In Washington, a Split Over Regulation of Wall Street

[flashl]

WASHINGTON — As Congress and the Bush administration struggle to contain the housing and credit crises — and prevent more Wall Street firms from collapsing as Bear Stearns did — a split is forming over how to strengthen oversight of financial institutions after decades of deregulation.

The administration and Democratic lawmakers in Congress agree that the meltdown in credit markets exposed weaknesses in the nation’s tangled web of federal and state regulators, which failed to anticipate the effect of so many new players in the industry.

In Congress, Democrats are drafting bills that would create a powerful new regulator — or simply confer new powers on the Federal Reserve — to oversee practices across the entire array of commercial banks, Wall Street firms, hedge funds and nonbank financial companies.

...

Wall Street firms played a central role in packaging and financing trillions of dollars in high-risk home mortgages, and the losses tied to those mortgages are at the heart of the deepening crisis in the financial markets that has pushed the economy to the brink of a recession.

Washington Post

This trillion dollar boondoggle/meltdown should be recorded in history as one of the greatest land grabs and ponzi schemes known to man as everyone watch.

[izzie]

1. I wonder if anything will pass the Sen. and BUsh has his veto

The system sure needs some oversight for sure.

[fasttense]

2. The split is between the people and this government.

This government wants to protect the wealth of the have mores by allowing them to do any damn thing they want. The people on the other hand, the ones who are "suppose" to be running the government want the protection against the predators.