Monday, October 31, 2011

BANK OF UNAMERICA

There are certain stories that speak for themselves, this one says it all. 

Naturally the EVIL, greedy bastards at Bank of UNamerica  (BOA) are once again the ones who are doing this. This Company simply has a Corporate culture that is so consistently cruel, incompetent, and out of control, that they  should be near the top of your shit list. It appears they are unable to keep themselves out of the daily media, with new stories that exceed their prior deeds in showing their total inept, dysfunctional deeds.

There is literally no limit to how dumb this Bank can be and begs the question why anyone with a choice, would continue banking with them and not move your business away from these vultures of prey.

Soon we will be hearing the usual mantra from public relations at BOA that it was a "misunderstanding, or they decided to reconsider, or whatever the bull shit of the day is. Makes me wonder about all their "misunderstandings" that never make the media , are never corrected, where BOA destroys people's lives, makes them homeless, and
earns huge profits of "blood money".

Remember this house is non existent AND the homeowner has been making regular mortgage payments on it. Watch the video it will explain it all to you, except for the clueless morons at BOA who long ago lost any sense of their being human, rational, and are even unable to fake acting like a real business.


Even those that continue to make payments on a house that no longer exists aren't immune to foreclosure.
Brad Gana, of Seabrook, Texas is being threatened with foreclosure over a home that hasn't existed since it was destroyed by Hurricane Ike in 2008, local Houston 2 News reports. Furthermore, after the hurricane, which cost the Texas shoreline an estimated $11 billion in damages, reduced the property to an empty slab of concrete, Gana alleges he continued to make payments.

When Gana hired a Lawyer to fight BOA, his Lawyer obtained a Court order signed by a Judge forcing BOA to stop their foreclosure against him. What did BOA do in response to that Court order, they ignored it, and then removed all of his posessions that he had stored on his property, in other words they stole everything he owned from him.

In the meantime, Bank of America, the mortgage lender, took out a forced homeowner's policy on the property and raised monthly payments. Gana, however, says he was never notified of the change since his mailbox was destroyed by what's come to be known as the third-most destructive hurricane ever to hit the United States.

The story is only latest public relations mix-up for the company that recently lost its status as the largest bank in the country. It was reported earlier this month that one family, also living in the Houston area, faces foreclosure due to an untransferred title and in spite of making payments on time.

In another case, Bank of America foreclosed on an elderly couple in Pasco County, Florida, in part because they made a payment too early.

But it's not just foreclosures that has people angry at the bank. BOA made a $6.2 billion profit last quarter, after announcing in September that it would start charging customers a $5 fee to use debit cards next year.

The consequent backlash, led in part by the Occupy Wall Street movement, has been so widespread that the bank is among those reconsidering its position on the idea, CNN Money reports.

As for Gana, he says he can't understand why a bank would take out a homeowner's policy on a house that's no longer there, then threaten the homeowner with foreclosure.

"I was shocked when they said they were foreclosing on it," he told Houston 2 News. "Bank of America is ruthless in their incompetency."





Thursday, October 27, 2011

I GOT A PEA

We all like to save money, get an item discounted, or a service for a cheaper price, it's a good feeling. The thing with bargain prices is that sometimes you get what you pay for, shit in exchange. 

Other times you start out with what is known as a "low ball" incredibly inexpensive price, but after they add on at the last minute everything that normally comes included by others, the  final price you pay is significantly more than the most expensive original price you were trying to avoid.

Almost every one that has used air travel has a story to tell about their flight, some so bizarre, that it sounds like a lie. I have used my customary fact check procedures and then double checked today's post as being true facts. Besides, you just can't make this stuff up anyway as these things defy the most fertile imagination.


In addition to terrible customer service, airlines have earned the reputation for being enormous tightwads, each year finds a new once free amenity to bleed customers of their dollars. Want to use a thin useless blanket? That’s $7. Want to eat a soggy turkey sandwich with a side of rubbery string cheese, $12, please. Last June Delta earned criticism for charging soldiers returning from Afghanistan $2,800 in excess baggage fees.
My favorite story is about the Pilot and Co-Pilot for Frontier Airlines who both fell asleep at the controls of a short 3 hour flight from Baltimore to Denver, woken up only 20 minutes from landing, after a frantic air traffic controller noticed they were flying too fast and too high, finally got these snoozing sleeping beauties to hear him after multiple unanswered radio transmissions.

No matter how bad it gets, even the sketchiest, cheapest airlines are no match for Ireland’s Ryanair.
You remember them, they have this ingenious cost saving idea to remove toilets from their airplanes, or leaving 1 toilet, and make it pay as you go. to use it.

