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Breaking Up Government And Corporate 'Organized Crime'
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Published: October 16, 2008
Updated: 10/16/2008 04:32 pm
The government came to the American people saying, "The sky is falling." Henry Paulson, Treasury secretary, and President George Bush notified us if we did not provide the financial institutions with the $700,000,000,000, that is billion, bailout by the next Monday, we would have another Great Depression.
We, the American people, spoke clearly by overwhelmingly contacting our government representatives saying "no." The House denied the bailout. A week later the Senate added a "sweetener" of $150 billion to pass the bill. The original three-page Paulson bill ballooned to over 400 pages to hide the pork.
As noted in the "Godfather" movie, one man with a briefcase can steal more than a hundred men with guns. The modern model of organized crime is government officials taking donations from corporations and passing special laws to assist corporations to squash competition and use the stockholder's finances to enrich themselves and friends. This mutually beneficial relationship is a replica of the methods used by criminals paying off dirty cops except the "organized crime" is happening in Washington's federal buildings, paying off government officials.
CEOs of financial institutions could not personally receive "golden parachute" bonuses without the congressional oversight committee avoiding their responsibility. The relationship between government and Wall Street has evolved into a revolving door. Franklin Raines, a budget manager under the Clinton administration, became the head of Freddy Mac earning $90 million in six years. He, like many other CEOs, "cooked the books" to show a $6.3 billion overstatement of profit to reach financial goals in order to receive exorbitant bonuses.
These "golden parachutes" were taken by CEOs who destroyed their companies and robbed their shareholders.
These executives need to return this unearned money to the shareholders, face huge fines and be investigated for criminal wrongdoing. AIG executives, after receiving $85 billion of our tax dollars wasted $440,000 for a spa retreat and then received another bailout of $38 billion. Something is fishy.
We should follow the money into the halls of Congress and remove all dirty politicians. Congressional leaders Barney Frank, Charles Shumer and Maxine Waters continued to praise the work of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac while the companies were falsifying their profit statements and eventually brought our economy to its knees. Their behavior is suspicious and needs to be investigated.
The CEO of Countrywide, Angelo Mozilo, received $110 million while bankrupting the company in the subprime loan debacle. Investigators uncovered FOA (friends of Angelo) who were political elites. Sen. Christopher Dodd, chairman of the banking committee, and Ken Conrad, chairman of the budget committee, were given special VIP loans below market levels. Any politician profiting from his or her oversight responsibility is a crime that should be punished.
Politicians need to be held accountable as well as CEOs. We, the taxpayers, cannot allow our government representatives to take our money to whitewash the theft of our treasury, especially when the politicians themselves are the thieves signing the blank check. The lack of punishment for fraud and extortion will only continue the crisis until the economy totally collapses. Our capitalist economy, without enforcement of the law, will morph into a centrally controlled fascist or socialist system.
Only by having public hearings on the connection between government officials and the financial institutions can we unravel and identify and correct the problems that caused it in the first place. Government transparency will lead us to the government and corporate elite who robbed the system by disregarding the most basic moral principles and the law. An outside person of impeccable character with a heavy dose of courage and morals needs to be appointed as a special investigator to clean up the mess.
The main issue is that the government officials and CEOs are corrupting the free market. The CEOs are donating money to congressmen's campaigns to buy influence to change the laws and limit competition. The subprime loan disaster was an attempt by some in the legislature, after receiving corporate perks and money, to mandate that low-income families be given houses without the savings or means to pay for it. "NINJA" loans were given with "No Income, No Job, (and) No Assets."
Our current system is rewarding vice not virtue. We must expose the elites who do not follow ethical and moral behavior and make them pay a heavy price for their corrupt behavior. The message has to be heard loud and clear that corruption will not be tolerated.
The future of the United States depends on the justice system punishing to the full extent of the law all the government and CEO elites who gain from this Wall Street/government organized crime.
Dr. Domenick J. Maglio, Ph.D., is the author of "Invasion Within" and "Essential Parenting." He is a psychotherapist and the owner/director of Wider Horizons School. Visit: www.drmaglio.com.
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