While normally we stay away from outright political commentary especially of the kind that has no direct relation to finance or the economy, the fact is that if the US had a functioning, uncompromised, uncorrupt, and effective Justice Department, much of what we see every day on Wall Street would be vastly different since if crime did indeed have punishment, then a vast portion of the questionable behavior that is exhibited by financiers would have been eliminated long ago. Which is why we find the news just released from The Hill that "Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) has circulated a draft copy of a resolution that would hold Attorney General Eric Holder in contempt of Congress" particularly relevant. For it is none other than Holder's complete lack of involvement and intervention to outright daily crimes conducted in the financial world that is as much a reason for the deplorable economic state of this country and the world, as are all those other factor extensively discussed in books and documentaries each and every day.
From The Hill [5]:
The 44-page measure was sent to members of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee on Thursday in an attempt to shore up support for what would be the toughest action taken by Issa as chairman of the powerful panel.
Issa has been investigating the botched gun tracking operation Fast and Furious for more than a year and has repeatedly expressed his frustration at the Department of Justice’s lack of cooperation.
Issa has issued two subpoenas to obtain documents from DOJ, and is arguing that the agency’s glacial pace in returning the requested information provides cause for holding Holder in contempt of Congress.
“The Justice Department’s failure to respond appropriately to the allegations of whistleblowers and to cooperate with Congressional oversight has crossed the line of appropriate conduct for a government agency,” reads a 17-page memo attached to the draft copy of the resolution on contempt circulated to members.
“Congress now faces a moment of decision between exerting its full authority to compel an agency refusing to cooperate with congressional oversight or accepting a dangerous expansion of Executive Branch authority and unilateral action allowing agencies to set their own terms for cooperating with congressional oversight.”
While we acknowledge that Issa has his own set of dirty laundry to go along, and likely influenced this proposal, we would to add: "about time" - because the corruption in America starts at the very top, in this case with the very man who is supposed to be isolated from the corruption prevalent everywhere else. We applaud the move (if consummated), as it will eliminate one of the people who has repeatedly made a mockery of not only the democratic process, but of the very institution of Justice he is supposed to be overseeing.
The only question is: who is this saint who would replace Holder, that would be immune to Wall Street's "lobbying efforts" to leave the world's richest alone, in their pursuit of redistributing ever more wealth...