Why The Banksters Are Winning | Bill Black

 Oh boy. If you have high blood pressure, you may want to avoid listening to this new podcast...

Bill Black, expert on Wall Street control fraud, returns to discuss the gross abuses of power rampant in our financial, political and judicial systems. In his estimation, regulation and enforcement of financial crimes have been completely gutted and de-fanged -- intentionally by corrupt politicians, and unintentionally by inept ones. All while the Justice Department turns a blind eye.




The Financial Armageddon Economic Collapse Blog tracks trends and forecasts , futurists , visionaries , free investigative journalists , researchers , Whistelblowers , truthers and many more

Bill Black: Financial Regulations In Paralysis

Bill Black knows banks.

As a federal litigator in the late 1980s, Black played a central role in prosecuting the corruption responsible for the savings and loan crisis of the late 1980s. Since then he’s become one of America's top experts on financial fraud, which he see as endemic to the modern financial system.

In this interview, Black expresses his lament that the U.S. has descended into a type of crony capitalism that makes continued fraud a virtual certainty while increasingly neutering the safeguards intended to prevent and punish such abuse. This was not the case when Black was a regulator. In the aftermath of the S&L crisis, the U.S. Office of Thrift Supervision brought 3,000 lawsuits against identified perpetrators. In a number of cases, the OTS was able to claw back the funds and profits that the convicted parties had fraudulently obtained.

Fast forward to the 2008 financial collapse, in which the losses related to the household sector alone were over 70 times greater than they were during heart of the S&L crisis. The fraud was rampant and fairly obvious. Yet how many criminal referrals did the OTS make?

Zero.

What happened? Why has the OTS and other regulators allowed the same managements that crashed the mortgage market and dragged down the global financial markets with them to remain unprosecuted and free to continue looting the system?

To be sure, some of the fraudulent activity has been exposed, and the top banks have paid numerous fines for bad behavior. There have been a lot of settlements and civil cases, indicating that fraud was rampant. But in finance, you can always make more money. Prosecutions, on the other hand, get everyone’s attention.

Yet, Washington has been paralyzed. The U.S. attorney general has not begun a single investigation of criminal behavior by top management at major multinational banks. Seemingly there’s no real punishment for major misbehavior in the financial markets anymore.

In this interview, Black names names and highlights the extent of the government's complicity in extending this disgraceful state of affairs.



The Financial Armageddon Economic Collapse Blog tracks trends and forecasts , futurists , visionaries , free investigative journalists , researchers , Whistelblowers , truthers and many more

Bill Black : Who is the Unsung Hero of the $7 Billion Citigroup Settlement?

Bill Black says that a just settlement would've included criminal prosecution of senior Citigroup officials who led the fraud and covered it up

Bill Black -- Emerging Market Financial Crises Raise Concerns About Another Global Recession

Bill Black: A rise in inflation in emerging markets like Argentina is causing a state of panic amongst investors over the future health of the global economy

Bill Black : Kansas Board of Regents Moves to Squash Academic Freedom

Bill Black: Koch- brothers backed move by Kansas Board of Regents is draconian measure that could be replicated at colleges nationwide

Bill Black & Greg Palast: Fed Chair Nominee Janet Yellen`s Record

Yellen In Line to Head Fed, But How Will She Lead? Economists Bill Black and Greg Palast discuss Fed Chair nominee Janet Yellen's record, pointing to her support of the repeal of Glass-Steagal as an indication of how she'll work with Wall Street.

Bill Black ~ The Fraud Report : First Wall Street Criminal Confession in a Generation

First Wall Street Criminal Confession in a Generation...Still No One in Jail Bill Black: SAC Capital Advisors pleads guilty to insider trading, but owner Steven Cohen has yet to face criminal prosecution.

Bill Black: Both Parties support Wall Street's effort to Deregulate Derivatives

House Passes Deregulation Bill Written by Citigroup Bill Black: Both parties support Wall Street's effort to deregulate derivatives .

