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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsLanny Breuer Cashes in After Not Prosecuting Wall Street Execs-- Approximate Salary of 4 million $
http://truth-out.org/buzzflash/commentary/item/17885-lanny-breuer-cashes-in-after-not-prosecuting-wall-street-execs-will-receive-approximate-salary-of-4-million-dollarsAccording to the New York Times: "Mr. Breuer is expected to earn about $4 million in his first year at Covington. In addition to representing clients, he will serve as an ambassador of sorts for the firm as it seeks to grow overseas."
As BuzzFlash at Truthout has speculated before, one can argue (and the same holds true for Eric Holder, also a Covington & Burling alumni appointee), Breuer was building his value in the marketplace at the DOJ, while Wall Street executives who nearly destroyed the American economy went unprosecuted. And his future value to his old white collar defense firm was dependent, in large part, on him not angering the people who would be the clients of Covington & Burling when he left the Department of Justice. The result, one can contend: no prosecutions of banks "too big to fail" execs as publicly stated as a policy by both Breuer and Holder.
This isn't just a revolving door; one can argue it's a dereliction of legal responsibility by an employee of the people of the United States. One can proffer that it's a cash-in career move by a resume climber who was careful not to bite the hands that will write the checks that will feed him on a lavish scale.
antigop
(12,778 posts)Mnemosyne
(21,363 posts)RedCappedBandit
(5,514 posts)MannyGoldstein
(34,589 posts)Pretty surprising.
I guess he earned it, fair and square.
AnotherMcIntosh
(11,064 posts)Is Eric Holder waiting in line?
Isn't this what a civilized society calls "corruption?"
ReRe
(10,597 posts)... But what was the revolving door policy that PO stated he would require of his administration? At this point, I truly can't remember. Yeah, in lots ofr impelling ways, our governmnet looks like a great big revolving door. Where justice has nothing to do with anything. Yes, we appear to be a corrupt rogue nation now. Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutey.
woo me with science
(32,139 posts)CORRUPTION.
awoke_in_2003
(34,582 posts)are a bit naive.
KT2000
(20,601 posts)finished me off.
The only way to go from here is total cynicism. We will become a society like Russia and China - accepting of the corruption with success being able to work within it.
We will learn to not speak against power.
That Eric Holder was not replaced and Breuer fired says this goes to the top.
NBachers
(17,170 posts)bhikkhu
(10,725 posts)The government agencies responsible for tackling fraud have had to work with dwindling resources for years. Out of court settlements are the rule, as trials are costly. Not a good situation, but there are some good people doing the best they can in there.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/11/15/financial-fraud-prosecution_n_1095933.html
MannyGoldstein
(34,589 posts)Didn't mention resources.
How many resources do we have keeping the country safe from pot smokers?
bhikkhu
(10,725 posts)or was it a different thing?
bulloney
(4,113 posts)Then, when you press these white collar crime apologists on why there have been no prosecutions on these Wall Street criminals, they'll tell you that they didn't do anything illegal based on what's currently law.
Well, what is it? Do we have adequate laws in the books or don't we?
To today's conservative, if you're rich, it absolves you from anything because you must be right because you're rich.
bhikkhu
(10,725 posts)etc...but all the best laws in the world are useless if they aren't enforced. I don't think that's a RW idea.
The RW approach seems to be selective enforcement, exempting the wealthy. In this case, it is assured by not funding the agency in charge of enforcement, on the one hand, and then (admittedly) by guys like Breuer who don't seem particularly concerned.
MoclipsHumptulips
(59 posts)reallocate resources.
abelenkpe
(9,933 posts)antigop
(12,778 posts)Volaris
(10,278 posts)AnotherMcIntosh
(11,064 posts)There are no other weasels guarding the hen house?
How many more weasels do they have? What's their going price?
Volaris
(10,278 posts)what really pisses me off though is that we allow and abet this kind of shit. We have to do three things:
corporate non-personhood
publicly-funded elections
outlawing PAID lobbyists (if you believe in something enough to go to the Capitol and convince Congress that your cause is worthwile, that's not a thing anyone should have to PAY you for, minus maybe travel expenses).
I think I might write my Senator a letter...
AnotherMcIntosh
(11,064 posts)your support. Send money."
Volaris
(10,278 posts)so probably it depends on the day=)
red dog 1
(27,903 posts)AnotherMcIntosh
(11,064 posts)rhett o rick
(55,981 posts)antigop
(12,778 posts)Lanny Breuer back to Covington
At Covington, the controversial former chief of the Justice Departments Criminal Division will head one of the top corporate criminal defense practices in the city.
As chief of the Criminal Division, Breuer had to face down politicians, reporters and public interest activists who wanted to know why no major financial institution or executive from a major financial institution has been criminally prosecuted since the financial crisis.
These confrontations resulted in two high profile television news documentaries one that ran on CBS News 60 Minutes in December 2011 titled Prosecuting Wall Street and another that ran in January 2013 on PBSs Frontline titled The Untouchables.
grahamhgreen
(15,741 posts)johnnyreb
(915 posts)Occupy is suing Wall Street federal regulators--
Get every BAR that Breuer and similar figures are members of to take a formal ethical position. Send complaints, document correspondence via certified mail, request formal ethics opinions, occupy, whatever.
http://www.americanbar.org/groups/professional_responsibility.html
woo me with science
(32,139 posts)LET'S ALL SAY IT: CORRUPTION.
red dog 1
(27,903 posts)Associate Deputy Attorney General Steven Reich, who has overseen the Justice department's handling of Congressional investigations into Fast And Furious and
Aaron Schwartz will depart the Justice Department on April 1
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ryan-j-reilly/steven-reich-to-depart-justice-department_b_2917912.html/
AnotherMcIntosh
(11,064 posts)have let the clock run out or are letting the clock run out.
