> Doug had Yves Smith on a few weeks ago, and she made a point
> of saying that one of the worst effects of all the deregulation
> we've suffered in the last 30+ years has been the elimination
> of the partnership model, which *did* allow that possibility.
> Partners were *personally* liable for their actions under the
> old model, whereas now they're just gambling with other people's
> money.
This is a misunderstanding of both terms 'partnership' and 'liability' ... which I think leads to a false sense that something like this would help. IANAL, but even corporations do not *remove* personal liability; the 'corporate veil' can always be pierced in the case of criminal behavior.
Regardless, there's nothing to support this idea that if, for instance, Lehman Brothers was a pre-IPO-Goldman-style Partnership that the end result would have been any different than it was.
/jordan