Will Lady Justice Weigh In on The Greatest Heist in History?

Here we are approaching 2010, and we have not yet punished the thieves who caused the Greatest Heist in History. It's one thing for justice to elude Osama bin Laden as he scurries through miles of mountainous terrain. It's another when the assholes who screwed us are sitting in luxury high-rises going about their daily business in plain view.

When I was young, my great-grandfather told me: "Steal a loaf of bread and you'll go to jail. Steal millions (now Trillions) on Wall Street and you can make it legal." So true. While petty criminals are filling our jails, the SEC has their head somewhere dark and moist because they can't figure out how to categorize crimes that have been redefined by decades of lobbying and attached legislative amendments.

We have been consumed with the current health care legislation. We have sighed as markets have recovered off satanic lows. However, the only way for future generations to loyally invest in markets is to apprehend and punish the terrorists.

If you lost a significant portion of your retirement stash, or maybe even your job, you now have to work that many more hours of your life to make yourself whole for the crimes of megalomaniacs. If that doesn't motivate you to take 5 short minutes to write your local representative to ask about punishments for the thieves, I don't know what will.

Until the criminals are brought to justice and sane rules are established on Wall Street, markets will remain nothing more than short term trading pits.

 

Follow Damien Hoffman on Twitter: www.twitter.com/wallstCS

Comments

[greyhound2]

The only thing members of Congress care about is self preservation and the maintenance of the status quo.

It is impossible to do justice to the public business with a system based on bribes.

Holden. DOJ, will get around to investigating the fraud of Wall Street about the same time he gets around to investigating the Bush Administration for war crimes which is scheduled for February 31, 2040.

[krechsd]

I would love to see everyone of them go to jail, but I think with all the Bushies still embedded in the Justice Dept., combined with the stupidity and greed in Congress and the money Wall St. has to resist, it's an almost impossible task. They are not only not going to jail, they're actively pushing to retain their right to steal and pull the country down. The only way to deal with them may be to give the peopl an honest alternative to the present markets and banking system. There's a huge opportunity for honest business men and women to step forth with banks that offer 10% credit cards with no hidden fees etc. It would be a smart business move and, more importantly, the right thing to do. America would support this kind of alternative with investment.

[codycap]

The lesson we can’t learn is that the war has always been between the special interests and the people. They have been winning because we, republican and democratic voters, keep arguing over everything under the sun.

The special interests encourage this in order to keep us from coming together.

The special interests worst nightmare is that we stop squabbling and join together on the one thing we all agree on, Campaign Reform.

We have to stop our shotgun mentality of flying from one popular cause to another Just pick a problem facing our nation and you'll realize that the cause is the almighty dollar: example healthcare etc.

Less than two-tenths of 1 percent of the U.S. population gave 86 percent of all itemized campaign contributions for the 2004 elections.

I see on the liberal, republican, and libertarian sites voters like ourselves all cry for campaign reform.

ALL voters agree that our system is corrupt, but it is always the other side. It is both sides and we need leaders to come together on the left and right to come together on this.

Campaign Reform would heal the split of the American people that big money has encouraged in order to weaken us and keep us fighting with each other.

http://www.fairelectionsnow.org/volunteer/petition

Fair Elections Now Act (FENA) sign the petition

[Indon]

Okay, so seeing what looks like a stock plug, I went and researched this bill a bit.

As it turns out, actually, pretty good.

Basically, the bill sets up a federal campaign fund that you can only access by collecting a fairly large amount of small donations - no more than 100 dollars a pop. If you can do that, establishing you have some degree of public support, the government gives you a rather substantial election fund to work with.

Oh, and it seems to shut down a lot of the big-money pipelines our campaign system currently functions with. Can't tell if it's a 100% measure, but regardless, it's definitely a start.

The best part is? It's paid for by _Government contracting companies_! Finally, the corporations which suckle at the teat of the military-industrial complex have to do something that actually benefits the nation.

[maddy48]

No justice= no peace, real prosperity, progress, confidence. Thanks for 5 paragraphs that every citizen can grasp.

[parlimentMike]

I wrote my congressman but he is an ongoing co-consopiritor. He wont act. He and his mates were handsomely bribed to stand idly by. The supreme court thinks a set of books has speech rights, and the guys who control those books are owning us with that ruling. So I'm firing my congressman in '10 - wont you join me by firing your too?

[soothwriter]

The people who neglected to create the "sane rules" on Wall Street and in the other dark corners of the financial system are the real culprits. The banksters and their side-kicks stayed within the (useless) rules.

[TRYKER]

Do we still have tons of Bush Cheney appointees sitting in the Justice Dept?
This country would take to the streets dancing IF they started rounding up these crooks and liars and put them on trials. Talk about lifting the morale of the populace.
And conversely, IF they don't start these proceedings in the coming months, we will face on onslaught of conservative "fix it" candidates crowding our airways and conning the voters.
We have to keep the pressure on.

[Rogan]

I think, actually, those hordes of Bush era appointees, are, indeed, a major part of the problem. And if they are, how could anyone in the Obama administration tell us they are? They can't come out and apologize for a government not functioning properly, due to the opposition party's loyalists. The public response is hard to imagine, but it would be anything and everything but good.

[up2uamerica]

EXACTLY! I am writing that letter now! We were sold a bill of goods. Put your monry in 401K they said, You can use it to retire they said. No one suspected they would steal it out from under us. I want to see prison time for these mobsters!!!!!

[minerva117]

Imagine if GWB had had his way and privatizes SS. The Bush economic policy? No dollar left behind!

[minerva117]

I meant privatzed!

[WinterParkMom]

It's one thing for justice to allude Osama bin Laden as he scurries through miles of mountainous terrain.

Mr. Hoffman, that sentence should have been: "It's one thing for Osama bin Laden to elude justice as he scurries through miles of mountainous terrain".

Otherwise, I think the majority of us agree with your article.

[Damien Hoffman - Huffpost Blogger]

Thanks! Sorry about the typo. I fixed it. I have been working 14 hours a day and have a virus. As the editor, no one looks over my work ... which is a disadvantage.

All the best! Damien

[classicalgeek]

Thank you--that was bothering me, too.

Even editors need editors.

And Damien, you may have fixed it but the fix is not showing up.