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Senator Kaufman Makes A Stand Against The Criminality Exposed By The Lehman Examiner Report, Questions The Core Principles Of US Democracy
Only a few days have passed since its release, and already the Mainstream Media has forgotten all about the Lehman Examiner Report, with barely an occasional mention. As the CJR points out, this unquestionably massive story of corruption and vice, is being covered up by powered interests controlling all the major news outlets, because just like in the Galleon case, the stench goes not only to the top, (in this case the New York Fed and the SEC), but very likely to various corporations that have vested interests in the conglomerates controlling America's key media organizations. One person, however, who refuses to let it go, is Senator Ted Kaufman, whose determined support for an overhaul of market structure we have followed over the past year. The Senator now moves on to yet another pressing issue: the disclosures of unprecedented impropriety conducted by virtually every person of responsibility within the Lehman organization, as well as associated firms like Ernst & Young, and regulators who were asleep at the wheel during the moment of greatest stress for the American financial system. Kaufman calls for a "a thorough investigation, both civil and criminal, to identify every last person who had knowledge that Lehman was misleading the public about its troubled balance sheet – and that means everyone from the Lehman executives, to its board of directors, to its accounting firm, Ernst & Young. Moreover, if the foreign bank counterparties who purchased the now infamous "Repo 105s" were complicit in the scheme, they should be held accountable as well." Zero Hedge sides with Senator Kaufman in this new endeavor (we have yet to see even one other member of Congress or the Senate stand up and voice their opposition to Lehman's criminal conduct). As Kaufman wisely points out: "I’m concerned that the revelations about Lehman Brothers are just the tip of the iceberg. We have no reason to believe that the conduct detailed last week is somehow isolated or unique. Indeed, this sort of behavior is hardly novel." We look forward to obtaining even more raw data on improprieties conducted by other financial firms, and we hold our breath until we can finally get a glimpse at the heart of that most corrupt and secretive organization of all - the US Federal Reserve.
As Kaufman points out in a Speech to be delivered before the Senate, the precedent of failing to pursue justice in just this one case, may be the final barrier before the fundamental concept of American democracy disintegrates into a cloud of crony interests and captured political elements.
Mr. President, last week’s revelations about Lehman Brothers reinforce what I’ve been saying for some time. The folly of radical deregulation has given us financial institutions that are too big to fail, too big to manage, and too big to regulate. If we have any hope of returning the rule of law to Wall Street, we need regulatory reform that the addresses this central reality. As I said more than a year ago: " At the end of the day, this is a test of whether we have one justice system in this country or two. If we don’t treat a Wall Street firm that defrauded investors of millions of dollars the same way we treat someone who stole 500 dollars from a cash register, then how can we expect our citizens to have faith in the rule of law? For our economy to work for all Americans, investors must have confidence in the honest and open functioning of our financial markets. Our markets can only flourish when Americans again trust that they are fair, transparent, and accountable to the laws." The American people deserve no less.
Full Kaufman speech to be delivered before the Senate, a must read for anyone who still hold out any hope for the survival of US society and the American middle-class.
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Indictments bitches. Lots of em.
I pray they will be followed by convictions with concomitant severe sentences.
And fines.Epic fines.
Failing anything like that.......
Well, I am not allowed to go there.Use your most lurid imagination.
NO ONE big goes to jail (unless they admit it like Madoff). You can take that to the TBTF bank.
What you will hear is lots of he said she said and they said and their accountants said and the lawyers said. Lots of running around for sure yet no one being able to be pegged for the crime. Maybe a civil penalty, yet no CRIMINAL charges and no one goes to jail. NO ONE.
Anyone care to place a bet against me?
+10
"Somebody's gotta go to jail, Ben."
I think the people will have a lot more to say if these idiots do not start get sent to jail. Why do the "little people" get tried in court, and the elite get to walk?
Is that the "where all men are created equal", DIES???
I bet you are correct, but I will bet that some loon (or many) will start offing some of these guys if they are allowed to skate. If the Government is not going to mete out justice, then there are those that will take it in their own hands."
please explain to me why this is any different than MOST of the stock traded companies doing double ordering, marking it as SALES, then returning half the order after the quarter ends???? 6 years ago CHTL was blown apart by Barrons for this when (I won't name the names for fear of suit) a mountain of companies were doing the samething and still are. And, the tech compainies are the worst. Where are all the reported "profits" going? By the next quarter, the investors have forgotten what the company said last quarter. A shell game, that has no nut indside...just another situation the SEC ignores and investors don't care about as long as there is a gain on the price paid per share. Crimes we pay to play, right fellas? We are a part of the problem, and should be the solution...they can make the crimes with out your participation, your money.
