Elizabeth Warren asks why criminal bankers are too big to jail

There were 800 convictions in the S&L crisis, but the DOJ hasn't prosecuted a single banker involved in the financial crisis; as Matt Taibbi points out in the brilliant, essential book The Divide, if shutting down a huge bank would impose too many costs on society, then why don't prosecutors insist that the banks be split up as a condition of not dropping the entire C-suite into the deepest dungeon in the nation?

JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon received a hefty bonus after negotiating a settlement with the feds over his bank’s involvement in the mortgage crisis.

Ms. Warren, who is one of the Senate’s most liberal members, found support for his position among one of the chambers’ more conservative members.

“Something’s wrong with the Justice Department. People shouldn’t be able … to buy their way out of culpability,” said Alabama Sen. Richard Shelby, the top Republican on the Senate Banking Committee.

Elizabeth Warren demands jail time for Wall Street bankers [/Washington Times]

(via Reddit)

(Image: Elizabeth Warren, Tim Pierce, CC-BY)