jbog,
"You mean you are satisfied with the current oversight for financial companies like MF Global? It was both the SEC and the CME that regulated them up to two months ago. Opp's,
I guess the answer might be in having proficient regulators regulating skimpy law's versus the current situation of the keystone cops policing restrictive laws. MF Global fell under the new regs."
The government was trying to tighten up the separation between investor's money and funds that companies like MF Global could use for their own purposes. The head of MF Global, Corzine, successfully lobbied against such new restrictions, arguing that there were already sufficient safeguards in place. We all know that was a self-serving LIE by a greedy man full of hubris. The answer would have been stronger regualtions AND watchdogs.
"By the way, who signed the repeal of Glass Steagle?"
Why are you trying to obfuscate? The Clinton administration along with Republicans and Republican appointees played a big role in the financial debacle. The point is lax financial regulations and an absurd belief that an unfettered free market is best and self-correcting so needs no regulations is the crux of my point.
Who set up BS collateral debt obligations, where they issued horrid and doomed mortgages then packaged them together so could slice them up and give the illusion that they were safe? A free and unfettered Wall Street. They just took the fees, and washed their hands of the whole thing as soon as possible so they took no risks for peddling what they knew was complete trash. Who granted Credit defaulted swaps where such crappy loans, and securities were "guaranteed" or insured for a fee, which enabled that crap to be used as collateral for a new round of risky loans and securities? It sure as hell wasn't the government. Those idiotic greedy executives and companies just took the fees for such CDS without putting any money aside to cover losses.
What is astonishing is that when Obama pushes to get some kind of regulation to reign in such practices, he gets attacked for being anti-free market. One thing being done is to require companies which issue mortgages to keep a decent percentage of those mortgages books so they have skin in the game. Another this to get CDS and derivatives out in the open so one can see how much money is committed and require money to be set aside to cover potential losses. Some very good moves if you ask me.
One last tangental point is that Obama gets attacked for pushing for increased mileage standards, which will be a big help in cutting oil imports. He get attacked for issuing a 3 month moratorium on new off shore deep water drilling after the Gulf-Horizon disaster, when that is the least he should have done.
I have been a registered Republican for a long time, but what the Republican candidates stand for now is disgraceful and often childish in its simplicity. I voted for the 2nd Bush, once. If one looks over his record, he is one of the worst presidents overall that we have had.
AI