They are not afraid of anything. They don't view the situation as being on a sinking ship.
They are merely picking up what is due to them from the rich and super-rich, or they are preparing to do so. It is corruption.
LittleBlue
(10,362 posts)Look at the number of ex-officials (even presidents) who give favorable decisions toward companies who later pay them huge speaking fees, or give them cushy jobs with multimillion dollar salaries.
Disgusting.
Fumesucker
(45,851 posts)KG
(28,753 posts)not really.
woo me with science
(32,139 posts)forestpath
(3,102 posts)rucky
(35,211 posts)just for occasions like this.
Solly Mack
(90,798 posts)BlancheSplanchnik
(20,219 posts)Octafish
(55,745 posts)For the non-paupers in spirit, a pot of gold awaits...
Neil Barofsky Gave Us The Best Explanation For Washington's Dysfunction We've Ever Heard
Linette Lopez
Business Insider, Aug. 1, 2012, 2:57 PM
Neil Barofsky was the Inspector General for TARP, and just wrote a book about his time in D.C. called Bailout: An Insider Account of How Washington Abandoned Main Street While Rescuing Wall Street.
SNIP...
Bottom line: Barofsky said the incentive structure in our nation's capitol is all wrong. There's a revolving door between bureaucrats in Washington and Wall Street banks, and politicians just want to keep their jobs.
For regulators it's something like this:
"You can play ball and good things can happen to you get a big pot of gold at the end of the Wall Street rainbow or you can do your job be aggressive and face personal ruin...We really need to rethink how we govern and how regulate," Barofsky said.
CONTINUED... http://www.businessinsider.com/neil-barofsky-2012-8
"Integrity is for paupers." -- traditional saying, ABCNNBCBSFixedNoiseNutworks
MannyGoldstein
(34,589 posts)She'll end that shit, I suspect.
KoKo
(84,711 posts)mercuryblues
(14,552 posts)women made homeless because of the greed get prosecuted when they send their kids to school with a fake home address. Theft of services, so much for a free education.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x918882
BlueManFan
(256 posts)Chalk one up for the common man. Bwwwwwwaaaaa.....self serving bastard bastard got his payday. That's what he was doing while he fucking over hard working Americans who lost their shirts to greedy bankers. Democracy my ass.
OneGrassRoot
(22,920 posts)grahampuba
(169 posts)Since Thom Hartman posited the notion a few years ago, have looked at most politicians through that lens and then things make sense.
'service' in any political regards is a good career move.
Its like young adults signing up to be pages to learn the innerworkings of congress, but once that illusion of a representative democracy is wiped away the astute businessman realizes that most congressional members are just paid and well dressed pages learning the ways from lobbyists and the real ruling parties of the united states, the corporations.
DeSwiss
(27,137 posts)Barack Obama: ''Some of the worst and most unethical things that happened on Wall Street weren't illegal.''
- I wasn't aware they'd repealed all the laws against fraud.....
K&R
woo me with science
(32,139 posts)We are bought and sold.
MrScorpio
(73,631 posts)nineteen50
(1,187 posts)money laundering. Call it a job when it is payoff.
bvar22
(39,909 posts)[font size=3]Now, now, Manny.
You "can't begrudge them their wealth."
I know some of these guys, "and they are just savvy businessmen."
"I mean, look at all the Baseball Players."
"Its the Free Market", Manny.[/font]
WillyT
(72,631 posts)limpyhobbler
(8,244 posts)yourout
(7,534 posts)+1.....if you were in the military it would be dereliction of duty or outright treason.
red dog 1
(27,903 posts)antigop
(12,778 posts)sfpcjock
(1,936 posts)nikto
(3,284 posts)Is pray for a blood clot.
formercia
(18,479 posts)New Dick Tracy Bad guy.
woo me with science
(32,139 posts)antigop
(12,778 posts)AnotherMcIntosh
(11,064 posts)blkmusclmachine
(16,149 posts)Smarmie Doofus
(14,498 posts)Does that count?
Murdoch's News Corp ( which currently employs Obama's *almost Sec of Ed, Joel Klein) is moving into the trillion dollar ed market in a big way.
Will Arne be next?
And... I know this is dangerous territory here but here goes:
Exactly what plans ( or dreams) does the chief executive himself have for January 2017. He'll still be young and politics so far has brought him everything but megabucks.
Think about it: all his buds will be multimillionaires ( at LEAST) except for him.
rhett o rick
(55,981 posts)AnotherMcIntosh
(11,064 posts)Autumn
(45,120 posts)Give the poor guy a break. It's not like any Wall Streeters were injured by this.
raouldukelives
(5,178 posts)DFW
(54,477 posts)That was one of the firms where my daughter applied for a summer internship during her first year of law school. Apparently she wasn't their type. She ended up being the U.N.'s type--she spent her first summer internship with the U.N. War Crimes Tribunal in Sierra Leone in western Africa. I hate to think what kind of lawyer she might have ended up being, had Covington offered her a job!
antigop
(12,778 posts)HiPointDem
(20,729 posts)Rex
(65,616 posts)destroying the working class by the 1000's in it's wake. My country is a sad pretender of capitalism.