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Why Atheists Have Become a Kick-Ass Movement You Want on Your Side

Sat, 12 May 2012 00:00:00 -0700

AlterNet - By Greta Christina - May. 12 (Special Report) - Atheists are becoming a force to be reckoned with. They are a powerful ally when inspired to take action -- and a powerful opponent when they're treated like dirt.

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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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Players guide 2012 campaign

Sun, 04 Mar 2012 00:00:00 -0800

FactCheck - By Brooks Jackson, team - Mar. 04 (Fact Check) - The 2012 campaign cycle marks the first presidential election since the 2010 Supreme Court ruling that allowed corporations and unions to spend more freely in federal elections. The loosened campaign finance rules, coupled with an intense competition between the two major parties, have served only to embolden independent political groups that hope to influence the 2012 races. Below is a list of most major groups that have been active or expect to be active in the 2012 federal elections. Many of these groups can accept unlimited donations. Others can accept unlimited donations and avoid disclosing their donors. There’s even a new breed of so-called independent groups that advocate solely for a single presidential candidate.

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Income for top 1 percent skyrocketed over last 30 years

Wed, 26 Oct 2011 00:00:00 -0700

yahoo.com - By Zachary Roth, Liz Goodwin - Oct. 26 (News Report) - So you already know that the gap between rich and poor has been widening lately. But some new numbers from the Congressional Budget Office put the issue into stark relief.

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Ron Paul nets over $2.7 million in "money bomb" campaign

Sat, 22 Oct 2011 00:00:00 -0700

OpenGlobe - By Tempodivalse, OpenGlobe contributors - Oct. 22 (News Report) - US presidential candidate Ron Paul has raised around $2.7 million for his campaign over the past three days, in one of his signature "money bombs".

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Sarah Palin's Husband Admits on Video That His Wife Quit Being Governor So She Could Make More Money

Mon, 22 Aug 2011 00:00:00 -0700

AlterNet - By Rachel Maddow - Aug. 22 (News Report) - The Rachel Maddow Show staff dug up a video yesterday that shows an interesting moment of candor by Sarah Palin's husband Todd. In the video, Palin is arguing with a woman who says she's an Alaska resident and disapproves of how his wife quit the Alaska governorship and "sold out." Palin doesn't disagree with the Alaska woman; he just says, "What would you do" with "thousands and thousands of dollars a day?"

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Wealth Gap Between Minorities and White Americans Doubles After Housing Crisis, Recession

Thu, 28 Jul 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Democracy Now - By Amy Goodman - Jul. 28 (News Report) - A new study of U.S. census data reveals that wealth gaps between whites and minorities in the United States have grown to their widest levels since the U.S. government began tracking them a quarter-century ago. White Americans now have on average 20 times the net worth of African Americans and 18 times that of Latinos. According to the Pew Research Center, the gaps were compounded during the housing bust and the subsequent recession, and essentially wiped out much of the economic progress made by people of color over the past 20 years. We discuss the center’s study with Roderick Harrison, sociologist and demographer, and former chief of racial statistics at the Census Bureau. “Any hopes or aspirations, particularly based solely on Obama's election, that we had reached some kind of post-racial state, were close to delusional,” says Harrison. “This report is pointing to just how much the inequalities have been exacerbated by the recession and poor economy.”

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Amazon’s Market Cap Passes $100 Billion

Wed, 27 Jul 2011 00:00:00 -0700

TechCrunch - By Leena Rao - Jul. 27 (News) - After reporting stronger than expected second quarter earnings yesterday, Amazon has passed $100 billion in market cap this morning. The company's shares are currently trading at around $225 per share, giving the e-commerce giant a $101.81 billion market cap.

