In Monday’s post I lamented regulation as an inadequate step to curtail the excesses of human nature. Since then, we can add WaMu to the mix of flailing financial institutions and point to regulators’ scramble to stem the hemorrhaging. Of course, hindsight IS always 20/20 but I also recognize that regulation – like any law – is effected in hindsight and can certainly help stem the degree of vice it’s intending to address. My tired brain’s analogy: while a guardrail may not obstruct the most reckless vehicle, it can hopefully curtail the ensuing damage.
Then again, if only we’d listened to Nostradamus….er….Roubini (I’m in my honeymoon phase – leave me alone for now)
kudos to my friend Tony who posted the doc that *I'd* actually sent out months ago (which I'd received from Aine) http://docs.google.com/TeamPresent?docid=ddp4zq7n_0cdjsr4fn&skipauth=true — snarky as it is, it is still the clearest, most lucid portrayal of the complex players involved in the "subprime" crises today.