excerpted from: Army Of Avarice Plunders America Into Calamity That Did Not Have To Happen

Every legit competitive sport has rules of conduct governing how the game is to be played, all conceived to maintain the fairness, honesty and integrity of the process. Umpires, referees, linesmen, field judges and alike don’t hesitate to impose sanctions the moment they spot an infraction. Break a rule, you’re penalized, benched, fined, out of the game, out of the sport, maybe even for good. Congress and the media repeatedly tell us the American public would tolerate no less, even though the overwhelming majority of sports fans have nothing more than a mere rooting interest in the outcome; no “skin” as it were, in the game– except gamblers, who have all the more reason to want it to be on the level, unless they’ve already fixed it.
How bizarre then, that on Wall Street, repository of the hopes, dreams and what’s left of the hard earned cash and retirement savings of American investors, the most basic of rules enacted to protect the fairness, honesty and integrity of the process are routinely ignored and dishonored....

Getting away with so many fraud-based practices for so long has emboldened the wrongdoers to almost obsessively believe they can get away with anything. Years of successfully bilking the public without fear of being caught or punished has imbued them with the kind of blinding arrogance that boldly shoves 3 pages at Congress and says with a straight face: Give us the dough ($700 billion)– ours to do with as we will, free from liability or accountability—or else. And now they’re being rewarded for it with the biggest profits and bonuses ever. Why?

Why were all the safeguards so intentionally set in place in 1933 and 1934 abandoned? Because those empowered to make and enforce our laws— sworn to be good stewards of the public interest— allowed themselves to be seduced and inducted to serve private interests, not the least of which their own, courtesy of campaign contributions, lobbyist largess, lucrative job prospects, and other co-optive emoluments known anywhere else in the world as bribes. When will we learn that it’s not about politics, ideology or principle? It’s about the money! But drop me a line the next time you hear any corporate or mainstream media pro daring to talk or write about it in those terms. Somehow, as obvious and pernicious a role as it plays in our political process, discussing venal motive is off limits, part of the pretense that our elected officials actually represent the best interests of the people who voted for them (as distinguished from those who bankroll them)....

full article at: http://calltoaccount.wordpress.com/