In response to Prez Obama's 'outrage" - why have WS execs not been charged with embezzlement?

[RiverStone]

"Outrageous." That's President Barack Obama's one-word reaction to a report that Wall Street employees got more than $18 billion in bonuses last year.

http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/capress/090129/world/20090129_obama_bonuses_1

I'm not a prosecutor, but certainly what happened to our money is criminal.

Using our tax payer funded bailout money for personal bonuses seems no different than stealing from a charity. Why have these greedy fucks not been charged with embezzlement of public funds?

Our money was supposed to be used to bolster our economy, reduce mortgage costs, and to save or create jobs. 18 billion dollars of it going to bonus pay sure seems criminal!!!

Has anybody heard of anyone on Wall Street being pressed to return this money? If not, then why not?:mad:

[tavalon]

1. Um, because they aren't really like me and thee and aren't held to the same standards?

I dunno. That's my best guess.

[leftstreet]

2. Embezzlement, hell - Robbery !!

Shave a little time off their sentences for not using guns

[terisan]

3. A good question. Why not????

[avaistheone1]

4. There should be a charges of "fraud" too.

:grr:

[ellacott]

5. Because they gave them the money without including those stipulations

or making them law. Our legislators deserve just as much blame for not including these guidelines.

[RiverStone]

6. And to think we assumed our legislators would not be so stupid...

Kinda like giving a 13 year old the keys to the car.

How stupid of us not to watch what our elected representatives were doing! :sarcasm:

[ellacott]

10. The fact that they are considering guidelines shows that they think it's necessary

Even Claire McCaskill said she didn't think they'd be so stupid.

[RiverStone]

12. Claire was good to call em idiots, albeit after she supported the bank bailout

...too bad she did not think of the compensation loophole before she voted for it. :crazy:

[ellacott]

15. She said she didn't think they'd be such idiots

I wish she would have thought about it too. It would have saved us a lot of money. :)

[Occam Bandage]

7. Because there's no evidence that what they did was illegal?

A bunch of people for whom success and promotion relies on greed and short-sightedness ended up, through greed and short-sightedness, fucking up the American financial system. The government gives these infamously greedy, short-sighted people $700,000,000,000 with which they could pretty much do whatever they wanted.

Hey, whaddya know, looks like a bunch of them took advantage of their sudden solvency and gave themselves enormous bonuses. Nobody could have seen such short-sighted greed coming.

[panAmerican]

8. You can't be charged with a non-crime.

And it's not a crime simply because both sides of the aisles decided to leave a vast loophole in the original disbursement of the money.

[RiverStone]

9. Is it too cynical to wonder then if any folks on both sides of the aisles...

Also benefited in some unscrupulous way from these bonuses? Kick backs or favors in their future...?

[unblock]

11. it's only embezzlement if the company objects.

those one the compensation committees seem to be ok with it.


now, that might point to a (BIG!) flaw in standard corporate design, but it's not embezzlement.

[RiverStone]

13. Are not We The People the real "company" here?

We object!

[unblock]

16. only once the government has actually taken over the company

the other flaw in the design of our economy is that the benefits of huge corporations are limited to their owners (and a SMALL number of high-level employees) while the damage they do when they screw up is felt by too many non-owners, from employees to suppliers and customers and to banks and taxpayers and even homeowners in affected areas.

[slipslidingaway]

14. Discussion on CNBC....

'the bankers that got us into this mess have to be removed from the system'

No name, he was a guest on the 5 pm show.

[bvar22]

17. One is grandstanding for the TV cameras.....

The other is actually penalizing the people who give you lots of money.

[backscatter712]

18. Holder just got confirmed - maybe that will get things moving...

For the DOJ to do something other than spinning its wheels, it needs a decent Attorney General.

[girl gone mad]

19. We'll see..

if Mr. Chiquita/Marc Rich has the balls to fight the very people he's kissed up to for decades.