KEN LANGONE: The banks are being beaten up mercilessly and unfairly

Billionaire financier Ken Langone, former director of the New York Stock Exchange and financial backer of the Home Depot, thinks it is a tragedy that the banks were made the scapegoat of the financial crisis.

In a recent episode of "Wall Street Week," Langone said that the banks unfairly got the blame for the financial crisis. To him, the politicians were the ones screwing things up.

"I think the tragedy is how the banks were made the scapegoats. Go back and look at Barney Frank on a tape. Go back...and see him preaching to the world that it's sort of an inherent right for every American to own a house whether they can afford it....These guys were pushing it at the banks. Barney Frank all of a sudden probably has amnesia...."

To Langone, the banks are being "beaten up mercilessly" and "unfairly."

Langone said he wouldn't recommend owning shares of a small bank because they've gotten crushed by regulations.

"You look right now at Dodd-Frank-don't own the stock of a small bank. Because regulated the way it is now it's a regressive tax. The little bank, don't forget when you pay for regulation, whether you make money or not, you've got to pay for that. If I'm running JPMorgan or Wells Fargo ...I've got scope. I've got sky."