To start to deal with the "too big to fail" conundrum, large companies ("large" to be defined) would need to meet requirements of transparency and accountability. This means that a specific department in the company would be responsible for publicizing the "relevant" (to be defined) information on the internet in a format understandable to the non specialist. It is unrealistic to expect large companies to be concerned with "size" rather than efficiency and financial soundness. If a company has found a successful "cookie cutter" approach (AIG), it should be allowed to use it within well defined and reasonable economic parameters.

My question is does size of a company affect it financial growth????

Regards
Modern Man

Dear Paul. PLEASE stick it out with this one. I'm ELDERLY and probably won't ever be writing the likes of it, publically, again.

IF I can finally contribute USEFULLY to helpfully resolving America's worst problems today... and I do firmly believe that "TBTF" is one of the most MAJOR pathological symptoms of the BIGGEST mega-problem of them all! - then I can go ahead and finish my lifespan in dignity, and die in peace - feeling I have personally served my country to some wee extent, my family and my grandkids in a really worthwhile way.

Dunno if this is a question, comment, a suggestion or a prophecy - or just a half-baked speech - but I DO NEED to SAY, that, IF our representatives, acting on OUR behalf, would STEP UP and "RE"OUTLAW all forms of building AND using private-sector based "TBTF" POWERS in the US and RE-IN&-EN-FORCE the old "TR-era" spirited ANTI-TRUST LAW (and then-some!) against "Everything TBTF" - just BUST'EM DOWN, and just LET IT ALL GO OFFSHORE or WHEREVER IT STILL CAN FUNCTION outside the USA, and SHUT IT DOWN and OUT of the US economy, I believe we'd much SOONER than later, experience a massive REBIRTH of the TRUE "American Economic MIRACLE" - again - with a SURGING of our traditional grassroots-UP style of entrepreneurship, JUST to continue supporting OURSELVES - as we always HAVE DONE, but doing so more-INDEPENDENTLY AGAIN AT LAST - plus. I'm SURE we would ENJOY plenty of support and encouragements of ALL kinds from everywhere BUT "Wall St" - until they see the light and get on board, too.

The parts of the SANER world we-Americans usually love and need most, I'm sure, would LOVE US MORE too, and readily follow suit.

The BAILOUTS have simply become a DESTRUCTIVELY FRAUDULENT CON-JOB and MASSIVE FRAUD against the Taxpaying HONEST public. What is so UNREALISTICALLY DANGEROUS about the TBTF's? They ARE LED by fundamental UNREALISTS - total FANTASY-MONGERS! And because of their financial campaign-funding clout, they get treated with RESPECT by Congress and the WHouse like REAL PEOPLE and THEN-SOME! This is the HEART of the matter! They - and all they represent - are NOT REAL people! And they are leading us all ASTRAY in increasingly LETHAL ways!!! The natural laws of lassaize-UNfair, "free marketing" are OPPOSED to the LAWS of HUMAN SOCIAL SURVIVAL! We don't need wall-to-wall institutionalized SOCIALISM: we just need Constitutionally-correct, collective systems enabling "level playing fields" for real-live self-motivating PEOPLE to opportunely perform ALL FAIR and HONORABLE FORMS of doing LEGAL and HONEST BUSINESS and for performing APPROPRIATE GOVT SERVICES, BALANCED-UP REALISTICALLY, so we - The PEOPLE - can affordably access the ones we NEED, WHEN we need to, to lawfully and appropriately PARTAKE OF and FURTHER "THE COMMON WELFARE". We must CEASE WORSHIPPING the False Idol of "PROFIT": all we NEED to support collectively, as HUMAN BEINGS, is EVERYONE'S RIGHT to REAL OPPORTUNITIES to make a decent honest LIVING above our COST of doing businesses that SERVE REAL HUMAN NEEDS and WANTS - not just serve the competitive SELFISH EGOS, "KILLER INSTINCTS" and GREEDY FANTASIES of a FEW INDIVIDUAL UNFAIR-MINDED SELF-ENTITLING BULLIES.

Democracy, in THIS Republic, as we-Americans have traditionally learned and lived it, implies "majority rule" under LAWS made by FAIRLY ELECTED REPRESENTATIVES. WHO is our society's MAJORITY? First-off, it's HUMAN BEINGS, NOT CORPORATE or GOVT ENTITIES -NOR "COLLECTIVE CONSTRUCTS" either. So WHO IS OUR (and HUMANITY'S) MAJORITY CONSTITUENCY? It is WOMEN plus CHILDREN plus the ELDERLY-RETIRED, all the under-educated MINORITIES, and whoever else CANNOT MAKE "BIGGER" MONEY yet, or ever. So HOW DO WHITE OLD MEN GET OFF telling the REST OF US, what we can and can't have, and what to do and when to do it, for THEIR PROFIT at OUR EXPENSE - EXPLOITING all of us like a bunch of savage PREDATORS and PARASITES????

