It is not uncommon to hear people in the streets, on blogs or on talk radio arguing that the gangs of Wall Street should have been jailed — or even hung — for their crimes against the American people. But to hear that kind of talk from a former Federal Reserve chairman is surprising… even if it is well after the fact.
Though you could be forgiven for assuming most politicians and bankers have no conscience at all, there are apparently many in the halls of power who carry a guilty conscience for their role in selling out the country, and undermining its recovery at every level.
Few have more guilt to carry than the functionaries at the Federal Reserve, the quasi-governmental central bank that now looms so large over the economy, and has so much to do with why the financial world is facing devastating failure all over again.
Against expectations, and in promotion of a book, Ben Bernanke is reflecting upon his time as the head of the Fed with regret that he managed to funnel so much money into the pockets of those on Wall Street — despite the fact that many of its principles played a significant role in causing the 2008 crisis.
Bernanke knows exactly who they are, and what they have done. It isn’t a secret, but no one in the system even pretended to conduct a criminal investigation against them, let alone press charges and prosecute executives.
Now, with the economy ready to take another dive, and possibly crash, and more Americans are forced to shoulder the burden of decline, Ben Bernanke has a few regrets.
Via Fox Business:
Perhaps Ben Bernanke should have spoken up sooner.
Bernanke, the former chair of the Federal Reserve who helped mastermind the massive bank bailouts in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis, says he believes more Wall Street executives should have been held accountable for their roles leading up to the crisis.
While all the major Wall Street firms – J.P. Morgan Chase (JPM), Goldman Sachs (GS), Citigroup (NYSE: C), Bank of America (NYSE: BAC), Wells Fargo (WFC), etc… — have agreed to pay fines now totaling in the hundreds of billions stemming from widespread fraud that occurred ahead of the 2008 meltdown, not a single top Wall Street executive was charged ever as a criminal.
“It would have been my preference to have more investigation of individual action, since obviously everything that went wrong or was illegal was done by some individual, not be an abstract firm. And so in that respect I think that there should have been more accountability at the individual level,” Bernanke said in an interview with USA Today on Sunday.
That’s a pretty bombshell statement, even if it comes in form of Bernanke’s soft-spoken ramblings. Up until now, one would have thought that Helicopter Ben saw nothing wrong with what happened, and that it thought nothing of using the Federal Reserve to essentially put big banks on the easy money financial fast track, and doom everyone else to money that has been devalued by massive quantative easing:
The Fed has come under sharp criticism in some corners for bailing out Wall Street then initiating monetary policies that have seemingly benefitted Wall Street while many Americans are still struggling from fallout related to the crisis. Low interest rates, for instance, have spurred a bull market in stocks that has led to massive profits for many of the same Wall Street firms that were bailed out and which then subsequently agreed to pay billions in fines tied allegations of fraud.
The former Fed chair… blamed ongoing political hostility targeting the Fed on the Fed’s inability to properly communicate what it was doing at the time and why the bailouts were necessary.
The former Federal Reserve chairman has shirked his own responsibility, noting that his job was to save the economy, not to investigate criminal acts by banks or point to guilty individuals.
Indeed, his agency is a privately held one with no powers under the Constitution at all, and precious few checks on its unwarranted power and influence over the lives of all Americans.
As for the idea of prosecuting Wall Street…
That’s the job of the real feds, namely the Justice Department, headed at the time by Eric Holder.
“The Fed is not a law enforcement agency,” he said. “The Department of Justice and others are responsible for that, and a lot of their efforts have been to indict or threaten to indict financial firms. Now a financial firm is of course a legal fiction. It’s not a person. You can’t put a financial firm in jail.”
If you’re wondering why former Attorney General Eric Holder never thought to go after any of the executives from the big banks, consider that he worked for the law firm Covington & Burling for eight years before joining the Obama Administration — a firm whose top clients include Wall Street banks. When Holder finally stepped down as Attorney General, he went back to Covington & Burling, and by extension — right back to work for the very banks whose reckless and sometimes illegal actions triggered all the worst that happened in 2008.
