December 22, 2012

 

 

“Too Big To Jail”

 

 

 By Dan McGookey, Esq.

 

In the latest installment of the “too big to fail” (or is it jail?) philosophy which our government seems to have totally bought into when addressing the recurrent issue of how to deal with big bank misconduct, the feds recently announced a $1.9 billion settlement against British giant HSBC for its role in the so-called LIBOR scandal which broke into the news several months ago. Even though the Justice Department called its fine a “powerful blow” against the bank cronyism, the sheer numbers tell a different story.

 

            When one considers that the settlement amount equals about five one-hundredths of one percent of HSBC’s total assets, and only a tiny fraction of its annual net revenues, you can begin to get the picture of how puny the fine really was. Even more telling, however, is the fact that HSBC’s misconduct affected hundreds of trillions of dollars worth of financial products worldwide. To put it in a perspective that you and I as the dumb commoners (who, by the way, are paying the tab for this crooked behavior), this “punishment” of HSBC is akin to us robbing $50,000 from an HSBC branch and then, when caught, being required to give only $1,000 of it back.

 

            So the beat goes on in a world where corruption and greed have infected our leadership institutions to the point where no one is left to protect us. When the government proclaims that these banks are too big to fail, the unmistakable end to the logical sequence in that they are above the law and beyond punishment, no matter what they do. And think about the inevitable end consequence of this hands-off course of inaction – total anarchy. Before that happens, hopefully one person in a position to make a difference, uninfected by the greed and power virus, will step forward and do the right thing. If that happens, the house of cards which the worlds’ biggest financial institutions built will come tumbling down. And then our leaders, sworn to serve and protect us, will end up right where they belong, in the jail cell right alongside the banksters they sold us out to.