One Last Time !!! - If You Want To Know Why You Can't Find A Job, Why Your Retirement Is At Risk...

[WillyT]

why you REALLY lost your home, why this country is ultimately corrupt...

Under a deal the SEC worked out with the National Archives and Records Administration, all of the agency's records – "including case files relating to preliminary investigations" – are supposed to be maintained for at least 25 years. But the SEC, using history-altering practices that for once actually deserve the overused and usually hysterical term "Orwellian," devised an elaborate and possibly illegal system under which staffers were directed to dispose of the documents from any preliminary inquiry that did not receive approval from senior staff to become a full-blown, formal investigation. Amazingly, the wholesale destruction of the cases – known as MUIs, or "Matters Under Inquiry" – was not something done on the sly, in secret. The enforcement division of the SEC even spelled out the procedure in writing, on the commission's internal website. "After you have closed a MUI that has not become an investigation," the site advised staffers, "you should dispose of any documents obtained in connection with the MUI."

Many of the destroyed files involved companies and individuals who would later play prominent roles in the economic meltdown of 2008. Two MUIs involving con artist Bernie Madoff vanished. So did a 2002 inquiry into financial fraud at Lehman Brothers, as well as a 2005 case of insider trading at the same soon-to-be-bankrupt bank. A 2009 preliminary investigation of insider trading by Goldman Sachs was deleted, along with records for at least three cases involving the infamous hedge fund SAC Capital.

The widespread destruction of records was brought to the attention of Congress in July, when an SEC attorney named Darcy Flynn decided to blow the whistle. According to Flynn, who was responsible for helping to manage the commission's records, the SEC has been destroying records of preliminary investigations since at least 1993. After he alerted NARA to the problem, Flynn reports, senior staff at the SEC scrambled to hide the commission's improprieties.

<And...>

The SEC's inspector general is investigating the destroyed MUIs and plans to issue a report. NARA is also seeking answers. "We've asked the SEC to look into the matter and we're awaiting their response," says Laurence Brewer, a records officer for NARA. For its part, the SEC is trying to explain away the illegality of its actions through a semantic trick. John Nester, the agency's spokesman, acknowledges that "documents related to MUIs" have been destroyed. "I don't have any reason to believe that it hasn't always been the policy," he says. But Nester suggests that such documents do not "meet the federal definition of a record," and therefore don't have to be preserved under federal law.

Much More: http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/is-the-sec-covering-up-wall-street-crimes-20110817?print=true

And the latest: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x1774558

:kick:

[snappyturtle]

1. All I can say is how do we fight THAT? nt

[DURHAM D]

3. Easy - the President can issue an Executive Order to retain records.

The problem - he won't do it.

[Marr]

7. Well, c'mon-- you know that would fill the market with "uncertainty".

That word means little more than "Wall Street doesn't want that", but somehow it's become a universally accepted ward for our political establishment.

[Kablooie]

10. But as a result of keeping the cheaters in the game, the market is collapsing.

Forcing people to follow the rules has a purpose beyond morality.
It keeps the game going. If you allow the rules to be broken the game breaks down.

[truedelphi]

8. Another problem - the records that we need the most are already

Shredded.

Mission Accomplished for the Wall Street President.

[Hart2008]

13. Ah, but then he can't blame the Repuke House for everything, and he might solve problems.

And he wouldn't need so much bipartisanship.

[Hotler]

38. Now is not the time to point fingers. n/t

[paparush]

39. You mean, look, gulp, look BACKWARDS??

[slipslidingaway]

2. knr - also Olbermann covering this now. n/t

[CoffeeCat]

4. What does this have to do with not being..

...able to find a job?

I'm not disputing your assertion, just curious about the connection.

[Kurovski]

6. Criminals are gutting the nation's wealth and getting away with it.

It's hard for actual (and REAL) small businesses to get loans, for one. The standards are sky-high. That's part of it.

It'as a free-for-all at the top and there is no interest in creating jobs or protecting your home for you.