Bill Black ~ Lessons learned from the failure of Lehman Bros., AIG

Five years ago, the Great Recession began with a global financial meltdown due to the collapse of several Wall Street companies. First, the Lehman Brothers investment bank filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, which was the largest bankruptcy filing in US history. Then, five years ago today, the Federal Reserve authorized a bailout loan of $85 billion to insurance company AIG. RT's Ameera David talks to William Black, former financial regulator and author of "The Best Way to Rob a Bank Is to Own One," about some of the lessons learned from the economic collapse, and why the income gap persists in this country.

Bill Black ~ Wall Street Journal Considers Zero Prosecutions of Banks Excessive

The department of Justice claims they are cracking down on bank fraud but they are mostly imposing fines and targeting small fish

Bill Black ~ The Government is Finally Arresting Wall Street Bankers...For Losing Wall Street's Money

Bill Black ~ The Government is Finally Arresting Wall Street Bankers...For Losing Wall Street's Money . The Dept. of Justice will let JP Morgan's London Whale off the hook while prosecuting low-level traders.

Bill Black: The Right Should Support the Return of Glass-Steagall

Bill Black: Glass-Steagall prevented a classic conflict of interest that any side of the aisle can blatantly see , Why the Right Should Support the Return of Glass-Steagall

The financial industry brought the economy to its knees, but how did they get away with it? With the nation wondering how to hold the bankers accountable, Bill Black, the former senior regulator who cracked down on banks during the savings and loan crisis of the 1980s. Black offers his analysis of how exporting the manufacturing industry to poor countries like bangladesh actually costs more and not less , and how Obama is leading us to more austerity and that austerity is a disaster , Bill Black is the author of "The Best Way To Rob a Bank is to Own One"

BILL BLACK ~ We Should Reinstate reinstate Glass-Steagall Act

Three former financial regulators testify to the House Financial Services Committee in support of reinstating Glass-Steagall legislation and addressing Too Big to Fail Banks.


Bill Black is a former bank regulator who played a central role in prosecuting the corruption responsible for the S&L crisis of the late 1980s. He is one of America's top experts on financial fraud. And he laments that the US has descended into a type of crony capitalism that makes continued fraud a virtual certainty - while increasingly neutering the safeguards intended to prevent and punish such abuse.
In this extensive interview, Bill explains why financial fraud is the most damaging type of fraud and also the hardest to prosecute. He also details how, through crony capitalism, it has become much more prevalent in our markets and political system.
The Best Way to Rob a Bank Is to Own One: How Corporate Executives and Politicians Looted the S&L Industry William K. Black

Bill Black: Deficit is Dropping but is there a Real Recovery?

William Black: With surge in stock market, the wealthier are paying more taxes but working class wages are not rising and unemployment remains high, so this does not mean a sustained recovery of the real economy is underway


The financial industry brought the economy to its knees, but how did they get away with it? With the nation wondering how to hold the bankers accountable, Bill Black, the former senior regulator who cracked down on banks during the savings and loan crisis of the 1980s. Black offers his analysis of how exporting the manufacturing industry to poor countries like bangladesh actually costs more and not less , and how Obama is leading us to more austerity and that austerity is a disaster , Bill Black is the author of "The Best Way To Rob a Bank is to Own One"

Largest Money Laundering Scam In U.S. History Busted

Authorities in the US and seven other countries have broken up what they call the world's largest money-laundering scheme. An online payment and money transfer website - Liberty Reserve - is believed to have moved more than 6-billion dollars of illegal funds. Bill Black: Operation involving drug money carried on for almost a decade before being charged; much bigger crimes on Wall St. go unpunished

Bill Black : Financial Fraud From Cyprus to London to New York

The financial industry brought the economy to its knees, but how did they get away with it? With the nation wondering how to hold the bankers accountable, The Real News interviews Bill Black, the former senior regulator who cracked down on banks during the savings and loan crisis of the 1980s. Black offers his analysis of what went wrong and his critique of the bailout.
"If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their currency, first by inflation then by deflation, the banks and the corporations will grow up around them, will deprive the people of all property until their children wake up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered. The issuing power should be taken from the banks and restored to the people, to whom it properly belongs."
Thomas Jefferson