“Since the completion of its merger with Merrill Lynch in 2009, Bank of America has been working under a memorandum of understanding with regulators as a result of concerns over corporate governance, risk management and liquidity, according to the Journal's unnamed sources. Those sources say that recent issues in complying with the memorandum could cause regulators to lift the MOU and issue a formal public action.”

http://www.thestreet.com/story/11320384/1/bank-of-america-may-face-regul...

Courtesy of the 99%, Bank of America has a loan-loss backstop $97 billion. The funds are set aside to insure against bank's potential losses from Merrill Lynch merger.

Citigroup has an even larger loan-loss backstop of $220.4 billion to insure against bank's potential losses from mortgage-backed securities investments.

How nice. This information must be aggravating to small business operators who would love to have guarantees against their potential losses, but only the “too big to fail” banks have that luxury. Why should these institutions enjoy a huge advantage over their competitors, the smaller banks and credit unions? This inequitable transfer of taxpayer funds is not only rewarding irresponsible management, it is also stifling competition, another cost passed along to the people that are asked to pay for it.

Occupy Wall Street followers have often been accused of being “anti-capitalist” which is a gross generalization unsupported by a brief perusal of the blog posts, comments and Forum threads. What many of us have argued is that the capitalist system is rigged to favor institutions like Bank of America and Citigroup. How is this favoritism defined as capitalism anyway? It is corporate welfare, the sort that rewards failure, exactly the opposite of what capitalism is supposed to achieve. Do Bank of America and Citigroup really want to debate who it is anti-capitalist? Bring it.

Stop Black Friday is a reaction to the moves by major corporate retailers to open late on Thanksgiving instead of the morning after. Hey, why not start today? Or yesterday? Better yet, why not offer the discounts on other days as well, or will this cut into profits so much dragging their employees to work at midnight will be an exercise in futility? Who knows, but Stop Black Friday is an opportunity to prove that consumers are something other than sheep-like beings willing to do just about anything to buy cheap products imported from China. Watch the video below and ask yourself whether the "capitalists" aren't more of a threat than the alleged "anti-capitalist" protesters who remain peaceful.

Readers may recall this news account from last year when Wal Mart had to be evacuated:

“There was apparently a sale at midnight at Walmart stores, and a second sale at 5 a.m. that required shoppers to get a bracelet. Just after the store opened their doors to the 5 a.m. shoppers, store security guards noticed customers getting pushy and unruly. Sacramento Sheriff's officers were called in to help clear the store.”

http://www.fox40.com/news/headlines/ktxl-black-friday-madness-causes-wa-...

Here’s a brief explanation of Stop Black Friday:

http://youtu.be/N6s_eB7Zb8E

StopBlackFriday.com has the latest on the boycott, and other links are available at yesterdays post:

http://occupylosangeles.org/?q=node/2151

There has probably never been an organized protest that was so easy to join. All you have to do is remain calm, enjoy your Thanksgiving dinner, then avoid going bonkers with an unruly crowd that is willing to hurt you for the privilege of buying cheap. You can't lose.

If you’ve been looking for an overview of the Occupation Movement, you might find this timeline link useful:

http://theweek.com/article/index/220100/occupy-wall-street-a-protest-timeline

And Inner City Projections produced a brief video that is worth a look:

James interviews 1%

http://youtu.be/B_6d3DFayZw

Doris cuts ties:

http://youtu.be/OhvJajNw0j0