May 27, 2011
I’m writing because my family and I were affected by the economic collapse of 2008, and we don’t want it to happen again.
I teach at a local community college in the Seattle area, and I've seen both academic and non-academic staff laid off, and adjunct faculty lose their medical insurance and classes due to low enrollments. The State of Washington needs to cut back $4 billion dollars over the next year in order to remain financially stable. What about the bankers and fiscally irresponsible Wall street companies and banks that received over $800 billion in bail-outs? Where is their fiscal responsibility?
One way to change the incentives so Wall Street doesn’t collapse our economy again would be for regulators to set up a way for shareholders to grab back ill-gotten gains.
If it turns out that the profits in a given year were built on shoddy practices that become clear in the out-years, those bonus payments should be forfeited.
Thank you for considering my comment,
Bruce Wolcott
Seattle, WA