"We have a known corrupt guy, Newt Gingrich rising to the top of the GOP field and he literally received $300 million from Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac."
To me, Gingrich is just another shamelessly overpaid political hack -- worse than that, he's a known profiteering lobbyists since leaving the Congress. He's really a joke, apparently being brought out of his lush retirement years to upstage any real competition to Romney, who is now looking more and more like the GOP nominee for 2012. In other words, Newt is the fall guy for a final Mitt versus Newt charade. But I can't corroborate the $300,000,000 figure at all. It can't be for his current campaign. According to Reuters blog 15 November 2011 --
The former Speaker of the House of Representatives has raised at least $3 million since October 1, said campaign spokesman R.C. Hammond. The donations have averaged $100 each and he is attracting 1,000 new donors each day.
In contrast, Gingrich took in less than $800,000 in the third quarter ending September 30, according to filings with the Federal Election Commission.
It's notorious that Gingrich received campaign contributions from F & F way back in his time as Speaker of the House (a decade ago), but I doubt that $300,000,000 figure from F & F even if we totaled all of it over his entire nefarious career. More recently, in 2006, Gingrich Group (lobbyists) was apparently on the F & F payola list. This is from politico.com, citing msnbc's 'First Read' --
Associated Press reported Freddie Mac paid $11.7M to 52 outside lobbyists and consultants in 2006, including "power brokers" like Gingrich.
I hope that FairTaxChamp will become more than a hit-and-run one-post participant here at EP. Anyway, after registering it's possible to post the link like a link --
I was already aware that the concept of the commodity-basket currency has been around for some time, but I don't think it is being "actively promoted," at least not effectively -- not here in the USA anyway. Many good progressive ideas don't get the coverage that they deserve, and it's difficult to keep references and links organized to direct interested persons toward helpful sources.
The more familiar action these days is the IMF's SDRs, which are based on a basket of currencies -- USD, UK sterling, Euro and Japanese Yen. Rumor is that China wants to have its renminbi included in this IMF basket for what amounts to an implied SDR 'reserve currency'. So far, that hasn't happened because the idea has always been that the currencies in the basket must be freely exchanged, and the renminbi is anything but that.
There's little or no open talk about this, but it seems likely to me that the current buzz about China bailing out the Euro zone is probably operating as the visible surface of negotiations about including the Yuan in the IMF SDR currency basket. What's likely, IMHO, is some kind of compromise whereby the Yuan will become part of the basket, but only after China makes a fairly firm commitment to letting the Yuan float freely. Here in the USA, the powers-that-be don't like these IMF developments to be much discussed because many Americans are highly reactive to any talk of the USD being replaced by anything. It's a very touchy political topic.
Anyway, thanks for the link! Also, the p2p (Peer-to-Peer) foundation! It appears that the idea of p2pfoundation.net is to document or catalog a distributed network approach to anything and everything. It's envisioned as a catalog or collection of documents on open-source developments -- 'Open Everything', 'Open Hardware Directory' and 'all things open'.
It's interesting that the p2pfoundation.net had shown an interest about the Occupy Wall Street movement and similar "15-M" movements in Europe, but p2p hasn't gone beyond setting up two pages -- for OWS and for 15-M movements, with no contributions or documentation as of yet.
BTW: p2pfoundation page on Terra Currency was last updated in 2006 and contains a nonfunctional link at the top.
First, they do not have a physical presence 24/7 due to the camps being destroyed. Then, they have to travel in to protest events. Police can block them, it's expense to travel in, i.e. they are not concentrated.
I think they can still do it but I think this is a blow. The good news is this is really bringing more press to their message and in looking at it, long term, most of America probably agrees with them.
Right now, we have GOP candidates being locked out, complete media black out that they even exist and it's probably because they are not touting the corporate party line.
We have a known corrupt guy, Newt Gingrich rising to the top of the GOP field and he literally received $300 million from Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac.
i.e. we don't have hardly any representation in D.C. going on so assuredly their movement will grow. Let's hope.
I've been impressed with their organization, esp. for a "bottom up" movement structure.
My current thought -- subject to eternal change -- is that if this movement is what we think and hope it is, it won't matter that they can't stay overnight.
As others have pointed out, it may not have been possible to stay through the winter. It sure would be hard to keep up the good fight while constanting thinking about how to keep warm and dry in freezing weather.
We'll see.
I wish them the best of luck. I believe they are still riding a rising wave.
