Our Awful Situation

Archive for the ‘Corruption’ Category

How Goldman Sachs took over the world

Posted by Charlie Kilo on July 22nd, 2008

If there’s something weird in the financial world, who you gonna call? Goldman Sachs.

The US government, involved in a firefight against the conflagration in the credit markets, is calling in another crisis-buster from the illustrious investment bank, this time Goldman’s most senior banker to finance industry clients, Ken Wilson.

And so with this appointment, the Goldman Sachs diaspora grows a little bit more influential. It is an old-boy network that has created a revolving door between the firm and public office, greased by the mountains of money the company is generating even today, as its peers buckle and fall.

Almost whatever the country, you can find Goldman Sachs veterans in positions of pivotal power.

The 61-year-old Mr Wilson has already proved influential in deals to recapitalise and reorganise some of America’s listing banks. At the Treasury he will advise on what the federal government must to do help the process, but he will face scrutiny from those concerned about the tentacles wrapping lightly around government from Wall Street’s mightiest bank. For the time being, bailing out Wall Street looks to be the same as bailing out the economy, but if those diverge there could be more questions asked about the influence of Goldman Sachs alumni on public policy.

George Bush picked up the phone this month, partly at the instigation of another Goldman Sachs alumnus, his Treasury secretary, Hank Paulson. Together with Mr Bush’s chief of staff, Joshua Bolten, there will be three Goldman Sachs old boys in major positions of influence in the White House – but the US government is hardly alone in finding the bank’s executives to be attractive hirees.

They are well-credentialed, partly by design. From its beginning when the German immigrant Marcus Goldman began discounting IOUs among the diamond merchants of New York in the 1870s, Goldman Sachs has always known about the power of the network of influence. Goldman hires former politicians and civil servants, as readily as it supplies them.

And then there is simply the intellectual quality of the employees, many hired as much youngster men via a gruelling interview process, and then forged in the fire of 17-hour work days.

With Goldman Sachs at the heart of Wall Street, and Wall Street at the heart of the US economy, few expects its power to wane. Indeed, The New York Times columnist David Brooks noted that Goldman Sachs employees have given more money to Barack Obama’s campaign for president than workers of any other employer in the US. “Over the past few years, people from Goldman Sachs have assumed control over large parts of the federal government,” Brooks noted grimly. “Over the next few they might just take over the whole darn thing.”

Bill Moyers: Is the Fourth Estate a Fifth Column?

Posted by Charlie Kilo on July 13th, 2008

Alas…Fascism:

Our media institutions, deeply embedded in the power structures of society, are not providing the information that we need to make our democracy work. To put it another way, corporate media consolidation is a corrosive social force. It robs people of their voice in public affairs and pollutes the political culture. And it turns the debates about profound issues into a shouting match of polarized views promulgated by partisan apologists who trivialize democracy while refusing to speak the truth about how our country is being plundered.

Our dominant media are ultimately accountable only to corporate boards whose mission is not life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness for the whole body of our republic, but the aggrandizement of corporate executives and shareholders.

Telecom Donations Tied to FISA Vote

Posted by Charlie Kilo on June 25th, 2008

Vote Democratic Party for “change”:

When scores of House Democrats joined Republicans last week to reauthorize a controversial White House spying program, many critics attributed that support to election-year jitters. But as liberal voters continue to bash Democrats on the issue, some campaign finance reformers charge that political contributions from the telecom industry, which benefited handsomely under the bill, probably also swayed votes.

McCain’s Ties To Telecoms Questioned After Wiretapping Flip-Flop

Posted by Charlie Kilo on June 10th, 2008

Ah, McCain, beholden to no lobbyist:

If you’ve been wondering where all the telecom lobbyists went to lick their wounds after the House rejected retroactive immunity for wiretapping, the Electronic Frontier Foundation says it’s found a bunch of them smack dab in the middle of John McCain’s presidential campaign organization.

The group suggested Friday that the swell of current and former telecom lobbyists in the McCain camp might have something to do with the candidate’s recent reversal on the legality of warrantless wiretapping. His most recent position “reads a lot like the talking points that a telecom lobbyist might employ,” writes EFF senior staff attorney Kurt Opsahl.

McCain: I’d Spy on Americans Secretly, Too

Posted by Charlie Kilo on June 4th, 2008

This shouldn’t surprise anyone:

If elected president, Senator John McCain would reserve the right to run his own warrantless wiretapping program against Americans, based on the theory that the president’s wartime powers trump federal criminal statutes and court oversight, according to a statement released by his campaign Monday.

AMERICANS EMBRACING THE IRON FIST OF TOTALITARIAN GOVERNMENT

Posted by Charlie Kilo on May 26th, 2008

Millions have woken up. We at OAS have woken up. Have you woken up?

Hundreds, if not thousands of writers and investigative journalists have been pumping out the facts on the implementation of a one world government. We have exposed the players, the organizations and the politicians. We have exposed the corrupt “mainstream” media (print and electronic), including cable networks (MSNBC, FAUX, CNN) who lie through omission and openly support those who are carrying the water for the global lunatics. Our biggest cannon has been the Internet. This tool has allowed us to reach millions of Americans with the truth and we will continue to do so. However, the bottom line as I have said so many times before is that only we the people can stop these united States of America from becoming part of a global region is by rejecting the agenda.

