THE MOTU ARE GETTING SOME PUSH BACK

Remember how the big investment banks walked away from the auction-rate bond market, screwing over lots of people, institutions and municipalities? Well, the great liberal states of Massachusetts and New York are pushing back against these "financial engineering" thugs. Will Sean "Invisible Hand" Hannity report on this?

Massachusetts sues Merrill Lynch over auction securities
By Greg Farrell, USA TODAY

The top securities regulator in Massachusetts charged Merrill Lynch (MER) with fraud Thursday, claiming the brokerage giant knowingly misled investors in the auction-rate securities market, which ground to an unexpected halt in February.

In this latest action, Galvin accused Merrill brokers of assuring investors that any cash put into auction-rate securities could be redeemed with ease, despite warning signals to the contrary.

Citigroup is also is trouble:

Citigroup to be charged by Cuomo, faces SEC probe
Sat Aug 2, 2008 1:27am BST
By Joseph A. Giannone and Jonathan Stempel

NEW YORK (Reuters) - New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo plans to imminently charge Citigroup Inc (C.N: Quote, Profile, Research), accusing it of fraudulently marketing and selling auction-rate securities, and destroying documents that had been subpoenaed.

In a letter Friday to the bank, David Markowitz, chief of the state's investor protection bureau, accused the largest U.S. bank by assets of having "repeatedly and persistently committed fraud" by falsely representing to customers that auction-rate debt was safe, liquid and the equivalent of cash.