Although the idea of breaking up the big banks —
Yet in a series of interviews with delegates at both the Republican and Democratic national conventions, it appears the idea enjoys broad bipartisan support, suggesting there is an opportunity for a populist politician to make a cross-party appeal for a break-up.
Moreover, several observers argue that if the issue were brought to a vote in Congress, it almost certainly would pass.
(In the residential mortgage space, the nation’s top five servicers are all commercial banks: Wells Fargo, Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup, and Ally Financial, according to figures compiled by the
While such an event is unlikely in the current political environment, the growing popularity of what was once a radical suggestion implies trouble for megabanks that have proven vulnerable to scandals and large errors over the past summer. More mistakes may shift public opinion even further against them — and potentially provoke a response from Washington.
"I don't have any doubt the American people favor it," said Rep. Brad Miller, D-N.C., a House sponsor of legislation that would establish strict limits on the size of banks. "They are not at all persuaded that banks need to be as big as they are for some economic function that they serve. And they think they have too much economic power, they think they have too much political power, and they don't want banks that are too big to fail."
Miller readily acknowledges, however, that support from voters will not be enough to ensure success on Capitol Hill, noting the reliance of members of Congress on campaign contributions from large banks.
"Leadership — certainly on the Republican side, but to some extent on the Democratic side as well — is not going to be in a big hurry to bring a vote like that to the floor," said Miller, who is not running for reelection this year. "It would take an event that changes the political circumstances. But given the circumstances now, the political environment now, I don't see it happening."
Still, it is worth noting how much public opinion has changed since 2008. When the financial crisis hit that year, the idea of breaking up the big banks was not part of the mainstream political discourse. That has changed over the last four years, so that if a 2008-style meltdown or perhaps even a smaller crisis were to occur, political conditions might be ripe for a major policy shift.
Such a rapid change has precedent. When
Delegates at the Republican convention in Tampa, Fla., last week were generally more skeptical of breaking up the banks than their Democratic counterparts here in Charlotte.
"I think the financial world has been overregulated," said Dick Ackerman, a delegate to the Republican convention from Irvine, Calif., who noted that he has a son who works for Morgan Stanley. "I think coming in to break up the banks per se doesn't make any sense."
But some GOP delegates spoke in favor of the idea, while others suggested they could be persuaded by a politician who makes a strong free-market case that smaller banks would increase competition and end bailouts.
Sam Clovis, an alternate delegate from Sioux City, Iowa, said that today there is a massive concentration of power with just a few banks. "The banks are nothing more than extensions of the government," he said. "I am all for competition."
David Harris, a New Mexico delegate who described himself as a member of the Tea Party, noted that the largest banks have only grown bigger in the last few years. "Let them go away," he said. "The smaller banks would get bigger naturally."
