BIG BANKS

In the news this week was the agreement between Goldman Sachs and the Department of Justice (DOJ) to settle out of court.  This has to do with that company selling mortgage-backed securities in the period from 2005 to 2007.  These almost worthless securities set off the 2007-2008 international financial crises - a period when many people lost their homes and almost everyone took a big hit on their savings.  Sachs agreed to pay $5 billion as a company and avoid having any individuals charged. I guess $5 billion is not what it used to be.

In case you haven't kept a scorecard, their friends on Wall Street made similar arrangements with the DOJ: in November, 2013, J.P.Morgan Chase settled for $13 billion; in July 2014, Citi Bank settled for $7 billion;
in August 2014, Bank of America settled for $17 billion; in January of 2016, Morgan Stanley settled for $3.2 billion.

That all adds up to $45.2 billion.  It's a travesty that one industry could afford to make these huge payments and survive.  These banks were considered too big to allow to fail by the Obama administration.  In eight short years, they went from being saved from bankruptcy to being able to make payments like this.  Something is wrong here.

Now these banks are in safe mode.  They basically pay nothing in interest to their customers and instead of investing in businesses and jobs, they take the sure thing by government treasuries.  They have the country right where they want it.

*o*