Sunday was the fifth Anniversary of the demise of Lehman Brothers. Here we are, five years after the onset of the financial crisis, caused in large part by reckless lending and risk-taking in major financial institutions. And still, not one executive has been charged or imprisoned! This stands in stark contrast to the savings and loan debacle in the 1980’s, where prosecutors sent more than 800 bank officials to jail. In the wake of such fraud and corruption, how is it possible there are still no criminal indictments? Punishment is not the only way to modify behavior, but it works. Instead, executives now realize that they face virtually no consequences for reckless lending, exotic investments and fraud. Thus, these actions continue. For five years, we have heard about a grand, covert, financial scam that collapsed America’s entire economy, starting with the housing industry. And for just as long, we wait for one of the fraudsters to go to jail. While we wait, the architects of America’s economic collapse are still sitting comfortably in their penthouses and mansions, planning their next moves. More in the Huffington Post here.
