Tag Archives: The Economy

November 10, 2011 · 8:06 pm

Wall Street Transaction Tax Would Raise $350 Billion

This makes way too much sense to ever become law….

This is not aimed at true investors, but rather at the Market manipulators who treat Wall Street much the way other gamblers treat Las Vegas…

Unfortunately, these same people, who would pay this miniscule tax, now own most of our Senators and Congressmen.  Therefore, they will say it’s better to cut Medicaid, Medicare and Social Security than to implement this transaction tax….

 

A minuscule tax on financial transactions proposed by congressional Democrats would raise more than $350 billion over the next nine years, according to an analysis by the Joint Tax Committee, a nonpartisan congressional scorekeeping panel.

The analysis was sent Monday to the offices of Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) and Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.), the lawmakers who proposed the tax, and provided to The Huffington Post.

The Wall Street Trading and Speculators Tax Act would impose a tax of 0.03 percent on financial transactions, meaning that longterm investors would barely notice it, but traders who move rapidly in and out of positions would feel its sting and, the authors hope, reduce the volume of their speculation in response.

via Wall Street Transaction Tax Would Raise $350 Billion.

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November 10, 2011 · 5:26 pm

Bank Of America Charges Debit Fees for Unemployment Benefits Debit Cards

This is just disgusting….

I can’t say this often enough:  If States, Federal and Local Governments are going to contract with these banks to manage Government Benefits, these contracts should specify that these banks cannot charge these poor people fees to use the benefits.

This is robbery of the poor and most vulnerable by the rich, politically powerful, government bailed-out banks who assume these people don’t have the power to fight back.

B of A already gets a percentage of each charge from the merchant.  That’s fine as that’s how the credit/debit card system is meant to work.  The cost is- or should be- built into consumer  pricing….

These additional fees are at the very least immoral and should be illegal.

I’ll say it again:  Bank of America is just plain evil….

From the Huffington Post:

Bank of America recently aborted plans to charge ordinary banking customers $5 a month to use their debit cards in the face of national outrage. But the bank has quietly continued to mine another source of fees: jobless people who depend upon the bank’s prepaid debit cards to tap their benefits. Bank of America and other financial firms — including U.S. Bank, Wells Fargo and JP Morgan Chase — have secured contracts to provide access to public benefits in 41 states. These contracts typically allow banks to collect unlimited fees from merchants and consumers.

In short, the same banks whose speculation delivered a financial crisis that has destroyed millions of jobs have figured out how to turn widespread unemployment into a profit center: The larger the number of people who are out of work and dependent upon the state for sustenance, the greater the potential gains through administering their benefits.

“It’s absolutely ridiculous,” said Sue Berkowitz, director of the South Carolina Appleseed Legal Justice Center, a Columbia nonprofit that represents low-income people facing foreclosure, food insecurity and other problems. “It should not cost you any more to use a debit card than if they had issued you a check.”

For the state, handing Bank of America responsibility for unemployment benefits secured cost savings, said Berkowitz, but they have come at vulnerable people’s expense.

via For Bank Of America, Debit Fees Extend To Unemployment Benefits.

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November 4, 2011 · 6:47 pm

Occupy Wall Street More Popular Than Justin Bieber On Twitter

Well, there is some comfort here….

Occupy Wall Street is a serious, grass-roots uprising of normal citizens try to force society into recognizing and dealing with income inequality and the Corporate ownership of our government.

I guess that’s a little more important than some no-talent, plastic pre-pubescent “entertainer” who is a manufactured product of the very mass-produced culture generated by these corporations, strictly  to make money from gullible Americans, and forced down their throats via distribution, broadcast and media empires owned by said Corporations…

Besides, I’m still not convinced Justin Bieber isn’t really a 24 year-old Lesbian being marketed by the Corporations as a  teenage boy.

Call me cynical, but remember Milli Vanilli…

From Huffington Post:

The Occupy Wall Street movement topped Justin Bieber as the most popular story on Twitter, according to the New Media Index from the Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism.

