Regulation really does have a role to play

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

Considering the morass of mischief that seized our financial systems this year, maybe we shouldn't be surprised that Wall Street big-wig Bernard Madoff was allegedly able to perpetrate a $50 billion Ponzi scheme. The effective regulation of financial markets, it seems, has become too complicated for mere mortals.

If so, it's time to uncomplicate it -- in a major way.

The recent history of deregulation is stained by schemes that only the smartest operators in the room could understand, with a few getting rich and a lot getting fleeced. (See Enron under energy deregulation.)

Recently, we've seen the scourge of "credit default swaps," contracts that were sold essentially as insurance against defaults on mortgage loans, but which didn't operate by the rules that apply to normal insurance companies -- bothersome stuff like reserve requirements and periodic checks by examiners to make sure the money is really there to cover potential claims. When it turned out that large bundles of covered securities were full of bad mortgages, the government had to step in with hundreds of billions of taxpayer dollars to prevent a complete financial-system collapse.

http://www.heraldnet.com/article/20081218/OPINION01/712189964/-1/OPINION#So.regulation.really.does.have.a.role.to.play

[BridgeTheGap]

1. FDR had it down and the wealthy disdained him for it. They want to be able to do

whatever they want to do when they want to do it, everyone else be damned.
They never got there was choice: regulated capitalism or full bore revolution to establish a fully socialist society. FDR saved their asses and they hated him for it. This demonstrates their very limited thinking.

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

2. Very well put.

I'm pro free enterprise but recent events have shown once again you need someone watching over the shoulders of these traders to keep them honest.

[BridgeTheGap]

3. Greed is a sad reality of life. Alan Greenspan didn't think people would stoop to

such greed, demonstrating his ignorance of the human condition. How someone with such beliefs could land in such a position of power is mind boggling.