It's still a lovefest between Wall Street and regulators

[xchrom]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/apr/01/wall-street-still-getting-away-insider-trading-manipulation


People around the world are wondering why no one from Wall Street has gone to jail from the financial crisis. Photograph: Charles Rex Arbogast/AP


For years, people have been asking the question: in all of the financial crisis, why hasn't anyone from Wall Street gone to jail?

The answer is simple: because the Washington regulators who investigate Wall Street are intent on providing no proof that anyone ever did anything wrong.

When the Securities and Exchange Commission puts the heat on a bank or hedge fund for doing something inappropriate, the negotiations follow a predictable dance. The first step is that the SEC gathers evidence that the banks or hedge funds broke the rules. Much of that information is provided by the banks themselves, since the SEC has a small budget and no resources to chase the thousands of instances of Wall Street malfeasance every day. Regulators like the SEC are outmatched and underfunded. The second step is that the bank, confronted with the possibility of public humiliation, agrees to pay a fine to settle the allegations. The third step is that the bank agrees to a press release in which it "neither admits nor denies" any wrongdoing.

So this is the problem: courts can't send anyone to jail without proof. But the Securities and Exchange Commission and other regulators don't allow proof of guilt in their investigations. This is designed specifically to keep the banks out of court. And that's why there are no significant cases around Wall Street malfeasance: they're practically impossible.

[marmar]

1. k/r

[forestpath]

2. The Obama administration has made it clear that Wall St. is sacred.

[WillyT]

3. K & R !!!

[woo me with science]

4. We have one corporate-authoritarian party, masquerading as two.

Had enough yet, America?

[rhett o rick]

6. The oligarch overlords have created the perfect political storm.

We have the "Brown Shirt" party that busts heads and then our other choice is the Conservative Party owned by the oligarchs.

Ralph Nader was wrong, the parties are not the same. What he should have said was that the two parties are both owned by the same oligarchs.

[Scuba]

5. "... regulators ... are intent on providing no proof that anyone ever did anything wrong."

"... regulators who investigate Wall Street are intent on providing no proof that anyone ever did anything wrong."

And the DOJ finds gardening a more serious crime than stealing our pensions.

[raouldukelives]

7. Aided & abetted by every dollar in the market.

Until people stop helping them, there will be no help for us. No end to the injustices we wail against daily. Only more of the same, only gaining speed and spinning in ever smaller circles.

[JDPriestly]

8. Here you go:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022602321

It's about justice.

Justice -- a legal system that works for all.

Prosecutors with the resources to bring big cheats and not just petty thieves to trial.

The rich don't want to pay taxes in part because it is the easy route not only to inhibit criminal prosecutions for big-time financial crimes but to accomplish tort reform.

Just try to get a trial date in civil court in an urban county in America. (If you haven't signed away your right to a court hearing by agreeing to mandatory arbitration already.)

The Constitution guarantees a speedy trial. How long has George Zimmerman been delaying his rendez-vous with a judge and jury?

Prosecuting bankers takes a lot of money than prosecuting George Zimmerman.

It also takes independent prosecutors willing to lose every once in a while just for the sake of justice.

In addition, I don't know whether President Obama ever replaced the Bush appointees in the Department of Justice. Does anyone else? Because they could be part of the problem.