Fraudulent Banking Caused Economic Collapse

This article from Bill Moyers journal is an interview with William K Black, former bank regulator during the loans crisis of the 1980s. He puts the blame squarely on the shoulders of the Wall Street top bankers who created a scenario of trust, forcing others to invest in what turned out to be bad loans. Remember money is created when a mortgage is lent, so if you don´t check on your ability to pay, you can create money by offering loans to people who can´t pay. Create enough of these and then say that they are low-risk (whch they aren´t) and then sell them to other companies to make a profit. The executive bonus program was effectively unregulated during the Bush administration, allowing CEOs of eventual loss making companies to run up huge personal profits at the expense of others.

Even though the FBI warned in 2004 about mortgage fraud, 500 agents were transferred to handle terrorism and were not replaced, so the resources available are less than that for the previous loans crisis. This is one reason why no-one has yet been made accountable for the current woes. Also the laws created to regulate banking after the Great Depression were removed under the Clinton administration (as if we´re clever now and have learnt our lessons). Then Bush removes regulation altogether so banking fraud runs rife. At the end the government has to bail out using billions of dollars of US taxpayers money. Fraud.

The CEOs should be thrown out and replaced with people with good records of financial management, real integrity and clean out the bad blood. Will it happen under Obama, or will the illusion that the banks are solvent (when how can they be if so much money is required) and be propped up with tax dollars be used to cover the public´s eyes?

RIP Dave Arneson, D&D Founder

A year after Gary Gyax passed away and now Dave Arneson who is also credited with co-creating D&D and the foundation for modern role-playing has also left us. Ars Technica pays tribute to him here, explaining how he came up with idea of character development outside of traditional wargaming.

Sun In A Box Cooker

The Kyoto box is a cardboard box painted black that can be used as a cheap method for boiling water or cooking food in developing nations. The BBC reports that the Kenyan inventor has won a prize for green ideas, which should provide an alternative to burning wood and thus helping to alleviate deforestation in poor regions.

Dead Mayor Re-elected

You know people love you when they still vote for after you´ve died. The BBC reports the population of Winfield Missouri voted mayor Harry Stonebraker back in as mayor, even though he died in March of a heart attack.

US Electricity Grid Penetrated

The Chinese are getting the blame for cyber crime again following this report from the Wall Street Journal about how the US grid has been penetrated and is being spied upon by foreign interests. I´m not sure how much of this is scaremongering again, though the potential damage to critical infrastructure and SCADA systems from cyber attacks has already been demonstrated by the likes of the Slammer worm. This isn´t really news I´m afraid. How much of this is and its timing is related to political interests in the Far East and the pitiful state of the US economy?

Lapdancer Turned Nun

No comments on this report from the BBC about Anna Nobili, a former lapdancer turned Nun and now using dance as a means of celebrating God, touring prisons and hospitals.

Jade Goody ¨exploited till the day she died¨

Following the media circus surrounding cancer victim Jade Goody´s marriage and funeral, respected talk show host Michael Parkinson has stated that Jade Goody was a pawn for the media according to the BBC. I´ve never followed Big Brother and certainly not the British version, but I do remember how she got the piss taken out of her and that she made racist remarks to fellow inmate (for want of a better term) Shilpa Shetty. When she was diagnosed with cancer last year she was jumped on by the media again and at the end treated like some kind of angel. I´ll give her credit for exploiting the media right back by selling her final weeks for money to support her family, but Parkinson is absolutely right that she was always the victim of the gutter press and media. May she rest in peace now.