We Still Haven't Learned

The disclosure the other day that JP Morgan experienced a two billion dollar loss in its trading portfolio came as no surprise. We gave the banks nothing more than a slap on the wrist after they created the last crisis. No one went to jail or was even prosecuted. Practices that ruined the lives of thousands of Americans went unpunished. So why should we expect the banks to learn any lesson from their past misdeeds?

What did we do? We bailed them out. We had to do that. But we should have put conditions in place to make sure crises like the one we still haven't recovered from can't happen again. We have tried. Laws were passed. But the banks were successful in lobbying to make sure the laws were so watered down as to be ineffective.

So I say we haven't learned. Why do I say we? It can be seen that the banks have learned nothing. They are content to take their unnecessary risks and don't care if they create another crisis. They'll get bailed out again if need be. But what is more important is that we haven't learned. We, the people. We have allowed our lawmakers to water down the laws and listen when the banks say they can handle the risks. We are complacent. We are content to let our lawmakers do nothing. But of course when the next crisis happens we will raise our voices in protest and ask how our lawmakers let this happen again. But it won't be their fault exclusively. It will be the fault of every American citizen who sits back and lets Congress do nothing and be unduly influenced by the institutions they are in charge of regulating.

Most disturbing is the silence from Occupy Wall St. I look at their website this morning and I see no mention of any planned protests in the wake of JP Morgan's revelation. If I was the leader of the movement I would have issued an immediate call for a massive protest. Instead of some nebulous agenda, which the movement has often been accused of, here would have been the chance to scream about something real, something that we can all relate to, another misdeed that an overpaid executive perpetrated by not properly considering the risks he was taking. By staging a protest with a solid agenda, the movement could have legitimized itself and set itself on a course towards wider acceptance.

But, of course, what has happened is that this important event has passed without being exploited for the opportunity it presents. Sure, they will be looked at and a report will be made, but in the end, the banks will water this story down as well and Congress will excuse this so called "aberration" and let the banks go on taking unnecessary risks.

We can all sit back and be more concerned with Mariano Rivera's torn ACL and Amar'e Stoudamire's lack of self control. And when our standard of living has deteriorated to the point where major services have to be eliminated and 25 to 30% of the population lives in poverty, then we will all scream for Congress to act. And when they fail to act, it won't be there fault, it will be ours. All 300 million of us who fail to hold our elected officials accountable. And in our wonderful American way, it will be spun into something else by the mainstream media so we can point our fingers and evade our responsibility.