Eric Holder Admits Some Banks Are Just Too Big To Prosecute

[IDemo]

Source: Huffington Post

When the Attorney General of the United States admits some banks are simply too big to prosecute, it might be time to admit we have a problem -- and that goes for both the financial and justice systems.

Eric Holder made this rather startling confession in testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday, The Hill reports. It could be a key moment in the debate over whether to do something about the size and complexity of our biggest banks, which have only gotten bigger and more systemically important since the financial crisis.

"I am concerned that the size of some of these institutions becomes so large that it does become difficult for us to prosecute them when we are hit with indications that if you do prosecute, if you do bring a criminal charge, it will have a negative impact on the national economy, perhaps even the world economy," Holder said, according to The Hill. "And I think that is a function of the fact that some of these institutions have become too large."

Holder's comments don't come as a total surprise. His underlings had already made similar confessions to The New York Times last year, after they declined to prosecute HSBC for flagrant, years-long violations of money-laundering laws, out of fear that doing so would hurt the global economy. Lanny Breuer, formerly in charge of doling out the Justice Department's wrist slaps to banks, told Frontline as much in the documentary "The Untouchables," which aired in January.

Read more: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/06/eric-holder-banks-too-big_n_2821741.html

[Duer 157099]

1. Ma Bell is calling n/t

[msongs]

2. eric holder admits some attorney generals are too small for the job. criminals must love him nt

[Rosa Luxemburg]

3. He just needs to attack at the 'Achilles Heel'

All big banks have Achilles Heels.

The UK government brought Barclays to task it's possible to do that sort of thing here.

[Redfairen]

4. So we should accept moral hazard and get screwed. Have I got that right?

Wikipedia: Moral Hazard

In economic theory, a moral hazard is a situation where a party will have a tendency to take risks because the costs that could incur will not be felt by the party taking the risk. In other words, it is a tendency to be more willing to take a risk, knowing that the potential costs or burdens of taking such risk will be borne, in whole or in part, by others. A moral hazard may occur where the actions of one party may change to the detriment of another after a financial transaction has taken place.

[Owl]

5. Obviously Mr. Holder is inadequate to perform his duties.

[Mnemosyne]

6. Then arrest the decision makers, bonehead. nt

[hughee99]

7. So we may be able to kill a US citizen on US soil without any due process,

but we can't prosecute banks that committed huge crimes that threaten the national (if not world) economy? Perhaps the Dept. of JUSTICE should consider changing it's name to something that more accurately reflects it's role.

[awoke_in_2003]

8. Busting pot growers/smokers is easier. nt

[City Lights]

9. Coward.

Do your job, or get the fuck out!

[Unknown Beatle]

10. Bull-Fucking-Shit!

There's no such thing as too big to fail. Prosecute the assholes responsible for this crisis and appoint competent individuals to run the banks.

Iceland is the model the DOJ should be following.

Eric Holder is trying to justify not prosecuting bankers for theft. All Holder's doing is covering his ass with lame excuses.

Fuck you, Holder! Too big to fail my ass!

[elzenmahn]

12. Here are two equations:

1. Too Big To Fail = TOO BIG TO EXIST;
2. Too Big To Prosecute = TOO BIG TO EXIST.

Understand this, Mr. Holder?

[Phlem]

15. No Shit

If they are to big to prosecute then break them the fuck up you spineless POS and leave the pot smokers alone already.

What fuckin idiot.

-p

[agentS]

11. Too big to fail and To dumb to live

I completely understand what Holder's saying here.
It's time to break up the banks; get them small enough (not to drown in a figurative bathtub) but to the point where prosecution doesn't trigger another financial collapse and bank run.

This should be priority #1 in Congress, seeing as how the Bush era CREATED the damn monsters in the first place.

[cstanleytech]

13. Its not just banks, corporations in general are becoming imo to big and alot of them

like some of the telecommunications and the media corporations need to be broken up.

[L0oniX]

14. Gee ...I guess big banks will do whatever they want now that they know. n/t

[Jerry442]

16. "Yes, your honor, I knew my husband had been raping my children for years...

...but I thought if I turned him in, it would hurt the family."

And this is different, how?

[magellan]

17. Too bad the banks have no oil

The prosecution would be of war, it'd already be done, and hang the economy.

[OnyxCollie]

18. Banks can't be prosecuted.

Torturers can't be prosecuted.

Telecoms can't be prosecuted.

War criminals can't be prosecuted.

But citizens can be killed without due process.

[John2]

19. Somebody need to

talk to President Obama. That somebody need to be constituents. I categorically reject Holder's response. If he can't do the job, then he needs to resign. Nobody should be above the law. I have the same problem with him when it comes to Civil Rights abuses too. Especially regarding the Republican Party. It will affect the economy in what manner? Are we talking about the profits of a few people or the economic well being of middleclass and poor working
Americans? His statement suggests that he is protecting corporate interests. It seems to me that corporate interests are hurting the economy of this country. That to me is enriching oneself through false pretenses which is essentially fraud. There is no negative downside in prosecuting crimes such as this. The negative downside is not prosecuting or individuals will continue to do it and you send a message crime pays off. He needs to resign if that was really his response.

[wickerwoman]

20. Let justice be done though the heavens fall.

What will be the impacts on the national/world economy of allowing fraud and theft to go unpunished?

[jtuck004]

22. We have been living them since 2009. n/t

[blkmusclmachine]

21. "We can't do what we don't want to do."

Too Big To Jail

[jtuck004]

23. Not too hard to leave tens of millions on food stamps, or foreclose on 6 million homes, however. n/t

[blkmusclmachine]

24. Really, this is the clarion bell that the Administration is hopelessly compromised.

Can't (or won't) prosecute the Banksters; they're too busy busting whistleblowers and medical marijuana patients.

And, really, this is a total get out of jail free card to use in the future as the Banksters see fit, yes? The Banksters know that the Feds won't come a knockin'. Expect more, and worse, sh!t ahead with this total precapitulation to the Banksters.

IMO




DC is a racket

[Javaman]

25. So then the next question is:

who is running the U.S.?

I know, I know, sorry.

[AnotherMcIntosh]

26. So are war criminals.

[november3rd]

27. He should resign

He's admitted in sworn testimony that he's either unwilling or unable to do his job.

Maybe he ought to send a few little drones to hover over Goldman Sachs and Bank of America.

Liquidation by Drone is our new judicial code, I suppose, right?

[dkf]

28. If 470 branches in the US makes you too big to prosecute...

How many pieces do they expect our large banks to break themselves into?

10/20 each?

If he is saying they are too big worldwide then does that mean we ban international banks from having subsidiaries here?