Just last month, Neil Barofsky, the former special inspector general for the $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP), gave an interview on the occasion of the publication of his new book on the bank bailout in which he complained of the failure to hold to account any of the bankers responsible for the financial disaster. “It was shocking how much control the big banks had over their own bailout,” he said.
Citigroup's Rubin's and Prince's "Duh" testimony in Congress about the financial crisis! So, sorry, America. We had no idea. Is that as good as the accountability gets?
Time to resurrect the story of Brooksley Born this week and try to sustain in our memory how clearly it indicts these masters of the universe who have gang-raped Americans of their financial security. The truth of Born's story won't be highlighted with any help from a corporate-loving media, unfortunately, or a Congress that colluded with the financial clique headed by Greenspan that "killed" messenger Born's message OVER A DECADE AGO. Read below the fold...
A multi-city effort targeting Wall Street on the Waterfront, including a lot of activity by inland groups. Some details here, and be sure to read the first comment for excellent overview of union involvement.
A national effort aimed at "Wall Street on the waterfront." Some back story from Hip Hop Occupies:
From Seattle to San Diego, oppressed peoples of all backgrounds are mobilizing to shut down the power of the 1% in this coordinated national effort. We choose to occupy capital, not capitol buildings, because we are no longer waiting to have our voices validated at the whim of elected officials.
1) #OWS opens an account at Lower East Side People's Federal Credit Union, a local credit union, to hold donations.
2) The Vampire Squid sponsors a dinner held by Lower East Side People's Federal Credit Union, which also serves the poor.
3) Lower East Side People's Federal Credit Union honors Occupy Wall Street at the dinner
4) Goldman Sachs, which told the credit union it didn't want its name or money used to celebrate a protest movement known for placards like "Goldman Sachs is the work of the devil," took their money and left.
Up until now, Goldman Sachs has been silent on the subject of the protest movement known as Occupy Wall Street. That does not mean, however, that it has not been very much on our minds. As thousands have gathered in Lower Manhattan, passionately expressing their deep discontent with the status quo, we have taken note of these protests. And we have asked ourselves this question:
For just under a decade, the GSCI remained a relatively static investment vehicle, as bankers remained more interested in risk and collateralized debt than in anything that could be literally sowed or reaped. Then, in 1999, the Commodities Futures Trading Commission deregulated futures markets. All of a sudden, bankers could take as large a position in grains as they liked, an opportunity that had, since the Great Depression, only been available to those who actually had something to do with the production of our food. ...
A woman in a developing country running her own small business can face any number of obstacles: discrimination, limited access to funding, and little education on how to manage the balance sheet of her company or win more customers.
Matt Taibbi has a link to a priceless animated cartoon by ZERO HEDGE. It is a must see. Two Bears explain what Ben Bernanke (They call him The Ben Bernank) is up to in doing this "quantitative easing" deal. The bears say QE is "printing a ton of money". But Taibbi thinks the big deal is the continual funneling of money to Goldman Sachs. Watch the two bears and you will finally understand what is going on and it's not pretty.
