Thursday, June 21, 2012

Dirtyhanded Paperboy

Though my paperboy is grubby, it doesn't stop me reading the newspaper.

The postlady may fart & smell bad, but I still open my mail.

Julian Assange of Wikileaks may be dirty (and he may be clean) but the important story is not his personal life, but rather the Wikileaks documents themselves.

The documents highlight scheming warmaking, dodgy financial acts, assassination, and underhanded diplomacy; these are the real issues. The Assange debacle continues to deflect attention from a wide assortment of bad behavior, high crimes and midemeanors orchestrated by others, well-documented by Wikileaks.

Julian's story is a sideshow, designed to distract attention from truly huge criminal activities waged by those more powerful. The failure of most big media organizations to highlight this fact clearly indicates corporate media comfortably treats us as dumb idiots to be hoodwinked.

Sunday, June 17, 2012

Responsible Corp = Low Tax

We collect tax to pay for social investment & costs. One major cost is cleaning up after private interests. We sadly provide a cut & run option to Limited Liability Corporations -- companies can abandon their mistakes and leave society the cleanup costs.

This undermines everyone's economic security. It is not good.

Raise corporate tax rates on limited liability corporations !

Increase criminal penalties for corporate crimes.

On the other hand, we could register companies in formats that do not allow defection. Investors would be & should be liable for their actions. Responsible.

Responsible companies deserve lower taxes.

The Limited Liability Corporation (LLC) & Public Limited Company (PLC; "public" means publicly-traded) are formulated to serve private interests. They have incentives to cut costs, and to shift costs to others. To assure their operations don't become a public burden, their selfish activities are monitored and circumscribed; they should be highly taxed. 

LLC & PLC = High tax

SRC = Socially Responsible Corporation = low tax

Friday, June 15, 2012

Peon Prime Minister - UK

British Prime Minister David Cameron fortunately became a great friend of Rupert Murdoch & Co....       Cozy.
Can Cameron survive scrutiny? Yes he Cam!





News International Ltd. 
The Sun  
The Sunday Times
The Times
The Times Literary Supplement
News of the World
Dow Jones
The Wall Street Journal
Barron's
Star TV
National Geographic Channel
HarperCollins
The Australian
British Sky Broadcasting
20th Century Fox
Fox Broadcasting Company
Fox News

Peon Prime Minister - Sweden

Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt has been a good pet of the USA.



Wednesday, June 13, 2012

To Adbusters & Occupy activists:


Dear Adbusters & Occupy activists

Many thanks for continuing agitation in support of humanity.

As we struggle against unchecked corporatist powers, an important theme might focus on the legal notion of corporate limited liability. We cannot afford giving a free pass to banks and mega-corporations acting irresponsibly & illegally. Too often we allow shut-down on company terms & schedule, as PLC & LLC corporations leave a violated public with their bills and environmental cleanup.

A case in point is TEPCO in Japan (Tokyo Electric Power Company) and the flaccid response to their shortcomings in the Fukushima nuclear disaster. TEPCO has received huge bailout funding from the Japanese public, with no clawback of past dividends paid out to company owners. Nobody has been found responsible or prosecuted for bad corporate policy decisions or engineering flaws. In any event, anyone punished would more likely be a draftsman, subordinate to the Board of Directors, President & CEO (the true corporate architects).

Kalle Lasn chronicled our need for corporate responsibility throughout his 1999 book Culture Jam, but also specifically highlighted the need that shareholders be partially liable for their activities (p. 158 in my paperback edition). We're too often berated to be fiscally responsible by corporate shills luxuriating in public-sponsored largesse. The limited liability corporation is an expensive loophole to be closed. Terminate Ltd. This is a meme we can work with:
Stop Limited Liability !

aloha

Insider Rape?

U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders released an explosive report today (link) detailing monstrous low-interest & no-interest funding to insiders from the banking industry.

The report names 18 individuals profiting from insider relationships.

Over 4 trillion dollars is involved:
US$ 4,000,000,000,000.00
Big bucks !

