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Crime Can Pay if It's Big Enough
For banksters like Goldman Sachs, federal criminal settlements are just a cost of doing business.
Apr 27, 2016
Wow, $5 billion.
That's the stunning amount Goldman Sachs has agreed to pay to settle federal criminal charges over its shameful financial scams, which helped wreck America's economy in 2008. That's a lot of gold, even for Goldman.
Yet the Wall Street powerhouse says it's "pleased" to swallow this sour slug of medicine. Is that because its executives are contrite? Oh, come on -- banksters don't do contrite.
Rather, they're pleased with the settlement. Thanks to backroom dealing with friendly prosecutors, it's riddled with loopholes that may eliminate nearly $2 billion from the publicized punishment.
For example, the deal calls for the felonious bank to put a quarter-billion dollars into an affordable housing program. But generous federal negotiators put incentives and credits in the fine print that will let Goldman escape with paying out less than a third of that.
Also, about $2.5 billion of the settlement is to be paid to consumers hurt by the financial crisis. Yet the deal lets the bank deduct almost $1 billion of this payout from its corporate tax. That means you and I will subsidize Goldman's payment.
As a bank reform advocate told The New York Times, the problem with these settlements "is that they are carefully crafted more to conceal than to reveal to the American public what really happened here."
One more reason Wall Street bankers privately wink and grin at these seemingly huge punishments is that even paying the full $5 billion would be perfectly manageable. To you and me, it sounds like a crushing sum -- but Goldman Sachs raked in over $33 billion in revenue last year alone. For them, it's a reasonable cost of doing business.
After all, Goldman sold tens of billions of dollars' worth of fraudulent investment packages leading to the settlement. The bottom line is that crime can pay, if it's big enough.
We are at a crossroads
This country and this world are at a monumental crossroads. US voters have an opportunity to beat back the forces of fascism and confront the billionaires who are rigging the economy, our media system, and our democracy, making it increasingly impossible for ordinary people to get by. We’re not just talking about the election. We’re talking about what must be done once these fascist elements are vanquished from power. We need a bolder set of solutions than what either major party has so far been willing to offer and a working-class movement ready to fight like hell for it. Trump didn't emerge from nowhere. The conditions that fueled MAGA authoritarianism were created by decades of radical neoliberal economic policies and a corrupt political system dominated by corporate interests. They slashed taxes on the super-rich, promising that the benefits would trickle down. They said giveaways to the corporate titans would make life more affordable for the rest of us. It was all bullshit. And when a bitter, betrayed populace searches for someone to blame, right-wing demagogues have little trouble finding scapegoats. People know when they're being lied to, but you won't hear any of this from the corporate media. Only independent journalism—powered and funded by people who believe in building a better world—can deliver truly trustworthy daily news. If you share our vision, please contribute whatever you can to sustain our work. |
This column was distributed by OtherWords.
Jim Hightower
Jim Hightower is a national radio commentator, writer, public speaker, and author of the books "Swim Against The Current: Even A Dead Fish Can Go With The Flow" (2008) and "There's Nothing in the Middle of the Road But Yellow Stripes and Dead Armadillos: A Work of Political Subversion" (1998). Hightower has spent three decades battling the Powers That Be on behalf of the Powers That Ought To Be - consumers, working families, environmentalists, small businesses, and just-plain-folks.
Wow, $5 billion.
That's the stunning amount Goldman Sachs has agreed to pay to settle federal criminal charges over its shameful financial scams, which helped wreck America's economy in 2008. That's a lot of gold, even for Goldman.
Yet the Wall Street powerhouse says it's "pleased" to swallow this sour slug of medicine. Is that because its executives are contrite? Oh, come on -- banksters don't do contrite.
Rather, they're pleased with the settlement. Thanks to backroom dealing with friendly prosecutors, it's riddled with loopholes that may eliminate nearly $2 billion from the publicized punishment.
For example, the deal calls for the felonious bank to put a quarter-billion dollars into an affordable housing program. But generous federal negotiators put incentives and credits in the fine print that will let Goldman escape with paying out less than a third of that.
Also, about $2.5 billion of the settlement is to be paid to consumers hurt by the financial crisis. Yet the deal lets the bank deduct almost $1 billion of this payout from its corporate tax. That means you and I will subsidize Goldman's payment.
As a bank reform advocate told The New York Times, the problem with these settlements "is that they are carefully crafted more to conceal than to reveal to the American public what really happened here."
One more reason Wall Street bankers privately wink and grin at these seemingly huge punishments is that even paying the full $5 billion would be perfectly manageable. To you and me, it sounds like a crushing sum -- but Goldman Sachs raked in over $33 billion in revenue last year alone. For them, it's a reasonable cost of doing business.
After all, Goldman sold tens of billions of dollars' worth of fraudulent investment packages leading to the settlement. The bottom line is that crime can pay, if it's big enough.
Jim Hightower
Jim Hightower is a national radio commentator, writer, public speaker, and author of the books "Swim Against The Current: Even A Dead Fish Can Go With The Flow" (2008) and "There's Nothing in the Middle of the Road But Yellow Stripes and Dead Armadillos: A Work of Political Subversion" (1998). Hightower has spent three decades battling the Powers That Be on behalf of the Powers That Ought To Be - consumers, working families, environmentalists, small businesses, and just-plain-folks.
Wow, $5 billion.
That's the stunning amount Goldman Sachs has agreed to pay to settle federal criminal charges over its shameful financial scams, which helped wreck America's economy in 2008. That's a lot of gold, even for Goldman.
Yet the Wall Street powerhouse says it's "pleased" to swallow this sour slug of medicine. Is that because its executives are contrite? Oh, come on -- banksters don't do contrite.
Rather, they're pleased with the settlement. Thanks to backroom dealing with friendly prosecutors, it's riddled with loopholes that may eliminate nearly $2 billion from the publicized punishment.
For example, the deal calls for the felonious bank to put a quarter-billion dollars into an affordable housing program. But generous federal negotiators put incentives and credits in the fine print that will let Goldman escape with paying out less than a third of that.
Also, about $2.5 billion of the settlement is to be paid to consumers hurt by the financial crisis. Yet the deal lets the bank deduct almost $1 billion of this payout from its corporate tax. That means you and I will subsidize Goldman's payment.
As a bank reform advocate told The New York Times, the problem with these settlements "is that they are carefully crafted more to conceal than to reveal to the American public what really happened here."
One more reason Wall Street bankers privately wink and grin at these seemingly huge punishments is that even paying the full $5 billion would be perfectly manageable. To you and me, it sounds like a crushing sum -- but Goldman Sachs raked in over $33 billion in revenue last year alone. For them, it's a reasonable cost of doing business.
After all, Goldman sold tens of billions of dollars' worth of fraudulent investment packages leading to the settlement. The bottom line is that crime can pay, if it's big enough.
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