Cognitive Dissonance

“Nothing is true, everything is permitted.” - William S. Burroughs

Posts tagged Goldman Sachs

156 notes &

Is it a radical statement to say the president should have issued this statement long-ago in regards to Occupy Wall Street? Because he hasn’t. I’d like to take this moment to point out how much Wall St. gave Barack Obama in 2008… Goldman Sachs: $1,013,091 JPMorgan Chase & Co: $808,799 Citigroup Inc: $736,771 UBS AG: $532,674 General Electric: $529,855 Morgan Stanley: $512,232 Latham & Watkins: $503,295 Total: $4,636,717 Here’s the top two recipients of donations from the financial/securities and investment sector since 2012: As far as Wall Street, Obama’s already received over a third of what they donated in 2008 for the entire cycle. Though we can see who Wall Street’s favorite is for the GOP side. I don’t think it’s possible to deny the influence of corporate Wall Street dollars in our elections.  Let’s take Goldman Sachs as an example. Here’s their break down for 2012: They’ve donated a total of $1,858,958 thus far, $508,609 to Democrats and $1,350,349 to Republicans, for a 27%/73% split. Compare to 2008. By the end of the election cycle, Goldman Sachs donated $6,025,681. Of that, $4,489,893 went to Democrats, and $1,525,448 went to Republicans for a 75%/25% split. This is why I laugh nearly uncontrollably when I hear Fox News talking about Obama’s occupiers. He’s not on our side, guys. Essentially, we’re supposed to support democratic movements elsewhere, not here at home. God forbid you actually participate. Gotcha.

Is it a radical statement to say the president should have issued this statement long-ago in regards to Occupy Wall Street? Because he hasn’t. I’d like to take this moment to point out how much Wall St. gave Barack Obama in 2008…

  • Goldman Sachs: $1,013,091
  • JPMorgan Chase & Co: $808,799
  • Citigroup Inc: $736,771
  • UBS AG: $532,674
  • General Electric: $529,855
  • Morgan Stanley: $512,232
  • Latham & Watkins: $503,295
  • Total: $4,636,717

Here’s the top two recipients of donations from the financial/securities and investment sector since 2012:

As far as Wall Street, Obama’s already received over a third of what they donated in 2008 for the entire cycle. Though we can see who Wall Street’s favorite is for the GOP side. I don’t think it’s possible to deny the influence of corporate Wall Street dollars in our elections. 

Let’s take Goldman Sachs as an example. Here’s their break down for 2012: They’ve donated a total of $1,858,958 thus far, $508,609 to Democrats and $1,350,349 to Republicans, for a 27%/73% split.

Compare to 2008. By the end of the election cycle, Goldman Sachs donated $6,025,681. Of that, $4,489,893 went to Democrats, and $1,525,448 went to Republicans for a 75%/25% split.

This is why I laugh nearly uncontrollably when I hear Fox News talking about Obama’s occupiers. He’s not on our side, guys.

Essentially, we’re supposed to support democratic movements elsewhere, not here at home. God forbid you actually participate.

Gotcha.

Filed under Occupy Wall Street OWS Occupy Everywhere brutality Obama Barack Obama Politics protest free speech democracy 2008 Wall Street Bought and paid for Goldman Sachs JP Morgan Chase Citigroup GE General Electric GOP Republican republicans Democrat democrats campaign contributions

54 notes &

Click here to see larger Here’s a handy chart explaining why you should move your money, particularly if you didn’t today. The lobbying totals are for 2011, the political contributions are for the 2010 cycle, and the percentage for Republicans and Democrats are how much each party’s politicians received from the 2010 cycle contribution. The lobbying figures for 2010 were not available; however, the debate over financial reform has intensified this year, so I would imagine quite a bit has gone to lobbying. Also, 2011 is not an election year. I included the ever-vilified Koch Industries in the chart to show how little they spend as opposed to all various banking corporations combined. Also, Koch Industries lobbies for and against the same bills as the large banks. They play for the same team. Check it out at Open Secrets. This stems from opposition that I’ve seen to the move your money movement on Twitter, Facebook, etc. that basically states credit unions donated $4 million to Congress last year, so why bother? Well, adding in lobbying for 2011 and contributions for 2010 together, it’s a grand total of $6,179,817. That’s significantly less than the $38,162,642 spent by the banking industry.  So who do you trust?

