Bikeonomics: Bank accountability, or lack thereof

This post contains serious information, so I tried to include as many pictures/Raylan Givens videos/Sidney Crosby gifs as possible. Enjoy!

Part 1:

Eric Schneider: For America!

There are some interesting articles over in the Rolling Stone magazine (hat tip to Dad for the article!) and the less flamingly-liberal New York Times about New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman opening an investigation of some of the major players in the financial crisis. The AG "requested" documents from Morgan Stanley, Bank of America and Goldman Sachs. Read the full post to see what the consequences could be...

Rolling Stone mentions that multiple states' attorney generals are suing the banks already, but this suit was likely to be settled with some small fines. In true Rolling Stone fashion, author Matt Taibbi argues that the New York suit "throws a monkey wrench" into those plans, because the banks must settle with all 50 states. He argues that the new investigation could result in "truly crippling fines and penalties".

As for me, I think it's great that someone is finally going after the banks as they are obviously guilty of mortgage fraud, misleading investors, securitizing loans they knew to be bad, and who knows what else. I hope Schneiderman is as serious as he appears to be right now, but I'll believe the "crippling fines and penalties" when I see them. I read somewhere that there are some special state laws in New York to help in these kinds of prosecutions, but I can't remember the law / find the link. If you know, leave a comment and enlighten me! I also think it's a damn shame that this suit had to come from the states - where art thou, Eric Holder?!?!

Honestly, we need Raylan Givens on this case. The bank's CEO's would all be shot after 2 episodes...

Part 2:

Stickin' up for the little guy!

In other news, Elizabeth Warren is still not confirmed as Head of the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CPFB), a government deparment established by the Obama administration to protect consumers and the middle class from banks. So House Democrats and others are urging Obama to do a "recess appointment" to avoid the Senate's confirmation process (see articles on AlterNet and Huffington Post).

Now, it should be clear that this is not a rational debate about the qualifications of a candidate - Warren's credentials as a staunch defender of the middle class and her political savvy are well-established, and she is without doubt the ideal person for the job. Instead, Republicans are vowing to block ANYONE nominated to head the department, on the absurd grounds that the CONGRESIONALLY-OVERSEEN agency to defend the middle class would lack oversight. Barney Frank has called it "the worst abuse of the confirmation process I've ever seen".

By the way, the Agency is currently doing such terrible things as making sure people can understand their mortgages. Awful, isn't it?? In addition to being incoherent, Republicans seem to have forgotten how we got into this mess in the first place (click for full size image from Mint.com):