“When people rob banks, they go to jail; when banks rob people, they get bonuses”

“When people rob banks, they go to jail. When banks rob people, they get bonuses” became a popular saying in 2011. “When people rob banks, They are thrown into tanks. When banks rob people, It’s all nice and legal” was cited in a 1981 letter to an Oregon newspaper.
 
“When people rob banks, they go to jail, when banks rob people, they get bailouts, no jail” was cited on Twitter on April 15, 2011. “When people rob banks people go to jail.  When banks rob people, bank CEOs get multi-million dollar bonuses” was cited on Twitter on August 9, 2011. The expression was printed on many signs during the Occupy Wall Street movement in the fall of 2011.
 
     
Google News Archive
15 December 1981, Eugene (OR) Register-Guard, “Letters in the Editor’s Mailbag,” pg. 16A, col. 5:
Usurious rate
“When people rob banks, They are thrown into tanks. When banks rob people, It’s all nice and legal.”
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WILLIAM A. BABCOCK
3580 Bardell Street
EUgene
 
Twitter
Charles Idelson
‏@cidelson
RT @ProtestInTheUSA: When people rob banks, they go to jail, when banks rob people, they get bailouts, no jail, http://nyti.ms/evL9vy
1:58 PM - 15 Apr 2011
   
Marketplace
Bank of America mortgage settlement could set framework for other banks
Wednesday, June 29, 2011 - 14:41
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COMMENTS
RA Meagher July 1, 2011
When people rob banks, they go to jail. When banks rob people, they “settle”.
Too bad we can not send B of A to prison for a decade or so….
 
Twitter
Isaac Wright
‏@Izac_Wright
When people rob banks people go to jail.  When banks rob people, bank CEOs get multi-million dollar bonuses.
4:29 PM - 9 Aug 2011
 
Hillbilly Report
When People Rob Banks They Go To Jail. When Banks Rob People They Get Immunity?
by: Hillbilly
Fri Aug 26, 2011 at 02:28:00 AM EDT
Wouldn’t it be nice if we could rob banks, take part of the loot, pay off the law and get immunity from prosecution? Sounds too good to be true doesn’t it? However, in my opinion, this is exactly what the folks at Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo, Citigroup and Ally Financial are trying to get away with and they have allies in the Obama administration.
 
Twitter
Charles Idelson
‏@cidelson
NNU ED RoseAnn DeMoro- “when people rob banks, they go to jail, when banks rob people they get bailouts and executive bonuses”
1:42 PM - 15 Sep 2011
   
Oakland (MI) Press
Wall Street protests spread to Detroit
By DUSTIN BLITCHOK and KEVIN DOBY
POSTED: 10/14/11, 12:00 AM EDT
DETROIT—Equipped with signs, bullhorns, and a wide range of sentiments, Detroit’s interpretation of the Occupy Wall Street movement hit the streets on Friday evening.
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Madge Cinnamon, 57, of Ypsilanti, carried a sign that said, “When people rob banks, they go to jail. Banks rob people, they get bonuses.” When Cinnamon, a semi-retired hairdresser, was asked what motivated her to march with Occupy Detroit, she said, “the banks ... the banks.”
 
Twitter
Sandra Chung
‏@pagandancer
Best #OWS sign: “When people rob banks, they go to jail. When banks rob people, they get bailouts and bonuses.”
7:32 PM - 19 Oct 2011
 
The Free Lunch
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 2012
Dave Fishwick - lighting the fuse at the House of Commons for local bank reform
‘When people rob banks they go to prison. When banks rob people they get bonuses’. Dave Fishwick owner of ‘Bank on Dave!’ the new savings and loans outlet in Burnley, Lancashire, England was in rattling good form at the House of Commons last week the day after Guy Fawkes day.
   
Aljazeera
Money for nothing
From Lehman to Libor - are the bankers and the banking system out of control?
Counting the Cost Last Modified: 05 Jan 2013 11:49
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“If a bank is too big to fail, then it’s just too big to exist and it shouldn’t be there in the first place. If banks are kept small and they are run by capable people who are very comfortable with the amounts of money that are going in and out, we would have never gotten the problems that we have got at the moment. But the big problems that lie at the door of the banks: When people rob banks they go to prison, when banks rob people they get bonuses. That has to stop.”
(David Fishwick, an entrepreneur.—ed.)