Nina-Bytes: It Pays to Be an Insider

 

Editor's note: Nina-Bytes is a weekday blogging series that features short analysis and commentary on articles from around the web.

 

Burr’s Brother-in-Law Called Stock Broker, One Minute After Getting Off Phone With Senator

After what has certainly been an exhausting month, I thought we'd close off October with an old fashioned story about corruption in American politics. Do you remember the coronavirus insider trading in government scandal from back in the spring of 2020? In March of that year, we learned that several U.S. Senators dumped millions in stock on Wall Street right before the virus became an inescapable fact and Wall Street melted down. The scandal involved members of both major American political parties, but the actions of two Republican Senators who downplayed the severity of the virus threat at the time, stood out most; Kelly Loeffler and Richard Burr. 

You can read more about it by clicking the links in this article, but the short version is summed up well by David Leonhardt in the New York Times:

"Given the disconnect between what they knew and the public’s understanding, Burr and Loeffler had an opportunity to sound the alarm. They could have broken ranks with other congressional Republicans and told the country to take the situation more seriously. They could have criticized Trump for not doing more. Such criticism, coming from Trump’s own party, would have received major attention. It would have had the potential to alter Trump administration policy and, by extension, the course the disease took.

But Burr and Loeffler did virtually nothing to protect the health and safety of their constituents or of Americans in other states. (Burr went so far as to co-write an article for FoxNews.com bragging about the country’s readiness.) Here’s what the two senators did instead: They sold large amounts of their personal stock holdings, cashing in before the market sharply declined, as the severity of the virus became apparent to everyone."

 

Frankly, this should have been a huge story; this kind of pandemic profiteering by elected officials is beyond outrageous. It's not even remotely a stretch to say that people literally died so rich public officials could bank a profit here. Unfortunately we live in an environment of pervasive corruption and zero accountability, so most of the Senators were eventually cleared by the Department of Justice and the whole scandal just melted away.

As this October 28th report on ProPublica from Robert Faturechi reminds us however, most is not all; former chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, and soon to be retiring North Carolina Senator Richard Burr remains in the SEC's crosshairs. Turns out there's still an ongoing insider trading investigation into trades made by both Burr and his crooked brother-in-law, Gerald Fauth. And if the Securities and Exchange Commission filing about it is any indication, things are not going well for the Senator. From Faturechi's article:

"After Sen. Richard Burr of North Carolina dumped more than $1.6 million in stocks in February 2020 a week before the coronavirus market crash, he called his brother-in-law, according to a new Securities and Exchange Commission filing.

They talked for 50 seconds.

Burr, according to the SEC, had material nonpublic information regarding the incoming economic impact of coronavirus.

The very next minute, Burr’s brother-in-law, Gerald Fauth, called his broker.”

Well sheeit; how's that for getting your hand caught in the cookie jar? In an environment of legalized bribery where it's almost impossible to prove a give corruption case against powerful public officials, I think Burr might have just found a way to get there. So, presumably arrest warrants for Burr and Fauth (who Biden inexplicably reappointed to the National Mediation Board despite most of this already being in the public sphere) will be forthcoming, right? Don't bet on it sparky. We are after all, talking about a country that just recently realized there's an ethics problem with senior Federal Reserve staff owning and trading stock while controlling much of the American economy. 

No, my money is on Richard Burr riding off into the sunset like none of this ever happened; much the same way Loeffler did. Burr's retirement from the Senate will quell public outrage, and there is no appetite for prosecuting this sort of corruption in Washington. Opening up that can of worms might threaten all the other corrupt Senators in office, and that's a club too numerous and too powerful for even a motivated Department of Justice to challenge. Membership does after all, have its privileges.

nina illingworth

Anarcho-syndicalist writer, critic, and analyst. 

You can find my work at NIDC, Can’t You Read, Media Madness and my Patreon Blog

Updates available on Twitter, Instagram, Mastodon and Facebook. Podcast at “No Fugazi” on Soundcloud.

