jacee

A bank could carry you through a temporary interruption of earnings with a clear end date, IF they cared about your business, but the big ones don't care. They only care about BIG accounts. Credit unions care. Sounds like your sister didn't care. The subprime disaster struck because the big banks didn't care, because they made more on the hedge fund. It's quite likely that many mortgages failed because they lost jobs - ie they qualified legitimately but circumstances changed. BTW ... I was lured by a subprime mortgage too, and my circumstances changed. I tried to negotiate with them but there was NO flexibility whatsoever. It was weird ... and I believe there's a lot more to the subprime scandal than we're being told.Why were they all foreclosed so fast with absolutely no flexibility ? It's very suspicious. However, my strategies kept them away for MONTHS, until I was in a position to renegotiate somewhere else.

But they're not included in the price we've been quoted.

Are we getting the engines too?

I've said it before here, and I do believe that Harper is not likely to be personally corrupted by money: His addiction is power, and capable of misusing public funds for personal power. EG, Bruce Carson who was paid from public funds but working only for the oil lobby, then getting MILLION$ in public funds, purportedly for research into green technologies for oil extraction, BUT spending it solely on advertising and promoting the oil sands.(Don't tell me Harper didn't know. Harper controls everything, and proved himself capable of lying in the House when he said he "didn't know" about Carson's full criminal record.) I think Carson's activities amount to Harper bribing/paying off the oil lobby for their support. Another EG - Tony Clement's reelection bribes to Muskoka mayors: $50m gazebos. (Harper likes having his gofer Tony around.)

It's nice that you feel comfortable about that, smallc. However we've just come through two major scandals - sponsorship (libs) and Mulroney (cons) - so it might be naive: Chretien sloughed it off as normal practice. Mulroney obfuscated the truth, and narrowly avoided a much larger scandal - Airbus.Why hasn't Harper implemented the OECD bribery standards? Points to ponder ...

From your link: The Corruption Perceptions Index has drawn ncreasing criticism in the decade since its launch eading to calls for the index to be[ 10][ 11][ 12] abandoned.[ 10][ 11][ 12] This criticism has been abandoned This criticism has been directed at the quality of the Index itself, and the ack of actionable insights created from a simple[ 13][ 14] country ranking.[ 13][ 14] Because corruption is country ranking Because corruption is willfully hidden, it is impossible to measure directly nstead proxies for corruption are used. I don't dismiss opinion surveys of people's PERCEPTIONS (as I am experienced in the methodology), but if they can't do year to year comparisons, there is something wrong with their survey questions, sampling, or both. So people in other parts of the world and at home think Canada is "pure as the driven snow". Doesn't necessarily mean it's true.

Thanks for reminding me ... I meant to say that I put this in 'Federal Politics' but corruption is relevant to provincial, local and international levels.I'm not centring out Harper as 'corrupt' though he's as likely as anyone else. However the failure to implement 2005 OECD bribery standards lies in his area of responsibility. A national initiative to clean up corruption would have to come from the PMO/PCO.

This came from OWS. Working on Canada ... See new thread here ... http://www.mapleleafweb.com/forums//index.php?showtopic=19647&pid=720548&st=0entry720548 I'm quite certain there are posters here who can help in the investigation of corporate/government corruption in Canada. We're all taxpayers. It costs us all.

Sending an email is "violence"??? :lol: Man for tough corporate types, you guys really have thin skins !!!! :lol:

