Here's why Wall Street has a hard time being ethical

[DucatiMonster696]

First off, the notional amount is meaningless. Second, nobody thinks that the government is going to bail them out, they just don't think it's going to fail.

I had some very interesting conversations at a major bank I worked at pre-crisis. Keep in mind, I wasn't some junior level financial analyst and I had access to the highest echelons. If you asked them they thought they knew it all. I was espousing that there was going to be a huge downturn in housing, they chuckled. I did convince them to double their wholesale funding plans from $2bn to $5bn, which I put in place in the summer of 2006 and which helped them out significantly through the credit crisis.

I'm going to go with what you are saying here and state that what you just described is just cementing what I said before. Their ego and gambling nature led them to believe that they could not fail, and those same tendencies in the face of the actual bailouts that did occur will lead them to repeating their mistakes and learning very little from those mistakes because they know that have, and that is leverage for bailouts in the future as that is the by-product of the moral hazard created by a system that government HAS to keep propped up and growing because it has become intertwined and over leveraged in self-interest with the entire process.

 

[ralfy]

Thraashman is right. Given the idea of free market capitalism, market forces will ensure that people won't invest in Wall Street, causing it to fail. The same forces will ensure that people won't vote for government that supports Wall Street.

And then there's reality, where people will play along with Wall Street while flipping houses and maxing out on credit cards, while voting for government that supports Big Business.

 

[DucatiMonster696]

Thraashman is right. Given the idea of free market capitalism, market forces will ensure that people won't invest in Wall Street, causing it to fail. The same forces will ensure that people won't vote for government that supports Wall Street.

And then there's reality, where people will play along with Wall Street while flipping houses and maxing out on credit cards, while voting for government that supports Big Business with subsidizes, regulations, price controls and bailouts, etc

FTFY

 

[blankslate]

I'll just leave these here.

http://www.smithsonianmag.com/scien...-Being-a-Psychopath-176019901.html?c=y&page=1


http://www.thestar.com/business/201...cidence_of_psychopathy_as_the_rest_of_us.html


Before the Graham Leach Bliley act (which was unfortunately signed into law by President Clinton), there was a decent firewall between banks that served regular customers and those that catered to those who invested and/or speculated in the market.

Glass-Steagall helped keep the Wallstreet CEOs from making a mess of things.

 

[Oldgamer]

I'll just leave these here.

http://www.smithsonianmag.com/scien...-Being-a-Psychopath-176019901.html?c=y&page=1


http://www.thestar.com/business/201...cidence_of_psychopathy_as_the_rest_of_us.html


Before the Graham Leach Bliley act (which was unfortunately signed into law by President Clinton), there was a decent firewall between banks that served regular customers and those that catered to those who invested and/or speculated in the market.

Glass-Steagall helped keep the Wallstreet CEOs from making a mess of things.

Glad you posted these, I wish more people would read up on this.

 

[Attic]

If you want to fix Wall Street you'll need to start rolling the guillotines out.

 

[IngemarStenmark]

If you want to fix Wall Street you'll need to start rolling the guillotines out.

Are you suggesting that shareholders of companies that are unethical be executed?

😱

 

[ralfy]

In the end, it won't just mean getting rid of Wall Street, especially given peak oil and global warming.

 

[Darwin333]

We did raise taxes on them. What did that fix?

Its rather simple, they have and are breaking black letter law. Any asshole that takes an objective look at what they have/are doing will conclude that they are committing felony fraud. Those that have broken criminal law should be tried and if/when found guilty they should be punished to the fullest extent of the law. Period.

Start throwing the assholes in jail and I guarantee this shit will stop.

 

[werepossum]

I'll just leave these here.

http://www.smithsonianmag.com/scien...-Being-a-Psychopath-176019901.html?c=y&page=1


http://www.thestar.com/business/201...cidence_of_psychopathy_as_the_rest_of_us.html


Before the Graham Leach Bliley act (which was unfortunately signed into law by President Clinton), there was a decent firewall between banks that served regular customers and those that catered to those who invested and/or speculated in the market.

Glass-Steagall helped keep the Wallstreet CEOs from making a mess of things.

That can't be said too often. With Glass-Steagall in place this would have been a major hit but a minor recession. Instead it crashed our whole economy. Placing blame on any one factor is foolish as Pubbies, Dems, unrealistic HUD requirements, lax regulation, and greed both by lenders and by borrowers all played big roles.