Posts tagged Wall Street
“When Mitt Romney Came to Town”
The Story Of How Mitt Romney Actually Made All His Money Through Deceit and Financial Tricks and By Exploiting America’s Working Poor…
Mitt Romney. Was he a job creator or a corporate raider?
That’s the question this film answers.
And it’s not pretty.
Mitt Romney was not a capitalist during his reign at Bain. He was a predatory corporate raider. His firm didn’t seek to create value. Instead, like a scavenger, Romney looked for businesses he could pick apart. Indeed, he represented the worst possible kind of predator, operating within the law but well outside the bounds of what most real capitalists consider ethical.
He is exhibit number one the left wants to use in the coming election to give capitalism a bad name.
He and his friends at Bain were bad guys. Any real capitalists should disavow Romney’s ‘creative destruction’ model that made him wealthy at the expense of thousands of American jobs.
Mitt Romney and his cronies pioneered ‘deindustrialization,’ a process by which they searched out vulnerable companies, took them over, loaded them with debt, and collected obscene fees while doing so. He sent jobs overseas or killed them altogether, and then picked apart the remains - including pension funds - before the companies went bankrupt.
Some might call that the free market. Most of us think its just plain wrong.
If you wonder why America has lost so many manufacturing jobs overseas, look no further than Mitt Romney – the King of Bain.
Think you know Mitt?
Think again …
Published on Tuesday, November 15, 2011 by TruthDig
by Chris Hedges
Welcome to the revolution. Our elites have exposed their hand. They have nothing to offer. They can destroy but they cannot build. They can repress but they cannot lead. They can steal but they cannot share. They can talk but they cannot speak. They are as dead and useless to us as the water-soaked books, tents, sleeping bags, suitcases, food boxes and clothes that were tossed by sanitation workers Tuesday morning into garbage trucks in New York City. They have no ideas, no plans and no vision for the future.
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Our decaying corporate regime has strutted in Portland, Oakland and New York with their baton-wielding cops into a fool’s paradise. They think they can clean up “the mess”—always employing the language of personal hygiene and public security—by making us disappear. They think we will all go home and accept their corporate nation, a nation where crime and government policy have become indistinguishable, where nothing in America, including the ordinary citizen, is deemed by those in power worth protecting or preserving, where corporate oligarchs awash in hundreds of millions of dollars are permitted to loot and pillage the last shreds of collective wealth, human capital and natural resources, a nation where the poor do not eat and workers do not work, a nation where the sick die and children go hungry, a nation where the consent of the governed and the voice of the people is a cruel joke.
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Get back into your cages, they are telling us. Return to watching the lies, absurdities, trivia and celebrity gossip we feed you in 24-hour cycles on television. Invest your emotional energy in the vast system of popular entertainment. Run up your credit card debt. Pay your loans. Be thankful for the scraps we toss. Chant back to us our phrases about democracy, greatness and freedom. Vote in our rigged political theater. Send your young men and women to fight and die in useless, unwinnable wars that provide corporations with huge profits. Stand by mutely as our bipartisan congressional super committee, either through consensus or cynical dysfunction, plunges you into a society without basic social services including unemployment benefits. Pay for the crimes of Wall Street.
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Chris Hedges writes a regular column for Truthdig.com. Hedges graduated from Harvard Divinity School and was for nearly two decades a foreign correspondent for The New York Times. He is the author of many books, including: War Is A Force That Gives Us Meaning, What Every Person Should Know About War, and American Fascists: The Christian Right and the War on America. His most recent book is Empire of Illusion: The End of Literacy and the Triumph of Spectacle.
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The Truth About the Economy
Robert Reich connects the dots on the economy, in less than 2 minutes and 15 seconds.
Thirteen Observations made by Lemony Snicket while watching Occupy Wall Street from a Discreet Distance
1. If you work hard, and become successful, it does not necessarily mean you are successful because you worked hard, just as if you are tall with long hair it doesn’t mean you would be a midget if you were bald.
