Investigating Possible Fraud (Fannie, Freddie, Lehman, etc.)

[CrackerBarrel]

Originally Posted by Kevin

On another note, I think this will all shut the people up (or it damn well should) who were in favor of deregulation of the securities industry due to the belief that the "free market regulates itself" (I believe that's a direct quote from Ron Paul).

That's just it, from an economic standpoint THIS IS THE SECURITIES MARKET REGULATING ITSELF. The ones who were dumb enough to invest in securities backed by mortgages to people who had no hope of paying them back are (or should be) out of business. But if the government is willing to bail you out for those bad investments, there is no real incentive not to invest in idiotic securities where a return was improbable to say the least again in the future.

I realize it was meant as a joke, but a friend sent me a facebook bumper sticker that laid it out pretty well: "Let's start making worse business decisions so we can go bankrupt and earn free taxpayer money."

[Kevin]

Originally Posted by CrackerBarrel

That's just it, from an economic standpoint THIS IS THE SECURITIES MARKET REGULATING ITSELF. The ones who were dumb enough to invest in securities backed by mortgages to people who had no hope of paying them back are (or should be) out of business. But if the government is willing to bail you out for those bad investments, there is no real incentive not to invest in idiotic securities where a return was improbable to say the least again in the future.

I realize it was meant as a joke, but a friend sent me a facebook bumper sticker that laid it out pretty well: "Let's start making worse business decisions so we can go bankrupt and earn free taxpayer money."

Either it's too big to fail or it's not.

If we're going to buy into deregulation, then the free market has to be allowed to work. It now appears that even those who were behind (and still may be) deregulation are not in favor of the negative consequences which can stem from a free market.

Now that we're talking 'bailout,' and acknowledging that things are too big to fail, it's clear we've made a choice. We need more regulation, not less, if these things are really too big to fail.

If the public is going to be held accountable for the actions of these private companies, then the public should have the ability to hold these companies accountable.

Unfortunately, I think these companies have us out manned with respect to lobbying power.

[KSig RC]

Originally Posted by Kevin

If we're going to buy into deregulation, then the free market has to be allowed to work. It now appears that even those who were behind (and still may be) deregulation are not in favor of the negative consequences which can stem from a free market.

Now that we're talking 'bailout,' and acknowledging that things are too big to fail, it's clear we've made a choice. We need more regulation, not less, if these things are really too big to fail.

This is really my main problem - deregulation is the ideal situation, but may prove impossible given the current state of affairs. If this is true, then it's not hard to see that a negative feedback cycle is forming, and the results of that cycle are likely something that most people would find distasteful - namely, state ownership of nearly every similar institution.