This week’s Barron’s has an interesting set of quotes gathered by asking various people the following question about Bankers: Do the bailed-out banks owe a debt to society for being saved?

Here are a few answers :

“Banks have a terrible image problem..but their main obligation is to shareholders who want them to be strong so they don’t have to suffer this crisis again.”

-Robert Litan
Senior fellow, Brookings Institution

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“They are largely responsible for the crisis and have a moral responsibility to fix it. Not with money, but by addressing ‘too big to fail’ by becoming much smaller. To block reform and change is simply unacceptable.”

-Simon Johnson
Economics and management professor, MIT

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“The banks owe a primary duty to shareholders. But it’s the government’s job to establish the incentives that determine private-sector behavior…Obama and Congress have failed to do this. Banks are an easy target, but TARP was a moronic program.”

-Marshall Auerback
Global portfolio strategist, RAB Capital

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“The banks got a lifeline from the government. That ‘too big to fail’ insurance policy is worth a lot, and they certainly haven’t paid for that yet.”

-Ann Lee
Adjunct economics professor, New York University

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Source:
They Said What? Bankers’ Behavior ^[1]
ROBIN GOLDWYN BLUMENTHAL
Barron’s, December 21, 2009

http://online.barrons.com/article/SB126118056355297807.html