GOLD STANDARD FTW!

Wait, I thought the more capital you had, the less risk?

Keep YOUR money in a local credit union. Borrow OTHER PEOPLE'S money from the big, unstable banks (maybe when they collapse, your account will get lost in the shuffle).

DrPainMD: Keep YOUR money in a local credit union. Borrow OTHER PEOPLE'S money from the big, unstable banks (maybe when they collapse, your account will get lost in the shuffle).

Your account only gets lost in the shuffle when they owe you money.

If you are going to gamble, the smartest thing to do is gamble big.

Leverage your capital at a 3-to-1 ratio: bet wrong, go bankrupt, bet right net 90k
Leverage your capital at a 40-to-1 ratio: bet wrong, go bankrupt, bet right net 1.2 million dollars

There have been quite a few successful investors (of various sorts) who have made LOTS of money after failing to miserably with their (and other people's money). When they fail, they dust themselves off and everyone else deals with the pain they've caused. When they win, they have a bunch of money and use that money to stack the deck in their favour.

Fark_Guy_Rob: If you are going to gamble, the smartest thing to do is gamble big.

Leverage your capital at a 3-to-1 ratio: bet wrong, go bankrupt get bailed out, bet right net 90k
Leverage your capital at a 40-to-1 ratio: bet wrong, go bankrupt get bailed out, bet right net 1.2 million dollars

That's why nothing's changed. Why should banks invest responsibly when the only downside is bad press that the bankers don't read anyway?