Homeland "shock" Incarceration/internment FEMA camps need help ?

Whatever happened to our Contsitution and due process, habeas corpus and posse comitatus ?   FEMA incarceration camps for Americans ?   I hope not, or a lot of congressmen are going to be looking for work in another industry.

http://www.goarmy.com/careers-and-jobs/browse-career-and-job-categories/legal-and-law-enforcement/internment-resettlement-specialist.html

Senate Votes To Keep Indefinite Detention Provision In Military Bill

 http://conservativedailynews.com/2011/11/senate-votes-to-keep-indefinite-detention-provision-in-military-bill/
 ---------------------
public petition to stop s1253 NDAA sections 1031, 1032, indefinite military detention of American citizens
http://www.opencongress.org/contact_congress_letters/12682-S-1253-Military-Construction-Authorizati
on-Act-for-Fiscal-Year-2012
----------------------
Ron Paul's site on s1253, NDAA, where he says he wasn't aware of it until recently.  Not sure how bad
that might be or if his staff slipped up, but at least he's against the bad parts it seems.
http://www.dailypaul.com/189161/s-1253-will-allow-indefinite-military-detention-of-american-civilians-wit
hout-charge-or-trial
-----------------------
S. 1253 will allow indefinite military detention of American civilians without charge or trial. Includes some
statements by the ACLU.
http://endthelie.com/2011/11/25/s-1253-will-allow-indefinite-military-detention-of-american-civilians-with
out-charge-or-trial/#ixzz1eoBukXZQ
------------------------
S 1253, NDAA pdf ;  sec. 1031 is on page 359
http://www.ng.mil/ll/analysisdocs/FY2012/S1253SASC.pdf

Alan Grayson on Occupy Wall Street, the Federal Reserve and MORE !

 This "deposed" by the "super-right-fringe" representative deserves the votes of "we the little people" to help restore America !
...like he says...where are the prosecutions? (or at least the investigations....by ANY USAG ??)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXIsNLnMhS8&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ELe8PlMYaUw&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1qKDHTQPzv4&feature=player_embedded

http://www.digbysblog.blogspot.com/

Still gonna vote for nepostistic, nattie nabob Newtemer ?

 In Gingrich’s words, ...we will be at war for, “the rest of our lives.” in a recent debate; a view echoed by
all the other republican candidates but....Ron Paul of course; Get out the vote for him, unless you have a
better choice ?

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2011/11/25/the-gop-candidates-want-never-ending-war-on-terror.
html

Is democracy compatible with a financial system run by billionaires? Maybe not.

Five Ways that Financial Elites are Destroying Democracy :

1. Billionaires replace one person, one vote.
2. The stock market exercises an instant veto.
3. Governments are not permitted to create full employment economies.
4. Hedge fund speculative raids replace elected leaders with technocrats
5. Financial markets are vetoing Social Security.

 http://www.alternet.org/story/153169/five_ways_that_financial_elites_are_destroying_democracy_?akid=7881.318675.rPo8Ss&rd=1&t=5

North Dakota’s State-Run Bank Boosts Treasury, Spurs Imitators

 The big banks are running scared now that OWS, bank transfer days and this bank are starting to take bites outa their butts... Yea !  The BOND is the only state run publically owned bank in the country, and has never been in the "red"...since 1919 !  It was setup in direct competition to and against the idea of the Federal Reserve system where wallstreet takes all the profits and starves our democracy of liquidity.  There are more than a dozen states now looking into such a system to help get them back into the "black", but the big banks are fighting it all the way of course.  

http://www.businessweek.com/news/2011-11-18/north-dakota-s-state-run-bank-boosts-treasury-spurs-imitators.html

Amnesty by any means ?

We, of the middle classes are apparently without rule of law for illegal immigrants, as DOJ officials are being directed to "cease and desist" prosecutorial leads...at the behest of "the administration" apparently.

Memos Trace Evolution of Obama Administration Policy

----------------

http://cis.org/amnesty-by-any-means-memos

http://www.rightsidenews.info/2011112014977/us/homeland-security/amnesty-by-any-means-extended-to-doj-lawyers.html?utm_source=Right+Side+News&utm_campaign=368f41bdb3-daily-rss-newsletter&utm_medium=email

OWS is not enough... !

