Saturday, November 6, 2010

Well well well

The federal government has finally grown a pair and is going after some of these crooked bankers.


70 execs and employees to do the perp walk

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. has authorized lawsuits against 70 officers, directors and employees of failed banks, in an effort to recover $2 billion.

And think about this for a second. Are these bankers any less worse than the terrorists? Grandma gets suckered into refinancing her homestead a couple of times because the bank says it can lower her rates and her payments will be smaller. The only thing is she'd have to live two life times to pay it off or even come close to the principle owing. Then when the instrument of financial destruction resets and her payments are more than double grandma has a heart attack when the mortgage comes due. These leeches have effectively sucked the house and her bank account right out from under her.

But this article is more about what's going on in the commercial sector. Companies are playing with funny figures to try and get the edge on the competition. It all worked well as long as the real estate market was going up but once the bottom fell out it was time to shut the casino. That is until the wall street boys who got the bail out were able to start the game all over again. If you think the game was changed with the financial reform bill you'd be wrong. Knowing how slow our government is to act on any situation these guys are cranking out the worthless paper as fast as they can before they get caught. When they do get that subpoena it'll be "that was standard industry practice". "Everybody was doing it so we assumed it was okay". Of course not in those very words.
And what about those legal eagles who are paid to make sure everything is on the up and up? Did they turn a blind eye to stuff their wallets with hourly fees and bonuses too? I think so because after all when they've created contracts that even a linguistics expert couldn't interpret, who's going to call them out on it?
But as we know none of those at the top will ever see the inside of a federal pen. It'll be some poor slob who's job it was to rubber stamp the paperwork at the denied direction of his boss. He'll be the one doing the hard time. His bosses will just ignore the whole process and eventually run for political office. These types of transgressions rarely make front page news unless of course the victims are wealthy in which case there'll be 60 minute exposes and at least one documentary on the History Channel.

What's the expression? "The more things change the more they remain the same".

13 comments:

Tom Harper said...

I can't think of 70 nicer people to be handcuffed and perp-walked.

jmsjoin said...

I am really glad to hear that! My in-laws bought into that and in the end they had nothing and the mortgage company had everything!

Demeur said...

Jim in many cases people come out with even less than nothing. If there's a deficiency in what's owed and what the house is worth when it's sold at foreclosure the bank can go after the owner for the difference.

BBC said...

Oh boy, lawsuits, well, the attorneys will do okay, very well actually.

Maybe you should check into becoming an attorney.

BBC said...

I only know one attorney that is worth a fuck but he got some morals and is unemployed.

S.W. Anderson said...

They deserve to be perp walked, convicted and sent to the slammer for 12-20 years. Unfortunately, this is a civil action. The only way they would be perp walked and jailed is if they ignore a subpoena or get caught for perjury.

We need criminal laws to cover this kind of thing. But with Republicans in charge of the House come January, there's zero chance of that. I hate to say it, but the chances wouldn't be much better if Dems retained control.

Tim said...

Sacrificial lambs but what the hell I was hungry.
SW I think your right on this. This is probably the one and only time of any retribution.

jmsjoin said...

Yeah that happened here. Her parents were the most irresponsible people I ever met and borrowed from everyone so they could gamble and have fun. You have to earn that right.

Anyway we get threats all the time, her father is dead and her Mother almost. They took the house but now someone is threatening to come take her to court. I say fine you can wheel her bed there and give her something to do.

One sons girl friend owes $80,000 after college. Someone should go after these people for preying on the vulnerable. How the hell are you supposed to get started in life like that?

Demeur said...

You're right and most attorneys I know aren't too morally high minded either. But just where the hell would I get the kind of money for a law degree?

SW I guess there is honor among thieves.

Whoever is threatening to take her to court isn't too bright. He never learned the lesson "can't squeeze blood out of a turnip".

jmsjoin said...

Lawyer are sheisters, paid liars who will say anything to earn as much as they can steal

Tim said...

Ahgggg I co- signed all my sons loans. I think to the tune of 60,000 plus. Oh well!!

Anonymous said...

After being told I'd lost my $50,000 that was for my retirement, I suffered hell for about a full year. A FULL YEAR.

Now? I try to pretend it doesn't matter. It's the only way I can survive mentally.

BBC said...

I never saved up a nest egg (trusting others with my money) for retirement, I geared myself to get by on little.

I won't recommend it for everyone but it's worked for me.