Quantitative analysis of Occupy Wall Street Protesters arrested v. Wall Street Banksters arrested.

[Karmadillo]

Occupy Wall Street protesters arrested: 800 plus and rising.

Wall Street Banksters arrested: 0.

Conclusion: Financing the oligarchy has its advantages.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/john-r-talbott/why-no-banksters-have-bee_b_908206.html

Why No Banksters Have Been Arrested
By John R. Talbott
Posted: 7/25/11 10:51 AM ET

Fraud amongst bankers was endemic leading up to the financial crisis, but to date the SEC, the Justice Department and the FBI haven't arrested a single executive at the big banks. Someone smuggling $2,000 of marijuana across the border with Mexico can expect to have a major investigation initiated at the behest of the FBI, the Justice Department, local police and US Immigration while bankers have virtually gone scot free, having caused a global crisis with global unemployment now at 180 million, an estimated 10 million people possibly losing their homes to foreclosure just in the US alone and I estimate $30 trillion of wealth will have evaporated from worldwide wealth of $200 trillion.

To those who argue that there is no smoking gun, I would say that how could there be, there hasn't been any investigation. Put yellow crime scene tape around Goldman Sachs' new building, tap some bankers' phones, seize hard drives and desktop computers, and drag mid-level traders and banking executives off to prison and watch to see how quickly these folks learn how to sing. Can you imagine what leads and evidence would be uncovered by getting one bankster to wear a wire while golfing with his fellow decamillionaires in Southhampton?

Enforcement agencies like the SEC and the FBI complain about being understaffed and this is true, and not coincidental as banking industry lobbyists have been successful in convincing congressmen to cut back on the budgets of these important policing agencies. We have become anesthetized to totally criminal behavior occurring right before our eyes but I think this would be like Al Capone telling the mayor of Chicago to fire half the Chicago police force, and him doing it. The FBI has also focused so much of its staff on counterterrorism that it is unable to properly staff criminal investigations of bankers although this may just be the unassailable excuse everyone uses these days for not doing their job. "Oh, your pension plan was raided and the Treasuries replaced with worthless CDO's? Sorry, I was busy hunting down Osama bin Laden. What do you mean he's dead?"

But, the pressure also comes from the top down. Lawyers in these institutions understood clearly whether the Bush or the Obama administration really wanted them spending time investigating the banks that are their biggest campaign contributors. What possible reason could an investigator have to aggressively pursue a banker whose firm is the biggest contributor to a congress that determines the operating budget of the investigator's own agency? What message is sent from these administrations when Hank Paulson, the CEO of Goldman Sachs, is appointed Treasury Secretary, Tim Geithner, the banks' errand boy at the bank-controlled New York Fed, is appointed to replace him or more recently, when William Daly, the top lobbyist at JP Morgan is named to be Obama's chief of staff at the White House?

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[xchrom]

1. recommend

[CrispyQ]

2. I hate HufPo, but that was worth the click.

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