OWS

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Seth Milner
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Re: OWS

Unread post by Seth Milner »

Heh . . . somebody oughta write a book about it.

Wait though! I've made some new soapboxes; wanna buy one? two?
Don't take life too seriously; No one gets out alive

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Vrede too
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Re: OWS

Unread post by Vrede too »

Sign the petition

Petition to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, Speaker of the House Paul Ryan, and the Republican leadership in Congress:

"Put your money where your mouth is. Follow the 2016 Republican Party platform and schedule an immediate vote on the 21st Century Glass-Steagall Act, co-sponsored by Sens. John McCain and Elizabeth Warren."
Always be yourself! Unless you can be a goat, then always be a goat.
-- the interweb, paraphrased
1312. ETTD.

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Vrede too
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Re: OWS

Unread post by Vrede too »

Image
Always be yourself! Unless you can be a goat, then always be a goat.
-- the interweb, paraphrased
1312. ETTD.

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Vrede too
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Re: OWS

Unread post by Vrede too »

Image

To: Leaders in Congress

Wall Street greed and risky behavior is out of control and needs to be reined in. There is a simple solution: pass the 21st Century Glass-Steagall Act. Both the RNC and DNC platforms call for a new Glass-Steagall and there is bipartisan support for the 21st Century Glass-Steagall Act.

We demand that you listen to working people and your own party and allow a vote on the 21st Century Glass-Steagall Act after the election.
Always be yourself! Unless you can be a goat, then always be a goat.
-- the interweb, paraphrased
1312. ETTD.

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O Really
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Re: OWS

Unread post by O Really »

Why there aren't any bankers in jail for causing the financial crisis (real article)

http://www.theatlantic.com/business/arc ... picks=true

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Vrede too
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Re: OWS

Unread post by Vrede too »

Thanks.
... But convicting bankers—or any other white-collar workers whose decisions at work have ostensibly damaged the economy—is difficult because while it is easy to identify systematic wrongdoing, it's much harder to pin blame, at least in the way a court might approve of, on an individual within that system.

Sam Buell, a Duke law professor, argues in his recent book Capital Offenses: Business Crime and Punishment in America’s Corporate Age that this is no accident. The difficulties that government prosecutors face in cobbling together fraud cases against even the most nefarious executives illuminates the fact that, legally, corporations are big, fancy responsibility-diffusion mechanisms. It’s what they were designed to do: Let a bunch of people get together, take some strategic risks they might otherwise not take, and then make sure none of them is devastated individually if things go south.

... When we go into that system with that anger, number one, we may not get what we're looking for, and number two, it's an entirely backward-looking exercise. We're just saying, "What should we do with these people now that we're angry at them?" As opposed to, "What can we learn about how the systems were set up in a bad way, and how can we fix the systems?" whether it's the regulations that apply in a particular industry—banking, automotive manufacturing, oil drilling, whatever the industry is that has produced the problem—or it's the incentives that apply generally in the corporate structure, the structure of large corporations, and the question of personal responsibility for corporate management. Could we think about maybe arranging corporations in a different way to lower the appetite for risk or at least the appetite for bad kinds of big risks? ...
If it's a choice, I'll take systemic change . . . including change that makes prosecuting bad actors easier.
Always be yourself! Unless you can be a goat, then always be a goat.
-- the interweb, paraphrased
1312. ETTD.

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Vrede too
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Re: OWS

Unread post by Vrede too »

I just watched this:

Anonymous, Inc.
See what happens when hidden cameras capture New York lawyers being asked to move highly questionable funds into the U.S. Steve Kroft reports.


Plenty of warranted lawyer bashing, but I liked the emphasis on systemic US problems with inadequate regulation of money laundering making the US the #2 international choice behind Kenya for doing so.
In ’60 Minutes,’ ethical problems in the legal profession exposed

... The one lawyer on the Global Witness tapes whose behavior was ­exemplary — Jeffrey Herrmann — while refusing the offered assignment outright, gave an example of the kind of due diligence appropriate in a more ambiguous situation. He said he might ask for $5,000 to retain an investigator to verify key facts before he agreed to the representation. Where the risks and stakes are high enough, this may be the appropriate course....
Law Offices Jeffrey M. Herrmann: CONTACT US

From: (Vrede too)

I watched what you did on the 60 Minutes broadcast "Anonymous, Inc."

