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The people vs Wall Street

Bear Stearns bankers on trial in first criminal case of the credit crunch

By Stephen Foley in New York

Former Bear Stearns hedge fund manager Ralph Cioffi arrives at court in New York yesterday

AP

Former Bear Stearns hedge fund manager Ralph Cioffi arrives at court in New York yesterday

Amidst the economic wreckage, after 7 million job losses and approaching 2 million home foreclosures in the US alone, with businesses and consumers around the world still struggling to get finance after the long credit crunch, Wall Street is finally on trial. A little piece of Wall Street, at least.

In the first major case against bankers at the heart of the financial meltdown, a jury of 12 mainly working-class New Yorkers will decide the fate of the two Bear Stearns managers whose hedge funds imploded in 2007, signalling the start of the crisis. Ralph Cioffi, 53, and Matt Tannin, 48, pocketed millions of dollars in pay during the boom years, but the events of 2007 left their investors nursing losses of $1.6bn (£1bn) and ruined forever the reputation of Bear Stearns, one of the oldest investment banks on Wall Street.

Dressed as if for a funeral, the pair sat impassively in the brightly lit courtroom in downtown Brooklyn yesterday as assistant US attorney Patrick Sinclair recounted what he said was a litany of lies that they told to investors. The two men were desperate to stop investors deserting their funds when the sub-prime mortgage market began to plunge, Mr Sinclair said. Mr Cioffi alone was paid $32m in the two years before the funds collapsed.

They "violated a special relationship of trust" between fund managers and investors, he added. "They lied to investors to save their multimillion dollar bonuses. In the US, that is a crime, a serious crime. It's called securities fraud." The prosecution plans to lean heavily on private emails written by the men which suggest they knew much earlier that the sub-prime market was – in a word used by Mr Tannin – "toast". Yet the men glossed over the situation and deceived investors in two ways, it is alleged.

First, Mr Tannin said he was putting more of his own money into the funds, when in fact he did not invest a single cent of the $1m that was available in his bank account. Mr Cioffi, meanwhile, secretly withdrew $2m of his money. Second, Mr Cioffi denied any major investor was planning to pull out, when he had already received a major redemption request. More than a dozen friends and family crammed in to the few public benches, and more spilled into an overflow room as the trial got under way. While the prosecution aimed to distil the case for jurors into a handful of straightforward lies, it was clear yesterday that the defence will portray the events of 2007 as much more nuanced – and highly complicated. In an idiosyncratic opening statement, Mr Cioffi's lawyer, Dane Butswinkas, launched into an educational session on high finance. At one point, he used waste-paper baskets in an attempt to explain how hedge funds worked.

The prosecution is unfairly "cherry-picking from thousands and thousands of emails", Mr Butswinkas complained. "It is easier to call the right play on Monday morning after the game on Sunday, and it is always easier to pick the right investment strategy after the fact. Hindsight is 20-20."

Mr Cioffi was described by Mr Butswinkas as a man who reached a high level on Wall Street through talent and hard work. He came to New York in the late Seventies "with $200 in a slightly worn-out pouch" and "with hopes of being a banker". Mr Tannin's defence team will give their opening arguments this morning.

The trial promises to be a bitter fight between prosecutors, who accuse the pair of lying and manipulating evidence, and defence lawyers, who say the men are being made scapegoats for a financial crisis that was not of their making. The outcome could also be a harbinger of things to come, as the US Justice Department considers bringing cases against even bigger fish on Wall Street.

"This is not a revenge opportunity," the 75-year-old judge, Frederic Block, had told prospective jurors. Neither Mr Cioffi nor Mr Tannin is charged with "causing" the credit crisis. They are charged with behaving dishonestly when the crisis began to break. The pair were traders in mortgage securities, curators of two hedge funds that invested in debt which is now known to have been toxic but which had seemed to promise great riches. They worked at the long end of the chain that stretched from overheated housing markets in the south and west of the US, where millions of buyers were tempted into taking on mortgages they could not afford. Those mortgages were sliced and diced by Wall Street and turned into securities which could be bought and sold as if they were shares. Credit rating agencies had certified the Bear Stearns funds' mortgage derivative portfolio as super-safe; the defendants' superiors at Bear Stearns and the funds' outside investors believed they were taking little risk. The question is when the two managers realised this was far from true.

