The German magazine Spiegel says Wall Street banksters committed a monumental insider bank robbery

[kpete]

The German magazine Spiegel says Wall Street banksters committed a monumental insider bank robbery
by Democrats Ramshield
Wed Jan 05, 2011 at 01:57:56 AM PST


(Written by an American expat living in the European Union)
This mainstream German magazine Der Spiegel in their December 30th issue, tell us that Wall Street banksters committed nothing short of a monumental insider bank robbery, which is responsible for victims like Pam Brown who has become the face of America's nouveau poor and hungry in the minds of the Spiegel's vast readership within the European Union.

...........................

I can honestly say that at least the mainstream European press isn't in league with the American plutocrat owned media. It is from this vantage point that this review seeks to interpret the German magazine Spiegel's ongoing series last published December 30th 2010 of the American empire in decline. Unlike the American mainstream media, the chorus from the European mainstream press of which the Spiegel represents, comes close to calling for the criminal prosecution of the Wall Street banksters. Europeans are already referring to this as a 'monumental insider bank robbery'.

(Quote from Der Spiegel: "From Wall Street to be thrown onto the street")
http://www.spiegel.de/wirtschaft/unternehmen/0,1518,735737,00.html
"Brown used to work as an executive secretary on Wall Street with an annual salary of $80,000. Then the financial crisis robbed her of her job. Since the beginning of 2009 she has been unemployed. She fell through the US social safety net which is full of holes, through to the very edge of poverty itself, and only through luck was able to avoid homelessness.

Still in a state of shock, she said, "overnight I again found myself on the wrong side of the tracks in life". For untold millions of Americans the year 2010 unexpectedly became the year of the nouveau poor. Nobody really cared about her. She was passed from one welfare office to another, only to be turned down by social workers. Her story of suffering didn’t fit into the success story of Wall Street, which in 2010 slowly recovered from the crisis of the century."
(Block quote based on writer’s paraphrased interpretation of German text of the magazine Spiegel December 30th 2010 issue)
http://www.spiegel.de/...

The Spiegel magazine’s humane treatment in putting a human face on the victims of Wall Street, in this case the face of Pam Brown, on the excesses of Wall Street now asks an important new question, is Pam Brown and the millions of American taxpayers like her all across America also the victims of a Wall Street criminal conspiracy? Let’s ask ourselves who benefits from the weak American social safety net? Who profits from the taxpayer Wall Street bailout? What type of morality is promulgated here? When the American criminal justice system sits on its hands and does nothing, in what the Spiegel correctly characterizes as a ‘monumental insider bank robbery’. Instead of criminally prosecuting the masterminds of this conspiracy to defraud the American working class taxpayers and investors, they settle on defendants that maybe characterized as the copycat, Bernie Madoff wannabe small fish as a substitute. For students of literature, this is some how all reminiscent of German playwright Bertolt Brecht in his Three Penny Opera wherein the robbers bought a bank because they could make more money through the legal theft of the bank.

(Quote from Der Spiegel: "From Wall Street to be thrown onto the street")
http://www.spiegel.de/wirtschaft/unternehmen/0,1518,735737,00.html
"The stockbrokers are celebrating the end of the crisis. While the crisis is beginning to repeat itself, the banks are just as shameless in their speculation as they were before the crash.

The lobbyists are just as powerful as they ever were. The last 2 years were nothing more than a monumental insider bank robbery, which is long since forgotten. Not a single defendant from senior management was criminally charged. Instead the US Dept of Justice would rather pursue many swindlers who are small fish whose unbridled avarice made them mini-Bernie Madoffs. Bernie Madoff whilst in jail was notified of his son’s suicide." (Block quote based on writer’s paraphrased interpretation of the German text of the German magazine Spiegel December 30th 2010)

more:
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2011/1/5/933497/-The-German-magazine-Spiegel-says-Wall-Street-banksters-committed-a-monumental-insider-bank-robbery

[valerief]

1. K&R

[Arctic Dave]

2. When you live in an ivory tower life is always good.

We allowed them to be first on the life raft and as soon as they were safe they floated away without us. They waved and yelled, "we will send someone for you later".

