An Easter Meditation
In his …and forgive them their debts, my favourite economist and Jubilee advocate Michael Hudson states that Jesus driving the money-changers from the Temple was “the act that inspired the city leaders to plot his death.”
Economy
loan sharks
Call for Royal Commission into Banking
Sam Stubbs, a longstanding outspoken commentator in New Zealand’s financial industry, continues to advocate for a Royal Commission into banking and insurance.
Laundering earnings vs laundering money
When a corporation launders its earnings in a tax haven, it is completely upfront about where the money came from and who it belongs to, which differentiates the activity from “money laundering.”
Global elite plan their escape from “pleb masses”
So, Key has now come out and revealed to us how afraid the global oligarch class (and their well paid professional enablers) are. They appear to have no plans to reverse their activites to make things better for us.
The great big list of John Key’s big fat lies (UPDATED)
How many more lies will John Key tell today in his so-called State of the Nation address? Virtual chocolate fish to whomever guesses the closest number.
GFC 2 in the oven: trillion dollar bailouts
Trillion dollar bank bail outs, interest rate apartheid and GREXIT. The ingredients for GFC 2 and another round of shock capitalism are quietly simmering. Graphic is of what US$1B looks like in printed notes.
Bully Banks
Good for Damien O’Connor. He’s calling for an enquiry into possible mis-selling of interest rate swaps to farmers. Good for Fairfax’s Rob Stock too, who has written extensively about this issue in the Sunday Star-Times. In Britain, it’s a huge story; their Financial Services Authority has said that more than 90% of these interest rate derivatives could have been mis-sold. Compensation is going to be paid; the only question is whether it will be in the millions or billions.
In the UK…
The big story for the day is the likely change in press regulation as the Leveson Report on questionable media ethics is about to released. But the next couple of stories are also interesting with similar (unresolved) stories here this year: Minimum Price for Alcohol, and Caps on Payday Loans
Compliance not for banks
Compliance is not high on the agenda for interest-rate rigging banks, who are even now resisting any further regulation. Tapu Misa has the full story, and the right approach in today’s Herald. Alex also puts his finger on the problem in his Telegraph cartoon.
Chauvel on loan sharks
No Right Turn has published an excellent guest post from Labour MP Charles Chauvel about his private member’s bill to stamp out loan […]