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Showing Original Post only (View all)Robert Reich: The Wall Street Scandal of All Scandals [View all]
http://robertreich.org/post/26708840314The Wall Street Scandal of all Scandals
SATURDAY, JULY 7, 2012
Just when you thought Wall Street couldnt sink any lower when its myriad abuses of public trust have already spread a miasma of cynicism over the entire economic system, giving birth to Tea Partiers and Occupiers and all manner of conspiracy theories; when its excesses have already wrought havoc with the lives of millions of Americans, causing taxpayers to shell out billions (of which only a portion has been repaid) even as its top executives are back to making more money than ever; when its vast political power (via campaign contributions) has already eviscerated much of the Dodd-Frank law that was supposed to rein it in, including the so-called Volker Rule that was sold as a milder version of the old Glass-Steagall Act that used to separate investment from commercial banking yes, just when you thought the Street had hit bottom, an even deeper level of public-be-damned greed and corruption is revealed.
Sit down and hold on to your chair.
- snip -
That would be a mammoth violation of public trust. And it would amount to a rip-off of almost cosmic proportion trillions of dollars that you and I and other average people would otherwise have received or saved on our lending and borrowing that have been going instead to the bankers. It would make the other abuses of trust weve witnessed look like childs play by comparison.
- snip -
So far, the scandal has been limited to Barclays, a big London-based bank that just paid $453 million to U.S. and British bank regulators, whose top executives have been forced to resign, and whose traders emails give a chilling picture of how easily they got their colleagues to rig interest rates in order to make big bucks. (Robert Diamond, Jr., the former Barclay CEO who was forced to resign, said the emails made him physically ill perhaps because they so patently reveal the corruption.)
But Wall Street has almost surely been involved in the same practice, including the usual suspects JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup, and Bank of America because every major bank participates in setting the Libor rate, and Barclays couldnt have rigged it without their witting involvement.
- snip -
This is insider trading on a gigantic scale. It makes the bankers winners and the rest of us whose money theyve used for to make their bets losers and chumps.
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Yes, take away what they most valued, valued above their own countries, their
sabrina 1
Jul 2012
#42
Libor rate-rigging has affected 'average' consumers in a staggering number of ways.
Kaleko
Jul 2012
#89
Matt Taibbi is one of the most effective translators of Financial-ese we've got so far.
Kaleko
Jul 2012
#95
Everyone who was involved must give back every penny they earned during the scandal period.
Kablooie
Jul 2012
#35
Oh, yes. Bankrupt and those involved jailed, with assets stripped. Join us 99%-ers. n/t
davidwparker
Jul 2012
#90
Yes, complete debt forgiveness. Just like the Year of Jubilee in Judaism. n/t
davidwparker
Jul 2012
#91
and it's still being played out, as cities and states go bankrupt, public employees are fired/lose
HiPointDem
Jul 2012
#53
Even I, who has been forced to defend banks from spurious attacks by "progressives"
banned from Kos
Jul 2012
#6
yeah, due process is normally a progressive concept (except for bankers)
banned from Kos
Jul 2012
#69
If I were you I'd be grateful you've been given permission to be outraged.
Guy Whitey Corngood
Jul 2012
#109
Well, if he did it would be the hoodie's fault us much as his. Just ask the Mighty Mustache Of
Guy Whitey Corngood
Jul 2012
#112
I humbly submit to your superior insight. I should have seen it. U R of course, right. n/t
SDjack
Jul 2012
#61
It would create a grave moral hazard to deny the financial elites their billionaire bonuses.
Warren Stupidity
Jul 2012
#67
Top executives of Barclays resigned - which is a tacit admission of guilt.
banned from Kos
Jul 2012
#9
Serious investigation? Not a chance, unless they are also operating state-approved mj dispensaries.
AnotherMcIntosh
Jul 2012
#29
i figured it out before taibbi & reich, i just didn't know the details. but it didn't take a genius
HiPointDem
Jul 2012
#54
It will start in Europe to be sure. Americans might join in during summer reruns.
alfredo
Jul 2012
#85
This was headline news in the UK. US MSM is a week late, despite the global impact of Libor and the
entanglement
Jul 2012
#31
It will be very difficult for any given lender or borrower to prove damages from any given bank
FarCenter
Jul 2012
#36
This is beyond individual investors having to go up against bank legal $$$. It's a global
suffragette
Jul 2012
#84
Where are the politicians saying "Let's get this money back instead of forcing austerity upon normal
Fire Walk With Me
Jul 2012
#46
If "corporations are people too my friends" [Romney quote by way of "Citizens United"],
kiranon
Jul 2012
#107