English: Soldier butterfly seen in Secret Woods nature center in southern Florida. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
JPMorgan
Chase, the nation's largest bank, is proving it's too big to be managed
responsibly. Not only is it coughing up $13 billion to settle lawsuits
over predatory lending practices and sales of mortgage-backed
securities, but it's facing charges for conspiring in Bernie Madoff's
Ponzi scheme, losing investors $6 billion in illegal gambling (through
its "London Whale"), bribing or influence-peddling in China in violation
of the Corrupt Practices Act, and at least a dozen other illegalities.
Yet the fines it's paying, or will have to pay, only hurt JPMorgan's
investors -- including big pension funds and university endowments, many
of whom lost money directly from JPMorgan's skullduggery in the first
place. Struggling homeowners who are still underwater because of what
JPMorgan and other big banks wrought won't see a dime. Yet those who
have reaped the biggest personal gains -- including CEO Jamie Dimon (who
arranged a special private audience with Attorney General Eric Holder
to settle some of this, a privilege not accorded most people being
investigated by the Justice Department) and his top executives -- won't
face criminal charges, on the dubious theory that no individual at
JPMorgan is criminally responsible for any of this.
I'm sorry, I
don't buy it. No senior Wall Street executive has been held publicly
accountable for anything. If nobody is responsible, then JPMorgan and
Wall Street's other giant banks are too big to be managed responsibly.
In which case they should be broken up and their size capped so they can
make profits without imposing huge costs and burdens on the rest of us.
The
White House announced yesterday the troubled website for logging onto
Obamacare would be fixed by the end of November. What went wrong? The
contractors who designed it are busy blaming each other (when they’re
not blaming the government). Meanwhile, the National Security Agency’s
contractors aren’t doing much better. Those now building the NSA’s huge
Utah Data Center are plagued by electrical failures. The NSA contractor
(Booz Allen Hamilton) that hired Edward Snowden failed to uncover
Snowden's past security violations at the CIA. And we all remember
Halliburton.
While federal government employment keeps
shrinking (the government has fewer employees today than it’s had since
1966), contractors are doing ever more. According to the Washington
Post, close to 30 percent of the workforce in the intelligence agencies
is now contracted out, as is a growing portion of military operations,
information technology, research, and large projects like the Obamacare
website. It’s been a bonanza for private, for-profit contractors along
with their armies of lobbyists and consultants. But as the mounting
scandals reveal, the privatization of government has not been
particularly good for the public. Contractors are blissfully
unaccountable to anyone – except their shareholders.
.
news.cnet.comA British Petroleum representative allegedly rewrote 44 percent of the oil giant
's
Wikipedia page, including the environmental sections. Some Wikipedia
editors are crying foul. Read this article by Violet Blue on CNET News.
Looks
like BP Troll Carienn Day has also been altering the data on bacterial
microbes introduced into the Gulf in an attempt to diminish any
responsibility BP may or may not have with the recent spike in Vibrio -
Flesh Eating Virus incidents and
subsequent deaths. Olgilvy & Mather, BP's PR firm that hired these
misfits needs to be held accountable - not only to Wikipedia, where they
are infiltrating, but to the world, and the people who have suffered as
a direct result of their continued LIES.
The
Gulf of Mexico, stung by the worst offshore oil spill in U.S. history
in 2010 and then overshadowed by the onshore fracking boom, is on the
verge of its biggest supply surge ever, adding to the American oil
renaissance.
Critics
are raising alarms that oil and gas companies are getting a “free ride”
from the provincial government for the billions of litres of water used
in fracking operations every year.
The problem is likely to get worse, as BP has plans to triple the amount stored in the city by the end of the year.
Twenty
members and supporters of the Cold Lake First Nation are doing a 100
kilometre walk of solidarity to protest the damage done by a leak at a
Canadian Natural Resources Limited site.
They've
done air tests finding 38 toxic chemicals. They've done soil tests
finding tar sands 3 feet into the soil under the cove. They've had
doctors tell them to leave their homes. Their children are sick.
Emily Harris from the Faulkner C
ounty
Citizens Advisory Group, Mayflower, Arkansas residents Ann Jarrell and
Genieve Long talk about a range of issues stemming from the March 2013
360,000 gallon tar sands spill caused by Exxon's negligence and the
65-year-old Pegasus pipeline.
Watch the video here: http://youtu.be/GNQbfvBZJ6Q
Source: FB Tar Sands Blockade
How long does BP think the secret will remain the lie? People are starting to put 2 and 2 together...
English: Soldier butterfly seen in Secret Woods nature center in southern Florida. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
No cat's meow(thegardenisland.com)
Nowhere to Go(slate.com)
Another Dead Oarfish in California: Are They Predicting an Earthquake?(slate.com)
Drought Is Coming for Your Beer(slate.com)
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment