Commenting on the latest Wells Fargo numbers, Ian Welsh notes that “Numbers which can only be made by cheating, will be made by cheating. It is that simple.”

He is correct. The idea that the epidemic of fraudulently opened accounts were the result of anything but the direct results of the demands of upper management is simply not credible:

My old employer never did anything this bad I was aware of, they engaged in aggressive corner cutting, but tried to stay, well, legal. But what they did that was dubious was known, even at the floor level.

And it was always driven by high level executive demands for targets that simply could not be met by staying in the straight and narrow. Always. Low level employees do much of the dirty work, but they do it because it is demanded, and because if they don’t they will be let go or fired.

Unfortunately, we won’t see John Stumpf frog marched out of his home in hand handcuffs, but that is what happened.