Too Small to Fail
698 views · Published 20 November 2008 · 1:25:35 · Indexed 20 September 2026
Channel: New America · 2008 · News & Politics
With the big guns in the financial services industry in turmoil, its a good time to ask hard questions about the nature of our finance system. Does bigger always mean better? Or does small-scale "relationship" banking, in which individual savers and borrowers are members of the same community, help to make a better banking sector? Community banks and credit unions were regarded until recently as vestigial players in a new world of global consumer finance. But today they arent merely doing well; they also seem to have a lot to offer. In this event, New America and the Washington Monthly explore ways to encourage the health and number of small-scale financial institutions as a means of thwarting the tendency toward excessive consolidation in financial services and restoring a mutuality of interest between borrowers and lenders. By encouraging thrift, responsibility, and a sense of community, small-scale financial institutions could play a leading role in digging out from the current recession and avoiding the next one.
More from this channel
-
1:02:12
Does Europe Matter in the Debate on Iran?
-
29:21
Health Care and Budget (Len Nichols Congressional Testimony)
-
1:25:27
Terrorism: A Brief for Americans
-
1:13:02
Smarter Tax Treatment of Health Insurance
-
1:32:46
America's $480 Billion Spectrum Giveaway
-
5:01
Rick Wartzman on 'Local Edition'
-
1:12:42
To Save, or Not to Save?
-
16:43
Making the Social Contract Citizen-Based-Len Nichols Segment