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Frontline did a great 4 part series on this whole debacle. Transcript: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/business-economy-financial-crisis/money-power-wa

Frontline did a great 4 part series on this whole debacle. Transcript: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/business-economy-financial-crisis/money-power-wall-street/transcript-19/ http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/business-economy-fin... There's obviously a lot more to this than this one quote, but this sums it up well (from part 2) "JOSHUA GREEN, Bloomberg Businessweek: Geithner’s entire recovery plan depended on confidence. And if you suddenly started going in and giving haircuts, people are going to get upset. They’re going to be worried. Investors are going to pull back right at the time when they needed investors to have enough confidence in these banks to put their money back in."

dd36 12y ago
And that means the banks that did the right thing are not rewarded for doing the right thing. All of the sudden doing the wrong thing is both profitable and risk free.
dragonwriter 12y ago
It seems to me that charging individuals with crimes while bailing out institutions in a way which protected investors would have neatly dealt with that problem (it may not have dealt with the problem that investors throwing money at firms caring only about returns and not exercising deeper control are part of the problem, but it would have provided accountability at least on the executive side where the more proximate responsibility lies, which would be better than no accountability at all.)
dd36 12y ago
I would add that in the short term, maybe Geithner's decision was a good one to prevent full collapse, but prosecuting the banks 6 years later, when we are out of the crisis, should be more than doable. Delay may be prudent but that's all it should be: delay.
- lostlogin 12y ago
  I disagree. Delaying things is all fine and good to do maybe once, but after the technique has been seen subsequent offenders will spend the time between the crime and being charged with a shredder. Don't forget that these crimes are still hurting people on the other side of the world. An immediate legal sledgehammer sends a clear message that bs won't be tolerated. Short term pain for long term gain. Edit: just to emphasize the point, people I went to school with are having trouble borrowing money right now as part of the fallout from this saga. That's far away in New Zealand. At least there is hope for change and ways of trying to get it if you live in the US. What's someone in another country to do?
  - dd36 12y ago
    It takes time to build these cases regardless. So there will always be time to shred and hide. After all, that's why her boss wanted no discussion happening over email. It comes down to testimony.

dd36 12y ago

And that means the banks that did the right thing are not rewarded for doing the right thing. All of the sudden doing the wrong thing is both profitable and risk free.

dragonwriter 12y ago

It seems to me that charging individuals with crimes while bailing out institutions in a way which protected investors would have neatly dealt with that problem (it may not have dealt with the problem that investors throwing money at firms caring only about returns and not exercising deeper control are part of the problem, but it would have provided accountability at least on the executive side where the more proximate responsibility lies, which would be better than no accountability at all.)

dd36 12y ago

I would add that in the short term, maybe Geithner's decision was a good one to prevent full collapse, but prosecuting the banks 6 years later, when we are out of the crisis, should be more than doable. Delay may be prudent but that's all it should be: delay.

lostlogin 12y ago
I disagree. Delaying things is all fine and good to do maybe once, but after the technique has been seen subsequent offenders will spend the time between the crime and being charged with a shredder. Don't forget that these crimes are still hurting people on the other side of the world. An immediate legal sledgehammer sends a clear message that bs won't be tolerated. Short term pain for long term gain. Edit: just to emphasize the point, people I went to school with are having trouble borrowing money right now as part of the fallout from this saga. That's far away in New Zealand. At least there is hope for change and ways of trying to get it if you live in the US. What's someone in another country to do?
- dd36 12y ago
  It takes time to build these cases regardless. So there will always be time to shred and hide. After all, that's why her boss wanted no discussion happening over email. It comes down to testimony.