Collapse (II) (2009)
It's not fun stuff, but it makes sense to me. He mentions the Kübler-Ross model (stages of grief). I had him on my blogroll years ago.
Friday, January 07, 2011
Call him what you will
But this documentary/interview is streaming on Netflix right now.
Collapse (II) (2009)
It's not fun stuff, but it makes sense to me. He mentions the Kübler-Ross model (stages of grief). I had him on my blogroll years ago.
Collapse (II) (2009)
It's not fun stuff, but it makes sense to me. He mentions the Kübler-Ross model (stages of grief). I had him on my blogroll years ago.
Thursday, January 06, 2011
Griftopia by Matt Taibbi
For those of us unschooled in the financial services sector and relatively unaware of it's stranglehold over our government, the US economy, and the manipulation of the world economy this book is gold. Taibbi's biting wit and ability to explain things in layman's terms makes this book a must read. His now famous quote from "The Great American Bubble Machine" article in Rolling Stone is a teaser for the book:
"The first thing you need to know about Goldman Sachs is that it's everywhere. The world's most powerful investment bank is a great vampire squid wrapped around the face of humanity, relentlessly jamming its blood funnel into anything that smells like money. In fact, the history of the recent financial crisis, which doubles as a history of the rapid decline and fall of the suddenly swindled dry American empire, reads like a Who's Who of Goldman Sachs graduates."
Most importantly Taibbi gives us a history of the rules and regulations that the biggest players have shredded for their benefit and to the detriment of people all over the planet, just in the last 30 years. I nodded my head as I remembered my 4 days in a cubicle (fucking torture for me anyway) at a JP Morgan office that had me pulling the signature documents out of mortgage files so they could be scanned and put online. This was in 2006, and I had never seen mortgage documents before but something smelled rotten in Denmark to me. I KNEW what I was looking at didn't make any sense:
Shitholes sold at over-inflated prices to minorities with revolting balloon payment seconds. The unquestioning little hamsters on wheels that worked in this office did NOT want me learning anything, or even voicing my confusion. They thought I was stupid and incapable of learning what they wanted me to do. If any of those tools understood that I was questioning this all-mighty banking behemoth, they never let on, even after I snarled back at them that there weren't any rocket scientists in that place. They looked at me like I was a heretic when I questioned the intelligence of the person who wrote the fire-drill plan. The fires were bad here later that year, with multiple homes lost in the area very close to the place I was and I've often wondered about that.
So, moving on, Taibbi makes us aware of what was supposed to be a temporary law signed by FDR which is wreaking havoc in our healthcare system called the McCarran-Ferguson Act that exempts the business of insurance from most federal regulation, including federal anti-trust laws to a limited extent. The inablility to change that helped make the healthcare reform bill a joke.
So, moving on, Taibbi makes us aware of what was supposed to be a temporary law signed by FDR which is wreaking havoc in our healthcare system called the McCarran-Ferguson Act that exempts the business of insurance from most federal regulation, including federal anti-trust laws to a limited extent. The inablility to change that helped make the healthcare reform bill a joke.
The venality, criminality, and arrogance of the financial sector during the bail-outs is going to get worse. The revolving doors between government and business have only recieved some grease. Today's news is only another example:
Business Background Defines New Chief of Staff
The food riots in 2008 were caused by commodities traders and speculators and so were shitloads of other bubbles, including the housing bubble. They get in and manipulate the prices by injecting a bunch of money, running up the prices, getting their commissions and getting out before the crashes they create happen. I remember the Enron traders and how they made my electric bill double in one month, and the rolling black outs they caused and laughed at, so I hate those testosterone fueled pricks. I should have known it was them, but I wondered whether it was supply and demand.
Business Background Defines New Chief of Staff
The food riots in 2008 were caused by commodities traders and speculators and so were shitloads of other bubbles, including the housing bubble. They get in and manipulate the prices by injecting a bunch of money, running up the prices, getting their commissions and getting out before the crashes they create happen. I remember the Enron traders and how they made my electric bill double in one month, and the rolling black outs they caused and laughed at, so I hate those testosterone fueled pricks. I should have known it was them, but I wondered whether it was supply and demand.
The consolidation of banks makes me feel like I'm watching that old Pac-Man game.
Why Is The US Taxpayer Subsidizing Facebook – And The Next Bubble?
By Simon Johnson
Wednesday, January 05, 2011
John Boehner Rises To Role Of Speaker
A larger than normal gavel for a more corrupt than usual Congress. The Banksters and Corporate Boards around the world are popping the bubbly corks!
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost
Don't score drugs via cell phone anymore, eh?
