More Execs should have gone to jail after financial crisis

Ben Bernanke, who is the former Federal Reserve Chairman, recently claimed that there were more people who were involved in the financial crisis and they should have all faced legal action for their wrongdoings, rather than all the blame being placed on financial firms. The interview was published in USA Today, and Bernanke held the view that there were certain individuals involved in the financial crisis who should have gone to jail, but managed to escape any punishments and penalties.

He blamed the efforts made by the Justice Department at that time and said that they were more interested in threatening and indicting financial institutions, rather than focusing on the individuals who were responsible for the financial crisis. He said that he would have preferred if the investigations took into account individual actions, as he claims that the mistakes made and the illegal activities that were carried out were done by certain individuals and not by abstract firms as a whole.

Individuals should have been held accountable

The former Federal Reserve Chairman said that he was infuriated that some individuals managed to get away scot-free and that the investigators solely held the financial institutions accountable for the crisis. Some of the largest banks in the world were heavily fined for their misdeeds, which led to the financial crisis in 2008 and 2009, but there were only a handful of high-level executives who were charged with wrongdoings in relation to the financial crisis.

He was furious that the investigations failed to even acknowledge that the financial crisis was brought on due to basic human error and corruption of the highest order. The sole blame for the financial crisis was placed firmly on financial institutions, which is unfair, since most of the wrongdoings and illegal activities were actually directed by the powerful executives who were in charge of handling all the money and the markets. His latest calls for holding individuals accountable for their actions has not gone down well with most of the people he claims should have been punished and jailed for their misdemeanors, and it remains to be seen what will be done about this matter.

Bernanke also gave his views on the current debate on whether or not interest rates will rise this year, after the Fed put this policy decision on hold at its meeting in September. He said that he didn’t want to be second-guessing the current Fed Chairwoman, Janet Yellen, who he praised for doing a stellar job and making some very tough calls and decisions. However, it is plain to see that there are some extremely tough decisions that have to be made in relation to managing the policy. He said that we were at a very important juncture in the cycle at this time and urged everyone to be patient and let events take their course.