Inquiries and requests to speak to the manager @ASNinaWrites

Chat with fellow readers online at Anarcho Nina Writes on Discord!

“It’s ok Willie; swing heil, swing heil…”

 

Nina-Bytes: Ahead of the Curve

 

Editor's note: Nina-Bytes is a weekday blogging series that features short analysis and commentary on articles from around the web.

 

Personally, I have never quite mastered the important internet art of relentless self promotion. In fact, that might be why this blog generally tops out of a few hundred readers. If there is one thing I've learned in my time publishing analysis online however, it's that sometimes you have to toot your own horn a little; if only because nobody is going to do it for ya. So today we're going to try something a little different; I'm counting coup with some help from bigger voices in the progressive media sphere online. 

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote an article arguing that most mainstream media coverage of the reconciliation bill fight in the US Senate amounted to complicit codswallop and "corporate-sponsored fan fiction for lanyards." In that article I noted that anarcho-capitalist billionaires and corporate America had poured millions into stopping the Build Back Better Act at all costs. This including buying off Democrat Senators Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema; whose support is necessary to pass the bill. Finally I observed that corporate media was engaging in active propaganda on behalf of their rich owners by pretending this was any sort of good faith political dispute. The whole mystery was a stalling tactic, and as of now it appears to be working.

Well, it turns out that I'm not the only person who noticed:

 

TV Reports on Manchin and Sinema Leave Out Their Financial Conflicts 

In this October 22nd report by Spencer Snyder over at Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting, we find documented evidence that the willful blindness I observed in print media carries over to cable news coverage. In a review of twenty-one news programs covering the reconciliation bill fight (including programs from major players in corporate cable news), the author identified a total of forty-five seconds spent discussing conflict of interest issues; also know as corruption. Indeed, ABC's "Good Morning America" actually had former Senator Heidi Heitkamp on to admonish folks for questioning Manchin and Sinema's motives in stopping the bill. 

The article also goes on to detail Manchema's flagrant conflicts of interest; including donor money, Machin's one-step-removed coal empire, and Sinema's obviously corrupt relationship with a lobbying group in cahoots with Big Pharma. Finally, Snyder hammers away at cable media for spinning a narrative that ultimately sides with corporate power and the two corrupt Senators, while blaming the left for refusing to surrender. This is all great stuff, but given that I already wrote all of these same things, you probably could have guessed I'd feel that way.

 

Joe Biden Is Poised to Gut His Own Political Agenda; and the Democrats’ Electoral Prospects

In this October 21st article by Luke Savage in Jacobin, the author looks at the same corruption and coverage I did, and comes to the same conclusion; the fix is in and the media is in on it. In fairness to Savage, he then uses this discussion to point out that the Democratic Party (and Joe Biden; who was tepidly supporting the progressive position when I published) is also complicit in letting corporate lobbyists and two Senators hijack the negotiations. From the article:

"In exposing the deep dysfunction of America’s political institutions, the reconciliation battle has also, yet again, laid bare the structuring contradiction of the Democratic Party as a vehicle for real reform. Having begun the process by proposing trillions in big programs and new spending, the party’s subsequent negotiation with itself looks set to yield something both ideologically feeble and electorally counterproductive.

Among other things, that’s because the Democratic coalition is less a coherent ideological formation than it is a Frankenstein hodgepodge of progressives, public interest groups, liberally minded voters and corporate lobbies — with the latter, by virtue of its influence in DC, bottomless reserve of campaign cash, and de facto purchase of many elected representatives almost invariably carrying the day."

 

Now, I want to be clear; I'm absolutely not accusing either of this guys of plagiarism. What I'm suggesting you to do is look at the dates all three of these pieces were published, and then ask yourself one simple question. Why wouldn't someone who wanted to be informed on the cutting edge of left wing political analysis, subscribe to ninaillingworth.com, this blog, and all the social media services listed in my signature at the bottom of this post? 

