Truth

"During times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act." - George Orwell

02/12/2010 Foreclosure Crisis Deepens:

02/12/2010 Foreclosure Crisis Deepens:

Gramm–Leach–Bliley Act

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLBA), also known as the Financial Services Modernization Act of 1999, (Pub.L. 106-102, 113 Stat. 1338, enacted November 12, 1999) is an act of the 106th United States Congress (1999-2001) which repealed part of the Glass-Steagall Act of 1933, opening up the market among banking companies, securities companies and insurance companies. The Glass-Steagall Act prohibited any one institution from acting as any combination of an investment bank, a commercial bank, and/or an insurance company.


The Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act allowed commercial banks, investment banks, securities firms and insurance companies to consolidate. For example, Citicorp (a commercial bank holding company) merged with Travelers Group (an insurance company) in 1998 to form the conglomerate Citigroup, a corporation combining banking, securities and insurance services under a house of brands that included Citibank, Smith Barney, Primerica and Travelers. This combination, announced in 1993 and finalized in 1994, would have violated the Glass-Steagall Act and the Bank Holding Company Act of 1956 by combining securities, insurance, and banking, if not for a temporary waiver process.[1] The law was passed to legalize these mergers on a permanent basis. Historically, the combined industry has been known as the "financial services industry".

The Bomb is Still NOT Defused

I am hoping that anyone who has lost anything as the result of the financial meltdown thinks real hard about this video from Frontline;

Money education 1

April 2008 - Watch this from Jeff Block of Thomson Financial's Corporate Advisory Services group as he discusses Credit Default Swaps. In this video he mentions that they are valued at almost 46 trillion dollars, "almost five times the size of the U.S. national debt."

August 2007 - Watch this from itulipdotcom where they are pointing out that there is a big problem.
and this from smartknowledgeu who is warning that the crisis hasn't come to a bottom yet and this is a tool created to try to unite the public to take back control of the economy. Also see endfinancialfraud on youtube.

Here's the story from 60 minutes called "Financial WMDs".  This story is dated August 30, 2009.

More than once, I have heard such suggestions as taking your money out of the bank, buying up stores of food, storing water, and putting your money into things you need or gold and silver if you can get into the stock market. See MoneyMasters.

Finance and financial services can't be everyone's calling, but money IS everyone's business as it is our means of exchange at this time.

Remember last summer?

New to Ohio

See this
Ohio is planning to have passenger rail service that serves Cleveland, Columbus, Dayton, and Cincinnati.

"The Ohio Jobs and Growth Committee, a political action committee, submitted paperwork to the Ohio Attorney General’s office seeking to place a constitutional amendment on the Nov. 3 ballot. It asks voters to authorize casinos in Cincinnati, Columbus, Cleveland and Toledo."--Business Courier-March 11, 2009

So, between these two ideas, there is just one little thing that doesn't quite correlate. We got a rail going through Dayton, but not to Toledo. And a casino in Toledo, but no rail going there.


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Still, if you think about it, there are a lot of things that can be done with these plans. For example, if the Columbus casino is near the Hyatt, the Hyatt could be where out of town guests stay and visit the casino. People movers could take guests to and from the hotel to the casino and Hyatt likely has good service to and from the airport.
Here's my two cents on the Columbus site since I live here. I think Ohio grown food should be featured at all the casinos. I realize that local businesses are worried that casinos will take away business, but if the casino is close to other businesses, wouldn't it attract business they wouldn't ordinarily have? I know I would make the trip just to see the casino and I hardly ever go to the Arena district or downtown any more. I can understand the rails and the casinos because there is a huge retiring populatoin who like to visit casinos and who could really use a means of travel besides driving.
Of course, this all depends on whether they will have any money to retire on I suppose.