What Happened on Wall St. Ahead of the Crisis? We May Yet Find Out
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Will we ever discover what caused the financial crisis? Andy Dufresne in “The Shawshank Redemption” may have the answer. CreditColumbia Pictures, via Photofest
The eighth anniversary of the 2008 financial crisis is almost upon us, making this as good a moment as any to take stock of how little we know still about the bad behavior and deception that occurred inside the big Wall Street banks that helped to cause it — and how little we may ever know.
A wave of settlements between Wall Street and the Justice Department and regulators resulted in fines in excess of $200 billion flowing from the shareholders of these firms into the coffers of the various federal and state government entities. These payments still feel to me more like extortion than justice. After all, if the prosecutorial arm of the federal government that regulates you demands a 10- or 11-figure payment, it seems pointless to argue…
What Happened on Wall St. Ahead of the Crisis? We May Yet Find Out
