February 2025 - cypherpunks - lists.cpunks.org

Poland Presidential Hopeful Decries Trump War Move as ‘Weakness’
by Gunnar Larson 15 Feb '25

15 Feb '25

Poland Presidential Hopeful Decries Trump War Move as ‘Weakness’ https://assets.bwbx.io/s3/readings/SRPUX9T0G1KW1739640790866.mp3

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Zelenskiy Says No Agreement Yet With US on Critical Minerals
by Gunnar Larson 15 Feb '25

15 Feb '25

Zelenskiy Says No Agreement Yet With US on Critical Minerals https://assets.bwbx.io/s3/readings/SRQGTQT0G1KW1739643126558.mp3

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Trump's Negotiating Style, Prediction Markets, Methane Emissions | Wall Street Week
by Gunnar Larson 15 Feb '25

15 Feb '25

Trump's Negotiating Style, Prediction Markets, Methane Emissions | Wall Street Week https://www.bloomberg.com/news/videos/2025-02-15/trump-s-negotiating-style-…

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Apple Aims to Boost Vision Pro with AI Features, Spatial Content App
by Gunnar Larson 15 Feb '25

15 Feb '25

Apple Aims to Boost Vision Pro with AI Features, Spatial Content App https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-02-15/apple-vision-pro-visiono… Apple Inc. is planning to add Apple Intelligence to its Vision Pro headset, along with an updated mode for guest users and a spatial content app, as it seeks to boost interest in the device.

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Fwd: Jens Stoltenberg, NATO - Reuters Newsmaker, September 21
by Gunnar Larson 15 Feb '25

15 Feb '25

Hey Antonis: xNY.io - Bank.org attended Reuters' NATO Newsmakers event withJens Stoltenberg on Wednesday, September 21, 2022. However, on March 10, 2022 xNY.io - Bank.org contacted the DOJ related to other business (attached). Today, October 20, 2024 xNY.io - Bank.org was made aware of a potential conflict and this email serves as disclosure and plausible deniability. Please feel free to contact me with any questions. Gunnar Larson ---------- Forwarded message --------- From: Reuters Next Team <next(a)1.reutersevents.com> Date: Tue, Sep 20, 2022, 1:04 PM Subject: Jens Stoltenberg, NATO - Reuters Newsmaker, September 21 To: <g(a)xny.io> [image: 35a.reuters-color.png] <https://www.reuters.com/?utm_campaign=5677-20SEP22-WK10-ROW%20TA%20%28Newsm…> *Virtual Event* *Reuters NEXT Newsmaker* with Jens Stoltenberg *Secretary General* *NATO * Wednesday, September 21, 2022 9.00am EDT // 1.00pm GMT Register now <http://events.reutersevents.com/reuters/newsmaker/jensstoltenberg?utm_campa…> [image: Jens Stoltenberg's headhsot] <http://events.reutersevents.com/reuters/newsmaker/jensstoltenberg?utm_campa…> Please join us for a Reuters Newsmaker featuring NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg on September 21, at 9.00am EDT. Stoltenberg, the former Norway Prime Minister who has headed up the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) since October 2014, has long been a strong supporter of greater global and transatlantic cooperation. In a conversation with Reuters Editor-in-Chief Alessandra Galloni on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York, Stoltenberg will discuss the latest developments in the war in Ukraine, which he has called the most dangerous situation in Europe since World War Two, and the future of NATO as a fast-changing geopolitical landscape raises new threats for the decades-old defense and security alliance. *In partnership with: * [image: 220.sponsor_4_black.png] <http://events.reutersevents.com/reuters/newsmaker/jensstoltenberg?utm_campa…> Register now <http://events.reutersevents.com/reuters/newsmaker/jensstoltenberg?utm_campa…> This email was sent to g(a)xny.io If you no longer wish to receive emails from Reuters Events you can manage your email preferences here <https://1.reutersevents.com/LP=32245?utm_campaign=5677-20SEP22-WK10-ROW%20T…> . Reuters Events is part of Reuters News & Media Ltd, 5 Canada Square, Canary Wharf, London, E14 5AQ <https://www.google.com/maps/search/5+Canada+Square,+Canary+Wharf,+London,+E…>. Registered in England and Wales: 2505735. Terms and conditions <https://www.reuters.com/info-pages/terms-of-use/?utm_campaign=5677-20SEP22-…> | Privacy Policy <https://www.thomsonreuters.com/en/privacy-statement.html?utm_campaign=5677-…>

