Welcome To Oligarchy

[Mjolnir]

Summary: Morgan Stanley Wealth Manager hits and runs a dude riding his bike, DA drops charges because of his job, literally.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/11/0 ... 80294.html

So, I think stuff like this happening and other incidents like that fire department letting a family's life/house burn down in front of them a month or so ago are simply showing the true America, as opposed to this mirage/fairy tale version of us that people get so enamored with.

[Avder]

This makes me sick, to say the least.

[null0010]

We've known that the wealthy and famous are exempt from the legal system for quite some time now.

However, this is teeth-gratingly disgusting. The apathy towards justice is only barely softened by this nugget near the bottom of the story (emphasis mine):

Business Insider, for its part, defends Erzinger, saying that due to restitution payments, he "might be working for the rest of his life and giving much of his paycheck to the victim."

[Will Robinson]

I could almost get on board for this if he was going to be working from a place of semi-incarceration, some kind of halfway house house arrest scenario living among the father-rapers and other Group W offenders. And of course his income to be surrendered to the victim during his time served.
Certainly no house arrest in his own penthouse or something like that.
I think it wouldn't be any less of a deterrent and yet would be a better form of serving justice at the same time compared to just locking him up in a jail cell.

As for this:

due to restitution payments, he \"might be working for the rest of his life and giving much of his paycheck to the victim.\"

Yea...and he might just retire to the Cayman Islands to live closer to his money and decide to not even bother mailing the restitution payments because walking the pristine sandy beach down to the postal station interferes with afternoon naps...

[Tunnelcat]

Maybe some of you should read the exchange between Rep. Mike Pence and David Stockman (Reagan's Budget Adviser). The wealthy just don't want to help pay down the debt. Republicans want those pesky Bush Era tax cuts to stay in force at all costs, even if it means bankrupting the entire middle class and our country.

Starts in about the middle of page(3) of the ABC This Week transcript, right after the Rand Paul interview.

http://abcnews.go.com/ThisWeek/week-tra ... 824&page=3

[VonVulcan]

Not to mention just today it came out that Bill Gates senior did a hit and run back in august. Right here in Seattle. The prosecutor decided not to prosecute. The victims said it wouldn't be necessary. (payed off probably).

[Avder]

Its all about the god damned rich.

I love how one of the main GOP talking points is that its standing up for small businesses when its using small business problems as excuses to give tax breaks to the wealthiest tier of americans, under the pretense that they create jobs. They dont. They hoard wealth and dont spend it. They just keep making money, and if the country is going to get back on track its going to have to raise taxes, not on those who cant afford it, but on those who absolutely CAN.

The Rich.

Tax the friggin rich. They dont need that damned much money. Our infrastructure does. Our schools and education does. Our social programs do. I dont want money from Joe Workhorse who works 60 hours a week just to make ends meet to pay for all that, I want money from Joe Moneybags who owns 400 million shares of Microsoft stock to help pay for it because he can afford it.

[Krom]

Hey now, the wealthy create lots of jobs...just only in China and India. Think of all the starving Chinese and Indians that would be jobless if it wasn't for their governments wholesale exploitation of the American economy.

[null0010]

A better word for this would be plutocracy or plutarchy, by the way. Maybe corporate kleptocracy if you're feeling really cynical.

[Heretic]

It's not like the rich have been getting richer since the beginning of time or any thing like that.

[Spidey]

Spin:

Rich person gets charges reduced, so rich person could keep job, because rich person is special.

Truth:

Person gets charges reduced so victim can receive compensation.

\"Felony convictions have some pretty serious job implications for someone in Mr. Erzinger's profession, and that entered into it,\" Hurlbert said. \"When you're talking about restitution, you don't want to take away his ability to pay.\"


But the victim preferred you the taxpayer would have to pay his medical bills instead…

\"Mr. Erzinger struck me, fled and left me for dead on the highway,\" Milo wrote. \"Neither his financial prominence nor my financial situation should be factors in your prosecution of this case.\"

Revenge?


And WTF is this…are you people really this easily manipulated?

Reuters' Felix Salmon compares the dropped charges to the kind of financial invulnerability that bankers felt in the years leading up to the financial crisis:

“No matter how egregious their behavior, financiers knew that they would end up wealthy and comfortable. That, in turn, made it much easier to overcome their natural risk aversion.”

[null0010]

Rationalize it all you want, it's still all about money. Your interpretation of events merely makes all involved look like jerks.

[Spidey]

The biggest “jerks” in this case are the people at Huffington Post, who feel the need to perpetuate class warfare, hatred and envy.

[null0010]

The biggest “jerks” in this case are the people at Huffington Post, who feel the need to perpetuate class warfare, hatred and envy.

I'd like to see some other media coverage of this, see if anything was left out.

[AlphaDoG]

OMG Ted Kennedy killed a woman and was a United States Senator from Massachusetts and a member of the Democratic Party. Serving almost 47 years. GET OVER IT!


OH and BTW the RICH do get off, and if someone told you life was fair, they lied to you.

[Heretic]

Vail Daily did a story on it. Funny how other people on here never click the links to the original news story. There is your other media.

http://www.vaildaily.com/article/201011 ... /101109939

People are always worried about what the other has and are envious and hateful. They will never be happy until they decide to accept their lot in life.

[woodchip]

The victim really needs to contact a good atty, who I'm sure, would gladly take the case on for a percentage based fee. Pain and suffering can be such a lucrative prospect.

[Grendel]

'Guess Lady Justice was peeking...

[Foil]

UPDATE:
District Attorney Mark Hurlbert told HuffPost on Monday afternoon that news reports about the prosecution have been inaccurate. \"We charged him with a felony, first of all,\" he said.

What's happening is that prosecutors offered Erzinger a plea bargain for restitution and two misdemeanors potentially carrying two years of jail time. What the victim wants, Hurlbert said, is for Erzinger to plead guilty to the felony of leaving the scene of accident, causing serious bodily injury. Under that deal, judgment would be deferred and the felony would be cleared from his record after a few years of good behavior. The misdemeanors, though, would stay on Erzinger's record permanently.

\"This is the right plea bargain given the facts of the case, the defendant's prior criminal history and his willingness to take responsibility,\" Hurlbert said. \"We feel this is far more punitive than the felony deferred.\"

Hurlbert did not offer details on the restitution, except to say it would be \"significant.\"

\"As far as employment, in any case where there is significant restitution we certainly take that into account....but it is not the overriding concern. In this case it was not the overriding concern,\" Hurlbert said. He added that he'd received mixed signals about how a felony or misdemeanor rap would affect Erzinger's ability to do his job.

Doesn't change the core issue being discussed here, but certainly looks a bit better in this individual case.

[Avder]

The issue is that the law isnt being applied the same in this case as it would be if it was some joe anonymous who worked at the call center or customer service desk at the local Target or whatever. This jerk is avoiding jail time because he is rich.

Equal protection means if they would have thrown the book at the average jackass they have to throw the same book at the affluent ass hole.

[fliptw]

The issue is that the law isnt being applied the same in this case as it would be if it was some joe anonymous who worked at the call center or customer service desk at the local Target or whatever. This jerk is avoiding jail time because he is rich.

Equal protection means if they would have thrown the book at the average jackass they have to throw the same book at the affluent ass hole.

It could be argued that the victim in this case received a better restitution than if the convicted was an average joe.