Actually, the same logic would be applicable to prevent any future financial collapses. One of the problems we faced recently is that the institutions that went under had a disproportionate effect on the certain aspects of the economy. Bailouts are not a viable option, but the government could protect its citizens by ensuring the collapse of any one company does not lead to a domino effect.

Microsoft is crippled technically by combining too many conflicting objectives into a single political entity. Particularly the operating systems produced by Microsoft have been hopelessly compromised by short-term commercial objectives. Microsoft, the industry and the public would be well served by an organizational structure dedicated to producing clean, modularized software components.

There are many major multinationals that have close to monopoly power on their markets and should be broken up into several competitive entities within each geographic area. Cable is probably the biggest one.