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Fwd: Nuclear Investing, No Longer Radioactive
by Gunnar Larson 15 Feb '25

15 Feb '25

---------- Forwarded message --------- From: The Information <hello(a)theinformation.com> Date: Sat, Feb 15, 2025, 1:05 PM Subject: Nuclear Investing, No Longer Radioactive To: <g(a)xny.io> Read the latest article from The Information. Subscribe today and save 25% on all of our business, tech and finance reporting. ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ [image: The Information] [image: The Information] <https://e.customeriomail.com/e/c/eyJlbWFpbF9pZCI6ImRnU2kwUVlDQU8yWGxBSHNsNV…> Feb 15, 2025 Around the time Jigar Shah became director of the loan programs office at the U.S. Department of Energy, his venture capitalist friends gave him an earful about the idea of investing in nuclear power startups. “Like, 20 of my best friends in 2021 told me, ‘Jigar, we will never, ever in a million years invest in nuclear power,’” said Shah, whose office doled out tens of billions of dollars in loans to clean energy projects, including nuclear. Now, though, that sentiment has flipped completely. “Every one of the 20 has now invested in some nuclear company as a venture capitalist,” said Shah, who left the Department of Energy in January. What’s changed? For the most part, artificial intelligence and the unquenchable thirst for electricity that it creates in data centers. In the years to come, big tech companies that run those data centers will urgently need around-the-clock sources of carbon-free energy like nuclear if they’re to have any hope of meeting their climate goals. As a result, they’ve started backing an array of efforts to build more nuclear capacity (see our related story <https://e.customeriomail.com/e/c/eyJlbWFpbF9pZCI6ImRnU2kwUVlDQU8yWGxBSHNsNV…>), which has further boosted investor confidence in the category. Read the full article <https://e.customeriomail.com/e/c/eyJlbWFpbF9pZCI6ImRnU2kwUVlDQU8yWGxBSHNsNV…> <https://e.customeriomail.com/e/c/eyJlbWFpbF9pZCI6ImRnU2kwUVlDQU8yWGxBSHNsNV…> Nuclear Investing, No Longer Radioactive <https://e.customeriomail.com/e/c/eyJlbWFpbF9pZCI6ImRnU2kwUVlDQU8yWGxBSHNsNV…> By Nick Wingfield Related articles [image: From BNY to Citi, Wall