Tag Archives: Crony Capitalism

State Weighs Moving Inmates to Private Prisons, Or Buying a Prison

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“The Oklahoma Board of Corrections is looking at three options to deal with overcrowding at the state’s prison facilities: expanding public prisons, contracting for more private-prison beds, and buying or leasing one of the state’s two empty private prisons. At its Thursday meeting, the board approved a measure allowing the Department of Corrections to draw up a request for proposals from private prison companies to provide an additional 350 to 2,000 medium-security prison beds for state inmates. The board also voted to request more funding this fiscal year to pay for using private-prison beds and seek more funds for fiscal 2015 to give a pay raise to corrections officers and support staff.”

http://oklahomawatch.org/2014/01/09/with-overcrowded-prisons-state-looks-at-moving-more-inmates-to-private-prisons-or-buying-a-private-prison/

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Janet Yellen, the Nation’s New Chief Slumlord

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CHS9a1

“Janet Yellen is the nation’s new top slumlord. Her policies of unlimited liquidity, QE and zero interest rates directly enable financial Elites to beat out Mom and Pop rental housing investors and buy tens of thousands of rental properties at will.  Access to free money and near-zero interest rates gives institutional buyers a built-in advantage over Mom and Pop rental property owners: no collateral and free profits from super-low rates available to those closest to the Fed’s QE money spigot.  Institutional ownership turns the rental housing stock into a Fed-enabled financial monoculture.  To Fed-enabled Institutional landlords, you are an income stream to be skimmed.”

http://www.oftwominds.com/blogjan14/slumlord-Yellen1-14.html

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Angry Bart Takes His Parting Shot

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“After almost 30 years in Washington, Bart Chilton will soon be taking his leave. For the past 6 1/2 years, he has been an outspoken member of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, one of the financial industry’s most important regulators.  Chilton leaves behind a sobering message: Wall Street continues to use every trick in its playbook to do whatever it can to eviscerate numerous post-financial-crisis rules. The arsenal includes high-powered lobbyists who outnumber lawmakers 10-to-1; $1,000-an-hour letter-writing lawyers who gain strength from negotiating over arcana; and the occasional hoodwinking of a president whose knowledge of the ways of finance are close to nil.”

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-12-24/angry-bart-takes-his-parting-shot.html

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Wells Fargo paying $541M over bad loan claims

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“Wells Fargo will pay a net $541 million to Fannie Mae to settle claims over defective home loans, completing the government-controlled mortgage company’s efforts to have banks buy back troubled loans made before the financial crisis.  Fannie Mae said on Monday it has reached settlements worth roughly $6.5 billion over loan buybacks with eight banks, including Wells Fargo, the nation’s largest mortgage lender and fourth-largest bank by assets. The settlements include a $3.6 billion accord in January with Bank of Americaover loans from that bank and the former Countrywide Financial. Fannie Mae Chief Executive Timothy Mayopoulos was once general counsel at Bank of America.”

http://www.cnbc.com/id/101301997

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The More Wasteful The Program, The More Essential It Is To Washington

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“The Agriculture Department gave an Oklahoma winery $200,000 to purchase new equipment.  An Alaska Brewery collected $450,000 to add a new boiler.  Agriculture also gave $100,000 to a North Carolina vodka producer.  Congress devoted $350,000 to the Paterson Great Falls National Historic Park which the National Park Service said should not be a federal park.  Health and Human Services spent nearly $200,000 on a Hollywood party.  The Post Office paid futurist Faith Popcorn to imagine its future.  The Institute of Museum and Library Services gave a New York museum $150,000 to create an exhibit on play.  A Colorado museum received more than $40,000 for its toy collection.”

http://www.forbes.com/sites/dougbandow/2014/01/06/the-more-wasteful-is-the-federal-government-program-the-more-essential-it-is-to-washington/print/

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Voluntary government checkpoints spark backlash

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“A tactic used by the federal government to gather information for anti-drunken and drugged driving programs is coming under criticism in cities around the country.  The tactic involves a subcontractor for the NHTSA that uses off-duty but uniformed police at voluntary roadside checkpoints where motorists are asked on their behavior behind the wheel.  Officers randomly wave motorists over; they are then asked by workers for subcontractor Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation if they will participate in the voluntary survey. However, the mere presence of uniformed officers gives the checkpoints an aura of authority, says a senior staff attorney with the ACLU.”

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/01/06/government-checkpoints-driving/4265633/

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Private prisons contribute thousands to Oklahoma political campaigns

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“Private prisons have given more than $400,000 to Oklahoma political candidates.  The role of private facilities under a new state prison reform law was among the concerns that led to the quashing of parts of the law, documents released by Gov. Mary Fallin’s office show.  Operators of private prisons in Oklahoma angled for a slice of the prison reform pie, campaigning to have their halfway houses serve as the ‘intermediate sanctions facilities’ spelled out in the new law to handle low-level offenders who violated terms of their release.”

http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/private-prisons-contribute-thousands-to-oklahoma-political-campaigns/article_f5ddca24-72e5-5c81-849b-031ac6c7c978.html

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Japan’s homeless recruited for murky Fukushima clean-up

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“In the October case, homeless men were rounded up at Sendai’s train station by Sasa, then put to work clearing radioactive soil and debris in Fukushima City for less than minimum wage, according to police and accounts of those involved. The men reported up through a chain of three other companies to Obayashi, Japan’s second-largest construction company.  Obayashi, which is one of more than 20 major contractors involved in government-funded radiation removal projects, has not been accused of any wrongdoing.  Members of Japan’s three largest criminal syndicates had set up black-market recruiting agencies under Obayashi.”

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/12/30/us-fukushima-workers-idUSBRE9BT00520131230

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Bill Bonner: Are Pope Francis, Bill De Blasio and Barack Obama Right?

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Bill-Bonner2

“People think the rich are capitalists and that capitalists are rich. Not so. A real capitalist takes losses as well as gains. He makes mistakes… and pays for them himself.  Sometimes it’s not about the money. Often, he doesn’t know how much he’s got… and doesn’t care. It’s the journey he likes, not necessarily the destination.  The capitalist is misunderstood. So is capitalism. It is not so much a system; it is what happens when there is no system. It is what people get up to when they are left to their own devices.  Good? Bad?  We don’t know… but it’s better than being told what to do by some jackass with his own agenda.”

http://www.bonnerandpartners.com/are-pope-francis-bill-de-blasio-and-barack-obama-right-about-capitalism/

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Idaho to take over troubled privately run prison

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“Idaho will take over the operation of its largest prison from one of the nation’s biggest corrections contractors, abruptly ending an experiment with privatization at a facility that has been plagued by understaffing, multiple lawsuits and allegations of contract fraud. California officials are expanding their use of private prisons to meet a court order to reduce overcrowding.  Oklahoma’s corrections director resigned last year in a dispute over the growing use of prison privatization. Kentucky transferred about 400 female inmates out of a private prison after guards sexually assaulted inmates, and Hawaii transferred female inmates out of the same prison over similar allegations.”

http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/usworld/idaho-to-take-over-troubled-privately-run-prison/article_20036d91-f05c-50b3-be6b-062cabe8865e.html

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