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"Stop shitting on Wall Street" No. Wall Street has not been shat upon enough. Banking and finance have a proper place in a well-run market, and that place is m

"Stop shitting on Wall Street" No. Wall Street has not been shat upon enough. Banking and finance have a proper place in a well-run market, and that place is much, much smaller than they currently are, with much less lobbying power. Until the financial sector is drastically reduced in size and power, we need to shit on them much, much more.

deleted 16y ago
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T_S_ 16y ago
I think vitriol plays into the hands of the industry. It appeals to anger, which will fade and is not focused. I think we should be analyzing how to shrink the industry's size and influence, and design what should replace it. After all this site's readers are nothing if not problem solvers.
- hga 16y ago
  Well, the shrinking of the size of the financial sector is happening all on its own and I'm not sure we need to do anything to help that (and it's a fantastically dangerous and inherently politicized thing to do anyway, by definition "picking winners and losers"). What I'd prefer concentrating on is reducing firms that are "too big to fail" to "small enough to fail". Except that that wouldn't have prevented the 2008 financial crisis, it just would have changed its shape. People have this unfortunate pattern of group betting AKA manias that regularly produce financial bubbles and that's a system problem for which I don't see any solution. What have we learned since the Tulip Mania, the South Seas Bubble, etc. etc. etc. other than that we don't learn from history? As for shrinking their influence, how do you do it to the people who are handling your money? Buying your bonds (government (e.g. the Federal primary dealers) and corporate)? Etc. As for replacing it, with what? What type of institutions or economic system?
Mongoose 16y ago
The fact that this comment has almost as many upvotes as the OP speaks wonders for the HN community.

deleted 16y ago

[deleted]

T_S_ 16y ago

I think vitriol plays into the hands of the industry. It appeals to anger, which will fade and is not focused. I think we should be analyzing how to shrink the industry's size and influence, and design what should replace it. After all this site's readers are nothing if not problem solvers.

hga 16y ago
Well, the shrinking of the size of the financial sector is happening all on its own and I'm not sure we need to do anything to help that (and it's a fantastically dangerous and inherently politicized thing to do anyway, by definition "picking winners and losers"). What I'd prefer concentrating on is reducing firms that are "too big to fail" to "small enough to fail". Except that that wouldn't have prevented the 2008 financial crisis, it just would have changed its shape. People have this unfortunate pattern of group betting AKA manias that regularly produce financial bubbles and that's a system problem for which I don't see any solution. What have we learned since the Tulip Mania, the South Seas Bubble, etc. etc. etc. other than that we don't learn from history? As for shrinking their influence, how do you do it to the people who are handling your money? Buying your bonds (government (e.g. the Federal primary dealers) and corporate)? Etc. As for replacing it, with what? What type of institutions or economic system?

Mongoose 16y ago

The fact that this comment has almost as many upvotes as the OP speaks wonders for the HN community.