Category: Corporate Statism

Struck down

~ susie

Here’s some good news for a change:

HARRISBURG, Pa. — A Pennsylvania appellate court panel on Thursday struck down provisions in a new law regulating the state’s booming natural gas industry that opponents said would leave municipalities defenseless to protect homeowners, parks and schools from being surrounded by drilling sites or waste pits.


The decision was a defeat for Gov. Tom Corbett and the natural gas industry, which had long sought the limitations, and the governor’s office said an appeal to the state Supreme Court is likely.


The state Commonwealth Court ruled 4-3 in a decision released Thursday that the limitations in the so-called Act 13 violated the state constitution. The opinion’s author, President Judge Dan Pellegrini, said the provisions upended the municipal zoning rules that had previously been followed by other property owners, unfairly exposing them to harm.

Of course, the notoriously corrupt State Supreme Court will have the final word, but you never know.

Not me, uh uh.

~ susie ~ 3 Comments

Phil Gramm, who was working for the banks even before he was working for the banks (if you know what I mean), tries to do retroactive damage control after statements by Sanford Weill that it was a mistake to repeal the Glass-Steagall Act – you know, the one that was replaced by the legislation Phil Gramm helped write?

Phil Gramm, the former U.S. senator who helped write the 1999 law that enabled the creation of financial giants such as Citigroup Inc. and Bank of America Corp., said his legislation didn’t make the system any riskier.

Pause here for belly laughs. Okay, I’ll give him this: The Commodity Futures Modernization Act he rammed through in the 2000 budget showdown between Congress and Clinton was much worse. In fact, it had even more to do with the 2008 crash. It made sure that the credit swaps market was unregulated, and that banks and hedge funds didn’t need a minimum reserve to back their casino bets.

The Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act repealed the 1933 prohibition against federally insured depository institutions combining with securities firms and insurers. While his law allows deposit-taking banks to affiliate with securities firms through holding companies, depositors and taxpayers are protected because affiliates can’t take capital out of the banks, Gramm said in a telephone interview yesterday.


“I don’t see any evidence that allowing them to affiliate through holding companies had anything to do with the financial crisis nor has anybody ever presented any evidence to suggest that it did,” said Gramm, 70. Companies that failed such as Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. “tended to be narrowly focused.”

See, Gramm’s long history as a fighter against banking regulation makes him what passes for an economic expert – for a Republican, I mean. The man is a weasel. Always was, always will be.

John Reed, who helped found Citigroup with Weill, and former Merrill Lynch & Co. CEO David Komansky have said they regretted fighting to overturn the Depression-era Glass-Steagall Act. Richard Parsons, speaking two days after ending his 16-year tenure on the board of Citigroup and one of its predecessors, said the repeal contributed to the financial crisis.


“To some extent what we saw in the 2007-2008 crash was the result of the throwing off of Glass-Steagall,” Parsons said in April at a Rockefeller Foundation event in Washington. “Have we gotten our arms around it yet? I don’t think so because the financial-services sector moves so fast.”

[…] Former U.S. Senator Byron Dorgan, a North Dakota Democrat who warned in 1999 that repealing Glass-Steagall could lead to “massive taxpayer bailouts” in 10 years, said in a telephone interview that the so-called firewalls that exist between regulated banks and affiliates are like “tissue paper.”


“It’s just absurd for anybody now to make the case that having these entities under the same corporate umbrella doesn’t pose substantially greater risk,” said Dorgan, who retired from the Senate in 2011 and is a senior policy adviser at law firm Arent Fox LLP. “Phil is just wrong about this. He was wrong 13 years ago and he’s wrong now.”

I think the word you’re looking for is “lying,” not “wrong,” Sen. Dorgan. Phil Gramm is what the nuns used to call a “bold brazen article.” I’m not as nice. I’d call him a lying sack of excrement.

The Amicus Project

~ susie ~ 1 Comment

ALEC has been working to influence local, state and federal courts:

If/when the President or his Executive administration attempt to weigh in on key cases, Congress cries foul, saying the Executive branch is unfairly trying to influence the Judicial branch…while those representing the cabal in the Legislative branch are doing precisely that. From the foregoing we’ve established that it isn’t simply the corporations, foundations and institutes representing the cabal who use these briefs to influence the courts, many of the cases such as the ACA and Citizen’s United, have briefs filed by Congressional members (McConnell, Cantor, Boehner and others affiliated with ALEC). In the ACA litigation, hundreds of conservative Republican members of Congress and state Assemblies filed briefs to overturn “Obamacare”.


Bad enough that corporations through ALEC are able to write and propose pro-corporate legislation…but once they succeed matters are made worse by their ability to then have the opportunity to use the same lawmakers to influence the court’s decisions on their behalf to ensure a favorable outcome.


Today this “Amicus Project” concept is being used throughout our court system by the cabal. They use it successfully to secure such favorable opinions in; telecommunications, labor, union, education, environmental, insurance, healthcare and criminal justice cases – to name just a few of their initiatives.


