Are Too-Big Firms Becoming Tools of Big Gov?
15th April 2011
A seemingly innocuous headline in Thursday’s Financial Times has ominous overtones. “Wall St executives enter debt debate,” it said, but the first sentence of the article reads, “The Obama administration is trying to enlist Wall Street executives in the debate over increasing the debt ceiling and convince congressional Republicans that a U.S. default would be catastrophic for the markets.” In the past, there was nothing strange about the idea that financial specialists might be enlisted to help guide congressional policy, but in the era of the Dodd-Frank Act, it is necessary to consider whether these Wall Street executives are doing this voluntarily or because they fear government retaliation if they refuse.
Of course. Big Government would rather have one big firm, or a handful of big firms, that they could then regulate the hell out of (and squeeze money out of) than try to herd cats. For example: The major auto manufacturers.