Krugman - The rich are different from you and me: when they break the law, it’s the prosecutors who find themselves on trial

krugman's column in yesterday's nyt highlights, once again, the extreme lack of accountability our banksters have come to expect while fleecing us poor peasants out of every single dime...

The immediate flashpoint is a proposed settlement between state attorneys general and the mortgage servicing industry. That settlement is a “shakedown,” says Senator Richard Shelby of Alabama. The money banks would be required to allot to mortgage modification would be “extorted,” declares The Wall Street Journal. And the bankers themselves warn that any action against them would place economic recovery at risk.

All of which goes to confirm that the rich are different from you and me: when they break the law, it’s the prosecutors who find themselves on trial.

[...]

In the days and weeks ahead, we’ll see pro-banker politicians denounce the proposed settlement, asserting that it’s all about defending the rule of law. But what they’re actually defending is the exact opposite — a system in which only the little people have to obey the law, while the rich, and bankers especially, can cheat and defraud without consequences.

and what little power the peasantry has left in the form of collective bargaining rights, the right to petition for redress, and even the ability to voice our concerns in peaceful assembly are being systematically stripped away...

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