With the revelation in the New York Times this morning that Bank of America, Chase Bank and others are enabling and participating in so called 'pay day loans' that can charge up to 500% interest, it might be time for us to consider a new piece of legislation that would create something on the level of a war crime for banks. These usurious rates are somewhat akin to a crime against humanity in my mind.
Meanwhile, while all the corrupt bankers who still aren't facing prosecution for stealing billions of dollars, can now rest easy because first in line for a date with the Justice Department is a doper bike racer named Lance. The Justice department is going after him because that was such a serious crime? How is his peddling more important that banker's peddling investments while betting against them?
Damn!
Meanwhile, while all the corrupt bankers who still aren't facing prosecution for stealing billions of dollars, can now rest easy because first in line for a date with the Justice Department is a doper bike racer named Lance. The Justice department is going after him because that was such a serious crime? How is his peddling more important that banker's peddling investments while betting against them?
Damn!
4 comments:
These banksters have been caught doing everything now from mortgage abuses to robosigning to screwing up the loan modification program to manipulating the Libor rate to laundering drug money, and lots of it. (The Wells Fargo bank dominates the El Paso skyline and now we know why. It's one of the worst offenders in that regard.)
And it hasn't been isolated cases but three and four and five big banks at a time. They've never been charged criminally for any of it, only under civil law. In other words, they've been fined, sums that for their net worth amount to nothing. And none of it comes out of the their own pockets, plus it's a tax write-off.
It's enough to make you vomit. In fact I've spend several evenings hugging the commode over it.
Compared to what they've done, Lance Armstrong's crimes are nothing. Even though I've resented that guy ever since he was seen in a New York club making out with one of the Olsen twins. Not that I have a fetish for the Olsen twins, mind you, but geez, I know how to ride a bicycle, too.
Laws don't matter if nobody enforces them. For instances, the feds and the banks. The City of Albuquerque and minimum wage.
I was thinking the same thing about the Justice Dept. going after Armstrong and letting the corporate crooks get away with ruining peoples lives. Sometimes I think Obama has his head screwed on wrong.
Jim, don't know if you read it but this article really lays out the crimes of HSBC and how the administration backed away from dealing with them as criminals.
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/gangster-bankers-too-big-to-jail-20130214
Charlie
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