One of the biggest gripes of both the Tea Party and the ragtag Occupy movement is the fact that crony capitalism seems to go unchecked in this country.
Since 2007, not a single player in the financial collapse has been prosecuted or put behind bars. At most, they’ve undergone halfhearted investigations that have ended in “slaps on the wrist.” In the meantime, many Americans have lost their homes and/or their jobs while top executives and their political cronies live the high life.
How does that work?
There must have been somebody at the top engaging in illegal activity. Are we to believe that the entire collapse was just one big, inexplicable mistake?
As it turns out, much like Congressional insider trading, some of the behavior engaged in by top Wall Street executives, though unethical, was not actually illegal, according to the President of the united States.
In a television interview this weekend, “60 Minutes” host Steve Kroft asked President Barack Obama why there haven’t been more criminal cases made against Wall Street.
“One of the things that surprised me the most about this poll [of the president’s popularity] is that when asked who your policies favor the most, 42 percent said Wall Street. Only 35 percent said average Americans,” said CBS News’ Steve Kroft. “My suspicion is, some of that may have to do with the fact that there’s not been any prosecutions, criminal prosecutions, of people on Wall Street. And that the civil charges that have been brought have often resulted in what many people think have been a slap on the wrist, fines. Are you disappointed by that?”
“You know, I can’t, as President of the United States, comment on the decisions about particular prosecutions. That’s the job of the Justice Department. And we keep those things separate, so that there’s no political influence on decisions made by professional prosecutors,” the president responded. “I can tell you, just from 40,000 feet, that some of the most damaging behavior on Wall Street, in some cases, some of the least ethical behavior on Wall Street, wasn’t illegal. That’s exactly why we had to change the laws. And that’s why we put in place the toughest financial reform package since F.D.R. and the Great Depression [emphasis added].”