Mr. Liber, while I share your concern, generally in recessionary times consolidation claims it's victims to those more business savvy with deeper pockets. If BAC & Morgan can't steer through these troubled waters with the financial hurricane the industry's been through,, who can? Hopefully, lessons learned will create a 'smarter' industry willing to police themselves in the name of survival. This isn't an anti trust matter & I still believe in free markets, big brother has his hands in enough in this developing disaster....

Bobby,

I can agree with your comments, my post is a cautionary tale. Business and government often plant the seeds of our next crises in the haphazard solutions they devise for the current one.

Sheldon,

I think we agree in theory that a widespread healthy industry is the ideal answer to a competative free market system. That's the largest problem I assume you're speaking of as the bottom feeders snap up the residue from this catastrophe. In the end I'm hoping consumers have learned enough lessons curtailing breakneck speed growth that never was real to begin with keeping the financial institutions in check with their own reality. Take care...

Good point, but needless.
Sheldon, BAC started as the Bank of Italy and without the foresight of its founder the quake of San Fran would have been even a greater disaster. As I have said in a statement to Peter, no doubt they are pulling their ears in, but, so are all others.
As J.P. Morgan said back in 1909. Let those fail that deserve to fail. That is happening and consolidation will become a necessity for the system to survive. Citi has made monumental mistakes in the past but has investors (major) that will influence future decisions. They can't keep screwing up or the bail out cash won't be there, besides those who put up the big bucks will have a bit to say about how the business is run.
In the overall scheme of this mess - these are worth writing about but are really not big players. Now that is a mindless statement. Don't take bets.
Personally, I am more concerned about my next load of firewood!
These are the times that try mens souls - AKA - worry about your own ass.

Dear Mr. Liber,

Thank you for the great article. I own an interest in all the companies, BAC JPM and Citibank. Like many of my ordinary shareholder friends we watch as the paper value of our wealth disappears. But not to enrage the world it is a great time to buy really good companies with a nice dividend that seem to have stayed simple, XOM, KFT, PM, MO, and quite a few others. As Daddy said, this too shall pass and better days are ahead for the market. Again thank you for the your thoughts they made me smile on a day when the market dropped another 200 plus points. Take care.

Sheldon, I like what you have to say here, but I see the problem as possibly being even larger than you suggest. This consolidation and condensing of worth, whether real worth or speculated worth, is indicative of a world banking system which is drawing all tangible capital value unto itself with the assistance and guidance of political powers.

The current devastating collapse of a debt supported world financial structure was inevitable, and began in the 1970s. However, we continue to pursue the fallacy of future growth being able to support or supplant present debt.

The saddest part is that all the major "power centers" in the world are continuing to push the lie that we can recover from this collapse by pursuing a solution which mimics the original cause. However, you'll notice that the banks know it won't work. That's why the bail-out billions seem to be disappearing into a black hole somewhere. Have you seen a loosening in the credit markets? Neither have I.

Banks will come and banks will go. Little banks may be swallowed up by big ones. It all matters not. The simple fact of the matter is that the world manufacturing structure, which provided the base which a world banking system used to sell debt to the populations in exchange for tangible value, is crumbling at our feet.

One reason for this is because the original intent of the markets, which was to provide capital to feed industrial and commercial growth, was perverted into a system of leveraging against the future potential of businesses to extract rapid capital gains. Again I give you real value purchased with debt.

Nearly all historical tangible value has already been sucked away from the private sector. Current tangible value is being siphoned off at an ever faster pace. Very soon, our banks won't even matter in a commercial growth sense, as they become simple intermediaries in the movement of intangible value between the power brokers and the people. Tangible value shall increasingly be sequestered at the very top of the food chain.

As a public, our actual tangible value, which translates as next week's paychecks, is no longer able to support the needs of the system which our debt has built. As this situation continues to escalate, and it will, government powers shall effectively take total control of all tangible value and shall arbitrarily decide which individual pieces of the system shall survive and which shall ultimately die.

The most recent example of this truth is CPSIA.
(HR4040, I believe).

LET CITIGROUP BANK GO UNDER JUST LIKE ALL OF THE OTHER BANKS. GO FOR BANKRUPCTY THEN THEY MIGHT STOP AND THINK WHO THEY GIVE OUR MONEY TOO. CARLETTA MOORE