The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. voted to require banks with $50 billion or more in assets to submit so-called living wills. Seven banks with more than $250 billion in assets will have to show their plans by July. The other 30 affected by the rule have until 2013. The FDIC also proposed a separate rule that would require banks with more than $10 billion in assets to conduct annual stress tests. The tests show how each bank is positioned to handle worsening economic conditions, such as increasing unemployment and falling home prices. The regulator put the rule out for public comment and is expected to finalize it by July. It will affect roughly 190 banks.Read the rest of this post...
Elections | Economic Crisis | Jobs | TSA | Limbaugh | Fun Stuff
Follow @americablog
Tuesday, January 17, 2012
FDIC approves rule for stress tests and living-wills for banks
As we're still discovering, failing banks are expensive for taxpayers. The new proposed FDIC regulations are a step in the right direction, though still relatively gentle for the banks. If the big banks didn't own Washington, a few of the banks surely would have (and should have) already been broken apart. Somehow we went from too-big-to-fail to even larger banks, which means even larger collapses should anything go wrong. When you look at the banking climate out there now, it's not an unreasonable concern to wonder about the health of the banking industry. The new proposed regulations are now out there for public review until July. The banking industry is certainly going to kick and scream and maybe even cry about socialism, but again, this is mild stuff.
McCain’s entire oppo book on Romney from 2008 found online
Oh my, this is going to be fun. (H/t Buzzfeed) Feel free to find your favorite part of the book, below, and post a quote in the comments.
McCain 2008 Oppo File Read the rest of this post...
McCain 2008 Oppo File Read the rest of this post...
The untold story of the Royal Yacht Britannia
Not only does Prime Minister Cameron demonstrate a most peculiar sense of priorities in backing the building of a new Royal Yacht for the Queen, during a time of economic austerity, he probably has no idea what the real purpose of the last Royal Yacht was.
Back in the mid 1950s the British government faced an interesting problem. Thanks to the work of Alan Turing and many others at Bletchley Park, HMG had broken not only the Enigma code but many other mechanical ciphers.
Mechanical cipher machines were in common use around the world until electronic systems started to replace them in the mid 1970s. The astute will note that the decline in CIA organized coups d'état coincides with the introduction of electronic machines.
From the end of World War II until the mid 1970s, the only acceptably secure form of diplomatic communication as far as the UK, US and Russia were concerned was the use of a true one-time-pad. This is a cipher system that requires the sender and receiver of the message to have previously exchanged a random sequence of data known as keystream. The security of the system comes from the fact that any given cipher text could have been generated by any possible plaintext with absolutely equal probability.
The practical disadvantage of this approach is that to transmit a 100Kb message using a one time pad requires 100Kb of keystream. Equipping the embasies with the necessary keystream created a logistical nightmare, particularly once it was known that the KGB knew that the UK had broken the Enigma cipher and were employing One Time Pads. The British had to securely distribute keystream to their embassies and governorships around the world without giving their colonies and former colonies any idea as to what might be going on.
Despite the continued post war rationing, HMG commissioned a new Royal Yacht, Britannia, which was launched in 1954. While the British public were assured that this was merely the continuation of a longstanding tradition, this was demonstrably false. Elizabeth's father had simply borrowed the use of a Naval warship for foreign trips which were themselves a novelty. Like US presidents prior to FDR, British monarchs were expected to remain on hand close to the seat of power in case they were needed.
Two yachts had been built at taxpayer expense for the use of Queen Victoria, but the justification for those purchases had been the 'need' to compete with the Russian Tzar and the German Kaiser. By the time Britannia was launched, Britain no longer had an empire, and there were no crowned heads in Russia or Germany to compete with.
Britannia then spent the next several decades clocking up a million miles as it 'flew the flag' around the world hosting parties and receptions at each point of call to which nearby ambassadors, consuls and other senior embassy staff could attend without attracting the slightest hint of suspicion.
Is this something Britain really needs to spend nearly $100 million on, while the rest of the country is undergoing a rather painful austerity? Read the rest of this post...
