The Sacramento Bee has a good editorial this morning on a
federal judge who refused to accept an SEC deal with the major banks that would
only provide only weak punishment to Citi corps for one of their several
frauds. http://www.sacbee.com/2011/11/30/4088324/judge-sends-sec-a-message-on-wall.html
As judge Jed. S. Rokoff said and the cost is obscured rather than revealed and the
punishment is less than the profits made by Citi Corp in a few days. This weak
agreements apply to each of the other deals proposed, JP Morgan, Bank of
America, Chase, USB and others.
This should be a time of legitimate enforcement of financial
regulation and fraud. What would it take ? The Dodd-Frank bill has passed. It is too limited.
It did not re-establish the 1936 Glass- Steagall rules. At present the Republican Party is working night and
day to limit and restrict even the limited Dodd-Frank rules. Each of the Republican candidates for
President campaigns to even further restrict regulation.
The Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission in their report
described the even existing oversight functions as cramped and not enforced
because there are insufficient regulators. That is, the Republicans protect the banks by preventing the
hiring of sufficient regulators even for the present rules. That means that the entire financial
crisis could be repeated in any day.
