Comments on: When banks face criminal charges

By: keebo

keebo — Mon, 25 Feb 2013 17:32:29 +0000

Felix Salmon appears to be in the short term thinker camp in that his ability to understand what underlies a successful society is limited. I know it is difficult to think beyond the expediency of the moment for those predisposed but adult action requires that you do not have ants in your pants driving your logic.

Believe it or not there is a role for justice and morality in the equation concerning a successful society (and that includes a successful economy). You rig justice and the economy of a society for short term goals and what you achieve is the disincentive of those who make that society work. That idea may be difficult for the current batch of thinkers (and powers that be) to comprehend but was not very difficult to those who founded the United States.

By: iamamartin

iamamartin — Thu, 31 Jan 2013 17:45:45 +0000

“In principle, I’m all in favor of holding criminal organizations to account for their actions. But only if doing so does more good than harm.” – Honestly Felix what utter hogwash. Does the DoJ or local DA care if a trash hauler goes belly up when prosecuting the mafia ?

You can’t be a nation of laws if you treat the banks differently. One law for the rich and connected, another for the rest of us ?

You are mistaken sir and should apologize to your readers

By: crocodilechuck

crocodilechuck — Wed, 30 Jan 2013 01:26:45 +0000

Felix,

“Moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue” Barry Goldwater

By: Zdneal

Zdneal — Tue, 29 Jan 2013 19:20:59 +0000

You prosecute the individuals and use respondeat superior to walk it up the chain.

Punish the individuals all the way up to and including the board.

By: Engels

Engels — Tue, 29 Jan 2013 18:18:21 +0000

Felix, a question related to the topic. I have always wondered what happens with all these millions in fines that the government collects? Where is that money sent to? And what is done with it? Because it seems it can become a very profitable business to keep accusing all these banks and collecting all those fines.

And in relation to your post, I see that the only way these banks could stop all the wrongdoing is if we start directly sending to jail all the people involved in those dirty deals.

By: iamamartin

iamamartin — Tue, 29 Jan 2013 18:01:35 +0000

You can’t be a nation of laws if you treat the banks differently. One law for the rich and connected, another for the rest of us ?

You are mistaken sir and should apologize to your readers

By: Matthew_Saroff

Matthew_Saroff — Tue, 29 Jan 2013 16:29:46 +0000

I would argue that by preserving the rule of law, and by putting a trophy on the wall, the criminal convictions “does more good than harm.”

The perception of impunity serves to make all the players in the market less honest, and hence undermines the whole market, and arguably the whole society.