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Banking and Finance

Wall Street Sets Political Outlay Record

November 3, 2016 Jim Lardner, www.inequality.org ,
By Jim Lardner for Inequality.org - Wall Street will set still another record for political spending this election cycle. So far in 2015 and 2016, banks and financial interests have put more than $1.4 billion into efforts to elect and influence holders of national political office, according to Wall Street Money in Washington, a new report by Americans for Financial Reform based on data compiled by the Center for Responsive Politics.

Newsletter: Elections Expose the Oligarchs

October 9, 2016 Kevin Zeese and Margaret Flowers, www.PopularResistance.org , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
By Kevin Zeese and Margaret Flowers for Popular Resistance. The 2016 presidential election has shown how the duopoly, the two parties that represent big business interests and the wealthiest, are corrupted in ways that prevent the people’s voices from being heard, their necessities being met and the planet being protected from human greed. During the campaigns, leaks have given people a behind-the-scenes look at how the parties operate and research on the candidates shows their personal failures. They give voters an image of elites who behave as if the law does not apply to them and who put themselves ahead of the public interest. Last Friday was a day of embarrassment for both the Republican and Democratic Parties. A tape showing Donald Trump bragging about sexual assault in lewd ways has gotten the bulk of attention, but Wikileaks also released thousands of pages of The Podesta Emails, 2,060 emails and 170 attachments. John Podesta is the ultimate insider.

The Silence Of The Left: Brexit, Euro-Austerity And The TTIP

July 3, 2016 Michael Hudson, www.counterpunch.org , , , ,
By Michael Hudson for Counterpunch. The media in the United States have treated the British vote against remaining in the European Union (EU) as if it is populist “Trumpism,” an inarticulate right-wing vote out of ignorance at being left behind by the neoliberal economic growth policy. The fact that Donald Trump happened to be in Scotland to promote his golf course helped frame the U.S. story that depicts the Brexit vote as a “Trump vs. Hillary” psychodrama – populist anger and resentment vs. intelligent policy. What is left out of this picture is that there is a sound logic to oppose membership in the EU. It is Nigel Farage’s slogan, “Take Back Control.” The question is, from whom? Not only from “bureaucrats,” but from the pro-bank, anti-labor rules written into the eurozone’s Lisbon and Maastricht treaties. The real problem is not merely that bureaucrats are making the laws, but the kind of laws they are making: pro-bank, anti-labor austerity. Tax and public spending policy has been taken out of the hands of national governments and turned over to the banking centers. They insist on austerity and scaling back pensions and social spending programs.

National Consensus For Transformational Change: Action Needed

April 10, 2016 Robert Weissman, www.huffingtonpost.com , , , , , , , , , ,
By Robert Weissman for Huffington Post. Americans overwhelmingly agree on a wide range of issues. They want policies to make the economy more fair and hold corporate executives accountable. They want stronger environmental and consumer protections. And they want to fix our political system so that it serves the interest of all, not just Big Money donors. These aren’t close issues for Americans; actually, what’s surprising is the degree of national consensus. The problem isn’t that Americans don’t agree. The problem is that the corporate class doesn’t agree with this agenda, and that class dominates our politics. Because this reality runs so counter to the dominant media story, it’s worth diving into the numbers to get a sense of the vast divide between conventional wisdom and empirical data.

Newsletter – Building Toward Political Revolution

April 9, 2016 Margaret Flowers and Kevin Zeese, www.PopularResistance.org , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
By Margaret Flowers and Kevin Zeese for Popular Resistance. Of course, we also know the Panama Papers leak is about just one tax evasion firm, and not a major one. This is a small tip of a massive tax evasion iceberg. Estimates are that $7.6 trillion in individual assets are in tax havens, about one-tenth of the global GPD. The use of tax havens has grown 25 percent from 2009 to 2015.  Gabriel Zucman, author of The Hidden Wealth of Nations: The Scourge of Tax Havens and assistant professor at UC Berkeley estimates that US citizens have at least $1.2 trillion stashed offshore, costing $200 billion a year worldwide in lost tax revenue and US transnational corporations are underpaying their taxes worldwide by $130 billion. The Panama Papers will escalate demands for transformation of the economy as well as of government; continue to increase pressure on capitalism and result in the growth of the people powered movement for economic justice.

The New Global Financial Cold War

March 2, 2016 Michael Hudson, www.counterpunch.org , , ,
By Michael Hudson for Counter Punch - Suppose a country owes money to another nation’s government or official agency. How can creditors collect, unless there’s an international court and an enforcement system? The IMF and the World Bank were part of that enforcement system and now they’re saying: ‘We’re not going to be part of that anymore. We’re only working for the U.S. State Department and Pentagon. If the Pentagon tells the IMF it’s okay that a country doesn’t have to pay Russia or China, then now they don’t have to pay, as far as the IMF is concerned.’

