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That's pretty similar to what my response was going to be. - a white collar crime probably doesn't have direct victim A victim of robbery will initiate the po
by mason240 11y ago
That's pretty similar to what my response was going to be.
- a white collar crime probably doesn't have direct victim
A victim of robbery will initiate the police to act. A violated regulation can't do the same.
- TheOtherHobbes 11y agoWhite collar crime has plenty of indirect victims. Fixing LIBOR had very real life-changing consequences for many people. They weren't as direct as a knife attack, but they still made a huge difference to the financial - sometimes also the personal - opportunities available to many people. The difference is that most of those people would have had no idea they were being robbed. They would simply have had less money to spend - but they wouldn't have been aware why. In a fair world there would be immediate compensation for all victims in the form of basic recompense plus punitive damages. IMO that would be more effective in stopping white collar crime than the prospect of jail, because it would change the risk/reward profile and skew it more towards financial damage and loss of customer good will.
- lmm 11y agoFWIW most "people in the street" got a net benefit from the LIBOR manipulation. The people on the losing side were mostly large traders - i.e. sovereign wealth funds and wealthy individuals (though admittedly also some mutual funds and similar organizations that ordinary folks invest with e.g. CALPERS).