Anyone who wants to know what the Occupy Wall Street protests are all about need only look at the way Bank of America does business. It comes down to this: These guys are some of the very biggest assholes on Earth. They lie, cheat and steal as reflexively as addicts, they laugh at people who are suffering and don't have money, they pay themselves huge salaries with money stolen from old people and taxpayers – and on top of it all, they completely suck at banking. And yet the state won't let them go out of business, no matter how much they deserve it, and it won't slap them in jail, no matter what crimes they commit. That makes them not bankers or capitalists, but a class of person that was never supposed to exist in America: royalty.

Dutch government in lockdown as AAA-rated country comes unstuck

RT @sil: ha!

Andy Zaky: "Apple's Valuation: The One Article Every Investor Should Read" #finance #investment #apple

"When Irish Eyes Are Crying" - Michael Lewis on the banking crisis in Ireland:

RT @mbauwens: Most of the economic growth during the Internet era has been largely unmonetized,

RT @doctorow: Provocative metaphor for #Irish #bailout #finance #ft #funny

RT @doctorow: Provocative metaphor for #Irish #bailout #finance #ft #funny

Michael Lewis, "Beware of Greeks Bearing Bonds"

"Money as Debt" video - excellent explanation of what money is, where it comes from, and why there is more of it now than there was in the past.

"Anything that is too big to fail is too big to exist."

via Obsidian Wings (http://obsidianwings.blogs.com/obsidian_wings/2008/11/iceland.html)