Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) won’t face criminal prosecution related to sales of mortgage-linked securities because such a move could threaten the U.S. financial system, according to Brad Hintz, an analyst at Sanford C. Bernstein & Co.
The U.S. Department of Justice, which is reviewing a Senate subcommittee report that alleged Goldman Sachs misled clients before the financial crisis, will avoid jeopardizing the fifth- largest U.S. bank by assets because it’s viewed as “too big to fail,” Hintz wrote in note to clients today.
So Goldman Sachs can get away with anything – an-y-thing – because of its importance to our grossly distorted economy.
I’ll let Karl Denninger take it from here:
That sounds like someone’s saying that Goldman has effectively extorted the United States Government. …
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In all seriousness folks, can someone explain why the American public tolerates businesses that are able to behave in this fashion, and fails to demand that they be closed down?
It’s not enough to have the risk of making bad decisions and losing your shirt; that’s something everyone who is involved in business has to deal with. But there’s a huge difference between that and a firm that effectively has a license to steal, in that irrespective of its behavior it will never face criminal prosecution.
How many times would your local convenience store be robbed (per hour) were there no criminal prosecution, and the robber was only required to pay a fine that was no larger than their loot were they to be caught?
That’s what we are allowing in our “financial system” (and elsewhere, particularly in the pharmaceutical industry) and that we the people have allowed this to occur is an outrage.
But it’s all so complicated! And why do liberals hate capitalism!
Back here on Planet Earth… we take all these measures to “save” our financial system.
Is a financial system that operates like this really worth saving?