Back in the mid 1950s the British government faced an interesting problem. Thanks to the work of Alan Turing and many others at Bletchley Park, HMG had broken not only the Enigma code but many other mechanical ciphers.
Mechanical cipher machines were in common use around the world until electronic systems started to replace them in the mid 1970s. The astute will note that the decline in CIA organized coups d'état coincides with the introduction of electronic machines.
From the end of World War II until the mid 1970s, the only acceptably secure form of diplomatic communication as far as the UK, US and Russia were concerned was the use of a true one-time-pad. This is a cipher system that requires the sender and receiver of the message to have previously exchanged a random sequence of data known as keystream. The security of the system comes from the fact that any given cipher text could have been generated by any possible plaintext with absolutely equal probability.
The practical disadvantage of this approach is that to transmit a 100Kb message using a one time pad requires 100Kb of keystream. Equipping the embasies with the necessary keystream created a logistical nightmare, particularly once it was known that the KGB knew that the UK had broken the Enigma cipher and were employing One Time Pads. The British had to securely distribute keystream to their embassies and governorships around the world without giving their colonies and former colonies any idea as to what might be going on.
Despite the continued post war rationing, HMG commissioned a new Royal Yacht, Britannia, which was launched in 1954. While the British public were assured that this was merely the continuation of a longstanding tradition, this was demonstrably false. Elizabeth's father had simply borrowed the use of a Naval warship for foreign trips which were themselves a novelty. Like US presidents prior to FDR, British monarchs were expected to remain on hand close to the seat of power in case they were needed.
Two yachts had been built at taxpayer expense for the use of Queen Victoria, but the justification for those purchases had been the 'need' to compete with the Russian Tzar and the German Kaiser. By the time Britannia was launched, Britain no longer had an empire, and there were no crowned heads in Russia or Germany to compete with.
Britannia then spent the next several decades clocking up a million miles as it 'flew the flag' around the world hosting parties and receptions at each point of call to which nearby ambassadors, consuls and other senior embassy staff could attend without attracting the slightest hint of suspicion.
Is this something Britain really needs to spend nearly $100 million on, while the rest of the country is undergoing a rather painful austerity? Read the rest of this post...
Mitt Romney just became the Willie Horton of the 15 percent tax rate
One of the constant refrains of the establishment media is 'you can't say that without proof', then when the proof of the obvious is presented the refrain becomes 'that was already known.'
It really isn't a surprise that Mitt Romney pays tax at the 15% rate his pal George created for plutocrats. The only surprise is that he was forced to admit the fact before he had the GOP nomination in his pocket. Expect to be told frequently that you are totally unconcerned by the fact that a 25 cent billionaire pays less in tax than you do.
But what happens after the election? If Romney were to win we would see every GOP tax proposal compared according to how the average taxpayer fares and how Mitt Romney fares. That has to make renewal of the Bush tax 'cut' much harder.
In the more likely case that Romney loses, his 15% tax rate is sure to be judged as a major cause. The White House will have just won a substantial electoral victory against the GOP proposition that billionaires should not need to pay taxes and it is even more likely that the high end taxes will be allowed to expire.
Making Romney the nominee means that there is now a face to go with that 15% tax rate. Mittens is now the Willie Horton of the 15% rate. Instead of justifying tax rates for some abstract group of 'job creators', the GOP has to explain why Mittens should pay half as much in tax as the rest of us and will have to continue to make that case long after the 2012 election is over. Read the rest of this post...
It really isn't a surprise that Mitt Romney pays tax at the 15% rate his pal George created for plutocrats. The only surprise is that he was forced to admit the fact before he had the GOP nomination in his pocket. Expect to be told frequently that you are totally unconcerned by the fact that a 25 cent billionaire pays less in tax than you do.
But what happens after the election? If Romney were to win we would see every GOP tax proposal compared according to how the average taxpayer fares and how Mitt Romney fares. That has to make renewal of the Bush tax 'cut' much harder.
In the more likely case that Romney loses, his 15% tax rate is sure to be judged as a major cause. The White House will have just won a substantial electoral victory against the GOP proposition that billionaires should not need to pay taxes and it is even more likely that the high end taxes will be allowed to expire.