One thing I have noticed in my air travels, is that a lot of passengers on a typical airplane go to the bath room regardless of it being a short, medium, long hour flight. As a people watcher I take notice of these important statistics, and there is just something about being on an airplane, that seems to make people need to go to the toilet. 


I mean there are often lines at the 3 bathrooms on a plane, and half of these people are repeat users, even though I am sure they used the rest room facilities at the airport prior to boarding.  Even the pilots and crew use the bathrooms multiple times to my surprise, since I would think they have "trained" bladders as part of the skills taught to them.
No big deal, when you got to go , you got to go, we are all human and in the scheme of things that is why there are toilets on airplanes, until now.
                                 
Ryanair Removing Toilets To Make Way For Seats
The European low-cost airline Ryanair has announced it would remove two of the three lavatories on its planes. Cutting back on bathrooms will allow Ryanair to add up to six extra seats, reports the Daily Mail.


Forget about coughing up the extra euro for that overpriced can of soda on Ryanair, you're going to need the bladder space. In October 2011, Ryanair expressed its intolerance for people with bladders.The budget airline announced that it would remove two or three toilets from its aircraft to make room for  these six extra seats. Up to 200 passengers and six crew would share a bathroom during the flight. Currently, there is no legal stipulation for an airline to provide toilets on its aircraft, but Ryanair has not announced a date to implement their plan.


Michael O’Leary, chief executive of the European budget airline Ryanair, is a true piece of Corporate work, a pompous, greedy, egomaniac, uncaring type, who caters to peoples willingness to be treated like shit, to save a dollar. 

He was discussing his new scheme to charge passengers to go to the bathroom. O'Leary said, "We very rarely use all three toilets on board our aircraft anyway." But apparently he is doing us all a favor the way he sees it. The move "would fundamentally lower air fares by about 5 percent for all passengers, cutting £2 (US$3) from a typical £40 (US$63) ticket." I wonder if the cost of toilet paper is included in the fee, or is it extra? What a steal, now that's a bargain.


Most passengers, the “discretionary toilet visitors,” as he calls them would eventually forgo in-flight bathroom use altogether, he predicted. What if the plane were stricken by some nasty, effluent illness, like food poisoning? A snorting noise wafted over from the chair where Mr. O’Leary was sitting. “We don’t serve enough food for everybody to get food poisoning,” he said.


The mystery is why so many people are willing to put up with an airline that, in the words of The Economist Magazine, “has become a byword for appalling customer service, misleading advertising claims and jeering rudeness towards anyone or anything that gets in its way.”


“Nobody helps you — it’s as simple as that,” said Malcolm Ginsberg, editor in chief of the travel newsletter aerbt.co.uk, describing what happens to Ryanair passengers who need assistance.

That is not the point, this twit,  O’Leary said in a recent interview. “Our customer service is unlike every other airline, which has this image of, ‘We want to fall down at your feet and you can walk all over us and the customer is always right,’ and all that nonsense.”


“Will we give you a refund on a non refundable ticket because your granny died unexpectedly?” he asked. “No! Go away. We’re not interested in your sob stories! What part of ‘no refund’ do you not understand?”


Miss your flight because you had to wait too long at a Ryanair help desk? Too bad! Your luggage is slightly overweight? Throw away the excess, or wear it on the flight! Try to tote your duty-free purchases onto the plane in a shopping bag, when you already have a carry-on bag? Prepare to fork over $40 at the gate.

“But if you want anything more — go away! Will we put you in a hotel room if your flight was canceled?” Mr. O’Leary asked rhetorically. “No! Go away.”

By contrast, Mr. O’Leary continued, Ryanair promises four things: low fares, a good on-time record, few cancellations and few lost bags.
However, his company refuses to be a member of the International Air Transport Association (IATA) which is normally responsible for recording punctuality. We only have Ryanair's word on their punctuality, so if he says so, then it must be true, you can trust him I am sure he wouldn't lie.

Ryainair's fleet is solely comprised of Boeing 737-800 aircraft. Ryanair operates 300 Boeing 737-800 aircraft on over 1,100 routes including more than two dozen in Ireland and the UK; overall, it serves more than 25 countries throughout Europe, plus Morocco
.

Comparing September 2011 with September 2010, Ryanair reported a 6 percent hike in passenger numbers, from 6.84 million to 7.25 million. Through September 2011, the airline carried 76.8 million passengers, reported the airline.
 

The airline's website also claims that in 2010, profits rose 26 percent to more than €401m (US$551m) despite higher fuel prices, the global recession, and volcanic ash disruptions in the spring. Despite wanting to strip their passengers of basic comforts like toilets and seat pockets, Ryanair is doing good business.

