Pen-L'ers, What do any of you make of the world-historical significance of this recent frenzy of bank mergers, topped the other day by the record-setting Chase Manhattan and Chemical Bank deal ? How much does it have to do with relaxed laws regulating interstate banking, how much of it has to do with a continuous push to cut costs now that internal restructuring, rearranging portfolios, and restructuring old debts have met their limits, how much of it has to do with competition from mutual funds, money-market accounts, etc. for the deposits of small-time savers and big-time institutional investors, how much of it has to do with raising the stakes in competing with the huge Japanese banks (even though the latter have real high debt/equity ratios) ? Inquiring minds want to know ... John Gulick UC-Santa Cruz Sociology Program --JAA01407.809887926/uclink4.berkeley.edu--
