““As always, behind the flow of money necessary for such mergers and acquisitions were the banks. Once there were hundreds of banks in America, owned by individuals and local families. But due to government regulations put into place during the Reagan-Bush years, these banks either faded away or consolidated. In 1990, there were thirty-seven major banks in the U.S. By 2009, buy-outs, mergers, and bankruptcies had reduced this number to four. Those left standing were Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, and Wells Fargo, according to the General Accounting Office. Ominously, in June 2012, the giant global rating agency Moody’s downgraded the ratings of Bank of America, Goldman Sachs, and JP Morgan, citing concerns for the stability of the world’s financial system.””
![“Their [American banks] big issue will be if they want to deal with the biggest companies, which are doing a lot of business overseas. How they do that is a big question. It's almost impossible to build a global investment bank from scratch. If they want to do that, they probably will have to do an…” quote by Jamie Dimon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/bf7/jamie-dimon-1320_acquisition_their-american-banks-big-issue-will-be-i_3039429.jpg)
![“Not every company went bankrupt. Not every bank needed TARP [Troubled Asset Relief Program]. So I'm very proud that JPMorgan, throughout that time period, was completely steadfast. We bought Bear Stearns because we thought we were helping the situation. We didn't cut and run.” quote by Jamie Dimon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/04a/jamie-dimon-1320_assets_not-every-company-went-bankrupt-not-ever_128310.jpg)
![“The achievement of this goal will require a major war, a world war, starting most likely from the impending US-Israel attack on Iran. But to wage this war the US must be transformed into a genuine dictatorship. Legislation carried out in the wake of [the] Oklahoma bombing and 9/11 has ensured that…” quote by Jim Marrs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/03b/jim-marrs-25142_goals_the-achievement-of-this-goal-will-requir_1167980.jpg)
