Settle for a Trial

           A recent video of Senator Elizabeth Warren at a banking oversight committee has gone viral on youtube, in which she asks the panel, “When was the last time you took the biggest financial institutions on Wall Street to trial?”  The panel fumbled around this very simple question and avoided a direct rebuttal.  The already known answer to this question was “never.”  Her point was that if these banks can break the law while profiting billions and then turn around and settle out of court by paying out from these profits then they really have no incentive to follow the law.  Warren was also making the point that every time there’s a settlement and not a trial we lose days and days of valuable testimony that would have allowed us to figure out what these financial institutions were up to.   

            The events that are happening in Washington are simply reflections of local political activities.  In December the FDIC filed suit against People’s First Community Bank.  The bank’s failure damaged the FDIC at an estimated $726.3 million.  There was also $77.1 million loaned out to unnamed recipients in which People’s First had been forewarned that the loans were of high risk and not properly capitalized.  Many of the defendants are still actively making decisions within the community, such as current Panama City mayor Greg Brudnicki and recently appointed Bay Zoning & Planning chairman and former Panama City Beach mayor Philip Griffitts Jr. 

            Many of us have not forgotten the Bailout, the grossest display of corporate welfare to have ever occurred on U.S. soil.  The Federal Reserve loaned out massive amounts of taxpayer money to failing institutions and did not release the complete list of recipients so that we could make informed decisions on where to wisely redirect our capital.  It remains important to know who received these bailouts so that we can put an end to the speculation of corruption and put the assets in the hands of more competent organizations.

            In conclusion, we citizens adamantly demand the People’s First lawsuit go to trial and not be settled outside of court so that we can gather prized testimony.  We also demand that this case go to trial as quickly as possible as time is of the essence; and in final we demand the list of the loan recipients so that we may rule out corruption and properly identify these locally failing businesses.  By not settling we would be sending a message that banks cannot simply write in settlement fees as a standard operating cost.