Page 22 - The Banks Article

For Pester banks had lost touch with the local communities

they were meant to serve:

“They are still overcharging, still keeping customers in the dark

about how much they are really paying, and still conniving in
family debt problems by lending money irresponsibly.” (13)

More and more calls are being made to hold banks and their
chief executives to account as highlighted by Christy

Goldsmith Romero:

“Holding Wall Street CEOs to account, on the other hand, will be
much more difficult, as the lack of cases has shown. "Our

nation cannot afford to take our eye off the ball when it comes

to crime or other illegal practices inside banks that require law
enforcement response," Sigtarp's inspector-general Christy

Goldsmith Romero” (15)

By contrast, according to the FT (12), “other countries might
never fully break even, thus having to deal with the

consequences of higher public debt for years to come.

While the US has had success with financial punishment, it is

lagging behind other countries on the legal side of things.
According to an analysis by US law enforcement agency Sigtarp,

US prosecutors have convicted 324 individuals of crimes linked

to the crisis. But not a single Wall Street CEO is among them.
Instead, they come from Main Street: mortgage lenders, loan

officers, real estate brokers and developers, among others. US

authorities have said this is due to lack of evidence, not effort.”