Are Banks Too Big To Prosecute?

The Jan. 22 Frontline episode The Untouchables has reignated the debate over why no major financial institution or bank CEO was prosecuted in the wake of the 2007-2008 financial crisis. U.S. Senators Sherrod Brown and Chuck Grassley sent a letter yesterday to the Department of Justice that, I think, puts this the right way. Did the Obama administration make a determination that some institutions were, in essence, "too big to prosecute"? This is a great question and I think it'd be a great subject for the Judiciary Committee to hold some hearings on. My frustration with the way the issue is portrayed on Frontline and on blogs, however, is that nobody seems to be taking the question seriously enough. The official line from the Justice Department, of course, is that nothing of the sort was happening. Criminal prosecutions weren't brought because the evidence wasn't there. Or maybe...