Federal Reserve

Goldman-Sachs executive found liable for misleading investors in 2008.

"Five years after the crisis, he is the only employee of a big American bank to lose a courtroom battle to Wall Street’s top regulator, the Securities and Exchange Commission. The S.E.C. took only a handful of employees to court over the crisis, but most cases were settled."

Was Goldman itself punished? More info.

"Lawyers for the former Goldman trader, however, portrayed their client as a scapegoat who was 28 at the time of the crisis. Throughout the trial, the defense lawyers reminded the jury that senior Goldman executives approved the deal."

It doesn't sound like it.

"In 2010, the S.E.C. had also charged Goldman with fraud. Not long after the case was announced, the bank settled for $550 million, a record fine at the time."

Goldman made a bunch of money on its billion dollar fraud then.

"The S.E.C.’s victory reopens some wounds for Goldman, which is paying for Mr. Tourre’s defense. Inside the bank, employees had been quietly cheering for Mr. Tourre, whom one executive called “the poor kid.” Viewing the S.E.C.’s case as thin, the executives saw Mr. Tourre as a proxy for the fight they wanted to wage with regulators."

What a joke. If they had wanted to wage a fight with regulators, they could have done so in court instead of settling.

"Yet Mr. Tourre’s boss at Goldman, Jonathan Egol, testified that it was unheard-of for any Wall Street bank to disclose the name of the hedge fund betting against an investment. Client confidentiality rules typically prevented Goldman from doing so."

Misinforming investors is the rule, and regulations empower companies to do it. It's funny how the SEC partnered with the bigger crooks to nail the smaller crook.

"Mr. Tourre’s lawyers have argued it should not have mattered to IKB what Paulson & Company was doing. The trade in question had to have an investor who was betting it would fail, and another betting it would rise — a fact that each side knew."

That's not the point. You have to tell investors what's going on. If an outside party bet against the deal, then there's no problem. The problem arises when you set up a deal designed to lose money on behalf of a third party and keep it secret from the owners of the company and additionally promote it as a winner.

The Bank of England has a lot less gold visible than it claims to have.

On the current Fed policy of inflation:

"Inflation is a dishonest act on the part of the government. We are in the midst of the greatest monetary crime ever known. We are impoverishing ourselves and most especially those who cannot afford financial distress. The dire consequences are beyond anything your imagination can conjure up. It will be the greatest collapse, the greatest crisis and the greatest punishment in history."

They're stealing everything.