‘Gentlemen Criminals’ Win on Wall Street

Re “The Capitulation of a Crusader,” Commentary, Jan. 16: Once again Arianna Huffington has it exactly right. The “settlement” between New York Atty. Gen. Eliot Spitzer and Wall Street “gentlemen criminals” will simply encourage more wrongdoing because it is so obvious that no one is really going to suffer for these crimes. Why not attach the assets of these criminals (the chief executives, chief financial officers and accounting firms) to make restitution to their victims? Where is the public outrage? Where are the consumer protection organizations? Where is the “compassion” of the political conservatives who are running this country?

This is indeed a strange way to restore confidence in the stock market as a way of restoring the economy. Doesn’t anyone care except Huffington and me?

Louise Lillard

Los Angeles