Congress Tries to Gut Swaps Regulations Aimed at Promoting Transparency (for 11/28/11)

Scott Garrett, a Republican representative from New Jersey, and Carolyn Maloney, a Democrat representative from New York, have introduced legislation on to weaken transparency on swaps. These are complex financial instruments capable of causing financial panics because nobody, including investors, regulators, and dealers can identify the risk swaps pose to the economy or who is at risk.
http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2011/11/28/377059/bipartisan-swap-exemptions/

Swaps brought down AIG, necessitating hundreds of billions in bailouts. AIG advertised itself as a safe insurance company, but operated a unit that behaved like a hedge fund.

Georgia Business Owner Refuses to Hire Until Obama Out of Office (for 11/27/11)

Bill Looman, a Georgia business owner, says he will not hire new employees until President Obama is out of office. As the owner of U.S. Crane, L.L.C., he has displayed this message, "We are not hiring until Obama is gone," on his trucks.

http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2011/11/27/376148/georgia-not-hiring-until-obama-gone/

While many in the Occupy movement are not happy with Obama's job as President, they surely oppose this type of attitude in any business owner.

Scott Brown Holds Bank of America Stock; Fights for Big Banks (for 11/26/11)

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/11/17/brown-boa-stock_n_1100214.html?ref=bank-of-america

Top Six Executives at J.P. Morgan Chase Each Got Paid $10 Million-Plus in 2010

On page 24 of this report filed with the SEC, banking giant J.P. Morgan Chase reports that it has paid each of its top six executives $11 million-plus each. Each of them received bonuses worth over $3.4 million in 2010. Jamie Dimon, the bank's CEO, took home total pay of over $20.8 million.
http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/19617/000119312511091290/ddef14a.htm#toc149447_12

U.S. Multinationals Add Employees Abroad While Cutting Here

American multinational corporations hired 2.87 million foreigners, but dropped almost 864,000 Americans from their payrolls during the 2000s. As the biggest beneficiary of U.S. outsourcing, China gained 691,100 jobs from 1999 to 2009.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/11/22/us-multinational-companies-jobs_n_1107480.html?ref=business

Prosections of bankers for financial fraud have dropped by over 50% since 1999, when there were over 3,000 prosecutions to under 1,500 last year.They have dropped every year since then. As a result, shareholders and investors end up paying for reparations through civil cases. In other words, white collar crime was privatized during George W. Bush's Presidency. This not only destroys confidence in the market; it also creates social tension that can destroy communities.

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-505123_162-57327688/bank-prosecutions-drop-as-bank-failures-rise/

Bailout Unconstitutional

Ex-AIG CEO Maurice "Hank" Greenberg has sued the U.S. in Court on Monday. He claims that the $182 billion bailout in 2008 of AIG was unconstitutional, violating the Fifth Amendment, because it did not justly compensate shareholders for property the government took from them. Even though this property was grossly over-valued, maybe even worthless.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/11/21/maurice-hank-greenberg-former-aig-ceo_n_1106092.html

Bank Lobbying to Reach a New High in 2011

$47 million in lobbying spending by commercial banks this year.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/11/21/bank-lobbying-record-high_n_1106350.html