How could that be? Is it really worth a couple of dollars to be treated like shit and told that you as a customer are a meaningless inconvenience to Ryanair? Apparently so, where is the dignity and self worth that each of us should expect for ourselves from those we do business with, self pride flushed down the toilet for a buck.

Some of Ryanair's other true but hard to believe incidents, more than enough to make you think whether it's worth saving a few dollars in flying an airline that would use rubber bands if it could, instead of jet engines to save on gasoline
.

Wait, that is not all. This is just the wing tip of the Ryanair "experience", so I picked a few mild examples of the other things you might get lucky and enjoy for your money if you are dumb enough to fly their airline.
  
A Ryanair flight took off on the evening of September 29 with around 200 passengers from London’s Stansted airport to Riga, Latvia but had to turn around 20 minutes into the flight “after duct tape on a cockpit window came loose and started making "alarming noises".The tape was fastened around the edges of a windscreen in the cockpit, which had been put on by ground crew before take off, the Telegraph reports.

Anthony Neal, a passenger from Kent, told The Sun: ‘We were kept in the dark, and were terrified. I could see guys taping in the windscreen with what looked like duct tape or gaffer tape. We were in the sky, then the pilot said due to damage on the windscreen, we were going to have to turn back.’”


A spokesman from Ryanair insists that the airline was operating within safety standards, and the Irish Aviation Authority told the Daily Mail, “All the maintenance was carried out in line with the correct procedures. The pilot took the correct action by returning to base.” That really answers the question of the the duct tape being there in the first place, very smooth spin from the Public Relations Dept. on that, but I guess they have a lot of practice in making up fantasy answers to real problems.
 


A replacement plane was found after two hours and I bet you all the passengers got on it, although I know I wouldn't have. Where did they "find" this replacement plane, in a junk yard, or the local "rent a wreck" dealer, perhaps it was having its jet engines taken apart for its 25 year maintenance check

Many of airlines’ decisions are made to keep costs low and seats cheap. That said, using duct tape on a windshield in full view of passengers was guaranteed to have a psychological impact on those unlucky enough to see the repair. While duct tape has amazing legendary uses, I don't want to see it holding a piece of an airplane together that I am flying on, there is simply not enough Valium on earth to get me through a flight after seeing something like that. 


When Per-Erik Jonsson went into cardiac arrest, on a RyanAir flight from the U.K. to Sweden, he became unconscious, all the airline staff did was offer him a sandwich.

Jonsson,
63, broke into a cold sweat and asked his wife for some water roughly one hour into the flight, The Local reports.

His wife soon realized that Jonsson had lost consciousness and alerted plane staff as Jonsson's stepdaughter, Billie Appleton, tried to rouse him. "He didn't respond when I tried to shake him. Appleton who is a nurse, slapped Jonsson on the chest to get him to breath again, news.com.au reports
. Appleton said she shouted for a doctor and told the flight crew that Jonsson needed oxygen.

But the flight crew, Appleton claims, was ill-equipped to handle the situation. Instead, no oxygen, no first aid, no kidding. She says, the airline staff "said he had low blood pressure and gave him a sandwich and a soda." EU regulations mandate that cabin crew be trained in first-aid and pilots should alert air traffic control about a seriously ill passenger. 


In a statement Ryanair of course defended the cabin crew, saying they had acted appropriately. Sure they did, keep saying that 100 times, practice makes perfect lying.

Their statement continued that "in line with procedures for such cases the Ryanair cabin crew suggested a diversion to the nearest airport or to have an ambulance on stand-by on arrival at Skavsta, so that the passenger could receive medical treatment," the spokesman said. Yet the Jonsson family says the airline did not, in fact, have an ambulance waiting and instead they had to arrange to drive Jonsson to the hospital themselves. 


Remember, this man just had a heart attack and his family has to drive him to the hospital because no ambulance was called by the airline to treat him and transport him.

By the way, of course, naturally, once Jonsson had recovered slightly, the flight crew came to the family asking for payment for the sandwich and soda.
 


You have to have your priorities in order at Ryanair, a Corporation that flaunts its true feelings about the rest of us mere peons, money for some slop food no response to providing oxygen, no ambulance, no first aid for saving a human beings life who just had a heart attack.

Then there is Ryanair passenger Henrik Ulven who dared to ask for something else to eat on a flight and was escorted off the plane upon landing.

All Ulven wanted was a "fresh made premium sandwich" that the airline claims they serve. Instead, he got what he claimed was inedible and "tasted like rubber." He asked the flight attendant for something else to eat; the flight attendant told him, basically, to eat what he's given. Ulven thought she was kidding and kept complaining.