Street Moves In on Crypto] <https://e.customeriomail.com/e/c/eyJlbWFpbF9pZCI6ImRnU2kwUVlDQU8yWGxBSHNsNV…> From BNY to Citi, Wall Street Moves In on Crypto <https://e.customeriomail.com/e/c/eyJlbWFpbF9pZCI6ImRnU2kwUVlDQU8yWGxBSHNsNV…> By Yueqi Yang [image: Anthropic Strikes Back] <https://e.customeriomail.com/e/c/eyJlbWFpbF9pZCI6ImRnU2kwUVlDQU8yWGxBSHNsNV…> Anthropic Strikes Back <https://e.customeriomail.com/e/c/eyJlbWFpbF9pZCI6ImRnU2kwUVlDQU8yWGxBSHNsNV…> By Stephanie Palazzolo [image: Apple Partners With Alibaba to Develop AI Features for iPhone Users in China] <https://e.customeriomail.com/e/c/eyJlbWFpbF9pZCI6ImRnU2kwUVlDQU8yWGxBSHNsNV…> Apple Partners With Alibaba to Develop AI Features for iPhone Users in China <https://e.customeriomail.com/e/c/eyJlbWFpbF9pZCI6ImRnU2kwUVlDQU8yWGxBSHNsNV…> By Qianer Liu and Jing Yang [image: Meta Curbs Privacy Teams’ Sway Over Product Releases] <https://e.customeriomail.com/e/c/eyJlbWFpbF9pZCI6ImRnU2kwUVlDQU8yWGxBSHNsNV…> Meta Curbs Privacy Teams’ Sway Over Product Releases <https://e.customeriomail.com/e/c/eyJlbWFpbF9pZCI6ImRnU2kwUVlDQU8yWGxBSHNsNV…> By Kalley Huang <https://e.customeriomail.com/e/c/eyJlbWFpbF9pZCI6ImRnU2kwUVlDQU8yWGxBSHNsNV…> Follow us [image: X] <https://e.customeriomail.com/e/c/eyJlbWFpbF9pZCI6ImRnU2kwUVlDQU8yWGxBSHNsNV…> [image: LinkedIn] <https://e.customeriomail.com/e/c/eyJlbWFpbF9pZCI6ImRnU2kwUVlDQU8yWGxBSHNsNV…> [image: Facebook] <https://e.customeriomail.com/e/c/eyJlbWFpbF9pZCI6ImRnU2kwUVlDQU8yWGxBSHNsNV…> [image: Threads] <https://e.customeriomail.com/e/c/eyJlbWFpbF9pZCI6ImRnU2kwUVlDQU8yWGxBSHNsNV…> [image: Instagram] <https://e.customeriomail.com/e/c/eyJlbWFpbF9pZCI6ImRnU2kwUVlDQU8yWGxBSHNsNV…> Sent to g(a)xny.io <g@xny.io?utm_campaign=%5BREBRAND%5D+RTSU+-+Aut&utm_content=1109&utm_medium=email&utm_source=cio&utm_term=129> | Manage your preferences or unsubscribe <https://e.customeriomail.com/e/c/eyJlbWFpbF9pZCI6ImRnU2kwUVlDQU8yWGxBSHNsNV…> | Help <https://e.customeriomail.com/e/c/eyJlbWFpbF9pZCI6ImRnU2kwUVlDQU8yWGxBSHNsNV…> The Information · 251 Rhode Island Street, Suite 107, San Francisco, CA 94103 <https://e.customeriomail.com/e/c/eyJlbWFpbF9pZCI6ImRnU2kwUVlDQU8yWGxBSHNsNV…> <https://e.customeriomail.com/e/c/eyJlbWFpbF9pZCI6ImRnU2kwUVlDQU8yWGxBSHNsNV…>

