NSA Saves Wall Street from bomber, now who will save America’s poor from Wall Street?

The AP reports that a plot to bomb the New York Stock Exchange was foiled thanks to the NSA’s program of domestic spying. Stopping a bombing is certainly good news, but at the same time it was reported by numerous whistleblowers in sworn testimony that Bank of America “Systematically lied to home owners, fraudulently denied loan modification, and paid their staff bonuses for deliberately pushing people into foreclosure.” (David Dayen, Salon)

Violence comes in many shapes and forms. Certainly terrorist bombing would be on anyone’s list of violent crime, but stealing someone’s home or pension and plunging them into poverty is a form of endangerment and thus counts as violence as well. Our nation is rightly vigilant against the first form of violence, but is a willing participant in the second.

Past experience shows that our top regulatory and law enforcement officials are primarily interested in covering for Wall Street’s crimes. These well-sourced allegations amount to an accusation of Bank of America stealing thousands of homes, and lying to the government about it. Homeowners who did everything asked of them were nevertheless pushed into foreclosure, all to fortify profits on Wall Street. There’s a clear path to punish Bank of America for this conduct. If it doesn’t result in prosecutions, it will once again confirm the sorry excuse for justice we have in America. (David Daylen, Salon)

I’m glad our government was able to stop a bombing attempt against America’s rich. Our nation does a very good job of protecting the wealthy from the crimes of the poor, but will there ever come a day when it will also protect the poor from the everyday crimes of the rich? Now that NSA has saved Wall Street from a bomber, who will protect our nation’s poor from Wall Street?

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