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JPMorgan Chase’s $2 Billion Loss

Sun, 13 May 2012 00:00:00 -0700

New York Times - May. 13 (Editorial) - The lesson of JPMorgan’s stunning $2 billion trading loss is that the banks haven’t learned their lesson, and neither have the politicians. Jamie Dimon, the chief executive of JPMorgan Chase, can be clear as a bell when he denounces financial reform. But on an emergency conference call with analysts on Thursday to announce the bank’s stunning $2 billion trading loss, his message was frustratingly vague.

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JPMorgan Chase Fought Rule on Risky Trading

Sun, 13 May 2012 00:00:00 -0700

New York Times - By Edward Wyatt - May. 13 (News Report) - JPMorgan Chase fought for the ability for banks to make big bets in their portfolios, including some of the types of trading that led to the $2 billion loss now rocking the bank.

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At JPMorgan, the Ghost of Dinner Parties Past

Sun, 13 May 2012 00:00:00 -0700

New York Times - By Gretchen Morgenson - May. 13 (News Analysis) - The $2 billion trading loss disclosed last week by JPMorgan Chase shows how the tables have turned on the bank and its chief executive, an industry point man against tighter regulation. What goes around comes around. Sometimes it happens sooner than you’d think. That round wheel turned on JPMorgan Chase last week, which disclosed that it had suffered a $2 billion trading loss in credit derivatives. That such a hit had befallen the mightiest of banks was perhaps more stunning than the size of the loss. So where does the karma come in? The loss, and the embarrassment it held for Jamie Dimon, the bank’s imperious chief executive, came just one month after a private dinner party in Dallas at which he assailed two respected public figures who have pushed for policies that would make banks like JPMorgan smaller and less risky.

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Europe’s rush to austerity will have severe consequences.

Sun, 13 May 2012 00:00:00 -0700

Slate - By Joseph E. Stiglitz - May. 13 (Opinion) - This year’s annual meeting of the International Monetary Fund made clear that Europe and the international community remain rudderless when it comes to economic policy. Financial leaders, from finance ministers to leaders of private financial institutions, reiterated the current mantra: The crisis countries have to get their houses in order,...

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Down With Everything

Sat, 21 Apr 2012 00:00:00 -0700

New York Times - By Thomas L. Friedman - Apr. 21 (Opinion) - Has America gone from a system designed to prevent anyone in government from amassing too much power to a system in which no one can get enough power to do anything?

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Punk Economics: Lesson 3

Sun, 01 Apr 2012 00:00:00 -0700

YouTube - By David McWilliams - Apr. 01 (Opinion) - Irish Economist David McWilliams discusses the dangers of playing games with liquidity, in Lesson 3.

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The Truth About Healthcare Reform

Mon, 26 Mar 2012 00:00:00 -0700

Los Angeles Times - By Michael Hiltzik - Mar. 26 (News Report) - The Affordable Care Act has already changed the lives of millions of Americans for the better. The problem is, most people don't understand the reforms.' Michael Hiltzik, Los Angeles Times

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The State of the News Media 2012

Sun, 25 Mar 2012 00:00:00 -0700

Pew Research - By Amy Mitchell, Tom Rosenstiel - Mar. 25 (Special Report) - In 2011, the digital revolution entered a new era. The age of mobile, in which people are connected to the web wherever they are, arrived in earnest. More than four in ten American adults now own a smartphone. One in five owns a tablet. New cars are manufactured with internet built in. With more mobility comes deeper immersion into social networking. For news, the new era brings mixed blessings. New research released in this report finds that mobile devices are adding to people’s news consumption, strengthening the lure of traditional news brands and providing a boost to long-form journalism. Eight in ten who get news on smartphones or tablets, for instance, get news on conventional computers as well. People are taking advantage, in other words, of having easier access to news throughout the day – in their pocket, on their desks and in their laps. At the same time, a more fundamental challenge that we identified in this report last year has intensified — the extent to which technology intermediaries now control the future of news.

