Ernst & Young Pointing Fingers

No doubt feeling the growing heat from the recent report on the demise of Lehman Brothers and the accounting shenanigans that led to it, Ernst & Young is going on the offensive by claiming they discussed Matthew Lee's whistleblower letter with the Lehman board and that Lehman's failure had everything to do with Lehman and nothing to do with the accounting firm.

“Lehman’s bankruptcy was caused by a collapse in its liquidity, which was in turn caused by declining asset values and loss of market confidence in Lehman. It was not caused by accounting issues or disclosure issues.”

This thing is looking more like Enron every day. Ever since Anton Valukas hit the light switch, the roaches have been scrambling for cover. Now they're turning on each other, predictably.

I have a novel idea. How about we throw someone in jail? The major banks think it's really fucking cute to violate the spirit of the law (and any common sense) as long as they follow the minutiae of the letter of the law. Lehman and the Repo 105 bullshit is a classic example. So is Goldman and their hand in the Greek fiasco (and at least a dozen other violations of the spirit of fair play and common human decency).

Nothing is going to change until a couple guys at the top go away for life and their family's are bankrupted. But then, that wouldn't be America. If there's one thing we hold sacred here, it's our plutocracy.