| those are not even the most egregious examples. think of something like this: you go to a big box store to buy a bunch of home electronics for a new house. you ask the salesperson to throw in some freebies because you're going to be buying a lot. he knocks off the delivery fee, installation fees, and you push further and ask if you can get some other things, say a handheld vacuum cleaner or a stand fan. he says "Mate this is the best I can give you, I am no longer making commission on this trade". Or if it's the store manager you are speaking to, he says he's not turning a profit with all the discounts already given. Really pal? You want to repeat that on a recorded line? Because if this was the credit market, and if your sales guy said you've got a great price because he paid so-and-so for a security he's selling to you and is not getting much in profit, but in reality he actually paid much lower, he can go to jail [1]. But in car sales, home sales, big ticket items like that, you have all these kinds of folks throwing in a white fib here and there, and they don't get locked up. whatever, I've made my peace with it. there are people who get away with it and people who don't. some people are born rich and some have to work for it. this hsbc guy is probably going to get into trouble for what he did. the doj is going all out to stamp out this kind of misbehaviour - and not defending it, lying is a scummy move - because the banks themselves could not do it. but while they're at it, maybe start looking at car salesmen and real estate agents too? [1] http://www.wsj.com/articles/former-jefferies-trader-jesse-li... |