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When governments choose to assassinate

Sat, 17 Mar 2012 00:00:00 -0700

BBC News - By Gordon Corera - Mar. 17 (Special Report) - Can state-sponsored assassination work as a strategy? And can it ever be justified? Governments don't admit to it, but Iranian nuclear scientists know it happens - and it's not easy to distinguish assassination from the US policy of "targeted killing". Seventy years ago, a team of British-trained assassins were preparing to strike. Their target was Reinhard Heydrich, one of the most feared men in the Third Reich, then ruling Czechoslovakia. Britain's recently formed Special Operations Executive (SOE) and the Czechoslovak exile movement based in London both needed to make a mark.

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Banks Repaid Fed Bailout With Other Fed Money: Government Report

Fri, 09 Mar 2012 00:00:00 -0800

Huffington Post - By Mark Gongloff - Mar. 09 (News Report) - Though lots of people grumble about the government bailing out banks in the financial crisis, we have at least taken some comfort in the idea that the government has turned a profit on that bailout. Only problem is, that profit comes from taxpayer money -- money that was meant to spur banks to develop communities and help small businesses. Instead they've used it to develop and help themselves.

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Mutated Trout Raise New Concerns Near Mine Sites

Thu, 23 Feb 2012 05:19:03 -0800

New York Times - By By LESLIE KAUFMAN - Feb. 23 (News Report) - Selenium, a metal byproduct of mining that is known to be toxic to wildlife, is under review by federal agencies who are re-evaluating safe levels in area creeks.

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American Airlines' attempt to ditch pension riles feds, labor unions

Sat, 11 Feb 2012 00:00:00 -0800

Seattle Times - By Steven Mufson - Feb. 11 (News Report) - Now in bankruptcy proceedings, the airline wants to terminate its four pension plans for 130,000 workers and retirees and ask the government's Pension Benefit Guarantee Corp. to bail out its unfunded pension obligations to the tune of $9 billion.

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Where Americans Most Depend on Benefits

Sat, 11 Feb 2012 00:00:00 -0800

New York Times - Feb. 11 (Special Report) - The share of Americans’ income that comes from government benefit programs, like Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security, more than doubled over the last four decades, rising from 8 percent in 1969 to 18 percent in 2009.

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Poland: Government Will Sign ACTA Despite Massive Protest

Wed, 25 Jan 2012 00:00:00 -0800

Global Voices - By Katarzyna Odrozek - Jan. 25 (Special Report) - Despite a massive Internet protest and controversies around the secret manner of negotiations, the Polish government will sign the anti-piracy agreement ACTA on January 26, as planned. Katarzyna Odrozek reports.

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Mano Singham's Web Journal: Book Review: With Liberty and Justice for Some by Glenn Greenwald

Sun, 25 Dec 2011 00:00:00 -0800

blog.case.edu - By Mano Singham - Dec. 25 (Review) - The subtitle of the book How the Law is Used to Destroy Equality and Protect the Powerful pretty much says it all. He points out that equality before the law is one of the bedrock principles upon which the US was built, and indeed is seen as the basis for any just society, but that ideal has been dramatically undermined in the last four decades

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Robert Reich: The Defining Issue: Not Government's Size, But Who It's For

Tue, 20 Dec 2011 00:00:00 -0800

Huffington Post - By Robert Reich - Dec. 20 (Opinion) - "Big government" isn't the problem. The problem is big money is taking over government.

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Is Newt right? Food stamps can take you to Hawaii?

Fri, 02 Dec 2011 00:00:00 -0800

PolitiFact - Dec. 02 (Fact Check) - Republican presidential hopeful Newt Gingrich loves to talk about food stamps. And the former House speaker had plenty to say at a campaign appearance in Council Bluffs, Iowa. "Remember, this is the best food stamp president in history," Gingrich said. "So more Americans today get food stamps than before. And we now give it away as cash -- you don't get food stamps. You get a credit card, and the credit card can be used for anything. We have people who take their food stamp money and use it to go to Hawaii. They give food stamps now to millionaires ...

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‘Government-Run’ Nonsense

Tue, 22 Nov 2011 00:00:00 -0800

FactCheck - By Brooks Jackson - Nov. 22 (Fact Check) - The U.S. Chamber of Commerce puts a new twist on a tired old falsehood about “government-run health care” in one of its new ads attacking Democratic lawmakers. We noted other dubious claims as well. An ad against Sen. Jon Tester in Montana accuses him of favoring “government-run health care”

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What If Government Were More Like an iPod?

