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Scheer writes: "Forget Bernie Madoff and Enron's Ken Lay - they were mere amateurs in financial crime. The current Libor interest rate scandal, involving hundreds of trillions in international derivatives trade, shows how the really big boys play."

LIBOR insider. (photo: Stephen Cook)
LIBOR insider. (photo: Stephen Cook)

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+51 # Barbara K 2012-07-06 12:55
Geez, get tough on that bunch, there is room at Gitmo, I'm sure. Fine them enough and take their banks, I bet it will fix the economy of all the ailing countries, and we might as well put the thieves' spoils to good work. Break them completely.
 
 
+23 # DPM 2012-07-06 14:00
Quoting Barbara K:
Geez, get tough on that bunch, there is room at Gitmo, I'm sure. Fine them enough and take their banks, I bet it will fix the economy of all the ailing countries, and we might as well put the thieves' spoils to good work. Break them completely.


What a beautiful DREAM.
 
 
+13 # Vardoz 2012-07-06 15:37
Nice fanatsy
 
 
+3 # mdhome 2012-07-06 19:23
Take them on a flight high over Iran and kick them out.
 
 
+2 # tm7devils 2012-07-07 15:36
You forgot to add...without a parachute!
 
 
+9 # John Locke 2012-07-06 23:26
Barbara K: I wish somebody would really prosecute these criminals, but we don't have a president or a candidate that would even consider it! and I am sure our government and Fed Reserve and to big too fail banks are all involved... Banks should NEVER be private for profit businesses, this I am sure has been happening throughout history! Banks have always been corrupt it's just that in these times they are more open about it because they don't care what we think, nobody will ever prosecute them, and when they are forced to resign they all have a golden parachute!
 
 
+38 # Dumbledorf 2012-07-06 13:26
We all heard the jokes for years about lawyers. "Q: What's the difference between a vacuum cleaner and a lawyer on a motorcycle? A: The vacuum cleaner has the dirt bag on the inside." Although most are unfair, undoubtedly they are true. But even the scummiest of shysters has to take a back-seat to these bankster/theivi ng/reprobate/po litician bribing/war profiteering enemies. These people are actually trying to manipulate the finances of the entire world, on the backs of the poor and desperate, to embellish themselves and their cronies.
this has to constitute a presecutable war-crime if not a true crime against humanity!
 
 
+6 # readerz 2012-07-06 23:08
Punch line of the Three Penny Opera; the real thieves are the bankers.
 
 
+9 # anarchteacher 2012-07-06 13:44
"The LIBOR Scandal Is a Sham Engineered by Central Banking Elites?" staff report by the Daily Bell

http://www.thedailybell.com/4056/The-LIBOR-Scandal-Is-a-Sham-Engineered-by-Central-Banking-Elites


"Naming Names," by Charles A. Burris

http://lewrockwell.com/burris/burris28.1.html
 
 
+10 # MidwestTom 2012-07-06 13:49
MFGlobal's John Corzine is still a free man not charged with anything. Under Obama and the other current World leaders it has become a game of how much can one steal; because they know that anyone with any connection to Goldman Sacks is totally free, no fear of being charged. Thwy are the ruling Class, and we are supposed to feed them.
 
 
+12 # uglysexy 2012-07-06 14:17
Excuse me but Credit Default Swaps and the Commodity Futures Modernization Act were/are the crime of the century in the financial sector....they caused 2008's collapse and the collapse of the EU and the collapse of long term capital management...an d jpm's losses in the london whale incident...and have not been significantly reined in yet...in fact they are still growing. Mostly unregulated, Opaque and not traded on an Exchange
 
 
+8 # PaineRad 2012-07-06 15:43
Credit Default Swaps did nothing of the sort. The Collateralized Debt Obligations did that. The CDS was insurance against the failure of CDOs and mortgage bonds. While the CDS made it easier to bet on MBs and CDOs, the CDS was the sideshow to the center ring disaster.

If the truth be known, the problems leading to the 2nd Great Republican Depresseion were/are far broader than even the housing market. They extend back at least to the early 70s and the wage-productivi ty disconnect and the "free trade" hoax.
 
 
+3 # John Locke 2012-07-06 23:29
PaineRad Bill Clinton was a major part of that Free Trade Hoax and deregulation of Wall Street!
 
 
+11 # Mrcead 2012-07-06 14:46
Makes the Wall Street lot running about in the US look like 2 bit back alley dice hustlers.
 
 
+23 # Vardoz 2012-07-06 14:56
With these guys writing the laws and in charge, I don't see how we can avoid a deep global depression. As congress is doing everything in their power to defeat any gains Obama has been trying to make, these guys are compounding an already depressed world economy. They will try to suck the economic marrow from our bones and the question is what can we do about it?
 
