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After the news that JP Morgan Chase lost $2 billion on high-risk credit derivatives this week, as usual, Sen. Bernie Sanders was one of our few voices of reason out there about what to do with these still too-big-to-fail institutions -- break them up.

From the Senator's press releases: Break Up Big Banks:

J.P. Morgan Chase revealed that its in-house trading operation lost $2 billion in the past six weeks. "The debacle at J.P. Morgan Chase reaffirms my view that the largest six banks in this country, including J.P. Morgan Chase, which have assets equivalent to two-thirds of our GDP, must be broken up. This is important in order to bring more competition into the financial marketplace and to prevent another ‘too-big-to-fail' bailout," Sen. Bernie Sanders said. "At a time when 23 million Americans are either unemployed or underemployed, huge financial institutions should not be involved in ‘making wagers or high-stake bets.' They should be investing in the productive economy creating jobs and improving our standard of living."

Good Morning! Today is Saturday, May 12, 2012. What are you most outraged about today?

The Disabled National Veterans Foundation has spent more on marketing services than on actually helping veterans. A private company runs its fundraising, which often ends up costing more than $1 to raise $1. The foundation does sometimes send charities "badly needed" donations. "They sent us 11,520 bags of coconut M&M's," said one charity's executive director. "We didn't have a lot of use for 11,520 bags of coconut M&M's."

Full Transcript:

A national charity that vows to help disabled veterans and their families has spent tens of millions on marketing services, all the while doling out massive amounts of candy, hand sanitizer bottles and many other unnecessary items to veteran aid groups, according to a CNN investigation.

The Disabled Veterans National Foundation, based in Washington, D.C., and founded in 2007, received about $55.9 million in donations since it began operations in 2007, according to publicly available IRS 990 forms.

Yet according to the DVNF's tax filings with the IRS, almost none of that money has wound up in the hands of American veterans.

Instead, the charity made significant payments to Quadriga Art LLC, which owns two direct-mail fundraising companies hired by the DVNF to help garner donations, according to publicly available IRS 990 forms.

Those forms show the charity paid Quadriga and its subsidiary, Brickmill Marketing Services, nearly $61 million from 2008 until 2010, which was the last year public records were available.

The independent group CharityWatch gave the DVNF an "F" grade. More than 30 veterans charities were rated by the independent group by the amount they spend on fundraising compared to actual donations, and two-thirds were given either a D or F grade, according to CharityWatch president Daniel Borochoff.

"Up to $2 billion is raised in the name of veterans in this country and it's so sad that a great deal of it's wasted," Borochoff said. "Hundreds of millions of dollars of our charitable dollars intended to help veterans is being squandered and wasted by opportunists and by individuals and companies who see it as a profit-making opportunity."

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May 9th, 2012, Charlotte, North Carolina: This is footage begins with one of three separate marches (Green March) converging with two others at the intersection of N. College and E. 5th streets. This is then followed by a rally at the intersection while the Bank of America Shareholders meeting takes place inside their headquarters. Finally, all three marches joined for one major march to BOA stadium. This protest consisted of members of Occupy Raleigh, Occupy Chapel Hill, Occupy Charlotte, Occupy Wall Street, and many other groups from around the nation ( #occupyraleigh #OWS #occupywallst #occupywallstreet #occupychapelhill). Occupy Wall Street dubbed it "Occupy Wall Street of the South".

There were only a few arrests including one victim of Bank of America's foreclosure practices who tried to enter the building during the demonstration (highlighted in this video).

Shown in this video:

Green March convergence: beginning - 2:00
Rally: 2:00 - 10:55
Main March: 10:55 - end

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker is shown in a video from January of 2011 saying he would use a 'divide and conquer' strategy against unions. He said the first step would be to go after collective bargaining. The statement came as a response to a question from a donor that asked him what she could do to help Walker make Wisconsin a right-to-work state. Walker didn't deny or comment on the right-to-work agenda of the donor, clearly intending to give her the impression that he supported moving Wisconsin in that direction.

