March 18, 2013

1 less vacant home in Stone Mountain as Mildred bravely reclaims hers back from the bank.

Occupy Homes ATL ?@OccupyHomesATL

1 less vacant home in Stone Mountn as Mildred bravely reclaims hers back from the bank.
#occupyhomes #homes4all #ows pic.twitter.com/0c9rVHbYj2

https://twitter.com/OccupyHomesATL/status/313792776053604352/photo/1

March 18, 2013

Cyprus: For Everyone Shocked By What Just Happened... And Why This Is Just The Beginning

OccupyPhoenix ?@occupyphoenix

“@zerohedge: For Everyone Shocked By What Just Happened... And Why This Is Just The Beginning
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-03-16/everyone-shocked-what-just-happened-and-why-just-beginning …”


Today, lots of people woke up in shock and horror to what happened in Cyprus: a forced capital reallocation mandated by political elites under the guise of an "equity investment" in insolvent banks, which is really code for a "coercive, mandatory wealth tax." If less concerned about political correctness, one could say that what just happened was daylight robbery from savers to banks and the status quo. These same people may be even more shocked to learn that today's Cypriot "resolution" is merely the first of many such coercive interventions into personal wealth, first in Europe, and then everywhere else.

For the benefit of those people, we wish to point them to our article from September 2011, "The "Muddle Through" Has Failed: BCG Says "There May Be Only Painful Ways Out Of The Crisis", which predicted and explained all of this and much more. What else did the September BCG study conclude? Simply that such mandatory, coercive wealth tax is merely the beginning for a world in which there was some $21 trillion in excess debt as of 2009, a number which has since ballooned to over $30 trillion. And with inflation woefully late in appearing and "inflating away" said debt overhang, Europe first is finally moving to Plan B, and is using Cyrprus as its Guniea Pig.

For those who missed it the first time, here it is again. Somehow we think many more people will listen this time around:

Restructuring the debt overhang in the euro zone would require financing and would be a daunting task. In order to finance controlled restructuring, politicians could well conclude that it was necessary to tax the existing wealth of the private sector. Many politicians would see taxing financial assets as the fairest way of resolving the problem. Taxing existing financial assets would acknowledge one fact: these investments are not as valuable as their owners think, as the debtors (governments, households, and corporations) will be unable to meet their commitments. Exhibit 3 shows the one-time tax on financial assets required to provide the necessary funds for an orderly restructuring.

(More at the link.)

March 18, 2013

5 Exciting Verdicts: Occupy Keeps Winning in Court

IO: (InterOcc) ?@InterOcc

5 Exciting Verdicts: #Occupy Keeps Winning in Court http://www.care2.com/causes/5-exciting-verdicts-occupy-keeps-winning-in-court.html …
Retweeted by NATGAT2013

http://www.care2.com/causes/5-exciting-verdicts-occupy-keeps-winning-in-court.html

1. Last week, a jury acquitted a dozen Philadelphia Occupy activists charged with conspiracy and trespassing for holding a sit-in at a Wells Fargo bank. Apparently, the jury agreed with the protesters that the message of the protest was important enough to override the trespassing charges. But it was the judge, Nina N. Wright Padilla, who seemed most impressed with the twelve people on trial. Calling them the “most affable group of defendants [she’s] ever come across,” she shook all of their hands after the trial and said, “I hope you continue your work in a law-abiding way.”

2. Michael Premo was found innocent in New York City’s first Occupy trial to go before a jury. Police had trumped up charges against Premo, alleging he had rushed at an officer and knocked him over, breaking one of the officer’s bones. When Premo insisted he did no such thing, his lawyer asked for the police’s video footage of the incident, which they claimed did not exist.

So instead, she turned to citizen journalist footage and found a clear shot of the arrest. The video showed that it was the officer who violently tackled Premo, not the other way around, and that the officer’s account was fabricated. Moreover, the footage shows a police officer nearby filming the scene.

Will the police be tried for lying, creating false charges, and obstructing evidence? Don’t hold your breath. As Premo declared after his trial, “There is no justice in the American justice system, but you can sometimes find it in a jury.”

(More at the link.)

