A little slap on the wrist for a thief as the charade continues

So Hank Greenberg, the former head of AIG, once the world's largest insurance companies that the US taxpayer bailed out, has"voluntarily" forked over $15 million to the SEC for "accounting improprieties."

Hank never did anything wrong of course, "I know I never did anything improper." he announces in the media. His friends at the SEC have to give him some sort of tap on the wrist as the damage done by the financial crisis of which he is a major part was so extensive, threatening the very system itself. But the most important factor in forcing Hank's friends to reprimand him in pubic is the anger that exists in society toward people like Hank and the system of so called "free markets."

AIG received some $85 billion of our money, some of that went to the money lending firm Goldman Sachs as a debt payment. The $15 million Hank forked over despite being an innocent man, "allows him to move forward with his life without the legal costs and distraction of this lawsuit." says his lawyers. Hank is 84 and has lots more money so he will be OK and there can be this phony claim that they punish their own.

B of A was also fined some 33 million by the SEC recently due to dirty dealings regarding the takeover of Merryl Lynch. Bank of America authorized over $5.8 billion in bonuses to Merrill Lynch executives as part of their merger deal. This was done as banks were going under and being rescued to the tune of billions by the taxpayer. Again, the fear of such blatant abuses by the hated bankers in the face of this crisis leading to social unrest led to the SEC to fine the bank
$33 million.

I just talked to a good friend today, a man in his mid forties who has just been laid off and had to move in with his daughter. She has a little extra room as her husband is in Iraq.

These figures above are a tiny, tiny amount of the trillions of dollars in wealth that is stolen from workers and the middle class by the capitalist class in one way or another. Where is the outrage? The Wall Street Journal asked its readers in an article not so long ago.

The anger has undoubtedly expressed itself in such destructive activities as complete family annihilation's, domestic violence, drug abuse and other destructive ways. The organized working class has no leadership, or better still a leadership in cahoots with the Hank Greenberg's of this world.

The examples above we should use to remind us that there is no crisis other than a crisis of capitalism. And it is to this we have to turn our attention. Not with the intention of saving it, but of ending it.