Do you SEE how the arch-conservatives and arch-progressives CAN FIND and BUILD ON SOLID COMMON GROUNDS around THIS BASIC and PRINCIPLED FACT OF HUMAN LIFE? Even MOST of our biggest loudest CONTROVERSIES nowadays are EXPLOITATIVELY MANUFACTURED and PROMOTED by BIG MONEY: utterly SHAMELESSLY BOGUS DISTRACTIONS from the REAL THREATS and TRUE CHALLENGES WE REALLY and TRULY FACE in today's USA.
"TBTF" absolutely EPITOMIZES the WORST of the WORST in totally HEARTLESS, UNJUST and INHUMANE PREDATION upon the American PUBLIC. Empowering above all else, everything WRONG and EVIL by standards o HUMAN DIGNITY, that the US Constitution was WRITTEN to AVOID or PREVENT in the brand New Nation of 1776!

I think the PUBLIC NEEDS DESPERATELY to be AIDED BY THE MEDIA to SEE THROUGH ALL THE BOGUS CONJOBS now, and GET BUSY REBUILDING THIS NATION TO SUIT US and OUR PROGENY, for living in the Name of Human DECENCY, religiously and/or secularly ALIKE, once-again. THIS, I am sure by now, IS THE LARGEST ISSUE - above and beneath and surrounding all the other issues - that we-Americans now face.
The underlying NATURAL MEGA-ACTIVITY driving this REAL issue, is nothing less than GLOBAL OVERPOPULATION - and the challenges to Humanity today are mostly NOT NEW - just MUCH BIGGER this time around.

YES, we'd have to go through a tough economic time, in order to get from here (where the "livin' is HARD" and worsening, and it already STINKS SO BAD!) to there (where a free people under law can do consistently stable GOOD business that WORKS honorably for them AND their clients or consumers): a "depression-of-sorts" but a HOPEFUL one.

We have HUGE NEEDS for NEWLY DESIGNED DOMESTIC industries - and we're all quite painfully aware of what they are/would be: health, infrastructure, energy, more responsible financing for viable local business. We need to launch a grassroots movement, and drive the national media, to REPORT and ENCOURAGE ALL LOCAL ENTREPRENEURS trying to "DO their American Thing"! We need HARSHLY ENFORCED CRIMINAL LAWS AGAINST the return of the TBTFs, with all their outrageous forms of CONSUMER FRAUD.
We would need to warn the world to "batten down" for the duration while America takes a "TIME OUT" to protect itself against all forms of TBTF-building, and financial-industrial BULLYING at home or from abroad, then bite the bullet ourselves of accepting a TEMPORARY period of DEFLATION -lasting until this ROTATION OF OUR ECONOMY from "top-led" to "bottom-led", brings prices and wages in line with material REALITIES, and the economy stabilizes enough at whatever (lower) levels it may require to "naturally" bring the economy sufficiently back into balance. This would involve a rolling tipping-point. Our elective Govt officials, from fed to local would need to respond positively, or lose to those who will.
The socalled VIRAL INTERNET and RESPONSIBLE TV pro's (like Newshour and Business Desk INDEED!) would have POWERFUL roles and hopefully the ability to SEE this needed popular movement as THE BIGGER "BIG Picture" and how BEST to play their most constructive parts for the country's sake. It often feels to me like many of the bigmedia-newsheads are almost "POISED" - like racehorses in starting-gates - to REPORT ON & RALLY ROUND the NEW MOVEMENT to rebuild America from the grassroots out.

Why not seek how to RESTRUCTURE big outfits - like Walmart - more HORIZONTALLY: aren't those fatcats who sit atop these moneypiles truly SUPERFLUOUS and UNNECESSARY to successful management of these? Should they not instead be run - and LED - as systems-in-place - evolving into decentralized REGIONAL chains &/or LOCALLY-OWNED or FRANCHISED operations? Isn't there a LOT of legally appropriate and economically viable TWEAKING of the LEADERSHIP structures in place today, now very-much in order - practically BEGGING to be seen, comprehended and DONE?

TOUGH LOVE for a lotta folks, but wouldn't it still be LOVE? Esp relative to the motives and incentives we have leading and funding our national priorities NOW!!! America has become a really ROTTEN and CORRUPTING place to raise CHILDREN to be HONEST-HEARTED, GOOD HUMAN BEINGS and CONFIDENT USEFUL CITIZENS.