[Democrats Ramshield]

6. First thanks to kpete for the cross post

I find it interesting that the American plutocrat owned media will not report on this subject.

Last time the Wall Street banksters did this, the people on main street didn't know what they were doing. This time clearly everyone knows what they're doing and the European media has warned us about what they're doing. To which all I can say is thank you German Spiegel magazine.

Everyone please write to your member of Congress today. Ask them to investigate the Wall Street excesses. Also please email this diary to as many friends, family and people as possible.

Please help us to get the word out. Thanks and happy new year to everyone!

PS: I am new to the Democratic Underground. Is there anyway to request that this diary be put on the front page? We need all the help possible in getting the word out.

[glinda]

29. Welcome btw

[Enthusiast]

39. Nary a mention of it.

You could not imagine the garbage that is our media. :fistbump: :hi:

[newspeak]

52. they've been stealing for years and getting away with it

remember the S&L heist, was one of the worst, until this scandal. And the american people are the victims--we also wind up paying for it with our tax money.

Fekkin corrupt, sociopathic arses!!!!!! The "fish rots from the head down", and that's what we've got in this country. Just thinking about it makes me ill. Leeches draining every last drop from their host (us). And we have parts of our government very complicit in the heist.

[defendandprotect]

34. We have runaway corrupt and criminal government, as well -- OTHERWISE ...

we wouldn't have had this runaway corrupt and criminal Wall Street behavior.

Granted the underlying basis is elite money corrupting the entire system --

but this Wall St. crime wave depended upon overturning New Deal regulations

which a third grader would have understood was a pathway to stealing from the

public.

[Enthusiast]

40. They are one and the same, essentially

fascist. No longer any question.

[bullwinkle428]

3. Meanwhile, American "journalists" continue to cluck their tongues at Wikileaks.

K&R.

[Frank Booth]

4. If we had a real, functioning democratic government

many of these Wall Street titans would be locked up for decades. Instead, they control the political process from their penthouse suites.

[defendandprotect]

35. We don't have democracy -- and certainly not economic democracy... what are we going to do about it?

[tomp]

36. that is the question, and it cannot be asked often enough.

may i suggest step number one: educate people to oppose the democratic party equally with the republican party. neither party is the friend of the vast majority of americans.

[defendandprotect]

48. We can TARGET certain Democrats who are not working in interests of the people ....

and certainly, imo, DLC should be targeted as the culprit advocating corporate

solutions within the Dem Party.

Sadly, have to agree with you that the differences between the parties are, to

say the least ... F A D I N G --

[Enthusiast]

41. Plus one! nt

[corkhead]

5. und Wasser ist nass

[jtuck004]

7. Exactly. Yet people are still making excuses for them. n/t

[russspeakeasy]

8. Thank you for the post...Who made the decision not to pursue the

wall street thieves? Was it the same person (people) who
decided not to pursue the public option?
the war crimes of the previous admin? 

[HowHasItComeToThis]

32. YOU BETCHA

[Amonester]

33. It's because, "they R too big to fail" so, we R being told to "look foRwarRd" (TM)

the bankstering Ronald-Reaguners Rule because they bought and sold the most influent members of all the gov. branche$, and told them what to do, and to repeat the lie that they R too-big-to-fail.

Let's Look FoRwaRd (TM) eh?

(To what? The next cRa$h.) :grr:

[tomp]

37. ummm....yes it was. two out of three crimes in and of themselves.

the third (not pursuing the public option) may have actually been criminal as well in the sense of perversion of democracy through collusion with monied interests (the insurance/pharm lobbies).

what will it take for enough people to realize that obama and the democrats don't work for us but for the rich?

[newspeak]

53. and yet, someone goes in and robs a store or bank

they get years behind bars--these crooks rob millions of people, cause hardship and even death, and they get rewarded! It seems the more people that they hurt, the more they don't have to face the music for their crimes.