OWS is wrong as a singular approach to the problems we face.  We also need more than a right to petition/redress of grievance; we need national referendum like Iceland and Switzerland.  Apparently, we only have a plibiscite/initiative as options, which seems too weak to cause any effect for change in any realistic way in the legislatures,  either state or federal IMO.
However, we should be able to get proper notice from at least some "sympathetic" legislators if enough people start a petition. Go out and get citizens to sign it. If enough signatures are obtained you will get the attention of the nation as well as the rest of the world.  If it is done well enough we might get somewhere to start to save the country, not from destruction, as the military will never be disbanded, but from the loss of most of the middle class, save those who serve the military industrial complex (MIC)  IMO.
In the United States, a plebiscite is typically known as an initiative when originating in a petition of ordinary citizens, and as a referendum only if it consists of a proposal referred to voters by the legislature.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Referendum
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Initiative

Silence and respect are the watch words at the tomb of the unknown soldier !

 You may not agree with everything that the country or its officials do, but the ideas of our hard fought for freedoms and rights must be preserved and respected for us and our VALID attempts at bettering the world as we try to honor, abide and improve the lot of all, with proper observances for those fallen in our service, so help us God, our creator.

http://www.allproudamericans.com/No-Laughing-at-the-Tomb-of-the-Unknown-Soldier.html

MF Global Collapse has destroyed the Entire System !

     The Entire System Has Been Utterly Destroyed By The MF Global Collapse" - Presenting The First MF Global Casualty. Jon Corzine STOLE the customer cash at MF Global. Knowing Jon Corzine, and
knowing the abject lawlessness and contempt for humanity of the Marxist Obama regime and its cronies, this is not really a surprise. What was a surprise was the reaction of the exchanges and regulators. Their reaction has been to take a bad situation and make it orders of magnitude worse. Specifically, they froze customers out of their accounts WHILE THE MARKETS CONTINUED TO TRADE, refusing to even allow them to liquidate.

MF Global was led by Chief Executive Jon Corzine, a former Goldman Sachs (GS) chairman and former Democratic U.S. senator and governor from New Jersey. He resigned Nov. 4... If that doesn't give you the shivers, you're probably brain dead already.

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/entire-system-has-been-utterly-destroyed-mf-global-collapse-presenting-first-mf-global-casualty

http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/breaking/chi-prosecutors-in-chicago-new-york-issue-subpoenas-in-mf-global-collapse-20111117,0,6751449.story

Tired of wallstreet bank "bailouts"? Try the Public Bank of.... Pennsylvania?

Many have now heard of the Bank of North Dakota. The only publically owned bank in the country...and has been so for 100 years as a direct challenge to wallstreet..and its usurious "Fed". Financed with the people's money. That's the first big difference.
How it operates is different........ No dividends are issued to shareholders, no bonuses to executives.
All Profits must, by law, be returned to the [state's] general fund or plowed back into the bank to increase its loan activity. I kid you not ! Their legally binding mission statement could be added to our Constitution IMO.

Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/11322/1190740-28-0.stm?cmpid=newspanel3#ixzz1e3GLKfDr

Lenin was an enemy of the middle classes right from the start !

"The way to crush the bourgeoisie is to grind them
between the millstones of taxation and inflation."
-- Vladimir Ilyich Lenin
[Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov] (1870 - 1924), First Leader of the Soviet Union
http://quotes.liberty-tree.ca/quote_blog/Vladimir.Lenin.Quote.B6C4

Insider trading AND no-bid contracts...what a deal !

Barney Frank presses Bachus to crack down on insider trading in Congress ... What ? Insider trading AND no-bid contracts...what a deal !   This is a huge problem that my other post about Pelosi's undue influence goes into a bit.  In addition to Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), the House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio), and House Financial Services Committee Chairman Spencer Bachus (R-Ala.) are getting the heat to deal with insider trading from Rep Barney Frank (D-Mass.), who is the ranking member of the House Financial Services Committee. 

http://thehill.com/blogs/on-the-money/banking-financial-institutions/194295-frank-presses-bachus-to-crack-down-on-insider-trading-in-congress

Sen. Al Franken against "Citizens United", Yea !

