OK DC how do you feel about John Corzine? No criminal charges for what appears flagrant abuse. But he was not just a banker. He was a MAJOR Dem pol. - the governor of a major state and before he self destructed even spoken of a a possible presidential candidate. He is a major Obama fund raiser. He has real influence in DC and it shows....
Also, any outrage directed towards Dodd or Frank and their pals at Countrywide & Fanny? If anyone is responsible for the meltdown it's these guys.

There needs to be an end of private entities buying elections and buying policy. The games played these firms created huge losses for a significant percentage of the population, destroys our economy, and wreaks havoc on our national debt. When there is no punishment, there is 100% chance that they will be repeated. Keep in mind that the situation is going to get significantly worse with uncapped anonymous payments made possible by Citizens United. Those that are fed up with government run by special interests should add their signature here: http://www.dofr.org . The problems can be solved if citizens make the effort to drive change.

It is plain to see that the US Department of Justice believes, as do neo-classical economists like Alan Greenspan, that fraud cannot exist in the markets. Thus we have the justice department's pronouncement that Goldman Sachs did not commit fraud as described in the Levin/Coburn report.

Poppycock! Goldman Sachs is a "Super Predator."

This decision just shows how well Goldman has captured the government, the politicians and the regulators.

William K. Black has been investigating and writing about control frauds for a long time.

Here are a few excerpts from his paper (in bold and italics) and some comments on their use by Goldman:

"Control frauds have...shown the ability to get 'clean' opinions for financial statements that purport to show that the company is highly profitable and solvent when the company is in fact deeply insolvent and unprofitable and pervasively corrupt."

1. Investment Bank Goldman was probably insolvent before it became a bank holding company in 2008;
2. The Federal Reserve then gave Goldman access to about $800 Billion worth of short-term loans from its discount window;
3. Goldman received $13 Billion in bailout money via AIG;
4. Goldman received TARP money worth $10 Billion;
5. Blankfein claims that he did not need the bailout money from TARP but he was very conversant with Paulson, a former Goldman guy;
6. The Federal Reserve bought the toxic assets of banks to make the banks appear profitable and solvent.

"...only the CEO can optimize the company for fraud. He optimizes the company by having it invest primarily in assets that have no readily ascertainable market value."

1. Blankfein hired and paid the rating agencies to rate Goldman's junk CDOs made from sub-prime mortgages as AAA--as safe as Treasuries;
2. Goldman created sub-prime securities that were grossly inflated in value which helped extend the life of the financial fraud to 2007;
3. Goldman's toxic securities grew at a rapid rate until Blankfein realized that the mortgage market would collapse from bad securities;
4. Blankfein made bets on the collapse of the mortgage market;
5. Blankfein helped create the scheme to thus produce false assets, false sales and grossly inflated prices to produce additional profits from fees and from bets;
6. Blankfein's claim on false profits were greater than any "real" profits;
7. Goldman Sachs used robo-signing (forgery) to produce the paperwork for foreclosures. They promised to never do that again!

Read more at http://www.goldmansachs666.com/2012/08/goldman-sachs-and-control-fraud.html

I know that fiduciary duty is not the first thing on their minds, but one would think that the civil reprecussions would be a factor. It's too bad that there seems to be no penalty from the SEC on the civil side and the individual investors will have to take action themselves to establish this breach of duty. Sorry small guy.

Our way of life is strongly shifting in the direction of money being more important than anything else. Money is becoming more important than fiduciary duty, civic duty, general welfare, the greater good, compassion for the needy, justice, and charity. When Lloyd Blankfein is asked for his approval of some sleazy activity of Goldman Sachs, his first question isn't going to be "Is this activity a breach of our fiduciary duty?". His question is going to be something like "Is it legal, or can we succeed in any prosecutorial action against this activity?" He knows that what shareholders want is a return on their money, and what their customers want is the same, even if it means added nervousness about the possibility of being mislead. Remember, you can't con someone about money who isn't greedy in some way. We voters are to blame for succumbing to the deceptive propaganda that has entrenched the money interests and controls into our politics and economic policies. Only the people through grass roots efforts can reverse the course and overcome the corruption we have allowed. I refer you to the Preamble of the Constitution of the United States of America.

Big surprise. We have to forget about trying to convict people like Goldman Sachs...

What would really be great is if we can get these institutions to formerly help put in regulations which will stop bad behavior.

And how do you do that?

I think a tough President who will continually express outrage and demand these institutions to make changes is what is needed. Here is an example of what the President should say:

Whatever you got away with, is over. I take responsibility for not challenging you guys more. We are all in cahoots and I am sorry.

The only thing left to do is to try to straighten out this mess. You guys need to be satisfied with making money legitimately, it won't be as much as when you did whatever you wanted, but this country is going down unless you change your behaviors.

If you have kids, it will be easier for you to change your behavior because if this country has another meltdown, no matter how much you socked away, you will not be able to protect your kids from the disastrous effects of another Recession.

If you don't have kids, it might be hard to reach you... but do you really want to become Darth Vader... Take off your masks and find it in your heart to let America still be America

Even if the DOJ could not find criminal misconduct, I don't understand how their actions do not constitute a breach of fiduciary duty. To knowingly create a financial product to bet against another product that they themselves were selling to regular customers does not breach their fiduciary duty to those regular customers? Really?

Goldman Sachs helped write the laws regulating their actions. Goldman Sachs makes huge contributions to the political campaigns of politicians. Politicians pass the regulations, often without reading them. Democrats and Republicans are both guilty of this form of bribery. However, I only see Democrats making attempts to regulate the banks more strictly while Republicans are against regulations. Republicans are wholly in support of the big banks and big corporations because they know they cannot get elected without huge amounts of money to engage in enough deceptive propaganda to push the voting over the 50% mark in their favor, i.e. "death panels", "voter fraud", "pro life", "Obama was born in Kenya", "liberal media", "activist judges", "socialist agenda", "communists in Congress", "homosexual agenda", etc.