Why isn't Wall Street in jail?

[miller]

Over drinks at a bar on a dreary, snowy night in Washington this past month, a former Senate investigator laughed as he polished off his beer.

"Everything's fucked up, and nobody goes to jail," he said. "That's your whole story right there. Hell, you don't even have to write the rest of it. Just write that."

I put down my notebook. "Just that?"

"That's right," he said, signaling to the waitress for the check. "Everything's fucked up, and nobody goes to jail. You can end the piece right there."

Nobody goes to jail. 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 — and nobody went to jail. Nobody, that is, except Bernie Madoff, a flamboyant and pathological celebrity con artist, whose victims happened to be other rich and famous people.

Why Isn't Wall Street in Jail? | Rolling Stone Politics

Because we have a government by the corporations and for the corporations.

Corporations don't vote, we vote. The vote has the power, not the money. Stay in your trance so you keep voting exactly the way the propaganda tells you to vote for the Democrat Republican CRIME FAMILY.

 

[iamwhatiseem]

Too big too jail.

Aw c'mon...I thought this was funny...

 

[JimH52]

These people are elephant dung, pure and simple...

 

[konkon]

Some may think they have a licence to steal.

 

[miller]

Bribes you idiot!!

 

[Dot Com]

Over drinks at a bar on a dreary, snowy night in Washington this past month, a former Senate investigator laughed as he polished off his beer.

"Everything's fucked up, and nobody goes to jail," he said. "That's your whole story right there. Hell, you don't even have to write the rest of it. Just write that."

I put down my notebook. "Just that?"

"That's right," he said, signaling to the waitress for the check. "Everything's fucked up, and nobody goes to jail. You can end the piece right there."

Nobody goes to jail. 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 — and nobody went to jail. Nobody, that is, except Bernie Madoff, a flamboyant and pathological celebrity con artist, whose victims happened to be other rich and famous people.

Why Isn't Wall Street in Jail? | Rolling Stone Politics

Because we have a government by the corporations and for the corporations.

BINGO. It's a revolving door. All you have to do is look at the people appointed to Treasury as an example. All Wall St cronies. Add to that the floodgates opened by the Citizens United case.

 

[riofebdinan12]

Thank you for the post

 

[BolshevikHunter]

These international banking criminals will rape this nation dry until there is nothing left to rape. Then, They will start a World War that we can't possibly win, pack up their bags & bank accounts (or wait, there in Sweden) their families and move on to the next Nation of victims. Then the stupid sheople will ask why, or how did this happen? As SOME helplessly watch their own families, friends and strangers become animals in the face of starvation, mass gang rapes and killings. Bet it, because it's coming to a theater near you sooner than later. ~BH

 

[Dot Com]

Just heard this on the radio:

Hedge fund insider-trading trial to start | Marketplace From American Public Media

Eric Breslin, a partner with law firm Duane Morris, says tight industry ties can often present a problem for hedge funds, because they're less regulated.

ERIC BRESLIN: What is the line between really good and foresighted analysis and trading on inside information? The line can be very, very narrow. You can make one two-minute telephone call and make yourself a tremendous amount of money. Hard to pass up.

Rajaratnam beat the market almost every year since 1992. Returns like that, says Chris Whalen, are too good to be honest.

WHALEN: An honest manager is going to be wrong as many times as they're right.

At the heart of the government's case are hundreds of wiretaps. That's a technique usually used in mob cases. So perhaps the government sees Rajaratnam less as Mark McGwire and more as John Gotti.

In New York, I'm Heidi Moore for Marketplace.

RYSSDAL: Jury selection for the Rajuratnam case begins tomorrow. We got a hold of the juror questionnaire, which includes this question: How honest do you think Wall Street executives are?

 

[BolshevikHunter]

Just heard this on the radio:

Hedge fund insider-trading trial to start | Marketplace From American Public Media

Eric Breslin, a partner with law firm Duane Morris, says tight industry ties can often present a problem for hedge funds, because they're less regulated.

ERIC BRESLIN: What is the line between really good and foresighted analysis and trading on inside information? The line can be very, very narrow. You can make one two-minute telephone call and make yourself a tremendous amount of money. Hard to pass up.

Rajaratnam beat the market almost every year since 1992. Returns like that, says Chris Whalen, are too good to be honest.

WHALEN: An honest manager is going to be wrong as many times as they're right.

At the heart of the government's case are hundreds of wiretaps. That's a technique usually used in mob cases. So perhaps the government sees Rajaratnam less as Mark McGwire and more as John Gotti.

In New York, I'm Heidi Moore for Marketplace.

RYSSDAL: Jury selection for the Rajuratnam case begins tomorrow. We got a hold of the juror questionnaire, which includes this question: How honest do you think Wall Street executives are?

So basically, To be appointed to a Jury, one must lie about their personal feelings about these international Gangsters? = Exactly.

Anyway, I would lie on the questionaire just in order to get onto the Jury so I could participate in sending one of these bottomfeeding rapists of America to the big house. Which is really just a Country Club with guards, for assholes. It would not suprise me if they start building Golf courses on the remaining lland of alot of these Federal Prisons. ~BH

 

[Cuyo]

Because they own the Attorney General, who controls The Department of Justice. They also own The President, who appointed the Attorney General. Just as they own most of The Senate, Who confirmed The Attorney General. who by the way, is also a member of the cabinet. ~BH

Boy I tell ya - When you're right, you're right.

