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The cost of allowing banks to grow unchecked

There is a moment in The Hitchhiker’s Guide to The Galaxy when a distant alien species hears of an insult from Earthlings and swears to destroy them with its vast battle fleet. “For thousands of years the mighty starships tore across the empty wastes of space and finally dived screaming on to the planet Earth,” wrote Douglas Adams “... where, due to a terrible miscalculation of scale, the entire battle fleet was accidentally swallowed by a small dog.”

Another terrible miscalculation of scale has meant that ministers are having to rescue the banks by writing cheques and issuing guarantees for unimaginable sums of money. For banks have been allowed to become immense — larger than other blue-chips, such as supermarket groups, phone utilities and oil companies.…

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