Category: Commercial Intelligence

Posted on

Journal: Vermont Flexes Its Righteous Muscles

Commercial Intelligence, Cultural Intelligence, Earth Intelligence

Full Story Online

Vermont Senate Votes to Close Nuclear Plant

MONTPELIER, Vt. — In an unusual state foray into nuclear regulation, the Vermont Senate voted 26 to 4 Wednesday to block a license extension for the Vermont Yankee nuclear plant, citing radioactive leaks, misstatements in testimony by plant officials and other problems.

Phi Beta Iota: America is fed up with an inept and corrupt federal government that can no longer be trusted to uphold the public interest; and with corporations that lie to the public and constantly manipulate ownership entities to avoid responsibility and liability.  Vermont is the canary in the coal mine–it is the most likely to nullify federal laws and it is the most like to announce its secession from the United STATES of America absent a radical resurrection of the integrity of the electoral process and the three branches of government.  “Home Rule” is a meme that is spreading fast across America, with corporations learning that they must legally give up their ill-gotten personality status to do business in particular counties; this is complemented by the “move money home” movement and the “buy local” movement.

See also:

Vermont Second Republic

Secession Movement Spreads

Vermont Secession Movement Gains Traction

Nine Statewide Candidates Push for Secession from Union

Posted on

Journal: The End of Old Money

03 Economy, Civil Society, Collective Intelligence, Commerce, Commercial Intelligence, Cultural Intelligence, Ethics, Mobile
WIRED Home Page

We stopped subscribing to WIRED when advertising crossed the 60% mark, but this issue came to us and has a useful article on the end of old money, which is to say, the end of money where banks and credit cards take an undeserved cut from every transaction while taking huge risks with your money as collateral.

The Open Money movement is proceeding apace, with community-oriented credit cards like Interra, new forms of home rule stripping corporations of their illegitimate “personality” status, and moving money from Wall Street to the local bank.

Meanwhile, Twitter is changing the world again by becoming a trusted point to point money transfer agent.  here are five new ways to pay that cut out the banks and credit card organized legalized crime lords:

Twitpay. Type a friend's Twitter handle, a dollar amount, and twitpay to transfer funds to their PayPal account.

Zong. Instead of entering credit card information anew for every online purchase, users fill in their phone number and the charge shows up on their monthly bill.

Square. The latest from Twitter cofounder Jack Dorsey, this 3/4 inch cube turns any iPhone into a credit card reader.

GetGiving. This mobile app uses PayPal to enable charities to accept small donations without the usual exorbitant credit card transactions fees.

Hub Culture. Travelers can avoid the hassle and fees of swapping dollars for euros by transacting in vritual currency in this international network of workstations.

To our surprise, PayPal itself, central to most alternative schemes, was not highlighted other than being mentioned above.

Posted on

Journal: Goldman Sachs Outed, European Audit Soon?

03 Economy, 08 Wild Cards, Commerce, Commercial Intelligence, Ethics, Government, Law Enforcement

Chuck Spinney

Goldman Goes Rogue – Special European Audit To Follow

Simon Johnson     Baseline Scenario      February 14, 2009

We now learn – from Der Spiegel last week and today’s NYT – that Goldman Sachs has not only helped or encouraged some European governments to hide a large part of their debts, but it also endeavored to do so for Greece as recently as last November.  These actions are fundamentally destabilizing to the global financial system, as they undermine: the eurozone area; all attempts to bring greater transparency to government accounting; and the most basic principles that underlie well-functioning markets.  When the data are all lies, the outcomes are all bad – see the subprime mortgage crisis for further detail.

A single rogue trader can bring down a bank – remember the case of Barings.  But a single rogue bank can bring down the world’s financial system.

Goldman will dismiss this as “business as usual” and, to be sure, a few phone calls around Washington will help ensure that Goldman’s primary supervisor – now the Fed – looks the other way.

But the affair is now out of Ben Bernanke’s hands, and quite far from people who are easily swayed by the White House.  It goes immediately to the European Commission, which has jurisdiction over eurozone budget issues.  Faced with enormous pressure from those eurozone countries now on the hook for saving Greece, the Commission will surely launch a special audit of Goldman and all its European clients.

Phi Beta Iota: The balance of the above article is a “must read.”

Posted on

Journal: US Rubin-Summers Tungsten Gold Round II

02 China, 03 Economy, 07 Other Atrocities, 10 Transnational Crime, Budgets & Funding, Commercial Intelligence, Ethics, Government

Phi Beta Iota: We first displayed a post on the US cheating others with gold wrapped around tungsten on 18 November 2009, at Journal: Fake Gold Bars from China to India, Made in the USA–Federal Reserve and Bank of NY Accused–Meanwhile, Prison Planet and Bullion Vault Say No.  The story is now resurfacing, and in the course of looking it over (with some skepticism, but confident that the matter has not been properly investigated by the US Government which is evidently culpable on multiple fronts.