Ruling lets California police search your phone without a warrant
By Amy Gahran, Special to CNN
January 5, 2011 3:02 p.m. EST | Filed under: Mobile
By Amy Gahran, Special to CNN
January 5, 2011 3:02 p.m. EST | Filed under: Mobile
"Sarah Lee"
Oh this is rich:
Wednesday, Jan. 5, 2011
US suspends military contractors in Afghanistan
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) - The United States Central Command says two contractors for the U.S. military in Afghanistan have had their contracting privileges suspended over allegations they failed to pay Afghan subcontractors.
Coalition forces said in a statement Wednesday that the suspension of Bennett-Fouch Associates and K5 Global could last 18 months while the case is being investigated. The companies could be barred from further contracts depending on the results of the investigation.
The statement said several Afghan companies had brought allegations against the two companies, both of which are owned by the same person, identified as an American woman named Sarah Lee.
It said that the failure of firms to pay local subcontractors "adversely affects counterinsurgency strategy."
2011-01-05 12:56:59 GMT
Wednesday, Jan. 5, 2011
US suspends military contractors in Afghanistan
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) - The United States Central Command says two contractors for the U.S. military in Afghanistan have had their contracting privileges suspended over allegations they failed to pay Afghan subcontractors.
Coalition forces said in a statement Wednesday that the suspension of Bennett-Fouch Associates and K5 Global could last 18 months while the case is being investigated. The companies could be barred from further contracts depending on the results of the investigation.
The statement said several Afghan companies had brought allegations against the two companies, both of which are owned by the same person, identified as an American woman named Sarah Lee.
It said that the failure of firms to pay local subcontractors "adversely affects counterinsurgency strategy."
2011-01-05 12:56:59 GMT
Monday, January 03, 2011
Bank Of America Sets Up WikiLeaks Defense Team
Isn't this rather like slamming the barn door after the animals have wandered off?
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost
Rove got Assange arrested?
hat tip to Gordon over at Alternate Brain
MONDAY, JANUARY 3, 2011
The Rove/Assange Story Hits the International Press in Sweden
Nyheter24
Ok, I'm gonna pout. I REALLY want to see this:
Haikuleaks.
MONDAY, JANUARY 3, 2011
The Rove/Assange Story Hits the International Press in Sweden
Nyheter24
Ok, I'm gonna pout. I REALLY want to see this:
Ok, done pouting. See? I cool off quick.
Soooooo, who's afraid of the big bad wikileaks wolf today?
Bank of America
Oh, no doubt that blowhard Issa will be embarrassed somewhere along the way.
The French Governemnt over the Boeing vs Airbus thingy.
Pesticide companies killing honeybees.
I know exactly why Julian Assange is a threat to the privelidged and powerful and their minions in governments. Nobody that vulnurable to falling very quickly into a pitchfork wielding mob at the bottom of the pyramid that holds them up wants to be exposed. And about 6 ¾ billion people on this fucking planet are about to pick up pitchforks.
Julian Assange is a hero for those of us interested in freedom of the press.
Bank of America
Oh, no doubt that blowhard Issa will be embarrassed somewhere along the way.
The French Governemnt over the Boeing vs Airbus thingy.
Pesticide companies killing honeybees.
I know exactly why Julian Assange is a threat to the privelidged and powerful and their minions in governments. Nobody that vulnurable to falling very quickly into a pitchfork wielding mob at the bottom of the pyramid that holds them up wants to be exposed. And about 6 ¾ billion people on this fucking planet are about to pick up pitchforks.
Julian Assange is a hero for those of us interested in freedom of the press.
Haikuleaks.
Need a job?
Dollar General will hire 6,000 for new stores
Yeaaaaaah, that'll pay the rent, or the house payment!
Holy fuckwad from hell, unregulated capitalism sucks ass. How do the asshole banksters who own all the empty homes sleep at night knowing they are responsible for the previous occupants being on the streets?
Yeaaaaaah, that'll pay the rent, or the house payment!
Holy fuckwad from hell, unregulated capitalism sucks ass. How do the asshole banksters who own all the empty homes sleep at night knowing they are responsible for the previous occupants being on the streets?
Sunday, January 02, 2011
Atlas Shrugged
Written by a quite insane speed freak who was born in the USSR who blamed the government for all of society's ills. The bitch was deluded by her own selfish sense of self-importance. I am convinced that people who love this book cannot see ANYTHING clearly or objectively even though Ayn Rand fans called themselves part of the "Objectivist movement." Because we all know how logical, well reasoned and objective speed freaks are, right?
Yeah, fucking idiots like Alan Greenspan (who is nothing but a tool for the very rich), are fans of Ayn Rand who called him a social climber. Hilarious since she was nothing but an apologist for the spoiled, selfish navel gazers who need tools like Greenspan in order to continue lying, cheating and stealing from people who actually work in order to remain spoiled, selfish navel gazers.