Despite the teen heart-throb’s over 14 million Twitter followers, Occupy Wall Street was the top story on Twitter between October 24 and 28, followed by Bieber, who has made the New Media Index charts three times in the last five weeks. Steve Job’s death, the news of which broke October 6, came in third and the 2012 presidential elections ranked fourth.

The Occupy Wall Street movement was the third most popular news story on blogs (Bieber didn’t make the cut!) and the New Media Index notes that the protests “inspired very different conversations on blogs and Twitter.”

“On Twitter, the tone was markedly pro-protestor, with Twitter users sharing images and videos of police using tear gasduring protests in Oakland,” wrote the New Media Index in its report.

Recent analysis by Google found that search interest in Occupy Wall Street had waned slightly from its peak on October 15.

An NMIncite study released October 19 concluded that social media “buzz” about Occupy Wall Street “reached its peak on October 6th with 13,133 messages being posted in one day,” though the New Media Index’s findings suggest conversations about the movement are up again on Twitter.

Bieber enjoys such high popularity on Twitter that employees at the social media company have joked that the star has his own servers.

“At any moment, Justin Bieber uses 3% of our infrastructure. Racks of servers are dedicated to him. – A guy who works at Twitter,” tweeted Dustin Curtis last year.

via Justin Bieber Less Popular Than Occupy Wall Street On Twitter.

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November 3, 2011 · 6:18 pm

650,000 Americans Joined Credit Unions Last Month — More Than In All Of 2010 Combined

This is great news!  As a happy Credit Union Member for over 20 years, all I can say is welcome!  You will be very happy here.

I’ve said it again and again:  I don’t understand why anyone wants to bank with the big national banks.  They will screw you on fees and treat you like dirt.  Take your money to a Credit Union where you are one of the owners helping other owners and community members.

From ThinkProgress.org:

One of the tactics the 99 Percenters are using to take back the country from the 1 percent is to move their money from big banks to credit unions, community banks, and other smaller financial unions that aren’t gambling with our nation’s future.

Now, the Credit Union National Association (CUNA) reports that a whopping 650,000 Americans have joined credit unions since Sept. 29 — the date that Bank of America announced it would start charging a $5 monthly debit fee, a move it backed down on this week.

To put that in perspective, there were only 600,000 new members for credit unions in all of 2010. “These results indicate that consumers are clearly making a smarter choice by moving to credit unions where, on average, they will save about $70 a year in fewer or no fees, lower rates on loans and higher return on savings,” said CUNA President Bill Cheney.

This Saturday, 99 Percenters are calling on Americans to move their money from big banks to credit unions and community banks on what is being called “Bank Transfer Day.” If you want to stand with the 99 Percent and take part in this action, use the Move Your Money project’s community bank and credit union finder tool to find out how.

via 650,000 Americans Joined Credit Unions Last Month — More Than In All Of 2010 Combined | ThinkProgress.

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November 2, 2011 · 9:40 pm

Big Banks Extracting Fees On Unemployment Benefits

These big banks are just plain evil….

I was in BB&T last week and saw a sign saying they would charge either $8 or $12 to cash a check drawn on their bank for people without an account of their own.  That should be illegal.

And now I see this?

Evil… just plain evil.

If banks are going to administer Government benefits, they should be required, by contract, not to charge the people receiving the benefits.  They still make money from merchants when debit/credit cards are used and that’s fine.  It’s soaking the beneficiaries, who can least afford it, that is just plain wrong….

Evil…just plain evil.

I don’t know why anyone deals with these banks who doesn’t have to do so.  The rest of us should be moving our money out to Credit Unions or, at the very least, local community banks….

Out of work and living on a $189-a-week unemployment check, Rob Linville needs to watch every penny. Lately, he has been watching too many pennies disappear into the coffers of the bank that administers his unemployment check via a prepaid debit card.

The state of Oregon, where Linville lives, deposits his weekly benefits on a U.S. Bank prepaid debit card. The bank allows him to make four withdrawals per month free of charge. After that, he must pay $1.50 for each visit to the ATM and $3 to see a teller. Managing his basic expenses, including rent, bus fare and groceries, typically requires more than four withdrawals, he says. Unexpected needs — Linville recently bought a sport coat for $20 to prepare for a job interview — entail more. He’s afraid to withdraw his full benefits in one shot, knowing that the bank could sock him with a $17.50 overdraft fee if he exceeds his balance. So he pulls out small amounts of cash as he needs it, incurring about $15 in fees in the last two months he says.

