Simon Johnson: belief

Transcript context

…The American separation of banking and commerce — does it still make sense? Why don’t we just abolish it? Plenty of countries don’t have it. Maybe their banks have been more stable than ours. Why have that form of the Glass-Steagall Act? That’s a great question. I think, in America, one of the things we’re really good at is allowing people to get really big and powerful fast. If Amazon owned a bank, or if Microsoft owned a bank, or if Apple owned a bank, would the system be more stable or less stable? Would it be more fair or less fair? It’s a very good question. I think we’re not going to do it politically. I think that separation is something that’s sufficiently ingrained, and people are accustomed to it, but you’re right to push them, Tyler. Absolutely. Universal banking, as we’ve had in Japan, Germany — I remember the 1980s, parts of the ’90s. People said how great it is. Were they wrong in overrating universal banking? Those nations have not done perfectly since then, right?…

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