One more example of how the big banks threaten the economy
by: Henry Meier
Before the mortgage meltdown I was a proud free market extremist who would patiently explain to a misguided dinner guest how the Free-Market was a better regulator of businesses and the financial system than government ever could be. Then I watched as the Captains of Capitalism were bailed just out as the Free Market was about to punish them for their mistakes. When it comes to Wall Street’s behemoths we have a “Heads I win tails you lose” system in which the American taxpayer\consumer is the loser. Still there are those who continue to believe that if only Government didn’t regulate Wall Street so much all would be better in the world.
If anyone still questions the need for regulation they need look no further than our present day banking system. Credit unions and smaller banks struggle to comply with a host of regulations designed in reaction to the last financial crisis while the behemoths that got us into this mess brazenly flout regulations and distort legitimate banking activities in the name of “liquidity.”
The latest example that we increasingly have a financial system that Vladimir Putin would be proud of comes courtesy of a 396 page report released yesterday by the Senate’s Permanent Subcommittee On Investigations. It investigated the purchase of physical commodities by JP Morgan Chase, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley. In a bipartisan report it concluded that Wall Street banks have become so heavily involved with the physical commodities market that their activities pose risks for the markets, consumers and the financial system.
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