I know 11,000 people who aren’t too excited about these “transformations.” Citigroup announced that it will absorb a tax charge of $1 billion for the quarter and eliminate about 11,000 jobs. The third-biggest U.S. banks CEO said that the move was a “logical” step in the bank’s “transformation.” The plan of restructuring also includes branch closings:

The latest eliminations amount to about 4.2 percent of Citigroup’s workforce of 262,000 people at the end of September. The largest share of reductions, about 6,200 jobs, will come from the global consumer-banking business, Citigroup said. The lender expects to sell or scale back consumer operations in Pakistan, Paraguay, Romania, Turkey and Uruguay.

An additional 2,600 jobs will be cut in the operations and technology group and global functions. Citi Holdings, the unit disposing of unwanted assets, will eliminate about 350 positions.

The plan will save about $900 million in 2013, and projected annual savings will exceed $1.1 billion beginning in 2014, the company said. Annual revenue will drop about $300 million, according to the forecast. The $1 billion charge this quarter is before taxes. An additional $100 million of related charges will come in the first half of next year.

Those of you bankers who didn't have your jobs slashed, not to worry about your annual bonus. While it will be cut by 10%, you'll still receive it. What's that, you're crying over the 10%? Oh, good grief!

Federal prosecutors hit Bank of America with a $1 billion lawsuit Wedesday, accusing the bank of mortgage fraud that contributed to the housing crisis. Bank of America became entangled in the scheme -- known as “High-Speed Swim Lane” or “Hustle” -- when it purchased Countrywide Financial in July 2008, just as the economy was slipping into recession. Countrywide, a mortgage lending giant, was already known for approving risky loans when it introduced its “Hustle” program to churn out more loans, effectively eliminating a system that ensured the mortgages were being made to buyers who could afford them. A top U.S. attorney said the bank’s fraud was “spectacularly brazen in scope.”

Via:

Wednesday's case, originally brought by a whistleblower, is the U.S. Department of Justice's first civil fraud lawsuit over mortgage loans sold to the big mortgage financiers, which were bailed out in 2008.

It also compounds the legal problems that Bank of America Chief Executive Brian Moynihan faces over the second-largest U.S. bank's disastrous July 2008 purchase of Countrywide Financial Corp, once the nation's largest mortgage lender.

According to a complaint filed in Manhattan federal court, Countrywide in 2007 invented and Bank of America continued a scheme known as the "Hustle" to speed up processing of residential home loans.

Operating under the motto "Loans Move Forward, Never Backward," mortgage executives tried to eliminate "toll gates" designed to ensure that loans were sound and not tainted by fraud, the government said.

This led to "defect rates" that approached 40 percent, roughly nine times the industry norm, but Countrywide concealed this from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and even awarded bonuses to staff to "rebut" the problems being found, it added.

Defaults and foreclosures soared, yet the bank has resisted buying back many of the defaulted loans from the scheme, which ran through 2009, the government added.

Much more at Reuters.

From the director of "No End In Sight" comes a documentary on the financial meltdown of 2008 and the ways in which it could have been avoided.

"Inside Job" provides a comprehensive analysis of the global financial crisis of 2008, which at a cost over $20 trillion, caused millions of people to lose their jobs and homes in the worst recession since the Great Depression, and nearly resulted in a global financial collapse. Through exhaustive research and extensive interviews with key financial insiders, politicians, journalists, and academics, the film traces the rise of a rogue industry which has corrupted politics, regulation, and academia. It was made on location in the United States, Iceland, England, France, Singapore, and China.

Academy Award winner Matt Damon narrates this unflinching look at the deep-rooted corruption that has left millions of middle-class Americans jobless and homeless as the major corporations get bailed out while paying millions in bonuses.

[Length: 1 hour 48 minutes]

Animation: Joe Biden on Gay Marriage (Actual Audio) from scottbateman on Vimeo.

Good morning! It's Tuesday, May 8, 2012. Is your wireless provider verigreedy?

Tired of seeing the bad guys get bonuses while the good guys get jail time? Watch this video, then get ready to take action at the99spring.com, 99uniting.org and the99power.org - we'll see you there.

The Roosevelt Institute’s Mike Konczal points out that in 2010, the first full year of the economic recovery, was very good if you were one of America’s richest 1 percent. In fact, that year the richest 1 percent captured 93 percent of the nation’s income gains:

Well, we finally have the estimated data for 2010 by income percentile, and it turns out that the top 1% had a fantastic year. The data is in the World Top Income Database, as well as Emmanuel Saez’s updated Striking it Richer: The Evolution of Top Incomes in the United States…The takeaway quote from Saez should be: “The top 1% captured 93% of the income gains in the first year of recovery.”…The bottom 90% of Americans lost $127, the bottom 99% of Americans gained $80, and the top 1% gained $105,637. The bottom 99% is net positive for the year because of around $125 in average capital gains. They can take comfort in efforts by the Right to set the capital gains tax to 0%, which would have netted them an addition couple dozen bucks.

