Legislating Greater Wall Street Theft
March 29, 2012 by admin
Filed under News Stories
March 29, 2012
Activist Post
By Stephen Lendman
Political Washington is Wall Street’s best friend. Whatever crooked bankers want they get. Their business model features grand theft. Wealth’s amassed through fraudulent double-dealing.
Lawmakers facilitate their racketeering. They’re rewarded in kind. Only fleeced households, investors, communities and nations lose out.
Their dirty game continues unobstructed. New legislation enhances what’s on the books. Another bill will become law when Obama signs it. Wall Street’s again celebrating, and why not? Business is better than ever, courtesy of complicit lawmakers.
At issue is the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act (the JOBS Act). On March 8, the House passed it overwhelmingly 390 – 23. On March 22, Senate followed 73 – 26. Doing what he does best, Obama will sign it into law. He’ll again betray America’s 99% in the process.
When everything comes up roses for Wall Street, ordinary people get scammed. It’s the same every time like loaded dice let the house win.
Former bank regulator/financial fraud expert Bill Black explained what’s at stake in his article headlined, “‘The only winning move is not to play’ — the insanity of the regulatory race to the bottom.”
He called the imminent JOBS Act passage reminiscent of the “worst anti-regulatory travesties in the financial sphere (that) had broad, bipartisan support.” Don’t they all, especially in recent decades.
He reviewed some of the worst past legislation and congressional actions, including:
(1) the 1982 Garn-St. Germain Act that gave S & Ls a license to steal.
(2) the 1987 Competitive Equality in Banking Act (CEBA).
Click here for the full report.
The Kevin Trudeau Show: 3-24-12
The FDA, the IRS, and the U.S. Congress are all out of control. KT goes into detail on activities that will shock you. Plus, Giorgio Tsoukalos of Ancient Aliens and Legendary Times stops in to talk with Kevin about the story we’re not hearing about our ancient past.
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FDA Abducted American Citizens In Illegal War On Herbal Cancer Cures
FDA Says Eating Natural Food Is A Crime
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IRS To Tap Into Your Tax Returns For Health Insurance Penalties
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Abuse Of Power By The Government
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Support The More Than 300,000 Organic Farmers Who Lost Their Court Battle to Monsanto – Sign The Heartfelt Petition to OSGTA Today!
March 5, 2012 by admin
Filed under News Stories
March 5th, 2012
Natural News
By: Ethan A. Huff
U.S. District Court Judge Naomi Buchwald’s recent dismissal of a massive class-action lawsuit filed by farmers against Monsanto is truly disheartening, but it does not mean that we should now give up the fight for food freedom and justice. And as an expression of unified solidarity for the cause of food sovereignty, Jack Adam Weber from Wake Up World has created a hopeful petition letter to the farmers that conveys support and appreciation for their work, and encourages them not to give up — and he is asking everyone who appreciates clean, organic food to show their support by signing it.
The letter, which is posted over at Wake Up World as well as at Change.org, expresses solace and comfort to the farmers, but also a bit of hope and promise that, one day, we will win this war against food tyranny and take back our land and our freedoms from those who have stolen it away from us. It also specifically promises that, when an appeal is filed in response to the dismissal, those of us in the natural health community will be right there to support it.
“With each blow to our justice, to our health, to our peace of mind, to our children’s future, we will grow stronger, more united, and determined,” says one section of the letter. “And with each subsequent act of corruption we will come thundering back to take back our lives, our wealth, which we believe can still be free. Count on it. It’s a promise from all of us to you, fellow farmers. And it’s our promise to Monsanto, the soulless politicians who enable them, and to all Big Business Bullies.”
You can access the petition letter at the following two links:
http://wakeup-world.com
http://www.change.org
And in case you missed our original piece on the legal filing itself, you can read it here:
http://www.naturalnews.com/031922_Monsanto_lawsuit.html
This particular battle may have been lost, at least for now, but the war is not over. As the Organic Seed Growers & Trade Association (OSGTA) gears up to file an appeal, we need to be right there with the group to make sure the case does not get dismissed again, and that all the facts are heard. We must ensure that the next judge who hears the case will not be able to get away with claiming that it has no grounds, since farmers have already been sued by Monsanto in years past, and will likely be sued in the future as well (http://www.centerforfoodsafety.org).