 

[Dot Com]

Until there is some SERIOUS and ALL ENCOMPASSING Reform to campaign finance, they'll only prosecute a case here and there to serve as window-dressing to keep the masses entertained

 

[BolshevikHunter]

Because they own the Attorney General, who controls The Department of Justice. They also own The President, who appointed the Attorney General. Just as they own most of The Senate, Who confirmed The Attorney General. who by the way, is also a member of the cabinet. ~BH

Boy I tell ya - When you're right, you're right.

Yeah, And this is one of those times where being right isn't a good thing my friend. ~BH

 

[waltky]

Goldman Sachs implicated...

Huge insider trading case trial begins
3/8/2011 - Judge asks jurors if they can be impartial about a one-time billionaire

The criminal trial of hedge fund founder Raj Rajaratnam, at the center of the biggest U.S. insider trading probe in decades, began on Tuesday with the judge asking potential jurors whether they could be fair in deciding the case of a wealthy financial executive. About 150 potential jurors were told by Manhattan federal court Judge Richard Holwell that Lloyd Blankfein and David Viniar -- the Goldman Sachs Group Inc chief executive and chief financial officer -- were on a list of people who might testify or be mentioned during the trial.

Onetime billionaire Rajaratnam, 53, whose Galleon Group hedge funds managed $7 billion at their peak, is in a courtroom showdown with prosecutors that will feature wiretap evidence and the testimony of former friends and associates, some of whom once had top positions in corporate America. Goldman's shares are among 35 stocks cited in the charges. Rajaratnam is accused of obtaining inside information about the bank from a friend who sat on the company's board. Goldman is not accused of wrongdoing.

Opening statements in the trial will start once the 12-member jury is in place, likely Wednesday or Thursday. The trial is expected to last up to two months. "We're gonna hear a lot of evidence with a lot of big dollars attached to it," the judge said, asking potential jurors whether they can be fair and impartial.

The list he read to the jury includes the names of 102 people and 50 companies. Many of the companies' shares are technology stocks that prosecutors accuse Rajaratnam of either illegally gathering confidential information about or trading in between 2003 and March 2009. The government says Rajaratnam made $45 million in illegal profit. He could face a 20-year prison sentence if convicted on the most serious charge of securities fraud. A jury questionnaire makes it clear that the case does not have anything to do with the country's financial problems.

MORE

See also:

Hedge fund guru Icahn to return clients' money
3/8/2011 - Elder statesman of investors says he's ending fund 'on a high note'

Billionaire hedge fund manager Carl Icahn said he plans to return all of his clients' money, becoming the latest in a string of investors who no longer want to manage money for outsiders. "After careful consideration of all relevant factors, we have determined to return all fee-paying capital to investors," the 75-year-old stock picker wrote in an investor letter. A copy of the letter was released in a regulatory filing Tuesday morning.

Icahn, known for picking winners and pushing for change at prominent corporations, has reigned as an elder statesman in the hedge fund industry for years, and news of his pulling back came as something of a shock. Since its launch in 2004, Icahn Capital has delivered gross returns of 106.9 percent, Icahn said in the letter. He pointed to last year's gains and this year's positive returns: In the first two months of 2011, the fund return 8.7 percent. "Obviously, based on the past two years and two months, we are ending on what I consider to be a high note," he wrote.

Investors will receive their money in cash in April. Icahn did not detail exactly how many billions he will be returning. His decision suggests he has become weary of navigating volatile markets at a time when investors are becoming more demanding. Only last week, in an interview with Reuters, he gave no indication he wanted to cut back. "I enjoy doing it," he said. "It's sort of like a chess game. I find it fascinating ... What else would I do?"

Source

 

[jasonmorston]

the society views wealth as the surpreme goal. to them wall street are heroes not criminals. very Atlantis i belive. hope the solution is the same. today bill gross of PIMCO the worlds largest bond fund dumped his US treasuries the dollar is headed the way of the russian currency (ironicaly the same name as a vodka)

 

[jasonmorston]

it is pretty sad. you would think with 300 million people somebody fix this. i miss Robspierre. alive today he would doubtlessly televise the mass banker beheadings! must-see TV! btw BANK OF AMERICA GOT 3.5 BILLION FROM THE FED IN 2009 THAT'S YOUR MONEY WASTED ON THE PARASITES

 

[Chris]

it is pretty sad. you would think with 300 million people somebody fix this. i miss Robspierre. alive today he would doubtlessly televise the mass banker beheadings! must-see TV! btw BANK OF AMERICA GOT 3.5 BILLION FROM THE FED IN 2009 THAT'S YOUR MONEY WASTED ON THE PARASITES

There is a way to fight back.

Take your money out of these banks.

I moved my money to RBC.

They weren't involved in any of the shenanigans.

 

[PersianKnight]

Close down the IMF, the IMF is controlled by the US, sorry for misleading you I mean Israel. South America no longer takes loans from the IMF or got scammed by Wall Street to purchased mortgage back securities. Every country that bought MBS is in a depression

 

[Liberty]

idiots. the markets don't control government...GOVERNMENT CONTROLS THE MARKET.

Banks gave bad loans because the government strong armed them into doing it. The bubble burst. Banks were the scapegoat.

Banks decide not to give out bad loans. People blame them for being greedy, government propagates.

You idiots are being played. Government is the problem, not the banks and not the free marketers.

 

[Sallow]

I printed this article out, put it at the bottom of the pile and will read it in a month or so.

I am sympathetic towards critics of Wall Street, having seen Wall Street up and close. However, Matt Taibbi, the author of this piece, is a dumbass with seemingly little understanding of financial history. His hack piece on Goldman was awful.

I've seen it up close and personal too..heck..it's wear I work. It's not pretty. What happened at Lehman was very similar to what happened at Enron.