Friday, April 16, 2010

Goldman Sachs' Invincibility Challenged

Who ever would have thought, in an era when Wall Street's oligarchy has captured the democratic process, that an arm of the government would ever dare to fulfill its mandate to look out for the general public's interests?

The Securities and Exchange Commission announced Friday civil fraud charges against Goldman Sachs and one of its vice presidents. The agency alleges that the company marketed complex subprime mortgage securities and failed to disclose to investors that a major hedge fund had bet against the securities.

Announcing charges is only the first step in a long dance.  Goldman has access to the most competent defense counsel in the world, so the search for justice in the court system will be long and tiring.  A few corrupt execs (Enron, et al.) were subjected to the perp walk in the aftermath of the dot-com bust and various accounting scandals, mainly to throw a bone to the public.  I guess campaign contributions only buy legal immunity for a limited time.