Reading Taibbi as someone in finance is like watching Bravo's Silicon Valley for much of HN. It's hyperbolically relatable in a way that makes you laugh but simultaneously grimace-inducing as you realise how mis-informative it is to someone without prior knowledge.

Take HSBC. Yes, it is a cock up of grand proportions to allow Iranian money anywhere close to your American subsidiary. And yes, everyone involved in the Libor scandal should go to jail (as I expect many of them will).

Then one notices that this was largely trade financing for buyers in India, Greece, and South Korea. HSBC, like Standard Chartered, grew out of a tradition of giving a great deal of independence to country offices. Sort of like IBM. This increases flexibility but makes miscommunication more likely. Anti-money laundering is hard and margin compression at banks has thinned compliance teams. Financing terrorism suddenly becomes something more banal - a zealous banker shifting records around for a client he may have known from pre-revolutionary days (Iran was a U.S. ally until the 1979 revolution).

Does this excuse the behaviour? No. But it certainly dulls my pitchfork. Just as I avoid Fox News to stay abreast of American politics I would encourage you to seek out sources chasing understanding. Then again, a good outrage isn't a cheap good either :).