Too big to succeed

[CHIMO]

A global controversy is raging: what new regulations are required to restore confidence in the financial system and ensure that a new crisis does not erupt a few years down the line. Mervyn King, the governor of the Bank of England, has called for restrictions on the kinds of activities in which mega-banks can engage. British prime minister Gordon Brown begs to differ: after all, the first British bank to fall was Northern Rock, which was engaged in the "plain vanilla" business of mortgage lending.

The implication of Brown's observation is that such restrictions will not ensure that there is not another crisis; but King is right to demand that banks that are too big to fail be reined in. In the US, the UK, and elsewhere, large banks have been responsible for the bulk of the cost to taxpayers. America has let 106 smaller banks go bankrupt this year alone. It's the mega-banks that present the mega-costs.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/dec/13/mervyn-king-banks-curbed

[Goldstein1984]

1. The banks will decide what they want

They will tell legislators what laws to pass.

Legislators will do what they are told.

[clear eye]

2. Whoa! unrecommend city.

Mega-bank employees, I guess.