Is the Dollar “Good as Tungsten”? (FOFAO,November 15, 2009)

This is the best overall summary we have found, with devastating looks at Larry Summers' past published speculation on how manipulating the gold price downwards could improve the value of Treasury issues, the connections with Alan Greenspan, Robert Rubin–it all hangs together and is elegantly brought together.

Posted on

Journal: Haiti Update of 10 February 2010

Commercial Intelligence, Cultural Intelligence, Peace Intelligence

Majnolita Louisome holds her brother Iverson outside their damaged home in Port-au-Prince. 2010 Getty Images

Good intentions gone wrong

Too many aid organizations and an inept government have created a chaotic relief effort in Haiti

“The aid machinery currently at work in Haiti keeps too much for overhead for its operations, and still relies overmuch on NGOs or contractors who do not observe the ground rules we would need to follow to build Haiti back better.”

Phi Beta Iota: This is the single best over-all description of how the USA–despite its massive presence–has failed  to provide the two things we have plenty of and everyone in Haiti needs:  mobility into all six air and sea points (12 entry points instead of two now being used) and the kind of multinational decision-support that STRONG ANGEL pioneered so able.  Haiti appears to be chaotic–out of control–and the problem will be made vastly worse if we allow US contractors to take the place over much as Naomi Klein anticipates in The Shock Doctrine–The Rise of Disaster Capitalism.  Haiti appears to be a disaster converted into a catastrophe now well on its way to pillaging and looting by American contractors who will make Haiti's own gangs look like “the little rascals.”

Continue reading “Journal: Haiti Update of 10 February 2010”

Posted on

Journal: Greedy Cultish Goldman Sachs Looting America and Corrupting Democracy

03 Economy, 09 Justice, 11 Society, Commerce, Commercial Intelligence, Ethics, Government
Chuck Spinney

Here are two excellent items on the greedy cultish institutional culture of Goldman Sachs, which has its own revolving door in and out of the Federal government.

Chuck

Background from November 2009

November 8, 2009

I'm doing ‘God's work'. Meet Mr Goldman Sachs

Average pay this recessionary year for the 30,000 staff is expected to be a record $700,000. Top earners will get tens of millions, several hundred thousand times more than a cleaner at the firm. When they have finished getting “filthy rich by 40”, as the company saying goes, these alpha dogs don’t put their feet up. They parachute into some of the most senior political posts in the US and beyond, prompting accusations that they “rule the world”. Number 85 Broad Street is the home of Goldman Sachs.

New focused report:

Goldman Sachs And The Republicans

Simon Johnson, Baseline Scenario, 2 Feb 2010

Goldman and the other big Wall Street firms have already won big on this round.  They will plow even more money into defeating political candidates who have opposed them – for example, on credit card legislation.  The Republicans see this coming and are rubbing their hands with glee.

With their incentive structure intact – they get the upside and regular folk get the downside – and their closest friends on their way back to power, Big Finance is ready to roll into the next great global boom-bust cycle.

Phi Beta Iota: President Obama still does not get it–he was funded to keep Senator McCain out of the office, now he is going to be unfunded to put the original Republican sell-outs (Senator Phil Gamm R-TX et al) back in.  What the President especially does not get is that the only way to put Goldman Sachs back in its box is to let We the People out of ours.  Electoral Reform in time for November 2010 (first four elements) and then 2012 does three things: 1) assures him of a second term; 2) buries the two-party tyranny; and 3) restores honest civil reality-based give and take to our democracy.

See Also:

Search: smart nation intelligence reform electoral reform national security reform

Posted on

Journal: Cellphones, Your Brain, and Spectrum

Civil Society, Collective Intelligence, Commerce, Commercial Intelligence, Ethics, Government, Technologies, Tools
Full Story Online

Warning: Your Cell Phone May Be Hazardous to Your Health (GQ)

Christopher Ketcham
Ever worry that that gadget you spend hours holding next to your head might be damaging your brain? Well, the evidence is starting to pour in, and it's not pretty. So why isn't anyone in America doing anything about it?

Phi Beta Iota: This is “old” news that is still news because neither the government nor the public actually pay attention.  We've known since the 1980's that Soviet emission controls were ten times tougher than ours, and now in Afghanistan as we find UAVs and all other devices conflicting with each other across old “dumb” (assigned) spectrum, we are learning, AGAIN, why spectrum consciousness matters.  Open Spectrum and smart devices are the way to go, along with public truth-telling about electromagnetic emissions as part of the “true cost” of all devices.