 
+25 # doneasley 2012-07-06 16:26
Quoting Vardoz:
With these guys writing the laws and in charge, I don't see how we can avoid a deep global depression... They will try to suck the economic marrow from our bones...


Vardoz, it's a continuation of that giant sucking sound that Ross Perot talked about in the early '90s. The repeal of the Glass–Steagall Act removed barriers in the market among banking, securities and insurance companies that had prohibited any one institution from acting as a combination of an investment bank, a commercial bank, and an insurance company. Sorry to say this legislation - the Gramm–Leach–Bli ley Act, introduced by a GOP senator, Gramm, and 2 GOP House members - was signed into law by President Clinton in 1999, and it's been open season on our money ever since. And, by the way, Gramm's wife sat on Enron's board at the time.

Now these bastards want to get their filthy paws on our Social Security money. We CANNOT let them do that!!!
 
 
+7 # mdhome 2012-07-06 19:27
Now these bastards want to get their filthy paws on our Social Security money. We CANNOT let them do that!!!
 
 
+1 # John Locke 2012-07-06 23:33
doneasley: "Now these bastards want to get their filthy paws on our Social Security money. We CANNOT let them do that!!!"

It's a done deal, Obama or Romney, either one, will turn our SS over to Wall Street! Obama has already demonstrated he will do what Wall Street wants!
 
 
-61 # Dr Binky 2012-07-06 15:08
So far no greedy bankers have come close to the massive size of the Ponzi scheme of Social Security.
 
 
+10 # Fairbs 2012-07-06 15:45
How stupid for the richest country in the world to make a social safety net for one of the most vulnerable groups, the elderly.

If they weren't smart enough to be rich, then f'em.
 
 
+19 # bluepilgrim 2012-07-06 16:30
That's ridiculous statement; SS is still solvent, and will for years to come even without the few adjustments required and with the money that has been stolen from the fund.
 
 
+6 # BeaDeeBunker 2012-07-06 18:50
Bluepilgram.
As Leonard would say to Sheldon, Fairbs was just demonstrating the fine art of sarcasm. You really have to watch more television.

Nice job Fairbs. Your "f'em" comment was meant to imply that we should 'finance them,' correct?

I don't think the FCC has any quarrels with the word 'finance.'
 
 
+2 # Okieangels 2012-07-07 05:55
Fairbs wasn't responding to bluepilgrim, but rather to Dr. Binky...
 
 
+2 # bluepilgrim 2012-07-08 04:52
You can tell who a post is responding to by looking at the indentation. My response was to Dr. Binky.

No, I don't need to watch any television at all.
 
 
-6 # John Locke 2012-07-06 23:37
bluepilgrim: Obama has just assured that SS will not be solvent..., his tax break now collects less in SS as more people elect to retire early due to the current depression.., If he should be re-elected his next move will be to turn it over to Wall Street
 
 
+10 # Regina 2012-07-07 10:31
Getting the high-rolling earners to pay into SS on ALL their salary, as ordinary earners do, would help.
 
 
+2 # jky1291 2012-07-07 13:43
It would fund 99% of the unfunded liability of the system for the next 75 years, leaving only a 0.1% increase required to eliminate the final 1% of unfunded liability, which would be unnoticeable for almost all wage earners.
 
 
-5 # The Voice of Reason 2012-07-06 20:37
"the Ponzi scheme of Social Security."

or fuel-based economies. That is a daily rip off of everybody that people can't wait to pay more for.

Talk about lemmings. Or is it the pied piper?
 
 
+11 # doneasley 2012-07-06 21:05
Quoting Dr Binky:
So far no greedy bankers have come close to the massive size of the Ponzi scheme of Social Security.


Binky, a "Ponzi scheme" - Gov. Rick Perry's terminology for Social Security - is meant to enrich the guy at the top, e.g. Bernie Madoff who fleeced a lot of individuals and funds. But for millions of retired Working Poor and Middle Class folks, the monthly SS check is the only thing between them and the Poor House. And it's working!

You can't possibly compare SS to what these guys have done.
 
 
+5 # David Starr 2012-07-07 10:41
doneasley;

Indeed. The "Ponzi schemers" hoard the money insatiably; government, if fulfilling a public obligation, fund programs like SS to promote the general welfare, i.e., the populations' rights not to cope with unjustifiable hardship and/or "die off;" or literally die off.
 
 
0 # doneasley 2012-07-09 08:15
Quoting David Starr:
... government, if fulfilling a public obligation, fund programs like SS to promote the general welfare...


