The jerks got away with it! 5 years after economic collapse, they’re still smiling

Five years ago, Sunday night was a time of action for the financial world. Top officials desperate to band-aid an oncoming meltdown would use the weekend to find a suitor for distressed firms before the markets opened on Monday. Bear Stearns got sold to JPMorgan Chase on a Sunday night. Washington Mutual and Wachovia and Merrill Lynch sold on a Sunday too. Mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac went into conservatorship over the weekend. But there was no weekend shotgun wedding for Lehman Brothers, and their ensuing collapse triggered the final stage of a crisis that we’re still feeling today, when you look at 7.3 percent unemployment, the lowest labor force participation rate since 1978, 49 million on food stamps and 1 in 6 mortgage holders owing more on their house than it’s worth. The government spent trillions to bail out Wall Street, but ordinary Americans received only token support. And in this man-made disaster, virtually everyone responsible has gotten away unharmed. In fact, the system that created the financial collapse has been restored more than reformed, and the conditions still exist for another disaster. More on Salon here.