In the GPS Case, Issues of Privacy and Technology – NYTimes.com

29 Jan

Tricky question. Read the whole thing.

Focusing on public expectations of privacy means that our rights change when technology does. As Justice Alito blithely said: “New technology may provide increased convenience or security at the expense of privacy, and many people may find the tradeoff worthwhile.”

But aren’t constitutional rights intended to protect our liberty even when the public accepts “increased convenience or security at the expense of privacy”? Fundamental rights remain fundamental in the face of time and new inventions.

via In the GPS Case, Issues of Privacy and Technology – NYTimes.com.

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In Defense of Clean Energy – NYTimes.com

29 Jan

The lengthy Republican investigation into the failure of a single solar energy company, Solyndra, has already raised doubts about the value and integrity of a multibillion-dollar federal program designed to support renewable energy development. Mr. Obama had the right response: The failure of some public investments to pan out was not reason enough to abandon clean energy or “cede the wind or solar or battery industry to China or Germany.” It’s an argument he will have to keep making.

via In Defense of Clean Energy – NYTimes.com.

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The Mississippi Delta Must Be Restored – NYTimes.com

28 Jan

The future of all our shellfish and fisheries — shrimp, oyster, redfish, pompano, speckled trout — hinges on restoration of the delta wetlands using the billions that BP and other companies could end up owing. Since a hurricane’s storm surge is reduced by the wetlands it travels across — by as much as a foot for every two and a half miles, according to some scientists — the longevity of New Orleans also relies on the wetlands’ restoration. How else to get all that grain from the heartland to international markets?

via The Mississippi Delta Must Be Restored – NYTimes.com.

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Michael Hudson: Banks Weren’t Meant to Be Like This « naked capitalism

28 Jan

Yet the banks now browbeat governments – not by having ready cash but by threatening to go bust and drag the economy down with them if they are not given control of public tax policy, spending and planning. The process has gone furthest in the United States. Joseph Stiglitz characterizes the Obama administration’s vast transfer of money and pubic debt to the banks as a “privatizing of gains and the socializing of losses. It is a ‘partnership’ in which one partner robs the other.” Prof. Bill Black describes banks as becoming criminogenic and innovating “control fraud.” High finance has corrupted regulatory agencies, falsified account-keeping by “mark to model” trickery, and financed the campaigns of its supporters to disable public oversight. The effect is to leave banks in control of how the economy’s allocates its credit and resources. …

Banking has moved so far away from funding industrial growth and economic development that it now benefits primarily at the economy’s expense in a predator and extractive way, not by making productive loans. This is now the great problem confronting our time. Banks now lend mainly to other financial institutions, hedge funds, corporate raiders, insurance companies and real estate, and engage in their own speculation in foreign currency, interest-rate arbitrage, and computer-driven trading programs. Industrial firms bypass the banking system by financing new capital investment out of their own retained earnings, and meet their liquidity needs by issuing their own commercial paper directly. Yet to keep the bank casino winning, global bankers now want governments not only to bail them out but to enable them to renew their failed business plan – and to keep the present debts in place so that creditors will not have to take a loss.

via Michael Hudson: Banks Weren’t Meant to Be Like This « naked capitalism.

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Occupying Policy | The Nation

27 Jan

One of the most substantial examples of policy efforts within Occupy is a group called Occupy the SEC, which for months has been meeting twice weekly to review the 298-page Volcker Rule through a diligent, line-by-line reading and analysis. The group’s goal is to submit a public comment to the Securities and Exchange Commission examining potential loopholes in the rule. When implemented, the Volcker Rule, part of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, will restrict American banks from making certain forms of speculative investments, such as proprietary trading.

via Occupying Policy | The Nation.

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C Steele on the Issues (2012) | We The People Reform Coalition

26 Jan

Robert Steele is running for nomination as the Reform Party’s presidential candidate in 2012. Here’s bullet points on his views in two out of 20+ policy areas. It’s a very promising list and should be read thoughtfully.

Robert Steele on Abortion

* This is a matter best left to the states

* Birth control medications should be available by prescription across the land

* In cases of rape and incest, woman’s right to avoid biological enslavement

Robert Steele on Budget & Economy

* Our biggest problem is a corrupt Congress and the corrupt two-party bi-opoly

* Holding banks accountable for speculation and fraud is essential

* Moratorium on all foreclosures and evictions – insure America from the bottom up

* Full year of paid training for every unemployed person, instead of bailing out banks

* FULL EMPLOYMENT is our primary objective, INFLATION our primary enemy

via C Steele on the Issues (2012) | We The People Reform Coalition.

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Wall Street execs are major Obama fundraisers – Contraception – Salon.com

26 Jan

The 62 bundlers who work in [the investment banking] industry have raised at least $9.4 million for Obama and the DNC. That “at least” is significant because the Obama campaign specifies only a dollar range in its disclosures, with the top category being “$500,000+.” So the real aggregate figure may be considerably higher.

Among these bundlers are employees of big-name firms including Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Barclays and Citigroup.

It’s worth emphasizing that for all the talk about grass-roots fundraising by the Obama campaign, the bundlers are a major part of the effort. The data released so far shows that at least one-third of all the money raised was sent in by a bundler, according to CRP.

via Wall Street execs are major Obama fundraisers – Contraception – Salon.com.

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FBI Wants New App to Wiretap the Internet | Common Dreams

26 Jan

Big Brother wants to watch even more:

The FBI’s Strategic Information and Operations Center (SOIC) posted a ‘Request for Information (RFI)’ online last week seeking companies to build a social network monitoring system for the FBI. The 12-page document (.pdf) spells out what the bureau wants from such a system and invites potential contractors to reply by February 10, 2012….

It notes that agents need to “locate bad actors…and analyze their movements, vulnerabilities, limitations, and possible adverse actions”. It also states that the bureau will use social media to create “pattern-of-life matrices” — presumably logs of targets’ daily routines — that will aid law enforcement in planning operations.

via FBI Wants New App to Wiretap the Internet | Common Dreams.

George Soros on the Coming U.S. Class War – The Daily Beast

24 Jan

Soros is not a happy camper:

Sitting in his 33rd-floor corner office high above Seventh Avenue in New York, preparing for his trip to Davos, he is more concerned with surviving than staying rich. “At times like these, survival is the most important thing,” he says, peering through his owlish glasses and brushing wisps of gray hair off his forehead. He doesn’t just mean it’s time to protect your assets. He means it’s time to stave off disaster. As he sees it, the world faces one of the most dangerous periods of modern history—a period of “evil.” Europe is confronting a descent into chaos and conflict. In America he predicts riots on the streets that will lead to a brutal clampdown that will dramatically curtail civil liberties. The global economic system could even collapse altogether.

via George Soros on the Coming U.S. Class War – The Daily Beast.

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AP Interview: Davos Forum founder says capitalism is out of balance, warns conflicts await – The Washington Post

24 Jan

DAVOS, Switzerland — Capitalism is out of whack, the founder of the World Economic Forum says, welcoming critics’ ideas of how to fix it — even those camped out in protest igloos near his invitation-only gathering of global VIPs.

This anti-big money mood is surprising territory for a man who embraces free markets and whose livelihood consists of bringing world CEOs and political leaders together for elite brainstorming sessions.

Klaus Schwab is also unusually downbeat, his trademark optimism tempered by global economic turmoil and public unrest ahead of this year’s forum.

“We have unfinished business and we have to act fast,” he told The Associated Press in an interview Tuesday ahead of the forum’s Wednesday opening.

via AP Interview: Davos Forum founder says capitalism is out of balance, warns conflicts await – The Washington Post.

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