Senator Bernie Sanders pointed out once again on the MSM that the Wall Street business model is a fraud. Many are starting to see it now.
Senator Bernie Sanders remains consistent on Wall Street
Senator Bernie Sanders‘s consistency in articulating a harsh reality for an America indoctrinated in the belief that some level of rule-based honesty on Wall Street is impeccable. He did it once again with Martha Raddatz on This Week.
“Some of your colleagues were very critical of Robinhood’s decision to block its users from purchasing more GameStop stock on Thursday,” Martha Raddatz said. “What do you say to them? What do you think needs to happen? Quickly, if you can, sir.”
“Well, in one sentence, I have long believed that the business model of Wall Street is fraud,” Bernie Sanders said. “I think we have to take a very hard look at the kind of illegal activities and outrageous behavior on the part of the hedge funds and other Wall Street players.”
Ironically, the show’s official transcript uses the word “flawed” instead of “fraud.” The thing is, this is not the first time Sanders has used that phrase. Even in the context where he has used that phrase, it is generally followed by Wall Street’s many illegalities. So one hopes the transcript-of-record is corrected at a future date.
A few years ago Bernie pointed out the same with Chuck Todd.
“Let me move on to something else you said from the debate,” Chuck Todd said. “It was a tough charge. And you yourself said this was going to be a tough charge when you said it. ‘The business model of Wall Street is fraud.’ Boy, that was a broad brush. And I was thinking about the fact that there is a lot of union pension funds that are invested in Wall Street, thirty percent in many of them. … a lot of 401Ks, a lot of retirements is based on retirements on Wall Street. It seems to me if you believe it is a fraud, you would not like to see money invested in something based on a fraud.”
“Look Chuck, what I said I believe to be true,” Bernie Sanders responded. “A few weeks ago as you know, Goldman Sachs reached a settlement with the United States government for $5 billion. … Why? And the answer is obviously they were defrauding investors in terms of selling sub-prime mortgage packages that were worthless. That’s my definition of fraud. And other major banks also have paid huge settlement fines to the federal government. And what really burns the American people is after paying $5 billion in a settlement agreement, none of these people, none of these executives on Wall Street get charge with anything. Kid’s gets caught with marijuana, gets a police record. Fraudulent activity on Wall Street destroys the economy, no police record for any executive. So do I believe that the business model of Wall Street is fraud? I think the answer is obviously is of course it is.”
Now that the masses are catching on, maybe we will take these freeloaders down and create a more equitable market where stocks in companies reflect their true value. More importantly, the financial instruments created to manipulate money but produce no product or service of value must end.