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The Bankers and the Revolutionaries
By NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF
Published: October 1, 2011
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In effect, the banks socialized risk and privatized profits. Securitizing mortgages, for example, made many bankers wealthy while ultimately leaving governments indebted and citizens homeless.
We?ve seen that inadequately regulated, too-big-to-fail banks can undermine the public interest rather than serve it ? and in the last few years, banks got away with murder. It?s infuriating to see bankers who were rescued by taxpayers now moan about regulations intended to prevent the next bail-out. And it?s important that protesters spotlight rising inequality: does it feel right to anyone that the top 1 percent of Americans now possess a greater collective net worth than the entire bottom 90 percent?
snip
By NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF
Published: October 1, 2011
snip
In effect, the banks socialized risk and privatized profits. Securitizing mortgages, for example, made many bankers wealthy while ultimately leaving governments indebted and citizens homeless.
We?ve seen that inadequately regulated, too-big-to-fail banks can undermine the public interest rather than serve it ? and in the last few years, banks got away with murder. It?s infuriating to see bankers who were rescued by taxpayers now moan about regulations intended to prevent the next bail-out. And it?s important that protesters spotlight rising inequality: does it feel right to anyone that the top 1 percent of Americans now possess a greater collective net worth than the entire bottom 90 percent?
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