Tuesday, July 28, 2009

Eliot Spitzer was the last line of defense

When the definitive history of this era is finally written -- it will be revealed that during the period 2000-2008, there was effectively only 1 regulator left in this country. His name was Eliot Spitzer.

The federal government under the Bush Administration gutted all oversight and regulation of Wall Street (and any other industry) appointing industry cronies to look the other way as Wall Street stole your 401(k) and then raided the U.S. Treasury.

First as Attorney General (1999 – 2006) in the state of New York then as Governor (2007 – 2008), Spitzer was the only man left in the country interested in and effective at prosecuting the criminals on Wall Street. So naturally the fat cats on Wall Street (and their enablers in the Bush administration) wanted to take him out.

Enter Roger Stone, Republican political hit man, swinger, and frequent patron of strip clubs. Stone learned from a call girl at the Miami Velvet strip club that Spitzer had been using prostitutes from the Emperors Club escort service. Stone tipped off Bush's FBI who promptly launched a massive investigation and took down the only regulator left in the country.

In the weeks and months that followed the dragon of Wall Street greed swallowed its own tail -- leading to the complete collapse of the banking system in the U.S.

One guy stood in the way of Wall Street greed. And when Eliot Spitzer went down -- the deluge of corruption that followed swamped the entire world economic system.

So yeah, Spitzer probably shouldn't have been banging hookers. But on the other hand -- one huge reason why most Americans have lost 30-40% of their net worth is because Spitzer was no longer around to check the unregulated power of Wall Street.

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