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Debt Deception: Borrower Nightmares

Sat, 16 Jul 2011 00:00:00 -0700

iWatch News - By Julie Vorman - Jul. 16 (Special Report) - To mark the July 21 launch of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, a new regulator with broad powers, iWatch News is publishing stories about borrower nightmares: Americans from different walks of life who borrowed money with terms they didn’t understand and couldn’t afford. The stories build on our Debt Deception investigation, begun in February, of how lenders are accused of exploiting gaps in existing laws to make predatory and confusing loans. Here's a brief description of the borrowers we will profile in this installment:

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Bank Errors Continue to Cause Wrongful Foreclosures - ProPublica

Fri, 24 Jun 2011 00:00:00 -0700

ProPublica - By by Paul Kiel - Jun. 24 (Special Report) - by Paul Kiel Four years into the foreclosure crisis, banks say they've made major improvements in how they handle struggling homeowners. They've promised, for example, not to foreclose on homeowners who are being considered for mortgage modifications. But that's still happening. Consider the cases of Laurie Pinkerton and Lisa Peterson. The two women, both Californians and Bank of America customers, had been assured by the bank that they wouldn't lose their homes before they'd been evaluated for a possible modification. Both had their homes sold last month. Such cases are particularly senseless, because simply modifying the mortgage by reducing the monthly payment might be in the interest not only of the homeowner, but also of the investor who owns the mortgage. Both Pinkerton and Peterson said their homes were sold after foreclosure for far less than they're worth. Regulators have done little to stop the practice, and the "problem appears to be getting worse," said Kevin Stein, associate director of the nonprofit California Reinvestment Coalition. Last month, the coalition surveyed 55 foreclosure-avoidance counselors throughout the state. Collectively they serve thousands of borrowers every month. Almost all of the counselors, 94 percent, reported having worked with clients who'd lost their homes while under review for a modification. About half of the counselors reported this happened "often." This year's totals, which are due to be publicly released next week, are higher than those in the group's survey last year. Regulators have acknowledged the problem but have so far stopped short of solving it, say borrower advocates. More than a year ago, ProPublica reported extensively on how the banks' inadequate systems were causing wrongful foreclosures. This past April, the federal banking regulators released "consent orders" with 14 of the largest banks requiring various improvements in their handling of mortgages and foreclosures. Prior to the orders, the regulators had not had clear rules on how the banks should handle modification applications. Among the new requirements, banks will now be forbidden from actually selling a home before a final decision is made on a modification. Also, if a homeowner is approved for a modification, the foreclosure process is supposed to stop. The new requirements will go into effect later this summer. While those are necessary requirements, regulators took a "huge step backward" by not explicitly forbidding banks from pursuing foreclosure at all until a final decision has been made on a mortgage modification application, said Alys Cohen of the National Consumer Law Center. The administration's mortgage modification program, which offers incentives to encourage modifications, has that requirement. But that program is voluntary for the banks and has been hobbled by lax oversight. What's more, over two-thirds of modifications occur outside of the program. Federal regulators have the power to require all banks to make a decision on a modification application before moving to foreclose, but they've simply chosen not to. Allowing the banks to pursue foreclosure while the modification process plays out hurts homeowners in multiple ways. First and foremost, there's the hazard of actually losing the home to foreclosure because of bank error. The two homeowners featured in this story show that this continues to be a real danger, especially in states like California where the bank doesn't need to go to court to foreclose. It's also just confusing and unnecessarily stressful for homeowners. Finally, in a foreclosure homeowners actually get billed for bank costs, such as paying for a bank's lawyers. Instead of outright forbidding banks from pursuing foreclosure while they're considering homeowners for a modification, regulators have asked the banks to explore whether it's a problem. The orders ask the banks to "conduct a review to determine whether processes involving past due mortgage loans or foreclosures overlap in such a way that they may impair or impede a borrower's efforts to effectively pursue a loan modification." The primary regulator for the biggest banks is the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, which has been much criticized for failing to crack down on banks' foreclosure failures. Bryan Hubbard, a spokesman for the OCC, said that the orders