Exactly, such a decision would be inexplicable; which is why you should sign up if you haven't already my friends.

nina illingworth

Anarcho-syndicalist writer, critic, and analyst. 

You can find my work at NIDC, Can’t You Read, Media Madness and my Patreon Blog

Updates available on Twitter, Instagram, Mastodon and Facebook. Podcast at “No Fugazi” on Soundcloud.

Inquiries and requests to speak to the manager @ASNinaWrites

Chat with fellow readers online at Anarcho Nina Writes on Discord!

“It’s ok Willie; swing heil, swing heil…”

Nina-Bytes: Fish Gotta Swim

 

Editor's note: Nina-Bytes is a weekday blogging series that features short analysis and commentary on articles from around the web.

Manchin Has Received $1.5 Million From Corporate Interests Attacking Biden Agenda: Report

This article from Jake Johnson at Common Dreams has forced me to ask an important question; is it even possible to make an "I told you so" post about such crass and obvious corruption? In an era of legalized bribery, and zero accountability for the rich and powerful, does bald-faced self-enrichment at the highest levels of government even shock us anymore? Probably not; especially in a neofeudalist oligarchy. Clearly in this stage of capitalism, asking a U.S. Senator to forgo bribes from corporate lobbyists is like asking a fish to stop swimming.

Joe Manchin, everyone's favorite coal baron Senate obstructionist, is back in the news cycle again and it's not because he's such a style icon. In a revelation that won't surprise anyone who read my last essay (Six Things I Think: Reconciliation and the Dirty Pair) even more evidence has emerged that Manchin is on the take from forces that want to kill the Build Back Better Act. It turns out that in addition to the oil lobby money, and the polluter utilities money, Manchin has also scarfed up at least $1.5 million in donations from corporations and business lobby groups; including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America.

Given that all of these groups represent corporations who oppose even moderate tax increases, as do Manchin's new friends inside the Kochtopus, it's not all that hard to figure out what the money is for. Correspondingly, the "other Joe" is still working to whittle trillions in funding off the reconciliation bill while protecting his corporate donors from even Biden's moderate tax increases. Of course one might be tempted to ask why companies keep bribing Manchin to kill a bill he's already committed to destroying, but there's no need to ask why the Senator from West Virginia would keep going back to the well. After all, everyone already knows he's greasier than a pork rind dipped in lard; and nobody has done a goddamn thing about it yet.

nina illingworth

Anarcho-syndicalist writer, critic, and analyst. 

You can find my work at NIDC, Can’t You Read, Media Madness and my Patreon Blog

Updates available on Twitter, Instagram, Mastodon and Facebook. Podcast at “No Fugazi” on Soundcloud.

Inquiries and requests to speak to the manager @ASNinaWrites

Chat with fellow readers online at Anarcho Nina Writes on Discord!

“It’s ok Willie; swing heil, swing heil…”

 

Nina-Bytes: Global Corruption and a Culture of Zero Accountability

 

Editor's note: Nina-Bytes is a weekday blogging series that features short analysis and commentary on articles from around the web. This post is archival and originally appeared on October 3rd, 2021 over on our Facebook page.

The Pandora Papers

Over the next few weeks, you're likely going to be hearing a lot about a series of global financial leaks called "the Pandora Papers" - and if the history of the Panama Papers, and the Paradise Papers is any indication, the reporting on this subject will be equal parts atrocious and complicit. 

These leaks are a part of a gigantic (2.94 terabyte) data trove that exposes the secret offshore financial manipulations and tax evasions schemes of the uber wealthy; including individuals from over 200 countries and territories. Perhaps most importantly, these leaks include records of financial skullduggery from more than 330 politicians and 130 Forbes billionaires; these aren't just the machinations of the ruling classes, but also of their in-pocket muppets in what is very loosely defined as "public service."

This project, from the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, involved processing more than 11.9 million individual records, and represents the work of over 600 individual journalists, from roughly 150 separate news outlets around the world. In other words, this is the mother lode of dirt on rich guys and their schemes to accumulate and hide wealth, without having to return anything whatsoever to society. 

