That's why I feel we should just nationalize the exchanges and get rid of all of the clearinghouses. Everybody trades directly with everyone else over exchanges that are backed by the government. That's it. Brokerages or clearinghouses should be just back-office recordkeepers but with no financial involvement.
Right now, the clearinghouses are taking our fees but not doing anything in settling the accounts. Brokerages still need to pay in advance to the clearinghouses as "collateral" for compensation of "risk". What about the fees that we pay? WHY should we pay them and let them make all the decisions when they are not going to do anything when there is a bit of "risk"? We should just trade freely with each other via one or several central exchanges and if there is any shortfall, the government will just step in and foot the bill. When s*** hits the fan, it's the government that steps in and foot the bill anyway. So instead of having them bail out all those companies, why don't we let the government settle the accounts in the first place. So much easier and more efficient and straight forward this way.
