If not for that dadgum government interference with their business stranglin’ regulations, them banks would have had another billion to add to their bottom line.
You never saw that kind of government interference when Fredo Gonzalez was Attorney General. Never.
The basic problem with the greed of the “money lender” industry in the US, and the rest of the world also (and from the new testament of the bible you just know what Christ thought of the “money lenders” of his own time) is it is simply anti God and Evil.
I just love to see the right wing Christian types constantly pointing out the sexual crimes of the gay community as establiched in the old testament. But at the same time fully supporting the free enterprize of the banking industry. Not realizing the fly in the ointment of the same old testament.
In the old testament (just as now) there was the very greedy human activity calle “Usury”. This was loaning out monies (why do you think they called such bankers “money lenders” anyway?) to others at excessive interest rates. A jew of the old testament was to charge absolutely no interest when loaning out money to another jew, even one not of his own family. And within the family, there were no loans, only gifts, else why do you think that jewish families are so close, and become so wealthy? A jew could loan out money to a non jew (a gentile in other words) at a reasonable interest rate.
Then compare this to the entire banking industry that we have today. Almost any small loan carries excessive interest rates (credit cards, anyone?), and large loans are charged with compound interest rates, where even moderate actual interest rates become vast over the kinds of trimes involved in such loans! If this is not “usury”, then I can not even imagine just what else we could call it!!
And the penalty for such usury? Exactly the same for any other major moral crime agains the laws of God in the old testament (you know, things such as murder, adultery, etc, etc). The individual(s) responsible for such crimes were to be taken outside of the communities and “stoned to death” by his/her fellow community members!!
Now, can you even begin to emagine the so called Christians like these WBC types, calling for such penalties for such as our good banking leaders?
Just about as well, and soon, as seeing pigs fly!!
Excerpted from U.S. Securities and Exchange commissioner Kara M. Stein’s dissenting statement regarding waivers granted by the commission for banks pleading guilty to criminal charges involving manipulation of foreign exchange rates (May 21, 2015):
“I dissent from the Commission’s Orders, issued on May 20, 2015, that granted … waivers from an array of disqualifications required by federal securities regulations… Allowing these institutions to continue business as usual, after multiple and serious regulatory and criminal violations, poses risks to investors and the American public that are being ignored. It is not sufficient to look at each waiver request in a vacuum…
And today the Commission heads further down this path. After the guilty pleas, UBS was granted a waiver that was explicitly conditioned on compliance with the judgment in the LIBOR-related matter. That explicit condition has now been violated. Yet, the Commission has just issued UBS a new waiver.
It is troubling enough to consistently grant waivers for criminal misconduct. It is an order of magnitude more troubling to refuse to enforce our own explicit requirements for such waivers.
This type of recidivism and repeated criminal misconduct should lead to revocations of prior waivers, not the granting of a whole new set of waivers. We have the tools, and with the tools the responsibility, to empower those at the top of these institutions to create meaningful cultural shifts, yet we refuse to use them.
In conclusion, I am troubled by repeated instances of noncompliance at these global financial institutions, which may be indicative of a continuing culture that does not adequately support legal and ethical behavior. Further, I am concerned that the latest series of actions has effectively rendered criminal convictions of financial institutions largely symbolic. Firms and institutions increasingly rely on the Commission’s repeated issuance of waivers to remove the consequences of a criminal conviction, consequences that may actually positively contribute to a firm’s compliance and conduct going forward.
Rad-ish: If you can arrest a ship, why not a corporation? Take control like a referee in bankruptcy and prosecute the executives for the relevant specific crimes.
kevin87031 almost 9 years ago
or execute one
braindead Premium Member almost 9 years ago
Fraud? Nah. It’s just the Free Market being free.
If not for that dadgum government interference with their business stranglin’ regulations, them banks would have had another billion to add to their bottom line.
You never saw that kind of government interference when Fredo Gonzalez was Attorney General. Never.