“I’m so broke,” Linville said, his voice expressing resignation that this is simply how the world works. “But I don’t really have any other options.”

Across the nation, people receiving a range of state-furnished benefits — from unemployment insurance and food stamps to cash assistance for poor families — are facing similar options and reaching the same conclusion. In 41 states major banks and financial firms have secured contracts to provide access to public benefits via prepaid debit cards. And banks are increasingly extracting hefty cuts of these funds through an assortment of small fees. U.S. Bank, JP Morgan Chase, Wells Fargo, Bank of America and other institutions hold contracts to distribute these benefits on prepaid debit cards.

via Banks Extract Fees On Unemployment Benefits.

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November 2, 2011 · 8:37 pm

The Median Net Worth Of A Member Of Congress Is Five Times Higher Than The Median American Household

And we wonder why they just don’t get it?

They live in an alternate universe!

These guys and gals live in a little bubble called Washington, DC, sheltered by their wealth, and have no idea how the real world operates…

Nothing will change as long as the Congress is run by the rich for the rich….

 

Part of the reason the richest 1 percent of Americans have captured our politics is because they are able to finance political races, issue campaigns, and lobbyists. But the other reason some of the richest Americans have been able to control our politics is because they themselves have gotten elected to positions of power at a much higher rate than the rest of us.

As Roll Call points out today, the estimated median net worth for a member of Congress in 2010 was $513,000 (this is strictly an estimate as assets are reported in ranges). Meanwhile, the Center for Economic and Policy Research’s David Rosnick points out that the net worth of the median household in the United States that same year was closer to $100,000:

via The Median Net Worth Of A Member Of Congress Is Five Times Higher Than The Median American Household | ThinkProgress.

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October 30, 2011 · 11:45 am

Shadow Work: How Corporations Make Us Do the Jobs of Thousands for Free

Do you realize that every day you do the job of dozens of people and don’t get paid to do them?  In fact, you pay the corporations and businesses for the privilege to serve yourself.

I’ve been thinking about this for some time….

We now pump our own gas, check ourselves out at the grocery store, help ourselves as we can’t find a clerk at Macy’s, check ourselves in at the airport, pay our parking at a machine….the list goes on and on.

These used to be jobs.  People used to do these jobs.  These jobs used to enable people to buy homes and have families.  They used to make us interact with people and make our lives more human and humane and less frantic and stressed.

Now we “self-service” so the corporations can make more profit and cut tedious expenses like “employees.”

When I visit my Mother at her Assisted Living facility, I see people who made careers as sales clerks and in other customer service jobs. They made enough money to live decent, middle class lives and pay for the outrageous fees at that home.

Shoppers and travelers used to feel pampered and appreciated.  Now they are stressed and over burdened.

And don’t even think about the internet and the push to self service there for banking, shopping and every other imaginable task.

Banks now want to charge Customers to see a teller- and to use their Debit Cards to self service and help banks avoid the processing charges associated with checks.

Businesses will do anything to avoid interacting directly with their Customers.

Customers are also another inconvenience to businesses.  Business doesn’t understand why people don’t just give them money and walk away.  So what, if the service and products are shoddy or not what the people want.

They just want their cash- sorry, credit or debit cards.  Cash is too people-intensive to handle.

But the Corporations are making record profits….and stashing them in under their figurative mattresses.

Think about this a while and you will really start to understand that Occupy Wall Street was a long time coming…

Here is a brief excerpt from today’s New York Times. I encourage you to click the link and read the entire article…..

 

The conventional wisdom is that America has become a “service economy,” but actually, in many sectors, “service” is disappearing. There was a time when a gas station attendant would routinely fill your tank and even check your oil and clean your windshield and rear window without charge, then settle your bill. Today, all those jobs have been transferred to the customer: we pump our own gas, squeegee our own windshield, and pay our own bill by swiping a credit card. Where customers once received service from the service station, they now provide “self-service” — a synonym for “no service.” Technology enables this sleight of hand, which lets gas stations cut their payrolls, having co-opted their patrons into doing these jobs without pay.