It does seem problematic that certainly the US Treasury Secretary and the very Fed itself (not to mention the SEC) are implicated. This certainly is a test of whether the rule of law exists for all in this nation, but can you really see this nation's priviledged, crony leaders passing this test?
It would be nice to see Obama faced with the decision of whether to issue pardons for his good buddies, but can you really see it getting that far?
Thank God for Senator Kaufman (whose MBA is from the Wharton School of Business), but I'm afraid--though dearly wishing to be proven wrong--that his arrival in the Senate came too late.
Honestly, does anyone believe Congress has even 2 modest sized testicles to rub together?
Them eunuchs are yellow as their pee-stained panties
VOX POPULI
Sic semper tyrannisTyler, THIS is why you are having a traffic spike. When corruptiion gets this bad, that it is covered up like this, people will will "take things into their own hands". People are looking for information, and as a local radio station said this morning: "we have the lowest 10% of the class in charge of our government and our corporations." Are we really suprised with the results?
I just wonder when the "shooting starts". I am not advocating it, but there are things that are terribly wrong here as indicated by your story. The "everyman" out there knows if they did one one hundredth of what these guys did at GS, Lehman, E&Y, they would never see the light of day again, and be fined and their illgotten gains seized for the losses caused.
If this "looking the other way" continues I can very well see a day soon where elected officals and corporate CEOs and CFOs are dragged out of their offices and are beaten. If they will not "come to the law, the law will go to them." This country's economy was nuked in the manner of this post, and it was done so often that this was common businesses practices. Does any of these elected morons or CEOs and CFOs think for one minute that American Citizens are gonna sit by wilst these crooks spend their grandchildren's future???? Parents sacrifice for kids all the time, can you think of a better sacrifice? Or a better time to "Stand up"???
I do not think this will be solved "easy", I think it will take a major American Citizen lead revolt.
If I were CEOs of Financials, Banks, or an elected officail, I would invest heavily in bullet proof vests.
Kaufman has no favors to pay and nothing to lose. He is retiring at the end of the 111th Congress.
Presumably there were no counterparties who lost on Repo105 when Lehman went down, otherwise we would have heard about it. Including the fed? As they went bankrupt two weeks before quarter end, perhaps the fed wouldn't enter into these repos knowing they could be left holding the bag.
"Presumably there were no counter parties who lost on Repo105 when Lehman went down, otherwise we would have heard about it."
This is precisely why AIG paid 100 cents on the dollar, why everyone was bailed out and so on. When there are no injured parties, the lawsuits that do creep into the system can be managed. But allow walking wounded in the streets and suddenly there is some explaining to do.
This is also why the victims and next of kin of 9/11 were quickly offered unprecedented settlements in exchange for signing away the right to sue. Up until 9/11, victims of "terrorist" attacks were not given huge sums by the government to go away but rather the standard survivors benefits and told to fend for themselves. The government didn't wish to have hungry lawyers and investigators looking too close.
Same thing with the (long overdue) recent settlement with the injured workers and volunteers who cleaned up the NYC site. In exchange for money, they can't continue the lawsuits they started. While this is standard operating procedure years after the fact during a settlement, the payments made to the victims and family(s) immediately after the attacks were not. Money shuts people up and limits inquires.
I thought the payments to American Airlines and United Airlines and all the other property owners were just the true conspiracists way of paying for the property they destroyed.
www.ae911truth.org
Personal responsibility for destroying the republic. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Myers was promoted to the highest military rank in payment for disabling the East Coast's air defenses on 9/11.
Bingo on AIG. No comment on 9/11.
Don't get me started on 9-11.
http://www.911truth.org/
I wish the Senator all the best unfortunately he is the hen in the hen house surrounded by wolves who will do anything to keep the ponzi scheme running.
Obama is showing he is "no change" and is looking very much the same as the last two adminstrations. Good luck to Sen. Kaufman.
That's right, the "Elected representation" wll do nothing, that is what the people know as well, and they know the game is rigged. How many meals will they let their kids go without, or how many college savings accounts are now canabilized for "food" will it take for the "needs of the many" to be realized by "the one", that this can no longer go on, and must be stopped, and at all costs???
There are many here that "know" how financials, investing, money, and economies work. I read the posts and am mistified and often confused, and usually have to do a week of research just to figure out what the hell the author of these articles are talking about. TBS, I do know people, and I do know AMERICANS, and they are angry, fed up, and it will not take much more, until one decides that they are "the patroitic martyr".
Do you really expect the populace will not have anyone in 320,000,000 that will not "take up arms" against this corruption?
More importantly, do those isoltated in the skyscrapers far above reality, or those isolated in the "DC bubble" do they know the heart of the American People?
