Too Big To Fail used to be a joke.
It became an insult hurled by Occupy Wall Street or the Tea Party at the big banks, but that’s all it was.
It was never an expression that had any legitimacy. It was just a nice little way for the media to classify the banking industry in a ready-made slogan.
Guess what? Too Big To Fail isn’t a joke anymore. It’s actual policy towards our nation’s biggest financial institutions.
The Federal Reserve of Dallas has now legitimized my scathing criticisms of the banks in their annual report and it has resonated with with everything I’ve been writing in this blog.
It was a nice early birthday present when I got home yesterday and read the report, written by the head of the Dallas Fed’s research department. Harvey Rosenblum.
When Greg Smith published his critique of Goldman Sachs, the aftershocks rang through the halls of every office on Wall Street.
After reading Rosenblum’s report, which was subtitled “Why We Must End Too Big To Fail — Now”, I can only imagine what will happen now.
It’s about time that someone on the government side validated the anger and anxiety shared by the Occupy and Tea Party movements. Right there in an official Fed paper!!
So what did I find so appealing about his critique? He spells it out, clear as day, what Too Big To Fail really is, and what’s it’s led to.
What It Is: In 1970 the top 5 banks possessed 17% of the nation’s banking assets. In 2010? 52 percent.
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60 Minutes shed light on an alarming statistic: two thirds of Florida homeless families live on the street, many as a result of foreclosure. South Florida Law Blog and Oppenheim Law question the role Wall Street played in moving the staggering 16 million homeless in the U.S. from living on Main Street to living in cars and shelters.
