After JP Morgan Rips off the world - DOJ drives the getaway car

[ReeferMadness]

An amazing story.

Similar story in video.

At great personal sacrifice, former JP Morgan employee Alayne Fleischmann has gone public over the disgraceful way that the US Department of Justice has swept the massive, widespread mortgage fraud under the rug. By all accounts, the DOJ never had any intents of going after anyone, even though the mortgage crisis started a financial meltdown that affected much of the world. This is the same organization that went above and beyond to ensure that Mark Emery was extradited and jailed for selling plant seeds.

The heroic Fleischmann emerges as a pawn in this narrative, used by the DOJ to increase the size of the settlement. In return for a bigger fine, CEO Jamie Dimon clearly intended to buy her silence. And of the $13 billion fine, $4 billion is in the form of loan extensions and forgiveness (most of which is paid by organizations other than JP Morgan) and a further $7 billion is tax deductible (so US citizens each get to contribute!).

The defence, used by Dimon and others, was essentially that they were idiots who didn't understand their own business. Of course, that's not what they say when they justify their billions in bonuses.

So, how much of a deterrent was the "historic fine"? Well, it was so bad that the day after it was announced, JP Morgan stock went up by $12 Billion, roughly double the actual amount of the fine. And what of the "disgraced" Jamie Dimon, the mental feeb who didn't know what he was doing? Apparently, incompetence is very lucrative when you're a CEO. He got a 75% pay raise.

[bush_cheney2004]

At great personal sacrifice ? From ill gotten gains ? How so ? Does anybody care ?

[eyeball]

Don't get mad, get even.

Knock over a bank or string up a couple of politicians and other shareholders for good measure.

[Wilber]

Not news. You can be bent as a pretzel as long as you are too big to fail. Getting the tax payer to foot the bill for your screw ups is considered bonus worthy. If you are searching for ethics, look elsewhere.

[ReeferMadness]

Don't get mad, get even.

Knock over a bank or string up a couple of politicians and other shareholders for good measure.

Do that and they will put you in jail. Dimon will still be free and rich, though.

[eyeball]

Well, if that's the case lets have a revolution and string the whole freakin' mess up - leave no survivors.

[bush_cheney2004]

Not news. You can be bent as a pretzel as long as you are too big to fail. Getting the tax payer to foot the bill for your screw ups is considered bonus worthy. If you are searching for ethics, look elsewhere.

Seriously...why even bother ? What part of "making money" do some people not understand ?

[ReeferMadness]

Not news. You can be bent as a pretzel as long as you are too big to fail. Getting the tax payer to foot the bill for your screw ups is considered bonus worthy. If you are searching for ethics, look elsewhere.

And where, exactly, would that be?

[ReeferMadness]

Well, if that's the case lets have a revolution and string the whole freakin' mess up - leave no survivors.

Well, that would be one way.

But if you could get the type of support you needed to mount a revolution, you could get change more easily and without bloodshed. We live in democracies; at least in name. The problem is getting people's attention. They're willing to get bent out of shape over pricey orange juice and senator's living expenses. But here we have a smoking gun that points to the root of the problem. Capitalists are robbing us all blind and the government is covering up the scene of the crime.

The problem is that this is just too vast. People shrug their shoulders and look away because they think that they can't do anything. And as long as they believe that, they're absolutely right.

[ReeferMadness]

Seriously...why even bother ? What part of "making money" do some people not understand ?

You clearly have nothing to say. Why don't you just go troll somewhere else?

Edited November 15, 2014 by ReeferMadness

[ReeferMadness]

Not news. You can be bent as a pretzel as long as you are too big to fail. Getting the tax payer to foot the bill for your screw ups is considered bonus worthy. If you are searching for ethics, look elsewhere.

Well, I guess that's that. Nothing to be done so let's all just watch hockey and stuff ourselves with cheetos.

[Wilber]

And where, exactly, would that be?

Good question but not in finance. Look at the reality. These guys screwed people for billons and came out roses. A comparative financial nobody like Martha Stewart goes to jail. The system goes after easy targets, not worthy ones.

Edited November 16, 2014 by Wilber

[On Guard for Thee]

You clearly have nothing to say. Why don't you just go troll somewhere else?

I'm sure that happens, and with similar responses.

[GostHacked]

Seriously...why even bother ? What part of "making money" do some people not understand ?

Making money as in working for a wage? Or making money as in printing more worthless fiat paper dollars? Or making money as in stealing from your clients and taxpayers?

Edited November 16, 2014 by GostHacked

[Topaz]

I saw that story about a week ago, and she's lucky she's still alive, after all, dead people don't talk and after she testifies, she still could be in danger.

