Why Isn't Wall Street in Jail?

[TallDave]

Yeah, Phil Gramm and Jim Leach, who started de-regulation, e.g repeal of portions of the Glass-Steagall Act, deserve some credit along with Barney Frank, too.

The end of Glass-Steagal wasn't the biggest problem. It's fine for insurance companies to be able to invest -- as long as those insurance companies can fail. It's just insanity to implicitly tell AIG "sure, you can invest, and if you fail Uncle Sam will guarantee your policies."

Regulators don't like a whole bunch of little companies with relatively small pay at the top -- they want a few easily-controlled behemoths that act like utilities and provide nice lucrative revolving door at the top. The situation the DOJ allowed to evolve is similar to that of the airlines before deregulation, in which it was basically impossible to start a new airline and everything they did was tightly controlled.

The problems with mortgage-backed securities weren't just fiduciary breach by the big trading houses -- if they were, Bear Stearns would still be around. Again, this is a very silly line of reasoning by Taibbi.

Why isn't Congress in jail? They're the ones that created this problem. Oh, lucky for them, giving misleading testimony to Congress isn't a crime if you're in Congress.

[choff]

I've been reading up on the practice of naked short selling. Interesting topic, essentially the selling of counterfeit financial instruments. Results in more shares being voted at shareholder meetings than were actually issued.

It creates an interesting possibility, people are taking the time and trouble to hide counterfeit assets in offshore accounts. People could end up paying taxes(or not) on these counterfeit instruments, often many people paying the same taxes on the same bogus assets over and over.

How much of the debt and deficit could be counterfeit as a result, with proper asset tracking and market regulation, much of the high risk debt could simply be declared illegal null and void!

Wall Street has an incestuous relationship with regulators and spends a lot on lobbying government. Brings up an old cockney saying,

"You don't pass the rozzer the dropsy on the snide."

[TallDave]

If people are voting more shares than were issued, then the clearing house screwed up somewhere in regards to the holder of record. Naked shorts should not magically create new shares post-settlement.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naked_short_selling

Calling it "flat-out counterfeiting" is just another example of Taibbi's ignorance of finance. Naked shorts are not like printing free money, you still have to deliver the shares and if you bet wrong you can be in a lot of trouble, esp. since the SEC tends to frown on shorting without a locate...

[chrismb]

Why Isn't Wall Street in Jail?

Because there is no law to put it there.

Make such a law!... (and make a big jail)

Maybe the whole of Manhattan should be locked up..... then we could send in Snake Plissken to go rescue the economy......

[rjaypeters]

Perhaps a step in the right direction: "New York Investigates Banks’ Role in Financial Crisis"

Relevant quote:

"The New York attorney general has requested information and documents in recent weeks from three major Wall Street banks about their mortgage securities operations during the credit boom, indicating the existence of a new investigation into practices that contributed to billions in mortgage losses.

Officials in Eric T. Schneiderman’s office have also requested meetings with representatives from Bank of America, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley, according to people briefed on the matter who were not authorized to speak publicly. The inquiry appears to be quite broad, with the attorney general’s requests for information covering many aspects of the banks’ loan pooling operations. They bundled thousands of home loans into securities that were then sold to investors such as pension funds, mutual funds and insurance companies."

[Snip]

"It is unclear whether Mr. Schneiderman’s investigation will be pursued as a criminal or civil matter."

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/17/busin ... .html?_r=1

[Ivy Matt]

Why isn't Congress in jail?

17th-century English history. Imagine if the president could order federal agents to arrest certain members of Congress before a vote.

EDIT: Never mind, the Constitution still allows them to be arrested while Congress is in recess.

[MSimon]

D,

Your huge error in all this is thinking that sexual morality (other than non-consent) or your preferred intoxicant is in any way important. That clouds the issue.

The critical morality is honesty. Even the stoner sex fiends at Rolling Stone get that.

Which is to say - give up on the non-essentials and you might be able to form coalitions to deal with essentials rather than matters of taste and culture.

[MSimon]

If they are going to go after the banks and other financial institutions this is one place to look:

http://powerandcontrol.blogspot.com/201 ... rists.html

[MSimon]

The Name Is Plissken

[MSimon]

"You don't pass the rozzer the dropsy on the snide."

The actual phrase is:

"You don't pass the rozzer the dropsy in snide."

I learned it from Mad Magazine when I was a kid (about '57 IIRC).

In Mad it was rendered as:

Don't pass the rozzer the dropsy in snide."

[MSimon]

"AYBABTU"

I'm sorry, I'm unable to decipher acronyms that do not have an "F" in them*. What does AYBABTU mean?

*Must be my military background.

I can relate. LULZ.

[choff]

"You don't pass the rozzer the dropsy on the snide."

The actual phrase is:

"You don't pass the rozzer the dropsy in snide."

I learned it from Mad Magazine when I was a kid (about '57 IIRC).

In Mad it was rendered as:

Don't pass the rozzer the dropsy in snide."

You don't bribe the policeman with counterfeit money.

It may be coincidental that the LENR business has cropped up in a timeframe after the meltdown on Wall St. I've heard reports that while the banks remain unregulated that the feds are starting to do a much better job with the stock market. That would drive the scammers farther afield, hence a new fusion breakthrough.

If Rossi is running a scam then it's the most sophisticated and elaborate one to date, that would require the best cons in the business, and where to find? Hope I'm wrong!

[rjaypeters]

"Why Isn't Wall Street in Jail?" because pursuing one such case "would divert resources away from the investigation of other frauds and the recovery of losses suffered by other investors."

Read:

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-1 ... 7449.story

Cheer Judge Jed Rakoff. Give a Bronx cheer to the SEC.

[MSimon]

Nothing will be done about Wall Street - there is too much money in it.

http://classicalvalues.com/2011/02/the_dumbest_/

[choff]

Nothing will be done about Wall Street - there is too much money in it.

http://classicalvalues.com/2011/02/the_dumbest_/

Freudian Slip