FRONTLINE and the ineptitude/corruption of the Obama justic

[denjohn]

The Untouchables
FRONTLINE examines why no Wall St. execs have faced fraud charges for the financial crisis

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/untouchables/

[Amskeptic]

The Untouchables
FRONTLINE examines why no Wall St. execs have faced fraud charges for the financial crisis

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/untouchables/

Lenny Breuer (sic?) what a pansy, his answers were hopelessly small.
We have a serious problem. The people who could fix it are part of the problem. Therefore we have a bigger problem.
Colin

[denjohn]

Here's a 10 min followup to the Frontline vid and Lenny B:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=pl ... jNkTMzC2QI

[denjohn]

We have a serious problem. The people who could fix it are part of the problem. Therefore we have a bigger problem.
Colin

Here's some support for that thought, but also some HOPE
http://jessescrossroadscafe.blogspot.co ... lfare.html

[Amskeptic]

We have a serious problem. The people who could fix it are part of the problem. Therefore we have a bigger problem.
Colin

Here's some support for that thought, but also some HOPE
http://jessescrossroadscafe.blogspot.co ... lfare.html

I can't yet see the hope through the red . . .

[glasseye]

Lenny Breuer (sic?) what a pansy, his answers were hopelessly small.

And displayed all the tells of a liar.

[denjohn]

Jesse:

"But there is a sort of 'Ok guys, you're mad, but how are you going to stop me' mentality at the top."

Robert Johnson


Audacious oligarchy.

This will not end well.

(Soon to follow) Matt Taibbi and Bill Moyers discussing Why We Can't Let the Banks Off the Hook.

Ignoring such pervasive white collar crimes, which are still ongoing by the way, creates a climate of extreme moral hazard, festering corruption, and teaches felony by example.

I think they give Obama, the regulators, and the Congress far to much credit in ignoring these crimes 'for the good of the system.' It is all about careerism, the credibility trap, and going along to get along.

They cannot reform the system because they are the system, and the political and financial elite are doing just fine with the system the way that it is, thank you very much. They do not want things to change.

[Amskeptic]

"They cannot reform the system because they are the system,
They do not want things to change."

As I mentioned, this is the realm of addiction, because they are causing actual harm to the nation. And addicts must have an intervention. And we must be the concerned interveners. And that scares me mostly today, because like never before it seems, we have wingnuts with lousy educations in our midst perfectly ready to go to and do battle at the behest of Adlemans and Kochs and Limbaugh/Hannity/Becks, and they are the ones who love guns so damn much.
Colin

[Bleyseng]

"They cannot reform the system because they are the system,
They do not want things to change."

As I mentioned, this is the realm of addiction, because they are causing actual harm to the nation. And addicts must have an intervention. And we must be the concerned interveners. And that scares me mostly today, because like never before it seems, we have wingnuts with lousy educations in our midst perfectly ready to go to and do battle at the behest of Adlemans and Kochs and Limbaugh/Hannity/Becks, and they are the ones who love guns so damn much.
Colin

Screaming "God is on ourside" as they wave a AR15........Hmm, sounds like Islamists fanatics to me

[denjohn]

In a recent interview with PBS’s Frontline, Lanny Breuer – head of the criminal division at the Department of Justice – appeared to admit that some financial institutions were too big to prosecute. In the “too big to fail is too big to jail” controversy that ensued, lobbyists and other supporters of big Wall Street firms tried all kinds of complicated ways to spin Mr. Breuer’s words.

Their job got a lot harder yesterday when Eric Holder, the attorney general, stated clearly to the Senate Judiciary Committee,

“I am concerned that the size of some of these institutions becomes so large that it does become difficult for us to prosecute them when we are hit with indications that if you do prosecute, if you do bring a criminal charge, it will have a negative impact on the national economy, perhaps even the world economy,”

According to Mr. Holder, speaking as the top enforcer of the country’s laws, “some of these institutions have become too large.”

More from Simon Johnson at:
http://baselinescenario.com/2013/03/07/ ... too-large/

[Spezialist]

Lots of people died and are now homeless because of that crisis.
Collateral damage?
Because they made the wrong choices?
The eilite knew the market would rebound as soon as the niche's were filled in again.
Keep ignoring the canary in the coal mine,

[denjohn]

The most sacred of the duties of government is to do equal and impartial justice to all its citizens.

Thomas Jefferson

[denjohn]

Elizabeth Warren: What Level of Criminality Will It Take to Shut Down a Bank, (Mr. President)?
http://jessescrossroadscafe.blogspot.co ... el-of.html

How far above the law can Banks and their management go before they will be brought to account, besides a fine that is considered a cost of doing business?

It's a good question asked in the most straight faced, almost naively innocent, manner by Senator Elizabeth Warren.

Apparently amongst the Washington bureaucrats, with regard to any indictments and prosecution of financial matter 'the buck stops' with Eric Holder and his Justice Department. Without that tool, the regulators can only levy civil fines, although often those fines are only wristslaps.

And the other day Mr. Attorney General Holder said that considerations other than criminality, including instances of brazen and repeated offenses, inhibit the Justice Department from doing their jobs in prosecuting financial crimes.

Those considerations are the importance of that institution to the economy and the systemic threat that a loss of confidence might provoke. In other words, size and power, and the fear of the consequences of enforcing the existing laws, much less reform, are at the heart of the Administration's policy towards prosecuting significant financial crimes at the highest levels. And that policy sets the tone for the economy, and the market's attitudes towards regulation and reform.

But since Eric Holder is Obama's personal representative, almost certainly acting in consultation on financial matters with the Treasury Secretary, the offensive corruption in the financial sector is the result of the President's policies. That is also known as moral hazard. And at this point he has no one else to blame.

And so Senator Warren might as well ask: "Mr. President, to what level of criminality must a Bank, and its management, rise before you would be willing to allow your Justice Department to indict and prosecute it? And as an aside, why are you so zealous in prosecuting whistleblowers and reformers, but so tolerant of even extreme examples of white collar financial crime that abets unrelated, non-financial felonies?"

It is doubtful that the mainstream Republicans and Democrats will ever bring anyone to account, because they are as, or even more, complicit in this web of corruption, having been given enormous amounts of money by the Banks in speaking fees and campaign contributions, with the promise of greater amounts for consulting after their terms in office.

And there it is: the credibility trap. Justice for some. However one wishes to rationalize it, but always in order to preserve it.

Senator Warren may as well have asked, like the childlike innocent, "Why is the Emperor naked?"

[Amskeptic]

Senator Warren may as well have asked, like the childlike innocent, "Why is the Emperor naked?"

"Why are all of us little people naked and the Emperor is in furs?"