[nickff]

The government is the prime culprit when it comes to financially de-platforming people, if you want more secure access to banking, the solution is lighter regulation of banks, not more. Anti-money-laundering (AML) and so-called risk management regulations make it unprofitable and complicated to provided a mount services to many people. The government (and its regulatory bodies) use this ‘flexibility’ to achieve their aims (see operation Choke Point).

[acdha]

I’d say “better regulation” rather than “less” - things like fraud and money laundering are important to fight (consider how bad ransomware would be if the attackers didn’t have to convince their victims to make a cryptocurrency transaction first) but we sacrificed due process to get there. It shouldn’t be impossible to have better regulations but the national security ratchet effect is pretty strong, as I’m reminded every time the TSA scrutinizes my sandals.

[BirAdam]

You assume that the point of regulation is the stated one. I do not think this is a valid assumption. Regulatory capture has occurred consistently throughout US history as has bribery, collusion, and monopoly building (with explicit government support). What makes you believe that regulation would then be helpful in some area when it hasn’t elsewhere?

[lmm]

> The government is the prime culprit when it comes to financially de-platforming people, if you want more secure access to banking, the solution is lighter regulation of banks, not more.

Banks are creatures of government, they're never going to be private competitive businesses. The solution is to recognise this and subject them to the same oversight that government is: FOIA, the equal protection clause, all of that good stuff.

[MrVandemar]

> the solution is lighter regulation of banks,

Seriously? Nope. Nope. Nope. No.

Remember 2008.

[BirAdam]

One could argue that mortgages given out sub 2.5% became a problem when the fed funds rate went to 2.5% by mid-June. Additionally, a US deregulation wouldn’t explain house bubbles elsewhere at the same time. The truth is that when interest rates are low, debt is more attractive but when/if rates rise, many borrowers and lenders will suffer. This became especially problematic when Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were able to compete very strongly with government money and gain massive swaths of the market. The other lenders were then pushed into rather unsafe behavior. Thing is, how do you regulate subprime lending? If the answer is just to refuse the “dirty poors” you’ll eventually have an extremely angry and desperate underclass, hence the creation of Fannie and Freddie in the first place. If you outlaw derivative markets you’ll be outlawing an avenue for legitimate hedging, and you’d end up with even greater consolidation of many markets into the hands of even fewer participants. While deregulation did directly lead to the consolidation of the banking system after the crisis, and certainly didn’t help prevent the crisis, I wouldn’t consider it a primary cause.