     Senator Al Franken and 16 other senators move to limit campaign contributions now allowed by the
oxymoronic "citizens united" ruling of scotus !
     Franken the comedian ??  Not a laughing matter here !! He means all good business for the American
people and fairer elections with this one ! Give your support if you can help level the playing field for "we
the little people".   

http://washingtonindependent.com/116233/franken-signs-on-to-constitutional-amendment-to-limit-money-in-politics

Insider Trading by Congress Confirmed ! 60 Minutes Catches Nancy Pelosi with Her Dress Down

 Allegedly, the article shows that she gets insider deals on defense contracts which accounts for her fortune, at our expense in that way also, besides her other failings... So if she can be "allowed" to do that... it doesn't leave much to the imagination as to what else goes on with wallstreet and our government does it ?
http://www.rightsidenews.com/2011111614950/editorial/us-opinion-and-editorial/60-minutes-catches-nancy-pelosi-with-her-dress-down.html

Mayor Bloomberg - Countdown with Keith Olbermann

 This is the best I have seen of him, usually tuning his rants out, but he got it right this time about OWS and Bloomberg, etal. horrid historical figures IMO; I will start listening to him again due to this one !
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yoG9PmdGaT8&feature=share

How about an economic bill of rights ?

 Ellen Brown, one of our American heroines at it again to try and help organize OWS types and those of us who want to help repair the country if that's possible. Open discussion; I'm all ears on this one. Someone suggested we look at FDRs take on this, but it's too liberal for me.
http://www.truth-out.org/time-economic-bill-rights/1320938466

Ron Paul wins O’Reilly straw poll, so O’Reilly disqualifies him

 Now he's second only to Mitt the Nitt Romney
Please excuse the sources, but it seems so many others are allegedly bought and paid for what with the
liberty robbing, oxymoronic "citizens united" by scotus, and so don't carry the stories of his winnings, or
mention his share of time in debates, some as little as "90" seconds ! Maybe that means he's considered
too dangerously close to becoing the republican candidate for potus in '12 ? While I consider him to be
one of the few honest people in Washington, his views are sometimes not what I would prefer, but vastly
better than most of the rest, with most being shills for the absconding super-rich, long since expatriated or
off-shored, and he is leading the "pack" IMO, and is so far, my hobson's choice.
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2012/president/president_obama_vs_republican_candidates.html
http://www.prisonplanet.com/cnbc-cans-debate-poll-because-ron-paul-was-leading.html
http://www.prisonplanet.com/ron-paul-second-only-to-romney-in-obama-match-up.html
http://www.activistpost.com/2011/11/ron-paul-highlights-cbs-news-republican.html

There is NO SUCH THING as a NATIONAL DEBT !

Money is merely a means by which people avoid barter in trading, including not only goods, but "work valuation", expressed in dollars/hr. or a salary/period. We've plenty of work to do on updating, upgrading and simplifying our banking system besides making it a "level playing field for all". As a population grows, and/or does more monetary "things", it needs a steadily increasing money/currency supply, just to denominate the increased number of transactions. Even in the current system, the supposed "debt" is ONLY that amount of currency supply increase that is not clawed back by the issuer via taxes. There's no one to "pay it back to except ourselves", and no possible reason for ever returning our own currency supply to the issuer - our own government. The entire topic of a national debt is entirely a tool used by those in the banking trade who are totally malfeasant against the electorate and in political campaigns, as the bankers can especially now buy their influence that the founding fathers warned us of with the horrid ruling by scotus, the oxymoronic "citizens united".

Fiat currency ISSUERS have debts only in real goods/services/capabilities/outputs, and use currency only
for internal bookkeeping. They cannot run out of numbers to use any more than mathematicians can. It is a ruse, myth, scam, usury, fraud, and hopefully, unconstitutional.