Canada ranked worst of G7 nations in fighting bribery, corruption Globe and Mail Aug 2011 Is Canada 'nice', or do Canadians just see-no-evil--hear-no-evil--speak-no-evil while corporations, banks and government collude to violate the human rights of people everywhere Canadian corporations operate at home and around the world, and take money from the middle class and give it to the wealthiEST ? Canada has again been scolded on the nternational stage for its “lack of progress” in fighting bribery and corruption by a watchdog agency that ranks it among the worst of nearly 40 countries. Transparency International, a group that monitors global corruption, put Canada in the lowest category of countries with “little or no enforcement” when it comes to applying bribery standards set out by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development. ______________________________ See also * OECD slams Canada’s lack of prosecution of bribery offences. Globe and Mail May 2011 _______________________________ In a report to be released Tuesday, the group singled out Canada as the only G7 country that has been stuck at the bottom of bribery-fighting rankings since TI began issuing its reports in 2005. “Unless there is strong political will to take this on as an important issue, Canada and other countries that are laggards will remain behind,” said Huguette Labelle, the chair of Transparency International and a Canadian who served as a deputy minister in Ottawa for 19 years. “It is mportant for Canada’s reputation. We need to move from where we are now.” The poor rating places Canada in the embarrassing company of countries like Greece, Hungary, the Slovak Republic and Slovenia – although New Zealand and Australia are also among the 2 countries in the bottom rung. ... Since the Corruption of Foreign Public Officials Act became law 13 years ago in Canada, a small fine against an Alberta company in 2005 has been the only conviction ever recorded. A trial set to start this August against an Ottawa man accused of bribery in India would be only the second time a charge has been laid under the act. bribery in India would be only the second time a charge has been laid under the act By contrast, the United States has prosecuted more than 200 companies and individuals, many of them “a veritable who’s who of the corporate world,” according to Peter Dent, a partner at Deloitte and Touche, LLP who also sits on the board of Transparency International “It is naive to think that you cross that 49th paralle and somehow we’re pure as the driven snow,” he said. “Canada does not have a great reputation when it comes to the enforcement of white-collar crime. If it’s not taken seriously by government, it won’t be taken seriously by the corporate sector.” ... Charities are not covered by the law, (EG CHURCHES THAT LAUNDER MONEY FOR ORGANIZED CRIME, AND FACILITATE CHILD TRAFFICKING FOR THE PEDOPHILE SEX AND SNUFF FILM INDUSTRY ... "The white kids go to Asia." which only focuses on bribery “for profit,” and there are no strict rules for maintenance of “accurate books and records” – a key tool the Americans have used to nail corporate corruption (Children's Aid Society and Catholic Children's Aid Society do not report on missing children 'in care', and seldom even report on or investigate deaths 'in care'.) Canada is also one of a handful of nine countries that explicitly permits so-called “facilitation payments” to foreign officials for acts of a “routine nature” that may be part of their jobs. When it comes to enforcement, Transparency International warned there was an “inadequacy of resources” at the RCMP’s Anti-Corruption Unit because officers were periodically re-assigned to other duties. (BY WHOM? WHY?) Todd Shean, the RCMP’s chief superintendent in charge of financial crime, said the unit has 14 nvestigators in Ottawa and Calgary currently handling about 23 cases of alleged foreign bribery “My hope is they stay on task and you won’t see a great ebb and flow,” he said. But Mr. Dent suggested that was not sufficient. “These are extremely complex investigations and resource-intensive to prosecute,” he said. “Is there enough political commitment to raise the profile of this issue and have the resources devoted to it?” Stephen Harper is/claims to be an honourable man. His majority 'reign' is the perfect time to address corruption in business, government and 'charity'.

And so it starts. YAHOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!! Here we go .... !! The very real POWER OF THE PEOPLE will be felt in the boardrooms ... :lol: It had to happen ... OWS is now providing CONTACTS FOR CORPORATE CULPRITS so people can express their outrage directly: http://www.occupytheboardroom.org/ The 1% have addresses. The 99% have messages Life gets awfully lonely for those at the top. What can we do to let them know someone's thinking of them? Maybe they need some new friends! We've thought of two ways we can help them with that. Available pen pals ... Goldman Sachs Morgan Stanley Citigroup Bank of America JPMorgan Chase Wells Fargo You GO kids ... !!!!!!

Too bad GoldmanSachs isn't on that list.I have a personal perspective on this issue due to a foreclosure some years back during a temporary. interruption of earnings. Fight back. Don't leave. Tell them you are chaining yourself to the furnace. They won't bug you anymore. Oh ya, and find some relevant blog online and tell your story to the financial community. Then they'll call you and offer to take a formal complaint IF you sign a confidentiality agreement. DON'T SIGN. Instead call a whole slew of their branches and tell your story to the manager. Put a sign on the bank's door calling them out on their greed and refusal to serve customers well. They'll stop bugging you. Oh ya ... and when they send some poor peon to change your locks, stand outside blocking the door and scream at him until he runs away. Then call head office and scream at them some more. Then go to a credit union and renegotiate your mortgage with them. They'll tell you more horror stories about the big banks, that exist only to serve BIG MONEY and don't give a crap about real people. Tell the BANK OF NOVA SCOTIA to suck eggs. They'll still get their money but you'll feel a lot better if you fight them first and they'll get bad PR.

So true.But I do think Tasha K is onto something there, and a boycott of credit might be fun! I wonder who would care ... the banks maybe? Ya think?

If you intentionally allow the mortgages to fail so you make money, instead of renegotiating so people who have lost their jobs can stay in their homes? If it isn't illegal it should be. I think the theory was that if the banks failed, a lot more innocent people would suffer. In reality, the banks were in no danger of failing and were just greedy for more executive pay and bonuses.That's precisely an example of predatory business management that sucks money from the prople to the wealthiEST.

Until suddenly it's 40 years later ...