Messrs Cioffi and Tannin face 20 years in jail if they are found guilty of the securities fraud. Mr Cioffi is additionally charged with insider dealing.

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merely the facade
[info]someofusknow wrote:
Thursday, 15 October 2009 at 12:01 am (UTC)
All very well, but Wall St is merely the facade behind which the real criminals hide.

It obviously serves the interests of the real powers that be to promote the notion that a few rogue bankers are to blame for the mess we are in, when the real culprits are fractional reserve banking, leveraging and greed and whatever evil lies in the minds of the international 'club' that orchestrates all this.
Re: merely the facade
[info]georgesign wrote:
Thursday, 15 October 2009 at 07:04 am (UTC)
Absolutely right. Governments collude with the private banks to maintain the fractional banking system that steals wealth from the taxpayer. Whether it's called Capitalism, Communism, Conservatism, Liberalism or Socialism they are all different clothes covering the same power hungry people who dance to the tune of their masters. Obviously intelligent people are beginning to see the truth so a couple of "wide-boys" are thrown to the wolves to try and put people of the scent. It's not working this time though. Politicians are beginning to see the game is up and are frightened that we may one day realise that we do not need them.
Re: merely the facade
[info]littleglimmer wrote:
Thursday, 15 October 2009 at 07:29 am (UTC)
All the more reason to avoid electing politicians who have hocked themselves to big businesses in order to fund their acquisition of power.
Re: merely the facade
[info]indfl wrote:
Thursday, 15 October 2009 at 09:57 am (UTC)
I love that more and more people see it; whether they personally acted criminally is a moot point. The are scapegoats and so many simpletons will eat it up. Meanwhile, the real criminals are hidden in our government, central banks and beyond. I wish more people would think for themselves and see the truths we speak of instead of listening to idiots in Hollywood who are part of the problem.
Re: merely the facade
[info]clementyeung wrote:
Thursday, 15 October 2009 at 05:04 pm (UTC)
What we need is the Fed closed. Close that thing down! It's the portal through which all of this crap starts. Stop the printing of money = stop inflation = save independence.

It will be hard to start with - we won't have much commerce, but in the long run, it's exactly the only way to escape consolidation of Government, currency and power. We should not be wanting a one-world Government given what Government has proven it is capable of.

HR 1207 I believe, being pushed by Congressman Ron Paul, aims to shut down the Fed. If you haven't supported it yet, check it up on Google and put your back into it.

End The Fed.
Re: merely the facade
[info]georgesign wrote:
Thursday, 15 October 2009 at 05:30 pm (UTC)
Ron Paul. Shouldn't be a politician. He is to intelligent and straightforward.
no ripple effect
[info]panic2009 wrote:
Thursday, 15 October 2009 at 03:55 am (UTC)
merely 2 people who werent part of the goldman sachs/jp morgan exclusive members only club, standing trial.

many worse than them should be in the dock. they should have given a bigger contribution to lord god obamas campaign fund
Just a dog and pony show here..
[info]jdr1jdr wrote:
Thursday, 15 October 2009 at 04:23 am (UTC)
Steal a candy bar and go to jail steal a billion or more and pay a fine....The key is you have to steal enough....The rich protect the rich in this country.....They all new what was going on on WS, all the ceos knew what was going on, this is why they make so much money ,they are hired fall guys, if they get caught they have enough money and there golden parachutes to fight the gov for ever....Look at Jack Welch , he managed earnings ie lied for 15 yrs and walked away with billions from GE........Never was looked at by anyone...Try to manage your house hold to the penny in a mounth....Welch beat earning by a penny every qtr for 15 yrs..no way unless u lie and cheat....He howed the rest of the CEOs how it was done nad now evey one does it...

I pray these guys sing,, but they want ,, they have millions in that SWISS bank accounts. ie hush money, they will do maybe a couple of yrs in club fed..Just ask Mike Milken who robbed little old ladies of there money and paid a fine a few mths in jail and kept all those billions and he now is the 50th richest man in the world...

SO TELL ME THAT WS CRIME DON'T PAY AND IT PAYS VERY WELL...

AMERICANS NEED TO TAKE TO THE STREETS IN NY AND STOP THIS DRAIN ON THE US FROM WS..

EVERY PROBLEM WE HAVE EVER HAD , HAS STARTED BY THE GREEDY CEOS AND WS CROOKS..

