The Dodd-Frank financial reform legislation of 2010 stipulates that banks and the corporate entities that own banks should get out of the business of “proprietary trading.” That term refers to investments, often highly risky, that very big banks got into the habit making on their own account, i.e., unrelated to anything that their customers asked them to do.

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Marc Jarsulic of Better Markets pointed out in plain English that the big advantage is in lowering the overall funding costs for bank holding companies. Exactly how sophisticated financial-sector analysts can refuse to comprehend this notion is beyond understanding.

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