Community | February 22, 2011 | 39 comments

Matt Taibbi: "Why Isn’t Wall Street in Jail?"

source: http://www.democracynow.org/2011/2/22/matt_taibbi_why_isnt_wall_street

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treewolf39
"Nobody goes to jail,” writes Matt Taibbi in the new issue of Rolling Stone magazine. “This is the mantra of the financial-crisis era, one that saw virtually every major bank and financial company on Wall Street embroiled in obscene criminal scandals that impoverished millions and collectively destroyed hundreds of billions, in fact, trillions of dollars of the world’s wealth." Taibbi explains how the American people have been defrauded by Wall Street investors and how the financial crisis is connected to the situations in states such as Wisconsin and Ohio.

Video interview at the link.........................
http://www.democracynow.org/2011/2/22/matt_taibbi_why_isnt_wall_street

The interview has been extended. Here is the link to the full interview........http://www.democracynow.org/blog/2011/2/22/matt_taibbi_why_isnt_wall_street_in_j...
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39 comments // Matt Taibbi: "Why Isn’t Wall Street in Jail?"

  • treewolf39
  • bambuu
    • +3
      bambuu  

    • I finally got around to watching the actual interview last night and by the end of that interview my blood was boiling and it makes no sense that Richard Fuld is not in jail or Blankfein.

      The sad thing is these bakers are going to do it again and again and again knowing that they will not be jailed. Madoff was the scapegoat.

    • 1 year ago
  • JonRaymond
  • Mary_Jane_Stewart
  • GENERALNATTY
    • 0
      GENERALNATTY  

    • In order to put them in jail you have to start criminal investigations to gain evidence.

      As soon as those criminal investigations begin to take place , every company who has fbi agents rummaging through there files are going to see there shares drop to nothing.

      Since the problem is so widespread it means that most of wallstreet will see ridiculous losses because investors wont take a chance.

      About 28 banks have failed so far in 2011
      http://www.fdic.gov/bank/individual/failed/banklist.html

      The economy is still fragile its a case of choosing the greater good , get america back on its feet or lock up wall street.

      Remember Enron?

      "Shareholders lost nearly $11 billion when Enron's stock price, which hit a high of US$90 per share in mid-2000, plummeted to less than $1 by the end of November 2001. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) began an investigation, and rival Houston competitor Dynegy offered to purchase the company at a fire sale price. The deal fell through, and on December 2, 2001, Enron filed for bankruptcy under Chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code. Enron's $63.4 billion in assets made it the largest corporate bankruptcy in U.S. history until WorldCom's bankruptcy the following year.[2]"

      Now its plain too see that this issue is bigger than enron and also that investors now are much more weary of investing in america giving the recent history and the fragile state of the economy.

      I'm not saying not to go after those responsible , just that now is not the time.

    • 1 year ago
  • CaptSutter
    • +2
      CaptSutter  
    • GENERALNATTY:

      I suppose it is the classic question of "whose ox is being gored?"
      If we could return to a democracy, information available freely, everyone responsible for there actions,then predatory lenders, and fraudulent traders would have to make good the losses.
      The argument that you can't hold people accountable because the whole system will break is an indictment of the system.

      IMHO it would be much better to hold people accountable and let the pieces fall where they may. tear off the band-aid and put things together right. I don't believe in benevolent dictatorships, especially when the evidence is so blatant that the majority is suffering for the welfare of the rich and powerful.

      Tahibi pointed out that the common wisdom is that Maddoff went down because his victims were rich. The damage of the predatory lending out strips Maddoff's crime vastly. The people sleeping on the streets are suffering right now. How dare you use your welfare as the standard by which to justify protection of the guilty.

      The system is breaking wouldn't it be better to try to fix it before more are harmed??? That is not what is happening now.

    • 1 year ago
  • GENERALNATTY
    • 0
      GENERALNATTY  
    • CaptSutter:

      The system of financial practices can be repaired without harm to the economy that involves changing law and policy and improving those rules and regulations can only strengthen it. Right now people cant feed there families or pay there mortgages or find work .

      Remember the old adage its better to let 10 guilty men go free than to put a innocent man in jail?

      Well its better to put millions of americans back to work , then to start criminal investigations that can be put off , that could very well break the back of the economy.

      The system has never been perfect , this is a reality and everyone is at they mercy of the financial system and decisions to prosecute is often swayed by the level of repercussions that can be felt regardless of the situation.

      Whether its something as simple and stupid as lindsay lohan and paris hilton getting ridiculously light sentences because of there social status or a District Attorney dropping a case with a likeable defendant because its an election year , or taking an overzealous approach in seeking convictions and harsh sentences for those who should not otherwise receive such treatment for the same reason.

      The imperfections in the justice system has been well documented and still persist to this day.

      Its like a poster on here keithponder i believe his name is said the other day , i'm paraphrasing but he said something to effect that "insisting on being right all the time can destroy you"
      This is the situation here , locking up a few individuals now is not worth the repercussions to the economy.

      Are you willing to lose your home because someone had to be right , right now?
      Or would you be more in favor for waiting 5 years for the economy to get back on its feet ? Waiting a while seems like a small price to pay IMHO , besides this is the biggest financial collapse since the great depression this situation is extremely rare and unique and considering the prior zealousness to prosecute people who have commited offenses within the financial system i think its unfair to say that govt has been soft on crime.

