Posts Tagged ‘banks’
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Thursday, March 5, 2020
Take notice of this text of the upper area of the note:
“Why are we sending you a Notice of our Privacy Policy?
“Federal law permits banks, investment companies, and insurance companies to provide all their services under one organization. This same law requires State Farm to share our Notice of Privacy Policy in writing with you each year you are insured with us or maintain an account with us.”
Let me re-emphasize this point:
“Federal law permits banks, investment companies, and insurance companies to provide all their services under one organization.”
This law – the Glass-Steagall Act – since its inception in Great Depression era America in 1933, FORBADE the incestuous fiscal orgy under which this nation now suffers.
The Glass-Steagall Act was the subject of intense lobbying efforts by Banks, Insurance Companies and Stock Brokerage Houses to repeal the law, and especially intensified circa 1960’s, climaxing in the late 1990’s under a Republican-controlled House and Senate.
The 1999 repeal of the Glass-Steagall Act allowed commercial banks, investment banks, securities firms, and insurance companies to consolidate, or commingle, their business.
Previously, it prohibited any of those institutions (banks, insurance companies, and stock brokerage houses) from acting as any combination of an investment bank, a commercial bank, or insurance company.
The Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, also known as the Financial Services Modernization Act of 1999, (Public Law 106-102, 113 Stat. 1338, enacted November 12, 1999), was signed into law by President Clinton.
WHY IS THIS IMPORTANT TO YOU and ME, AND HOW DOES THIS AFFECT YOU and ME?
The recent financial melt-down in this nation – now being called “The Great Recession” – is due in large part to the elimination of the Glass-Steagall Act, because the banks that made bad loans, the insurance companies that insured the real estate and commercial paper, and the stock brokerage houses that traded the stocks of both, and owned both, were greedy for more gain, and eventually began to invent complex mechanisms and artificial commercial paper which came to be known as “derivatives.”
In essence, those “derivatives” were based upon Credit Default Swaps – another complex and inherently evil type of financial thing/device – which was described by German Chancellor Angela Merkel, in March 2010 as “Credit-default swaps, where you insure your neighbor’s house just to destroy it and make money from it, that’s exactly what we have to curb. We must succeed at putting a stop to the speculators’ game with sovereign states.”
The types of investments that most people tend to be familiar with, such as stocks and bonds, involve betting that a company or government will do well. In stark contrast, a credit default swap (CDS) allows an investor to bet that a certain bond issuer will do poorly, or fail – not be able to meet its obligations. In financial markets, the CDS is sometimes thought of as a form of Read the rest of this entry »
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Posted in - Business... None of yours, - Lost In Space: TOTALLY Discombobulated, - Transfer: How do we get THERE from HERE? (Add a 'T'.) | Tagged: banks, Banksters, Big Business, Big Business Democrats, Big Insurance, BIG MONEY, Clinton, federal law, finance, Glass-Steagall Act, Great Depression, Great Depression II, Great Recession, greed, incestuous fiscal orgy, insurance, money, orgy, privacy policy, Republican, State Farm, stock brokerage houses, Too Big To Fail Banks | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Monday, December 19, 2016
Update: Saturday, 20 February 2021
NOTE: TO THE READER: As you read any story mentioning, involving or written by Donald V. Watkins, Sr., it must be borne in mind that he is now a Federal Convict, and along with his son, Donald V. Watkins, Jr., was found guilty of numerous charges. “Donald Watkins Sr. was convicted of seven counts of wire fraud, two counts of bank fraud and one count of conspiracy. Donald Watkins Jr. was convicted of one count of wire fraud and one count of conspiracy.” As of the date of this note, he is in Federal Custody at Oklahoma City Federal Transfer Center, an administrative security facility, having been relocated away from the minimum security Federal Prison Camp on Maxwell Air Force Base in Montgomery, Alabama.
