politics for the 99%

Published on International Business Times IBS, by Mark Piggott, Nov 26, 2015.

A former senior risk consultant at scandal-hit Royal Bank of Scotland RBS is reported to be planning to make a number of explosive allegations about deception and greed within the bank’s upper echelons, even as the 2008 financial crisis was underway. Victor Hong, based in the US, is set to appear in court in the UK as part of a major action being taken against the bank by its own shareholders.

Hong – who was working for RBS in Greenwich, Connecticut when he was asked to examine the running of part of the bank- will claim management urged him to keep quiet about huge losses so senior bankers could receive huge bonuses – despite the bank being run into the ground. He will also allege that when he expressed disquiet about the takeover of ABN Amro, which was in an even worse state, he was ignored because Fred “the Shred” Goodwin wanted it to go ahead.

… The British taxpayer had to bail out RBS – briefly the largest bank in the world – to the tune of £32bn in 2008. Recently Chancellor George Osborne sold £2bn of its shareholdings and wants to sell more, so further scandals would be embarrassing for the government.

(full text and related links).

Links:

We were abandoned, migrants tell of suffering in Italy’s private shelters, on The Guardian, by Stephanie Kirchgaessner, Nov 26, 2015: Hosting a refugee earns landlords €35 a day from the state, but asylum seekers report being left without gas, water and food;

Aus der Sicht einer Pariserin – Bilbo Calvez, 17.12 min, von wwwKenFMde am 24. Nov 2015 hochgeladen … in Paris geboren und aufgewachsen, lebt und arbeitet aber seit über 30 Jahren in Berlin …;

Qatar and Ukraine come to deliver Pechora-2D to ISIS, on Voltairenet.org, by Andrey Fomin, Nov 22, 2015: Qatar has bought sophisticated military equipment from Ukraine on behalf of ISIS. The operation took place in late September 2015, just before the Russian military action against the terrorist organization. It was approved by the US embassy in Doha. Officially, the new emir is not involved in the war in Iraq and Syria;

Money For Nothing For Everyone, on Tech Crunch, by Jon Evans, Nov 21, 2015;

Canada – Régimes publics: insuffisants, mais avec des avantages indéniables, dans Le Devoir, par Réginald Harvey, le 21 nov 2015;

Canada: Les contradictions du ministre de l’Éducation, dans Opinions, par Hean-François Caron, le 20 nov 2015: aujourd’hui ministre de l’Éducation, François Blais était autrefois professeur de philosophie politique à l’Université Laval. Il était alors un chercheur progressiste qui s’était démarqué par la proposition d’un revenu minimum garanti pour tous les citoyens;

Buiter on transferring robot incomes to the people, on FT Alphaville, par Mackenzie Weinger, Nov 20, 2015;

Healthy food would cost $186.88 a week for family of four, on Chatham Daily News.ca, by Don Robinet, Nov 19, 2015;

Review of Social Policy, Theory and Practice, on BIEN, by Paul Spicker, Nov 19, 2015;

Evolution du revenu global de 2,3% des sociétés cotées en bourse, dans Business News, le 19 nov 2015;

Justice is an essential condition for achieving the ideal of universal fraternity, on Voltairenet.org (first on Current Concerns), , Nov 6, 2015;

die Wahrheit über ISIS, Al-Qaida, die Taliban, TTIP, die EU und Russland – Gregor Gysi, 9.15 min, von World War Three TV am 5. Sept 2015 hochgeladen;

Sahra Wagenknecht über die Politik Merkels in Deutschland, 30.31 min, von Paul Weder am 27. Aug 2015 hochgeladen.