The best way for Senate Dems and the White House to respond to the Republican charge that the Dem plan for financial reform doesn't go far enough to prevent another bailout is to call their bluff — and simultaneously do what's necessary to avoid another bailout: Cap the size of big banks, as the UK is close to doing for its big banks.
The so-called resolution mechanism the Dems are pushing to wind down any big bank that gets into trouble is a step in the right direction. But it won't work if two or more giant banks are endangered at the same time — which is likely to be the case when the next crisis occurs because every big bank uses whatever profitable financial ploys every other bank uses (as they did in the run-up to the crash of 2008).
Furthermore, as I've noted before, as long as the big banks are allowed to be huge and become even bigger, their political clout in Washington will remain huge and become even bigger. And as long as they have this kind of clout, they'll wangle a bailout from Washington the next time their bets get them into trouble regardless of any “resolution” authority.
More after the jump.
--Robert Reich