"This report reveals the inherent conflicts of interest that exist at the Federal Reserve. At a time when small businesses could not get affordable loans to create jobs, the Fed was providing trillions in secret loans to some of the largest banks and corporations in America that were well represented on the boards of the Federal Reserve Banks. These conflicts must end," Sanders said.

The report does not allege illegal activities. It raises serious questions, however, regarding the relationships between private interests, the U.S. Government, and the U.S. Federal Reserve. The corporatist arrangement has favored a few insiders, at unprecedented scale. While America's corporate media discussed alleged wick-dipping by President Clinton and Senator Edwards, and the vindictive foolishness of Governor Palin, meanwhile huge wealth (value & title to our housing, and our legacy to future generations) was transferred under cover to pirates. Favored private interests have raped us of huge wealth.

The text of U.S. Senator Sanders (Independent, Vermont) report is reproduced below:

" During the financial crisis, at least 18 former and current directors from Federal Reserve Banks worked in banks and corporations that collectively received over $4 trillion in low-interest loans from the Federal Reserve."

1. Jamie Dimon, the Chairman and CEO of JP Morgan Chase, has served on the Board of Directors at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York since 2007. During the financial crisis, the Fed provided JP Morgan Chase with $391 billion in total financial assistance. JP Morgan Chase was also used by the Fed as a clearinghouse for the Fed's emergency lending programs. In March of 2008, the Fed provided JP Morgan Chase with $29 billion in financing to acquire Bear Stearns. During the financial crisis, the Fed provided JP Morgan Chase with an 18-month exemption from risk-based leverage and capital requirements. The Fed also agreed to take risky mortgage-related assets off of Bear Stearns balance sheet before JP Morgan Chase acquired this troubled investment bank.

2. Jeffrey Immelt, the CEO of General Electric, served on the New York Fed's Board of Directors from 2006-2011. General Electric received $16 billion in low-interest financing from the Federal Reserve’s Commercial Paper Funding Facility during this time period.

3. Stephen Friedman. In 2008, the New York Fed approved an application from Goldman Sachs to become a bank holding company giving it access to cheap Fed loans. During the same period, Friedman, who was chairman of the New York Fed at the time, sat on the Goldman Sachs board of directors and owned Goldman stock, something the Fed’s rules prohibited. He received a waiver in late 2008 that was not made public. After Friedman received the waiver, he continued to purchase stock in Goldman from November 2008 through January of 2009 unbeknownst to the Fed, according to the GAO. During the financial crisis, Goldman Sachs received $814 billion in total financial assistance from the Fed.

4. Sanford Weill, the former CEO of Citigroup, served on the Fed's Board of Directors in New York in 2006. During the financial crisis, Citigroup received over $2.5 trillion in total financial assistance from the Fed.

5. Richard Fuld, Jr, the former CEO of Lehman Brothers, served on the Fed's Board of Directors in New York from 2006 to 2008. During the financial crisis, the Fed provided $183 billion in total financial assistance to Lehman before it collapsed.

6. James M. Wells, the Chairman and CEO of SunTrust Banks, has served on the Board of Directors at the Federal Reserve Bank in Atlanta since 2008. During the financial crisis, SunTrust received $7.5 billion in total financial assistance from the Fed.

7. Richard Carrion, the head of Popular Inc. in Puerto Rico, has served on the Board of Directors of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York since 2008. Popular received $1.2 billion in total financing from the Fed's Term Auction Facility during the financial crisis.

8. James Smith, the Chairman and CEO of Webster Bank, served on the Federal Reserve's Board of Directors in Boston from 2008-2010. Webster Bank received $550 million in total financing from the Federal Reserve's Term Auction Facility during the financial crisis.

9. Ted Cecala, the former Chairman and CEO of Wilmington Trust, served on the Fed's Board of Directors in Philadelphia from 2008-2010. Wilmington Trust received $3.2 billion in total financial assistance from the Federal Reserve during the financial crisis.

10. Robert Jones, the President and CEO of Old National Bancorp, has served on the Fed's Board of Directors in St. Louis since 2008. Old National Bancorp received a total of $550 million in low-interest loans from the Federal Reserve's Term Auction Facility during the financial crisis.

