We still don’t hold bankers accountable

There is an old adage that states that you cannot legislate against stupidity. We tried valiantly after the bank meltdown in 2008 with the bipartisan Dodd-Frank bill that was designed to insure that banks would not over-leverage their portfolios for the sake of profit and jeopardize their very existence.

But 10 years later, there was a change in who controlled Congress, and regional banks lobbied successfully to gut much of the Dodd-Frank safeguards. Sen. Elizabeth Warren stood up and forecast that we were setting the table for another bank meltdown. Recently, two regional banks that lobbied against Dodd-Frank went belly up. Shades of 2008? Not quite.

In 2008, there was a massive bailout by the U.S. treasury ($700 billion) to buy up toxic assets from financial institutions by the federal government. Not one bank executive was charged with any crime during this whole fiasco. They were allowed to either continue to stay at their position or secure a “golden parachute” and leave. I thought it was wrong then and I think it’s wrong now.

There are rumors that management of the now-defunct banks sold millions of dollars of their stock prior to the collapse, and they have received bonuses right before the collapse. Unconscionable to say the least.

I feel strongly that Dodd-Frank needs to be revisited and restrengthened back to its original parameters. And those who were derelict in their duties need to be held accountable and pay for what they have wrought.

My view of bankers and the banking industry? Anyone who believes what Gordon Gekko states in “Wall Street” — “Greed is good” — is not a person I want anything to do with. I will continue to do business with my local credit union because I believe its positioning is sound and its service to me the consumer is truly paramount. Other regional banks and all the big ones, they need to be reigned in and held accountable for their actions that place profits before