I think that the Lehman's and AIG's also have plenty to answer for, that just wasn't my point in this thread.
I don't know if Mr. Mozilo's penalty really amounts to much. What was his net worth? What's left after the fine? If he's still more than middle-class, the fine wasn't nearly large enough.
And all the major banks have extensive problems with their mortgage paper trails. So Mozilo may have been made the fall guy, but there are folks at BofA, Wells Fargo, Citibank, etc who need to go through the same ringer.
Well, prosecuting the bad actors would cast a pall on the system as everybody who wasn't violating the law got swept up into discovery as well. There's an awful lot of baby in that bathwater.
Maybe so, but I think they would find lots and lots of rotten bathwater. But even if they didn't, we have a choice: prosecute the banksters, or keep paying Danegeld. Whatever the damage, it's going to be cheaper to clean up the rot now than to keep sweeping it under the rug.
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Date: 2011-03-10 10:09 pm (UTC)I don't know if Mr. Mozilo's penalty really amounts to much. What was his net worth? What's left after the fine? If he's still more than middle-class, the fine wasn't nearly large enough.
And all the major banks have extensive problems with their mortgage paper trails. So Mozilo may have been made the fall guy, but there are folks at BofA, Wells Fargo, Citibank, etc who need to go through the same ringer.
Well, prosecuting the bad actors would cast a pall on the system as everybody who wasn't violating the law got swept up into discovery as well. There's an awful lot of baby in that bathwater.
Maybe so, but I think they would find lots and lots of rotten bathwater. But even if they didn't, we have a choice: prosecute the banksters, or keep paying Danegeld. Whatever the damage, it's going to be cheaper to clean up the rot now than to keep sweeping it under the rug.