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Exposure at Hedge Funds Has Skyrocketed to Over $28 Trillion; Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and JPMorgan Are at Risk
by Gunnar Larson 15 Feb '25

15 Feb '25

https://wallstreetonparade.com/2024/08/exposure-at-hedge-funds-has-skyrocke… By Pam Martens and Russ Martens: August 12, 2024 ~ According to a report at the U.S. Treasury’s Office of Financial Research (OFR), the Gross Notional Exposure at hedge funds has skyrocketed by 24.5 percent in the span of one year: from $22.946 trillion on March 31, 2023 to $28.579 trillion on March 31, 2024. (Run your cursor along the top green line at this link to observe the stunning growth in hedge fund exposures despite the banking crisis in the spring of 2023 when the second, third and fourth largest banks blew up.) Gross Notional Exposure (GNE) is defined by OFR as “the sum of the absolute value of long and short exposures, including those on and off the balance sheet.” The OFR was created under the Dodd-Frank financial reform legislation of 2010 to keep bank and market regulators informed of growing risks, in the hope of preventing another financial crisis like that of 2007-2010 from occurring. Unfortunately, Wall Street’s lobbying, bullying and regulatory capture has exponentially outstripped the clout of the OFR. As a result, all that the public can do is read about the potentially catastrophic risks inherent on Wall Street today at the OFR’s website and wonder when the next blowup and Fed bailout will occur. (See our report: Former New York Fed Pres Bill Dudley Calls This the First Banking Crisis Since 2008; Charts Show It’s the Third.) The OFR carries this mild statement as to what can go wrong at over-leveraged hedge funds: “…Leveraged hedge funds are dependent on creditors’ willingness and ability to continue to lend. Further, declines in collateral and asset values can lead to margin calls that require hedge funds to tap their liquid assets….” Allow us to fill in the gaps in that statement. The largest megabanks on Wall Street – which since the repeal of the Glass-Steagall Act in 1999 are also allowed to own taxpayer-backstopped, federally-insured, deposit-taking banks – are the major source of providing that leverage to hedge funds. This hedge fund lending and servicing operation at the megabanks is given the benign title of “Prime Broker.” Number of Hedge Funds Served by MegabanksAccording to a March 4 report from the Bank for International Settlements, the Prime Broker operations of Goldman Sachs (GS), Morgan Stanley (MS), and JPMorgan Chase (JPM) (all U.S. financial institutions which own federally-insured banks) were each servicing more than 1,000 hedge funds as of 2022. (See chart to the right from that report.) Making this situation even more outrageous, each of these megabanks has a notorious reputation for mismanaging risk in their relationships with hedge funds in the past. Let’s start with Morgan Stanley. During the 2008 financial crisis, Morgan Stanley owned a hedge fund called FrontPoint Partners, which was shorting subprime collateralized debt obligations (CDOs) filled with subprime residential mortgages. To be more precise, FrontPoint was hoping to profit on American homeowners being unable to pay their tricked-up mortgages and being thrown out on the street. FrontPoint was also gleefully betting that the biggest banks on Wall Street would collapse. Michael Lewis writes in his bestselling book, The Big Short, that FrontPoint was shorting “Bank of America, along with UBS, Citigroup, Lehman Brothers, and a few others.” Lewis notes that “They weren’t allowed to short Morgan Stanley because they were owned by Morgan Stanley, but if they could have, they would have.” And while Morgan Stanley’s own hedge fund, FrontPoint, was shorting subprime and the Wall Street banks, the Federal Reserve was infusing $16 trillion cumulatively in secret revolving loans to shore up the Wall Street banks, including $2.04 trillion in revolving loans to Morgan Stanley. (See Table 8 of the GAO report here.) A footnote in the GAO report tells us this: “Morgan Stanley funds include TALF borrowing by funds managed by FrontPoint LLC, which was owned by Morgan Stanley at the time TALF operated.” TALF was one of the numerous emergency lending programs created by the Fed during the 2007-2010 financial crisis. According to Fed data, FrontPoint received over $4 billion of Morgan Stanley’s $9.3 billion in TALF loans. While Morgan Stanley was the second largest recipient of total Fed emergency lending programs, it was the number one borrower under TALF with 43 percent of those funds going to FrontPoint. How risky was Morgan Stanley at the time the Fed was flooding it with emergency lending? According to the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission report on the 2007-2010 crisis, both Lehman Brothers (which went bankrupt) and Morgan Stanley had reached leverage ratios of 40:1 by the end of 2007 – “meaning for every $40 in assets, there was only $1 in capital to cover losses. Less than a 3% drop in asset values could wipe out a firm.” Next, let’s consider how Goldman Sachs was interacting with a hedge fund going into the Wall Street collapses of 2008. John Paulson is the founder of the hedge fund Paulson & Co. On April 16, 2010, the Securities and Exchange Commission announced formal charges against Goldman Sachs pertaining to the infamous 2007 ABACUS deal: “The SEC alleges that one of the world’s largest hedge funds, Paulson & Co., paid Goldman Sachs to structure a transaction in which Paulson & Co. could take short positions against mortgage securities chosen by Paulson & Co. based on a belief that the securities would experience credit events.” Translation, Paulson helped Goldman select dodgy investments that