Reply #51: We've Seen One Prosecution, but Make no Mistake: "Too Big to Fail" is Still "Too Big to Jail"

[Demeter]

http://www.alternet.org/newsandviews/article/587783/we%27ve_seen_one_prosecution%2C_but_make_no_mistake%3A_%22too_big_to_fail%22_is_still_%22too_big_to_jail%22/#paragraph3

Some of the headlines about the conviction of hedge fund manager Raj Rajaratnam are misleading or just plain wrong. The Rajaratnam guilty verdict won't "change the way Wall Street does business" - not where it matters most. Too Big to Fail banks will continue to endanger the economy because they know they'll be rescued again. And they'll keep on breaking the law, knowing that even if they're caught they'll be protected from prosecution.

And yet, instead of being grateful, bankers like JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon will continue to publicly sulk about their own perceived mistreatment. That can be annoying, since the U.S. taxpayer saved their corporations, their careers, and their wealth from the consequences of their own mismanagement... We never learned our lesson from the 2008 crisis. Instead of ending Too Big to Fail, the government has encouraged it. It's been helping larger banks acquire small ones. There were 157 bank failures last year, and there are now roughly half as many banks in the U.S. as there were 20 years ago. And most industry experts agree that consolidation in the banking industry will continue.

What's much worse is the fact that the top banks are getting bigger, not smaller. The "Big Four" - Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America and Wells Fargo - had 32% of the market before the 2008 collapse. Afterwards they had 39%, and they continue to grow.

And these corporations are all serial outlaws...So forget all of those headlines that say Raj Rajaratnam's conviction will "change everything." The government is still targeting small fry and trying to convince the public it's getting the people who have ruined their lives. It's not. Justice won't be served, and we won't be protected from the next crisis, until executives from the major U.S. banks are seriously investigated for their roles in the criminal behavior that has already been admitted to and addressed with a wave of large financial settlements...If Raj Rajaratnam's conviction fails to convince the public that the government's cracking down on bad bankers, they'll need another target for the public's wrath. Who knows? Maybe they'll arrest Martha Stewart again.