Free Republic

In 1996, the average monthly sewer bill for a family of four in Birmingham was only $14.71 — but that was before the county decided to build an elaborate new sewer system with the help of out-of-state financial wizards with names like Bear Stearns, Lehman Brothers, Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan Chase. The result was a monstrous pile of borrowed money that the county used to build, in essence, the world's grandest toilet — "the Taj Mahal of sewer-treatment plants" is how one county worker put it. What happened here in Jefferson County would turn out to be the perfect...

Washington and Los Angeles -- In the first major disclosure of corruption in the $750-billion financial bailout program, federal investigators said Monday they have opened 20 criminal probes into possible securities fraud, tax violations, insider trading and other crimes. The cases represent only the first wave of investigations, and the total fraud could ultimately reach into the tens of billions of dollars, according to Neil Barofsky, the special inspector general overseeing the bailout program. ..... The report said little about who is under investigation and how the fraudulent schemes work, but investigators are already on alert for a long list...

Excerpt - WASHINGTON -(Dow Jones)- The Federal Reserve and the U.S. Treasury Department are considering a major expansion of rules that financial-services providers keep detailed records of financial transactions and confirm customer identities. The Fed and Treasury's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, known as FinCEN, gave advance notice Friday that they are considering lowering - or eliminating altogether - the current $3,000 threshold below which banks and other financial- services providers don't have to keep special records on transactions. In a public notice, the federal agencies said this change could help with " combating terrorism, money laundering and other illicit activity."...