Failing to Prosecute Wall Street Fraud Is Extending Our Economic Problems

[Octafish]

It's horsefeathers on so many levels, but Pruneface Ronnie liked to say: "The business of America is business."



Here's something the Scrooge Class doesn't want you to think about, the game's rigged.
What they want you to think is there's nothing you can do about it. Wrong:

Failing to Prosecute Wall Street Fraud Is Extending Our Economic Problems

Washington's Blog
Monday, December 13, 2010

Bill Gross, Nouriel Roubini, Laurence Kotlikoff, Steve Keen, Michel Chossudovsky and the Wall Street Journal all say that the U.S. economy is a giant Ponzi scheme.

Virtually all independent economists and financial experts say that rampant fraud was largely responsible for the financial crisis. See this and this.

But many on Wall Street and in D.C. - and many investors - believe that we should just "go with the flow". They hope that we can restart our economy and make some more money if we just let things continue the way they are.

But the assumption that a system built on fraud can continue without crashing is false.

In fact, top economists and financial experts agree that - unless fraud is prosecuted - the economy cannot recover.

CONTINUED...

http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2010/12/letting-fraud-continue-will-not-restart.html

Welfare for the wealthy and war without end aren't what my America is about.

Thank you to all good DUers who've let me know over the years I'm not alone in my thinking.

[xchrom]

1. Recommend

[Octafish]

9. Money makes people breathe together, like.

"One of the things that is interesting about reading conspiracy theory is that much of what folks think is conspiracy is really many people acting in concert to make or protect their money." - Catherine Austin Fitts

A big shot in Poppy's crew, Fitts got fed up with the corruption at the highest levels of government, business and finance. She's doing all she can to document corruption on Wall Street and Washington and helping those who give a damn do something about it. Her Narcodollars for Beginners deserves a Pulitzer.

Fitts makes clear Integrity is an alien concept to the plutonomy. Thanks for getting it, xchrom.

[xchrom]

14. You're welcome. Nt

[DeSwiss]

44. Thank you for the link! n/t

[truedelphi]

55. K & R this remark as well as

The Overall OP.

[JDPriestly]

62. Interesting article by FItts.

I have had similar thoughts about ties between the legalization of gambling and the Narcotraffic. Gambling is another business in which money can easily be laundered. Of course, Wall Street is kind of a form of gambling.

[defendandprotect]

76. Thank you ... we need more knowledge of Catherine Austen Fitts here ...!!

[molly77]

100. Octafish

You have a way of putting important concepts into words. Have been reading your posts for a long time..am a big fan. May I add..

1) Universal health care..It would free up older people to retire who are working just for the benefits..younger people could have the jobs.

2) Help small businesses because the cost of benefits in the US keeps US from having a level playing field in the "free market".

3) Maybe WE are broke as a country because rich people and corporations pay little or no taxes. ie Exonn Mobile paid no taxes ..even received tax revenues . There are no jobs because of our own legislation passed during the clinton administration..NAFTA

4) There should be more attention paid to just how much WE are paying on interest to service our national debt.

5) Repeal Glass-Stegall , also passed under clinton. Essentially deregulating banks. Deregulation is a euphemism for "laws are for the little people". Trust us to do what is right no longer passes the smell test.

[bobthedrummer]

117. kick

[phasma ex machina]

2. K&R +1 Needs repeating. "Failing to Prosecute Wall Street Fraud Is Extending Our Economic Problems"

[Octafish]

12. Crime, like roots of a tree, is largely hidden.

Secrecy is a good thing when you got something to hide.

Spawn of Wall Street and the Third Reich

Oh So Social morphed into Oh So Socialistic!

[InkAddict]

34. So noted: "Many dark actors playing games...

..."the aspens will already be turning. They turn in clusters, because their roots connect them."

K&R

[Rex]

3. But how do you prosecute some of your biggest campaign donors?

:sarcasm:

[glinda]

5. By including the politicians names that take them and will therefor

be part of the fraud and charges.I believe that they are complicit in that they accept "bribes" and even if just "funding" for their campaigns most likely can be linked to the furthering of the fraud.

[phasma ex machina]

6. The only open question in my mind is "Fear or greed?"

Fear of the loss of imperial prerogative may very well motivate politicians of both parties to kick the can down the road one day at a time. A practice that may soon evolve to kicking the can down the road one hour at a time.

