i. welcome to the ilona show where you'll get the real headlines with none of the mercy happy friday everyone i'm christine for is out and we are coming live out of washington d.c. with a whole lot to talk about somehow j.p. morgan is a little worse off than we thought why because they're much worse off than they told us we were going to weigh deeper into the latest attempts also to resurrect the act of the anti counterfeiting trade agreement we're also going to speak with one of the organizers of occupy l.a. where about more than a dozen arrests were made last night due to wait for it drawing on the sidewalk we'll have all of this plus a dose of happy hour for you tonight but first let's take

a look at what the mainstream media decided to miss. there's been a lot of nit picking about when mitt romney ran his former company bain capital and when he did it with the focus on three specific years one thousand nine hundred to two thousand and two these are the years several bain capital companies went bankrupt which led to thousands of job losses and many other jobs being outsourced giving evidence to president obama's claim that romney is an outsource or in chief this lends itself to hours of cable network tatter. the obama campaign asks when it comes to romney leaving which here is it ninety nine or two thousand and two governor mitt romney's campaign firing back at new accusations from president obama's reelection team surrounding romney at the financial firm bain capital in boston the romney campaign says he had nothing to do with the firm's operations

after february nine hundred ninety nine i think it is entirely appropriate to look at that record. and see whether in fact his focus was creating jobs and he successfully did that and when you look at the record there are questions there the romney campaign official said as you see regulations are complicated and do not square with common sense in this case the obama campaign suggests mitt romney may be guilty of a felony what's your response that's ridiculous either mitt romney through his own words and his own signature was misrepresenting his vision it to be and b c which is a felony or became with misrepresenting the condition it being to the american people to support what stephanie cutter said this week about suggesting that governor romney's a felon. all right so few of these networks are asking this question is governor romney a felon i would of course be important to find out since after all most people in this country applying for a job have to answer that question every day on their job applications and in many

cases those felons of people who actually are felons they can't find a new job making it very difficult for them to earn a living despite having done the time they were sentence despite however big or small the crime and many other times they do get a job they pay taxes they remain good citizens and yet they're still not able to take part in the most basic part of being an american being able to vote and this is becoming more and more widespread there's a new study that just came out that shows a record number of felons five point eight five million are not able to vote and of those four million of them have already been released from prison now all of those the majority reside in six southern states alabama florida kentucky mississippi tennessee and virginia more than three million people are banned from the rolls now some of these states as we know are longtime red states but florida and virginia both went to president obama in two thousand and eight and will be extreme battleground states in two thousand and twelve and let's be honest folks when

felons or people on parole or the target of anything we know the not so subliminal message here these are black voters being targeted but if they've served their time have paid their debts and in many cases have returned to being good citizens why can they not vote marc mauer the executive director of the sentencing project calls it a fundamental question of democracy he says these policies go back to the founding of this country which was founded as a great experiment in democracy but was very limited wealthy white male landowners granted themselves the right to vote but women poor people african-americans and people with felony convictions could not vote a fundamental question of democracy and when you look to see what people are saying in the mainstream media about this. cricket's whether or not a current nominee for president is a convicted felon well it's a legitimate question but so is the question of why millions of other americans are being targeted and told that they cannot vote in so many cases these people

committed minor nonviolent crimes and have the bad fortune of living in a state that believes they should never have the chance to participate in a democratic society again is a question the mainstream media has chosen not to ask and yet another thing i decided to miss. all right is friday so it's time for our weekly financial check up and on this friday the thirteenth there is some kind of spooky things going on one of which happened today this morning j.p. morgan chase c.e.o. jamie dimon told reporters that botched trade incident from a few months ago actually cost the bank four point four billion dollars the number a little different from the original estimate that would only be two million so with this plus some revisions to its first quarter losses the actual amount lost in two thousand and twelve for the bank stance to be about five point eight billion dollars so there's that but if you root for the big banks then we have some great

news for you wells fargo continues to kick butt in its earnings posting a four point six billion dollars profit for the second quarter them plus there are new developments with the rate rigging scandal at barclays so let's get started with your financial checkup. joining me is laura lister host of the capital account on our team who is actually in new york on this lovely friday lauren hanging out with some of those wall street . no no no no no no we are way too cool to hang out with the wall street leagues ok but we are here take it on the wall street bull right at the feeding trough a couple of those that are doing the feeding you mentioned in your toss j.p. morgan and wells fargo yes a break this down for me i mean how were they able to hide this almost six billion dollars loss. well the question is is because what they did is they restated

