http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/f/financial_crisis_inquiry_commission/index.html
The 1930's Pecora Commission suggested breaking investment banks apart from commercial banks. Today's Financial Inquiry Commission apparently dwells on the minutiae of the current crisis without any big picture conclusion other than punishing those that acted badly. It's no secret that banks being regulated co-opted the regulators, Federal Reserve and Congress so any law that proposes more regulation is destined to fail again.
13 Bankers by Simon Johnson and James Kwak makes a very good case for breaking apart our biggest financial institutions into more manageable not "too big to fail" entities. NTBTF would do more than any overseer of bank finance could do to keep bubbles from getting out of hand. The present set of bank regulators that are a part of the FDIC can and should continue, but no bank with FDIC insured deposits should be one tenth as big as the new maximum permissible and greatly reduced financial behemoths proposed here. So if Bank of America got rid of Merrill Lynch as a way to reduce its size it would still have to contend with dismantling it's national network into separate entities if there was to be FDIC insurance on deposits. This may leave those on Wall Street as agog as was AT&T before it was broken up. Breaking the phone company monopoly seemed irresponsible and inconvenient at the time but there is much agreement today that it was the right thing to do.
Wednesday, February 2, 2011
Saturday, January 15, 2011
Commission report on the BP Gulf Coast Oil Spill
BP's oil spill and it's consequences would seem to put a Libertarian point of view at odds with the real world. I would beg to disagree.
1st, it is completely apparent that government regulators and regulations were overwhelmed by the industry being regulated. It is an instance which shows that looking for more government regulation is not only hopeless but dangerous as well.
2nd, the private market solution to prevent and control such a disaster has been with us and been used for a long time. Driller's, the consortium developing and producing a field, need to put up a bond to cover environmental disasters much like construction projects are insured. The 75 million dollar cap on oil disasters presently in place is apparently a result of the oil lobby capturing the Congress. That limit needs to go completely. Thank god BP with its assets was responsible and that it was not a sham shell type of corporation intended to limit it's liability.
Making sure that those who create the liability have a ton of skin in the game is a much more effective regulator than a government watch dog agency. BP gave the Gulf Coast a real black eye and I am not sure that President Obama understands that he should be thanking his lucky stars that there was a huge asset he could go after instead of some sham built around government rules.
1st, it is completely apparent that government regulators and regulations were overwhelmed by the industry being regulated. It is an instance which shows that looking for more government regulation is not only hopeless but dangerous as well.
2nd, the private market solution to prevent and control such a disaster has been with us and been used for a long time. Driller's, the consortium developing and producing a field, need to put up a bond to cover environmental disasters much like construction projects are insured. The 75 million dollar cap on oil disasters presently in place is apparently a result of the oil lobby capturing the Congress. That limit needs to go completely. Thank god BP with its assets was responsible and that it was not a sham shell type of corporation intended to limit it's liability.
Making sure that those who create the liability have a ton of skin in the game is a much more effective regulator than a government watch dog agency. BP gave the Gulf Coast a real black eye and I am not sure that President Obama understands that he should be thanking his lucky stars that there was a huge asset he could go after instead of some sham built around government rules.
Thursday, December 30, 2010
Greenspan was wrong
After reading 13 Banker's I have been mulling over Alan Greenspan's libertarian background and his chairmanship of the Federal Reserve. Where there is regulation there is an implicit government guarantee much like for Fannie and Freddie. The September 08 financial crisis pretty much exposed the guarantee to all those that were too big to fail whether they were banks or not. It is apparent that laissez faire economics does not work when any player is too big to fail. That Alan Greenspan headed the Federal Reserve as it let the system develop into a club of TBTF's ran contrary to his Libertarian principals and is his biggest failure.
TBTF is such an important core subject to comment on that I am thinking of changing the blog's banner. I have no doubt Bonehead will be on the side of the status quo in spite of his need to bring in the Tea Party. Busting up the fat cats on Wall Street has populist appeal and excellent risk dispersing intellectual economic underpinnings. It will be fun to see Republican's defend all that they say they stand against when they support the Wall Street lobby.
TBTF is such an important core subject to comment on that I am thinking of changing the blog's banner. I have no doubt Bonehead will be on the side of the status quo in spite of his need to bring in the Tea Party. Busting up the fat cats on Wall Street has populist appeal and excellent risk dispersing intellectual economic underpinnings. It will be fun to see Republican's defend all that they say they stand against when they support the Wall Street lobby.