Yeah, David, for the GOP the most ignored line in the Preamble to the Constitution is "promote the general welfare". But they pay close attention to the line before that, "provide for the common defense". They believe the Constitution's only purpose is to allow them to openly carry ANY kind of weapon to protect themselves, their families, their property, and their way of life, and build a military that will protect them from the world. The "promote the general welfare" clause is the Framers' way of saying "I've got your back" to all of the 13 Colonies. And it's implemented through public education for all, social programs such as SS, and health care programs such as Medicare. Frankly, we should have a Single Payer system for all, similar to Medicare - but that would eliminate the unnecessary private insurers, wouldn't it? As JFK said, "a rising tide lifts all boats".

The GOP is trying to implement the "Me Only" Ayn Rand philosophy in a country of 300 Million people spread across 50 states, subverting the original intent of the Constitution. And they've made a lot of progress toward that end.

HOW DEPRAVED!
 
 
+7 # Mrcead 2012-07-07 03:43
It's only a Ponzi scheme from one viewpoint - a republican one. No private institution has come anywhere close to SSI in terms of, well, anything really. A united effort of a country beats the lash-up of a few shortsighted men any day of the week. SSI is only plagued by socially backward lawmakers and sharply rising costs created directly by unregulated business.

SSI works and the opponents of SSI ONLY hate that fact because they cannot buy any shares in something that has such a massive cash flow.

Know thy enemy.
 
 
+5 # jky1291 2012-07-07 13:48
Wall Street is the real Ponzi scheme, stealing from the poor to make the worthless but corrupt obscenely wealthy in their Reverse Robin Hood scheme.
 
 
+9 # RICHARDKANEpa 2012-07-06 15:27
Madoff was a Ponzi artist, the new players lobby to change the rules so when the Ponzi crashes the laws first changed to make it legal and the tax payers to pay the loses.

Let's portend a bank robber with a million atomic bombs demanding to make him robbing the bank legal.

Why doesn't Barkley and al Qaeda get together with a doomsday device and say its our way or no life on this planet.
 
 
+10 # KittatinyHawk 2012-07-06 18:04
They are getting to that point because we allow them.
 
 
+7 # readerz 2012-07-06 23:14
People don't realize that destabilized economies always lead to war, and major international ponzi leads to world wars...
 
 
+3 # John Locke 2012-07-06 23:38
RICHARDKANEpa: THanks for giving them the Idea!
 
 
+1 # jky1291 2012-07-07 14:01
Over a year ago I posted on a blog this question:

The barbaric savagery currently employed by the Republican Party compels me to question whether they actually receive campaign contributions from Al Qaeda, or whether they are merely pursuing their mission to destroy America gratis.
 
 
+18 # spercepolnes 2012-07-06 17:22
"the CEO claimed his recent discovery of a pattern of interest manipulation by Barclays had made him “physically sick.” "

It makes me "physically sick" hearing the absolute shite that spews out of these cretin's mouths.....and the fact that they will invariably get away with it all!
 
 
+7 # KittatinyHawk 2012-07-06 18:03
Of course they will who is going to stop them anyone here?
 
 
+1 # John Locke 2012-07-06 23:40
KittatinyHawk: Good point! Certainly not Obama!
 
 
0 # bluepilgrim 2012-07-08 04:56
See http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=3U8qZGXtGJ0

"Zero Accountability" : Glenn Greenwald on Obama's Refusal to Prosecute Wall Street Crimes
 
 
+3 # mdhome 2012-07-06 19:31
There is nothing nasty enough to use as punishment to these filthy scum, who could hold a dance party under a snakes belly. That is if a snake would allow their filthy slimy scummy kind anywhere near them.
 
 
+11 # Kootenay Coyote 2012-07-06 17:56
From the above, it’s eminently clear why Bush hired Yoo, & increasingly unclear why Berkeley is willing to hire him, let alone touch him with even a shitshovel.
 
 
+9 # KittatinyHawk 2012-07-06 18:02
Wow another Crime in this Century with all the Role Models we have. Come On.

Arrest them all, then perhaps We the People can start working together for a better Earth...dream Should be everyone's objective. But don't worry someone will do it for ya'll
 
 
+6 # John Locke 2012-07-06 23:44
KittatinyHawk; What about a peoples grand Jury! with the posse comitatus to back it up!
 
 
+20 # BeaDeeBunker 2012-07-06 18:30
Are we angry yet? Are we mad as hell and not going to take it anymore? Obviously we are not there yet. As a nation we have become quite enamored with bending over and taking it where the sun don't shine..

