Help Matt Taibbi Stand Up for Wall Street Reform
underthemountainbunker.comTo get the word out about Wall Street’s anti-reform push and stiffen spines in congress, we’re trying out Thunderclap, a cool new technology that lets groups of people tweet a single message together at the same time, breaking through the din and reaching a potentially massive audience. (Learn more here.) But we need your help! Here’s how it works: Go here and click “Tweet this in X days.” On June 6 at 12 pm, together with hundreds of other Twitter users, you will automatically tweet a message –”.@senjohnsonsd @stabenowpress Hear our voices and stop the rollback of Dodd-Frank http://thndr.it/JBZD9Z” – to Sen. Tim Johnson of South Dakota, the chairman of the Senate banking committee and Sen. Debbie Stabenow, chair of the Agriculture Committee, which has jurisdiction over financial derivatives. — Rolling Stone
Wall Street Reform & Consumer Protection Act.
I hope that when I join the work force as a legal professional, Obama is still in office & that I will not be fighting to keep the Consumer Protection Act in tact, but rather enforcing it!
The financial crisis gave us sufficient insight into the downfalls of an unregulated Wall Street. Let’s not repeat our mistakes~
Obama 2012!!
Watch the video: http://www.barackobama.com/news/policing-wall-street
Sat. Sept 17: Occupy Wall St
“Like cars, TVs and barrels of oil, our lives are commodities to be bought and sold on the open market amid the culture of ruthlessness and desperation that has arisen to accommodate it. … It is the philosophy of growth for the sake of growth, the same ideology that drives a cancer cell. … Of course, nothing can expand forever. The second law of thermodynamics tell us this much at least. But that doesn’t mean the market won’t try. …
The people coming to Wall Street on September 17 come for a variety of reasons, but what unites them all is the opposition to the principle that has come to dominate not only our economic lives but our entire lives: profit over and above all else. … It is indicative of a deep spiritual sickness that has gripped civilization, a sickness that drives the vast deprivation, oppression and despoliation that has come to cover the world.”
OCCUPY WALL ST’S MISSION—
On the 17th of September, we want to see 20,000 people to flood into lower Manhattan, set up tents, kitchens, peaceful barricades and occupy Wall Street for a few months.
See you there?
There is now a bounty on white collar criminals, potentially a large one.
blogs.forbes.comThe Securities and Exchange Commission today approved rules that would reward individuals who provide substantive information about violations of the federal securities laws.
The rule is among the most controversial regulations to come out The Dodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. Critics say the rule will give employees incentive to report problems directly to the SEC for a big payday instead of reporting them internally first and giving management a chance to try and address them.
Under the rule, whistleblowers whose information leads to enforcement action are entitled to take 10% to 30% of the penalty the SEC collects over $1 million. Before this rule, the SEC’s reward program was limited to insider trading cases and the amount of an award was capped at 10 percent of the penalties collected in the action.
This is a great idea, in my opinion. It gives people a good incentive to turn in these crooks and I like the idea of finally taking white collar crime seriously to warrant this.
PRess Release: OVER 10,000 TO MARCH ON WALL STREET TO MAKE THE BANKS PAY
Contact: Dan Levitan (646) 200-5315, Eric Koch (646) 200-5309, Peter Kadushin (UFT) (212) 510-6463
OVER 10,000 TO MARCH ON WALL STREET TO MAKE THE BANKS PAY
Unprecedented Labor-Community Coalition Calls on Mayor Bloomberg to Close Loopholes and Renegotiate Bad Deals that Cost City Taxpayers Billions
More than 10,000 people will flood the Wall Street area on Thursday to call on Mayor Bloomberg to close the loopholes and stop the destructive bank practices that destroy our communities and cost taxpayers billions instead of enacting layoffs and budget cuts that hurt working families and low-income New Yorkers.
The afternoon of events will kick-off at 4:00pm at eight assembly sites, each themed around budget and issues areas at risk from Mayor Bloomberg’s cuts and bad bank practices.
4:00 PM ASSEMBLY SITES:
* Note: Liu, De Blasio, and the Rev. Sharpton will join UFT President Michael Mulgrew at the City Hall Assembly site.
At 4:30pm, demonstrators will begin marches from assembly sites to the intersection of Water Street and Wall Street, where they will participate in over 100 street teach-ins to educate the public on the bad deals, loopholes and sweetheart deals for Wall Street that cost New York City billions.
- Example: City officials gave over $100 million in subsidies to JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup and Morgan Stanley to save or create over 17,000 jobs – and they didn’t. Bloomberg must demand accountability and get back unearned subsidies to prevent budget cuts.
Also, at 4:30pm, Comptroller John Liu, Public Advocate Bill de Blasio, and the Rev. Al Sharpton will join UFT President Michael Mulgrew at a City Hall teach-in on education cuts. At 5:00pm the group will march from City Hall down Broadway through the Wall Street area to join the teach-ins at Water Street and Wall Street.
At 5:30pm all participants will join at Water Street and Wall Street and march down to Battery Park for an energetic closing session.
What: May 12 Day of Action to Save Our City’s Budget and Make the Banks Pay
Who: More than 10,000 demonstrators from the May 12 Coalition, joined by Liu, De Blasio, and the Rev. Sharpton
Where and When:
4:00PM – Mobilization begins at 8 Assembly sites including City Hall
4:30 PM – Demonstrators in Financial District begin March to Water St. and Wall St. Convergence Point
5:00 PM — Liu, De Blasio, and the Rev. Sharpton join UFT President Michael Mulgrew on march from City Hall down Broadway, through the Wall Street area to Water Street and Wall Street
5:00PM – Over 100 of street teach-ins begin at Water St. and Wall St.