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After President Obama finally came out in support of gay marriage this week, The Daily Show's Jon Stewart explained this Thursday evening just how far we've come as a nation on the issue when this is the change in the narrative over at Fox News.

STEWART: And this is the true measure of how far we’ve come as a nation. In like five years, the prime talking point from Republicans about people who support gay marriage has gone from, "It will destroy society via turtle f**king," to, "Oh, of course you’re for it. You’ll say anything popular to get re-elected." And that is progress.

Blockupy Frankfurt prepares for the European Days of Action, May 16th -- May 19th.

Homepage: blockupy-frankfurt.org
International Blog: http:// 17to19m.blogsport.eu
Twitter: twitter.com/blockupy
Facebook: facebook.com/blockupyfrankfurt
Facebookevent: BLOCKUPY FRANKFURT

Another awesome video from the folks at anothernyc.org, and the weekend's scheduled events for NYC.

May 10-15: A Week of Actions Against Budget Cuts and Austerity

Tuesday May 15 @ 6 PM: Mass Convergence in Times Square on Global Day of Action

Say no to the system that produces record profits for the 1% by impoverishing the 99% of us; say yes to a fair city and a better world!

Beginning on May 10th and culminating on May 15th in a mass convergence at Times Square, NYC organizations and individuals from all across the city will join together in action around the many issues we face: from cuts in social services, to an austerity agenda that redistributes your tax revenue into private hands, to the financial institutions (that we bailed out) that continue to make record profits at our expense.

As part of a global resistance, as part of the Occupy movement, as a broad movement for social, political, and economic justice, we say enough! We reject Bloomberg's New York, and we demand another city. We reject the notion that there is no alternative, and we demand a better world. Join the week of actions, take to the streets, raise your voice, and come to Times Square on May 15th at 6 PM to stand together as a global movement and declare that another city, and another world, is possible!

MORE INFO

Website: www.anothernyc.org

Facebook Event Page: http://www.facebook.com/events/451664224850611/

Twitter: #AnotherNYC

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JPMorgan Chase has disclosed $2 billion in lossesfrom a trading group’s credit investments, causing the bank’s share price to plummet in after-hours trading.

Via:

Jamie Dimon, the chief executive of JPMorgan, blamed “errors, sloppiness and bad judgment” for the loss, which stemmed from a hedging strategy that backfired.

The trading in that hedge roiled markets a month ago, when rumors started circulating of a JPMorgan trader in London whose bets were so big that he was nicknamed “the London Whale” and “Voldemort,” after the Harry Potter villain.

The losses are expected to take a toll on the bank’s larger earnings, with the corporate group expected to lose $800 million in the second quarter, the company said today in its quarterly securities filings. JPMorgan had previously estimated that it would report a net income of roughly $200 million. The final report will depend on if the company can recover, though Dimon said things could “easily get worse.”

Via:

Given Dimon’s resistance to the ban and new regulations, “he’s got a lot of egg on his face right now,” said Craig Pirrong, a finance professor at the University of Houston. “Any chance they had of getting a relative loosening of Volcker rule, anything of that nature, that’s out the window.”
...
“It’s classic Wall Street hubris, which we’ve seen so many times before,” said Simon Johnson, a former chief economist at the International Monetary Fund who now teaches at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. “What’s particularly ironic here is that Jamie presents himself, and is believed by others to be, the king of risk management.”

In an emailed correspondence, Senator Carl Levin, D-Mich., chairman of the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations and co-author of the Merkley-Levin language establishing the Volcker Rule, issued the following statement Thursday in reaction to news that JP Morgan had suffered a $2 billion trading loss:

“The enormous loss JP Morgan announced today is just the latest evidence that what banks call ‘hedges’ are often risky bets that so-called ‘too big to fail’ banks have no business making. Today’s announcement is a stark reminder of the need for regulators to establish tough, effective standards to implement the Merkley-Levin language to protect taxpayers from having to cover such high-risk bets.”

Good morning, and TGIF! Anyone headed to Chicago this weekend?