[kenny blankenship]

7. Through your "independent" Department of Justice

scoff.

[Rex]

10. Good one!

:thumbsup:

[PufPuf23]

49. Sadly under POTUS Obama, Holder has made the DOJ a joke that

does not support the law of the USA and our international treaties.

The resulting "rule of law" is political and tiered and an embarrassment for American Ideals we are taught in childhood.

Technically, in what I believe an objective view, Holder has abetted worse crimes by not prosecuting admitted war criminals and obvious financial and political criminals (including high elected and unelected officials and members of the USSC).

The GWB DOJ was also a politicized joke as were enacted laws like the Patriot Act and Military Tribunal Acts as well as other limitations to civil rights guaranteed under the Constitution and precedent -- the Constitution was not perfect regards to civil rights but created a mechanism that fair interpretation would serve only to increase individual freedom and security over time. Any policy that does not improve individual freedom and security of the least endowed American is regressive under the Constitution -- thus we had slavery abolished, vote to all, civil rights, increased sovereignty of Indian Nations, etc -- incremental but Constitutional while I would argue any regressive backward movement is anti-Constitution and and anti-American.

[Octafish]

15. Tax law will overwhelmingly benefit the wealthy

The World Socialist Web Site explains the dilemma.

Thank you, Rex, for grokking the gekko.

[Rex]

20. How long have we watered the Tree of Deceit with the blood of patriots?

[leveymg]

88. That's a keeper. Can I borrow that line? How much longer can we water that tree until we have no

more patriots, or reasons to be patriotic?

Thnx! :thumbsup:

[The Backlash Cometh]

4. No kidding?

As long as they continue to allow these bozos to reap million dollar bonuses, they'll never get a handle on this problem.

[Octafish]

17. No kidding.

From 2007, before the Great Wall Street Bailout:

Record inequality in the US: Billions for Wall Street bosses as workers’ share of income shrinks.

Happy New Year! Same as the Old Year.

[chill_wind]

8. K &R, good Octafish. K & R.

[Octafish]

22. 11 Examples Of How Insanely Corrupt The U.S. Financial System Has Become

Sic 'em, Dan-o!

11 Examples Of How Insanely Corrupt The U.S. Financial System Has Become.

Thanks for the pat on the back, chill_wind. In a time when there's no remuneration for telling the truth, it means everything.

[phasma ex machina]

27. "Example 11: A national debt that dooms our children" ... to slavery.

A return to overt feudalism with banksters as royalty.

[Amonester]

45. A government by the Riches, for the Riches.

The Constitutional government by the people, for the people has been replaced by the Imperial government by the Riches, for the Riches.

But the semblance to the former has been kept intact, for obvious reasons.

With such a system, the people only get a few crumbs here and there, to 'calm down' the proles when the pressure gets a little higher.

Just look around. It's there for everyone to see.

[chill_wind]

67. Thanks for that link. Every voter and every thinking person should read it.

And really know it.

[TheKentuckian]

11. and failing prosecution there had to be a fundamental change in the rules of the game

and dilution of power and resources but we chose none of the above and are consequentially fucked.

Our leaders are at the best, grossly incompetent and traitors at worst. To abandon the people and the future of the nation to these gangsters is unforgivable.

[dixiegrrrrl]

16. And I hope, unforgettable.

Congress usually counts on the infamous "short memory" of the voters.

[Octafish]

23. William K. Black sees EXACTLY what's wrong and would change things, fast.

The guy's a forensic economist, the kind ABCNNBCBSFixedNoiseNutworks never have on prime time or Sunday morning or anytime I'm watching.

No Mr. President, Larry Summers Did Not Resolve the Financial Crisis for a Pittance, He Just Papered Over the Problem

[chill_wind]

73. He sees. And so do guys like Galbraith, Baker and Stiglitz.

They've all spoken out, again and again.

[WillyT]

13. HUGE K & R !!!

:kick:

[Octafish]

41. ''Fraud caused the Great Depression.''

Gee, Prescott. That was before the SEC.

[tcaudilllg]

18. This is all Holder's fault...

and the way he's going, he's shaping up to be the worst AG in history.

