Darpa Moves a Step Closer to Its Flying Humvee Wired (hat tip reader John D). This sounds like a joke but it isn’t.
Las Vegas death ray roasts hotel guests Channel Register (hat tip reader John M). This also sounds like a joke but isn’t.
‘Cementgate’ takes off on Twitter Irish Times (hat tip reader Fred A)
‘Pre-crime’ Comes to the HR Dept. Datamation (hat tip reader John M).
Breakthrough in quantum computer race USNW Engineering (hat tip reader Crocodile Chuck)
Google’s Pound of Flesh Robert Cringley (hat tip reader John M)
For US Corporations the Whole of the Law Shall Be ‘Do What Thou Wilt’ Jesse (hat tip reader Glen)
Help!!! Lambert Strether
Satyam financials detail £1bn in dodgy transactions Channel Register (hat tip reader John M)
Congressional ‘net neutrality’ deal falls apart Financial Times
Democrats Find Many Big Donors Cutting Support New York Times
JPMorgan Suspending Foreclosures New York Times
Antidote du jour:
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Re How responsibility for crimes of international murder, slavery etc. can be laundered through corporations and dissolved:
This is well within the bounds of the prescribed use of corporations, and so long as the people tolerate the existence of the modern concept* of a corporation, courts will correctly decide along these lines, while any anti-corporatist judge will be the rogue. This tyranny will only get worse.
* As opposed to the radically more limited concept of America’s founding; as dubious as the framers were in many other ways, they wanted extremely limited existence for corporations. So much for the fraudulent “originalist” jurisprudence of right-wing judges.
We have become the very thing we fought against in World War II.
And through “extraordinary rendition”, we supposedly housed and tortured people in locations once operated by KGB or Iron Curtain forces.
“We’re not so different, you and I.”
– Dr. Evil
I was reading an article this morning about the crimes of Bandar, more interested in his strategically located Aspen mountain top 200 acre secured fortress as an armed hideaway for billionaires with no place to go when TSHTF when I ran across some BEA articles.
But my point is this. I had to look up the name for BEA to follow the story. So I was thinking, attempter, before I saw your comment, about this business of initials for corporate names.
Of course, this is a well known multinational, but for the casual reader (and I am not), the purpose of initials like BP, who are indignant and use their media power to enforce the use of BP, rather than BRITISH PETROLEUM is about erasing memory and history from public awareness -from people’s minds, and as much as possible, from the PUBLIC RECORD. Any research is going to be more time consuming and costly given all this name changing; its a good way to erase memory from an entire generation which has already been achieved in important areas of American life.
The speed and frequency with which these corporations erase their names and substitute initials and digits has, like everything else concerning finance and corporations, speeded up. What does Prince call his killer company now? Blackwater has been reduced to a couple of unpronounceable digits. How many people, when they see the new name are going to associate it with his crimes: the whole point of course.
Corporations are already beyond the pale. Yves pointed out yesterday on POM suing FTC; well, FTC has some authority, but it has to be the FDA POM is really after to gut their authority over food labeling; one of the cornerstones of the reforms under FDR that has served consumers well until this latest result of no labeling for frankfoods showing that corporations have taken over the agency. Not content, however, until they gut the entire FDA thing which they succeeded doing so well with finance.
The rules have to be changed. If the rules cannot be changed, as I am afraid is the case, the system has to change. And I believe that will happen. I can’t imagine the military being willing to go much further with the gangsters firmly in place in civilian leadership positions, who’ve proven their incompetence and venality.
If it looks like a duck, walks like a duck, it is a duck. And the US looks like a banana republic. In that context, the unthinkable isn’t so unthinkable anymore.
Sept 14, announcement that Gulf Coast fishermen, etc . may not be able to sue BRITISH PETROLEUM. Why? We knew it when Obama claimed to be doing something with the announcement of a BRITISH PETROLEUM $20 Billion set aside. Guess what, that fund is controlled by a US government appointee that shields BRITISH PETROLEUM from being sued. But we knew Obama is no better than a corporate hack. That’s what puts Banana Republic firmly in place and accurate: Banana Republic Corporatocracy. There, that describes it.