Basically, prosecuting banksters, though it would have been right and would have been cheered by the economically-strained and squeezed population, was a fantasy at best.
The fix was in. Bernanke has blood on his hands, and he knows it. But perhaps he is ready to wash his hands clean… but sincere or not, some are just “too big to jail.”
Read more:
The Federal Reserve Has Unleashed a “Virus Of Radical Monetary Policy”… and There’s No Going Back
Fed Vice Chairman Warns: Your Bank May Seize Your Money to Recapitalize Itself
Fed Tightening “Could Have Profoundly Destructive Consequences for Economies”
Federal Reserve Policy Is “Driving People Into Homelessness”
It Took 22 Years to Get to This Point
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Excuse me, but what exactly does this article have to do with God, religion, Armageddon, who’s going to Heaven, who’s not and why not, and which posters here are the Eville sinners? C’mon mac, you’re losing site of the real PRIORTIES here!
Shoulda, coulda, woulda.
Too late. All you can do is manage the collapse.
I can’t afford to buy his book.
syn·on·y·mous
(of a word or phrase) having the same or nearly the same meaning as another word or phrase in the same language.
No single name comes as close to describe Wall Street Corruption than Jon Corzine. He had no permission to take segregated by law accounts and use it for his investment form. No personal criminal charges were filed against any individual however charges were filed against his firm.
Wachovia Bank laundered between $300 and $400 billion without following the law, much of it being dope money (its so large the Justice Department is not sure of the amount by $100 billion) and no individual was criminally charged.
The above items are not new as Standard Oil was indicted in 1942 and pled no contest to trading with Nazi Germany after they declared war on the US. Standard Oil was fined $50,000. No one was prosecuted for treason. Read, “Trading With The Enemy”.
As the saying goes, “Money Talks and Bullshit Walks”. They are and have been above the law for quite some time.
If Thomas Crappers name, shortened to crap is synonymous with shit (what a legacy) Jon Corzine’s name, shortened to the phrase, “Corzined” as in “You got Corzined, I got Corzined”, is synonymous with being ripped off.
I recommend Corzine’s name retaining its theft meaning and acquiring the previous slang of Mr Crappers name. Mr Crapper deserves better. “I just took a good Corzine”; has a ring to it.
My Dear God…. These parasitic member of the bankster tribe do really see the Americans as the most stupid souls on this planet. Maybe they are right since they use the same BS over and over and have been very successful so far to loot everyone except their own tribal members without any consequences.
Jail????? F%$#K NO. Rope is the solution but by the people and for the people. Even French had more …… to cut the shirt of the French Airline Exec. today after the layoff notice and too bad they didn’t finish them off.
Rope, indeed.
EVERY employee of the Federal Reserve, all its affiliate banks, everyone down to the janitor who empties the trashcans and mops the floors, every single one that worked for or had any kind of involvement with the Federal Reserve in any capacity, needs to be publically hung at the end of a rope.
Let the lesson be clear: if you consort with evil and corrupt organizations, you will pay with your life.
The law either applies to everyone, or it applies to no one.
2015 – 2008 is seven years. Seven years, seven years……….where have I heard the number seven years regarding the law? How about “Statute Of Limitations”?
Anyone know?
Tip: get a cautery iron to seal wounds with as a last resort in combat.
http://theantimedia.org/doctors-without-borders-bombing-tpp/
***DID OBAMA MURDER OPPONENTS OF THE TPP?***
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OQuceU3x2Ww
THE POOT TELLS THE WORLD WHATS REALLY GOING ON IN SYRIA
SOME OF YOU FUCKTARDS ARE STILL BABBLING ABOUT SOCIALISM BERNIE SANDERS VS. CORPORATISM TRUMPELSTILTSKIN
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iFDe5kUUyT0
PAUSE THIS BITCH AT 21:00
IN CORPORATISM WHERE IS THE WEALTH CONCENTRATED? THE BANKS
IN SOCIALISM WHERE IS THE WEALTH CONCENTRATED? THE GOVERNMENT
THERE IS NO FUCKING DIFFERENCE WHATSOEVER BETWEEN CORPORATISM AND SOCIALISM…IT’S THE SAME FUCKING SYSTEM!