Wrong he was on that one: upon landing at Norway's Rygge airport, local police boarded the plane and escorted him off. According to the police, he had given the cabin crew "a mouthful."

Then there is the famous MUTINY ON RYANAIR not to be confused with the movie "Mutiny on the Bounty". Spain's government says police removed more than 100 passengers from a plane preparing to leave the Canary Islands after a large scuffle broke out on board. La Provincia, a Spanish newspaper, said the disruption happened when low-cost Ryanair tried to charge one passenger extra for carry-on baggage and his friends aboard the plane "mutinied."An Interior Ministry spokesman said the pilot was preparing for takeoff at Guacimeta airport on the Lanzarote island resort for Charleroi, Belgium, when she radioed for police assistance.


He said that, of the 168 passengers, only 64 were allowed to re-board Saturday's flight. The rest had to find other carriers and some spent the night on Lanzarote. Ryanair confirmed the passengers "became disruptive and refused to comply with crew instructions" after a requirement to pay a gate bag fee "for outsized luggage."

 

Wait, Wait, there's  even more crazier stuff, Ryanair wants passengers to STAND during its flights so the budget airline can squeeze more people on board. The Irish air carrier plans to cut costs by making fliers perch on stools with seat belts around their waists. 

Not a joke, they are serious, you want to fly standing room only, bargain price, sounds real comfortable doesn't it, and of course safe. Chief executive Michael O'Leary has already held talks with US plane manufacturer Boeing about designing (see prototype above) an aircraft with standing room. Should the idea get the go-ahead from the Irish Aviation Authority, the airline plans to either order new jets or refurbish its existing fleet.

Ryanair estimates it would be able to pack in 30 per cent more passengers while slashing costs by 20 per cent. Spokesman Stephen McNamara said: 'It would be vertical seating more akin to a stool and the person would still be strapped in.

If and when you take off and land, they have one last surprise in store for you bargain hunters. The airline last month announced plans to make passengers carry all their own luggage up to the planes. Ryanair customers will carry all their bags and suitcases through security departure lounges rather than checking them in. They can carry aboard one piece of hand luggage, but leave any other baggage beside the aircraft to be loaded into the hold. They then pick it up the same way on arrival.

Next they will charge you to breathe the oxygen in the plane and anyone who weighs over 4 pounds, has to pay a weight surcharge fee, there could be fees for exiting the airplane door, entering the door, having a door, having pilots to fly the plane instead of instrument flying. OMG, the  possibilities are endless.


All this leaves me with the creeps about the exhaustive, incredible outer limits that the human mind can create both as a business and the fools that will be suckers enough to buy anything, sort of the ones who respond to  the latest email that they won the Nigerian National Lottery, and willingly send back their bank account information, with their online log in data so their winnings can be properly deposited.

By the way, do you think Ryanair ever
checks the oil which they probably haven't changed in 5 years, or even does the minimum required maintenance of the moving parts of their airplanes?  


They even strip down the insides of their airplane cabins so there are no magazines, nothing that will add weight to the plane, so they can save on gasoline. I mean do you actually believe they fill the gas tank to full when their planes fly? I don't get the feeling that they do.



I can hear them now, before takeoff, "put $5 worth of gas in the fuel tanks, there is a good wind today for gliding".
 

I recently spoke to someone very close to me who flew Ryanair and described it as a "bizarre experience", and that was before they even got on the airplane. With little surprise, there really is no organized check in system. You are commanded, herded by Ryanair Staff who appear to be former disgruntled prison guards, to stand for an hour in a complex array of unknown, unmoving lines, going to nowhere, while not being told anything. At some point an unknown higher authority approves these lines to move.

Your carry on bag is then weighed on a special scale before you can board the airplane. The hand baggage allowance on Ryanair flights is only 55cm x 40cm x 20cm (21.6" x 15.7" x 7.8"). This despite the IATA (International Air Transport Association) larger standard hand baggage allowance is 56cm x 45cm x 25cm (22" x 17.7" x 9.8").


But even worse, as these pictures show, is that when your hand baggage does fit in the metal frame, sometimes the airport staff still charge you for having oversized hand luggage. As you can see in the picture on the left, this man put his baggage in the frame and it fit. And then, in the picture on the right, you see him waiting to pay for "oversized luggage". 

Why? It's part of the pay and pay add on fees of this budget airline company. His bag is made of a soft material and sags when stood upright. He had to squeeze the bag for it to fit, which was deemed unacceptable. But the bag is clearly of the correct size and has not been overfilled.