What ever happened to that FOA request pending in NYC (bloomberg)? Just a guess, but this goes approx nowhere.
still pending in the court system.....
Doesn't Sarbox require that the CEO/CFO sign and attest that their filings are true and not misleading? Didn't Fuld and whatever CFO have to sign the filings? Since the whole point of the 105 was to make the financials MISleading, civil/criminal liability ought to be a slam dunk. I know if I had done this at my former very small public energy company, I would be in federal pound-me-in-the-you-know-what prison with the key thrown away.
Cant "We the People" file lawsuits ? Class action agianst the Government ?
Do you think the American People are going to wait for a lawsuit?
Do you think they are going to be able to "pay" for that lawsuit?
Revolt.
I wonder if the meme sensing AI is showing the prominence of the REVOLUTION meme.
Time for a massive distraction before actual "change" occurs....
Remember, Remember, the 5th of November....
Beatyfull story and I love the movie.
...That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government...
I see your fine excerpt, and raise you two:
and
tread accordingly
Tenor and tone of respondents over the last few days has changed much. I sense a resignation and with it a certitude.
You need a good lawyer who still believes in the Constitution. The money sitting on the sidelines, havent you heard.
Hey, I hear Barry Obama is a constitutional lawyer... oh... wait...
An absolutely brilliant letter from Senator Kaufman. I am beyond impressed with the depth and certitude of his presentation and agree with his every word. How is it there are so few like him representing us?
I'll tell you. Lobbyists.
Thanks, Tyler ,for making my night and giving me one less to send to Guantanamo for a waterboard (ing) vacation when I become King. Yeah...people will pay.
And while I'm at it as King--you have the option to preview your posts for spelling before you send them. Try using it once in a while. Many oldtimers here (and I know I speak for more than a few) find your messages get lost in your lack of spell-checking. Just being cranky but it is a fact.
Since waterboarding is not deemed "torture", and is an acceptable interrogation technique, I second it's use on these shysters! Or is it only for brown skinned people? Or is it just for people who don't wear ties... I am so confused over right and wrong lately.
It's totally wrong but as King I am prepared to send the entire Congress for a weekend vacation unless they can prove they are not bought, sold, and paid for by corporate interests. Those who fail get the weekend fun and then, must sign a life long contract to wear an orange suit with a "Hit Me" sign while they collect trash on the interstates and highways.
You're too kind. I would rather they all be kept in minimum wage earning jobs for eternity, kissing strangers asses for $.25 tips trying to decide if they can afford a meal of meat this week or will it just be KD and maybe some tuna. Watching their children go through the public school system with the other commoners, and dreaming of making it big on Idol... lol
After three weeks under the loving supervision of the SERE course instructors at Fort Bragg, whose course syllabus was used to model US terror rendition interrogation techniques, the phucknuts would be completely prepared for total and willing debrief. They support this crap when they were in power, time to let them get a taste of what they imposed upon others.
I digress, the jump suits, easily recognizable badges of position and gainful employment in the public service as societies designated pooper scoopers is the solution....
Pooper scoopers works for me.
I willing to put up some money to throw these people in jail. They are destory trust throught out globe.
I thought of this myself. I am not wealthy but I'd put up a few thousand to help fund a "bounty" fund to send real prosecutors and real law folks after these bastards. I pay a shit load of taxes (like most here) and I should not have to, but this shit is beyond beyondness itself.
Something must be done. We cannot become them to do it though. This is where I get hung up and these bastards COUNT on that.
That's because you, my fine MsCreant, have principals and ethics. Since they don't have either of those attributes, perhaps you need to suspend yours temporarily so you don't compromise who you are.
It all comes down to breach of contract. Congressmen take an oath. I will investigate this since I just thought of it off the cuff. But it's a start since an oath is a contract.
"I did it for me".
lmao...move down the page to bingo-cat. He really pissed me off!
Getting a taste of how the junkers and phucknuts are fluffing up the works I see. There have been some very unfortunate events pass while you were convalescing. Time to put on the waders until the pooper scooper brigade shows up. Meanwhile, I advise letting the crap roll away from you rather than attempting to engage it unless you are in need of the release that offering can only provide. Remember that what you have going on upstairs will not be enhanced by beating your head up against that wall until you tire of hearing the squishy sound. peace
Want Revenge?
"If everyone decided, for example, to convert all his bank deposits to silver or copper or any other good, and thereafter declined to accept checks as payment for goods, bank deposits would lose their purchasing power and government-created bank credit would be worthless as a claim on goods." --Alan Greenspan
+100
Like I said a while ago, Greenspan has reverse Alzheimers and it really is a wonder to watch.
reverse Alzheimers
i've never seen that one before Howard but i am sure going to plagiarize it!
so we are even with phucknut!
