America’s biggest criminals

JP Morgan and Citibank
Major drug dealers and their pals
NSA & CIA

Sam Smith - Although lawyers would have you believe that you aren’t a criminal unless you violate a law that subjects you to criminal punishment, lawyers aren’t in charge of our words and their meanings. If we turn instead to the Merriam Webster Dictionary we find that crimes are more generally defined:

·       An illegal act for which someone can be punished by the government

·       Activity that is against the law: illegal acts in general

·       An act or the commission of an act that is forbidden or the omission of a duty that is commanded by a public law and that makes the offender liable to punishment by that law

·       A grave offense especially against morality

By such a definition, a president who is impeached has actually been charged with a criminal offense even though the penalty only includes having to leave office. And by such a definition, the aforementioned offenders are fairly described as criminals even if most of them, or their employees, won’t likely ever go to prison. JP Morgan and Citibank clearly engaged in criminal activities that resulted in the $5 billion settlement that involved three European banks as well.

Only a few nonviolent criminals in American history such as Bernie Madoff – responsible for losses of around $18 billion - have committed crimes this large.

And checking a list of the 21 known richest drug dealers there were only two who were American who had been active in the past quarter century and their net worth was less than $200 million each.

Yet it has been estimated that the illegal drug trade is roughly the size of the American pharmaceutical industry. Obviously, the bulk of those at the pinnacle of the drug trade remain free. Meanwhile close to 100,000 minor drug dealers and users are in prison.

Beyond this inequity is the high probability that this would not be the case were it not for police, government officials and politicians helping to protect the major drug dealers. This is an issue never discussed in the mainstream media.  As I have suggested, based on the way the media covers the story, the criminal drug industry must be the most honest in America because it apparenlty never bribes politicians, establishes PACs or lobbies for legislation.

Finally, like presidents who are impeached, the extraordinary criminal actions of agencies like the NSA and CIA remain illegal even if no one goes to prison for them. Torture and unconstitutional spying are illegal no matter what barriers the government creates to conceal the fact.

Just a few things to think about the next time the topic of street crime comes up.