THESE HUYS DON'T MAKE WIGGETS A GS THAT PLOT WITH THERE BILLION DOLLAR COMPUTER 24/7 TO TAKE YOUR MONEY , THATS ALL THEY DO..FRONT RUN EVERY TRADE..

BUT THE OWN THE GOV,,,,BUT THEY DON'T OWN US WE MUST ACT
Re: Just a dog and pony show here..
[info]peteq8 wrote:
Thursday, 15 October 2009 at 07:07 am (UTC)
'Behind every great fortune is a great crime'

Voltaire
Men in Suits
[info]humble_sparrow wrote:
Thursday, 15 October 2009 at 07:18 am (UTC)
Never trust men in suits who appear credible and exude loads a' money, power and influence when quite patently they don't know what they are talking about and are bluffing their way through life like the rest of us. They are just more skilled bluffers.

The unintended consequence of this massive economic fraud, not a reason to get away with it of course, is that human economic activity have been slowed down which can only be good for the planet.

As my old suit is stuck in a cupboard gathering dust no one will believe me. :-(
[info]littleglimmer wrote:
Thursday, 15 October 2009 at 07:25 am (UTC)
But isn't it all Gordon Brown's fault? So many people in the UK scream that it was Gordon Brown who caused the collapse of the financial markets. Vince Cable and George Osborne certainly believe this is so, as well as an army of rabid right wing posters.
[info]ricardo_maxwell wrote:
Thursday, 15 October 2009 at 11:29 am (UTC)
[info]georgesign wrote:
Thursday, 15 October 2009 at 05:33 pm (UTC)
Of course it's not Gordon Brown's fault He is an idiot and couldn't organise the proverbial piss-up in a brewery. This "crisis" was planned. Brown and his Merry Men are just puppets dancing to their master's tune.
[info]ram2009 wrote:
Thursday, 15 October 2009 at 08:14 am (UTC)
It is strange that not one crook from the City has been charged in the UK. I do not expect this government which cowtowed to the city, and colluded in every which way would ever take that route. The same guys will reappear with the same plans, probably a bit more refined now, to carry on as before. Those of us who lost their pensions and savings have been thrown to the wolves.
if the lie's so big
[info]morengis wrote:
Thursday, 15 October 2009 at 08:18 am (UTC)



Well put JDR1JDR

As for ‘suits in cupboards gathering dust’ I have one also hanging sadly in a cupboard, no more use for it having lost my job because of these A-H’s.

Who was it who said something like – ‘If the lie is big enough, everybody will believe it’?
Ponder this:-
[info]twellian057 wrote:
Thursday, 15 October 2009 at 09:37 am (UTC)
Has anyone stopped to wonder why the world economy suddenly seems to be improving even though we're all purportedly broke? There are massive job losses due to companies not being able to get credit, but for those who do not exist on borrowed money, life goes on as usual?
The money was never there in the first place, it was all, "Pie in the sky". The huge bonuses and salaries financial bosses have been awarding themselves was from profits they hadn't made. Just like all the money homebuyers seemingly made from the hyper-inflated property market before the crisis, IT DID NOT EXIST! The deficit caused by these robbers has now been recovered from the taxpayer.
These two men are the unlucky scapegoats. Where they went wrong was to get caught telling provable lies; the stock markets are based on hypothetical values plucked out of the air by people who are trying to make money without doing anything useful - all based on perceptions they generate themselves. It's a professional liars paradise.
In the end, all money made on the stock market comes out of the man on the street's pocket. It is the best organised theft ever invented and it puts real organised crime to shame.
Re: Ponder this:-
[info]georgesign wrote:
Thursday, 15 October 2009 at 10:56 am (UTC)
Congratulations! You are beginning to see the "system". Ever since private banks came into existence and especially since the meeting of private banks on Jykell Island 1913. The "system" (with the help of fractional banking) has routinely engineered financial crises to confiscate wealth from the producers (every working person) to the private banking elite. Politicians do nothing except huff and puff because they are just puppets whose strings are pulled by private banking families.
Re: Ponder this:-
[info]haroldplinth wrote:
Thursday, 15 October 2009 at 12:18 pm (UTC)
Yep, gimme real organised crime any day, the good, old-fashioned type.
The right thing
[info]had_it wrote:
Thursday, 15 October 2009 at 09:55 am (UTC)
Fact is: these guys did NOT think they were doing wrong - they thought they were working hard in the best interest of their clients and the economy. It was the whole system that was crook and they never looked at the system from a dispassionate viewpoint. (To be fair, neither did 99% of us - the general public - who were making money in the boom times. And we certainly ignored any commie-pinko-running-dog lackeys that said the whole capitalist system was wrong.)

