April 21, 2010 archive

…..The Harder They Fall

(Cross-posted from The Free Speech Zone)


Government allegations that financial giant Goldman Sachs defrauded investors are creating a political storm, with some lawmakers hoping that the civil lawsuit filed Friday by the Securities and Exchange Commission is just the beginning.

As the heat increases on the investment bank, which has denied all wrongdoing, Politico reports that they have hired Greg Craig for legal help. Craig formerly worked as the top lawyer for President Barack Obama and left the White House earlier this year to join the law firm Skadden, Arps.

The executive order Obama signed the day after he was inaugurated bars high-level executive branch appointees who leave the administration, like Craig, from communicating with their former employers. That executive order also prohibits such officials from lobbying the federal government during the remainder of the Obama administration.

The Politico article notes that since the SEC is an independent government agency, it would not coordinate with the White House on enforcement matters, such as the pending lawsuit targeting Goldman Sachs.

The article goes on to quote a source familiar with Goldman Sachs as saying Craig was hired for his ability to give advice and his “deep understanding of the legal process and the world of Washington.”



The U.S. government is not the only authority interested in further probing Goldman Sachs.

The British and German government have also raised the possibility of investigations. And on Capitol Hill, Democrats in the House and Senate are calling for more answers.

http://www.opensecrets.org/new…

Of all the articles I read on this, this Capital Eye Blog article has to be the best one.

Well, the one that gave me the biggest fucking hard-on in my life that is…..

Diane Wood versus the leviathans.

Photobucket

According to Peter Boone and Simon Johnson, the six largest banks currently have assets in excess of 63% of GDP:

The president is absolutely correct that our priority should be to limit the size of our largest banks and to reduce substantially the risks that can be taken by any financial entity that is backed, implicitly or explicitly, by the federal government. As a result of the crisis and various government rescue efforts, the largest six banks in our economy now have total assets in excess of 63 percent of GDP (based on the latest available data). This is a significant increase from even 2006, when the same banks’ assets were around 55 percent of GDP, and a complete transformation compared with the situation in the United States just 15 years ago, when the six largest banks had combined assets of only around 17 percent of GDP. If the status quo persists, we are set up for another round of the boom-bailout-bust cycle that the head of financial stability at the Bank of England now terms a “doom loop.”

In recent decades we have witnessed an ever-growing war-mongering police state merging power with private corporations that increasingly suck the wealth of our nation into fewer and fewer hands and grotesquely warp the political process using secrecy, bribery, extortion, theft, war-profiteering, revolving doors between government and the private sector, and propaganda through concentrated media ownership.  The confluence and concentration of political, financial, media and technological leviathans has transformed us into a self-cannibalizing society.  

Given the massive financialization engorging our economy and political system, and especially in the wake of destruction from the 2008 “financial crisis,”  it remains shocking that the Supreme Court saw fit to decide yet another ideological 5-4 split favoring corporations, with Kennedy again providing the swing vote.  The Citizens United ruling can only hasten the pace of our “doom loop,” which we literally cannot afford.  The replacement Justice Stevens is a critical event that Obama cannot fumble.

The Governments New Weapon; Vibrator Torture?

Georgia has taken the first step in the fight against forced microchip implants by, well, anyone.

The Georgia House Judiciary Committee took up a bill  last week that would “prohibit requiring a person to be implanted with a microchip,” and would make violating the ban a misdemeanor.

Ok, I cut the above quote in half, frankly, because I had to do it. The rest is next…

Budget crisis about to become “education catastrophe”

  The municipal budget crisis currently striking the largest states in America is about to enter its worst phase. This NY Times article warns that as many as 300,000 teachers could be laid off this summer.

Teabaggers, You’ve Got A Right To Be Mad?

Insanity is the key to the teabagger’s “success” stupidity, and if you look at recent history,


Some of the nation’s top tea party leaders, are using you.

history is merely repeating itself.

Afternoon Edition

Afternoon Edition is an Open Thread

From Yahoo News Top Stories

1 Thai protesters back down after live fire threat

by Boonradom Chitradon, AFP

Tue Apr 20, 11:50 am ET

BANGKOK (AFP) – Thailand on Tuesday toughened its stance against anti-government protesters, warning security forces would use live ammunition and tear gas in any fresh clashes.

Ten days after 25 people were killed and 800 wounded in a failed attempt to dislodge the red-shirted demonstrators, the government said it was determined to end four weeks of rallies but would not give a date for the crackdown.

Confronted by the newly muscular approach and an intimidating military presence in Bangkok’s financial hub, the protesters were forced to cancel plans for a march to the strategic district.

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