NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Where's the horse-whipping?

Yes, the global settlement between regulators and Wall Street banks is finally here. And as we feared, it's a vigorous massage -- well short of the mauling these shysters deserve.

Think about what these investment banks -- the backbone of Wall Street -- did. They lied by giving out misleading research. They played favorites, spinning hot IPOs to their buddies at the expense of other customers.

Lying and playing favorites -- just what you don't want a free and open market to have. It scares away investors and their capital. That, in turn, hurts business growth and the economy.

I want swift, immediate retribution. We need something to restore faith, if not in the market, at least in the justice system.

Frankly, I want some brokerage heads dragged out in front of the big bull statue in downtown Manhattan and horsewhipped. Maybe then Mom and Pop will come back to the market and we can move forward again.

But $1.4 billion in fines -- less than 2 percent of the combined market capitalization for these banks -- doesn't cut it. The punishment falls far short of the crime -- especially in the case of Citigroup.

You recall Citigroup, right? Where a suggestion from CEO Sandy Weill (financial demi-god and de facto nursery school enrollment officer) got Jack Grubman (an illustrious and spineless telecom analyst) to change his view of a AT&T in a heartbeat? Citigroup is paying $400 million. The firm made $3.9 billion last quarter.

Please, can we just have a flogging?

I'm not alone in this view.

"If we are only going to fine them $1 billion, I think Mr. Weill should be taken out on Wall Street and spanked by all the people who lost money," said Ben Schwartz, managing partner for Pendo Group, during an appearance on CNN Money Morning. "I think he should be bent over and bare-butt spanked ... The reality is they are only being fined $1 billion. How much money was taken from all the people in the Midwest, people all over this country, who invested in their 401(k)s?"

The fines shouldn't have been set in dollars. They should have been percentages of profits. Namely, the banks should have been forced to give back a substantial portion of the money they made off their lies (I'd make it 50 percent, but I'm a little extreme).

That would hurt. Of course, there'd be a lot of hand-wringing over it. Some banks would claim they couldn't go on under such a penalty.

Good. We need a head-on-stick for the next investment bank that tries to play common investors for fools. I don't have much sympathy for cheats.

Eventually, the investment banks may have to pay a little more. New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer, who has been doing the SEC's job in this case, is handing lawyers for ticked off shareholders and investors a smoking gun.

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But we'll have to wait for various class action suits to be filed and filtered through the court system before anything comes of it. That should only take a few years as we hear motions and rebuttals and appeals and more motions.

All the while, the banks will whine. I'd rather hear them screaming now under a harsh monetary whip.  

Allen Wastler is Managing Editor of CNN/Money and a commentator for CNNfn. He can be e-mailed here.