addressed the "situations that were most confusing to the borrower" and that the issue would be revisited at a later time when regulators draft new, comprehensive standards for the industry. When asked whether regulators were deferring to the banks on the issue, he said they were not deferring, because regulators would have to approve whatever conclusion the banks came to. Two homeowners' tales Although Pinkerton and Peterson live about 450 miles apart, they've had strikingly similar experiences with Bank of America. Both contacted the bank before even missing a payment to see what steps to take, because they'd taken a hit to their income. Both say Bank of America employees told them they'd have to fall at least three months behind to be considered for a modification (advice that is both inaccurate and frequently given). Reluctantly, both did so. As a result of missing payments, both soon found themselves facing foreclosure. But at least the modification process had begun, too. Of course, it went slowly. Like millions of other homeowners, they waited months and months for an answer on their modification applications and sent in the same documents over and over again. Despite sending in those documents, both were told at one point that they'd been denied because they hadn't sent in the required documents (another extremely common problem). Finally, last month, both had their homes sold at a foreclosure auction, despite the assurances of Bank of America employees that that wouldn't happen until they'd received a final answer on their application for a modification. "The next thing I know, a guy is knocking on my door saying his boss is at the courthouse buying our house," said Peterson. What makes foreclosure particularly unnecessary in both cases is that Pinkerton and Peterson had made a point of telling the bank they had the means to bring the loan current even if they didn't get a modification. And unlike many Californians, both had the option of selling the home to pay off the mortgage because their homes are worth more than they owe on their mortgage. "I never received any letter saying you're denied," said Pinkerton. "If that would have been the case, I would have borrowed the money and went and paid it current." Her family had offered to help, she said. Both errors are particularly hard to undo because Bank of America can't simply give the houses back: The bank sold both homes to others. In order to get the homes back, the bank would have to essentially convince the new owner to sell the home back. In a case we reported on last year, JPMorgan Chase paid about $20,000 above the purchase price to the buyer of a property the bank had mistakenly sold. At this point in the two stories, the homeowners' paths diverge. After complaining to everyone she could think of, Pinkerton was contacted by a Bank of America employee who said he worked in the bank's office of the president. He told her he'd work to get the sale reversed. Regardless, Pinkerton was evicted from her home last week. "I've spent thousands of dollars moving that I didn't have," she said. As recently as Wednesday, the Bank of America employee told her he's still working on her case. Bank of America spokesman Rick Simon said the bank was researching whether a mistake had been made. "To the extent it is determined that mistakes in the process contributed to the mortgage reaching foreclosure, the bank will work with Ms. Pinkerton to explore viable and appropriate considerations, which may include rescission." Simon also noted that Pinkerton had been sent letters in March and April saying that she'd canceled her application for a modification. Pinkerton said she'd never asked to cancel her application, and when she called Bank of America to ask about the letters, she was told to disregard them. She did once reject a modification offer, but that was because it would have significantly raised her monthly payments. She says a Bank of America employee told her to appeal the offer because it had erroneously calculated her income at twice its actual level. Peterson has been more successful. After the foreclosure sale, she made a number of frantic calls and finally got a bank employee to admit there'd been a mistake, she says. But nothing could be done about it, she was told. After being contacted by various employees who said they'd been assigned to help resolve the matter, but who then couldn't be reached, she eventually hired an attorney. Earlier this month, Bank of America rescinded the sale and returned the title to Peterson. It's unclear whether the bank paid a premium to the buyer of Peterson's property in order to get it back. Bank of America's Simon said, "We continue to work on resolution of remaining third-party issues." In general, Simon said such mistaken foreclosures "have been relatively rare, compared to the volume of defaults and foreclosure activity in today's economy." Across the country, about 4 million mortgages are currently more than three months delinquent. "Any problem in this regard is of tremendous concern, and we have put additional checks and practices in place to further limit the possibilities," he added. To Peterson, the lesson from her experience is clear. "This system is broken," she said. "You can't trust what the bank tells you."

