Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Once Again, Its Sweden (Sweden!) Showing the Way
The Big Picture ^ | 11/10/2011 | By Barry Ritholtz

Posted on 11/11/2011 6:05:07 AM PST by SeekAndFind

Over these past few years of watching Banks collapse, get bailed out, and then falter again, I have had a consistent take on the matter: The banking system is more important than any single institution; If you as a banker are so incompetent as to blow up yourself and your firm, you should not be saved; instead, prepackaged bankruptcy, a/k/a temporary nationalization, is the preferred route to protect the overall system.

The choices are stark: Emulate either Japan or Sweden. In the US, we have a hybrid (Perhaps we should call it Swedenese or Jaden).

The Swedish approach — Save the System! –is embodied in the FDIC, which has real dollars at risk as the insurer of depository accounts. They follow the Swedish model in that banks they determine to be insolvent are to be liquidated and or sold off top the highest qualified bidder.

The Japanese approach — Save the Banks! — is a result of their Keiretsu, and is the model embraced first by the Bush White House, and the Federal Reserve, than by Congress, and lastly by the Obama White House. I have argued this approach is in large part why the post-crisis economy has been so moribund, with sub-par GDP and Employment the rule.

This policy-making error is based on a refusal to take the loss. Indeed, Capitalism recognizes that failure is normal, and denying that, rejecting a fundamental premise of market based economies equals embracing socialized losses caused by the reckless. The approach of Socialism for bankers, Capitalism for everyone else is a philosophy that Keynes, Hayek and Friedman would all heartily reject en masse.

As the error or our (and the Japanese) ways becomes increasingly obvious to fair-minded observers, the Swedish approach continues to find new adherents. The latest is this piece in Bloomberg Business Week:

“Sweden’s bank rescue model has protected taxpayers, turned a profit and left the Nordic country less indebted than when the financial crisis started in 2007.

It’s the opposite of what’s happening in the U.K., where the government’s debt burden has doubled in the past four years and taxpayers are still footing the bill to bail out banks . . .

As lenders across the globe resist stricter regulatory controls they say will hurt earnings, Sweden’s commitment to enforcing rigorous standards has paid off. Companies like Stockholm-based Nordea Bank AB (NDA) are better capitalized than most of their European and U.S. rivals, and have better access to funding markets and a lower risk of default. Tougher controls enacted during the Swedish banking crisis of the 1990s also have protected the state budget, which will be in surplus this year.”

We are presented with a stark simple choice when confronted with a financial collapse. We can save the system or we can save individual banks. Astonishingly, we keep choosing wrongly . . .


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Culture/Society; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: bankingcrisis; sweden

1 posted on 11/11/2011 6:05:08 AM PST by SeekAndFind
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind
....Socialism for banksters, Capitalism for everyone else......

There! Fixed it!!!!!

The BANKSTERS thank us for our largesse by sponsoring the "Occupy" movement, while feasting on the impoverishment of millions of Americans, including our veterans. Save the system, NOT the banksters!!!!

2 posted on 11/11/2011 6:13:55 AM PST by Honorary Serb (Kosovo is Serbia! Free Srpska! Abolish ICTY!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: WesternCulture

Ping and Skål! XD


3 posted on 11/11/2011 6:16:32 AM PST by Eurotwit
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind

The problem with our choice is that, we have too much socialism embedded into our formerly capitalist economy.

“Too big to fail” was largely brought into existence to protect jobs and to protect shareholders and to protect the assets of people doing banking in those failing institutions. The thought of allowing failed institutions to officially fail, is no longer an option in an economy where the socialists first seek to protect the little people, and the big picture is not considered, where the big picture might be that, we’d be better off in the long run by allowing “big to fail”.


4 posted on 11/11/2011 6:18:50 AM PST by adorno (<)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind

But, what does Krugman think?


5 posted on 11/11/2011 6:20:59 AM PST by Paladin2
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: WesternCulture

Sverige ping!


6 posted on 11/11/2011 6:49:32 AM PST by Boogieman
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: adorno

and at this point fixing the problem will likely, at least in the short term, require even MORE government intervention, which is liable to give most of us here a chronic case of indigestion.


7 posted on 11/11/2011 7:09:57 AM PST by Buckeye McFrog
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind

Any country that can come up with a bikini team like they’ve got is OK with me.


8 posted on 11/11/2011 7:24:38 AM PST by blueunicorn6 ("A crack shot and a good dancer")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Buckeye McFrog

The reality is that, the problem won’t be fixed, and can’t be fixed, because, fixing it would require that many people be hurt along the way, and nobody is going to give up their government benefits and their freebies, and, it’s always somebody else’s problem

Besides, we’re too deep into debt to ever pay it off. It might be too late.


9 posted on 11/11/2011 8:00:24 PM PST by adorno (<)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies]

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson