There Are Quick Fixes
All they require is some guts in Congress, so they won’t happen, but they will definitely fix many of the systemic problems in the banking and insurance industries.
Badtux covers the problem of banks, that are Too Big To Fail. Ban interstate banking by repealing the 1994 Riegle-Neal Act that permitted it, and the big banks will have to separate into individual banks in the different states, potentially, each becoming divided into 50 smaller banks, which can then be dealt with like any other bank by the FDIC.
A quick fix for insurance companies is a repeal of the 1944 McCarran-Ferguson Act which exempted them from the anti-trust laws. This law was challenged after Katrina because of the behavior of the insurance companies in denying claims. Whatever supposed benefit there was to the bill originally, it has outlived its usefulness and works against competition in the insurance market. There is nothing more abhorrent to true capitalists than laws that reduce competition.
It would be interesting to see how the current administration reacts if either repeal were to actually pass.
