Breaking Up Is Hard to Do

J.P Morgan suffered a two-billion-dollar loss this week on an over-extended financial position. There was some dramatic irony in this, because their man, Jamie Dimon, had just argued on Capitol Hill that Wall Street should be free from any more planned regulations. This was ballsy enough, since the last catastrophic financial meltdown occurred only a few years ago, but then to suffer another implosion right after his big spiel, well, these people are another breed, and perhaps 'psychopathic' is not too strong a term.

In the discussion and debate that has been taking place, I am finding myself being persuaded by the call to break up the big banks, rather than try to further regulate them. The problem with this answer, though, is that it probably really is Utopian in its own right.


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A final option is to concede that there is no foolproof way to regulate banks. Modern finance is complex and fast-paced. Try as we might, it is impossible to outlaw errors in judgment, overconfidence, misguided innovation, or unforeseen events.

I believe that our best hope lies somewhere other than making our largest financial institutions impossible to break. Instead, I think we need to make our financial system easy to fix. It was with that idea in mind that, writing in National Review two years ago, I proposed breaking up the big banks. J. P. Morgan’s announced loss serves to reinforce my view.

My biggest objection to large financial institutions continues to be what I see as the inevitable collusion of politics and economics that results. When large banks have resources, politicians will be tempted to treat them as piñatas, taking whacks at them in order to extract money to distribute to constituents (see the recent “foreclosure settlement,” or the pressure being placed on Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae to write down principal on loans). When large banks get in trouble, politicians will be tempted to bail them out.

In my view, we do not need the thousands of pages of regulation represented by Dodd-Frank. We do not need to ask regulators to divine the difference between speculation and “real banking,” as envisioned by the Volcker Rule. Instead, we should seek limits on the asset size of individual banks. J. P. Morgan today is about ten times as large as any bank ought to be. The general public should not have to lose sleep worrying about this or any other individual bank’s fate, and with smaller banks, they wouldn’t have to.

-- Arnold Kling at The National Review

Breaking Up Is Hard to Do

J.P Morgan suffered a two-billion-dollar loss this week on an over-extended financial position. There was some dramatic irony in this, because their man, Jamie Dimon, had just argued on Capitol Hill that Wall Street should be free from any more planned regulations. This was ballsy enough, since the last catastrophic financial meltdown occurred only a few years ago, but then to suffer another implosion right after his big spiel, well, these people are another breed, and perhaps 'psychopathic' is not too strong a term.

In the discussion and debate that has been taking place, I am finding myself being persuaded by the call to break up the big banks, rather than try to further regulate them. The problem with this answer, though, is that it probably really is Utopian in its own right.


_ _ _

A final option is to concede that there is no foolproof way to regulate banks. Modern finance is complex and fast-paced. Try as we might, it is impossible to outlaw errors in judgment, overconfidence, misguided innovation, or unforeseen events.

I believe that our best hope lies somewhere other than making our largest financial institutions impossible to break. Instead, I think we need to make our financial system easy to fix. It was with that idea in mind that, writing in National Review two years ago, I proposed breaking up the big banks. J. P. Morgan’s announced loss serves to reinforce my view.

My biggest objection to large financial institutions continues to be what I see as the inevitable collusion of politics and economics that results. When large banks have resources, politicians will be tempted to treat them as piñatas, taking whacks at them in order to extract money to distribute to constituents (see the recent “foreclosure settlement,” or the pressure being placed on Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae to write down principal on loans). When large banks get in trouble, politicians will be tempted to bail them out.

In my view, we do not need the thousands of pages of regulation represented by Dodd-Frank. We do not need to ask regulators to divine the difference between speculation and “real banking,” as envisioned by the Volcker Rule. Instead, we should seek limits on the asset size of individual banks. J. P. Morgan today is about ten times as large as any bank ought to be. The general public should not have to lose sleep worrying about this or any other individual bank’s fate, and with smaller banks, they wouldn’t have to.

-- Arnold Kling at The National Review

Donna Summer

Donna Summer -- the Queen of Disco -- died this morning after a battle with cancer ... TMZ has learned.

We're told Summer was in Florida at the time of her death. She was 63-years-old.