DONALD V. WATKINS |
Register Number: 36223-001 |
Age: |
72 |
Race: |
Black |
Sex: |
Male |
Located at: Oklahoma City FTC |
Release Date: 01/10/2024 |
Department of Justice, U.S. Attorney’s Office, Northern District of Alabama
FATHER AND SON SENTENCED TO PRISON IN MULTIMILLION-DOLLAR INVESTMENT FRAUD SCHEME
Tuesday, July 16, 2019
https://www.justice.gov/usao-ndal/pr/father-and-son-sentenced-prison-multimillion-dollar-investment-fraud-scheme
Here also is the SUPERSEDING INDICTMENT dated December 2018 entitled as:
IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE NORTHERN DISTRICT OF ALABAMA SOUTHERN DIVISION, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA v. DONALD V. WATKINS, SR. and DONALD V. WATKINS, JR. – 2:18-cr-166-KOB-TMP
https://www.justice.gov/opa/press-release/file/1116081/download
See also: Donald Watkins, Son Sentenced For Federal Fraud Convictions
Updated Jul 16, 2019; Posted Jul 16, 2019
https://www.al.com/news/2019/07/donald-watkins-son-to-be-sentenced-for-federal-fraud-convictions.html
See also: Donald Watkins’ $1.5 Billion Question: Was It Ever Real?
Updated Feb 23, 2019; Posted Feb 23, 2019
https://www.al.com/news/2019/02/donald-watkins-15-billion-question-was-it-ever-real.html
Chalk One Up for the Working Man
By Donald V. Watkins
©Copyrighted and Published (via Facebook) on December 18, 2016
Used with permission
On Thursday, I tried a case for a close friend on mine in the Jefferson County, Alabama District Court in Bessemer, Alabama. My friend is a hard working Bessemer resident and family man whose world was turned upside down when Citibank sold his credit card account to San Diego-based junk debt buyer, Midland Funding, LLC. He is one of millions of bank credit card customers each year whose accounts are bundled in loan pools and then sold to junk debt buyers without the customer’s knowledge.
Midland Funding is one of several mega junk debt buyers in America. This group of financial sharks buys unsecured bank debt for pennies on a dollar and then strong arms debtors who miss one or more of their monthly payments. Midland is part of a multi-billion industry of shady financial predators.
In my friend’s case, Citibank sold his account to Midland Funding. The balance on the account was $6,800. My friend paid his credit card monthly on a regular basis, but had an unexpected hiccup in his monthly cash flow a couple of years after he opened the account. As a result he failed to make a couple of his payments on time. When this occurred Citibank sold my friend’s account to Midland, and Midland eventually sued my friend. This is how my friend became my client.
Remember, Citibank had a similar hiccup during the Great Recession of 2008. The bank requested and received a total of $181.6 billion in federal bailout assistance to keep from collapsing. In fact, Citibank led the banking industry’s “welfare queens” by receiving more financial bailout assistance than any big bank in the U.S.
Citibank’s “Thank You” to the taxpayers like my client, whose tax dollars made the financial bailout possible for these big banks, was the low-down act of selling his credit card account to a shark like Midland Funding. The big banks were quick to take taxpayer-sponsored financial assistance, but slow to give taxpayers similar financial assistance in return.
[Editor’s Note: Alamerica Bank, which is Read the rest of this entry »
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Posted in - Business... None of yours, - My Hometown is the sweetest place I know | Tagged: abuse, AL, Alabama, ALpolitics, bailout, banking, banks, Bessemer, business, Citibank, county, court, credit, credit card, creditor, debt, district, District Court, Donald V. Watkins, Donald V. Watkins Sr., Donald Watkins, Donald Watkins Sr., employment, government, JeffCo, Jefferson, Jefferson County, job, junk, junk bond, law, Midland Funding, money, politics, problems, profit, sale, sharks, trial, troubles, Welfare, welfare queen | 1 Comment »
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Saturday, September 3, 2016
Executive Excess 2016: The Wall Street CEO Bonus Loophole
This 23rd annual report reveals how taxpayers are subsidizing financial crisis windfalls.
By Sarah Anderson and Sam Pizzigati, August 31, 2016
This report is the first to calculate how much taxpayers have been subsidizing executive bonuses at the nation’s largest banks.
The study focuses on a 1993 Clinton administration reform that was intended to rein in runaway CEO pay by capping the tax deductibility of executive compensation at $1 million. But the new rule included a huge loophole for stock options and other “performance” pay. As a result, the more corporations hand out in executive bonuses, the lower their tax bill. This perverse incentive for excessive compensation has been a major factor in the explosion of CEO pay.
