Hello! Fraud-Ridden Banks are Not Our Only Option

[xchrom]

http://www.alternet.org/economy/hello-fraud-ridden-banks-are-not-our-only-option


The headquarters of JPMorgan Chase & Co in New York City. US banking giant JPMorgan Chase Friday logged a 31 percent increase in quarterly profits, but gave a mixed report on the status of the economic recovery.


“Epic in scale, unprecedented in world history.” That is how William K. Black, professor of law and economics and former bank fraud investigator, describes the frauds in which JPMorgan Chase (JPM) has now been implicated. They involve more than a dozen felonies, including bid-rigging on municipal bond debt; colluding to rig interest rates on hundreds of trillions of dollars in mortgages, derivatives and other contracts; exposing investors to excessive risk; failing to disclose known risks, including those in the Bernie Madoff scandal; and engaging in multiple forms of mortgage fraud.

So why, asks Chicago Alderwoman Leslie Hairston, are we still doing business with them? She plans to introduce a city council ordinance deleting JPM from the city’s list of designated municipal depositories. As quoted in the January 14th Chicago Sun-Times:

The bank has violated the city code by making admissions of dishonesty and deceit in the way they dealt with their investors in the mortgage securities and Bernie Madoff Ponzi scandals. . . . We use this code against city contractors and all the small companies, why wouldn’t we use this against one of the largest banks in the world?

A similar move has been recommended for the City of Los Angeles by L.A. City Councilman Gil Cedillo. But in a January 19th editorial titled “ There’s No Profit in L A. Bashing JPMorgan Chase,” the L.A. Times editorial board warned against pulling the city’s money out of JPM and other mega-banks – even though the city attorney is suing them for allegedly causing an epidemic of foreclosures in minority neighborhoods.

[Laelth]

1. k&r for exposure. n/t

-Laelth

[The Wizard]

2. And still

No bankers or Wall Street shysters are doing hard time for their corruption. They'll start returning the money that was looted from the Treasury when one of them is handed a blindfold and cigarette.
http://grooveshark.com/#!/s/Would+You+Sell+Out+Your+Country/exOhR?src=5

[Enthusiast]

3. Recommend this a big one! “Epic in scale, unprecedented in world history.”

Last edited Sun Feb 9, 2014, 10:52 AM - Edit history (1)

The President should consult William K. Black about possible solutions instead of relying on the words of those that promoted the deregulation that allowed the fraud that caused the mortgage-derivative crisis-people like Larry Summers.

What in the fuck is wrong with you, Mr. Obama? Dude, you are one huge disappointment.

[musselmanm]

7. and more

Our President is a dissapointment to me in so very many ways. I will never support a moderate again.

[Rockyj]

14. Me too.

[jtuck004]

4. The only way to win is to take their support away. They will fall. n/t

[musselmanm]

5. Postal banks

Senator Warren has another great idea, postal banks. Perhaps we can even make a profit for the post office. to keep them alive.

[valerief]

6. Yes, like civilized countries have! nt

[CFLDem]

10. +100

[Scuba]

8. But there's no evidence the banks have committed any crimes. Read it right here on DU.

[Enthusiast]

9. The President said, "What they did was not illegal."

I watched him say it, right on my TV.

[L0oniX]

16. Just like what Bush and his war mongers did is not illegal.

[Enthusiast]

18. Precisely.

[jwirr]

11. Many of the laws passed or repealed during the bush years have allowed fraudulant banking

practices and those laws are still on the books.

[L0oniX]

17. I blame Bill Clinton for a lot of this.

[daleanime]

12. K&R....

[Wilms]

13. ^

[L0oniX]

15. Move your accounts to a credit union ...it pisses off the banks.