We’ve lived so long under the spell of hierarchy—from god-kings to feudal lords to party bosses—that only recently have we awakened to see not only that “regular” citizens have the capacity for self-governance, but that without their engagement our huge global crises cannot be addressed. The changes needed for human society simply to survive, let alone thrive, are so profound that the only way we will move toward them is if we ourselves, regular citizens, feel meaningful ownership of solutions through direct engagement. Our problems are too big, interrelated, and pervasive to yield to directives from on high.
—Frances Moore Lappé, excerpt from Time for Progressives to Grow Up

Sunday, July 12, 2015

LIBOR: History’s Largest Financial Crime that the WSJ and NYT Would Like You to Forget

Click here to access article by William K. Black from New Economic Perspectives

While investigating the Libor scandal, Black discovers a noticeable lack of reporting or a very decided spin on the reporting of the scandal in mainstream media. He reports the details of this discovery in the article. 
I read a BBC story about the LIBOR criminal trial in the UK and was going to write to criticize its woeful analytics. In preparation I checked the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal to see how they reported the devastating testimony in the trial. I could not, however, find any coverage in my electronic searches and viewing their web pages.

To review the bidding, the LIBOR bid rigging cartel was the largest cartel in history, manipulating the prices of an estimated $300+ trillion in assets. That is a figure considerably larger than the world’s combined GDP.
Once again we see members of our ruling class get away scot-free with crimes while others are locked up forever or assassinated by their police forces for very minor infractions. Such is life in class-structured societies. We will never solve the major issues of wars, climate destabilization, and extreme wealth-islands (even literally) for a few amidst vast oceans of poverty for the many unless we end their rule and create radical egalitarian societies.