The true underlying BIGGEST pressure-source (read: "PROBLEM") - is GLOBAL HUMAN OVERPOPULATION. And I believe the World is entering the actual "Population-CRASH" phase. Furthermore, I am quite sure that by now, a LARGE and swiftly growing PROPORTION of the US citizenry DOES KNOW THIS to be the case, by now. That "The People" are way out ahead of the leadership - or at least, of where the leadership believes us to be on this subject!
What a HUGE CHALLENGE for AMERICAN INGENUITY this whole situation IS!

THE RULE OF Constitutionally-valid LAW must RISE to REINSTATEMENT AGAIN, nationally, in order to WIN this GOOD vs EVIL BATTLE against "3rd-world versions, US-style", of CORRUPTION OF OUR OFFICIAL LEADERS, in govt, media, AND in the BUSINESS and FINANCIAL WORLDS. Our public media needs to FOCUS HARD and COME OUT STRONGLY to EXPOSE and REVEAL THE TRICKS of ALL COMMERICAL and GOVT FRAUDS and LIES being told and SOLD to the public. ("Proprietory Info", MY ASS!!! Misleading advertising, and Insider Trading, ARE ILLEGAL, and need to become MORESO!) I'm absolutely APPALLED by how far below DECENT SENSIBLE REALISTIC standards and understandings of our Constitutional PRINCIPLES, our whole national legal structure have FALLEN and become CO-OPTED, particularly systematically and eggregiously by the TBTF-Crowd and its paid-off politico's: - from the Supreme Court on down. The US Congress, also, needs to REFORM ITS CULTURE, so as to FOSTER a throrough HOUSECLEANING of its RULES and PROCEDURES, to BUST THE STRANGLEHOLD of CORRUPTION and bring itself back into COMPLIANCE with these OVERARCHING original AMERICAN ideals behind all relevant Constitutional Principles of Governance!!! Because the GOODNESS of America has SLID for the past half-century right into the toilet! And the nation's foreign opponents ARE CALLING OUR BLUFFS as to who and what we REALLY ARE when dealing with them. Giving aid and comfort, quite arguably, to the likes of each terrorist organization's credibility within THEIR growing followerships, and just leaving many more in the moderate "middles" too confused and disabled to function... I view this as the biggest of all our INTERNAL THREATs to National Security we've got going! And NOBODY'S TALKING about this "doomsday-issue" for the US as we've known and admired and still love it, yet!

Sorry for wandering and ranting at times, but it's a BIG subject to try to wrap this aging brain around, within a few minutes.... I sure ADMIRE YOU, Paul, for YOUR HONORABLE and RELIABLE Body of WORK, and MOST OF ALL just for truly helping so many of us-"Unwashed" to understand ANY of it!!!

I see no reason to assume that if the US pulls its "big front tooth" out of the smugly secretive "SMILE" of the overly empowered and FAR TOO SELF-ENTITLING cabals and cartels of the current international SYSTEM of financing (and "FENCING") of MONEY, CAPITAL, ARMS, ENERGY and DRUG TRADING etc., how or why doing this would (or could) stop us - the PEOPLE - from remaining IN the international export-import systems and as one of the world's various consumer-bases. With the INTERNET, everything about trading in REAL products would remain as OPEN and ENABLED as the TRUE economic "traffic would bear".
We-The-People simply need to WHACK OFF the HEAD of THIS lethal economic SNAKE, and CHOP IT UP FINE! - which is now holding everything "in its thrall", like a cobra threatening to bite and kill whatever comes "too close". IT'S ALL A BLUFF!!! This Emporer (the American oligarchy) is FAKE - a FALSE IMAGE! Functioning like a COWBIRD in our DOMESTIC NEST! We NEED NOT support it! On an "axis of evil" runnning in a hidden line, connecting Limbaugh to Club for Growth to Goldman Sachs! It's TIME for regular-HONORABLE and LEGALLY CONSTITUTED America to CALL IT OUT, REFORM the HELL (literally!) OUT OF IT, and REINSTATE ALL THE NEEDED LAWS and APPROPRIATE ENFORCEMENTS that have been LOST or COMPROMISED - locally first, when elsewhere or higher-up remains too difficult, and just keep UNDERMINING that upper-crusted element. By energetically THINKING THINGS THROUGH and functioning and coordinating online and in op-eds (etc etc), until WE HAVE BUILT an ECONOMIC MOVEMENT behind all these swelling "GREEN MOVEMENTS" and to "marry them up" with the REALISTS among the SENSIBLE, POSITIVE and independently fiscal-conservative elements: And keep on MOVING IT IN on this national economy, coming UP from BENEATH the presently corrupted "aristo-kleptocracy" spawned by today's morbidly obese, illegitimately self-entitling, incorporated rightwing hogs whose "MO" is to MANIPULATE and PREY on the society to DEFEND THEIR OWN SELF-DEALING EMPIRES, rather than BELONG to and SUPPORT this nation's WHOLE society and OUR collective founding ideals.
We-The-People must become connected entrepreneurially and demandingly pushing small to medium sized local and regional U.S. business-ethics and empowering smaller successes all over the land UPward and ONward - and just YANK it all AWAY from "all that" CORRUPTED FATCAT-CRIMINALITY still holding the US Govt down.

