Masters of the Universe category archive
Theft of Services 0
Privatization or profiteering?
B(l)ank Checks 0
Der Spiegel warns not to let the hype surrounding the occasional arrest of bankster to mislead you. The grift goes on.
Regulatory agencies and politicians have not set effective controls on banks and bankers, and although their reputation may be tarnished, their power remains unbroken.
More at the link.
The Rich Are Different from You and Me 0
They don’t sweat in the shop.
Theft of Services 0
What happens when public responsibilities are taken over by private(eers).
Life Imitates Art 0
Frankenstein flees the monster.
Goldman’s Sacks 0
The Philadelphia Daily News asks
GM got a bailout. So did banks. Who best used your tax dollars?
Follow the link for their answer.
High Sticking It to the Man 0
This should be fun to watch.
(snip)
In court last week, Laviolette claimed Bank of America convinced him to mortgage his properties and invest the proceeds in high-risk funds that “utterly collapsed,” Courthouse News (CN) reported.
(snip)
The Laviolettes, CN reported, said they later learned that the high-return investment projections relied on “artificially inflated values for their properties and an unreasonable rate of return.”
I am not a big hockey fan. The NHL is near the top of my “I-don’t-care” list (as opposed to big-time college and pro football, which are at the top of my “the-corruption-has-sickened-me” list).
I admit that watching a hockey game in person is a lot of fun. Back in my younger, pre-kids days, my then-wife and I would take in the occasional Caps game, which I could enjoy thanks to WMAL-AM host Ken Beatrice, the only person I ever listened to who explain hockey in terms I understood. In TV viewer land, though, hockey is just too fast to fit in a television screen.
Nevertheless, I might just start to root for the Flyers because of this.
Regulatory Rigmarole 2
Dan Casey tells the story of a lady who needed an oversized toilet seat to fit an oversized toilet marketed under a big box store’s house brand, only to be told by the big box store that they were no longer available because regulations.
Then she contacted one of her state legislators:
Baird later called Vickie back after researching the issue. The Virginia General Assembly has “never, ever voted on the length of a toilet seat,” Vickie said Baird told her.
(snip)
A third (lesson learned–ed.) is that people seem ready and willing to cast blame on “regulations” that probably don’t exist, adopted by a “legislature” that probably doesn’t either. And they don’t even get embarrassed when you call their bluffs.
But that’s not the end of the story of the end. Follow the link for the restroom of the story.
Misdirection Play 0
I call shenanigans.
“This law is hurting real people in my district and around the country,” the Bucks County Republican wrote.
A spokesman for SeaWorld, the amusement park’s parent company, confirmed Wednesday that the company was cutting the weekly work limit for part-time employees from 32 to 28 hours.
No, what’s causing the pain here is the refusal of employers to pay a living wage or to provide reasonable benefits.
To paraphrase Daffy Duck, they’re despicable.
Corporate Takeover 4
Wisconsin State Representative Chris Taylor recently attended an ALEC conference.
Here’s a snippet from his report. It speaks for itself (emphasis added).
This is where democracy can win over special interest influence. In ALEC nation, people are irrelevant and democracy a burden. When the people’s interests are truly represented by policy-makers, and the origin of bills exposed, ALEC fails.
ALEC’s corporate funders, who are also campaign donors to many ALEC members, have shrouded themselves in secrecy for this reason.
Read the rest.
Monetary Policy 0
More like this:
(snip)
U.S. District Judge Raymond A. Jackson did not impose a fine, which could have reached $4 billion, but ordered Fields to pay $331 million in restitution, which nears the total loss for the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.
The judge also ordered Fields to forfeit $61.6 million, which is the total of the bad loans tied to him. He also put Fields on five years of probation following prison and ordered him not to work in the banking industry during that time.
Of course, he did not have the instant immunity conveyed by having an office on Wall Street and a home in the Hamptons.
Dustbiter 0
This community no longer has its bank. All gone.
Oh, dear. Whatever shall they do?
(Later, after watching the Phillies forget how to play baseball against the Nats)
And they are joined by another community, but perhaps the Second, Third, and Last (with apologies to Bugs Bunny) National Banks are still solvent.