Cap the size of banks

Simon Johnson takes up the cudgel one more time. The only way we're going to avoid another bailout of the big banks is to make sure they don't get too big. Unfortunately, neither Obama nor Romney are interested in this idea; they think tweaking is all that is needed. Rules limiting a bank's size are anathema to them.

There is a candidate that does favor such limitation: Jon Huntsman. He has proposed that a bank's size be capped based on the bank's assets as a share of GDP. But Huntsman recognizes that excess leverage has also been a major contributor to our problem, hence he would impose a cap on leverage as well. Failure to abide by these conditions would cost the banks money, big money.

Oh, that Huntsman had more traction.