Bank On Obama Backing Banks, Financial Transaction Tax? Haiti In Agony

January 12th, 2012 - by: danny

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OCCUPY UPDATE: 60 Wall Street last night. Discussions were focused on two protests against “corporate personhood” this weekend–one is called Occupy the Courts at the Federal Courts (Starting at the the Moynihan Courthouse, 500 Pearl Street at 5 PM with a rally afterwards at Foley Square) and,then, on Saturday, Occupy The Corporations. Saturday is the anniversary of the Supreme Court’s Citizens United Decision.

All of the details were not yet fully agreed on. Rap magnate and businessman Russell Simmons was there to argue for a focus on getting out of politics, but as eloquent on the issue as he is, he ran afoul of the process police in that that discussion was not scheduled at that time. He is promoting a well-conceived constitutional amendment.

Russ’s main point is about communications and messaging–being clear and reinforcing ideas that the Americian people will support. He is promoting Occupy the Dream this weekend to honor Dr. King on his birthday, and also tie it the fight against money dominating politics. He was far more patient that I was because all the focus on action after action can be a substitute for a strategy, rather than an expression of one.

•Huffington Post : Occupy and The GOP

•NY City Council Member Wants To Support Occupy Wall Street

Daily Beast: Santorum Comes From Left Family in Italy

Psychiatrist Needed? “In Riva del Garda his grandfather Pietro and uncles were ‘red communists’ to the core,” writes Oggi journalist Giuseppe Fumagalli, likening the family to “Peppone” after a famous fictional Italian communist mayor who fought against an ultraconservative priest known as Don Cammillo and about which a popular television series is based. “But on the other side of the ocean, it’s like his family here doesn’t exist. Instead he draws crowds as the head of the ultraconservative faction of the Republican party, against divorce, gay marriage, abortion, and immigration.”

Those politics don’t play well in Riva del Garda, a community of ultraliberals. ”

Is there anything the Banks Want that Obama Won’t Give Them

As a former Citi-Bankster becomes the President’s new Chief of Staff, there is new evidence that the Obama Administration is still working closely with the banks—not against them.

ICH: Richard RJ Eskow: Obama’s ‘New’ Bank Fraud Deal:Still Unfair, Still Unjust, Still Unbalanced

The Obama White House continues to push for a settlement that would let bankers avoid being punished – or even investigated – for a wave of mortgage-related crimes that includes perjury, tax evasion, and several types of fraud.

Cover Up In High Places

Bill Black,Naked Capitalism: More Proof of Obama Policy of Covering Up for Elite Financial Criminals

Bill Black, the author of The Best Way to Rob a Bank is to Own One and an associate professor of economics and law at the University of Missouri-Kansas City. Cross posted from “New Economic Perspectives .

The New York Times published a column by its leading financial experts, Gretchen Morgenson and Louise Story, on November 22, 2011 which contains a spectacular charge against the Obama administration’s financial regulatory leaders. I have waited for the rebuttal, but it is now clear that the administration does not contest the charge.

The specific example that prompted the NYT article (“Financial Finger-Pointing Turns to Regulators”) was a civil action against a former executive of IndyMac. IndyMac was supposed to be regulated by the Office of Thrift Supervision (OTS). OTS was the worst of the federal financial regulators – which is a large statement. It was so bad that the Dodd-Frank Act killed it. I used to work for OTS. One of the things I did to make myself unemployable during the S&L debacle was to testify before Congress against the head of our agency, Danny Wall, and our head of supervision, Darrell Dochow. Wall resigned in disgrace and Dochow was demoted and sent back to run the obscure office he had once run in Seattle.

Ms. Story and Ms. Morgenson’s column discusses how an IndyMac manager is defending himself against suit by arguing that Dochow told him to file false financial statements. OTS’ senior leaders knew from my book exactly what they were getting when they promoted Dochow and made him the top (anti) regulator for all the top S&L originators of fraudulent liar’s loans.

