General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsHow tied is this Administration to banksters? Read it and weep.
Seriously, if you won't go after Bernie Madoff's co-conspirators, who will you go after?
The Justice Department refused in September to back up Treasury inspector general staff who wanted a court order to enforce a subpoena, in effect shielding JPMorgan from law enforcement, the October 8 document shows.
The Justice Department told the Treasury Inspector General that they were denying the request for enforcement of the subpoena, which means officials could not undertake further actions regarding this matter, wrote Jason J. Metrick, the inspector general special-agent-in-charge.
The memo revealing that Justice protected JPMorgan from an obstruction complaint raises anew questions about how much the Obama administration has done to protect the big banks, whose lies about mortgage securities and other investments they sold sank the economy in 2008.
http://www.newsweek.com/jpmorgan-doesnt-want-talk-about-bernie-madoff-225067
woo me with science
(32,139 posts)the next Third Way Trojan horse.
Doctor_J
(36,392 posts)getting the indies, undecideds, and young people out.
Le Taz Hot
(22,271 posts)vote for Sen. Obama in 2008 as they saw, rightly, that he was a "centrist." MANY more chose not to vote for him in 2012 as he continued Bush policy after Bush policy and showing NO acknowledgement of progressive issues. The Establishment Third-Way Democrats seem to think the "shut up and vote" strategy will work indefinitely. It won't. There's a sea change happening and, as has historically been the case, the 1% and their bought-and-paid-for politicians are the last to figure it out.
Voting for a Third-Way candidate is no better than voting for a Republican. We need to demand better and refuse their "inevitable" corporate candidates.
L0oniX
(31,493 posts)fredamae
(4,458 posts)Doctor_J
(36,392 posts)"TPP is a major priority for the president"
He actually hasn't supported a single leftist issue in 5 years. I blame Reid and Pelosi too. The only function liberals serve now is to be blamed when DINOs lose at the polls.
ProSense
(116,464 posts)"How tied is this Administration to banksters? Read it and weep."
...does this have to do with the administration being "tied" to bankers? I mean, the piece is about an IG inquiry and some back and forth between the DOJ and the SEC. Then the author throws in this:
The memos Justice is helping JPMorgan conceal might also shed light on how the Securities and Exchange Commission failed to uncover the decades-long scam, despite audits and warnings from Harry Markopolos, the Boston fraud investigator who tried in vain to get an official investigation.
Eric Swanson, a lawyer who oversaw one of the SEC audits, married a Madoff niece in a 2007 wedding that Madoff attended. The SEC inspector general earlier said it looked into this, but found nothing amiss.
What does this have to do with the administration? This guy worked for the SEC until 2006, which the piece doesn't mention. The aspect of the case was screwed up by the SEC long before Obama took office.
Swanson is married to Shana Madoff, who worked at the firm of her uncle Bernard Madoff as a rules and compliance officer and attorney until it was closed when the multi-billion-dollar Madoff investment scandal was uncovered. Swanson met Shana Madoff originally when he was conducting an SEC examination of whether Bernie Madoff was running a Ponzi scheme.
<...>
Following a period of time in which he practiced non-securities-related law, Swanson worked at the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) as a lawyer from August 1996 to 2006, other than a brief period in 1999 when he worked for Knight Securities.[1][5] While at the SEC, he received in August 2004 a Capital Markets Award, related to work in the area of SEC examinations of conflicts of interest.[4] At the end of his tenure, he was Assistant Director of the Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations, head of the SEC's inspection program responsible for regulatory oversight of trading on the securities exchanges and ECNs, supervising 818 staffers.[1][5][6]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_Swanson
Many of Maddoff's co-conspirators have been prosecuted since 2009.
Two Former Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC Employees Charged with Conspiracy, Securities Fraud and Tax Crimes
http://www.stopfraud.gov/news/news-11182010.html
Estate of Jeffry M. Picower to Forfeit $7.2 Billion for Victims of Bernard L. Madoffs Ponzi Scheme
http://www.stopfraud.gov/news/news-12172010.html
Peter Madoff, Former Chief Compliance Officer and Senior Managing Director at Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC, Pleads Guilty in New York to Securities Fraud and Tax Fraud Conspiracy
http://www.stopfraud.gov/iso/opa/stopfraud/NYS-1206291.html
byronius
(7,395 posts)He's EVIL. He serves THE DEVIL. Let's just throw stuff at him and see if it might STICK.
We don't deserve this president. And when he's gone, we're all going to miss him, 'cause there ain't nobody like him in the pipeline.
'But I heerd he kicked a dog once. I think it was on the Blaze, but it might be true. He's just plain EVIL. I kin just sense it.'
