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Bankers or Criminals?

Should the Bankers be prosecuted?

  • Total voters
    28
  • Poll closed .
DaveFagan said:
Then, as a banker, you should have read the linked article. Were the "Too big to fail banks" asked or qualified for your words, "of course I made sure their income and obligations could support the repayment structure?" Ergo, as a banker, you must also agree that prosecution was more appropriate than a bailout, or not?
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Not all "bankers" did this.
It's been argued that some did with state "nudging" and what of those individuals who were complicit with this?

Should they to have been jailed for lying?
 
Harry Guerrilla said:
Not all "bankers" did this.
It's been argued that some did with state "nudging" and what of those individuals who were complicit with this?

Should they to have been jailed for lying?
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It would appear a few were trapped to bundle everyone into the same crime and complicity prevents prosecution, perhaps. I understand what you were alluding to, but what about the crimes.
 
We need to once again separate Church and State --- speculation and lending.

Harry Guerrilla said:
Using some individuals definitions, I'm a banker.
I would agree in a limited circumstance.

What does a banker do?
She/He extends capital to people, who would otherwise not have it.
For the purposes of financing business and large purchases, like homes and cars.

I lent people money to refinance their debt, into a lower rate (my rate).
Is that evil, is that bad?

They asked and I obliged them, of course I made sure their income and obligations could support the repayment structure.

In total, "bankers" and "banking" has helped our world, far more than it has harmed.
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I have no problem with the bank you describe. That's what a bank used to be and the world was a happy place. :) When we allowed traditional banks and "investment banks" (speculators) to merge is when we started having problems and why (IMO and many others) we were required to bail the bastards out to avoid further economic ruin. :(
 
DaveFagan said:
Should "citizens" start a petition demanding prosecution and get enough signatures that a Federal level comment is necessary? Is that foolish, or practical? Sounds about like the "torture" deal and nothing will happen.
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It's foolish, since the banks were only following the regulations that were forced upon them by the government. If anyone should be prosecuted, it should be the politicians that forced these banks to make loans to people that couldn't afford to pay them back. I mean, a bus driver gets a loan for an $800,000 home? Gimme a break!!
 
apdst said:
It's foolish, since the banks were only following the regulations that were forced upon them by the government. If anyone should be prosecuted, it should be the politicians that forced these banks to make loans to people that couldn't afford to pay them back. I mean, a bus driver gets a loan for an $800,000 home? Gimme a break!!
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More misinformation ... :(
 
apdst said:
It's foolish, since the banks were only following the regulations that were forced upon them by the government. If anyone should be prosecuted, it should be the politicians that forced these banks to make loans to people that couldn't afford to pay them back. I mean, a bus driver gets a loan for an $800,000 home? Gimme a break!!
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Exactly correct. The banks then became culpable themselves though, when they bundled the bad loans and passed them off to unsuspecting buyers. An action they saw as necessary to protect themselves from what the government made them do in the first place. The government really put the banks in a bad position.

It's easiest for the loons on here to just hate the banks because that fits their rigid mental templates. What liberal alive would ever point a finger at the beloved Barney Frank? Something else maybe.
 
Ray410 said:
Exactly correct. The banks then became culpable themselves though, when they bundled the bad loans and passed them off to unsuspecting buyers. An action they saw as necessary to protect themselves from what the government made them do in the first place. The government really put the banks in a bad position.

It's easiest for the loons on here to just hate the banks because that fits their rigid mental templates. What liberal alive would ever point a finger at the beloved Barney Frank? Something else maybe.
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You contradict yourself. If all those bad loans followed government regulations for government loans then the government would have been backing them up and the banks would not have had to cover their asses.

As it was, many banks went hog wild ignoring government rules in an attempt to make their origination fees knowing full well they could sell off the bad loans before anyone figured out they were bad thereby absolving themselves of any financial responsibility for them and freeing up their assets so they could continue making bad loans and collecting their origination fees.
 
Wake said:
The rich have been feeding off the poor, while sending jobs overseas. Because of this we increasingly see the poor feeding of the rich, in order to survive.

