How to Reform Our Financial System
New York Times by Op-Ed contributor Paul Volcker concludes:
“….I am well aware that there are interested parties that long to return to ‘business as usual,’ even while retaining the comfort of remaining within the confines of the official safety net. They will argue that they themselves and intelligent regulators and supervisors, armed with recent experience, can maintain the needed surveillance, foresee the dangers and manage the risks.
“In contrast, I tell you that is no substitute for structural change, the point the president himself has set out so strongly.
“I’ve been there — as regulator, as central banker, as commercial bank official and director — for almost 60 years. I have observed how memories dim. Individuals change. Institutional and political pressures to ‘lay off’ tough regulation will remain — most notably in the fair weather that inevitably precedes the storm.
“The implication is clear. We need to face up to needed structural changes, and place them into law. To do less will simply mean ultimate failure — failure to accept responsibility for learning from the lessons of the past and anticipating the needs of the future.”
Click here to read the entire op-ed (highly recommended).
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