      They brought down enron , MCI worldcom and countless others and even put martha stewart in federal prison i think they should be forgiven under current circumstances.

    • 1 year ago
  • Mark701
    • +2
      Mark701  
    • CaptSutter:

      "The system is breaking wouldn't it be better to try to fix it before more are harmed???"
      Yes absolutely. The problem is that the people who are responsible for fixing it, are part of it. We witnessed this in the fight over financial reform. Banks spent millions lobbying congressmen to leave the system alone, despite the fact Wall Streets methods wrecked the economy (again) in 2008. Corporate lobbying of congress is the primary reason Obama couldn't break up the big banks.

      Unfortunately those banks will be the only place to go to get a house loan in the future because the days of Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae are coming to an end. This is another blow to what's left of the middle class because the big banks were not created, nor are inclined to provide low interest loans to people trying to buy their first home.

    • 1 year ago
  • KSirys
  • Itsbatman_Durr
  • MotherForTruth
  • PressCore
    • +6
      PressCore  

    • After a century of Banksters abusing a system of fiat money created
      to put people to work, for the past 40 years, their corrupt practices,
      and Government tax breaks to the uber rich have allowed the top 1%
      to go from owning 25% to 50% of all the wealth 300 million Americans
      own. Their Bribery, intimidation, and other criminal tactics are so well
      practiced, the only way they could go to jail is if: 1. Noone could be
      tempted by huge sums of sanctioned counterfeit money. 2. if they
      also held title to the jail itself. 3. If they had private accomodations
      in their own jail so plush, it would dwarf other digs. Like Jaye Leno
      said on the Cheetos commercials( realy, no pun intended) " Why
      send you kids to their room if they misbehave? They got everything
      there. That's not punishment. You should send them to YOUR room
      instead,parents. There's nothing going on there. Point well taken.
      As the senior Rothschild said: " Give me control over any nation's
      money supply, and I can flaunt the laws " Kind of the same as " If
      you've got them by the balls, their hearts & minds usualy follow "
      We'd have do do something so radical as change the basis for our
      monentary system before we could see the laws enforced against
      Wall St crooks. Once their abuse of the system becomes so extreme
      it collapses, we will have a new monentary system. Until then making
      moves on them as Eliot Spitzer did will be difficult.

    • 1 year ago
  • bundlebear
  • Mary_Jane_Stewart
  • EmileZ
    • +3
      EmileZ [removed]  
    • Mary_Jane_Stewart:

      I think Mr. Taibbi's article is particularly highlighting how the government chooses to ENFORCE its existing regulations, but there is no doubt we should undo the deregulation or "financial modernization" (as it was sold at the end of Clinton's last term) which set the stage for our recent mortgage-backed securities fiasco. And we definately need to OUTLAW derivitives and hedge funds.

      Voting Democrat is not enough!!!

    • 1 year ago
  • Mary_Jane_Stewart
    • +1
      Mary_Jane_Stewart  
    • EmileZ:

      Remember the "Teapot Dome Scandal"? History just repeats itself and we seem to have collective amnesia. Corporations have the momentum here and the money and the government, where are the Davids? Can not believe I just used a Bible analogy. Plus even our mercenaries are being utilized in the Dept. of Homeland Sec. We seem to be herded into a very small corner here. America no longer needs a working class. Run for the hills!

    • 1 year ago
  • EmileZ
  • Mary_Jane_Stewart
  • EmileZ
  • GrannyLib
  • ThatCrazyLibertarian
  • Progresshiv
  • ThatCrazyLibertarian
  • Progresshiv
  • Mary_Jane_Stewart
  • samthesixth
  • SoCalFramer
  • samthesixth
  • treewolf39
  • VanessafromDC
  • SageRockandRoll
    • +8
      SageRockandRoll  

    • The people who run things haven't yet wised up to the fact the world moves much faster then they do. Wall street is a prime example. They've already found loop holes in the new laws and restrictions set against them and are exploiting them.

    • 1 year ago
  • treewolf39
  • SageRockandRoll
  • Mary_Jane_Stewart
  • EmileZ
    • +1
      EmileZ [removed]  
    • treewolf39:

      The actions of this judge in concert with the private prison industry are abominable (repugnantly hateful) as opposed to the naive and misguided assumption by this poor mother that calling the cops on her kid for a minor "offence" would help to straighten him out and conform to her ideas of what he ought to be doing.

      I had to say it.

    • 1 year ago
  • Mark701
    • +2
      Mark701  
    • treewolf39:

      And so it goes. It will all end when there is a revolution.

      If history has shown us anything it's that the little guy will only put up with bullshit from the upper elite for a finite period of time. If things keep going the way they are, revolution is a "when" not "if" scenario.

    • 1 year ago
  • treewolf39
    • 0
      treewolf39  
    • Mark701:

      Egypt showed us that people can wait a hell of a long time. I was really impressed by Egyptians control of their anger; still they are only at the beginning of trying to get a representative government. I imagine the US will act more like Libya when revolution rises.

    • 1 year ago
  • treewolf39
  • bambuu
    • +10
      bambuu  

    • It amazes me how in America these low life bankers can steal trillions of dollars, throw our economy into a tailspin and no one goes to jail. But if someone steals a $2,000.00 designer handbag they get 4 years in prison.

      It would have been great to see 40 million plus people standing strong at the doors of these banks.

    • 1 year ago
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