Examples abound, helping drive unemployment rates. Airports now have self-service check-in kiosks that allow travelers to perform the jobs of ticket agents. Travel agents once unearthed, perused and compared fares, deals and hotel rates. Shadow-working travelers now do all of this themselves on their computer screens. Medical patients are now better informed than ever — as a result of hours of online shadow work. In 1998, the Internal Revenue Service estimated that taxpayers spent six billion hours per year on “tax compliance activities.” That’s serious shadow work, the equivalent of three million full-time jobs.

Once upon a time, retail stores had employees who were not cashiers but roamed the floor, assisting customers. Go into a Wal-Mart or Target or Staples and find someone to help you locate and choose a product. Good luck. You’re on your own, left to wander the aisles in search of an unoccupied staff person. (Meanwhile, you might stumble on and purchase some item you hadn’t planned on buying.) Here, it’s not technology, but a business tactic that cuts payroll expenses by trimming the service provided to customers — and prolongs the time those customers spend rambling around inside the store. Regardless, the result is still more shadow work, as customers take on the job that retail salespeople once did.

via Our Unpaid, Extra Shadow Work – NYTimes.com.

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October 29, 2011 · 9:56 am

Why are Bikes and Walking Trails Being Targeted by Congress?

I can tell you!  It’s because they don’t use gas or oil!

Our current Congress Trolls think it’s Un-American to go more than 5 feet unless you are driving a gas guzzling American made hummer type monstrosity.

Remember their motto:  “What’s good for Exxon Mobil is what’s good for America.”

If you aren’t going to be riding around in the car, they prefer you lay on your sofa and watch Fox News while eating Frankenfoods….

And please note, Rand Paul, the Libertarian darling who fooled so many people in the last election cycle, is doing his bit here…..I thought he wanted the government to stay out of everything?  I’m all for more infrastructure spending.  All for it.  But it should be in addition to these expenditures for walking and bike trails.

From Jay Walljasper at Shareable.net:

 

How in the the world can biking and walking be controversial?

They’re good exercise, fun to do and—as an alternative to driving everywhere—help us save money and the environment.  Both biking and walking are increasingly popular for transportation and recreation today, thanks in large part to a recent flowering of federally-funded trails, bikeways and pathways that make getting around on two wheels and two feet safer and more convenient.

But in these antagonistic political times, bikers and walkers are now targets of controversy for some members of Congress.  In September, Oklahoma Senator Tom Coburn proposed stripping all designated federal funding for bike and pedestrian projects from the pending Transportation Bill. After an outpouring of opposition from citizens coast-to-coast, Coburn withdrew his amendment.

Now bicyclists and pedestrians are under attack again, this time in an amendment from Kentucky Senator Rand Paul. He wants to redirect every last penny of money dedicated to bicycling and walking to bridge repair instead.

via Shareable: Why are Bikes Being Targeted by Congress?.

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October 28, 2011 · 8:38 pm

Ten Things I Hate About Republicans

As a start, let’s remember the classic premise under which the Republican Party has traditionally built its platform:  “A strong national defense and  less government intrusion into our daily lives.”  Doesn’t sound too bad on the surface, but the devil is in the details and how the GOP has evolved over the last 30 years.

The GOP used to be the bastion of White Shoe Lawyers, Old Money and the Corporate Elite.  At least they were straight forward about their goals in those days.  It was all about preserving capital within the family, making money and leaving every one else alone as long as those goals were achieved.

Then came the unholy alliance with the Religious Right.  Then they had to pretend they gave a damn about abortion and gays.  There went the part of the platform about “less government intrusion into our daily lives.”  Out the window.  The proverbial baby with the bath water,

That eventually led to most sensible people leaving the GOP.  This was all just too tacky for the Country Club Republicans to accept.  So, they moved to the Democrats and we saw the rise of the Corporatist Wing of the Democratic Party.

