Glenn Wilson

Pretty good story on the coming fight over financial regulation. But it lets the Bushies off way too lightly, by suggesting that lack of coordination between agencies led to the awesome failure of regulators to take action against the bubble:
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The lack of oversight, in short, was no oversight: it was part of the plan.
Hiding behind the invisible hand

Meanwhile, during the bubble years, the mortgage industry lured millions of people into borrowing more than they could afford, and simultaneously duped investors into investing vast sums in risky assets wrongly labeled AAA. Reasonable estimates suggest that more than 10 million American families will end up owing more than their homes are worth, and investors will suffer $400 billion or more in losses.
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It’s no wonder, then, that he brushed off warnings about deceptive lending practices, including those of Edward M. Gramlich, a member of the Federal Reserve board. In Mr. Greenspan’s world, predatory lending — like attempts to sell consumers poison toys and tainted seafood — just doesn’t happen.
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Of course, now that it has all gone bad, people with ties to the financial industry are rethinking their belief in the perfection of free markets. Mr. Greenspan has come out in favor of, yes, a government bailout. "Cash is available,” he says — meaning taxpayer money — "and we should use that in larger amounts, as is necessary, to solve the problems of the stress of this."
Blindly Into the Bubble

The agencies-the FDIC, Federal Reserve Board, Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, Office of Thrift Supervision, and National Credit Union Administration-announced they have formed a joint task force to undertake a three-year review of 129 separate rules. The review will focus on finding more streamlined and less burdensome ways to regulate banks.

"We are calling on bankers to help us determine how to improve and streamline the regulatory process," Reich continued. "We are serious about this effort, we are committed to it, and we intend to achieve results." he said the three-year time frame would allow sufficient time to solicit "substantial and significant" input from bankers as well as consumer groups and other interested parties.
Federal agencies plan three-year review of regulatory burden

My sneaking suspicion is that they started with a determination to throw money at the financial industry, and everything else is just an excuse.
A sneaking suspicion

Labels: economy