Eric Holder

“I am concerned that the size of some of these institutions becomes so large that it does become difficult for us to prosecute them when we are hit with indications that if you do prosecute, if you do bring a criminal charge, it will have a negative impact on the national economy, perhaps even the world economy,” he said. “And I think that is a function of the fact that some of these institutions have become too large.”

Those are the words of Attorney General Eric Holder..I want you to read that.. stop, reflect and read that again.. I don’t want any of you to dismiss it and say ‘Well that’s just the way it is..’ or ‘What else is new, government has always been like this..there’s nothing we can do about it..’

Holder uttered these words in response to Republican Senator Charles Grassley about why the Justice Department brought no criminal charges against HSBC, one of Great Britain’s largest banks after it admitted laundering money for parties in Iran, Libya and Mexican drug lords.

Again I ask you to stop think and reflect on this..

While its understandable that smashing back on the banks or Eric Holder will not be an overnight endeavor, we can not act like this is a problem to ignore. It should be an issue we raise up at every turn and push to demand accountability. We should demand it on the national level and we should demand it locally. We should be pushing for our local governments to sever ties with criminal institutions and we should be demanding that hard questions be asked of Attorney general and the our President who appointed him.. If you haven’t been touched by the nefarious activities of big banks in the form of foreclosures, downsizing increased banking fees, higher interest rates or the inability to get a loan, you will soon will be..For example, this is the same Eric Holder who’s Feds have been raiding and shutting down medical marijuana clubs all over the country in spite of overwhelming state approval both from voters and elected officials.. They’ll raid a pot club but will leave the fraudulent money laundering bank next door alone.. Go figure..

Today our friends over at Alternet dropped a good article on this… where they note as follows;

Holder’s outrageous admission means that bankers operate – and know they operate – above the law.  That renders all the argument about regulations and legal limits risible.  Bankers spend tens of millions lobbying to weaken regulations and starve regulators of authority and resources.  But when the action gets hot, the bubble starts to build, the music keeps playing, they can trample the laws, mislead the regulators and defraud their customers, bolstered by the confidence that the laws will not apply to them.

Holder’s argument, however, is indefensible.  There is no reason a bank with billions of assets could not survive the indictment of its CEO or CFO.  If the Fed and Treasury can “foam the runway” to protect otherwise insolvent banks from collapse, they surely could insure that a bank survives while its executives are held personally responsible for their crimes.  Putting a few bankers in jail and holding them personally accountable for their frauds would do much to bring sobriety back to Wall Street.

You can read the entire article Here.. http://www.alternet.org/outrage-some-banks-are-too-big-prosecute

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z3zwhp5-jXAEric Holder