The Brit View from the Telegraph: Congress must agree Henry Paulson’s cheque
on 09/26/2008 at 12:06 PM
Regardless of whether or not it works, think for a moment about the precedent it sets.
The finance industry has just been told, in no uncertain terms, that if you screw up it doesn’t matter whose fault it was, or whether you were doing something illegal or anything else. None of that matters. All you have to do is screw up so badly that it threatens the stability of the global financial sector, and Uncle Sugar will come to the rescue. You won’t have to lose anything. Not your fortune, not your freedom, not even your career. Yes, that’s right: You can show the world that your lack of ethics and incompetence reach GLOBAL proportions, and a few weeks later you’ll still be working for some company in the financial sector and probably get several million bucks sign on bonus into the bargain.
Now, given that precedent, is it POSSIBLE to “fix” the problem? I don’t see how. If we show the big money movers that it is IN THEIR INTEREST to fail and fail big.... well won’t they do it again?
09/26/2008 at 03:23 PM
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