Monday, May 3, 2010

Hey Buddy, Can You Spare Another Multibillion Big Bank Bailout or Two . . . or Three . . . or . . . .

Quite apart from the bailout provisions is the big leg up that the proposed financial regulation reform legislation on which Congress is working would give outfits like Goldman Sachs, Citibank, JP Morgan Chase, Wells Fargo, etc., against any of their smaller competitors and any possible startup competitors in the future.

The big guys that dominate any industry always like regulations, and the more regulations and the greater and more complex the regulatory burdens, the better they like them.

The cost of complying with regulations is disproportionally greater for small entities than for large ones. Compliance costs vary very little with the size of the regulated entities. They all have to pay roughly equal numbers of dollars to comply with the same regulations. But for the largest entities the number of dollars is an easily borne percentage of their resources while for their smaller competitors the nonproductive expenditure of  the same number of dollars can be crippling or even ruinous.

In addition, history conclusively demonstrates that regulatory agencies invariably becomes captives of and subservient to the dominant entities in the industries for which they supposedly are responsible.

And then too, there are the bailout aspects of the proposed legislation. These provisions will guarantee the continuation of a system in which management is rewarded very handsomely for placing and winning large bets, Winning big of course requires high odds which in turn mean the bets have to be risky ones. It the bets don't win, the managers will depart with their previously garnered wealth and a new management team will be installed to begin the process again. The taxpayers -- like hamsters that have to keep the wheels in their cages spinning -- again, as always, will be left to make good on the losses.

If you like this picture, support the "reform" legislation that is being fashioned.

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