Main image for the briefing: Obama is right to bash the bankers

Obama is right to bash the bankers

President Obama has announced a major reform of the US banking system which will set a limit on a bank’s size, force deposit-taking banks to divest themselves of any hedge funds or private equity funds they may own, and ban them from any subsequent speculative activities. He also wants to impose a levy on large financial firms: the riskier the activities of the bank, the larger the levy.

But is it based on sound economic thinking, or is it a piece of populist flim flam, at best a waste of paper, at worst positively dangerous for America and the world economy?

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