Saturday, June 16th, 2012
CORA CURRIER, - ProPublica
Stephan: We have reached a level of public corruption at the top of government that equals any Central or South American banana republic of the 1920s through 1970s. It is one of the several great lies we tell ourselves about ourselves that we have this vaunted democratic republic. The truth is we have government for the rich, by the rich. Of the 535 members of the Senate and the House, about 47 per cent -- 249 -- are millionaires.
This morning, Jamie Dimon, the CEO of JP Morgan Chase, faced a Senate hearing over more than $2 billion in bank losses caused by risky hedges that blew up. Dimon said that the hedges-investments meant to protect the bank-had grown into ‘complex and hard-to manage risks.
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Saturday, June 16th, 2012
DAVID MUIR, CHRISTINE BROUWER and MAGGY PATRICK , - ABC News
Stephan: Read this and think about it in the context of what that lost $606 billion -- nearly two thirds of a trillion dollars -- would have meant in terms of jobs, and small business profits. Ask yourself how many middle class families who have fallen into poverty would be prosperous today if those tourists had come to our shores. Our paranoia and fear is cutting us off from the rest of the world. And if people don't know you how can they like you? I think this is contributing to the rising anti-Americanism in the world.
In the decade between 2000 and 2010, the number of foreign overseas tourists travelling the world grew by an astounding 60 million. You would think the numbers would grow in the United States as well, but they haven’t. Ten years ago 26 million overseas visitors visited the U.S. In 2010, 26.4 million, according to the U.S. Travel Association, a trade group. That’s hardly any growth at all.
Take a look at the numbers. The average Chinese tourist who visits America spends $6,243 while they’re here, according to the U.S. Travel Association. Visitors from India spend $6,131. Brazilian tourists coming to America spend $4,940.
‘I want to go to New York and California, maybe Las Vegas — the Grand Canyon and Yellowstone Park,’ said one man waiting for a visa in Rio de Janiero.
But there is a catch, and it’s a big one. There is no guarantee he or any other foreign tourists will get to come and spend their money here.
In fact, last year, tourists from Brazil had to wait up to 145 days just to interview for the required piece of paper.
In China, there are 1.3 billion people and only five places where you can even get an American visa. This […]
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Saturday, June 16th, 2012
Stephan: Once again I have been invited to go cruising on my friend Richard's wonderful boat. This time we are going to Glacier Bay, Alaska. These cruises to remote areas far from electricity, and all communications except satellite phone, are the only time I do not, because I cannot, do SR. The last SR will be Monday's edition on the 18th. I will begin publishing again on the 2nd July.
-- Stephan
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Saturday, June 16th, 2012
BENJY SARLIN, - Talking Points Memo
Stephan: This was inevitable. A tiny group of billionaires are buying the kind of government they want -- who cares what you think, since they have been able to hoodwink enough American voters to vote the way they want. These mostly aging white men with their short term interest in making yet more money than the billions they already have constitute the new governing aristocracy in the former democratic republic of the United States. They don't care how stupid these new theocratic rightist legislators are, as long as they do what they're told, and I genuinely think they are entertained by how easy it is lead a critical mass of the American electorate around by its 'values.'
Reports of $1 billion pledges to defeat President Obama among the nation’s wealthiest conservatives conjure images of shadowy backroom deals made alongside cigars and scotch. But according to one such billionaire, the donor class actually needs to hang out together more.
Foster Friess was the leading donor to a super PAC supporting Rick Santorum’s campaign and is now donating to Restore Our Future, a similar group backing Romney’s election. On Friday, he attended the conservative Faith & Freedom Conference in Washington D.C.
Friess told TPM that far from coordinating moves with other GOP mega-donors like Sheldon Adelson and Bob Perry, who had backed rival primary candidates, the men have little contact.
‘There should be more of that,
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Stephan: This is the sneaky way the Obama Justice Department is trying to stop a rational marijuana policy from emerging. Why Obama is doing this is an important question he has refused to answer.
ST. LOUIS — Federal prosecutors are targeting medical marijuana shops in California, seeking forfeiture of the properties in which they do business.
The authorities are pressuring landlords to shut down the shops or face possible loss of the real estate through the unconventional and low-key use of a civil statute designed primarily to seize the assets of drug-trafficking organizations.
While some states, including California, have legalized medical marijuana businesses, the federal government does not recognize their authority to do so and has targeted the shops for violations of the 40-year-old Controlled Substances Act.
The goal of the Justice Department’s effort, part of a crackdown announced last October, is to fight the medical marijuana industry, estimated at $1.7 billion annually, without confronting it head-on with costly and potentially embarrassing criminal prosecutions, industry sources and legal experts said.
This indirect strategy is reminiscent of the department’s attempts, which have met with only limited success, to sever the medical pot industry’s access to banking services. Many businesses have found ways around those restrictions, experts said.
‘Filing asset-forfeiture lawsuits against these commercial properties is a very clever way to handle an otherwise horribly difficult and controversial situation,’ said Greg Baldwin, a partner at the Miami law firm Holland & […]
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