Wall Street Legend Sandy Weill: Break Up the Big Banks

.."Sanford I. Weill, the man who invented the financial supermarket, called for the breakup of big banks" ..
http://www.cnbc.com/id/48315170
.."“I’m suggesting that they be broken up so that the taxpayer will never be at risk, the depositors won’t be at risk" ...

The Scam Wall Street Learned From the Mafia

"But USA v. Carollo marks the first time we actually got incontrovertible evidence that Wall Street has moved into this cartel-type brand of criminality. It also offered a disgusting glimpse into the enabling and grossly cynical role played by politicians, who took Super Bowl tickets and bribe-stuffed envelopes to look the other way while gangsters raided the public kitty. And though the punishments that were ultimately handed down in the trial – minor convictions of three bit players – felt deeply unsatisfying, it was still a watershed moment in the ongoing story of America's gradual awakening to the realities of financial corruption. In a post-crash era where Wall Street trials almost never make it into court, and even the harshest settlements end with the evidence buried by the government and the offending banks permitted to escape with no admission of wrongdoing, this case finally dragged the whole ugly truth of American finance out into the open – and it was a hell of a show."
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/the-scam-wall-street-learned-from-the-mafia-20120620?utm_source=dailynewsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=newsletter
"In fact, the defendants themselves, whom the trial would reveal as easily replaceable cogs in a much larger machine of corruption, were barely visible from the gallery, obscured by the great chattering congress of prosecution and defense attorneys."

The Oligarchy's Rule of Law: From Russia to Oklahoma

"This is just one of many stories about how publicly-traded companies have been and can be transformed into elaborate schemes to loot and steal from the public and enrich a tiny handful of oligarchs. We saw this in the 1980s when Reagan deregulated the Savings & Loans, which were quickly transformed into a means of looting, fraud and plunder; we saw it in the 2000s, after the de-regulation of the financial sector."
http://truth-out.org/news/item/9409-the-oligarchys-rule-of-law-from-russian-to-oklahoma

Paul Krugman Goes Doom on Economy: End of the Euro?

"Today, Paul Krugman posted something on his blog that knocked me right out of my chair.  I have disagreed with Dr. Krugman several times in the past only to find myself proven wrong.  He has given a scenario for what he calls an "end game" for the problems in Europe.  If he is correct, I don't see how it doesn't impact the entire worlds economy, and the elections here in the U.S.  It could very well determine who the next president is..."
http://www.alternet.org/newsandviews/article/928885/paul_krugman_goes_doom_on_economy%3A_end_of_the_euro/#paragraph2

MF Global: The Untold Story of the Biggest Wall Street Collapse Since Lehman

"Only on Wall Street can you bankrupt a company; misplace $1.6 billion of customers’ money; lose 75 percent of shareholders’ money in two weeks; speed dial a high priced criminal attorney and get a court to authorize the payment of your multi-million dollar legal tab from the failed company’s insurance policies; have regulators waive your requirements to take licensing exams required to work in the securities and commodities industry; have your Board of Directors waive your loyalty to the firm; run a bucket shop out of the UK; and still have the word “Honorable” affixed to your name in a Congressional investigations hearing."
http://www.alternet.org/story/155078/mf_global%3A_the_untold_story_of_the_biggest_wall_street_collapse_since_lehman?page=entire

Why Obama's JOBS Act Couldn't Suck Worse

"In fact, one could say this law is not just a sweeping piece of deregulation that will have an increase in securities fraud as an accidental, ancillary consequence. No, this law actually appears to have been specifically written to encourage fraud in the stock markets."

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/blogs/taibblog/why-obamas-jobs-act-couldnt-suck-worse-20120409?utm_source=dailynewsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=newsletter

"In the meantime, let's just say this is a dramatic step taken by Barack Obama. Nobody should have any illusions about where he stands on Wall Street corruption after this thing. Boss Tweed himself couldn't have done any worse."


((Uh-oh!! You just KNOW you are in TROUBLE when you see a smiling Eric Cantor watching Obama sign ANYthing.))

4/12/12 Update: Oh JEEZZZZZ!!! It gets worse!
"Despite the fact that Obama had showered Wall Street with trillions in bailouts (and his Fed appointee Ben Bernanke had given out $16 trillion more in secret emergency lending), the president in the first years of his first term took heat for being too tough on the financial services sector, which particularly objected to the presence of grumpy, down-on-fraud ex-Fed chief Paul Volcker on the president’s Economic Recovery Advisory Board." "So Obama basically sacked Volcker to appease Wall Street and renamed the Economic Recovery Advisory Board, calling it the "President’s Council on Jobs and Competitiveness." He also made a key decision at that time in putting Gene Sperling, a former adviser to both Larry Summers and Timothy Geithner, in charge of his National Economic Council."
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/blogs/taibblog/yes-virginia-this-is-obama-s-jobs-act-20120412?utm_source=dailynewsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=newsletter
And, yes it gets worse but you'll have to read it yourself in the above.

Free Ride! Meet the Companies That Don't Even Pretend to Pay Taxes

"Big business apologists like to tell us that the U.S. corporate tax rate of 35 percent is too high, and makes companies less “competitive” with foreign firms. Yet we all know that corporations hire legions of wily accountants to find loopholes that often bring their tax rate down to next to nothing. In 2008, Goldman Sachs paid a laughable 1.1 percent of its income in taxes. That same year, it earned a profit of $2.3 billion and received an $800 billion bailout.."

http://www.alternet.org/story/154653/free_ride%21_meet_the_companies_that_don%27t_even_pretend_to_pay_taxes?akid=8483.153143.YBCg6Y&rd=1&t=3