These people will walk away from scene of the crash
The message so far is that those who caused the financial crisis will not be held accountable
Is it time to put the Great Recession behind us?
Not in terms of the economy – which remains bogged down with high unemployment, low growth and other aftershocks – but rather when it comes to demanding a rigorous effort to hold Wall Street bankers, traders and executives accountable for causing the financial crisis.
Should we just chalk it up to such simplified explanations as “animal spirits ran amok” and “these things happen occasionally”? Or should we continue to expend scarce political and law enforcement resources trying to get to the bottom of what happened, and why, with a goal of holding the right people legally and financially accountable?
It’s a conundrum, especially since many Americans have lost enthusiasm for the fight. But the path Americans ultimately take will reveal to everyone much about who we are as a people and what ethics, values and morality we stand for. It will also have serious lasting implications if we hope to avoid a rerun of what happened over the last five years.
At the moment, the message we are broadcasting far and wide is: There will be no justice; there will be no accountability; let’s return to the status quo as quickly as possible.
There are, not surprisingly, powerful and articulate voices in favour of moving on. In his book Unintended Consequences Edward Conard, a former Bain Capital partner of Mitt Romney argues forcefully that occasional market collapses such as 1929 and 2008 are a small price to pay for a system of capital allocation that has produced vast sums of wealth, extraordinary technical and financial innovation, and a system that rewards people handsomely for taking risks.
For better or for worse, Conard writes, this is the country that produced Apple, Google and Facebook, among the most admired corporations in the world. He believes the sooner we get back to untethering Wall Street’s animal instincts the better. That means modest regulation, at best, and an end to meting out justice for those personally responsible for the financial crisis because, hey, stuff happens.