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American Banks 'High' On Drug Money

Sun, 12 Jun 2011 00:00:00 -0700

AlterNet - By Clarence Walker - Jun. 12 (Investigative Report) - A fraud investigator helped expose the shocking world of multi-billion dollar drug laundering by American banks and the surprising lack of oversight by the Feds. Martin Woods, an Englishman in his mid-40s, is blessed with a Sherlock Holmes instinct and demeanor. Woods is an expert at sniffing out "dirty" money passing through International Banking Systems. A police officer for 18 years and later a detective with London Metro Police Agency, Woods capitalized on his unique expertise as a fraud expert by joining Wachovia's London-based Bank in March 2005 as an anti-money laundering officer. It wasn't long after taking the job that he discovered that his own employer, one of America's leading banks, was a major player in aiding the "bloodthirsty" Mexico drug cartels to launder billions of dollars in drug money through Wachovia banks. Woods traced and identified a "number of suspicious transactions" related to Mexico-based Casa de Cambios (CDC).

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Rapture Prediction Spurs Donations for Evangelical Group

Thu, 19 May 2011 00:00:00 -0700

The Chronicle of Philanthropy - By Chronicle staff - May. 19 (News Report) - Family Radio, the nonprofit broadcast network that has proclaimed Saturday the beginning of the end of the world, has seen contributions rise as the predicted Judgment Day nears, writes the Contra Costa Times.

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Is College Worth It?

Mon, 16 May 2011 00:00:00 -0700

pewsocialtrends.org - May. 16 (Poll) - This report is based on findings from a pair of Pew Research Center surveys conducted this spring. One is a telephone survey taken among a nationally representative sample of 2142 adults ages 18 and older. The other is an online survey, ...Study looks at whether college is really worth the priceCNNIs college worth it?NewsChannel 9 WSYRKey Education Issues Dividing Public, College Presidents, Study FindsWall Street JournalBloomberg -Houston Chronicle (blog) -WHNTall 45 news articles »

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Obama Visits the S(lush) F(und) Bay Area

Sat, 23 Apr 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Pajamas Media - By Zombia - Apr. 23 (Special Report) - After satiating the hoi polloi with his Facebook stagecraft, Obama set off for some hardcore fundraisin’ — the real point of the visit. The first, and swankiest, of his three whirlwind back-to-back-to-back fundraisers was a $35,800/plate (not a typo) dinner at the Presidio Heights home of billionaire Salesforce.com CEO Marc Benioff. This time I was waiting for him. But here there were no large crowds, no organized protests — because the exact location of the fundraiser had never been released. I myself uncovered it through a bit of detective work, but just about everyone else there were passersby who stumbled on the event by accident.

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Inflation Actually Near 10% Using Older Measure

Fri, 15 Apr 2011 00:00:00 -0700

finance.yahoo.com - Apr. 15 (News Analysis) - After former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker was appointed in 1979, the consumer price index surged into the double digits, causing the now revered Fed Chief to double the benchmark interest rate in order to break the back of inflation. Using the methodology in place at that time puts the CPI back near those levels. Inflation, using the reporting methodologies in place before 1980, hit an annual rate of 9.6 percent in February, according to the Shadow Government Statistics newsletter.

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U.S. Military Spending Has Almost Doubled Since 2001

Mon, 11 Apr 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Think Progress - By Judd Legum - Apr. 11 (Research) - A new report released today by SIPRI, a Swedish-based think tank, reveals that U.S. military spending has almost doubled since 2001. The U.S. spent an astounding $698 billion on the military last year, an 81% increase over the last decade.

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Unraveling the Spin on the Fight Over Hidden Debit Card Fees