2. “Fortune” is a word for having a lot of money and for having a lot of luck, but that does not mean the word has two definitions.
3. Money is like a child—rarely unaccompanied. When it disappears, look to those who were supposed to be keeping an eye on it while you were at the grocery store. You might also look for someone who has a lot of extra children sitting around, with long, suspicious explanations for how they got there.
4. People who say money doesn’t matter are like people who say cake doesn’t matter—it’s probably because they’ve already had a few slices.
5. There may not be a reason to share your cake. It is, after all, yours. You probably baked it yourself, in an oven of your own construction with ingredients you harvested yourself. It may be possible to keep your entire cake while explaining to any nearby hungry people just how reasonable you are.
6. Nobody wants to fall into a safety net, because it means the structure in which they’ve been living is in a state of collapse and they have no choice but to tumble downwards. However, it beats the alternative.
7. Someone feeling wronged is like someone feeling thirsty. Don’t tell them they aren’t. Sit with them and have a drink.
8. Don’t ask yourself if something is fair. Ask someone else—a stranger in the street, for example.
9. People gathering in the streets feeling wronged tend to be loud, as it is difficult to make oneself heard on the other side of an impressive edifice.
10. It is not always the job of people shouting outside impressive buildings to solve problems. It is often the job of the people inside, who have paper, pens, desks, and an impressive view.
11. Historically, a story about people inside impressive buildings ignoring or even taunting people standing outside shouting at them turns out to be a story with an unhappy ending.
12. If you have a large crowd shouting outside your building, there might not be room for a safety net if you’re the one tumbling down when it collapses.
13. 99 percent is a very large percentage. For instance, easily 99 percent of people want a roof over their heads, food on their tables, and the occasional slice of cake for dessert. Surely an arrangement can be made with that niggling 1 percent who disagree.
by Lemony Snicket
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Make sure to check out Occupy Writers for more original works on the #Occupy movement and a list of authors who stand with the 99%
Citizens United to be Overturned? Yeah Right……
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http://occupywallst.org/
http://www.occupytogether.org/
TheAlyonaShow RT
The Supreme Court’s Citizen’s United Ruling, which allows for unlimited flows of money from corporations and unions into our elections, is finally getting challenged on Capitol Hill. Last night, six Democratic Senators introduced a constitutional amendment that would in effect overturn the ruling, and restore the authority to Congress and the States to regulate the campaign finance system. But, what are the chancesof an amendment actually going through? Ana Kasparian, co-host of The Young Turks weighs in.
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http://www.occupytogether.org/
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For at least 30 years our government, ran by Corporate America and Mega-Banking Cartels, have shipped hundreds of thousands of jobs overseas, to exploit the poor around the world, in the name of higher profits, and boosting the Stock Market. Profits that could have been made right here in the good old USA, but shipping jobs overseas means even higher profits. The greed of Corporate America has become so disgusting, that Congress actually allowed our country’s credit rating to be lowered in 2011, just so the wealthy won’t have to pay higher taxes. The greed has become so disgusting, that when Wall Street does well, the average American does poor.
Campaign Finance Reform must be enacted to get Corporate America out of our electoral process, or at least to the point that they have no more power over our election process than the average citizen of the United States. The Federal Reserve must also be abolished, or at least be monitored under strict regulations. There has got to be a change in America or our Democracy will die, or should we say that this Republic should be changed into a real Democracy…
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The movement toward credit unions over the last several weeks has been nothing less than phenomenal. For us in the credit union movement, it is confirmation of our long-standing tenant that credit unions are “people helping people.”
But it doesn’t have to end this Saturday. As Kristen Christian — the founder of Bank Transfer Day — said: “November 5th is merely a deadline goal.” (Facebook, Oct. 27)
As far as credit unions are concerned, any day is a good day for a consumer to become a credit union member. Nov. 5 is one good day to join, and we certainly encourage consumers to make the change.
