Banking in America: Do immoral / illegal things, get bailed out by taxpayers!

Occasionally, I find gems when browsing through comments on Slashdot. Tonight, I was reading about Mexican cartels building tanks, and wanted to know more about the situation that concerns our nearest neighbors to the south. The comment that I found concerning Wachovia is sickening; everyone who does banking in the United States should read this article published in April by the Guardian.

Wouldn't it be nice if the US Justice Department brought... justice?

I've re-posted the comment from Slashdot below:

Thank you Wachovia (Score:5, Informative)

by Wonko the Sane (25252) * on Saturday June 11, @08:54AM (#36410330) Journal

This was all made possible because Wachovia laundered a sum of money equal to 1/3 of Mexico's GDP for the drug cartels [guardian.co.uk].
Of course as soon as this was discovered the Justice Department sprang into action and initiated a RICO takedown of the entire institution and all its executives (in an alternate universe). What they actually did was politely request that the company pay a fine equal to 2% of their profits which was then refunded to them by the Treasury Department via a $54 billion bailout.
It makes sense because laws don't apply to the aristocracy like they apply to us peasants - they're doing God's work [businessinsider.com] after all.