Any Third Wayers in the house tonight? I need that fairy tale again. [View all]

[MannyGoldstein]

NY Times: Too Big to Indict

It is a dark day for the rule of law. Federal and state authorities have chosen not to indict HSBC, the London-based bank, on charges of vast and prolonged money laundering, for fear that criminal prosecution would topple the bank and, in the process, endanger the financial system. They also have not charged any top HSBC banker in the case, though it boggles the mind that a bank could launder money as HSBC did without anyone in a position of authority making culpable decisions.

Clearly, the government has bought into the notion that too big to fail is too big to jail. When prosecutors choose not to prosecute to the full extent of the law in a case as egregious as this, the law itself is diminished. The deterrence that comes from the threat of criminal prosecution is weakened, if not lost.

I'm having trouble falling asleep tonight, and it would be really comforting if a Third Wayer could read me that fairy tale again? You know, the one where the Liberal is ridiculous, quite possibly a Republican shill working for Karl Rove, for claiming that Dodd-Frank was little but cover for the bankers? I particularly love the part where Dodd-Frank eliminates too big to fail, that there's now an orderly way to unwind and shut down banks when they don't behave.

I'll be here in bed with my iPad, waiting for another performance of the fairy tale.

Hopefully that fairy tale will do the trick, but if not, maybe we could do the one where the NDAA doesn't authorize the President to throw any American in jail, forever, with zero judicial oversight. Or the one where the President never said he wanted to cut - not slash -... ah, never mind.

Regards,

First-Way Manny