[Octafish]

42. Letting war criminals, warmongers and traitors walk would be hard to beat.

Although, Ed Meese would give him a run for his money.

[Raksha]

106. Worse than Gonzales? Or is it a tie?

I'd say he's a worthy successor to Gonzales.

[nashville_brook]

19. absofuckinglutely.

[H2O Man]

21. Recommended.

When the system does not respond firmly to criminal behavior, the system becomes criminal.

[Karenina]

24. HALLO!

:hi::loveya::hi:

[Octafish]

108. Fröhliche Weihnachten, schönste Schwesterina!

Peace, joy and a prosperous New Year to You and Yours!

[Taitertots]

25. I think the SEC has already charged Fabrice Tourre with fraud

Almost no one knows about it and it did nothing to solve the problems.
http://www.sec.gov/news/press/2010/2010-59.htm

Do you have any idea who should be charged and under what laws they could be charged? Would you even know if they did charge anyone?
http://www.sec.gov/litigation/litreleases.shtml

[sabrina 1]

32. Of course people know about Fabrice. It was discussed here on

DU when he was arrested.

How about the mortgage fraud laws and all those who engaged in the corruption? Do you remember when the FBI back in 2005 warned about the corruption and was actively investigating it, only to be pulled back by the Bush administration so they could 'fight the great WOT. They were left with not enough people to go after the crooks. Do you think that was an accident?

How about we start from there. Put more law enforcement people in place to start investigating again. If there were so many crooks back then that the FBI could not even begin to handle the massive fraud, then clearly more needs to be done to get these investigations going again.

Once that happens, then we can answer your question 'who should be prosecuted'. If the crooks are being protected, that's a difficult question to answer isn't it?

Start with investigations, as they are doing in Iceland right now.

Them charge those who are suspected of wrong-doing.

That's how it's usually done. Wll, for the 'lesser people' anyhow.

[DeSwiss]

46. The Tourre charge is a SEC civil suit, not a criminal charge by the Justice Department.

And as for what to charge all of them with? How about good old fashioned FRAUD?

- Because that's what it was......

[JDPriestly]

48. They should start with people in the rating organizations

and then offer plea bargains to find out what really happened. Prosecutors are quite good at getting information from the little guys that incriminate the big ones.

Of course, that is assuming that the Justice Department is the prosecutor here and not a co-conspirator.

[NBachers]

90. The legal structure that was developed to prosecute drug offenders could be re-oriented to Wall St.

[Quantess]

26. It's only a matter of time before wealthy bankers are kidnapped and held for ransom

like they do in some other countries.

[phasma ex machina]

28. FYI "wealthy bankster" is redundant. (Caffeinated clause corrected.) nt

[Quantess]

30. Is it? Why?

:shrug:
Banksters aren't wealthy? Someone will need to explain this one to me.

[phasma ex machina]

33. Whoops. "Wealthy banksters" is REDUNDANT. (Too much caffeine. LOL.) nt

[Quantess]

36. Oh, redundant! Yes.

:donut:

[Octafish]

38. It can't happen here. Even if we wanted to. And people of peace do not want that.

The NSA's that good.

Hi, Agent Mike! :hi: Luv ya!

[Quantess]

54. I'm not condoning anything of the sort.

I'm just commenting that someone out there may end up doing something like that.

[Octafish]

96. Five Surprising Facts about Spying in America

We couldn't mount an opposition if we wanted to, which is what the late Sen. Frank Church (D-Idaho) reported would happen if the nation's spy apparatus was ever turned upon the American people. That, my Friend, is what has happened.

More, from Washington's Blog:

5 Surprising Facts about Spying in America

Most importantly for this thread: Thank you for caring about the country and its future, Quantess. I am sorry if my reply implied anything other than why our nation is different from others when it comes to political repression.

While we think we can say what we want to whom we want, we can't in privacy: From intercepting phone calls to infiltrating peace groups, the nation's spy agencies leave no stone unturned. Thus, as Sen. Church said, we can't organize freely to oppose the PTB.

[sabrina 1]

29. Yet even here on this board, there are still people who believe

that rewarding criminals on Wall St. 'saved this country'.

[Octafish]

93. Time to Investigate Lloyd Blankfein and Hank Paulson

I don't care who or what a crook says he or she is: A crook is still a crook.