Not dissimilar to the mafia soldier who thinks he is doing his best for his family. Ask him: is it right to whack someone? Well, yes, if he did something really wrong. Would you like to be whacked? Well, no, but if I did something really wrong, I should be whacked. Would you like someone to sell numbers or sex to your kids? Yeah, nothing wrong with that. Would you like someone to sell drugs to your kids? Well, no, but it's my job to raise my kids so they don't buy drugs; think of it as evolution in action.

Do you think the Mafia is good or bad for society? Well, that's a difficult one, there are pluses and minuses that can be argued and you're waxing all philosophical on me now. It's just the way the system works: I didn't invent it and I can't change it.

That's the way the investment business thinks and works, except they are completely convinced that they are on the side of the good guys, truth, justice and the American way.
american law could be helpful here..
[info]sameen wrote:
Thursday, 15 October 2009 at 10:10 am (UTC)
well, securities fraud is still fraud irrespective of the context.
May I just give America some credit here for still having juries to deal with complex fraud trials. I hope the outcome shows that juries are still required.
banks
[info]mikealpha457 wrote:
Thursday, 15 October 2009 at 10:14 am (UTC)
the government if there was any justice should nationalise all the banks take all the banksters assets and form a real bank of england not a private owned monopoly, allthe high street branches could be re branded. we would then be in charge of our own destiny, not beholden to the userers.
Re: banks
[info]had_it wrote:
Thursday, 15 October 2009 at 10:44 am (UTC)
Yeah, that worked so well for the Soviet Union that they collapsed.
Re: banks
[info]yosemitejoe wrote:
Thursday, 15 October 2009 at 11:37 am (UTC)
Because the Federal Reserve is a totally not a tool to counterfeit money for the State and State does totally not guarantee bailouts of nominally "private" banks.

Nationalization - another way of saying "you pay for the mess going in and going out, but I don't have the courage to tell you while on this podium".

Private banks that _can_ fail, with no fractional banking allowed would work wonders.

Re: banks
[info]ricardo_maxwell wrote:
Thursday, 15 October 2009 at 11:26 am (UTC)
The government has NEVER done anything well. As the other commenter stated, Socialism, Fascism, Communism, Marxism, or whatever euphemism you care to use, also has NEVER worked.
ricardo maxwell
[info]ricardo_maxwell wrote:
Thursday, 15 October 2009 at 11:20 am (UTC)
The true culprits here are the Democrats. They created the CRA and forced lenders to make bad loans (ACORN, Cuomo, Frank, Dodd, etc...). It is part of the Democrat vote buying scheme. When lenders resisted, the Dems provided false guarantees and security via Fannie and Freddie. Look what a mess they created. Democrats should be on trial here, not Wall Street.
I have the solution.
[info]jim_jimmeney wrote:
Thursday, 15 October 2009 at 12:19 pm (UTC)
All I need is a very long wall and some form of line type theme.
[info]imissreagan wrote:
Thursday, 15 October 2009 at 12:38 pm (UTC)
I totally agree with someofusknow
Hang em!
[info]gustafus wrote:
Thursday, 15 October 2009 at 01:35 pm (UTC)
Revenge Opportunity?? -- you betcha! -- every one on that jury is poised to send em away to share a cell with a gal named Darnell.

And not a moment too soon. It's 1789..... and more of these cretins are holed up behind the palace walls.

Off with their heads!!
Oh The Irony!
[info]coupechris wrote:
Thursday, 15 October 2009 at 01:36 pm (UTC)
Those two last spam posts say it all really don't they - the broken English and the sales pitch for the rubbish counterfeit mass market 'branded/designer' crap!
Yep consumerism will be the end of us all!
Look no further than Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner
[info]pbeau wrote:
Thursday, 15 October 2009 at 01:49 pm (UTC)
"Some of Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner’s closest aides, none of whom faced Senate confirmation, earned millions of dollars a year working for Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Citigroup Inc. and other Wall Street firms, according to financial disclosure forms.

