John Kay

The assertion that depositors in Kaupthing and Landsbanki have a claim on ordinary people who were too prudent to put money there, or did not have any money to deposit in the first place, has little justice or legal basis.

“Too big to fail” insurance is likely to leave the non-financial economy with the worst of all possible worlds – less public control of risk and greater potential calls on taxpayers.

John reviews Joseph Stiglitz’s book on the financial crisis: Freefall: Free Markets and the Sinking of the Global Economy

Watch John testify at the Treasury Committee on Financial Institutions here >
More from the committee can be accessed here >

Digital media is the future and two decades from now the book business will look very different.

In the name of free markets, we created a monster that threatens to destroy the very free markets we extol.

The most effective control is other parties’ diligence in assessing the businesses with which they deal.

When the next crisis hits, and it will, the frustrated public is likely to turn, not just on politicians who have been negligently lavish with public funds, or on bankers, but on the market system. What is at stake now may not just be the future of finance, but the future of capitalism.

Regulation as supervision can be simultaneously extensive and intrusive, yet ineffective and prone to regulatory capture. History suggests that supervision is rarely a success.

The assessment of the value of new products is best carried out, not by manufacturers nor regulators but by retailers in close touch with the needs of their customers.