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The case against Lehman Brothers

August 19, 2012 4:00 PM

Steve Kroft investigates the collapse of Lehman Brothers, which triggered a chain reaction that produced the worst financial crisis and economic downturn in 70 years.

The case against Lehman Brothers

60 Minutes OverTimeKroft: Why have no banking executives been prosecuted?

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by UncensoredFinancialNews October 22, 2012 12:30 AM EDT
Here is the problem in many layers: Dodd Frank is 5,000 plus pages with an attempt to regulate Banks and Wall Street. Small banks will be eliminated or become less competitive with the too big to fail mega banks supported by the FED. It's already started.

Next: the regulators cannot possibly understand the formulas of derivatives. You could hire 3,000 and put them in firms to do what? Yes I said they would do what???

Next: implement Dodd Frank and most of them (regulators) cannot understand the complexities of sophisticated trades which the banks are not willing to disclose.

Next: implement Basel 3 and more chaos erupts. The system is rigged against us as consumers and the Fed just goes along with policies of fiscal mismanagement. Republicans and Democrats are guilty. The system needs to be changed to effectively include a majority of American citizens in the decisions of how our government spends our money. More capital requirements....are you serious? Look at the track record of MF Global and others that just go to segregated funds to cover their bets. I'll bet if I went to Vegas and just used the House Money to gamble for my own use, I'd be dead within the week.
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by Bubba1212 September 1, 2012 12:19 AM EDT
they should be prosecuted but our political system is so corrupt on both sides that only the peons get prosecuted and the rich fat cats goes free.
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by LadyGoodmann August 27, 2012 3:24 PM EDT
The presence of SEC authorities shouldn't be an impediment to prosecution; it should be the reason to fire the ones who were onsite and did nothing, regardless of whether they were in collusion or just downright stupid. I'm leaning toward the former.

Where is the outrage? The prosecutors and the presidents who have and are failing to send these low-lifes to prison should themselves be prosecuted.

And when is humanity going to learn that what one does to others one does to oneself? I'd say, "and to one's God," but these slimies either think they are God or don't know there is One. What if hell is simply living all of the pain you've caused everyone else?
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by jslca5249 August 22, 2012 1:31 PM EDT
They are truly a bunch of crooks, but they are so politically powerful that it seems no one can touch them. I am not too surprised that no one would ever go to jail for their crimes, as they may have already bought their way out. Our political system allows them, our president and Congress have given them a blank check. We definitely need the financial/banking reform. No more bail out for banks or any institutions that drove their organizations to the ground. It is absolutely irresponsible and unconscionable.
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by MDYeager August 21, 2012 4:56 PM EDT
Shame on YOU: Lehman Brothers, Ernst & Young, Merrill Lynch & the SEC (Christopher Cox)
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by mojocinemod August 20, 2012 1:58 PM EDT
Christopher Cox was nominated by President George W. Bush to be the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and was sworn in on August, 2005. The Lehman Brothers collapse was in 2008 - all under Bush's watch.

Cox says his agency lacked authority to limit the massive leveraging that set up last year's financial collapse. In truth, the SEC had plenty of power to go after big investment banks like Lehman Brothers and Merrill Lynch for better disclosure, but it CHOSE NOTE TO DO SO. Cox oversaw the dwindling SEC staff and a sharp drop in action against some traders.

PS: He also 'overlooked' the Bernard Madoff's alleged $50 billion Ponzi scheme. Ooops.
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by athena8 August 20, 2012 1:40 PM EDT
Four years in and the only honest accountant is still without a job and the Wall Street crooked,mangy rats have all landed on their feet! SEC employees are too busy with interent pornography than actually doing their jobs. Nothing works in this nation. Government doesn't work. Regulations and laws are not applied, so do we really need more? The Senior accountant was the only voice screaming in the wind and no one wanted to hear or see because the rats were swimming in money. Dems and Republicans are both responsible. The only fit punishment was for the banks with dirty numbers should have been made to zero out the balances for mortgages that were packaged and sold as derivatives over and over again without people's knowledge. People would have stayed in their homes and the banks would have felt the pain financially. And they would have failed.They should have been allowed to fail. Our economic system would have been purged of the mess by now and a real recovery would have been in place by now. And whatever happened to doing prison time for white collar crime???? We're just sinking further and further into Obama's depression. And yes, it is a depression. It stopped being a recession in June of 2010.
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by deedee30003 August 20, 2012 2:55 AM EDT
You shouldn't blame Republicans you idiot (Dadragon). Yes, George Bush gave the banks money to bail them out but it was TARP money that had accounting to go with it. On the other hand Obama gave the banks TRILLIONS ( over seven trillion) with no strings attached. Congress approved it but had no idea how much money it was. So many people are at fault. The SEC and the Federal Reserve are in bed with Wall Street and the big banks. Everyone is in it for their own gain. The American People should demand people are prosecuted for these crimes. The officials at the SEC and the Federal Reserve need to be prosecuted and thrown in jail along with all the crooks in Lehman Brothers and all the other bankers who have stolen money from the American people and who will continue to in the future. Alan Greenspan and many other government officials are responsible for this mess as well. Johnson ( from Fannie Mae), Barney Frank and the list goes on and on and on. There shouldn't be two political parties in this country. It is just a bunch of men with big egos who run this country and they have ran it into the ground. There should be one party, ( no, not Socialism) but the "People's Party". The Bills should be introduced and the American people should vote on them via a computer. All the morons running this country have got to go. Our Founding Fathers would be horrified at the state of our economy. I believe it was Thomas Jefferson who said 'Big Banks are more dangerous to our liberties than any standing armies.'
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by davidperi August 20, 2012 12:50 AM EDT
This is the hypocrisy...Obama wanted transparency in the beginning hopefully on all levels of government...fraud...and then they want to get after Assange and Manning for revealing to the public so called secrets when in fact Hillary Clinton said they were only secondary and unimportant. I guess justice is only for those who can get away with it.
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by dadragon August 19, 2012 8:45 PM EDT
This is why I'm so angry with the Republicans, Washington, big bankers and the systematic removal of any intelligent regulators. You will see here one of the biggest reasons why you're out of a job, why your 401K's have tanked, and why your real estate is still worth only 60% of what it was 5 years ago. And as you know, one of the major planks of the Republican platform is to get rid of "regulations" in general, and Simpson-Bowles and most other banking regulations in particular.
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