Occupy Banksters & Crony Capitalism & GREED

A Top Financier of Trump and McConnell is a Driving Force Behind Amazon Deforestation
TheIntercept | Ryan Grim | 08/27/19

TWO BRAZILIAN FIRMS owned by a top donor to President Donald Trump and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell are significantly responsible for the ongoing destruction of the Amazon rainforest, carnage that has developed into raging fires that have captivated global attention.

The companies have wrested control of land, deforested it, and helped build a controversial highway to their new terminal in the one-time jungle, all to facilitate the cultivation and export of grain and soybeans. The shipping terminal at Miritituba, deep in the Amazon in the Brazilian state of Pará, allows growers to load soybeans on barges, which will then sail to a larger port before the cargo is shipped around the world.

The Amazon terminal is run by Hidrovias do Brasil, a company that is owned in large part by Blackstone, a major U.S. investment firm. Another Blackstone company, Pátria Investimentos, owns more than 50 percent of Hidrovias, while Blackstone itself directly owns an additional roughly 10 percent stake. Blackstone co-founder and CEO Stephen Schwarzman is a close ally of Trump and has donated millions of dollars to McConnell in recent years.

"Blackstone is committed to responsible environmental stewardship," the company said in a statement. "This focus and dedication is embedded in every investment decision we make and guides how we conduct ourselves as operators. In this instance, while we do not have operating control, we know the company has made a significant reduction in overall carbon emissions through lower congestion and allowed the more efficient flow of agricultural goods by Brazilian farmers." ... Read more

The Fantasy Of Central Bank "Growth" Is Finally Imploding
Zerohedge | | 08/28/19

It was such a wonderful fantasy: just give a handful of bankers, financiers and corporations trillions of dollars at near-zero rates of interest, and this flood of credit and cash into the apex of the wealth-power pyramid would magically generate a new round of investments in productivity-improving infrastructure and equipment, which would trickle down to the masses in the form of higher wages, enabling the masses to borrow and spend more on consumption, powering the Nirvana of modern economics: a self-sustaining, self-reinforcing expansion of growth.

But alas, there is no self-sustaining, self-reinforcing expansion of growth; there are only massive, increasingly fragile asset bubbles, stagnant wages and a New Gilded Age as the handful of bankers, financiers and corporations that were handed unlimited nearly free money enriched themselves at the expense of everyone else. ... Read more

Queen Elizabeth II approves U.K. government's request to suspend Parliament
Axios | staff | 08/28/19

Queen Elizabeth II has approved a request from British Prime Minister Boris Johnson's government to suspend Parliament when it returns from its summer recess until it can lay out its plans with a traditional Queen's Speech on Oct. 14, per the BBC.

Why it matters: While the request is largely standard process for a new administration -- the Queen's Speech is akin to an incoming State of the Union -- these are not standard times. The length of the suspension is longer than usual, and Johnson's opposition would have little time to use parliamentary procedure to stop a no-deal Brexit. Assuming that negotiations with the European Union remain stalled, it means that the U.K. will likely either crash out of the bloc on Oct. 31 -- or face a snap general election called by Johnson's opposition. ... Read more

Trump Pitch To Host G7 Seen As Ploy To Help Failing Business | Rachel Maddow | MSNBC | 08/27/19 | 8:42