This column addresses a more general point, the charge that Obama’s financial regulatory leaders actively oppose the prosecution of elite financial criminals and the regulators who conspired with them (to use the term the article quotes Professor Kane as insisting upon).

“Any financial crisis case that named a regulator probably would turn into a huge political battle, because it would question many of the nontransparent acts that bank regulators take while trying to save banks, said Denise Voigt Crawford, former commissioner of the Texas securities board and now a law professor at Texas Tech University.
In any prosecution of bank regulators, she said, “you’d have the Justice Department in a fight with the policy goals of the Department of Treasury. Particularly in this environment, you know the banking regulators would fight it tooth and nail.”

Some longtime lawyers go further and say the overall scarcity of cases related to the financial crisis might be in part because regulators want to avoid scrutiny of their own kind.

“It’s not just one 30-year-old wunderkind who was responsible for the financial crisis,” said Dennis C. Vacco, who was the New York State attorney general in the 1990s and now is a lawyer at Lippes Mathias Wexler & Friedman.

“Once you start pulling the string through in these complex cases, you might be surprised what you find at the other end.”

Mr. Vacco continued: “What’s at the end of the string? The defense may be that ‘at the highest echelons of the financial institutions, we were in regular contact with the government.’”

These charges are exceptionally severe. Senior former regulators are willing to be quoted by name asserting that Obama’s (not Bush’s) financial regulatory leaders are blocking lawsuits against fraudulent financial elites and their anti-regulatory co-conspirators because they fear embarrassment. That would be a disgraceful policy. Indeed, it is hard to think of a worse reason for granting the elite white-collar criminals that caused the crisis and the Great Recession immunity from prosecution. The fact that Obama has no response rebutting this grave charge against his administration’s integrity sounds loud, but not proud.

Jeff Cohen: Obama, Sarkozy and Taxing Wall Street

With U.S. media obsessing on the fight here at home among conservatives vying to become president, most of them missed some big news about France, which already has a cons

ML-Implode: Com The Coming of the Universal Financial Transaction Tax?

`In the clearest indication yet, a high French government official confirmed last week that an FTT — Financial Transaction Tax — will be implemented by the European Union by the end of 2012, a year earlier than planned. Jean Leonetti (left), France’s Minister for European Affairs, said on television that “This is on the program for the next European summit [on January 30]. [French President] Nicolas Sarkozy and [German Chancellor] Angela Merkel have decided on this and it will be put in place before the end of 2012.’ …

The Mafia now “Italy’s No.1 bank” as crisis bites: report

(Reuters) – Organized crime has tightened its grip on the Italian economy during the economic crisis, making the Mafia the country’s biggest “bank” and squeezing the life out of thousands of small firms, according to a report on Tuesday.

Extortionate lending by criminal groups had become a “national emergency,” said the report by anti-crime group SOS Impresa.

Organized crime now generated annual turnover of about 140 billion euros ($178.89 billion) and profits of more than 100 billion euros, it added.

“With 65 billion euros in liquidity, the Mafia is Italy’s number one bank,” said a statement from the group, which was set up in Palermo a decade ago to oppose extortion rackets against small business.

Organized crime groups like the Sicilian Cosa Nostra, the Naples Camorra or the Calabrian ‘Ndrangheta have long had a stranglehold on the Italian economy, generating profits equivalent to about 7 percent of national output.
Extortionate lending had become an increasingly sophisticated and lucrative source of income, alongside drug trafficking, arms smuggling, prostitution, gambling and racketeering, the report said.

“The classic neighborhood or street loan shark is on the way out, giving way to organized loan-sharking that is well connected with professional circles and operates with the connivance of high-level professionals,” the report said.
It estimated about 200,000 businesses were tied to extortionate lenders and tens of thousands of jobs had been lost as a result.

