In the past, I have done blog entries here and here looking at how the FBI is increasingly focusing on mortgage fraud.

Now we have Federal Bureau of Investigation director Robert Mueller warning that Americans seem to be getting more corrupt with corporate fraud cases surging more than 80 per cent since 2003 and that the problem will get worse because of the "ripple effect of the sub-prime crisis and its impact on the credit market."

Fighting words. But will it actually result in anything, asks Peter Viles at the Los Angeles Times LA Land blog?

"Don't tell me about the investigations, show me the indictments. To date, nationally and in California, we've seen only nickel-and-dime cases against small real estate firms. When the Justice Department truly has its eyes on a prize, it moves very quickly and, yes, ruthlessly. It sits important people down in rooms and tells them they have two choices: plead guilty and hope for a short prison sentence or be indicted and risk a long one. Time will tell if that kind of prosecutorial fury is in evidence here. There's no sign of it at the moment."

To back that up, there has been a decline over the last few years in efforts by FBI, Secret Service, postal service and Internal Revenue Service in fighting white collar crime. These days, the perpetrators are often let off with a slap across the knuckles and a deferred prosecution agreement. It's a trend I have looked at here.