Thieves, crooks and war profiteers avoid jail

There is something wrong. Why haven’t there been any corporate Wall Street executives,  billionaire hedge fund CEO’s or big bank executives placed in jail for planning and working to destroy our economy –  harming thousands of innocent working people, people of color and the poor. All the while they pocket their millions of dollars as they gain more and more wealth. In other words: We get hard times and the rich get richer.

Why haven’t any of the war profiteers who make billions on the military war machine and who continue to push our country to the brink of war been held accountable for their actions? These thieves, crooks and war profiteers created an environment that placed thousands of working people in financial hardship, nearly caused our economy to collapse and then they advocate for sending thousands of young people off to war in order to solve our economic problems.

These same people create war options as an answer to save our economy, to save our country, to save our communities, to save our military reputation around the world. The military and corporate hierarchy has been called “too big to fail.” They are not too big, however, to spend time in prison where they belong.    

Working people continue to work hard and still many find themselves in debt or trying to recover. Yet these corporate thieves get big payouts, outlandish incentives and continue to flourish. It seems like they are entrenched and constantly rewarded. In my opinion, if you are a thief you should be tried in court and, if convicted, you should serve time. 

Now if you are a crook you may find yourself on the TV series America’s Most Wanted or on the FBI most wanted list.  You may even be on some international police list. In some cases you may get indicted or even serve prison time.

You will never find Wall Street crooks and corporate thieves on any such list, however, and you will never see these crooks and thieves serve any time.    If fact, the only list these crooks and thieves will be on are those that list the top most profitable individuals and corporations. In some cases you may find these thieves and crooks listed on some right-wing political donation list. 

What do these thieves and crooks want the American people to believe?  Using their paid associates, many who are right wing politicians, they seek to turn public opinion against working people.

One major way the corporate elite try to turn public opinion around is to blame unions for many of our problems.  In their minds corporate greed is good and worker rights are bad. In their minds war is good and profitable and peace is bad for the economy, bad for the nation and bad for the world.

It’s time we set an example and put these crooks and thieves in prison or at least fire them from their well-paid jobs. It is time to stand up and organize around a people’s economy, and a peace economy.  What do you think?

Photo: Despite his open admission that his megabank Chase engaged in fraudulent mortgage practices on a grand scale. helping to almost collapse the U.S. economy, Chase CEO Jaime Dimon never served a day in jail.   |   J. Scott Applewhite/AP