6 Banks Control US: They Are Too-Big-To-Fail and Too-Big-To-Jail
December 24, 2012Source: Progress or Collapse
The Best Way To Rob A Bank Is To Own One and the Best Way To Rob People Is To Own A Bank.
The big investment banks that have promoted the deregulation of the economy, and ultimately created the conditions for the Great Recession, are now bigger and richer than ever. In 1995, the six largest US banks – Goldman Sachs, Bank of America, JP Morgan Chase, Citigroup, Wells Fargo, and Morgan Stanley – declared assets equivalent to less than 20% of the United States (US) gross domestic product GDP. By 2009, this figure increased to about 60% of the US GDP. [1]
After the crisis, the US government has not only failed to reduce their size, and regulate their activities, but has also provided them with large sums of taxpayers money (bailouts) making them even more powerful. These firms are now advocating for austerity and budget cuts on Medicaid, Medicare and Social security to prevent the so-called “fiscal cliff” they have created.
They literally feel invulnerable. They know that, if they cause another crisis, the US government will bail them out (once again): they are too big to fail. They also know that, if their CEOs will engage in even more financial fraud and insider trading, none of them will be convicted: they are too big to jail.
Has your blood started boiling already? If so, you should see a cardiologist. If not, a psychologist would work.
Sources:
1. Johnson S and Kwak J. 13 Bankers: The Wall Street Takeover and the Next Financial Meltdown.Pantheon Books, 2010.
Additional readings:
Black B. The Best Way To Rob A Bank Is To Own One. How Corporate Executives and Politicians Looted The S&L Industry. University of Texas Press, 2005.
De Vogli R. Chapter 8 “State of Political Inertia.” In: “Progress or Collapse: the Crises of Market Greed.” Routledge: New York and London, 2013.
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