[Enthusiast]

42. One and the same..nt

[Uncle Joe]

9. Just "look forward," there's a "Shining city on a hill," don't it look purty?!

:loveya:

Thanks for the thread, kpete.

[SOS]

51. The fabled "shining city on a hill" is now a Potemkin village

Behind the facade of "democracy" and "We the People" is a green zone of banks, pharma, oil and insurance.
These oligarchs write the laws and hand them to their lackeys for passage.

It does however provide moments of hilarity, as when Boner yesterday called the House (a wholly-owned Wall Street subsidiary) "The People's House".

:rofl:

[NNN0LHI]

10. They did and what are we going to do about it?

Nothing.

Thats what.

Does Der Spiegel just enjoy rubbing our faces in it? Or what?

Don

[Blue_Tires]

11. Der Spiegel has had some excellent global reporting and analysis

I read them daily...

[chimpymustgo]

12. K&R.

[midnight]

13. We know it was an inside job.... When Wiki tells us how....

Then.......... I want to hear Washington explain away......

[JDPriestly]

14. The article at the link is today's must-read.

My favorite excerpt:

The real problem is that conservatives define America’s social safety net as a job, which begs the question, what happens when the U.S. economy stops growing jobs? Where is America’s social safety net then? It isn’t just that America given its lack of a social safety net needs jobs more desperately than other developed nations with strong social safety nets. The few jobs that are available provide no benefits; in fact they don’t even provide a living wage. So how is a middle class American supposed to keep up on his payments for a $300,000 house and that new pickup truck? Will America ever be able to grow non-service sector jobs that provide benefits and a living wage again in enough volume to support the American middle class? If not, what then? Do we all become independent contractors who have to provide our own pensions, medical, unemployment insurance contributions? At which point, we see this isn’t just another economic downturn. This is a permanent paradigm shift, wherein the assumption of risk is shifted from the employer to the employee.

As such isn’t it time that America adopts a European style social safety net or are we just going to continue to grin and bear it while we wish Wall Street Happy New Year?

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2011/1/5/933497/-The-German-magazine-Spiegel-says-Wall-Street-banksters-committed-a-monumental-insider-bank-robbery

Here is a link from the original German story:

Präsident Barack Obama - dessen Demokraten sich von der Tea Party aus der Macht kegeln ließen - sah zu, wie seine Finanzmarktreform rettungslos verwässert wurde, von der Bankenlobby und ihren Kongresshelfern. Die Hauptakteure der Krise blieben unbehelligt: Derivatehändler, Rating-Agenturen, Mammutbanken. Auch die US-Kommission zur Aufklärung der Finanzkrise versagte kläglich.

http://www.spiegel.de/wirtschaft/unternehmen/0,1518,735737,00.html

My quick translation:

President Barack Obama -- whose Democratic Party allowed itself to be bowled over by the Tea Party -- watched as his financial reform was hopelessly weakened by lobbyists for the banks and supporters in congress. The major players in the crisis remain unpunished: derivatives dealers, rating agencies, huge banks. Even the US Commission to investigate the financial crisis failed miserably.

Indeed, considering the pressure on our environment, the ability of corporations to use talents and skills of people around the world to produce their products and services, jobs in the US may not grow -- possibly never again. We have to learn to live as a family.

A family with many children cannot survive if the parents allow one child to eat all of the ice cream while the other children eat rotten eggs. The children in a family like that would soon be fighting and the outcome could be disastrous for all concerned. That is not the way families and societies work if they are to survive.

We helped Germany pick itself up after the NAZIs took over. Maybe they can help us get on our feet now. At least they have set a pretty good example thus far.

What if job growth is a thing of the past? I think that is a strong possibility at least with regard to the jobs we have considered worth paying for in the past.

[Enthusiast]

43. Wow! I always like your posts.

"Even the US Commission to investigate the financial crisis failed miserably."

