03-31-09
- The Great Economic Shakedown:
- Geithner's Dirty Little Secret (onlinejournal) "What Geithner does not want the public to understand, his ‘dirty little secret’ is that the repeal of Glass-Steagall and the passage of the Commodity Futures Modernization Act in 2000 allowed the creation of a tiny handful of banks that would virtually monopolize key parts of the global ‘off-balance sheet’ or over-the-counter derivatives issuance. Today five US banks . . . hold 96 percent of all US bank derivatives positions in terms of nominal values, and an eye-popping 81 percent of the total net credit risk exposure in event of default. The five are, in declining order of importance: JPMorgan Chase, which holds a staggering $88 trillion in derivatives (€66 trillion!). Morgan Chase is followed by Bank of America, with $38 trillion in derivatives, and Citibank with $32 trillion. Number four in the derivatives sweepstakes is Goldman Sachs, with a ‘mere’ $30 trillion in derivatives. Number five, the merged Wells Fargo-Wachovia Bank, drops dramatically in size to $5 trillion. Number six, Britain’s HSBC Bank USA has $3.7 trillion."
- Military-Industrial Complex:
- Robert Fisk: A Brave Man Who Stood Alone - If Only the World Had Listened to Him (independent/uk)
- The Phony War on Drugs:
- Pot Laws Are No Laughing Matter (sfgate) "U.S. policies are based on the fantasy that we can somehow make this industry go away, but prohibition hasn't stopped marijuana use. Indeed, federal statistics show a roughly 4,000 percent rise since the first national ban took effect in 1937. We've simply handed a virtual monopoly on production and distribution to criminals, including those brutal Mexican gangs."
- Restore the Rule of Law - Obama Guilty of War Crimes By Not Prosecuting Bush Regime for Torture:
- Obama, war crimes and defending the status quo (onlinejournal) "It is just as bad to prevent the investigation and prosecution of a war crime as its commission because you become part of it."
- In the Heart of the Tarantula Nebula (apod)
