Wall Street on Trial after Depression

link here to article

Most Americans blamed the Great Depression on Wall Street bankers. Most Americans blame the Great Recession on Wall Street bankers. They are correct on both counts. This article (via Manan Shukla) describes some of the scams that sunk the stock market prior to the Great Recession. They bear a strong resemblance to the greedy behavior that brought the banks to insolvency and required a massive federal bailout that has been ongoing. What's different is that Washington had the courage to prosecute the Wall Street bankers who ruined the economy in 1929. This article describes key moments in the hearings that defined that era and which brought new regulations into law to protect against future financial crises. Many of those laws were dismantled to enable to Wall Street to perform an encore to its role in the Great Depression. To date the government has chosen not to prosecute any of the Wall Street leaders who brought the worldwide economy to its knees. Apparently, it is not criminal negligence to put the banking system and the world economy at risk in order to maximize executive bonuses at the expense of shareholders and taxpayers.