were likely to default or receive credit downgrades and then made easy bets that they would. The SEC complaint goes on: “…after participating in the portfolio selection, Paulson & Co. effectively shorted the RMBS [Residential Mortgage Backed Securities] portfolio it helped select by entering into credit default swaps (CDS) with Goldman Sachs to buy protection on specific layers of the ABACUS capital structure. Given that financial short interest, Paulson & Co. had an economic incentive to select RMBS that it expected to experience credit events in the near future. Goldman Sachs did not disclose Paulson & Co.’s short position or its role in the collateral selection process in the term sheet, flip book, offering memorandum, or other marketing materials provided to investors.” According to the SEC’s complaint, Paulson & Co. paid Goldman Sachs approximately $15 million for structuring and marketing ABACUS. By October 2007, 83 percent of the bonds in the portfolio had been downgraded and 17 percent were on negative watch. By Jan. 29, 2008, 99 percent of the portfolio had been downgraded. The SEC estimated that investors lost more than $1 billion in the ABACUS deal while Paulson profited by approximately the same amount. On July 15, 2010, the SEC announced that Goldman Sachs would pay $550 million to settle its ABACUS charges. Fabrice Tourre, a young Goldman investment banker involved in the deal, was the only person to face a civil trial. No one was criminally prosecuted. John Paulson walked free – ostensibly because he didn’t actually sell the product or misrepresent it to investors – he just stacked the deck against investors and, apparently, that’s not a big deal in the eyes of the SEC. As one more example of the dystopian world in which we now live, there were media reports in March that Donald Trump was considering John Paulson as his Treasury Secretary if he won the presidential election in November. And then there is JPMorgan Chase – the poster boy for everything that is wrong with the U.S. financial system today. JPMorgan Chase has the distinction of admitting to five criminal felony counts brought by the U.S. Department of Justice since 2014 while still being allowed by its regulators to grow wildly in scope and size. Under the Dodd-Frank financial “reform” legislation, banks were required to relinquish their ownership of hedge funds. But instead, JPMorgan Chase retained its stake in the hedge fund, Highbridge Capital Management, whose sale to the bank was brokered by the sex trafficker of children, Jeffrey Epstein, who remained a pampered client at the bank for more than 15 years, despite his serving jail time and being placed on a sex-offender registry. The now settled federal lawsuit brought by the Attorney General of the U.S. Virgin Islands alleged that JPMorgan Chase had “actively participated” in Epstein’s sex trafficking. A Memorandum of Law arguing for partial summary judgment in the case, makes the following points: “Even if participation requires active engagement…there is no genuine dispute that JPMorgan actively participated in Epstein’s sex-trafficking venture from 2006 until 2019. The Court found allegations that the Bank allowed Epstein to use its accounts to send dozens of payments to then-known co-conspirators [redacted] provided excessive and unusual amounts of cash to Epstein; and structured cash withdrawals so that those withdrawals would not appear suspicious ‘went well beyond merely providing their usual [banking] services to Jeffrey Epstein and his affiliated entities’ and were sufficient to allege active engagement.” The U.S. Virgin Islands’ attorneys cite to internal emails at JPMorgan Chase showing that employees at the bank were aware of Epstein’s “[c]ash withdrawals … made in amounts for $40,000 to $80,000 several times a month” while also being aware that Epstein paid his underage sexual assault victims in cash. JPMorgan Chase’s involvement in the Epstein sex trafficking ring was also alleged in a class action lawsuit against JPMorgan Chase brought by lawyers David Boies and Bradley Edwards on behalf of Epstein’s victims. (JPMorgan Chase paid $290 million to settle that case last year.) At a March 13, 2023 court hearing in the case, Boies argued in open court that JPMorgan Chase had used a private jet owned by its hedge fund, Highbridge Capital Management, to transport girls for Epstein’s sex trafficking operation. A January 13, 2023 amended complaint filed by Boies’ law firm provided the following details on that allegation: “As another example of JP Morgan and [Jes] Staley’s benefit from assisting Epstein, a highly profitable deal for JP Morgan was the Highbridge acquisition. “In 2004, when Epstein’s sex trafficking and abuse operation was running at full speed, Epstein served up another big financial payday for JP Morgan. “Epstein was close friends with Glenn Dubin, the billionaire who ran Highbridge Capital Management. “Through Epstein’s connection, it has been reported that Staley arranged for JP Morgan to buy a majority stake in Dubin’s fund, which resulted in a sizeable profit for JP Morgan. This arrangement was profitable for both Staley and JPMorgan, further incentivizing JP Morgan to ignore the suspicious activity in Epstein’s accounts and to assist in his sex-trafficking venture. “For example, despite that Epstein was not FINRA-certified, Epstein was paid more than $15 million for his role in the Highbridge/JP Morgan deal. “Moreover, Highbridge, a wholly-owned subsidiary of JP Morgan, trafficked young women and girls on its own private jet from Florida to Epstein in New York as late as 2012.” There appears to be little to no guardrails or moral compass on Wall Street in its pursuit of profits. That will doom both it and the U.S. economy if federal regulators continue to stand down.