But at least this gentleman was allowed to board. Other passengers have not been so lucky. There are many interesting, actually very strange reasons that Ryanair uses to deny passengers for the privilege of flying on their airplane. They get more fees for booking another flight, by the way they charge each person an individual, extra credit card fee, per flight.


Reasons Ryanair Might Deny Boarding


No Stamp on Boarding Pass (non-EU citizens) 
 If you are from outside the EU, you must have your boarding pass stamped by a member of staff at the information desk. If you proceed directly to the gate without this, you will be denied boarding.
  • Oversized Luggage
    Ryanair has a strict baggage policy, with hand luggage dimensions as has been previously explained. At many airports you are not allowed to carry any "duty-free", unless it fits in your hand luggage. Normally you will be able to pay a fine to carry these items on, but if their credit card machine is broken and you have no cash, then you will be denied boarding.
  •  
  • Slight Damage to Passport
    If there is a slight tear on the passport page. The passport is perfectly legal, but the airline can deny boarding at its own discretion.

  • Traveling with Local Form of ID not Recognized by the Airline
    Ryanair doesn't believe in following local laws, only Irish law. Therefore if you have a form of ID legal in your country, if Ireland doesn't recognize it, you will be denied boarding.

  • Passengers Traveling with a Driving License on Internal UK Flights
    For internal flights in most of the EU and for flights between Schengen countries, a national ID card is sufficient identification. But a problem arises for UK passengers on internal UK flights. The UK does not have ID cards. Many airlines accept photographic driving licenses. Ryanair does not.
  •  
  • Deaf or Blind Passengers, Traveling Alone and Who Haven't Advised Ryanair.This is actually an improvement on Ryanair policy: before, they only allowed four blind passengers in total, regardless of whether they were accompanied or not.
  •  
  • The Fifth Sole Traveling Passenger Requiring Assistance, Even if you have advised the airline, if there are four or more passengers who require assistance, only the first four will be allowed to board.

  • Traveling with a Guide Dog on Certain Routes 
  •  
  • With a Leg in a Cast
    Passengers with their leg in a cast must purchase three seats
    or they will be denied boarding.
You got your cheap flight because someone else was caught by one of their many little 'ways' when they got to the airport. Your cheap flights are being subsidized by other people's mistakes. And next time, it could be you that makes that mistake.

I have never flown Ryanair, I never will. I wouldn't fly them for free, or even if they paid me money to experience their unique ways of caring for customers,especially one you trust with your life.
 
No way you will ever see me flying with these fine, lovely folks. I do wonder what they will do when the first passenger refuses to use their pay toilet, or no toilet, and pees into a cup they have brought with them. Now that should be quite a scene to be there during that moment in history. Stay tuned.

Monday, October 24, 2011



UPDATED AS OF OCTOBER 24, 2011

COPS COERCED STATEMENTS FROM   ACCUSED KILLER - CLAIMS LAWYER-ALSO REQUESTS TO MOVE TRIAL OUT OF BROOKLYN.

CLICK HERE FOR UPDATED STORY (REUTERS) AS OF OCTOBER 24, 2011

AND

CLICK HERE ON VIDEO OF LEVI ARONS LAWYERS CLAIMING COPS FORCED CONFESSION

ALSO 

DEFENSE ATTORNEY DEFENDS STATEMENT THAT LEVI ARON WAS PRESSURED TO CONFESS KILLING 8 YEAR OLD LEIBY KLETZKY.
October 25, 2011-New York, NY - 
The attorneys defending accused 
killer Levy Aron say he was
pressured to produce a written 
statement to police 
confessing to the crime.


Aron allegedly dismembered 
Leiby Kletzky, 8, in July. 
His attorneys say he is 
not guilty by reason of insanity.


"This is a very simple case. 
He is either evil or insane. 
We intend to prove he is not guilty
by reason of insanity. 
It's pretty straightforward," 
said Howard Greenberg.


"We maintain that it was police 
over-reaching. He has a simple mind. 
There are terms (in the statement) 
that he doesn't seem likely (to use,) 
said Jennifer McCann.

Thursday, October 20, 2011

ASS BACKWARDS

The activity is known as fraud, racketeering, usually reserved for the filth of organized crime but now embraced, infected by the toxic stink of Banks, financial institutions, our government, and our broken legal system.


These acts are serious violations of Federal criminal statutes know as RICO (Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act) and someone needs to go to jail.Those found guilty of racketeering can be sentenced to 20 years in prison per racketeering count.  


Instead, it’s business as usual in the way that the media tip toes meekly about the highly significant corruption involved in the way the government treats large financial "Mafia" institutions.