The mendacity by these evil individuals world wide pushing globalization down our throats has been incredible. The program adopted to bring these plans to fruition has worked beyond their wildest dreams because tens of millions of Americans have allowed it to happen either through laziness, blind party loyalty, indifference and apathy. However, as time has gone by and conditions worsen for the American people, millions are waking up. Sadly, many more millions are willing to surrender their freedom and liberty for scraps from the King’s table.

More FLDS fallout - will this ever get resolved?

Posted by Charlie Kilo on May 25th, 2008

Lawyers cry foul in FLDS seizures:

Many lawyers for children and parents in a Texas polygamist sect are boiling mad about the growing number of legal errors they claim the state has made in seizing and holding more than 460 children.

From the way officials handled an April anonymous phone tip about a sexually abused girl allegedly at the sect’s ranch, the seizure of the children, the court hearings and the questioning of children and parents alike, many attorneys are crying foul.

The lawyers breathed a slight sigh of relief Thursday when some of their cries seemed answered by an Austin appeals court. The 3rd Court of Appeals said the state had no right to seize most of the children and the local trial judge incorrectly left them in the custody of Child Protective Services.

But by Friday, CPS and its umbrella agency asked the Texas Supreme Court to overturn the appeals court decision and leave the children where they are — in foster homes and camps around the state, most far from their home at the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints’ Yearning for Zion Ranch in West Texas.

“They have created chaos. They don’t know what to do. This case has holes in it the size of the Grand Canyon,” said Laura Shockley, a Dallas family law specialist with six clients in the case. “There is no way to fix this.”

She and other lawyers say some of the seized people, especially those who it turns out are 18 or older, have potent federal civil rights lawsuits against the state.

And from the “cry me a river” files - FLDS sect case hits CPS staff in wallet:

The strain of handling the huge child custody case involving a polygamous sect in West Texas is trickling down through the ranks of Child Protective Services caseworkers who are pinching pennies while waiting for the state to repay them for overdue travel expenses.

Officials from the Texas Department of Family Protective Services say the agency is struggling to reduce a growing backlog in reimbursement requests for out-of-pocket expenses from caseworkers in the field who say the skyrocketing price of gasoline is hampering their ability to do their jobs.

Darrell Azar, a spokesman for the agency that oversees Child Protective Services and Adult Protective Services, blamed the backlog in part on the ongoing operations at the West Texas polygamist ranch where more than 460 children have been taken into state custody. But he also said the agency will soon hire an additional auditor and as many as eight temporary employees to process the avalanche of expense reports being filed not only from the West Texas operations but also from caseworkers statewide.

Does anyone really care if some bureaucrat can’t get their money back from expense incurred during an illegal police action? If they’re complaining now just wait until they’re personally named in a civil rights lawsuit.

Child Theft, “Concentration Camps”: It’s Happening Here

Posted by Charlie Kilo on May 15th, 2008

If it can happen to the FLDS, it can happen to anyone…

Even before Dan Jessop’s son was born, the State had already made a proprietary claim to him because of the supposed sins of his parents.

I say “sins” because as of yet, neither 24-year-old Dan Jessop, Sr., nor his 22-year-old wife Louisa, has been charged with a crime.

This didn’t prevent the instrument of totalitarian malice called the Texas Department of Child Protective Services from trying to seize control over both the child and his mother as soon as delivery was accomplished.

Economic ‘misery’ more widespread

Posted by Charlie Kilo on May 14th, 2008

Some experts argue that true inflation and unemployment - the components of the economy’s ‘Misery Index’ - are higher than the government’s official figures.

Really…

Americans are feeling a lot more economic pain than the government’s official statistics would lead you to believe, according to a growing number of experts.

They argue that figures for unemployment and inflation are being understated by the government.

Unemployment and inflation are typically added together to come up with a so-called “Misery Index.”

The “Misery Index” was often cited during periods of high unemployment and inflation, such as the mid 1970s and late 1970s to early 1980s.

And some fear the economy may be approaching those levels again.

The official numbers produce a current Misery Index of only 8.9 - inflation of 3.9% plus unemployment of 5%. That’s not far from the Misery Index’s low of 6.1 seen in 1998.

But using the estimates on CPI and unemployment from economists skeptical of the government numbers, the Misery Index is actually in the teens. Some worry it could even approach the post-World War II record of 20.6 in 1980.

“We’re looking at government numbers that are really out of whack,” said Kevin Phillips, author of the book “Bad Money.”

Hard numbers: The economy is worse than you know

Posted by Charlie Kilo on May 8th, 2008

What? The government lies about their official statistics? Noooooo:

Ever since the 1960s, Washington has gulled its citizens and creditors by debasing official statistics, the vital instruments with which the vigor and muscle of the American economy are measured.

The effect has been to create a false sense of economic achievement and rectitude, allowing us to maintain artificially low interest rates, massive government borrowing, and a dangerous reliance on mortgage and financial debt even as real economic growth has been slower than claimed.

Read on…

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