Cavuto: Who punishes the government?

JP Morgan gets 'stuffed' but gov't gets a 'pass'

You ever ask yourself, who punishes the punisher?

Who punishes the government?

The same government that's very good at pointing fingers but amazingly, never fingers itself?

The same government that just now added two billion bucks in penalties for JPMorgan Chase over how it ignored Bernie Madoff's Ponzi scheme.

But never said boo about how government regulators missed that scheme as well.

So now JPMorgan is looking at 20 billion bucks in fines covering everything from risky loans to risky trades.

Courtesy a government whose policies actually wrote the book on risky stuff.

But it's not the government getting stuffed, it's JPMorgan.

Just like it's not the government on a five-year good behavior leash, it's JPMorgan.

It's true.

As part of this latest settlement, JPMorgan has reportedly agreed to what amounts to a five-year probation.

That it can avoid even steeper criminal indictments if it behaves for the next five years and does what the government says.

I'm not here to say whether that's right or even fair.

But here's what's not right and not remotely fair:

The government avoiding any such probation, at all.

Where's its probation for bad behavior?

Where's its probation for ignoring wanton criminal activity?

Where's its probation for cops asleep on the job? Or doing god-knows-what else on the job?

For SEC regulators apparently too busy watching porn to watch this guy Madoff?

If JPMorgan's getting fingered, how is it the government gets to give taxpayers the finger?

And pay not a dime in penalties for its own pathetic performance?

How is it the government, which makes a fine mess of its books, can dare lecture anyone on how they keep their books?

How is it Washington, which throws good money after bad and it's all our money can go after firms and what they do with their money?

How is it Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac get a pass on a housing crisis they created and to add insult to injury, banks have to pay fines to them, and not the other way around?

I'm not here to say banks are saints.

I am here to say they aren't the only sinners.

Leave it to the government which started this mess to say it doesn't bare a lick of responsibility for this mess.

It gets a pass. And trumpets fines.

These guys get the bill. And everything's supposed to be fine.

Not fine. Not fair. Not right.

Only in Washington, can the real crooks not only stay out of jail.

But get billions in penalties and ransom that in any fair system would land them in jail?

And otherwise us, the idiot taxpayers would be free to throw away the key?