Michael Milken on CNBC - this kind of amazes me, really . . .

[HughBeaumont]

How does a guy who was

* indicted on 98 counts of securities fraud and racketeering,

* eventually convicted of 6 counts of fraudulent securities reporting (felonies, last I checked),

* sentenced to 10 years in prison (of which he served less than 2 years),

* forced to pay $200 million in fines, $400 million in restitution (he paid $1.1 billion for all
lawsuits related to his actions while working as a junk bond trader at Drexel)

. . . come out of prison even richer than he was before???

He has a net worth of 2 billion dollars.

If any of US stole even $500, we'd never work again and die in squalor.

What makes HIS theft legal?

What makes ANY financial pirate's theft LEGAL?

Why and how are these people allowed to get away with their crimes?

[fasttense]

1. Michael Milken, a convicted criminal,

is actually on the TV and people actually care what he has to say.

It's just good old RepubliCON-Koch brothers family values.

[HughBeaumont]

2. On CNBC - hiring grounds for well-to-do Reaganite spawn.

Hyper-Reaganite supply-siders interviewing hyper-Reaganite supply siders, many of whom are behind great uncaught "legal" crimes enhancing their fortunes. Fitting.

[inademv]

3. Not really surprising

Oliver North got a nice deal over at Fox, idk where you rate high treason against Milken's crime. Also people, for some reason, care what Reagan had to say, same rap as North.

This country just seems to love white collar criminals.

[roguevalley]

11. he's trying to buy a reputation by giving 25k grants to teachers.

an a-hole here has one and doesn't know its covered in blood. or he doesn't care.

[roguevalley]

12. he has prostate cancer really badly and is funding research

to save his own sorry ass. there is the benefit to others of that but it isn't because he's a good man. its because he's a confirmed a-hole.

[SpiralHawk]

4. The answer: Republicon Family Values

Repubs luv them their grifters.

[HughBeaumont]

6. And keep voting them into office .. .

again . . .


and again . . .


and again . . .


and again . . .

[leveymg]

5. Prosecutors and Judges don't send people "just like me" to jail often or for very long

It's a class-solidarity thing. It's just "bad form" to harshly punish the people who they went to Ivy League colleges with and buy junk bonds from. Wink-wink-nod-nod. Secret handshake. Boola Boola, rah, rah, rah, Eli Yale!

Besides, the rich and powerful have influential friends who can absolutely ruin a promising legal career for anyone who steps outside the rules and dispenses real justice.

The rich ARE different for you and I. They know it, so they steal bigger. MUCH BIGGER.

[lib2DaBone]

7. Almost every high-level politician has served at Goldman-Sachs....

The Banksters run everything.. control everything.

They make the laws to keep the working people hungry and barefoot.. while slashing any regulations that hinder the Banksters from roaming free over the globe.

Case in point: Mike Scott, Rick Scott, John Kashich, Bernake, Geithner, on and on.....

[HughBeaumont]

8. These three CNBCers are Goldman-Sachs alums:

[hobbit709]

9. They let him keep $200 million of the money he stole.

Hell, I'd do two years in a minimum security jail for $200 mill.

[HughBeaumont]

17. I think the point is, he shouldn't have been allowed to keep any of his money at ALL.

This is supposed to be a "Nation of Laws", but it seems that notion applies primarily to the middle/working/poor. It's almost like we go out of our way to keep wealth at the top among an elite few no matter WHAT crimes they commit. Sure you have your odd example of Bernie Madoff and Allen Stanford here and there, but it goes without saying that there's huge uncontested money in bilking people.

[Marblehead]

10. we have to be one of the most

corrupt nations on the planet, I am sick of it

[closeupready]

14. Yes, it sometimes seems exactly that.

It's appalling, but what can you do? The corruption is so deep and entrenched and institutionalized that you really just have to let it go at some point.

It's just like in Third World countries - if you dare attempt real reform, the crooks in charge will destroy you. Countless past and current examples of that.

[Marblehead]

15. that is the saddest

part about it...

[closeupready]

16. It is indeed. Were it not so, we'd have a much more dynamic economy and society.

nt

[closeupready]

13. There we go. I have no idea how that happens, but

additionally, his "Milken Institute" has had an effect of white-washing his sordid and despicable background.

[MisterP]

18. technocultist George Gilder says that

"Milken was a key source of the organizational changes that have impelled economic growth over the last twenty years. Most striking was the productivity surge in capital, as Milken … and others took the vast sums trapped in old-line businesses and put them back into the markets."

so, according to the Randroids, he deserves every penny

[raouldukelives]

19. All animals are equal

But some animals are more equal than others.

[HughBeaumont]

20. Kick for the night crue.