SOCIALISM STEALS YOUR WEALTH FASTER BECAUSE THE GOVERNMENTS HAVE MORE CONTROL OVER PRIVATE INDUSTRY
THEY GIVE IT A NAME LIKE “SOCIALISM” OR “FLUFFY PINK BUNNY RABBITS” TO MAKE THE RETARDS THINK IT WORKS IN THEIR FAVOR.
BOTH SOCIALISM AND CORPORATISM FALL INTO THE DEFINITION OF “THE MERGER OF STATE AND CORPORATE POWERS” = FASCISM
STOP ALL THIS POINTLESS BANTER ABOUT THE COMMIES AND RETURN TO YOUR MISSION…TO SPREAD THE GOSPEL OF ENDING THE FED.
Sure the Son of a Bitch would say it now that the Statue of Limitation is over.
What a POS!!!!
Sgt.
Off topic
Exec action coming on gun control , heads up .
ht tp://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2015/10/05/white-house-obama-preparing-executive-actions-gun-control/
The banking criminal filth controlling our collapsing society love to see that fascist American flag being waved and honored by the coward pussy zombies of America, it lets them know how well their deception and propaganda have worked on the brain dead dumbed down chemically altered boot licking cowards.
Said the pot to the kettle.
Bernanke is one of the biggest financial terrorists America has ever seen. His non stop “money” printing, continued by Yellen, is responsible for much of America’s economic woes. “Money” backed by nothing.
Bernanke and Yellen should be shot on sight and the Federal Reserve burned to the ground. They’ve been financially raping us for to long.
Meanwhile, have you guys been aware of the traitor Loretta Lynch and the unconstitutional ‘strong cities network’ her office is creating? It’s basically a worldwide police force that will also be operating in America.
If the constitution was being enforced, Lynch, Obama, Jarret, Axelrod, Clapper, and many other tyrants would already be swinging from ropes.
from the United States Department of Justice
Office of Public Affairs:
The Strong Cities Network (SCN) – which launches September 29th at the United Nations…
The SCN will strengthen strategic planning and practices to address violent extremism in all its forms by fostering collaboration among cities, municipalities and other sub-national authorities.
What a total joke. They are talking to us like we ate retards. PL you should have heard what lynch told the UN how she is loyal to the administration and that war against the American people is enviable..let’s see how the 200,00o man army from Cuba according to Larry Nicolas fairs against the armed Texas population…
Aka
HCKS.
Yes, all my nightmares do come through.
Houst, somehow I like her name as Lynch….Very appropriate name.
Sadly the man speaks the truth. in a country of over 310 million people, we have Democrats and RINOS that make up a lot of the population. I wouldn’t waste Zyklon B on them, just stuff them into the ovens alive. My hearing is shot.
Zyklon B was the trade name of a cyanide-based pesticide invented in the early 1920s. Zyklon B consisted of hydrogen cyanide (prussic acid), a stabilizer, a warning odorant (ethyl bromoacetate), and one of several adsorbents.
Highly poisonous gas used for extermination in the Euthanasia Program and later in the Gas Chambers of the Nazi Extermination Camps, particularly Auschwitz. Zyklon B is the commercial name of hydrogen cyanide (HCN).
My great grandparents were Jewish. I know.
If you have World link and saw the German or French news, you would have see two men running for their lives after the French Airline was announce some more worker cuts.
I mean two men had their shirt pull off and who knows what became of their suit coats. Made me wonder how long it would be for bankers and other big business leader should fear that they might one day need to run.