Arguably, a lot of today’s Democrats are very similar to the Republicans of 30 or 40 years ago.  That means a lot of people don’t quite fit anywhere.   However, the Democratic Party is more open to dissension and discussion, so most of these folks stay with the Dems and try to work it out.  The Dems negotiate, the GOP purges like the Stalinists of yore….

But I digress…let’s get back on topic.

What do I hate about the “modern” GOP?  Let me tell you…

1.  They are mean- these folks go for the jugular vein.  They don’t discuss, they don’t book dissent, they kill.  Truth is usually the first victim.  They have obviously read their Machiavelli and believe you can’t wound a prince, you must kill him.  (See Rick Perry)

2.  They lie with impunity- The modern GOP does not believe in facts, they believe in propaganda. They will look you in the eye – or more likely television camera- and lie. Their goal is to create an alternate reality that benefits the Rich without anyone getting wise to the situation.  (See Fox News)

3.  They are hypocrites-  They claim moral superiority and belief in “traditional” family values while serially abandoning wives and families for new trophy wives.  (See John McCain and Newt Gingrich)

4.  They are plastic- If Ken and Barbie ran for  office they would be Republicans.  I’m convinced the GOP and fundamentalist ministers keep the hairspray companies in business.  I would just love to put all the GOP debaters in a wind tunnel and see how they came out.  I wonder if their hair is real or if it’s like some play-dough helmet they put on everyday….(See Mitt Romney and Rick Perry)

5.  They are proud of their ignorance- They hate science and won’t believe simple facts.  They can’t be bothered to learn or study the issues.  (See Herman Cain and Sarah Palin-among others)

6.  They are intolerant of other religions or the religious views of others- Each of them seem to be convinced they have a direct line to God and he speaks only to them.  Anyone who disagrees with them is bound for hell.  (See Michele Bachmann and Rick Santorum)

7.  They are heartless-  Ideological purity is of the utmost importance-particularly to the Libertarian Republicans.  These guys believe in almost no government.  If you get sick and don’t have any money, it’s okay to let you die.  They think you should have planned better and worked harder. (See Ron Paul)

8.  They are anti-intellectual-  Used to be we wanted the smartest guy or gal in the room for our President.  Not the GOP.  Not only are they proud of their ignorance, they dismiss intelligence and intellectual curiosity as signs of ideological weakness.  They think people who actually study the issues and the facts are wasting valuable time.  To them, facts are to be adjusted to drive the agenda and one shouldn’t think too much about things like starting a war with Iraq because someone insulted Daddy.  (See George W. Bush)

9.  The are vengeful- They truly believe there are only two important concepts in politics:  Loyalty and Revenge.  You must be loyal, without asking questions, or you will face their revenge.  (See George W. Bush and Dick Cheney)

10.  They are always out for themselves- Their motto really should be “I’ve got mine, screw you.”  They don’t believe in anything that stands in the way of profiteering.  It’s all about “me” to them.  They don’t even recognize the existence of anyone else as that would require them to stop gazing at themselves in the mirror and reading their bank statements.  (See Sarah Palin)

I could go on, but I’ll stop here for now….

I’m sure before the Republican Presidential Primaries are over, I’ll be able to add to this list…..

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October 25, 2011 · 10:41 pm

CBO: Income Of The Top 1 Percent Exploded Over The Last Three Decades

It will be interesting to see how the GOP handles this report from the non-partisan and highly respected Congressional Budget Office.

Well, not really.  They will just loudly spread lies and propaganda while impugning the reputation of the CBO.

At this point, their reaction to news and facts not supportive of their goals is really rather predictable.

From ThinkProgress.org:

The Congressional Budget Office today released a new report on the growth in income that’s occurred in the U.S. over the last three decades. CBO found that, “for the 1 percent of the population with the highest income, average real after-tax household income grew by 275 percent between 1979 and 2007,” while it grew by just 18 percent for the bottom 20 percent of the income scale. “As a result of that uneven income growth, the distribution of after-tax household income in the United States was substantially more unequal in 2007 than in 1979,” CBO said.

via CBO: Income Of The Top 1 Percent Exploded Over The Last Three Decades | ThinkProgress.

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