I have been following the Bear rescue and the Financial Market reform plan. I attended today's SBC hearing. A few things to note: a. Treasury sounded a little defensive when asked by Senator Jack Reed about the lack of foresight, claiming that no one could have foreseen this crisis. Actually, we did, in August, 2007: "Major market institutions are now, as the troubled Bear Stearns reveals, feeling the negative effect of allowing these practices to flourish. Bear Stearns may be in real danger - it's stock decreased in value by 27% over the last month. We do not expect, but would not be surprised if the firm failed, another casualty of arrogance and greed." See: http://twisri.blogspot.com/2007/08/morgage-gses-predatory-lending-and.html and http://www.sec.gov/comments/s7-16-07/s71607-495.pdf b. In addition, even the claim that perfect foresight was needed is wrong. With the development of toxic (derivative and subprime lending) financial products, the relationship betwe...
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