Dodd's efforts, sadly, are in line with the "group think" of many Democrats that would prefer to see a banking system with just a few LARGE banks in the country, rather than the thousands of community banks that are the backbone of our current system.

The power of the many small community banks was reinforced this past weekend when I visited with a small town (population 6,500) mayor.  The town is far from an interstate, and has no major employer.  It's had little growth in the past 20 years, and few prospects.  

"How does the future look?"  I asked.  

"Great!" was his response.  "Our few local businesses are still going strong, and we even have a few companies looking to move here.  More importantly, our local banks are still lending.  And that makes a big difference."

His town has three banks.  Two are locally owned, and one is part of a large regional institution.  

The two local banks are continuing to loan money, while the regional branch has stopped making loans.  

"I don't know why their loan officer even shows up for work."  The mayor said, "He has ZERO authority to do any new lending right now."

Imagine our predicament (especially here in the Midwest) if our economic activity, and financing was driven by the financial health of just a few large banks.  Instead of decisions on economic vitality being driven by bank owners that live thousands of miles away, this small town's businesses continue to get the loans they need, because the community bank loan officers know, first hand, the value of the land, business and character to which they are lending.

So the next time you hear about the need for centralized banking.......think about the impact on a small town near you. 

Centralized planning and decision making (think China and Russia) has never worked well for governments.  But that doesn't keep the Liberals from wanting to foist it upon us.