Three news stories that are all interelated.
From Today's N.Y. Times - The bi-partisan Senate Committee on Investigation Chaired by Sen. Carl Levin placed the blame for the financial crisis at the feet of Goldman Sucks, the rating agencies and lax government oversight. The bottom line is that Goldman Sucks got off incredibly easy by only paying $600 million in fines for its double dealing and what many are calling outright "securities fraud".
I don't know why we had to wait so long for this. Taibbi was writing the same stuff two years ago starting with " The Great American Bubble Machine" and culminating in his latest book, "Griftopia".
Also from Today's Times - The virtual dearth of criminal prosecutions flowing from the most recent meltdown as compared to Enron and related accounting scandals or the S & L crisis of 1983-8. First asked by Matt Taibbi in a Rolling Stone article centered on guess who ? ... Goldman Sucks , the question remains : Why isn't anyone going to jail ? Why were Lehman executives and their accountants pursued civilly when Enron et. al felt the full wrath of the Justice Dept ? Why were Keating and Paul ( no relation to Ron and Rand ) sent to jail when Angelo Mozilo and all the "Friends of Angelo" were either not investigated or just slapped on the wrist with civil penalties ? Reagan and Bush "The Smarter" increased funds to investigate S & L fraud. Bush The Dumber, Obama and Holder have cut them. To date, Chris Dodd has never been put under oath and forced to explain how he got that sweetheart mortgage. Now that he has Jack "Boom Boom " Valenti's old job as head of MPAA he's almost untouchable. Too many friends in Hollywood and too many avenues to campaign cash for Democrat coffers.
Lastly is Taibbi's latest piece in Rolling Stone "The Real Housewives of Wall Street". Who knew that Federal bailout funds went to John Mack's wife ? And other wives of Wall Street big shots like Susan Karches under a little known Federal Reserve program called TALF. Lawmakers as diverse as Bernie Sanders and Rand Paul are outraged at who got bailout money from the Fed. It was literally as though a charity benefit had been held for the spouses and children of Wall Street executives. And the American taxpayer was forced to buy all the tickets.
I didn't know whether to laugh or cry when I read it. All I can say is that NOBODY can blame this latest on Bush The Dumber or any other Republican.



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