Is Wall Street America's One Common Enemy That Unites the Left and Right?

[healthmyths]

So what specific crimes did "Wall Street" commit?
Who specifically is "Wall Street" i.e. banks?, brokerage firms?,clearinghouses?

 

[JoeB131]

So what specific crimes did "Wall Street" commit?
Who specifically is "Wall Street" i.e. banks?, brokerage firms?,clearinghouses?

They destroyed the economy.

Hey, guy, I'm saying it's going to be a trial with legal nicities. Legal nicities are what you do when thing are going well.

This is about making an example out of some people. A very unpleasent example. This is about taking people who got stinking rich off ruining our country and throwing them in prison.

Because at the end of the day, laws didn't matter, did they? Laws don't matter unless there are consequences.

 

[Toro]

The vast bulk of derivatives did NOT result from regulation. Nor did the CDOs, RMBS, CDO squareds, CDS, etc. which were at the heart of the housing crisis. The writing of SIVs and CDS against derivatives products were generally done offshore in unregulated or lightly regulated jurisdictions. The speculation in housing and structured finance is separate from the business cycle and irrelevant to the discussion.

Markets fail sometimes. Sorry.

And when they do, the people who caused them to fail should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

Appoint a special prosecutor, and let him know his goal is to put the CEO's of these companies in jail. go after the low level flunkies until you get the dirt on the big fish.

Kind of like what they did with Enron.

Wrong.

You prosecute people because they broke the law. You do not prosecute people because markets fail or people lose money or out of spite and vengeance. We live by the rule of law, not mob rule. Failing is not a crime.

 

[JoeB131]

The vast bulk of derivatives did NOT result from regulation. Nor did the CDOs, RMBS, CDO squareds, CDS, etc. which were at the heart of the housing crisis. The writing of SIVs and CDS against derivatives products were generally done offshore in unregulated or lightly regulated jurisdictions. The speculation in housing and structured finance is separate from the business cycle and irrelevant to the discussion.

Markets fail sometimes. Sorry.

And when they do, the people who caused them to fail should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

Appoint a special prosecutor, and let him know his goal is to put the CEO's of these companies in jail. go after the low level flunkies until you get the dirt on the big fish.

Kind of like what they did with Enron.

Wrong.

You prosecute people because they broke the law. You do not prosecute people because markets fail or people lose money or out of spite and vengeance. We live by the rule of law, not mob rule. Failing is not a crime.

If they had the common decency to commit suicide, I wouldn't have an issue with them.

Of course, once upon a time, when you failed, that's what you were expected to do. We didn't give you a golden parachute and an eight figure severance package after your company got a government bailout. Failure actually meant disgrace.

Juries of 12 guys who lost their homes and jobs in this mess.

 

[Toro]

And when they do, the people who caused them to fail should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

Appoint a special prosecutor, and let him know his goal is to put the CEO's of these companies in jail. go after the low level flunkies until you get the dirt on the big fish.

Kind of like what they did with Enron.

Wrong.

You prosecute people because they broke the law. You do not prosecute people because markets fail or people lose money or out of spite and vengeance. We live by the rule of law, not mob rule. Failing is not a crime.

If they had the common decency to commit suicide, I wouldn't have an issue with them.

Of course, once upon a time, when you failed, that's what you were expected to do. We didn't give you a golden parachute and an eight figure severance package after your company got a government bailout. Failure actually meant disgrace.

Juries of 12 guys who lost their homes and jobs in this mess.

Kangaroo courts. Mob rule. Hatred. Violence.

Yeah, that's what makes America great.



Outstanding.

 

[JoeB131]

Kangaroo courts. Mob rule. Hatred. Violence.

Yeah, that's what makes America great.



Outstanding.

Hell, man, I'd go full out Roman Empire. Throw the Bankers to the Lions...

 

[jillian]

Kangaroo courts. Mob rule. Hatred. Violence.

Yeah, that's what makes America great.



Outstanding.

Hell, man, I'd go full out Roman Empire. Throw the Bankers to the Lions...

For doing what they were allowed to do?

 

[JoeB131]

Kangaroo courts. Mob rule. Hatred. Violence.

Yeah, that's what makes America great.



Outstanding.

Hell, man, I'd go full out Roman Empire. Throw the Bankers to the Lions...

For doing what they were allowed to do?

I don't buy the whole "well, enforcement was lax, so what they did was okay." argument.

Most of us do the right thing without the government telling us to do it.

Frankly, what was done with these guys is pretty much inviting them to do it again. They not only didn't go to jail, they got to keep their jobs, they got to keep their bonuses AND they got a big government bailout the rest of us ended up paying for.

The Lions seem a lot more fair to me, somehow.

 

[Contumacious]

Hell, man, I'd go full out Roman Empire. Throw the Bankers to the Lions...

For doing what they were allowed to do?

I don't buy the whole "well, enforcement was lax, so what they did was okay." argument.