Banks should pay heed to Occupy Wall Street protests The Occupy Wall Street protests are easily shrugged off as a rag-tag band of activists with disparate aims, from ending corporate greed to cancelling student debt to breaking up banks to just having a good time in the streets. And plenty of people are doing just that: Shrugging off the growing protests as the work of freeloaders who want to take from the rich ... But there are large players in the financial industry itself who are paying attention. From Laurence Fink, the head of the world’s largest asset management company, to some senior Canadian bankers, there’s a realization that the protesters are not just a bunch of flakes. There is something deeper feeding their anger, and it could have legs. ... Underlying the movement is a real concern about ost homes, lost jobs and lost futures, argues Mr Fink, head of BlackRock Inc., the world’s largest asset management company. “These are not lazy people who are just sitting around and trying to find something to do,” he told reporters in Toronto last week. “These are men and women who say ‘I don’t like the direction where we’re going. I’m frightened of the future Nothing else has worked so we’re going to the streets.’ ... While some of the anger fuelling the protests in the U.S. is a natural outgrowth from a view that corrupt banks brought down the economy and ruined lives, Canada’s banks have done no such things. The country’s housing market is holding up, loans are available. What’s to protest? Yes, banks make a ot of money so they are a target for the “end corporate greed” slogans, but beyond that, it’s hard to imagine what the protesters will chant. Hey-hey, ho-ho, those big home equity loans have got to go? It just doesn’t have the ring. But as Mr. Fink argues, there’s something deeper beyond the sloganeering. For many, it’s about a perception that the middle class can’t get ahead because society is becoming more polarized. Bankers with their big pay packages and banks with their billion-dollar profits symbolize that. Whether or not the anger is misdirected, that’s bad for business “We should all pause and say, ‘What is the point here'" Mr. Fink said. “I’m not talking about the words or the posters. What is the implication? From my perspective, the implication is we have people losing hope and going into the streets.” "Losing hope" ? Perhaps. But not sitting at home crying about it. Doing something about it. Trying to make the power establishment take notice. And obviously succeeding.

I'm talking about GoldmanSachs creating a 'hedge' fund against the bad mortgages, so they. Could make money when the(y let) mortgages fail. Then they made money again when the gov paid for the bad mortgages, and they got the houses too. Then they got an award from their colleagues for 'the best trade of the year.They could have renegotiated the mortgages (so people could keep their houses) but they let them fail instead, because they (and their wealthy clients) could make more money on the hedge fund. In my mind, that's criminal or should be, but they got an award instead of going to jail. That's predatory wealth.

I was responding to cybercoma. Nothing to do with you.

Predatory wealth isn't capable of comprehending words like "unconscionable", nor do they care. Money has no morality. It's an end in itself.

Are you using 34m in your calculations?You do realize that population number includes children?

That's not a valid analogy for hedge funds. This is: Westjet knows its planes are going to fail and kill hundreds of people, so it invests in another airline so it can make money regardless.

If a bank bets against its own products because they are so lousy, do you really want to do business with them? Can you trust them?Find a better bank.

Do manufacturing corporations intentionally make lousy products and then 'hedge their bets' by investing in their competitors to make money?That's what banks do.That's what hedge funds are. They should be illegal.

What an embarrassment!! Kevin O'Lunacy is a shining example of everything that is wrong with corporate and wealth power, and why we are in this state of ongoing protest. He has the intellect of a louse and social intelligence is totally lacking. He's a sociopathic predator like those who admire him. I look forward to the time when we can identify these genetic predators before birth and abort them. I see much more clearly now that by 'trusting' wealth and power, we have put ourselves under the control of moral monsters. There is no cure for sociopaths. The syphylitic deranged monarchs of the past are benign compared to the predatory wealth and power of today. There is no value in appealing to intellect and humanity that doesn't exist. OFF WITH THEIR HEADS, I say. Metaphorically, of course, but the multiheaded beast must be taken down before it takes all of us down.

What you are failing to realize is that 1) Canadians don't live in an oppressive country where protesters are shot en masse, and we will not tolerate the forms of oppression that exist in China and Afghanistan. All voices and votes are valued here and it will always be so. If the predatory wealthy don't like democracy, they a free to relocate, AFTER THEY HAVE PAID UP THEIR LEGAL TAXES OWING. 2) Canadian wages must address the costs of living in Canada, like heating in winter, warm clothes, and our high food costs. Most people can't get to their workplaces by bicycle, and mass transit is not well enough developed to substitute for cars. Besides, the oil industry would have a hissy fit if working people ditched their cars. Your analogies are stupid, inaccurate and misleading, so I won't address them.The fact remains that it is much easier for the wealthy to become even wealthier, some obscenely wealthy, than it is for an ordinary person to feed, house and clothe his/her family. That's fine if ordinary people can still take care of their families and young people can get jobs. However, right now experienced workers are getting laid off, losing wages and benefits, and unable to support their families, while many educated young people are unable to find jobs. This puts additional strain on social services support. When wealth is increasingly flowing to the already obscenely wealthy while experienced and educated people can't support themselves, an adjustment to wealth distribution is necessary because there is something seriously wrong with the system. If no adjustment - regulation - is done, ordinary people will revolt violently against the injustice and obscenity of conspicuous wealth. That's just the facts. These are currently peaceful democratic protests for the purpose of educating the public and the sheltered and ignorant wealthy. Without real change by the finance, corporate and government establishments, however, history (and present events in Europe) demonstrate what the wealthy can expect here too. The G20 'austerity' agenda of the wealthy and powerful is not appropriate and will not be tolerated by ordinary Canadians, since social supports are more necessary now. Change is gonna come, one way or another. Posters here who try to defend the 'rights' of predatory wealth and continue riding their gravy train down the same track the same way are missing an important observation: Their light just turned yellow ... and there's only a very short time to stop your gravy train before the light turns red. Change is gonna come, one way or another. Your choice, and there isn't much leeway left for bad choices because you've already used those up.