lapis
18th February 2011, 12:10 PM
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/why-isnt-wall-street-in-jail-20110216
Over drinks at a bar on a dreary, snowy night in Washington this past month, a former Senate investigator laughed as he polished off his beer.
"Everything's fucked up, and nobody goes to jail," he said. "That's your whole story right there. Hell, you don't even have to write the rest of it. Just write that."
I put down my notebook. "Just that?"
"That's right," he said, signaling to the waitress for the check. "Everything's fucked up, and nobody goes to jail. You can end the piece right there."
Nobody goes to jail. This is the mantra of the financial-crisis era, one that saw virtually every major bank and financial company on Wall Street embroiled in obscene criminal scandals that impoverished millions and collectively destroyed hundreds of billions, in fact, trillions of dollars of the world's wealth — and nobody went to jail. Nobody, that is, except Bernie Madoff, a flamboyant and pathological celebrity con artist, whose victims happened to be other rich and famous people.
**************************************************
In other words, rip off the non-elite: get promoted and get a raise. Rip off the elite and/or their minions: go to jail.
Ten minute interview with Taibbi:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eg3b6_6xlAs
But don't look here! Look at those bad guys protesting in Wisconsin! :oo-->
Over drinks at a bar on a dreary, snowy night in Washington this past month, a former Senate investigator laughed as he polished off his beer.
"Everything's fucked up, and nobody goes to jail," he said. "That's your whole story right there. Hell, you don't even have to write the rest of it. Just write that."
I put down my notebook. "Just that?"
"That's right," he said, signaling to the waitress for the check. "Everything's fucked up, and nobody goes to jail. You can end the piece right there."
Nobody goes to jail. This is the mantra of the financial-crisis era, one that saw virtually every major bank and financial company on Wall Street embroiled in obscene criminal scandals that impoverished millions and collectively destroyed hundreds of billions, in fact, trillions of dollars of the world's wealth — and nobody went to jail. Nobody, that is, except Bernie Madoff, a flamboyant and pathological celebrity con artist, whose victims happened to be other rich and famous people.
**************************************************
In other words, rip off the non-elite: get promoted and get a raise. Rip off the elite and/or their minions: go to jail.
Ten minute interview with Taibbi:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eg3b6_6xlAs
But don't look here! Look at those bad guys protesting in Wisconsin! :oo-->