Just like the commission to investigate events leading up to 9/11. This is no coincidence.

[DeSwiss]

15. Fraudsters commit a greater fraud within a fraudulent system.

- I'm shocked.

K&R

[TBF]

17. +1 nt

[malaise]

16. Wall street raided more than a few foreign banks

so they have no reason to be part of the cover-up.

[xchrom]

18. Recommend

[Major Hogwash]

19. Europeans know we were ripped off. In the US, only liberals are aware of it.

The conservatives are too busy listening to Rush Limbaugh and watching Sarah P Leathers shoot at something in the wilderness.
Oh, wow, she missed again, dad!!

[Enthusiast]

44. Exactly nt

[Roland99]

20. Nouveau Poor

good term.

[felix_numinous]

21. K&R

[4dsc]

22. Yet the Democratic Party will do NOTHING

SO it doesn't really matter how much you expose these fraudsters because no one is going to do anything about them.

[abelenkpe]

24. Why would they do anything about it?

Both parties are more concerned with getting campaign contributions from wall street. Same reason they do nothing about Citizen's United.

The whole thing is a miserable sham.

[Knight Hawk]

28. You are right.

Because most of the leaders of the Democratic party are rich and comfortable.The devide in this country is NOT between the Democrats and the Repubs ,it is between those that have theirs,usually at Joe Sixpack expense regardless of his party affliation,and those that have been snookered one time too many.Our great leaders ,business and political,have average Joe on the run now and they are not going to stop until we are completely defeated .Obama is one of THEM.The love of money(and power) is the root of all evil.

[closeupready]

45. "leaders of the Democratic party are rich and comfortable" - of course they are.

Net millionaires, almost all of them. Why should they give a shit if social security is robbed blind? They have retirement security.

[RKP5637]

50. Yep, that's the sad part about it - neither party is going to do a damn thing, they

are owned by wall street - who's going to cut off the hand that feeds them. It's pathetic watching these politicians in operation today. Most are a bunch of BS and rhetoric. WHY Americans choose to be so dumb anymore is beyond me.

[WillyT]

23. HUGE K & R !!!

:kick:

[burrowowl]

25. Why am I surprised!?

[Octafish]

26. DU was on to the BFEE heist way back when.

Thanks to William K. Black and a good, although retired now, FBI agent: Know your BFEE: Goldmine Sacked or The Best Way to Rob a Bank Is to Own One

Sounds like a broken record. Vielen dank für der Kopf-stehen, kpete. Spot on alysis, in every way.

EDIT: Not Edwin, William. Edwin Black's great, too.

[sam sarrha]

27. FBI has covered up a 12 trillion dollar exchange of funds from fed to wallstreat insiders

nothing to see here folks.. move along :wtf:

[leftstreet]

30. K&R

[glinda]

31. K & R n/t

[Enthusiast]

38. K&R! Yet we have Geithner and Summers

in this "Democratic" administration. How can this be justified? Wake up people!

[Overseas]

46. Sad K&R. //nt

[Poboy]

47. recommend.

[DemoTex]

49. BCCI was the prototype for later bankster fraud. Remember BCCI?

Remember whose fingerprints were all over the BCCI scandal? The family Bu$h: Poppy through the CIA (Iran-Contra, etc), Junior through Harken Energy, and the über-sinister Jebster through his specious connections in Miami.

Remember who cracked the BCCI case? Senator John Kerry (D-Mass).

Lookit, a crooked government needs crooked banksters. I think DU beat Spiegel to this story long ago.

[Cherchez la Femme]

54. You pose very good questions

As for der Spiegel reporting "humane treatment in putting a human face on the victims of Wall Street",
you won't see that here in the U.S., ever;
but you WILL see lots of Justin Bieber, Dancing With the Stars and American Idol :puke:

[Democrats Ramshield]

55. To Cherchez la Femme - great post

Yours is a very interesting point of view. If you have time, please email me. I would like to discuss your post with you. Here's my email: [e-mail]

Thanks for your support.