The responder here is absolutley correct in advocating a "commodity-basket" rather than a single commodity, such as gold, as an Internetional currency. As a matter of fact such a currency has already been conceived and is being actively promoted. It is called The Terra TRC (Trade Reserve Currency). Readers can log on to the following URLs for details: www.TerraTRC.org , http://p2pfoundation.net/Terra_Currency.
OWS has a lot of media, so I try to link to them as reference, or not biased reports as best I can, but this story moves so fast.
To me, what's happening is overall an attack on the protestors to shut down their message. No surprise to me because what they are protesting is what the power in this country (as well as the globe) doesn't want you to know, we're their chattel, sheep.
There are some news live blogs, the Guardian, Think Progress and Raw Story has also been writing a lot of coverage, which you will not see in MSM, on OWS.
A friend visiting from Portland says that in Sam Adams' announcement that he would not be seeking a second term as mayor, Adams acknowledged that he has his passport ready and is planning on leaving the USA to live somewhere else.
Myself, I tend toward UK-based news media to find out what's happening in the USA when our own media abandon their responsibilities -- The Guardian, FT, Reuters and BBC.
A friend, who likes to watch television and has hundreds (if not thousands?) of channels available to her, tells us that the best coverage of the Occupy movement has been Al Jazeera English!
"Federal Reserve is already bailing out Europe. We wrote about it when announced. They are open to short term lending." -- Robert Oak
Yes, I recall EP's coverage on bail-out and QE USDs going to Europe. Some watchers are using terms like 'USDEuro system', and of course there has to be something like that, at least to a limited extent ... at a minimum, some kind of overnight clearing of accounts.
I think that Ron Paul's frankness along with his substantial presence restrains the Fed in the context of the approaching 2012 election, not to mention Dennis Kucinich's NEED Act, incorporating all provisions of the Monetary Reform Act. I don't think the Fed feels as free to act, or as impregnable to criticism, as they did just a few years ago or even one year ago.
If the Fed does decide on QE3 (and there's a good chance of that, of course), it will be framed as targeting MBS, which could be to the advantage of both domestic and foreign banks (or other financial institutions). There's been talk not only from Tarullo but also from Bernanke about that kind of thing --
Given the delicate balance of power on the FOMC, I tend to give recent remarks by Vice Chair Janet Yellen a lot of respect as predictive of what the Fed may, or might not do, respecting the Euro crisis.
While U.S. banks have "manageable" direct exposure to sovereign debt in the smaller European countries, they have substantial links to banks in larger European countries, some of which are facing funding difficulties, Yellen said.
"In light of such international linkages, further intensification of financial disruptions in Europe could lead to a deterioration of financial conditions in the United States," she said. "We are monitoring European developments very closely, and we will continue to do all that we can to mitigate the consequence of any adverse developments abroad on the U.S. financial system."
In her talk, largely an overview of the regulatory steps the Fed has and will take to shore up the stability of the financial system, Yellen said she would not rule out using monetary policy as a stabilizing tool, "at least on the margin." ....
Yellen urged European officials to solidify and follow through on rescue pledges. While a euro zone crisis-fighting plan announced in October was a step in the right direction, details remain murky, she said.
"The continued rise in sovereign debt spreads for some countries, more generalized market volatility, and political turmoil that we have seen in recent days speak to the need for forceful action to stabilize the situation," she said.
IMO, 'housing-targeted' QE3 is looking likely, but is still what I believe to be a bad idea, because it will tend toward socio-economic instability rather than toward stability. It will reduce to more bail-out for banks and probably will accelerate flight to PM, without making any contribution to reducing unemployment or other underlying economic problems. Of course, keeping the USD down can contribute to increased US manufacturing exports, but that can also result in increased crude oil prices in dollar-terms.
While ridiculous photos, prostitutes and interns get the headlines, it's pretty rare those situations can get an amendment added to a law which governs the land or some legislative clause lobbyist do not like, removed. The fact even if a bill passes, conferees can go in after the fact and strike out major portions of a bill, says it all, that's usually 6 Congressional members, chosen by Senate/House leadership, simply trashing amendments and clauses after a bill has passed both Houses.
The mayor of Rochester would not allow occupiers to stay in park past 11PM. The only city in NY to arrest occupiers for curfew violations. But, the ACLU sent him a couple of letters and he back off. Occupy Rochester is now 24/7. Power to the people!
Can Ben Bernanke, Paul Krugman, Dr. Roubini and so many others ... all be wrong?
Being one of your ugly Americans with a myopic view of the world, the big question in my mind is what this all means for the USA.