Fiat currency USERS use their nation's sovereign currency as an accurate proxy for their local goods/services budget. Currency users can run out of currency, currency issuers cannot. The difference is this fundamental: The so-called national "debt" is in reality our private savings, save the huge, inflationary, invalid amounts printed in excess of the GNP as it accumulates, minus depreciation, etc.. If no extra currency was left in circulation, there would be no possible way for people to have private savings. IOW, it is all of the value of goods and services owned by the people which has been stolen by the currency issuers, ie. the Fed has "traded" their useless fiat for our real goods and services...FRAUD, by legal definition. Unless the government issues the money, to roughly track the GNP, there is either inflation or deflation, AND a "national debt" to cover the amount issued by the private Fed banks...under the Constitution, this is FRAUD (art.1, sec. 8, par. 6.....not par. 5, dealing with "coining" money which the government still does, but the amount is tiny compared to other fiat forms of money "issued/generated", etc.)

Think of the federally issued GNP dollar as an extension of the most honest form of exchange of goods and services...barter. Now go to the next phase in the development of money...an LETS system. A local exchange trading sytem has records kept of all goods/service rates, etc. such that when a person wishes to "buy" something in goods or services, it is deducted from their assessed valuations, which are kept in journals and updated daily, etc. much as now in many ways with the present system of accounting. For this system to become "money" based, the government now needs to declare that instead of journals being used as they are, often with "notes" to pay at a later date, that these notes are not legal tender, but merely contracts between citizens and can go no further than the immediate transaction. Legal tender laws would dictate that all commodities would be awarded on surrender instead of just metals, etc. This would be especially poignant, eg. in the case of TARP mortgages, where either banks, private individuals, or the government could make claims against housing to satisfy such liens/suits, etc. Taxes would be the method of keeping the government funded as usual in some form, and when these funds, and new money was generated, say by a bank for a mortgage, the bank would not be able to claim ownership of the principle, just earning the interest on that principle, which would be "issued" by the government to increase the GNP by that amount...plus the interest if ruled to be valid in the new system (a smaller correction factor, but arguable). This way, as the economy grew, the money supply would roughly track it to prevent inflation or deflation, but still have enough "wiggle room" to grow.

To make sure that the government didn't abuse the right to creat money such as the oxymoronic "federal reserve" has done, say with unncessary deficits, bailouts, etal. the states would contribute to the effort so that many eyes and hands were on the "tiller of the tally", using their powers of nullification to berate and empower to proper adjudication if necessary, the creation of new money to cover such excess printing, which might be needed, but need approval by those so affected, especially the states, as they must balance their books, unlike the Federal government, thereby making them more solvent for the sake of the nation as a whole. In times of congressionally declared emergency, deficit money could be generated, but that would be clearly spelled out, and challengeable by the states also, as well as in times of clear and imminent danger, when the POTUS could for a short time declare the need for extra money to be printed to demonstrably ensure the safety of the country.

Teaching the Fallacy of Composition: The Federal Budget Deficit -
http://www.cfeps.org/pubs/pn-pdf/PolicyNote2006-1.pdf

"Almost everybody talks about budget deficits. Almost everybody seems in principle to be against them.
And almost no one, literally, knows what [they are] talking about." Robert Eisner, The Misunderstood Economy, p.90; With a government issued currency instead the Fed doing it, this act would not generate any "national debt". A deficit would merely inflate the currency by increasing the money supply to cover it, and decreasing the dollar's purchasing power to whit accordingly as we have been experiencing especially since the Reagan administration, and now the the "Quantitative Easing" ploy used by the "federal reserve" private banks, as they have totally debauched the currency with it, and they or their assigns have devised other ways to at least end up with as much of it as possible before the whole system crashes as people and governments around the world lose faith in the US Dollar. We will shortly need a new currency, much as Ben Franklin and Lincoln did during those trying times, but we should base it on something that we can stand behind with confidence as to its surrender value what with all the modernity at our disposal not as back then, and institute the proper "legal tender" laws to do it, gradually replacing the frn in orderly fashion so as to not cause panic in the banks, and so that proper adjudication can take place on a case by case basis to see if people's savings pass the "smell" test as to the money's origin, as the work ethic and property rights law would be invoked to pronounce a valid account of such money. "invalid" money, like any "QE" money, would not be redeemed, but destroyed, and it's value not counted, and the person involved would be investigated properly, with then perhaps forfiture, jail, etc. That way the new system would not "inherit" the evil of the past, but start afresh with freedom and fairness for all....but you'll never see it unless we all OWS or use as many such venues as can be devised to force new legislation to whit.

http://tinyurl.com/cxr6d42

the New World Order, presented in part here so you won't have to wonder why the country is falling apart any longer.

