OCCUPY WALL STREET

[Cin]

Originally Posted by AtLast

Yes, investigations need to proceed! But, under the actual laws/regulations governing Wall Street and the banks during the mega-rip off most of what was done was not illegal. That is why it is so important to get the agencies created and the new regulations they are to enforce going. And the GOP in Congress has done everything including blocking confirmation of directors of consummer agencies that will make those kinds of actions illegal and subject to prosecution in order to protect Wall Street and banking further.

Yes, many of the unethical and damaging acts of Wall Street were not illegal thanks to the orgy of de-regulation we have seen over the years. But much of what was done by Wall Street was outright fraud. Misrepresenting debt instruments to the public as sound and top-grade while scorning them privately as toxic junk is still very much illegal, criminal acts under existing statutes.

[Cin]

Published on Tuesday, December 13, 2011 by CommonDreams.org
President Obama, Veto the National Defense Authorization Act
by Center for Constitutional Rights

CCR urges President Obama to veto the NDAA. If he doesn’t, he will bear the blame for making indefinite military detention without trial a permanent feature of the U.S. legal system. He will be responsible for signing into law one of the greatest expansions of executive power in our nation’s history, allowing the government to lock up citizens and non-citizens without the right to fair trial. Indefinite detention is contrary to the most fundamental principles of the rule of law.

The NDAA would essentially prevent President Obama from bringing men from Guantánamo to the U.S. for trial and severely curtail his ability to resettle them in third countries. More than half of the men currently detained at Guantánamo – 89 of the 171 – have been unanimously cleared by the CIA, FBI, NSC and Defense Department for transfer or release. Yet no one has been transferred since last January, when Congress created restrictions similar to those in the NDAA. This marks the longest period without a transfer in the prison camp’s entire 10-year history and only underscores the president’s broken promise and failure to close Guantanamo.

As Obama himself, along with President Bush and NDAA co-sponsor Senator John McCain, acknowledged during the presidential campaign, Guantánamo’s very existence makes us less safe. Indeed, Guantánamo, Obama’s forever prison, has become a global symbol of human rights violations by a country that claims to be the world leader of freedom.

Are these the legacies Obama, the one-time professor of constitutional law, wants for his presidency?

[Sachita]

This really burns my ass:

http://www.truth-out.org/under-indus...ops/1323453319

EXCLUSIVE: Under Industry Pressure, USDA Works to Speed Approval of Monsanto's Genetically Engineered Crops

It seems like control is just accelerated but I sit back and wonder who is really pulling all the strings. I see protest, I even see positive change, however there are agencies fighting and even lying to get shit approved/passed. I do understand the weight of our financial scenario and it is beyond our control.

But I can't help but fantasize about 1000's of protesters heading out to farms, empty lots, anywhere there is soil and start protesting with shovels and seeds. What better way to slam so much of this then to take back our local food systems? The magnitude of corps effected by this would be huge and so many banks would come tumbling down. Are we going to continue to allow the UDSA and FDA control what goes into our bodies?

So there are a few occupy farm groups but they are setting up camps to protest. I hope by spring everyone is out digging, growing and preserving. Penetrating local markets and teaching people to become independent and sustainable.

[AtLast]

Originally Posted by Miss Tick

Yes, many of the unethical and damaging acts of Wall Street were not illegal thanks to the orgy of de-regulation we have seen over the years. But much of what was done by Wall Street was outright fraud. Misrepresenting debt instruments to the public as sound and top-grade while scorning them privately as toxic junk is still very much illegal, criminal acts under existing statutes.

I agree but worry that time is running out to do anything about the acts of fraud leading to what happened. There was such a confusing wall built (of these securities) to protect Wall Street and the banks and housing financial services industries- they wanted this to be a nightmare to even figure out who the hell really owns properties! All of the lobbying paid off for nearly 30 years to get to this place. Those that profited simply put the cash offshore.

I don't think there will ever be trials against those at the core of all of this. I think that each and every mortgage held in this manner should be declared null and void with re-negotiation at todays market values and that any negative financial "marks" on mortgagees since the collapse of the housing market not be allowed to count in the new mortgage.

That is the other side of this- so many people that had good credit now do not due to job loss and the whole damn mess.

[Sachita]

Originally Posted by AtLast

That is the other side of this- so many people that had good credit now do not due to job loss and the whole damn mess.

But on the bright side, if there ever could be one, private companies are writing low interest loans for people with bad credit, even foreclosures. I've been catching wind of a few people who said "what the hell", applied and found all kinds of options. I was lucky because the crooks that hold my mortgage seriously screwed up and recorded all conversations. they defaulted me on the governments home loan modification and almost forced me into foreclosure because of it. I ready to sue the crap out of them and would have won... maybe 10 years later. Anyhow they came in, took 20K off my principal and dropped my rate to 5%. It happened just in time because there is no way over the past year that would have been possible. But now people are fed up, builders and modular home companies are taking risk. I admit that I would rather see the already existing surplus of homes being lived in but it may take some time for this.

The other positive thing I'm seeing in the home market is people downsizing and moving to smaller homes. I would have loved to have seen this movement happen 20 years ago. That and the government putting a cap on auto makers to not make cars that used more then 25 MPG, forcing them to change unless businesses wanted to apply for a special permit. It would force more local change which is something we do desperately need,.