(via thecallus, shortformblog).
On Monday, Marco and I talked about what the Obama administration had done or not done regarding some of the companies most responsible for the financial crisis. The democratic base wants heads on pikes. For very good reasons, we have laws against putting heads on pikes. The question was whether there was a legitimate grievance against the administration on that front.
I had three thoughts.
- The Obama administration actually has done a lot in terms of criminally prosecuting some serious big fish (and I suspect more indictments are on their way—these investigations take a while), tightening regulatory oversight, and passing stronger-than-expected legislation to allow increased oversight.
- That said, we still have some systemic risk and, were it possible, I would, of course, like to see some stronger measures.
- Extra measures to punish the the banks most responsible for the catastrophe are probably unnecessary because they’re not really doing that great.
Bank of America (and Citi) take the collapsed stock price to an extreme. (Yahoo graphs Citi’s stock price history on a log-rhythmic scale to show how far it fell.. That said, they’re both pretty poorly.There are, of course, some questions regarding whether the executives at fault managed to come out decently despite all this. I think the answer on that one is mixed—and may get more mixed if we see shareholder suits.
(via thecallus)
