Why Isn't Wall Street in Jail?, page 1


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ATS Members have flagged this thread 96 times
Topic started on 16-2-2011 @ 05:01 PM by DimensionalDetective

Why Isn't Wall Street in Jail?


www.rollingstone.com
Not a single executive who ran the companies that cooked up and cashed in on the phony financial boom — an industrywide scam that involved the mass sale of mismarked, fraudulent mortgage-backed securities — has ever been convicted. Their names by now are familiar to even the most casual Middle American news consumer: companies like AIG, Goldman Sachs, Lehman Brothers, JP Morgan Chase, Bank of America and Morgan Stanley. Most of these firms were directly involved in elaborate fraud and theft. Lehman Brothers hid billions in loans from its investors. Bank of America lied about billions in bo
(visit the link for the full news article)


reply posted on 16-2-2011 @ 05:14 PM by 1SawSomeThings
reply to post by DimensionalDetective



Let me be the 1st to flag it. I should say that I lost 1/2 of my rollover retirement from a company who treated me ungraciously after 17 years, to a "unnamed company" shyster who makes money whether we win or lose. I'll follow up on that later.

PO'd about the market in general.....
edit on 16-2-2011 by 1SawSomeThings because: (no reason given)




reply posted on 16-2-2011 @ 05:15 PM by alyoshablue
Conceptually, makes me think of this:


It's just a bunch of folks who have cozied up to the counter at Uncle Sam's Cafe and drink your milkshake. Listed under the neon lights of Uncle Sam's Cafe, reads, "What democracy is all about."
edit on 16-2-2011 by alyoshablue because: (no reason given)



reply posted on 16-2-2011 @ 05:20 PM by dolphinfan
reply to post by DimensionalDetective



Why isn't the gent who makes $40K/year who signed a legal contract to get into a no money down loan for $300K which he could never afford be in jail? Because he's a "little guy"?.

Why isn't the bleeding heart government official who mandated that banks give loans to folks who could not afford them in jail? Because his intentions were noble?

Get off the Wall Street is the only party to blame in this situation. Its tired, its old and its an argument filled with half-truths.

It is no different than saying that a rich guy who robs a bank deserves a greater sentence than a homeless gent who robs a bank. Both are equally guilty and both deserve scorn and punishment
edit on 16-2-2011 by dolphinfan because: (no reason given)



reply posted on 16-2-2011 @ 05:21 PM by speculativeoptimist
reply to post by DimensionalDetective



Because they are RUNNING the highest systems of what determines what is and isn't illegal, who is, and is NOT to be INVESTIGATED, and whom ultimately will and will not be held accountable!

And Bingo was his name
Not much to add DD, but thanks for the perspective, as usual.

spec


reply posted on 16-2-2011 @ 05:22 PM by Illusionsaregrander
reply to post by DimensionalDetective



Because they have promised our elected and appointed officials high paying jobs for not pursuing them? For allowing them to rip this country off?

The same reason Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, et al, are not being pursued for war crimes?

Because of the golden rule?


reply posted on 16-2-2011 @ 05:28 PM by havok
reply to post by DimensionalDetective



Problem is, too many people are convinced that Wall Street is where all the money is.
When in reality, it is a big ponzi scheme of numbers, invented to create a value to a company NAME.


The people who run Wall Street know exactly what they are doing.
Just like the London market and collapse a long time ago.

Manipulated wealth that is the easiest to create, is the easiest to steal.





reply posted on 16-2-2011 @ 05:34 PM by crimvelvet
reply to post by DimensionalDetective





...The very same people who have been complicit in many of these UNBELIEVABLY CRIMINAL fraud schemes are not only never held accountable, but many of them are using that dirty money to BUY positions in the highest factions of our ever-corrupt gov! ....


Yes so much for Hope and Change!

Too bad the citizens of the USA could not get together and bring the biggest ever Class Action Lawsuit against the entire blasted system instead of nibbling away at tiny parts and getting slammed by the bank lawyer because they have deeper pockets.

I certainly would pay a hundred or a thousand to get all the S.O.B.'s into jail!



reply posted on 16-2-2011 @ 05:35 PM by Flatfish
reply to post by DimensionalDetective



It's a damn good question indeed. It's also the reason that most Europeans are literally laughing at us. They cannot believe that we are allowing these people to walk off with America's fortune without so much as a slap on the hand. I even read an article the other day in which it stated that the Chinese are also laughing at what they are being allowed to get away with in America.

I always hear these patriot junkies saying chants like; "U.S.A., We're No. 1" and little do they know that America is rapidly becoming "Heap Big No. 1 Joke" to the rest of the world. We no longer hold anyone accountable for crimes against America, unless of course they happen to be muslim, and then we just lock them up until they die. Why has it become so hard to prosecute the rich? It's almost as if they all have diplomatic immunity.


reply posted on 16-2-2011 @ 05:50 PM by Raist
reply to post by Illusionsaregrander



Agreed . So let's arrest and convict the little guy signing papers on a loan he knew he could not pay. Let's arrest and convict the banker who allowed the loan to go through. Finally let us arrest and convict the politicians who set it all up from the start.

It is time to stop being soft on people because of whatever reasons. Just put them all away and take the money they have to help fix the system they destroyed.

You are right that there is more than one guilty party so (here is where I agree with the other poster) let's stop blaming only Wall Street.

Raist


reply posted on 16-2-2011 @ 05:54 PM by Unity_99
Originally posted by dolphinfan
reply to
post by DimensionalDetective



Why isn't the gent who makes $40K/year who signed a legal contract to get into a no money down loan for $300K which he could never afford be in jail? Because he's a "little guy"?.

