U.S. Prosecutors claim Mexican drug cartels laundered hundreds or even billions of dollars through one of the largest banks in the United States. For four years, between May 2003 and May 2007, Wachovia Bank traded with Mexican exchange houses which served the laundering of drug trafficking groups.

The Justice Department claims that Wachovia traded well over $350 Billion with Mexican "casas de cambio” (currency- exchange houses) between 2004 and 2007. These exchange houses are used by “immigrants” to send money back to Latin American but prosecutors claim drug cartels also use these same facilities to laundry and transfer their own money. Prosecutors further claim Wachovia transferred over $4 Billion in bulk cash from foreign Latin exchanges to Wachovia accounts in the U.S.

Prosecutors claimed the Bank does not have proper controls in place to prevent the use of these money exchanges for illegal activity. The Lead Prosecutor in Miami U.S. Attorney Jeffrey H. Sloman actually stated Wachovia blatantly disregarded the banking laws:

"Wachovia’s blatant disregard for our banking laws gave international cocaine cartels a virtual carte blanche to finance their operations by laundering at least $110 million in drug proceeds. Corporate citizens, no matter how big or powerful, must be held accountable for their actions."

The $160 million fine represents the biggest penalty ever imposed under the Bank Secrecy Act, which requires financial institutions to carefully track transactions to detect suspicious activity. Wachovia has agreed to pay $110 million which constitutes the profits from these transactions and $50 million in fines while the actual prosecution has been delayed for 12 months while Wachovia meets it’s obligations under the settlement.

Animated map showing unemployment rates growing across the nation.

by David Segal
Monday, August 3, 2009
provided by The New York Times

In a few weeks, the Treasury Department’s czar of executive pay will have to answer this $100 million question: Should Andrew J. Hall get his bonus?

Mr. Hall, the 58-year-old head of Phibro, a small commodities trading firm in Westport, Conn., is due for a nine-figure payday, his cut of profits from a characteristically aggressive year of bets in the oil market. Read the rest of this entry »

By STEPHEN OHLEMACHER, Associated Press Writer Stephen Ohlemacher, Associated Press Writer – Mon Aug 3, 8:51 pm ET

WASHINGTON – The recession is starving the government of tax revenue, just as the president and Congress are piling a major expansion of health care and other programs on the nation’s plate and struggling to find money to pay the tab.

The numbers could hardly be more stark: Tax receipts are on pace to drop 18 percent this year, the biggest single-year decline since the Great Depression, while the federal deficit balloons to a record $1.8 trillion. Read the rest of this entry »

If you haven’t caught the news it appears the Cash For Clunkers website has what must be the strangest or maybe scariest User Agreement statement I’ve ever seen on a site. Below is a screen capture as well as the text from the site:

Read the rest of this entry »

While supporters of “cash for clunkers” say the results prove the program has been an unqualified success, critics argue that it demonstrates the incompetence of the federal government.

No one disputes the results of the “cash for clunkers” rebate program: It succeeded in blowing through nearly all its $1 billion in a week and can burn rubber at least through the weekend.

Congress is racing to infuse it with an additional $2 billion, but although supporters say the results prove the program has been an unqualified success, critics argue that it demonstrates the incompetence of the federal government. Read the rest of this entry »

It was — note the past tense — the worst housing recession anyone but survivors of the Great Depression can remember.

From the frenzied peak of the real estate boom in 2005-2006 to the recession’s trough earlier this year, home resales fell 38 percent and sales of new homes tumbled 76 percent. Construction of homes and apartments skidded 79 percent. And for the first time in more than four decades of record keeping, home prices posted consecutive annual declines.

A staggering $4 trillion in home equity was wiped out, and millions of Americans lost their homes through foreclosure.

Now take a deep breath and exhale. The worst is over. Read the rest of this entry »

Budget Deal Not Complete But A Big License Plate Will Cost You $100

Although the state is still operating without a budget it appears elected officials had time to pass a bill to outlaw large license plate frames and sent the bill to Gov. Perdue to sign. At the same time state Democrat leaders have been meeting to iron out the new $19 billion budget that calls for cuts in school spending for grades 7-12 including staff and teachers, raises the sales tax by a penny which will now include many services as a taxable sale, increase taxes on cigarettes and alcohol, increase income taxes by as much as 3%, and cuts in tax revenue disbursements to local jurisdictions by as much as 66%.

As The Start Of School Nears Local H1N1 Cases Increase

State medical officials stated recently that the number of H1N1 cases in North Carolina has neared 500 with as many as 90 cases in the Triad Region alone. As the start of school nears officials are taking notice and have emphasized good hygiene such as frequent washing of hands however as of now they have no special plans for H1N1 that they wouldn’t apply to any other outbreak.  The CDC has reported as many as 40% of the population will get H1N1 over the next two years and has planned for multiple flu vaccinations started as early as September. For more information in H1N1 visit www.noflu.org.

North Carolina Fisherman Lost And Presumed Dead At Sea

Michael L. Dodick has been missing since July 9th after being reported late for returning from a fishing trip off Atlantic Beach, North Carolina. On July 10th the Coast Guard located Dodick’s 28 foot boat adrift with the engines running and all fishing lines broken.