Politics and Legislation
Campaign Spending Shows Political Ties, Self-Dealing
Kim Barker, Al Shaw, ProPublica:
“Our analysis found that more than $306 million has been spent so far by major super PACs and the five leading presidential candidates. In some cases, payees serve both candidates and the super PACs aligned with them, raising the specter that groups may be working together in ways that violate the rules, campaign finance experts said. We also found instances in which overseers of some political action committees directed hefty fees to their own companies, a legal form of self-dealing.”
US House of Representatives Approves Plan to Destroy
Medicare, Medicaid and Food Stamps
By Patrick Martin
The US House of Representatives has adopted a budget resolution that calls for privatization of Medicare and the elimination of Medicaid, food stamps and many other federal entitlement benefits. The resolution is part of a bipartisan campaign to slash spending on social programs.
US Anti-terrorism Law Curbs Free Speech and Activist Work, Court Told
By Paul Harris in New York
A group political activists and journalists has launched a legal challenge to stop an American law they say allows the US military to arrest civilians anywhere in the world and detain them without trial as accused supporters of terrorism.
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Economy
Break Up the Big Banks, Says the Dallas Fed
Robert Reich, Op-Ed:
Wall Street’s increasing power remains “difficult to control because they have the lawyers and the money to resist the pressures of federal regulation.” The Dodd-Frank act that was supposed to control Wall Street “leaves TBTF [too big to fail] entrenched.” The Dallas Fed goes on to argue that the Fed’s easy money policy can’t be much help to the U.S. economy as long as Wall Street is “still clogged with toxic assets accumulated in the boom years.
Department of Energy Knew of Solyndra Risks, Former FBI Agent Finds
Ronnie Greene, News Analysis:
“The Department of Energy was fully aware of the risks in backing Solyndra Inc., a start-up company that pocketed a half-billion dollar DOE loan but never turned a penny in profit before shutting its doors, concludes a former FBI agent hired to examine the company’s books. The expert’s report, filed this week in Solyndra’s voluminous bankruptcy case in California , could embolden critics who say the government ignored financial red flags in supporting the solar panel maker with President Obama’s maiden green energy loan in 2009.”
While White House Emphasizes Easing Student Debt Burden, Fed Contractors Play Hardball
Marian Wang, News Analysis:
“Under Education Department contracts, collection companies “rehabilitate” a defaulted loan by getting a borrower to make nine payments in 10 months. If they succeed, they reap a jackpot: a commission equal to as much as 16 percent of the entire loan amount, or $3,200 on a $20,000 loan. These companies receive that fee only if borrowers make a minimum payment of 0.75 percent to 1.25 percent of the loan each month, depending on its size.”
Bank Of America CEO Gets $7.5 Million Pay Package After The Bank Lost More Than Half Its Stock Value
Pat Garofalo, News Report:
“The Wall Street Journal noted this week that that CEO pay lagged behind profits and productivity last year, mirroring a trend that has been occurring with workers’ wages for decades. But even that slight modicum of moderation regarding executive compensation evidently didn’t extend to Bank of America, which gave CEO Brian Moynihan a $7.5 million pay package — six times as much as he made in 2010 — following a year in which the company’s stock plummeted.”
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Wars and Rumors of War
Assad remarks give little hope of peace
By AGENCIES
BAGHDAD: Bashar Assad’s remarks on a UN-Arab plan yesterday gave little hope of peace as the Syrian tyrant called for an end to “terrorist acts” by foreign powers.
“It’s not surprising, but it’s discouraging and disappointing,” US State Department spokesman Mark Toner said.
Arab leaders, meanwhile, urged a peaceful end to the bloodshed through “serious national dialogue,” at a landmark summit in the Iraqi capital yesterday.
They approved a resolution calling on the “Syrian government and all opposition factions to deal positively with the envoy (Kofi Annan) by starting serious national dialogue.”
Arab leaders said the plan should be implemented “immediately and completely.”
It said “the massacre committed by the Syrian forces against civilians in Baba Amro … can be considered crimes (against) humanity.”
Israel Shields Public From Risks of War With Iran
Gareth Porter, Inter Press Service:
“The message that Iran is too weak to threaten an effective counterattack is contradicted by one of Israel’s leading experts on Iranian missiles and the head of its missile defense program for nearly a decade, who says Iranian missiles are capable of doing significant damage to Israeli targets.”