Corporations once had to protect their brand names; huge investments go into building a brand; but that’s been turned on its head for criminal convenience like everything else corporations with the help of legal teams and lobbyists now do routinely.
The brands get swapped, bought and sold subsidiaries, while the responsible party, the parent is unknown without doing a little research. The parent carries no history with it in the public mind.
The whole structure of corporations has to be changed, particularly their legal right to print as much money through offering shares as they can get away with.
That’s how this whole bailout scam plays out, and Treasuries with the stock market continues to play out. Taxpayers give Paulson a few hundred billion, he gives it to bankrupt banks; flush with taxpayer money (that’s real money from real people), they issue shares. Shares go up, insiders bail and pay themselves bonuses. Now we have more deficits; taxpayers through government liabilities. This isn’t a Ponzi, this is money laundering. Instead of taxpayers giving money to banks -we have Paulson Theatre -the Paulson Players. Boy, did he set up the Democrats. That photo of Nancy Pelosi gigling for the cameras while she signed the Bailout Bill -it took my breath away; they look gathered around and behind her like a pack of monkeys -stupid monkeys.
It used to be that we have 2 kinds of deficits; one, private debt; the other, government debt. Now we have only one kind of debt; that is BANK DEBT fraudulently marked against the account of taxpayers all over the world.
The country is ripI was reading an article this morning about the crimes of Bandar, more interested in his strategically located Aspen mountain top 200 acre secured fortress as an armed hideaway for billionares with no place to go when things go to pot when I ran across some BEA articles about 9/11, Saudi trafficking in arms, Iraq in oil, and Bush types in all of the above -billions in bribes. I guess its an old story I haven’t paid too much attention to that’s vaguely familiar.
But my point is this. I was thinking, attempter, before I saw your comment, about this business of initials for corporate names. I had to look up the name for BEA.
Of course, this is a well known multinational, but for the casual reader (and I am not), the purpose of initials like BP, who are indignant and use their media power to enforce BP, rather than BRITISH PETROLEUM is about erasing memory and history from public awareness -from people’s minds, and as much as possible, from the PUBLIC RECORD. Any research is going to be more time consuming and costly.
The speed and frequency with which these corporations erase their names and substitute initials and digits has, like everything else concerning finance and corporations, speeded up. What does Prince call his killer company now? Blackwater has been reduced to a couple of unpronounceable digits.
Corporations once had to protect their brand names; huge investments go into building a brand; but that’s been turned on its head for criminal convenience like everything else corporations with the help of legal teams and lobbyists do routinely.
The brands get swapped, bought and sold subsidiaries, while the responsible party, the parent is unknown without doing a little research.
The whole structure of corporations has to be changed, particularly their legal right to print as much money through offering shares as they can get away with.
That’s how this whole bailout scam plays out, and Treasuries with the stock market continues to play out. Taxpayers give Paulson a few hundred billion, it goes to bankrupt banks; flush with taxpayer money (that’s real money from real people), they issue shares. Shares go up, insiders bail. Now we have more deficits; taxpayers that is through government liabilities. This isn’t a Ponzi, this is money laundering. Instead of taxpayers giving money to banks -we have Paulson theatre.
It used to be that we have 2 kinds of deficits; one, private debt; the other, government debt. Now we have only one kind of debt; that is BANK DEBT fraudulently marked against the account of taxpayers all over the world.
The country is ripe for the unthinkable: takeover by the military. How much longer are they going to take orders from the pack of idiot gangsters now running the country.
We have no leaders to reign in these corporations; they own the people.
e for the unthinkable: takeover by the military. How much longer are they going to take orders from the pack of idiot gangsters now running the country.
We have no leaders to reign in these corporations; they own the people.
sorry about the duplicate unedited version repeat.
I wish we we had ‘preview’ back.
You sound angry this A.M. Look for more Prozac in your water supply tomorrow, courtesy of Recorded Future, Inc. ;-)
Drugs may be your thing. I’m having a fine morning for your information. You don’t have to be angry personally to be outraged by tyranny.
Its energizing. You’d know that if you weren’t preoccupied with drugs.
Sorry, was snarking…
Those examples are typical (for the extreme radicalism which constitutes the corporate status quo).
