Run time: 07:56
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O_4QU9XWhA4
Posted on YouTube: September 06, 2011
By YouTube Member: TheBigPictureRT
Views on YouTube: 59
Posted on DU: September 06, 2011
By DU Member: thomhartmann
Views on DU: 1091 |
We learned this week that Wall Street needs to lawyer up - because the Federal Housing Finance Agency is filing suit against more than a dozen of the nation’s biggest banks - accusing the banksters of selling junk-mortgage securities to investors - which was the trigger of Bush's 2008 financial crisis. Mortgage lending giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac lost more than $30 billion after the banksters hustled them into buying these piles of mortgage junk - and now the government is coming to collect. But I’m going to ask them to hold off for just a little bit on filing this lawsuit - because it just so happens - I’m holding my own trial against the banksters tonight - as well as a slew of other corporate criminals.
First up - Goldman Sachs. As CEO of Goldman Sachs - Lloyd Blankfein - you are accused of defrauding your customers out of billions of dollars. As a Senate investigation released in April of this year found, “When Goldman Sachs realized the mortgage market was in decline, it took actions to profit from that decline at the expense of its clients… At the same time the firm was betting against the mortgage market as a whole, Goldman assembled and aggressively marketed to its clients poor quality CDOs that it actively bet against by taking large short positions in those transactions.” In other words - Goldman Sachs lied to its customers - selling them massive amounts of junk and then made a fortune betting that those same junk investments they were selling would go bust - which, of course, they did. On these charges of defrauding investors - and playing a role in the financial crisis that has since cost 5 million Americans their jobs and put 12 million Americans in danger of losing their homes…The jury finds Goldman Sachs and Lloyd Blankfein…Guilty.
Next up - BP. As CEO of BP - Tony Hayward - you are accused of gross negligence in the deaths of 11 men - and responsible for over $40 billion in damages along the Gulf coast as a result of your oil rig exploding in the Gulf of Mexico in April of 2010. An official report into the causes of the BP oil spill accused the corporation of nine faults in the run-up to the incident and said, "Whether purposeful or not, many of the decisions that BP, Halliburton, and Transocean made that increased the risk of the Macondo blowout clearly saved those companies significant time (and money)… Better management of decision-making processes within BP and other companies, better communication within and between BP and its contractors and effective training of key engineering and rig personnel would have prevented the Macondo incident.” BP’s decision to cut corners led to the deaths of 11 men - and irreparable destruction to the coastlines of several states along the Gulf. For those crimes - the jury finds BP and Tony Hayward…Guilty.
The next corporate defendant is Big Tobacco. As CEO of RJR - Lou Gerstner - you and the rest of you big tobacco CEOs are accused of lying to Congress. Even though you've killed more Americans than Bin Laden did, that's not why you're facing charges. Instead - it's because in 1994 - you were called before Congress to testify on whether or not your product is addictive. And you lied right through your teeth - and there's video evidence to support it. For the crime of perjury - in addition to selling one of the deadliest products known to man without a shred of regret - the jury find Lou Gerstner and the rest of big tobacco...Guilty.
And the final corporate defendant...General Motors. Several CEOs of the corporation are accused of manslaughter in the deaths of over 1,800 people between 1973 and 2000 as a result of defective fuel tanks installed in General Motors vehicles. The side-saddle fuel tanks were known to explode in minor car accidents - yet General Motors did nothing to address the problem - and instead covered it up. It would have only cost the company 8 bucks to make the fuel tanks safer - but as court documents later showed - after an internal cost-benefit analysis was done - the corporation determined it would actually SAVE money by simply paying out legal claims to the families of people who died when their gas tanks exploded. Like Tony Hayward of BP - the CEOs at General Motors chose profits over safety - and as a result - their exploding gas tanks killed nearly 2,000 people. On the charge of manslaughter - the jury find General Motors...Guilty.
So now that we've determined all these corporations are guilty - it's time to send some people to jail right? Unfortunately - corporate criminals no longer get punished in America. Even though the Supreme Court has ruled that corporations are people and have access to the Bill of Rights - for some reason they cannot face the same punishment for crimes that you and I would. All of these fraudsters - liars - and killers - got off scot-free - in some cases only tossing a few crumbs of cash to the devastated families whose loved ones were killed or having the company cut a small check to the government - and then it's right back to business as usual.
It's a tale of two justice systems - and it's yet another consequence of corporate personhood that I document in my book Unequal Protection If an auto-repairman knowingly rigs a car to explode - and the driver is killed - then that auto-repairman is going to jail for manslaughter or even murder. But if GM does it - they just pay a fine. If a guy walks into the mall and steals a fifty dollar pair of pants - he going to jail for shoplifting. But if Goldman Sacks steals $50 million from a state workers' pension fund - they just pay a fine.
But it wasn't always like this.
In the early decades of our nation - our government kept corporations in check with the the threat of the corporate death penalty. All the way up until the late 1800's - governments routinely revoked corporate charters - forcing corporations to immediately liquidate their assets. In 1825 - the state of Pennsylvania passed a law that made it much easier for the state to administer the corporate death penalty when - as the law stated - "
may be injurious to citizens of the community." By 1870 - nineteen other states had similar laws on the books. And throughout that century - oil corporations - match manufacturers - whiskey trusts - and sugar corporations were all given the corporate death penalty for "operating contrary to the public interest." Even John Rockefeller's Standard Oil was given the death penalty in New York in 1894 for, "a pattern of abuses."
The point is - it's time to start holding corporations accountable again. Each year - the FBI releases a report on all the crime statistics in the nation - like how much money was stolen and how many people were murdered - but corporate crime is never included in those statistics even though far more money is stolen and far more people are killed every year by corporations than by human criminals. Enough is enough - we know they're guilty - now it's time to give corporations like Goldman Sachs and BP and RJR the punishment they deserve.
Off with their corporate heads!
The Big Picture with Thom Hartmann on RT TV & FSTV "live" 9pm and 11pm check www.thomhartmann.com/tv for local listings
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