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Spitzer: If The Attorney General Does Not Sue Goldman Sachs, He Should Resign
Now that Goldman is back in the spotlight following Carl Levin's concluding report, referring Goldman Sachs to the same law enforcement authorities that are overeager to get a job at none other than Goldman (the most recent example of which came yesterday when Bank of America which hired Gary Lynch, a former director of enforcement at the SEC, to head its legal, compliance, and regulatory relations efforts) for misleading investors and perjury, the wave of indignation at the glaringly obvious is once again back in vogue. To wit: on Friday's Andreson Cooper, Matt Taibbi and Eliot Spitzer presented their views on the fact that several years into the biggest ponzi collapse in Wall Street history, stabilized only by the Fed's pledging of trillions in taxpayer capital and the Treasury issuing like amount in debt to prevent the insolvency of Wall Street's corner offices, nobody has still gone to jail. It was actually an oddly open and forthright show. Some of the notable soundbites from the transcript: "Eliot, do you believe Goldman broke the law and lied? - Yes, I do. And I know people are going to say how can you say that as a lawyer? I have read this report. It confirms our worst fears about double dealing, lying. Goldman Sachs has zero, none, nada credibility in my book"....."Tim Geithner, treasury secretary, apparently reported in today's "New York Times" was calling people saying don't bring cases, it will unsettle the markets, so they let these guys go free. Meanwhile, he signed off on $12.9 billion to Goldman to cover a bad bet they made."....."Goldman Sachs was the number one private campaign contributor to Barack Obama's presidential election campaign. It's one of the single biggest campaign contributors to both parties in Congress"..."Anderson, before I sued, went after Merrill Lynch, which was the first case we filed many years back, I was told by their lawyer -- this is a direct quote -- "Be careful, we have powerful friends"...and the kicker: "Do you think the Justice Department will prosecute? Spitzer: If they don't, shame on them. If they don't, the Attorney General should resign if he can't bring this case." And when Holder resigns, he can go work as Goldman's newest General Counsel, the end. Hopefully, unlike last time people got angry, only to promptly lose interest in Wall Street's crimes, this time it actually leads to something.
Complete program transcript:
h/t MM
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Absolutely no surprise, but good to finally hear it from the horses mouth... and Spitzer got off easy... he's still breathing! Lets hope this is a sign that he feels he has enough cover from the recent increase in demands for criminal prosecution to finally speak up, and that the wall of silence is actually beginning to crack... praying for cameras in the courtroom and stocking up on popcorn just in case!
I hate to say this but I am about to make a BOLD prediction here. All of this attention to "Wall Street execs not going to jail" mainstream media sentiment is for the first time in over a year being splashed across the front pages of Yahoo, Anderson Cooper among other websites along with the Levin accusation of perjury.
This is a complete setup and what I predicted over a year ago is about to come to fruition. I claimed last year that the only way for Pres. Obama to have an iota of a chance at re-election was to make Wall Street the fall guy. It now appears we are setting up for at least 1 Wall Street exec/former partner to go to prison as a stage show in order to help the president get re-elected.
Essentially we are going to get a patsy in the next 30 days and the MSM can splash how Pres. Obama is putting the screws to Wall Street. Meanwhile the 8k other co-conspirators walk free to steal our money via Fed inflation and bailouts. This would not be appearing in the MSM unless it was the build up for a equally responsive diversion of supposed checks and balances.
I just clicked my chess clock. In 30 days we get an indictment.
Yes, the chance for balls-to-the-wall prosecutions is slim, with Holder and the 50 State AGs bereft of testicular fortitude. Did all the federal and state AGs attend some "conference" in Sweden?
But I'll take any trial, even a stage trial of a patsy, for the chance it will lead to unintended unravelling of the criminal enterprise. A judge, for example like Judge Sirica, can take the trial into the heart of the beast.
It takes only one prosecutor to investigate just one crime, and follow the money and the connected crimes, and bring down the overlapping criminal enterprises using Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) prosecutions. If one prosecutor will take off the kid gloves, and hit these criminals with the iron fist of justice, the public will rally to support the prosecutor. And that public support may help the AG grow a new sets of balls.
We need coast-to-coast arrests, from Countrywide to ratings agencies to Wachovia and Goldman Sachs and every one in between in these overlapping criminal enterprises that raped and pillaged the mortgage industry, ruined the housing market, destroyed the credit system, endangered federal/state/municipal financing, pension funds and the banking system, caused massive unemployment, sent the economy into a downward spiral, endangered the world financial system, extorted the U.S. and the world to pay them billions in ransom or face the destruction of the world financial system and economy, and now are costing taxpayers hundreds of billions, even trillions of $
We need mass trials in style of the Maxiprocesso (Maxi Trial) of the Mafia in Sicily during the mid-1980s that resulted in hundreds of defendants convicted. We need 20 years-to-life hard time prison sentences for the hundreds convicted. We need RICO confiscations of the hundreds of billions in illegal "profits" from the criminal enterprises of the banks, mortgage industry, and Wall Street Mafia.
