Curious Capitalist Justin Fox has a smart take on the Bush Administration’s plan to avert the next mortgage crisis (but not to do much about THIS one), which he describes as “closing the barn door.” From what I’m reading in the papers this morning, it seems like it has another flaw that lends itself to an farmyard metaphor, this one about foxes and chicken coops. As Justin notes:
The recommendations are all in the line of investors and banks and ratings agencies all need to be more careful, ok? Plus we need lots of studies on how to make regulations work better.
In other words, the Administration wants to rely on the same folks who brought us this problem to fix it. And their proposal defers the real work to state regulators, which seems like a guarantee of uneven enforcement and more avenues of political influence, even if they are operating under national standards.