The financial bailout program closed this loophole for recipients, but only until Read the rest of this entry »
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Posted in - Business... None of yours, - Politics... that "dirty" little "game" that first begins in the home., - Read 'em and weep: The Daily News | Tagged: #BonusLoophole, 2016, abuse, bailout, banks, Big Banks, Bill Clinton, bonus, bonus loophole, CEO, CEO Bonus, CEO Compensation, Clinton, Congress, executive excess, fraud, free ride, government, law, legislation, loophole, money, pay, policy, report, research, study, subsidize, subsidy, tax deduction, tax dollars, tax free, taxes, taxpayer bailout, Wall Street, waste, Wells Fargo | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Monday, April 28, 2014
Hey kiddos!
Here’s a fun–n–easy guessing game!
(Emphasis on “easy.”)
Don’t be scared or intimidated by the fill-in-the-blanks.
(Which appear as _?nation?_.)
It’s really only two answers.
(The other answer is _?currency?_.)
HINT: (None of which are “United States.”)
FROM:
The CIA World Factbook
The _?nation?_ economy has experienced continuous growth and features low unemployment, contained inflation, very low public debt, and a strong and stable financial system. By 2012, _?_ had experienced more than 20 years of continued economic growth, averaging 3.5% a year.
Demand for resources and energy from Asia and especially China has grown rapidly, creating a channel for resources investments and growth in commodity exports. The high _?currency?_ has hurt the manufacturing sector, while the services sector is the largest part of the _?nation?_ economy, accounting for about 70% of GDP and 75% of jobs.
_?nation?_ was comparatively unaffected by the global financial crisis as the banking system has remained strong and inflation is under control.
_?nation?_ has benefited from a dramatic surge in its terms of trade in recent years, stemming from Read the rest of this entry »
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Posted in - Business... None of yours, - Even MORE Uncategorized!, - Politics... that "dirty" little "game" that first begins in the home. | Tagged: banking, banks, business, CIA, CIA World Factbook, economy, fun, Games, international, intrigue, jobs, policy, trade, World Factbook | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Tuesday, October 9, 2012
U.S. Charges 530 in Mortgage Probe With $1 Billion in Losses
The U.S. brought charges against 530 people over mortgage schemes that cost homeowners more than $1 billion, Attorney General Eric Holder said today.
More than 73,000 homeowners were victims of various frauds for which charges were filed during a year-long crackdown, including “foreclosure rescue schemes” that take advantage of those who have fallen behind on payments, the Justice Department said in a statement.
“These comprehensive efforts represent Read the rest of this entry »
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Posted in - Did they REALLY say that?, - Politics... that "dirty" little "game" that first begins in the home. | Tagged: $1 billion, abuse, Attorney General, banks, Bankster, Eric Holder, finance, fraud, GOP, high finance, law, money, mortgage, Mortgage fraud, Mortgage loan, news, Republican, scheme, United States, United States Department of Justice, Wall Street, Washington, waste | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Tuesday, September 11, 2012
As the president and others – nonpartisan and partisan alike – have noted, BIG BUSINESS should NOT need a bailout. They should be operated in such a manner as to allow the Free Market to decide how, to what extent, and if they prosper. As part of that process, ironclad and strong regulation to prevent fraud and abuse should be vigorously enforced. And chief executives Read the rest of this entry »
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Posted in - Politics... that "dirty" little "game" that first begins in the home., - Read 'em and weep: The Daily News | Tagged: "Occupy Wall Street", abuse, AIG, American International Group, bailout, banks, Big Business, business, consumer, corruption, economic, economy, entrepreneurship, federal, Federal Reserve, Federal Reserve Bank of New York, Federal Reserve System, fiscal, fiscal orgy, fraud, free enterprise, Glass-Steagall, Glass-Steagall Act, incestuous fiscal orgy, infographic, insurance, lobbyists, news, Occupy until I come., protection, stock brokerage houses, TARP, tax, taxes, Timothy Geithner, treasury, Troubled Asset Relief Program, United States Department of the Treasury, USA, Wall Street, waste | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Friday, July 27, 2012
No… no… no…
Banks don’t need to be regulated.
They’re doing quite fine with all the money they’ve stolen from you already.
No, they don’t need regulation.
And no, we don’t need to re-enact the Glass-Steagall Act – the federal law that kept Wall Street Brokerage Houses, Insurance Companies, and Banks separate and out of each other’s business. Right now, as things stand with them, they’re enjoying an incestuous fiscal orgy. And that’s good. We need more incest. We need more orgies. They’re all good. In fact, the more mammon… er, money you have, the more holy you are, the more the Almighty has blessed you – and not someone else (those lazy slobs who don’t deserve anything). {/sarcasm}
But there’s really no reason to worry… the banks will get what’s comin’ to ’em – and the ‘what’ is NOT your money. They have that already.