Now they are making a movie. How do you make a movie of an unreadable piece of dogshit that is over 1300 pages long?
Now they are making a movie. How do you make a movie of an unreadable piece of dogshit that is over 1300 pages long?
Nation Readers' Person of the Year
The Nation
December 30, 2010
"The response was strong and, interestingly, WilkiLeaks founder Assange was also our clear-cut winner because, as Lorna Singh pointed out, "we need to see how we were lied to," and, as Mike Pribula wrote, "he has reminded us about the importance of integrity in diplomacy and democratic ideals in our republic."
December 30, 2010
"The response was strong and, interestingly, WilkiLeaks founder Assange was also our clear-cut winner because, as Lorna Singh pointed out, "we need to see how we were lied to," and, as Mike Pribula wrote, "he has reminded us about the importance of integrity in diplomacy and democratic ideals in our republic."
Which of the Six Big 6 Banking Houses Was the Most Shameless Corporate Outlaw?
Alternet, RJ Eskow.
"...They're offended because they didn't meet with the president? From the looks of things they're lucky not to be meeting with the warden..."
"...They're offended because they didn't meet with the president? From the looks of things they're lucky not to be meeting with the warden..."
Income inequality and chutzpah
Why Inequality Matters
January 1, 2011
Higher Taxes on Top 1% Equals Higher Productivity
Michael Hudson: History of US shows economy grows when top tier tax rates and workers' wages are high
"...Nicholas Kristof of The New York Times provides these grim statistics: “C.E.O.’s of the largest American companies earned an average of 42 times as much as the average worker in 1980, but 531 times as much in 2001. Perhaps the most astounding statistic is this: From 1980 to 2005, more than four-fifths of the total increase in American incomes went to the richest 1 percent.” (November 6, 2010)..."
Michael Barone is an idiot and a tool. Read this nonsense and laugh.
Ezra Klein says basically Oooh, deficit is bad and infrastructure is crumbling, but:
"...Here's the good news: Infrastructure investment is the best deal in the economy right now. Government borrowing costs are lower than they've been since the 1950s. Unemployment in the construction sector is above 15 percent, which means companies are desperate for work and bids to complete projects are coming in low. A weak global economy means cheap raw materials. Bottom line? These investments are more affordable now than they're likely to be in a few years. We'd be foolish to miss this opportunity..."
Right. Remember when taxes were our way of investing in the infrastructure and in America?
January 1, 2011
Higher Taxes on Top 1% Equals Higher Productivity
Michael Hudson: History of US shows economy grows when top tier tax rates and workers' wages are high
"...Nicholas Kristof of The New York Times provides these grim statistics: “C.E.O.’s of the largest American companies earned an average of 42 times as much as the average worker in 1980, but 531 times as much in 2001. Perhaps the most astounding statistic is this: From 1980 to 2005, more than four-fifths of the total increase in American incomes went to the richest 1 percent.” (November 6, 2010)..."
Michael Barone is an idiot and a tool. Read this nonsense and laugh.
Ezra Klein says basically Oooh, deficit is bad and infrastructure is crumbling, but:
"...Here's the good news: Infrastructure investment is the best deal in the economy right now. Government borrowing costs are lower than they've been since the 1950s. Unemployment in the construction sector is above 15 percent, which means companies are desperate for work and bids to complete projects are coming in low. A weak global economy means cheap raw materials. Bottom line? These investments are more affordable now than they're likely to be in a few years. We'd be foolish to miss this opportunity..."
Right. Remember when taxes were our way of investing in the infrastructure and in America?
Fuggedaboutit. Unless you are some Goldman Sachs punk selling US infrastructure revenue to some sheik in Abu Dhabi so he has some place to park his oil profits and watch them grow you don't matter.
It's a brave new world for those with enough chutzpah. Yes, I said chutzpah, and since I lived some of my early life in a working class Jewish neighborhood, I don't mean the "good" kind. I mean the kind that would sell your mother if it might make a profit. Or keep some crooked politician in office.
I'm almost finished reading Taibbi's Griftopia. It's disturbing, the class war exposé.
Danny Schechter and Matt Taibbi speak.
It's a brave new world for those with enough chutzpah. Yes, I said chutzpah, and since I lived some of my early life in a working class Jewish neighborhood, I don't mean the "good" kind. I mean the kind that would sell your mother if it might make a profit. Or keep some crooked politician in office.
I'm almost finished reading Taibbi's Griftopia. It's disturbing, the class war exposé.
Danny Schechter and Matt Taibbi speak.
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