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The Ponder News
http://thepondernews.com
January 28, 2018

We're Back
The Ponder News
After 4 days of trying to download the Bitcoin Wallet, we've changed our minds. It was taking too long, and we have too much to do, and was missing too much because of it.

So, rather than download the Wallet onto my computer, we've chosen another route:

Blockchain Wallet

Sorry about the inconvenience, and we look forward to going back to work.

Click Here to sign up for your Bitocoin Wallet!
https://blockchain.info/wallet/#/

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Amata Welcomes Senator Hatch’s Companion Bill to Her House-Passed Air Service Legislation
Aumua Amata (R - American Samoa, At Large)
Thursday, Congresswoman Aumua Amata welcomed newly introduced companion legislation from the honorable Senator Orrin Hatch of Utah, the President pro tempore of the U.S. Senate, that mirrors her bill to ensure reliable air service in American Samoa.
Read more...
https://radewagen.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/amata-welcomes-senator-hatch-s-companion-bill-her-house-passed-air

1-25-2018 Sen. Alexander Joins Fox News To Talk About Immigration
Senator Lamar Alexander (R - TN)
Watch Senator Lamar Alexander on Fox News about Immigration
Click Here
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8CS2QdVdcF8&feature=youtu.be

Banks Stop $17 Billion in Fraud Attempts in 2016
American Bankers Association
America’s banks prevented $9 out of every $10 of attempted deposit account fraud in 2016, according to the 2017 American Bankers Association Deposit Account Fraud Survey Report released today. Facing increasingly sophisticated fraud schemes, banks have responded by investing in new technologies and enhancing overall customer protections.
Read more...
https://www.aba.com/Press/Pages/DDAFraud012418.aspx

Senate HELP Committee Holds Hearing on Mental Health Reform
American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy
On Wednesday, January 20th, the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee, held a hearing on mental health reform on the 114th Congress. The hearing focused primarily on the provisions of the Mental Health Reform Act (S. 1945)– legislation introduced by Committee members Senators Chris Murphy (D-CT) and Bill Cassidy (R-LA). While the Committee did not vote on this legislation, Chairman Lamar Alexander (R-TN) said he wants to “move promptly” to put forward a series of recommendation from a variety of mental health proposals.
Read more...
http://aamft.org/imis15/AAMFT/Content/Advocacy/News_Events.aspx

American Action Network Continues Tax Reform Blitz, Releases $1 Million Digital Campaign
American Action Network
As support for the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act continues to rise, American Action Network (@AAN) is launching digital ads in 20 congressional districts illustrating the positive benefits of pro-growth tax reform. The $1 million digital ad campaign will run for two weeks as part of AAN’s $10 million commitment to promote the merits of tax reform following the passage of The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. The district-specific ads indicate several popular tax provisions, such as increasing the Standard Tax Deduction, along with the $2,000 tax cut a typical family of four will save thanks to Congress making pro-growth tax reform a reality. View the districts targeted here.
Read more...
http://americanactionnetwork.org/press/american-action-network-continues-tax-reform-blitz-releases-1-million-digital-campaign/

Trump to Give First State of the Union
All Sides
President Trump will deliver his first State of the Union address on Tuesday where he will outline the economic benefits of the tax cuts and will present his plans for immigration, infrastructure, and trade.
Read more...
https://www.allsides.com/unbiased-balanced-news

A Question Mark Just Saved James Woods $3 Million
Western Journalism
A single question mark saved one conservative celebrity from paying $3 million in defamation charges.
Read more...
https://www.westernjournal.com/question-mark-just-saved-james-woods-3-million/

CONGRESS APPROVES TWO-YEAR ‘CADILLAC TAX’ DELAY
Alliance to Fight the 40
The Alliance to Fight the 40 | Don’t Tax My Health Care has applauded Congressional leaders for including a two-year delay of the 40% “Cadillac Tax” in their bill to end the government shutdown and provide funding through February 8th. This two-year delay will push the effective date for the “Cadillac Tax” to 2022, and will help to protect health care coverage for the more than 178 million Americans with employer-sponsored health insurance.
Read more...
http://www.fightthe40.com/AlliancetoFightThe40/assets/File/Alliance/FinalCRVote012218.pdf

Solar Panel and Washing Machine Tariffs Signal Hope for American Workers
Alliance for American Manufacturing
The White House announced new tariffs on a flood of imported solar panels and washing machines on Monday. After determining that cheap imports took advantage of America's market, the president imposed tariffs of up to 20 percent for solar panels and up to 50 percent for washing machines.
Read about it
http://www.americanmanufacturing.org/press-releases/entry/solar-panel-and-washing-machine-tariffs-signal-hope-for-american-workers

FEDERAL REGULATORS RESPOND TO OUTCRY FROM ALASKANS CONCERNED ABOUT MINING IN BRISTOL BAY
Alaska Governor's Office
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Friday took a step that both respects due process rights of the mining industry and acknowledges the concerns many Alaskans have about the potential effects of mining in the Bristol Bay region.
Read about it
https://gov.alaska.gov/newsroom/2018/01/federal-regulators-respond-to-outcry-from-alaskans-concerned-about-mining-in-bristol-bay/

Senator Warren to Wells Fargo CEO: "You should be fired."

Washington, D.C. - October 6, 2017 (The Ponder News) -- At the Senate Banking Committee hearing, United States Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) asked Wells Fargo CEO Tim Sloan about his record at the company, including his actions as CFO during the fake accounts scandal. She also pressed him on his plans to cut $4 billion in expenses over the next several years, and whether those cuts would result in the firing of thousands of frontline Wells Fargo employees.