• Debora MacKenzie, ICH: Boom And Doom: Revisiting Prophecies Of Collapse

At the beginning of the 1970s, a group of young scientists set out to explore our future. Their findings shook a generation and may be even more relevant than ever today.

•The Hill Right-wing rips Gingrich, Perry for attacks on Romney, capitalism

Conservatives are savaging Newt Gingrich and Rick Perry for their attacks on Mitt Romney’s years at the private equity firm Bain Capital.

The attacks from Gingrich and Perry, whose presidential campaigns are on life support, are meant to resonate in South Carolina, the next state on the GOP calendar and a place hit hard by the economic downturn.
Yet in slamming Romney as a corporate raider, the two candidates fighting for their party’s right-wing may have done what Romney never seemed capable of: rallying conservatives around the former Massachusetts governor’s campaign.

•Robert Reich, RSN: “It’s one thing to criticize Mitt Romney for being a businessman with the wrong values. It’s quite another to accuse him and his former company, Bain Capital, of doing bad things. If what Bain Capital did under Romney was bad for society, the burden shifts to Romney’s critics to propose laws that would prevent Bain and other companies from doing such bad things in the future.”

•Marvin Kitman: Pennies From Heaven: Romney Stimulus Program

•US Chamber to launch own online news portal this week

WASHINGTON: The US Chamber of Commerce will unveil a revamped FreeEnterprise.com during president and CEO Thomas Donohue’s annual “State of American Business” address this Thursday.

WATCH: Taiwanese Animation: Face It Repupub;icans, Romney is your Candidate

•eWallstreeter News: Inside Job At The SNB?

The official version: “Enormously dedicated” SNB chairman Philipp Hildebrand purchases 500,000 USD days before he devalues the Swiss Franc by 10%. This plain-vanilla spot currency transaction becomes “water cooler” story at Bank Sarasin (which wouldn’t even open accounts below 1 million minimum deposit). An IT employee takes pictures of incriminating documents, briefly weighs the consequences of breaking Swiss banking secrecy, deems the latter porous as Swiss cheese, find it his patriotic duty to “turn in” the SNB chairman. However, to his surprise, breaking banking secrecy is still frowned at by the Swiss people. The misunderstood Robin Hood contemplates suicide and enters a mental institution.

The AFL-CIO Says: Get Tough On Banks

It’s time for the Big Banks to bear responsibility for the financial crisis—and for fraud and abuse against homeowners across the country. The nation’s state attorneys general are considering a settlement with the bankers, but there’s a risk they’ll let the people who tanked our economy off with a slap on the wrist. It’s urgent we tell them we need a settlement that holds banks accountable for the damage they’ve done and helps homeowners. Will you write your state attorney general and the White House to let them know?
Subject:A Strong Settlement is Needed

Suggested Letter:

Foreclosures and the abuses of the Big Banks are crippling our economy. In neighborhoods like mine and across the state, we’ve seen people underwater on their mortgages and even losing their homes. Even worse, in many cases the Big Banks broke rules, falsified paperwork or defrauded homebuyers—and gambled with our homes to enrich themselves. They have yet to be held responsible.

Families like mine are depending on you to stand up for us and put our needs ahead of protecting the banks. We can’t just let banks get bailed out and escape consequences for their irresponsibility and greed.

I urge you to fight for a strong settlement with the banks that really will hold them accountable for their misconduct and the damage done to the economy. Any settlement must reflect the harm done to homeowners and provide large-scale relief for underwater homeowners. And before you agree to any settlement, there must be a full investigation into misconduct and fraud by the banks.

•Scott Schneider: A tense collision of world-views – not felt in the American heartland since racial confrontations of the 60′s. But the realities are far more complicated than you might guess:

On Austerity: Washington Post(Quotes in The Daily Bell)

In Greece, fears that austerity is killing the economy … Deeply indebted and nearly bankrupt, this Mediterranean nation was forced to adopt tough austerity measures to slash its deficit and secure an international bailout. But as Greece’s economy slides into free fall, critics are scanning the devastated landscape here and asking a probing question: Does austerity really work? Unemployment has surged to 18.8 percent from 13.3 percent only a year ago.

