Just the price of doing banking?

[jcd11235 0]

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Your kidding me right!?

Not a bit. Iran should be way, way down the list of national security priorities.

How come you keep avoiding the relevant questions?

Math tutoring available. Only $6! per hour! First lesson: Factorials!

[shah269 0]

Iran the nation we are currently having a major embargo with so that they do not develop nuclear weapons.

Iran the nation who if they do anything funky in the Persian Gulf we will be paying $8 a gallon for gas?

Iran the nation who had held many Americans hostage since the 1979 revolution.

Iran the nation which has aided terrorists in their fight to kill as many of our service men in Iraq as possible.

Iran the nation that aids funds and arms Hezbollah?

Need I go on?

And yeah these guys got away with it, their organization took the hit and they should have been held personally responsible for their actions and have been arrested for supporting a terrorist state. Defending them in any shape or form is equivalent of defending Iran's actions with respect to human rights and or their attacks on our service men and women.

Life through good thoughts, good words, and good deeds is necessary to ensure happiness and to keep chaos at bay.

The only thing that falls from the sky is birdshit and fools!

[weekender 0]

>"And yeah these guys got away with it, their organization took the hit and they should have been held personally responsible for their actions and have been arrested for supporting a terrorist state. Defending them in any shape or form is equivalent of defending Iran's actions with respect to human rights and or their attacks on our service men and women."

What?? you ARE capable of a coherent relevant thought. You are suggesting that what these men did is wrong and they should be punished by a court of law. I have no rebuttal. Even if I disagreed with your opinion, which I do not, it is reasonable. Why are you not capable of having a discussion like this normally?

"The point is, I'm weird, but I never felt weird."
John Frusciante

[jcd11235 0]

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Iran the nation we are currently having a major embargo with so that they do not develop nuclear weapons.

Iran the nation who if they do anything funky in the Persian Gulf we will be paying $8 a gallon for gas?

Iran the nation who had held many Americans hostage since the 1979 revolution.

Iran the nation which has aided terrorists in their fight to kill as many of our service men in Iraq as possible.

Iran the nation that aids funds and arms Hezbollah?

Need I go on?

Well, it would be nice if you could come up with at least one example of Iran posing a threat to US national security. Those you listed certainly don't cut it.

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And yeah these guys got away with it, their organization took the hit and they should have been held personally responsible for their actions and have been arrested for supporting a terrorist state. Defending them in any shape or form is equivalent of defending Iran's actions with respect to human rights and or their attacks on our service men and women.

Got away with what? They paid a civil penalty, right? They weren't charged or convicted of any crime.

The only thing anyone is defending is due process, which you seem to be happy to wholly disregard.

Math tutoring available. Only $6! per hour! First lesson: Factorials!

[shah269 0]

It's not worth it......

Apparently they did nothing wrong.

Life through good thoughts, good words, and good deeds is necessary to ensure happiness and to keep chaos at bay.

The only thing that falls from the sky is birdshit and fools!

[jcd11235 0]

Quote

Apparently they did nothing wrong.

You're probably the only person who believes that.

Math tutoring available. Only $6! per hour! First lesson: Factorials!

[Gravitymaster 0]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rj-eskow/as-evidence-mounts-dc-ins_b_1660865.html

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A growing number of people are privately expressing concern at the Justice Department's long-standing pattern of inactivity, obfuscation and obstruction. Mr. Holder's past as a highly-paid lawyer for a top Wall Street firm, Covington and Burling, is being discussed more openly among insiders. Covington & Burling was the law firm which devised the MERS shell corporation that has since been implicated in many cases of mortgage and foreclosure fraud.

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The Mortgage Fraud Task Force stands at the heart of the latest controversy. In January's State of the Union address, the President said that "This new unit will hold accountable those who broke the law, speed assistance to homeowners, and help turn the page on an era of recklessness that hurt so many Americans."

And yet there have been no concrete results since that announcement. One source familiar with the task force said that other federal agencies were actively participating in the process, but that the Justice Department was preventing the group from getting even the relatively meager resources promised to it by the Justice Department.

