Jamie Dimon, the CEO of JPMorgan Chase, seemed incapable of shame even after the London Whale fiasco provided evidence that he was incapable of curbing criminality in his chronically lawbreaking organization. (See "JPMorgan Chase: Incredibly Guilty.") It was not until multiple government investigations focused on his institution that Dimon stopped trying to block government regulation of his industry.
Nam ego illum periisse duco, cui quidem periit pudor, wrote the ancient Roman playwright Plautus. It means, "I count him lost who is lost to shame." By that standard, Jamie Dimon and his ilk may sadly be counted as lost among civilized human beings.
But the rest of us still need to be protected from them. Some of that protection will come with better law enforcement, so that they are discouraged from acting out their worst impulses. And part of it will come through shaming them publicly, since most of them are human beings with enormous egos.
"He that trouble in his own house shall inherit the wind," said the same passage in Proverbs. We can't depend on a higher power to make those words reality. We need to use the tools we have been given -- tools which include the law, our social norms, and moral clarity -- to protect ourselves from the shamelessness of bankers.
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