Published – Idaho State Journal, 05/13/12
The unambiguous imagery of blindfolded Lady Justice holding
the scales of impartiality aloft, idyllically characterizes our understanding
of how American justice is expected to function. We expect it to be dispensed
neutrally; blind to race, creed, socio-economic status, and political
associations. Yet clearly this administration’s Department of Justice is blind
in ways not represented by Lady Justice.
Ever since the near collapse of the crony-capitalistic
system created more by Washington than by Wall Street, we’ve consistently heard
from the administration that they were going to get “tough” on Wall Street,
prosecute the perpetrators of the “fraud and corruption” that they insisted was
endemic there, and hold “accountable those who helped bring about the last
financial crisis.”
Yet, as stated in a revelatory article in Newsweek, due out
this week, the administration and Attorney General Eric Holder have not “criminally
charged or prosecuted a single top executive from any of the elite
financial institutions thought responsible for the financial crash.” Is this
blind justice, or simply being blind to justice?
Holder was explicit in his intent to prosecute those
“responsible” for the mortgage market induced meltdown. Said he, “Mortgage,
securities, and corporate fraud schemes have eroded the public’s confidence in
the nation’s financial markets and have led to a growing sentiment that Wall
Street does not play by the same rules as Main Street. Unscrupulous
executives, Ponzi scheme operators, and common criminals alike have
targeted the pocketbooks and retirement accounts of middle class
Americans, and in many cases, devastated entire families’ futures.
We will not allow these actions to go unpunished.”
In reality, that’s precisely what they’ve done. With no
charges, no “perp walks” (other than Bernie Madoff whose Ponzi scheme collapsed
with the mortgage market) and no prosecution of any top Wall Street executives,
the administration proves by their actions that they are firmly ensconced in
the pockets of the 1%, at the expense of the 99%.
Logically, there are only two possibilities for such
recalcitrance in pursuing the instigators of all the “fraud and corruption” on
Wall Street. The first is, perhaps all those financial titans were functioning
legally under the complex web of crony-capitalistic excess, as allowed by
Washington’s bizarre regulatory umbrella. Or those wizards of Wall Street have
bought and paid for their financial “indulgences” with massive contributions
into the campaign coffers of Holder’s boss. The Newsweek authors conclude it is
the latter.
They also raise another aspect of the “hands off” policy of
the DOJ. They point to the fact that
most of those Wall Street executives, and their companies, are clients of the
influential law firms that Holder and his top lieutenants worked at before
joining the DOJ in 2009.
Just two months into the new administration, there was a
meeting held at the White House with heads of 13 of the top banks and financial
institutions. As reported by ABC News, “President
Obama put it to the Big Finance executives” and told them in no uncertain
terms, “My administration is the only thing between you and the pitchforks.”
Here we are three years later, with no arrests, no prosecution, no criminal
charges filed, but lots of campaign dollars flowing to the campaign war chest.
It would appear the DOJ opted for not “making hay” of the bankers, but save them
for their most useful purpose; to finance the president’s campaign.
The hypocrisy of the whole situation has outraged even
elements of the left. Mike Gecan, an activist with the Industrial Areas
Foundation, explained, “I’m from Chicago, I’ve seen this game played my whole
life."
The DOJ and the administration have not only rewarded Wall
Street executives by saving them from the pitchforks, but they’ve also been
rewarded with the lowest prosecution rates of corporate securities and bank
fraud in years.
Department of Justice criminal prosecutions are at 20-year
lows for corporate securities and bank fraud, based on data from the
Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse, a data-gathering organization at
Syracuse University. Newsweek reports that financial fraud prosecutions are “down
39 percent since 2003, and are just one third of what they were during the
Clinton administration.”
If we are to believe what the administration has been
telling us for the past few years, what happened in 2008 was the direct result
of excessive greed, avarice, corruption, and fraud. And it led to what’s widely
heralded as the most significant financial downturn since the Great Depression.
But still, not a single criminal prosecution in sight.
Don’t believe for a second that the administration is
looking out for the 99%. All the evidence indicates it is carefully protecting
the 1%, in what could be the most heinous “pay to play” political episode ever
in American history. Their version of “justice is blind” seems to indicate that
they’re blind to the abuses of their contributors. As Newsweek refers to it,
it’s “the Chicago Way writ large.”
AP award winning
columnist Richard Larsen is President of Larsen Financial, a brokerage and
financial planning firm in Pocatello, and is a graduate of Idaho State
University with a BA in Political Science and History and former member of the
Idaho State Journal Editorial Board. He
can be reached at rlarsenen@cableone.net.