5:30PM – All groups join at Water and Wall, March continues to Battery Park
via onmay12.org
MIT Economist Destroys the Idea That We Need the Megabanks to Survive
“$2 trillion is far too big in terms of the social costs.” - Simon Johnson, MIT economist
See our too big to fail page for more.
Bank of America and Citigroup Would Likely Be Dead Without "Too Big To Fail" Subsidy
Here’s the problem: Wall Street banks can borrow money for less than other financial institutions largely because creditors see them as “too big to fail.” Specifically, according to scholars at the IMF, the biggest banks get an implicit subsidy of around 0.8 percentage points.
Now, 0.8 percentage points doesn’t sound like much, and it’s not for typical Americans. But for banks that have trillions in assets, 0.8 percentage points can add up to billions.
Bloomberg, in their image above, shows that without these implicit multi-billion-dollar subsidies Bank of America and Citigroup would be bleeding. In short, too big has failed.
Nearly two years after Wall Street waged a successful campaign to keep consumer advocate Elizabeth Warren from running the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the incoming senator will be tapped to serve on the Banking Committee, according to four sources familiar with the situation.
huffingtonpost.comCould it be true? Let’s hope so. It’s funny to me how often certain people talk about how great it is to get people into office that are not “Washington Insiders,” yet at the same time they tried so hard to keep Warren out. Seems to me that she fits that bill pretty hard core. Perhaps it’s that she has the sense enough to know that you can’t fix government by destroying it.
I’ll be following this appointment process with wide-eyed anticipation.
Politics Notes 10/2012
I know it’s been a few months, but here are some notes:
- Under the Paul Ryan plan there are $3.3T in cuts to Pell Grants, Medicaid, food stamps
- Romney & Ryan do not have any military or foreign policy experience
- Romney would pay .82% taxes under Paul Ryan’s plan
- West Virginia are the poorest areas where they mine coal
- Our navy is bigger than the next 11 navy’s combined
- Defense has doubled since September 11th 2001
- One ten thousandth of this country makes 5% of all income
- Eric Cantor spoke on Labor Day saying how Labor Day was for those who made a business
- Ronald Reagan appealed to labor and was a member of the teamsters
- Poor kids who do well in school go to college less than rich kids who don’t do as well
- Share of total income of top .1% was around 4% during 1950-1980 then rose to 12% by 2000 (during which time their tax rates fell more than 40%)
- Repeal of DADT has done nothing for military effectiveness and readiness; contrary to what McCain and other Republicans said about it a year ago
- In 1943 only 139 total cars were made in the United States
- Only 30% of the Dodd Frank bill (Wall Street reform) has been implemented; 86% of the deadlines of it have been missed
Here are just a few of Obama’s many accomplishments:
- Stopped a depression
- Health care reform
- Killed Osama bin Laden
- Killed Gaddafi
- Equal pay for women
- Stopped torture
- Student loan reform
- Standards for fuel efficiency
- Two women in the SCOTUS
- Got us out of Iraq
- Don’t Ask Don’t Tell repealed
- Saved the auto industry
- Wall Street Reform
- Stem cell research
- Lifted ban on photographing soldiers coffins coming home
"How to Debate a Republican" Cheat Sheet
Do you keep hearing this question from your Republican relatives, “Obama and the Dems have been in control for two years, what have they done?”
Here’s a little cheat sheet for you to deal with that annoying and ignorant question:
Just a few accomplishments of the Democratic House Majority:
HEALTH INSURANCE REFORM to recognize health care as a right, not a privilege and put a stop to the worst abuses by insurance companies including discrimination against people with pre-existing medical conditions. [OPPOSED BY 100 % OF HOUSE REPUBLICANS]
THE STUDENT AID AND FISCAL RESPONSIBILITY ACT to make the largest investment in college aid in American history. [OPPOSED BY 100 % OF HOUSE REPUBLICANS]
THE LILLY LEDBETTER FAIR PAY ACT to restore the rights of women and other workers to challenge unfair pay and help close the wage gap where women earn 78 cents for every $1 that a man earns in America. [OPPOSED BY A MAJORITY OF HOUSE REPUBLICANS]
WALL STREET REFORM to rein in reckless practices on Wall Street, end taxpayer-funded bail-outs and ”too big to fail” institutions, and protect and empower consumers. [OPPOSED BY A MAJORITY OF HOUSE REPUBLICANS]
BREAK UP BIG BANKS: A message from Bernie Sanders – J.P. Morgan Chase revealed that its in-house trading operation lost $2 billion in the past six weeks. “The debacle at J.P. Morgan Chase reaffirms my view that the largest six banks in this country, including J.P. Morgan Chase, which have assets equivalent to two-thirds of our GDP, must be broken up. This is important in order to bring more competition into the financial marketplace and to prevent another ‘too-big-to-fail’ bailout,” Sen. Bernie Sanders said. “At a time when 23 million Americans are either unemployed or underemployed, huge financial institutions should not be involved in ‘making wagers or high-stake bets.’ They should be investing in the productive economy creating jobs and improving our standard of living.” —Crooks & Liars