Senator Warren questioned Mr. Sloan, a Wells Fargo employee for thirty years, about his ability to reorient the company in the wake of the fake accounts scandal. Mr. Sloan served as CFO during a portion of the scandal, during which he aggressively promoted Wells Fargo's ability to open up new accounts for existing customers, according to transcripts from investor calls.

During her questioning, Senator Warren noted a 2013 article detailing the relentless pressure imposed on Wells Fargo employees to open new accounts. At the time, Mr. Sloan said he was "not aware" of any problem, and did not launch an investigation into the matter. Wells Fargo's own report noted that he was aware of the issues with sales practices at the time of the interview. The Senator also highlighted a 2016 interview during which Mr. Sloan, then the COO, was asked whether the bank had pushed sales goals and cross-selling too far and he responded "No" and "the fundamental strategy that we have is not going to change."

"You knew there was a problem and when you were asked about it, you lied. This is about personal responsibility. Wells Fargo cheated millions of people for years. The Federal Reserve should remove all of the current board members who served during the fake accounts scam. And Mr. Sloan, you say you've been making changes at Wells Fargo for thirty years, but you enabled this fake account scam, you got rich off it, and then you tried to cover it up," said Senator Warren. "At best you were incompetent, at worst you were complicit. Either way, you should be fired. Wells Fargo needs to start over and that won't happen until the bank rids itself of people like you, who led it into this crisis."

During a second round of questioning, Senator Warren pressed Mr. Sloan on the bank's new financial plan, which calls for $4 billion in cuts over the next several years. Senator Warren ran through the numbers, noting that in order to make the 8% reduction in non-interest expenses, Wells Fargo would likely have to fire as many as 20,000 of its 270,000 employees, whose compensation and benefits account for 60% of the bank's expenses.

"Given your statements about how much you value your employees, can you tell us today that you will not be firing any employees as part of this $4 billion cut?" asked Senator Warren. "I cannot," replied Mr. Sloan.

Senator Warren also noted that Mr. Sloan was calling for a $4 billion cut in expenses - and potentially firing thousands of employees - while simultaneously committing to spend $11.5 billion over the next year on stock buybacks.

"Now that the fake accounts scandal has tanked Wells Fargo's reputation, your way of pumping up the bottom line and keeping Wall Street investors happy is to slash costs by firing low level employees," said Senator Warren. "In these corporate scandals, it is almost always the frontline workers who pay the price - not the executives. The only way we're ever going to stop these scandals is to hold executives personally accountable - to fire the people who are responsible and, when they break the law, to march some of them out of the building in handcuffs. Until we do that, these scandals are going to continue, and working people are going to continue to take the brunt of it."

Watch video of Senator Warren's questioning of Mr. Sloan's record here. Watch the exchange over employee cuts here.

Reed Introduces Legislation to Hold Corporate Executives Accountable for Fraudulent Actions

Washington, D.C. - October 5, 2017 (The Ponder News) -- In an effort to prevent fraudulent and negligent behavior at large financial institutions and hold senior executives accountable, U.S. Senator Jack Reed has introduced the Corporate Management Accountability Act, which asks publicly traded companies to disclose policies on whether senior executives or shareholders bear the costs of paying the company’s fines and penalties.

Reed is introducing the legislation in the wake of several notable instances of negligent behavior by financial institutions - including Wells Fargo’s exploitation of its customers by opening unauthorized accounts and Equifax’s endangering millions of consumers by compromising critical personal information - that continue to undermine public confidence in the financial marketplace.

“Senior executives, many of whom are eager to take credit for a company’s good news, must also take more responsibility for the bad news, especially if it is true that the buck stops with them,” said Senator Reed, a senior member of the Senate Banking Committee. “For example, the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission concluded ‘the financial crisis reached cataclysmic proportions with the collapse of Lehman Brothers,’ and yet, according to the Congressional Research Service, not a single senior executive officer at Lehman Brothers at the federal level was charged, went to jail, or personally paid a federal fine or penalty for the damage caused at Lehman Brothers that rippled through our economy in 2008. Companies must do a better job of aligning executive incentives so that they are motivated to put their shareholders, and not themselves, first.”

According to Professor Peter J. Henning, who writes for the White Collar Watch column for the New York Times: “A problem in holding individuals accountable for misconduct in an organization is the disconnect between the actual decisions and those charged with overseeing the company, so that executives and corporate boards usually plead ignorance about an issue until it is too late.”

The Corporate Management Accountability Act is one attempt at helping to solve this problem by asking publicly traded companies to disclose whether they expect senior executives or shareholders to pay the cost of corporate fines or penalties.

In the wake of the Wells Fargo scandal, Senator Reed questioned former Wells Fargo CEO John Stumpf during a Banking Committee hearing and pushed for answers as to why the bank opened up millions of fake bank accounts for customers. In August, after it was revealed that as many as 570,000 Wells Fargo customers may have been charged premiums for unwanted auto insurance they did not need, he joined his fellow committee members (Ranking Member) Sherrod Brown, Elizabeth Warren, and others in leading the call for a public hearing to review consumer rights violations by Wells Fargo.

In September, after Equifax revealed that unauthorized parties had obtained sensitive information such as Social Security numbers, addresses, and driver’s license numbers for as many as 143 million people, Senator Reed led a bipartisan group of 37 senators asking the Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC), the Department of Justice (DOJ), and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to investigate the sale of nearly $2 million in Equifax securities held by high-level Equifax executives shortly after the company learned of the massive cybersecurity breach. According to the New York Times, Equifax “increased its estimate on the number of Americans whose personal information was potentially exposed to 145.5 million, some 2.5 million more than it had previously disclosed.”