Making Romney the nominee means that there is now a face to go with that 15% tax rate. Mittens is now the Willie Horton of the 15% rate. Instead of justifying tax rates for some abstract group of 'job creators', the GOP has to explain why Mittens should pay half as much in tax as the rest of us and will have to continue to make that case long after the 2012 election is over. Read the rest of this post...
WI Dems get over 1m signatures to recall GOP anti-union governor Walker
Walker deserves it. But a part of me worries that this is going to be the new normal - i.e., the GOP will now try to recall any and every Democrat "just cuz," the same way they impeached President Clinton. The Republicans are expert at taking something a Democrat does rarely, and usually when it's deserved (e.g., the filibuster), and then abusing the hell out of it at every opportunity they can. I'm actually surprised the Republicans haven't tried to impeach President Obama yet. And you know if the Republicans take the Senate in November they're going to immediately get rid of the filibuster, or at least launch a major PR campaign around the issue intended to scare Democrats away from using it the way the Republicans do.
Read the rest of this post...
Portland Oregon City Council says corporations not people
The opposition to Citizens United, the corp-friendly Supreme Court decision, is building.
On the heels of this and this, the City Council of Portland, Oregon, has stepped up. The Oregonian online (h/t Dylan Ratigan; my emphasis and some reparagraphing):
(Keep an eye on that Montana decision though; the Montana Supreme Court, which in many people's estimations is about to be slapped down, has actual power.)
GP Read the rest of this post...
On the heels of this and this, the City Council of Portland, Oregon, has stepped up. The Oregonian online (h/t Dylan Ratigan; my emphasis and some reparagraphing):
Portland City Council approves anti-war and corporate-personhood resolutionsAs the article noted, both measures are "largely symbolic."
Portland City Council chambers overflowed this afternoon with supporters of two resolutions that grew out of the Occupy Wall Street and anti-war movements. Both are largely symbolic.
The first measure takes aim at military spending and responds to a call from local peace activists in October. ...
A second resolution, piggybacking on efforts in Los Angeles and elsewhere, establishes "that corporations should not receive the same legal rights as natural persons do, that money is not speech and that independent expenditures should be regulated" in political campaigns. It takes aim at the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Citizens United, which allows unlimited corporate spending in elections.
(Keep an eye on that Montana decision though; the Montana Supreme Court, which in many people's estimations is about to be slapped down, has actual power.)
GP Read the rest of this post...
Millionaire Mitt thinks his tax rate should be zero
From Matt Ortega over at AMERICAblog Elections we learn that not only does Mitt Romney pay only a 15% tax rate (since most of his income is on capital gains), but he thinks the tax rate for people like him should be zero.
Still think Romney is a different kind of Republican? All these guys want to do is start wars, bash gays and women, and cut taxes for the rich. To hell with the rest of the country. (After all, it was George Bush who turned us from a budget surplus to a massive deficit - and how did he do it? Tax cuts and wars.). How long before "President" Romney asks taxpayers to buy him a $100m yacht? Read the rest of this post...
Still think Romney is a different kind of Republican? All these guys want to do is start wars, bash gays and women, and cut taxes for the rich. To hell with the rest of the country. (After all, it was George Bush who turned us from a budget surplus to a massive deficit - and how did he do it? Tax cuts and wars.). How long before "President" Romney asks taxpayers to buy him a $100m yacht? Read the rest of this post...
Are rat experiments unethical?
I like animals. But then again, I like fetuses too. That doesn't stop me from thinking it's okay to use fetal stem cells to help people live better lives. So I was intrigued by this article, initially because who wouldn't read an article about "Cyborg rats," but then was intrigued by the end of the story, where animal rights advocates are outraged about the experiments taking place on lab rats.
