Masters of the Universe category archive
Trumpling the EPA, Reprise 0
Shorter version: Science, schmience. We want money.
The Art of the Con 0
Shorter E. J. Dionne: Let the sell-out begin.
All That Was Old Is New Again 0
Thom and Richard Eskow discusses similarities between Donald Trump’s cabinet of deplorables and Republican cabinets of the 1920s.
Jen Sorenson has more. Here’s a snippet (emphasis added):
Trump’s version of a political and financial establishment, just forming, will be bound together by certain behavioral patterns born of relationships among those of similar status, background, social position, legacy connections, and an assumed allegiance to a dogma of self-aggrandizement that overshadows everything else. In the realm of politico-financial power and in Trump’s experience and ideology, the one with the most toys always wins. So it’s hardly a surprise that his money- and power-centric cabinet won’t be focused on public service or patriotism or civic duty, but on the consolidation of corporate and private gain at the expense of the citizenry.
Welcome to the kelptocracy.
The Medicine Show 0
Have you had enough of commercials showing some old guy with a woman young enough to be his daughter white-water rafting the Colorado River in a bathtub on his way to zip-line across Bryce Canyon while hiking the Appalachian Trail in a kayak on water skis because he’s taking some dodgy prescription drug with a name created by shuffling Scrabble tiles and with more side effects than can be fitted in an intelligible disclaimer that takes up 45% of the ad?
How Stuff Works, Banking Today Dept. 0
Click to see the original image.
By the by, I used to deal with the bank alluded to in the comic. As of last week, I no longer do.
Swiss Dark Chocolate Money
0
I’m not sure that I agree with his blanket condemnation of the U. S. Department of Justice, but it is certainly true that too often it is the whistleblower, not the whistleblowee, who suffers.
Teflon Titans 0
At The Roanoke Times, T. Michael Maher wonders how a three-piece suit became teflon armor. A snippet:
Am I daft to think persons with obvious financial conflicts of interest should not be influencing and/or writing the laws designed to regulate that very activity? It seems to have an appearance of impropriety, especially with how often we see this type of behavior. You don’t want the wolf writing rules for the sheep’s pen.
It’s a Fargone Conclusion 0
There is no limit to how far they will Fargo.
Customers and former employees of that unit, Wells Fargo Advisors, have contacted the Observer following last month’s $185 million in government fines against the bank over employees’ opening of fake deposit and credit card accounts. The sources said questionable practices arising from the bank’s aggressive approach to sales also extend into its brokerage operation, which sells everything from mutual funds to annuities to IRAs.
Fargo to the link for the details.
Chasing Votes 0
Jamie Dimon is upset that Hillary Clinton doesn’t care enough about bankers’ fee-fees.
Hell, if I hadn’t been supporting her already, this would have turned the trick.
The Great Migration 0
I have been banking at Wells-Fargo.
It wasn’t a choice. It just happened.
I was banking at a regional bank that got gobbled up by Wachovia. Then, two minutes before the bubble burst, Wachovia bought Fly-by-Night Mortgage Company, Inc., and was taken down by the bursting bubble, so I ended up with Wells.
Though I have not had a bad experience with any local Wells-Fargo branches or any Wells-Fargo employees, it is difficult not to conclude from recent news reports that Wells-Fargo has a deeply corrupt corporate culture at the highest levels.
As my first wife would have said, they have plucked my last nerve.
Accordingly, I have spent most of the last two days moving my banking business to another bank. (This was made easier by my choosing to use minimal online billpay. I’m not agin’ it; I just feared that I wouldn’t be able to keep track of it, so I still write “checks”–they are made from paper and they take the place of currency; you may have heard of them. Consequently, I had only about four online thingees to change.)
Yesterday I called up my pension fund (I’m old) to change my direct deposit from Wells to my new bank. After we had completed our business, the obliging fellow on the phone told me that they had gotten “lots of phone calls moving from Wells-Fargo” in the last week (and good for the callers, say I!).
I reminded him of the news stories. He said, “Oh, yeah. I remember reading something about that.” What followed was a cordial discussion about how a three-piece suit seems to be a Get-Out-of-Jail-Free card and about how he and I were on the same wave-length about bankers and banking, but I digress. . . .
Now, I shall wait a month or so to be sure that everything is copacetic and then I shall finally forego Fargo for all time.
