CHAPTER 11
Why Locking Them Up Will Not Work
In Voltaire’s Candide, the protagonist and his traveling companion, Martin, arrive in England to see an admiral being shot for losing a battle. Martin explains to Candide that Britain finds it necessary “to shoot an admiral from time to time to encourage the others.”1 We can see how this could work. Indeed it is what countless hollered should be the fate of bankers following the GFC after thousands had experienced great distress, lost homes, jobs, and pensions.2 Although banks were fined an unprecedented $100 billion in the five years postcrisis, these punitive fines still left many victims and observers of the crisis dissatisfied. This discontent ...
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