Sat, 05 Nov 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Wall Street Journal - By Scott Adams - Nov. 05 (Opinion) - If Congress had a 9% approval rating while George Washington was still alive, he would have shoved his wooden dentures in his mouth, assembled a militia and marched on the Capitol. The nation's founders weren't big fans of dysfunctional governments. I'll bet we could solve our energy problem by connecting a generator to John Adams's corpse, which I assume is spinning in its grave.

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New Poll Finds a Deep Distrust of Government

Fri, 28 Oct 2011 00:00:00 -0700

New York Times - By Jeff Zeleny, Megan Thee-Brenan - Oct. 28 (News) - With Election Day just over a year away, a deep sense of economic anxiety and doubt about the future hangs over the nation, according to the latest New York Times/CBS News poll, with Americans’ distrust of government at its highest level ever. The combustible climate helps explain the volatility of the presidential race and has provided an opening for protest movements like Occupy Wall Street, to highlight grievances about banks, income inequality and a sense that the poor and middle class have been disenfranchised.

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Justice Scalia: Americans 'should learn to love gridlock'

Thu, 06 Oct 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Los Angeles Times - By David G. Savage - Oct. 06 (News Report) - Many Americans think badly of the government because of “gridlock” in Washington. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia is not one of them.

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Taxation in the United States

Fri, 30 Sep 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Wikipedia - Sep. 30 (Special Report) - The United States is a federal republic with autonomous state and local governments. Taxes are imposed in the United States at each of these levels. These include taxes on income, property, sales, imports, payroll, estates and gifts, as well as various fees. Taxes are imposed on net income of individuals and corporations by the federal, most state, and some local governments. Residents are taxed on worldwide income and allowed a credit for foreign taxes. Income subject to tax is determined under tax rules, not accounting principles, and includes almost all income from whatever source. Most business expenses reduce taxable income, though limits apply to a few expenses. Individuals are permitted to reduce taxable income by personal allowances and certain nonbusiness expenses, including home mortgage interest, state and local taxes, charitable contributions, and medical and certain other expenses incurred above certain percentages of income. State rules for determining taxable income often differ from federal rules. Federal tax rates vary from 15% to 35% of taxable income. State and local tax rates vary by jurisdiction, and many are graduated. State taxes are generally treated as a deductible expense for federal tax computation. Certain alternative taxes may apply. Payroll taxes are imposed by the federal and all state governments. These include Social Security and Medicare taxes imposed on both employers and employees, at a combined rate of 15.3% (13.3% for 2011). Social Security tax applies only to the first $106,800 of wages in 2009 through 2011. Employers also must withhold income taxes on wages. An unemployment tax and certain other levies apply.

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US presidential candidates raising cash ahead of election season

Wed, 28 Sep 2011 00:00:00 -0700

OpenGlobe - By Tempodivalse - Sep. 28 (News Report) - Friday is an important day for the hopefuls in the US presidential race. That's when the third fiscal quarter ends, and candidates are obliged to post their past three months' financial reports. OpenGlobe takes a closer look at where each politician stands financially.

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Border Patrol Agent Staffing By Fiscal Year

Thu, 22 Sep 2011 00:00:00 -0700

United States Border Patrol - Sep. 22 (Research) - Statistics show a steady increase in border patrol staffing in the past 20 years.

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Newt Gingrich and "the food stamp president"

Thu, 08 Sep 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Salon - By Joan Walsh - Sep. 08 (Opinion) - Newt Gingrich doubled down on his clever new slur against President Obama as "the food stamp president." He tried the line in a Friday speech to the Georgia Republican convention, and he used it again on "Meet the Press Sunday." It's a short hop from Gingrich's slur to Ronald Reagan's attacks on "strapping young bucks" buying "T-bone steaks" with food stamps. Blaming our first black president for the sharp rise in food-stamp reliance (which resulted from the economic crash that happened on the watch of our most recent white president) is just the latest version of Rush Limbaugh suggesting that Obama's social policy amounts to "reparations" for black people.

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