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Wall Street's in Good Hands with Mary Jo White
by Stephen Lendman
On January 24, Obama nominated Mary Jo White as SEC head. "You don't want to mess with Mary Jo," he said. Others have different views. More about her below.
Washington is Wall Street occupied territory. Regulatory oversight is absent. Earlier New Deal reforms are gone.
The Securities and Exchange Act of 1934 followed the Securities Act of 1933. Under the Constitution's interstate commerce clause, it required offers and security sales to be registered. State "blue sky laws" previously governed them.
The 1934 law regulated secondary trading of financial securities. It established the SEC under Section 4 to enforce the new act.
Later came the 1939 Trust Indenture Act, the 1940 Investment Company Act, the same year Investment Advisors Act, Sarbanes-Oxley in 2002, the 2006 Credit Rating Agency Reform Act, and Dodd-Frank in 2010.
Obama the 44th President Says Goodbye to Obama the 43rd President: Great in search of Good
Mahboob A. Khawaja, PhD
We, as Americans, need to ask ourselves what all this is about? Why is our government so provocative toward Islam, Russia, China, Iran? What purpose, whose purpose is being served? Certainly not ours…………Where do we go from here? If not to nuclear destruction, Americans must wake up. Football games, porn, and shopping malls are one thing. Survival of human life is another. Washington, that is, "representative government," consists only of a few powerful vested interests. These private interests, not the American people, control the US government. That is why nothing that the US government does benefits the American people. (Paul Craig Roberts, “The Next War on Washington’s Agenda.” OpenEdnews: 01/12/2012)
In an age of knowledge-based and information technology enhanced culture of change and emerging new world of One Humanity, leadership is no longer primitive makeup, individualistic absolutism displaying pomp, pageantry and princely proclamations; it is more transformational, people-oriented, listening and learning and being accountable to the will and interests of the people. What a leader must offer is an enriched and cohesive undertaking of moral, intellectual and political values - a VISION of the FUTURE – a comprehensive Picture of Tomorrow – how to serve the people and to remedy the past blunders, wickedness and failure articulating a moving spirit of optimism that future is going to be different and with strength and vision, the leader will make it happen for the best of people, human manifestation, peace and co-existence and happiness and opportunities for participation, freedom and justice to all.
Fascism Wins Big in Israel
by Stephen Lendman
Israeli election results hardened fascist rule. Dominant right-wing parties control 102 of 120 Knesset seats.
Israelis have themselves to blame. They elected Israel's most extremist government in history. Militarism, belligerence, state-sponsored terrorism, occupation ruthlessness, settlement expansions, and neoliberal harshness reflect official policy.
Peace is a non-starter. A so-called process never existed and doesn't now. Israel won't tolerate it. Netanyahu scorns it. He calls it a waste of time.
Palestinians and Israeli Arabs have the greatest cross to bear. They're marginalized, denied, persecuted and brutalized.
Israeli Election Results
by Stephen Lendman
Israel has no constitution. Basic Laws substitute. One defines the "Powers and Functions of the Knesset." It's elected by "general, national, direct, equal, secret and proportional elections in accordance with Knesset Elections Law."
Israel's Central Elections Committee overseas procedures. It's composed of Knesset members. A Supreme Court justice chairs it. It authorizes parties, election financing, vote counting, publishing results, and appeals when called for.
Israeli citizens aged 18 or older may vote. Those 21 or older may seek office. Exceptions include career active duty soldiers, high-ranking civil servants, and convicted felons serving terms exceeding three months. Seven years after they expire, full citizenship rights are restored.
Western Powers Go Full Retard on Africa, Part 1: China vs. AFRICOM, a Resource War
by chycho
In Africa, China has been securing access to resources through lucrative trade agreements while Western powers have decided to take the military option to secure their share of the pie.
