Martin O'Malley Op-Ed: Reform Wall Street - Prosecute Those Who Commit or Permit Crimes

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Martin O'Malley ?@GovernorOMalley
We must ensure another Wall Street meltdown is outside the realm of the possible. Accountability is key. See my op-ed http://dmreg.co/1DELzHL


____We were forced to save our economy by bailing out big banks. Now, we have a responsibility to correct the mistakes of our more recent past to prevent another crash...

Structural reforms aren’t enough. We must bring fundamental change to the culture of Wall Street, beginning with real accountability. To this day, the Justice Department and financial regulators have done virtually nothing to bring criminal charges or hold leadership accountable. Legal deterrents are critical for improving the culture of Wall Street and showing that fraudulent behavior will be punished.

We can solve this problem in a few ways. The first is to replace the leadership at banks that are repeat offenders. CEOs should not remain in charge of institutions that they have failed to manage properly.

Second, we must appoint people to positions — attorney general and SEC chair for starters — who will prosecute those who commit or permit crimes. Thus far, settlements have been nothing more than CEOs using shareholder money to buy their way out of jail.

Third, we must end the days of “neither admit nor deny,” and force law-breaking banks to publicly admit it. We have allowed big banks to avoid admitting guilt due to claims that it will cause them too much harm — it’s time to end that game and let banks face the legal consequences and harm to their reputation.


read more: http://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/opinion/columnists/caucus/2015/03/20/prevent-another-crash-reform-wall-street/25057735/

[KittyWampus]

1. Good for O'Malley. It's smart. If he wants to gain some traction he's coming

from the right direction- left of Hillary.

I hope he runs and makes Hillary squirm.

[Kalidurga]

2. While they are at that...

either get rid of club fed or sentence everyone to a club fed barring the more violent offenders.

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3. »

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4. .

[Cha]

5. KICK 4 Martin

[Vattel]

6. O'Malley's message here is based on what he thinks will resonate with primary voters.

It has little to do with his real convictions (or so I strongly suspect based on his past behavior).

O'Malley was sued by the NAACP because his draconian crime policies disregarded the rights of his own citizens, especially AA citizens. What was it like to be a young black male on a Friday night in Baltimore when O'Malley was mayor? Well, you best just stay in your house because if you are talking to a friend in a convenience store parking lot, you might get arrested for loitering. If you are sitting on the steps of your row house and you throw a candy wrapper on the sidewalk, you might get arrested for littering. If you are sitting on the steps of a neighbor's row house you might get arrested for trespassing. Everyone gets hauled downtown to be booked and half of them ultimately get released without charges because the arrest is obviously bullshit.

And O'Malley has the gall to refer to those who disagree with him about his crime policies as "leftwing ideologues." Fuck him.

I hope people see through him and that he does not get the traction with primary voters to the left of Clinton that he hopes to get.

Isn't there a single democrat out there who (1) voted against war in Iraq and (2) isn't a complete bull-shitter that can step up and run?

[Vinca]

7. Don't worry. Running for POTUS has zero to do with policies and everything to do with

hype and charisma. He's got neither. He'll drop out after Iowa.

[RiverLover]

8. It may be pandering rhetoric, but he'd be better than Hillary

And I really, really, really hate LITTER.

I like his tough stance on that quite a bit! Thanks for the info.