Comments on: TARP for Regulators!

By: The Baseline Scenario | EthicalMarkets.com

The Baseline Scenario | EthicalMarkets.com — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 13:56:56 +0000

[...] We’ve had TARP for banks, TARP for auto companies, and now, with the Obama Administration’s plan for financial regulatory reform, we have TARP for regulators. After AIG, Citigroup, Bank of America, and General Motors, the administration has decided that all the existing regulators are Too Big to Fail – except for the Office of Thrift Supervision, which must play the role of poor Lehman Brothers in this saga. (Actually, they are more like Merrill Lynch, since they are getting merged into the new National Bank Supervisor, so most of them will probably keep their jobs.) Read more… [...]

By: Interesting Reads: 20 June 2009 | OneMint

Interesting Reads: 20 June 2009 | OneMint — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 08:00:42 +0000

[...] TARP for regulators by Baseline Scenario [...]

By: chas

chas — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 00:39:22 +0000

Seems that Obama’s capabilities are coming into better focus for a lot of his supporters. I voted for Obama mostly because of his intelligence & apparent empathy for the average person. And he has proven to quite intelligent. He is very good at analyzing problems. His analysis of the financial crisis I think many would agree is spot on. And he makes very good speeches. A big talker no less.

But, to this point he hasn’t solved any problems, only analyzed them thoroughly.
I’m not aware of any problems that he has actually ever solved. Which ain’t good.
He hasn’t accomplished much of anything for the average person. He’s taken good care of some bankers & other various & sundry fat cats.

Also, his inability to pick good people is a concern. He now has chosen Mr.’s Geithner, Summers, Holder & Ms Sotomayor for high post. All seem to be big talkers but not really doers or problem solvers. None have apparently really ever accomplished anything meaningful, besides getting a good education. Which in & of itself doesn’t solve any big problems. And we’ve got some BIG problems somebody needs to solve. These people are all more like the Rev. Wright, Obama’s choice to be his pastor for 20 years or so. Also, a pretty pathetic choice. Big talker but not much else.

What does this all add up to? It’s just hit me that we could be in deep doo-doo for the next 4 years with Obama.

By: chas

chas — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 20:31:47 +0000

They’re both wrong. It is the fault of those who had the authority & responsibility to prevent it & failed, i.e. Greenspan, Bernanke, Paulson & Geithner. So how long does Obama wait before he holds them accountable? Until the Chinese, Japanese, Russians, et al quit financing Bernanke & Geithner’s stupid bailout of the stupid bankers?

By: carping demon

carping demon — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 18:00:05 +0000

What’s the difference between saying, “Oohh, it’s nobody’s fault,” and saying, “Oohh, it’s everybody’s fault”?

By: Eric Dewey, Portland, Oregon

Eric Dewey, Portland, Oregon — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 17:29:15 +0000

q’s comment is right on target – the fault is not in the regulators, or the system, it’s all of us, because we all want to have our cake and eat it, too, while blaming someone else for “causing” the crisis.

When this all began in 2007 I thought the crisis might be significant enough for significant changes in western economic culture to occur. While there are some signs that some bright people are thinking differently, the vast majority is still addicted to an unsustainable lifestyle.

Maybe next time…or maybe the west will simply decline slowly as the east rises.

By: StatsGuy

StatsGuy — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 16:55:36 +0000

“The real issue behind this reshuffling of agencies and responsibilities is how you can get better regulators – people with the skills, motivation, and stomach to stand up to both banks and politicians who are screaming at them to get out of the way of progress and prosperity. And here I don’t think the administration’s plan gives us anything.”

Can we really blame the (civil service) regulators for this? Is there any regulatory agency in existence that we could expect to _consistently_ stand up to the combined might of a critical Congress, the President, and the media for a long period of time?

In a democratic government, government officials ultimately do what they’re told or they get fired – if they don’t, then that’s possibly even worse. The politically appointed regulators one can blame… but, they’re politically appointed.

By: StatsGuy

StatsGuy — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 16:50:25 +0000

That’s a nice start for a to-do list.

Would be great if Baseline has a complete list of specific recommended policy initiatives (much like the actual baseline projection).

By: Thanks « Taunter Media

Thanks « Taunter Media — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 16:32:57 +0000

[...] I know personally everyone who could possibly read the blog – and realized it stemmed from James Kwak’s kind words on Twitter. Thank [...]

By: Friday links: golden crosses Abnormal Returns

Friday links: golden crosses Abnormal Returns — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 15:06:37 +0000

[...] to get better regulators. (Baseline Scenario also [...]

By: chas

chas — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 15:00:50 +0000

I’m right where you are. Maybe if there were enough of us————–

By: Ted K

Ted K — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 13:46:12 +0000

Yes Mr. Thomas, I was looking for the right word for it and you found it–disillusionment. Normally I’m so enthusiastic to put a my little post here on “baseline”. I’m usually so excited to put my 2 cents in. But today, I just feel I can’t look anymore. I can’t watch these small scraps fed to us like dogs, while the bankers and Senators and House Representatives sit at the big table above us eating their feast. And the scraps we were given on June 18, this “dog” turns his nose to. I can’t eat these scraps anymore. And this on top of their failure to help the families and workers facing foreclosure, who if given a few months, or better terms would eventually own and live in those same homes, maybe for decades.
Yes “engineer27″ your nomination of Brooksley Born to be “Systemic Risk Czar” is very wise. IT WILL NEVER HAPPEN. I want credit default swaps to be outlawed. IT WILL NEVER HAPPEN. I want retail banking to be separated from investment banking as we had before the repeal of Glass-Steagall. IT WILL NEVER HAPPEN. I want credit rating agencies to be paid by the people who USE their ratings, NOT by the companies that issue the instruments. IT WILL NEVER HAPPEN. I wish there was a law that firms that originate a security keep 50%+ “securitized exposure” instead of a measly 5% (keep the loans they originate on their own books and not package and sell them). IT WILL NEVER HAPPEN. I wish there was a law that required bankers to be paid with long-term stock options or warrants (so they can’t behave irresponsibly and say “so long suckers!!!”). IT WILL NEVER HAPPEN.
All of these things could be done RELATIVELY easily (with the exception of separating retail banking from investment banking, but it sure beats the heck out of bailouts). But you know…. why go to all that bother if we’re going to upset the bankers and the congressman they’ve worked so hard to bribe???? I mean who cares we have double digit employment in many states and hard working people losing there homes??? Those are small prices to pay in order that we can avoid Mr. Banker getting a frown on his face or Mr. Banker suffering acid reflux as he drinks his morning coffee.

By: q

Fri, 19 Jun 2009 13:25:45 +0000

i continue to think that we have met the systemic risk regulator, and he is us.

By: The Epicurean Dealmaker

The Epicurean Dealmaker — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 13:25:01 +0000

You are pissing in the wind, my friend, until you figure out how to commit Congress to real regulatory reform. It makes sense that the Administration has focused its hopes and fears on the only truly independent regulatory entity in their arsenal as the locus for improved regulation.

http://epicureandealmaker.blogspot.com/2009/06/mighty-wind.html

By: Michael M Thomas

Michael M Thomas — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 12:30:28 +0000

This is “Hamilton Project” government, based on the premise that there is no problem on earth, manmade or otherwise, that cannot be talked and talked and talked out of existence. As I wrote last week in my NY Observer col, Wall Street has basically given the rest of us the finger. We may in fact be no worse off than had McCain carried the country, but I feel a kind of disillusionment settling in, in myself and others,that over the longer term may produce a degree of cynicism that might prove ideologically fatal.