Unfortunately, and despite the gravity of these leaks, this story will likely receive very little attention (long term) in for-profit Western media for two primary reasons.

The first reason is that due to the absolutely absurd way American tax law works to protect the wealthy from any form of taxation, there are very few Americans listed in these leaks because American billionaires already get to keep all their money; and as anyone who has ever worked in American media can tell you, the world ends for our news on the near shores of either ocean that surrounds Turtle Island.

The second reason is that despite the (rightful) moral outrage these leaks would produce in any person who actually understood them, the vast majority of financial activity depicted within is perfectly legal. Oh sure, there may be some question of ethics violations by the various political puppets who used offshoring and secret banking instruments to enrich themselves while on the public dime, but the reality is that rich people all over the globe have spent the past forty years making this type of bald faced corruption not only legal, but the expected reasonable behavior for the rich.

Of course, rigging the laws to make your wholly unethical behavior "strictly legal" is nothing new; I'm reminded of the time when Martin Luther King Jr told a captivated audience that "everything Hitler did in Germany, was legal." Nor should it be particularly surprising that a media owned (and increasingly staffed) by the wealthy, would hand wave away corruption and malfeasance like this; it's a big club, and you aren't in it lads. 

What's surprising here more than anything, is the crassness with which the ruling classes will respond to this; shrugging their shoulders and in their best Joe Manchin asking "you got a problem?" And even worse is the realization, even before the news has grown cold, that at the end of the day they're all going to get away with it.

nina illingworth

Anarcho-syndicalist writer, critic, and analyst. 

You can find my work at NIDC, Can’t You Read, Media Madness and my Patreon Blog

Updates available on Twitter, Instagram, Mastodon and Facebook. Podcast at “No Fugazi” on Soundcloud.

Inquiries and requests to speak to the manager @ASNinaWrites

Chat with fellow readers online at Anarcho Nina Writes on Discord!

“It’s ok Willie; swing heil, swing heil…”

A Brief Thought: Obama, Wall Street & Weaponized Identity Politics - Link

Well my friends; I promised myself we'd shoot for 15 posts and over 20K words this month - here we are on the last day of April, with our 15th post. Hopefully, you've all enjoyed reading them as much as I've enjoyed writing them and May is roughly as productive.

Thank you for all your support guys.

Read "Obama, Wall Street & Weaponized Identity Politics" here.

 - nina

Observations from Outside the Death Star: August

Observations from Outside the Death Star: August

 

 

“If you ever had an idea that people were really terrible, you could watch the news and know that you’re right” – Frank Zappa

1. Feeding the Machine: Audit Blues at the DoD & the Social Cost of Imperialism

The next time someone tells you that there’s not enough money in the budget for single-payer healthcare in the United States; you should smack them directly in the mouth and remind them that the Pentagon has either lost, or spent without properly accounting for between 6.5 and 8.5 trillion dollars since 1996. Due to incompetence, mismanagement or purposeful obfuscation, the Department of Defense simply cannot (and likely never will be able to) account for enough money to fund every “pie in the sky” pinko/left dreamboat social program you can imagine; including single payer healthcare – possibly for decades!

This is of course simply part and parcel for an imperial war machine that spends roughly $600 billion (recorded) dollars a year on its military – more than the next seven or eight nations combined and more than enough to defeat virtually any military threat the United States could possibly face from anyone else on planet earth. I’ve got a “radical” idea – how about we bomb a few less hospitals abroad and pay for a few more hospital visits back home in America?

Projecting imperial power is abso-fucking-lutely not in the best interest of the average American citizen but ensuring that everyone, regardless of personal wealth has access to adequate medical care most certainly is. The problem isn’t a lack of funds but rather a lack of political will and virtually fucking everyone knows it.

Read the rest of the article on ninaillingworth.com today...

- Nina Illingworth