Wall Street’s Untouchables | Black Agenda Report

Wall Street’s Untouchables

09 Jan 2013

🖨️ Print Article

A Black Agenda Radio commentary by Glen Ford

The Obama administration is willing to cut an infinity of deals for the Lords of Capital. Two Crimes Of The Century in a row have produced no serious criminal prosecutions of individuals. Attorney General Eric Holder gave out “so many immunities from prosecution he looked like Abraham Lincoln on Emancipation Day.”

Wall Street’s Untouchables

A Black Agenda Radio commentary by Glen Ford

“The feds did what the government always does with Wall Street criminals: they settled.”

The federal government and the nation’s biggest banks have reached yet another settlement in the Crime Of The Century – or, one of those crimes that are supposed to come around only once a century but seem to pop up every year or so nowadays, as finance capitalism rushes towards its final collapse. The $8.5 billion deal is the second settlement in what was called the robo-signing scandal, in which banksters took possession of homes whose mortgages they could not prove they actually owned.

If ever there were a capital corporate crime, this was it – a mega-theft so monstrously destructive it merited French Revolution-style justice, with hundreds of one-way trips to the guillotine. Instead, what we got was presidential intervention, during Obama’s last State of the Union address, when he announced that there would be a settlement with the states to avoid state prosecutions of the banks. The robo-signing investigation would pass into the gentle hands of U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, whom the bankers had no reason to fear, and the states would divide up $25 billion, much of which would never reach victimized homeowners.

This week’s second settlement of the same scandal is a bizarre derivative of the first deal. The banks had agreed to hire outside consultants to pour through their books to determine how many homes had been unlawfully seized, loan modifications wrongfully denied, and fees improperly charged. By late last year, the consultants were nowhere near finished, when federal regulators called off the exercise, calling it hopeless and too expensive. So, the feds did what the government always does with Wall Street criminals. They settled, this time for $8.5 billion – while consumer advocates say the actual damage to homeowners was many times that.

“The banks’ books are vast crime scenes.”

It’s an educated guess that the independent auditors took so long sifting through the records because the banks’ books are vast crime scenes, covered in the life’s-blood of millions of consumers. Not the kind of treasure trove of criminal evidence that one should rush through, if one is seeking justice. However, what this administration seeks is not justice, but settlements that allow the banksters to pay a fine, stay out of jail, and get on with crime as usual.

Eric Holder is the Settler-in-Chief. That’s his job. Remember that other Crime Of The Century, the LIBOR interest rate-fixing scandal, the one that reached into every crease and crevice of the world economy. Attorney General Holder vowed to build criminal cases against the perpetrators, which included virtually the entire U.S. and European banking cartel. What he did was give out so many immunities from prosecution he looked like Abraham Lincoln on Emancipation Day. In this way, lots of evidence is gathered, but nobody goes to jail.

Eric Holder is actually the Get Out of Jail Attorney General. Not Get Out of Jail Free – the banks do have to pay a fine, which is called a settlement, and is viewed as a cost of doing business. And since the only business Wall Street knows how to do is crime, it’s back on the roller coaster for another screaming ride – until, finally, the whole contraption goes off the rails. How long? Not long.

For Black Agenda Radio, I’m Glen Ford. On the web, go to BlackAgendaReport.com.

BAR executive editor Glen Ford can be contacted at Glen.Ford@BlackAgendaReport.com.

listen

http://traffic.libsyn.com/blackagendareport/20130109_gf_BankSettlements.mp3

More Stories

Black Agenda Radio , Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
Black Agenda Radio January 6, 2023
06 Jan 2023
The latest in Mumia Abu Jamal's defense, the UN Permanent Forum on People of African Descent and its connection to the Durban conference, and a new book “Sanctions: A Wrecking Ball in a Global…
Black Agenda Radio , Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
Mumia Abu Jamal Continues His Fight for Freedom
06 Jan 2023
Johanna Fernandez is an Associate Professor of history at Baruch College, and a longtime advocate for political prisoner Mumia Abu Jamal. She joins us from New York City to discuss the loss of his…
Black Agenda Radio , Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
UN Permanent Forum on People of African Descent and the Durban Declaration Program of Action
06 Jan 2023
Efia Nwangaza discusses her participation in the first session of the UN Permanent Forum on People of African Descent, a mechanism that emerged from the 2001 Durban world conference against racism.
Black Agenda Radio , Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
Sanctions: A Wrecking Ball in a Global Economy
06 Jan 2023
Sara Flounders joins us to discuss her work as editor of the newly published anthology, 'Sanctions: A Wrecking Ball in a Global Economy.' The book is an analysis of U.S. unilateral coercive measures…
Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist
White Lives Matter More in Ukraine
04 Jan 2023
The open white supremacy and fascism exhibited in Ukraine are conveniently swept under the rug. Nazis are bad, unless they serve the interests of the U.S. state.