Believe me, I'm not going to hold my breath on this new report that just came out. Not after Joe Cassano, the top guy at AIG (after a two year investigation by AG Holder) was set free and clear, and the AIG records were sealed by the SEC for the first time in the history of our nation, and certainly not after Goldman Sachs (and others of their ilk) have been simply fined by the SEC, which simply amounts to about a days' worth of the illegal front running they have been getting away with for years.
But I thought that this story was worth bring to your attention, because what I've learned about the history of our nation is this: Sometimes, when someone scratches the surfaces long and hard enough, these sources and stories can light a fuse (finally) that begins to burn and take on a life of its' own.
This is how the Watergate scandal finally came out, that brought down Nixon, this is how the My Lai Massacre came out, this is how the Pentagon Papers story came out, and ultimately, this is how the new movie 'Inside Job,' may lead us all into the courage to face the truth of who we are as a people, and what if anything our nation truly represents and how Wall St/the Banks got away with economic terrorism. So I never, say never.
I never give up hope in the truth regardless of those that choose to ignore it. Sometimes the 'spark' just takes longer than at other times. I can be patient, because the truth is what keeps humanity on an even playing ground (at least that is the way it used to be in the USA) that reminds us all of our own moral compass, what the laws in our nation were built upon, and why, ultimately we will be lost without ethical concern for both of these values.
More on this story:
"Federal authorities, capping a three-year investigation, are preparing insider-trading charges that could ensnare consultants, investment bankers, hedge-fund and mutual-fund traders and analysts across the nation, according to people familiar with the matter. The criminal and civil probes, which authorities say could eclipse the impact on the financial industry of any previous such investigation, are examining whether multiple insider-trading rings reaped illegal profits totaling tens of millions of dollars, the people say. The investigations, if they bear fruit, have the potential to expose a culture of pervasive insider in U.S. financial markets, including new ways non-public information is passed to traders through experts tied to specific industries or companies, federal authorities say.
The criminal and civil probes, which authorities say could eclipse the impact on the financial industry of any previous such investigation, are examining whether multiple insider-trading rings reaped illegal profits totaling tens of millions of dollars, the people say. Some charges could be brought before year-end, they say. The investigations, if they bear fruit, have the potential to expose a culture of pervasive insider trading in U.S. financial markets, including new ways non-public information is passed to traders through experts tied to specific industries or companies, federal authorities say. One focus of the criminal investigation is examining whether nonpublic information was passed along by independent analysts and consultants who work for companies that provide "expert network" services to hedge funds and mutual funds. These companies set up meetings and calls with current and former managers from hundreds of companies for traders seeking an investing edge.
In another aspect of the probes, prosecutors and regulators are examining whether Goldman Sachs Group Inc. bankers leaked information about transactions, including health-care mergers, in ways that benefited certain investors, the people say. Goldman declined to comment. Independent analysts and research boutiques also are being examined. John Kinnucan, a principal at Broadband Research LLC in Portland, Ore., sent an email on Oct. 26 to roughly 20 hedge-fund and mutual-fund clients telling of a visit by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. "Today two fresh faced eager beavers from the FBI showed up unannounced (obviously) on my doorstep thoroughly convinced that my clients have been trading on copious inside information," the email said. "(They obviously have been recording my cell phone conversations for quite some time, with what motivation I have no idea.) We obviously beg to differ, so have therefore declined the young gentleman's gracious offer to wear a wire and therefore ensnare you in their devious web."
http://online.wsj.com/...
Mankind naturally and generally love to be flatter'd: Whatever soothes our Pride, and tends to exalt our Species above the rest of the Creation, we are pleas'd with and easily believe, when ungrateful. Truths shall be with the utmost Indignation rejected. "What! bring ourselves down to an Equality with the Beasts of the Field! With the meanest part of the Creation! 'Tis insufferable!" But, to use a Piece of common Sense, our Geese are but Geese tho' we may think 'em Swans; and Truth will be Truth tho' it sometimes prove mortifying and distasteful.
Benjamin Franklin
This latest investigation (after 3 years) smells to me like another 2 month old dead read herring, and a way to placate the masses. When I remember how long it took the SEC and the NYSE to respond to over eight years of hammering by Harry Markopolos, (remember him? I do), I still am hoping that this new investigation, (of even if it takes 20 more like it) will finally crack the disgusting and fully corrupt government (all the way around) into finally facing up to the fucking truth.
