May 25, 2011
I’m writing because I have seen the widespread impact of this depression in all but name only among many tenants in my residential real estate business, as well as those among my family who were affected both directly and indirectly by the economic collapse of 2008. We don’t want it to happen again.
Wall Street greed and outrageous pay practices were a major cause of the collapse. One way to change the incentives so they don’t collapse our economy again would be to delay the bonuses for three, five or more years. That way, we’ll know if the loans they made in year one remain good. In the bad days, bankers paid themselves on the volume of loans (mortgages) they generated, not on their quality. There are doubtless other effective ways of countering the greed that is destroying our capitalist economy. We must do something to counter this disfunctional system of compensation that reward greed for socially and - as we have seen - economically destructive behavior.
Thank you for considering my comment,
barbara harris
phila, PA