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But there's no evidence that Mr. Holder's Justice Department has mounted a serious effort to investigate bank crime. Its first, much-touted "coordinated effort" to crack down on mortgage fraud turned out to be a PR trick, not a law enforcement effort, which the Columbia Journalism Review described with the headline, "The Obama Administration's Financial-Fraud Stunt Backfires." That's not the kind of press a President wants to see repeated in an election year.

"Democrats have been having good luck painting Romney as the candidate of the one percent," said one observer. "But that could change quickly with a few bad headlines."

[kallend 2,106]

One wonders, in the light of the Valukas report, why no Lehman Bros. execs are in prison.

The big banks really have the govt (all parties) by the balls.

...

The only sure way to survive a canopy collision is not to have one.

[shah269 0]

No no no .... bank executives have and will do nothing wrong....just ask any one but me.

Life through good thoughts, good words, and good deeds is necessary to ensure happiness and to keep chaos at bay.

The only thing that falls from the sky is birdshit and fools!

[weekender 0]

Quote

One wonders, in the light of the Valukas report, why no Lehman Bros. execs are in prison.

The big banks really have the govt (all parties) by the balls.

I'm not going to read through this, to be honest. So im going to ask a favor. Looking for honest and rational responses. Can you or anyone tell me what crime they would be put in prison for? this is not a wise ass comment at all. In my reading there was no criminal activity. Banks were far to over leveraged in a derivative that basically lost all material value. Thats not a criminal act.

I am genuinely curious if anyone has found a criminal act in their reading. I have not but am far from a scholar on the subject.

"The point is, I'm weird, but I never felt weird."
John Frusciante

[shah269 0]

Weekender,
What Lehman Bros did was technically legal. With the way the current laws are yeah they could legally be out 40-1 on their investments. But then again that was the "street" regulating itself under the guise of "we know what we are doing" and "we can manage the risk" and well turns out they were unable to.
So those who made the risky loans and complex lending vehicles made money. Those who marked those loans and lending vehicles as AAA made money. And those who knew no better and should have not been given the loan in the first place...well some made money but many are now stuck. It was a mess from top to bottom. And there needs to be more regulations on the matter.
However that said if the CEO of Lehman Bros knew that these investments were questionable at best but still sold them off as "the best thing" ever to the investing public then well you can argue that he was coming fraud in misrepresenting his products.
But even that argument won't hold water since these loans were all given AAA ratings by the rating agencies? So maybe collusion?
But if we go down that road then god knows how many CEO's you would see being picked up by black hawk helicopters from the top of their buildings? It would be a real mess!
So here is where we stand, they know they did bad but got off with money in their pockets. The feds know this and you and I have a good feeling that they did something very bad. But the moment you go to prosecute they can and will go for the nuclear option of throwing the economy into a great depression. So we let them go. Sad but true? Right?

Now that aside, the guys who were hit with the money laundering to terrorist organization. Well I hate to say it but last I checked money laundering is against international law and supporting a terrorist organization deliberately or accidentally is a crime here in the US. Don't believe me? Write a check to Alqueda and watch how fast you will get a knock on your door by a few G men asking to speak with you and review all of your records.

But why get all pissed off, why worry? Not like things are going to change right?

Life through good thoughts, good words, and good deeds is necessary to ensure happiness and to keep chaos at bay.

The only thing that falls from the sky is birdshit and fools!

[weekender 0]

I sighed when i saw you responded since i knew it would be of no value. I stopped reading your rant when you mentioned the street regulated itself. That complete and giant falsehood was proof enough for me to ignore the rest of your comments. You have no understanding of the topic. SEC,FINRA, US Treas FinCen are not the street. Nor is the US Attorney for NY or the CTFC...the list goes on. You have no understanding of the topic you are commenting on. Do you never tire of that?

"The point is, I'm weird, but I never felt weird."
John Frusciante

[shah269 0]

Remember under Bush 2.0 all the big banks said "trust us" and we did right? And where did it take us? Ok well let's maybe take back some of that self regulating behavior and install more LAWS that prevent risky behavior. Much like we limit speed limits maybe we need to impose risk limits that are federally monitored and enforced with potential sentences not fines?

But you still did not answer the issue of the money laundering to a terrorist state. And how you as an individual may be arrested while the bank was fined. Why was that? Remember due to the past administration simply appearing to be supporting a terrorist organization was enough to get you sent off to GITMO. Let alone actually working with them to launder money? Why did these guys just get fined and not sent off to jail?