PainterArt Premium Member almost 9 years ago
The banker is smiling because he knows who is really behind bars.
frodo1008 almost 9 years ago
The basic problem with the greed of the “money lender” industry in the US, and the rest of the world also (and from the new testament of the bible you just know what Christ thought of the “money lenders” of his own time) is it is simply anti God and Evil.
I just love to see the right wing Christian types constantly pointing out the sexual crimes of the gay community as establiched in the old testament. But at the same time fully supporting the free enterprize of the banking industry. Not realizing the fly in the ointment of the same old testament.
In the old testament (just as now) there was the very greedy human activity calle “Usury”. This was loaning out monies (why do you think they called such bankers “money lenders” anyway?) to others at excessive interest rates. A jew of the old testament was to charge absolutely no interest when loaning out money to another jew, even one not of his own family. And within the family, there were no loans, only gifts, else why do you think that jewish families are so close, and become so wealthy? A jew could loan out money to a non jew (a gentile in other words) at a reasonable interest rate.
Then compare this to the entire banking industry that we have today. Almost any small loan carries excessive interest rates (credit cards, anyone?), and large loans are charged with compound interest rates, where even moderate actual interest rates become vast over the kinds of trimes involved in such loans! If this is not “usury”, then I can not even imagine just what else we could call it!!
And the penalty for such usury? Exactly the same for any other major moral crime agains the laws of God in the old testament (you know, things such as murder, adultery, etc, etc). The individual(s) responsible for such crimes were to be taken outside of the communities and “stoned to death” by his/her fellow community members!!
Now, can you even begin to emagine the so called Christians like these WBC types, calling for such penalties for such as our good banking leaders?
Just about as well, and soon, as seeing pigs fly!!
Dtroutma almost 9 years ago
Is that Hastert’s banker?
benbrilling almost 9 years ago
Excerpted from U.S. Securities and Exchange commissioner Kara M. Stein’s dissenting statement regarding waivers granted by the commission for banks pleading guilty to criminal charges involving manipulation of foreign exchange rates (May 21, 2015):
“I dissent from the Commission’s Orders, issued on May 20, 2015, that granted … waivers from an array of disqualifications required by federal securities regulations… Allowing these institutions to continue business as usual, after multiple and serious regulatory and criminal violations, poses risks to investors and the American public that are being ignored. It is not sufficient to look at each waiver request in a vacuum…
And today the Commission heads further down this path. After the guilty pleas, UBS was granted a waiver that was explicitly conditioned on compliance with the judgment in the LIBOR-related matter. That explicit condition has now been violated. Yet, the Commission has just issued UBS a new waiver.
It is troubling enough to consistently grant waivers for criminal misconduct. It is an order of magnitude more troubling to refuse to enforce our own explicit requirements for such waivers.
This type of recidivism and repeated criminal misconduct should lead to revocations of prior waivers, not the granting of a whole new set of waivers. We have the tools, and with the tools the responsibility, to empower those at the top of these institutions to create meaningful cultural shifts, yet we refuse to use them.
In conclusion, I am troubled by repeated instances of noncompliance at these global financial institutions, which may be indicative of a continuing culture that does not adequately support legal and ethical behavior. Further, I am concerned that the latest series of actions has effectively rendered criminal convictions of financial institutions largely symbolic. Firms and institutions increasingly rely on the Commission’s repeated issuance of waivers to remove the consequences of a criminal conviction, consequences that may actually positively contribute to a firm’s compliance and conduct going forward.
http://www.sec.gov/news/statement/stein-waivers-granted-dissenting-statement.html
[Don’t you wish us little guys could get away with what those big guys get away with?] [And we could cut the overcrowded prison population in half.]
hippogriff almost 9 years ago
Rad-ish: If you can arrest a ship, why not a corporation? Take control like a referee in bankruptcy and prosecute the executives for the relevant specific crimes.