You are my hero for the week.

Thanks,
Hendersonville, NC
Always be yourself! Unless you can be a goat, then always be a goat.
-- the interweb, paraphrased
1312. ETTD.

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rstrong
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Re: OWS

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Ireland's economy was expected to grow 7.8% in 2015. Instead it grew more than 26%, thanks to a tax dodge known as an "inversion", where foreign companies relocate their headquarters to Ireland to take advantage of the low corporate tax rates.
Several US companies, including drugs maker Allergan, security systems provider Tyco and medical technology specialist Medtronic have domiciled in Ireland by buying a smaller Irish-registered rival and “inverting” into an Irish corporate structure.
Apple got an even sweeter deal, and that's gotten both Apple and the Irish government in trouble. Not with the US, but with the EU:
There is no question but that the decision will be that Ireland offered the US giant illegal state aid.
[...]
Either way, Ireland is likely to face a public relations hit, despite measures taken in recent years to start to close off some of the more aggressive tax loopholes exploited by Apple and a number of other multinationals to funnel profits earned in Europe through Ireland and out to offshore tax havens.

The controversial double-Irish tax scheme, for example, is being phased out by 2020 and a loophole used by Apple – which effectively moved cash through a company with no tax residency anywhere – was also closed off.

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rstrong
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Re: OWS

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CBC: Bahamas is latest tax haven hit by mass data leak
The documents were leaked to the German newspaper Sueddeutsche Zeitung — the same media outlet that received the massive Panama Papers leak — and shared with the Washington-based International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ),
[...]
The records consist of ground-level data on offshore companies registered in the Bahamas: the names, creation dates, addresses and, in some cases, directors and owners of nearly 175,000 corporations, trusts and foundations set up between 1990 and this year.
:clap:

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Vrede too
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Re: OWS

Unread post by Vrede too »

The Courtiers and the Tyrants

The concepts aren't new to me, but still depressing.
Always be yourself! Unless you can be a goat, then always be a goat.
-- the interweb, paraphrased
1312. ETTD.

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rstrong
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Re: OWS

Unread post by rstrong »

A few point to make, just skimming the first page:

- The author, Chris Hedges, says "I spent 248 pages in my book “Death of the Liberal Class” explaining the orchestrated corporate campaign to erase the liberal class..." You'll find a a critique of Death of the Liberal Class here.
In fact, Hedges exhibits tremendous disdain for left movements that don't conform to his increasingly moralistic mold. His book, Death of the Liberal Class, “is one of the worst misreadings of history by an acclaimed writer on the Left that I've ever seen,” says Brian Tokar, a veteran participant in numerous direct action campaigns and also a professor at the Institute for Social Ecology and of environmental studies at the University of Vermont. “Hedges honestly believes that the New Left accomplished almost nothing, except for some key figures he likes, such as Howard Zinn and the Berrigans.” In that book, Hedges (incredibly, to me) writes that the New Left had “no political vision....
- Ralph Nader went on to be the sort of lobbyist he warns about.

- The Democratic Party had two good reasons to veer to the right:

a) Citizens United. Like it or not, money equals election wins. Either court Wall Street, or accept that the Republicans are the permanent ruling party with Wall Street in charge. The good news is that the pendulum is swinging the other way: A fortune was spent on Romney and Jeb! and Rove (supporting Republican congressional candidates) SuperPACs, with almost nothing to show for it. And Democrats are feeding at the SuperPAC trough. That's the sort of thing that makes it easier to get Republican support to overturn Citizen's United.

b) Adopting most of the pre-2009 Republican Platform has pushed the Republicans to more extreme views to differentiate themselves. Even the old hard-liners like Newt Gingrich now get painted as RINOs. This was supposed to make Republicans unelectable, eventually giving Democrats the White House AND a supermajority that they could use to pass a not-so-right agenda. And it was working; imagine Cruz as the Republican candidate. But neither side was expecting Trump.

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Vrede too
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Re: OWS

Unread post by Vrede too »

I've heard of and probably read Chris Hedges before, but I have no stake in defending him.

One quibble: What he discusses in the article far predates Citizens United.
Always be yourself! Unless you can be a goat, then always be a goat.
-- the interweb, paraphrased
1312. ETTD.

