Commentary—

Banks Gave $64 Million To Whom?

By Peter Phillips and Mickey Huff

Banks gave $64 million to whom? You’ll find the answer to this and other puzzling social and political issues in the new book Censored 2010, researched this year by faculty and students at nine colleges and universities. The work includes the annual selection of the 25 most important news stories not covered by the US corporate media. Here are the top ten.

1. Congress Sells Out to Wall Street. Federal lawmakers responsible for overseeing the economy and approving more than $700 billion in bailout funds have received millions of dollars from Wall Street firms. Since 2001, eight of the most troubled firms have donated $64.2 million to congressional and presidential candidates. The donors include investment banks Bear Stearns, Goldman Sachs, Lehman Brothers, Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley, insurer American International Group, and mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

2. US Schools More Segregated Today Than in 1950s. Millions of nonwhite students are locked into “dropout factory” high schools, where huge percentages don’t graduate, and few are well prepared for college or a future in the US economy.

3. Toxic Waste Behind Somali Pirates. The international community has come out in force to condemn and declare war on the Somali fishermen pirates, while discreetly protecting the illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fleets from around the world that have been poaching and dumping toxic waste in Somali waters since the fall of the government there 18 years ago.

4. Nuclear Waste Pools in North Carolina. One of the most lethal patches of ground in North America is located in the backwoods of North Carolina, where the Shearon Harris nuclear plant is housed and owned by Progress Energy. The plant contains the largest radioactive waste storage pools in the country.

5. Europe Blocks US Toxic Products. US deregulation of toxic substances, such as lead in lipsticks, mercury in electronics, and phthalates (chemicals believed to be endocrine disruptors) in baby toys, may not only pose disastrous consequences to our health, but also to our economic and political status in the world. International markets are moving toward a European model of insisting on environmental and consumer safety. Hundreds of US companies produce or import hundreds of chemicals designated as dangerous by the European Union.

 6. Lobbyists Buy Congress. According to a study by The Center for Responsive Politics, special interests paid Washington lobbyists $3.2 billion in 2008, or $32,523 per legislator per day — more than any other year on record. This was a 13.7 percent increase from 2007.

7. Obama’s Military Appointments Have Corrupt Past. Obama’s retention of Robert Gates as Secretary of Defense makes Gates the first person in US history from an opposing party to be kept on as Secretary of Defense or War. Gates served as a senior CIA official under President Ronald Reagan, who helped undermine the CIA analytical division’s commitment to objective intelligence.

8. Bailed-out Banks and America’s Wealthiest Cheat IRS Out of Billions. A 2008 study done by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) reported that 83 of the top publicly held US companies have operations in tax havens like the Cayman Islands, Bermuda, and the Virgin Islands. Fourteen of these companies, including AIG, Bank of America, and Citigroup, received money from government bailouts.

9. US Arms Used for War Crimes in Gaza. Israel’s repeated firing of US-made white phosphorus shells over densely populated areas of Gaza during its recent military campaign was indiscriminate and is evidence of war crimes, Human Rights Watch said in a report released March 25, 2009.

10. Ecuador Declares Foreign Debt Illegitimate. In November 2008, Ecuador became the first country to examine the legitimacy and structure of its foreign debt. An independent debt audit documented hundreds of allegations of irregularity, illegality, and illegitimacy in contracts of debt to predatory international lenders. The loans, according to the report, violated Ecuador’s domestic laws, US Securities and Exchange Commission regulations, and general principles of international law.

(Peter Phillips is a sociology professor at Sonoma State University and the former director of Project Censored. Mickey Huff is an associate professor of history at Diablo Valley College. )