Life through good thoughts, good words, and good deeds is necessary to ensure happiness and to keep chaos at bay.

The only thing that falls from the sky is birdshit and fools!

[kallend 2,106]

Quote

Quote

One wonders, in the light of the Valukas report, why no Lehman Bros. execs are in prison.

The big banks really have the govt (all parties) by the balls.

I'm not going to read through this, to be honest. So im going to ask a favor. Looking for honest and rational responses. Can you or anyone tell me what crime they would be put in prison for? this is not a wise ass comment at all. In my reading there was no criminal activity. Banks were far to over leveraged in a derivative that basically lost all material value. Thats not a criminal act.

I am genuinely curious if anyone has found a criminal act in their reading. I have not but am far from a scholar on the subject.

Repo 105/108 transactions whose sole function as employed by Lehman was balance sheet manipulation. Seems pretty close to fraud to me.

...

The only sure way to survive a canopy collision is not to have one.

[weekender 0]

Quote

Remember under Bush 2.0 all the big banks said "trust us" and we did right? And where did it take us? Ok well let's maybe take back some of that self regulating behavior and install more LAWS that prevent risky behavior. Much like we limit speed limits maybe we need to impose risk limits that are federally monitored and enforced with potential sentences not fines?

But you still did not answer the issue of the money laundering to a terrorist state. And how you as an individual may be arrested while the bank was fined. Why was that? Remember due to the past administration simply appearing to be supporting a terrorist organization was enough to get you sent off to GITMO. Let alone actually working with them to launder money? Why did these guys just get fined and not sent off to jail?

No i dont remember that. also, you keep mentioning self regulating. since that is not the case with banking i cannot address your topic. it is difficult for me to have a factual response to a non factual comment by you. the banks are regulated by multiple private and gov't entities. You should not discuss things you do not understand. Its frustrating to people who do.

We have addressed the Standard Bank situation in another non sensical post you started. go back and read it if you want to know my opinion. its quite clear.

"The point is, I'm weird, but I never felt weird."
John Frusciante

[weekender 0]

Quote

Quote

Quote

One wonders, in the light of the Valukas report, why no Lehman Bros. execs are in prison.

The big banks really have the govt (all parties) by the balls.

I'm not going to read through this, to be honest. So im going to ask a favor. Looking for honest and rational responses. Can you or anyone tell me what crime they would be put in prison for? this is not a wise ass comment at all. In my reading there was no criminal activity. Banks were far to over leveraged in a derivative that basically lost all material value. Thats not a criminal act.

I am genuinely curious if anyone has found a criminal act in their reading. I have not but am far from a scholar on the subject.

Repo 105/108 transactions whose sole function as employed by Lehman was balance sheet manipulation. Seems pretty close to fraud to me.

Close but no cigar? Im guessing that was the gov't stance and is a shame.

this is why i have said many times. we need more good and clear regulation. for example, right now the JOBS act says you can write research before an IPO on certain companies. Banks still wait 25 days since the SEC has not changed their guidlines to match the new law. That is not clear, two gov't agencies have different laws and guidelines on the exact same thing. What a mess. it totally gives cover to lawyers to use no matter the situation.

"The point is, I'm weird, but I never felt weird."
John Frusciante

[billvon 3,072]

>Repo 105/108 transactions whose sole function as employed by Lehman was balance
>sheet manipulation. Seems pretty close to fraud to me.

Agreed. But it's very hard to prosecute such things because they're legal.

That's one of the side effects of regulating any industry. The regulations impose an additional cost on the business; in an ideal world everyone sees an equal additional cost and thus no competitive advantage is garnered by anyone.

But in the real world businesses want to make money so they look for all the loopholes. (So do people who pay taxes.) And the more complex a set of regulations is the more loopholes there are. Enron excelled at finding these; they pioneered mark-to-market and used special purpose entities to hide debt. As a result of Enron, Sarbanes-Oxley was passed, a law that attempts to prevent such deceptive (but until then not illegal) business practices.

The problem of course is that S-O is a pretty complex piece of legislation, and there are no doubt lots of holes in it that the next Enron will exploit.