I've got no problem saying that our political process is corrupt (perhaps beyond redemption) thanks to the tycoon class.

And therefore, the schaden Freuds itself.
~

As charter members of our Republican Billionaires Club, the Wyly brothers whole-heartedly endorse our mottos:

- More is never enough!
- I've got mine, fuck you!

Almost as good as that Republican head of the Small Business Administration: Owen Swindle.

Senator John McCoward

Six years later, McCain changed his mind, and begged the brothers for campaign donations.

I'd like to piggyback Krugman's wonderful final paragraphs on top of that.
Who Cooked the Planet?:

There are a number of such climate cowards, but let me single out one in particular: Senator John McCain.

There was a time when Mr. McCain was considered a friend of the environment. Back in 2003 he burnished his maverick image by co-sponsoring legislation that would have created a cap-and-trade system for greenhouse gas emissions. He reaffirmed support for such a system during his presidential campaign, and things might look very different now if he had continued to back climate action once his opponent was in the White House. But he didn’t — and it’s hard to see his switch as anything other than the act of a man willing to sacrifice his principles, and humanity’s future, for the sake of a few years added to his political career.

Alas, Mr. McCain wasn’t alone; and there will be no climate bill. Greed, aided by cowardice, has triumphed. And the whole world will pay the price.

No fool like an old fool?
How about instead:
No coward like an old worthless coward...

Aren't these two guys also 50% of the money behind that latest Rovian smear machine?

Forget the Schaden, there's just pure unadulterated Freude.

Since the rotten brothers are individuals, how could they give some exceptional amount to any of those recipients - or am I missing something? In any case, it figures they'd be bankrolling the dupes in "the Dick Army", the supposed grass-roots movement.

BTW, Zandi et al have explained how the bailout/stimulus saved the economy:
http://seekingalpha.com/article/217406-why-the-recession-ended

Hmmm. Is do they own Acme, by any chance?

In 2000, the Wyly brothers created a front group called Republicans for Clean Air, whose sole purpose was to attack McCain in order to help then-Gov. George W. Bush's presidential campaign. ... McCain accused the Wyly brothers of being corrupt, and having spent "dirty money" to "hijack" a presidential election. McCain even filed a complaint against the Wylys for allegedly violating campaign finance law.

...and in 2010, the SOB McCain voted against a law that would have required the disclosure of false-front shennanigans like those that helped torpedo his 2000 Presidential bid.

I'm sure that these two will probably pay - if they pay anything at all - a small percentage of the money that they made in fines (note the SEC can only take civil action here). Similar to how Citibank had to pay a fine of $75 million for lying about its subprime lending claims, which contributed to the complete loss of finances and retirement savings for millions of people.

As long as the fine/punishment is relatively low compared to what was gained from the activity, there will never be any disincentive for rich people and organizations to not follow the law. They know this. They do not care, and they laugh at us all as they reach in and throw pocket change society's way as penalty for lying and lawbreaking. It's how things are, and as they were designed to be.

It's almost enough to make me believe in karma. - Steve Benen.

How much more would be needed, Steve?

Off topic, but a nice counterpoint: Seven-year-old's paintings fetch £150,000. Obviously, since he had no training, he is the reincarnation of a previous master who died 8 or 9 years ago (any ideas?). Karma - action, condition and result - has meaning only in the context of rebirth.

Sorry, not quite correct. There is karma which manifests in a single lifetime. So, the Wyly brothers' comeuppance could be such a case. Great wealth karma contaminated by great deceit and misdirected generosity.

"For the record, I think it's a mistake to condemn politicians for the actions of those who've raised money for them. Officials and candidates can hardly be expected to keep up on the shenanigans of every high-dollar donor, bundler, and financier, so I'm not suggesting these Republican candidates did something wrong by taking the Wylys' money (though in McCain's case, it was rather ridiculous)"
Why? If the money contributed to these politicians had somehow come from an Al-Qaeda cell or the Taliban, the recipients would be cast as terrorist collaborators, their assets seized and the politicians possibly confined. As difficult as it may be to track the source of large contributions, it can be done. How do you suppose these people end up on guest lists for fund raisers? A mass mailing to every registered Republican? Give me a break. Unfortunately for these simple politicians, they are part of the corruption and should pay a price, small as it may be.

