The wonderful world of our capitalist society, small c for the few that capitalize!

With trouble brewing inside mortgage giants Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, Armen Keteyian reports that the nation is learning more and more about the companies and their friends in high places.

This is a Good one, and what with the way our so called Capitalist Economy has been running for years now, I'm gonna enjoy reading this list, Really Enjoy!

Super Rich Tax Cheats Outed by Bank Clerk
Technician in Liechtenstein Turns Over Names of Americans With Secret Bank Accounts

What we could do with a few more honest disgruntled bank employee's

promoted --

Sometimes we need to see things differently to understand them fully. right now, I'm reading the book "Free Lunch" by David Cay Johnson. It details how the rich are twisting government policy to enrich themselves. No surprises here.

But this article isn't about railing against the rich, it's about looking at the structure of government differently. What we learn in school is that there are three branches of government: Congressional, Presidential and Judicial. In practice, we have a fourth branch of government which is comprised of a loose coalition of the super wealthy who use lobbying and campaign contributions to exert influence on the other three branches. Again, nothing new here.

I read this 3 page article in Reuters this morning which made my heart just a little bit lighter. I welcome anything that helps relieve the agony of these past months/years.....
excerpt:
Wall Street puts its money behind Obama

By Emily Kaiser - Analysis

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Wall Street is putting its money behind Democrat Barack Obama for president, despite worries that his administration would raise taxes and take a tougher line on trade and regulation.

OhioNews Bureau

ONB COLUMBUS: What do Ohioans facing home foreclosure and Shakespeare’s legendary Prince of Denmark have in common? Both hope a dream can help them escape “the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune.”

For the growing tide of Ohioans facing home foreclosure “to sleep: perchance to dream: ay, there’s the rub” could be one way to keep their American Dream of owning a home alive long enough for circumstances to change sufficiently to allow them to tell the wolf of foreclosure that prowls outside their door today to go away.

originally posted 2008-02-20 04:21:28 - bumped cho

Via ThinkProgress:¹

A new article from the Philadelphia Inquirer has blown open the startling plans of the IRS to allow tax preparers for the first time to sell the tax returns of their customers.

The proposal came in a painfully technical tax regulation, which until now had attracted only a dozen public comments since it was announced in December. The proposal calls itself “not a significant regulatory action.” But the proposal is indeed significant, both for tax privacy and more broadly.

Until now, tax preparers could not sell tax returns to outside parties. Period. If they got taxpayer consent, they could use it for marketing, but only within their own corporate family.

The new proposal allows the tax preparers –- from your local accountant to giants such as H&R Block –- to get your signature and then give or sell the full tax return to data brokers, to your boss, to anyone. And there are absolutely no restrictions about what recipients do with the returns. The rule lets recipients post the full return to the Internet if they want.

(Hat-tip to Sarabeth from Delphiforums.)

This is not the first time that the privacy of US Tax Returns was under assault by the Republicans.

Remember the little "problem" that came to light in November of 2004, when Senator Istook slipped a provision into an Emergency Appropriations Bill that granted the chairs of the House and Senate Appropriations Committees -- and their assistants -- access to taxpayer returns, without subjecting them to any of the rules governing privacy or holding them accountable for any misuse?²

This seems to be a growing concern for Republicans. Apparently, our privacy isn't worth preserving, and exposing us to a highly increased risk of identity theft is apparently worthwhile.

Many of us are starting to prepare our 2007 taxes, but how many of us know what our tax dollars are actually paying for? FCNL calculates that 43 cents of every dollar {PDF} you'll pay in taxes go to pay for current and past military activities.

War Is Not the Answer!

Especially WARS Of CHOICE!

OhioNews Bureau

ONB COLUMBUS: Wind and snow are cooling off Ohio, as is the specter of an oncoming recession, that could further chill the state’s already ailing economy.

With light snow flakes falling as if they were blown off the canvass of a Norman Rockwell painting, the message Ohio Governor Ted Strickland offered today as a strategy to bolster the budget from the hungry jaws of economic recession probably didn’t warm the cockles of the hearts of state employees, many of whom could be offered early retirement buyouts to get them off the payroll.

In his latest blog, posted below with his permission, he suggests the way to stimulate the economy and avoid recession is to take the route of fairness. Now that's a radical proposal. here is the link to his blog

How to Avoid the Coming Recession

Michael Kanellos/CNET: Will taxes halt Calif.'s solar thermal ambitions?
The House of Representatives passed a bill that would provide $21 billion in tax credits to the renewable industry and require utilities to increase their renewable portfolios to 15 percent. The Senate, however, rejected it, putting the credits in limbo.
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Sean Olender/SFGate: MORTGAGE MELTDOWN
Interest rate 'freeze' - the real story is fraud [h/t to susie dow]
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Hoover's Horrors in the Senate present themselves as standing on a particular set of values. Kinda hard to do when those "values" are shadows on quicksand.