So, because the bankers used the loopholes laws available to them, you're angry? The fault that they got bailed out lies with the government, not the bankers. You want idiots to be responsible for their own actions? Then make laws that make them responsible.
Exactly. They did nothing illegal. They did plenty that is immoral, but since our society has long rejected the idea that morals are a good thing, I don't find it surprising they take every advantage legally available to them.
Yeah, nope.
If bankers followed the law, I'd be unhappy with the government. Not the bankers. Though buying enough Congresscritters to rewrite the laws to put hundreds of billions of losses on the taxpayers would put my personal ire back on them (as well as said Congresscritters). But no, there has been widespread systemic fraud that was and is criminal. Problem is, there were enough people with enough money to make it problematic for the US, if not global economy.
For a real example, Moody, S&P and Fitch Ratings were knowingly giving out ratings they knew to be false. This is fraud. Same as if you told investors you were making ten billion dollars in profit this quarter when you knew you were losing ten billion dollars. They committed fraud because agencies are paid by the organizations whose debt they rate.
Combined, they are 95% of the entire credit rating in the US and substantial percentage of the international marketing. If you appropriately arrested the knowing parties and took damages against the responsible parties (all of them), you have <5% of credit ratings agencies left. The remaining rating agencies are overseas and only used for international purposes. No one is going to buy an unrated bond. In many cases, it would be illegal to do so. In virtually all cases, you'd be sued by your investors, regulatory agencies, business partners, et al for making such an unwise move. It would have immediately halted a substantial part of the global economy, even if the feds allowed them to continue doing business while in trial.
So, the American government took the easy path and did nothing rather than take the 'right' steps and slow burned the Big Three in federal court. Because they were worried about the short term damage to the economy rather than the long term implications of paying out billions for risky or illegal behavior.
I can provide plenty more examples of actual criminal behavior. But I'd be deeply entertained to hear anyone attempt to explain away my given example as anything other than fraud. My money is on the "well, if the law isn't enforced, it's not actually illegal" dodge. Or more likely, just willfully ignoring any evidence.
