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In reply to the discussion: STOCK MARKET WATCH -- Monday, 23 July 2012 [View all]Demeter
(85,373 posts)7. Obama’s Justice Department Rushes to the Rescue of LIBOR Criminals By Glen Ford
http://www.blackagendareport.com/content/obamas-justice-department-rushes-rescue-libor-criminals
The Obama Justice Department is in theater mode, again, pretending to threaten the bankster class with criminal penalties prison time! for their manipulation of the global economys benchmark interest rates. The Justice Department claims to be building criminal and civil cases in the LIBOR scandal, which in sheer scope is the biggest fraud by international capital in history. But thats all a front, a farce. Barack Obama has spent his entire presidency protecting Wall Street, starting with his rescue of George Bushs bank bailout bill after its initial defeat in Congress, in the last days of Obamas candidacy. He packed his administration with banksters, passed his own bailout and, in collaboration with the Federal Reserve, channeled at least $16 trillion dollars into the accounts of U.S. and even European banks by far the greatest transfer of capital in the history of the world. Obama has reminded the banksters that it was he who saved them from the pitchforks of an outraged public. He pushed through Congress so-called financial reform legislation that left derivatives the deadly instruments of mass financial destruction that were at the heart of the meltdown untouched.
Wall Street may or may not remain loyal to Obama, but Obama has been loyal to Wall Street, the guys who gave him the campaign cash to become a viable candidate. His Attorney General, Eric Holder, a corporate lawyer to the core, is busily staging a pre-emptive LIBOR prosecution of bankers in order to shield them from legal action by a host of other government agencies and, ultimately, from the global universe of parties that have been harmed by the banksters schemes a list that stretches to infinity. Holders job is to monopolize the LIBOR case, to the extent legally and humanly possible, grabbing jurisdiction and consolidating the cases against the banks with the aim of reaching a settlement that does not further destabilize the financial system.
Holder and his boss already pulled that trick earlier this year with settlement of the bank robo-signing scandal a scheme that would have ranked as the crime of the century until LIBOR came along. A small group of state attorney generals were holding up an administration-brokered settlement that effectively gave the banksters immunity from prosecution, in return for a measly $25 billion payout. Obama used every power of his office to pressure the state law officers into line. The last one capitulated with a promise from Obama that a special unit of prosecutors would expand the investigation into abusive mortgages practices. You havent heard a peep about it, since.
Now Obama and Holder are playing the same diversionary game, making tough noises about criminal investigations of the LIBOR conspirators. But the Justice Department has already given immunity to Barclays Bank, of Britain, and to the Swiss banking giant UBS. More immunities will follow. The reason Eric Holder is staging criminal investigations is because thats the only way he can protect the bankers, through immunities and by gradually narrowing the scope of the case. In the end, there will be settlements all around, and the banksters will move on to even more fantastic heights of criminality thanks to the loyal, protective hands of President Obama.
The Obama Justice Department is in theater mode, again, pretending to threaten the bankster class with criminal penalties prison time! for their manipulation of the global economys benchmark interest rates. The Justice Department claims to be building criminal and civil cases in the LIBOR scandal, which in sheer scope is the biggest fraud by international capital in history. But thats all a front, a farce. Barack Obama has spent his entire presidency protecting Wall Street, starting with his rescue of George Bushs bank bailout bill after its initial defeat in Congress, in the last days of Obamas candidacy. He packed his administration with banksters, passed his own bailout and, in collaboration with the Federal Reserve, channeled at least $16 trillion dollars into the accounts of U.S. and even European banks by far the greatest transfer of capital in the history of the world. Obama has reminded the banksters that it was he who saved them from the pitchforks of an outraged public. He pushed through Congress so-called financial reform legislation that left derivatives the deadly instruments of mass financial destruction that were at the heart of the meltdown untouched.
Wall Street may or may not remain loyal to Obama, but Obama has been loyal to Wall Street, the guys who gave him the campaign cash to become a viable candidate. His Attorney General, Eric Holder, a corporate lawyer to the core, is busily staging a pre-emptive LIBOR prosecution of bankers in order to shield them from legal action by a host of other government agencies and, ultimately, from the global universe of parties that have been harmed by the banksters schemes a list that stretches to infinity. Holders job is to monopolize the LIBOR case, to the extent legally and humanly possible, grabbing jurisdiction and consolidating the cases against the banks with the aim of reaching a settlement that does not further destabilize the financial system.
Holder and his boss already pulled that trick earlier this year with settlement of the bank robo-signing scandal a scheme that would have ranked as the crime of the century until LIBOR came along. A small group of state attorney generals were holding up an administration-brokered settlement that effectively gave the banksters immunity from prosecution, in return for a measly $25 billion payout. Obama used every power of his office to pressure the state law officers into line. The last one capitulated with a promise from Obama that a special unit of prosecutors would expand the investigation into abusive mortgages practices. You havent heard a peep about it, since.
Now Obama and Holder are playing the same diversionary game, making tough noises about criminal investigations of the LIBOR conspirators. But the Justice Department has already given immunity to Barclays Bank, of Britain, and to the Swiss banking giant UBS. More immunities will follow. The reason Eric Holder is staging criminal investigations is because thats the only way he can protect the bankers, through immunities and by gradually narrowing the scope of the case. In the end, there will be settlements all around, and the banksters will move on to even more fantastic heights of criminality thanks to the loyal, protective hands of President Obama.
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The whole scam is just so massive. It's just mind boggling how complicit the richest criminals have
mother earth
Jul 2012
#9
These 12 Hellholes Are Examples Of What The Rest Of America Will Look Like Soon
Demeter
Jul 2012
#25
How Whole Regions of America Have Been Destroyed in the Name of Quarterly Profits
Demeter
Jul 2012
#50
I know some do not appreciate Taibbi, but who else tells it like it is? Looking forward to "more".
mother earth
Jul 2012
#11
I know, seems like RS & Vanity Fair have stepped up enormously. I love MattT.
mother earth
Jul 2012
#17
Holding Off Armageddon: The Libor Scandal In Full Perspective By Paul Craig Roberts
Demeter
Jul 2012
#8
Exclusive: Prosecutors, regulators close to making Libor arrests (REST THE CASE)
Demeter
Jul 2012
#14
Raining like mad in the markets, too. US Futures looking UG-LEE. Italy down 5%
Roland99
Jul 2012
#40