"We are grateful to the Washington Post, The New York Times, Time
Magazine and other great publications whose directors have attended
our meetings and respected their promises of discretion for almost
forty years."
"It would have been impossible for us to develop our plan for the world
if we had been subjected to the lights of publicity during those years.
But, the world is now more sophisticated and prepared to march towards a
world government. The supranational sovereignty of an intellectual elite
and world bankers is surely preferable to the national
auto-determination practiced in past centuries."
-- David Rockefeller
(1915- ) Internationalist billionaire, CFR kingpin, founder of the Trilateralist Commission, World Order
Godfather
June 1991 Baden, Germany
Source: Bilderberger Meeting, Baden, Germany
http://quotes.liberty-tree.ca/quote_blog/David.Rockefeller.Quote.103D
--------------------------------
"The interests behind the Bush Administration, such as the CFR, The Trilateral
Commission -- founded by Brzezinski for David Rockefeller -- and the
Bilderberger Group, have prepared for and are now moving to implement open
world dictatorship within the next five years. They are not fighting against
terrorists. They are fighting against citizens."
-- Dr. Johannes B. Koeppl, PhD
former German defense ministry official and advisor to former NATO Secretary General Manfred Werne
Source: November 6, 2001, interview with Michael C. Rupert, From The Wilderness Publications, 2001
http://www.fromthewilderness.com/free/ww3/zbig.html
http://quotes.liberty-tree.ca/quote_blog/Johannes.Koeppl.Quote.E425
--------------------------------
"Open the books … and you will be staggered to see how much American money has
been taken from the United States Treasury for the benefit of Russia. Find out
what business has been transacted for the State Bank of Soviet Russia, by its
correspondent, the Chase Bank of New York [owned by the Rockefellers]."
-- Louis McFadden
(1876-1936) US Congressman (R-PA) (1915-1935), Chairman of House Banking and Currency
Committee. Poisoned in 1936.
Source: 1933
http://quotes.liberty-tree.ca/quote_blog/Louis.McFadden.Quote.5042

Go ahead and "expate"; you mean as an X-patriot ?

  I think so, if you follow these people, including Romer. Go ahead and desert the country that gave you your standard of living and your rights that you won't find elsewhere; the greatest country the world has ever known, flawed as it always has been, but better than all the rest put together and now being destroyed by so many forces it will be truly the greatest if it survives...apparently without you ? Just imagine the degenerate world without America...you won't last long abroad once that happens IMO, because if the world falls apart, it'll be that America does so last...we ARE the military power that is needed by those in control, and they need stalwart soldiers at a minimum, which is what our nation is becoming...and much less of everything else.

http://www.sovereignman.com/expat/the-most-dangerous-woman-in-america/

http://www.rnw.nl/english/article/taxman-comethfor-expats

http://internationalliving.com/tag/expat-tax/#

http://internationalliving.com/2010/03/10-renounce-citizenship/

The Most Effective Political Ad We've Seen This Year

  'We Are Not Attacking The Corporations, But Endeavoring To Do Away With Any Evil In Them'      Teddy Roosevelt
 It's not how much the corporations make in dollars; it's how much they deprive every day Americans of that would make them basically prosperous commensurate with the results their work ethic that made the fortunes for the rich in the first place. Please consider this source somewhat differently as I have come to; they have their good moments it seems !
http://cdn.front.moveon.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/teddy_full.jpg

the usurious, legally fraudelent and unconstitutional "national debt"

We are starting to see the death throws of what could have been a great nation, but which has been
co-opted by economic forces that have set up a monetary system long ago of fraudulent
totalitarianism, from which there is no direct escape as evidenced by the usurious "national debt",
which is their masterpiece of "creative accounting", now called "quantitative easing". 