Well, sniff, the executives whine, we merely play the game according to the rules we're given.Sure, and the Mafia plays its game strictly according to Hoyle.The difference is that the Mafia must actually break the rules, while Wall Street simply hires lobbyists and politicians to write the rules.




It has agreed to pay this fine to settle charges that it misled investors about a complex financial instrument tied to the now catastrophic housing market bubble.


The announcement by the SEC was unlikely to satisfy critics of Wall Street and Washington's bailout of banks who have waited years for any major Wall Street executive to be jailed for practices that led to the global financial meltdown.

The SEC alleged that Citigroup's main broker-dealer subsidiary duped investors who had bought portions of a $1 billion offshore deal known as a collateralized debt obligation. CDOs are bundles of bonds tied to the performance of mortgages and other loans. The deal in question was precisely the kind of engineered financial product that blew up in 2008 and nearly brought down the global financial system.


In the complaint, the SEC alleged that Citigroup Global Markets selected about $500 million worth of assets in the deal, but in marketing materials suggested to investors that Swiss bank Credit Suisse had conducted the selection.


That gave the appearance that it was an arms-length transaction. In reality, said the SEC, Citigroup's subsidiary selected the assets and then bet against the investors in the very product it was selling.


During a Wednesday news conference, the SEC director of the Commission undertaking the investigation, Robert Khuzami read from an email sent by a veteran CDO trader that referred to the Citigroup's deal as "the best short ever." In SEC documents, this same trader refers to the deal as "dog shit."

Somehow this deal still got a gold-plated AAA rating from both Moody's and Standard and Poor's, yet neither was charged in the Citigroup case or any other one.


Even though Citigroup designed the investment to fail, it told investors it had been designed by an independent manager, the SEC said. Citigroup's marketing materials said the investments were picked by Credit Suisse. In an email about the deal, one Citigroup banker asked another not to tell Credit Suisse that it was designed for Citigroup to profit. Credit Suisse "agreed to the terms even though they don't get to pick the assets," the email said, according to the SEC's complaint.


The short position taken by Citigroup helped it gain $126 million and around $34 million as marketing and transaction fees. The $285 million fine includes a $30 million in prejudgment interest, a $160 million disgorgement fees and also a $95 million penalty.


Citigroup has agreed to the settlement without accepting any wrong doing. Credit Suisse was fined $4 million for its involvement in the toxic mortgage assets case.  

        FOR THE LOVE OF MONEY
                               
Are people really still confused as to what the Wall Street protests are about? This sort of "heads I win, tails you lose" behavior by Wall Street is what prompted last year's extensive revamp of financial regulation, known as the Dodd-Frank Act, which several GOP presidential candidates vow to repeal. It's also what has driven many Americans to support the Occupy Wall Street protest movement growing in cities across the nation.


In a statement on its website, Citi Bank stated "We are pleased to put this matter behind us and are focused on contributing to the economic recovery, serving our clients and growing responsibly".


That's the sweet truth, they should be extremely pleased! The Government gives them twenty times that amount in free 'stimulus' money, and all they have to give back is a few million. Not bad for a day's scam. Way to go Government, you really showed 'em on this one.


Do you think Citigroup will change it's behavior or continue business as usual? Too big to fail, too big to arrest, too big to care. 
 
Citigroup, Nice slogan: "How can we help you today, bend over".

In another statement on its website, Citigroup neither admitted nor denied guilt. Citigroup noted that "the S.E.C. did not charge it with “intentional or reckless misconduct. Rather, it settled charges that its actions were negligent and misleading to investors". Ohhhhhh, okay, then. They were ONLY negligent and ONLY misled investors, then, just pay a fine, no admission or denial of wrongdoing, that's the Wall Street way of doing things responsibly.

What a fiasco.They defrauded a billion and get a fine of 285 million? So they walk with a net GAIN of 715 Million.



"It's not called Occupy Wall Street because it's a random geographical location," said Bartlett Naylor, who heads financial policy for advocacy group Public Citizen, which wants criminal charges filed against Wall Street executives.


Citigroup had previously reached a $75 million settlement with the SEC in July 2010 for failing to adequately disclose how much risk it carried on junk mortgages. A federal judge first rejected that settlement as too light, before agreeing later to accept it.


SEC documents released Wednesday spell out how the Citigroup transaction, known as Class V Funding III, closed on Feb. 28, 2007, and that by November about 83 percent of the assets in the complex deal had defaulted. Citigroup still walked away with staggering profits.


