The 2007-2009 financial crisis, will according to Bloomberg.com, "… cost the average American $70,000 in lifetime income," and further according to finance.yahoo.com, "the financial and economic crisis cost Americans $12.8 trillion." This was not the first banking crisis in America, in which the most recent one preceding the 2007-2009 financial catastrophe was in the 1980s, in which, according to billmoyer.com, that "savings and loan debacle was one-seventieth the size of the current crisis, both in terms of losses and the amount of fraud." Further, the justice department prosecuted and brought charges against many of this malefactors, of which "… this produced over 1,000 felony convictions." On the other hand the 2007-2009 financial crisis, according to money.cnn.com, "There have been 35 bankers sentenced to prison…"
To put this in perspective, the savings and loans crisis that was one-seventieth the size of the 2007 - 2009 crisis, produced convictions of over 1,000 felons, whereas the 2007 - 2009 financial debacle has produced just 35 bankers sentenced to prison. This signifies in a real sense, that America, which prides itself on being considered the epitome of capitalism, free enterprise, egalitarianism, and with justice applied equally to all; is, in reality, the bastion of favoritism, inequality, cronyism, and clearly favors the elite few at the expense of the people as a whole.
No industrial or western nation, incarcerates more people and at a higher percentage than America, but when it comes to crime and punishment, the reality of the situation is, that America imprisons for very lengthy periods of time, those that are impoverished, poor, and ill educated; of which, on the other hand those that are rich, well dressed, connected, and exploiters, are treated with kid gloves. Further to the point, all the banks that were bailed out, and all the instigators and perpetrators of this financial crisis of 2007 - 2009, which were never even charged with a crime, let alone a financial crime, are indicative that the rules of the road are clear; if you are part of the elite that are intertwined with the right politicians, justice department bigwigs, lobbyists, and corporations, than you need not ever worry of suffering the indignity of being at personal risk of anything at any time. The net result is non-prosecutorial action, despite the fact that the people of this great country suffered the ill effects of a deep recession and thousands of dollars siphoned from their pockets.
As they say, the proof is in the eating of the pudding, and quite frankly, a decade after this devastating financial debacle of 2007 - 2009, the richest of the rich, have gotten so much richer, the poor have gotten poorer, and the middle class as well as this current generation, and generations yet unborn, are stuck having to carry the load of this massive $22 trillion national debt.
The whole point of learning a lesson well is to recognize the errors of such debacles and to thereby take the necessary steps as well as to create the necessary means to preclude such in the future. So too, these financial disasters always have perpetrators that are the masterminds and creators of that disaster, and those perpetrators should and must be brought to justice. That justice must be swift, sure, and with appropriate firm punishment so meted out. When none of that is done, this signifies, that the financial game in America is hopelessly corrupt and is quite obviously interlaced wholly into the highest levels of American governance; so that, those that effectively are above the law, are the law, and all others are subject to their whims and dictates.