"In March, 1915, the J.P. Morgan interests, the steel, shipbuilding, and powder interest, and their subsidiary organizations, got together 12 men high up in the newspaper world and employed them to select the most influential newspapers in the United States and sufficient number of them to control generally the policy of the daily press. … They found it was only necessary to purchase the control of 25 of the greatest papers. An agreement was reached; the policy of the papers was bought, to be paid for by the month; an editor was furnished for each paper to properly supervise and edit information regarding the questions of preparedness, militarism, financial policies, and other things of national and international nature considered vital to the interests of the purchasers."-- Oscar Callaway(1872-1947) U.S. Congressman, TX-D (1911-1917)Source: Congressional Record of February 9, 1917, page 2947, as entered by Representative Oscar Callaway of Texashttp://quotes.liberty-tree.ca/quote_blog/Oscar.Callaway.Quote.5054


"For the first time in its history, Western Civilization is in danger of being destroyed internally by a corrupt, criminal ruling cabal which is centered around the Rockefeller interests, which include elements from the Morgan, Brown, Rothschild, Du Pont, Harriman, Kuhn-Loeb, and other groupings as well. This junta took control of the political, financial, and cultural life of America in the first two decades of the twentieth century."-- Carroll Quigley(1910-1977) Professor of International Relations, Georgetown University Foreign Service School, Washington, D.C., member of the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), mentor to Bill ClintonSource: No source found. Supposedly from 'Tragedy and Hope: A History of the World in Our Time' (1966)http://quotes.liberty-tree.ca/quote_blog/Carroll.Quigley.Quote.503E


"The whole profit of the issuance of money has provided the capital ofthe great banking business as it exists today. Starting with nothingwhatever of their own, they have got the whole world into their debtirredeemably, by a trick.This money comes into existence every time the banks 'lend' anddisappears every time the debt is repaid to them. So that if industrytries to repay, the money of the nation disappears. This is what makesprosperity so 'dangerous' as it destroys money just when it is mostneeded and precipitates a slump.There is nothing left now for us but to get ever deeper and deeperinto debt to the banking system in order to provide the increasingamounts of money the nation requires for its expansion and growth.An honest money system is the only alternative."-- Frederick Soddy(1877-1956) British author, professor, Nobel Prize for Chemistry, 1921http://quotes.liberty-tree.ca/quote_blog/Frederick.Soddy.Quote.222A

Bank Of America has just Dumped $75 Trillion In Derivatives On U.S. Taxpayers With Federal Approval.

As if we aren't in enough debt trouble, now the Bank Of America has Dumped $75 Trillion In Derivatives On U.S. Taxpayers With Federal Approval. Say what ? ? ? 75 Trillion, with a "T" ! ! !

Bloomberg reports that Bank of America (BAC) has shifted about $22 trillion worth of derivative obligations from Merrill Lynch and the BAC holding company to the FDIC insured retail deposit division. Along with this information came the revelation that the FDIC insured unit was already stuffed with $53 trillion worth of these potentially toxic obligations, making a total of $75 trillion.

http://seekingalpha.com/article/301260-bank-of-america-dumps-75-trillion-in-derivatives-on-u-s-taxpayers-with-federal-approval

Our Congress isn't Corrupt, right?

Just when you thought it couldn't get any worse, Jack Abramoff Gives Away the Corrupt Insider's Game in "Our" Congress on 60 Minutes  .

 

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/11/07/1033861/-Jack-Abramoff-gives-away-the-corrupt-insiders-game-in-our-Congress-on-60-Minutes?via=siderec

http://www.alternet.org/newsandviews/article/718959/jack_abramoff_gives_away_the_corrupt_insider%27s_game_in_%22our%22_congress_on_60_minutes/#paragraph5

