Congressionally protected financial terrorism

Wells Fargo’s CEO testimony exposed government complicity in the ongoing congressionally sanctioned financial terrorism and the war on the CFPB.

It was a sight we’ve seen before, congress critters feign outrage as yet another CEO smugly sits and listens to a litany of their crimes.  There will be no reprimand, no fines, and no legislation to ensure the crimes won’t be committed again.  At the end of the day, they all shake hands and agree to maintain the status quo with an understanding the campaign contributions will continue to roll in.

CFPB on hit list

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the brainchild of Elizabeth Warren, was created to protect consumers from the congressionally protected banksters’ illegal activity.  It was a CFPB investigation that uncovered massive fraud by Wells Fargo that resulted in a $185 million dollar fine. The CFPB uncovered was a scheme where low level employees were instructed to open millions of accounts for customers without their knowledge or consent in order to fatten the profits of the bank.

Fraud pays big time

The illegal accounts generated hundreds of millions of dollars in profits for the CEO and shareholders in overdraft fees and penalties levied against unsuspecting customers.  As a result, Wells Fargo was ordered to pay $100 million to the CFPB, the largest fine the federal agency has ever imposed, $50 million to the city and county of Los Angeles and $35 million to the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC). 

Ryan and GOP outraged

Paul Ryan and the GOP are outraged, not by Wells Fargo, but by the CFPB.  When the CFPB was created it was deliberately set up as an independent watchdog, shielded from congressional and White House control.  According to The Washington Post, “Under the Dodd-Frank law, the CFPB gets its money from transfers from the Federal Reserve System, up to specific caps set by the law. The Fed can’t turn down requests under that cap.  The caps are fixed percentages of the Fed’s operating expenses, which works out to the following:

–10% of Fed operating expenses in fiscal 2011 or $498 million — 11% of Fed operating expenses in fiscal 2012 or $547.8 million — 12% in fiscal 2013 or $597.6 million

–12% each fiscal year thereafter, subject to annual adjustments for inflation.”

In 2008 Wall Street banks laundered three-quarters of a billion dollars into the campaign of Barack Obama who was backed by Chuck Schumer, Joe Biden and Ted Kennedy.  The banks printed up over $700 million dollars in untraceable, unreportable campaign donations via $200 or less prepaid credit cards.  $300 million in these “small donations” was funneled into the Obama campaign in October 2008 during the banking collapse.

Warren and CFPB become whipping boys

Once the agency was formed, Obama refused to name Elizabeth Warren to head the independent watchdog agency.  After Kennedy’s death Warren ran for and won his Massachusetts Senate seat.  The agency and Warren have been under fire by not only Paul Ryan and the GOP, but by the Obama-Biden wing of the Democratic Party.  

Fraud is Wall Street’s business model

William Black, a top US white crime expert who prosecuted over 1,000 S&L executives and jailed them for fraud, recently confirmed what bloggers and citizen journalists have said for years:  the business plan of Wall Street is fraud.  The banks are calling in their congressional chits, they want Warren and her CFPB gone.  Congress has initiated a PR blitz to sour the people on the watchdog agency.  After the rigged November election the same congress will return and the congressionally protected financial terrorism will continue.

By Patricia Baeten