Small is relative. When speaking of banks, even pipsqueaks can make off with hundreds of millions.
We have been told not only that regulation is bad but that it is impossible. Sure is, if you do not wish to regulate. And most of our federal regulators have not been given strong powers.
(Most banks are chartered by states, and most states assign little in the way of resources to regulation.)
As the Washington Post story shows (and the New Deal had already shown), it is possible to ride herd on banks if you want to. And as commenter mikelemm says, "Regulation doesn't, cost, it pays."
A more precise formulation would be, "Of course regulation has costs, but it has big payoffs."
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