Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times columnist Gretchen Morgenson tells Bill Moyers that, five years after the country’s economic near-collapse, banks are still too big to fail, too big to manage, and too big to trust. Stockholders’ reaffirmation of Jamie Dimon as JP Morgan Chase’s chairman and CEO this week — despite a year of accusations and investigations at the bank — is further evidence, she says, of an unchecked system that continues to covet profits and eschew accountability, putting our economy and democracy at risk. Morgenson also discusses how behemoth companies like Apple manipulate the system and avail themselves of the biggest tax loopholes money and influence can buy.

“These banks are not getting smaller; they’re getting larger. There are now more too-big-to-fail institutions than there were prior to the 2008 crisis,” Morgenson tells Bill.

And while the Dodd-Frank Act was supposed to prevent that from happening, Morgenson says the law itself is less powerful than those it hopes to regulate.

“Dodd-Frank set up a system to unwind troubled institutions when they become troubled. But it requires regulators taking a really firm stand against large, politically-interconnected, and powerful companies… I just think it’s too easy to put the taxpayer on the hook and bail these people out. So of course the response from these people is going to be, I’ll just do it bigger next time, the taxpayer will be there to bail me out, and we’ll go on our merry way.”

Full transcript below the fold...

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Carmen is a 23 year-old fighting to keep her family's home. Yesterday she was electrocuted by a taser at the Department of Justice while peacefully protesting with Occupy Our Homes and the Home Defenders League for her rights as a homeowner.

Call President Obama at (202) 456-1111 and tell him to arrest bankers, not homeowners.

Occupiers, allies and community members from across the country came together in front of the DOJ to demand that Attorney General Eric Holder arrest the bankers responsible for upending the international economy through the housing crisis.

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This is your Moment of Clarity #231: We're told the economy is in recovery. But is it really? Recovery for who? Check out this article from Les Leopold to find out more.

Keep fighting,

Lee

The terrace at St. Regis Deer Valley, the “Ritz-Carlton of ski resorts.”

By Justin Elliott, ProPublica, April 30, 2013

In January, Rep. Jeb Hensarling, R-Texas, ascended to the powerful chairmanship of the House Financial Services Committee. Six weeks later, campaign finance filings and interviews show, Hensarling was joined by representatives of the banking industry for a ski vacation fundraiser at a posh Park City, Utah, resort.

The congressman's political action committee held the fundraiser at the St. Regis Deer Valley, the "Ritz-Carlton of ski resorts" known for its "white-glove service" and for its restaurant by superstar chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten.

There's no evidence the fundraiser broke any campaign finance rules. But a ski getaway with Hensarling, whose committee oversees both Wall Street and its regulators, is an invaluable opportunity for industry lobbyists.

Among those attending the weekend getaway was an official from the American Securitization Forum, a Wall Street industry group, a spokesman confirmed. It gave $2,500 in February to Hensarling's political action committee, the Jobs, Economy, and Budget (JEB) Fund.

Len Wolfson, a lobbyist for the Mortgage Bankers Association, which gave the JEB Fund $5,000 that month, posted a picture on Instagram from the weekend of the fundraiser of the funicular at the St. Regis. (It was labeled, "Putting the #fun in #funicular. #stregis #deervalley #utah.") Wolfson did not respond to requests for comment. (UPDATE 1 p.m. Wolfson has now set his account to private.) 

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It's been over five years since the beginning of the Great Recession, and unemployment is still a major economic hurdle in the United States, with long-term unemployment extremely problematic as over 4.6 million Americans have been jobless for at least 27 weeks, according to the latest job figures.

But when a hearing Thursday on long-term unemployment held before the 19-member Joint Economic Committee began, it was with just a single lawmaker in attendance. Panelists testifying on the problem and discussing its potential solutions spoke only to Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), the committee's vice-chair, for the beginning of the nearly 90-minute session.

Three more Democrats arrived later to join in the meeting, Senator Christopher Murphy (D-CT) arrived eight minutes into the hearing. Then when the hearing had been under way for 35 minutes, Representative John Delaney (D-MD) arrived, and eventually Representative Elijah Cummings (D-MD) joined in bringing the crowd to four.

Didn't anyone else get the memo?

