Judgment Day for Wall Street? - By Monika Mitchell
Have you heard the “good” news?
The End of the World is nigh. Saturday, May 21 to be precise. Uh oh—that’s today! So if you feel any rumblings while reading this—my apologies. According to the co-founder of Family Radio network, the nearly century-old Harold Camping is predicting “the Rapture” will begin this week and in five months the world as we know it will officially end. This would be a surefire way to end humanity’s problems. Oh, if it were only that easy…
In non-religious terms, the “Rapture” is the transformation from one sphere of existence to another. This very well may become the fate for Wall Street professionals and financial institutions in line for the new wave of criminal prosecutions.
Hedge Fund CEO, Raj Rajaratnam‘s conviction on 14 counts of insider trading has emboldened the federal prosecutor’s office in New York to pursue other firms. The use of wiretapping for Wall Street trials, normally reserved for mafia racketeering, reveals the place the industry has taken in the minds of the legal system and the public.
This view of the formerly esteemed financial industry is a tragic shame. Wall Street should be the partner of Main Street. In a more perfect world, both Streets would be connected through a symbiotic relationship where financial innovation supplies the citizenry with jobs and capital. Unfortunately through the past decade, Wall Street has once again become the enemy of the people.
Why? Mortgage market madness.
