Much is made of the principle that all of us should have an equal opportunity to Food, Clothing, Shelter, Healthcare, Education, and so on (FCSHE+). That it is wrong to discriminate based on one’s color, religion, creed, gender, sexual orientation, disabilities, etc., should be obvious to anyone capable of forming thoughts. Yet, in the US…
EXPOSÉ When we started Jeremy Griffin’s eviction campaign at his South Park home, it seemed only reasonable to discuss our concerns with James Gorman, Chairman and CEO of Morgan Stanley. When Mr. Gorman’s staff learned we were sullying their good name in the streets of Seattle, they called Jeremy to assure him that they in…
The three richest people in the world possess more wealth than the poorest 42 nations combined. In the US, wealth inequality has skyrocketed, especially since the start of the Great Recession. Consider the Koch brothers Charles and David, owners of the second largest privately held company in the US (next to Cargill), whose financing of…
(Comment by Stephen, SAFE volunteer) The Consummate American Capitalist John Pierpont “J.P.†Morgan was the founder of the Wall Street commercial/investment bank J.P. Morgan Co., known a century ago as the “House of Morgan.†He had his hand in the birth of General Electric, US Steel, International Harvester, AT&T, and the entire US railroad industry….
Growing up, many of us learned our country has three branches of government, with checks and balances to make sure nothing ever goes wrong. We also believed that by removing his glasses no one would realize Clark Kent was actually Superman. As we aged, we discovered that checks and balances have less to do with…
Lehman Brothers declared bankruptcy, the largest in US history, on Sept. 15, 2008. Days later as world capitalism continued convulsing, George W. Bush, looking dazed and bewildered as if he’d just finished a test in quantum mechanics despite never having mastered his multiplication tables, declared in his inimitable eloquence, “This sucker could go down.†Since…
“JP Morgan is one of the best-managed banks there is….” — President Barack Obama, May 14, 2012 Within the rarefied echelons of finance capital dwell civilization’s most brilliant minds: men and women of such profound intellect that those of us who reside at their feet are left to envy their genius. O, what wondrous thoughts…
First Known Bank Malfeasance of the Week: With the $25 billion attorneys general settlement, banks are supposed to reduce the principal and interest on thousands of mortgages that are in trouble. When they do this, they get credit towards their portion of the settlement obligation. Leave it to the banks, however, to find a way…
Lanny A. Breuer is head of the US Justice Department’s criminal division. If any of you saw the Jan. 22, Frontline television show called “The Untouchables,” Mr. Breuer was the impeccably dressed fellow who kept trying to explain how complicated it is to criminally prosecute CEO’s and members of the boards of the big Wall…
The term community has two distinct commutative meanings: 1) Community usually refers to a social unit larger than a small village that shares common values. The term can also refer to the national community or international community, and 2) in biology, a community is a group of interacting living organisms sharing a populated environment. In…