[truedelphi]

9. And the small matter of the nine trillions of dollars that was lent to the

Biggest Financial Firms all being repaid with securities and derivatives of dubious value.

The Federal Reserve gave away all that money, and in return was given pieces of paper of dubious value. Probably not worth much more than last years' telephone books.

[Little Star]

11. Bingo! It's a nice gig if you can get away with it, gotta admit!

[malaise]

12. Ding ding we have a winner

:fistbump:

[Yavin4]

31. Here's the Connection to Jobs -- Simply Explained

With lax oversight, Wall Street banks were able to amass trillions of dollars in debt because of the housing speculation. Since the housing bubble burst, they cannot re-pay their counter-party risks. So, the Federal Reserve along with the government is inflating our currency in order to inflate their way out of their debts. Imagine printing money from your computer printer and using that to pay your bills.

Inflation is tricky. Too much of it, and you incur hyperinflation. In the 1970s, the government used hyperinflation to pay off the debts from the Vietnam war. Back then, a large percentage of the U.S. labor force were unionized, and in their collectively bargained union contracts, they received automatic cost of living raises. This created hyper-inflation and stagnation. In order to tame inflation, Volker hiked interest rates to 21% which sent the economy into a deep recession.

The government learned that they had to disenfranchise labor in order to inflate the currency at their whim. Starting in the 1980s, there was PATCO, outsourcing mfg. jobs overseas, and now outsourcing IT jobs overseas. All of this was done so as to take labor completely out of the inflation picture, which is why real wages are stagnant.

In sum, regulators didn't regulate. Wall Street banks took on massive debts which they cannot re-pay, and there are serious counter-party risks. The only way to repay that debt is through inflating the currency, but too much inflation leads to hyper-inflation. In order to prevent hyper-inflation, you need deflation of labor prices. Hence, you need high unemployment.

Questions.

[woo me with science]

5. K&R

[russspeakeasy]

14. Nester is a highly paid bureaucrat and has used these

nuances before to save his own ass. The SEC as a whole needs a house cleaning.:nuke:

[Fuddnik]

15. Heads should be rolling at SEC.

Probably at Treasury and Justice too.

Think it will happen?

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

[Ready4Change]

18. I agree.

Both on whether is SHOULD happen, and whether it WILL happen.

[HughBeaumont]

19. NOT under The United States of Plutocracy, it won't!

[Enthusiast]

16. Under these kinds of circumstances

wholesale lawlessness by the general population should be perfectly acceptable. Now that we know that those 'in charge' favor a wild West U.S.A. Robin hood acts should encouraged.

[KansDem]

21. You know, in light of these developments

And your comment, "...wholesale lawlessness by the general population should be perfectly acceptable," I wonder what's to stop me from finding a bigger, nicer house, throwing the occupants out, and making it my new home?

Would I not be "working hard to succeed? (I would think it would be pretty hard to throw a family out of their home, especially if there were guns on the premises). Would I not be achieving the "American Dream?" ("Home Ownership," if I could manage to keep it).

Would I be "punished" for my "success?"

(Except the local police might have a stronger work ethic and higher professional values than the DOJ...)

[Enthusiast]

25. We now live in a nation with an absurd

sense of justice. I do not know how the nation can survive. Whistle blowers are now seen as the enemy. Supreme court justices operate as if conflicts of interests do not exist -for them. How do they even teach law students? It's just crazy.

[Ready4Change]

17. The Great Fleecing is well underway.

The fix is in. Todays economy will not improve. Todays economy is entirely intentional. The penultimately wealthy ordered up this economy as if from a menu, and are now digging in, knife and fork, feasting on the dwindling resources of the bottom 99%. It will not end until there is nothing left to devour.

[jbeing]

34. Agreed on the Greed

Trashcans- $2,000
Sweet 16 birthday parties - $250 K - $2 MM
Untaxed Corporate Jets - $XXX millions
Most people living paycheck to paycheck (if they get one) - Priceless
For the rich, there's cash.
For the rest of us, they're the MasterClass.

