> Look, I think it's time that folks on the American left, such as it
> is, rethought their relationship to the inherited wisdom of populism,
> one of whose sacred tenets is that a fragmented financial system is a
> beautiful thing. This is supposed to encourage dispersion of
> ownership and power. Has it? If so, why is the U.S. the most
> polarized society in the First World, with a long history of
> financial crises?
> Why is it that most social democratic countries have more
> concentrated financial systems than ours?
Perhaps the answer is contained in the question you ask: these concentrated fin. sys's are in *social democratic* (and more sternly regulated) societies.
> Why is it that the EU, as part of its war on the welfare
> state, is moving towards a more American style financial
> system?
Well I heard some clown from Brookings say on NPR there was no real danger of "to big to fail" and that holding securities for a day or two was much less risky holding a 5 year note. Sorry, but I lived through the collapse of almost every major bank in Texas during the 80's and we've seen this movie before.
As you pointed out on PNN last night, the defacto deregulation has been going on for some time, this just makes it official. It's not just the 'bigness' that worries me, it is the 'unregulatedness' that concerns me. In this too, Europe seems to be following the US's path.
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Joseph Noonan jfn1 at msc.com