Wall Street Crisis
Make CEOs Apologize, Law Profs Say
Posted Oct 3, 2008, 10:16 am CST
By Edward A. Adams
CEOs of Wall Street firms that take advantage of a federal bailout should be forced by Congress to publicly apologize, or to provide pro bono services to homeowners facing foreclosure, two Northwestern University School of Law professors say in an op-ed in the Chicago Tribune.
Kenworthey Bilz and Janice Nadler say Americans “want to make sure wrongdoers do not misbehave again. But more crucially, we want punishment to express our outrage in a way that declares fundamental moral truths. We want punishment that will tell the offender he was wrong to have put his own interests or pleasure above the well-being of the rest of us.”
“No matter how severe the punishment, if it fails to deliver this message, the public will not accept it,” they write.
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Comments
Posted by Carlo - 1 month, 4 weeks, 24 minutes ago
The only reason lawyers have such bad reps with the people is because the general public doesn’t have daily access to an average CEO.
Posted by Brian Singer - 1 month, 3 weeks, 5 days, 21 hours, 6 minutes ago
yes, a public apology would go far, and perhaps pro bono work in helping us get out of this mess would also be in order.
Signed,
Kenqorthey’s proud older brother
Posted by j.Cornehls - 1 month, 3 weeks, 5 days, 27 minutes ago
An apology? Surely these guys are not serious. Why not just let O.J. apologize? Or good ole Charlie Manson?
The only way to punish these malfeasors in a language they underderstand is to require them to forfeit their ill-gotten gains. They’ll agree to say a million Hail Mary’s if they get to keep their billion dollars. Moreover, they should be barred from ever dealing in securities again.
A black kid from the ghetto can get 5 to 10 years for breaking open a bubble gum dispenser for the $9 inside. He doesn’t even get to keep the $9.
That’s the problem with our system of justice. The poor and minorities fill our prisons while the rich get to say, “I’m sorry.“
Posted by CSCH - 1 month, 3 weeks, 4 days, 21 hours, 52 minutes ago
I have no problem with anyone who gets rich ethically and legally. But these CEO’s cheated and they should not only lose their ill-gotten gains, but should have to do jail time. Apologies wouldn’t cut it for me either. This bailout was an obscenity.