Category: government corruption

The US could be heading for economic turmoil again 15 years after the 2008 financial crisis rocked the country, three experts have said. Global finance giant Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy on September 15, 2008, more than 150 years after its founding. It was the first major US victim of the sub-prime mortgage collapse. The first warning of the Credit Crunch came a year earlier, with the run small regional British mortgage lender Northern Rock after it asked the Bank…

The trend of banks increasing their net interest margins and channeling their efforts into loan refinancing has raised concerns that it will reduce competition in the lending market. This shift could have significant implications for borrowers and the broader economy, according to Peter James (pictured above), director of non-bank lender Mortgage Ezy. “Banks are notorious for fattening their net interest margins (NIM) on loans whenever the cash rate scales higher,” James said. “While borrowers bear the brunt of RBA rate…

The poverty rate in the U.S. has risen dramatically in the year since pandemic benefits ran out — and the child poverty rate has more than doubled, according to U.S. Census Bureau data released Tuesday. Just a year ago, the Census Bureau found child poverty had hit a historic low. Experts point to the expanded child tax credit as key to this poverty yo-yo. Adam Ruben of the Economic Security Project says the tax credit went to more people, in…

Journalist Glenn Greenwald has once again dissected a load of establishment propaganda disguised as legitimate reporting – this time shredding a new, and fraudulent, “disinformation study“ from the Washington Post. And of course, Greenwald has receipts. The study, which was sponsored by the European Union ‘with an Omidyar-funded group’ accuses Twitter (X) of facilitating “pro-Russia propaganda” by failing to censor more. The Washington Post’s latest “disinformation study” – sponsored by the EU with an Omidyar-funded group that accuses Twitter of failing to censor “Russian propaganda” –…

  JPMorgan Chase is in a protracted legal battle in a federal district court in Manhattan over highly credible allegations that it “actively participated” in Jeffrey Epstein’s sex-trafficking of minors. The lawsuit has been brought against JPMorgan Chase by the Attorney General of the U.S. Virgin Islands where Epstein owned a private island compound that was a frequent venue of the sex trafficking operation. Part of the bank’s damage control strategy has been to sue one of its former top…

The Pentagon announced a new $600 million package of long-term aid to Ukraine on Thursday, providing funding for an array of weapons and other equipment just a day after Secretary of State Antony Blinken visited the country and pledged $1 billion in new military and humanitarian aid. The Defense Department said the latest package will come through the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative, which provides money for long-term contracts for weapons systems that need to be built or modified by defense companies. Included…

Former Trump adviser Peter Navarro was found guilty Thursday of two counts of criminal contempt of Congress for defying a subpoena from the House committee charged with investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. A federal jury deliberated for less than four hours before issuing its verdict. Navarro, 74, is now the second former aide to the former president to be prosecuted for not cooperating with the select committee. Navarro, who served as director of the Office of…

Emmanuel Macron has opted to organize a type of forum dear to his predecessor, but for which he has had little taste, until now. During the long discussions with political party leaders and the presidents of the chambers of Parliament on Wednesday, August 30, the president committed to holding a “social conference.” The notion is reminiscent of several conclaves held during François Hollande’s presidency (2012-2017). The goal is to provide new solutions for workers whose cost of living has increased…

The DOJ charged JPMorgan Chase with engaging in “tens of thousands of instances of unlawful trading in gold, silver, platinum, and palladium…as well as thousands of instances of unlawful trading in U.S. Treasury futures contracts and in U.S. Treasury notes and bonds…”

The U.S. Treasury market is essential to the United States being able to pay its bills; raise money efficiently; and maintain the trust of our allies in our sovereign debt instruments. Rigging the Treasury market is about as close to financial treason as a Wall Street firm can get; especially when JPMorgan Chase’s securities unit is one of the Fed’s primary dealers and is contractually bound to bid in Treasury auctions.

But instead of prosecuting the bank, the DOJ handed JPMorgan a deferred-prosecution agreement (its third in six years) and put it on probation.

This film, produced by Wikileaks itself, documents the organization’s attempts at obtaining the collaboration of media outlets around the world as they plan the responsible publication of their cables. Contrary to the depiction of Wikileaks’ actions in the Hollywood film released the same year (a box office failure), Mediastan provideds a concrete, transparent look at the mechanism of control that Washington exerts over seemingly unrelated media outlets. The team of Wikileaks volunteers travel to Central Asia and document their numerous…

Saudi Crown Prince Mohamed bin Salman in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, July 19, 2023. SAUDI PRESS AGENCY / VIA REUTERS Among the various grotesque punishments that have become a trademark of Saudi Arabia under Crown Prince Mohamed bin Salman, this one has reached a new level. In July, a 54-year-old retired teacher named Mohammed al-Ghamdi was sentenced to death for sending messages on social media denouncing human rights violations in the kingdom. The verdict, so harsh you would be forgiven for…

Russia on Thursday, August 24, extended the detention of US reporter Evan Gershkovich, arrested in March on spying charges that he denies and held in a Moscow prison since, by three months. Gershkovich, a Moscow correspondent for The Wall Street Journal, had continued to report from Russia during Moscow’s offensive in Ukraine. “The time of detention has been extended by three months… Until November 30, 2023,” a spokesperson for Moscow’s Lefortovsky court said. The hearing was held behind closed doors,…

Russian mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin was believed dead after a private jet on which he was listed as a passenger crashed north of Moscow with no survivors. Prigozhin, 62, spearheaded a mutiny against Russia’s top army brass on June 23-24, which President Vladimir Putin said could have tipped Russia into civil war. Others who have opposed Putin or his interests have also died under unclear circumstances or come close to death. Here are some details about these mysterious incidents: ANNA…

The two founders behind Tornado Cash, a Russian cryptocurrency mixing service, have been charged by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York, according to a statement on Wednesday. Roman Storm and Roman Semenov were officially charged with conspiracy to commit money laundering, conspiracy to commit sanctions violations and conspiracy to operate an unlicensed money transmitting business, according to a newly unsealed indictment. Storm was arrested in Washington on Wednesday but Semenov still remains at large, the…