earnings for the first quarter down a little bit lower i believe by foreigners fifty nine million dollars so so that was revised because it's been reported that employees traders try to hide some of the losses to make them seem less but are we surprised by this why wouldn't traders do that i mean the bottom line is that if you're working in a bank and you're making these huge bets that are taking these massive outsized risks you're thinking reward you want that reward you don't want all of your losses out there makes perfect sense to me i'm not surprised at all i'm surprised anyone surprised but i think that you know indicative of a lot of the trends that we see with these too big to fail banks i mean it's seems to be a pattern certainly you know c.e.o. jamie dimon really came out wanting to try to be as transparent as possible i guess more and talk about how this affects you know people not on wall street. how does

it affect people not on wall street well let's see how does jamie dimon get to take on so much leverage his trading operations that his bank can take these massive outsized risks will the more depositors you have the larger deposit bank you have the more leverage you take on so the more average folks to put their money into the commercial banking side of j.p. morgan a very simplified version the more risky bets they are enabled to take so there is one piece of it the other piece of it is why can j.p. morgan put so much risk on the line so much money on the line in risky derivatives portfolios that they maybe shouldn't even be taking well what's going to happen if the bank does implode what's going to happen if i see a five billion loss was suddenly a ten billion dollar loss a twenty billion dollars loss something that really did threaten this bank which is which is huge obviously so a few billion dollars really doesn't threaten the bank but more would what happens taxpayers bail them out they're too big to fail and jamie diamond has stood up many

times and said banks are not too big to fail you know they need to there needs to be a credible way to wind them down but but what is it because if one bank fails there's so much correlated risk in the system there's so much counter party risk in the system especially when you're talking about these tricky derivatives these swaps that aren't even an opaque market you don't even really know what's going on with them they've been described by very smart people i think i've heard you describe them as a black box and you don't know what's inside the that is so much risk that if anything was to really go wrong that would cause systemic risk which would mean that the government come on they would step in they would step in with a bailout so that enables the banks to take outsized risk that they wouldn't otherwise be able to do the too big to fail banks yeah absolutely i guess we got to talk to you about one of those things that the sunshine just keeps on shining over wells fargo they posted their second quarter earnings as well four point six billion for the second quarter that's ten straight months of growth for them i think they're up seventeen percent this year from last time this year. what's the

takeaway from all this. you know this is interesting christine because wells fargo unlike some of the other banks that maybe have gotten mired in these in these derivatives and in these kind of complex trading debacle as wells fargo on the other hand reportedly has stuck more to their commercial banking side which has really been driven by mortgages guess what else guess who is now out lobbying or at least out spending on lobbying compared to all of its competitors wells fargo that's according to report in the financial times and guess what they're lobbying mortgage rules so i mean you don't have to be a genius to connect the dots here i'm not saying that you know anything directly relates directly like correlates in to wells fargo's earnings but you're not spending that much money out of spending all of your peers which already spend a lot on lobbying if you're not getting some huge benefit in your mortgage business which which is which is what is driving your major profits and i know lauren on

your show you guys have covered this rate rigging scandal with barclays the library scandal i want to talk about the latest with us i know the feds apparently have known this was happening for several years now. well what we've come and what has come out the revelations that have come out is that the new york fed was informed a barclays employee reportedly did tell the new york fed that the bank was under reporting live for excuse me timothy geithner was of course he's now u.s. treasury secretary he was then the head of the new york fed and it's come out that he did try and do some things they did regulators did try to discuss this but the question of course is always couldn't they have done more and was it too late but the real question i want to point out here this is become a huge outrage and it should be an outrage i believe in so far as these are banks that are manipulating the rate they're doing the wrong thing they're doing

something corrupt and that is fair enough because they have done a lot that you can be very angry about but as far as manipulating interest rates the largest manipulators adventurous rates are central banks all over the world who it is their job to manipulate interest rates so maybe some of this according to the guess i spoke to jim grant who is amazing should be directed at the federal reserve who for example has been keeping interest rates at zero percent an unnatural zero percent for years just now i mean back to you know what timothy geithner now u.s. treasury secretary knew and when he knew it i'm wondering if we can't give him a little credit back in two thousand and eight he e-mailed he got an e-mail and he suggested the british authorities should quote strengthen governments and establish a credible reporting procedure they should eliminate incentive to misreport. does going to thumbs up for trying to do something or with the fact that he knew this was going on and chose to ignore it through now. well i don't know i mean i

different reports have been coming out and this is a fairly new story and i haven't i don't know to me god i don't know everything he was thinking or doing i met anybody can write an email anybody can can look like they're covering their bases and this is just speculation but come on what was really done what was really what actions were really taken that i don't really see anything that makes me really feel like you know timothy geithner as everyone's best interests at stake and not the interests of banks especially this is during a crazy time during the financial crisis come on at the end is a very little action was taken i just last question for you lauren talk about new york city the home of you know all those big banks and. financial gurus we talk about what's going on there what if you've learned. yeah what i have learned well wall street is currently infested with tourists so that's that's the view on wall

