Too big to fail

Wednesday, May 22, 2013

Image Credit: Gage Skidmore (Flickr)

Will Paul Ryan endorse breaking up the megabanks?

James Pethokoukis | May 8, 2013, 10:36 am

The Republican Party’s 2012 vice presidential candidate: Banks are getting really big, and they are using the value of their insured deposits to go do other things that are really not banking and jeopardizing the stability of the system. … … read more >

Economics, Financial Services, Pethokoukis

Senators Brown and Vitter offer a smart and simple plan to end Too Big To Fail

James Pethokoukis | April 25, 2013, 10:06 am

Banks used to have huge safety cushions, equity capital somewhere in the order of 20% to 30% of assets. Government didn’t tell them to do that. Those levels reflected what depositors and investors demanded. Then came a century of government … read more >

Economics, Financial Services, Pethokoukis

What Tim Johnson’s retirement will mean for ending ‘too big to fail’ and reforming the megabanks

James Pethokoukis | March 26, 2013, 10:24 am

National Journal’s Catherine Hollander throws cold water on the idea that the recent nonbinding 99-0 vote to end “too big to fail” will result in a new wave of financial reform that will cap, shrink, or restructure the megabanks. She … read more >

Credit: Benjamin Dumas (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)

Economics, Financial Services, Pethokoukis

Another way ‘too big to fail’ skews market forces

James Pethokoukis | March 25, 2013, 3:07 pm

If you have a chance, please have a look at my National Review column for an update on some recent progress in ending government distortions in the US financial sector. One angle on the issue that I fail to mention … read more >

A bronze sculpture of the New York Stock Exchange Bull is seen at the Museum of American Finance in New York October 2, 2008. REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton

Economics, Pethokoukis, Regulation

7 reasons why Washington might not break up the big banks

James Pethokoukis | March 21, 2013, 9:47 am

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke isn’t just a central banker, he’s a banking supervisor and regulator. And in that role, he said something very interesting Wednesday. While acknowledging that markets “to some extent” now think it more likely government would … read more >

Economics, Free Enterprise, Pethokoukis

Why the biggest US banks are even bigger and riskier than you think

James Pethokoukis | February 20, 2013, 8:57 am

Just how big are the biggest US banks, and how safe are they? When trying to figure all that out, it makes a big difference if you are analyzing them according to US accounting standards or international ones. The latter … read more >

Image Credit: Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas

Economics, Pethokoukis

Does the US economy really need supersized megabanks?

James Pethokoukis | February 5, 2013, 11:58 am

The bipartisan movement to break up America’s biggest banks and end the Too Big To Fail phenomenon has slowly, glacially gained momentum. Financial reform represents a classic public choice issue where the benefits of the status quo are concentrated and … read more >

Economics, Pethokoukis

Dallas Fed president: Time for Congress to break up the big banks

James Pethokoukis | January 17, 2013, 12:57 pm

Richard Fisher, president of the Dallas Fed, has been a proponent of breaking up America’s biggest banks and ending Too Big To Fail. In a speech yesterday, he floated a plan on how to do it. 1. Under our proposal, … read more >

Pethokoukis

Dodd Frank, Obama, and the wet kiss to Wall Street

James Pethokoukis | October 22, 2012, 1:23 pm

A scathing piece about Dodd-Frank — the Obama administration’s “wet kiss” to Wall Street in the words of Mitt Romney — can be found in the new issue of The Weekly Standard. Authors C. Boyden Gray and Adam White show how … read more >

Pethokoukis

3 charts that help explain why the ‘break up the big banks’ movement has legs

James Pethokoukis | October 19, 2012, 1:32 pm

Slowly but persistently, the “break up the big banks” (BUBB) movement is gaining steam. Two more data points: a) a recent George Will column on the issue and b) Federal Reserve Gov. Daniel Tarullo proposing a cap on non-deposit liabilities and for … read more >

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