October 16, 2009, The stopped clock...
Is right twice a day. And while not right quite that often, when no less a troubling figure than former Federal Reserve Board Chairman Alan "I know all about the financial precipice and debacle we are in because I CAUSED it" Greenspan tells us that big banks should be broken up, it's kind of like if the CEO of ExxonMobil complained about the difficulties of oil drilling under all that extra water that for some reason got so deep lately ... in other words, it's doubtless something we have to listen to, albeit, way, way too late, regardless of the speaker's contribution to the problem itself.
Greenspan rightly notes that tweaking capital requirements and other technical fixes won't do when the government has intervened and created financial behemoths who can simply have lower borrowing costs than their competitors and other competitive advantages simply by virtue of their size. Greenspan notes that it undermines his (Randian) philosophical underpinnings-- but as with Standard Oil a century ago...too big to fail is...just plain too big. And so, the behemoth banks... have to be broken up to sustain systemic health. But will they be?
Well, re: Greenspan's sudden lucidity... better late than never, I guess. But, instead of screwing around over comparative trivia like one bank executive's compensation package, this sort of sound systemic thinking... from Greenspan of all people... should be heeded by the Government... and quickly. Will it? Not how you bet, I'm afraid.