The podcast "You are wrong about" episode discussed in this assignment is "Why nobody went to jail for the financial crisis"? The episode was inspiring and provoked my thoughts to research about the topic white collar crimes.
Listening Log
Response log
Mike Hobbes and Sarah Marshall, in their podcast "Why Didn't Anyone Go to Prison for the Financial Crisis? - You're Wrong About." Spotify asserted that white-collar crimes are occurring in America, mainly due to lapses in government policies. There are many reasons for such crimes, and the entire podcast is around the concept of elite deviance, learned helplessness, the sporting theory of justice and criminogenic environment. The remarks in the middle like "every fish you catch there is a hole in the net" clearly defines the idea of the speaker and how difficult it has become to report and take judicial actions as most of them are not illegal. With manipulations in the judicial system, the criminal can get away with some monetary punishment, and they continue to use the power of wealth to corrupt the entire system (Deaton). The government stresses the quantitative analysis and the regulating agencies go to places to get the figures right by miscalculations and forgery. The core principle behind the narrative is to make the readers aware of the situation and not to blame themselves for not filing complaints against these incidents. The issue is with the governing bodies and the congress as their methodology of quantifying and similar other practices like self check out machines are incorporating behaviour of criminals amongst the general public. The reference of metal paint in the kids' toys is scary and how the general public is exposed to different levels of toxicities simply due to lapses in the system and failure to implement effective control measures.
Invention question 1: How the government is failing at managing the regulatory bodies in the country?
Answer: The government is failing at multiple levels where, on the one hand, the regulatory departments do not have sufficient funds to raise the bar of performance. e another hand if their funds are increased then the output is expected to be at least five times the previous ratio. These unrealistic expectations create a barrier and contribute to the inefficiency of these regulatory bodies (Deaton).
Invention question 2: Are certain practices fostering the culture of crime in the country?
Answer: Absolutely, certain practices like the sporting theory of justice is based on the fact that the law will favour the one who is more close to following the instructions and cannot be proven guilty for wrong intentions and motivations. In most of these cases, it has been observed that the facts are never disputed only the intentions are in a state of conflict which easily escapes the system (Porzecanski).
The podcast inspired me to deepen my knowledge regarding the topic and gave me a framework to mould my thoughts and elaborate my research regarding the topic. It was a thought-provoking discussion and provided enough information to dig deeper into the topic.
Research question: what is the role of government norms and policies in ensuring the efficacy of regulatory bodies?
Research question: is the judicial system partial or ineffective in dealing with white-collar crimes?
The government has a clear role to play in effective management as the government policies decide the budget allocation to a particular department. Then the congress governs the activities of the department through various scales like quantitative measurement of data. For instance, how many investigations were done in the sector of consumer product safety commission and the figures by these bodies are twisted in the form of a total number of enforcement actions taken which increases the total tally (Deaton).
The role of the judicial system cannot be denied in supporting white-collar crimes. But the entire system right from the investigating officer to the attorneys is broken, and there are huge lapses in framing the real picture, and hence the real crimes never reach the prosecution. Furthermore, there must be a check on the system which allows the use of self check-out machines as these practices incorporates the urge to commit crimes in the general public and they feel that a little theft is not a big issue (Cull and Martínez Pería).
To reflect on my learning from this podcast, I have used Gibbs cycle (Gibbs, 1988). According to the cycle, the process of self-reflection can be summarized in five steps, namely description, feelings, evaluation, conclusion, and actions.
Description
The podcast is about why nobody went to jail for the financial crisis? It is a matter of concern that white-collar brands are ignored in comparison to street crimes. The report is structured around four key vocabulary terms, and these are elite deviance, learned helplessness, the sporting theory of injustice and criminogenic environment. These terms explicitly explain why white-collar crimes occur and the reason why there are fewer judicial proceedings about these crimes.
Feelings
I feel sad that there are events when the laws can be manipulated, and the general public is fooled. I got worried when I came to know about the metal paint toxicity and how it is harming the innocent kids. The other topic of discussion which left a huge impact was self-checkout machines and how they are encouraging a culture of crime in the country.
Evaluation
My evaluation of the situation is that government laws are inefficient. Although the budget has been allocated to different departments, the congress starts to micromanage and believe more in a quantitative analysis which creates a discrepancy in the system. It promotes corruption in some way or the other. All the factors are equally responsible like less number of staff members in FBI to investigate the agencies like consumer product safety commission which creates huge lapses in the system as there is a higher percentage of lead in kid's toys.
Conclusion
The government is failing terribly with their policies to reduce the number of elite class crimes. The need of the hour is to create an integrated system where all the cases can be reported with transparency.
Actions
The plan of action must begin from the governing bodies to the regulating agencies, the judiciary system and then the general public. There must be coordination at all these levels, and the culprits should not be covered rather exposed.
Cord, Louise, et al. “Inequality Stagnation in Latin America in the Aftermath of the Global Financial Crisis.” Policy Research Working Papers, The World Bank, 2014, doi:10.1596/1813-9450-7146.
Cull, Robert, and María Soledad Martínez Pería. “Bank Ownership and Lending Patterns during the 2008–2009 Financial Crisis: Evidence from Latin America and Eastern Europe.” Journal of Banking & Finance, vol. 37, no. 12, Dec. 2013, pp. 4861–4878, doi:10.1016/j.jbankfin.2013.08.017.
Deaton, A. “The Financial Crisis and the Well-Being of Americans: 2011 OEP Hicks Lecture*.” Oxford Economic Papers, vol. 64, no. 1, Nov. 2011, pp. 1–26, doi:10.1093/oep/gpr051.
Ford, Richard. Blue Collar, White Collar, No Collar : Stories of Work.
Porzecanski, Arturo C. “Latin America: The Missing Financial Crisis.” Repositorio.Cepal.Org, ECLAC, 2009, repositorio.cepal.org/handle/11362/5069.
Sutherland, Edwin H. “Is ‘White Collar Crime’ Crime?” American Sociological Review, vol. 10, no. 2, Apr. 1945, p. 132, doi:10.2307/2085628.
“Why Didn’t Anyone Go to Prison for the Financial Crisis? - You’re Wrong About.” Spotify, open.spotify.com/episode/4DVksiDnjp2yGUL0Cydtg8. Accessed 29 Oct. 2020.
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