Monday, May 16, 2011

But, She Did Put the Bank in Peril

Enterprise News reports of a bank teller being fired for accepting rolls of dimes that actually contained pennies ... a common scam.

The scam only cost the bank fifty bucks.

On further reading, we discover the teller was really fired because she refused to sign a paper acknowledging that she put the bank in peril.

Both the teller and newspaper reporter thought the term "in peril" was excessive.

In my experience, the warning letter was not excessive.

This article brings me back to the discussion of coin regulation.

The monetary supply is highly regulated. Financial institutions that do anything to misrepresent the value of coins is in peril.

If a bank regulator found a stack of pennies in a dime roll, the bank would find itself in a regulatory hot seat. It would be in peril.

The bank did not understate its case.

The same thing happens when a paper writes an article on a murder suspect and fails to use the word "alleged." Failing to use the word "alleged" puts the newspaper in peril. The alleged murder suspect could sue the paper.

What is amazing about the American media is that it routinely calls for greater and greater regulation ... but balks at the fact that regulations have effects on the regulated businesses.

I wouldn't fire an employee for making a $50.00 mistake. I would fire an employee if the employee refused to acknowledge that the mistake created regulatory peril.

No comments:

Post a Comment