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Even if they didn't make any exceptions, still, why should regular level employees get punished for something over which they've never held any responsibility w

by V-2 6y ago

Even if they didn't make any exceptions, still, why should regular level employees get punished for something over which they've never held any responsibility whatsoever?

daniel-cussen 6y ago
I think "never held any responsibility whatsoever" is going too far. There's one company I know that narrowly avoided the RICO act and paid out a huge amount in a lawsuit, and admitted to having behaved criminally, only to commit the same crime in the same way, in some cases, to the same persons. You're telling me, their employees had no idea, no impact, no responsibility? This reminds me of 2006. The subprime bubble. In California, everyone had six magazines about real estate on their brand new coffee table. You'd go to someone's house, they'd talk about their house. And the houses around them. Anybody people admired, it was because she bought 4 years ago and sold 6 months ago, or better still, because she owned 2 houses and not merely 1. "Real estate agent" was one of the "careers" people rattled off as being respectable, along with doctors and firefighters (lawyers barely, engineers not at all). Everyone was afraid of being priced out of the market, and there was a constant cycle between selling your house at a huge profit, paying out the realtor's fees and taxes and costs of the fixer-upper-ing, and then the dread of having all this money but no house, and buying an expensive new house. With a lot of leverage, but somehow the Ferrari-driving hotshots at the mortgage refinancing found a way to get you a HELOC (home equity line of credit, possible because of the appreciation) so you could buy a hummer. And nobody did anything! Nobody could explain their job then, if what you did for a living made sense outside the bubble you were missing out. I couldn't understand how so many people could contribute to society through sales, retail banking, transactions, appraisers was another one. Unbelievable. The middle class may not have benefitted like the upper class (as it was then called, now you'd say "the rich" or "the 1%"), but they were still avidly playing the game when the music stopped. And they ended up suffering much more for it, (some rich people suffered too), jobs became much more demanding, but they were in on it. It wasn't just Wall Street that kept repeating "real estate never goes down", it absolutely was Main Street too. With that said, the regular employees probably have something to do with the dirty work the business engages in. Otherwise they'd be contractors or outsourced, like the janitors and moderators are.
- wholinator2 6y ago
  And what actions should Joe Schmoe with a mortgage, two kids and their college funds, and a wife who was laid off and has no health insurance take against his employer. What do you consider a reasonable level of risk for him to undertake? How much should he be punished for continuing to feed and house his family while the CEO embezzles or otherwise abuses his power? My point is this, why should we punish people who feel they (and in many cases truly) have no choice in whether criminal action was taken? If I held a gun to your head and said, "Just ignore that or I will take everything from you and plunge your life into chaos", what do you do? What is the responsible thing to do? For you? For your family? Your children? Society? The company? The government? For the most part, people working in these companies don't do so becaus they love to work, they do so because they have to to survive and to keep their families afloat. Joe Schmoe executed the orders because he's terrified if he doesn't, there will be retaliation and his life and the lives of those he loves will be severely damaged. CEO person gave the orders because they know a fine is just the cost of doing business and they don't give a fuck who or what they hurt, what laws they break, what damage they do. Do you see the power imbalance here? Why should we not use "who had the power" as a determination for who to prosecute? Unless you provide protection from explicit retaliation and even the power dynamic some I don't see reason to prosecute Joe over CEO. Even then, there are other forms of retaliation that are harder to verify or see. Think about trying to get rid of bullying in a middle or high school.

by V-2 6y ago

Even if they didn't make any exceptions, still, why should regular level employees get punished for something over which they've never held any responsibility whatsoever?

daniel-cussen 6y ago

I think "never held any responsibility whatsoever" is going too far. There's one company I know that narrowly avoided the RICO act and paid out a huge amount in a lawsuit, and admitted to having behaved criminally, only to commit the same crime in the same way, in some cases, to the same persons. You're telling me, their employees had no idea, no impact, no responsibility? This reminds me of 2006. The subprime bubble. In California, everyone had six magazines about real estate on their brand new coffee table. You'd go to someone's house, they'd talk about their house. And the houses around them. Anybody people admired, it was because she bought 4 years ago and sold 6 months ago, or better still, because she owned 2 houses and not merely 1. "Real estate agent" was one of the "careers" people rattled off as being respectable, along with doctors and firefighters (lawyers barely, engineers not at all). Everyone was afraid of being priced out of the market, and there was a constant cycle between selling your house at a huge profit, paying out the realtor's fees and taxes and costs of the fixer-upper-ing, and then the dread of having all this money but no house, and buying an expensive new house. With a lot of leverage, but somehow the Ferrari-driving hotshots at the mortgage refinancing found a way to get you a HELOC (home equity line of credit, possible because of the appreciation) so you could buy a hummer. And nobody did anything! Nobody could explain their job then, if what you did for a living made sense outside the bubble you were missing out. I couldn't understand how so many people could contribute to society through sales, retail banking, transactions, appraisers was another one. Unbelievable. The middle class may not have benefitted like the upper class (as it was then called, now you'd say "the rich" or "the 1%"), but they were still avidly playing the game when the music stopped. And they ended up suffering much more for it, (some rich people suffered too), jobs became much more demanding, but they were in on it. It wasn't just Wall Street that kept repeating "real estate never goes down", it absolutely was Main Street too. With that said, the regular employees probably have something to do with the dirty work the business engages in. Otherwise they'd be contractors or outsourced, like the janitors and moderators are.

wholinator2 6y ago
And what actions should Joe Schmoe with a mortgage, two kids and their college funds, and a wife who was laid off and has no health insurance take against his employer. What do you consider a reasonable level of risk for him to undertake? How much should he be punished for continuing to feed and house his family while the CEO embezzles or otherwise abuses his power? My point is this, why should we punish people who feel they (and in many cases truly) have no choice in whether criminal action was taken? If I held a gun to your head and said, "Just ignore that or I will take everything from you and plunge your life into chaos", what do you do? What is the responsible thing to do? For you? For your family? Your children? Society? The company? The government? For the most part, people working in these companies don't do so becaus they love to work, they do so because they have to to survive and to keep their families afloat. Joe Schmoe executed the orders because he's terrified if he doesn't, there will be retaliation and his life and the lives of those he loves will be severely damaged. CEO person gave the orders because they know a fine is just the cost of doing business and they don't give a fuck who or what they hurt, what laws they break, what damage they do. Do you see the power imbalance here? Why should we not use "who had the power" as a determination for who to prosecute? Unless you provide protection from explicit retaliation and even the power dynamic some I don't see reason to prosecute Joe over CEO. Even then, there are other forms of retaliation that are harder to verify or see. Think about trying to get rid of bullying in a middle or high school.