Why isn't the bleeding heart government official who mandated that banks give loans to folks who could not afford them in jail? Because his intentions were noble?

Get off the Wall Street is the only party to blame in this situation. Its tired, its old and its an argument filled with half-truths.

It is no different than saying that a rich guy who robs a bank deserves a greater sentence than a homeless gent who robs a bank. Both are equally guilty and both deserve scorn and punishment
edit on 16-2-2011 by dolphinfan because: (no reason given)


40,000 a year should be able to make regular morgage payments of 300,000, after all that is only around 1500 a month in Canada or less, and he would be renting for far more. We're renting an average price of 1400 month, on less.

Or could it be the racket that was done with extraordinary interest after luring people into a no interest or extremely low interest, so they hoped to sell soon?

My favorite is Norway, where housing is an essential element of life, nor should one be forced to pay off another's morgage because they're poor to own, so food, utilities and homes are kept affordable. Because you know, I do believe the only purpose of Government is its collective service, otherwise why should they get any taxes. They're not reaching deep in someone's pockets for their own dam projects!!!
edit on 16-2-2011 by Unity_99 because: (no reason given)
edit on 16-2-2011 by Unity_99 because: (no reason given)



reply posted on 16-2-2011 @ 06:05 PM by Raist
reply to post by Unity_99



You say that as if $1,500 is the only bill (most are already up to their chest in debt before a home loan).

I know for a fact I could not afford $1,500 a month and pay car payments and child care as well as feed my family and keep the living space comfortable in the heat and cold. This is with no real credit card payments (if we charge they are paid off within the month) but with student loans.

My wife and I together make more than $40k and $1,500 is unreasonable. Our mortgage payment is around $600 a month on a $70k home. Unlike many we did not go for something bigger than we need just to impress others we got what we needed for our family to live comfortably.

Raist


reply posted on 16-2-2011 @ 06:09 PM by jacobe001
Originally posted by dolphinfan
reply to
post by DimensionalDetective



Why isn't the gent who makes $40K/year who signed a legal contract to get into a no money down loan for $300K which he could never afford be in jail? Because he's a "little guy"?.


The little guy lost his home, while the rest of us pay the ever increasing bankster bonuses that bought and sold his mortgage with others with a triple AAA rating and passed it like a hot potato to some unsuspecting sucker investors. Hitler would be proud.

Why isn't the bleeding heart government official who mandated that banks give loans to folks who could not afford them in jail? Because his intentions were noble?


You know the old saying, Noone held a gun to their head to loan money. But then, they found a way to make money by passing the fraudulent securities onto others, so its not like they suffered or are suffering with their theft.

Get off the Wall Street is the only party to blame in this situation. Its tired, its old and its an argument filled with half-truths.


Nope, this will never end until these people go to prison in order to restore trust in the system

It is no different than saying that a rich guy who robs a bank deserves a greater sentence than a homeless gent who robs a bank. Both are equally guilty and both deserve scorn and punishment
edit on 16-2-2011 by dolphinfan because: (no reason given)



A better example would be this:

A guy goes in and kills everyone in the bank, lets say there are 10 people in the bank.
Through his actions, 10 families lives are destroyed.

Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan, AIG, Merrel Lynch etc package good and bad mortgages and relabel them triple AAA fraudulent rated and pass them off to unsuspecting investors. Brooksley Born in 1998 tried to regulate OTC derivatives, but through the pressure from banksters and wall street, had to fight against Reuben, Summers, and Greenspan, who did not want them regulated. They threated that if she regulated derivatives in 1998, it would threaten the markets and economy. Looks like they knew well ahead of time what was going to happen.
There are 5 financial lobbyists per congressman in Washington. They wanted to rape and pillage as much as they could.

The above bank robber in comparison is a saint, compared to the Banksters and Wall Street, who have destroyed the lives of millions and continue to get paid for it.


reply posted on 16-2-2011 @ 06:16 PM by dolphinfan
reply to post by SassyCat



Well, what about the gent who bought a house he could not afford and then walked away from it? Or the person who could afford it but walked away from it because they could? There are people right now who can afford to pay their loans, but who are upside on them who are just walking away from them. This just drives the property values of the entire neighborhood. I personally know two families that are very wealthy that just walked away from their homes because they could. The have a ton of cash and can wait out the period of bad credit.

When you do an ethical harms analysis on the problem on a collective basis, there were millions of folks who wanted these crappy loans. There is no market when there are no buyers. Folks were quite happy getting into a home they could not afford then riding up the housing inflation, selling it and taking the cash out. Some did it over and over again, pulling cash out each time and then got stuck holding the bag when the thing fell apart. Yet somehow they are not to blame. The massive increase in demand for these kinds of loans is what caused Wall Street to conjur up additional ways to create them. Producers respond to market demand. If nobody was interested in getting into these foolish loans, the bankers never would have created CDOs because there would have been no reason to. What it would amount to is the bankers creating massive risk with no payback. In other words, they would have been left holding $billions of bad debt. They were left holding it in the end anyway, because they did not forsee the collapse of the housing market and generated far too much supply.

The entire business is complicated and the blame is across the board. At least the bankers were responding to market dynamics.

The drug pusher is a bad gent who should be punished. The addict who robs and steals to feed his habit is also a bad gent who deserves to be punished. Who is more guilty? It depends on your perspective, but one thing is for certain and that is if nobody wanted drugs there would not be a pusher.
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