It's unlikely that any of Wall Street's criminals will ever go to jail, but maybe if we kick up enough of a fuss, we can get Jamie Dimon kicked off the board of the NY Fed. Not that there's anything wrong with sitting on the board of the agency that's supposed to oversee you, of course! It's been this way for so long, they don't even understand why we'd be upset about it:

JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM) Chief Executive Officer Jamie Dimon’s position as a director on the Federal Reserve Bank of New York’s board renewed concern that the central bank is too close to the institutions it oversees.

Dimon, who disclosed a $2 billion trading loss by his firm last week, is one of three bankers sitting on the New York Fed’s board, as mandated by Congress under the Federal Reserve Act. While directors have no role in bank supervision, Elizabeth Warren, a Massachusetts Democrat running for U.S. Senate, called for Dimon’s removal from the district bank board because the New York Fed regulates JPMorgan. Senator Bernard Sanders, a Vermont Independent, said he sees a conflict in Dimon’s two roles.

Fed governance came under scrutiny after taxpayer-funded bailouts during the 2008 financial crisis sparked a political backlash. The Dodd-Frank Act overhauling bank supervision required a Government Accountability Office audit of the central bank, which was completed last year and found the Fed needs to strengthen policies governing conflicts of interest and improve transparency.

Having bankers on the boards of regional Fed banks “is a problem, period,” said Sheila Bair, senior adviser at Pew Charitable Trusts and a former chairman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. “Why the regional banks have members of the industry that they regulate on their boards is beyond me.”

It's funny, isn't it, how the women are the ones with the loudest voices on this issue?

Warren, a Democrat, has served in the Office of the President and as chairwoman of the Congressional Oversight Panel for the Troubled Asset Relief Program. She helped establish the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

“After the biggest financial crisis in generations, the American people are frustrated that Wall Street has still not been held accountable and does not appear to consider itself responsible,” she said. “Dimon should resign from his post at the New York Fed to send a signal to the American people that Wall Street bankers get it and to show that they understand the need for responsibility and accountability.”

Yes, thanks to politicians like Tom Carper, whose baby it was, and Joe Biden, the former senator from MBNA, who supported it, the bankruptcy "reform" act pretty much killed off any chance at all for poor people to recover from their debts. It also made credit card companies more powerful - and profitable, so as far as the politicians are concerned, win/win!

If there's anything at all that I wish the Occupy movement would focus on, it would be overturning this travesty and getting people some relief from debt prison.

It's also why it's really, really important to support Elizabeth Warren. It will make the bankers crazy:

This year, hundreds of thousands of Americans are expected to be too broke to file for bankruptcy.
The average cost to file for Chapter 7 bankruptcy protection, the most common form of consumer bankruptcy, is more than $1,500, according to recent research submitted to the National Bureau of Economic Research.

As a result, anywhere between 200,000 and one million consumers are estimated to be unable to afford that steep cost this year.

The research, conducted by a group of professors from Columbia University, the University of Chicago and Washington University in St. Louis, examined how bankruptcy filings spiked after people received their tax rebates in previous years. They estimate that another 200,000 consumers, who would otherwise not have enough money to file, will use their tax refunds to pay for bankruptcy this year.

"For lots of people, bankruptcy has been taken off the table as an option because of the severe fees involved," said Jialan Wang, co-author of the report.

Among those fees is a charge of about $300 just for filing the paperwork with the federal court, while the rest typically goes to bankruptcy lawyers, said Wang.

And there are other expenses on top of that, including fees for mandatory pre-bankruptcy credit counseling and a pre-discharge debtor education course. These average about $85 altogether, according to a recent study sponsored by the American Bankruptcy Institute.

That means many of the Americans who have seen their debt snowball out of control due to events like job loss, foreclosure or a medical emergency during the economic downturn are now left without their last financial lifeline, she said.

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Earlier this week, Sen. Scott Brown made a consequential and costly decision for his campaign: to release his recent tax returns and to challenge Elizabeth Warren to do the same.

Talk about a major blunder.

First, it turns out Brown has a haircut problem. The Boston Herald reported that last year, Brown took a deduction of $1401 for hair, make up and grooming. Wow. This is something that will haunt Brown for the remainder of his campaign. Voters don’t much like career politicians who claim to be earnest everymen while spending so much money on their vanity and grooming.

Second, it turns out that Scott Brown and his wife made $2.5 million over the past six years, far more than the Brown campaign and the Massachusetts Republican Party have let on in all their vitriolic and over the top advertisements attacking Warren’s own income. What’s more, Brown’s income has skyrocketed since he entered public service — news that has caught the eye of pretty much every Massachusetts paper.

Earlier this year, Brown claimed his income was “not a heck of a lot. I mean, you know, I don’t make a heck of a lot.” He will have a tough time explaining that given the latest revelations about his income and the fact that he has a healthy place in the top 1 percent of American earners.