Europe's problems seem to me to have the potential to be good news for us in the short run, but also potentially a part of some global bad news that would include us. Still, I think it would be a bad idea for the US Treasury or the Fed to get involved in any attempt to bail out Europe or otherwise imagine that we can somehow help them through a critical rough spot without setting ourselves up to be dragged down with them. We really have to get over our $uperAmerica delusional system, not to mention our Eurocentrism! But that's just my opinion.
It has come to my attention that Chris Martenson in an 'alert' earlier last week (on or about 7 November 2011) took a pessimistic view of the prospects for the EU and ECB, warning that the effects will surely slop over into the USA, possibly creating a banking crisis here. Based on an estimate that the chance of such a crisis is too great not to take precautionary action in anticipation of it, CM advises that Americans withdraw enough of that plain old green stuff (USDs) from their banks and hold onto that green stuff as a hedge against a banking crisis -- at least hold enough of it to comfortably weather three months of a bank failure or freeze-up (ATMs not working).
To me, this alert from CM was almost incredible -- hard to believe that it was from CM himself. The reason for my reaction is that the CM website is a bastion of goldbug doom-saying on three fronts: Peak Oil, hyperinflation (collapse of 'fiat currencies', especially the USD), and, societal break-down (including the ultimate threat, break-down of the food-supply chain). The mantra there has been 'Put not your faith in paper but in gold, or other PMs, physically held in your own vault underneath your well-defended residence." (Well, that's probably an over-simplification, but I'm giving the overall thrust of the website.) Atypically, CM failed in his recent alert to include any tip about either longing -- or shorting -- PMs ... except that CM said that maybe a little later in 2012, he himself would be prepared to re-enter the PM markets with a strong bullish recommendation.
After the past week and with gold pushing $1800, CM may already or very soon be making a bullish recommendation on gold ... except that platinum is still just barely above $1650 ... go figure. Markets never cease to amaze.
Myself, I have been not exactly bullish on silver, but contrarian with respect to the recent shorting of silver and talk about an expected "correction in the silver market." Also, I think that there has to be some pressure on European banks to quietly sell some of their gold bullion.
I'm not saying that gold can't reach $2100 by the end of 2011, or that such would be unrealistic as a rational gold price ... just that I don't see that happening this year. I think the buzz about the recent rise in oil and gold is overblown, and it's mostly reflecting the talk about Iran. Of course, the talk could get worse, or could even turn into something more than just talk ... like the end of the world as we know it.
But what I mainly see happening here in the USA is strengthening of the USD as fall-out from the Euro crisis. So, unless we find the Fed moving toward the justly (IMO) dreaded QE3, what we can expect is stabilization of the USD despite QE1 and QE2. Martenson, of course, finds QE3 to be as inevitable as the collapse of the Euro, sometime within the next few months.
We shall see what we shall see. Meanwhile here's where we are in November 2011: goldbugs are recommended to increase their holding of 'physical' paper! Go figure. And that's all because of the Euro!
The USD is so stabilized in the short term, thanks to the Euro's problems, that goldbugs are actually holding 'physical' paper!
Arthur Levitt, chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission under President Bill Clinton, said in a speech at New York University in 1998 that corporate managers, auditors and analysts were taking part in a “game of nods and winks.” ....
He cited “a gray area where the accounting is being perverted; where managers are cutting corners; and, where earnings reports reflect the desires of management rather than the underlying financial performance of the company.” ....
Professor Prem Sikka, a reformer at the University of Essex in Britain, notes surveys showing that “as many as 70 percent of auditors admit to falsified audit work” in surveys of countries around the world. ....
Why do we let corporations pick their auditors? Why do we have only four big firms instead of a dozen, a score or more? Why doesn’t government do the audits, as the IRS does tax audits? Why is law enforcement handcuffed by inadequate budgets and rules that hinder investigations? Why are auditors allowed to quietly resign instead of being required to blow the whistle?
Auditing needs a shakeup, fundamental restructuring and the accounting firms need a serious debate about their failings, practical and moral. ....
Until we get structural reform the history of gross failings by all of the Big Four are sure to continue. And that means no one’s investments can be safe.
Bad bets are being made on purpose as a way to transfer taxpayer money into the hands of the parties who are cashing out. Follow the money. It's more criminal racketeering. As long as we don't storm DC and New York and the private estates of the crooks and their minions (prosecutors who grant immunity to the scammers, politicians, etc), it will continue. I suppose that would be trespassing. And since were a nation of laws .....
