Quote of the Week

This week's quote comes from the world of Hollywood, a town which never seems to have a shortage of notable quotables (and strongly worded opinions). Since this Sunday was the night of the annual Academy Awards presentation (congrats to Natalie, my college classmate and a well-deserved winner), there was of course ample opportunity for the stars to come through. And come through they did.

But given that I'm a financial nerd, I decided that the most memorable line of the night belonged to Charles Ferguson, director of "Inside Job", the documentary on the 2008 financial crisis. Ferguson used his bully pulpit to make a statement that he felt important, echoing Matt Taibbi's sentiments from two weeks ago.

This week's QUOTE OF THE WEEK

"Forgive me, I must start by pointing out that three years after our horrific financial crisis caused by financial fraud, not a single financial executive has gone to jail, and that's wrong."
        - Director Charles Ferguson, in his Best Documentary Academy Award acceptance speech

As Ferguson noted in his post-Oscars interview with the Wall Street Journal, not only have no executives been jailed, but none have even been prosecuted. The reasons are varying and vague, and most of the justifications have to do with an unwillingness to "spook" the markets. Any action that might threaten to do harm to big banks' stock prices must, it seems, be cleared on high, and such clearance has apparently been impossible to acquire.

Ferguson recognizes that the financial industry has become so politically powerful--both by proxy and by direct campaign contributions--as to "inhibit the normal process of justice and law enforcement". That's a problem. Even Bernie Madoff understands that.

[Wall Street Journal]