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Super Rich Holding $21 Trillion Overseas To Avoid Taxation

by Alex Oberley — August 2, 2012 - 2:47pm
  • Topics: Banking, Corporations, Economy, International, Secrecy

    • At a time when the gap between the ultra-rich and the rest of us is reaching historic heights across the globe, at least $21 trillion (with a "t") in unreported private financial wealth was recently discovered sitting in secret tax havens.

    News

    A Sea of Robin Hoods Tell the G8, "It's Time to Tax Wall Street!"

    by Harriet Rowan — May 20, 2012 - 6:52am
  • Topics: Activism, Banking, BanksterUSA, Economy

    • Thousands of nurses from around the world descended upon Daley Plaza, in the heart of Chicago on May 18, to demand that the richest nations in the world put an end to austerity politics and start asking the people who collapsed the global economy to do more to "heal the world."

    Wearing red National Nurses United (NNU) scrubs calling for "an economy for the 99%" and zippy green Robin Hood hats, made for them in Europe, the nurses were joined by Occupy Chicago and thousands of community activists in what may be one of the most colorful demonstrations in days of protests marking the G8 meeting at Camp David and the NATO Summit in Chicago.

    Op-Ed

    Stress Testing Tim Geithner

    by Mary Bottari — January 26, 2012 - 11:58am
  • Topics: Banking, BanksterUSA, Corporations

    • Thanks to Occupy Wall Street, in the State of the Union this week President Obama struck some of his most populist themes yet. He wants to tax millionaires, bring back manufacturing and prosecute the big banks. He touted his Wall Street reforms saying the big banks are "no longer allowed to make risky bets with customers deposits" and "the rest of us aren't bailing you out ever again."

    But are we safe from the next big bank bailout? Many experts are dubious and Wednesday the consumer advocacy group Public Citizen decided to test the theory in the most direct way possible. They used the administrative law process to formally petition the nation's top bank regulators to move swiftly to break up Bank of America (BofA) asserting in their petition: "The bank poses a grave threat to U.S. financial stability by any reasonable definition of that phrase."

    Op-Ed

    Scott Walker’s Plutonomy: An Economy for the One Percent

    by Mary Bottari — January 24, 2012 - 8:32am
  • Topics: Banking, BanksterUSA, Corporations, Real Economy Project

    • While volunteer after volunteer from each of Wisconsin's 72 counties marched into the state's election board to deposit over one million signatures for the recall of Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker, Walker was nowhere to be found.

    At the hour petitions were being deposited on January 17, Mother Jones revealed that Walker was scheduled to attend a high-dollar fundraiser in the heart of the New York's financial district at 339 Park Avenue -- the towering headquarters for global financial giant CitiGroup. The $5,000 per couple fundraiser was hosted by none other than Maurice "Hank" Greenberg, former CEO of AIG.

    Robosigner Tries to Burnish its Image

    by Anne Landman — December 4, 2011 - 9:03pm

    Lender Processing Services, Inc. (LPS) of Jacksonville, Florida -- one of the most notorious processors of fraudulent home foreclosure documents in the country --  has donated 1,000 tickets for a professional football game between the Jacksonville Jaguars and the San Diego Chargers to Jacksonville Area USO. After the 2008 economic bust, LPS subsidiary DocX churned out huge numbers of fraudulent foreclosure documents for the country's biggest banks, including Wells Fargo, HSBC, Deutsche Bank, Citibank, U.S. Bank and Bank of America, which resulted in countless Americans being wrongfully thrown out of their homes. DocX hired boiler rooms full of people, some of whom were high school students, and paid them $10 an hour to fraudulently robosign the name "Linda Green" onto hundreds of thousands of foreclosure documents, and then hired notary publics to falsely notarize the fake signatures. "Linda Green" was later found to be listed as vice president of over 20 banks and multiple "Linda Greens" were featured in a 60 Minutes investigation. LPS denies responsibility for the massive fraud, preferring instead to let two DocX employees take the fall for the entire debacle. On November 28, 2011, Tracy Lawrence, a Las Vegas notary public who had agreed to testify against the two DocX employees, was found dead in her home on the day she was to testify. LPS says the ticket donation is a "perfect way for us to help the courageous members of our armed forces enjoy some much-needed relaxation and to show our continued support for the Jacksonville Jaguars and our city."

