Big Banks Are Feeding Like Parasites on the Govt.'s Money

By Dean Baker, Boston Review
Posted on February 4, 2010, Printed on February 5, 2010
http://www.alternet.org/story/145511/

Wall Street bankers, along with the rest of the players in the financial industry, like to think of themselves as swashbuckling capitalists. They battle cutthroat competition with one hand and oppressive government bureaucracy with the other. In reality, the financial industry is deeply dependent on the government. Far from the rugged, go-it-alone types they wish they were, they are more like well-dressed, coddled adolescents. And this is true in good times and bad.

The industry's dependency takes five main forms:

* an explicit safety net provided by government deposit insurance;

* an implicit safety net provided by "too big to fail";

* a special privilege of being the only untaxed casino;

* an open invitation to raid state and local governments for fees;

* a right to change contract terms after the fact.

These dependencies are entrenched, and, despite loud protests to the contrary, the removal of government from the financial sector is not really on the agenda.