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Wanted: A Perp Walk For Plutocrats

By Susan J. Douglas

My husband and I were engaged in our usual dinner table rant about politics and the economy. Having made the mistake of opening my latest retirement statement and seeing that I, like millions, will now have to work until I’m 90 (or dead, whichever comes first), I proposed that we needed the financial equivalent of the Nuremberg trials for all of… return to article

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    This is the first time you and I have hit upon a point of agreement. My solution to expressed to my wife was, “You only have to shoot the first one.”

    I noticed, however you’re missing a major category of participant and cause of this outrageous situation — those who supposedly have our nation and citizenry’s interests at heart.

    A large number of those in the U.S. Congress worked diligently over a couple of decades to set the stage. Eliminating the Glass-Steagal Act under Sec. of Treasury Robert Ruben), raising the banks margins from around 15:1 to 40:1 (Henry Paulson), allowing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac execs and board members to be paid a percentage of loans issued (Barney Frank), the AIG and other bonuses (Chris Dodd and others in office), the lack of regulating (SEC, S&P, Moodys)...

    The real outrage is seeing these guys acting the role of “Bad Cop” on C-SPAN.

    Obama doing his road show routine and abrogating his balance of power duties while Pelosi runs the country into the poor house. Then his outright demand for unconstitutional imposition of taxes on AIG bonuses as a bad “solution” to an already stupid gift. (Article 1, Section 8) And he has a law degree?

    Not the kind of Change I can Believe In!

    United States Posted by whattheheck on Mar 24, 2009 at 5:45 PM

    I am most normally inclined to be forgiving to a fault some might say. So be it! In these times (no pun intended please) I am of a mind that the magnitude of the atrocities perpetrated willfully and maliciously by people whose only motivation was making huge piles of money for themselves at the expense of the economies of this country and many others around the globe simultaneously demand appropriate punishment when found guilty of these crimes by juries who will not be bought or swayed by these hugely corrupt and powerful criminals.

    Ms. Douglas and her spouse seem to be echoing much of the same sentiments I hear expressed by those with whom I come into contact daily. They know that amoral and hugely self absorbed people have participated in a modern-day Ponzi scheme of gargantuan proportion. There needs to a reckoning. There must be severe consequences for the hubris and boundless greed of these criminals. Yes, I said criminals and I mean it in the simplest terms you can envision.

    “In Ancient Greece, the voting public would write or scratch the name of a person in the shard of pottery. When the decision at hand was to banish or exile a certain member of society, citizen peers would cast their vote by writing the name of the person on the piece of pottery; the vote was counted and if unfavorable the person was put out of the city, thus giving rise to the term ostracism”. ( from Wikipedia the free encyclopedia). I cannot imagine a more appropriate response to the horrific criminal acts of the executives of these financial firms that have been visited upon our nation and the world at large. Why not use a modern form of the ostracon to tell these people that they are no longer welcome to live among us until they have paid a suitable penance.

    As Ms. Douglas rightly observes “They also want faces and names attached to “subprime mortgages,” “derivatives,” “mortgage-backed securities” and “credit default swaps.” These folks are now for the greatest part murky, shadowy figures without form or substance hiding from retribution and judgment in the anonymity that is afforded them by their money, power and influence.

    Where indeed are the media that are supposed to monitor this kind of anti-social behavior? I can tell you where. Most are employed now by giant corporations who have their own agendas so, if a story might end up showing that their own parent company is up to its neck in the financial miasma in some manner that resulted in this economic meltdown there will be no investigative journalist sent to do that story. Oh, and have you lost one or more of your local newspapers? Who is bringing the local news?

    Once these persons have confessed their guilt, repented of their crimes and made amends, where at all possible, then - and ONLY then - perhaps they might be readmitted to civil society. Once again - or perhaps for the very first time - there must be a price to pay for those who have so damaged our society. There must be justice and it must be severe and publicly administered. Forgiveness should be available but repentance and a price to be paid must come first.

    United States Posted by Rev. Michael Weaver-Robbins on Mar 26, 2009 at 4:05 PM
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