If the banks themselves fail to take an approach that pays greater attention to cost control, the management of risks, including fiscal risk, and the protection of their customers, if they regard high-quality customer relations as a cost rather than a competitive tool, in the long run the results cannot be other than disappointing.
Will there be higher taxes on labor that discourage work effort or hiring? Will there be cutbacks in government expenditures on defense or basic research that might force significant resource reallocations and affect a wide array of industry sectors? Will there be cutbacks on entitlements that could affect health care, social insurance, and other aspects of our safety net?