These Bankers/Wall St. crooks and liars and thieves, ruined our entire national and international economy. And they knew exactly what they were doing, and did not give a shit what it cost the citizens of this nation. They have infiltrated all parts of our government, and have paid off whoever the hell they have had to pay off, to continue their mass efforts, to send us all back to the hell of the 1920's.
If you think they care about the fact that the illicit Foreclosure Mills will leave you and your family living in your car this winter, and freezing to death .......think again. Your extended unemployment benefits have been cut off, in favor of the Cat Food Commission. If you think your jobs will not be outsourced, then ask yourself this: Has your own Senator of Congressman stood up to stop this disgraceful destruction of the Middle Class? When 50 State Attorney Generals call for a halt and deep investigations into the illicit Foreclosure Mills, along with the their local Judges and Sheriffs, but President Obama and Geithner refuse to do so? What does that tell you?
Here is a video that fully encompasses, what Benjamin Franklin says: 'Our geeese are but geese tho' we may thin 'em Swans: and truth will be truth tho' it sometimes proves mortifying and distasteful:'
Mortifying and distasteful does not even touch where we all are now. Where we all are now is 'cowering in our beds at night' humiliated, defeated and filled with apathy and deep hateful cynicism because that is exactly where they want us to be. They want us to be filled with deep division, as a people, to be easily swayed by the 'Decoys' of God, Guns, Endless Meaningless Wars that are draining us dry (the only jobs our sons and daughters can get now), to pretend that we are all being patriots, the fully bought off bullshit MSM, that above all refuses to discuss who robbed us blind and are still robbing us blind, and how we got where we are now, at this time in our history.
They want us to be filled with apathy and hate towards our fellow citizens, they want us to filled with the 'decoys' so that we will be afraid, be very very afraid, to do anything, most of all to remember who our grandfathers and grandmothers were, who came to this nation and spilled our their blood in the streets of Europe, and other nations simply to be able to have a roof over their heads, to check on their children at night, with after one decent meal, to make certain, that those same children were able to not have to work in a factory or beg on the streets that day. To be able to walk into your child's room at night, and sit silently beside them and watch them as they sleep in a warm bed, to kiss them in the good grace of your blessings, is a very simple thing to have because to most of us, it is worth all the fucking gold in Fort Knox. It is decency, it is humanity, it is all that most of us live for an want. It is more than enough for most hard working Americans who built this nation, and are more than willing to sacrifice and give to those that are less fortunate than ourselves around the world.
And these rat bastards are stealing that from us, and are coming after more, because it is never enough, as I write tonight.
You want to see the real deal with AIG? The ultimate hidden tax bullshit fall guy and why out grand children children will be paying forever and ever?
http://www.financialstability.gov/...
You got it yet? Good.
Let's take a look at a real American hero here, because this man shames our own feckless leaders, doesn't he?
CHICAGO — An Illinois sheriff who halted foreclosure evictions last month because some bank employees weren't following the proper procedures said Friday he's been forced to order his deputies to carry them out, but he will continue investigating the matter and could charge banks and their employees with crimes. Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart said he is only ordering evictions to resume because county prosecutors told him that he was legally bound to carry out foreclosure eviction orders signed by a judge.
"For the people who have been involved with this and think now that because the (Cook County) State's Attorney's office has ordered me to go ahead with the evictions that everything's fine . . . No, we are going to be looking at you for criminal violations," Dart said. "You may have got through one storm now, the other one is coming." Dart singled out Bank of America, JP Morgan Chase and GMAC/Ally.. "When we asked a month ago . . . send me an affidavit to say that everything was done legally, not one organization, law firm handling these cases, not one of them sent in one document," Dart said. "Not one, and they had over a month to do it." The sheriff said that if anything, his office's investigation has shown the problems that prompted the moratorium were even more widespread than he first thought. "We are being overwhelmed with abundant evidence that there are irregularities," he said, adding that just a cursory investigation by his financial crimes unit has shown problems in eviction order after eviction order. "Irregularities are going on all over the place here. It's the norm."Financial last month for problems with eviction notices. He said Friday that investigators continue to find problems with bank employees signing off on foreclosure documents they haven't read, although he did not single out individual companies.