The advisers include Gene Sperling, who last year took in $887,727 from Goldman Sachs and $158,000 for speeches mostly to financial companies, including the firm run by accused Ponzi scheme mastermind R. Allen Stanford. Another top aide, Lee Sachs, reported more than $3 million in salary and partnership income from Mariner Investment Group, a New York hedge fund.

As part of Geithner’s kitchen cabinet, Sperling and Sachs wield influence behind the scenes at the Treasury Department, where they help oversee the $700 billion banking rescue and craft executive pay rules and the revamp of financial regulations. Yet they haven’t faced the public scrutiny given to Senate-confirmed appointees, nor are they compelled to testify in Congress to defend or explain the Treasury’s policies. "



http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=abo3Zo0ifzJg
[info]voodoojedizin wrote:
Thursday, 15 October 2009 at 02:04 pm (UTC)
Ex President Bush, and this current president had given away billions upon billions of dollars to save the rich.

They announce today that the government will not give Social Security recipients a cost living raise,
Because they don't have the money and need to make cuts.

Does any more need to be said?
Capitalism Today.
[info]chipmem1 wrote:
Thursday, 15 October 2009 at 02:41 pm (UTC)

Is a bit like football match, when both sides are losing and the
referee awards himself the Cup.

Shame we can't all walk off the pitch and leave them to it.
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Thursday, 15 October 2009 at 04:05 pm (UTC)
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bored of capitilism
[info]tunnocks wrote:
Thursday, 15 October 2009 at 04:32 pm (UTC)
Is Mr Tannin a stain, on off the wall street?... WHO CARES...i'm bored of capitilism it only benefits the top 5% of the global population, the rest of us live off the crumbs swept off the table.
PUT THE CREDIT CRUNCH INTO PERSPECTIVE
[info]e_paul_imhof wrote:
Thursday, 15 October 2009 at 11:25 pm (UTC)
Justice must and will be done. 2 Bear Srearns Bankers may serve a few years and loose part of theirt ill gotten gain, but released from prisn at nearly normal retirement age live way above most honest citizens'standard. That doesn't resolve American much less global economic problems. A succer is born every minute. Con men, as well as con-woman I am afraid, jumped at the opportunity to swindle people who can't tell bait and switch from a mezzie. The world wants to be betrayed is an observation ancient Greek philosophers made hundreds of years BC. A majority still believes that there is a free lunch, ignoring Milton Freeman's warning. Don't expect manna from heaven. Neither the sitting PM, nor a potential successor and President Obame, much less candidates for lower positions can deliver on all promises expected fron people running for office. Wake up and try to adjust to limited possibility for yiour own and the commoweal's sake.
only the tip of the iceberg
[info]justice4you wrote:
Thursday, 15 October 2009 at 11:42 pm (UTC)
WHEN THE CAN OF WORMS ARE OPENED UP THE AMOUT OF FRAUD WILL BLOW YOUR MIND. THERE WAS NO TOMORROW FOR THE PROFITS ON WALL STREET.
The people vs Wall Street
[info]atilla19 wrote:
Friday, 16 October 2009 at 04:47 am (UTC)
The present worldwide financial crisis, like the ones before it, is not an unpredictable, unforeseeable sudden act of Nature, like a Tsunami, Hurricane or Earthquake, and proves yet again that the (Financial) World is run mostly by greedy, dishonest, short sighted, but incredibly arrogant idiots, driven probably by some insane compulsion to amass more and more Riches, Wealth and through that, Power over their fellow humans. Had the highest ranking decision makers of the Financial and Political World adhered to the time honoured proverb of: "cut your coat, according to your cloth" the World Mankind and Mother Earth, our one and only sustainer, of Life would not now be cascading down the slippery slope towards total Chaos, War, Famine, and Destruction. The concept of "Noblesse Oblige" means nothing to these people and they are incapable of seeing their moral responsibility and understand that we, all of us, are passengers on Planet "Titanic" Earth and in the End will sail, or sink into oblivion together anyway. By now we have got to the Stage, that Economic life, Television, Newspapers, Culture, just about every facet of human life is controlled by these, inferiority complex ridden, mad Morons. The gap between Rich and Poor is wider than ever before in the History of Mankind, and instead of getting smaller it is increasing day by day. To paraphrase World War II British Prime Minister Winston Churchill: "Never in the Realm of Human History have so many been exploited, taken advantage of, manipulated, smilingly sent to financial ruin, abject poverty, hopeless despair, or even death, by so few." Hiding behind the