Time to Investigate Lloyd Blankfein and Hank Paulson

The New York Times has unearthed a damning tidbit about the bailout of AIG:

When the government began rescuing it from collapse in the fall of 2008 with what has become a $182 billion lifeline, A.I.G. was required to forfeit its right to sue several banks -- including Goldman, Société Générale, Deutsche Bank and Merrill Lynch -- over any irregularities with most of the mortgage securities it insured in the precrisis years.

How one reacts to this depends in no small measure as to how one views the salvage operation. For all intents and purposes, the rescue of AIG was merely a way to save the banks; the credit default swaps had been too big a source of faux capital (via risk-shifting for US firms, and for Eurobanks, as part of a regulatory arbitrage) to let the insurer go. So any effort by the officialdom to aid the banks, most notably by paying out 100% on credit default swap exposures (which had already been written down by counterparties to less than par) was simply an effort to funnel more cash to the banks. Since we've had massive backdoor bailout mechanisms in addition to the overt ones, this orientation should come as no surprise.

But then we get to the funny business. Why a broad waiver? Why shouldn't AIG (and by extension, taxpayers) not recover in the event of fraud? And we turn again to the ambiguous standing of AIG. By all rights, it ought to be owned by the government. The reason it isn't is that we don't do nationalization in America, and full ownership would require AIG's debts to be consolidated with government debt. So another way to read this requirement is that the Fed and Treasury were opposed to having fraud at the banks exposed, period.

That is a very troubling stance for bank regulators to take. And experts agreed:

"Even if it turns out that it would be a hard suit to win, just the gesture of requiring A.I.G. to scrap its ability to sue is outrageous," said David Skeel, a law professor at the University of Pennsylvania. "The defense may be that the banking system was in trouble, and we couldn't afford to destabilize it anymore, but that just strikes me as really going overboard."

"This really suggests they had myopia and they were looking at it entirely through the perspective of the banks," Mr. Skeel said.

CONTINUED...

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/yves-smith/time-to-investigate-lloyd_b_630348.html

There are a LOT more billion-dollar heroes and zeroes to investigate.

[sabrina 1]

115. Thank you for the link. I definitely agree with prosecuting the

crooks. But no one seems interested in doing so.

[malaise]

31. It's extending economic problems across the globe

Rec

[Dj13Francis]

35. Uh, yeah.

Duh.

[City Lights]

37. Kick, recommend, bookmark.

Thanks.

[scarletwoman]

39. K&R - no, you are not alone in your thinking!

It's simply not acceptable to let these criminal parasites continue to drain all the wealth out of our economy. And they will if nothing's done.

Thank you for being DU's intrepid truth-teller!

:loveya:
sw

[paparush]

92. So what do we DO?

We elected a guy who we thought would do SOMETHING to address this corruption.

If the constitutional law professor isn't going to use the power of the presidency to pursue this, what do we do?

Riots?

[HCE SuiGeneris]

40. Definitely, not alone.

You have my utmost respect and admiration for your intellect, and your efforts.

We will prevail over the greed and insanity that currently besieges us.

Cheers to you, my friend and compatriot.

[DeSwiss]

43. K&R

No Octafish, you're not alone in your thinking that the system we live under is rotten to the core. It always was. It is a system that is contrary to the laws of nature and thermodynamics. Capitalists seek to create something from nothing.

- As if they were gods......

Ignorance and courage in the age of Lady Gaga

By Joe Bageant
Ajijic, Jalisco, Mexico

If you hang out much with thinking people, conversation eventually turns to the serious political and cultural questions of our times. Such as: How can the Americans remain so consistently brain-fucked? Much of the world, including plenty of Americans, asks that question as they watch U.S. culture go down like a thrashing mastodon giving itself up to some Pleistocene tar pit.

One explanation might be the effect of 40 years of deep fried industrial chicken pulp, and 44 ounce Big Gulp soft drinks. Another might be pop culture, which is not culture at all of course, but marketing. Or we could blame it on digital autism: Ever watch commuter monkeys on the subway poking at digital devices, stroking the touch screen for hours on end? That wrinkled Neolithic brows above the squinting red eyes?

