Readers know I have long argued that punishing individuals is more appropriate than punishing non-individuals, like corporations. (See blog on September 25th for the most recent.)
It is satisfying when a major player agrees with you. Ben Bernanke was Chairman of the Federal Reserve System during the global financial crisis of 2008/9. In his new book, he says: "it would have been my preference to have more investigation of individual action, since obviously everything what went wrong or was illegal was done by some individual, not by an abstract firm."
He points out that bringing criminal actions is not the Fed's job. That job belongs to the Department of Justice. In fairness, I recall reading former Attorney General Eric Holder say that it was much harder to find individuals guilty than corporations. Going after corporations was the low-hanging fruit. Assuming that is correct, why are the laws designed to excuse bad individual behavior?
Some will argue that prosecuting individuals in corporations without also prosecuting individuals in government is not fair. I argue that you don't prosecute individuals simply for doing the wrong thing. It is not illegal to do something stupid. You prosecute individuals who knowingly did the wrong thing for personal greed, like salesmen who tell you certain bonds are safe, because they have subprime mortgages as collateral, when they already know the truth . . . oh, the sweet smell of personal greed!
It is satisfying when a major player agrees with you. Ben Bernanke was Chairman of the Federal Reserve System during the global financial crisis of 2008/9. In his new book, he says: "it would have been my preference to have more investigation of individual action, since obviously everything what went wrong or was illegal was done by some individual, not by an abstract firm."
He points out that bringing criminal actions is not the Fed's job. That job belongs to the Department of Justice. In fairness, I recall reading former Attorney General Eric Holder say that it was much harder to find individuals guilty than corporations. Going after corporations was the low-hanging fruit. Assuming that is correct, why are the laws designed to excuse bad individual behavior?
Some will argue that prosecuting individuals in corporations without also prosecuting individuals in government is not fair. I argue that you don't prosecute individuals simply for doing the wrong thing. It is not illegal to do something stupid. You prosecute individuals who knowingly did the wrong thing for personal greed, like salesmen who tell you certain bonds are safe, because they have subprime mortgages as collateral, when they already know the truth . . . oh, the sweet smell of personal greed!