Now, I've seen lab rats. And I've seen them killed. It ain't pretty. Basically, the most efficient method I was shown (and I just couldn't bring myself to do it) was to take the rat by the tail, swing it behind you, like you would one of those oversized hammers at the circus, and you bring the rat's head crashing down on the counter in front of you, instantly killing it. It was seriously gross. Then again, I couldn't handle cutting the heads and tails, and yanking the wings, off of several hundred stunned huge black flies in my bio class in college - it too, was disgusting - in order to collect their mitochondria (the drawn-and-quartered flies would start to move around in the petri dish, or sometimes in your hand, like someone who had crossed King Henry one too many times, it was horrible). I finally had to have my hunk of a lab partner finish the flies for me.
My point: Is that inhumane too, ripping body parts off of living flies?
I'm a big animal lover. But I never know what to make of animal rights activists. A lot of times when I read their stuff my PC meter goes off far more than it does for other progressive activists. Is it because I care somehow less about their cause, or is it because they do a worse job of promoting their cause?
And even if it's cruel to mess around with the brains of lab rats, is a rat's life, or suffering, really equally to that of a person with Parkinson's? Read the rest of this post...
"This type of research raises enormous ethical concerns, let alone the poor animals whose lives are wasted on dubious and ego-driven experiments," says Jan Creamer, CEO of the UK-based National Anti-Vivisection Society.
 |
| Circus hammer photo via Shutterstock |
My point: Is that inhumane too, ripping body parts off of living flies?
I'm a big animal lover. But I never know what to make of animal rights activists. A lot of times when I read their stuff my PC meter goes off far more than it does for other progressive activists. Is it because I care somehow less about their cause, or is it because they do a worse job of promoting their cause?
And even if it's cruel to mess around with the brains of lab rats, is a rat's life, or suffering, really equally to that of a person with Parkinson's? Read the rest of this post...
Santorum aide: Every time a woman runs for president... God kills a kitten (my paraphrase)
Via ThinkProgress:
In an article about the reasons Rep. Michele Bachmann’s campaign fizzled, the Des Moines Register points to “sexism among conservatives,” singling out an offensive email written by a staffer to Rick Santorum:Read the rest of this post...
Rival presidential candidate Rick Santorum’s Iowa coalitions director, Jamie Johnson, sent out an email saying that children’s lives would be harmed if the nation had a female president. [...]Johnson, who remains on Santorum’s staff, complained that the email was “blown out of proportion” and should not be held against him because it was sent from a personal email account.
“The question then comes, ‘Is it God’s highest desire, that is, his biblically expressed will, … to have a woman rule the institutions of the family, the church, and the state?’ ” Johnson’s email said.
Who's in the Top 0.1 percent? — It's mainly "the corporate suits"
Paul Krugman has noted that there's push-back on the Occupyers' notion of the "top 1%" as the enemy. As Krugman says: "[T]he slogan 'we are the 99 percent' sets the cut too low".
(I've made the same point myself, especially here and here.)
We now have some data on the composition-by-professon of the Top 0.1% — where the real money and power are. Click here to see Table 1 from this study (pdf). It shows that data.
The Professor summarizes (my emphasis):
In the age of minimalist top marginal tax rates, the easiest way to loot a company is from the executive suite. Done and done.
GP Read the rest of this post...
(I've made the same point myself, especially here and here.)
We now have some data on the composition-by-professon of the Top 0.1% — where the real money and power are. Click here to see Table 1 from this study (pdf). It shows that data.
The Professor summarizes (my emphasis):
If you add together nonfinance executives, “financial professions”, real estate, and lawyers, you’ve got more than 70 percent of the total; plus some of the other categories are probably essentially business executives too. Basically, the top 0.1 percent is the corporate suits, with a few token sports and film stars thrown in.As we've pointed out a number of times, in the U.S., real institutional wealth is accumulated by banks, hedge funds, and consumer and energy corporations. Real personal wealth comes from looting those institutions.
Real wealth in America isn’t nuanced at all.
In the age of minimalist top marginal tax rates, the easiest way to loot a company is from the executive suite. Done and done.
GP Read the rest of this post...
ABC Poll: Congress approval rating at record low, while President at 48%
The Republicans in Congress are faring worse than the Dems. From ABC:
The President doesn't like to remind people of this fact, but it's the Bush wars and the Bush tax cuts that did the most damage to the budget. Read the rest of this post...
