March 10, 2010
Google Books Reaches Deal With Italy: Will Other Countries, Including The US, Follow Suit?
The agreement comes at a time when Google is struggling to maintain its Google Books foothold internationally. In December, the company was involved in a lawsuit in France, where a court determined that the digital books service was a violation of French copyright law.
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Michael Mukasey Slams Liz Cheney’s ‘Shoddy And Dangerous’ Logic In WSJ Op-Ed
While the former chief of the Bush Justice Department never mentioned Cheney by name, he made it clear that anyone would be wrong to automatically identify DOJ lawyers with the defendants that they represent. Mukasey wrote:
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March 9, 2010
Weekly Audit: Doomsday for the CFPA?
By Alison Hamm, Media Consortium Blogger
Just when the Democrats need to be tougher than ever on financial reform, Senate Banking Committee Chair Sen. Chris Dodd (D-CT), seems to have given up completely and put the proposed Consumer Financial Protection Agency (CFPA) at risk.
Last fall, Dodd called the Federal Reserve's regulatory efforts an "abysmal failure." And yet, on March 1, he proposed housing a consumer protection agency within the Fed instead of establishing the CFPA as its own independent entity. This drastic change in strategy has left many Democrats shaking their heads. WTF, Senator Dodd?
A change in focus
As Andy Kroll reports for Mother Jones:
"Dodd appears to have switched his focus from out-reforming the White House to out-compromising just about everyone. As the Senate banking committee prepares to release a draft of a comprehensive reform bill as early as this week, Dodd has repeatedly conceded to his Republican counterparts on key issues, almost guaranteeing that the Senate's measure will be far more lenient on the banking industry than the legislation the House passed in December... Dodd's willingness to appease Republicans like Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.), the main GOP negotiating partner, and Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Ala.), the banking committee's ranking member, has disappointed Dodd's fellow Democrats and reform advocates who urge a tougher crackdown."
Whither the CFPA?
Dodd's latest GOP compromise is part of a bigger problem: The Democrats have mishandled financial reform. As Nomi Prins writes for AlterNet, "Dodd's latest effort at creating a new Consumer Financial Protection Agency would render the regulator utterly powerless, but it's not the only issue Democrats appear willing to sacrifice to Wall Street campaign contributions. Right now, just about every other major element of the so-called Wall Street overhaul seems headed for disaster."
Although the establishment of the CFPA has been fiercely opposed by the banks and Republicans, it has widespread approval among progressives and the general public. So why has Dodd apparently abandoned it through compromise? Maybe because he's following the lead of his fellow Democrats. Prins notes: "Since June, we've been waiting to see whether Democrats had the spine to make sure the final agency would actually do something, or quietly gut reform with a barrage of loopholes."
There's still time for Dodd to push real reform before he retires. Or, like Prin says, he could "continue to wimp out for Wall Street, pull a Robert Rubin and secure a cushy job in banking come 2011. The next few months will indicate whether Dodd cares more about his legacy than his wallet."
Solis a 'bright spot'
But maybe there is hope. Department of Labor Secretary Hilda Solis has made considerable progress, as Mark Engler emphasizes for Yes! magazine. Engler calls Obama's Labor appointment a "bright spot" in the administration's first year--a move "that illustrate[s] the difference that a progressive-minded administration can make when it stands up to corporate interests and is unafraid to act in the public good."
Engler writes:
"Under the Bush administration's Department of Labor, the crisis of wage theft was summarily ignored. In March 2009, the Government Accountability Office issued a report saying that the department's Wage and Hour Division had for years 'left thousands of actual victims of wage theft who sought federal government assistance with nowhere to turn.' Secretary Solis made reversing this trend a defining initiative of her department. Even before the report had been released, she had commenced the hiring of 150 new field investigators to enforce wage and child labor laws, as well as 100 more to police government contractors working on stimulus programs."
As Engler argues, officials would do well to follow the lead of Secretary Solis and demonstrate "what can be accomplished when regulators are encouraged to actually do their jobs--to fight for the interests of workers, for example--vigorously and creatively."
Buffet on banking
Finally, GRITtv's Laura Flanders reviews Warren Buffet's annual letter to shareholders, in which Buffet warns his clients that their financial advisers' advice is skewed by the financial system. As Flanders notes:
"Ironically, just as Buffett's letter was being published, the man it'll take to make any agency happen -- Christopher Dodd -- is agreeing to defang the agency, strip it of independence and most prosecution power." Watch the video below.
This post features links to the best independent, progressive reporting about the economy by members of The Media Consortium. It is free to reprint. Visit the Audit for a complete list of articles on economic issues, or follow us on Twitter. And for the best progressive reporting on critical economy, environment, health care and immigration issues, check out The Mulch, The Pulse and The Diaspora. This is a project of The Media Consortium, a network of leading independent media outlets.
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March 8, 2010
L.A. Sparks Revolt Against Wall Street Shakedowns, Abuses
How about shaking down cities with costly, toxic "swap deals" supposedly designed to hedge risk for revenue-starved municipalities -- and then forcing them to pay tens of millions in excess interest payments after they economy tanked and
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Fed To Keep Bank Oversight
Senate Banking Committee Chairman Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) gave up the fight for a new super-regulator over the weekend, and will propose financial reforms this week that leave the Fed in control of big banks and the rest of the major Wall Street players, sources told the FT.
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March 5, 2010
Exceptional Warren
Buffett's grinning mug was recently found on the cover of BusinessWeek magazine. And then there was his three-hour interview (three hours!) on CNBC, held at Piccolo Pete's, Buffett's favorite Omaha restaurant, founded in 1933. How -- dare we say it? -- folksy!
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Wall Street Vet Involved In 1998 Long-Term Capital Management Bailout Says Nothing Has Changed
James G. Rickards, as the firm's top lawyer, negotiated the terms of the $3.6 billion deal, organized by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, that forced other Wall Street firms to bail out LTCM. And now, in an interview with a brokerage newsletter, he says the federal government has failed to apply any of the lessons learned from that epic 1998 bailout -- a failure that led to the current crisis and could lead to more.
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Roy Sekoff on Education Protests: What Are Our Priorities?
Sekoff argued that the protests "shine a spotlight" on the question of our nation's priorities. "Are we going to have a generation that's about creativity, about innovation? Or are we going to spend our money just bailing out Wall Street and fighting two unnecessary wars?"
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Haitian Small Businesses Hurting: Is Aid To Blame?
The Wall Street Journal reports that small business owners aren't able to sell their products when competing with free foreign aid. With these local businesses not able to turn a profit, they aren't able to rehire their employees, leaving Haitian workers without a vital source of income that could help their families rebuild their homes.
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