Banks, Karma and the moral high ground

SAINT

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Out of curiosity, what is the moral difference, or where does one draw the line on morals between these two scenarios:

1) A highly geared individual, reaps the benefits of higher spending power/profit loses a job and has funding problems. His lender shows no mercy and drives him into bankruptcy and destroys his reputation and career.

2) A highly geared institution, reaps the benefits of higher spending power/profit until
it succumbs to funding problems. Traders/shareholders show no mercy and drive the
firm into bankruptcy destroying reputations and careers.

Is this a touch of Karma, or at least pot calling kettle black? By no means am I supporting rogue behaviour in markets but regardless of earning ability/health both scenarios are struggling to meet repayments due to overgearing and a belief that good times will never end.
 
Out of curiosity, what is the moral difference, or where does one draw the line on morals between these two scenarios:

1) A highly geared individual, reaps the benefits of higher spending power/profit loses a job and has funding problems. His lender shows no mercy and drives him into bankruptcy and destroys his reputation and career.

2) A highly geared institution, reaps the benefits of higher spending power/profit until
it succumbs to funding problems. Traders/shareholders show no mercy and drive the
firm into bankruptcy destroying reputations and careers.

Is this a touch of Karma, or at least pot calling kettle black? By no means am I supporting rogue behaviour in markets but regardless of earning ability/health both scenarios are struggling to meet repayments due to overgearing and a belief that good times will never end.

The moral difference is that in UK the individual is stuffed whereas the institution knows that BoE will bail them out and thus they get away with it. (NRK?) It's the old saw: if you've got no money and owe the bank £1k then you've got a problem. If you owe them £10 million then the bank's got a problem.
 
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