Where would the Home of the Brave be, if all its immigrants had been met by risk-adverse bank regulations?

In his Washington Post May 27 op-ed, “Subsidizing America’s most important product," George F. Will referred to “Joseph Schumpeter an immigrant from Austria” whose theory was that “the principal drivers of social dynamism are… innovators — inventors of new things and companies” and added that “The common denominator [of it] is the restless, risk-taking spirit of a talented few.”The de facto spirit of the risk weighted bank capital requirements in the United States can currently be summarized in the following way: 

“We regulators allow you banks to leverage your capital a lot, and therefore earn high risk adjusted returns on equity, with what’s safe, e.g., Treasuries and residential mortgages. But, as a quid pro quo, you need to stay away from what’s risky, e.g., small businesses and entrepreneurs”

So, let me ask: Where would the Home of the Brave be if all its immigrants had been met by such regulatory risk adverseness?

PS. Not the first time I have asked myself that question.

PS. John Kenneth Galbraith wrote: “For the new parts of the country [USA’s West] … there was the right to create banks at will and therewith the notes and deposits that resulted from their loans…[if] the bank failed…someone was left holding the worthless notes… but some borrowers from this bank were now in business... [jobs created]. “Money: Whence it came where it went” 1975

PS. And at the World Bank I argued time and time again: “There’s a clear need for an adequate equilibrium between risk-avoidance and the risk-taking needed to sustain growth.”

PS. God make us daring!

PS. And, to top it up, in The Land of the Free, that risk aversion came hand in hand with outright statism

On the morality of current banker's decisions

A banker confronts a choice:

On one hand, Alt. A, a number of not so creditworthy borrowers who are asking for small loans, accepting to pay what could rightly be deemed a bit higher interest rate than what the risk adjusted interest rate should be.

On the other hand, Alt. B, a very creditworthy borrower, that is asking for a very large loan, at a rate lower than what an adequate risk adjusted interest rate should be.

Years ago, the banker would gladly gone for Alt. A, but, after the introduction of risk weighted bank capital requirements, which mean banks can leverage much more with what’s more creditworthy than with what’s less so, means the bank would obtain a higher risk adjusted return on its equity with Alt. B.

A banker has to pick Alt B. or he’s toast… and so he picks it… (that is unless he would not want to be a banker any more… and instead, like George Banks, go and fly a kite)

In reference to Per Bylund’s twitter thread on “morality of actions”, how would you classify the banker’s action.