银行业的合法性危机

Jul 18, 2012 Simon Johnson

华盛顿特区——巴克莱银行前CEO博达文（Robert Diamond）日前的辞职标志着一个分水岭。当然，大银行的CEO被迫辞职并非没有先例。普林斯（Charles Prince）丢掉花旗集团CEO的工作，是因为在2008年金融危机的酝酿阶段，他的决策过于冒险。瑞银集团前CEO郭儒博（Oswald Grübel）则由于没能防止规模为23亿美元的无授权交易而被扫地出门。

可博达文是银行家中的翘楚。据说，巴克莱银行没靠政府支持就挺过了2008~2009年的危机。而且，即便这家银行近期被查出多项违规，包括违规向客户销售产品和虚报利率，博达文仍能将自己洗脱干系。

媒体报道认为，监管机构原本想放博达文一马——直到遭遇严重的政治反弹。博达文开始反击，指责起英格兰银行来。事情到了这个份儿上，他非走不可了。

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Simon Johnson

Writing for PS since 2007
148 Commentaries

Simon Johnson, a former chief economist at the International Monetary Fund, is a professor at MIT's Sloan School of Management and a co-chair of the COVID-19 Policy Alliance. He is the co-author (with Jonathan Gruber) of Jump-Starting America: How Breakthrough Science Can Revive Economic Growth and the American Dream and the co-author (with James Kwak) of 13 Bankers: The Wall Street Takeover and The Next Financial Meltdown.

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Michael Cohen May 16, 2013

Big banks are taking an increasing percentage of total corporate profits. What benefit have the given to society in return? Essentially none.

Their increased profits come from a proliferation of complex derivatives that do little to improve real GDP, but do a great deal to cloud values, promote fraud, and increase bank profits.

"Too big to fail" and "too big to prosecute" must be ended or we will have another meltdown sooner rather than later.
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Ben Leet Aug 14, 2012

Financial corporate profits reached 41% of all corporate profits in 2007 in the U.S. In 1964 they were 2% of all corporate profits. (According to Wm Tabb in Restructuring Capitalism in Our Time, page 14) Tabb analyzes the problem in these sentences:
"Financial returns exceeding the rate of profit in the real economy can be realized over an extended period only if finance increases efficiency so that discounted future earnings increase. If, as is more often the case, profits are achieved by short-term expedients: squeezing wages, [squeezing] the prices received by suppliers, [squeezing] research and development expenditures, and the sale of company assets, the rate of economic growth outside of finance slows. In a basic sense these sources of financial profits come as an appropriation from the rest of the economy." It's a transfer of wealth that leaves the entire society less well off. Charles St. Pierre has it right. My blog http://benL8.blogspot.com
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Charles St Pierre Aug 8, 2012

Libor, Laundering drug money, Laundering Iranian money, Liar loans, Securitization (CDO's) based on those liar loans, UBS eg and tax evasion, Robo-signing, Interest rate swaps with municipalities.

As for government being co-opted: Gutting regulations and regulatory agencies like the SEC and IRS. Slaps on the wrist for major crimes, and even then not against the people involved, but only the institutions. 'Incompetent' prosecutions of individuals. Allowing statutes of limitations to lapse. Allowing TBTF institutions to continue. Elected officials taking big campaign money from bankers.

Then there is the revolving door between regulators and the institutions they regulate.
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Mark Pitts Aug 8, 2012

Mr. Johnson continues his angry vendetta against American banks. But does he even do his homework?

He refers to JP Moargan's $6Billion loss as "reckless risk-taking."

But does he know that figure constitutes only about 1/3 of 1% of JP Morgan assets?

Does he know the loss cost taxpayers $0 ?

Does he know such swings in value are common in most large businesses, not just banks?

Please, Professor Johnson, at least pretend to be objective.
- Hoang-Anh Ho Aug 15, 2012
  
  Yes, professor Johnson is too hostile against American banks.
  
  He should restrain his criticism of the institutional flaws in the financial system until the loss is really bigger and taxpayers actually pay the price.
  
  Let the disease kills, then take the bill, and forget about the vaccine!
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Charles St Pierre Aug 7, 2012

Finance's crisis of legitimacy can only worsen. To big to fail means to big to legitimately succeed. Bankers must use fraud, duplicity, and theft to maintain the bottom lines of institutions which are simply too big to function in a socially useful way. They must act in ways which are economically and socially destructive. No longer do they perform their proper task of the useful allocation of society’s resources, but instead suck those resources into the maw of their own consumption.

See: http://anamecon.blogspot.com/2010/06/that-bloated-financial-sector.html

Their co-opting of governments is a necessity of these institutions' survival. Thus they compromise the legitimacy of any government which helps to sustain them. That government becomes instrumental to the harm the financial sector inflicts on its citizens.
- Charles St Pierre Aug 9, 2012
  
  Here's one particular: Just yesterday, Morgan Stanley agreed to pay the govt $4.8 mil, on a deal they made $21 mil. Demonstrates all my points. http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2012/08/07/federal-judge-grudgingly-approves-morgan-stanley-price-fixing-case/?ref=todayspaper Total penalties were $16.8 mil, on a deal that price fixed electric rates and cost the public $300 mil. See above comment for things you can Google.
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- Mark Pitts Aug 8, 2012
  
  J'accuse, j'accuse, j'accuse. Please, provide proof for your accusations.
  
  If you are correct, crimes have been committed that are not being prosecuted, which means the Attorney General's office is part of the criminal conspiracy.
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Paul A. Myers Jul 18, 2012

Quite possibly during the US presidential campaign, the Obama campaign will re-position Mitt Romney as the face of Big Finance and Big Banks. This is the logical place to go after tax returns and offshore accounts.

An attack campaign against Big Bank Privilege could be highly effective since almost no voting block in the US likes big banks. Any Obama appeal based on "responsible bank regulation" should have broad appeal.

Internationally, top-tier political leaders are quite willing to through bankers under the bus because they understand they are one election away from being retired by the voters. And voters don't like bankers. There is a democratic simplicity to this.

And I suspect top political leaders are more than a little disgusted with having to bail these guys out with trillions in monetary expansion.
- Mark Pitts Aug 8, 2012
  
  No doubt you know that the gov't actually made money on the bank bailout. The biggest cost to taxpayers, by far, will be Freddie and Fannie. And these were regualted directly by congress. So, it looks like regulation by the politicians is what is really expensive for the taxpayers.
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- Brian Holmes Jul 24, 2012
  
  In their book on the subject, entitled 13 Bankers, Johnson and Kwak recall Obama's early meeting with the major bank CEOs. "My administration is the only thing between you and the pitchforks," he said. And more revealingly, he added: "Help me help you."
  
  Obama can excoriate Romney in the campaign, but that doesn't make him FDR. There is no proof he will stand against the banksters.
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银行业的合法性危机

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