I am just loving all of these wonderful additions to our lexicon. Cheers to you both!
It would be nice if somebody at the Silently Encouraging Corruption headquarters knew what rule of law means.
These people have the balls. Wake up America!
The people who support Freedom’s Vision at SwarmUSA.com support the people of Iceland in their efforts to remain free from debt peonage. We appreciate your courage and leadership for the rest of the world and propose that the people of the world “BUY ICELANDIC” – and tell the central bankers to “POUND SAND!”
Of course it goes to the top. It goes directly to Hank Paulson who waged a personal war with Fuld for years. It has been well documented that Paulson fucking hated Fuld and that the two were often in some or another form of passive conflict. Thus i don't see why people find it odd that all the investigations only go so far. If this really were a system of justice there would not be any untouchables, and matters of critical importance would be investigated to whatever degree its necessary. But unfortunately this is not system based on justice but on immunity which the very few enjoy and benefit from. None of this would have happened if Paulson provided Fuld with 4 billion bucks in liquidity from the discount window via some facility a la JPM and not force him to seek a buyer on such a short notice. And Paulson knew perfectly well that the deal with Barclays could not have been done in the time-frame Lehman had (Monday morning) because he knew the FSA will not come to a decision till Thursday morning. Fuld and Gregory were more stupid than they were corrupt, and were more envious of KKR, GS and the like than they were strategically positioned, and that influenced the decision making in Lehman which was more of a dictatorship than it was a public company. I hope someone gets some jail time for what has been done to LEH, but i have no hope it will be those who pushed it over the brink.
+100 So glad you are in a noisy mood.
"I'm as mad as hell, and I'm not going to take this anymore!"
Hey--that's my line. So glad to see you back!
Nice to see you too Howard
I know I have been in and out of here but seriously, I thought you were gone. By the way, who was the head of the Princeton Economics dept? Ok...no rubbing more of that in since it was all a set up in good fun.
But you have been noticably offline--everything ok or just ZH'ed out?
i know who was the head of "Princeton Economics" -- Martin Armstrong. and look where that got him -- solitary confinement.
it is very nice to see you back Cheeky.
Getting in on the end of the thread but hope you see it... Cheeky! :-)
We miss(ed?) you bro!
Roof Roof
If these Lehman people walk, if Paulson, Geithner, Bush, Obama, Bernanke, Cox, and Greenspan walk............it's time to let Jeffrey Skilling outta prison.
Oh, they will walk, make no mistake about it.
You can't make it that easy-peasy. Skilling deserves his term and it will be our failure on the next group that keep them out. That's like saying that since a known murderer gets off all murderers should be let out. Let's keep it sane.
Ever since Bill Clinton pardoned the Peurto Rican separatist bombers so his wife would get the Puerto Rican vote for her Senate seat in New York, we've been expecting that Ted Kasczinski, the Unabomber, deserves a pardon also. That's the way it works in Washington, so what's the problem?
there has to be some smart laid off lawyers willing to make a name for themselves. We have a document thats says we have the right to sue for our money.
Does anyone else detect the irony of the fact that this guy is the Senator from corporate Liberia, the great state of Delaware.
No, not one bit. You'd be surprised that Delaware is not the only in your terms "corporate Liberia" anymore. Irrelevant.
Besides, even if Delaware were the only Corporate Liberia around the fact that he is an announced retirement and he is choosing to do what he is, knowing what he does should do much of the speaking for him. Are you listening?
Class Action Law Suit against the US Government for the thieft of our money.
Justice, Wall St. & Congress. 1 Senator. What a pathetic joke. Too bad E&Y is private and not shortable.
Once again, we should think about rounding up Einhorn and his pesky short-selling possee to answer for these crimes. They were sure Erin Callan was lying through her teeth during that last analyst call. God forbid the market take care of what the regulators refused to stop. In Gekko's words, Einhorn et al were wrecking Lehman because it was "wreckable".
This philosophy needs to applied to more than just financial institutions. The FCC, FDA, EPA, etc., like the SEC, all act as industry gatekeepers ensuring that which they supposedly regulate is safe from the laws of the country in which they operate.
Just about everyone is at fault. But the financial/political powers knew the most and benefitted the most and are in my mind by far the most culpable. The have also so far paid the lowest price for their sins.
BingoCat, I'm going to be watching for your handle. Does it matter WHO was responsible? Not really. If it was your President, (we know it's not) they (or he or she) should not be above the law. We KNOW, all of us, what is Right and what is Wrong. And we are being presented with ample evidence that many people did what you, I and most of the world would consider to be wrong. Investigate, Prosecute and JAIL the wrong doers.