[ReeferMadness]

Good question but not in finance. Look at the reality. These guys screwed people for billons and came out roses. A comparative financial nobody like Martha Stewart goes to jail. The system goes after easy targets, not worthy ones.

Well, I'm no expert. But according to Fleischmann, who is herself a lawyer, there was a pretty clear paper trail here. She said that it wasn't that this case was too complicated to prosecute. The only question is how high up in the organization could they have prosecuted. So, the strategy you take is the same strategy as is used in organized crime. You start with the people who signed the documents. Either they take the fall or they implicate the people above them. It's not that hard.

When reviewing AG Holder's claim that it was just too hard to prosecute these cases, one commentator wisecracked that it was fortunate Holder retired before he took on organized crime.

One of the things that this case confirms is Noam Chomsky's assertion that there are no fundamental differences between the Democrats and Republicans. They are both parties of and for the wealthy, thanks in no small part to America's liberal political contribution laws. When push comes to shove, both parties are beholden to big money.

Edited November 17, 2014 by ReeferMadness

[ReeferMadness]

I saw that story about a week ago, and she's lucky she's still alive, after all, dead people don't talk and after she testifies, she still could be in danger.

The thought has crossed my mind, although she seemed to be fairly relaxed in the interviews. I hope the story can get more airplay - the bigger it is in the news, the more reluctant people who don't want her talking would be to do something like that.

[ReeferMadness]

I see the Wall Street Journal appears complicit in what is looking more and more like a massive coverup. By writing what essentially amounts to a puff piece on how attorney Richard Elias took down the big banks, the WSJ is showing itself to be a true friend of big business to the bitter end. Here is a quote from the article:

In a memo, one J.P. Morgan employee warned her bosses they were putting bad loans into securities being created before the financial crisis hit.

A J.P. Morgan employee?? Why didn't the article mention Alayne Fleischmann by name? You could argue it was just more lazy journalism but a more logical answer would be that Fleischmann herself would be in profound disagreement with the premise of the article. The fines were not a huge blow to the banks, they were chump change to these behemoths. Most of the cost was borne by others (mortgage brokers, the government itself) and what was borne by the banks was paid by the shareholders. The perpetrators got off with no consequences.

And what of Richard Elias, the "hero" who supposedly brought Wall Street banks to their knees? He has left the DOJ to join a private law firm, which will no doubt pay him much more. Welcome to the new America where the government is just a tool to help funnel more money to the wealthy.

[kimmy]

Meanwhile Jamie Dimon himself was personally calling up congressmen to lobby for changes in the spending bill that eliminate restrictions on banks speculating on derivative swaps.

-k

[GostHacked]

Gerald Cenelte's top trend for 2015, 'Bankism'.

[Michael Hardner]

http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article45454.html

Gerald Celente, a popular gloom and doom blogger and publisher of the TR Journal finally gives a date for the always coming economic collapse that I must have been hearing about for 5 years now.

WLW Radio - 30th April 2014

"Your predicting an economic collapse, when do you think that is going to happen Gerald?"

"I am going to say by the end of the second quarter."

"I believe it is going to happen in the first quarter of 2014".

[GostHacked]

Gerald can predict, and yes he was wrong on some things, not everyone is perfect.. As Schiff has been wrong about some things. All while the Fed and other idiots like Bernanke were telling is the economy is getting better. Has it really???????

But both are looking at the current banking system and seeing how screwed up it is. All the big banks who screwed the economy and were on the verge of collapse cried to the government and got the biggest welfare cheques in history. QE1 and others staved off the collapse (wild cards) that change the game for a while. But then we needed QE2, and QE3, and QE Indefinite. That had global impacts we are still trying to recover from. We may never recover.

I trust Celente more than I trust 90% of the talking heads on most main stream news media.

[Michael Hardner]

Gerald can predict, and yes he was wrong on some things, not everyone is perfect.. As Schiff has been wrong about some things. All while the Fed and other idiots like Bernanke were telling is the economy is getting better. Has it really???????

Yes.

I trust Celente more than I trust 90% of the talking heads on most main stream news media.

He's always predicting the collapse of the economy. If it doesn't happen after 10 years will you still trust him ?

[GostHacked]

How has it gotten better? I won't accept a simple 'yes'.

[Michael Hardner]

How has it gotten better? I won't accept a simple 'yes'.

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/24/business/us-q3-gdp-revised-up-to-5-percent.html?_r=0

The American economy grew last quarter at its fastest rate in over a decade, providing the strongest evidence to date that the recovery is finally gaining sustained power more than five years after it began. Bolstered by robust spending among consumers and businesses alike, economic output rose at an annual rate of 5 percent during the summer months, the Commerce Department said Tuesday