The REAL News interviews economist and specialist on white-collar crime, Bill Black, RE the $550 million fine levied on Goldman Sachs. A big punshment? No, it's equivalent to only 2 weeks of Goldman's profits ...and it is simply restitution to banks in Scotland and Germany, to whom it sold "toxic waste" that it knew was so worthless that it was betting money that this waste would "blow up" its customers. A prosecutable crime? Well, Goldman was compelled to admit only that it had "made a mistake."

Bio

William K. Black, associate professor of economics and law at the University of Missouri, Kansas City, teaches White-Collar Crime, Public Finance, Antitrust, Law & Economics. A former financial regulator, he held several senior regulatory positions during the S&L debacle. Black is the author of The Best Way to Rob a Bank Is to Own One (2005) which focuses on the role of “control fraud” in financial crises. Black developed the concept of "control fraud" — frauds in which the CEO or head of state uses the entity as a "weapon." Control frauds cause greater financial losses than all other forms of property crime combined.

Blogger's Note: Please read the article in the preceding post (below) to learn just how feeble the new Financial Bill soon to be signed into law by President Obama really is.