For The Full Report Go To Natural News
Sell Monsanto! List Of Top Mutual Funds To Ditch Because They Own Monsanto Shares
February 17, 2012 by admin
Filed under News Stories
February 17th, 2012
Natural News
By: Ethan A. Huff
If the natural health community really wants to get serious about hitting evil corporations like Monsanto where it hurts, then it is time to start boycotting the companies that support, invest in, or otherwise have a relationship with Monsanto and its partner companies. And this includes dumping mutual fund and investment companies that hold a significant amount of shares in Monsanto.
Monsanto is a publicly-traded company, which means members of the public, including other large companies and investment firms, can buy shares in said company for investment purposes. This, of course, is one of the primary ways publicly-traded companies are able to raise needed funds and capital to keep on doing business.
While some investors make decisions on which securities to buy purely for financial reasons, others invest more consciously based on respect for a company and its products, for instance, or because they really want to see it succeed in the long-run. In either case, there are a number of investors in Monsanto that you may be interested in knowing about, if for no other reason than to pull your funds out of them because of their partnership with the world’s most evil and sinister corporation.
According toYahoo! Finance, 83 percent of Monsanto’s shares are held by institutional and mutual fund owners. The top ten institutional holders and mutual fund holders in Monsanto as of the writing of this article are as follows:
Top Institutional Holders
•The Vanguard Group, Inc.– 21,361,249 shares
•State Street Corporation– 20, 096, 055 shares
•T. Rowe Price– 17,442,437 shares
•PRIMECAP Management Company– 14,933,282 shares
•Jennison Associates LLC– 14,526,041 shares
•BlackRock Institutional Trust Company, N.A.– 12,775,828 shares
•Davis Selected Advisers, L.P.– 11,426,858 shares
•FMR LLC– 11,118,244 shares
•Marsico Capital Managements, LLC– 11,079,586 shares
•AllianceBernstein, L.P.– 9,876,978 shares
Top Mutual Fund Holders
•Vanguard / Primecap Fund– 6,707,060 shares
•Market Vectors ETF Tr-Agribusiness ETF– 6,624,107 shares
•Davis New York Venture Fund– 6,600,196 shares
•Vanguard Total Stock Market Index Fund– 6,204,474 shares
•Fidelity Growth Company Fund– 4,789,978 shares
•Vanguard 500 Index Fund– 4,771,300 shares
•Vanguard Institutional Index Fund – Institutional Index FD– 4,378,112 shares
•SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust– 4,182,071 shares
•College Retirement Equities Fund – Stock Account– 4,045,420 shares
•Mainstay Large Cap Growth Fund– 3,857,600 shares
The top fiveMajor Direct Holdersin Monsanto include Hugh Grant, the company’s chairman, president, and CEO; William U. Parfet, chairman and CEO of MPI Research, a pharmaceutical company; Brett D. Begemann, executive vice president and chief commercial officer of Monsanto; Robert T. Fraley, Monsanto’s executive vice president and chief technology officer; and Carl M. Casale, president and CEO of CHS Inc., a cooperative that supplies energy, crop nutrients, grain, livestock feed, food and food ingredients, and business solutions.
If you or any one you know holds investments in any of these companies, be sure to ditch them as soon as possible in protest of their support for Monsanto. Doing so is a practical way to get the ball rolling in bringing about real grassroots change, and ending Monsanto’s reign of agricultural terror.
You can also view a more extensive list of Monsanto’s stockholders here:
http://investors.morningstar.com
For The Full Report Go To Natural News
Feds Succeed In Destroying Entire Business Of Amish Raw Milk Farmer
February 17, 2012 by admin
Filed under News Stories
February 17th, 2012
Natural News
By: Ethan A. Huff
It is with much sadness that we report the two-year war waged by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) against Pennsylvania Amish farmer Dan Allgyer has been a success.The Washington Timesand others are now reporting that, following a ruling last month by Judge Lawrence F. Stengel that Allgyer could no longer ship raw milk across state lines, he is officially shutting down his entire Rainbow Acres Farm.
Provoking Allgyer to shut down his farm appears to have been the goal of the FDA all along, which back on February 4, 2010, conducted a gestapo-style raid on Allgyer’s Kinzers, Penn., property to search for evidence that he was shipping raw milk across state lines. After illegally trespassing on the man’s property, the agents proceeded to harass Allgyer about his supposed involvement in interstate commerce (http://foodfreedom.wordpress.com).
Just a few months later on April 20, 2010, the FDA again sent its Nazi-sympathizing thugs back to Rainbow Acres Farm, this time at 4:30 a.m. while Allgyer was still asleep, to conduct another raid. Violating the provisions of their so-called warrant, which specified that any inspection must be conducted during “reasonable times during ordinary business hours,” the agents proceeded to once again ransack the farm in search of evidence to back their claims that Allgyer was engaged in illegal interstate commerce (http://www.naturalnews.com/029322_raw_milk_Amish.html).
