Today’s Quotes: Loss Leaders Losing and Winning

“Former US President George W Bush, his Vice-President Dick Cheney and six other members of his administration have been found guilty of war crimes by a tribunal in Malaysia.” […]
“Transcripts of the five-day trial will be sent to the chief prosecutor at the International Criminal Court, the United Nations and the Security Council.
“A member of the prosecution team, Professor Francis Boyle of Illinois University’s College of Law, said he was hopeful that Bush and his colleagues could soon find themselves facing similar trials elsewhere in the world.
“The eight accused are Bush; former US Vice President Richard Cheney; former US Defense secretary Donald Rumsfeld; former Counsel to Bush, Alberto Gonzales; former General Counsel to the Vice President, David Addington; former General Counsel to the Defense Secretary, William Haynes II; former Assistant Attorney General Jay Bybee and former Deputy Assistant Attorney General John Yoo.”
— Excerpted from “War Tribunal Finds Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld Guilty of War Crimes,” Common Dreams, May 14, 2012. [It’s about time. Anyone for a hand of Pinochet?]

“If you’re wondering why you should care if some idiot trader (who apparently has been making $100 million a year at Chase, a company that has been the recipient of at least $390 billion in emergency Fed loans) loses $2 billion for Jamie Dimon, here’s why: because J.P. Morgan Chase is a federally-insured depository institution that has been and will continue to be the recipient of massive amounts of public assistance. If the bank fails, someone will reach into your pocket to pay for the cleanup. So when they gamble like drunken sailors, it’s everyone’s problem.” […]
“The bottom line is that this episode underscores the need either for a strong, loophole-free Volcker rule, or an outright return to the Glass-Steagall Act.”
— Matt Taibbi, “Jamie’s Cryin’,” Rolling Stone, May 14, 2012.

“It’s official. Just as he was voted in for a second term as Class A New York Fed director in February 2010, Jamie Dimon was reelected chairman and CEO of JPMorgan Chase yesterday afternoon [May 15]. He got to keep his $23 million pay package, too. All without breaking a sweat.” […]
“If you know you will be cushioned no matter how high you jump off a tightrope, and you’re getting paid to jump, you’re going to find ways to jump. Take away the tightrope, and you won’t jump. Resurrecting a true Glass-Steagall barrier is like taking away the net.”
— Naomi Prins, “Jamie Dimon’s Hubris Unshakable as JPMorgan Reelects Him to Top Two Posts,” The Daily Beast, May 16, 2012. [But he promises to evaluate himself regularly and determine if he is doing a good job.]

“Occupy Wall Street warned these multi-billion dollar losses would happen again and again unless laws were enforced to prevent them and the too-big-to-fail banks broken up, but the media were too busy ridiculing them to pay attention to what they were saying. Well, let’s say it again: Occupy was right and Jamie Dimon was wrong.”
— Anonymous

“This is how twisted and skewed the players on Wall Street really are — you can lose a $2 billion bet due to ‘sloppy’ work and still retain your job and $23 million annual compensation package, as Jamie Dimon of JPMorganChase just did. This is the world Mitt Romney has inhabited his entire life — you prosper even if you fail and are never held accountable for the suffering you cause others. This is also the reason he should never be president; we can’t afford another born-into-privilege rich boy like George W. Bush in the White House.”
— Dr. Jess Richana

“One can draw a straight line from the young man who pinned down a terrified teenager and walked a blind man into a closed door, to the adult who put the family dog in a kennel and strapped it to the roof of the car, to the businessman who laid off hundreds of people, cancelled their health benefits, and paid himself millions while their company went bankrupt.”
— Paul Begala, “Once a Bully, Always a Bully,” The Daily Beast, May 11, 2012.

“Let’s list some ways ROMNEY would have “helped” America — doing the OPPOSITE of Obama.
“Romney would NOT have placed a moratorium on foreclosures.
Romney would NOT have given a $400 individual / $800 couple tax rebate in 2009
Romney would NOT have bailed out the auto makers
Romney would NOT have sent $600 billion in stimulus money to state and local programs
Romney would NOT have doubled student financial aid, etc.”
— M Sharp, as seen at Bartcop.com.