So basically, they lost a weeks pay....
Not even that. You have to figure, the people who actually made this deal happen (within the bank) and benefited most from it, some of it on the books (through higher bonuses for bringing in a large chunk of business) and some of it off the books (cash bribes, cars, hookers, vacations, etc.), didn't suffer at all because of this fine. The fine was paid by the corporation = the shareholders. None of the actual perpetrators of the crime had to dig into their own pockets to pay it. As the article states, no one went to jail -
even though it was a criminal complaint. And let's say a couple of the banker soldiers/fall guys got swept out (usually by forced resignation - not an actual firing that would affect their future employment prospects... that keeps them quiet)... well, they were probably working at another bank within a few weeks (though now maybe in the Caribbean, Israel, Eastern Europe or where ever).
But as long as the average American gets to see a table with three Glocks, a .22 bolt action rifle, an old AK that doesn't even work and a few packets of coke and heroin on Channel 13 News, they think their kids are safer at school and on the streets. Its a dog & pony show for the sheeple... identical to what was described and shown on The Wire. That's why that was such a truly amazing show (in addition to brilliant writing and acting): it actually exposed a truth that most people refuse to accept.
When it comes to the truly big money, the bankers, law enforcement agents, politicians and the general public either turn their heads (so they "don't
see what's happening") or they just play dumb because it's too much to think about - the NFL preseason is about to start... the NCAA Final 4 is on, yadda, yadda, yadda. The (so called) War on Drugs, from Nixon to Reagan to Obama is quite simply a joke that only supports a (fake) judicial system and prison system that profits off of small fries being locked up, to the tune of $30K-$40K per inmate per year! Fuck! That's damn near Harvard Business School tuition, right there! But like a bunch of Goobers, we'll pay that. But God forbid anyone suggest that we instead use that money to rebuild the nation's infrastructure and improve our schools. No! Can't do that. What we'uns need to do is go save some more people around the world for/from democracy and eliminate the EPA and the Education Dept and not pay our debts. More soldiers. More ships. Some airplanes that will double in cost by the time the first one rolls off the assembly line! Anything else,
that actually benefits the republic (res publica... Americans *especially* need to learn the true definition of that word and where it came from!), well now, that's just... that's
red commie socialism right there!
Lockin' up potheads and small fries, while the whales continue to destroy our society. Yep, makes perfect sense to me.
And since I've been asked before, before some moralist asks me again, the answer is "no, I don't smoke pot or use illicit drugs of any kind." What few working brain cells I have left, I try to preserve and protect. But I support the right of all other humans to do what they please with their own bodies.