Why is it not a crime to recklessly endanger the economy and people's livelihoods?

Question

Should the bankers who caused the credit crunch through their greed and selfish pursuit of commissions, in the knowledge that this would sooner or later all come unstuck and, as it has done, lead to a mortgage famine, homelessness through repossession and other ills causing untold misery to many people, not face prosecution for reckless endangerment or something?

Answer 1

What they did was a scam, and yes it was wrong.  Find where they've broken a law, and go ahead and prosecute them.  Being a scheister isn't, in and of itself, illegal.

But, unless I'm missing something here, no one forced people to sign mortgages they knew they couldn't afford.  They aren't just innocent victims who should have their debts paid in full by the taxpayer.  In my opinion.

Answer 2

Banks are subject to what  is called moral hazard by economists because the get to play heads I win tails  you lose as a result of loaning out   other peoples money. Imprudent behavior by banks  have  been crashing the economy   and causing misery since the nation's beginning         and no one has yet figured out how to control them without also stopping investments that grow the economy. You can not just put them in jail for losing money because they are suppose to take some risk, so some losses are inevitable. Regulation have been put in place to control  behavior that is too risky and when they violate them they are guilty of a crime, but something aways comes up that no one considered when writing the regulations. This time it was the bubble in housing prices, followed by it's sudden collapse, and in 1929 it was bank loaning money to buy stock followed by the crash in the stock market,

Answer 3

Should the home buyers you know, those people who never planned on paying for that house who caused the credit crunch through their greed and selfish pursuit of wealth, in the knowledge that this would sooner or later all come unstuck and, as it has done, lead to a mortgage famine, homelessness through repossession and other ills causing untold misery to many people, not face prosecution for reckless endangerment or something?

Answer 4

And what would you do with all the people who lied about their income and other financial information to get ALT-A mortgages?

Answer 5

The world is full of risk. You cannot socialize the nation to protect the masses from the pitfalls of life.  Deal with it.