Greetings readers, I'm here again with another installment of how things aughta be, as dictated by me. Today's topic is, who gets that money when JPMorgan Chase shells out the billions?
Those of us among the 99% can agree the government is pretty cozy with corporations, and hands out carrots like immense subsidies, or trillions in bailouts. What we don't see are enough big sticks to keep corporations from considering the next big fine as more than the cost of doing business.
So, I thought of some sticks.
The logical recipients of fines paid by banks seems murky. Yes, the government needs to recoup some lost coin. Yes, individuals harmed should be remunerated justly.
Banks will do whatever they can to make as much money as possible, so reading how crooked mortgage writers are evading justice by selling bad mortgages to different unscrupulous companies further exemplifies that the current sticks are not big enough.
Losing a few billions isn't so important to these juggernauts as is losing some face. So, we need some sticks that hit them squarely in the face.
I propose that in addition to current penalties, banks in these cases be forced to contact each and every single customer by paper mail detailing what they did to whom and how in simple language, and enclosing a check of no less than $1000 per customer. Got millions of customers, and like to screw them over? You should be paying an awful lot to tell them how crooked you are. The added benefit to the economy in general would be to add another path for money to flow from the top to the bottom, and forcing consumers to examine who is doing what with their money.
Perhaps when faced with penalties that enshrine their scruples in peoples' minds, and cheating benefits customers and actually threatens the bottom line, we will see some better behavior.