Word: saxonism
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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...ENVY, writes Novelist Angus (Anglo-Saxon Attitudes) Wilson, is perhaps the dourest of sins, since "it knows no gratification save endless self-torment." Wilson finds the Green Evil everywhere, and suggests it is becoming more prevalent as examinations, from college boards to corporate psychological tests, determine who is up and who is down in life. Writers and actors are notoriously liable to envy and "ambitious clergymen, service officers and shop stewards appear to suffer most." But perhaps the most obnoxious form of the sin today is Western Europe's pervasive anti-Americanism. "There are grievances against America which deserve...
Gold for Ballast. Saxon's wall shaker was a proposal to allow national banks to set up branches within 25 miles of their home offices, though laws in 34 states expressly restrict or prohibit branch banking, even by nationally chartered banks. Left at a competitive disadvantage, most bankers fear, state-chartered banks would immediately shift to national charters, and soon only a single, nationally supervised banking system would survive. This, they argue, would destroy the cherished "dual system" of banking, with its checks and balances against heavy-handed regulation. Saxon's argument: branching restrictions merely protect well-entrenched...
Though they have learned to respect him, conservative-minded bankers have yet to be convinced that Saxon's bull-in-a-china-shop brand of vitality is what the system needs. The blunt, bustling son of a railroad traffic agent, Toledo-born Jimmy Saxon started World War II as General Douglas MacArthur's financial attaché, saved $80 million in U.S. bullion from falling into Japanese hands on besieged Corregidor; he just loaded the gold aboard a U.S. submarine that happened to need the ballast. From private business and long federal service, notably as top aide to Truman...
Self-Seen Savior. More than half of the Saxon Report's proposals were welcomed by bankers as progressive, overdue reforms. Among them are proposals to cut back reserve requirements to 10% of net demand deposits (now at 16½% for city banks and 12% for country banks), thereby releasing an estimated $5 billion in new lending power, and to increase the present limit on bank loans to a single customer...
Much opposition and little chance of quick success loom for Saxon's major proposals, which require congressional approval. But where new department regulations alone will suffice, Saxon promises fast action. He will demand regular financial reporting by national banks in what he sees as a way to increase shareholder confidence, will allow stock option plans for bankers to attract high-caliber executives, and relax restrictions on stock dividends...