Mon, 11 Apr 2011 13:45:25 -0700

ProPublica - By Marian Wang - Apr. 11 (News Report) - by Marian Wang We’ve noted that the Federal Reserve and the banking industry have made opposing claims about whether debit interchange fees—the fees that merchants pass on to banks whenever a customer uses a debit card to pay—are on the rise. The Fed has proposed capping the fees for big banks. But to hear the banks explain it, the rules aren’t needed because fee rates have barely risen. Each side has trotted out numbers supporting its stance. Lawmakers are on the verge of voting on legislation that would delay the rules for further study. But what are the facts? Here’s our attempt to cut through the spin. Are debit interchange fee rates rising? Yes. Banks, payment networks and the Federal Reserve all acknowledge that debit interchange fee rates have risen. That’s partly why the banks’ claim that “merchant fee rates are not going up” is so misleading—you have to read carefully and realize that “merchant” fees don’t refer to either debit interchange fees or credit interchange fees alone, but blended together. As we’ve noted, both credit and debit interchange fee rates have been rising—it’s just a question of how much. OK, so how much are they rising? Fee rates have stayed fairly level for transactions in which debit cards are used sort of like credit cards—where you sign for a transaction rather than enter your PIN. Called signature debit, the fees for this transaction rose in the early 2000s and dipped briefly in 2003 when Visa and MasterCard settled an antitrust lawsuit with the Justice Department on interchange fees. Rates are slightly higher now than they were in 1996. But debit fees for transactions where you enter your PIN number have risen much more. Those fees have increased dramatically from the mid-90s until about 2005, after which they rose more incrementally. (Figure 2 in a 2009 Fed paper [PDF] shows PIN and signature debit transactions both growing, with PIN transactions accounting for just over a third of debit transactions in 2007.) Data from the Kansas City Federal Reserve, for instance, show that the interchange fee for a $50 PIN-debit transaction at a small retailer tripled from 2000 to 2010 for Visa, going from 20 cents to 67.5 cents. It quadrupled in the same time period for MasterCard, going from 9.5 cents to 60 cents. Take a look at the graphic below: Interchange Fees for a $50 Transaction at a Small Retailer Source: Kansas City Federal Reserve Where does the spin come in? Both sides have used data to argue their cases. The Federal Reserve takes the long view when it points out that interchange fees rates are rising. Others look just at the rate trends for just the past few years. Take Visa’s debit interchange fact sheet, which points out that “between 2006 and 2010, the average debit interchange rate grew less than 1.6%.” The American Bankers Association takes a similar view. When I asked spokesman Peter Garuccio last week about some of the ABA’s interchange claims, he said that debit interchange fees rates had not “dramatically risen.” “The changes you get really depend upon what period of time you want to look at,” said David Evans, a former Visa adviser who currently runs a consulting firmcatering to the financial services industry. “If you want to look at it from mid-90s, the story is that PIN debit rates went up. If you want to talk about what’s happened in last 5, 6 years, that’s a different story.” So, if fees haven’t risen that dramatically in the past few years, why are merchants kicking up a fuss? Merchants are upset because of the debit interchange rate increases, it’s true. But especially as debit cards grow in popularity, increased debit use—compounded with rising rates—means they’re handing over more and more in fees to the banks. This cuts into their profit margins and/or forces them to raise prices. No one—not the banks, not the payment networks, not the Fed—disputes this. Garuccio of the American Bankers Association takes issue with the disproportionate focus on how the changes in interchange fees affect small retailers, when most transactions take place at large retailers that typically pay lower rates. But according to proponents of interchange regulation, that’s exactly the point. “The smallest retailers pay the highest fees,” a spokesman for the National Association of Convenience Stores told the Washington Post. What’s the case for and against regulation? Experts such as Adam Levitin of Georgetown Law have noted that interchange rates in the United States are “much, much higher than anywhere else in the developed world.” As Bloomberg has reported, the Fed’s plan would bring U.S. debit interchange rates closer to the rates in other countries, including Australia and members of the European Union. In Europe, both MasterCard and Visa agreed to cap debit interchange fees at 0.2 percent last year—almost six times the average rate in the United States. But those opposing the Fed’s proposed regulation of debit interchange fees have touted the ways merchants have benefitted from debit cards, such as more efficient transactions and fraud protection. “The rates are certainly not unreasonable for what the merchants are getting out of it,” said Evans, the former Visa adviser. “What they want is all the benefits of the debit card without having to pay for it.” So, are there going to be caps on the fees, or not? It’s looking increasingly likely that the proposed caps will be put on the backburner. Merchants and banks have continued lobbying fiercely about the proposed regulation. Hundreds of retailers who favor the interchange cap have flown to Washington to meet with lawmakers, the New York Times reported. Meanwhile, banks—as well as conservative and libertarian groups—have flooded the Fed with letters and lobbied lawmakers to pass legislation that would delay the rules for further study. This effort seems to be gaining traction, as Rep. Barney Frank—who sponsored the financial reform law that mandates the interchange rules—announced last week that he supports delaying it. Lawmakers have said they believe they have the votes to pass legislation for a delay. As Simon Johnson, former chief economist at the International Monetary Fund, noted, that doesn’t bode well for the future of such regulation: “In Washington, the best way to kill something is to study it further,” he wrote on the Times’ Economix blog. Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke has acknowledged that the Fed would miss the deadline mandated by Dodd-Frank for finalizing the rules, though he said the agency aims to meet its July deadline for implementing them.

