Occupy Banksters & Crony Capitalism & GREED

*Why the Trans Pacific 'Trade Deal' Is a Terrible Deal for American Workers
AlterNet | Robert Reich | 05/03/15

Have we learned nothing from thirty years of failed trickle-down economics? By now we should know that when big corporations, Wall Street, and the wealthy get special goodies, the rest of us get shafted.

The Reagan and George W. Bush tax cuts of 1981, 2001, and 2003, respectively, were sold to America as ways to boost the economy and create jobs. They ended up boosting the take-home pay of those at the top. Most Americans saw no gains.

In fact, the long stagnation of American wages began with Reaganomics. Wages rose a bit under Bill Clinton, and then started plummeting again under George W. Bush. Trickle-down economics proved a cruel hoax. The new jobs created under Reagan and George W. Bush paid lousy wages, the old jobs paid even less, and we ended up with whopping federal budget deficits. ... Read more

*US Trade Deficit Soars To Worst Since Financial Crisis; Will Push Q1 GDP Negative
ZeroHedge | author | 05/05/15

After shrinking notably in Feb, March's US Trade deficit exploded. Against expectations of a $41.7bn deficit, the US generated a $51.4bn deficit - the worst since Oct 2008 and the biggest miss on record. Exports rose just $1.6bn while imports soared $17.1bn with the goods deficit with China soaring from $27.3bn to $37.8bn in March. Ironically, just as the "harsh winter" was found to lead to a GDP boost due to a surge in utility spending, so the West Coast port strike which was blamed for the GDP drop, was actually benefiting the US economy as it lead to a plunge in imports. In March, however, the pipeline was cleared, and US imports from China soared by over $10 billion to $38 billion. End result: prepare for upcoming Q1 GDP downgrades into negative territory. .... Read more

Greek Deal In Limbo After "Serious Disagreement" Between EU, IMF
ZeroHedge | author | 05/05/15

On the heels of Monday's news that the IMF may demand a write-off of Greek debt by European creditors before the organization will disburse its portion of a €7.2 billion aid tranche to Athens, it now appears the situation has deteriorated further with unnamed Greek officials reporting "serious disagreements" between the IMF and the EU which may make a compromise "impossible" by the critical May 12 deadline. ... Read more

The Obscene Amounts of Money the 10 Highest-Paid Hedge Fund Managers Just Made
AlterNet | Michael Arria | 05/05/15

Alpha Magazine has released its "Rich List," the annual rundown of the Unites States' highest-earning hedge fund managers and there's an interesting development. The top earners underwent a 45% drop in earnings during 2014, which prompted the magazine to invoke, "harsh memories of the global financial crisis [that] pervaded Wall Street."

Yes, the top hedge fund managers only pulled down a "paltry" $11.62 billion combined in 2014, around the same amount they were able to bag in 2008 and only a little more than half of what they generated in 2013. Head of Appaloosa Management David Tepper fell from Number 1 to 11th, taking in a "mere" $400 million. "In total, it was a rough year for hedge fund industry honchos," Jeff Cox wrote at CNBC.

How The NSA Converts Spoken Words Into Searchable Text
firstlook.org/theintercept/ | Dan Froomkin | 05/05/15

Top-secret documents from the archive of former NSA contractor Edward Snowden show the National Security Agency can now automatically recognize the content within phone calls by creating rough transcripts and phonetic representations that can be easily searched and stored.

The documents show NSA analysts celebrating the development of what they called "Google for Voice" nearly a decade ago. Though perfect transcription of natural conversation apparently remains the Intelligence Community's "holy grail," the Snowden documents describe extensive use of keyword searching as well as computer programs designed to analyze and "extract" the content of voice conversations, and even use sophisticated algorithms to flag conversations of interest. ... Read more