    Main Source: 
    4-Traders.com, December 2, 2011
    News

    Koch Brothers’ "Christmas Present" Up for House Vote

    by Rebekah Wilce — December 1, 2011 - 8:52am
  • Topics: Banking, Corporations, Democracy, Economy, Environment

    • The U.S. House of Representatives votes soon on a series of deregulatory bills that, according to the Coalition for Sensible Safeguards (CSS), "threaten vital health, environmental, safety and financial regulations."

    Voting is expected on the Regulatory Accountability Act (H.R. 3010) and the Regulatory Flexibility Improvements Act (H.R. 527) on December 1, and on The Regulations from the Executive in Need of Scrutiny (REINS) Act (H.R. 10) next week.

    Representative Gerry Connolly (D-VA) calls these bills "an early Christmas present to the Koch Brothers, who made this Congress possible."

    Op-Ed

    As Zuccotti Park is Cleared, Congress Moves to Gut Financial Reform

    by Mary Bottari — November 15, 2011 - 11:09am
  • Topics: Banking, BanksterUSA, Corporations, Democracy, Economy

    • In the dead of night November 14, the movement to hold big banks accountable for their crimes took two major hits. Occupy Wall Street activists were swept from Zuccotti Park as radical members of Congress moved to gut funding for the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and advance a series of shocking proposals to roll back financial reform.

    Op-Ed

    Rove's Crossroads GPS Attacks Occupy Movement, Elizabeth Warren

    by Brendan Fischer — November 11, 2011 - 8:59am
  • Topics: Banking, BanksterUSA, Corporations, Democracy, Economy

    • Karl Rove's Crossroads GPS is running an ad in Massachusetts attacking the Occupy Wall Street movement and U.S. Senate candidate Elizabeth Warren with some questionable assertions.

    Op-Ed

    Remember, Remember the 5th of November! Bank Transfer Day

    by Mary Bottari — November 4, 2011 - 7:37am
  • Topics: Banking, BanksterUSA

    • November 5th is "Bank Transfer Day," a hopping Facebook campaign urging Americans to move their money out of big national banks and into local banks or credit unions.

    Day Inspired by Bank Of America Fee

    Kristen Christian, a 27-year-old Los Angeles art gallery owner, organized the effort after Bank of America (BofA) issued a new $5 monthly fee to debit card users that would be implemented in early 2012. The fee targets those who have less than $20,000 in Bank of America accounts. The "Bank Transfer Day" movement cites this as a direct attack on the impoverished and working class. BofA is also a notorious foreclosure mill, doing little or nothing to help their clients facing foreclosure. The Bank Transfer Day Facebook page has 35,000 likes and support for the movement is growing by the second.

    Op-Ed

    Positive Policing From Wisconsin's "Original Occupation"

    by Mary Bottari — October 31, 2011 - 7:46am
  • Topics: Banking, Democracy, Economy, Real Economy Project, Wisconsin Protests

    • After two tours of duty in Iraq, 24-year-old Wisconsin native Scott Olsen managed to escape unscathed and with seven medals for valor. But Olsen was critically injured in an Occupy Oakland march last week by a police projectile. According to eyewitnesses, Olsen was acting as a human barrier between unarmed civilians and Oakland police in riot gear who were charged with keeping a public park cleared for sanitation purposes.

    Whether this was a case of an inexperienced Mayor (check) or a historically aggressive police department (check), the incident underscored the potential for catastrophe as cops increasingly confront peaceful protesters with riot control weapons.

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