Occupy Banksters & Crony Capitalism & GREED

Detroit's Bankruptcy: 40% of Street Lights Don't Work, 66% of Ambulances Out of Service
WSJ | author | 07/19/13

Detroit's bankruptcy petition paints a bleak picture for the Motor City: more than 100,000 creditors, more than $18 billion in accrued obligations and a homicide rate that is at its highest level in nearly 40 years. ... Read more

Detroit's Creditors and Unions Prepare for Bankruptcy Fight
NYTimes | Monica Davey | 07/19/13

DETROIT -- A day after Detroit became the largest American city ever to seek bankruptcy protection in court, the size of the battle this city now faces was growing clear, as creditors vehemently objected to the way Detroit is asking to repay them pennies on the dollar and as representatives of city workers, who face benefits cuts, said the city had failed to truly negotiate before heading to court.

"The fiscal realities confronting Detroit have been ignored for too long," Gov. Rick Snyder said on Thursday as he authorized Detroit's bankruptcy filing after a recommendation from Kevyn D. Orr, the emergency financial manager Mr. Snyder, a Republican, had appointed to resolve the city's dire financial situation. "I'm making this tough decision so the people of Detroit will have the basic services they deserve and so we can start to put Detroit on a solid financial footing that will allow it to grow and prosper in the future." ... Read more

Glass--Steagall Act
Wikipedia | author | current

Robert Kuttner, Joseph Stiglitz, Elizabeth Warren, Robert Weissman, Richard D. Wolff and others have tied Glass-Steagall repeal to the 2007s financial crash.

The Glass--Steagall Act is a term often applied to the entire Banking Act of 1933, after its Congressional sponsors, Senator Carter Glass (D) of Virginia, and Representative Henry B. Steagall (D) of Alabama. The term Glass--Steagall Act, however, is most often used to refer to four provisions of the Banking Act of 1933 that limited commercial bank securities activities and affiliations between commercial banks and securities firms. This article deals with that limited meaning of the Glass--Steagall Act. A separate article describes the entire Banking Act of 1933.

Starting in the early 1960s federal banking regulators interpreted provisions of the Glass--Steagall Act to permit commercial banks and especially commercial bank affiliates to engage in an expanding list and volume of securities activities By the time the affiliation restrictions in the Glass--Steagall Act were repealed through the Gramm--Leach--Bliley Act of 1999 (GLBA), many commentators argued Glass--Steagall was already "dead". ...
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25 People to Blame for the Financial Crisis
Time Magazine | author | date

The good intentions, bad managers and greed behind the meltdown ... Read more

*Big Banks, Flooded in Profits, Fear Flurry of New Safeguards
NYTimes | Peter Eavis | 07/19/13

The nation's six largest banks reported $23 billion in profits in the second quarter, but they could end up victims of their own success.   In recent weeks, the Treasury Department, senior regulators and members of Congress have stepped up efforts intended to make the largest banks safer. The banks have warned that more regulation could undermine their ability to compete and curtail the amount of money they have to lend, but the strong earnings that came out over the last week could undercut their argument.

*Bernanke "The Only Game in Town": REALLY?
ZeroHedge | author | 07/19/13

Last year, Senator Schumer (Democrat, N.Y.) famously told Fed chairman Ben Bernanke "You are the only game in town." Really, Senator? What about the real economy? Bernanke and the Fed's machinations are indeed the only game in town for the parasitic financiers, but unnoticed by the Senator, America's real economy is innovating away from the dead hand of the Fed and its toxic spew of free money to the predatory class.

There's actually three games in town: the financier game the Fed is playing that will end in collapse, the Federal government's borrow-and-blow trillions of dollars game that will also end badly, and the real economy, where millions of people don't give a rat's rear-end about Bernanke's latest attempt to placate the financial Monster Id he has created. ... Read more

The Next FED Bubble - Click to zoom

Democracy Now! U.S. and World News Headlines for Friday, July 19 [13:40]

*Fox News | Senator Elizabeth Warren Co-Sponsors Bill to Reinstate Glass Steagall - Fox Business News (07/14/13) [7:40]

*Bill Moyers | Ag-Gag Laws Silence Whistleblowers (07/10/13) [5:52]

PBS Frontline | The Real CSI: How reliable is the science behind forensics? [53:41]

*60 Minutes | Angel of Death: Nearly all of the hospitals ex-nurse Charles Cullen worked at were suspicious of the serial killer. So why did his career last 16 years? (07/14/13) [14:20]

Stephen Colbert Grills Eliot Spitzer, Declares 'This Ain't Charlie Rose, Motherf**ker' (07/19/13) [16:32]

Topless Magazine Covers: The Hand Bra Awards
HP | Lauren Duca | 07/19/13

In the past few weeks alone, Shailene Woodley went topless for Interview magazine, Rita Ora went topless for GQ, Agnieszka Radwanska went topless for ESPN magazine, Elle MacPherson went topless for Bazaar, Alyssa Milano went topless for Maxim, and they all had to use their extremities for coverage, but who wore their own hands best?   For the first (and only) time ever, we bring you: The Hand Bra Awards. ... Read more