Following this second sting, the FDA claims to have discovered the evidence it needed, and immediately sent Allgyer a warning letter notifying him that he was in violation of interstate commerce laws, according to their view (http://www.farmtoconsumer.org/aa/aa-26april2010.htm). The agency also filed a civil complaint against Allgyer around the same time.
With hundreds of happy and satisfied out-of-state customers that relied on him for fresh supplies of raw milk, Allgyer attempted to satisfy the FDA’s demands by restructuring his farm’s distribution process into private cow share agreements with customers. Such agreements allow individuals to directly purchase shares in the cows from which they get milk, which means they personally own them, and they are not subject to FDA jurisdiction.
Rogue judge essentially declares FDA has jurisdiction over private property use, in this case cows
But on February 3, 2012, Judge Stengel decided that Allgyer was still in violation of interstate commerce laws,even with the restructured cow sharing arrangements, and ordered him to stop distributing raw milk altogether. Private cow share agreements do not constitute interstate commerce, of course, but Judge Stengel apparently pays no regard to individual liberty, having declared that the FDA basically now has jurisdiction over private property use.
Likely worn down from the perpetual and never-ending harassment, Allgyer appears to have decided to simply give up trying to fight this unprecedented tyranny, and simply shut down his farm. Hundreds of families that relied on Allgyer for fresh milk, butter, cheese, eggs, and other nutritious goods will now have to find a new source for clean food, at least until the FDA shuts them down, too.
“I can’t believe in 2012 the federal government is raiding Amish farmers at gunpoint all over a basic human right to eat natural food,” said one of the farm’s former customers, who wished to remain anonymous, toThe Washington Times. “In Maryland, they force taxpayers to pay for abortions, but God forbid we want the same milk our grandparents drank.”
For The Full Report Go To Natural News
Rothschild Loses Libel Case, And Reveals Secret World Of Money And Politics
February 17, 2012 by admin
Filed under News Stories
February 17, 2012
The Independent
By Tom Peck
With his long limbs and delicate gait, Lord Mandelson could no doubt manage a quite convincing turn in Thunderbirds.
He’d find Jeff Tracy most convivial: a billionaire astronaut with his own Pacific island, and now, it seems, he even has his own camera-shy friend to pull the strings.
According to the High Court, Nathaniel Rothschild, scion of the banking dynasty and friend of seemingly everyone in the spheres of finance, business and politics, is indeed “puppet master” to the Baron of Hartlepool and Foy.
The banker and Bullingdon boy has lost his libel case against the Daily Mail, which he sued for “substantial damages” over its account of his and Mr Mandelson’s extraordinary trip to Russia in January 2005.
Mr Rothschild claimed he was subjected to “sustained and unjustified” attacks in the May 2010 article, which portrayed him as a “puppet master”, dangling his friend Lord Mandelson in front of the Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska to ease the passage of colossal business deals.
Messrs Rothschild and Mandelson’s Russian trip would certainly have made entertaining viewing, but maybe not for Thunderbirds fans. Nobody needed rescuing, that’s for certain.
It began on Mr Rothschild’s private jet from the World Economic Forum in Davos to Moscow, where they met Mr Deripaska, the aluminium plant manager who became the richest oligarch of them all, and continued on Mr Deripaska’s private jet to his chalet in Siberia, where “to beat jet lag” they were whipped with birch leaves before plunging themselves into icy water – a traditional Siberian banya.
Less salacious, but seemingly more sordid, was an earlier dinner at Cantinetta Antinori, a fashionable Tuscan restaurant in Moscow. Mr Deripaska, the Mail had claimed, was dining with executives from the US aluminium giant Alcoa, negotiating a £250m deal to buy two of Mr Deripaska’s aluminium plants, at which a stumbling block was an EU import tariff on Russian aluminium. Enter Lord Mandelson, then a lowly Mister, but at the time the EU Trade Commissioner. The deal is done, costing several hundred British jobs, and the tariffs come down.
Mr Rothschild claimed the trip was “purely recreational”, and Associated Newspapers had to admit during litigation that it couldn’t be sure that Mr Mandelson had joined Mr Deripaska at dinner or whether aluminium tariffs were discussed, and in fact the deal had been struck before Mr Mandelson and Mr Rothschild arrived in Moscow. But for Mr Justice Tugenhadt, recreation it was not.
Click here for the full report.