Who wudda thunk that the Korean people had any say in whether the Korea-USA FTA passes or not?
Ah, Koreans ... never short on courage for kung-ho activism! If the North and South ever manage unification, they'll conquer the world ... and probably make it a much more democratic place!
It's one of the ironies of these strange times that we find ourselves turning to foreign-based news media to find out what's happening in our own country when global corporatism is confronted locally.
Reuters via Yahoo reported Portland as a stand-off (at about 9 PM PST, 13 November 2011). Reuters says about 1,000 protesters and over 300 officers from about a dozen law enforcement agencies.
"We have a known corrupt guy, Newt Gingrich rising to the top of the GOP field and he literally received $300 million from Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac."
To me, Gingrich is just another shamelessly overpaid political hack -- worse than that, he's a known profiteering lobbyists since leaving the Congress. He's really a joke, apparently being brought out of his lush retirement years to upstage any real competition to Romney, who is now looking more and more like the GOP nominee for 2012. In other words, Newt is the fall guy for a final Mitt versus Newt charade. But I can't corroborate the $300,000,000 figure at all. It can't be for his current campaign. According to Reuters blog 15 November 2011 --
It's notorious that Gingrich received campaign contributions from F & F way back in his time as Speaker of the House (a decade ago), but I doubt that $300,000,000 figure from F & F even if we totaled all of it over his entire nefarious career. More recently, in 2006, Gingrich Group (lobbyists) was apparently on the F & F payola list. This is from politico.com, citing msnbc's 'First Read' --
However, the number cited at msnbc's 'First Read' is "$300,000 from Freddie Mac in 2006" (CNBC debate moderator John Harwood).
I hope that FairTaxChamp will become more than a hit-and-run one-post participant here at EP. Anyway, after registering it's possible to post the link like a link --
Webpage on the Terra TRC at p2pfoundation.net
I was already aware that the concept of the commodity-basket currency has been around for some time, but I don't think it is being "actively promoted," at least not effectively -- not here in the USA anyway. Many good progressive ideas don't get the coverage that they deserve, and it's difficult to keep references and links organized to direct interested persons toward helpful sources.
The more familiar action these days is the IMF's SDRs, which are based on a basket of currencies -- USD, UK sterling, Euro and Japanese Yen. Rumor is that China wants to have its renminbi included in this IMF basket for what amounts to an implied SDR 'reserve currency'. So far, that hasn't happened because the idea has always been that the currencies in the basket must be freely exchanged, and the renminbi is anything but that.
There's little or no open talk about this, but it seems likely to me that the current buzz about China bailing out the Euro zone is probably operating as the visible surface of negotiations about including the Yuan in the IMF SDR currency basket. What's likely, IMHO, is some kind of compromise whereby the Yuan will become part of the basket, but only after China makes a fairly firm commitment to letting the Yuan float freely. Here in the USA, the powers-that-be don't like these IMF developments to be much discussed because many Americans are highly reactive to any talk of the USD being replaced by anything. It's a very touchy political topic.
Anyway, thanks for the link! Also, the p2p (Peer-to-Peer) foundation! It appears that the idea of p2pfoundation.net is to document or catalog a distributed network approach to anything and everything. It's envisioned as a catalog or collection of documents on open-source developments -- 'Open Everything', 'Open Hardware Directory' and 'all things open'.
It's interesting that the p2pfoundation.net had shown an interest about the Occupy Wall Street movement and similar "15-M" movements in Europe, but p2p hasn't gone beyond setting up two pages -- for OWS and for 15-M movements, with no contributions or documentation as of yet.
BTW: p2pfoundation page on Terra Currency was last updated in 2006 and contains a nonfunctional link at the top.
First, they do not have a physical presence 24/7 due to the camps being destroyed. Then, they have to travel in to protest events. Police can block them, it's expense to travel in, i.e. they are not concentrated.
I think they can still do it but I think this is a blow. The good news is this is really bringing more press to their message and in looking at it, long term, most of America probably agrees with them.
Right now, we have GOP candidates being locked out, complete media black out that they even exist and it's probably because they are not touting the corporate party line.
We have a known corrupt guy, Newt Gingrich rising to the top of the GOP field and he literally received $300 million from Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac.
i.e. we don't have hardly any representation in D.C. going on so assuredly their movement will grow. Let's hope.
I've been impressed with their organization, esp. for a "bottom up" movement structure.
