Are there too many banks?I took a short walk on Chicago's Near North side and counted 22 empty closed shops and 18 banks. Do they really all need to have a branch every few blocks? Why aren't the banks closing when everyone else is? Ah - Bailouts! Shouldn't we give them to small business or at least make the banks close... |
Good question, star.
But no, I would argue there are too few banks and the banks we do have are too big.
Companies that invest also are too big. AIG really does have the capacity to destroy the world's economy. That is never a good thing.
Years ago NY had a unitary law meaning a bank could have only one branch. That made sure that banks opened to serve a local community and that they did not get so large they could do damage by themselves.
If I was Geithner I would shrink these beasts. Of course, the argument goes, the CEO of a 100 billion dollar bank gets paid lots more than the CEO of a 1 billion dollar bank. And guess who pays.
We should not be bailing out anybody. The Federal Government should stop sticking its nose in where it has no Constitutional business doing so. They caused all of this malaise and are making worse. Get out of the way, stop draining every last drop of Capital out of the private sector and the Free Market will sort itself out.
When are people going to realize that Obama does not want the economy to recover, at least not yet? Who ever heard of an economic "stimulus" that doesn't even kick in until 2010?
Hey, all you unemployed people out there! Do you feel stimulated? Has Obama "saved" your job or created more? Now he wants to make illegal immigrants citizens so they get to keep their jobs. Didn't America just get done telling Congress a year ago that they do not want this? Didn't America reject Gay Marriage? Well, it doesn't really matter what America wants anymore now does it?
But you keep supporting this guy who says what you want to hear and then does the opposite. Remember when he said the Government does not want to run the Auto Industry? Well, that is what they are doing. Didn't his administration claim they do not want to run the banks? Well, that is what they are doing.
Now Obama is seeking to get Congress to allow Geitner to take over more financial institutions. If this does not concern you, it should.
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Landlords loved banks cause they always paid their rent on time.
Shops hated banks cause it killed their walk-in traffic.
First the shops closed.
Now the banks are closing.
MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!
2005 (too little? too late?): "Two weeks ago, Chicago passed an ordinance that requires banks to get special permission from the city to open a branch within 600 feet -- or about one block -- of another bank in designated retail areas."
You should mainly understand that having a lot of banks isn't the matter. It will take a deep recession to get America back on track. We should cut back on government spending let the recession grow deeper, until it revives itself back. All these stimulus packages are useless, they just make taxpayer's money vanish!!! If there is no incentive to buy then no one will buy. The government can't do anything. The biggest problem is that we are becoming more socialist than capitalist, and one fine day we would end up like USSR. So obama needs to change!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!...
All my banking is done with my community credit union. The large banks suck. They bleed people with high interest rates and they have more money today than ever.
I've noticed this myself on many occasions,
I've also noticed how much money is spent in the lobbies of hospitals,
Who is this "we" to whom you refer? If, by "we" you mean you and Barack Obama, then my response is that I think the two of you should butt out of the economy. Quit trying to control everything.
The more competition, the better.
