“The Best Way to Rob a Bank is to Own One”
JPMorgan Chase, the nation’s largest bank, is under fire after losing at least $2 billion in derivatives trading it was warned carried high risk. The loss has renewed calls for tougher regulation of Wall Street, with critics saying JPMorgan could have avoided it under regulations the bank opposed. We’re joined by former financial regulator, white-collar criminologist, and University of Missouri-Kansas City Professor William Black, author of “The Best Way to Rob a Bank is to Own One.” Black says JPMorgan’s latest woes stem from the flaws endemic to “too big too fail.” “Allowing [banks] to be this big, even conservative economists call this crony capitalism,” Black says. “The only way this can work is to shrink the systemically dangerous institutions — this is the 20 largest banks in the United States — down to the point that they no longer pose a systemic risk, they are no longer too big to fail, and therefore, they will no longer have this implicit federal subsidy that completely distorts competition [and] … destroys democracy, because these giant institutions have so much political power.”
How Much Medical Care Would $2 Billion Have Bought? GOP is SHIT.
18th May 2012
Reblogged From mikeo56
Notes: 1
Moron of the day, Rep. James Lankford (R-OK) told ThinkProgress last week that he believes someone should be able to be fired for his or her sexual orientation.
He said this, because he thinks being gay is a choice. So… of course, I wrote him a letter:
Dear Jamey Lankford,
All things aside, who cares if being gay is a choice? The legality of firing someone for something they choose to do in their own free time is pretty clear cut. Sure, if someone is butt-fucking on their desk at H&R Block, or scissoring on the counter at Subway while they are supposed to be making sandwich art, they should be fired, but that would also be the case if they were having straight sex.
Maybe you hate gay people. Maybe you think what they are doing with their lives is a sin. But, in our country people of all kinds of different beliefs, colors, religions, and sexual orientations are supposed to be protected by laws, and being gay is protected by any number of these laws.
If YOU start ignoring these laws or KEEP ignoring these laws when it comes to one group of people, you never know when someone else is going to START ignoring these laws when it comes to YOU and what YOU want to do and who YOU are.
What if someone wanted to fire you for being a ginger, because your soulless pale skin is more susceptible to skin cancer, and they don’t want their health insurance rates to go up because you are always having to have biopsies?
What if someone wanted to fire you, because you have a terrible haircut? Your terrible haircut reflects poorly on the company. People think you are cheap and have no sense of self worth.
Anyone or anything can be demonized and that’s why we have laws. You should know a few of them before you get into politics.
Thanks,
Chuck McCarthy
Heading here this September! Woot Woot! So excited!
Manny Pacquiao, the people’s champ, or he is really? Recently, Pacquiao had an interview with Examiner.com to show his dissatisfaction for President Obama’s support for same sex marriage. I would like to point out that, in my opinion, the issue of same sex marriage is an issue of equality rather than a religious issue. The way I view it is that, everyone deserves the right to love and have the ability to be legally acknowledged as a couple. I do not support same sex marriage just for the sake of agitating norms but rather I advocate for what is right. We are all humans, we should not deprive others the ability to be legally recognized as a couple just because they do not fit our heteronormative definition of a couple. More than anything else, I disagree with depriving human beings the same capabilities as heterosexual couples. Gay or Straight, these people were lucky enough to find a person to love, who are we to deprive individuals the right to make decisions about their own life. If we cannot recognize same sex couples as legal couples with rights that married couples have, we should not even have marriage contracts. A marriage contract is a legal agreement between two individuals, which the state and federal government recognizes as a legitimate agreement and is subject to disciplinary action if broken.
Back to Pacman. He quotes the bible to argue why in his view, same sex marriage is an abomination. “If a man lies with a man as one lies with a woman, both of them have done what is detestable. They must be put to death; their blood will be on their own heads.” Cool, I respect your view. However, where do you come off saying that people deserved to be treated violently merely for the fact that they are different from what you expect. Pacman says, “God’s words first … obey God’s law first before considering the laws of man.” With all due respect, sir, not everything works in similarity to Philippine society. The Philippines is known to be a strong Catholic valued nation, something we can see in Filipino culture and the Filipino diaspora. Pacman forgets to realize that American and Philippine societies are different entities. Though both are modern nations, we run on different terms. The idea of separation of state and church has been long established in America; however, in the Philippines, the Catholic Church has a strong hold on Philippine politics and life. The influence of the Catholic Church is evident in the execution of EDSA’s People Power Revolution as well as the impeachment of various Philippine politicians. In my opinion, Pacman forgets to realize this difference because of his overt pride for the Filipino culture and tradition. Do not get me wrong, I applaud his love for his people; however, I do not tolerate using cultural values to hate and oppress other people. For someone who typically advocates for marginalized individuals he sure is doing a horrible job being an advocate for the LGBTQ community as well as women. His conservative stance on the Philippine Reproductive Health Bill waged a war on women by saying they have no right to choose for their own bodies. His opinion wages as war on the LGBTQ community by saying, you are different so you do not deserve proper treatment. In my opinion, his views are not far off from a Hitler mentality. Next thing you know he will write a bill segregating Queers and Straight people or worse depriving LGBTQ people of civil rights.
I do think Pacman made a bad move on his part. Filipinos are typically prideful of their own people. However, he just made enemies with LGBTQ Pin@ys. Before it was a cultural obligation to watch and support Pacman but due to his bigoted opinion, I will not be supporting him as much. I cannot discredit him for what he has done in bringing pride to the Filipino people but I will not be as I was before, which was an avid supporter. As of now, I am on the fence about supporting him. It is just hard to separate Pacman the Boxer from Pacman the Politician. Then again, I was never in support of his decision to run for office. I hope that he does not run for president or my world would turn upside down.