If the financial system in the United States is ever going to reclaim any Credibility, then this is a minimum requirement.
I'm guessing you work for and are loyal to one of the large financial firms in the United States.
Fuck you and the horse you rode in on, bingocat. What an assinine statement. What investment grade collateral are you speaking of? You are off your rocker.
I don't recall having the option to vote for a balanced budget, repaying of government debt, or any of the other things you imply are the fault of the voting public. I never had a favored mortgage, have no debt, and am not a person that was a bubble loving moron. I have always owned my houses outright since 1995. But that is so off topic that I can't believe you even brought it up. Lehman was a criminal act. You must be related to Dickhead Fuld.
It IS someone else's fault...how could Goldman still be a BHC. How could Lehman use Repo 105 out of the London office because it was blatantly illegal here treated as a sale for a few days. It's called a loan, phucknut.
It is the fault of the SEC, the FRBNY, Ernst and Old, the Fed, and the rating agencies, and as best I can tell, you.
And if you are so naive as to think we all knew about this shit, then why is it all such a revelation now when the 2200 page report gets published? Because we've learned about a whole new game of extortion of the shareholders and taxpayers--a near collapse of the entire economy due to the money markets as expressed by Eric Sprott--and the entry of TARP which took our money to save these anal probers.
What is your fucking point? I'll be watching your handle too...because you sound like some elitest that has suffered none and just wants to stir the pot with your lack of intelligence.
Memo to self--Bingocat is a phucknut.
Howard, If I may, an observation. Most people put some thought into their handle on ZH. The name of a character, person, or observation, or something related that tells just a little bit about them. So, I want you to think of the names of the biggest "phucknuts" on here and how messed up their names are. Bingo-cat. The name says it all doesn't it. lol
Thanks for the laugh, Frank. I just got really pissed at that moron. I'm actually breathing now. Thanks Frank.
Yeah, you've left some great rants. Apt for your handle. lol
Damn, another opportunity all shot to hell. ;-)
My advice holds. Don't feed the phucknuts.
LOL!
Memo to self: don't step in front of speeding trains and one-sided comment boards.
So much for the concept of reasoned discourse and basic courtesy afforded someone who offers a differing opinion. miles kendig (another good handle) says don't feed the phucknuts but here I go…
The hyperbole part is irresponsible on the part of a US Senator addressing an open letter to the President of the United States. When did it become OK to disrespect the Office of the President in such a way? Guess I am old-fashioned.
The investment grade collateral content of Repo 105 for each quarter was posted on ZH days ago, by ZH (at peak notional, 97% of the box listed as investment grade; 90% governmental). I assumed ZH posted it right. If ZH and the 2200-page report posted wrong data (in a set of very nice footnoted tables which looked quite 'official'), I will admit to my mention of it being incorrect. You check and you decide.
Agreed the Repo 105 accounting treatment is colorable/criminal. So stipulated. So what. That did not bring LEH and the system down. System-wide expectations-driven leverage did. Fuld and others will get theirs. In the end, they will be a footnote to history (name the three CEOs to the top three broker bankruptcies in 1929-30). If everyone on your list tomorrow said "I give up. You're right - I was evil. I will donate all my assets and the rest of my life's work (behind bars) to providing for others, guided by a group of ZH comment board posters on the Ides of March 2010" and then actually did it, would that resolve it for you? Not me.
I intensely dislike TARP, but anyone who thinks the "Bartertown Solution" would have been better fundamentally misunderstands the world. TARP was a short-term solution to a short-term problem. The longer-term problem - how to deal with $10-15 trillion of debt owed by Americans who are less-well-placed than they thought to repay it, and how to let the economic expectations and sense of entitlement of a nation down slowly, with the smallest imposition to the greatest number, is a FAR larger problem. Resolving a significant national crisis in a constructive way is a very difficult task. It will take years/decades.
The voting mass who says "nothing is my fault at all because I wasn't specifically offered a referendum on any particular issue which should have been corrected" but who think it is now appropriate to foment violent uprising are irresponsible fools. Democracy is the single best method of getting back at the minority/financial elite. Tax them to the poorhouse if you want. It is one vote per person, not per dollar. If every poster on here wrote a reasoned letter/email to their senator, rep, governor, and president once a month, and said what they thought the appropriate outcome should be (i.e. what needs to be solved by re-regulation), then democracy in action might put those issues to the forefront. Politicians pander to those who pay them. So make it known you will pay them with your votes.