My current thought -- subject to eternal change -- is that if this movement is what we think and hope it is, it won't matter that they can't stay overnight.
As others have pointed out, it may not have been possible to stay through the winter. It sure would be hard to keep up the good fight while constanting thinking about how to keep warm and dry in freezing weather.
We'll see.
I wish them the best of luck. I believe they are still riding a rising wave.
The responder here is absolutley correct in advocating a "commodity-basket" rather than a single commodity, such as gold, as an Internetional currency. As a matter of fact such a currency has already been conceived and is being actively promoted. It is called The Terra TRC (Trade Reserve Currency). Readers can log on to the following URLs for details: www.TerraTRC.org , http://p2pfoundation.net/Terra_Currency.
OWS has a lot of media, so I try to link to them as reference, or not biased reports as best I can, but this story moves so fast.
To me, what's happening is overall an attack on the protestors to shut down their message. No surprise to me because what they are protesting is what the power in this country (as well as the globe) doesn't want you to know, we're their chattel, sheep.
There are some news live blogs, the Guardian, Think Progress and Raw Story has also been writing a lot of coverage, which you will not see in MSM, on OWS.
A friend visiting from Portland says that in Sam Adams' announcement that he would not be seeking a second term as mayor, Adams acknowledged that he has his passport ready and is planning on leaving the USA to live somewhere else.
Myself, I tend toward UK-based news media to find out what's happening in the USA when our own media abandon their responsibilities -- The Guardian, FT, Reuters and BBC.
A friend, who likes to watch television and has hundreds (if not thousands?) of channels available to her, tells us that the best coverage of the Occupy movement has been Al Jazeera English!
"Federal Reserve is already bailing out Europe. We wrote about it when announced. They are open to short term lending." -- Robert Oak
Yes, I recall EP's coverage on bail-out and QE USDs going to Europe. Some watchers are using terms like 'USDEuro system', and of course there has to be something like that, at least to a limited extent ... at a minimum, some kind of overnight clearing of accounts.
I think that Ron Paul's frankness along with his substantial presence restrains the Fed in the context of the approaching 2012 election, not to mention Dennis Kucinich's NEED Act, incorporating all provisions of the Monetary Reform Act. I don't think the Fed feels as free to act, or as impregnable to criticism, as they did just a few years ago or even one year ago.
If the Fed does decide on QE3 (and there's a good chance of that, of course), it will be framed as targeting MBS, which could be to the advantage of both domestic and foreign banks (or other financial institutions). There's been talk not only from Tarullo but also from Bernanke about that kind of thing --
See, Reuters 'Macroscope' article 'Bernanke backs Tarullo', 3 November 2011
___________
Given the delicate balance of power on the FOMC, I tend to give recent remarks by Vice Chair Janet Yellen a lot of respect as predictive of what the Fed may, or might not do, respecting the Euro crisis.
_____
IMO, 'housing-targeted' QE3 is looking likely, but is still what I believe to be a bad idea, because it will tend toward socio-economic instability rather than toward stability. It will reduce to more bail-out for banks and probably will accelerate flight to PM, without making any contribution to reducing unemployment or other underlying economic problems. Of course, keeping the USD down can contribute to increased US manufacturing exports, but that can also result in increased crude oil prices in dollar-terms.
Raw story generally gives good coverage of OWS. interrupt details here.
What a great target, there is no worse lobbyist group than the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
Federal Reserve is already bailing out Europe. We wrote about it when announced. They are open to short term lending.
Gold, is part fear and hype, but the dollar becoming stronger I don't think the Fed wants that, globally, so seems QE3 could pop up as a result.
While ridiculous photos, prostitutes and interns get the headlines, it's pretty rare those situations can get an amendment added to a law which governs the land or some legislative clause lobbyist do not like, removed. The fact even if a bill passes, conferees can go in after the fact and strike out major portions of a bill, says it all, that's usually 6 Congressional members, chosen by Senate/House leadership, simply trashing amendments and clauses after a bill has passed both Houses.
It would be far less depressing to hear reports of wine-soaked orgies in Alabama's 6th district.
The mayor of Rochester would not allow occupiers to stay in park past 11PM. The only city in NY to arrest occupiers for curfew violations. But, the ACLU sent him a couple of letters and he back off. Occupy Rochester is now 24/7. Power to the people!
Surprise, surprise, police used batons.
Can Ben Bernanke, Paul Krugman, Dr. Roubini and so many others ... all be wrong?
