Matt Taibbi analyzes Jamie Dimon’s appearance before the Senate Banking Committee

Matt Taibbi of Rolling Stone found it hard to watch all of the U.S. Senators giving homage to Jamie Dimon of J.P. Morgan Chase. You can read his detailed report here. And here's the lesson Dimon doesn't get:

You can either be a commercial bank, with all the federal support that entails, or you can be a high-risk gambler. But you shouldn't be allowed to be both. We could have Chase Commercial Bank, and Chase Investments Inc., and they can each be as big as they want, but those companies should be separate. Why do we need companies like Chase that are both things, under one tent? The real answer, from Jamie Dimon’s point of view, is simple – there’s no way he could have a $350 billion hedge fund if he didn’t have mountains of federally-insured money to play with, and a steady stream of low-interest loans from the Fed.

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Four trillion in secret loans

Keep in mind that all of the U.S. tax receipts for an entire year are only two trillion dollars. Now read this:

""This report reveals the inherent conflicts of interest that exist at the Federal Reserve.  At a time when small businesses could not get affordable loans to create jobs, the Fed was providing trillions in secret loans to some of the largest banks and corporations in America that were well represented on the boards of the Federal Reserve Banks.  These conflicts must end," [Senator Bernie] Sanders said."

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Barack Obama drones on into the Heart of Darkness

A recent article in the New York Times confirms Barack Obama's personal involvement in the use of drones to assassinate persons in Pakistan and elsewhere:

"Mr. Obama has placed himself at the helm of a top secret “nominations” process to designate terrorists for kill or capture, of which the capture part has become largely theoretical. He had vowed to align the fight against Al Qaeda with American values; the chart, introducing people whose deaths he might soon be asked to order, underscored just what a moral and legal conundrum this could be."

I realize that Barack Obama's unrelenting series of drone assassinations is an intensely inconvenient topic for many of the people who voted for him. I understand this reluctance to consider this topic because I too voted for Barack Obama. Back in 2008, I heard Obama repeatedly promise that he would quickly end American involvement in Afghanistan.
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Wacky Conspiracy

Sure, the Birthers and Truthers are ramping up their positions this election year. But how about this? Step one: Note an uptick in gun violence as the weather warms up (as recently has been reported in places like Seattle). Step Two: Encourage the "Liberal Media" like Fox News and CNN to run with the statistical spike, rolling out regular stories about gun violence. Step Three: Sit back as the predictable political posturing by liberal politicians results in writing moderate gun control legislation. Step Four: Respond in the early fall with a fervent campaign push saying, "See? We Told you Obama is after your guns!" Result: Getting out the conservative voters who otherwise wouldn't bother voting for that Mormon not-conservative-enough Romney.

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