But a more reasonable explanation is that, (A) we don't even know we are doing it, and (B) we cling to institutions dedicated to making sure we never find out. Two hundred years ago no one would have thought sheer volume of available facts in the digital information age would produce informed Americans. Founders of the republic, steeped in the Enlightenment as they were, and believers in an informed citizenry being vital to freedom and democracy, would be delirious with joy at the prospect. Imagine Jefferson and Franklin high on Google.

The fatal assumption was that Americans would choose to think and learn, instead of cherry picking the blogs and TV channels to reinforce their particular branded choice cultural ignorance, consumer, scientific or political, but especially political. Tom and Ben could never have guessed we would chase prepackaged spectacle, junk science, and titillating rumor such as death panels, Obama as a socialist Muslim and Biblical proof that Adam and Eve rode dinosaurs around Eden. In a nation that equates democracy with everyman's right to an opinion, no matter how ridiculous, this was probably inevitable. After all, dumb people choose dumb stuff. That's why they are called dumb.

But throw in sixty years of television's mind puddling effects, and you end up with 24 million Americans watching Bristol Palin thrashing around on Dancing with the Stars, then watch her being interviewed with all seriousness on the networks as major news. The inescapable conclusion of half of heartland America is that her mama must certainly be presidential material, even if Bristol cannot dance. It ain't a pretty picture out there in Chattanooga and Keokuk.

http://www.joebageant.com/joe/2010/12/america-y-ur-peeps-b-so-dum.html">"America Y UR Peeps B So Dum?"

[JDPriestly]

47. Our entire financial structure is one huge Ponzi scheme.

My personal theory is that the crisis at this time is due to the fact that Wall Street knows that the Ponzi gig is up because the baby-boomers are retiring and will using the money they "invested" in stocks during their working years. There just are not enough people in the generations following the baby boomers to replace the money they "invested" in the Wall Street Ponzi scheme.

It's over guys. Back to basics.

[hulka38]

50. You're absolutely correct.

People are talking about recovery around here which reveals a misplaced trust in our leadership and their record of doing what's necessary to deal with the problem. Thank you for bringing this up.

[The Wizard]

51. public beatings

and prison are in order.

[bongbong]

52. Completely OT, but economic news

I don't know how to start new threads, but I just wanted to share this with fellow DU-ers.

Some of you watch 60 Minutes, and it was like a bad, bad movie tonight. Lead story was the TERRIBLE deficits that various states have. A LOT of time was given to Fats Christie, NJ governor.

There are several reasons this was like a bad movie.

*) deficits were the biggest issue before Nov 2, but starting 4 nanoseconds after the midterm election, they didn't matter any more. However, now that the tax cuts for billionaires have been passed, gov't deficits are BACK to being THE MOST PRESSING PROBLEM! Amazing timing. Almost as if it was planned....
*) the only way to fix the deficits, as discussed on the program, is to cut public services & especially pensions. Not a mention of tax increases on billionaires.
*) Christie did the class warfare thing by pointedly saying the public doesn't like paying for public employees' pensions.
*) lots of face time for the 2012 possible pres candidate Christie.
*) not a SINGLE question about the state tax cuts that Christie gave to millionaires.

The fix is totally in now. Look for America to resemble Bangladesh within 5 years.

[leftstreet]

53. K&R

[maryf]

56. k&rnt

[Nye Bevan]

57. Isn't Madoff in jail? What am I missing here?

And as for mortgage fraud, a simple Google search shows that thousands of cases have been investigated, prosecuted, and resulted in jail sentences:

http://www.google.com/search?hl=&q=%22mortgage+fraud%22+jaield&sourceid=navclient-ff&rlz=1B3GGLL_enUS399US400&ie=UTF-8#sclient=psy&hl=en&rlz=1B3GGLL_enUS399US400&source=hp&q=%22mortgage+fraud%22+jailed&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&oq=&gs_rfai=&pbx=1&fp=e64ee6e4e8056c32

Are there any particular people you believe are guilty of a crime who have not been prosecuted?

[Rex]

70. Don't you believe that more then Madoff is responsible

or are you of the mindset that it was only one perp? We could list companies and as an extension their boards of CEOs that committed fraud on a massive scale and so far haven't been charged with a crime yet. I will start - Goldman Sachs...why are they still in business and why is their CEO still treated like gold by our ruling party?