And while the 1 percent who have "suffered" lower bonuses whine about cutting back on luxuries, those of us in the 99 percent are still clawing and scratching just to keep going at all. I'd offer cheese to go with their "whine," but frankly, I can't afford to be so generous.

[H/T ThinkProgress]

A revolution is coming to America.. Not Just America but the World, people are waking up and finally realising how the world works and that their rights as free human beings are slowly being taken away from them..

The 99% are rising up!

As we gather together in solidarity to express a feeling of mass injustice, we must not lose
sight of what brought us together. We write so that all people who feel wronged by the corporate forces of the world can know that we are your allies. As one people, united, we acknowledge the reality: that the future of the human race requires the cooperation of its members; that our system must protect our rights, and upon corruption of that system, it is up to the individuals to protect their own rights, and
those of their neighbors; that a democratic government derives its just power from the
people, but corporations do not seek consent to extract wealth from the people and the
Earth; and that no true democracy is attainable when the process is determined by economic
power.

We come to you at a time when corporations, which place profit over people, self-interest
over justice, and oppression over equality, run our governments. We have peaceably assembled
here, as is our right, to let these facts be known.

They have taken our houses through an illegal foreclosure process, despite not having the original mortgage. They have taken bailouts from taxpayers with impunity, and continue to give Executives exorbitant bonuses.
They have perpetuated inequality and discrimination in the workplace based on age, the color of one's skin, sex, gender identity and sexual orientation.

They have poisoned the food supply through negligence, and undermined the farming system
through monopolization. They have profited off of the torture, confinement,and cruel treatment of countless animals, and actively hide these practices.They have continuously sought to strip employees of the right to negotiate for better pay andsafer working conditions. They have held students hostage with tens
of thousands of dollars of debt on education, which is itself a human right.They have consistently outsourced labor and used that outsourcing as leverage to cut workers'healthcare and pay. They have influenced the courts to achieve the same rights as people, with none of the culpability or responsibility.

Continue reading »

Today's "must read" is an epic Matt Taibbi published yesterday. Here's a glimpse:

When I read things like this I’m simultaneously amazed by two things. The first is the unbelievable tone-deafness of people who would complain out loud, during a time when millions of people around the country are literally losing their homes, that their bonuses – not their total compensation, mind you, but just their cash bonuses, paid in addition to their salaries and their stock packages – are barely enough to cover the mortgage payments for their new condos, the taxis they take when walking is too burdensome, and their girlfriends with expensive tastes.

Read the rest here.

The 99 Percent Choir forecloses on Bank of America's Seattle Headquarters whilst caroling about naughty bankers and their outrageous holiday bonuses.

The expressions on the faces of the security personnel as they realize what is happening is just priceless! Beautifully done, Occupy Seattle!

#OCCUPYOURHOMES #OWS #DECEMBER6 #D6 - GET THE WORD OUT from Rhodes Pictures on Vimeo.

The following is a guest editorial by Jon Kest, Executive Director, New York Communities for Change.

For the past two years, New York Communities for Change members have seen firsthand the damage that the foreclosure crisis has caused in our communities. Together we’ve watched vacant, boarded-up houses pop up on block after block in Southeast Queens and parts of Brooklyn. We’ve stood with homeowners as they told their stories about sending document after document to their banks in hopes of getting a mortgage modification, only to have the bank lose those documents time and time again. We’ve shared their frustration and despair as foreclosures in the community drag down the value of their homes -- making the mortgage they are struggling to pay much higher than what their home is worth.

We at NYCC have seen the real face of the foreclosure crisis; they live in the neighborhoods we organize in; they are our members and they are the family of our members. The homeowners we organize are living proof that in America, if you get sick, or hurt, or laid off through no fault of your own, you will be punished. But the big banks that caused the economic crisis will be left to collect record-breaking bonuses paid for with a bailout that was funded by our tax dollars.

That’s why, for the past 12 months, NYCC has been engaged in a fight to get JP Morgan Chase to reform its mortgage modification policies, and it’s why we’re excited to be joining Occupy Wall Street and community groups from around the country to defend brave families who are taking back homes for the community.

While shelters are overfull and thousands more rely on friends and family to house them, too many homes sit vacant at the hands of the banks. But starting tomorrow, the 99 percent is banding together to say enough is enough. I am proud that NYCC will be among the many taking part in tomorrow’s national day of actions.

Tomorrow we will gather in East New York, a neighborhood in Brooklyn that has been profoundly impacted by foreclosures, and the economic crisis at large, to welcome one brave family to the neighborhood. This family, that has struggled to keep a roof over their heads since the onset of the financial crisis, is sending a message to the big banks: You created the economic disaster that we find ourselves in, you need to fix it. And that starts by keeping families in their homes.

I hope I’ll see many friendly faces in East New York tomorrow joining NYCC, OWS and community groups from across NYC as we stand up for the 99 percent. Check out the Facebook Event Page for More Details.

[Editors Note: Readers, if any of you participate in the Occupy Homes action today, I hope you'll take a moment to share your experience either by sending us an email, or posting in the comments section. Thank-you!]