Knee-jerk regulations passed in crisis moments can do more harm than good, but all regulation is a static framework applied to an ongoing, dynamic market. The tensions created are inevitable.
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac should be increasing the availability of loans to the most underserved segment of the market: the small rental properties across the country that are naturally affordable.
The idea of bringing criminal charges against one of the nations larger banks has become untenable. The potential cost in jobs, probable shareholder losses and market turmoil would be horrific.
Congress must create mechanisms to dampen the volatility of housing finance, writes the former regulator for Fannie and Freddie on the fifth anniversary of their takeover by the government.
The law's biggest mistake was failing to consolidate financial regulators, Editor-At-Large Barbara A. Rehm says, but there are plenty of other shortcomings as well.
Strengthening the underlying loan manufacturing process and diversifying this risk in the secondary market remain critical to ensuring the integrity of the market.
The Basel system has sanctioned bank balance sheets on the verge of insolvency, but in doing so it may have permitted much more lending and much more trading.
While some saw Tim Pawlenty's unexpected recommendation to strike Syria as a sign he may be weighing a return to politics, the former Minnesota governor said he is focused on his "current job" as head of the Financial Services Roundtable.
The idea of subjecting U.S. financial supervision to peer review by European and Asian financial regulators with their own problems is a bit rich to swallow.
