Wednesday, October 15, 2008

Do they read the blog?

In today's leader in The Daily Telegraph, under the title, "Financial crisis: Banks need better regulation, not more," we read:

… while greater supervision of the banks may be required, there should not be a rush to devise new rules and regulations that will do more harm than good.

It is not a shortage of regulations that has been the problem; they have been in the wrong area and overseen by the wrong people, wedded to the wrong philosophy.

Politicians must beware convincing themselves that they can regulate an end to financial crises.
And so, "wedded to the wrong philosophy", eh? Where have we seen that before? Meanwhile, from the heart of darkness in Brussels, we also get:

Günter Verheugen, the European Commission vice-president, said that new laws covering the banks and money markets would ensure that "risks" become more transparent.

Speaking at the European Parliament in Brussels ahead of a gathering of more than 700 business owners to examine the impact of the financial crisis, Mr Verheugen said: "This is the end of an economic ideology which was not based on real experience and social reality: an ideology that told us, 'Don't regulate as the market will regulate', which is obviously not true."
Just which planet is this man on? Has he any idea how much regulation already exists?

  • Other posts on the financial crisis here.


  • COMMENT THREAD