That's a Lot of Money

The amount the super-rich are hiding offshore is in the trillions. Trillions, according to the BBC.

Why Isn't Wall St. in Jail?

2011 Rolling Stone. Matt Taibbi

Just When You Thought the Banks Couldn't Be Worse

LIBOR Scandal, Economist, 7/7

LIBOR Scandal, Economist, 7/7, ii.

Wash Post call for "Banksters" to be prosecuted.

More on LIBOR, New Yorker 7/30

We Are Our Own Agents of Change

12-year-old Canadian Victoria Grant schools us.

I think the most important part of this speech might be that she encourages us to take steps on our own to become more informed. At the outset, she says, "I will share with you three important points of reference, which will hopefully spark enough interest and concern for you to continue the research on your own and to engage your government to stop this criminal act against the people of Canada." In other words, "Don't take my word for it, take your own." 

And she closes with Margaret Meade: "Never doubt that a small group of people can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has." 

We are our own agents of change.

Quebec

The "truncheon law" and a new wave of protests.

OWS and the Pros and Cons of the Black Bloc

Harry Siegel from The Daily Beast on the OWS "general strike," and their "diversity of tactics."

The Self-Attribution Fallacy

By George Monbiot for The Guardian. The self-attribution fallacy is part and parcel of the mobility myth.

The Commodification of Education

“What we’re seeing are the spoils of what happens when education is treated not as a public good, but as a commodity, as just another way to turn a profit.” - Robert Applebaum

Alexander Zaitchik, for Salon, argues that while forgiveness of student loan debt is a step in the right direction, the more pressing issue is creating an environment in which education is valued and affordable.

The Price You Pay to Be Poor

Slacktivist Fred Clark on the "poverty surcharge," and other ways the banks screw us. (from 2009.)

Also, "5 Things Nobody Tells You about Being Poor," and "The 5 Stupidest Habits You Develop Growing Up Poor," from Cracked

How the Rich Occupied America

Remarks by Bill Moyers, citing a memo written by future Supreme Court Lewis Powell as a turning point for corporations and the rise of "money power" in the U.S.

Unsurprisingly Alarming Numbers

I can't tell which is worse: These numbers on income inequality, or the fact that I'm non-nonplussed.

2012 is an election year. The first, and most important, step we can take to make sure that the trends reverse course is to elect officials who will write and pass laws to that end.