Come a-courtin’ time (that’d be in the court room), the Banksters be ruled against in a BIG way.
Just wait.
It’s coming.
Next thing you’ll hear in the news are the BIG BANKSTERS wanting legal protection from Congress for the wrongdoing they’ve done.
Just wait.
—
by David Kestenbaum
We’ve been talking a lot lately about what’s been dubbed the “LIBOR rate fixing scandal,” where some of the biggest banks in the world have been accused of manipulating a key global interest rate.
If those words — “manipulation of a key interest rate” — leave you wondering what the big deal is, and who would be harmed, meet Dan Sullivan. He says the manipulation of LIBOR cost him a million dollars, in just 24 hours.
Dan Sullivan used to work Read the rest of this entry »
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Posted in - Did they REALLY say that?, - Faith, Religion, Goodness - What is the Soul of a man?, - Read 'em and weep: The Daily News | Tagged: "Occupy Wall Street", $453 million, accounts, banking, bankruptcy, banks, Banksters, Barclays, Barclays Bank, Bernie Sanders, Big Business, CBOT, Chicago Mercantile Exchange, collusion, Congress, credit default swaps, derivatives, Derivatives market, Fed, Federal Reserve, Federal Reserve System, fiscal, fraud, Glass-Steagall Act, Individual Retirement Account, insurance, Interest rate, investment, investment bank, JPMorgan Chase, law, Lehman Brothers, LIBOR, London, London Interbank Offered Rate, lying, manipulate, monetary policy, money, office, OWS, penalize, penalty, policy, retirement, risk, risky business, Ron Paul, stealing, stock brokerage houses, theft, trader, Wall Street | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Thursday, December 16, 2010
On June 1 this year, I had posted a photo and commented about it. The following is that commentary. Though the picture is not necessary to support the entry, it served as a malignant source of inspiration. However, if you simply must see the photograph…
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Posted in - Politics... that "dirty" little "game" that first begins in the home., - Read 'em and weep: The Daily News | Tagged: AIG, American International Group, bank, banks, commingle, Credit default swap, federal law, Federal Reserve System, fiscal orgy, funds, Glass-Steagall Act, Glass–Steagall Act, Goldman Sachs, Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, Gramm–Leach–Bliley Act, Greece, insurance, money system, Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, policy, privacy, privacy policy, State Farm, stock brokerage houses | 4 Comments »
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Thursday, May 13, 2010
A Greece Fire; Thoughtful Commentary on Unthoughtful Commentary
Having read Mr. Alex Tokarev’s commentary “My big fat Greek bonus” published online May 11, 12:49 PM at http://online.worldmag.com/2010/05/11/my-big-fat-greek-bonus/, I must admit that some of his concerns are, in part, well taken… however poorly expressed. Though he does not adequately support the case for fiscal prudence, the complaints he makes in general terms about fiscal prudence are well-deserved.
Though his straw man argument is inadequately defended, placing exclusive responsibility and blame upon Greek national officials for that nation’s crisis is insufficient, and certainly short sighted. However, his rambling, miasmatic complaints have not fallen upon deaf ears – although they may have fallen upon spirited ones. Excitement, however, must be directed toward a long-term objective, and it is the more broad scope which I think he ignores. While having the ability to direct the nation toward a long-term goal is laudable, he neither cites any governmental mandate. On the whole, after having read his opinion, one might wonder if he were doing little more than expressing infantile frustration, for he certainly offers no potential solution.
The Grecian debt crisis is not due exclusively to what he calls “the bursting of the statist bubble,” “welfare pyramids” or other descriptive pejoratives to describe Grecian governmental services and activities.
Though he decries “irresponsible lenders and borrowers” whom perpetuate “bankrupt political practices,” he attempts to correlate and demean both, describing what he calls a “strong culture of entitlement” as “a beast,” though he never specifically mentions any program, plan, office, group or person.
