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Banking

Ireland Showed We Can Get By Without Banks

July 12, 2015 Patrcick Cockburn, www.independent.co.uk , , ,
By Patrick Cockburn for the Independent - Shuttered banks are a striking physical symbol of economic disaster, but even they are not proof that the final dénouement is at hand. I recall a six-and-a-half month strike that closed all banks in Ireland in 1970 which was meant to have similarly calamitous results as predicted for Greece today, but in fact had very little destructive impact. Contrary to expectations, Irish people rapidly found other ways of carrying out the functions previously performed by the banking industry. The economist Michael Fogarty, who wrote the official report on the bank dispute, was quoted by the Irish Independent as saying that “the services of the clearing banks proved by no means as indispensable as would have been expected before the dispute”. Others take the example of the Irish bank strike as evidence that much of what banks do is a “socially useless activity”. My father was not alone in enjoying the crisis which turned out to be no such thing. Almost half a century later, many Irish people remember with relish how they successfully replaced the banks with other ways of dealing with payment and credit.

“Guerrilla Warfare Against A Hegemonic Power”

July 12, 2015 Ellen Brown, www.ellenbrown.com , , , ,
By Ellen Brown for Web of Debt - Banks create money when they make loans. Greece could restore the liquidity desperately needed by its banks and its economy by nationalizing the banks and issuing digital loans backed by government guarantees to its ailing businesses. Greece could provide an inspiring model of sustainable prosperity for the world. But it is being strangled by a hegemonic power in a financial war that is being waged against us all. As reported in Zerohedge, the Greek government was prepared to pursue three “nuclear options” to protect the deposits of the Greek people: (1) nationalize the banks, (2) launch a parallel currency in the form of electronic California-style IOUs, and (3) use the Greek central bank’s printing press to issue euros.

Holder Returns To Law Firm That Lobbies For Big Banks

July 10, 2015 Lee Hang, www.firstlook.org , , , ,
By Lee Hang in The Intercept - After failing to criminally prosecute any of the financial firms responsible for the market collapse in 2008, former Attorney General Eric Holder is returning to Covington & Burling, a corporate law firm known for serving Wall Street clients. The move completes one of the more troubling trips through the revolving door for a cabinet secretary. Holder worked at Covington from 2001 right up to being sworn in as attorney general in Feburary 2009. And Covington literally kept an office empty for him, awaiting his return. The Covington & Burling client list has included four of the largest banks, including Bank of America, Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo. Lobbying records show that Wells Fargo is still a client of Covington.

U.S. Must End Predatory Payday Loans, Create “Public Option” Banking

June 29, 2015 Ira B Dember, www.occupy.com , ,
By Ira B Dember in Occupy - In March, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau proposed rules to crack down on predatory payday lenders. These rules would prevent many payday lending abuses and give consumers a way out of lenders’ debt trap. Under the CFPB’s new rules, borrowers would first have to show they could cover their basic living expenses while repaying loans. Lenders could skip "means testing" and instead limit each person’s total borrowing to $500 – with a single finance charge and no repeated charges. Gone would be auto title loans: if you can’t repay, lenders can't grab your car. (Workers often lose their jobs when they lose their wheels, a "death spiral" that spreads personal and financial chaos.) A couple of months after the CFPB published its proposed rules, TheHill.com reported financial industry blowback.

Greeks Will Default As Central Bank Turns On Government

June 19, 2015 Mehreen Khan, www.telegraph.co.uk , ,
By Mehreen Khan in Telegraph - The Greek government has admitted it will become the first developed country in history to default on the International Monetary Fund (IMF) if its creditor powers fail to strike a deal with the Leftist government over its eurozone future in the coming days. With just 13 days before the country’s bail-out programme officially expires, finance ministers will gather in Luxembourg on Thursday to discuss whether to finally give their assent to release bail-out cash and stave off an unprecedented default. Before the 11th hour attempt to secure a deal, Athens’ chief negotiator said his government had run out of cash to make a €1.6bn payment to the IMF, also on June 30. "At the moment we haven’t got the money," said Oxford-educated minister Euclid Tsakalotos.