The basic purpose of corporations is to enable individuals to run risks and steal public resources in such a way that they get all the upside while the public gets all the downside. Where necessary, which is more and more the case, it’s to enable individuals to commit crimes with pseudo-legal impunity.
That’s all incorporation is today, setting up an orgainzed crime framework. We should do away with it completely.
And then we have the ongoing spectacle of corporate “persons” receiving more and more pseudo-rights while the actual rights of actual human beings are being ever more circumscribed. This is a metric of anti-democracy, anti-citizenship, anti-humanism. Spiritually, it’s profoundly evil.
Human beings cannot coexist with these monsters, and shall have to choose. Obliterate them, or allow humanity itself to be obliterated with only pseudo-hominid slave dregs left nehind.
Depressing commentary here today. Incorporation, including the aptly-named Limited Liability Corporation, is explicitly design to give corps all the rights of persons and none of the responsibilities or liabilities. Worse, they serve as a shield for the crimes of individuals, putting them above the law, with elite immunity now practically enshrined in the Judiciary. As Hugh said recently, “There is one standard of law for the powers that be and another for you and me.”
These monsters seem to have become all powerful, but the scales are finally falling from many more eyes. And as this plays out logically, as the prey is over-hunted, the commons overgrazed, and the golden goose overcooked, the corporate predators will inevitably turn on each other, and then ‘the bigger they are…’ axiom will apply. This can happen very rapidly and may be starting now with currency wars by central banks (Europe, Japan, China, US). As consumer spending inevitably collapses, there will be major ferment opening the way for prepared, visionary rebels to seize the initiative and obliterate these monsters, especially the military behemoths. I see some of those leaders here.
Las Vegas death ray roasts hotel guests
We’re all cooked now that the corporatocracy can do any fr*n thing they want to. No rule of law.
Its not illegal -that DEATH RAY? They don’t have tear down the building? How much is that guy gonna be paid to shut up. We’ll never know.
Where’s Obama -that constitutional scholar.
There are several solutions to the problem short of demolition. Introducing a horizontal shading element on the top of each window on the entire South façade would certainly do the trick on the reflection and might even make the building look a little more interesting.
On the other hand this is Las Vegas after all, so if this hotel can get enough publicity about this “bug” in the design it will become a feature, and they will be able charge people an entrance fee to see, to frolic in, and to afterwords buy a T-shirt about surviving, the Death Ray.
Thank you Kevin. Its important to have more than one prospective, and in this case, yours is more plausible -particularly the opportunities for promotion.
An architecture friend of mine in college had this idea. He wanted to make the parabola high off the ground and intense enough to make anything traveling through the focal point catch fire. He was envisioning sitting in an office gazing out the window watching birds explode every so often heh.
Your friend’s vision reminds me of the classic Calvin and Hobbes comic strip that captures our true motivations ;)
http://www.gocomics.com/calvinandhobbes/2009/01/18/
Apparently Bill Waterson had some trouble with his architect.
Hi Yves, AIG is all over the Bloomberg TV news this a.m.
Whatever happened to the large settlement with the Ohio Pension funds? There continues to be radio-silence on that.
http://www.businessinsurance.com/article/20100725/ISSUE01/307259990
If you look at their 10-K from this Summer, it states that it’s been postponed indefinitely. Wazzup?
“Democrats Find Many Big Donors Cutting Support” -NYT
Oddly, this would represent the perfect opportunity to capitalize on popular sentiment, and actually get some good legislation of the ground that would curtail the rapacious corporations and wall street – but we’re talking about the Democrats here. I have no doubt they are already desperately thinking of ways to capitulate, and lose both the donations and popular support.
The Dems remind me of a great looking sports car with the transmission installed backwards. You look at the racey lines, slide into the sleek interior, admire the sound of the engine, then realize it has one gear for moving forward and six that go backwards.
The problem is that the Democrats have actually received more corporate money for this election cycle (2009-2010)than the Republicans.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703989304575503933125159928.html
@Breakthrough in quantum computing
…umm, since I rarely see my alma mater referenced on the web it would be awesome if you could correct the typo..?
Should be UNSW (University of New South Wales), not USNW.