BTW, this July, Woody Guthrie would have been 100 years old. There is a line from one of his songs that goes something like this:
"Some rob you with a six-shooter, some rob you with a pen." Obviously, the old adage that the pen is mightier than the sword, is once again ringing true. The thing about the sword though is that the blow is usually permanent, and sometimes the sword breaks making it useless, or it can get stuck in the rib cage, and is impossible to extract. The pen, on the other hand, can chip away at you, and take tremendous advantage of group stupidity.

At least the robber barons of old, the criminals of the 1929 crash, had some feelings of guilt, and in many cases, rather than face the droll music, jumped from the majestic towers of corruption into the canyon of Wall Street. Can you imagine this Diamond thug doing a mea culpa in any way, shape or form?

Does anyone know if the Tower of London is still functional as a place for quiet reflection on ones misdeeds?

Q. An investment banker & a commercial banker fall off the roof of a 50 story building. Given that the weather a dry and cool, who hits the ground first?

A. Who cares!
 
 
+8 # readerz 2012-07-06 23:18
In 1929 they had no guilt at all, just deep sorrow that they were down to their last $100,000. Most killed themselves when they were still, relative to the rest of America, rich. You see, nobody was their to bail them out and protect their bonuses.
On the other hand, I did agree with the bail out of the auto industry, which has worked somewhat to keep some American jobs. Maybe I believe that people who build something and pay taxes at home are real Americans, as opposed to those who pay no taxes in America and say they are residents of Macao.
 
 
+6 # futhark 2012-07-06 19:16
As criminal as the investment banker scams have been over the last decade, I still can't think of them as topping the 9/11 debacle, in which hundreds of thousands of innocent people have lost their lives as a direct or indirect result of the 9/11 hoax. Even as the data continue to call the Cheney/Bush/Oba ma version of these attacks into question, the compliant media have succeeded in stifling critiques and marginalizing those who persist in objective analysis as disloyal or crazed fringe elements.

So we see that one unrecognized and unpunished but nonetheless montrous crime spawns a multitude of evil progeny.
 
 
+7 # billeeboy 2012-07-07 11:03
We need to elect Elizabeth Warren to the Senate and let her have a go at getting these thieves convicted!
 
 
+3 # cordleycoit 2012-07-07 12:59
Simply cannot lock up those thieves can they? Look at the quality of our suits as they mock justice and slip away with the Peoples Money. It's like the Iraq War all over again with the semi-load with billions in cash disappearing into the sand orthe secret bail out with trillions leaving M1 for parts unknown to persons classified.
 
 
+2 # charsjcca 2012-07-07 14:28
This might be the crime of the 21st century, but the crime of the 20th century was the 1986 Tax Reform Act did us in.
 
 
+3 # tm7devils 2012-07-07 15:46
...But if you walk into a bank, put your hand in your jacket pocket and point your finger like you have a weapon at the teller; then walk out with $1,500.00; then get caught...10 to 15 years in prison.
Who says there's no justice...and that the law isn't looking out for us???
 
 
+2 # mitchell donian 2012-07-08 13:45
While we are being distracted by the chicanery of Wall Street and Gangster Capitalism a really big "stickup" is underway. It is called The Trans-Pacific Partnership Treaty which is chacterized in the latest Nation Magazine as NAFTA on steroids. Senator Ron Wyden, chair of the Senate committee with official jurusdiction over TPP has been denied access to US proposal to the negotiations while 600 corporate representatives serving as official US trade advisers have full access. Learn more and get involved NOW: go to tpp2012.com.
 
 
0 # trevorlasvegas 2012-07-09 09:20
It took decades in the 1800's to get farmers and craftsmen to accept the notion of wage slavery, it has also taken decades to get the American public stupid, afraid, and gullible enough to produce the current freakshow. We were proud of the Nazi physists we brought over in the '40's; we were much more discreet about the social scientists who engineered the public acquiescence to the Holocaust and the Final Solution that came as well. The small cabal who read "1984" as a how-to manual instead of a warning set them to their task. The few enlightened people are now witnessing the end result of decades of market research and social engineering. From my perspective President Obama is as much a consumer product as Mitt Romney, albeit with different brand attributes. The lesser of two evils is still evil, and all politicians worldwide are pawns of the same shadow government. Most people in my experience are empty consumerist shells who run unconscious subroutines that their handlers have installed, à la Manchurian Candidate writ small. They consume products, services, and opinions without regard to who actually benefits from their consumption. The Tea Party and the Occupiers have more in common under the surface than one might think at first, when reduced to the underlying emotions both groups are giving voice to. The real crime is still being asleep as the planet dies for profit. In a few years planet's death will render all arguments moot.
 

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