Being one of your ugly Americans with a myopic view of the world, the big question in my mind is what this all means for the USA.
Europe's problems seem to me to have the potential to be good news for us in the short run, but also potentially a part of some global bad news that would include us. Still, I think it would be a bad idea for the US Treasury or the Fed to get involved in any attempt to bail out Europe or otherwise imagine that we can somehow help them through a critical rough spot without setting ourselves up to be dragged down with them. We really have to get over our $uperAmerica delusional system, not to mention our Eurocentrism! But that's just my opinion.
It has come to my attention that Chris Martenson in an 'alert' earlier last week (on or about 7 November 2011) took a pessimistic view of the prospects for the EU and ECB, warning that the effects will surely slop over into the USA, possibly creating a banking crisis here. Based on an estimate that the chance of such a crisis is too great not to take precautionary action in anticipation of it, CM advises that Americans withdraw enough of that plain old green stuff (USDs) from their banks and hold onto that green stuff as a hedge against a banking crisis -- at least hold enough of it to comfortably weather three months of a bank failure or freeze-up (ATMs not working).
To me, this alert from CM was almost incredible -- hard to believe that it was from CM himself. The reason for my reaction is that the CM website is a bastion of goldbug doom-saying on three fronts: Peak Oil, hyperinflation (collapse of 'fiat currencies', especially the USD), and, societal break-down (including the ultimate threat, break-down of the food-supply chain). The mantra there has been 'Put not your faith in paper but in gold, or other PMs, physically held in your own vault underneath your well-defended residence." (Well, that's probably an over-simplification, but I'm giving the overall thrust of the website.) Atypically, CM failed in his recent alert to include any tip about either longing -- or shorting -- PMs ... except that CM said that maybe a little later in 2012, he himself would be prepared to re-enter the PM markets with a strong bullish recommendation.
After the past week and with gold pushing $1800, CM may already or very soon be making a bullish recommendation on gold ... except that platinum is still just barely above $1650 ... go figure. Markets never cease to amaze.
Myself, I have been not exactly bullish on silver, but contrarian with respect to the recent shorting of silver and talk about an expected "correction in the silver market." Also, I think that there has to be some pressure on European banks to quietly sell some of their gold bullion.
I'm not saying that gold can't reach $2100 by the end of 2011, or that such would be unrealistic as a rational gold price ... just that I don't see that happening this year. I think the buzz about the recent rise in oil and gold is overblown, and it's mostly reflecting the talk about Iran. Of course, the talk could get worse, or could even turn into something more than just talk ... like the end of the world as we know it.
But what I mainly see happening here in the USA is strengthening of the USD as fall-out from the Euro crisis. So, unless we find the Fed moving toward the justly (IMO) dreaded QE3, what we can expect is stabilization of the USD despite QE1 and QE2. Martenson, of course, finds QE3 to be as inevitable as the collapse of the Euro, sometime within the next few months.
We shall see what we shall see. Meanwhile here's where we are in November 2011: goldbugs are recommended to increase their holding of 'physical' paper! Go figure. And that's all because of the Euro!
The USD is so stabilized in the short term, thanks to the Euro's problems, that goldbugs are actually holding 'physical' paper!
Ah, the irony of it!
"The failures of auditors to uncover cooked books ... are a cancer on the accounting industry." -- David Cay Johnston
Here's more from Johnston's Reuters blog, 11 November 2011 --
Bad bets are being made on purpose as a way to transfer taxpayer money into the hands of the parties who are cashing out. Follow the money. It's more criminal racketeering. As long as we don't storm DC and New York and the private estates of the crooks and their minions (prosecutors who grant immunity to the scammers, politicians, etc), it will continue. I suppose that would be trespassing. And since were a nation of laws .....
Saturday Reads may have missed this report from the EP-linked Public Citizen's Eyes on Trade, 11 November 2011 -- worth reading!
Who wudda thunk that the Korean people had any say in whether the Korea-USA FTA passes or not?
Ah, Koreans ... never short on courage for kung-ho activism! If the North and South ever manage unification, they'll conquer the world ... and probably make it a much more democratic place!
It's one of the ironies of these strange times that we find ourselves turning to foreign-based news media to find out what's happening in our own country when global corporatism is confronted locally.
Reuters via Yahoo reported Portland as a stand-off (at about 9 PM PST, 13 November 2011). Reuters says about 1,000 protesters and over 300 officers from about a dozen law enforcement agencies.
news.yahoo.com/portland-police-protesters-confrontation-012247500.html
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