Standard Chartered and New York regulator reach $340 million settlement.
There used to be a time of accountability. When people, businesses, and Institutions did wrong, they were held accountable for their actions. The court of public opinion raised it’s voice and condemned such wrongdoing. If a major company did One thing illegal, it was considered important.
We have become so accustomed to these types of transgressions that we no-longer know how to react. As a society we depend on our elected officials to deal decisively with corruption, cheating, and placing the public welfare in jeopardy.
Cheating the American public was considered immoral; an affront to the American fiber and family. People and businesses had to be accountable for their actions. There were consequences.
In recent history, it has become common to hear that one company or another, (many times the same companies ) committed some egregious act and received a penalty that did not deter them from future wrongdoings.
It is almost a daily occurance that a large banking entity commits a major fraud or manipulation or cover-up or misrepresentation. Regulators have been revealed to be either inept, ineffective, complicit, or biased in the execution of their duties.
Large fines for breaking laws are factored in to the cost of doing business. In most cases, the aggregate profits from the wrongdoing, outweigh the fines imposed.
We are paying the price for allowing these types of illegalities to become pervasive in the senior levels of management.
The sub-prime mortgage scandal and ensuing stock market crash has taken a very large toll on millions of people in this country and around the world. At the same time the ranks of billionaires and millionaires has swelled, creating a divide between those people who took advantage of the wrongdoings and those who were on the receiving end of it.
As a youngster growing up in Long Island, N. Y. there were consequences. If you screwed up, there were consequences. If you intentionally did wrong there was a price to pay. If you were a company and you intentionally cheated, misrepresented, or lied to the public you were ostracized and made accountable. This was the prevailing feeling that existed at the time. Robert J. Bender