 (Opinion) - in the last three decades, the pay of CEOs has gone from just being high -- say 30 or 40 times the pay of typical workers -- to being in the stratosphere. The pay of CEOs at major corporations now averages several hundred times the pay of ordinary workers.

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"Shift Change": Creating Economic Democracy Through Workplace Cooperatives

Sun, 10 Feb 2013 00:00:00 -0800

truth-out.org - By Mark Karlin - Feb. 10 (Interview) - Shift Change is a timely documentary about the growing cooperative movement. In the last two years, Truthout has posted many articles on the efforts to achieve economic democracy through worker ownership. Shift Change offers an energizing look at the workings of the giant cooperative model, Mondragon, in Basque, Spain. The film also covers strong US-based worker-owned enterprises that prove the investor Wall Street model of business is not necessary to a successful company.

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State of Fear

Tue, 08 Jan 2013 00:00:00 -0800

readersupportednews.org - By Chris Hedges - Jan. 08 (Opinion) - McLeish’s story is the story of hundreds of thousands of people—perhaps more—whose lives are being invaded by the state. It is the story of a security and surveillance apparatus—overseen by the executive branch under Barack Obama—that has empowered the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security to silence the voices and obstruct the activity of citizens who question corporate power.

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Firearms Vendors Raise Millions for NRA

Sat, 15 Dec 2012 00:00:00 -0800

thecuttingedgenews.com - By Peter H Stone - Dec. 15 (Special Report) - Over the last two decades, MidwayUSA has done just about everything to help the National Rifle Association flourish financially. In 1992 MidwayUSA developed a fundraising tactic to boost the NRA’s fortunes, dubbed “Round-Up,” that has yielded $5.7 million for the NRA’s lobbying operations. The MidwayUSA money drive asks customers to “round up” the total of each order to the nearest dollar or higher. Then the company donates the difference to the NRA’s Institute for Legislative Action, a lobbying arm of the gun rights group.

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Twinkie CEO Admits Company Took Employees Pensions and Put It Toward Executive Pay

Wed, 12 Dec 2012 00:00:00 -0800

AlterNet - By Thom Hartmann - Dec. 12 (News Report) - Hostess’ CEO, Gregory Rayburn, essentially admitted that his company stole employee pension money and put it toward CEO and senior executive pay (aka “operations”). While this isn't technically illegal, it's another sleazy theft by Hostess executives - who've paid themselves handsomely while running their company into the ground. Just last month, a judge agreed to let Hostess executives suck another $1.8 million out of the bankrupt company to pay bonuses to CEOs.

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Trade deals could help President Obama with business

Tue, 04 Dec 2012 00:00:00 -0800

The Politico - By Joseph J. Schatz, Dave Clarke - Dec. 04 (News Analysis) - Obama, intent on boosting U.S. exports, wants a Pacific Rim trade deal by the end of 2013 — and it’s a key priority for House Republicans and U.S. companies, including financial firms like Citigroup and JPMorgan Chase, which operate around the world. Plus, hopes are high that the administration will start negotiations early in 2013 over a major trade and investment pact with the European Union.

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Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP): Canada Creating Secret 'Insider Group' Of Lobbyists, Observers Say

Sun, 02 Dec 2012 00:00:00 -0800

huffingtonpost.ca - By Daniel Tencer - Dec. 02 (News Report) - The Harper government is creating a secret “consultation group,” likely comprised of lobbyists, who are getting inside information about Canada’s participation in Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) negotiations, observers allege. Advocacy group OpenMedia has obtained a non-disclosure agreement (see below) it says the federal government mistakenly sent to it, asking the recipient to keep secret the information it receives about negotiations on the controversial economic and trade agreement. “I think it confirms that lobbyists are being permitted to have access to information about the TPP that is otherwise kept secret from public interest groups and citizens in general,”

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Lobbyists Feign Budget 'Fix': Trojan Horse Filled with Corporate Tax Breaks

