
Neoliberalism has had its day. So what happens next? - 1_player
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/aug/21/death-of-neoliberalism-crisis-in-western-politics
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bko
> The banks were bailed out; hardly any bankers on either side of the Atlantic
> were prosecuted for their crimes; and the price of their behaviour was duly
> paid by the taxpayer.

Banks paid back everything borrowed to them:

> "Barack Obama says banks paid back all the federal bailout money". Not all
> of the banks who received TARP money have repaid the loans. In fact,
> 400-plus banks are still on the government’s red list -- more than have
> completed the payments -- and, according to the GAO, some may never pay the
> money back. But, the fact remains, due to interest, dividends and other
> revenue streams, the government has received more money back ($266.7
> billion, according to the Treasury) than it handed out to banks under the
> bailout law ($245.2 billion). We rate this claim Mostly True. [0]

Furthermore:

> U.S. banks have crossed a significant post-financial crisis milestone,
> tallying more $200 billion in fines paid out regarding questionable
> behavior. [1]

How did neoliberalism survive post-financial crisis? Politicians discovered
that they can just hit up banks for tens of billions of dollars in fees and
use the proceeds in any way they want:

> Yet some of the biggest chunks of money stayed with the entity that levied
> the fines in the first place. Of $109.96 billion of federal fines related to
> the housing crisis since 2010, roughly $50 billion ended up with the U.S.
> government with little disclosure of what happened next, according to a Wall
> Street Journal analysis.

Yes, bailouts are bad, but let's not pretend like politicians are not
complicit in promoting this type of crony capitalism.

[0] [http://www.politifact.com/new-
hampshire/statements/2012/oct/...](http://www.politifact.com/new-
hampshire/statements/2012/oct/25/barack-obama/barack-obama-says-banks-paid-
back-all-federal-bail/)

[1] [http://www.cnbc.com/2015/10/30/misbehaving-banks-have-now-
pa...](http://www.cnbc.com/2015/10/30/misbehaving-banks-have-now-paid-204b-in-
fines.html)

[2] [http://www.wsj.com/articles/big-banks-paid-110-billionin-
mor...](http://www.wsj.com/articles/big-banks-paid-110-billionin-mortgage-
related-fines-where-did-the-money-go-1457557442)

