I remember when we used to play a game in our jaunty youth – Scott Free. The idea was to get away with some thing downright bad – throw a snowball at a passing car or truck’s windshield, steal more than three apples from the market, scribble all over the North Alton Movie theater placards. Now the requirement – was to get away Scott Free – no one should suspect. And you could earn extra points if you could go up to the victim and blamelessly express commiseration – “I am sorry this happened” or “it could not be God’s work”.
Wall Street has just done that.
Given the World the Great Recession – and gotten away Scott Free. No punishment except for those who dipped too deep into the “Too Big To Fail” risk well and hadn’t bought any Washington presence/influence -“bautocratic” insurance. Instead the Masters of the Universe got their “Too Big to Fail” Insurance payments to the tune of trillions of dollars. The Masters of the Universe are getting a license to print money with the US Fed continuing to support short term interest rates at zero available to the many Great Recession inducing banks and institutions. The Masters of the Universe then turn around and, instead of putting those dollars into mortgage amelioration or small business loans, are leveraging those funds trading instruments returning a ‘risk-free’ 3% or lots more. And one of the main perpetrators of the Great Recession pulled off the “We are sorry” trick with brazen elan.
This has been Financial Scott Free Mercenary Hubris even Bernie couldn’t do, though he came quite close; and continues to do so – watch as his kin continue to lie blameless. So now that last step in Grand Scott Free Larceny is for the Masters of the Universe to elude all meaningful Financial Reforms. So lets listen and see what Thomson Reuters in Breakingviews has to say about that:
Senator Dodd’s Retirement. The likely retirement of the Connecticut senator would hand the Senate Banking Committee over to a friend of the financial industry in 2011. It would also reduce the chances of tough financial regulation reform this year. 2010 is starting well for the Masters of the Universe.
So now all that is denying the Masters of the Universe a Christmas on Wall Street for a full year is to completely and utterly sabotage meaningful financial reform. It appears the Masters of the Universe are well on their way to Scott Free.