Last Chance For Justice

February 10, 2016 Phil Angelides, www.huffingtonpost.com , , ,
By Phil Angelides for The Huffington Post - Five years ago at this time, the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission (FCIC) presented the President and Congress with its final report on what caused the 2008 financial meltdown that devastated our economy and millions of American families. The report concluded that the financial crisis was avoidable and was caused by widespread failures of regulation, reckless risk taking on Wall Street, and a systematic breakdown in ethics and accountability.

Jail The Bankers And Take Back Control Over Money

February 8, 2016 Kevin Zeese and Margaret Flowers, www.PopularResistance.org , , ,
By Kevin Zeese and Margaret Flowers. Bill Black of the newly formed Bank Whistleblowers United is interviewed about the plan they have put forward to instill the rule of law on Wall Street and end fraud with the hope of mitigating the effects of the next financial crisis. The plan they put forward could be taken by a president within 60 days without congressional action. It would instill the rule of law on Wall Street and end fraud with the hope of mitigating the effects of the next financial crisis. We also spoke with Randall Wray, an expert in financial instability and macroeconomics, about alternatives to the current financial system that would bring greater stability. His focus is on Modern Money Theory which believes government spending on essentials like infrastructure, transition to clean energy, tuition-free college education and repaying the debts of students, among other things. It believes in shrinking the role of the Federal Reserve...

Newsletter: Global Solidarity Is Rising

February 7, 2016 Kevin Zeese and Margaret Flowers, , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
By Kevin Zeese and Margaret Flowers for Popular Resistance. A key ingredient of previous successful campaigns to stop 'free trade' agreements is cross-border solidarity. Uniting struggles globally, as well as locally, is critical for other issues as well. Via Campesina, a movement started by peasants in 1993, has grown to become a global movement that recognizes the intersectionality between food security, land rights, the climate crisis and transnational corporate power. They work together to both resist harmful policies and to create necessary alternatives by organizing seed exchanges and impacting public policy. Similarly, global solidarity is increasing around the climate crisis.

Time For A Populist Economic Agenda

January 31, 2016 Ellen Brown, www.ellenbrown.com ,
By Ellen Brown for her blog. How can banking be made to serve the needs of the people and the economy, while preserving the more functional aspects of today’s highly sophisticated global banking system? Perhaps it is time to reconsider the proposals of the early populists. The direct approach to “occupying” the banks is to simply step into their shoes and make them public utilities. Insolvent megabanks can be nationalized – as they were before 2008. Making banks public utilities can happen on a local level as well. States and cities can establish publicly-owned depository banks on the highly profitable and efficient model of the Bank of North Dakota. Public banks can partner with community banks to direct credit where it is needed locally; and they can reduce the costs of government by recycling bank profits for public use, eliminating outsized Wall Street fees and obviating the need for derivatives to mitigate risk.

Announcing Bank Whistleblowers’ Group’s Initial Proposals

January 30, 2016 William K. Black, www.neweconomicperspectives.org , ,
By William K. Black for New Economic Perspectives - I am writing to announce the formation of a new group and a policy initiative that we hope many of our readers will support and help publicize. Gary Aguirre, Bill Black, Richard Bowen, and Michael Winston are the founding members of the Bank Whistleblowers’ Group. We are all from the general field of finance and we are all whistleblowers who are unemployable in finance and financial regulation because we spoke truth to power and committed the one unforgivable sin of being repeatedly proved correct.

Wall Street Won First Round, We Might Win Next

January 30, 2016 Walden Bello, www.occupy.com , ,
By Walden Bello for Occupy - When the ground from under Wall Street opened up in autumn 2008, there was much talk of letting the banks get their just desserts, jailing the “banksters,” and imposing draconian regulation. The newly elected Barack Obama came to power promising banking reform, warning Wall Street, “My administration is the only thing that stands between you and the pitchforks.” Yet nearly eight years after the outbreak of the global financial crisis, it is evident that those who were responsible for bringing it about have managed to go completely scot-free.

City Could Save Money With Public Bank, Study Finds

January 16, 2016 Bruce Krasnow, www.santafenewmexican.com , , ,
By Bruce Krasnow for The New Mexican - A feasibility study released Wednesday concluded that the city of Santa Fe could save money by establishing a public bank. Currently, when the city needs money to build roads, recreation centers, sewer lines, libraries or senior centers, it has to make its case to big investment firms and mutual funds that buy municipal bonds. A debt package is compiled, analyzed, rated and then advertised — and whichever financial institution offers the lowest interest rate gets to loan the city money.
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