Actual title was "Banks and Politics in America." This whole discussion inspired me to dig up my senior thesis entitled "Congressional Action and Banking Policy." I relied heavily on Hammond for historical information. The thesis of the thesis, written in 1987, was that Congress (specifically the banking comittees) hated dealing with banking regulatory policy because the very competitive nature of the industry (big banks vs. small banks vs. S&Ls vs. securities industry, etc.) made policy-making low benefit/high cost and was very happy to leave regulation to the regulatory agencies, while the committees could focus on housing policy, development banks and other high benefit/low cost activities. Congressional action re regulation only happened in response to crises that forced action, which explained why the deregulation of the S&Ls (and effective elimination of distinction between banks and S&Ls) occurred in 1982 as opposed to the mid-70s when first proposed by a nation! al commission in 1971 (the crises was high interest rates that effectively put the S&Ls out of business in 1981).
Conclusion from the thesis: But I am convinced that eventually interstate banking, bank involvement in securities, and overall further deregulation is an inevitability, possibly by the end of the decade. The technological revolution the agencies faced in the Sixties and Seventies and found impossible to keep up with, are finally reaching the consciousness of Congress. The evolution of Sears into a financial shopping market will not be reversed, but could lead to a clamor of other financial service companies for equal rights so they can be competitive. Issues like bank safety and insider trading will be favored as topics of discussion, but they will not interfere with the steady march towards financial deregulation. --- Original Message--- To: Progressive Economics <[email protected]> From: Eugene Coyle <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: 10/25/2008 9:50AM Subject: Re: [Pen-l] the era of free banking >> There was a popular book on the history of banking, published around >> 1959 called "A History of Banks and Banking in the United States from >> the Revolution to the Civil War" or something close to that. It won a >> prize -- I think the author was Hammond but not sure of the memory. >> Banks used to print up bank notes and ship them by wagon to some far >> off state, hoping they would never come back to be redeemed for >> anything. Publishers put out reports of what a particular bank's >> notes were really worth. A merchant needed those reports before >> turning over goods in exchange for paper money. >> >> I liked the book a lot at the time -- I think I'll look for it and >> check my evaluation. >> >> Gene Coyle >> >> >> On Oct 24, 2008, at 2:26 PM, Laurence Shute wrote: >> >> > Michael et. al., >> > >> > My great-grandfather, John S. Shute -- owner of the Shute Bank in >> > Hillsboro, Oregon -- is said to have done a similar thing with bags >> > of lead slugs prominently displayed behind the counter. "See, we've >> > got lots of money." I wonder how common this sort of thing was. >> > >> > Larry Shute >> > >> > Michael Perelman wrote: >> >> Dwyer, Gerald P. 1996. "Wildcat Banking, Banking Panics, and Free >> >> Banking in the United States." Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta >> >> Economic Review, 81: 3-6 (December): pp. 1-20. 2: In an >> >> examination report for Jackson County Bank in Michigan in 1838 >> >> stated: "Beneath the counter of the bank. Nine boxes are pointed >> >> out by the teller, as containing one thousand dollars each. The >> >> teller selected one of the boxes and opened it: this was examined >> >> and appeared to he a full box of American half dollars. One of the >> >> commissioners then selected a box, which he opened, and found the >> >> same to contain a superficies only of silver. While the remaining >> >> portion consisted of lead and ten penny nails. The commissioner >> >> then proceeded to open the remaining seven boxes: they presented >> >> the same contents precisely, with a single exception, in which the >> >> substratum was window glass broken into small pieces." >> > >> > _______________________________________________ >> > pen-l mailing list >> > [email protected] >> > https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l >> >> _______________________________________________ >> pen-l mailing list >> [email protected] >> https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l >> >> >> _______________________________________________ pen-l mailing list [email protected] https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l