Dart also hinted that just because he is being forced to resume evictions, the banks shouldn't expect his deputies to start carrying out the 1,800 evictions he said are ready to be executed. "We will move ahead with those cases, but we'll do it in a thoughtful way," he said, adding that the deputies would do things like put notices on doors and suggesting to homeowners places they might go for legal help. "We're going to make sure all their rights are being looked after and we are proceeding in a lawful way where the due process people deserve is being looked after."`
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/...
It sure as hell takes me a lot to break down, but when I read this article and particularly this sentence by Sheriff Dart:
No, we are going to be looking at you for criminal violations," Dart said. "You may have got through one storm now, the other one is coming."
I just lost it. I mean, this man deserves a greatest Medal our nation can give any decent American, and what did I hear this week?
President Obama to award George H.W. Bush the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
BTW, other people that have been given this Medal of Freedom are/were:
The rest of the list includes civil rights activist Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.), environmentalist John H. Adams, poet Maya Angelou, Holocaust survivor Gerda Weissmann Klein, optometrist murdered by the Taliban Dr. Tom Little, civil rights activist Sylvia Mendez, disabled rights advocate Ambassador Jean Kennedy Smith and former AFL-CIO President John J. Sweeney.
Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/...
This 'award' by President Obama actually repulses me, in the deepest way. Don't you dare call it a 'wonderful Public Relations move' and if anyone does a 'lovely picture diary of this' I will personally come on it and remind 'you' of the other people that got this particular medal, got it?
Sheriff Dart of Chicago, Ill. is my kind of hero, when he says:
"You may have got through one storm now, the other one is coming."
What he means, is I'm coming after you rat bastards, and I for one wish there were about two thousand other government employees (or more) that had this man's courage.
That would be all three branches of our government, Executive, Senate and Congress (not to mention AG Eric Holder who is a fucking joke).
As I've stated before in my other diaries, I think what we all really need to do, it to stop letting the MSM, or what I am now calling the 'perfect backroom Mad Men' of our society divide us:
Stop paying attention to God, Guns, Tea Baggers (just another word for crazy God Gun Republicans being led my the new Dick Army Army) and stop pretending, that at the heart of how we got here and why we got here is not being addressed on our national airwaves.
We got here, because Wall St/the Banks destroyed our national and international economy. Stop, above all calling this all a CT theory, it is not and never has been. This is illegal, unethical, bribery and the destruction of the laws of our nation. This is the dismantling of our nation before our very eyes, without question, or regard. This is about who is going to ultimately pay off the Toxic Debt that is still being hidden from us.
I've said it before and I'll say it again, until my last dying breath: every single decent financial site in the nation/international websites are saying:
It is the THE FRAUD TO COVER UP THE FRAUD.
It really is that simple people.
Stop asking why the Cat Food Commission is coming after the final safety net, and where all the equity in our homes are going to. They as disappearing for a very, very good reason. The housing market has completely crashed to death, and now they are not only robbing us blind with the Foreclosure Mills, but are swooping down to do a retroactive "Presidential Pardon' for MERS....which will destroy all property rights.
GOT THAT YET?
Stop asking why there is no Job's Commission, by either party, when they have no intention of rebuilding our manufacturing base in the first place, and have only one intention: to keep selling our jobs overseas, and above all to keep the 'wagons circled and not calling upon the FRAUD TO COVER UP THE FRAUD.'
My own feeling on this lays with the Unions because this is how our nation was built and this is how we will stand or die in the end. And even the Unions are still hanging tough with President Obama and Nancy Pelosi, but that is a very, very thin wall that is being deeply questioned. And now that the Republicans and crazy fucking Tea Baggers are in charge, well good luck with that:
President Obama and labor unions are entering a new and difficult stretch in their relationship as the White House looks to find common ground with Republicans on issues like trade and the deficit. Unions praised Obama this week for insisting that talks continue on a free trade agreement with South Korea after negotiators failed to win concessions from that country on automobiles. But union sources say that praise is tentative, given that the talks are continuing and Obama has made it clear he wants to present a deal to Congress.
Labor is decidedly more concerned about how Obama will proceed with the recommendations from his debt commission. The two chairmen of that body this week proposed sweeping reforms, including changes to Social Security that would lower benefits. Unions blasted the recommendations as an assault on workers. Both issues point to the changing political order in Washington, which will complicate Obama’s relationship with labor unions. Now the President must now contend with a Republican House majority and weakened Democrats in Congress at a time when the attention of the White House is naturally shifting to the 2012 election.
