Sunday, October 18, 2009

"If they're too big to fail, they're too big"

and the speaker goes on, “In 1911 we broke up Standard Oil -- so what happened? The individual parts became more valuable than the whole. Maybe that’s what we need to do.”

And a few more comments from a talk given last week at the Council of Foreign Relations.

“If you don’t neutralize that (i.e., the too-big-to-fail issue), you’re going to get a moribund group of obsolescent institutions which will be a big drain on the savings of the society,” he said.
“Failure is an integral part, a necessary part of a market system,” he said. “If you start focusing on those who should be shrinking, it undermines growing standards of living and can even bring them down.”

Can you guess the speaker? Alan Greenspan! If he's on the bandwagon, why can't Geithner and company move faster and smarter on the issue?

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