KoKo
(84,711 posts)JPMorgan was the principal bank Madoff used in his fraud. On the day of his arrest in December 2008, he claimed to be the worlds biggest money manager, handling $64.8 billion of other peoples money, half as much as JPMorgan itself and almost as much as Goldman Sachs and George Soros combined.
and this:
Last March Attorney General Eric Holder told a Senate hearing he was afraid to prosecute the Too Big to Fail Banks, as it could do even more economic damage, in effect declaring them Too Big to Prosecute.
The size of some of these institutions becomes so large that it does become difficult for us to prosecute them when we are hit with indications that if you do prosecute, if you do bring a criminal charge, it will have a negative impact on the national economy -- perhaps even the world economy," Holder testified.
Ichingcarpenter
(36,988 posts)The Wall Streeters Obama loves most
The president may call them "fat cats" in public, but far too many of his closest advisors are former bankers
http://www.salon.com/2012/01/23/the_wall_streeters_obama_loves_most/
https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2009/04/pers-a06.html
Its sort of old news really when Larry Summers was brought aboard right after the first election.
L0oniX
(31,493 posts)frylock
(34,825 posts)zeemike
(18,998 posts)He is worth his weight in gold...literaly.
If you are a criminal bankster...you can do the crime with no chance of doing the time.
pa28
(6,145 posts)Even the American Enterprise Institute thinks it time. Too big to fail is too big to exist and yet we refuse to take action.
msongs
(67,406 posts)MissDeeds
(7,499 posts)It seems the biggest criminals get a pass.
Le Taz Hot
(22,271 posts)I wouldn't have expected anything different. We have a chance in 2014 and 2016 to begin to replace these Third-Way sellouts and to replace the TeaKlanner batshit crazy congresscritters. We DESPERATELY need to get smart, sane progressives in their place.
L0oniX
(31,493 posts)It's a joke to even be thinking you can vote Goldman Sachs out of office. A Gandhi type approach will not work either IMO. Passiveness is what they want. A bloody violent revolt is the only way to fix this ...as world history shows. What we see is a major flaw in the democratic system where voting can't be a means of self correction. The US Constitution and or Declaration of Human Rights should have had something in them to guard against greed.
Le Taz Hot
(22,271 posts)disagree with the remainder.
First, Goldman Sachs is not involved in ALL races throughout the U.S. They're involved in the ones in which they have a direct interest, namely governorships, key Congressional seats and pretty much all Senate seats. That leaves all the rest. Secondly, money doesn't always buy the seat. A reminder that Meg Whitman outspent Jerry Brown by something like 3 to 1 and Brown still won. There are lots of examples of this. The lesson here is popularity (and populism) can beat out money.
As for passivity, I think I'm advocating exactly the opposite. I'm advocating activism. Direct, unrelenting activism. That is what the Founders left to us. If WE don't like our politicians then WE have the power to change (gerrymandering notwithstanding -- a whole other thread).
A "bloody violent revolt?" No thanks. I've no desire to see anyone killed or maimed. "Bloody violent revolts" tend to have horrendous unintended consequences and I want to part of it.
L0oniX
(31,493 posts)Le Taz Hot
(22,271 posts)Metaphors usually fly right over my head.
zeemike
(18,998 posts)And Gandhi was not passive, he was non violent...his approach was non cooperation with evil and civil disobedience which is not passive.
Any attempt at a violent revolution will be instantly crushed by a militarized police force and the all seeing eye of the NSA.
Autumn
(45,091 posts)rec
RC
(25,592 posts)There was little of the usual Administrative house cleaning when Obama was sworn in. Why is that?
jsr
(7,712 posts)RC
(25,592 posts)We just did not get the change we voted for.
Enthusiast
(50,983 posts)That was the first clue.
Uncle Joe
(58,363 posts)Thanks for the thread, Proud Public Servant.
pa28
(6,145 posts)Probably.
tridim
(45,358 posts)Scuba
(53,475 posts)KoKo
(84,711 posts):kick:
truedelphi
(32,324 posts)Financial sector people that he "appoints" to office.
He worked for Geithner, with Geithner even announcing such a deal when he was off trying to sell our economic policies to European nations.
Of course now that Geithner has packed up and gone off to Citi, Obama works for Jack Lew.
And recently good ol' Chomsky is saying what a plutocracy our nation has become, with millions attempting to find work, while the stock market explodes.
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/12/27/noam-chomsky-were-no-longer-a-functioning-democracy-were-really-a-plutocracy/
Enthusiast
(50,983 posts)I guess it is another "too liberal" trait to expect justice. Damn commies!