self-assured value judgements and smiling brutality of ruthless, unscrupulous, bulimic financial economic power and wealth, these brain and emotion washed morons rule from behind the scenes, controlling the finances of the World, through Off-Shore Companies, Secret Bank Accounts, whose real ownership is shrouded in Mystery, etc.. Their tools are Indebtedness, Inflation, Devaluation, Unemployment or the gently or not so gently implied threats of one or more of the above. If the Real Decision Makers, really wanted to, it would be possible to run the Economic and Financial Affairs of the World much more openly. Flags of Convenience, Tax Havens, Numbered Bank Accounts, Off-Shore Companies and the like could and should be done away with. The sole reason for their continued existence is to hide, sanction and legalise the dishonest, unscrupulous money making practices of the favoured participants. In other words, to make it possible for the “Few”, to Cheat, and Steal, from the “Many”. Half hearted efforts are sometimes made, to achieve this, especially after some major scandal, involving sums incomprehensible to most wage earners, but they are usually full of loopholes and always peter out and become ineffective. Occasionally there will be a little sabre-rattling; highfalutin utterances are sometimes made like „This is the Unacceptable Face of Capitalism” by various well-known marionettes on the World Stage but that will be all. It seems to me that the Real Masters of the World are Cynical, Dishonest and Corrupt through and through, drunk with their unbridled, limitless financial and economic power and probably criminally insane as well. As Lord Acton said in the 19th Century: „All Power Corrupts and Absolute Power Corrupts Absolutely.” And insidious economic and financial power is much more dangerous than a marching army. It is certainly much easier to fight against tanks, at least the enemy is visible than against scheming, hidden and evil financial power often cynically even claiming to be humane, altruistic helpful and beneficial. Dictators, presidents, prime ministers, or even mullahs cross them at their peril. The real Masters of our World, stay in the background and spend their lives in their Ivory Towers believing themselves to be safe smiling with the sense of superiority of the Initiated, the privileged few, the “Insiders” who are in the Know the ”Inner Party” according to George Orwell, as the Cannon-Fodder Plebs, be they official soldiers, or “terrorists” often willingly get killed on both sides of the barricades, stupidly and innocently believing that they are fighting and dying for a righteous and true cause."
Old Hat
[info]dustyuma wrote:
Sunday, 18 October 2009 at 01:31 am (UTC)
It’s long been recognized that there is a segment of humanity which has developed a certain cleverness which allows it to relieve its fellow citizens of the preponderance of the fruits of their labor.
This is a short-sighted world-view and, I believe, is ultimately catastrophic to the advancement of humanity as a whole. It is a wholesale denial of the presence of the spark of divinity residing among us. Perhaps the most obvious and destructive symptom of this abberation is the effects of the notion that somehow the ability to acumulate wealth automatically bestows the possessor of this talent with the unquestioned primacy as the arbiter of every facet of the lives of the unwilling and largely unaware recipients of their tender ministrations.
History is replete with sad and/or heroic tales of the consequences of the actions of those suffering this abberation. We would be unwise to ignore the lessons told by history of the megalomaniacs, especially in light of the considerable technologies which their minions have developed today in support of their intentions toward us.
Though reasonable huimanity tends to be tolerant and benificent in general, it is this very quality which is preyed upon by these would-be Torquemadas in their grasping vocation. Sincerely optimistic people would be well advised to overcome the nearsightedness of their understanding of this so-called robber class and recognize that the tolerance of these unwell people contributes to the general penury and misery of the vast majority of their fellow man. Though it goes against our generally generous natures we must, I believe, identify, and somehow remove and/or sequester these individuals.
Industry should be rewarded with wealth. I believe, though, that the line delineating those deserving removal from position must be drawn at the point whrere an individual takes a course of action which allows him to manipulate the laws governing commerce among men in order to facilitate his aquisitiveness.
Today, this behavior is admired by many and hardly below-board in its manifestation, but without measures to eradicate the acceptability of it we as a viable civilization will be interminably stymied.