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Vrede too
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Re: OWS

Unread post by Vrede too »

Corporate tax chartbook
How corporations rig the rules to dodge the taxes they owe


Summary: "A new online chartbook created by EPI and Americans for Tax Fairness shows that U.S. corporate profits have skyrocketed while revenue from corporate taxes is at records lows. The charts highlight one of the most damaging loopholes in the U.S. corporate tax code—deferral—which costs the U.S. Treasury $126 billion a year. By outlining our historically low effective corporate tax rates and the ways in which corporations avoid paying their fair share, this report serves as a crucial rebuttal to corporations that argue they need further tax breaks."
Always be yourself! Unless you can be a goat, then always be a goat.
-- the interweb, paraphrased
1312. ETTD.

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Vrede too
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Re: OWS

Unread post by Vrede too »

McConnell threatens shutdown to keep corporate political spending secret

... In the midst of a close national election, Senate Republicans are risking a government shutdown at midnight on Oct. 1 for two reasons: to keep the citizens of Flint, Michigan from getting long-needed federal aid and to keep corporate political spending hidden from the voters....
Well, it is the GOP platform:

Screw mostly black folks.
Protect mostly white fat cats.
Money over democracy.
Keep voters ignorant.
Make government workers and citizens pay for their platform.
Always be yourself! Unless you can be a goat, then always be a goat.
-- the interweb, paraphrased
1312. ETTD.

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Vrede too
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Re: OWS

Unread post by Vrede too »

Petition to the United States Congress:

"Break up Wells Fargo and other too-big-to-fail banks by passing the ‘Too Big to Fail, Too Big to Exist’ Act."
Speaking of "Too Big":
The biggest beer merger ever was never supposed to happen

Anheuser-Busch InBev (BUD), the biggest beer behemoth in the world, will at last get a prize it has wanted for many years, after SABMiller (SAB.L) shareholders backed a $100 billion takeover offer on Wednesday. It was the final step needed for the deal to happen.

It is a deal that industry insiders doubted would ever actually go through.

Once AB InBev swallows up SABMiller, the combined company will generate $65 billion in annual revenue; it will control nearly more than a quarter of the world’s beer volume; and its beer portfolio will include marquee brands like Budweiser, Corona, Stella Artois, Beck’s, Leffe, Pilsner Urquell, Foster’s, and Blue Moon, all under one roof.

Following US Department of Justice approval in July, the Brewers Association, an advocacy group that represents craft brewers, posted a statement on the deal that read in part, “We continue to believe that the merger of the world’s two largest brewers is bad for both the beer industry and consumers.” Many craft beer drinkers on Twitter pointed out that one in every four beers in the world will be AB InBev-owned. “Support real craft beer now more than ever,” said one....
Then, there's:

Bayer to Buy Monsanto Creating World's Largest Seed and Pesticide Company

We need a new trust-busting Teddy Roosevelt.
Always be yourself! Unless you can be a goat, then always be a goat.
-- the interweb, paraphrased
1312. ETTD.

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O Really
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Re: OWS

Unread post by O Really »

"...marquee brands like Budweiser, Corona, Stella Artois, Beck’s, Leffe, Pilsner Urquell, Foster’s, and Blue Moon..."
All different now mostly by the color of the label. I don't care if all the cheap beer in the world is made by the same people, but I'm thinking it's only a matter of time before they start running the craft brewers out of business instead of just buying out their brand. A Wal-Marting of the beer industry.

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Vrede too
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Re: OWS

Unread post by Vrede too »

Too bad that we anti-Big Beer folks are all a bunch of drunks <hic>.
Always be yourself! Unless you can be a goat, then always be a goat.
-- the interweb, paraphrased
1312. ETTD.

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rstrong
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Re: OWS

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Who Owns What - Beer
(click for larger size)
Who Owns What - Beer.jpg

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rstrong
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Re: OWS

Unread post by rstrong »

I'm not a beer drinker, but I'm told that the "real" Guinness imported from Europe is MUCH better than Guinness bottled in North America.

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O Really
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Re: OWS

Unread post by O Really »

rstrong wrote:I'm not a beer drinker, but I'm told that the "real" Guinness imported from Europe is MUCH better than Guinness bottled in North America.
It is, indeed.

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