[quote=Shadowfax]It’s a start. Better from them than from the rest of us, you included, right?
Didn’t break any laws? You are kidding, right? These guys (I am not aware of any women CEOs, but there may be some) are the Chief Executive Officers–they are ultimately responsible for the actions of the banks they are in charge of. It’s Enron all over again–“I didn’t know my traders were actively and knowingly fleecing grannies of their savings!”
Since when was fraud not a crime? If we had an enforcement arm that had any cojones, most of these assholes would be in trial for the basic crime of stealing.
Part of the problem with the banks that are too big to fail is that they are also too big to be accountable. You can’t throw a corporation in jail, so you have to look to the people who made decisions or overlooked the crimes being committed in the name of profits. Look at Solyndra: it’s being investigated for taking government money. Did the CEO line his pockets with some of that money? Maybe. But at least there is/was an investigation into where it all went.
Where is the investigation of the banks that sold these retirement plans (usually conservative customers for investment products) toxic securities? Well, the enforcement arms have been gutted by budget cuts and the commissioners’ seats are filled with insider cronies who can’t bring charges against their Harvard MBA classmates. Who you gonna call? So the CEOs and others at the helm of Wall Street either participated or were willingly or woefully ignorant. They should recompense the people they fleeced. End of story.[/quote]
Shadowfax: As I read the Rolling Stone piece, I couldn’t help but think how much an independent, investigative media would help expose shit like this.
Its not just enforcement agencies that have been gutted. Pick nearly any major metro paper of your choosing and look at how lean their staffing is. When’s the last time you read a really good piece of muckracking journalism (outside of Taibbi and the Rolling Stone)? Chances are its been a while. We know to the minute what Lindsay Lohan and Kim Kardashian are up to, but don’t have a fucking clue when it comes to meaningful reporting. Its sad and a major part of the reason that we, as a country, are where we are.
