Tuesday, May 20, 2014

Lame response to Elizabeth Warren on banksters

The criminal conviction of Credit Suisse is long overdue. But it's a lame sop to Elizabeth Warren, not a significant ramp-up in enforcement.

For Credit Suisse, other than the fines and the reputational stain of being a felon, the implications are likely to be limited. The bank may lose some clients but is otherwise expected to survive largely unscathed. [Emphasis added]
Modern investment banking is tantamount to organized crime.

  • Cream profits off the top by selling fraudulent securities and then betting against their customers in the market. Check. 
  • Launder billions for drug cartels. Check. 
  • Criminally seize properties without title using forged documentation and perjury. Check. 
  • Manipulate the LIBOR to steal from borrowers. Check. 
  • Do business with outlaw regimes internationally. Check. 
  • Crash the economy and through political influence take no haircut at all. Check.

The banksters are not going to change their racket until they feel the hot breath of the law on their well-groomed necks. Eric Holder only wants us to think he's breathing on them so that we stop breathing on him. He's not trying to change the banking racket.

This "industry" probably shouldn't be burned to the ground and started over. The consequences of killing available credit for conscientious citizens and their value-creating enterprises would be too dire.

But investment banking as a whole should be seized, its management imprisoned, and each institution's continued existence made contingent upon its ability to operate without criminality.

Does this sound radical? It should. We have got to cut this cancer of criminal greed out of our economy before it kills us.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

"investment banking as a whole should be seized"

Spoken like a true Marxist.

lovable liberal said...

Good to know there are still kleptocapitalists out there who'll call me names rather than deal with the criminals who run investment banking on Wall St.

Anonymous said...

Where you have the luxury to not invest in Wall st. if you don't like those that run it, I don't have the option to opt out of the stealing done by your ilk...the kleptocrats.

Anonymous said...

Where you have the luxury to not invest in Wall st. if you don't like those that run it, I don't have the option to opt out of the stealing done by your ilk...the kleptocrats.

lovable liberal said...

I have the luxury not to patronize the criminals who are socializing all their intemperate risks onto me, a taxpayer? No, I don't. They're thieves and should be in prison.

lovable liberal said...
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Anonymous said...

Does that also include the likes of Warren Buffett and George Soros?

lovable liberal said...

Well, duh, anyone who commits crimes should feel equal justice. Let the chips fall where they may.

For all accused criminals, of course, due process still applies.