street many people that don't spend time in new york may not know that a lot of the big banks aren't on there anymore the new york stock exchange is and the stock exchange floor is interesting because a lot has changed over the years so there used to be a trader that i interviewed there used to be thousands that were working there i think is what he told me and now that number has shrunk because there's less traders needed because of the computerization trading which is a high frequency trading so trading down by computers not even on the exchange which has created interesting issues as far as transparency as far as dark pools of money so that's an interesting takeaway also the new york stock exchange traders and major c.m.c. sets so that's kind of the big what's going on in the new york stock exchange in addition the wall street bull lots of people interested in taking photos grabbing it not by the horns but by something else. which is interesting in addition dimitri right producer and i our producer a should say we found a cemetery and

a church that was rich literally right out across from wall street so it's literally across the street and so today on friday the thirteenth because we know the symbolism there we tried to invoke the spirit of the law because that's what seems to be lacking in a lot of these things that are perceived to be financial crimes that's keeping them from being prosecuted and tried to for example the pair going franch a group the firm that went under after the c.e.o. allegedly had been stealing hundreds of millions of dollars from customers in his suicide note he attempted suicide he admitted to fraud and he said that he has been forging bank statements and stealing allowing him to steal from customers getting away with it undetected for two decades this is a. regulated or a regulated broker so yell a lot of spirit of the law needing to be invoked well either take first lauren

enjoy the big apple we hope to see you back here very soon thanks so much that was laura lister everyone host of the capital account on r t. part of time for our first break of the evening but when we come back we'll tell you about her latest glimmer of hope down in the peach state then we'll talk to an occupy los angeles organizer she's about to she was there last night and there was a lot of fun for. a lot of american power continues. might be time revolution. and it's going to be we're very good. review.

you know sometimes you see a story and it seems so you think you understand it and then you glimpse something else some other part of it and realize that everything you thought you knew you don't know i'm sorry is a big issue. here is what i. love and they alone and so they'll get a real headline with none of them are the problem with the mainstream media today is that they're completely disconnected from the viewers and what actually matters to those viewers and so that's why young people just don't watch t.v. anymore if they want news they go online and read it but we're trying to take those stories that people actually care about and transfer them back to t.v. .

to the capital account i'm lauren lyster. the scuttle. the light will come down. so much still choirs will be singing. and i were reporting a glimmer of hope from the state of georgia where left and right are putting aside differences to fight systemic corruption you see despite talk about increased

partisanship these days. republicans and democrats actually do agree on some pretty controversial issues large defense spending wall street domination the war on drugs and free trade those are some examples of the bipartisan consensus stifling debate and part of the reason for it is the insane amount of money in politics corporations make stacks of cash on war foreclosure fraud of private prisons and outsourcing so when politicians oppose these policies they risk making missing out on campaign donations even if they would help the majority of americans now it's no coincidence then that the tea party and occupy movements have sprung up around the same time of course they do have their ideological differences but what they have in common is the belief that the system is being gamed by politicians and their only power. this occupation. on wall street if you're if you're going after crony capitalism i'm all for it those are the people

who benefit from contracts from government benefits from the federal reserve benefits from all the bailouts and subways they're not that different from some of the protests that we saw coming from the tea party. you know both on the left and the right i think people feel separated from their government believe it or not i am a tea party patriots and i am on fire. while i believe it activist on the left and right might disagree about income inequality taxes and other issues but if they set aside their differences it seems they could solve some pretty deep institutional problems and that's what's kind of going on in georgia here's a little background georgia is one of three states with no limits on gifts lobbyists can get elected officials so say reps have enjoyed lobbyist funded golfing excursions a trip to europe and last decade lobbyist for health care for health care companies spent tens of thousands wining and dining lawmakers guess what then happened the

state assembly passed a law allowing company to build fifteen million dollar hoss. well seems pretty shady but now progressives and conservatives have joined forces to fight the law or lack there of representatives from common cause georgia a left leaning group of unified with georgia tea party patriots and georgia conservatives in action and they have succeeded and getting one hundred thirty sitting state reps almost half the legislature just signed a pledge to cap a lobbyist gifts at one hundred dollars it's impressive these activists have forced the issue particularly with state legislature primaries later this month and on that ballot there will be a non-binding question on the issue for both republicans and democrats and it looks like it's going to pass i don't know ana journal constitution poll from february showed seventy two percent of georgians support the rule change and to ensure the momentum continues common cause on the conservatives have been touring the state on a bus tour publicizing the measure nothing has happened yet and the ballot question wouldn't change the law but this anti corruption initiative seems to be inching

