Broker/dealers are dead

John Gapper writes in the Financial Times that, in the broker/dealer space, the bell tolls for thee. Granted he means large wirehouses, not the independent variation, but it's an interesting proposition none-the-less. He certainly has a convincing track record on which to base his argument – Barings, SG Warburg, JPMorgan, Bear Stearns and now Lehman Brothers and Merrill Lynch. He runs through the events that lead to this, beginning with 1933′s Glass-Steagall, through 1975′s abolition of fixed commissions to present day. Read the whole thing at www.ft.com. More importantly, do you agree? Will large broker/dealers morph, or disappear altogether?