Corporate Punishment Quotes
The Senator asked Justice Department officials if the reason that there had been no prosecutions of any major financial figures associated with the Meltdown of 2008 and the Great Recession is that they were “too big to jail.” This appears to be the first public official to use this phrase. See {637991} for the Attorney General’s sad but truthful reply.
The state of Texas had an enthusiasm for executions that was greater than and different from all the other states. Their execution numbers were closer to Iran and China than they were to other American states. The Supreme Court had ruled that corporations were people for purposes of being entitled to freedom of speech.
Congressman Moody was very concerned by the Administration’s efforts to enforce anti-Trust policies. The penalties that existed in the law had been quite mild, usually small fines for large companies. Moody was not concerned about those. However, the public relations effect on the company was much more damaging than the criminal penalties and this is what the Congressman objected to.
This quotation, in addition to posing a challenging political question, illustrates an oratorical technique that he was particularly good at. Instead of making declaratory and accusatory statements about the administration and their law enforcement record, he asks the question of how the actual outcome came about. The failure is then clear, and the accusation is made in the minds of many if not most of this audience.
Most companies in most industries don’t even have $1 billion in total revenue. The Wall Street Banks however are enormous. JP Morgan does $93 billion in a single year. They make profits of twice the amount of the fine. The company had made so much money during the Great Recession that Morgan had more almost twice the fine in cash reserves. So when they paid the fine, their earnings would not be penalized even $1. They earned about $26 billion for the year even after paying the fine. It would be like a profitable neighborhood hardware store being fined 5 cents. Better Markets is a non-profit, financial organization that lobbies for better and greater government regulation of the finance industry.
