the always insightful Matt Taibbi, who is able to make clear the opaque, writes here for Rolling Stone about the recent US vs Carollo case in which the big banks* bilked billions from all of us for years.
Impressive reporting about an impressive case brought by our government ending with convictions of the major players and millions in fines for the banks. Just another reason why the righties want to "starve the beast"--this kind of prosecution takes years and lots of manpower, the kind of stuff that gets chopped as the wealthy resist paying their fair share (a bit of a non sequitur, but Gov. Paul LePage of Maine recently compared the IRS to the Gestapo and refused to backpedal when given the chance; they really believe their hyperbole).*
long read but worth it to gain a better understanding why the system we have now on Wall Street must be reformed; you can read the entire Taibbi piece here: Wall Street, mafia-style
*"GE, . . . J.P. Morgan Chase, Bank of America, UBS, Lehman Brothers, Bear Stearns, Wachovia and more" (from Taibbi)
*update: I guess LePage did finally apologize for his Gestapo reference: http://www.timesofisrael.com/end-of-maine-kampf-governor-apologizes/
#Tip to politicians and spokespeople (yeah, ol' Hank, I'm looking at you): never ever invoke Nazis/Gestapo/Holocaust/Hitler in any comparison; it's always a loser.
Impressive reporting about an impressive case brought by our government ending with convictions of the major players and millions in fines for the banks. Just another reason why the righties want to "starve the beast"--this kind of prosecution takes years and lots of manpower, the kind of stuff that gets chopped as the wealthy resist paying their fair share (a bit of a non sequitur, but Gov. Paul LePage of Maine recently compared the IRS to the Gestapo and refused to backpedal when given the chance; they really believe their hyperbole).*
long read but worth it to gain a better understanding why the system we have now on Wall Street must be reformed; you can read the entire Taibbi piece here: Wall Street, mafia-style
*"GE, . . . J.P. Morgan Chase, Bank of America, UBS, Lehman Brothers, Bear Stearns, Wachovia and more" (from Taibbi)
*update: I guess LePage did finally apologize for his Gestapo reference: http://www.timesofisrael.com/end-of-maine-kampf-governor-apologizes/
#Tip to politicians and spokespeople (yeah, ol' Hank, I'm looking at you): never ever invoke Nazis/Gestapo/Holocaust/Hitler in any comparison; it's always a loser.
Ah yes, the Big Banks suck! Forgot where I heard that...
ReplyDeleteCome on Eric, the bankers sucking billions of dollars out of state and local governments aren't the problem, it's those Cadilliac medical benefits the public workers get. Maybe if us rotten goverment workers greased both sides of the sled, like those bankers, our retirement and health care benefits wouldn't be a problem any longer. As we all know, if the media doesn't report on it, it ain't a problem.
I sometimes come around to your way of thinking--you just have to give me time to get there.
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Once you start down the rabbit hole, you can never come back. Hope you and your family are having a nice summer.
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