Should The 10 Biggest U.S. Banks Be Broken-Up?

Because of the massive multi-billion dollar government  taxpayer funded bailouts, the 10 biggest U.S. banks now control 77% of all U.S. banking assets, an ironic reward for these banks nearly taking down the global economic system. But as a result, they have been deemed "too big to fail" by the U.S. government, which means they have huge leverage over U.S taxpayers and these banks make a mockery of the capitalistic system, as they can divide the spoils with the support of the U.S. Fed, which hopes to see them grow stronger so they can weather additional financial shocks to come such as from the European debt crisis and the home foreclosure fiasco. To ensure the support of the government and the Fed continue, these banks pay lobbyists big fees to give to politicians.

But if they are "too big to fail," they are too big to exist. Over a century ago, the U.S. government used to have "trust busters," led by President Teddy Roosevelt and others to break up monopolistic entities. Today the giant banks compete largely in theory but often have the same pricing for products and services and pay virtually zero for depositor's money. They are notoriously unresponsive to the home foreclosure crisis and they readily add more customer fees to the very people who bailed them out.

Given that the giant banks and their lobbyists have huge leverage and that the politicians won't soon take any action to break up these "too big to fail" institutions, I suggest customers consider taking their business to local community banks. While these community banks don't have comparable resources to the giant banks, at least they will value your business and will more readily listen to what you have to say.

Dick