Robert Oak's blog

Stimulus Money Used to Employ Foreign Guest Workers Instead of Americans

Congressman Peter DeFazio smelled a rat and boy did he find one. A host of Oregon forest thinning and clearing jobs, created by the American Recovery Act and funded by taxpayer dollars, went to foreigners, brought over on H-2B guest worker visas, instead of unemployed Americans. DeFazio fought and obtained funding for those forest projects and jobs in the 2009 Stimulus bill. DeFazio assumed with so many unemployed and desperate U.S.

DoD Report Shows Since 2001, $1.1 Trillion In Contracts Awarded to Companies Who Committed Fraud

lockheed martin fraudOne would think once a company had been convicted of defrauding the government, they wouldn't see another dime. Not so, shows a new DoD report. Believe this or not, the DoD has awarded over $1.1 trillion dollars in defense contracts to companies have been convicted, found liable, or settled fraud charges earlier with the DoD since 2001.

Senator Bernie Sanders summed up some of the numbers buried in the report:

Over the past ten years, DOD awarded $254,564,581 to companies that were convicted of a crime in connection with a DOD contract during that same period of time. To make matters worse, DOD awarded $33,079,743 of that to convicted companies after they had been convicted.

Over the past ten years, DOD awarded $573,693,095,938 to companies that were found liable or settle charges of a civil wrong in connection with a DOD contract during that same period of time. To make matters worse, DOD awarded $398,081,775,397 of that to those companies after they settled the charges or were found liable.

The numbers become increasingly shocking if you look at company affiliations. Over the past ten years, DOD awarded $1,104,423,438,564.10 to entities affiliated with companies that have a history of fraud.

GAO Audit of Federal Reserve Reveals Strong Conflicts of Interest

The Government Accountability Office has completed their audit of the Federal Reserve. Guess what the GAO found? Conflicts of Interest. It seems the Banksters are sitting on the Federal Reserve board, supervising their own institutions. The fox is guarding the hen house in other words. One of the most damning GAO discoveries is the timeline of Goldman Sachs turning into a holding bank and a Goldman Sachs board of directors, Stephen Friedman, also serving as the New York Federal Reserve chair.

Bank of America's Socialize the Risk and Reap the Reward Business Model

boycott BoABank of America just made $6.2 billion dollars in record profit.

Buoyed by one-time gains from accounting changes and the sale of assets, Bank of America reported a $6.23 billion profit for the third-quarter

What were those accounting changes and sale of assets? It appears Bank of America moved Merrill Lynch derivatives to a FDIC insured subsidiary. Bloomberg:

Bank of America Corp. (BAC), hit by a credit downgrade last month, has moved derivatives from its Merrill Lynch unit to a subsidiary flush with insured deposits, according to people with direct knowledge of the situation.

The Federal Reserve and Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. disagree over the transfers, which are being requested by counterparties, said the people, who asked to remain anonymous because they weren’t authorized to speak publicly. The Fed has signaled that it favors moving the derivatives to give relief to the bank holding company, while the FDIC, which would have to pay off depositors in the event of a bank failure, is objecting, said the people. The bank doesn’t believe regulatory approval is needed, said people with knowledge of its position.

More Stupid Tax Tricks

thumb_computer-dog.jpgNow that corporations have managed to get their glorified offshore outsourcing and tax haven bad trade deals, they are after the next thing, paying no taxes on profits made overseas. It's not enough multinationals made sure patents squeeze out the lone inventor and turned intellectual property into a glorified multinational shell game, they want more. Up next is their corporate tax holiday, complete with up is down lobbyist talking points, all to get yet another corporate giveaway through Congress.

David Cay Johnston calls the propaganda Orwellian:

Political tax talk is becoming Orwellian: Secrecy is Democracy. Auditors Reduce Collections. Tax Cheats Will Be Caught With Fewer Auditors.

Saturday Reads Around The Internets - Middle Class Economic Armageddon

shocknews
Welcome to the weekly roundup of great articles, facts and figures. These are the weekly finds that made our eyes pop.

 

Foreclosures Increase

RealtyTrac's foreclosure report for September is grim. While over the year foreclosures are down, they just picked up 6% from August 2011.

Elected Officials Pass More Trade Agreements Most of America Doesn't Want

Another Sad Day for American Labor.  Rhetoric, campaigns, protests and op-eds, all promising to listen to the American people and most of all create jobs.  In the streets there are millions of voices demanding an economy for Americans, U.S. workers and what does Congress do?  Why pass more glorified offshore outsourcing and corporate tax haven deals under the guise of NAFTA like trade agreements.  I kid you not.  Congress passed trade treaties with South Korea, Panama and Columbia.

This is What Happens When a President Outsources Job Creation to Multinational Corporate Executives

one trick ponyMultinational corporations are one trick ponies when it comes to their agenda. By hell or high water they want to offshore outsource jobs and have controlled, unlimited migration per their globalization agenda.

It should be no surprise when putting these same greedy bastards in the White House who outsource, they publish a faux job creation agenda. Such is the case of the latest report.

Instead of hire America, buy American or a manufacturing policy, we get these multinational's typical labor arbitraging agenda wish list. The corruption is so bad, literally corporate lobbyists' economic and statistical fiction is used in this report. Probably the most debunked economic fiction spinner of them all, the NFAP, is used. The NFAP is also these very multinational's personal white paper spin machine.

Guess what folks, labor arbitraging U.S. professionals does not create jobs, it loses jobs. The statistics show it and anyone with a 2nd grade education would know this to be true. You fire people, that is a job loss, not a job gain as this jobs agenda report tries to claim.

Pages