Most American cities and counties routinely buy bonds to cover the millions of dollars needed for settlements and judgement costs after police killings and police misconduct. But in a twist that reflects the type of rapacious capitalism that now occurs regularly in this country, bankers and investors have been profiting from police violence.
A report released last month by the Action Center on Race & the Economy (ACRE) Institute found that a number of cities and counties paid out $1.87 billion for what activists describe as police brutality bonds, and corporate titans like Bank of America, Wells Fargo and Goldman Sachs made more than $1 billion in profits for investors who buy these bonds.