Prosecute the bank CEOs and Wall Street

 Steve Kroft of “60 Minutes” got tired of waiting for the Justice Department to prosecute the big banks that caused the financial crisis.   They asked the questions that the media has been avoiding.

This is a good start.  the next step is to prosecute the CEO's of the major banks.  Only 2 have been prosecuted for the fraud of  $14 Trillion.  Based upon the Savings and Loan fraud of the 1980's, at least 1,000 should be going to jail.  Ask the Obama Administration,  ask your Congressperson why no one is going to jail.

Robert Scheer. You can arrest an idea. On Truth Dig.

"For a confirmation of that point, I also intended to present the mayor with the transcript of U.S. District Judge Jed S. Rakoff’s ruling this week rejecting the sweetheart deal between the SEC and Citigroup. The settlement, one of dozens like it offered to the banks, would have let Citigroup off the hook for a pittance in fines in return for closing cases involving immense corruption on the part of the bankers, who would not have to admit guilt for their crimes.

The easiest way to rob a bank is to own one.

Responding to the Great Recession:  Book Reviews.

The  current Great Recession was created by finance capital and banking, mostly on Wall Street, ie. Chase Banks, Bank of America, Goldman Sachs,  AIG, and others.  Finance capital owned the banks, and they robbed the banks through investment and trading  schemes including investments in mortgage backed derivatives. Wall Street’s actions plunged the U.S. into the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression, destroying jobs and lives, and triggering a recession in much of  the developed world.

The left has failed to adequately explain this crisis allowing the right wing narrative to gain traction. It is vitally important that we understand this crisis, in particular since many economists  claim that it is likely to happen again and again.

Although most economists missed the approaching storm,  there are  now over a dozen good books on this subject published since the crisis.  Five books that are particularly helpful are reviewed below.

Paul Krugman,  won the Nobel Prize in Economics in 2008 and is well known for his regular columns  in the New York Times.  He has republished The Return of Depression Economics with an update- the Crisis of 2008. The original version of this book was written in 1999.  It has been significantly updated  with a focus on the Asian Crisis  and now includes an analysis of the current debacle.  

The Banks that are too big to fail- should not exist

13 Bankers. The Wall Street Takeover and the Next Financial Meltdown.  (2010.) Johnson and Kwak.

The currently proposed reforms of Wall Street by the Obama Administration are too limited.   To protect our economy and our society we need to

1.     Re-establish the Glass Steagal act of 1933 which separates savings banks from commercial banks.

2.     Break up the banks that are too big to fail.

3.     Add  substantive regulation to the markets.

   This recent  work  develops the important thesis that the U.S. is being directed and exploited by an Oligarchy.  This Oligarchy protects  their profits and their privileges, they dominate the government.  And, they will continue to do so until they are stopped.  The authors argue that in the crisis of 2007/2009, which the oligarchy  created, the the rich seized billions of dollars for themselves.  They made massive profits from the economic disaster. The Great Recession cost  the homes, the jobs, and even the lives of working people.  It is devastating our schools. This is the nature of our current state.

13 Bankers has additional importance since it was published in Spring 2010 just as the Washington/ Wall Street debate on regulatory reform reached its zenith.