Will Barack Obama Confront Corporate-Criminal Complex?

Unfortunately, the Bernie Madoffs of the world are only the tip of the iceberg.  The real problem is not with greedy crooks like Madoff who get caught, but all the rest of the greedy crooks in corporate America and Wall Street who don’t get caught because they use their well-connected lobbyists to pressure and bribe politicians to create laws and tax policies that legalize their fraud and deception. In other words, they don’t have to swindle people overtly like Bernie Madoff. They do it the old-fashioned way-- by greasing palms and negotiating back room deals with Congress. 

For example, in 1999 the banking industry paid off the Congress to pass the Gramm-Leach-Blighly Act and repeal the Glass-Steagall Act, first enacted in 1933 to control speculation and prohibit banks from owning other financial institutions that would create conflicts of interest. In fact, the reason Glass-Steagall was signed into law to begin with was because of the trouble banks got into by taking excessive risks that contributed to the Depression of the 1930s.

By the way, the Gramm-Leach-Blighly bill received overwhelming support from both Democrats and Republicans, and of course Bill Clinton, the best friend Wall Street ever had, signed the bill into law and paved the way for the financial scams that precipitated last year’s economic meltdown of the banking system and the sharp decline in the stock market.

After Clinton, Bush Junior reduced government regulation and oversight even more and made things that much easier for his corporate criminal friends to game the system and cheat the American public out of billions with no-bid contracts, closed-door energy deals, and, worst of all, the subprime mortgage and derivatives scams that precipitated the home foreclosure crisis.  But here’s the kicker-- the white collar criminals that masterminded these scams during the Bush years have not only gotten away with all the money they made at the expense of American taxpayers, but are the same individuals who are calling the shots today.

And who are these individuals?  They’re the real gangsters of America, the ones who make John Gotti look like Sponge Bob Square Pants. They’re the ruthless CEOS in charge of our most powerful corporations, the well-connected Ivy League elitists who run the nation’s largest financial institutions, and the Gordon Gekko-style free market predators who put people out of work and drive them into bankruptcy while they enrich themselves and their friends to the tune of hundreds of billions of dollars. God knows how much loot they’ve already taken out of the country and stashed in bank accounts in Switzerland and the Cayman Island.

No doubt President Obama is aware of this paradox. The question is, will he have the integrity and fortitude to stand up to these high-power individuals who helped get him elected?  So far, he has called on Congress to pass tough new regulations on financial institutions and corporations, but will they go far enough? And will the penalties be stiff enough to make a difference?

At this point no one knows for sure, but if Obama doesn’t make serious changes and allows the corporate-criminal complex to continue its financial assault on average Americans, he runs the risk of inflaming an already enraged populace, one that is just beginning to understand how royally they’ve been screwed in the last few decades. 

And as unemployment increases and more people become desperate and have less to lose, they may begin to entertain the idea of taking the law into their own hands. And if this happens, we may all wish for the days when guys like John Gotti were still in charge.

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