Quote from AAAintheBeltway:
This is a show trial designed to shift the blame from where it belongs, eg, on congress, the Fed, FNM/FRE and the mortgage industry, to the evil derivatives industry and Wall Street. The same Wall Street that contributed far more heavily to obama than to McCain.
Maybe one good thing can come out of all this, although I doubt it. It is outrageous for banks and quasi-insurers like AIG to play with huge leverage, pocket billions, then turn to the taxpayer for a bailout when things go wrong. The obvious solution is to separate the government guaranteed part of banking, ie deposit-taking, checking, business and personal loans, from the rest. Apply stringent capitalization tests to this part.
Let the rest do what it wants, subject to market discipline. An important part of that discipline however is the freedom to fail.
I know this will never happen,at least not with the people we have running our government. As an alternative, I think at a minimum the top execs of any institution that took government bailout funds or that failed should be fired and barred for life from the industry. The heads of FNM/FRE shuld be prosecuted and bonuses clawed back. Top people at the Fed, FDIC and other regulatory bodies must also be shown the door. That includes most prominently Geithner, who was head of the NY Fed when this disaster took place. Like the captain of a Navy ship that runs aground, he must be forced to take responsibility.
As things stand now, the epople whowere most responsible and who profited the most have barely suffered any consequences. That is unacceptable, both from a political and a moral standpoint. I don't believe Goldman did anything particularly wrong in this Paulson affair, but they took TARP funds, so Blankfein must walk the plank with a few other execs.