We as “constituents”, “voters” and simply “citizens” have no representation to present our side of any issue or case. Those who are elected and have the duty of such representation have been co-opted, their loyalty and pursuits dedicated to the corporations, foundations, institutions and organizations who can/will/are contributing to keeping them in office and power. Those organizations who still have some form of voice to represent us; labor groups, unions and liberal groups…are under full attack from the entire cabal who are trying to silence even the last whispers of objection to their subversion of our democracy.

Letterman: ‘We’re screwed’

~ susie ~ 2 Comments

It’s good when normally non-political (at least, publicly) celebrities like David Letterman come out and attack corporate greed, because I suspect it has more of an impact. Letterman’s right, of course – but no one’s going to do anything to stop it because you can never really have enough money in your campaign chest:

David Letterman held nothing back last week when he voiced his concerns over fracking, calling the oil companies greedy, he plainly explained to America, “we’re screwed.”


The Late Show host went on to point out the issues with water contamination as a result of fracking, saying, “The Delaware Water Gap has been ruined. The Hudson Valley has been ruined. Most of Pennsylvania has been ruined. Virginia, West Virginia has been ruined. Colorado has been ruined. New Mexico has been ruined.”


Fracking is a controversial drilling method used for extracting natural gas. It has spread throughout the U.S. in recent years, despite growing acknowledgement of the risks involved. It has come under even more press in New York state recently, where activists are currently fight against reports that Governor Andrew Cuomo may allow fracking to take place in several counties.


Letterman joins fellow commedian, host of Late Night, Jimmy Fallon, who also recently discussed fracking on his show. Fallon joined Sean Lennon and Yoko Ono on stage for a song, titled “Don’t frack my mother.”

Abuse of the brain-injured for profit

~ susie ~ 1 Comment

Isn’t this heartbreaking, that these poor people were at the mercy of this for-profit abuse? Understand that until we have a national health care system, this kind of crap is inevitable – because when you place the health and well-being of the patient against the needs of a for-profit entity to keep cutting costs, hiring the cheapest employees and raising profits, what else can happen?

Soon after Peter Price arrived at the Florida Institute for Neurologic Rehabilitation to recover from a brain injury, he pleaded for a rescue.


“Jess, they beat me up,” Price told his sister, Jessica Alopaeus, in May 2009. “You have to get me out of here.”


Neurologic Rehabilitation say staffers didn’t always restrain them in the proper way, kicking them and punching them in some instances. BARR restraint on an adult is supposed to be administered by three people on a 2 inch thick foam mat.


Staffers at his new home held him down and punched him in the face and groin, Price said. When Alopaeus’s efforts to transfer him stalled, Price said his desperation led him to a step aimed at speeding his release.


He swallowed five fish hooks and 22 AA batteries he’d picked up during a patient outing at Wal-Mart. After emergency surgery to remove the objects, he was allowed to transfer to another facility.

Residents at the Florida Institute have often been abused, neglected and confined, according to 20 current and former patients and their family members, criminal charges, civil complaints and advocates for the disabled.


These sources and over 2,000 pages of court and medical records, police reports, state investigations and autopsies contain an untold history of violence and death at the secluded institute known as FINR, which is located amid cattle ranches and citrus groves in Hardee County, 50 miles southeast of Tampa.


Patients’ families or state agencies have alleged abuse or care lapses in at least five residents’ deaths since 1998, two of them in the last 18 months. Three former employees face criminal charges of abusing FINR patients — one of whom was allegedly hit repeatedly for two hours in a TV room last September.


The complaints underscore the problems that 5.3 million brain-injured Americans are having finding adequate care. Their numbers are growing, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, as better emergency medicine and vehicle safety mean that fewer die from traffic accidents, bullet wounds and other causes of traumatic brain injuries.


The long-term ills range from memory loss and physical handicaps to the inability to control violent anger or sexual aggression. Yet because insurance benefits for rehabilitation are scarce, less than half of those who need it receive it, according to the Brain Injury Association of America.


Organized as a company and operated for profit since 1992, FINR has become one of the largest brain-injury centers in the country, with 196 beds. Three rival providers say they know of no place bigger. Multi-site operator NeuroRestorative, owned by a holding of buyout firm Vestar Capital Partners, handles more patients.


FINR hasn’t grown by opening its doors to anyone who needs rehabilitation, customers say. Rather, its marketing is focused on the relative few who can pay bills that reach $1,850 a day.


That includes those injured on jobs with generous worker’s compensation benefits, and car-crash victims in Michigan –which mandates unlimited lifetime benefits for automobile injury coverage.


Those who have clashed with the company over the treatment of patients say its efforts to keep costs down and extend the duration of stays take priority over care and rehabilitation.


“All people are to them is a monetary gain,” said Jana Thorpe, a professional guardian who removed one of her wards from the company’s care in 2008. “They don’t care if they do anything for them.”

The Verizon squeeze play

~ susie

I’ve thought for a long time that a broad-based consumer movement that went after the phone and cable companies for anti-trust activity would be unstoppable:

Verizon is consciously making DSL less attractive just as they’ve signed a new co-marketing arrangement with cable — driving unwanted DSL users into the arms of cable operators, with the understanding they can sell these users more expensive LTE connections later.

