Community | February 06, 2013 | 6 comments

Bankers: Too Big To Jail?

source: http://libertycrier.com/finance/bankers-too-big-to-jail/?utm_source=The+Liberty+Crier&utm_ca...

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Radical_Centrist

http://libertycrier.com/finance/bankers-too-big-to-jail/?utm_source=T...

THERE ARE 2.2 million people now incarcerated in American prisons – the most, by far, in any country on this planet. A large number of them are no doubt – or at least beyond a reasonable one – guilty of terrible crimes that have harmed others.

But tens of thousands are imprisoned for much less: for stealing or selling (or possessing) relatively small amounts of drugs, or filing false tax returns or maybe cooking the books of their small businesses. Or because they have incompetent lawyers. Or because they can’t make bail.

So, the question raised yet again by the PBS documentary show “Frontline” last week – Why has not one Wall Street titan been indicted by the U.S. Justice Department in connection with the 2008 financial crisis? – must be viewed against that backdrop. With substantial evidence of fraud, not one criminal case could be assembled and taken to trial?

That’s Lanny Breuer’s story and he’s sticking to it. Breuer, chief of the Justice Department’s criminal division for four years (according to the Washington Post, he plans to leave soon), told PBS something to the effect of: What happened may look, walk and talk like fraud, but there’s no way to really prove that the big shots intended, in their heart of hearts, to commit an actual crime.

Experienced prosecutors think otherwise. But Breuer’s excuse is not as disturbing as the notion, expressed publicly by him and others, that – even if there’s evidence to make a criminal case – Wall Street banks shouldn’t be held accountable for crimes because such prosecutions could destabilize them and thereby upset the financial markets.

The banks are deemed, at least by some in a position to do something about it, “Too Big to Jail” – an idea, by the way, that is as absurd as it is maddening. As William K. Black, who headed the prosecutions in the savings-and-loan scandals during the Reagan administration, put it: “Seriously, you want to keep felons in charge of a bank for bank stability?”

Full Story: http://libertycrier.com/finance/bankers-too-big-to-jail/?utm_source=The+Liberty+...
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    Community,   News and Politics,   Politics,   Collective Journalism
  2. tags:
    Wall Street
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6 comments // Bankers: Too Big To Jail?

  • Mark701
    • +1
      Mark701  

    • "What happened may look, walk and talk like fraud, but there’s no way to really prove that the big shots intended, in their heart of hearts, to commit an actual crime"

      Well shit, maybe I should have argued that speeding ticket I got because in my heart of hearts I really didn't intend to go 90mph. Jesus. What unmitigated bullshit. So we're supposed to accept that the greedy IDIOTS who destroyed the economy, destroyed peoples retirement funds, committed trillions of dollars of fraud, trashed 20 million jobs and caused millions of people to lose their homes, while rewarding themselves lavishly with the support of a taxpayer funded bailout, are too valuable to jail??? Excuse me, but, Alice, we've gone through the looking glass.

      The fact is these people are protected by our "representatives" because they fill their campaign coffers. It's no more more complicated than that. The only way to ever jail these ego-maniacal freaks is to sever the financial umbilical cord connects Wall Street to congress. Do that and everything will straighten itself out.

    • 3 months ago
  • Radical_Centrist
  • mitekillem
    • +1
      mitekillem  

    • Really officer, I didn't mean to commit grand theft auto, I just test drove a brand new car for a month without paying anything on it, hid drugs in it's interior, doubled it's worth on my insurance policy, and claimed the car stolen, then when the trade was made I had them destroy the evidence so I could collect the insurance money, which I then used a portion of to pay off the car.
      See...no harm, no foul.

    • 3 months ago
  • Radical_Centrist
  • WalmartRamen
    • 0
      WalmartRamen  

    • Really I think everyone kind of knows it's the rich kids in school that
      has most of the drugs.

      It's kind of the same with the parents.

      I see why you don't want to shake up banks too much being how we
      are always going over a cliff there days.
      I am sure when things get settled down action will be coming!

      It takes time! Don't spin around like a dog chasing it's tail, like FoxNews does!

    • 3 months ago
  • Milieu
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