March 18, 2013

Too many cops at this evening's Kimani Gray vigil, Brooklyn

BЯ?AKB?∆Ƭ #STFUSec ?@BreaKBeatJunkee

Bus full of cops just arrived at #BrooklynProtest. #KimaniGray ( @recaiiskender live at http://ustre.am/IVdd )


Shay Horse ?@HuntedHorse

A prison van packed with riot cops just drove by #BrooklynProtest #FTP pic.twitter.com/LZr9moY1T8
https://twitter.com/HuntedHorse/status/313450118458257408/photo/1


Brooklyn Politics ?@BrooklynInsides

NYPD arresting yesterday a demonstrator at #BrooklynProtest against the shooting of #KimaniGray by NYPD. (@nypost) pic.twitter.com/pCRk3VCm6f
https://twitter.com/BrooklynInsides/status/312228705621651456/photo/1

March 17, 2013

Koch Brothers partially to blame for Michigan's "Emergency Manager" smash-and-grab scam

Cross-post to GD. I grew up outside of Detroit and all of my best wishes go to everyone.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022519154

March 17, 2013

(Illegally foreclosed homeowner) Soly Corona Interviewed during a Protest

http://www.occupyfightsforeclosures.org/soly_corona_interviewed_during_a_protest


A new interview of Soly Corona was recently aired.

0:18 - "I've spent over 40,000 dollars trying to get my home back. That's all we want. It's just to pay our mortgage."

0:35 - "[Evicting families] is what they do. They create blight in communities. It's sad. It's tragic, actually. Then I haven't lived with my daughter since. That's what they do. They break families up. They throw you into the street. They hold your money. They lie to you."

Having committed crimes such as dual tracking, robosigning, and forgery, Bank of America evicted her family during holiday season despite Bank of America's Holiday Moratorium not to foreclose, evict or displace during the holidays. [source 1, 2, 3]

(More at the link.)

March 17, 2013

Thousands of Rohingya are fleeing ethnic violence in Western Burma.

Anonymous ?@CIApressoffice

"Thousands of #Rohingya are fleeing ethnic violence in Western Burma."
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-21796825 …

Thai navy denies shooting Rohingya refugees

The Thai navy has denied reports that its personnel opened fire on a group of Rohingya refugees, killing at least two.

Thai Navy commander Admiral Surasak Rounroengrom said that "no [Thai] navy officer could be that ruthless".

He was responding to reports that Thai sailors shot at a boat of around 20 Rohingya refugees off Thailand's south-western coast in February.

Thousands of Rohingyas are fleeing ethnic violence in western Burma.

(More at the link. I am SICK of hearing about attacks upon these people! Something must change!)

March 17, 2013

A Univ. of Hong Kong prof has called for 10K people to #OccupyCentral in July, 2014 for suffrage:

Occupy Wall Street ?@OccupyWallStNYC

A Univ. of Hong Kong prof has called for 10K people to #OccupyCentral in July, 2014 for universal suffrage:
http://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1192987/compromise-cy-leung-could-avert-occupy-central-threat …


The proposed Occupy Central demonstration is over a year away and many things are scheduled to happen before it kicks off. But already it constitutes a clear and present danger both for Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying and the pan-democrats, although the latter seem not to recognise the fact yet.

First a quick recap. Professor Benny Tai Yiu-ting, of the University of Hong Kong, has called for 10,000 people to blockade Central District in July next year to put pressure on the administration - and, by extension, Beijing - to move ahead with universal suffrage. The constituent parties of the pan-democratic movement are one by one coming out in support of the idea.

First to face the music will be the chief executive. Whether he reverts to the traditional practice of delivering the policy address in October this year or stays with the January date to be closer to the 2014 budget, he will have to give an outline of his thinking on reform of the system for electing the Legislative Council in 2016.

Such a timetable will allow for a thorough public debate in 2014, and for the necessary legislation to be enacted in 2015.

(More at the link.)

March 17, 2013

This Crazy Cyprus Deal Could Screw Up A Lot More Than Cyprus... (Updated)

Occupy Wall Street ?@OccupyWallStNYC

One way to look at #Cyprus levy: "slam middle-class savers in order to put a smaller levy on Russian oligarchs"
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/03/17/after-cyprus-bank-bailout-depositors-race-to-withdraw-their-cash-is-the-rest-of-europe-next.html … #OWS

As you probably already know by now, the banking system of Cyprus has imploded, and Europe has stepped in to provide, not a "bail-out", but a "bail-in": the banks get a capital infusion, but the depositors have to take a haircut, losing between 7-10% of the value of their bank account. That's not exactly what they're calling it, of course; it's a "special bank levy" of 6.75% on accounts up to 100,000 (the limit for deposit insurance) and about 10% on accounts above that limit.

The depositor haircuts seem to have been necessary to get political support for the deal in the EU--and political support in the EU was necessary because Cypriot banks had assets somewhere in the neighborhood of 8 times the Gross Domestic Product of Cyprus. And just to bring it full circle, the banking system had grown to such grotesque, hypertrophied proportions because Cypriot bank accounts seem to be a favorite of tax-dodging Russian oligarchs . . . which is why it was politically necessary to give depositors such a large haircut.

