Tim Fernholz over at TAPPED points to a WaPo story about how SEC efforts to regulate the finance industry were "undermined" during the Bush years by the agency's own Chairman, Christopher Cox.
This might be a warning not to put all your faith in regulatory agencies. Unfortunately, the Obama Administration's remedy to the financial mess (affectionately known as the 'sh*tpile') is... regulation.
The alternative would be to restructure the banking industry, bringing back some of the restrictions like Glass-Steagall that would make these banking monopolies organizationally incapable of blowing themselves up. But again, unfortunately, the Administration wants to leave them alone and depend instead on ... regulation.
We've seen how well that works the moment someone more sympathetic to the industry gets into power. Just look at how the EPA or Department of Labor were run.
If this is New Deal 2.0, it's more farce than tragedy.