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Goldman Sachs Has Ripped Off Its Customers for a Century – a Puny $64.8 Million Fine for Abusing Thousands of Apple Credit Card Customers Fails the Smell Test
by Gunnar Larson 15 Feb '25

15 Feb '25

I hear there is a WorldBank.org sandal in the midst. $200B --- https://wallstreetonparade.com/2024/10/goldman-sachs-has-ripped-off-its-cus… By Pam Martens and Russ Martens: October 24, 2024 ~ David Solomon, Chairman and CEO, Goldman Sachs David Solomon, Chairman and CEO, Goldman Sachs The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) typically receives high praise from Wall Street On Parade for leveling the playing field between the pillagers on Wall Street and the hardworking poor and middle class of America. But yesterday’s announcement of the CFPB’s settlement with Goldman Sachs and Apple over some of the most abusive conduct we have observed against consumers in decades left us with the impression that Goldman Sachs’ lawyers had browbeat the CFPB into a watered-down deal. The enforcement action by the CFPB pertained to years of abuses by both Apple and Goldman Sachs involving the Apple Credit Card. Under the CFPB’s settlement, Goldman Sachs will pay $19.8 million in redress to victims and a $45 million civil money penalty, bringing Goldman’s total settlement to $64.8 million. Apple will pay a $25 million civil money penalty for a combined $89.8 million by both parties. Let’s pause right here for a moment. Goldman Sachs had profits of $8.52 billion in 2023. The settlement amount of $64.8 million is less than 1 percent of its profits last year. That makes a mockery of holding a serial miscreant like Goldman Sachs accountable for putting Apple Credit Card customers through a living hell and destroying people’s credit rating in the process. Credit on the Apple Credit Card was provided by the taxpayer-backstopped, federally-insured commercial bank that Goldman Sachs is allowed to own – despite its checkered past. That commercial bank is known as Goldman Sachs Bank USA. For a snapshot look at how prudently it is managed, consider this: as of June 30 it held $544 billion in assets and $55 trillion in derivatives. (See Table 15 at this link. The derivatives report is provided by a federal banking regulator, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency.) The CFPB announced yesterday that Goldman Sachs had engaged in the following abuses in connection with the Apple Credit Card: [When customers complained about erroneous charges,] “the bank failed to consistently send acknowledgment notices within 30 days, conduct reasonable investigations, or send resolution letters explaining the determinations of its investigations within 90 days. These failures led to Goldman Sachs illegally placing damaging information on consumers’ credit reports and holding cardholders responsible for potentially fraudulent or unauthorized purchases.” The CFPB also wrote this: “The marketing of the Apple Card Monthly Installments plan led consumers to believe they would automatically receive interest-free financing when purchasing iPhones and other Apple devices with their Apple Card. The plan allowed cardholders to purchase Apple devices through a series of interest-free payments over a period of six months to two years. However, many cardholders were unknowingly charged interest because they were not automatically enrolled as expected. They also faced confusing checkout options about enrolling in the plan. For online purchases, Apple only presented the payment plan as an option to consumers using Apple’s own Safari browser. Due to Apple and Goldman’s actions, instead of making interest-free payments, thousands of cardholders purchased Apple devices on interest-bearing revolving balances and incurred interest charges.” Wall Street On Parade began reporting on the grotesque manner in which the Apple Credit Card was being handled as early as August 10, 2022. Our first report came one year after J.D. Power had lavished a customer satisfaction award on the Apple Credit Card provided through Goldman Sachs. The J.D. Power Award came in August 2021. We dug through customer complaints in the CFPB’s database for the same month, August 2021, and found the following telltale signs of big problems: (The redacted information has been redacted by the CFPB; typos are in the original.) A customer in California wrote this: “This problem has been ongoing since XXXX, I have had to open multiple disputes through Apple credit card (goldman Sachs) and every time I open disputes, they ALWAYS favor the merchant ( XXXX ) There were multiple unauthorized purchases on my card through XXXX, XXXX helped with most of them besides one order that was {$1400.00}. My credit card issuer Goldman Sachs is saying that the dispute keeps favoring them no matter what evidence I give them. I really want to sue or something, I have no idea what to do now…” (Read the full complaint here.) A customer in Massachusetts told the CFPB this: “My 11 year old computer died and I went online to apple.com to buy a replacement one. Their site advertises that you can get an Apple credit card with 0 % APR for the first 12 months and pay off the computer. When I tried to redeem that offer, their Goldman Sachs website came back and extended a {$2500.00} credit limit, which does not cover the cost of a computer on their site. I called in to get the limit increased to {$3200.00} because I make {$320000.00} a year and have a XXXX credit rating. When I called in, their representative told me the only way to request a credit limit increase to cover the cost of the computer was to accept the credit card offer and open an account. So I did. He told me the next day I had to call back to request a credit increase. There was no other way to get an increase on the application. I have just done that, and despite making a high salary, having zero credit debt and having