[Rex]

20. Our country floats in a cesspool of corruption.

We are so fucked if this is what our 'leaders' are doing to protect Big Biz from justice.

[jbeing]

35. Yes, unfortunately

And the cesspool has overflown, and will soon drown the entire country. We will all stink alike, whether we dumped or were dumped upon. There are a few warning voices shouting through oncoming shit, but they can't get past the RW shinola. This is what happens when we think the Republicans can be toilet-trained. They have become so impacted that all they can do spout BS from both ends.

[sad sally]

45. And the few warning voices must always look over their shoulders,

for if and when they speak the truth they may very well be subjected to incarceration for some trumped up wrongdoing or quietly commit (assisted) suicide. We're led to believe that we live in a democracy with free speech. What we're fed is a line of propaganda; lies repeated over and over until they become truths.

[BiggJawn]

22. The SEC is Too Big To Be Punished.

Come on, move along now, nothing to see here.... Go home and watch HappyNews on your 57" Plasma screen...

We're fucked. totally and thoroughly fucked.

[senseandsensibility]

23. kick for those that haven't seen it

eom

[Uncle Joe]

24. Kicked and recommended.

Thanks for the thread, WillyT.

[WillyT]

40. Anytime Uncle Joe, Anytime...

:hi:

[libodem]

26. But Martha Stuart

Sat out her time. I feel so much more secure.

[bertman]

27. I already knew why, WillyT, but thanks for the reminder--lest I forget. REC. nt

[bvar22]

28. The Biggest CoverUp of ALL = The Bailout.

Had these corrupt banks been allowed to FAIL according to "Free market" dictates,
the investors and creditors would have tracked every last dollar,
and those responsible would have faced the courts.
Guaranteed.
The "Bailout" allowed the criminals to escape with their loot!

Paulson with Co-Conspirators

Now THIS is Bi-Partisanship!
Better get used to it!
Hahahahahahahahaha!



You will know them by their WORKS,
not by their excuses.

Solidarity!
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[Name removed]

29. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Yavin4]

30. Institutional Integrity Ended When The SCOTUS Granted GWB the Election in 2000

Ever since then, institutions that were supposed to protect the public's interest have lost all integrity, and now they service the needs and wants of the people who run them instead of the public.

[leveymg]

37. This policy of wholesale destruction of SEC records started in 1993.

It's not like they're welfare case files. Oh, that's right, Clinton pretty much got rid of those, too.

[defendandprotect]

32. Government is now so corrupted that criminals have control of the records ...

Well -- guess that happened long ago, actually -- reflecting upon the

LBJ seizure of the JFK coup records which he had held for 75 years --

while presumably they were destroyed and removed from archives!!

[DU GrovelBot]

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[leveymg]

36. Corporations are people, and we don't want to hurt their feelings by releasing info that might

embarrass them later on in life.

Poor, helpless global banks and MNCs. What a tough life it must be to be you. Tsk. Tsk.

[rbnyc]

41. Kick

I'm kicking all the posts that are smarter than mine and below mine on the first page of GD.

I'll be replying in that thread by PM from now on.

[Beartracks]

42. Ring Ring! Hello? DOJ?

Ring Ring! Hello?
Ring Ring! Hello?
Ring Ring! Helloooooooooooo?

Ring Ring! Hello?


=======================================

[ldconfig]

43. The 'just us' dept is too busy

With going after blind people for downloading movies and baseball players to bother with real crime.

Obama replaced 6 out of the top 10 'just us' dept lawyers with RIAA/MPAA THUGS! Thats why Hollywood lines up to kiss his ass @ 15k a plate. Obama's base is the content cartels and Wall Street NOT the American people.


The spelling and grammar police can kiss my ass :)

[Beartracks]

44. Downloading movies and baseball players?!

Where I can download a baseball player??

:silly:

Just funnin'.

Yeah, I don't know why politicians think the best people to regulate an industry are those in that industry. I mean, to a certain extent it makes sense, because those are precisely the people who "know" that industry. But still, some common sense would be nice, too.

==========================