bailout.gif(A Populist Capitalist Blog)

With all the bailouts, as Congress and the Administration attempt to keep the economy from sinking, the good news is that there is some thinking going on about how to build a better ship next time.

One answer is that our anti-trust legislation has failed us. In the future, no one organization should be allowed to grow “too big to fail.”

Another is that credit swaps and derivatives are akin to insurance policies. And just as your life, car, and home insurance companies have capital requirements (we hope stringent), anyone who guarantees anything (such as hedge funds), needs regulation and capital requirements.

Truisms:

Ultimately everything breaks.

All systems eventually wander off track and all the sooner if not monitored.

Trust but verify.

Expect the best, but inspect for what you expect.