13-01-2014, 09:29 AM
My two pence worth is that the whole Madoff story has been unreported and massively inaccurate in that reporting. It's a case of the old "lone banker" all over again, when it was even obvious from the dearth of proper reporting that all sorts of major banks, not just JPMorganChase, participated in full knowledge of what was really going on.
On the other matters, this story simply reinforces the view that it is the intrinsic power of major banks to avoid criminal prosecution by paying fines. This doesn't hurt those executives who are responsible for the illegalities, as it's not their money they're playing with anyway. And besides this few execs are ever forced to leave the bank as a consequence, or even miss out on their bonuses.
I liken this non-punishment punishment to the historic "whipping boy" - who always was a close boyhood friend of a son of a blue-blooded family. If the family son did something that was sufficiently wrong to deserve punishment, it was the boys friend who was whipped and beaten in his place - as noble blood could not be touched. One can immediately see how power complexes would arise because of this bollocks attitude.
And so it with bank today. They are free of blame or punishment.
On the other matters, this story simply reinforces the view that it is the intrinsic power of major banks to avoid criminal prosecution by paying fines. This doesn't hurt those executives who are responsible for the illegalities, as it's not their money they're playing with anyway. And besides this few execs are ever forced to leave the bank as a consequence, or even miss out on their bonuses.
I liken this non-punishment punishment to the historic "whipping boy" - who always was a close boyhood friend of a son of a blue-blooded family. If the family son did something that was sufficiently wrong to deserve punishment, it was the boys friend who was whipped and beaten in his place - as noble blood could not be touched. One can immediately see how power complexes would arise because of this bollocks attitude.
And so it with bank today. They are free of blame or punishment.
The shadow is a moral problem that challenges the whole ego-personality, for no one can become conscious of the shadow without considerable moral effort. To become conscious of it involves recognizing the dark aspects of the personality as present and real. This act is the essential condition for any kind of self-knowledge.
Carl Jung - Aion (1951). CW 9, Part II: P.14