U.S. Prison Business: Privatize Profits, Socialize Losses
February 16, 2012 by admin
Filed under News Stories
February 16, 2012
Activist Post
By Joe Wright
“There is big money to be made in prisons. Why do you think more people are incarcerated in the US than any other country? It’s always all about the money.” –KTRN
A new report from Chris Kirkham for Huffington Post, reinforces my treatment of his previous article which covered news that Florida would privatize 20% of their prisons, following the trend taken by other states. This is supposedly due to state budget shortfalls that need assistance from the private sector. As Kirkham continues to demonstrate, this particular argument is the weakest of all, given the documented facts. Nevertheless, Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) has forged ahead even further by recently submitting letters to 48 states offering to buy prisons: “In exchange … for a 20-year management contract, plus an assurance that the prison would remain at least 90 percent full, according to a copy of the letter obtained by The Huffington Post.” View Kirkham’s latest must-read article here.
The article below provides some of the background to this latest maneuvering by CCA.
Well, it’s nice work if you can get it. Florida is set to privatize all of its prisons south of Orlando — 20% of its total — according to a report issued by Chris Kirkham for Huffington Post.
The for-profit prison scheme is a case study in crony capitalism, as it involves private prison corporations donating to the politicians best in position to grant them lucrative contracts. Cenk Uygur, in the video below, breaks down this “cherry picking” strategy that sets up FL taxpayers to carry the burden of failure, while corporate/government interests land another windfall; in this case, the largest procurement contract in the industry’s history:
Beyond this single blatant example of lobbying by private interests in the state of Florida, the trend of privatizing prisons has been ongoing since the first business was established in 1984*, and is slated to rise in coming years. Furthermore, the implications of what it means that private companies are taking over captive populations should also be examined.
The U.S. prison population continues to explode, as America plunges headlong into becoming a bona fide police state. The federal policies of criminalizing just about everything, offer a built-in growth sector for any corporation that can capture it. No wonder, then, that companies like GE have gotten in on the action, while the nation’s largest private contractors, Corrections Corporation of America and GEO (formerly Wackenhut), have combined revenues well into the billion of dollars per year. And they are international in scope. (Source)
Click here for the full report.
International Currencies Increasingly Rejected In The Face Of Inflation
February 16, 2012 by admin
Filed under News Stories
February 16, 2012
Activist Post
By Activist Post
Currency collapse is hardly something new. Especially when that currency is backed by nothing. In G. Edward Griffin’s seminal work, The Creature From Jekyll Island, he states that once the “business of banking” by fiat began:
This led immediately to what would become an almost unbroken record from then to the present: a record of inflation, booms and busts, suspension of payments, bank failures, repudiation of currencies, and recurring spasms o economic chaos. (pg. 184)
Since this story of banking is so oft-repeated, there are also a fair number of examples of how prosperity — or at least stability and self-sufficiency — was restored afterward. In nearly every case, it came from desperate, but determined individuals who shrugged off the shackles of central banking, and either returned to the currency they used previous to government hijacking, restored pre-money barter systems, or created something entirely new.
The modern-day, planet-wide collapse of fiat currencies is providing additional real-time examples of how forsaken citizens are taking matters into their own hands. Let us look at just the two most affected: Greece and Spain.
Greece
It is a travesty that the nation where democracy and gold-backed coinage was first developed should become the poster child of a whirling black hole of debt and dependency brought on by autocratic rule. Regardless, despite the austerity riots filling city streets to make demands, there are indications that some communities are finished with demanding anything from a provably corrupt government that is literally foreign to their best interests.
The Daily Mail reports on a town of 3,000 called Villamayor de Santiago, where “rebellious” locals have reintroduced the peseta in a project to thwart the failing euro after inflation has driven up the price of essential goods 43 per cent. The cost of bread is up by 49 per cent, milk 48 per cent, and the price of potatoes is up 116 per cent. All while a third of this small town is out of work.
Around 30 shops in the historic town, 75 miles south-east of Madrid, started accepting pesetas last month after urging customers to dig out any old notes and coins they had forgotten about.
News quickly spread, and shoppers from neighboring villages and towns have been flocking there to spend the old currency.
After a one-month field test, the enthusiasm for the plan has ensured its renewal. Meanwhile, four other Spanish towns have reintroduced the peseta, as the country goes through an employment crisis worse than that of Greece, and the country’s credit rating has been knocked down another two notches.
Click here for the full report.
Honeywell CEO: How I’d Fix The Economy
January 25, 2012 by admin
Filed under News Stories
January 25, 2012
CNN Money
By Nin-Hai Tseng
It was nearly 10 years ago when Dave Cote took the helm at Honeywell International. The company isn’t readily known to most consumers, but products from the Morris Township, NJ-based technology and manufacturing conglomerate are found almost everywhere – from home thermostats to turnout gear donned by New York City fire fighters.