By their very nature I think bankers are in a group that contains prostitutes, lawyers, and other highly selfish and money-grubbing people. Prosecuted? Show us their exact crimes, and mete out punishment in accordance to the laws.
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The government sent jobs overseas by burying American businesses with regulations, bureacrats and lawyers.
 
A pitiful thread.

Since most people finance their car, house and/or credit cards, then basically everyone should go to jail as co-conspirators.
 
joko104 said:
The government sent jobs overseas by burying American businesses with regulations, bureacrats and lawyers.
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If a neighbor uses his front yard as an outhouse instead of paying for the sanitary sewer I'd ask him to use the sewer. If he refused to use the sewer I'd rather he move than continue stinking up the neighborhood and posing a health risk to us all - even if that meant his house was empty and my home-owners dues went up a tiny bit because of it. The government didn't drive businesses overseas. Businesses decided they didn't want to be good neighbors and left.
 
joko104 said:
A pitiful thread.

Since most people finance their car, house and/or credit cards, then basically everyone should go to jail as co-conspirators.
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So if I buy a DVD at Walmart when Walmart, unbeknownst to me, is purposely selling tainted meat that kills people, I should somehow be culpable?

Or if JiffyLube changes my oil and disposes of it in the creak out back (without my knowledge) then I'm responsible?!?

OoooKaaay ...
 
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First off what exactly is a banker?

Secondly, what does a banker have to do to be prosecuted. Are we just going to prosecute them for being a banker. Should we prosecute people who used derivatives to earn money? I think the word bankers is just another made up word to hate the rich.

People like to mention Iceland, but Iceland did not punish bankers unambiguously. They arrested the ones who took loans from their banks before they collapsed and then tried to hide the money. If people here haven't forgotten, US bailed out their banks. They didn't let them fail like Iceland did. No one on the left wanted to let the banks fail.

I want to prosecute someone, but the first people on my list would be politicians who made the laws, and not the bankers who took advantage of them.
 
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Harry Guerrilla said:
There have been some, no doubt, but there's no perfect person on this planet.
You're going to have criminals, although I don't know if I'd say they robbed billions off of people.
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Theres been tons of them harry...and theres been many in the last few years alone and they dont even get busted until they have stolen in the hundreds of millions...aside from that youre just like every other conservative...you just blow off the bigshot thieves.
They all need prison time..big prison time
 
DaveFagan said:
It would appear a few were trapped to bundle everyone into the same crime and complicity prevents prosecution, perhaps. I understand what you were alluding to, but what about the crimes.
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If there are crimes, they should be prosecuted.
I however, don't feel it right, to hammer an entire industry or group of people, because of the acts of some.
 
MoSurveyor said:
We need to once again separate Church and State --- speculation and lending.

I have no problem with the bank you describe. That's what a bank used to be and the world was a happy place. :) When we allowed traditional banks and "investment banks" (speculators) to merge is when we started having problems and why (IMO and many others) we were required to bail the bastards out to avoid further economic ruin. :(
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Banks are going to be bailed out, either way.
The federal reserve is the lender of last resort.

On the plus side, most of those guys paid the money back, with interest.
 
lpast said:
Theres been tons of them harry...and theres been many in the last few years alone and they dont even get busted until they have stolen in the hundreds of millions...aside from that youre just like every other conservative...you just blow off the bigshot thieves.
They all need prison time..big prison time
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Madoff got prison time for his theft.
If there were actual crimes, then punish them, but don't stop with the lenders, punish the borrowers too.

The problem I have with what you say, is that it's a sweeping generalization.
You accusing a whole industry when it was select individuals who did bad.
 
Harry Guerrilla said:
Banks are going to be bailed out, either way.
The federal reserve is the lender of last resort.

On the plus side, most of those guys paid the money back, with interest.
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They let Lehman Brothers fail, why not all the other speculators - as long as they're separated from the lending banks?

But I agree the Fed would still bail out failed lending banks - they always have - but that was never a problem until the speculators got into the mix. Like I said, we need to separate Church and State, again. It was a mistake to ever let them merge into one entity and I've thought that since they first allowed it.
 