Thank you, Yves. That’s very kind. Two other interesting C list blogs that need help:
http://powerofnarrative.blogspot.com/2010/09/much-to-my-surprise-im-not-dead.html
http://susiemadrak.com/?p=6054
Re Waxman and net neutrality, he is a villain in this. It is my understanding that what he was proposing was essentially the same as the Google-Verizon plan. Net neutrality for landlines but tollgates for the faster growing WiFi market.
I love how it is just asserted that unnamed “consumer advocates” back Waxman’s proposal. I don’t know of any that do and I can’t think of any that deserve the name that would.
Also the statement that a court stripped the FCC of its authority to regulate high speed service is, again to my understanding, incorrect. It is rather that the FCC must reassert its general authority in this area before it can move to regulate it. It is a cart and horse legal administrative issue, not an insuperable obstacle.
Overall, I found the article misinformed and deceptive.
Right, the court said the 2005 Bush framework of Title I plus “ancillary authority” was insufficient.
It said nothing about re-classification to Title II, and by some readings was implicitly inviting the FCC to do that.
So that’s definitely what the FCC should do. Genachowski’s “Third Way” compromise is pretty craven but still could be sufficient if enforced, and there’s no reason to think it would be rejected by a non-corrupt court.
So the whole notion that only Congress can do this is a racket talking point, echoed by Republicans and many Democrats.
Waxman’s actions are bizarre. It was he along with Rockefeller who sent Genachowski a letter back in May or June demanding that the FCC itself protect net neutrality. Many advocates credited this letter with bolstering G’s spine or what passed for it when it looked like he was about to cave in completely. (G seems highly inertial and prone to obey whoever last put pressure on him.)
Now Waxman proposes this bill which very closely adheres to the Google-Verizon framework, which in turn was meant to set standards for future racket-friendly legislation. It looks like Waxman’s the guy who took them up on it.
Now Brodsky at Public Knowledge (who has written a lot of good stuff on net neutrality) writes this:
http://www.publicknowledge.org/blog/waxmans-bottom-line-fcc-must-act
basically saying that Waxman really still does support net neutrality and is somehow playing 11-dimensional chess; that this is another ploy to force the FCC to take effective action.
To say the least, that interpretation runs counter to every other example we have of the way these things work these days.
Which leads to your other point about dubious “advocates”. Of course many are astroturfs, but even the ones who do mean well on some particular issue are likely to be what I call myopics. They claim to care about the public interest and in their way fight along a particular line, but are always prone to double-cross the big picture struggle for a few measly crumbs. All the sell-outs along the dreary path of the health racket bailout comprise the classical example.
We also see the ACLU’s criminal support for corporate personhood, climaxing in their celebration of Citizens United (Greenwald too). And we see all the food safety groups who support the various food tyranny bills. Just yesterday I read CSPI’s “Nutrition Action” newsletter where they affirm their support not just for the Senate bill but the vastly worse House bill. Even the hippie-punching NSAC rejects the House bill but has the touching faith that a conference will bring the final bill close to the Senate version which they do support.
In May, Buffett, whose Berkshire Hathaway Inc. owns and insures municipal debt, told shareholders at the company’s annual meeting that the federal government would likely bail out a state that faced financial distress.
Municipal bond analysts including George Friedlander of Citigroup say those predicting widespread defaults are exaggerating the connection between budget pressure and failure to meet payments on general-obligation bonds.
“While states’ financial conditions are undeniably stressed now and will reasonably remain stressed for the next decade or more, GO bondholders are generally well-cushioned versus other interested parties — taxpayers, service recipients, employees, vendors — who will feel pain more directly,” said Municipal Market Advisors in a report today. The Concord, Massachusetts-based firm said it hasn’t seen Whitney’s report.
I wont die…I promise.
Humor remedy over at The Big Picture today…
Top 10 Ideas for Goldman Sachs New Ad Campaign http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/2010/09/top-10-ideas-for-goldman-sachs-new-ad-campaign/
Barry’s number one choice… “We put the douche in fiduciary”
and here’s a few more…
6. Goldman Sachs: America’s Counterparty
8. Government Bailout: $29 billion
SEC Settlement: $550 million
Doing God’s work? Priceless.
The above post was culled from the many comments in yeserday’s original post on the topic
http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/2010/09/ideas-for-gs-ad-campaign/#comments