3 ms·

Was he doing the right thing for the sake of it? Or was he snitching so he could make money?

ivalm 5y ago
Who cares? I strongly prefer that people snitch to make money rather than keep quiet.
mabbo 5y ago
That's the entire point. If you rely only on people doing the right thing, turns out that most of Wall Street won't help you. If you offer financial payouts, then suddenly you have a lineup of people ready to spill the dirt. Now, you can take the moral high ground of 'Well we don't want the help of greedy people', but it seems that when you do that, you don't get a lot of convictions, and the financial crimes continue to happen.
sokoloff 5y ago
Why can’t it be do the right thing and make money doing it? It seems like such a structure would give us broadly/consistently better results than relying only on one factor or the other.
xwdv 5y ago
Relying on people to do the right thing isn't really scalable or efficient.
hyperbovine 5y ago
The number of people in this world doing the right thing for the sake of it is laughably small.
ARandomerDude 5y ago
Why did you go to work today?
wccrawford 5y ago
If we could rely on people doing the right thing, we wouldn't be in this position in the first place.
engineer_22 5y ago
OK, I understand you all are being utilitarian about this, and I appreciate the perspective. And it's unfortunate that this guy lost his job, and he might also have a hard time finding new work because he's a snitch. Now, this is a bit tangential to the article, but I'm having a hard time accepting that our financial system is so blatantly corrupt that individuals within the system are expected to behave poorly, and we rely on cash payments to root out crimes. It doesn't sit well. Am I being naive?
- romwell 5y ago
  Yes.
- smabie 5y ago
  We rely on cash payments for other things to, like info about criminals and such. Why should we expect people to do hard things unless they are in their best interest? Regardless of morality, that's just how people are. This isn't about finance being rotten, it's about that to get people to do what you want, you have to reward them. This is what bonuses are about, what giving treats to dogs for good behavior is about, etc.
gowld 5y ago
"Doing well by doing good."

Who cares? I strongly prefer that people snitch to make money rather than keep quiet.

That's the entire point. If you rely only on people doing the right thing, turns out that most of Wall Street won't help you. If you offer financial payouts, then suddenly you have a lineup of people ready to spill the dirt. Now, you can take the moral high ground of 'Well we don't want the help of greedy people', but it seems that when you do that, you don't get a lot of convictions, and the financial crimes continue to happen.

sokoloff 5y ago

Why can’t it be do the right thing and make money doing it? It seems like such a structure would give us broadly/consistently better results than relying only on one factor or the other.

xwdv 5y ago

Relying on people to do the right thing isn't really scalable or efficient.

hyperbovine 5y ago

The number of people in this world doing the right thing for the sake of it is laughably small.

ARandomerDude 5y ago

Why did you go to work today?

wccrawford 5y ago

If we could rely on people doing the right thing, we wouldn't be in this position in the first place.

engineer_22 5y ago

OK, I understand you all are being utilitarian about this, and I appreciate the perspective. And it's unfortunate that this guy lost his job, and he might also have a hard time finding new work because he's a snitch. Now, this is a bit tangential to the article, but I'm having a hard time accepting that our financial system is so blatantly corrupt that individuals within the system are expected to behave poorly, and we rely on cash payments to root out crimes. It doesn't sit well. Am I being naive?

romwell 5y ago
Yes.
smabie 5y ago
We rely on cash payments for other things to, like info about criminals and such. Why should we expect people to do hard things unless they are in their best interest? Regardless of morality, that's just how people are. This isn't about finance being rotten, it's about that to get people to do what you want, you have to reward them. This is what bonuses are about, what giving treats to dogs for good behavior is about, etc.

gowld 5y ago

"Doing well by doing good."