Sunday, January 24, 2010

Time to shrink the Too Big to Fail

Great article on Seeking Alpha today. Totally agree Glassman-Steagall should be reinstated; regulators should regulate or be fired.
I do not see why shrewd investors outside Goldman Sachs (GS)continue to buy stock in a firm that hands all the profits - and then some - to its employees, and then stick the shareholders and the taxpayers with losses because managers did not retain reserves.
This continued buzz about front running and internal conflicts of interest should inspire fiduciaries to withdraw their trading funds from delegated money managers such as GS.
As for JP Morgan and GS benefiting from being the last ones standing, Jefferie Group (JEF) is now fourth largest with lots of upside potential.
It would be better for the markets if a whole bunch of boutique firms rose up to capture pieces of the business pulled out of GS and JP, a lot better. Then we would have a whole bunch of small firms that could easily be liquidated if they frick up.
These smaller firms could all be staffed from the "immense" talent that bails out of GS as its revenue and asset base is downsized to levels that are no longer Too Big to Fail (TBTF).
I am surprised that the TBTF banks have not been sued in federal court for unfair trading advantages related to their lower interest costs, which are clearly contributing to restraint of trade for its competitors. The federal government could be in violation of racketeerin g laws (RICO) with its preferential treatment policies. Just threw that in because RICO supposedly has a chilling effect.
It is clear that the big banksters and the government are guilty of racketeering, with the general public the class action victim.
Lack of litigation must reflect a feeling that the federal judges are too corrupt to rule against the insider elites