Columbia Journalism Review (CJR) has a post giving kudos to William Black for his performance on CNBC’s Closing Bell. The episode’s topic was whether or not Goldman Sachs should or could be prosecuted on fraud charges for their part in the financial crisis.
If you remember back to the Goldman Sachs hearings in 2010, you might recall John McCain saying (to Blankfein) something to the effect of “you may not have broken the law here, but there’s no question it was wrong”. One of the few good comments I’ve heard from McCain, and it speaks right to the heart of the issue. This is why Mr. Black’s argument on CNBC sounds weak – they really didn’t break any laws, and that’s the whole problem. They spent the better part of the 90’s deregulating the crap out of the entire industry, and so now you can’t charge them for their actions. In either case, the solution does not lie with putting people into jail after the fact. Although that may satisfy the public, it doesn’t change anything long term. You need to change the laws and structure of the industry so that we don’t live in an economy that induces this kind of behavior.
She is a crook; put the facts in her Wikipedia article.
Bethany McLean is an ex-Goldman employee that eagerly supports Wall Street criminals. Before this, she was writing articles smearing companies in concert with hedgefunds shorting the same companies.
Check out the emails used in an ongoing criminal case:
“From: Marc Cohodes
Sent: Wednesday, March 21, 2007 9:51 AM
To: Bethany McLean
Subject: ffh
you hear anything there??? the stock is up 45 points since your piece and I dont understand it… ”
“From: Bethany McLean
Sent: Wednesday, March 21, 2007 11:51:57 AM
To: Marc Cohodes
Subject: Re: ffh
I’m getting the same question from other people. No, I don’t have a clue. I’m worried they’ve gotten the SEC or the Southern District to take them seriously –”
“From: Bethany McLean
Sent: Thursday, March 22, 2007 6:12:48 PM
To: Marc Cohodes
Subject: Re: ffh
Sorry to be a little bad-tempered. This FFH story almost killed me, so I hate hearing that it was pointless. Maybe it’ll be a long, slow thing..”
http://www.deepcapture.com/bethany-mclean/
Who’s willing to bet that Mitt Romney took up the 2009 Swiss amnesty?
After all, why hasn’t he released his tax returns after so much pressure from both parties? After so much public commotion? And if the contents of his tax returns show that he’s been able to take advantage of loopholes and the like to avoid paying taxes, well, don’t we already know that?
And of course, he had no problems being open with his tax returns when he put his hand up for VP in 2008.
BfO,
The 2009 Swiss Amnesty: makes a lot of sense.