Big bucks and minimal transparency characterize the world of structured finance, where Wall Street sliced and diced $2 trillion in loans into complex securities that eventually went bust. McClatchy Newspapers reported exclusively in 2009 on how Moody's Investors Service was also complicit by giving AAA ratings to junk bonds, and how Goldman Sachs secretly bet against its mortgage products while safely exiting a cresting housing market before its collapse.


In the most recent July-September 2011 fiscal quarter, Citigroup earned $3.8 billion. At the height of the financial crisis in 2008, regulators worried that Citigroup was on the brink of failure. It received $45 billion as part of the $700 billion government bailout. Its CEO Vikram Pandit this year was awarded a multi-year bonus package that could be worth nearly $23.4 million if performance goals are met.


Still unclear is the degree to which the SEC, with limited resources, is investigating an estimated $1.3 trillion in complex Cayman deals by major U.S. banks in which investors, often foreign banks, absorbed huge losses, mostly on risky mortgage securities.

The Banking Industry is subject to certain standards of conduct under the license charters issued to them. In theory, pleading no contest to fraud in this case should be grounds for pulling their license, because in theory, with this on their record they would not be given a license. In this SEC case Citigroup is effectively “let off the hook” simply by paying a fine they can easily afford.

“Fat Cats” holding signs above on the cover of the current issue of New Yorker.


The top 1 percent or multi-national corporations rarely face criminal penalties for these acts. Being well entrenched and lining the pockets of both political parties they only face civil penalties or judgments. Jail time, forget it, that's only for regular people like you and me. Just imagine engaging in this kind of business practice either as an individual or a small business. We would be sitting in prison as punishment and "justice served".


This justice served concept is a thing you all know I have a very difficult time believing in as a concept. Basically it is bull shit, and justice served is a lie that usually is not afforded to innocent victims, but owned by the elite powers of our country. 

Justice is a great sounding patriotic idea that has been prostituted to the point of those who can afford to pay for it and political speeches filled with endless lies. Justice does not exist, it is a fable, made up to keep the naive public, believers in that we live in a Country of equality for all.

So, I don't get it, well actually I do. Citigroup committed fraud, literally robbed money from people and gets a fine as their penalty. How about the people that were ripped off, right down to the home owners that ended up losing their homes to foreclosures, or life savings stolen, because of Citigroups actions.

Meanwhile, not so strangely, thousands of lawful "Occupy" peaceful protesters on Wall St., Chicago, LA, SFO, etc. have been arrested and gone to jail for simply pointing out the behavior of Citigroup (and others), "loitering", lying down in a park.  

This despite the Freedom of Speech and Assembly in the first of  amendments of the U.S. Constitution which promises that United States Citizens have the freedom of speech which includes gestures, freedom in the press, and other forms of expression. The first amendment also allows citizens to peacefully congregate and assemble to petition the government for grievances or any problems that they would like to have resolved.

Let's not forget the Constitutions fourth Amendment which gives every American citizen Protection from unreasonable search and seizure- The fourth amendment also gives citizens the right to privacy. This amendment makes it illegal for government officials to search and seize any property such as houses, anything on a person, papers, and affects without proper cause, which has been affirmed by a judge.

You get arrested, searched, thrown to the ground, cuffed, booked, fingerprinted, DNA samples taken, and treated as if YOU are the criminal for lawfully exercising your rights as a citizen. Each of those arrested can now worry their name will find its way onto the federal Terrorist Watch List, since the government considers lawful protest a form of terrorism. 

Sort of back ass wards here, who did these people harm, who did they steal from, whose lives did they ruin?

Actually it is designed by those friendly leaders in power, our politicians serving their masters. It's part of class warfare conducted by the rich who fear the rest of us. Not only do such illegal arrests chill free speech, but they also invade the privacy of citizens engaged in free speech and assembly.   


That's the real crime, don't ya know?        

On Saturday, the Alliance for a Greater New York and Occupy Wall Street teamed up to launch occupytheboardroom.org, a website that lists the names of 200 top executives and board members from Bank of America Corp., Citigroup, Goldman Sachs Group, JP Morgan Chase, Morgan Stanley and Wells Fargo. “Just got evicted while your banker gets bonuses?” the site asks. “Share your special story with someone who ought to know.”

Occupy the Boardroom encourages users to click on the bankers' names and send them personal letters, which are collated on the site. By Tuesday afternoon, the project had already been tweeted nearly 3,000 times and shared on more than 8,000 Facebook pages. More than 88,000 page views from 161 countries had been tallied, and more than 5,000 letters had been submitted.

Saying that such-and-such is the greediest bunch of bankers on Wall Street doesn't mean much since the competition is fierce for the top slimiest scumbag of the bunch.  

