Justice John Paul Stevens read a long dissent from the bench. He said the majority had committed a grave error in treating corporate speech the same as that of human beings. His decision was joined by the other three members of the court’s liberal wing.
The case had unlikely origins. It involved a documentary called “Hillary: The Movie,” a 90-minute stew of caustic political commentary and advocacy journalism. It was produced by Citizens United, a conservative nonprofit corporation, and was released during the Democratic presidential primaries in 2008.
Massachusetts, the most liberal of liberal states, just elected a Republican, Scott Brown, to the U.S. Senate. What the hell just happened? People are Red Faced Pissed Off is what happened!
You promised to change the way Washington works, but you didn't do it. Your answers to our problems are inadequate, or they make things worse. As usual, you're taking care of everyone but us. Despite the worst economic crisis in generations, nothing has changed.
The bank said that it lost about $1.6 billion in 2009 — after a $18.72 billion loss the year before. It also reported $7.6 billion loss in the fourth quarter, mostly as a result of a $10.1 billion accounting charge tied to the repayment of its bailout money, which ended any chance of a profit. Last year, the bank had a fourth quarter loss of $8.29 billion or a $1.72 a share.
At Citigroup, most of the fourth-quarter loss stemmed from an accounting charge linked to the company's exit from the government's Troubled Asset Relief Program. Even without that charge, Citigroup would have lost $1.4 billion in the period.
Up until now, Greece has remained afloat due to the belief that the rest of Europe would bail them out. That belief took a body blow yesterday when the ECB said it wouldn't change the rules for Greece.
Because of this, the Euro tumbled today, while yields soared for Greek debt.
However, the real shocker for the market was the revalation that Greece was "looking at everything" in order to meet its borrowing needs. This indicated that it wouldn't be able to afford the higher interest rates in the not too distant future.
The Chinese authorities signaled Wednesday that bank lending would slow significantly this year and reportedly instructed some banks to curb loans — the latest in a series of moves designed to forestall inflation and stave off bubbles in the stock and property markets.
Liu Mingkang, chairman of the China Banking Regulatory Commission, said he expected Chinese banks to extend loans totaling about 7.5 trillion renminbi, or $1.1 trillion — down nearly 22 percent from the record 9.6 trillion renminbi lent last year.
China reports GDP Thursday and expect another blow out, estimates expect 10.8%.
Insolvency is no longer just for California. The dreaded word "bankruptcy" is now being whispered in Chicago.
While it appears unlikely or even impossible for a state to hide out from creditors in Bankruptcy Court, Illinois appears to meet classic definitions of insolvency: Its liabilities far exceed its assets, and it's not generating enough cash to pay its bills. Private companies in similar circumstances often shut down or file for bankruptcy protection.
On January 27, Tim Geithner will testify before Congress on the AIG 100% payout scandal. Today the NY Fed was ordered to turn over documents to Congress. (see subpoena).
The New York Fed asked Habayeb to “stand down” from negotiating with counterparties, according to an Oct. 31, 2008, e-mail he wrote to AIG CFO David Herzog. Herzog replied that AIG should “get back with Goldman” about the change in plans.
Before the New York Fed took over the talks, AIG tried to persuade banks to accept so-called haircuts of as much as 40 cents on the dollar, according to people familiar with the matter.
It was neo-liberal policies that created this mess and it will take progressive policies to fix it. There are several reasons why we have not seen progressive policies from Democrats: 1) They are owned by Wall Street and 2) Such policies require a shared sacrifice (which has been absent for quite some time) or the financial oligarchy to experience some pain. We have seen nothing but policies that support the financial sector. That will have to change if we are to move forward.
The mortgage crisis that triggered our economic crisis or Great Recession was created by a lack of regulation and increased financialization. But we have failed to address the underlying problems of the mortgage crisis. In fact, most programs intended to address the mortgage crisis have failed miserably.
The Industrial Production and Capacity Utilization for December 2009 was released last Friday, but it's significant and I want to cover it for completeness sake, even though this post is quite late.
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