There’s numerous reasons for wanting their DSL services to die off, including the fact that newer LTE technology is cheaper to deploy in rural areas and easier to keep upgraded. But one of the larger driving forces is that Verizon is eager to eliminate unions from their equation, given that Verizon Wireless is non union. None of this is theory; in fact it has been made very clear by Verizon executives.

[…] In other words, Verizon will cut off copper in FiOS markets first (which makes sense given the lower maintenance costs of fiber). They’ll then leave users in DSL-only markets un-upgraded, forcing them to buy a costly landline so that remaining on Verizon DSL becomes less attractive. Those customers will flee to the same cable companies Verizon just signed a massive new partnership with, with Verizon planning to sell those users more expensive LTE connection later. Verizon will continue to “compete” in FiOS areas for now, if you call winking and nodding when it’s time to raise prices competition.

Rural areas could see the biggest impact from the shift, as Verizon pulls DSL and instead sells those users LTE services with at a high price point ($15 per gigabyte overages). Verizon then hopes to sell those users cap-gobbling video services via their upcoming Redbox streaming video joint venture. Expect there to be plenty of gaps where rural users suddenly lose landline and DSL connectivity but can’t get LTE. With Verizon and AT&T having killed off regulatory oversight in most states — you can expect nothing to be done about it, despite both companies having been given billions in subsidies over the years to get those users online.
Continue reading “The Verizon squeeze play” →

Penn State

~ susie ~ 6 Comments

I think the NCAA statement sums it up well. Penn State is only the most egregious example of a sports program that has outgrown and overshadowed the academic mission of a public university. I don’t believe they’re the only school that has looked the other way at questionable and even criminal activities, and I don’t believe the taxpayers have either a moral or a financial responsibility to supply a farm system for the NFL. We have some very real problems in our economy right now, and it would be nice to see academia placing their full attention on them.

As to the tearful Penn State students seen crying as the news was announced, I would like to offer some motherly advice: Don’t pick your college on the basis of its sports teams.

(Reuters) – The governing body of U.S. college sports fined Penn State University $60 million and voided its football victories for the past 14 seasons in an unprecedented rebuke for the school’s failure to stop coach Jerry Sandusky’s sexual abuse of children.


NCAA President Mark Emmert said the school had put “hero worship and winning at all costs” ahead of integrity, honesty and responsibility.


Penn State was not given the so-called “death penalty” that could have suspended its football program but it was banned from post-season bowl games for four years and had the number of scholarships available to players reduced from 25 to 15.


Penn State officials were accused of not taking action after being alerted that Sandusky, a former assistant football coach, was sexually abusing children. The scandal tainted one of college football’s leading coaches, the late Joe Paterno, and led to his firing last year along with other top school officials.


The punishment, announced by the National College Athletic Association at a news conference in Indianapolis, was unprecedented for its swiftness and breadth. It was the latest blow to an institution still reeling from Sandusky’s conviction last month on child molestation charges.


The case was another blotch on the diminishing legacy of Paterno, who until Monday’s action had held the record for victories among big-time U.S. college football coaches in a career that spanned more than 40 seasons. Paterno lost that status since the NCAA’s punishment includes voiding the Nittany Lions’ victories between 1998 and 2011 – the time period covering when allegations against Sandusky were first made and Sandusky’s arrest.


The Paterno family said on Monday the NCAA’s actions “defame the legacy and contributions of a great coach and educator without any input from our family or those who knew him best.”


“This is not a fair or thoughtful action; it is a panicked response to the public’s understandable revulsion at what Sandusky did,” the statement said.

Actually, I think it’s a rational response to the public’s understandable revulsion at what Joe Paterno didn’t do.

Never enough

~ susie

No matter how much they get, they want even more:

Over a four years period from 2008 to 2011, Corning Inc. was one of 26 companies that managed to avoid paying any American income taxes, even though it earned nearly $3 billion during that time. In fact, according to Citizens For Tax Justice, the company received a $4 million refund from 2008 to 2010. That didn’t stop Susan Ford, a senior executive at the company, from telling the House Ways and Means Committee this week that America’s high corporate tax rate was putting her company at a disadvantage:

American manufacturers are at a distinct disadvantage to competitors headquartered in other countries. Specifically, foreign manufacturers uniformly face a lower corporate tax rate than U.S. manufacturers, and virtually all operate under territorial systems which encourage investment both abroad and at home.

Ford told the committee that Corning paid an effective tax rate of 36 percent in 2011, but as CTJ notes, she is counting taxes on profits earned overseas that haven’t yet been paid and won’t be unless the company decides to bring the money back to the United States. Corning’s actual tax rate in 2011, according to CTJ’s analysis, was actually negative 0.2 percent.

The territorial system Ford testified in favor of would actually encourage the offshoring of profits earned by American companies, thereby reducing the amount they pay in taxes even more. And rather than helping remove a disadvantage that prevents companies from creating jobs, an economic analysis of such a tax system found that it could actually cost the United States as many as 800,000 jobs.