Perhaps the best argument in favor of GS is that commercial banking and investment banking are different lines of business that need not just different regulatory treatment but also require divergent business skills, philosophies, and personalities. Where Main Street needs banks run by sober minded professionals with regular habits who are content with unspectacular profits from fees and securitized loans, Wall Street investment banks need buccaneers who are hungry to take risks for the sake of outsize gains.
The investment bankers have gotten way too big, control too much economic policy and political decisions, and taxpayers are effectively on the hook for any systemic risks they create.
Too big to fail means they must be shut down—this is a no brainer.
Good points. Well said.