The prosecutor who leads the charge will become a national hero.
Yeah, it will probably be determined that a mailroom employee at GS caused the whole mess.
Does any of the ZH posters/trolls realise that if you bing or google.. Your collective information is presented to form a opinion. Go back in time. I found after selecting one year link, everything became 24h breaking Media News.
Spitzer archive. Lets look at what is being hidden to public eyes.
http://www.archive.org/search.php?query=eliot%20spitzer
Connect the dots. winks
WHO ELSE IS WITH ME?
F*CK THE MARKETS! THERE IS NOTHING FAIR OR ORDERLY GOING ON WITH THEM. BETTER TO HAVE IT ALL CRASHING DOWN AND STARTING OVER. I CLOSED ALL MY TRADIG ACCOUNTS YEARS AGO.
ok. you may know, that is the slewie bio, too!
i also post that there are no more markets, only interventions.
that said, Count, (i'm already seeing you as a balzac character, here), i yam homo econimus, and happy about it, too! also, as the old greeks mighta put it: slewie is a political animal. here, we have an invite and ability to deal with issues, ideas, but perhaps most importantly, power.
in poli sci, political power is defined most simply as the ability to get someone else to do what you want them to do. really.
i'm not so gloomy about markets, tho, maybe b/c i'm a pirate. white matkets are like making sure you get VD! but i still go to the supermarket. for the doorbusters and i use coupons, too. i may be poor, but gluttony, even for a guy who isn't overweight, can still be my reigning vice! black markets. farmers' markets, bicycle markets, card game markets, flea markets, casinos, books, whatever. i do markets. how the hell else can a pirate live? i'm outa the game, bounce along making a few bucks "extra" (my ass!) a month, and am quite happy with the blessings of our universe. ecstatic at times, actually.
You are right. Why should I care if the FED blows up the World. As long as I have my Home and a way to survive, why should it concern me. I really does not.
Nothing will really change. Except that we will go back to the old ways and provide for ourselves. The way many Generations before us did without the Government.
When you think about it Pioneers did not have the Government to help them but they survived unspeakable odds. Plus, they survived. What about the Mormons without electricity and engines? They survive without the Government. People do not need the Federal Reserve and the Government to survive.
We will be fine without them.
Scapegoats will be supplied shortly.
TD needs to put up this story from Max Keiser. Looks like a whole lot of strong economies are going off the US dollar.
http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2011-04-14/news/29417583_1_economies-food-security-local-currencies
Tyler.. another presentation
Saturday, April 16, 2011THERE IS NO FIX AND I WILL PROVE IT....
1. POLITICS....A French philosopher (I don't recall his name) wrote a book about why democracies fail. He was spot on in his understanding that once the masses understand that they can vote themselves government largesse and rob the national treasury through their vote, it is only a matter of time before the fabric of their society collapses under its own weight. We are there now. There is no way any meaningful policy will be crafted that puts this nation on a path to sustainability because the interests that make the rules receive their position of authority from the people now totally dependent on the welfare state. I guarantee you that no senior will vote for anyone who advocates removing one dime of their entitlements. I guarantee you that no vote will be cast by anyone that in any way threatens the status quo of Wall Street and the F.I.R.E. economy. I assure you that no vote will ever get cast by any special interest group that is threatened with less from the government. In short, not one thing will get done, changed, modified or even move towards a rational model that reveres sustainability, soundness, prudence and rationality because every step in that direction requires restraint, conservation, sacrifice and loss of government entitlement because no one ever has or ever will vote for someone who promises to take something away from them. Period. It is a monumental waste of time to engage in political debate or to care one bit about politics in general...it is all the same, there are no parties, there are no statesmen, there are no reforms, hope or change coming. None. Leaders get elected to make the rules by giving away not taking and the public is fully aware of this. Democracy fails now as the final pillage of whatever wealth remained accelerates.
ECONOMICS....We exist under a flawed, fraudulent, unsustainable, illusory economic model. It is based upon the economics of "more" which is a mathematical impossibility. Our yardstick of prosperity as measured by GDP is an exponential function meaning that every percentage increase in GDP is an increase upon an increase not from some static baseline. 3% GDP this year is not 3% more than some benchmark, it is 3% of the previous percentage growth rate. It is a compound function meaning that it goes parabolic at some point. There is nothing in nature that grows at a compound rate. It is not possible. Bacteria in a petri dish grow exponentially for a time, doubling and then doubling again and yet again until they consume the entire growth medium and they all die. Economics is no different. A system that depends upon compounding "growth" will, without question, consume its entire "growth medium" and eventually die. It is a fact of nature that cannot be repealed.