Because when a consumer joins a credit union, he or she takes the first step for themselves, and their families, in moving toward financial freedom.
Consider this: Consumers who join a credit union can expect to save at least $70 in lower rates, higher return on savings and lower or no fees — just as current credit union members did in the 12 months between June ‘10 and June ‘11.
And that’s just on average; consumers who are loyal members of credit unions — utilizing them extensively — often receive financial benefits that are much greater than the average.
The best news for consumers, however, is that they truly seem to comprehend how they can benefit from credit union membership. The changes over the last several weeks — since Sept. 29, when Bank of America announced its $5 debit card fee — tell the story.
Our calculations at the Credit Union National Assn. (CUNA), based on a quick survey of our member credit unions from all across the nation, indicate that consumers have been moving by the tens of thousands — and shifting their money by the hundreds of millions — to credit unions over these past four weeks.
From what our member credit unions are telling us, the reason for the consumer swing is clear: Consumers are upset about bank fees; they’ve just had enough.
And, consumers have also been intrigued by “Bank Transfer Day,” another reason our credit unions are telling us their new members are coming in the door.
These new credit union members have made the right choice, because they can now start saving.
In fact, if all of the people signed up to participate in “Bank Transfer Day” on Saturday do so, and remain credit union members over the year that follows, those consumers will save a combined $4.8 million. Combine that with the $5 per month that they WON’T be paying in debit card fees, and you’re up to $5.1 million.
But that’s just the start. Suppose all of those others who have been invited by their friends to join in “Bank Transfer Day” do, in fact, decide to join credit unions. As of this writing, that’s more than 423,000 persons — who, together, would stand to save $31.7 million in combined credit unions savings and no bank debit card fee.
That’s money that goes right into the pockets of consumers — not into the vaults of banks, or their shareholders’ wallets.
However, to everyday working people — struggling to do their level best in a lackluster economy — that’s real money that may be better spent on their families and their futures. Credit unions are proud to give them that opportunity.
This Saturday will no doubt be an historic day for consumers and credit unions alike. Consumers want to be free of high fees, and credit unions want to help free them.
It’s one day for consumers to make a smarter choice. But it doesn’t have to end there: Every day is a good day to join a credit union.
What Is Occupy Wall Street About?
If you’re having trouble understanding what is at stake in the “Occupy” protests, here are some numbers that help explain the problem.
MOVE YOUR MONEY
Why You Should Move Your Money?
- INVEST IN MAIN STREET, NOT WALL STREET
- END TOO BIG TO FAIL
- FEWER FEES, MORE SAVINGS
- GET MORE PERSONAL SERVICE
- LEND A HAND TO LOCAL BUSINESSES
It has been almost three years since the Wall Street banks, through gross corruption and greed, caused the greatest economic crisis since the Great Depression that caused millions to lose their homes, jobs and livelihoods. And while the Wall Street banks have quickly returned to making record-breaking profits and bonuses, helped in large part to the $700 billion bailout by the American taxpayer, little has changed to prevent the types of abuses that created this mess.
That is where the Move Your Money project comes into play. They give individuals and institutions the tools and resources they need to divest from ‘Too Big To Fail’ banks and invest in community banks and credit unions. No longer will we stand idle as banks take extraordinary risk with our financial system for their short term profits; rather we will vote with our dollars and no longer contribute financially to the abusive practices of Wall Street. If Congress is unable to enact meaningful financial reform that will prevent another financial disaster, then we must take action into our own hands and hit the banks where it hurts them the most: their bottom line.
So join them in our campaign for grassroots financial change. Use their checklist and bank finding tools to find a local financial institution near you. But don’t stop there: educate yourself on the intricate details surrounding the issue, join their community by contributing to the discussion on their forums, attend and help plan local events, and most important of all, encourage your friends and family to join the fight as well.