Summer was a 5-time Grammy winner who shot to superstardom in the '70s with iconic hits like "Last Dance," "Hot Stuff" and "Bad Girls."

-- ONTD

Oh, this does resonate. During my school dances, when I was in the eighth grade, "Last Dance" was the obligatory closing song. I don't know how many eighth graders found romance, though some of the high-school kids may have had better luck. And I remember, too, how a friend had a crush on a pretty girl who was nicknamed Radio, so that he loved the song "On the Radio", thinking of that phrase in its most literal sense. I can remember us laughing about it in his kitchen now. Ah, Those Yokota days. My family shipped out before I could learn how old Steve made out with her, but it was looking pretty good for him. I wish I could say the same for myself.

Donna Summer

Donna Summer -- the Queen of Disco -- died this morning after a battle with cancer ... TMZ has learned.

We're told Summer was in Florida at the time of her death. She was 63-years-old.

Summer was a 5-time Grammy winner who shot to superstardom in the '70s with iconic hits like "Last Dance," "Hot Stuff" and "Bad Girls."

-- ONTD

Oh, this does resonate. During my school dances, when I was in the eighth grade, "Last Dance" was the obligatory closing song. I don't know how many eighth graders found romance, though some of the high-school kids may have had better luck. And I remember, too, how a friend had a crush on a pretty girl who was nicknamed Radio, so that he loved the song "On the Radio", thinking of that phrase in its most literal sense. I can remember us laughing about it in his kitchen now. Ah, Those Yokota days. My family shipped out before I could learn how old Steve made out with her, but it was looking pretty good for him. I wish I could say the same for myself.

Afghanistan

A report on American trained Afghan soldiers firing on American troops. It can seem obvious that we are only sacrificing American lives and money to better train our future enemies. It’s not a new story. Just in terms of Afghanistan alone, we have been training and arming our enemies for decades, ever since we teamed up with them to beat the Russians. Maybe I just don’t know enough, but it can seem like the American government also cannot tell which way is up and which is down in the Muslim world and the Middle East, like we are lost in a demonic hall of smoking brimstone and mirrors.

Afghanistan

A report on American trained Afghan soldiers firing on American troops. It can seem obvious that we are only sacrificing American lives and money to better train our future enemies. It’s not a new story. Just in terms of Afghanistan alone, we have been training and arming our enemies for decades, ever since we teamed up with them to beat the Russians. Maybe I just don’t know enough, but it can seem like the American government also cannot tell which way is up and which is down in the Muslim world and the Middle East, like we are lost in a demonic hall of smoking brimstone and mirrors.

So There!

PolitiCartoons

So There!

PolitiCartoons

The Minority-Majority

WASHINGTON — After years of speculation, estimates and projections, the Census Bureau has made it official: White births are no longer a majority in the United States.

Non-Hispanic whites accounted for 49.6 percent of all births in the 12-month period that ended last July, according to Census Bureau data made public on Thursday, while minorities — including Hispanics, blacks, Asians and those of mixed race — reached 50.4 percent, representing a majority for the first time in the country’s history.

-- Sabrina Tavernise at The New York Times

But how does it look if we count by dollars? Then who is in the majority?

The Minority-Majority

WASHINGTON — After years of speculation, estimates and projections, the Census Bureau has made it official: White births are no longer a majority in the United States.

Non-Hispanic whites accounted for 49.6 percent of all births in the 12-month period that ended last July, according to Census Bureau data made public on Thursday, while minorities — including Hispanics, blacks, Asians and those of mixed race — reached 50.4 percent, representing a majority for the first time in the country’s history.

-- Sabrina Tavernise at The New York Times

But how does it look if we count by dollars? Then who is in the majority?

Celebrity Sex

“I don’t care if she has to be eighteen, just as long as she looks and behaves like someone between, well, let’s say fourteen and sixteen.”

-- Errol Flynn

From a new book, "Full Service: My Adventures in Hollywood and the Secret Sex Lives of the Stars by Scotty Bowers".

Celebrity Sex

“I don’t care if she has to be eighteen, just as long as she looks and behaves like someone between, well, let’s say fourteen and sixteen.”

-- Errol Flynn

From a new book, "Full Service: My Adventures in Hollywood and the Secret Sex Lives of the Stars by Scotty Bowers".