Everyone knows about the criticism faced by the largest banks in the wake of the crisis. But you may not know what Wall Street has in common with a furry groundhog hailed for predictive powers.
In the blustery, snowy weeks following his faulty prediction of an early spring, the Huffington Post has now called out Punxsutawney Phil, implying the groundhog has become so famous and popular that no one acknowledges his failures in attempting to forecast the weather.
The article, aptly titled "Is Punxsutawney Phil Too Big to Fail?", came after news last week that Michael Gmoser, the prosecuting attorney in Butler County, Ohio, filed a comical indictment against the animal over his failed forecast this year. The winter-weary lawyer "charged" the groundhog with giving a "misrepresentation of spring."
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The Huffington Post's tongue-in-cheek response to the news builds on the growing debate over whether some banks are "too big to fail," because of their size and interconnectedness in the financial system.
Phil reportedly did not see his shadow on Feb. 2, suggesting that winter would end early. But in truth large swaths of the country have faced unseasonably cold temperatures and repeated bouts of snow throughout March.
"Punxsutawney Phil did purposely, and with prior calculation and design, cause the people to believe that spring would come early," the fictional indictment read.
