Crime & Punishment
We live in a time when the Lords of Finance have become a global oligarchy. The Big Money Boys (almost all men) who run the global financial world have purchased the power of governments around the world. It was not always thus. There was a time not too many decades ago when corporations and wealthy individuals actually obeyed the laws.
Canadian regulators announced a $1.1 million fine against a bank they refuse to name. The bank failed to act on some questionable transactions including taking deposits over $10,000, no-questions-asked. They didn't even take the reputational harm from being named.
So they'll never do that again!
Banking regulation is a sadder joke every time the regulators tell it. Canadian banks post multi-billion dollar profits every year. That's money they take from us, the sucker who have to rely on them. They spend $1.1 million on lunch (and then white it off for a tax break).
American regulators act like horseflies in a barn. When piles of refuse get too him, they land on them and extract 'penalties.' American banks made, in the second quarter of 2014 alone, around $40 billion in profit. The $5-6 billion in fines was not only paltry, it was paid by us suckers in our bank fees. The bankers themselves still got record bonuses. Take that, Justice!
Fines are a non-punishment, and that's clearly well known. It's a 'Please Don't Throw Me into the Briar Patch' defense. 'Oh, no! Don't take 1% of our profits and make us charge the suckers 1% more!'
And the SEC and "Justice" Department think we don't know.
They seem to be happy bragging about the staggering sums that they've assessed in penalties, most often without admitting to any guilt. Yes, we get it. We know. And we know how much it hurts these companies: not at all.
But we're hurt. We lose our homes and life savings. They penalize banks for criminally foreclosing on mortgages - thousands at a time. We lose our houses and meager fortunes one at a time. We feel the hurt and humiliation of being broke and losing our jobs. The actual human harm is just a write-off to the banks and regulators. They feel nothing because they are beyond justice. They bought justice.
Justice would be in charging and convicting the actual people who do financial crimes. The corporations who did the crimes that they're penalized for are made of people - people who did evil. Nothing will change as long as we're throwing Bre'er Rabbit into the briar patch - not once, but again and again long after we know it won't touch him.
Bankers are people. People stole money from others. The victims of the financial fraud perpetrated by these banks had no opportunity to even understand what was done to them. Government is supposed to protect us from scams and financial fraud that we have no ability to see as just one person with just one mortgage or income. Instead, they've become a protection racket, taking our tax dollars and a few pennies in fines to guarantee that financial criminals stay out of prison.
Put a few of these bankers in real prison for a stretch and see how quickly things change.
The US Supreme court under it's odious and temporary Rightist majority has enshrined the concept of corporate personhood into law. When corporations can be drafted and take a bullet for their country, I'll start to see a case. For now, the shield of a corporate entity (and a few rounds of golf with the DOJ) is enough to keep these reptiles out of the jail cell (and exercise yard, and prison shower) they belong in.
If they won't punish the actual people who do us deep criminal financial harm, can they at least stop insulting us with these ridiculous fines? Goldman-Citibank-RBC-UBS-HSBC - the money means less that nothing to them. They throw parties to celebrate getting away with monstrous money-laundering, narco-financing - even terror financing. HSBC set up US dollar ATM's in Mexico for the drug cartels. Cash machines for drug lords. They paid a small fine.
Can't we at the bare minimum say: "we know what you fuckers did." Can't we even have that much satisfaction?
Canadian regulators announced a $1.1 million fine against a bank they refuse to name. The bank failed to act on some questionable transactions including taking deposits over $10,000, no-questions-asked. They didn't even take the reputational harm from being named.
So they'll never do that again!
Banking regulation is a sadder joke every time the regulators tell it. Canadian banks post multi-billion dollar profits every year. That's money they take from us, the sucker who have to rely on them. They spend $1.1 million on lunch (and then white it off for a tax break).
American regulators act like horseflies in a barn. When piles of refuse get too him, they land on them and extract 'penalties.' American banks made, in the second quarter of 2014 alone, around $40 billion in profit. The $5-6 billion in fines was not only paltry, it was paid by us suckers in our bank fees. The bankers themselves still got record bonuses. Take that, Justice!
Fines are a non-punishment, and that's clearly well known. It's a 'Please Don't Throw Me into the Briar Patch' defense. 'Oh, no! Don't take 1% of our profits and make us charge the suckers 1% more!'
And the SEC and "Justice" Department think we don't know.
They seem to be happy bragging about the staggering sums that they've assessed in penalties, most often without admitting to any guilt. Yes, we get it. We know. And we know how much it hurts these companies: not at all.
But we're hurt. We lose our homes and life savings. They penalize banks for criminally foreclosing on mortgages - thousands at a time. We lose our houses and meager fortunes one at a time. We feel the hurt and humiliation of being broke and losing our jobs. The actual human harm is just a write-off to the banks and regulators. They feel nothing because they are beyond justice. They bought justice.
Justice would be in charging and convicting the actual people who do financial crimes. The corporations who did the crimes that they're penalized for are made of people - people who did evil. Nothing will change as long as we're throwing Bre'er Rabbit into the briar patch - not once, but again and again long after we know it won't touch him.
Bankers are people. People stole money from others. The victims of the financial fraud perpetrated by these banks had no opportunity to even understand what was done to them. Government is supposed to protect us from scams and financial fraud that we have no ability to see as just one person with just one mortgage or income. Instead, they've become a protection racket, taking our tax dollars and a few pennies in fines to guarantee that financial criminals stay out of prison.
Put a few of these bankers in real prison for a stretch and see how quickly things change.
The US Supreme court under it's odious and temporary Rightist majority has enshrined the concept of corporate personhood into law. When corporations can be drafted and take a bullet for their country, I'll start to see a case. For now, the shield of a corporate entity (and a few rounds of golf with the DOJ) is enough to keep these reptiles out of the jail cell (and exercise yard, and prison shower) they belong in.
If they won't punish the actual people who do us deep criminal financial harm, can they at least stop insulting us with these ridiculous fines? Goldman-Citibank-RBC-UBS-HSBC - the money means less that nothing to them. They throw parties to celebrate getting away with monstrous money-laundering, narco-financing - even terror financing. HSBC set up US dollar ATM's in Mexico for the drug cartels. Cash machines for drug lords. They paid a small fine.
Can't we at the bare minimum say: "we know what you fuckers did." Can't we even have that much satisfaction?
posted by fiduciary at 1:30 PM
1 Comments:
Great piece, love the ending!
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