What's a guy to do? With your eye on a new truck and needing a fast buck, you decide to turn to crime. You walk into a business, demand money, then walk out with $1000. You get caught and the judge fines you $200 and sends you on your way. That's it.
Hmm....at that rate you can net $800 every time you visit your local liquor store, 7-11, or Walmart. If you need $1600, just be sure to steal $2000. Need $3200 for your Black Friday midnight run? Steal $4000. The fine is just a cost of doing business.
It's not your money....what do you care how much the fine is? What's the downside, except for that pesky little part about eventually going straight to hell? Sure beats working 40+ hours a week at the sawmill.
That's essentially the way our large, prestigious (?) banks do business these days. Today's paper reported that a number of big banks have once again been fined, this time $3.3B for manipulating the foreign exchange (currency) markets while enjoying a windfall of untold billions of dollars in "profits" in the process.
In the last few years the "Too Big To Fail" banks, the ones you and I (the taxpayers) bailed out after their greed f__ked up the world's economy back in '08, have collectively paid $251B in fines for....let's just call it what it is....THEFT. And they're still reporting record profits! That's just a portion of what they made off their crime spree. The rest they've already spent, some of it going to themselves as a thank-you bonus for their "hard work".
And to rub our noses in it, just know that it's the SAME banks that keep committing these crimes over and over again. They've learned that crime DOES pay!
Wanna stop 'em in their tracks? JAIL THE BANKERS! Put them behind bars. Put them on a bread and water diet. Put them to work busting rocks in the hot sun. Turn 'em over to that Hang 'Em High Sheriff fella in Arizona for a year or two.
But as long as we keep electing politicians who are also profiting from this behavior (via political campaign contributions from the bankers) nothing will change. We the sheep will still be led to slaughter.
*this is insane*
S
Or make them PERSONALLY liable. These guys would sooner go to meet Bubba than lose their house, fancy cars and trophy wives. Leave the stockholders alone, fine those directly in charge. I thought that's what Sarbanes Oxley was supposed to do.
ReplyDeleteExactly, Joe. That's what I mean. Sarbanes Oxley has been subverted. Most of these "reform" laws have subtle loopholes built in for situations like this. To the bankers and the politicians this is just a Great Game.
DeleteYou and Joeh know more about this than I do, but jail time for some of these bankers would go a long way towards preventing some of these banking abuses.
ReplyDeleteTo them the fines are just the cost of doing business and no doubt a deduction on their taxes (we pay again). They learned well in '08 debacle and kept their grip on Congress. A**holes.
ReplyDeleteThey can find the banks guilty, why not those working in the banks ? Is there no smoking gun that points to individuals or is it too well hidden?
ReplyDeleteThat's the premise behind "too big to fail". If the law comes down too hard on a major bank or high profile banker, it could spook the entire banking system. They are co-signers (partners) on so many deals, if one fails they might take many others down with them, too. Now they're calling it "too big to JAIL".
DeleteOh, you were doing so well and then you had to bring that despicable Sheriff Joe Arpaio into the discussion. Tut, tut, my friend.
ReplyDeleteAmen!
ReplyDelete