Posted on by

“The way things are supposed to work is that we’re supposed to know virtually everything about what [government officials] do: that’s why they’re called public servants. They’re supposed to know virtually nothing about what we do: that’s why we’re called private individuals. This dynamic – the hallmark of a healthy and free society – has been radically reversed. Now, they know everything about what we do, and are constantly building systems to know more. Meanwhile, we know less and less about what they do, as they build walls of secrecy behind which they function. That’s the imbalance that needs to come to an end. No democracy can be healthy and functional if the most consequential acts of those who wield political power are completely unknown to those to whom they are supposed to be accountable.”  — Glenn Greenwald, reporter

http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2017/09/freedom-myth-prisoners-police-states-panopticon-village.html

We Have Forgotten What the Ancient Sumerians and Babylonians, the Early Jews and Christians, the Founding Fathers and Even Napoleon Bonaparte Knew About Money

Posted on by

We Have Forgotten What the Ancient Sumerians and Babylonians, the Early Jews and Christians, the Founding Fathers and Even Napoleon Bonaparte Knew About Money

Mike “Mish” Shedlock has repeatedly pointed out that we have reached “peak credit” – and there will not in our lifetimes be as much credit as we saw from 2000-2008. I noted last year: Michael Hudson is a highly-regarded economist.

 

Consumer accuses Bank of America of unfair debt practices

Posted on by

Consumer accuses Bank of America of unfair debt practices

TAMPA – A Hillsborough County woman is suing Bank of America, alleging abusive, deceptive and unfair debt collection practices. Jennifer McCambridge filed a lawsuit Dec. 8 in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida against Bank of America NA, alleging violation of the Florida Consumer Collection Practices Act, or FCCPA, and the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, or TCPA.

U.S. Justice Dept. orders whistleblower to testify in Wells Fargo probe

Posted on by

U.S. Justice Dept. orders whistleblower to testify in Wells Fargo probe

The U.S. Department of Justice has subpoenaed a high-profile whistleblower in its criminal investigation into Wells Fargo & Co’s (WFC.N) opening of accounts without customer permission. U.S. prosecutors in San Francisco have asked Wells Fargo banker Yesenia Guitron, who lost a private lawsuit against the fourth-largest lender, to testify before a grand jury in San Francisco on Tuesday, according to a subpoena dated Dec.

 

Shkreli’s scheme to boost drug price on display in Senate report

Posted on by

Shkreli’s scheme to boost drug price on display in Senate report

US senators have labeled “the hedge-fund model of drug pricing” employed by the likes of Turing Pharmaceuticals, formerly run by Martin Shkreli, as “predatory” and “immoral” in a newly released report on drug companies’ price hikes. The 131-page report – “Sudden Price Spikes in Off- Patent Prescription Drugs: The Monopoly Business Model that Harms Patients, Taxpayers, and the U.S.

U.S. proposed $5 billion – 7 billion penalty on Credit Suisse on toxic debt

Posted on by

Exclusive: U.S. proposed $5 billion – 7 billion penalty on Credit Suisse on toxic debt – source

The U.S. Department of Justice has asked Credit Suisse to pay between $5 billion and $7 billion to settle a probe over its sale of toxic mortgage securities in the run-up to the 2008 financial crisis, a source with knowledge of the matter said, but the bank has resisted settling for that amount.

How the Sugar Industry Shifted Blame to Fat

Posted on by

How the Sugar Industry Shifted Blame to Fat

Even though the influence-peddling revealed in the documents dates back nearly 50 years, more recent reports show that the food industry has continued to influence nutrition science. Last year, an article in The New York Times revealed that Coca-Cola, the world’s largest producer of sugary beverages, had provided millions of dollars in funding to researchers who sought to play down the link between sugary drinks and obesity.

World energy hits a turning point: Solar that’s cheaper than wind

Posted on by

World energy hits a turning point: Solar that’s cheaper than wind

Bloomberg 12/17/2016 Tom Randall There’s a transformation happening in global energy markets that’s worth noting as 2016 comes to an end: Solar power, for the first time, is becoming the cheapest form of new electricity. There have been isolated projects in the past where this happened: An especially competitive auction in the Middle East, for example, resulting in record-cheap solar costs.

Big banks fight to block crisis-era lawsuits from continuing

Posted on by

Big banks fight to block crisis-era lawsuits from continuing

Big banks are fighting tens of billions of dollars of potential legal costs linked to at least a dozen pending lawsuits arising from the financial crisis. A handful of banks, including Wells Fargo, Credit Suisse and Deutsche Bank, have asked the Supreme Court to review a lower court decision that said the regulators filed their claims on time despite a Depression-era securities law that gave them only a three-year window.

Secretary of State John Kerry: We Should Ignore What Anonymous CIA “Intelligence Officials” Say

Posted on by

Secretary of State John Kerry: We Should Ignore What Anonymous CIA “Intelligence Officials” Say

While anonymous CIA officials have told the media that they know for sure that Russia hacked Democratic party emails and gave them to Wikileaks, the CIA and other American intelligence agencies are refusing to brief Congress in their official capacities at this time.