May 23, 2011
The economic crisis caused by Wall Street has only punished the innocent. The affect on my life as a middle class American is one that is shared by most of the people in the entire country. Year by year life just gets more and more difficult. The middle class of today is struggling to survive economically. It is blatantly unfair that at the same time bankers on Wall Street are continuing to earn obscenely lucrative salaries and on top of that "bonuses". This is so un-American- I can't understand why this wasn't fixed long ago. The only answer I can come up with is that Wall Street regulators are "asleep at the wheel". I understand that the situation is complex but certainly there is a solution. I’m writing because my family and I were affected by the economic collapse of 2008, and also we are still struggling with no end in sight.
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,
Lydia Gralla