toward a political slam dunk thanks to public advocacy it goes to show what right and left are capable of when they set aside their differences to tackle the real issues and hold politicians accountable and to me at least that is a glimmer of hope. both and disturbing developments in los angeles last night with the occupy wall street movement there apparently the monthly our walk of vent drew ire from police who didn't like the idea of occupy los angeles protesters using chalk to write messages and draw pictures on the streets and sidewalks there sixteen protesters were arrested three police officers apparently injured there are also reports that police used pepper balls and that about one hundred forty officers in riot gear were sent in to deal with a crowd of about two hundred people i want to talk more about exactly what happened but joining me right now from our l.a. studio is cheryl likely an activist with the occupy los angeles movement she helped organize the protest hey there cheryl i guess kind of break down for me first of

all what exactly happened. i do want to just start out by saying i represent myself and i don't speak for all of the pie los angeles and what happened last night was we decided every month we've been a part of the our walk. since the beginning of our encampment back in october of two thousand and eleven and this month we decided to do something a little bit different before last night we had twelve arrests for trucking on the sidewalk and we wanted to bring attention to these arrests because they're politically repressive and they're getting peaceful people caught up in the so-called justice system and so we went on a our own chalk walk and we had buckets of chalk that we were had available for people we had flyers and within minutes of showing up on spring street between fifth and sixth we had our first arrests of an occupier and police were pushing us

with but. i got pushed into a garbage can i got pushed into a parked car and then eventually pushed into the streets wow i know one of the articles that i read about last night the incident said quote the event was not sanctioned by authorities so it caught them by surprise if that what this was about an event that wasn't sanctioned by authorities. i don't believe so i believe the l.a.p.d. watches our facebook page and our communications very closely they said that it caught them by surprise but the very first arrests that we have. the incident took place on the way walking to where we were going so the p.d. were obviously watching what we were doing as we were moving into spring street so i don't think we really caught them off surprise i've seen the l.a.p.d. show up whenever i write a press release even if a few people are gathering and what was the point from your standpoint in terms of this event what were you hoping to call attention to. to be honest the goals of the

event were to house fun stay safe speak out stand up and. you know chalk and we had fliers that were explaining the truck you know we were talking to people about these arrests we feel like it's politically repressive the ulan had written a special communications to the obama administration about local law enforcement repressing the occupy movement or violating the rights of occupiers and we felt this really fit into that along with the raid that happened at the end of last year i know most of the occupy protests certainly we have covered dozens of them and usually you know sort of the philosophy is that protesters are nonviolent a lot of the police saying last night a lot of the protesters were throwing bottles at them i mean was this something that you witnessed. i didn't witness anybody throwing any bottles somebody told

me over the phone that they had seen people in the buildings above dropping items but i didn't see it myself. but yeah that's the excuse they used to start shooting into the crowd with these what they call them stinger balls and i've seen at least three people who were hit by these stinger balls yeah we've seen some some pretty crazy bruises as a result of those let's talk a little more big picture here cheryl. just a few days ago i interviewed somebody with occupy seattle who lives in an apartment he's very active in the movement he and his girlfriend in a couple of her friends were sleeping it was six in the morning their apartment was broken into with a swat team they were handcuffed with those plastic ties and they broke down the door of the swat team and they ended up leaving with i don't know like a pink scarf and a couple other items nobody was arrested i guess i want to ask you if you think something's changing or what exactly is going on here the police and the occupiers

have never had the nicest most cozy relationship or do you think something's changing here. i do think quite a few things are changing here but also i think there's some things that are just being picked up by the media and we're being picked up before i know the chalk incident with occupiers has happened that multiple occupations and multiple cities in the city of orlando just spent two hundred thousand dollars defending one arrest of an occupier who was chalking on a sidewalk we have now i think about twenty different arrests for chalky in alone. we believe it's a violation of our constitutional rights just last question for you cheryl i mean what's planned next for occupy los angeles to what are you what other messages are you hoping to get across what are your goals for the coming months. well we have a campaign right now against central city association which is a local lobbying group that's been around since the twenty's and they've been

lobbying against the interest of the people and they've got big banks and big corporations on their their list tonight we're going to deviate from last night's event and then tomorrow we're going to have a strategic planning session from four to six for manning which is a three day long event going on in honor of private manning all right we'll certainly we'll keep our eyes on all of those events around the country as we always try to sheryl are clear with the occupy l.a. movement joining us from our studios in los angeles. time now for another short break but don't go anywhere actor suffered a major blow last week when it was roundly rejected by the european parliament but it quickly snuck through the backdoor by a canadian e.u. treaty university of ottawa professor michael geist will explain after that. i.

was not given we heard in the park our work. on world. they're going to say get ready because you know your freedom. to do what you. love and the alone and still you know get the real headlines with none of them are the problem with the mainstream media today is that they're completely disconnected from the viewers and what actually matters to those viewers and so that's why young people just don't watch t.v. anymore if they want news they go online and read it but we're trying to take those stories that people actually care about and transfer them back to t.v. .