Crime Doesn’t Pay (In Iceland)
I was born in the wrong part of the world….
In a move that would make many capitalists’ head explode if it ever happened here, Iceland just sentenced their 26th banker to prison for their part in the 2008 financial collapse.
In two separate Icelandic Supreme Court and Reykjavik District Court rulings, five top bankers from Landsbankinn and Kaupping — the two largest banks in the country — were found guilty of market manipulation, embezzlement, and breach of fiduciary duties. Most of those convicted have been sentenced to prison for two to five years. The maximum penalty for financial crimes in Iceland is six years, although their Supreme Court is currently hearing arguments to consider expanding sentences beyond the six year maximum.
Market manipulation, embezzlement and breach of fiduciary duties.
The first two are actually illegal in the United States. Market manipulation was made unlawful under the Securities and Exchange Act of 1934 and embezzlement has been illegal pretty-much forever.
Yet not one prosecution was brought in the United States under these laws.
Why not?
Because the law only applies to little people; those with their claws in the government, especially the government funding business, are simply never prosecuted for whatever they do — even when their banks and people are serial offenders, as virtually every large bank in the United States is.
When does it stop? When you demand it stops, and are willing to do whatever is necessary, up to and including calling and supporting a general strike, to enforce that demand.
Are you tired of being screwed blind yet?
Frankly, from what I’ve seen over the last seven or eight years, I think you enjoy it!