Senator Bernie Sanders is beginning a study of possible Fed reform

 -------------------------------------------------------
November 3, 2011
The Veil Of Secrecy At The Fed Has Been Lifted, Now It's Time For Change
Sen. Bernie Sanders describes his plans for reforming the Federal Reserve system.
As a result of the greed, recklessness, and illegal behavior on Wall Street, the American people have experienced the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression. Millions of Americans, through no fault of their own, have lost their jobs, homes, life savings, and ability to send their kids to college. Small businesses have been unable to get the credit they need to expand their businesses, and credit is still extremely tight. Wages as a share of national income are now at the lowest level since the Great Depression, and the number of Americans living in poverty is at an all-time high.
Meanwhile, when small-business owners were being turned down for loans at private banks and millions of Americans were being kicked out of their homes, the Federal Reserve provided the largest taxpayer-financed bailout in the history of the world to Wall Street and too-big-to-fail institutions, with virtually no strings attached.
Over two years ago, I asked Ben Bernanke, the chairman of the Federal Reserve, a few simple questions that I thought the American people had a right to know: Who got money through the Fed bailout? How much did they receive? What were the terms of this assistance?
Incredibly, the chairman of the Fed refused to answer these fundamental questions about how trillions of taxpayer dollars were being spent.
The American people are finally getting answers to these questions thanks to an amendment I included in the Dodd-Frank financial reform bill which required the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to audit and investigate conflicts of interest at the Fed. Those answers raise grave questions about the Federal Reserve and how it operates -- and whose interests it serves.
As a result of these GAO reports, we learned that the Federal Reserve provided a jaw-dropping $16 trillion in total financial assistance to every major financial institution in the country as well as a number of corporations, wealthy individuals and central banks throughout the world.
The GAO also revealed that many of the people who serve as directors of the 12 Federal Reserve Banks come from the exact same financial institutions that the Fed is in charge of regulating. Further, the GAO found that at least 18 current and former Fed board members were affiliated with banks and companies that received emergency loans from the Federal Reserve during the financial crisis. In other words, the people "regulating" the banks were the exact same people who were being "regulated." Talk about the fox guarding the henhouse!
The emergency response from the Fed appears to have created two systems of government in America: one for Wall Street, and another for everyone else. While the rich and powerful were "too big to fail" and were given an endless supply of cheap credit, ordinary Americans, by the tens of millions, were allowed to fail. They lost their homes. They lost their jobs. They lost their life savings. And, they lost their hope for the future. This is not what American democracy is supposed to look like. It is time for change at the Fed -- real change.
Among the GAO's key findings is that the Fed lacks a comprehensive system to deal with conflicts of interest, despite the serious potential for abuse. In fact, according to the GAO, the Fed actually provided conflict of interest waivers to employees and private contractors so they could keep investments in the same financial institutions and corporations that were given emergency loans.
The GAO has detailed instance after instance of top executives of corporations and financial institutions using their influence as Federal Reserve directors to financially benefit their firms, and, in at least one instance, themselves.
For example, the CEO of JP Morgan Chase served on the New York Fed's board of directors at the same time that his bank received more than $390 billion in financial assistance from the Fed. Moreover, JP Morgan Chase served as one of the clearing banks for the Fed's emergency lending programs.
Getting this type of disclosure was not easy. Wall Street and the Federal Reserve fought it every step of the way. But, as difficult as it was to lift the veil of secrecy at the Fed, it will be even harder to reform the Fed so that it serves the needs of all Americans, and not just Wall Street. But, that is exactly what we have to do.
To get this process started, I have asked some of the leading economists in this country to serve on an advisory committee to provide Congress with legislative options to reform the Federal Reserve.
Here are some of the questions that I have asked this advisory committee to explore:
1. How can we structurally reform the Fed to make our nation's central bank a more democratic institution responsive to the needs of ordinary Americans, end conflicts of interest, and increase transparency? What are the best practices that central banks in other countries have developed that we can learn from? Compared with central banks in Europe, Canada, and Australia, the GAO found that the Federal Reserve does not do a good job in disclosing potential conflicts of interest and other essential elements of transparency.
2. At a time when 16.5 percent of our people are unemployed or under-employed, how can we strengthen the Federal Reserve's full-employment mandate and ensure that the Fed conducts monetary policy to achieve maximum employment? When Wall Street was on the verge of collapse, the Federal Reserve acted with a fierce sense of urgency to save the financial system. We need the Fed to act with the same boldness to combat the unemployment crisis.
3. The Federal Reserve has a responsibility to ensure the safety and soundness of financial institutions and to contain systemic risks in financial markets. Given that the top six financial institutions in the country now have assets equivalent to 65 percent of our GDP, more than $9 trillion, is there any reason why this extraordinary concentration of ownership should not be broken up? Should a bank that is "too big to fail" be allowed to exist?
4. The Federal Reserve has the responsibility to protect the credit rights of consumers. At a time when credit card issuers are charging millions of Americans interest rates between 25 percent or more, should policy options be established to ensure that the Federal Reserve and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau protect consumers against predatory lending, usury, and exorbitant fees in the financial services industry?
5. At a time when the dream of homeownership has turned into the nightmare of foreclosure for too many Americans, what role should the Federal Reserve be playing in providing relief to homeowners who are underwater on their mortgages, combating the foreclosure crisis, and making housing more affordable?
6. At a time when the United States has the most inequitable distribution of wealth and income of any major country, and the greatest gap between the very rich and everyone else since 1928, what policies can be established at the Federal Reserve which reduces income and wealth inequality in the U.S?
Given the growth of the Occupy Wall Street movement and given the concerns of millions of Americans about Wall Street, we now have a unique opportunity to make significant changes to one of the most powerful and secretive agencies of the federal government. One thing is abundantly clear: Americans deserve a Federal Reserve that works for them, not just the CEOs on Wall Street.

