State of the Union, The 1%, Class War, Wall Street, Banks

State of the Union

• Obama’s 99 percent speech Salon
• Obama: People Making Over $1 Million Should Pay At Least 30% In Taxes
• Obama Urges Tougher Laws on Financial Fraud NYT

The 1%

• The plight of the 1%--"The fact is that the ultra-rich really aren’t productive, and instead mostly collect rents from people who are. This is what capital always does, of course: it buys labor (some people call that “job creation”, even if the jobs being created are mostly in China), and then extracts dividends from it."
• The rise of the overclass--"We've all heard of the 'underclass': now its mirror image – a super-rich elite that is equally cut off from the rest of us – is defining the political debate."
• Chefs, Butlers, Marble Baths: Hospitals Vie for the Affluent NYT

Class War

• George Soros on the Coming U.S. Class War
• 'Quiet Rooms' and Republican Class War
• The Rich Get Richer While The Poor Get Poorer...Inequality Visualized

Wall Street

• Obama Will Create Unit to Investigate Mortgage Misconduct After Protests
• Obama Is on the Brink of a Settlement With the Big Banks—and Progressives Are Furious--Getting mixed signals here.
• Is This Why They Won’t Prosecute? Top Justice Officials Represented Big Banks, Freddie, Fannie and Mers
• Wall Street Fraternity Mocks OWS and Laughs About Job Creation
• Goldman Sachs cuts pay and bonuses as profits halve

Banks

• Credit Card Arbitration Trumps Lawsuits, Court Says--"These arbitration clauses have become a 'get out of jail free' card," says Michael Calhoun, president of the Center for Responsible Lending.
• Rare Legal Fight Takes On Credit Card Company Security Standards and Fines
• How Mastercard and Visa rip off merchants with secret, 1,000-page "agreement"
• Illinois Teen Learns About Bank Fees the Hard Way
• BofA Debit Fee Plan Led to 20% Jump in Closed Accounts--"Bank of America's failed plan to impose a $5 monthly debit card fee led to a 20 percent increase in closed accounts in the last three months of 2011 and a public relations headache, which other companies may be keen to avoid."
• Evicted Detroiter: '100 years old, and don't have a home'
• A 375-Year-Old French Bank Forgives Debts of Paris' Poorest