Brown’s latest problems were put on display with a new Web ad the Massachusetts Democratic Party posted early this morning, highlighting the enormous, $675 price tag for his famous barn jacket, the six properties he owns, and his newfound “A-list” stature in the Washington social circuit.

Brown is likely to find it difficult to put this toothpaste back in the tube.

The polls are not going Elizabeth Warren's way in Massachusetts right now, and Chris Christie just weighed in with an endorsement for Scott Brown in an effort to tip the scales toward Brown.

Via Boston.com:

Today, [Christie] officially endorsed Brown, saying in a statement that the men “share a commitment to taking on today’s most difficult challenges by reforming government, balancing budgets and making tough choices.”

“He is battling to bring the same kind of fiscal discipline to Washington that I am fighting for in New Jersey. Scott cuts through the baloney and calls the issues like he sees them, and I am proud to endorse his campaign,” he continued.

Meanwhile, the polls are not being kind to Elizabeth Warren, which should be of concern to Democrats around the country. This is the third poll showing Brown ahead of Warren by a significant margin there, with the first taken in mid-February, a second one last week, and now this one. Real Clear Politics has Brown leading by 3.5 points right now in the averages.

Via Washington Post:

“We'll let the political pundits debate the polls and watch them go up and down over the course of the campaign,” said Warren press secretary Alethea Harney. “Elizabeth will keep working her heart out.”

Boston-based Democratic strategist Mary Anne Marsh said Warren still needed to make her case to independents and increase her overall visibility: “The quieter the campaign, the better advantage for him and not for her, because it’s the status quo.”

Democrats also argued that Brown’s cross-party popularity in the Western New England survey was a sign of how volatile polling was, not of danger for Warren.

Elizabeth Warren is a Blue America-supported candidate. Please consider donating to her campaign or helping in any way you can to make some noise and send Scott Brown home in November forever.

Elizabeth Warren live-chatting earlier today with Crooks and Liars. Blue America and C&L are very proud to be supporting her Senate race, and there's still time to contribute any amount to her day-long money bomb. Thanks for supporting a real progressive voice for US Senate!

Open Thread below....

That viral Youtube may be the most famous American cri de coeur of the new century --- a shot heard round the political world announcing that Elizabeth Warren was not just running for the Senate in Massachusetts, but that she was going to do it by redefining the political framework that's governed this nation for the past 30 years. Warren's message put fear in the hearts of the big money boyz and the political establishment and they reacted. Strongly. This is not a person they want in the Senate and they are going to do whatever they can to ensure she isn't elected.

As someone who has been fighting for the middle class for many years as a researcher and advocate, Warren is a rare politician who has knowledge of the way Washington works while not being of Washington. As her recent battles setting up the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau showed, the wall of resistance to her ideas is formidable and a lesser person would have done her work and gone back to her secure and happy life as a professor and lecturer. But those battles only made her more determined.

She's going to be the next Senator from Massachusetts if we have anything to do with it --- and if her track record is any indication that ossified institution isn't going to know what hit it.

Elizabeth Warren is staking her race on a commitment to resist the lures of big money and special interests. Wall Street, for obvious reasons, has her in their crosshairs and will pour unlimited amounts of cash into the race to defeat her and the GOP establishment is desperate that they do so --- after all, her win could keep the Senate in the hands of the Democrats.

But despite all that, it's not impossible for her to win this, not by a long shot. There's a limit to what money can buy and Elizabeth's message is resonating strongly as she crosses the state meeting people. She's consistently running ahead of her opponent Scott Brown in the polls, but she needs our help to stay competitive.

This week her campaign is running a money bomb collecting donations from like-minded individuals all over the country who understand that Elizabeth Warren doesn't just represent the people of Massachusetts, although she does. She represents all of us who want to see the American dream restored and the middle class strong and thriving again in this country.

Howie, John and I were thrilled to have Blue America be among the very first to endorse her campaign and we couldn't be more excited that she's found a few minutes to join us here today.

Please give as generously as you can--- and please welcome her to Crooks and Liars!

Karl Rove is spending a lot of money trying to help his close friend Sen. Scott Brown, but his ads just aren’t passing the laugh test. Just last week, an ad from Rove’s Crossroads GPS was saying Elizabeth Warren was too radical because she was so close to the Occupy movement, but that didn’t work: her numbers actually went up, and she is now leading Brown by 7 points in the latest polling. So now Rove, — who, according to sources of mine in the banking industry, has taken millions of dollars from the big banks for his secret slush fund, American Crossroads — is saying Warren presided over big bank bailouts.

It’s hard to decide whether this blatantly dishonest ad is more pathetic or funny. It does once again show that Rove and the Wall Street boys giving him money have absolutely no shame. To take Wall Street millions to run an ad tying Warren to the TARP bailouts because she was an independent watchdog of the fund is theater of the absurd — especially given that the reason she became so well-known was because she took both Hank Paulson and Tim Geithner to task for being too easy on the big banks. It’s classic Rove: attack your opponent’s greatest strength. And the fact that Rove’s group just one week before had run an ad trying to tie Warren to Occupy Wall Street because it was so “radical” makes this funny on a grand scale.

