The sad part is....nothing can or will be done. To many of our fellow Americans are too busy watching sports, Oprah/Phil, American Idol.
They figure the rest of us will take care of them as they play.
When they wake up out of their TV induced coma, they will be living in the United States of Mexico and wonder what happened.
Sheep.....Nothing but sheep.
Investors in tax-exempt municipal bonds, transportation, and school bonding issues (which may involve illegal activity), should ask that the National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD) eye the political contributions of banks engaged in municipal bonding, and whether politicians received favorable loans, in exchange for giving municipal underwriting business to banks.
Politicians may also have jeopardized their fiduciary duties by misusing municipal funds, and engaging in illegal activity. Politicians may have received campaign donations from illegal aliens and illegals' support groups, as well.
In one publicized case, NASD probed Commerce Bank to see if it was paying politicians to win lucrative municipal bond deals. Employees of Commerce bank received a letter from the NASD asking them to detail any political contributions to any of Commerce Bank's political action committees with explanations about how the contribution might have been solicited.
The NASD request asks for an "explanation regarding how you were made aware of these PACs and how you could contribute to them." The letter also asks for very specific details about who inside and outside the bank was soliciting contributions and how the various PACs operated.
NASD's inquiry is not Commerce Bank's first run-in with respect to shady business dealings between employees and politicians. In July, Commerce Bank shuttered its municipal bond sales group after two of the bank's executives were indicted in an influence-peddling scandal.
The indictment named 12 individuals in a pay-to-play arrangement involving the city's former treasurer, who is alleged to have doled out municipal bond deals, deposits and credit lines to financial institutions in exchange for wining and dining the politician and giving the city treasurer favorable loans. The executives have pleaded not guilty and the bank has said that neither the firm nor its employees did anything wrong.
Rules prohibit banks from making political contributions in an effort to win municipal bond deals after massive so called "pay-to-play" scandals roiled the markets in the early 1990s.
Specifically, securities firms are banned from underwriting bonds for two years if the firm or its employees or its PAC make contributions to politicians with the power to control the awarding of underwriting business.
These activities would jeopardize investors in tax-exempt municipal bonds, highway bonds, and school bonding issues. Report your concerns to
enforcement@SEC.gov.