Much of the problem would almost surely have been avoided if the titans of Wall Street, the federal agencies, and the venal Congress which can be and is bought for the price of some campaign contributions, had not sought or granted exceptions to, and then ultimately repealed, Glass-Steagall, and if antitrust had not been eliminated as a significant factor by the theories of the economics boys. A few of us like myself and other MSL professors, occasionally wrote about why the demise of Glass-Steagall and the rise of ever greater elephantiasis was a dangerous thing, but we were just small fry whistling in the wind. The bigshots knew what they wanted and got it. And now look what’s happened, as what was once called the madness of crowds morphed into the greedy madness of the far fewer and enormously larger.
You know, it is interesting that in recent years, even in recent days, the decades-long drive for ever greater size has begun to decline or be reversed in various fields. People are buying smaller cars. People are beginning to buy smaller houses -- sometimes teeny houses. It is becoming recognized that there are great advantages to smaller schools, from grammar and high schools to universities. It is understood that small companies are often the most innovative. Small hospitals that specialize in one kind of operation are thought the best at what they do. It very well may be that god or nature or something is telling us something, is telling us, perhaps, that organizations and artifacts cannot get bigger indefinitely, that beyond a certain size dysfunctionality takes over. But the movers and shakers of the financial world and the politicians -- all of whom have a major say -- do not understand this yet. They still think ever bigger is ever better; indeed, one of the methods of rescue is that the already gigantic Bank of America will take over Merrill Lynch, thereby becoming even larger. (What will be the effect if the incredibly huge Bank of America now gets into deep doodoo in future years?) Well, our betters are wrong in thinking ever bigger is ever better. Instead of worshipping at the alter of size, Glass-Steagall should be reinstituted, antitrust should be used once again to protect the small guy, our other laws and practices should be conformed to the idea that smaller is often more desirable, and we all ought to begin to recognize that there are limits to how big things can get and remain workable.
Oh, and it also wouldn’t hurt if we tried to curb (and punish) greed and condemn associated stupidity.*
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In addition, one hour long television book shows, shown on Comcast, on which Dean Velvel, interviews an author, one hour long television panel shows, also shown on Comcast, on which other MSL personnel interview experts about important subjects, conferences on historical and other important subjects held at MSL, presentations by authors who discuss their books at MSL, a radio program (What The Media Won’t Tell You) which is heard on the World Radio Network (which is on Sirrus and other outlets in the U.S.), and an MSL journal of important issues called The Long Term View, can all be accessed on the internet, including by video and audio. For TV shows go to: www.mslaw.edu/about_tv.htm; for book talks go to: www.notedauthors.com; for conferences go to: www.mslawevents.com; for The Long Term View go to: www.mslaw.edu/about_LTV.htm; and for the radio program go to: www.velvelonmedia.com.
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