Ordinary Business

The American public is expecting the Justice Department to hold the banks accountable for its misdeeds in the mortgage meltdown.  But these tax write-offs shift the burden back onto taxpayers and send the wrong message by treating parts of the settlement as an ordinary business expense.

-- Phineas Baxandall, analyst with the U.S. Public Interest Research Group, a consumer advocacy group, criticizing settlements between big banks and the federal government, New York Times, 22 August 2014