Wed, 14 Nov 2012 00:00:00 -0800

Common Dreams - Nov. 14 (News Report) - As boisterous threats of a 'fiscal cliff' persist and progressive voices urge President Barack Obama to avoid falling for shortsighted solutions to illusory ultimatums, a group of corporate lobbyists and CEO's going by the name "The Campaign to Fix the Debt" are set to unleash an onslaught of campaign ads which propose bi-partisan 'compromises' to the problem, but in reality would act as a "Trojan horse concealing massive corporate tax breaks that would make our debt situation much worse

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A Vulture Capitalist for a Vulture Culture

Sun, 14 Oct 2012 00:00:00 -0700

Nation of Change - By Robert S. Becker - Oct. 14 (Opinion) - Delusional Romney belief systems – whether more trickle-down folly, indefensible tax cuts, or “God’s on our side” exceptionalism – serve as cover for an ever nastier, reactionary vulture culture. Under-regulated vulture capitalism preys on government regulation and legislation, environmental wellbeing (decimating forests, ocean life, coastal waters, and strip mining sites), low-wage workers here or overseas -- plus badgering phantom “socialists” who challenge spoiled-brat banksters, Koch Bros., or the Rove brigade. That overfed horde sustains the extremist GOP vulture culture, at war with women, fair taxation, democratic elections that count minorities, gay rights, basic science, and healthy food – in a word, rationality.

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Can Marissa Mayer Really Have It All?

Sun, 07 Oct 2012 00:00:00 -0700

New York Magazine - By Lisa Miller - Oct. 07 (Opinion) - Marissa Mayer, as CEO of Yahoo! is living evidence, since her move from Google earlier this year, that fertility, intellect, and ambition can co-exist and be a strong point.

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Shell Blocks Employee Access to Activist Website

Tue, 02 Oct 2012 00:00:00 -0700

yeslab.org - By Mary - Oct. 02 (Opinion) - Early Monday morning, 71,010 Shell employees received an email from the company's "Grassroots Employee Empowerment Division" providing information on Kiobel v. Royal Dutch Petroleum, a pivotal human rights case being argued in the U.S. Supreme Court. The email contained links to news stories, as well as a tool to help employees tweet their feelings about the case at key US news anchors (and Oprah Winfrey). The only thing is, Shell has no "Grassroots Employee Empowerment Division," and they don't want publicity for the case.

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Not enough people pay income tax? What about Boeing?

Wed, 19 Sep 2012 00:00:00 -0700

seattletimes.com - By Danny Westneat - Sep. 19 (Comment) - in any accounting of who pays zilch to the federal enterprise, our aerospace superstar is at the top of a long list. In 2011, Boeing had no net income-tax liability for the fourth year in a row, despite $5.1 billion in profits. I bring this up because Romney, in his foolish slighting of nearly half a nation he's trying to woo, blundered into one of my own hobbyhorses. Namely, that not enough people in this country pay income taxes. And by "people," I graciously include our newest citizens, the corporations.

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Miracle-Grow Poisons Bird Feed, Violates Pesticide Laws

Mon, 10 Sep 2012 00:00:00 -0700

readersupportednews.org - By Agence France-Presse - Sep. 10 (News Report) - Scotts sold the illegally treated bird food for six months after employees warned management of the dangers of the pesticides, the department said.

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Dave Eggers' Gem of a New Novel Goes Right After the Decadence and Heartlessness of Corporate Capitalism | Alternet

Tue, 28 Aug 2012 00:00:00 -0700

AlterNet - By Chris Hedges - Aug. 28 (Review) - Dave Eggers’ gem of a book, “A Hologram for the King,” is a parable about the decadence, fragility and heartlessness of late, decayed corporate capitalism. It is about the small, largely colorless men and women who serve as managers in our suicidal outsourcing of manufacturing jobs and the methodical breaking of labor unions. It is about the lie of globalization, a lie that impoverishes us all to increase corporate profits.

