Stories that should be on the front page ...

[BoyNextDoor]

Republican Rep. Vern Buchanan: Buchanan's former business partner says the congressman schemed to launder money from his car dealerships into his campaign coffers, and then tried to get others to cover it up.

With time running out for Congress to prevent a doubling of interest rates on federal student loans, the White House and Republican leaders exchanged accusations Thursday on who was to blame for the lack of an agreement.

On the front line of climate change: Five cities battling floods, heat and storms

 

[sigh]

I saw the first one yesterday on CNN.com. I'm surprised the Dems aren't fanning the flames on it more.

The second slipped under my radar, but then it doesn't impact me directly so maybe I just skimmed it and went on.

Weather doesn't become news in this country until it hits the northeast (oh, it's SO HOT in NYC today! - waaaah).

 

[BoyNextDoor]

Defense Technology leaked to the Chinese

These attack helicopters are now in production in China. This is a slap on the wrist. I want asses in jail and to see the trial for treason on CNN. United Technologies is one of the biggest defense contractors. WTF? Still like where our hard earned tax money is going when it is spent on defense? Want more defense spending - ok then let's hang these fuckers first.

UTC Helped Build China's First Military Attack Copter

UTC case shows aerospace’s murky secrets


SLAP ON THE WRIST?
About $20 million of the State Department fines may be used by the company for improving its export control procedures and hiring an independent monitor, United Technologies said.

 

[RobDownSouth]

Yesterday was probably the high-water mark for bipartisanship in the United States Congress for the past 5 or 6 years.

Faced with the last working day prior to the July 1st deadline, Congress quickly and overwhelmingly passed the Student Loan interest extension, swatting away the loathesome Rand Paul's unrelated "personhood" amendments. The vote wasn't even close, I think 19 senators total voted against it.

 

[BoyNextDoor]

Yesterday was probably the high-water mark for bipartisanship in the United States Congress for the past 5 or 6 years.

Faced with the last working day prior to the July 1st deadline, Congress quickly and overwhelmingly passed the Student Loan interest extension, swatting away the loathesome Rand Paul's unrelated "personhood" amendments. The vote wasn't even close, I think 19 senators total voted against it.

I missed that. It is really great news. Now to fund more state colleges to drive down the cost of a great education!

 

[RobDownSouth]

I missed that. It is really great news. Now to fund more state colleges to drive down the cost of a great education!

I must say that I was surprised...and pleased... when faced with a deadline, Congress threw out all the partisanship and got down to business. Had a no-frills up-or-down vote and they were done in 20 minutes.

Amazing how deadlines can make you focus a bit more!!

 

[Balladeer08]

http://www.rollingstone.com/politic...et-learned-from-the-mafia-20120620?print=true

The banksters have stolen TRILLIONS of dollars out of the US and the world economies. Bid rigging on public bonds.

The financial impact is so huge, with so many local tie-ins available to report on, I can't believe that this story is not getting Watergate-style publicity.

 

[RobDownSouth]

http://www.rollingstone.com/politic...et-learned-from-the-mafia-20120620?print=true

The banksters have stolen TRILLIONS of dollars out of the US and the world economies. Bid rigging on public bonds.

The financial impact is so huge, with so many local tie-ins available to report on, I can't believe that this story is not getting Watergate-style publicity.

I've tried reading that story in its entirety twice and I can't seem to get through it. It's still an outrage, though. Unfortunately, President Obama seems curiously unmotivated to have his administration investigate this.

 

[BoyNextDoor]

http://www.rollingstone.com/politic...et-learned-from-the-mafia-20120620?print=true

The banksters have stolen TRILLIONS of dollars out of the US and the world economies. Bid rigging on public bonds.

The financial impact is so huge, with so many local tie-ins available to report on, I can't believe that this story is not getting Watergate-style publicity.

WTF? How is this not leading the evening news and being ranted about? You'd think this would be something both Rush and Maher could be equally loud about. Thanks for posting.

 

[BoyNextDoor]

I've tried reading that story in its entirety twice and I can't seem to get through it. It's still an outrage, though. Unfortunately, President Obama seems curiously unmotivated to have his administration investigate this.

Here was my take away:

This incredible defense, which the attorneys for all three defendants led with, perfectly expresses the awesome arrogance of the modern-day aristocrats who run our financial services sector. Corrupt or not, they built this financial infrastructure, and it's producing the prices they genuinely think are fair for us – and for them. And fair to them is the customer getting the absolute bare minimum, while they get instant millions for work they didn't do. Moreover – and this is the most important part – they believe they should get permanent protection from the ravages of the market, i.e., from one another's competition. Imagine Jack Nicholson on the witness stand, dressed in a repairman's uniform and tool belt. Who's gonna fix those refrigerators? You? You, Lieutenant Weinberg? You can't handle the truth!

That, ultimately, is what this case was about. Capitalism is a system for determining objective value. What these Wall Street criminals have created is an opposite system of value by fiat. Prices are not objectively determined by collisions of price information from all over the market, but instead are collectively negotiated in secret, then dictated from above.

"One of the biggest lies in capitalism," says Eliot Spitzer, "is that companies like competition. They don't. Nobody likes competition."

Jefferson said something almost exactly about this sentiment. Something about "Banks want to privatize the profits and socialize the losses". (Google is better than my memory so I'll have to search)

 

[Balladeer08]

WTF? How is this not leading the evening news and being ranted about? You'd think this would be something both Rush and Maher could be equally loud about. Thanks for posting.

I've been sending emails to my local mediots asking them to investigate the local tie-ins. How much money did our school district lose in this? Etc.

Municipal bonds affect every level of government in the county. Every town and village, every school and library.

And the banksters have set up a mafia-style bid-rigging scheme so they get to set their own prices and profits.

Tell your friends, send some emails to the local news media.

I'm pretty sure that if the story starts to take off, it will snowball. As it should.

 

[Balladeer08]

I've tried reading that story in its entirety twice and I can't seem to get through it. It's still an outrage, though. Unfortunately, President Obama seems curiously unmotivated to have his administration investigate this.

Since the case is named United States of America vs Carollo, Goldberg....

It would seem that the Obama administration's Justice Dept. and the Rolling Stone magazine are the only ones investigating this.

Where are the State investigations and lawsuits? The Cities and Counties? They have ALL been gouged by this.

This is enough money to play a MAJOR part in the economy recovering.

 

[Balladeer08]

So far, I've heard of investigations into the Banksters in the USA, UK, Canada and Japan.


Amazing that Germany and France haven't gotten into it as well.

EURIBOR, the European Inter-Bank Offered Rate and LIBOR, the London Inter-Bank Offered Rate, were both manipulated.