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Illinois joins the wallstreet abusers of working Americans !

TREASON against the work ethic that built America ! Taking workers state taxes...and giving it to the companies they work for instead of the government ! ; WHAT? read that again... We are losing the nation ! Call or write your congressmen NOW or it will all be over soon with more of such worker abuse ! As I keep posting in many places, the government must heavily tax or otherwise forbid major expatriative capital flight, off-shoring of untaxed monies and assets, as well as outsourcing of jobs and whole industries or we will be actually "3rd-worlded", "de-nationalized". Read it again and listen...and crab at somebody... a lot. This needs the likes of another type of OWS !  Where are all the attourney generals and the potus, usag, let alone congress on this one ? 

http://www.reuters.com/video/2011/07/19/david-cay-johnston-paying-taxes-to-your?videoId=217231660

Bank Transfer Day (Today) Is Only the Beginning of Something Huge

Bank Transfer Day (Today) Is Only the Beginning of Something Huge. Just as the OWS movement is changing American attitudes, this idea could make a real difference to help save our country from the rapcioius banks and wallstreet. The movement to make sure our money serves our own values rather than the bottom line of huge banks will only gain energy as small victories accumulate. Try a credit union or the Bank of North Dakota (with it's wonderful, legally binding mission statement to use all profits for new valid loans or to be returned to the tax payers of the state), but really we need a big national list to choose from ...feel free to add one !



http://tinyurl.com/436skq8

http://tinyurl.com/3w54e7u

http://www.salon.com/

http://www.facebook.com/Nov.Fifth

Help save America from wallstreet !

We're down for the count folks; it's only a matter of time before the rapacious wallstreet/k-street/MIC/ federal reserve and congress bleed us dry with taxes and inflate away or eliminate entirely, our earned entitlement program monies, ie. especially social security and some medicaire (not medicaid, which should be curtailed moreso), let alone increase taxes and over-regulation to the point where businesses can't survive as we lose our jobs, homes and hopes of any American dreams we may have had in the past, what now that the malfeasant, usurious absconders have expatriated scot-free with unrestricted major capital flight to undisclosed locations world-wide with international immunities, off-shore accounts, and have outsourced jobs and whole industries abroad to the great detriment of all of us potentially to the point of treason against the Constitution on various grounds, endangering the very existance of our national sovereignty.  this last point should especially resonate with those who have sworn to "protect and defend the Constitution" of the United States of America.  One has only to read the liner notes on Amazon of David Rockefeller's book to see what is going on...New World Order, as former potus bush's videos also announce.  With the loss of so many basic rights, ie., habeas corpus, and with such horrid legislation as the oxymoronic "patriot act", and "citizens united", the same, to name a few, I foresee a complete erosion of our American way of life in the not too distant future as one of my greatest fears for us all.