Sunday, March 08, 2009

Now gimme money!



Apparently the US banking industry is down the tubes and the Obama administration is secretly trying to save it without going back to Congress or telling anybody what they're doing -- all it all, it sounds like credit default swaps actually will cause the end of civilization as we know it.
But you know, here's the thing -- it wasn't just accidental bad luck, everybody got carried away and then the bubble burst, how sad, but nobody could have predicted...
No, there was illegality here. There was lying here. There was fraud and stealing and malice aforethought -- lots and lots of it. These bankers didn't just fritter away millions of dollars by accident, they stole it, or tried to steal it.
They didn't just make a few mistakes, there was wholesale fraud, here, so that bankers and their friends could make more money.
Now, I have no idea how they did it -- who can understand all these derivatives and asset mixes and triple-A credit ratings for the big shitpile. And that's the problem -- even if it gets investigated, these bankers will all walk. I don't think any of them will ever go to jail.
Their crimes are too complicated, too complex, too difficult for a judge or a jury to understand.
No prosecutor except Patrick Fitzgerald would even consider taking them on.
And I don't think even Lord Black would ever have been convicted, except for the video of him sneaking his boxes out the door.

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