Wells Fargo, for example, recently announced it would shut down its independent lending offices and merge that business back into its branch operations, cutting 3, 800 jobs in the process.

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But a serious reallocation of resources on the railways would mean cutting lots of branch lines, and that is a task for a politician with the hide of Dr Beeching, not of Tony Blair.

ECONOMIST: Railways

The branch also oversaw a variety of cross-cutting issues, including cybersecurity, counterterrorism spending, and information sharing and safeguarding.

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With vast, hugely overstaffed branch networks and far weaker balance sheets, cutting costs and instituting a commercial credit-culture will be a gigantic task.

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This is where all the business travellers stay and is part of a respected, though not exactly cutting-edge, chain - the branch in Peshawar has a famous sign: 'Please leave your guns in the lobby'.

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However, one of the most sweeping cost cutting actions comes from instructions directed by the judicial branch of government with a ruling from the Supreme Court on the overcrowding of prisons in California.

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It leaves the decision whether to use further borrowing, cost-cutting or new taxes to pay it clearly in the hands of the legislative branch.

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Mr Forlines shows no sign of cutting back on the 60-odd hours he works each week, much of it spent zipping from branch to branch in a Buick equipped with a radar detector.

ECONOMIST: Small banks in America