Me? No favored mortgage. Occasional free veggies from neighbors. One always-outright-owned drafty old shack. 10yr old car, bought used, with cash but commute by subway. Zero debt of any kind. Friends who lost everything and are jobless. Relatives who have delayed retirement for a decade. Mad as hell at "those responsible". But as a student of markets, I recognize bubbles/crashes happen, and it is ALWAYS more than just the politicos and financial elite who are responsible. I also personally recognize that not having levered myself out the wazoo means I am going to pay for those who did because post-financial-crisis-resolution ALWAYS involves mass debt forgiveness of some kind. I will get over it. The only way I could have done it differently is to have jumped on the bubble bandwagon as I saw it occuring, further contributing to the subsequent fall, and getting a freebie on the way down by not paying back my debt, or by selling to some hapless fool at the top. I see the future 50yrs from now, and it will blame societal mass and human nature more than it blames Fuld. Future history will blame short-sighted vigilante politicians for prolonging the downturn by not uniting the country in a constructive effort to rebuild the societal legitimacy of a day's work and the importance of personal responsibility, and instead pandering to the short-term expectations of an angry populace who seeks bread and circuses. It was ever thus.
Gjp & David 449420: Nobody is above the law. I do not suggest Fuld should not be prosecuted. I simply believe there are far more at fault who are being let off simply because they were not a CEO or working at a bank or ratings agency. There are hundreds of thousands of current/former real estate agents, contractors, mortgage brokers, real estate appraisers, life insurance salespeople, etc who preyed on the un-knowing to have them buy or spend on knowingly over-priced "assets" because it would line their pockets with short-term gains. I know of not a single one who has offered to give his commission back to the person who has his house foreclosed upon (or whose policy has become worthless because of market drop) because of the bad advice given or the excessive spread/commission taken.
merehuman: I hear you...
The problem is, where do you start? If there is ever to be any meaningful improvement in moral hazard in this country, it'll have to start at the top. You'll have to insist that the big boyz get jail time. Otherwise, nothing will ever change. Rant all you want about how the little guy was responsible too, no argument from me. But that's not the wise point. Wisdom dictates that when leadership falters, the whole system becomes corrupt. If you're a smart person, if you want your words to have any effect, you would emphasize this, not the dribble you spout that would have the effect of letting all the crooks off the hook.
Indeed. And a quality reminder that disagreeing without being disagreeable is the aim of most here. Thanks for the reminder while affording yourself and other visitors the release that this medium offers. Worthwhile mirrors. peace
anytime i got busted it was a crisis for me too.Crime didnt pay after all but i still blame all those merchants for displaying wares and putting the candy in front.
Sarcasm off
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/lloyd-chapman/obama-administration-dest_b_... Unreal. If I was American I'd be thinking about flying the flag upside down from now on.
" At the end of the day, this is a test of whether we have one justice system in this country or two. "
Only a Washington plutocrat politician, even a well intentioned one, could be so obtuse as to make it sound like this is an issue that's up in the air.
Death to the treasonous criminals; the banksters, the fraud artists, the corporatists, and the banksters.
"Death to the treasonous criminals; the banksters, the fraud artists, the corporatists, and the banksters."
That is what suprises me about the corporate loons, did they not "get the memo" or read the paper where a lunatic flew a plane into the IRS building in Austin, Texas??? What is to stop the next lunatic from putting the crosshairs (literally) on the GS, JPM, LEH, E&Y or FED, SEC, TRE people that are in charge? Do they think the odds that out of 320,000,000 that there is not a lunatic in the crowd (or many)?
They already want blood and someone's head on a pike.
I vote for the return of impalement. The first four, Paulsen, Fuld, Geitner, Blankfiend.
Let's tone it down a bit... Marla will crush your balls for saying stuff like that... Calling for someones head on a pike is crossing the line in any site's comments section.
I did not "Ask for someone's head on a pike", I was stating that "the people" are starting to get that emotion. Just check out what is really "going on in America" and you find people are totally pissed, and they simply are not going to take it any more.
Check out the post below this wher the poster was making "predictions". He is more eloquent than I, for I am as subtle as a sledgehammer or a community beadpan, but he catches the sentiment and communicates it better.
BTW, Marla will not "crush my balls" for a statment like that. There was no advocacy of violence, but there are Americans out there that have had enough.
YOU were the one that overreacted.
I am merely stating truth in what a lot in America are feeling.
Crushing your balls would be violence, Marla would not advocate that. Now if we read in the paper one day that you turn up, with, you know, crushed ones, I suppose this blog is the first place they are going to come looking for suspects...
"I vote for the return of impalement. The first four, Paulsen, Fuld, Geitner, Blankfiend."
