Wednesday, March 13, 2013

Big



Eric Holder's candid remarks about bank bigness have, rightly, caused a stir:


In response to a question from Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa), Holder admitted that, effectively, the Justice Department could not fully pursue cases against large and influential financial institutions, out of concern over the collateral damage charges could impose on the broader economy. 
“The size of some of these institutions becomes so large that it does become difficult for us to prosecute them when we are hit with indications that if you do prosecute, if you do bring a criminal charge, it will have a negative impact on the national economy,” he said. “That is a function of the fact that some of these institutions have become too large."
It's been subject to opposing interpretations, of course: that the government is ceding to the banks the right to do anything without fear of prosecution; or a call for breaking them up. Since it would seem to require the cooling of Hell by several hundred degrees for today's Rs to agree to breaking up the banks, or to reinstate Glass-Steagal, whatever Holder meant boils down to mootness. The banks are too big, they have too much power over the economy, the regulators (and the government), they can do whatever they want, including re-wreaking the economy, and it ain't ever gonna change.

Not, at least, until voters stop electing idiots from the teabagging wing of the Republican party.

In other words: it ain't ever gonna change.

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