The Wyly brothers were also "substantial contributors" to the Swiftboat liars who smeared Sen. John Kerry's (D-Mass.) military service in the 2004 presidential race.

Of course neither Sam nor Charles Wyly ever served in the military but had no problem helping to smear the records of two men who served honorably.

I agree with terraformer. You left out Goldman Sachs though. These guys will at worst, pay a very small fine will get to say they did nothing wrong.

terraformer

the sec typically asks that defendants such as the wylys be required to disgorge the ill-gotten gains of their scam, plus civil penalties plus pre-judgment interest. i doubt the wylys will walk away without taking a hit to their bank accounts. which brings up a point. they were billionaires to begin with, didn't exactly need the money. it just underscores how seriously corrupt these greedy, soulless SOBs were to begin with.

I worked for Sterling Software, and we all knew the Wyly's were slime. FYI, Wall Street was surprised at the price CA paid for Sterling, deeming it under market value. Of course, the Wyly's had cut some side payments to themselves, sacrificing the shareholders for their personal gain.

Just something to bear in mind as this unfolds:

Fining billionaires hundreds of millions of dollars is neither a punishment nor a deterrent. For that matter, neither is fining billionaires more billions than they have. It's trivial for a billionaire to squirrel away the odd dozen million in places beyond the reach of the law.

Jail time would work wonders, though.

it's kind of nice to see the Wyly brothers run into some trouble.

You call that trouble? These guys won't lose any sleep over it; they have attorneys for that. They'll end up with a relative slap-on-the-wrist for just one of their illicit schemes, and that's just the cost of doing business for them.

What would be "kind of nice" is to see these two dangling on the end of a rope, kicking and jerking their lives away over puddles of their own urine. That's appropriate "karmic" payback for their excessive contribution to the destruction of this country's political and economic systems.

Raise your hands, everyone who thinks major Republican politicians don't know everything about major Republican contributors. They all come from the same bucket of slime taken from the pond scum atop the waters in Okeefenokee Swamp.

I don't disagree with what has been written above, but my question is this:

How long will it take for Republicans and Fox News to start claiming this is evidence of political payback by the Obama administration?

The Wylys do some greenwashing of their names with some smaller Texas enviro groups, who are dumb enough to sign off on it.

"The Wyly brothers were also "substantial contributors" to the Swiftboat liars who smeared Sen. John Kerry's (D-Mass.) military service in the 2004 presidential race."

Most people still miss the point of the swiftboater lies leveled at Sen. John Kerry.

To "get to" Kerry, the swiftboat liars had to first attack the Pentagon's medal awards process, specifically the Navy Department's, claiming that the Navy Department screwed up 40 years ago in awarding medals for valor to Lt. John Kerry. Therefore, they called into question the integrity of the medal awards process over many, many years, involving many servicemen and servicewomen, because if the Pentagon/Navy Department screwed up in Kerry's case, then this makes suspect any medal ever awarded.

The Navy Department understood this. Weeks before the November 2004 presidential election, the Navy Department issued a statement standing behind the integrity of their medal awards process, thus defending any medal it had ever awarded anyone, including Lt. John Kerry, and including any of the swiftboat liars attacking Kerry who'd ever received a medal themselves.

Why candidate Kerry didn't run an ad, based on the Navy Department response, in the weeks before the November 2004 presidential election, standing up for the medal awards process, standing up for the medals awarded anyone who's ever served our nation with valor, is anyone's guess. This would have been the only way to address this vicious smear, a vicious smear funded by the appropriately-named Wyly brothers.

I have got no problem saying that our political process is corrupt thanks to the tycoon class.Unfortunately for these simple politicians, they are part of the corruption and should pay a price, small as it may be.