Yeah, I must have misread that line as you advocating it for some strange reason.
and the reference to Marla crushing your balls:
Noun 1. ball-buster - a demanding woman who destroys men's confidence
O.J. comes to mind right of, but the injustices are enough to make a fella drive a plane into a building. (texas)
Wonder how many other americans feel terrorized by our government ?
Every man and woman living in a tent on the outskirts and sidewalks
Not until you are destitute and on the street do you become aware how difficult it can be to get a drink of water.
Husbands and wifes fight across the country as unemployment checks dont meet expenses.
As we devolve in assets we become prey and fall victim to those less burdened in concience or more in need.
Law at best was never so good to the least of us and we can expect more hindrance than help from them.
Marching on washington is the only option left.
I believe eventually we all will. I expect to get there in about 2 1/2 weeks unless the world falls apart before then. Its either sit still for more or STAND.
PS Glad to be among others who feel same way.
It is not isolated and happens at every quarter end at every firm. I do not know who is dumber, the stock investors playing the financial ponzi scheme or the government for allowing too big to fail. Financial stocks are to be rented, not owned.
Either Kaufman has gone rogue as his Lone Ranger act seems to indicate (unlikely) or the Obama Administration has put him up to this with a specific goal in mind - and if that doesn't pan out...hey, Kaufman's just a temp.
Remember Kaufman is Biden's administrative assistant (literally) and was appointed to run out Joe's term until Junior (Biden Jr.) could run a campaign for the seat. But now Jr. says he's not running, scared by Scott Brown maybe. In any case, can you dig up dirt about the Lehman collapse without tainting anyone connected with the current administration? I doubt it. Call me cynical but it's kind of out of character for Kaufman to initiate something like this without Biden and therefore Obama's blessing.
Prosecuting criminal activity is legit obviously and if Obama actually caps the size and leverage (to "manageably-sized" as big Ted says here) of TBTF financial institutions no one would be happier than myself but something tells me a simple, elegant solution is not what they have in mind.
Other than being too soft on the Fed and the SEC that letter was terrific!
Let the executions begin. Like Deng did to Hailie Sallasie, let their families live if they confess.
I mean what is it going to take, another Good Friday 9.2 quake before everyone gets religion?
Suffice it to say our Financial Structure is in much worse shapel than our infrastructure. If you doubt it, just read "LIARS POKER"
The problem is, we can't offer enough protection to the people who are willing to talk.
I believe that we do have that capability. In spades. It is that we are forced to wonder if, or when, those assets will be made available to the proposition we advocate in greater measure than we already possess, which is a great deal.
Miles... people who know don't want their lives ripped apart by a predatory media supporting a fradulent adgenda. And it's not getting any better anytime soon.
Hotlined Senate Bill Weakens Whistleblower Protection
The bill contains a number of "poison pills" which include repealing the current whistleblower protections for FBI employees, allowing the heads of intelligence agencies to fire whistleblowers with no due process at all, allowing intelligence agencies to conduct the fact findings in cases they do allow, and allowing for dismissal of whistleblower cases without a hearing.
http://www.truthout.org/whistleblower-protection-weakened-hotlined-senat...
I know the deal, hence my selection of Miles Kendig. The amazing thing is that now everyone from the disaffected to the morally & ethically conflicted will be forced underground while remaining at their posts. The system is consuming itself. I would hope that if anyone here observed a situation where a whistle blower needed some assistance the support that was required would find its way to them.
For anyone considering doing an information dump to tips at zerohedge I suggest the investment in one of those netbooks, purchase it with cash, use it at an open wifi spot and never from home or from known location. Scan and send your documents and narrative that way.
right on miles.
wonder if Sen. Kaufman is willing to do a Sen. Gravel did with the Pentagon Papers and start reading these documents into record, should they be received from an anonymous source?
An event actually worthy of a senate hold and filibuster.
The rules of the site say we cannot advocate violence, so we won't.
Instead, we will predict. Market predictions are okay, right? Like GOOG earnings will surprise to the upside? Or UE will come in better than expectations?
So it must be acceptable to make predictions about society.
The LEH revelations are just the latest in a long line of revelations that remind us all that if we are not among the WS elite or their purchased representatives, then we are the chumps whose sole purpose on this planet is to serve the needs and desires of our masters. We are part of the Second Democracy, where all are equally fucked by the First Democracy.
In the Second Democracy, fraud is a crime, punishable by imprisonment and fines. In the First Democracy, fraud is a virtue rewarded by money and power. In the Second Democracy, corruption, theft, and violation of any of the thousands of rules that are written but only selectively followed are indictable offenses. In the First Democracy, corruption, theft and violation of any of the thousands of rules that are written but only selectively followed are at worst mere annoyances pointed out by Quixote-esque Bloggers, and at best an opportunity for a pissing contest amongst the elite, allowing the biggest dick to prove just how robust his appendage is by demonstrating what he can get away with.