Bad management at a bank magically doesn't work the same as it does for the rest of working class Americans. It seems to have no repercussions except enormous payouts. Just ask recently booted Bank of America executives Sallie Krawcheck and Joseph Price. The bank gave Krawcheck a severance package that includes a year's salary of $850,000 plus a payment of $5,150,000. Price got $850,000 and a payment of $4,150,000.

BOFA CEO Brian Moynihan took over from Ken Lewis, an exceptionally crappy bank manager who exited the door with $125 million in his pocket. Moynihan has been defending his bank's debit card decision and making a lot of noise about his loyalty to shareholders and customers and his bank's "right to make a profit".

Former bank regulator Bill Black isn't feeling sympathetic, though, crisply observing that "it was Moynihan's incompetence and moral blindness that allowed BOFA to commit tens of thousands of felonies in the course of foreclosing through perjury on those who were often the victims of Countrywide's underlying fraudulent mortgages. CEO Moynihan collects a $2 million annual salary as a base salary before his perks, incentives are added.

Banking is not really a competitive industry. In reality, it's more like an oligopoly, an industry controlled by a small number of firms. An oligopoly is a lot like a monopoly, where one firm controls the whole show. Only in an oligopoly, you have two or more firms calling the shots, and they love to do things contrary to the notion of a free market, such as colluding to raise prices. There are a few common signs that tell you when competition has left the building in a given industry. 

The last time big banks blew up the economy, causing the Great Depression, they got broken up. Tight regulation protected small banks, so they could get in on the action. But a massive trend of consolidation in the industry starting in the mid-'80s shrank the total number of banks in the United States as bigger banks gobbled up little ones. Result? 

The biggest banks control a larger and larger share of deposits. Concentration of deposits is one measure, the best measure  is probably that of competition in the banking industry. The number of depository organizations in the U.S. fell from 15,416 in 1984 to 8,191 in 2001, a drop of 46.9 percent. The share of deposits held by the biggest five banks swelled to 23 percent in 2001 from just 9 percent in 1984. Sound like a competition-driving trend to you?

If you think 23 percent is a big piece of the pie: In June 2008, before the Lehman collapse, the share of deposits held by the five biggest banks had soared to 37 percent. And the figure has only risen since then. By 2009, the top five banks (Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup, Wells Fargo and PNC) boasted nearly 40 percent of all deposits. They got all these deposits not because they did a great job and offered amazing service (BOFA is notorious for low deposit rates, and nickel and dime fees such as asking for your current balance in an account), but because they ate up smaller banks. 

This increasing concentration of deposits suggests that banks have been getting steadily less competitive over the last 30 years. Which allows nasty things to happen.

For example, when Bank of America decided to charge customers for using a debit card, an activity that actually saves them money on processing checks, they performed a maneuver common in oligopolies, known as "price leadership." 

In this form of tacit collusion, the lead dog in the industry announces a price increase, signaling to the other big dogs that it's cool for them to do the same. In this case, if the other dogs don't place fees on debit cards, they'll find another way to get the dough so that they keep pace with the leader. 

In the last couple of weeks,as though by an invisible hand, you may have received a letter from your bank noting some "changes." Maybe there's new, higher fees or credit cards rewards that have been diluted.  Your checking account might no longer be free. These "changes" mean only one thing: price hikes for you the customer.

What can you do about all of this? Many join the Occupy protests, you don't have to physically attend protests, donate money to it, support it through publicizing it to as many people as possible, take your money out of the biggest banks that caused the financial crisis that are still harming the economy by not lending, doling out huge bonuses, and screwing customers.

Find a credit union or small bank, if for no other reason than to give your support to local businesses and to invest in Main Street. You might even end up with fewer fees. The Move Your Money campaign, offers guidance in picking an institution that's safe. 

                                  
The flags above are no longer separate in what they stand for. Dropping of pretenses is a ritual that all societies that have fallen into decay and tyranny go through. When those who have subverted their political system feel that their hold on power is strong enough to withstand any and all challenges, they go through this stage where all pretenses of upholding laws and government serving the people are dropped. It can happen in a short time or slowly over time. It's happening now to us and its time to put up or shut up.

Take this as a sign that those who are pulling off these crimes against the People and Their Nation feel that they have accumulated such a degree of permanent power that they can no longer be held accountable, even when everybody and their mother knows exactly what they are doing.

In a sane system, there would have been court issued restraining orders and massive involvement/intervention from the federal government long before now and it hasn't happened.  

We live in a systemically corrupt, insane system if you simply open your eyes, smell the rot, and hear the truth, it cannot be denied any longer. That says nothing at all good about the road down to the steep cliff which we are all currently traveling on.