Occupy Banksters & Crony Capitalism & GREED

Half Of Americans Think Our Democracy Needs 'A Lot Of Changes' Or A Complete Overhaul
HP | Charles Babington | 01/02/13

Americans enter 2014 with a profoundly negative view of their government, expressing little hope that elected officials can or will solve the nation's biggest problems, a new poll finds.

Half say America's system of democracy needs either "a lot of changes" or a complete overhaul, according to the poll conducted by the AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. Just 1 in 20 says it works well and needs no changes. ... Read more

Edward Snowden Clemency: The New York Times, The Guardian Urge Obama To Help NSA Whistleblower
HP | author | 01/02/14

The editorial boards of The New York Times and The Guardian published editorials on Wednesday, urging the Obama administration to treat Edward Snowden as a whistleblower and offer him some form of clemency.

Seven months ago, the former National Security Administration contractor stole as many as 1.7 million highly classified documents about the U.S. government's surveillance program and released the information to the press. The files revealed how the NSA forced American technology companies to reveal customer information, often without individual warrants, and how data from global phone and Internet networks was secretly intercepted. ... Read more

Ex-CIA chief Michael Hayden: Edward Snowden leak worse than Bradley Manning's
Politico | Tal Kopan | 08/02/13 older

Former NSA and CIA Director Gen. Michael Hayden says that Edward Snowden's leaks are worse than what Bradley Manning released, but he says they are both emblematic of a new generation with different views of government transparency.

The Real Reason the Middle Class Is Dead
AlterNet | Edward McClelland | 01/01/14

Let me tell you the story of a 1965 "unskilled" worker in America who lived better than most of today's college graduates. ... Read more

Why Is the IRS Fighting Efforts to Unmask Karl Rove and U.S. Chamber Political Money Laundering?
AlterNet | Steven Rosenfeld | 12/31/13

An IRS whistleblower lawsuit that attempts to finger an overseas non-profit affiliated with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce as a dark money conduit that put tens of millions into Karl Rove's hands during the 2010 elections may soon die in an obscure federal court--unless the judge allows evidence-gathering over the IRS's objections.

Robert Jacobson, a Tuscon, Arizona physician who brought the lawsuit, believes that a nonprofit created by the State Department in conjunction with the U.S. Chamber to build a much-ridiculed exhibition at the 2010 Shanghai Expo in China had another purpose--diverting large slices of the $70-plus million in donations to Rove for campaigns to retake the House. The idea was that money from GOP-friendly corporations and even the Chinese government would evade oversight by flowing through barely regulated nonprofits. ... Read more

Ken Langone To Cardinal: The Pope Better Watch What He Says
crooksandliars.com | Susie Madrak | 12/31/13

Cardinal Dolan is someone who, in my kinder moods, I might describe as a "right-wing corporate bootlick." So the thought of him having to explain to self-centered billionaires that OF COURSE Pope Francis didn't mean to criticize them puts me in a happy mood. But billionaires like wingnut Langone (who's famously tight with a buck when it comes to his employees) really should reflect on the pope's economic message, because yes, he really was talking about people like him: ... Read more
Ken Langone To Cardinal: The Pope Better Watch What He Says (12/31/13) [0:50]

Sheila Bair's graph of the year: For many Americans, there's been no recovery at all
WashingtonPost | author | 12/30/13

For 2013, we asked some of the year's most interesting, important and influential thinkers to name their favorite graph of the year -- and why they chose it. Here's Sheila Bair's.

This chart, drawn from a report by the Sentier Research Group, shows that for a large number of American households, there has been no economic recovery. Caught in a vice of chronic unemployment and falling wages, real median household income (excluding capital gains and losses but including cash government benefits) has declined 4.4% since the "recovery" began in 2009. For many households, the drop has been more severe. For African-American households, it is 10.9%. For those under 25 years old, it is 9.6%. For single females with children, it is 7.5%. ... Read more
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*Wealth Inequality in America [6:25]

*Wealth Inequality in the World [3:51]

Democracy Now! U.S. and World News Headlines for Thursday, January 02 [14:08]

Michael Hayden on Politico

Michael Hayden on WashingtonPost

John Perkins reveals the Corporatocracy (02/17/13) [17:16]

Could The Fed Lose Control Of The Frankenstein Economy It Has Created?
ZeroHedge | author | 01/02/14

A longtime correspondent emailed me last week about the apparent contradiction between a Federal Reserve that has had the power for five years to counteract any decline and my call for a market decline in 2014: why would the Fed allow a market it has pushed higher for five years to ever fall?

It's an excellent question, as it summarizes the key question: is there any limit on "don't fight the Fed?" Can the Fed push assets higher essentially forever? And if so, why did it fail to do so in 2008? ... Read more

Climate Change Worse Than We Thought, Likely To Be 'Catastrophic Rather Than Simply Dangerous'
HP | Nick Visser | 12/31/13

Climate change may be far worse than scientists thought, causing global temperatures to rise by at least 4 degrees Celsius by 2100, or about 7.2 degrees Fahrenheit, according to a new study.

The study, published in the journal Nature, takes a fresh look at clouds' effect on the planet, according to a report by The Guardian. The research found that as the planet heats, fewer sunlight-reflecting clouds form, causing temperatures to rise further in an upward spiral.

That number is double what many governments agree is the threshold for dangerous warming. Aside from dramatic environmental shifts like melting sea ice, many of the ills of the modern world -- starvation, poverty, war and disease -- are likely to get worse as the planet warms. ... Read more