Nonetheless, the squabbling that’s riven Congress the past year gives Obama one clear strategy – joining in the chorus of criticism of Congress, and the Republicans in Congress in particular. Their 21 percent approval rating is a point from its record low, set just last month.The President needs to make sure that both he and his administration make clear that it's the Republican in Congress, not just "Congress," that's the problem. Lest we end up with Republicans controlling the Senate too - and yes, Republican control of the House and Senate would be a disaster, as the GOP no longer believes in doing anything to actually help the country, it's all about tax cuts and wars (and abortion) with these people, regardless of how much they bankrupt the country. Don't forget, it's the Republicans who got us into our current fiscal mess. In fact, 71% of the national debt occurred under Republican presidents.
The Democrats in Congress, at 33 percent approval, do better than their GOP counterparts, and have gained 6 points from their low last month. But they’ve moved in tandem with the Republicans: Both parties in Congress have lost 17 points in approval in the past three years.
The President doesn't like to remind people of this fact, but it's the Bush wars and the Bush tax cuts that did the most damage to the budget. Read the rest of this post...
Pro-austerity Conservatives in UK promote $92 million yacht for queen. The definition of one percent.
At one point, they even suggested that British schools help pay for it.
Seriously? What idiot thinks it's a good time to worry about buying a yacht for one of the richest families on the planet? Talk about working for the 1%, it doesn't get any more 1% than the queen of England. It was bad enough that the education secretary even suggested it considering what the Tories have done to the education system, but for the so-called conservative (and Conservative) prime minister to support it is obscene. The UK is either in a crisis or its not. If it's in a crisis (and it does appear to be in its second recent recession) this should not even be an option. Why are they wasting time concerned about a brand new yacht when there are much more serious issues to address? The Guardian:
Seriously? What idiot thinks it's a good time to worry about buying a yacht for one of the richest families on the planet? Talk about working for the 1%, it doesn't get any more 1% than the queen of England. It was bad enough that the education secretary even suggested it considering what the Tories have done to the education system, but for the so-called conservative (and Conservative) prime minister to support it is obscene. The UK is either in a crisis or its not. If it's in a crisis (and it does appear to be in its second recent recession) this should not even be an option. Why are they wasting time concerned about a brand new yacht when there are much more serious issues to address? The Guardian:
David Cameron has swung behind plans for a new, privately funded royal yacht that will double up as a university of the seas, and provide accommodation for royalty in the ship's stern. Cameron has endorsed the idea after lobbying from the higher education minister David Willetts and the education secretary Michael Gove. The idea, at one point described by Gove as a gift from the nation to the Queen on her diamond jubilee, also has the backing of the Prince of Wales and Princess Anne, according to letters sent to the prime minister by Willetts. Downing Street sources said the prime minister regarded the idea as excellent, and discussions have been held with Portsmouth city council for the yacht to be berthed in the south coast port.Since ministers were discussing taxpayer involvement, it's still not completely clear whether they will have to foot part of the bill. Read the rest of this post...
London banker bonuses to drop 37%
It's a lot of money, but of course, they're still making a lot of money. Even with the drop in bonus payouts, they're still making well above any other industry. It's disgraceful that the political class allowed the payouts - on the taxpayer dime - to continue after the 2008 crash. The banking industry still needs considerable reform.
UK City bonuses for 2011 will drop by 37 percent to 4.2 billion pounds ($6.4 billion), according to the Centre for Economic & Business Research (CEBR). Profits are down across the board after the euro zone debt crisis defied most traders' expectations last year. Former big payers such as Barclays [BARC-GB 199.10 --- UNCH ] have already announced bonuses will be cut. Barclays CEO Bob Diamond, once the best-paid banker in the City, said late last year that “pay and bonuses will be much lower this year”. Analysts at Citi estimate Barclays Capital, the bank’s investment unit, which is known as one of the City’s biggest bonus payers, will slash its bonus pool by around 17 percent.Read the rest of this post...
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