Banks & Racist Policies Shaped Segregation, Police Brutality

June 19, 2015 Richard Rothstein, www.salon.com , , , , ,
By Richard Rothstein in Salon - Housing equity is Americans’ most important source of wealth. Average black family income is now about 60 percent of white family income, but black household wealth is only about 5 percent of white household wealth. This disparity is almost entirely attributable to federal policy that prohibited black families from accumulating equity during the suburban boom and thus from bequeathing that wealth to children, as whites have done. We don’t have what is commonly termed “de facto” segregation—primarily resulting from private prejudice, income differences, preferences to live separately, or demographic trends. Our segregation is “de jure,” resulting mostly from racially explicit public policies designed to create residential patterns we too easily accept as natural or accidental.

Fighting Against Foreclosure Fraud & Courts’ Abuse Of Power

June 5, 2015 Senka Huskic, www.occupy.com , , ,
By Senka Huskic in Occupy - Our Constitution contemplates a federal system of governing where states share in power that limits the federal government’s powers. Those powers which are not given to the federal government are reserved to the states. The Constitution contemplates each state will have sovereignty over its own territory. There is no core sovereignty more fundamental than that of the state to control the distribution of land within its borders. Typically, the federal Constitution and federal laws trump state constitutions and statutes. But state laws governing the distribution of land within the state are within the core sovereignty of the states and beyond the authority of Congress to regulate. The Supremacy Clause is very specific that only federal law, i.e. statutes and treaties enacted pursuant to the Constitution’s enumerated powers, are supreme.

The Banks Are Felons That The Government Refuses To Stop

May 29, 2015 Portie Crowe, www.businessinsider.com , , , ,
This week, five Wall Street banks pleaded guilty to felony charges related to interest rate rigging and foreign exchange manipulation. The guilty pleas mean the banks are literally felons, and it's a distinct shift in the way law enforcement has dealt with Wall Street in the past. Lawsuits and legal fees are nothing new for the banks: since the financial crisis, they have essentially become the cost of doing business on Wall Street. Now, apparently, that cost includes both legal fees and criminal charges. The thing is, no one seems to be fazed. This case has nothing to do with the financial crisis. Rather, a couple years ago, traders from a handful of banks manipulated the London Interbank Offered Rate, an important interest rate used around the world as a benchmark for mortgages and other loans. Other traders manipulated the prices at which banks bought or sold currencies.

Targets Matter — Why A Small Action Group Won Vs. Mighty Bank

May 16, 2015 George Lakey, www.wagingnonviolence.org , ,
After writing about Earth Quaker Action Team’s recent success in forcing PNC Bank to stop financing mountaintop removal coal mining in Appalachia, I received a number of strong reactions. Mingled with the congratulations, based on my involvement in the campaign, was a tone of surprise: How can a small group take on the seventh-largest bank in the country and win? Underneath that, I sensed the despair that unconsciously dims people’s sense of power in the United States. Americans can express rage or righteousness by protesting, but most don’t really expect to change anything. The reactions made me realize I left out an important part of the story that proves the victory was no fluke and that U.S. activists can actually be producing far more victories in the current political landscape.

Banks Did More Damage To Baltimore Than So-Called Rioters

May 13, 2015 Emily Foster, www.ourfuture.org , , ,
The death of Freddie Gray in Baltimore is not just a story of police brutality or the lack of socioeconomic mobility for the urban poor. It’s also a story of how deregulation allowed corporate banks to strip middle-class families of their financial stability and walk away, leaving behind payday lenders and check-cashing stores to plunder low-income and minority communities. To better understand and communicate that story, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on Economic Policy, and Rep. Elijah E. Cummings (D-Md.), Ranking Member of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform took their Middle Class Prosperity Project to Baltimore on Monday. It was the latest in a series of forums that started in February to focus “congressional and public attention on challenges faced by the middle class.”