Most of us do the right thing without the government telling us to do it.

Frankly, what was done with these guys is pretty much inviting them to do it again. They not only didn't go to jail, they got to keep their jobs, they got to keep their bonuses AND they got a big government bailout the rest of us ended up paying for.

The Lions seem a lot more fair to me, somehow.

Again, the federal government encourages the behavior by making credit easily obtainable and by bailing them out when they get in financial trouble.

.

 

[jillian]

Hell, man, I'd go full out Roman Empire. Throw the Bankers to the Lions...

For doing what they were allowed to do?

I don't buy the whole "well, enforcement was lax, so what they did was okay." argument.

Most of us do the right thing without the government telling us to do it.

Frankly, what was done with these guys is pretty much inviting them to do it again. They not only didn't go to jail, they got to keep their jobs, they got to keep their bonuses AND they got a big government bailout the rest of us ended up paying for.

The Lions seem a lot more fair to me, somehow.

it's not that enforcement was just "lax". they were de-regulated. and in business, business exists for its own profits. corporations, including banks, have no morality. you can go into institutional psychology, but it's kind of silly.

and the bail out had to happen because they'd have dragged all of us with them.

i know you're talking about lions for effect, but it doesn't add much to say that type of thing.

 

[Toro]

Hell, man, I'd go full out Roman Empire. Throw the Bankers to the Lions...

For doing what they were allowed to do?

I don't buy the whole "well, enforcement was lax, so what they did was okay." argument.

Most of us do the right thing without the government telling us to do it.

Frankly, what was done with these guys is pretty much inviting them to do it again. They not only didn't go to jail, they got to keep their jobs, they got to keep their bonuses AND they got a big government bailout the rest of us ended up paying for.

The Lions seem a lot more fair to me, somehow.

Identify the laws they broke and have at 'er.

But losing money isn't against the law. Nor is making money when everyone else is losing money, which is what you seem to resent the most.

 

[richstacy]

All of the above. And with all of the "liar loans" qualifying people for huge mortgages they could never hope to repay, the bundling of these sub-prime mortgages into toxic "derivatives," the creation of the bubble that inevitably burst causing the current disastrous economic situation, How many of the miscreants has Obama and his illustrious Attorney general Eric Holder prosecuted?? Zero, zip, nada -- not a single one!!! Instead, they have "bailed them out" with our money so they could pay themselves more huge bonuses!!

In sharp contrast in the 80s when the S&L crisis occured, we in the Reagan-Bush43 Justice Department, on the specific orders of the president, investigated, indicted, prosecuted, convicted and sent to prison more than a thousand crooked bankers -- thus restoring the country's faith in its banking system, its justice system and its economy.

And that, ladies and gentlemen, in a nutshell, is the difference between Republicans and what pass for Democrats today.

So what specific crimes did "Wall Street" commit?
Who specifically is "Wall Street" i.e. banks?, brokerage firms?,clearinghouses?

 

[richstacy]

For doing what they were allowed to do?

I don't buy the whole "well, enforcement was lax, so what they did was okay." argument.

Most of us do the right thing without the government telling us to do it.

Frankly, what was done with these guys is pretty much inviting them to do it again. They not only didn't go to jail, they got to keep their jobs, they got to keep their bonuses AND they got a big government bailout the rest of us ended up paying for.

The Lions seem a lot more fair to me, somehow.

Identify the laws they broke and have at 'er.

But losing money isn't against the law. Nor is making money when everyone else is losing money, which is what you seem to resent the most.

No Toro, losing your own money isn't against the law, but encouraging people to lie to qualify for liar loans, and bundling toxic mortgages you know to be worthless as prime investments is fraud, and fraud (including bank, securities, wire and mail fraud) and is illegal and very easy to prove. (Believe me, I know) AS I posted earlier:

"...with all of the "liar loans" qualifying people for huge mortgages they could never hope to repay, the bundling of these sub-prime mortgages into toxic "derivatives," the creation of the bubble that inevitably burst causing the current disastrous economic situation, How many of the miscreants has Obama and his illustrious Attorney general Eric Holder prosecuted?? Zero, zip, nada -- not a single one!!! Instead, they have "bailed them out" with our money so they could pay themselves more huge bonuses!!

In sharp contrast in the 80s when the S&L crisis occured, we in the Reagan-Bush43 Justice Department, on the specific orders of the President, investigated, indicted, prosecuted, convicted and sent to prison more than a thousand crooked bankers -- thus restoring the country's faith in its banking system, its justice system and its economy.
And that, ladies and gentlemen, in a nutshell, is the difference in Republicans and what pass for Democrats today."

Fraud is merely lying to get money Toro, and juries are ready willing and able to convict those who have had a hand in messing up their lives and causing pain to millions. Markets only go wrong when the men who control them go wrong, as they did here and as they did in the S&L crisis. Yet Eric Holder and DOJ sit on their hands and have done NOTHING!!