----
The Nation:
FCIC Report Turns a Blind Eye to Wall Street Fraud --
Nothing erodes the authority and legitimacy of government more severely than a spreading awareness of unequal justice. The feds send hapless drug mules to prison for twenty years. For billion-dollar swindles, they won’t even call a grand jury. This corrosive contradiction can become a national disease. Americans are learning from these events—another investigation with shocking evidence, but not much happens afterward. This will sound farfetched, I know, but this is a road that leads eventually to Cairo.
----
Washington's Blog:Failing to Prosecute Wall Street Fraud Is Extending Our Economic Problems --
Bill Gross, Nouriel Roubini, Laurence Kotlikoff, Steve Keen, Michel Chossudovsky and the Wall Street Journal all say that the U.S. economy is a giant Ponzi scheme.
Virtually all independent economists and financial experts say that rampant fraud was largely responsible for the financial crisis...
----
Nelson D. Schwartz and David Streitfeld / NY Times:Officials Disagree on Penalties for Mortgage Mess -- Even as state attorneys general and regulators in Washington approach the end of their investigation into abuses by the nation’s biggest mortgage companies, deep disputes are emerging over how much to punish the banks as well as exactly who should benefit from a settlement.
The newly created Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is pushing for $20 billion or more in penalties, backed up by the attorneys general and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation...
discussion:
Barry Ritholtz / The Big Picture:
“Extend & Pretend” Practices Attracting SEC Scrutiny -- The SEC is investigating bank practices that seem to have been enacted with the blessing of the Fed and Treasury: Extend & Pretend...
Calculated Risk:
Update on Possible Mortgage Servicer Settlement -- ... sounds like criminal charges are off the table.