When Cote took the job as CEO, the company was struggling. He turned down media requests, thinking “right now the last thing we need is me out there saying anything when we’ve got so much to fix,” he says. At the time, a third of the top 200 positions were open after an employee exodus. Under Cote, Honeywell grew from $22 billion in sales to about $37 billion today, and the company’s stock surged about 63%.
And with the company transformed, Cote has jumped into the media spotlight. Today he is one of the most outspoken deficit hawks in corporate America. The New Hampshire native visited Fortune’s office in New York City last week to talk about a range of topics – from how to manage a diverse company to doing business in China and India to how the U.S. can turn its fragile economy around. Below is an edited transcript.
You have all these disparate industrial businesses. How do you manage it?
One of the ways that we’ve tried to construct the company is so that there’s no product that’s so big that it requires my approval. I’ve always thought it was a bad position to be in as a company if you really had to bet that big on a product.
The way we’ve tried to construct the company is to create diversity of opportunity – whether it’s diversity in the products you provide, the geographies that you’re in, the services that you provide, or the new products that you’re developing. There’s little that I have to weigh in on like that – maybe occasionally – but really not all that much. I am able to devolve all of this to business leaders who understand what we’re looking for.
Click here for the full report.
Top 1 Percent’s Income Grew 275 Percent From 1979 to 2007
October 27, 2011 by admin
Filed under News Stories
October 27, 2011
ABC News
By SUSANNA KIM
The income of the richest 1 percent in the U.S. soared 275 percent from 1979 to 2007, but the bottom 20 percent grew by just 18 percent, new government data shows.
The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) released a study this week that compared real after-tax household income between 1979 and 2007, which were both after recessions and had similar overall economic activity.
While the income of the richest 1 percent nearly tripled, increases were smaller down the economic ladder. After the 1 percent, income for the next highest 20 percent grew by 65 percent, much faster than it did for the remaining 80 percent of the population but still lagging well behind the top percentile.
The changes illustrate how the better off have captured the bulk of income gains over the past three decades. The top quintile has seen its share of income rise while the other four quintiles have suffered declines in their shares, according to John Bowler, director of country risk service with the Economist Intelligence Unit.
The report states that without the growth of the top percentile, income inequality still would have increased, “but not by nearly as much.” The study was prepared at the request of Sens. Max Baucus, D-Mont., and Charles Grassley, R-Iowa.
The CBO said the reasons for the rapid growth at the top are “not well understood,” though some possibilities include technical innovations that have changed the labor market for superstars, “such as actors, athletes, and musicians,” changes in executive compensation, and increasing scale of financial-sector activities.
Technology creates opportunities for highly skilled workers while making some routine tasks redundant, said Bowler. The role of globalization, he added, is “controversial.”
“Even some policymakers who would traditionally be in the free trade camp are now questioning the benefits of globalization to the middle and lower-income U.S. households, even if they have benefited from cheaper imported manufactured goods,” he said.
Matthew Dowd, ABC News political analyst and former strategist for President George W. Bush, said while Americans have accepted income disparities in the country, they are becoming more frustrated at the perception that their economic opportunities, or that of their children, are diminishing.
“They don’t feel any ability to move up. They feel stuck and don’t feel there’s a lottery ticket to take them to a higher class,” Dowd said.
What makes the frustration worse is that Americans feel the wealthy, especially in business, receive preferential treatment by the government.
“They watch Wall Street, government bailouts and feel like the rich play by different rules,” he said. “They think, ‘Here I am, trying to make payments on my house with my own small business, trying to make ends meet, but if I need help, no one will help me.’”
On Wednesday, Douglas Elmendorf, CBO director, also revealed in prepared remarks to the congressional super-committee that the government spent about $200 billion, or 15 percent of total discretionary spending, on federal workers’ salaries and benefits in the fiscal year that ended in September, the Washington Post reported.
Dowd said that frustration with increasing inequality has led to growing movements on the “right and left,” such as the Occupy Wall Street protests.
“Tea Party and Occupy Wall Street both come from the same place: anger at a small group of people who are operating by a different set of rules,” he said. “Americans always say they don’t like the income gap, but they didn’t mind the gap. But they just don’t like that they don’t have any ability to rise.”
Bowler said he agreed that, traditionally, Americans have not envied the material success of others, as growing rich or at least becoming better off is part of the American dream.