“Across Africa, the red flag of China is flying. Lucrative deals are being struck to buy its commodities - oil, platinum, gold and minerals… From Nigeria in the north, to Equatorial Guinea, Gabon and Angola in the west, across Chad and Sudan in the east, and south through Zambia, Zimbabwe and Mozambique, China has seized a vice-like grip on a continent which officials have decided is crucial to the superpower's long-term survival.”
Qatar and U.S.: Collusion or Conflict of Interests
By Nicola Nasser**
In his inaugural address on January 21, U.S. President Barak Obama made the historic announcement that “a decade of war is ending” and declared his country’s determination to “show the courage to try and resolve our differences with other nations peacefully,” but his message will remain words that have yet to be translated into deeds and has yet to reach some of the U.S. closest allies in the Middle East who are still beating the drums of war, like Israel against Iran and Qatar against Syria.
In view of the level of “coordination” and “cooperation” since bilateral diplomatic relations were established in 1972 between the U.S. and Qatar, and the concentration of U.S. military power on this tiny peninsula, it seems impossible that Qatar could move independently apart, in parallel with, away or on a collision course with the U.S. strategic and regional plans.
Extreme Wealth vs Global Sharing
Rajesh Makwana
Campaigners have long proposed measures to reduce extreme inequality, but policymakers remain fixated on an economic model that threatens to undermine the fabric of society. When will the political elite heed the growing demands for redistribution that are being voiced in countless reports, books and public protests? By Rajesh Makwana.
Last year alone, the world's 100 richest people earned a combined additional income of $241 billion. According to new calculations, redistributing just a quarter of this vast quantity of money would enable governments to wipe out extreme poverty for an entire year. Unfortunately for the 40,000 people who die needlessly every day from poverty-related causes, these billionaires are as unlikely to share their earnings voluntarily as governments are to enact policies that redistribute their excessive incomes more fairly across society.
Four More Years
by Stephen Lendman
Inaugurating US presidents quadrennially reflects institutionalized hypocrisy.
On January 20, Obama began term two. After all the harm he caused so many, imagine how much more he plans.
He broke every major campaign promise made. He mocks legitimate governance. He lawlessly serves powerful monied interests. They own him.
He spurns peace. He's waging multiple direct and proxy wars. He's got new targets in mind. He supports some of the world's most ruthless despots.
He spends more on militarism than all other countries combined. He's done it when the only enemies America has are ones it invents.
He institutionalized tyranny. He targets dissent. He elevated abuse of power to a higher level. He imprisoned some of America's best and brightest. He's got others in mind.
Goldman, Other Welfare Queens Tell Us Forget Social Security-Medicare Until 70
Michael Collins
(Washington, DC 1/21) A long standing Money Party front, the Business Roundtable, wants you to wait until you're 70 years old before you get Social Security and Medicare benefits. This is just a reprise of the November 2012 dictate from the king of corporate cronyism, Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein. (Image: DonkeyHotey) (Greenspan statement)
The boss announced, "So there will be things that, you know, the retirement age has to be changed, maybe some of the benefits have to be affected, maybe some of the inflation adjustments have to be revised. But in general, entitlements have to be slowed down and contained." Lloyd Blankfein, CBS News, November 2012
That's easy for Lloyd to say. He makes tens of millions of dollars a year without so much as lifting a finger. You can be sure that Blankfein has a deluxe health insurance and retirement plan.
How Unalienable Is Life?
By David Swanson
Meet the new boss who, upon his inauguration, declared that the right to life is unalienable. Let me be clear, that doesn't mean he can't take yours.
In fact, he runs through a list of men, women, and children on Tuesdays, hung over from inaugurations or not, and picks whom to murder and murders them.
We're not supposed to call it murder, of course, because it's properly assassination. Except that no public figures are being assassinated; 98% of those killed are not targeted at all; some are targeted for suspicious behavior without knowing their names; one type of suspicious behavior is the act of retrieving the dead and wounded from a previous strike; and those targeted are not targeted for politics but for resisting illegal occupations. Moreover, an assassination is a type of murder.
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