Now it is time for predictions:
The Second Democracy is about to realize that their numbers are far larger. They are about to realize that they can become the Only Democracy if they are willing to stand and rid themselves of the First Democracy. They know, however, that the "system" as it exist allows them no avenue to free themselves from the financial oppression that the First Democracy imposes upon them.
They know the only answer---the only thing that will allow them to take the position the forgotten documents serving as a foundation for their society promise---is violence. They know that those who flaunt their power and make no attempt to hide their contempt for the Second Democracy must be swept away by the majority in whatever manner gets the job done fastest. They know---predicting, of course---that this means murder and assassination. They also know that once the murder and assassination begin, the ranks of those willing to stand up for real rights and real equality will swell and the cleansing of the system will be as rapid as it will be merciless.
This will not be the first time an oppressed people has risen up to throw off the yoke of oppression. It has happened many times, in Eastern Europe two decades ago, and in North America 234 years ago. It is a natural and completely justifiable response to a problem for which it has become abundantly clear there is no non-violent solution. Patience is a finite resource. Peak patience has come and gone. Patience in the form of voting or blogging or letter writing or peaceful protest has proven itself to be ineffective and impotent. When patience is gone, other means of addressing the problem become acceptable. Indeed, they become an imperative.
The Second Democracy has long been taught by their masters that oppression must be confronted, and at certain times normal practices and beliefs suspended. Most recently, the First Democracy sent members of the Second Democracy to fight for oil....er, oppressed Iraqis. (We know this is oil related because in other countries where people are oppressed, we stop at sanctions or "constructive engagement", e.g., Burma for the former and China for the latter.) In another battle, only connected to Iraq by a psychopath who was then serving as Vice President, the Second Democracy was told that laws and such quaint practices such as habeas corpus, or even prohibitions against torture, are absolutes unless expediency requires they be ignored.
An aggrieved people is about to rise again. Spit on someone long enough, and he will eventually spit back. An aggrieved people has learned that certain rules and prohibitions (e.g., murder, lack of habeas corpus, torture)can be suspended and ignored if needed, following the practice and lessons of the First Democracy. Woe to those who think their wealth or position protects them from the wrath of 306 million people scorned. There will be no place safe, especially when the protectors of the First Democracy join their brothers and sisters rather than serve the underserving masters. It has come to this, or it soon will. If anyone cannot feel the wrath bubbling up, churning, seeking release and justice, then he is lacking normal perception. Society is but a moment from explosion. When it finally bursts, it comes in a flash. One moment is calm and normal, the next instant total mayhem. The echoes of the first shot, when it comes, will be drowned out by the sound of the second and third and fourth shots.
The elite waited too long, or else were just too arrogant and too stupid. Now it is too late.
That is my prediction.
Those who have failed to learn from history are doomed to have its lessons thrust upon them. And into them.
My thoughts exactly Chindit13.
What is to follow, from a historic perspective, is baked in the cake
"...Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just Powers from the Consent of the Governed, that whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these Ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it..."
I DO NOT CONSENT.
Guns, Gold, Garden. Is this starting to make more sense now?
SELF-RELIANCE + SELF-DEFENSE = SELF-RESPECT
It's all about YOU, Bitches!
I am Chumbawamba.
WELL SAID and MORE ELOQUENT than what I wrote, but you GOT IT!!!!
THANKS FOR THIS POST!!!!!
At least there is one member of the senate remaining who will actually give voice to this perspective of the debate.
Where are the other 99 senators, they should all be doing this ?Any candidate who supports this won't need money to win an election they will have votes if top people go to prison . I guess we have a new candidate for president and for real change .Sen. Kaufman has my vote .Also why aren't States prosecuting these people they have their own laws that should protect people and when the Fed Breaks the law isn't the check and balance supposed to go back to the States ?
We don't seem to be hearing much from the other US Investment banks do we? That will be because these kinds of repo transactions were quite common, and not just in the year or two before the collapse.
Frankly, I'm surprised at the outrage. Any regulator who is surprised wasn't looking very closely under the bonnet.
Moreover, what is the difference between this and banks doing matching CDS transactions with each other last year to get their stated RWA down?
Aren't Repo deals that are deliberately timed to deceive shareholders, creditors and regulators "sham transactions" under current fraud statutes?
There is nothing intrinsically wrong with the transactions. It is obviously the intent to deceive behind them, the timing pattern of them, etc. In "Enron" and other similar cases, this has been established in case law.
Also, you cannot as an Executive "deepen" an insolvency. Taking on more debt or engaging in deceptive transactions to cover up insolvency is also fraud.
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