Financial Transparency Coalition

Take a look at this article in Foreign Policy magazine, arguing that Goldman Sachs helped create, and profit hugely from, vast speculative markets in grain and other agricultural commodities, causing food prices to rise, with terrible effects. Goldman, it seems, helped turn a commodity derivatives market worth a sleepy $13 billion in 2000 into a half-trillion-plus market inside eight years. It continued:

"Today, bankers and traders sit at the top of the food chain -- the carnivores of the system, devouring everyone and everything below. Near the bottom toils the farmer. . ....

Behind only fear and tragedy, Osama bin Laden’s most enduring legacy on our world will be the changes in national and international security. Our response to his hate—and the attacks he orchestrated on September 11th—was overwhelming shaped by our collective realization that many of our security systems cannot protect against those who want so badly to do us harm. The most conspicuous of these systematic changes was—of course—in air transportation, as anyone who has flown before and after 2001 can tell you. The United States' capacity to respond to terrorist attacks was also improved with the...

How Osama Bin Laden Changed Wall Street The Street, May 2, 2011 Time needed before Ben-Ali assets returned SwissInfo.ch, May 2, 2011 Swiss Detail Asset Freezes On Ben Ali, Mubarak, Gadhafi Wall Street Journal (Corruption Currents), May 3, 2011 Greece Plans To Tax Greek Savings In Swiss Banks Capital.gr (Greece), May 2, 2011 Britons to be taxed on money hidden in Switzerland City Wire (UK), May 3, 2011 U.S. Business Has High Tax Rates but Pays Less New York Times, May 2, 2011

The FT reports:

Britons with billions of pounds hidden in Switzerland will pay tax at 50 per cent under a groundbreaking deal that will legitimise their undeclared assets, according to a source familiar with negotiations between the Swiss and British governments. The agreement, which is expected to be announced this month, marks a shift in emphasis in the international crackdown on tax havens. Over the past two years, the focus has been on lifting bank secrecy and exposing evaders. Under the deal, £3bn is expected to be raised over the course of this parliament and investors will also pay a one-off...