What would happen if Wall Street was closed?

The NYSE was shut down for four months during World War 1. An alternative market quickly appeared. And if some kind of alternative market was not able to develop we would have something like North Korea or Cuba. Or China before 1978. Or Russia before 1989. A lower standard of living, shortages and inferior goods.

A bank used to be a company that was stable and conservative; Wall Street is the opposite. I don't think we should shut them down, for many of the reasons listed by other. However, I think we need a reboot for the long term strength and stability of America. Wall Street has forgotten that it is the public that has given them the right to borrow cheap money. Banks should be serving the US economy, not running (ruining?) it. It really doesn't take much skill to borrow at a bottom-market Federal Reserve rates and then lend it out at higher rates. However, that wasn't good enough for them. They just got too greedy and overleveraged, and their isn't any sign that they aren't still just out for their self-interst. Also, we've seen AIG, Bear Stearns, Washington Mutual, IndyMac, Wachovia, Merril Lynch, and Lehman Bros all fail, and we're still here. I think the only fair thing to do is to take out the bad apples one by one - slowly, to not cause a panic - so that we can finally hit bottom and confidantly start rebuilding. I fear the current path will be long and painful.

Wall street is just the ultimate market. REMEMBER THIS... management of this money is good for society only and chiefly because... but this is a great reason... it allocates money to enterprises which should have credit and financing to further their business enterprise. Finance is the accurate allocation of money to those enterprises that will succeed. The stock market is the best way to use risk vs reward to allocate those assets towards those most likely to succeed.

I'll answer your question with a question: Do you know what the companies you collectively call "Wall Street" do? Do you live in a house? Drive a car? Expect lights to turn on when you flip the switch? Eat? There are plenty of people out there who could live a subsistence existence, building their own house and growing their own food, if needed but I am guessing you aren't one of them. Without the service "Wall Street" provides most of what you take for granted wouldn't exist, or they would but would be unaffordable for the vast majority of the US population. The reason these companies exist is that they fill an essential service; namely acting as intermediaries between the people who have capital and resources with those that need said items. You deposit $500 with a bank; that bank takes your $500 and a thousand other people's $500, pools it together and makes a loan to build an apartment complex. "Wall Street" does this with millions and billions to build powerplants, airplanes, office buildings, etc. Much of what you depend on for your daily life would not be possible without the orderly flow of money, the tool without which we would be living in an agrarian barter economy. I encourage you to learn a little more about the world you actually live in. Some of your opinions would probably change and you might realize how absurd the additional detail on your question is.