an excellent credit score, Goldman Sachs / Apple has denied the application and not giving me a reason…” (Read the full complaint here.) A resident of Virginia wrote this: “On XX/XX/21, an unknown charge for {$840.00} was Pending on my Apple Card (Goldman Sachs), I submitted a dispute the same day and was told that, because the charge was still ‘pending’, they would monitor the charge and if the charge posted, the dispute process would start with no further action from me. If the charge did not post, it would just drop off of my account. Since then, I have made dozens of calls and chat sessions with Apple Card Support about this charge that posted to my account on XX/XX/21. On this date, I received a ‘provisional credit’ and exactly one minute later, the provisional credit was reversed. After many phone calls, I finally learned that the dispute that I repeatedly called about had been ruled in the merchant ‘s favor because, they stated, I ‘withdrew my dispute’ — this is a complete falsehood…” (Read the full complaint here.) In 2023, we took another look at the CFPB’s complaint database and found hundreds of cries for help from people being ripped off with the Apple Credit Card, including the following from a resident of Nevada: “Late last year, Apple credit card pulled a hard inquiry on my credit and issued me an Apple credit card. I did not request this credit card, so I contacted XXXX about this matter. Apple credit card closed my account and stated to me that they noted my account was closed because they could not verify that I requested, authorized, or applied for this credit card. I believe this credit card was requested by an XXXX store agent, without my authorization, when I purchased a new iphone. I believe this because the agent signed me up for several other offers that I did not request. These matters have been resolved with XXXX. Regarding the hard inquiry, the XXXX representative told me to contact each credit reporting agency to request that the hard inquiry be removed from my credit report. XXXX will be reporting this account as closed due to unable to verify that I applied for the credit card. Thank you for assisting in the removal of the hard inquiry with each agency.” This Nevada report suggests that salespeople in Apple’s retail stores may have been incentivized to open Apple Credit Card accounts without the customer’s approval. And yet, the CFPB settlement is silent on this issue. None of this egregious behavior by Goldman Sachs and Apple has made its way to the folks at J.D. Power. On August 15 of this year, J.D. Power made the following gasp-worthy announcement: “Apple Card (Goldman Sachs) ranks highest in customer satisfaction among co-brand credit cards with no annual fee, with a score of 654. This is the fourth consecutive year in which Apple Card and issuer Goldman Sachs have collectively earned a segment award….” Goldman Sachs’ history of abusing its customers dates back to the roaring 1920s. During the making of the stock market asset bubble of 1928, Goldman ran the Goldman Sachs Trading Company, a closed end fund known as a “trust” in those days. Goldman Sachs spun it off to the public at $104 a share. The trust was filled with dubious investments while paying Goldman a hefty management fee. Just a few years after the crash of 1929, the Goldman Sachs trust was trading at a buck and change. On May 20, 1932, Walter Sachs, President of the Goldman Sachs Trading Company, was interrogated by the Senate Committee on Banking and Currency. The Committee concluded that Goldman Sachs fleeced its customers to line its own pockets. On April 27, 2010 the U.S. Senate’s Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations held a hearing and interviewed multiple executives of Goldman Sachs over its role in the subprime crisis and 2008 financial collapse. That hearing was followed by an in-depth report from the Subcommittee. Among the findings were the following regarding Goldman Sachs: “When Goldman Sachs realized the mortgage market was in decline, it took actions to profit from that decline at the expense of its clients. New documents detail how, in 2007, Goldman’s Structured Products Group twice amassed and profited from large net short positions in mortgage related securities. At the same time the firm was betting against the mortgage market as a whole, Goldman assembled and aggressively marketed to its clients poor quality CDOs [Collateralized Debt Obligations] that it actively bet against by taking large short positions in those transactions. New documents and information detail how Goldman recommended four CDOs, Hudson, Anderson, Timberwolf, and Abacus, to its clients without fully disclosing key information about those products, Goldman’s own market views, or its adverse economic interests. For example, in Hudson, Goldman told investors that its interests were ‘aligned’ with theirs when, in fact, Goldman held 100% of the short side of the CDO and had adverse interests to the investors, and described Hudson’s assets were ‘sourced from the Street,’ when in fact, Goldman had selected and priced the assets without any third party involvement. New documents also reveal that, at one point in May 2007, Goldman Sachs unsuccessfully tried to execute a ‘short squeeze’ in the mortgage market so that Goldman could scoop up short positions at artificially depressed prices and profit as the mortgage market declined.” For what Goldman Sachs has been up to more recently, see our reports: Goldman Sachs Criminally Charged by Justice Department – and Its Stock Closes Up $2.49 and Goldman Sachs Is Being Sued for 27 Separate Stock Offerings It Underwrote. To add further insult to injury, while much of the Apple Credit Card hubris was occurring, the CEO of Goldman Sachs, David Solomon, was moonlighting as a D.J. (You can’t make this stuff up.) Solomon still sits at the helm of the company. FacebookTwitterWhatsAppLinkedInEmail