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Environmental
EPA Climate Proposal Could Limit Coal’s future, at Least in U.S.
Renee Schoof, News Report:
The rules require future power plants to keep their emissions of heat-trapping gases under a limit. Most natural gas plants would meet the standard easily, but coal-fired plants would have to reduce emissions by about half. The equipment to capture and store those emissions underground isn’t commercially viable. “This is not a sudden death for the coal industry by any means,” said David Pumphrey of the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a center-right research center.
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Activism
Fault Lines: History of an occupation Part 1
Uploaded by AlJazeeraEnglish on Mar 21, 2012
Fault Lines tells the definitive history of Occupy Wall Street from its early days through the movement’s rapid spread up to the brutal crackdown by state authorities.
Fault Lines: Occupy Wall Street: Surviving the Winter Part 2
Uploaded by AlJazeeraEnglish on Mar 27, 2012
Fault Lines follows key Occupy organisers through the winter as they continue to build a movement even after violent evictions across the country.
On the News With Thom Hartmann: Anti-Austerity Strikes Halted Business in Spain Yesterday, and More
In today’s On the News segment: Supreme Court now deciding the fate of Obamacare, the recall vote of Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker is set, new oil subsidies sail through Congress, natural gas platform disaster continues to unfold in the North Sea, Egyptian courts censor Internet pornography, and more.
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Articles of Interest
Russian Proton-M Puts Military Satellite into Orbit
Russia’s Space Forces launched a Proton-M carrier rocket with a Cosmos class military satellite on board on Friday, spokesman Lt. Col. Alexey Zolotukhin said.
Japan orders SDF to intercept DPRK rocket if necessary
China.org.cn
Japanese Defense Minister Naoki Tanaka officially ordered the Self-Defense Forces (SDF) to intercept a Democratic People’s Republic of Korea’s (DPRK) rocket launch if necessary on Friday.
Tanaka issued the order after he told SDF on Tuesday to take preparatory measures against the DPRK rocket launch.
Japan and other countries see the rocket launch as a cover for a long-range ballistic missile test, Xinhua reported.
All Parties Ignore the One Way to Reduce Health Care Costs: Single-Payer
David U. Himmelstein MD and Steffie Woolhandler MD, MPH, Truthout:
“Both parties studiously avoid the one health-reform solution that – unlike computers – would actually save money while sparing patients: single-payer, nonprofit national health insurance. Research shows that single-payer reform could save about $380 billion annually that’s currently wasted on insurers’ overhead and the unnecessary paperwork (and screen-work) they inflict on hospitals, doctors and patients.”
CWA Union Teams Up With Free Press, Consumer Groups to Oppose Telecom Deregulation
Mike Elk, In These Times:
“The Communications Workers of America union has been criticized by progressive consumers groups like Free Press for its positions on net neutrality and the proposed AT&T-T-Mobile merger. Now, though, CWA is teaming up with groups like Free Press to fight two big bills that they say would deregulate the telecommunications industry, help build telecom monopolies and lead to telecom job losses.”
Exclusive: Soros’ son strikes out on his own
(Hmmmm, Can anyone say Restructuring and SEC?)
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By Jennifer Ablan and Matthew Goldstein
NEW YORK (Reuters) – The upheaval within billionaire investor George Soros’ firm continues as one of his sons is separating some of his personal fortune to manage it himself.
Jonathan Soros, who stepped down in September from day-to-day management of Soros Fund Management LLC, plans to hire at least one of his father’s key employees, say two people familiar with the situation.
The two sources said Soros’ son intends to set up his own family office – something the Soros Fund converted to last year – with the help of David Kulsar, currently chief risk officer for the Soros Fund.
“Jonathan wants to manage some of his own money so the (Soros Fund) family office has made that accommodation for him,” said a source familiar with the situation but who was not authorized to discuss the matter.
Jonathan Soros, who was a law clerk for a federal judge before joining with his brother Robert in 2002 to oversee the management of Soros Fund, did not return calls or emails seeking comment. He currently is a senior fellow with the Roosevelt Institute, a liberal think tank group in New York.
Kulsar, who also did not return a phone call seeking comment, worked in risk management for John Meriweather’s JWM Partners before joining the Soros Fund. Meriweather founded Long-Term Capital Management, the hedge fund whose collapse in 1999 sparked fears of a financial crisis.