Overburdened public hospitals are facing acute shortages of everything from syringes to bandages because of budget cuts, with hiring freezes forcing the mothballing of operating rooms even as more unemployed are relying on the public health system.

Rates of homelessness, suicide, crime and HIV cases from intravenous drug use are jumping. “Conditions have deteriorated so dramatically that doctors in this country now believe that the Greek crisis is no longer just a financial crisis but a humanitarian crisis,” said Dimitris Varnavas, the president of the Federation of Greek Hospital Doctors’ Unions. – Washington Post

Institute for Public Accuracy: On The Anniversary of The Haitian Earthquake of 2010

United Nations figures show that only $2.38-billion of $4.5-billion pledged has been sent to Haiti where a 2010 earthquake killed 300 000 people.

Michele Mitchell is the producer of “Haiti: Where Did the Money Go?” premiering this month on PBS stations nationwide. Mitchell said, “Half of all U.S. households donated $1.4 billion to major charities specifically for relief. But after hundreds of millions have been spent, there are still over half a million people living in squalid conditions. There are fewer working latrines today — not to mention fewer latrines. No water delivery. Malnutrition is on the rise. And the Haitians living in these tent cities are in a kind of purgatory — they have no idea when they are getting out, or even if things will ever get better.” See video: http://filmat11.tv/2011/01/haiti-where-did-the-money-go-part-1

Mark Weisbrot is co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research and co-author of a chapter in the new book, “Tectonic Shifts: Haiti Since the Earthquake.” He said today: “The budget for UN troops in Haiti is eight times the amount of the UN’s cholera appeal. It was UN troops who brought cholera to Haiti. The UN should use some of its money, designated for keeping the Haitian people safe, to fight cholera. Keeping people safe should include keeping them safe from disease and death, but the ongoing epidemic — made worse by an appalling lack of sanitation and drinking water – threatens the lives of thousands more people.” For more on “Tectonic Shifts,” see: http://www.kpbooks.com/Books/BookDetail.aspx?productID=294998

Brian Concannon, director of the Institute for Justice & Democracy in Haiti, which filed a lawsuit against the UN in November on behalf of over 5,000 victims of cholera, said today: “The United Nations’ own report establishes that UN peacekeepers introduced cholera to Haiti. The UN should respond justly to these facts by providing the clean water and sanitation infrastructure necessary to control the cholera epidemic. Instead, the UN has denied and delayed while Haitians sicken and die. The MINUSTAH [UN] cholera epidemic is the world’s worst cholera epidemic, killing an average of 200 Haitians per month and sickening over 25,000. The UN’s defense — that the weakness of Haiti’s health and water infrastructure relieves it of responsibility — would be laughed out of court if the UN ever let itself be brought before an independent tribunal.”

Nicole Lee is the president of TransAfrica. She said : “We must learn from the mistakes of the first two years of this recovery effort. Without the active participation of Haitians themselves, no amount of money can bring the kind of changes Haiti needs to resolve the problems that have plagued the most marginalized populations since even before the earthquake. It is disturbing to see the same status quo being reinforced by the various humanitarian actors on the ground today, despite the vibrant network of Haitian community and grassroots groups that exist without the support they need to have more long-reaching success. We join our Haitian partners in calling for oversight of NGOs and government funds, including investigations into where the money donated in their names has gone.”

Melinda Miles is the founder and director of Let Haiti Live, and a contributor to the new book, “Tectonic Shifts: Haiti Since the Earthquake.” She said : “Decisions made in the earliest days of the recovery haunt Haiti’s internally displaced to this day. Fundamental and internationally accepted minimum standards for disaster victims were never adhered to, and now two years after the quake the humanitarian community has spent billions of dollars without meeting some of the most critical goals they set. Despite planning 125,000 transitional shelters for the end of the first year, 100,000 still have not been built two years later. While Haitians have been excluded from decision making and haven’t had access to basic information about donations and recovery plans, efforts led by Haitian organizations continue to be the most successful.”