MoSurveyor said:
They let Lehman Brothers fail, why not all the other speculators - as long as they're separated from the lending banks?

But I agree the Fed would still bail out failed lending banks - they always have - but that was never a problem until the speculators got into the mix. Like I said, we need to separate Church and State, again. It was a mistake to ever let them merge into one entity.
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That's true.
I'm just not sure though, I mean lending in itself is speculation.
 
Harry Guerrilla said:
Madoff got prison time for his theft.
If there were actual crimes, then punish them, but don't stop with the lenders, punish the borrowers too.

The problem I have with what you say, is that it's a sweeping generalization.
You accusing a whole industry when it was select individuals who did bad.
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Madoff isnt and wasnt like most recently JP Morgan and Jamie Dimond...madoff robbed the rich...Dimond robbed all of us to make the rich richer
 
Harry Guerrilla said:
That's true.
I'm just not sure though, I mean lending in itself is speculation.
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Yeah - but if your business is actually on the hook for it, you tend to be more cautious about acceptance.

Ed:
I also don't buy into "the government made me do it!" excuse.
 
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Harry Guerrilla said:
If he broke the law, then by all means, he should go to jail.
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I'm not trying to condemn all banks with this thread. We're talking about a lot of banks when you consider all the offices owned by B of A, JPMorgan Chase, Citibank,etc. That would probably be tens of thousands, close to a hundred thousand. It's only the really big ones that seem to be systemically crooked. Local banks, Credit Unions, etc. are still organized around LOCAL events and economies and not part of the gov't/banking fraud. I use the word fraud because to have accomplished this loan, books had to be cooked. To maintain the low interest levels on debt with increasing demand, rates must be manipulated. To prevent prosecution, regulators must be compromised. In my opinion, "the bigger the bank, the bigger the crook." A good banker is a friend, asset and foundation in local communities. The banks we are incriminating are scumbags in Armani suits with silk ties and chauffered Mercedes and very nice stock options.
 
Is it possible that all the loans were arranged to increase liquidity at the Federal Reserve? It is the FED that is buying US Treasuries. It takes lots of money to buy trillions of dollars of US Treasuries (Bonds). Is this where the basic Economics 101 multiplier comes into play. The Fed wound up with $1.4 trillion in cash deposits and could loan how much with that, using its own rules? 900 %? This whole scheme reminds me of the method Putin used to buy Russia's OIL/GAS industry for Russia, outwitting Exxon/Mobil and JPMorgan Chase. A real paperwork wonderland.
 
DaveFagan said:
Secret and Lies of the Bailout | Politics News | Rolling Stone

Secret and Lies of the Bailout
"It has been four long winters since the federal government, in the hulking, shaven-skulled, Alien Nation-esque form of then-Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson, committed $700 billion in taxpayer money to rescue Wall Street from its own chicanery and greed. To listen to the bankers and their allies in Washington tell it, you'd think the bailout was the best thing to hit the American economy since the invention of the assembly line. Not only did it prevent another Great Depression, we've been told, but the money has all been paid back, and the government even made a profit. No harm, no foul – right?Wrong."


Read more: Secret and Lies of the Bailout | Politics News | Rolling Stone
Follow us: @rollingstone on Twitter | RollingStone on Facebook

Secret and Lies of the Bailout | Politics News | Rolling Stone

This is a lengthy read, but a real eye opener. Do yourself a favor and read it.

Are all bankers crooks?

Were we honestly advised by our gov't officials?

Is it too late to prosecute?

The Federal Reserve CORPORATION increased its deposits over $1 trillion as a result, are they part of the deception?

Does the $1.4 trillion deposited in the FED allow them to lend $14 Trillion to purchase US Treasuries?
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Are all bankers crooks? No, I'm sure there's a couple honest ones out there. However, this bailout; both the government and the banks knew exactly what they were doing. For both the politician and the banker I say off with their heads. Often times the government and aristocracy need to be reminded of who just holds ultimate power.
 
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