Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

On this special day we thought a few Turkeys were in order. Below are links to a few special birds.

Dead Bird - Hunger in the U.S. Bad as Abroad

15% of the United States doesn't have enough to eat. That's the global percentage. In the United States 25% of children don't get enough food.

Globally, 925 million people, or a little less than 15 percent of the world population, is undernourished. Ironically, Washington's efforts to alleviate hunger abroad may be more successful than at home, analysts say.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture's estimate last week that 49 million U.S. residents, including 17 million children, lacked adequate food at some point during 2009 came about a week before the annual post-harvest celebration of Thanksgiving, during which many U.S. kitchens are filled with the bounties expected by residents of such a wealthy country. But not everyone can expect those bounties, it turns out.

Jail Bird - Tom Delay

Finally Tom DeLay, former House Speaker and bringer of much corruption, is found guilty of money laundering. It only took 8 years, never mind all of the damage DeLay wrought by being in Congress from 1984 to 2006.

Plucked Bird - Countrywide Never Sent Mortgage Notes

Rortybomb has the most useful chart to explain foreclosure fraud in Countrywide never sent mortgage notes. It shows how Countrywide disrupted the mortgage securitization process. We have mortgage backed securities with no actual mortgage behind them.

They are required to protect investors from both malfeasance, to avoid fraudulent transfer concerns, and to create “bankruptcy remoteness” of that asset from the originator/sponsor.

Bail Out Bird - Europe Rescue Fund

It seems the European Rescue Fund is running out of money. Last kid on the block I guess might have to bail out their banks with something actually effectual, like nationalization.

The €750 billion (about $1 trillion) European emergency fund, promoted as having the firepower to douse a financial crisis in the euro zone, may not even have enough to cover a bailout of Spain, according to the International Monetary Fund and outside economists.

Greasy Bird - Oil Spill Claims

Remember when BP ran constant ads promising to pay all legitimate claims surround the oil spill? Guess what. Over half of the claims are deemed not legitimate. In inadequate:

BP's damages bill for the Gulf of Mexico oil disaster could be much smaller than expected after it was revealed that half the claims made so far to the $20bn (£12.7bn) compensation fund either have no supporting documents or "woefully inadequate" ones.

Nice huh? Poor fisherman who make way less than the minimum wage denied any claims because they don't keep the right tax records.

Pecking Bird - Town May Seize Factory

Naked Capitalism shows a town fighting back against a corporation trying to move jobs to Mexico:

Esterline is in the process of shuttering its Tauton manufacturing operation, Haskon Aerospace, which specialized silicone-rubber seals and gaskets for military planes and the airline industry. Even though the company has always been profitable, Esterline is moving production to non-union operations in Mexico and California.

Here’s where it gets ugly. Esterline had given the union, the United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers union, the right of first refusal to buy the facility and operate it itself. But the company decided to renege on the deal when the union had to insist that the company obey Massachusetts law and pay for three months of medical care after employees were let go. Esterline started dealing in bad faith, and said it would cut the already-agreed-upon severance package by $143,000. That’s not kosher; it’s called “regressive bargaining” and the unions have filed charges with the National Labor Relations Board.

There are so many Turkeys to choose from, every day another outrage appears. What's your Turkey du jour? Do you have a bone to pick?