By Pam Martens: February 10, 2012 Why is it that whenever Wall Street and Washington are involved, money disappears?  Even under the noses of the Department of Justice and 49 State Attorneys General, there’s $14 billion missing from the foreclosure settlement announced yesterday. The deal that Wall Street agreed to, announced by the DOJ and reported widely by corporate media, is a $25 billion deal encompassing 49 states.  But just two of those states say they will get $26.4 billion – sounding very Madoffesque or MF Globalesque or Enronesque or pick from a myriad of choices in the last decade.  California Attorney General Kamala D. Harris states on her web site and in this video that California is getting $18 billion.  Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi says on her web site that Florida is receiving $8.4 billion.   It gets more interesting.  If you go to each of the 49 state attorneys general web … Continue reading →

By Pam Martens Until Occupy Wall Street gained a national stage, dialogue on the economic crisis had focused on symptoms: bailouts, corruption on Wall Street, collapse in housing prices, intractable unemployment, too-big-to-fail or manage financial institutions.  The disease itself, debilitating wealth concentration, took a backseat in the national dialogue.  Those who attempted to address the subject were regularly met with screams of being a Socialist.  An insidious process of being socialized to silence prevailed.  By moving that topic to the forefront, Occupy Wall Street has opened the mouths and the minds of a Nation. The people who were screaming “Socialist” the loudest weren’t the super rich who control the wealth; they’re part of a labyrinthine network of hired hands who function as high pitch bodyguards for the wealth hoarders.  The actual super rich are the folks who appear on the Forbes list of the wealthiest Americans; people like Charles and David Koch, each worth $25 billion, who create multi layers of front groups, … Continue reading →