Should we fine coporate bad behaviour?

I just got fined 62 euros for riding my bike in Amsterdam without light. Perfectly fine by me. It is one less night out for dinner. It hurts a little. I was wondering about the coporate fines for corporate wrongdoing. Take for example Rabobank that got fined for the LIBOR scandal.

This video shows that coporate fines are too low, too slow and hurt the wrong people (shareholders not executives).

Take for example Swittzerland or Finland. One case is a 37 year-old Swedish man who was clocked at 180 miles per hour on a motorway between Bern and Lausanne. Unfortunately for this driver of a new Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG, Switzerland doesn’t have fixed fines for speeding. Instead they use a formula similar to that in Finland where the fine is calculated based on the vehicle’s speed and the driver’s income. Back in 2002, Nokia executive Anssi Vanjoki had to pay a fine of $103,600 for going 47 mph in a 31 mph zone.

So why aren’t we fining BP a year of profit for spilling all the oil in the gulf?

Well maybe because we have people like Congressman Grimm who is free to threaten reporters and use his powers to arrest innocent people.

Congressman like Grimm are there to introdcue bills and legislations (e.g. fining coporations). You might get my point.

 

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