Foreign Policy: More on Murder of An Iranian Scientist

In the latest sign of escalating tensions between Iran and the West over the Iranian nuclear program, Iran’s semi-official Fars News Agency is reporting that a “terrorist bomb blast” in northern Tehran killed Mostafa Ahmadi Roshan, whom the news outlet identifies as an academic who also worked at the Natanz uranium enrichment facility. Fars says the assault resembled a 2010 bombing that targeted the current head of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization.

The New York Times notes that this is the fourth such killing reported by Iran in two years. And, as in the previous cases, Iranian officials are blaming Israel for the assassination. The accusations come as Iran, facing international sanctions, announces the start of production at a second uranium enrichment site and the sentencing of a former U.S. Marine to death for allegedly spying for the US

CLG: The US Spying on Us

DHS command center monitors websites that cover bird flu, cybercrime –The monitoring scheme also features a five-page list of websites the Department’s command center expected to be monitoring.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s command center routinely monitors dozens of popular websites, according to a government document. A “privacy compliance review” issued by DHS last November says that since at least June 2010, its national operations center has been operating a “Social Networking/Media Capability” which involves regular monitoring of “publicly available online forums, blogs, public websites and message boards.” Among blogs and aggregators on the list are ABC News’ investigative blog “The Blotter;” blogs that cover bird flu; several blogs related to news and activity along U.S. borders (DHS runs border and immigration agencies); blogs that cover drug trafficking and cybercrime; and websites that follow wildfires in Los Angeles and hurricanes.

NYT News Of Note

Adversaries of Iran Said to Be Stepping Up Covert Actions

A campaign of bombings, assassinations, defections and cyberattacks, which experts believe is mainly Israel’s work, seems meant to halt Iran’s progress toward a nuclear weapon.

Religious Groups Given ‘Exception’ to Work Bias Law

The Supreme Court found a “ministerial exception” to job discrimination laws, saying religious groups must be free to choose leaders without government interference.

Against Odds, Path Opens Up for U.S.-Taliban Talks

The Taliban’s willingness to open a political office in Qatar represents a critical point in the United States’s attempt to negotiate an end to the Afghanistan war.

EJC: First foreign journalist killed in Syrian uprising

A television cameraman from a French station was killed in an attack in Homs, making him the first foreign journalist to be killed in the 10-month Syrian uprising. Several Syrian journalists have been killed so far in the uprising, which the United Nations claims has cost 5,000 lives altogether. Gilles Jacquier, who worked for France 2 Television, was in the country as part of a government-led visit by a group of foreign journalists.

A Time To Act

Stephen Said writes;

Please join me and millions of people for The #J15 Worldwide Candlelight Vigil for Unity. This Sunday, January 15 at 7pm in every time zone, people are creating their own vigils wherever they are, lighting candles for a more equal world. #J15 is in over 25 cities and increasing every hour, from Brisbane New Zealand to Cairo, Berlin to Glasgow, and New York to LA, and artists including Lupe Fiasco, Yoko Ono, K’naan, Pete Seeger, Sol Guy, Joan Baez, myself and more are endorsing every second what looks to be the biggest spontaneous non-violent action for systemic change in history.

You must take part. In New York City, where there are numerous vigils across the boroughs, we are having a large vigil at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine that is then walking to historic Riverside church for a celebration with me, Patti Smith, Dr. Ben Chavis, Russell Simmons, the Olatunji Family, Steve Earle, Allison Moorer, Daisy Khan, and more.

Your comments welcome to dissector@mediachannel.org Please check out the new mediachannel1.org

The News Dissector