Reminder: Barack Obama said many times during his campaign that if he wins, THE PEOPLE MUST, and WILL NEED TO, MAKE HIM KEEP HIS PROMISES.
Obviously SO! He is ONLY ONE MAN!
GOOD Leadership REQUIRES and ONLY SUCCEEDS "at the pleasure of" ENOUGH WILLING FOLLOWERS who'll build principled and courageous grassroots substructures full of smart and CARING folks who also CAN LEAD pretty well, and WISELY, too.
"From those to whom more has been GIVEN...", MORE than we're yet getting LATELY - speaking generationally now - in this country, from its segments of more advantaged beneficiaries, MUST SOON EMERGE. Or we can all just stick a fork in this nation as we knew it!
ALSO: Two major Supreme Court decisions NEED TO BE REVERSED, asap: Corporations as "persons" and Money as "Speech"!

I apologize for my inherent lack of well-organized thinking, the current condition of my creaking old brain, and having NO "staff" to help me organize this "desperate-feeling" attempt to contribute usefully to these vitally important discussions. I think if you will "SORT THRU" my ideas and content here, you'll find a LOT to work with though, in YOUR highly LAUDABLE efforts to HELP America to finally OVERCOME the CON-JOBS and come BACK to its basically most HUMANITY and MATH-based, COMMON-senses.

Actually, ALL of this "comment" is ONE QUESTION - and a really-REALLY BIG one, at that. I regret I have no more time available today to proofread this for you, before submitting it. (I submitted a better written version but your computer refused it due to my failure to fill out the ID section, and dumped it. So I'd had to start all over.) I did not expect to go on at such length this time, either... again, I do sincerely apologize for that.

FROM:
One70YOLady and big longtime (if heretofore silent) "PolSol-FAN"! THANK YOU PAUL - and all The NEWSHOUR-FOLK who help you - for ALL of your ARTFULLY HELPFUL, TRULY USEFUL, and VITALLY IMPORTANT CONTRIBUTIONS to EDUCATING US-"UNWASHED" - (and myself in particular) - timely and clearly, in the nature of OUR SHARED INTERESTS in UNDERSTANDING the nature and complexities of our GREATER ECONOMIC and SOCIETAL REALITIES. You deserve some TOP-TIER HONORS and GLOBAL-Status PRIZES for your work.

I was quite disappointed today in the "too big to fail" discussion that Jim did not mention CFTC head Brooksley Born. Way back in the Clinton Administration she warned against the looming Credit Default Swap bubble and was squashed by the muckymucks at Treasury, the Fed and the White House.

What is it about Barney Frank's proposal that makes oversight strong enough to stand up to the money makers? We had a law that protected the banks - Glass Steagall - why not compare the current proposal against that, just for starters. It's important for people to know this problem existed in our history and was successfully countered by FDR, It would provide a very useful discussion to contrast the previous fix with the proposed one, and to remind people of Brooksley Born's unsuccessful efforts during the Clinton administration.

Thanks also for having Dean Baker as a guest. He provides a non-establishment point of view that is refreshing and though provoking.

First: watch the Frontline documentary: The Warning.

Second: Do not allow ANY financial transactions in the US or by US-based companies, which are secret (ie Financial Derivatives so-called-markets) and can grow enormously in the shadows as they did more than once (see Frontline "The Warning").

Third: Require ALL institutions with a net asset value of $10Bi or more, to disclose all financial transactions with all other institutions of any size - to some government overseer if not publicly. Without full transparency of assets and liabilities we have no chance of evaluating the "health" of the system.

Fourth: ideally break up companies that are "too big to fail", reinstate all regulations imposed after the Great Depression and dismantled later (in the '80s, etc), as Paul Volcker said: "if it talks like a band and walks like a bank"... it should be regulated like a bank! Duh?!!

Iagree with every single word written by Anona Musley. These fat old rich men live in their own little fantasy rich world. They have no idea how the rest of us live in this real big world. I suggest that every elected official go through a retreat by viewing documentaries of people that have made it in life by being treated fairly with good community support, small businesses that are supported by fair banking practices. and mostly these elected elites need to realize that they are just employees working for the American People. They should be rated every six months on what good laws to benefit their communities or states have been passed or who benefits from their efforts. President Obama is doing a fine job, but we did not elect him to do a solo act.