Competition Instead of Punishment for Banks

Repeated “regulatory gouging” of the sort we see in the banking sector is now so much part of the routine that it can no longer be regarded as anything out of the ordinary, and should therefore be accounted for as part of normal operating costs, rather than as exceptional. A comparison might be made with protection money that drug dealers are forced to pay the local mafia in order to stay in business. These payments too are recurring items, a nuisance cost that is just part of the price you pay for practising your trade.