[Nye Bevan]

78. "U.S. reportedly considering Goldman criminal charges"

NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- Federal prosecutors are conducting a criminal securities-fraud investigation of Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and its employees, according to a Wall Street Journal report.

The report cited unnamed sources familiar with the probe.

Goldman Sachs already faces a civil fraud suit filed by the Securities and Exchange Commission, but the report said the U.S. Attorney in Manhattan is investigating whether to pursue criminal charges as well, dealing with the firm's previous mortgage trades.

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/us-considers-goldman-sachs-criminal-charges-wsj-2010-04-30

SEC Charges Goldman Sachs With Fraud in Structuring and Marketing of CDO Tied to Subprime Mortgages
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
2010-59

Washington, D.C., April 16, 2010 — The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged Goldman, Sachs & Co. and one of its vice presidents for defrauding investors by misstating and omitting key facts about a financial product tied to subprime mortgages as the U.S. housing market was beginning to falter.

http://www.sec.gov/news/press/2010/2010-59.htm

So obviously Goldman has been thoroughly investigated by the Department of Justice and the SEC. Are you arguing that the DOJ was incompetent, or corrupt, in its investigation? Or do you have additional evidence of purported crimes by Goldman Sachs that prosecutors were unaware of?

[Rex]

81. Why are they still in business? Did the SCOTUS not make it legal

to treat a corporation like a human body now? So obviously they will stay in busniess and the POTUS will take their advice. Keep rah rahing.

[chill_wind]

71. Are you seriously contesting the amount of corruption to be found

on Wall Street beyond Madoff?? And did you even look at the links in your own google search?
Nigeria? UK? Wales? Sarasota-- come on. Those are flippers, racketeers and individual people who dumped bad loans on the banks and they deserve to be prosecuted and oh you bet they ARE being prosecuted. Those aren't Banksters being prosecuted for their elaborate MERS frankenstein lab full of robo-signers and forgerers or anybody else-- like say - AIG's Joe Cassano, who tried to blow up world.

But HE's not going to be prosecuted.
http://www.georgewashington2.blogspot.com/2010/04/jospeh-cassano-guy-who-brought-down-aig.html

State AG Investigations in what, almost 50 states by now, for the foreclosurefraud scammers and scum
and the Federal gov't won't even call a moratorium in the meantime? What about foreclosure-mill kingpins like David Stern?

Did you read Octafish's link here?

11 Examples Of How Insanely Corrupt The U.S. Financial System Has Become

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/11-examples-of-recent-corruption-on-wall-street-2010-4#price-manipulation-of-gold-and-silver-1#ixzz18d7VZsOp

http://www.businessinsider.com/11-examples-of-recent-corruption-on-wall-street-2010-4#price-manipulation-of-gold-and-silver-1

[Rex]

82. It is called denial.

What about longtime crimes that no one answered for like the Saving and Loan scams? That is where these corporate crooks got the idea of stealing without caring about getting caught.

[Nye Bevan]

86. Many, many people went to jail in the aftermath of the S&L crisis.

Google it. And more recently, many people have gone to jail for mortgage fraud, as I have shown in earlier posts.

Just because you happen to have a personal dislike for a company, it does not follow that the company should be put out of business or that its executives should be prosecuted.

[chill_wind]

111. I guess so. And look what we have here just today:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x44319#top

[Overseas]

58. Sad K&R. Such Mega Fraud after Mega Torture.

That's why I thought 2009 would be so different.

Truth & Reconciliation might have put our nation on a new footing.

Acknowledging war crimes might have allowed us to look more honestly at major financial crimes.


Sigh...

[Agony]

59. You are not alone.

[Maineman]

60. Justice is arbitrary. This is uncomfortable to say, but

I fear that what Blacks have learned from the American Justice System over the years is that justice is arbitrary. Too many false convictions, laws slanted against Blacks, Blacks get longer sentences, Blacks are at risk of being presumed guilty, too often suspected, too often stopped by police without cause. Attorney General Holder and President Obama appear much too soft on crime, especially crime in high places like the Bush Administration and the big banks. Have they accepted the idea that justice is arbitrary? I am white, and I have not accepted that idea. President Obama wants to stop the hatefulness and the vengefulness. That is commendable, but serious crimes are serious crimes. People who do not get caught and suffer consequences conclude that they are too good to get caught. They continue or expand their criminal activity. It is extremely important that persons who commit crimes get caught. For example, what if Bernard Madoff had been caught years earlier? And what if the mortgage crooks had been caught early on?