As colorful and passionate as he may feel about Greece’s problems, he failed to …Continue…
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Posted in - Did they REALLY say that?, - Politics... that "dirty" little "game" that first begins in the home., - Read 'em and weep: The Daily News | Tagged: Alan Greenspan, Alex Tokarev, Angela Merkel, avarice, banking, bankrupt, bankruptcy, banks, Bill Clinton, commentary, credit default swaps, crises, crisis, debt crisis, deficit, deregulation, EU, falsehood, Federal Reserve, fraud, George Papandreou, Germany, Glass-Stegall Act, Goldman Sachs Group, government, Grecian, Greece, greed, Greek, insurance, liars, lying, Paul Volcker, politics, rhetoric, stock brokerage houses, WorldMag.com | 3 Comments »
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Thursday, December 17, 2009
$9,100,000,000,000
Nine TRILLION, one hundred BILLION…
Remember another number.
Two.
During the reign of King George W. Bush, just TWO of his failed policies have cost Americans $9,100,000,000,000.
What two failed policies are those?
The Bu$h tax cuts, and the creation of a Rx (prescription drug “benefit” written wholly by Big Pharmaceutical industry cronies.
The U.S. Census Bureau’s most current estimation of the population of the United States places 308,171,505 people in the United States as of December 17, 2009.
Put another way, that’s a cost of $29, 529 per person.
As a result of deregulation of the financial industries – banks, insurance and stock brokerages – thus creating one giant incestuous financial orgy, Americans have directly suffered under the thumbs of bankers and insurance companies, while their Wall Street cohorts, in conjunction with imaginative thieves, have twiddled and fiddled to create “investment derivatives” – essentially a Ponzi schemed fiscal fraud – out of thin air. That house of cards having collapsed, has revealed what was suspected all along. Outside the transparent dressing room of his glass house, the king had no clothes.
Driven by greed and an insatiable lust for more, …Continue…
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Posted in - Lost In Space: TOTALLY Discombobulated | Tagged: avarice, banking, banks, Bush, collapse, Congress, cost, crime, criminal, deficit, depression, deregulation, derivatives, economic, economy, fiscal, fraud, George W. Bush, Great Depression, Great Recession, greed, GW Bush, incest, incorrigible, industry, insatiable, insurance, loss, lust, Office of Management and Budget, OMB, orgy, Ponzi, population, president, recession, regulation, Rx, scheme, screwed, W, Wall Street, White House | 1 Comment »
A Greece Fire; Thoughtful Commentary on Unthoughtful Commentary
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Thursday, May 13, 2010
A Greece Fire; Thoughtful Commentary on Unthoughtful Commentary
Having read Mr. Alex Tokarev’s commentary “My big fat Greek bonus” published online May 11, 12:49 PM at http://online.worldmag.com/2010/05/11/my-big-fat-greek-bonus/, I must admit that some of his concerns are, in part, well taken… however poorly expressed. Though he does not adequately support the case for fiscal prudence, the complaints he makes in general terms about fiscal prudence are well-deserved.
Though his straw man argument is inadequately defended, placing exclusive responsibility and blame upon Greek national officials for that nation’s crisis is insufficient, and certainly short sighted. However, his rambling, miasmatic complaints have not fallen upon deaf ears – although they may have fallen upon spirited ones. Excitement, however, must be directed toward a long-term objective, and it is the more broad scope which I think he ignores. While having the ability to direct the nation toward a long-term goal is laudable, he neither cites any governmental mandate. On the whole, after having read his opinion, one might wonder if he were doing little more than expressing infantile frustration, for he certainly offers no potential solution.
The Grecian debt crisis is not due exclusively to what he calls “the bursting of the statist bubble,” “welfare pyramids” or other descriptive pejoratives to describe Grecian governmental services and activities.
Though he decries “irresponsible lenders and borrowers” whom perpetuate “bankrupt political practices,” he attempts to correlate and demean both, describing what he calls a “strong culture of entitlement” as “a beast,” though he never specifically mentions any program, plan, office, group or person.
As colorful and passionate as he may feel about Greece’s problems, he failed to …Continue…
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Posted in - Did they REALLY say that?, - Politics... that "dirty" little "game" that first begins in the home., - Read 'em and weep: The Daily News | Tagged: Alan Greenspan, Alex Tokarev, Angela Merkel, avarice, banking, bankrupt, bankruptcy, banks, Bill Clinton, commentary, credit default swaps, crises, crisis, debt crisis, deficit, deregulation, EU, falsehood, Federal Reserve, fraud, George Papandreou, Germany, Glass-Stegall Act, Goldman Sachs Group, government, Grecian, Greece, greed, Greek, insurance, liars, lying, Paul Volcker, politics, rhetoric, stock brokerage houses, WorldMag.com | 3 Comments »