Judge Richard Posner: We Need Counterpart To 9/11-Commission To Study Causes Of Financial Crisis

New York Times:

THE 88-page report issued by the Treasury Department last week proposes far-reaching changes in financial regulation. Unfortunately, the report is premature, overambitious and obsessed with reorganization. It is also afflicted by Roosevelt envy.

Read the whole story: New York Times

Comments

[lornejl]

The 9// commission was a sham, why would another sham be helpful ?

[DoTheMath]

I'm no expert, but I still think I can save these people a lot of trouble. The causes of the financial crisis: deregulation, "innovative financial products," greed.

[Artos]

The only reason that the Governmental bodies responsible for Financial oversight did such a poor job is because while Bush was in office he did his best to kill the government. His penchant for putting into positions of power of these bureaus people whose job was to cut those departments heavily amounted to a form of suicide. In addition, he as a Republican Big Government hater cut operating budgets to the bone as yet another way to help destroy the Government. So any responsibility for this mess falls exclusively on the Republicans shoulders. They are the ones who gave these Corporations the opportunity to get rich at the expense of the average Americans and it is they who additionally feast at the same table while the rest of America, those of us who fill the Treasury with our taxes are served table scraps. So if blame is to be had for the Governments inadequacies, the fault lies solely with the Republicans.

[AnotherMcIntosh]

"the fault lies solely with the Republicans"

Some of us think that while the Republicans were trashing this country's governmental and economic systems, many high-level Democrats were also involved.

Who, for example, was the President that helped get NAFTA approved? And what party was he from?

Who was the President who said that he would revisit NAFTA once he was elected? And when is this happy event going to take place?

It's true that Republicans are clearly at fault. Does this mean that high-level Democrats are not?

[Whinger]

Study insatiable greed, therein lies the answer you seek!

[queotic]

Yeah, because the 9/11 Commission did such a great job and answered so many questions. /sarcasm

[RabidRightRebel]

True to form Posner is overly eager to blame the crisis on the govenment. It seems there is nothing that the govenment can do right including regulating the financial industry.

Oddly enough I agree with him on this particular observation. For the last thirty years and particularly during the the last eight years the government has been so lax in enforcing regulations that they might as well have not been on the books. We have the Chicago School, which Posner was the chief cheerleader of for much of his career, to thank for this. Basically they so successfully preached the gospel of how govenment was bad and business was good that they suceeded in undermining the authority of every regulator charged with overseeing business operations.

For him to now condemn the regulators, for not doing the job that he made almost immossible for them to do, is hypocracy.

PS: If we would ahve maitained the usury interest rate laws even the regulators that he thought were so incompetent could have avoided this crisis! But somehow I am sure that he would feel that that would be too intrusive.

[protagonia]

Like saying you want the fox to give his take on how the henhouse got raided.

[SamKnause]

We know what caused the financial meltdown. We don't need another committee that will do nothing. Legal loan sharks caused the meltdown. Laws written and passed by our elected officials that allowed legal loan sharking caused the financial meltdown. Sending all of our jobs overseas caused the financial meltdown. Expecting workers to work for wages of third world countries caused the financial melt down. Predatory lending practices caused the financial meltdown. Some, but very few in the scheme of things, borrowed more then they could afford caused the financial meltdown. Outrages health care costs caused the financial meltdown. Lobbyist caused the financial meltdown. The rich and elite not paying their taxes, using offshore accounts caused the financial meltdown. Greed caused the financial meltdown.That pretty well sums it up. Now pay me, what ever ridiculous amount of money that you will be paying to form this useless committee.

[lochnessmonster]

Go to NPR and listen to the four part series on "This American Life" about the financial crisis. Ira Glass and his crew do an amazing job of explaining how things fell apart. Some of the interviews are riveting.

[Pippen]

Ira is a HUGE talent. He's so good at telling stories, writing and journalism he's a one man industry.

While we're Commissioning a wth happened committee lets Commission ANOTHER 9/11 Commission only this time lets not make a COMPLETELY BOGUS FAKE.

America = the machine of lies, greed and corruption, our new motto. They should change the statue of liberty to read "....bring corporate America more wretched slaves the old ones were outsourced..."

[Artos]

I have a suggestion for a new statue. It should be a statue of a CEO seated behind a big fancy desk piled high with bills and coins, which he is counting all the while grinning ear to ear. On the inscripition it could read " Do my bidding O ye wretched masses and bring me more coin, for I am your master."

[Rxman]

Rather unseemly that a sitting Federal Appeals Court Judge would wallow in the cesspool of politics. Sure Judges have political opinion, but they usually keep it to themselves. Guess he finally realized his chances of becoming a Supreme is rapidly fading.

[nomobull]

considering we've learned more after the 9/11 commission no thanks.

[gurukalehuru]

While we're at it, another 9./11 commission -one which actually investigates 9/.11 - might be in order.

[DrDemon]

SAVE THE MONEY! I'LL GIVE YOU THE ANSWER!


DICK & BUSH !

[norepublicanleftbehind]

Please spare the country the dog and pony show. We all have a theory or two about what "went wrong".

We don't have liveable wages anymore and the middle class has to finance now what it used to be able to buy. We live in a "global economy" so that means the rich so called American corporations can off shore the work and sell us the goods at a price we have to finance. We import our middle class, we do not grow it.

Just spending the money on creating jobs, education, and industry here. Don't waste our tax dollars on a bunch of folks who will read reports, fly around interviewing folks who will lie to them or take the fifth, Save us the money and the drama please. Just work on a solution.