Arrests Made After Protesters Occupy Bank In Cardiff City

May 3, 2015 Philip Dewey, www.walesonline.co.uk ,
Demonstrators shouted ‘the banks caused the crisis’ and ‘say no to austerity’ while handing out leaflets to staff members. Graffiti saying ‘Tax HSBC’ was written in pink chalk on a poster. Around nine or ten police vehicles were called to the scene to deal with the protesters and the bank was shut early for the day “due to unforeseen circumstances”. The event was a celebration of International Workers’ Day and a protest against austerity and cuts by the coalition government. President of the Cardiff Trades Council, Katrine Williams, said: “We’re bringing together not just trade unions but people in our community who are angered by the cuts we are facing. “Our trade unions and the people of Cardiff want an end to austerity and cuts and they want to see more jobs created. “The richest 1% carry on getting richer while people are living in poverty and going to foodbanks. “There is £123bn in unpaid tax which could be used to fund the NHS and public services while creating a future for young people.”

Newsletter – We Demand Accountability

April 18, 2015 Margaret Flowers and Kevin Zeese, www.PopularResistance.org , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
On Tax Day, April 15, 61 year old Doug Hughes, a mailman from Florida, landed a gyrocopter on the Capitol lawn to deliver 535 letters to members of Congress in order “to spotlight corruption of Congress and to present a solution to legalized bribery.” Hughes told the Tampa Bay News that "I'd rather die in the flight than live to be 80 years old and see this country fall." He has been released on bond with home detention and returns to court on May 8th to face charges of operating an unregistered aircraft and violating restricted airspace, facing a total of four years incarceration. On Saturday, April 11, 22 year old Leo Thornton shot and killed himself in front of the Capitol. He had a sign taped to his hand that read, “Tax the 1%.” The media ignored him, some called him an extremist and did not report his "radical" message of fair taxes. Protests by individuals and groups become impactful when they ignite others to join, to mobilize in support of the call. We urge you to support protests by participating, spreading the word and mobilizing in whatever way you can.

Bank Workers: Stop Making Us Sell Shady Products To Poor People

April 16, 2015 Alan Pyke, www.thinkprogress.org , ,
The newest line of criticism for the banking industry is coming from within, as a group of rank-and-file banking employees prepare to demand that their employer stop ordering them to use predatory sales tactics and start treating them as a valued piece of the workforce. A group of tellers, loan officers, and customer service representatives from the country’s largest commercial banks will rally Monday outside office towers in Minneapolis to call attention to their own low pay and to consumer-harming sales policies they say are imposed on them by management. As part of the demonstrations, workers will ask to meet with executives at Wells Fargo to deliver a petition calling for the bank to do away with high-pressure sales quotas for its customer service staff.

On the Lam With Bank Robber Enric Duran

April 8, 2015 Nathan Schneider, www.vice.com , ,
Being underground is not a condition Enric Duran always takes literally, but one night in late January he went from basement to basement. At a hackerspace under a tiny library just south of Paris, he met a group of activists from across France and then traveled with them by bus and Métro to another meeting place, in an old palace on the north end of the city. On the ground floor it felt like an art gallery, with white walls and sensitive acoustics, but the basement below was like a cave, full of costumes and scientific instruments and exposed masonry. There, Duran arranged chairs in a circle for the dozen or so people who'd made the journey. As they were settling in and discussing which language they'd speak, a woman from upstairs, attending an event about open licenses, peeked in through the doorway.

The New Asian Bank & A New World Order

March 30, 2015 Teymoor Nabili, www.aljazeera.com , ,
It's usual these days that every policy statement coming out of Beijing is minutely scrutinised and commented on by the English language media, so the absence of any alarm bells on and after February 3 came as something of a surprise. The 13th Meeting of Russia, India and China's foreign ministers should have merited at least passing mention - but not a single major western newspaper covered it. There was no reporting of the final communique; no editorial comment was made and no reaction sought, from Washington or London. The relevant comment was short, and buried within 30 other paragraphs of much more conciliatory language; nonetheless it was punchy. . .
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