So says Simon Johnson, and their control is not only at the root of the current financial crisis, but will limit the ability of the national government to solve it.
He states that there is little different between this crisis and those he saw as an employee of the International Monetary Fund involving third and second world economies. But these economies were not supported by financial institutions with the political strength Wall Street has in DC. Government has less leverage to do what is necessary to solve the problem, namely temporarily nationalize troubled banks and break them into smaller pieces.
Choice quote: "If it is too big to fail, it is too big to exist."
This is one of a series of analyses coming out which attempt to explain the steps that brought us where we are.
