Rather than interfere with how banks operate, as does the Volcker Rule or proposals to break up large banks, such requirements restrict only the way banks finance themselves.
.. Some analysts think the costs of the financial crisis in the United States are more than $13 trillion, almost a full year’s GDP.11
.. Such implicit and explicit subsidies for banks that are thought to be too big and too important to be allowed to fail enable them to borrow more cheaply. Bank of England calculations reported by Andrew Haldane, its director for financial stability, show that these subsidies for the world’s twenty-nine most significant banks accounted for roughly half their profits from 2002 to 2007.
The Last of the Sheiks?
Moreover, spending for stability’s sake in Saudi Arabia and the other Gulf monarchies will necessarily be quite short-lived. The kingdom pledged a record-breaking $500 billion for “welfare” this year — most to be spent on social security subsidies and new public sector jobs.