At Tuesday's SOTU Obama announced a special DOJ task force to prosecute those who were criminally responsible for the 2008 Meltdown. New York AG Eric Schneiderman was put in charge and the task force had its first meeting on Friday.
At our meeting today, it was suggested that there would be no results until after the election. We have a right to be skeptical, but here is a Schneiderman interview in which he is optimistic to get results in 6 to 8 months. He also said that his own investigation was not put on hold because of the task force, and we could see the results of his efforts fairly soon. While Schneiderman's own investigation covers the robo-signing, the new DOJ task force will investigate all criminal activities that led to the crash.
What do you think? Are we actually going to see results before the election?
"Towards the end of the interview, he said he expects some serious movement and action within six to eight months—or else he’d be “very disappointed.”" I believe he is going to be very disappointed. It would actually surprise me if anything which seriously affects the guilty parties ever happens, much less before the upcoming election. Just a cynic, I guess. The Wall Streeters, and their neo-con supporters, appear to be more powerful than our government.
ReplyDeleteObama is using Schneiderman's prestige to give credibility to the task force. If Schneiderman gets disappointed in the task force and says so, it could really hurt Obama.
ReplyDeleteMike, I'm sorry if my comment was taken to imply that I thought that this iniative was just another sham, sand in the gears, sort of thing.I am pretty sure that Schneiderman would not have let himself be so co-opted. But the timing certainly suggests that the real bombusters will not see see daylight until November/December; late enough not to interfere with necessary fundraising imperatives by the Obama campaign, but early enough that they can't be suppressed by an incomming Republican administration.
ReplyDeleteThe way Schneiderman answered the question of "how soon will we see results", " 6 monthe- 8 months----", with his voice sort of trailing off, says to me that he, too, accepts the reality of the political calandar. I think that whether the boom gets lowered on the guilty parties in September(8 months) or after the election is not so important, especially if it could critically effect the election outcome. And don't believe for a minute that everything, everything, that comes out of the White House from now to November has not been run through the prism of the campaign staff at the very top.
Anyway, the encouraging thing is that the ship has been launched, not that it may not come to port as early as we would like. And another thing, have you ever heard of an effort involving so many people(hundreds), agencies (state and federal), and beuucratic/jurisdicitional and legal interests wrapping up it's business in less that 10 months?
The only possible downside I see(and it's a strong one if the effort has teeth) is that the Republican-controlled House decides to convene it's own investigation. Or the Senate, as both parties are dependant the funds Wall Street provides. Dory, be of good cheer that it seems to be happening at all; glass is half full sort of thing. I agree that it's a very good omen that a person of Schneiderman's caliber and reputation has been put at the helm. God bless those NYC prosecutors!
The FCIC report was released a year ago. Phil Angelides said that his committee had made referrals to the DOJ for criminal prosecutions. Unless the DOJ was just sitting on those referrals, there should have been plenty of time to gather evidence to start the prosecutions.
ReplyDelete