[Kurovski]

61. K&R. (nt)

[Time for change]

63. This is one of the things that I am most upset with the Obama administration for

It's almost like they're saying that prosecuting rich people doesn't prevent future crimes.

I know that it's difficult to do, but that's their job. We need an RFK type as AG.

You most certainly are not alone in your thinking, Octafish. I feel the same way about the DUers who have let me know the same. Some things I try to talk to my real life friends and acquaintances about, and they think I'm nuts. Fortunately my children think like I do about these things.

[Safetykitten]

64. The awfull truth + a trillion trillion....

[KoKo]

65. ..Believe it or Not there are SOME Wall Street Bloggers and Connecteds workin for Democratic Idea

Ideas and Ideals....hopefully, one day TPTB will listen to THEM if not the REST OF US!

K&R!

[bertman]

66. It's hard to get the DOJ to prosecute the folks who gave their 'team' the money

to win the campaign that put them in charge of the DOJ.

Another excellent thread with numerous resources. Thank you, Octafish.

Rec.

[German]

68. AMERICA THE ......STUPID

THE FED'S STUPENDOUS CRIMES AGAINST THE AMERICAN TAXPAYERS EXPOSED

What if the greatest scam ever perpetrated was blatantly exposed, and the US media didn’t cover it? Does that mean the scam could keep going? That’s what we are about to find out.

We were finally granted the honor and privilege of finding out the specifics, a limited one-time Federal Reserve view, of a secret taxpayer funded “backdoor bailout” by a small group of unelected bankers. This data release reveals “emergency lending programs” that doled out $12.3 TRILLION in taxpayer money - $3.3 trillion in liquidity, $9 trillion in “other financial arrangements.”

Wait, what? Did you say $12.3 TRILLION tax dollars were thrown around in secrecy by unelected bankers… and Congress didn’t know any of the details?

Yes. The Founding Fathers are rolling over in their graves. The original copy of the Constitution spontaneously burst into flames. The ghost of Tom Paine went running, stark raving mad screaming through the halls of Congress.

Even the Financial Times, which named Lloyd Blankfein its 2009 person of the year, reacted by reporting this: “The initial reactions were shock at the breadth of lending, particularly to foreign firms. But the details paint a bleaker and even more disturbing picture.”

Yes, the emperor doesn’t have any clothes. God is, indeed, dead. But, for the moment at least, the illusion continues to hold power. How is this possible?

To start with, as always, the US television “news” media (propaganda) networks just glossed over the whole thing - nothing to see here, just move along, back after a message from our sponsors… Other than that obvious reason, I’ve come to the realization that the Federal Reserve’s crimes are so big, so huge in scale, it is very hard for people to even wrap their head around it and comprehend what has happened here.

Think about it. In just this one peek we got at its operations, we learned that the Fed doled out $12.3 trillion in near-zero interest loans, without Congressional input.

People also can’t grasp the colossal crime committed because they keep hearing the word “loans.” People think of the loans they get. You borrow money, you pay it back with interest, no big deal.

That’s not what happened here. The Fed doled out $12.3 trillion in near-zero interest loans, using the American people as collateral, demanding nothing in return, other than a bunch of toxic assets in some cases.

They only gave this money to a select group of insiders, at a time when very few had any money because all these same insiders and speculators crashed the system.

Do you get that? The very people most responsible for crashing the system, were then rewarded with trillions of our dollars. This gave that select group of insiders unlimited power to seize control of assets and have unprecedented leverage over almost everything within their economies - crony capitalism on steroids.

This was a hostile world takeover orchestrated through economic attacks by a very small group of unelected global bankers. They paralyzed the system, then were given the power to recreate it according to their own desires. No free market, no democracy of any kind. All done in secrecy. In the process, they gave themselves all-time record-breaking bonuses and impoverished tens of millions of people - they have put into motion a system that will inevitably collapse again and utterly destroy the very existence of what is left of an economic middle class.

That is not hyperbole. That is what happened.

