Lest we forget Citigroup

It's easy to forget how thoroughly awfully the big banks and investment houses behaved in the years and months preceding the Great Financial Debacle of 2008. Right-wing revisionism has tried desperately to change the story, blaming Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, ObamaCare, and Dodd Frank for the Great Recession and the miseries that ensued and are still with us.

So, as a return to reality, note that the parent of my least favorite bank, Citigroup, has agreed to pay more than $1/4 billion dollars in a civil suit claiming fraud in the issuing and sale of subprime mortgage securities (read the story here). This is only one company and only one lawsuit. There were no criminal prosecutions, even though fraud is, according to my understanding, still a crime.

I suppose the Republicans have some sort of spin on this, perhaps blaming the Occupy Wall Street class warriors retroactively, or maybe the job-killing consumer-protection movement, or maybe even the EPA: Anything but the truth about greed and corporate immorality.