Surviving Capitalism (Not) : Did the banks have to commit fraud?

We’ve lived so long under the spell of hierarchy—from god-kings to feudal lords to party bosses—that only recently have we awakened to see not only that “regular” citizens have the capacity for self-governance, but that without their engagement our huge global crises cannot be addressed. The changes needed for human society simply to survive, let alone thrive, are so profound that the only way we will move toward them is if we ourselves, regular citizens, feel meaningful ownership of solutions through direct engagement. Our problems are too big, interrelated, and pervasive to yield to directives from on high.
—Frances Moore Lappé, excerpt from Time for Progressives to Grow Up

Tuesday, July 22, 2014

Did the banks have to commit fraud?

Click here to access article by Dean Baker from Real-World Economics Review Blog.

The brief article provides an obvious explanation as to why they did: the rewards and punishments in a capitalist dominated society induced banksters to commit crimes--as they will continue to do in the future.

Citigroup’s settlement will not change the tradeoffs from what Citigroup’s top management saw in 2006. As a result, in the future bankers are likely to make the same decisions that they did in 2006.