The National Journal reports:

"When a hearing to explore how to get the long-term unemployed back to work kicked off on Wednesday morning, only one lawmaker was in attendance. That was Sen. Amy Klobuchar, who was holding the hearing in her role as the vice chair of the Joint Economic Committee. The Joint Economic Commitee is one of a handful of committees whose members come from both parties and both houses of Congress. Klobuchar was eventually joined by three colleagues (in order of their appearance): Connecticut Sen. Chris Murphy, Maryland Rep. John Delaney and Maryland Rep. Elijah Cummings. All four are Democrats."

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A record 6 million people -- or 27.2 percent of the population -- are unemployed in Spain, the highest level for the country since it began keeping records in 1976. Luckily, there is a silver lining: authorities say the rate of the increase has at least slowed since the recession first began. Spain’s economy -- the fourth largest in Europe -- has relied heavily on the major central banks, but the country has been left in recession by deep spending cuts. “These figures are worse than expected,” said Jose Luis Martinez, a strategist at Citi in Madrid. Spanish President Mariano Rajoy is expected to unveil a new reform plan Friday, but thousands of protesters still converged in Madrid on Thursday.

America is in the grip of a societal economic panic. Lawmakers cry “We’re broke!” as they slash budgets, lay off schoolteachers, police and firefighters, crumbling our country’s social fabric and leaving many Americans scrambling to survive. Meanwhile, multi-billion-dollar American corporations like Exxon, Google and Bank of America are making record profits. And while the deficit climbs and the cuts go deeper, these corporations -- with intimate ties to our political leaders -- are concealing colossal profits overseas to avoid paying U.S. income tax.

"We're Not Broke" is the story of how American corporations have been able to hide over a trillion dollars from Uncle Sam, and how seven fed-up Americans from across the country, take their frustration to the streets and vow to make the corporations pay their fair share.

More here.

President Obama began this week’s address by praising the latest jobs numbers, a rebounding stock market and a quickening pace for new home sales. “And we need to do everything we can to keep that momentum going,” he said. “At a time when our businesses are gaining a little more traction, the last thing we should do is allow Washington politics to get in the way.” That's why he met with Republican senators on Wednesday, and is making plans to attend both the Democratic and Republican Party meetings in Congress next week. He hopes to “untangle some of the gridlock” and continue discussions to end the sequester. Obama acknowledged that progress won’t be easy, but added “I still believe we can come together to do big things.”

Full transcript of the President's remarks below the fold, or you can read it at the White House website.

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Hiring picked up in February, helping to bring the unemployment rate down to its lowest level since before Obama took office.

The economy added 236,000 jobs in February, according to a Labor Department report released Friday. That's much stronger growth than in January, when employers hired a revised 119,000 workers.

The gains were broad-based as offices, restaurants, construction firms and hospitals all added jobs.

Meanwhile, the unemployment rate dipped to 7.7%, as 12 million workers were counted as unemployed. The drop was partly because more people said they got jobs, but also because 130,000 people dropped out of the labor force.

Reuters:

The data from the Labor Department on Friday showed the economy gaining traction. The jobless rate fell 0.2 percentage point to 7.7 percent, the lowest since December 2008 as more people found work and others gave up the hunt.

Economists welcomed the report, but worried that budget tightening in Washington could slow the recovery's momentum.

"We had already moved from a slog to a jog and we are on course to really get rolling. The risk here is, while the economy is gathering speed, the politicians are stepping on the brakes," said Bill Cheney, chief economist at John Hancock Financial Services in Boston.

CNN reports:

Overall, the U.S. economy has only gained about two thirds of the jobs lost in the financial crisis. Meanwhile, the population has grown and long-term unemployment remains a critical problem.

About 40% of the unemployed have been without a job for at least six months. The average length of unemployment now lasts nine months.

At 13.8%, the unemployment rate is highest for African Americans. Young people are also struggling. Workers ages 20 to 24 had a 13.1% unemployment rate in February, and for teenagers ages 16 to 19, it was 25.1%

Education still makes a big difference. The unemployment rate was only 3.8% for workers over the age of 25 with bachelor's degrees, whereas it was 11.2% for high school dropouts.

Stocks closed out a historic week with another day of gains on Friday, as the Dow hit yet another record closing high on a payrolls report that surpassed even the most optimistic forecasts.

Check out the New DNC Video. Republicans in Congress got what they wanted – the GOP sequester cuts. John Boehner may have gotten 98 percent of what he wanted with these cuts, but communities across the country are bracing for their harmful impact. As President Obama made clear, these cuts are not smart, they are not fair, and they don't need to happen if congressional Republicans step up and do what's right — accept a balanced approach to growing our economy and reducing our deficit.