Save the Banksters at all costs

Dr. Krugman takes on the banksters this morning in looking at the proposed government settlement over foreclosure fraud:

Ever since the current economic crisis began, it has seemed that five words sum up the central principle of United States financial policy: go easy on the bankers. [...]

The big drag on the economy now is the overhang of household debt, largely created by the $5.6 trillion in mortgage debt that households took on during the bubble years. Serious mortgage relief could make a dent in that problem; a $30 billion settlement from the banks, even if it proved more effective than the government’s modification program, would not.

So when officials tell you that we must rush to settle with the banks for the sake of the economy, don’t believe them. We should do this right, and hold bankers accountable for their actions.

Read the link for the depressing details. These people should be going to jail, not being let off the hook with a slap on the wrist. It's just sick.

Which reminds me of recent Atrios post:

Save The Banksters, Save The World

If instead of all that free money for banks, we'd given free money to people on the condition they give it to the banks (paying down debts), we could have gotten through this mess.

But bad poor people don't deserve money, only rich banksters who tried to destroy the world.

This is a view I've seen in many quarters, on the left and the right. I don't trust the hardcore right any more than the next guy, but this is one issue on which I wish we could have banded together and taken to the streets with the proverbial torches and pitchforks. Thinking mass protests could have brought accountability in the absence of political will to do the right thing.