Now, getting financing from lenders requires firms to put in nearly 40 percent of the price in cash, according to Portfolio Management Data.

For one thing, such a deal still requires top members of the acquiring firm - or firms - to submit to the scrutiny of the gambling regulators.

Requiring major firms that are awarded state contracts to subcontract a substantial percentage of their work to in-state businesses.

Another move would require legal and accounting firms to police their partners through high-level oversight committees.

The changes require firms doing business with it to eliminate links between analysts' compensation and investment banking, and to create a review committee to monitor research recommendations.

NASD concluded that the practice violated a rule requiring firms to act "consistent with high standards of commercial honor."

All this requires larger firms with a broad geographic spread.

A 10.2% decrease in the hours extracted from each worker would, theoretically, require firms to hire correspondingly more workers, a remedy for unemployment.

On top of this, a more open and brutally competitive world market requires firms with deep pockets and global reach.

We require firms we regulate to ensure that their staff are competent to carry out the functions for which they are employed.