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Staten Island Democrats won’t endorse Mayor Adams, pick Cuomo: ‘Enough is enough’
by Gunnar Larson 15 Feb '25

15 Feb '25

https://www.silive.com/politics/2025/02/staten-island-democrats-wont-endors… ? STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — Staten Island Democrats announced Friday that the local party had endorsed a preferred candidate in this year’s mayoral election, but their preference isn’t even in the race yet. Party Chair Laura LoBianco Sword announced Friday morning that the party’s executive committee had decided to nominate former Gov. Andrew Cuomo for the city’s highest office.

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Fwd: Ohio and freakin' Florida! –
by Gunnar Larson 15 Feb '25

15 Feb '25

Putting JD Vance's and Marco Rubio's seats up for grabs in special elections? I mean, they might as well be handing us a personalized invitation to get right back in this! ---------- Forwarded message --------- From: James Carville <info(a)dscc.org> Date: Sat, Feb 15, 2025, 11:22 AM Subject: Ohio and freakin' Florida! – To: <g(a)xny.io> ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ Y'all…Ohio and Florida. *Ohio and freakin' Florida!* As pissed as I am that Trump and his followers are back in charge, they could be giving us two HUGE chances to take back the Senate. Putting JD Vance's and Marco Rubio's seats up for grabs in special elections? I mean, they might as well be handing us a personalized invitation to get right back in this! And you know what? We've gotta reply HELL YES! If you agree, *chip in $5 before tonight's mid-month deadline to fight for every seat and say "sorry Donald Trump, but we're gonna win back the Senate!!" Your gift will even be TRIPLED to $15 until the deadline >> <https://go.dscc.org/go/21036?amount=5&t=7&firstname=&lastname=&email=g%40xn…>* JD Vance and Marco Rubio are now out of the Senate. And that means two seats are back on the ballot YEARS before anyone expected. *If you want to be one of the FIRST people to take a stand to win seats like those, you've got to do it NOW!* *So are we gonna do this or what?!* We could be looking at a once-in-a-presidency chance to STOP Trump, but it'll ONLY work if we take advantage. *We need all hands on deck, so don't wait another moment:* *If we pull this off, it could be LIGHTS OUT for the GOP. So please, my friends at the DSCC and I are counting on you: Chip in $5 (becomes $15) to help Democrats win and take back the Senate majority from Donald Trump's allies! <https://go.dscc.org/go/21036?amount=5&t=8&firstname=&lastname=&email=g%40xn…>* If you've saved your payment info with ActBlue Express, your donation will be processed immediately. Donate $5 (Becomes $15) <https://go.dscc.org/go/21036?amount=5&t=9&amount=5&express_lane=true&firstn…> Donate $10 (Becomes $30) <https://go.dscc.org/go/21036?amount=5&t=10&amount=10&express_lane=true&firs…> Donate $20 (Becomes $60) <https://go.dscc.org/go/21036?amount=5&t=11&amount=20&express_lane=true&firs…> Rush Another Amount <https://go.dscc.org/go/21036?amount=5&t=12&firstname=&lastname=&email=g%40x…> Let's do this, James Carville [image: James Carville] <https://go.dscc.org/go/21036?amount=5&t=13&firstname=&lastname=&email=g%40x…> Derivative of photo <https://go.dscc.org/go/6153?t=1&firstname=&lastname=&email=g%40xny.io&addr1…> by JD Lasica. CC BY-SA 2.0 <https://go.dscc.org/go/1271?t=2&firstname=&lastname=&email=g%40xny.io&addr1…> . [image: Chip in $5 monthly to flip the Senate] <https://secure.actblue.com/donate/support-senate-democrats-2025-q1-recurrin…> ------------------------------ The DSCC is the only committee solely dedicated to supporting Democrats in the U.S. Senate, and our work relies on grassroots supporters like you. If you'd like to make a contribution to support us, please *click here <https://secure.actblue.com/donate/support-senate-democrats-2025-q1?refcode=…>*. *Click here <https://go.dscc.org/signup/receive-fewer-emails/?t=5&akid=19520%2E26297126%…>* to receive fewer emails. *Click here <https://go.dscc.org/unsubscribe/unsubscribe/?t=6&akid=19520%2E26297126%2EMi…>* to unsubscribe. Paid for by the DSCC | PO Box 96047, Washington, DC 20090 | *dscc.org <https://www.dscc.org/>* | Not authorized by any candidate or candidate's committee. Contributions or gifts to the DSCC are not tax deductible.

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