American Ruling Class

What the Libertarian Candidate for NYC Comptroller Would Like to Ask Eliot Spitzer

"'I'll ask his position on prostitution. And if he thinks johns should be arrested and charged just like madams and prostitutes. If he thought it was fair that he was never charged as a john under his new felony law but that I spent four months in Rikers Island from which I returned penniless, homeless, and forced to take sex offender classes for five months with pedophiles and perverts while he returned to his wife in his 5th Ave. high rise without ever being fingerprinted, mug shot, remanded, or charged with a crime under the very law he signed.' 'But my guess is that he will use his vast money he used to pay high-priced prostitutes to try to knock me off the ballot.'" Continue reading →

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WSJ Report: Larry Summers “Hellbent” on Becoming Fed Chairman

"Larry Summers, a former top economic adviser to President Obama, is speaking, writing, consulting, advising, teaching and still in frequent contact with the president, and some of his friends say he is more than a little interested in the Fed job, reports WSJ. But WSJ fails to point out that Summers may in reality not be that smart or caring. The Harvard endowment, when Summers was president of Harvard, lost substantial sums because of risky derivative positions that blew up on them. Iris Mack, then working for Harvard Management, which managed the endowment, warned Summers about the position in an email. He refused to lower the risk and Mack was fired." Continue reading →

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De-Postal Monopoly: Feinstein’s Sweetheart’s Deal

"Senator Diane Feinstein is married to the CEO of the largest commercial real estate services firm in the U.S. The U.S. Postal Service is going bust, because it can no longer compete. It has a monopoly, but it’s market is shrinking. The U.S.P.S. is selling off 41 post offices and 11 other properties. Always before, it hired multiple firms to do this. That made sense. Real estate is local. It has over 500 more properties scheduled for sale. This time, the U.S.P.S. awarded an exclusive contract to one firm to unload these post offices. Amazing as it may seem, Feinstein’s husband’s firm got the contract. It was just one of those things, just one of those crazy things." Continue reading →

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Mayor of Chicago Reports Investment Income Far From Chicago (Cayman Islands)

"Rahm Emanuel, who released his tax returns for the first time as mayor Tuesday, reported earning more than $409,000 in 2012 from his city salary and income from investments. Emanuel reported his $204,726 salary as mayor and another $158,823 in dividend income from investments with JPMorgan Chase Bank and Golub Capital Partners VII LP, as well as $9,519 from his partnership in the Golub investment fund. The mayor reported paying $77,740 in federal taxes, or a rate of about 21 percent, on adjusted gross income of $373,478.[...]Some of Emanuel's investment income came from Golub entities with addresses in the Cayman Islands." Continue reading →

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Washington’s Vampire Economy Thrives on Bloodshed

"The Wall Street Journal observes a new 'Gilded Age' for Washington, which has been 'a time of lush business profits fueled by government outsourcing and war.' Well-connected recent college graduates secure entry-level bureaucratic jobs that pay enough to support rentals that charge $3,000 a month. Military contractors like Northrup Gumman, corporate lobbying groups, and Wall Street firms bring in hordes of first-time home buyers, driving real estate values upward. This does much to explain the invincible indifference of the ruling class to our nation’s unfolding economic catastrophe." Continue reading →

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Wrongful conviction lawsuit alleges top New York prosecutor ‘rewarded misconduct’

"Prosecutor Michael Vecchione has denied each and every one of Rudin’s claims, and lawyers for the city have continued to insist that Collins is guilty. Vecchione was scheduled to be deposed by Rudin on Friday. However, Vecchione, who has been a principal character in CBS’ current series 'Brooklyn DA,' had asked to have the deposition postponed because he was busy on a case. Judge Levy, however, ordered that Vecchione be deposed no later than June 24." Continue reading →

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Crashes of Convenience: Michael Hastings

"Michael Hastings was that rarest of breeds: a mainstream reporter who wasn't afraid to rail against the system, kick back against the establishment, and bite the hand that feeds him. On the morning of June 18, 2013, he died in a fiery car crash. But now details are emerging that he was on the verge of breaking an important new story about the CIA, and believed he was being investigated by the FBI. Now even a former counter-terrorism czar is admitting Hastings' car may have been cyber-hijacked. Join us this week on The Corbett Report as we explore the strange details surrounding the untimely death of Michael Hastings." Continue reading →

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Anthony Wile: The Danger Beyond Employment Numbers

"When most people in a country have no money or land or even a house, and take no pleasure in working, and when only half of what may be considered the potential working population is formally employed, then it is probably not too strong a statement to say that the system itself is not producing satisfactory results and is even in danger of breaking apart entirely. The US's advantage throughout the post-War years was its dollar reserve currency; US officials could fund deficit spending by printing dollars without generating price inflation. Countries around the world had to hold dollars because they needed dollars to buy oil. This system is changing now." Continue reading →

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Obamacare: Insuring Lawlessness

"Western law is a plaything in the hands of the powerful. First, laws should apply to everyone. Congress, for instance, routinely exempts itself from laws applicable to others. When the legislative body constantly exempts itself from obeying the Law of the Land (no matter how irrational it might be) then lawlessness and corruption have reached the highest levels of society. Second, a legislative body (or law enforcement agency) shouldn't single out certain individuals or groups with specific lawmaking. From what we can tell, this is happening more and more. Even the targeting of Edward Snowden seems representative of this sort of activity." Continue reading →

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Susan Rice for National Security Advisor?

"She and her husband have a net worth estimated at between $23.5 and $43.5 million. From October 1997 to January 2001, she was Bill Clinton's Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs. She supported Washington's imperial Afghan and Iraq wars. She urged longterm occupation. She endorsed imperial war on Libya. She falsified claims about Gaddafi forces committing mass rapes. She ignored Western-enlisted death squad atrocities. She's been silent about them throughout Obama's war on Syria. She blames Assad for Western imperial crimes. She asked for UN authorization to wage war. She favors partnering with Israel against Iran." Continue reading →

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