11. James Rohr, the Chairman and CEO of PNC Financial Services Group, served on the Fed's Board of Directors in Cleveland from 2008-2010. PNC received $6.5 billion in low-interest loans from the Federal Reserve during the financial crisis.

12. George Fisk, the CEO of LegacyTexas Group, was a director at the Dallas Federal Reserve in 2009. During the financial crisis, his firm received a $5 million low-interest loan from the Federal Reserve's Term Auction Facility.

13. Dennis Kuester, the former CEO of Marshall & Ilsley, served as a board director on the Chicago Federal Reserve from 2007-2008. During the financial crisis, his bank received over $21 billion in low-interest loans from the Fed.

14. George Jones, Jr., the CEO of Texas Capital Bank, has served as a board director at the Dallas Federal Reserve since 2009. During the financial crisis, his bank received $2.3 billion in total financing from the Fed's Term Auction Facility.

15. Douglas Morrison, was the Chief Financial Officer at CitiBank in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, while he served as a board director at the Minneapolis Federal Reserve Bank in 2006. During the financial crisis, CitiBank in Sioux Falls, South Dakota received over $21 billion in total financing from the Federal Reserve.

16. L. Phillip Humann, the former CEO of SunTrust Banks, served on the Board of Directors at the Federal Reserve Bank in Atlanta from 2006-2008. During the financial crisis, SunTrust received $7.5 billion in total financial assistance from the Fed.

17. Henry Meyer, III, the former CEO of KeyCorp, served on the Board of Directors at the Federal Reserve Bank in Cleveland from 2006-2007. During the financial crisis, KeyBank (owned by KeyCorp) received over $40 billion in total financing from the Federal Reserve.

18. Ronald Logue, the former CEO of State Street Corporation, served as a board member of the Boston Federal Reserve Bank from 2006-2007. During the financial crisis, State Street Corporation received a total of $42 billion in financing from the Federal Reserve.

Bulger's Bitch Behind Bars


A fearsome story slowly draws to a close, as the long-time fugitive girlfriend of Whitey Bulger is sentenced to 8 years in U.S. Federal prison.

The story is creepy because James "Whitey" Bulger, a former Alcatraz inmate, was reportedly not only a mobster & multiple-murderer, but a U.S. government informant aided in his escape by U.S. Federal agents.

The story is further complex in that Bulger's brother Billy was one of Massachusetts' most powerful politicians for nearly two decades. Another brother was a Massachusetts clerk-magistrate (judicial hearing officer), a court official appointed for life (who was later convicted of felony perjury and sent to prison).

The fearsome dimension was those being strong-armed reasonably believed they couldn't rely on Massachusetts State officials or upon the U.S. Federal Government -- either was more likely to back bully-boy Bulger.

Even as a "Most Wanted" federal fugitive, anyone spotting Whitey took a risk: might a confidential tip-off create great personal danger? A $2 million reward went uncollected for 16 years...

Whitey Bulger & Catherine Greig were arrested in 2011 in Santa Monica, California, after 16 years as fugitives, much of the time on the FBI Most Wanted list. With them were $800,000 cash and 30 firearms, including pistols, shotguns & rifles -- still a highly dangerous pair. Greig nonetheless was offered a plea bargain without requiring she testify against Bulger. He's yet to come to trial...

Tuesday, June 12, 2012

Wild Thing

We celebrate the wild thing, enjoying song & excitement, honoring the dark & dangerous.

But when the wild approaches, pussies get nervous ...

Cape Cod, Massachusetts, USA is in an uproar over a single furry tourist: a black bear who likely swam across the Cape Cod Canal (or perhaps crossed one of the three bridges) and over two weeks gradually made his way down the peninsula to Provincetown, where the Pilgrims first landed.

Bruins fever has hit the Cape before, but this time there's a measure of conflict. Should the bear be left in peace (he's not as yet threatened anyone) or should he be captured and relocated?

Should the dangers of the wild be purged from among us?

Late last night, Massachusetts officials reportedly shot Cape Cod's only wild bear with an immobilizing dart, put him in one of their official vehicles, and carried him off.


Top Photo
State officials take sedated Cape Cod bear from Wellfleet's woods (Cape Cod Times photo by Lezli Rowell )