Lunar Obverse
Brian Moon Portland, OR, generally An unpublished (yet) writer. Contact me.
Brian Moon Portland, OR, generally An unpublished (yet) writer. Contact me.
Secret Fed Loans Gave Banks Undisclosed $13B
The Fed didn’t tell anyone which banks were in trouble so deep they required a combined $1.2 trillion on Dec. 5, 2008, their single neediest day. Bankers didn’t mention that they took tens of billions of dollars in emergency loans at the same time they were assuring investors their firms were healthy. And no one calculated until now that banks reaped an estimated $13 billion of income by taking advantage of the Fed’s below-market rates, Bloomberg Markets magazine reports in its January issue.
Saved by the bailout, bankers lobbied against government regulations, a job made easier by the Fed, which never disclosed the details of the rescue to lawmakers even as Congress doled out more money and debated new rules aimed at preventing the next collapse.
As Wil says (from whom I got this post), this is outrageous. It gives me context for all the folks who complain about cities that choose to spend money on cops policing peaceful protests, or the “damage” to city parks caused by those protests.
As we saw in Portland, the Occupiers can police themselves and there is no violence when the robotic stormtrooper riot cops don’t show up. But banks? Banks need policing, and our government is doing a piss-poor job of it.
I was there to take down the names of people who were arrested… As I’m standing there, some African-American woman goes up to a police officer and says, ‘I need to get in. My daughter’s there. I want to know if she’s OK.’ And he said, ‘Move on, lady.’ And they kept pushing with their sticks, pushing back. And she was crying. And all of a sudden, out of nowhere, he throws her to the ground and starts hitting her in the head,” says Smith. “I walk over, and I say, ‘Look, cuff her if she’s done something, but you don’t need to do that.’ And he said, ‘Lady, do you want to get arrested?’ And I said, ‘Do you see my hat? I’m here as a legal observer.’ He said, ‘You want to get arrested?’ And he pushed me up against the wall.
This is obscene and shame on the police officer who did it, and the police department who allows it, and the leadership who does not immediately condemn and repudiate it, and the citizens who see it as the expected action by police in response to a peaceful exercise of First Amendment rights.
Today at Occupy Portland: Protester hit with pepper spray at point blank range.
How can anyone justify this? Or this?
#OccupyWallStreet has taught us that
-we have a time limit to practice our 1st Amendment. In other words, if a person that is interested in reforming the government gets off of work at 11 p.m. s/he can no longer practice her/his 1st Amendment.
-we can not have a successful peaceful protest without getting arrested. Most of the protesters have never been arrested, practicing their rights has made them criminals.
-we can not have a public gathering to discuss our grievances about the government without having riot police dispersing us. Historically, citizens have always gathered in a public place to discuss how to improve government. So much for democracy, right?
-police would rather join the side of those in power (1%)than take the side of the common people (99%). Wouldn’t it be nice to see them out there in their uniforms protesting with the rest of us?
-there is a 1%. The same 1% that is donating money to police departments all across the Nation to suppress our movement.
-we do not need Mainstream Media to document our movement. We the people have better photographers, filmmakers, journalists, and editors than any MSM company combined.
-we the people can make a difference. Since Sept. 17, we have inspired the world to go to the streets and demand their voices be heard.
“I’m upset. I’m upset enough that I’m willing to knock down a couple of fences in a city park that I helped pay for.”
“You know what I’m not going to do? I’m not going to spit on anybody. I’m not going to swear, I’m not going to curse, I’m not going to denigrate anybody. What I think privately might get hot-headed but what I’m going to say publicly simply, is this: we have a right to peaceably assemble.”
Fuckin’ right. We don’t need to ask for permission to express our First Amendment rights. We don’t need a fuckin’ permit. We don’t have to stop peacefully assembling at curfew. This whole country is a “Free Speech Zone”.
The longer Occupy Wall Street goes on, the more skeptical I look at people who just don’t seem to get it. Not the folks who oppose it; there’s always going to be those. But the people who act confused by it. They’re the ringers.
Jay Smooth lays it out much better than I can.
Group of Citi Bank customers attempt to close accounts as a form of protest- 2 dozen are locked inside bank until police arrive, 5 cops take down woman
The banks don’t like us closing our accounts? They’re getting pretty grabby about our fuckin’ money. I guess getting tax dollars wasn’t good enough now they’re going to arrest folks directly.
Easily the best Occupy Wall Street video yet
Please to be watching this, President Obama. Is this the legacy of hope and change you hope to leave behind? Treat the citizens of the country that elected you to high office with the same respect and dignity you give to those of oil-bearing nations.