We are talking about trillions of dollars secretly pumped into global banks, handpicked by a small select group of bankers themselves. All for the benefit of those bankers, and at the expense of everyone else. People can’t even comprehend what that means and the severe consequences that it entails, which we have only just begun to experience.

Let me sum it up for you: The American Dream is O-V-E-R.

Welcome to the neo-feudal-fascist state.

The Global Banking Cartel has now been so blatantly exposed, you cannot possibly get away with pretending that we live in a nation of law based on the Constitution. The jig is up.

It’s been over two years now; does anyone still seriously not understand why we are in this crisis? Our economy has been looted and burnt to the ground due to the strategic, deliberate decisions made by a small group of unelected global bankers at the Federal Reserve. Do people really not get the connection here? I mean, H.E.L.L.O. Our country is run by an unelected Global Banking Cartel.

Read how you got fooled in the whole article at http://impactglassman.blogspot.com/2010/12/feds-stupendous-crimes-against-american.html

[russspeakeasy]

105. Thanks for the post....well done...

[Blue_In_AK]

69. Octafish, you are always, ALWAYS right on target.

I don't read a lot of posters here anymore, but you? Always.

[Starry Messenger]

72. k&r

[Skittles]

74. no SHIT

[defendandprotect]

75. Bailing our criminal and corrupt capitalists strengthens them, weakens us .....

that certainly seems clear!

:)

[chill_wind]

79. And we're not anywhere near done with the bailouts.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=439&topic_id=42459&mesg_id=43082

[defendandprotect]

77. k/r

[Enthusiast]

80. This is a fact.

But the fraud is not going to be prosecuted. While the most mundane blue collar crimes are being punished white collar crimes of all sorts are going ignored. We set that precedent when we decided to 'look forward'.

[tomp]

83. as with war crimes and wire-tapping, failure to prosecute is complicity. nt

[TheUnspeakable]

84. k&r

[myrna minx]

85. K&R n/t

[Hubert Flottz]

87. When people rob banks they go to jail for a very long time...

When banks rob people they get a bonus and a bailout with a golden parachute. Who owns the law makers?

Edit to add...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kShTUmYRyCw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4F4yT0KAMyo&NR=1

The republican dream for America in song.

[DragonSlave]

89. Is that a sinkhole or a butthole?

[Oilwellian]

91. K&R

[lonestarnot]

94. kick as R'd yesterday!

:kick:

[bulloney]

95. What? You mean the Smoot-Hawley tariff didn't cause or worsen the Great Depression?

That was the RW talking point to discredit opponents of NAFTA.

RW talking heads continue to use Smoot-Hawley as their excuse for the cause of the GD. Republicans had controlled the White House and both houses of Congress in the decade leading up to the cause of the GD. They were deregulating markets and reducing taxes for the wealthy during that time, too. Smoot-Hawley didn't pass Congress until months after the 1929 Stock Market Crash. In other words, the policies and dynamics that caused the GD were in place and were allowed to fester long before any tariff could have made an impact.

[OnyxCollie]

97. K&R. nt

[Kurovski]

98. Kick. (nt)

[seafan]

99. This is the kind of information corporate media go to great lengths to bury.

Thanks for hauling it to the surface, Octafish.


The one thing these ba$tard$ fear the most is the truth being discovered by the masses.

[femrap]

101. Jump, you fuckers!

And thank you for not letting me feel so alone as well.

[earth mom]

112. Did any of em jump? Seems to me that the banksers have had a non stop party going ever since

they STOLE 9 TRILLION of the peoples money!

:grr:

May they all rot in hell!

[femrap]

113. I haven't heard the Fat Lady

sing yet. Maybe they need a little push!

Rot in hell after choking on their money.

[earth mom]

116. Totally agree. nt

[DirkGently]

102. If we let them go, they'll do it it again. It's what they're waiting for. (nt)

[Little Star]

103. Great Post! k&r

[russspeakeasy]

104. Nice going octafish..thanks for the post..

[Raksha]

107. K & R

[Ignis]

109. Too late to Rec, but this needs kicking.

:kick:

[bobthedrummer]

110. Kick for accountability-not that bloody "market self- correction, self-investigation" lie n/t

[bobthedrummer]

114. Jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle all the way to that private central bank kick