The Criminalization of American Business
What do Bank of America, Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase, and Goldman
Sachs have in common? All paid hefty fines for purportedly
misleading investors about mortgage-backed securities. In fact,
these companies paid the government a total of $50 billion in
fines. The payments were made in lieu of criminal prosecutions.
Today, several hundred thousand federal rules that apply to
businesses carry some form of criminal penalty. That is in addition
to more than four thousand federal laws,...