Former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker wants to prohibit commercial banks from some high-risk trades, saying that this should be an essential component of broader financial regulations and would cut back on institutions deemed “too big to fail.”

That’s seems eminently reasonable to us and we are glad to see Paul Volcker brought to the front of the regulatory battle.

President Obama has embraced Volcker’s idea to prohibit large financial companies that have both commercial and investment functions, such as Goldman Sachs, from engaging in speculative trading.

Large banks have already said that they oppose the idea. Do you blame them? These guys had the best deal around, since mobsters built Las Vegas and they don’t want to give any of that up.

Volcker said commercial banks, whose deposits are insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation,  should not be allowed to engage in speculation that does not benefit their commercial customers.

The ban would distinguish between commercial and investment banks – a separation that had existed until 1999 when Congress, Alan Greenspan, Robert Rubin, Larry Summers and President Bill Clinton repealed major provisions of the Depression-era Glass-Steagall Act.

This wasn’t exactly the beginning of the wild ride on Wall Street, but most likely the beginning of the mortgage derivative schemes, the irresponsible lending practices and so forth – all leading to our present economic quagmire.

It appears that Paul Volcker has the right idea – to roll back some of the deregulatory schemes, which have turned the financial mills into legalized gambling houses.

One thing we wonder about, though… Why wasn’t he allowed to speak publicly before Scott Brown won the Massachusetts senatorial race?

Technorati Tags: banks, gambling, las vegas, regulations, Volcker, wall street

Polaroid recently named Lady Gaga as its new creative director.
Polaroid says that the pop singer possesses five essential qualities, which make her a natural partner:

1- Fan of Polaroid
2- Inspirational
3- Creative
4- Connected to fans
5- Empowering

Lady Gaga expressed her enthusiasm about her new role, saying: “…what I’m excited about doing is working with Polaroid and taking the iconic image of the Polaroid instant film photo and bringing it into the digital age of cameras.”

New products (whatever they might be) from the partnership between Polaroid and Lady Gaga should be available by the end of this year.

Good luck to both.

Technorati Tags: creative director, Lady Gaga, Polaroid

Mountaintop mining consists basically of blowing off entire mountain peaks, or entire mountains, in order to easily and relatively cheaply extract coal. It occurs mainly in West Virginia and Kentucky, although mountaintop removal is also carried out in far-Southwest Virginia and in Tennessee. Peaks are sheared off with heavy machinery and explosives, exposing the coal seams inside. Excess rock is used to fill steep Appalachian valleys, some with streams at the bottom.

When rainwater falls on the filled-in valley, it trickles through the rubble and picks up pollutants off rocks that came from deep underground. The water emerges mixed with pollutants such as metals and chemicals called sulfates, which can be toxic to the insects and fish in small Appalachian streams. It is also toxic and damaging to other animals, humans and entire ecosystems.

Although the companies are required by existing laws to “rehabilitate” the damaged areas, the wanton destruction of the mountains is more than obvious to anyone who sees it.

The latest development in the mountaintop removal battle is a study published by a group, headed by a University of Maryland researcher, who said it performed the most comprehensive study to date of the controversial practice, also known as “mountaintop removal.”

They also did something that scientists usually don’t: step beyond data-gathering to take a political stand.

“The science is so overwhelming that the only conclusion that one can reach is that mountaintop mining needs to be stopped,” said Margaret Palmer, a professor at the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Sciences and the study’s lead author.

The group’s paper, published in the journal Science, was released in the same week that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency – which has been scrutinizing these mines – angered environmentalists by supporting a new mine permit. The EPA said the Hobet 45 mine, in West Virginia, had made changes that would eliminate nearly 50 percent of the environmental impacts and protect 460 union mining jobs.

Palmer said the group’s work did not echo the idea implicit in this EPA decision: that there could be a “good” mountaintop mine, whose environmental consequences were acceptable.

So, the fight goes on, but this time it seems that the advantage has shifted a notch to the good guys.

Technorati Tags: coal, destruction, Environment, EPA, Mountaintop Removal, pollution, study

Having heard that Accenture – formerly hugely disgraced Anderson Consulting – has decided to terminate the sponsorship of Tiger Woods, due to his peccadilloes, we have decided to re-post this piece, originally published on February 27, 2009.

