May
2012 14
2012 14
DEJA-EWW: Chase Bank VP Discovers Fraud, Blows Whistle, Gets Fired
Laws protecting “whistleblowers” have been shot down more frequently than we’re comfortable with of late, so it is important to hear the stories of those who have done the whistleblowing and the neglect they experienced as result. The Huffington Post recently told the story of Linda Almonte, a former division Vice-President at...
May
2012 9
2012 9
DNC Returns $50,000 of Wal-Mart Gift Cards to Maintain Convention’s Anti-Corporate Donation Pledge
Organizers of the Democratic National Convention, to be held this September in Charlotte, North Carolina, decided in advance not to accept cash donations from corporations. This has led to funding difficulties. To skirt the imposed regulations, Wal-Mart made an “in-kind” donation of $50,000 in gift cards to help with convention costs....
May
2012 4
2012 4
“So far this year, shareholders at five companies have voted against CEO pay packages.”
After Citigroup shareholders gave a vote of no confidence to the $15 million pay package of CEO Vikram Pandit, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka and Pennsylvania AFL-CIO President Richard W. Bloomingdale pointed out that the public is quickly tiring of the runaway pay of CEOs in an opinion piece for the Allentown Morning-Call. Trumka and...
Apr
2012 24
2012 24
Australian Union Mounts “Move Your Money” Campaign Following Big Bank Interest Rate Hike
In Australia, a major union is urging its members to leave the big banks in response to a controversial raise of interest rates that seeks to protect bank profits. The Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU) has asked its members to move their money from ANZ, Commonwealth Bank, National Australia Bank and Westpac: The ...
Apr
2012 23
2012 23
VIDEO: Reich Explains Romney’s Fortunes
In a video called, “How Did Mitt Romney Get So Extremely Rich?,” Robert Reich explains how private equity partnerships like Mitt Romney’s Bain Capital work. It is a quick and easy primer on how loopholes in the tax system allow private equity partnership managers to use other people’s money to buy up companies with much ...
Apr
2012 20
2012 20
U.S. PIRG: Nearly $100 Billion In Tax Revenue Is Lost Annually to Offshore Tax Havens
U.S. PIRG, the federation of state Public Interest Research Groups, used Tax Day this week to release a new study showing the average American taxpayer will have to pay an extra $426, while small businesses will pay an extra $2,116, to make up for tax losses caused by corporations hiding money in offshore tax havens: ...
Apr
2012 20
2012 20
Corps Aren’t the Only Political Agents Abandoning ALEC. Some GA Politicans Have Joined the Fun, Too.
KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell owners Yum! joined the ALEC rejection jubilee yesterday, but monolith companies aren’t the only political agents fleeing the American Legislative Exchange Council post haste. Their unpopular and aggressive platform is now being roundly rejected by some legislators who are making pledges to never join or opting to...
Apr
2012 13
2012 13
ALEC: American Legislative Exchange Cancer
The hits keep coming for transparency activists praying for the demise of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), the über-conservative front group responsible for anti-union, pro-privatization and voter suppression legislation, among other ills. After massive members Coke, Pepsi and Kraft pulled out of the group, spokespeople for...
Apr
2012 10
2012 10
Judge Calls Wells Fargo’s Courtroom Behavior “Clandestine” and “Reprehensible”
The always excellent bank watchdog blog, Naked Capitalism, recently looked into the systemic accounting abuses of Wells Fargo as court proceedings continue to reveal just how severely victims of the mortgage crisis have been affected. But Wells Fargo’s legal team has done quite a job of hindering the legal process. Common cases in which...
Mar
2012 30
2012 30
“Sweetheart” Foreclosure Deal Enables Banks to Knock Over Houses Instead of Keeping People In Them
The sweetheart foreclosure deal that is drawing the ire of onlookers is now being understood to give banks credit for things they already do, further deepening the worry that the deal will in no way prevent another foreclosure crisis or sufficiently reprimand those responsible for the last one. The $25 billion foreclosure abuse settlement between ...
Mar
2012 22
2012 22
U.S. Treasury Plans to Collect 28% Less in Corporate Taxes Than Originally Thought
The Center for Tax Justice notes that the Treasury Department’s monthly statement shows the U.S. will collect $96 billion less in corporate taxes than originally thought: The latest monthly statement by the Treasury Department contains a startling revelation: the amount that Treasury expects to collect in corporate taxes in 2012 has been...
Mar
2012 20
2012 20
TAIBBI: Bank of America “is like the world’s worst-behaved teenager…”
Matt Taibbi’s artcile, “Bank of America:Too Crooked to Fail,” has been opening people’s eyes to the troubling relationship between Bank of America and the U.S. Government. Taibbi’s well-written and informative article takes a sarcastic tone at points as he points out the absurdity that of a nation allowing such an institution to exist as...