Monday, December 27, 2010
We need a Populist revolt against TBTF
13 Bankers by Simon Johnson and James Kwak makes a good case for a Teddy Roosevelt Style break up of Mega-Banks, principally those that are Too Big To Fail. Ron Paul may be the Andrew Jackson of our time who comes out of the wilderness and smites Wall Street and the Federal Reserve they co opted.
Johnson and Kwak are confident that TBTF is such a strong idea against our present course of centralizing our financial structure that a key figure may coalesce a counter to Wall Street's influence much like Teddy Roosevelt did a hundred years ago. For example at the start of the 1900's it was the common opinion that Oil and Steel trusts were the inevitable natural order of economic activity and yet within a few short years TR was able to reverse that opinion and break up the trusts and apparently for the good of the country.
The Obama administration is populated by Wall Street people in all things to do with Treasury and you can depend on Bonehead and Mitch to push the Wall Street agenda even more vigorously to out curry their favor in the next election. Ron Paul with his steady drip drip criticism of the Fed may get traction on the issue as it becomes common knowledge that regulation and regulators get co opted by the industry they regulate. The best refresher is failure. Allowing banks to be too big to fail is bad for our democracy as well as our economic well being. Presently it may be a Populist sentiment but is has a strong foundation.
Johnson and Kwak are confident that TBTF is such a strong idea against our present course of centralizing our financial structure that a key figure may coalesce a counter to Wall Street's influence much like Teddy Roosevelt did a hundred years ago. For example at the start of the 1900's it was the common opinion that Oil and Steel trusts were the inevitable natural order of economic activity and yet within a few short years TR was able to reverse that opinion and break up the trusts and apparently for the good of the country.
The Obama administration is populated by Wall Street people in all things to do with Treasury and you can depend on Bonehead and Mitch to push the Wall Street agenda even more vigorously to out curry their favor in the next election. Ron Paul with his steady drip drip criticism of the Fed may get traction on the issue as it becomes common knowledge that regulation and regulators get co opted by the industry they regulate. The best refresher is failure. Allowing banks to be too big to fail is bad for our democracy as well as our economic well being. Presently it may be a Populist sentiment but is has a strong foundation.
Monday, December 13, 2010
Ron Paul comes in from the cold, New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/13/us/politics/13paul.html?_r=1
Ron Paul did not move, but by sticking to the core ideology of liberty the public and congress is beginning to listen. It's not easy, though. I forgot how irrelevant Rudy Giuliani was in the 2008 Republican primaries.
Ron Paul did not move, but by sticking to the core ideology of liberty the public and congress is beginning to listen. It's not easy, though. I forgot how irrelevant Rudy Giuliani was in the 2008 Republican primaries.
Thursday, December 2, 2010
As final Debt Plan is Released, Signs That the Fight is just Beginning
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/02/us/politics/02fiscal.html?_r=1&ref=politics
My number one priority is to see a path towards a balanced budget. As a businessman, family man and citizen I can't stand politicians who put there heads in the sand when it comes to the budget. Governor Christie of New Jersey is popular because he confronts it head on. Democrat or Republican who don't want to grapple with this monster don't deserve our ear or respect.
We have known for decades that we were on an untenable path of over committing and underfunding. The G. W. Bush administration was the coup grace. It took easiest path in every situation; tax cuts, rolled over on every increased expenditure proposed by Congress, engaged in war at will and that caused an economic malaise we are not getting out of for a decade. LBJ all the way. He was from Texas, too.
My number one priority is to see a path towards a balanced budget. As a businessman, family man and citizen I can't stand politicians who put there heads in the sand when it comes to the budget. Governor Christie of New Jersey is popular because he confronts it head on. Democrat or Republican who don't want to grapple with this monster don't deserve our ear or respect.
We have known for decades that we were on an untenable path of over committing and underfunding. The G. W. Bush administration was the coup grace. It took easiest path in every situation; tax cuts, rolled over on every increased expenditure proposed by Congress, engaged in war at will and that caused an economic malaise we are not getting out of for a decade. LBJ all the way. He was from Texas, too.
Republicans Threaten to Bring Senate to a Halt over tax Dispute
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/02/us/politics/02cong.html
Fantastic. Do nothing and thereby do no more harm. Mitch McConnell I applaud your efforts to stalemate the Senate and thereby the Congress so it grinds to a halt. I really mean it. Next step is to keep the brakes on so tight that appropriations stop. Two candidates to strangle with withdrawal of funding are the departments of energy and agriculture.
Fantastic. Do nothing and thereby do no more harm. Mitch McConnell I applaud your efforts to stalemate the Senate and thereby the Congress so it grinds to a halt. I really mean it. Next step is to keep the brakes on so tight that appropriations stop. Two candidates to strangle with withdrawal of funding are the departments of energy and agriculture.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)