We also wonder if Accenture being directly linked to Arthur Andersen and its connections with Enron could possibly be considered any better that Tiger’s infidelity, screwing around and so forth. That in fact seems like a no-brainer. Enron has hurt not only the economy, but also thousands, upon thousands of people, maybe even millions.

Tiger in turn, has seemed to hurt Elin, but probably mostly himself…

We haven’t checked all of Tiger’s sponsors. We do know for a fact that Nike, has been widely criticized for the use of child slave labor. We also wonder if Blackwater, er… Xe is among his sponsors. How about Altria, formerly Philip Morris, or Exxon, so very famous for not paying up for the damages of the Exxon Valdez disaster?

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There’s been an avalanche of company name changes in the past few years. In some cases this was done in order to make the name more marketable, or maybe easier on the eyes, or hopefully easier to remember. More often rebranding came about in the wake of some unsavory event, practice, or even a conviction.

Many people don’t even realize that so very often the very same and often unchanged company lurks under a completely new name. That of course is often the whole idea behind the change and rebranding has become a big business in its own right.

Andersen Consulting, linked to Arthur Andersen and its conviction for that super shady Enron outfit is now called Accenture. The Tiger Woods ads have been pretty effective and hardly anyone even thinks of Accenture as anything but a successful, modern consulting firm…now registered in Hamilton, Bermuda.

Exxon’s switch from Esso came about because of myriad legal challenges between different spin-offs of the Standard Oil Company and Humble oil. It did take us all a while to figure out how to pronounce this weird combination of letters. Now, of course it is called ExxonMobil and as far as we know, neither the old, nor the new entity has paid for the damages caused by the drunken captain of the Exxon Valdez and the huge oil spill in Alaska.

The infamous mercenary company Blackwater has re branded itself as Xe – supposedly pronounced as “zee”. A Pretty innocuous name it would seem for a company, whose employees have shot a whole bunch of unarmed civilians in Iraq. The problem is that there is already a company named Xe…

Who hasn’t heard about Phillip Morris, the class action suits, the chemicals, including extra nicotine added to their cigarettes and all the other machinations?

As it turns out, Phillip Morris is called Altria now. Almost sounds like one of those drugs, which we keep seeing advertised during the evening network news. Maybe like something to shrink an enlarged prostate, or to help you fall asleep?

How about the Value Jet Airlines? After the infamous crash in the Everglades with the loss of 108 people, it has come to life again under the name of Air Tran.

Technorati Tags: accenture, Adultery, andersen consulting, blackwater, esso, exxon, Rebranding, sponsorship, tiger woods, Value Jet Air Tran, xe

The U.S. unemployment rate has passed the psychological threshold of 10 percent for the first time since 1983, a couple of years into Ronald Reagan’s presidency when it reached 10.8 percent. It is also quite likely that it will go higher.

Economists say the unemployment rate could reach 10.5 percent next year because employers remain reluctant to hire.

October was the 22nd straight month the U.S. economy has shed jobs, the longest on records dating back 70 years.

Nearly 16 million people can’t find jobs even though the worst recession since the Great Depression has apparently ended. Persistently high unemployment could hurt the recovery by restraining consumer spending, which accounts for 70 percent of the economy. That percentage is obviously much too high, as is the percentage of the economy held by the debt repackaging mills – read Wall Street and banks.

So, the news isn’t good despite some small rays of hope coming from the supposedly recovering automakers. The dollar continues to lose value, ostensibly to make U.S. products more attractive abroad, but in reality, because we continue printing money as if the national debt wasn’t an issue. The interest rates hovering at near zero percent might be attractive for certain borrowers, but totally counterproductive in the area of savings and secure and meaningful investments.

There seems to a slightly growing tendency to rebuild some of our former manufacturing might, following the example of Germany, which is a huge exporter, second only to China.

It would certainly be about time. After all, it has been a very long time, since we ceased to be a manufacturing giant, preferring to buy cheaper products elsewhere. It has also been a long time, since the importance of quality has been displaced by an ever-present quest to save 10 cents here and seven cents there.

Technorati Tags: Economy, Highest, Jobless, Rate, Reagan, Since, unemployment, US