Here is the ad in case you haven’t seen it:

OK, go ahead and pick your jaw up off the floor. I know what you are probably saying: “I know this is Karl Rove, but I didn’t think even he could be this brazen and ridiculous.” Well, he can — on behalf of his close friend Scott Brown. These guys will say anything, do anything, and go to any lengths to try to stop Warren from winning, simply because they know what an incredible voice she would in the Senate in speaking up for the 99% and taking on the Wall Street bigwigs. It is richly ironic that because they are finding out their anti-Occupy messaging didn’t work, they are now taking our message to attack Warren because they know it works better. We will see a lot more of this before we are through — in this race and others.

Here’s the fundraising page where you can go help Warren’s campaign directly.

Here’s a petition on Wall Street accountability her campaign is doing.

Pass these around and sound the alarm: Karl Rove is blatantly lying again to help out his dear friend Scott Brown. Do whatever you can to help.

Further demonstrating how concerned Wall Street is about the possibility of U.S. Senate Candidate Elizabeth Warren being elected, Karl Rove’s Crossroads GPS is blasting the consumer advocate in a bizarre new ad.

The ad, a $560,000 buy, ties Warren to the oh-so-“radical” Occupy Wall Street protests. The selectively edited ad isn’t the first time Wall Street has gone after Warren, the former head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and it certainly won’t be the last.

Massachusetts Sen. Scott Brown has been quite a friend to the big banks (as I wrote about), and the 1 percent would continue to thrive if he remained in office.

According to the Boston Globe, Warren has clearly stated that she has urged Occupy Wall Street protestors to stay within the law, but she does support their mission. The most threatening thing about Warren for Karl Rove and the big bankers though is that Warren has not merely stated her support; she has acted on behalf of the 99 percent. This is exactly why we need her in office.

These big money, Wall Street slush funds are going to launch one ridiculous attack after another on Warren. Progressives need to be ready to help her fight back every single time. Here is where you can send her some money, so please do.

(video courtesy of HuffPo, h/t Scarce)

Kiss your mother with that mouth, jerk?

Moments into a speech before volunteers here Wednesday evening, Elizabeth Warren was interrupted by a Tea Party supporter who hurled a gender-based epithet at the Senate candidate. The man, who said he'd been unemployed since February 2010, objected to Warren's expressed affiliation with the frustrations of Occupy Wall Street, and argued that the Tea Party has been protesting Wall Street excess for longer than the nascent global movement.

The crowd tried to shout the man down, but Warren told her supporters to let him speak. "No, no, it's alright. Let me say two things," she said. "I'm very sorry that you've been out of work. I'm also very sorry that the recent jobs bill that would've brought 22,000 jobs to Massachusetts did not pass in the Senate."

Speaking in a packed VFW hall, Warren went on to address his question about her association with Occupy Wall Street. "I've been protesting what's been going on on Wall Street for a very long time," she said, but added that the movement has its own independent agenda and will proceed along its own course.

"Yeah, so has the Tea Party," the man said, before losing his cool.

"Well, if you're the intellectual creator of that so-called party," he said, "you're a socialist whore. I don't want anything to do with you." The crowd shouted him down as he added that Warren's "boss," presumably referring to the president, was "foreign-born." He then attempted to storm out through a side door. Finding it locked, he retreated out the back of the VFW hall instead.

Let that be a lesson: *ALWAYS* have your exit route planned before you go medieval on a candidate.

Elizabeth Warren is an incredible candidate, always fighting for the benefit of the people, not the corporations and top 1%. She's going to have a tougher slog against the big money funneling into Scott Brown's campaign. If you can show your support with a little scratch, we'd really appreciate it.

The Massachusetts State GOP released its first attack ad against consumer advocate and U.S. Senate candidate Elizabeth Warren Wednesday. The Web ad comically attempts to use selective quoting and distorting camera effects to make Warren look anti-business, or violent, or like an inarticulate speaker, or… something. They are clearly trying to make her seem like a very scary class warrior. Republicans don’t like the fact that she has pointed out that wealthy businesspeople did not make it on their own, and that the entire society played a role in their success by building roads and educating workers and paying cops and firefighters they rely on. These points seem pretty obvious to me, but to Scott Brown and the Republican Party this is frightening, violent rhetoric.

This video makes a few other things clear. Brown and the Republicans are obviously going to try to tie Warren to Harvard at every chance, even though polling suggests voters couldn’t care less about where Warren teaches. And other than sexism and empty and tired claims of “class warfare,” Brown really doesn’t have much to work with in his fight for reelection.

Having done some polling on the class warfare stuff, and knowing it doesn’t work for the Republicans, my guess is that this ad isn’t really aimed at voters at all, but at their corporate donors. The campaign clearly wants to scare the wealthy corporate special interests that support Brown, so they will drop even more money in his lap.

Check the ad out, and contrast it with the actual remarks in full Warren made on this topic:

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