Take China for example... Read more
http://thebeehiveantiticker.blogspot.com/
Fuck you Junker. We that have prepared will not help you!! You'll need to ask your defunct Government to help you out. :P
THE FIX:
I nominate BRADLEY MANNING for P.O.T.U.S.
Link to "Client 9"?
The Hoi Poli are watching and see the "Big Shots" on Wall Street walk away from crime and crime....this attitudw is trickling down so no one feels respnosible for thier debts anymore...after all "if they can do it, why can't I " is the Mantra:
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-tax-credit-20110415,0,4550587.stor...
http://www.tampabay.com/features/homeandgarden/just-walk-away-from-your-...
Many people feel what's good for the goose.....
It's now a cultural problem of staggering proportions.
I don't come to ZH for laughs but that's what I get.
US Holder vs Golden Slacks ???
C'mon you know that's funny.
Spitzer is the poster boy for what happens when a politician seriously goes after the banksters.
They out you for solicitation of prostitution - or whatever other skeleton the politician might have in their closet - and you are gone baby gone.
A name that just has to be on the list is Angelo Mozilo, of Countrywide and corrupting Senators like Dodd (who had a smile on his face) fame.
At the height of the subprime fraud, Mozilo actually sent underlings to round up the homeless to sign up for loans that Countrywide then packaged and received from $2700 to $6500 for, while not risking any real funds.
So what will happen if one of these guys is prosecuted. I agree that there might be a cooling period until you have the next mania bout for these money junkies to participate in. In the essence of "the party" how many people are ever heard obove the roar of the people partaking in the party? This is like a drug lord except there are a few of them. If you get rid of one then another will take his place. Once someone fills the void it is but a matter of time before they will wait for their own opportunity. Corruption is nothing new in the market place and niether is deception. Think about for a minute. A zero sum game where one entity loses and one entity wins. Does this sound like a fair game or a dog eat dog where you do whatever you must to survive even if it means breaking the rules. Until the game changes the rules will always be left open to those willing to abuse them.
I can't see Attorney General Holder resigning and going to work for Goldman Sachs. On the other hand, I can see him sharing a talk show stage with Kathleen Parker.... "Parker Holder?"... or "Holder Parker?" Then again, maybe not, the name sounds like a valet service at a Day Spa.
If Mr. Spitzer really does want the Attorney General to resign he could subject him to being a co-host on his show. "Spitzer Holder?" or maybe... "Holder Spitzer?" I'm not sure. Sounds too much like a trip to the dentist, you know where they give you those little paper cups and ask you to rinse.
Maybe another co-host is a bad idea. Maybe Mr. Holder should prosecute Lloyd Blankfein... I mean hypothetically speaking... not in real life, just a hypothetical prosecution for failing to do God's work, or assuming God couldn't do it himself. Then again, Senator Carl Levin was out of line with his choice of words in describing "deals" as being, uh, well, not good deals so to speak. Maybe the Senator should be prosecuted by the Sargeant-at-Arms for a lack of decorum. Keep in mind decorum is a requirement at Senate hearings, but it is not required between co-hosts on CNN thankfully.
At the end of the day though I really think all this rests on the shoulders of Goldman's Lucas Van Praag. He's the one who wrote the letter explaining that true confidence can be found in Chinese walls. Link here: http://www2.goldmansachs.com/our-firm/on-the-issues/viewpoint/viewpoint-... I really think that's what started all this - the Chinese. You know that quote from the movie about their kids having to speak Chinese if the bulge bankers didn't cooperate. Believe me, I had a roommate in college who was a Chinese major. I had to listen to that Chinese every night. It's enough to drive you up a wall... I guess that's where the wall came from.
Wasn't it Hank Paulson who said "This will be a disclosable event and we don't want a disclosable event"? That's what Mr. Spitzer doesn't seem to understand. If we all have confidence in Chinese walls and how they insulate a bank's research department like Mr. Van Praag has instructed us and if we don't "disclose the event," then what seems to be the problem. Mr. Spitzer should focus on the real inside traders, the big guys like he did with Henry Blodget ten years ago, not focus on some nebulous organization such as Goldman Sachs. Goldman is probably protected under corporate personhood status thanks to Citizens United v. FEC. Don't you think Mr. Spitzer believes that Henry was the sole cause of the dot.com bust? That was big. The credit crisis and the subsequent bailout is just, well...pardon the expression, "a crappy deal." Who wants to prosecute a crappy deal? It's bad for ratings. Furthermore, who's going to pay for the next presidential election cycle if Goldman Sachs backs out? CNN makes money selling advertising... HELLO? Am I the only one that understands that Elliot Spitzer works for Goldman Sachs indirectly? Sometimes I don't think he thinks about the consequences before he does stuff.... just sayin'.
Dave Harrison
www.tradewithdave.com
I wonder if BofA'sTom Montag is going to get caught up in this mess and be forced out.