That’s a huge concern for unions, which have sometimes been disappointed in the White House. Unions were unhappy when the president gave up on a public insurance option in the health care bill, and feel Obama never put much muscle behind card-check legislation that would have made it easier for unions to organize. An official with the AFL-CIO said that the unions are happy, for now, that Obama is insisting that auto provisions in the South Korea agreement must be changed. But the official eyed the continued talks warily, and said the union’s praise for Obama "is contingent on [Obama] sticking to his guns, which to their credit, they have been for two years." On the debt panel chairman’s recommendations, Obama offered a much different reaction than unions and Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), who has emerged since the Democrat’s midterm election losses as a standard bearer for the left. Pelosi described the proposals as "unacceptable" and AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka said the chairmen had told "working Americans to ‘drop dead.’" "Some people are saying this is plan is just a 'starting point.' Let me be clear, it is not," Trumka added., "I think we have to be straight with the American people," Obama said. "If people are, in fact, concerned about spending, debt, deficits and the future of our country, then they’re going to need to be armed with the information about the kinds of choices that are going to be involved, and we can’t just engage in political rhetoric." None of that suggests Obama will back changes to Social Security, but for unions, they are worrying signs nonetheless.
http://thehill.com/...
I've come to the conclusion finally, (god I'm such a loyal Democratic Whore)...when I heard this statement and I repeat:
Obama said. "If people are, in fact, concerned about spending, debt, deficits and the future of our country, then they’re going to need to be armed with the information about the kinds of choices that are going to be involved, and we can’t just engage in political rhetoric."
Wait a second, Ok? Kinds of choices? concerned about debt, deficits our country, and political rhetoric?
The choices you had President Obama were very very clear to begin with:
We elected you on perhaps the greatest election in the history of our party to do two things:
Restore the Public Trust and Uplift the Middle Class. That was your mission that was our vote. You told us all, this was 'Our Moment, Our Time' and now you expect us all to believe otherwise? We gave you our hope, we gave you our faith, we gave you our time, and our dollars, we gave you everything that we could give you, and still, what?
We know you got handed a total 'shit sandwich from hell' and we knew none of this would be easy. We knew that you were our first African American President, and we were all proud of that. We knew that you were what we all thought, was a transformational moment in the history of our nation, but you promised us first and foremost: TRANSPARENCY in government, and it has been the opposite of that: Financially, Militarily and Environmentally.
As I stated in another diary, Americans have already PAID, Mr. President, and we are very, very, very tired of paying. Most of all I think Americans are tired of paying for the FRAUD TO COVER UP THE FRAUD, that few if any in the MSM are talking about.
First and foremost President Obama, we needed to regain trust in our government, and what none of us expected was this: to be illegally thrown out of our own homes, with the illicit foreclosure mills, to know that this one decent man, Sheriff Dart from your own home state, would shame you in your own office.
Sheriff Dart of Chicago, Ill. is my kind of hero, when he says:
"You may have got through one storm now, the other one is coming."
This is man, Sheriff Dart, that can go quietly into the night, and honestly kiss his children as they have a safe place to sleep in their beds at night, knowing that perhaps, during his day, he 'did the right thing' to refuse to throw another family out onto the streets of his city to freeze to death, in their cars or worse.
I wish I could say the same thing about President Obama or our own government, but alas....I cannot.
I think it is high time for Richard Trumka to call for a real National Strike, don't you?
I'm actually pretty amazed that this is the front story on Huffington Post tonight....but most of all, what I wanted to point out to you was the story about Sheriff Dart, from Chicago, Ill. I know that tonight he kissed his children in great love, and blessings, and in the end, I guess that is all I really care about, don't you?
Thanks as always...sorry this diary is too long, but I had to put this out there, because when I find a real American Hero, (that makes me cry) I just cannot help myself. I hope you will forgive me for my own human weakness, but I'm thinking about everyone that will be cut off from their unemployment benefits this Holiday season, as all the FRAUD TO COVER UP THE FRAUD, allows these bastards to keep Alan Simpson, all FIRED UP AND READY TO GO.
And you know what, I'm sick of that shit.
Ms. B.
PS..
God I hate to cry.
Damn you and bless you Sheriff Dart.