Is This The Beginning Of The End Of Wall Street Immunity?

You've heard of the massive fraud perpetrated by employees of Wells Fargo Bank by now, right? In a nutshell, bank employees were opening fake accounts in the name of existing customers, without their knowledge. From what I understand, this was done in an attempt to meet lofty sales goals. With those goals met, Wells Fargo stock rose, increasing the wealth of the stockholders, which include the upper management of Wells Fargo.

At the Senate Banking Committee Hearing about the scandal, U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren had some straight-forward questions for the CEO of Wells Fargo, and also provided him with quite a tongue-lashing.

On Senator Warren's Facebook page, she prefaces the video from the Senate Banking Committee Hearing with these words:

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau caught Wells Fargo in a massive, years-long scam. The CEO hasn’t resigned. He hasn’t fired one senior executive. Instead, Wells Fargo’s definition of “accountable” is to push blame on low-level employees who don’t have the money or PR firms to defend themselves. That’s gutless leadership.

A bank cashier who steals $20 would be facing theft charges, but Wall Street executives almost never hold themselves accountable. Not in 2008 when they crashed the economy, and not now. Wells Fargo CEO John Stumpf should resign, give back the money he took while the scam was going on, and be criminally investigated.

Watch my questioning of Wells Fargo CEO John Stumpf at today’s Senate Banking Committee hearing. - Senator Elizabeth Warren, Facebook

This video is about 18 minutes long, but if you are like me, the "little guy", you'll appreciate the lashing one of the "big guys" gets.

I hope that this is the beginning of the end of the brother-in-law deals that keep the rich getting richer, and the poor getting poorer. I believe that it's time for change on Wall Street. As Senator Warren said: "A bank cashier who steals $20 would be facing theft charges, but Wall Street executives almost never hold themselves accountable."

I am hoping that these are the winds of change.

(Facebook/U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren, NY Times)