Click here to see larger

Here’s a handy chart explaining why you should move your money, particularly if you didn’t today. The lobbying totals are for 2011, the political contributions are for the 2010 cycle, and the percentage for Republicans and Democrats are how much each party’s politicians received from the 2010 cycle contribution. The lobbying figures for 2010 were not available; however, the debate over financial reform has intensified this year, so I would imagine quite a bit has gone to lobbying. Also, 2011 is not an election year.

I included the ever-vilified Koch Industries in the chart to show how little they spend as opposed to all various banking corporations combined. Also, Koch Industries lobbies for and against the same bills as the large banks. They play for the same team. Check it out at Open Secrets.

This stems from opposition that I’ve seen to the move your money movement on Twitter, Facebook, etc. that basically states credit unions donated $4 million to Congress last year, so why bother?

Well, adding in lobbying for 2011 and contributions for 2010 together, it’s a grand total of $6,179,817. That’s significantly less than the $38,162,642 spent by the banking industry. 

So who do you trust?

Filed under lobbying campaign finance reform corporate cash politics political donations economy move your money credit unions campaign contributions Bank of America Koch Industries Citigroup American Bankers Association JP Morgan & Chase Co JP Morgan Chase Goldman Sachs

49 notes &

Goldman Sachs Sends Its Regrets to This Awkward Dinner Invitation

Earlier this month, hundreds of New Yorkers received an unusual dinner invitation from the Lower East Side People’s Federal Credit Union.

The Credit Union, a small lender serving New York’s poor, was holding a fund-raiser to celebrate its 25th anniversary. Among the chief sponsors listed on the invitation was Goldman Sachs Group Inc.

Among the honorees: “Occupy Wall Street.”

They might as well have asked Marie Antoinette to dig into her purse to support Madame Defarge’s knitting business.

Shortly after the invitation was sent out, Goldman withdrew its name from the dinner. It also pulled the plug on its $5,000 funding pledge.

“Their money was welcome, but not at the price of giving up what we believe in,” said Pablo DeFilippi, one of the dinner hosts and associate director of member development at the National Federal of Community Development Credit Unions. “We lost their $5,000, but we have our principles.”

Linda Levy, CEO of the Lower East Side People’s Federal Credit Union, declined comment saying “I made promises to people about talking about this.” 

Looks like if Goldman Sachs can’t control the game, they’ll take their ball and go home. They could have spun this into a marvelous PR opportunity. Goldman Sachs could have, but they didn’t. 

Good job, guys. You’ve done the 1% proud.

Filed under Goldman Sachs politics Occupy Wall Street economy New York City Lower East Side People's Federal Credit Union New York NYC missed opportunity OWS Occupy Together

660 notes &

pixelcycle: pantslessprogressive: shortformblog: U.S. to sue banks over mortgages: This oughta be fun. The list includes a over a dozen names, such as Bank of America, Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan Chase. “The suits will argue the banks, which assembled the mortgages and marketed them as securities to investors,” the article says, “failed to perform the due diligence required under securities law and missed evidence that borrowers’ incomes were inflated or falsified. When many borrowers were unable to pay their mortgages, the securities backed by the mortgages quickly lost value.” Big freaking news. woah… God, the cynic in me is thinking, “Yeah, this’ll go nowhere…” but the idealist in me is screaming, “FUCK YEAH!” Let’s see what happens here. If it doesn’t go anywhere, you can always sharpen the pitchforks and fire up the torches, no?

pixelcycle:

pantslessprogressive:

shortformblog:

U.S. to sue banks over mortgages: This oughta be fun. The list includes a over a dozen names, such as Bank of America, Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan Chase. “The suits will argue the banks, which assembled the mortgages and marketed them as securities to investors,” the article says, “failed to perform the due diligence required under securities law and missed evidence that borrowers’ incomes were inflated or falsified. When many borrowers were unable to pay their mortgages, the securities backed by the mortgages quickly lost value.”

Big freaking news.

woah…

God, the cynic in me is thinking, “Yeah, this’ll go nowhere…” but the idealist in me is screaming, “FUCK YEAH!”

Let’s see what happens here. If it doesn’t go anywhere, you can always sharpen the pitchforks and fire up the torches, no?

Filed under bank of america banks goldman sachs government lawsuits jpmorgan chase lawsuits mortgages