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15 Facts About U.S. Income Inequality That Everyone Should Know

Wed, 06 Apr 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Huffington Post - By Maxwell Strachan - Apr. 06 (Research) - It might have taken a near-historic recession for many Americans to notice our country's rapidly rising levels of income inequality, but the gap between rich and poor has finally gone mainstream, with bloggers, economists and policymakers of all stripes spouting theories on why we should or shouldn't care.

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Millions in US Underemployed, Struggling With Inflation

Sun, 03 Apr 2011 00:00:00 -0700

readersupportednews.org - By Mark Huffman - Apr. 03 (News Report) - 'The nation's unemployment rate dipped slightly in March to 8.8 percent, as the economy added more than 200,000 jobs during the month. But despite the improvement, a new report says millions of Americans are struggling to make ends meet, and we're talking about people who have jobs.' Mark Huffman, Consumer Affairs

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Ralph Nader Calls For Ending Athletic Scholarships

Thu, 24 Mar 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Huffington Post - Mar. 24 (News Report) - Consumer advocate Ralph Nader is calling for the elimination of college athletic scholarships, saying the move is necessary to "de-professionalize" college athletes.

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Larry Kudlow: We Should Be 'Grateful' That Human Toll From Japan Quake Is 'Worse' Than Economic Toll (VIDEO)

Sun, 13 Mar 2011 00:00:00 -0800

Huffington Post - Mar. 13 (News Report) - CNBC anchor Larry Kudlow made a startling statement about the earthquake in Japan on Friday. Kudlow was listening to a report about the global stock markets doing well in the wake of the quake. "All in all, the market taking this in stride," his co-host said to him. "The human toll here looks to be much worse than the economic toll and we can be grateful for that," Kudlow responded. "And the human toll is a tragedy, we know that."

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Google Ventures, Khosla Make Rain For WeatherBill

Mon, 28 Feb 2011 00:00:00 -0800

blogs.wsj.com - By Deborah Gage - Feb. 28 (News) - Google Inc.'s venture capital arm is backing a start-up founded by ex-Googlers that insures farms and other business against the whims of Mother Nature.

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Wisconsin Pension Cuts Are Actually About Reducing Union 'Cash Wages'

Sun, 27 Feb 2011 00:00:00 -0800

Huffington Post - By Lila Shapiro - Feb. 27 (News Analysis) - David Cay Johnston, who won a Pulitzer Prize for his reporting on inequities in the corporate tax code, says the AP's description of Walker's bill is critically misleading. The problem lies with the claim initiated by the Governor, that under the proposed plan state workers would "contribute more" to their pension plan. This distorts the issue at hand because, Johnston writes at Tax.com, it leads to a certain implicit impression

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It's the Inequality, Stupid

Sat, 26 Feb 2011 00:00:00 -0800

Mother Jones - By Dave Gilson,Carolyn Perot - Feb. 26 (Special Report) - A huge share of the nation's economic growth over the past 30 years has gone to the top one-hundredth of one percent, who now make an average of $27 million per household. The average income for the bottom 90 percent of us? $31,244.

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Gov. Walker Informed That Bill Targeting Unions May Cost State $46 Million In Federal Funds

Wed, 23 Feb 2011 00:00:00 -0800

Huffington Post - By Sam Stein - Feb. 23 (News Report) - Budget referees and transportation officials in Wisconsin have informed Gov. Scott Walker (R) that if he were to pass his controversial anti-union legislation into law, he could be forfeiting tens of millions of dollars in federal funds for transportation.

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