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Dark side of a Bain success

Mon, 23 Jul 2012 00:00:00 -0700

Salon - By Art Levine - Jul. 23 (Investigative Report) - Our investigation found previously unreported allegations of abuse and neglect in at least 10 CRC residential drug and teen care facilities across the country, including three I visited undercover in Utah and California. With rare exceptions, such incidents have largely escaped notice because the programs are, thanks to lax state regulations, largely unaccountable. Court documents and ex-staffers also allege that such incidents reflect, in part, a broader corporate culture at Aspen’s owner, CRC Health Group, a leading national chain of treatment centers. Lawsuits and critics have claimed that CRC prizes profits, and the avoidance of outside scrutiny, over the health and safety of its clients.

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The 12 Cookies Joke

Wed, 11 Jul 2012 00:00:00 -0700

Huffington Post - By Stan Sorscher - Jul. 11 (News Analysis) - A CEO, a Tea Party member and public employee sit at a table, with 12 cookies on a plate. The CEO grabs 11 cookies and tells the Tea Party member, "You better watch him. He wants your cookie." The CEO took 11 out of 12 cookies. This isn't a question of what's fair. The CEO has the economic power to take 11 cookies, and he does.

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Citizens United: California Becomes Sixth State To Call For Amendment Against Ruling

Sat, 07 Jul 2012 00:00:00 -0700

Huffington Post - Jul. 07 (Opinion) -

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Supreme Court Reversed Anti-Citizens United Ruling From Montana

Mon, 25 Jun 2012 00:00:00 -0700

Huffington Post - By Mike Sacks - Jun. 25 (News Report) - The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday struck down Montana's century-old limits on corporate political spending, putting an end to the state's resistance to Citizens United and effectively expanding that controversial ruling to the state and local elections

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Breaking '08 Pledge, Leaked Trade Doc Shows Obama Wants to Help Corporations Avoid Regulations

Thu, 14 Jun 2012 00:00:00 -0700

Democracy Now - By Amy Goodman, Juan Gonzales - Jun. 14 (News Analysis) - A draft agreement leaked Wednesday shows the Obama administration is pushing a secretive trade agreement that could vastly expand corporate power and directly contradict a 2008 campaign promise by President Obama. A U.S. proposal for the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade pact between the United States and eight Pacific nations would allow foreign corporations operating in the U.S. to appeal key regulations to an international tribunal. The body would have the power to override U.S. law and issue penalties for failure to comply with its ruling. We speak to Lori Wallach, director of Public Citizen's Global Trade Watch, a fair trade group that posted the leaked documents on its website. "This is not just a bad trade agreement," Wallach says. "This is a '1 percent' power tool that could rip up our basic needs and rights." [Transcript to come. Check back soon.]

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Money Unlimited

Mon, 21 May 2012 00:00:00 -0700

New Yorker - By Jeffrey Toobin - May. 21 (Special Report) - When Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission was first argued before the Supreme Court, on March 24, 2009, it seemed like a case of modest importance. The issue before the Justices was a narrow one. The McCain-Feingold campaign-finance law prohibi

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How Crazy Is Wall Street, New York Times?

Sun, 20 May 2012 00:00:00 -0700

The Daily Beast - By Edward Jay Epstein - May. 20 (Opinion) - The New York Times published an opinion piece on May 12, 2012, concerning the question of whether the rich, from a moral standpoint, are good or bad. The story reported, “A recent study found that 10 percent of people who work on Wall Street are ‘clinical psychopaths’ and that they exhibit an ‘unparalleled capacity for lying, fabrication, and manipulation.’ ” The vivid term “clinical psychopath” brings to mind the berserk buzz-saw-wielding investment banker played by Christian Bale in the film American Psycho. Since some 3.9 million people work in the financial-services industry, a clinically diagnosed horde of lunatics numbering almost 400,000 people would certainly be a matter of public concern, though it might only confirm some journalists’ view of American capitalism.

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