From a technical, economic, perspective, however, this looks to be disastrous. If we are not yet having full-scale runs on Cypriot banks, we've at least worked up to a pretty brisk jog. No banking system can survive a bank run; if everyone tries to get their money out at once, even the soundest, most prudently managed bank in the world will fail, because they can't liquidate their loan assets fast enough to keep the cash moving out the door.

The decision to place a levy on insured accounts, in particular, seems extremely foolish. Note that it may have been necessary to prevent a run on the foreign accounts, which by some reports constitute about a third of total deposits. But if violating the deposit guarantees was necessary to implement your "tax the Russians to pay for the bank bailout plan", that should have been a sign that the plan was a bad idea.

(More at the link.)

---

Occupy Wall Street ?@OccupyWallStNYC

Confused about #Cyprus & why you should care? Read this:
http://www.businessinsider.com/cyprus-bailout-risks-europe-bank-runs-2013-3 … #OWS #euro #Euronews

This Crazy Cyprus Deal Could Screw Up A Lot More Than Cyprus...

Cyprus's banks, like many banks in Europe, are bankrupt.

Cyprus went to the Eurozone to get a bailout, the same way Ireland, Greece, and other European countries have.

The Eurozone powers-that-be gave Cyprus a bailout — but with a startling condition that has never before been imposed on any major banking system since the start of the global financial crisis in 2008.

The Eurozone powers-that-be (mainly, Germany) insisted that the depositors in Cyprus's banks pay part of the tab.

(More at the link.)

---

Cyprus: For Everyone Shocked By What Just Happened... And Why This Is Just The Beginning

OccupyPhoenix ?@occupyphoenix

“@zerohedge: For Everyone Shocked By What Just Happened... And Why This Is Just The Beginning
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-03-16/everyone-shocked-what-just-happened-and-why-just-beginning …”


Today, lots of people woke up in shock and horror to what happened in Cyprus: a forced capital reallocation mandated by political elites under the guise of an "equity investment" in insolvent banks, which is really code for a "coercive, mandatory wealth tax." If less concerned about political correctness, one could say that what just happened was daylight robbery from savers to banks and the status quo. These same people may be even more shocked to learn that today's Cypriot "resolution" is merely the first of many such coercive interventions into personal wealth, first in Europe, and then everywhere else.

For the benefit of those people, we wish to point them to our article from September 2011, "The "Muddle Through" Has Failed: BCG Says "There May Be Only Painful Ways Out Of The Crisis", which predicted and explained all of this and much more. What else did the September BCG study conclude? Simply that such mandatory, coercive wealth tax is merely the beginning for a world in which there was some $21 trillion in excess debt as of 2009, a number which has since ballooned to over $30 trillion. And with inflation woefully late in appearing and "inflating away" said debt overhang, Europe first is finally moving to Plan B, and is using Cyrprus as its Guniea Pig.

For those who missed it the first time, here it is again. Somehow we think many more people will listen this time around:

Restructuring the debt overhang in the euro zone would require financing and would be a daunting task. In order to finance controlled restructuring, politicians could well conclude that it was necessary to tax the existing wealth of the private sector. Many politicians would see taxing financial assets as the fairest way of resolving the problem. Taxing existing financial assets would acknowledge one fact: these investments are not as valuable as their owners think, as the debtors (governments, households, and corporations) will be unable to meet their commitments. Exhibit 3 shows the one-time tax on financial assets required to provide the necessary funds for an orderly restructuring.

(More at the link.)

March 17, 2013

Activist 'shocked' at conviction for yelling at David Cameron

Dennis ?@brit_newsman

Activist 'shocked' at conviction for yelling at David Cameron http://gu.com/p/3efmd/tw via @guardian #PoliceStateUK


http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/mar/16/activist-shocked-conviction-cameron-protest?CMP=twt_gu

A woman has described her shock after being found guilty of a public order offence for telling David Cameron he had "blood on his hands".

Bethan Tichborne, 28, said initially she assumed her court summons was a bureaucratic error after she was arrested for protesting against cuts to disability benefits. But she was told by a district judge that her comments must have hugely insulted the prime minister.

Cameron was switching on the Christmas lights in his Witney constituency in Oxfordshire, in December, when Tichborne tried to climb a barrier with her homemade placard. The one-woman protest, she claims, was against cuts leading to the deaths of people with disabilities. She believes her conviction at Oxford magistrates court last week was politically motivated.

(More at the link.)